Final Summary of The Financial Planner

I remember sitting in IST class that day in January, it was the beginning of the spring semester, and I was taking notes on  my laptop and I remember the feeling of shock and fear that ran through me as I heard Professor Rubin announce the first project of the semester, a one which required you to start an entirely new business venture at that. For years, I'd thought that I was almost incapable of coming up with a business venture that was good, I'd decided that I had no creativity. Yet, the key which sparked my creative side and my interest in the financial planner was the ability to really sit there, sit back and really think for a minute as to what is something that many people are in dire need of or something that me and my family could have used that people could easily relate to and see a need for. And so I came up with the financial planner, but the key with this entrepreneurial idea, as is the case with any entrepreneurial idea there MUST be a desire and passion from you for the idea that you are presenting. If that is not there, then you will not be able to push past adversity and hard times that you encounter with your idea.

Initially, once I found out that this is what I wanted to for my project I figured that aside from just the realm of the classroom, this was something which I could maybe take further than the scope of the IST 195 class, because of the usefulness that it could have to many families that may not be very fiscally responsible. Initially, I had started the project only looking at things from a very small scale, not having too much of an idea as to the details and specifics of what this financial planner would have. But what helped me through week by week  were two very important things: the lessons I learned in IST 195 class, and simple brainstorming as to what the general public has a dire need for. Through these things I learned to not only put myself in the shoes of an average or low class American family who may not have the best financial planning or standing, but to also in what ways would this device has been helpful to me and my family growing up.

So, as the weeks went on I went from basic ideas as to what I would like to implement into the financial planner to the nitty gritty specifics. From a simple idea of a planner mounted on the wall, the size of an Ipad, to looking to connect with major companies to set up payment plans, to voice recognition, automated alarms and touchscreen. I have made major revisions to my entrepreneurial idea as the semester has gone on. IST 195 class has helped a great deal in letting me know the importance and necessity for many of the class topics, such as networking, knowing the inner workings of Excel, Spreadsheet, Social Media, RFID's, computer's, etc. Not being the most tech-savvy person in the world, Professor Rubin opened my eyes to the significance of these programs along with several others. In essence, any start-up, or  even somewhat successful business would not be able to survive without implementing some if not all of these things into the workings of their company.

All in all, I had a wonderful experience with the project, considering that it opened my eyes to the fact that everybody is creative and innovative in their own ways. I very much appreciated this project, and it has just made my experience with this class that much more enjoyable. The students' blogs which I commented on were Joseph Turuseta, Andre Sadler and Sam Cass.

Blog Review Post On Peter Rojas

A 36 year old man ,with various businesses valued at a couple billion and proclaimed the " best-compensated blogger in history". Yeah I'd say he's pretty successful. If one was to take a closer look at Peter Rojas' background, often times most would come to same conclusion, this guy's doing the stuff he loves! Starting as an Assistant Media Planner in 99', Rojas secured a number of jobs which in one way or another all relate to blogging or somehow informing the general public of new developments in technology and how they would affect us day in and day out, Rojas is in every sense of the word, an entrepreneur in the field of technology. A graduate of Harvard University, Rojas is the co-founder of Gizmodo, Engadget and gdgt, three of the most influential and cutting-edge technology websites in today's world.  Yet, even though Mr. Rojas has several extremely successful ventures the one which I would like to focus on here and which I would feel is most beneficial to our Information Studies class is, Engadget.

Founded in March of 2004, Engadget is one of the up and coming websites which focuses particularly on technology weblog and reviews and ratings of consumer electronics. Looking to expand and appeal to a wider range of people, not only including the U.S., Engadget services publish in seven languages including, English, Spanish, Polish, German, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. The main purpose of Engadget is to provide to the general public a review about new products in technology and to inform them of the shortcomings of the products, companies, as well as the positive things about the product, company,etc. This site is updated several times a day with blog posts about gadgets and consumer electronics. In addition, it stirs the pot by producing rumors about things in the technological world, which can provide a negative or positive buzz for the business presenting the product to the consumer.

Lastly, Engadget hosts a weekly podcast and shows which showcase a diverse range of products in technology which are not too often covered in the frequent blog posts. The Engadget podcast is a major success through its collaborations by subscription with companies such as Zune, Itunes, etc. The topic of discussion varies from week to week but is always oriented towards things pertaining to technology. The Engadget show also has major connections with Microsoft,HTC,Google, NASA,Adobe Systems, Samsung etc., all of these which give more notoriety to Rojas' blogs and his companies reviews. Overall, Engadget proves to be effective in one of its main purposes, which is to provide to tech-lovers through blogging, an in-depth but understandable review of products which the consumer(s) are interested in.

Link to Peter Rojas' Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/

The Financial Planner & How To Properly Handle Your Personal Information

For many of those whom have followed my past blog posts, then majority of them know of my entrepreneurial idea to start a financial planner of sorts. A very important part of making that happen is implementing vital personal information, such as passwords, email addresses, account numbers and maybe even valuable information about debit or credit cards. With all this information necessary for you to track your money and pay back bills and other monetary concerns in a timely manner, the protection of this information is very important to the safety of the user(s) of the product. What i'll be explaining to you guys today in this blog is exactly how major of a part that computer forensics & operating systems plays in the safety & running of the financial planner.

By nature, a good amount of personal information has to be put into the financial planner, so that it may be effective.And the last thing that we would want to do is to risk identity theft or have someone retrieve information that we would not want them seeing. Professor Rubin explains to us that in today's "tech-savvy" world, this is too often the case, where criminals are easily accessing and taking advantage of personal information at another person's expense. However, there are several ways as to how you can prevent someone from taking advantage of you. Some of these include putting a password on your financial planner, not providing vital personal information without a just cause, checking your bills to look for irregularities in charges and most importantly destroying all your important files and documents after you no longer have a need for them. If someone was to use the financial planner but neglect to protect themselves from criminals, then their identity could be stolen, credit could be ruined, money could be stolen, not to mention risking physical danger.

Multitasking, is an essential part of the basic functioning of a product such as the financial planner, and this is where the importance of having a good operating system comes in. Without a decent operating system, many of your usual everyday products, such as ipad's and itouch's wouldn't work.  It is necessary for a product that is going to be handling a vast array of things such as handling several bills at once and processing the management of money to be equipped with a system that can do it efficiently. Professor Rubin related directly back to this when he detailed for us the difference between types of multitasking, types of operating systems and most importantly which system is most fit for what you are trying to do.

Where Does Sound Factor In ?

In a product that seems so focused on and oriented towards helping families maintaining financial stability, sound and a clear understanding of it plays a major part in keeping this idea up & running. Many may read this and say, how, or in what way, but what I will show here is that in truth without the use of sound and audio implemented into this financial planner idea, then it wouldn't function nearly as efficiently as it should. Imagine if your alarm clock never rang as it was supposed to, or a fire alarm never sounded off as it should in a potential, life-threatening fire ? Of course the consequences of this could be very negative, and the same applies for the financial planner.

The financial planner idea which I have is not only meant for the sole purpose of telling families that they have bills to pay & how they should allocate their funds; but it also serves as a way to physically alert the members of the household that they have an expense that is coming up, overdue, or that they have incurred a  new or potentially suspicious charge. Suppose, you had a monumental charge that occurred on your account that you had forgot to pay and were gathering interest upon because of your negligence, or maybe acquired a charge that was unwarranted, if the alarm wasn't loud or clear enough to alert you, then you would be in a very bad situation. This relates to Professor Rubin's lecture in that he details for us the importance of having the proper audio.

If the type of sound that I want the financial planner to produce when an alert goes off is not compatible with the format of the device then a problem will occur which could lead to other potential problems. Also the audio level does play a major part in the overall device. If the device is not loud enough for any one to here, then it would be irrelevant to have and this could also problems, such as payment dates or personal, family monetary issues that need to be taken care of .