EOC Week 4: There's an App For That

One of the largest high growing things in the market are Apps for cell phones, iPods and iPad. Not only are Apps fun and useful but even better that the majority of them are free. In not, it'll only cost you $0.99 for most applications. If I had to choose three Apps that the world needs would be 1. A GPS of some sort. The iPhone has a defaulted one with Google Maps, as well with Andriod phones. Personally I prefer the MapQuest App, which is free, and it is excellent. You can decide how it will calculate distances if you're in a car driving, or even if you're walking. It can talk to you at loud like a real GPS would. It's a great App because you'll never be lost wherever you are or may be. 2. A camera to camera interaction, such as Skype or FaceTime because it's a way the world can connect to each other in different locations from place to place to have that face to face acknowledgement. If an App can do that without having to have a computer in front of you, then it's definitely an App worthwhile and important to have. Lastly but not least 3. Pandora. A music App where you can listen to selected genres of music and artists at anytime and anywhere. Music is a huge part of everyone whether you realize it or not. It's what sets our mood and how it makes us feel. Music also connects people to each other; it's how we interact and can relate to one another through its storytelling. With those three Apps our lives can be golden.

EOC Week 3: Making Money for Good

Do you think there is something more than just making money? YES! There is such a thing as making money for good. Keeper Springs natural spring water exists for the purpose of restoring local waterways. They give 100% of their profit back to keep America’s waterways safe and clean for future generations. One of the most popular products worldwide that we know this to be true is (PRODUCT). The product (RED) is a charitable organization wehre they partner up with businesses that will specialize in (RED) products and will give up 50% of their profits to the Global Fund to invest in HIV and AIDS programs. Some of the recognized partners would include Apple, Converse, Dell, Gap, Hallmark, Nike and Starbucks. The Global Fund was created in 2002 and has committed $21.7 billion to lifesaving programs in 150 countries. This (RED) product is mostly associated with clothes and shoes, although it has a wide variety of accessories, bags, jewelry and electronics that are made too. Another company that I recently learned that money is made for good is with the TOMS shoes. With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. "One for one." Philanthropist Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS upon a visit to Argentina and was astounded by how many people, especially little children, were in need of shoes living off their bare feet. He came back to the US and gathered a small team to create a shoe that was stylistic with only the necessary means to make a simple shoe. The examples of these two organizations are what give life meaning by giving back to the community. Not only by buying things accomodate our wants and needs in our everyday lives, but the lives of others around the world are being drastically changed with a simple, minuscule purchase. It makes me feel important to know that I'm doing something good with every purchase I make but it's better that the people in greatly need of help feel important too in the world.

EOC Week 3: My Demographics

I fall into the category group that's called "Millennials". This gap of people were born between 1977 and 2000. I was born in 1988, a little less than the middle of that group. According to what we are known for from our book, we love and are fascinated with technology. We "have in common utter fluency and comfort with digital technology" (pg 17). This is absolutely 100% true. It all started when I was little when I knew how to navigate through a computer. From then on technology was becoming more advanced and popular where satellite TVs and cellphones and iPods boomed right in front of my eyes and it was normal to easily become aware of the newest technology and how easily I was able to navigate through all these devices. Our world is so wrapped up with the newest and fastest technology that there's no way anyone, even I, could survive without it. In my opinion, technology is great but unfortunately it's something that we depend so much on that slowly us as human beings are deteriorating from having our full ability to speak orally correctly. One thing that my generation lacks, including myself, is communication and interaction. We'd rather text or email instead of expressing ourselves verbally and we do struggle with that because of technology and the way we grew up with it, having it constantly be our communication medium. How many times do you have to check your phone within 5 mins? I know I check it too many times to count, just to see if anything new has happened even though you know nothing has. What's going to become of our future? How much lazier are we going to become because of how technology affects us? As much as I LOVE technology, I also hate it equally for all those reasons.

EOC Week 2: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

According to the Boston Consulting Group items can be analyzed both by market growth rate and relative market share, which are defined by the following four categories: Star, Question Mark, Cash Cow, and Dog. The Star has a high market growth and a high market share. Essentially you'd want a Star for an item to be completely successful. An example of a Star item would be Apps for the iPhone. "There are some $200 million worth of applications sold in Apple's iPhone store every month, or about $2.4 billion a year" (Om Malik). It's completely successful, convenient and it works. An example of a Question Mark would be Nintendo's Wii; it has a high growth rate, but a low market share. "Worldwide sales of the [Wii] have nearly reach 30 million - not that much less than Xbox 360 and PS3 sales combined" (Tom Bramwell). Lots of households have a Wii but is it really making money?? No, we're waiting on the next big thing that we can do with it. Xbox would fall under the Cash Cow because it has a high market share but low growth rate. An Xbox forum online stated that "Xbox's market share has jumped 4% in the Japanese Market." Not many people own Xbox's, therefore there is no growth but because of their popular games Call of Duty series, their market share is high. Lastly, a console that would be considered a Dog is the Nintendo DS. It has a low market growth rate and a low market share. Not many people own DS's because there really isn't anything that exciting that make people want to pick it up and play with it. Therefore concluding that there's no growth leading to a low market share. Video games are not that popular anymore because phone applications are what's making money and growing day by day. 

EOC Week 1: Great Customer Service

I want to share with you a great customer service experience that I have encountered recently. Considering that I need to develop my own workstation at home for all my work, I have, a little ashamed, seemed to be on a shopping spree for a few of audio equipment lately. I contemplate on the pros and cons of buying equipment whether it's a necessity or a desire, because in this economy, you have to triple think about spending money. With the new release of Pro Tools 9, I decided to crossgrade from LE to 9. Within that same week I ordered new studio monitors (Yamaha SM50ms) which I lacked, and also bought a new set of headphones (Sony MDR-7506) for mixing. To buy all these new and exciting toys, I decided to purchase them through Sweetwater.com. What I didn't know before I made these purchases with them for the first time is the customer service they provide. Shortly after I clicked "checkout", I had already received an email from the Senior Sales Engineer letting me know I needed to show proof that I am a student to be able to get the student discount for the crossgrade. He then also called me and left a message explaining the same thing verbally. I called him back and settled everything. He was extremely nice and helpful. Within days upon my arrival with all my goodies, I have received THREE calls from him randomly to check up on me and that all that I purchased was working fine. "Customer relationships and value are especially important in today's tough economic times, when more frugal consumers are cutting back and spending more carefully" (Marketing 4). I believe that this is true and through my experience with Sweetwater, I have their trust and value their direction with customer service.

EOC Week 1: My Voice

Hello everyone! My name is Norell Garcia and I am currently practicing and applying my skills as an audio professional at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. In the process of finding my niche and what I want to do to contribute my work and passion, I have excited my juices within me to love and admire audio. I have come to acknowledge the importance of audio in post-production scenarios with precision and quality that make music and film a great piece of art. Two standard industry programs I use are Avid's Pro Tools and Media Composer. I have worked with some Digital Audio Workstations such as the Control 24, DigiDesign 002, Yamaha MG166cx, Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro, and the SSL Duality. With these operators and mediums, I record, edit and master my work. I enjoy the process of putting something together where I can utilize my organization and unique ideas for a successful final product. I especially love the craft and artistry of Foley and Sound Design. My work seems less like work because it's fun and enjoyable for me. Feel free to follow me via Twitter/norellgarcia or email me at norell.audio@gmail.com!