ELEC4445 – Entrepreneurial EngineeringAssignment 2 – Headlines The goal of this assignment is to relate the concepts covered during the class to real life events currently taking place in the technology sector. For example consider the following: Here is the ar*cle you can send.... – Sea Changes, Internet, Business Model Several arJsts have wriKen about the specific environmental costs associated with cryptoart. Numbers vary, but minJng artwork on the blockchain uses somewhere between weeks, months, years, of an average EU or US ciJzen’s energy consumpJon. During unprecedented temperature increases, sea level rise, the total loss of permanent sea ice, widespread species exJncJon, countless severe weather events, and all the other hallmarks of total climate collapse, this kind of gleeful wastefulness is, and I am not being hyperbolic, a crime against humanity. Everest Pipkin – hKps://bit.ly/3cgb3S1 This contribuJon – in the form of Medium post – covers fundamental concerns about emerging markets associated with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) . The Jtle “Here is the arJcle you can send....” is tagged with the keywords “Sea Changes”, “Internet” and “Business Models” followed by a brief extract and on-line references in the form of a (shortened) URL. You are requested to write a 2,000 word essay on one of the headlines made available, focussing on the key concept(s) idenJfied by the associated tags (e.g. “Sea Changes” in the above case). In doing so, you should:
Available headlines Movies and the Internet – Business model, P/E raJos Neklix was never a great business. The logic evolved from sending movies as DVDs by email, ordered through an online catalog, to having the same selecJon available for download (streaming). Everything was subscripJon-based so bundling gave movies a “binging” consumpJon opJon. But this depended on the having access to good Jtles. The access was easy at first since Neklix was a new channel and it was a bonus for the movie publisher. Pure margin. But over Jme the movie publishers saw the new channel eaJng into exisJng distribuJon and they thought they could deliver it themselves, increasing margins. The catalogs were suddenly cut off. Asymco – hKps://bit.ly/3Jwuc0Z Disney+ grows to 152 million subscriber – Business model Disney+, by itself, is sJll behind Neklix, but sJll, this is something. To me, it betrays Neklix’s glaring weakness: they’ve got nothing but their streaming service. I think what’s going to shake out is that streaming services are an add-on to fundamental products, not a fundamental product in and of themselves. Daring Fireballs – hKps://bit.ly/3pbTOH7 Minecra@ Is Banning NFTs – Business model, Web 3.0, Internet “NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots,” Mojang’s noJce says. “The speculaJve pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.” Variety – hKps://bit.ly/3Qwkiz2 Should we be trying to create a circular urine economy? – Business idea, opportunity According to the website of the Rich Earth InsJtute, a Vermont-based company focused on using human waste as a resource, most of the nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater comes from human urine, even though it makes up only 1 percent of wastewater. Removing urine could remove 75 percent of the nitrogen and 55 percent of the phosphorus from municipal wastewater treatment plants. And those nutrients could then be recycled for use as ferJlizer. Ars Technica – hKps://bit.ly/3R1FrkM Shein is the future of fast fashion. Is that a good thing? – Business model, ethics, IP If you’ve spent some Jme scrolling and shopping on TikTok, you’re probably familiar with the fashion retailer Shein. From personal experience, however, “familiar” doesn’t properly contextualize how pervasive the brand is, at least online. Perhaps a more accurate descripJon is: I am haunted by Shein. As a consumer who falls squarely within the brand’s target demographic — a woman in her 20s, who buys most of her clothes online — I encounter Shein-related content almost daily, algorithmically fed to me through Instagram adverJsements, YouTube hauls, and viral TikTok recommendaJons. Assignment 2 Page 2 of 4 ELEC4445/GSOE9445 T3/2022 Vox – hKps://bit.ly/3PFroQK US government to make all research it funds open access on publica*on – IP [...] on Thursday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) dropped a big one that seemed to take everyone by surprise. StarJng in 2026, any scienJfic publicaJon that receives federal funding will need to be openly accessible on the day it's published. Ars Technica – hKps://bit.ly/3AQ2nhK Facebook’s Four Problems – Business model, opportunity, managing growth The stock has fallen more than 50 percent over the past year. In the most recent quarter, company revenue fell slightly and profits fell 36 percent. Mark Zuckerberg, the chief execuJve, blamed a broad economic downturn that had reduced spending on digital ads, and it certainly played a role. But the specific problems facing Meta, as Facebook’s parent company is now called, seem to be the main cause. The New-York Times – hKps://nyJ.ms/3Rm4X4k With Stable Diffusion, you may never believe what you see online again – Sea change, disrupJon AI image generaJon is here in a big way. A newly released open source image synthesis model called Stable Diffusion allows anyone with a PC and a decent GPU to conjure up almost any visual reality they can imagine. It can imitate virtually any visual style, and if you feed it a descripJve phrase, the results appear on your screen like magic. Ars Technica – hKps://bit.ly/3THGecN The Secret Life of Selfies: How a Beauty Tech Startup Is Using AI to Match Faces With Products – Opportunity, disrupJon, unicorns, venture capital Looking to buy a new lipsJck? Perhaps you’d rather digiJze the process by uploading a selfie to L’Oreal, Nars or Macy’s and trying on shades virtually. Seems harmless enough—unJl the technology analyzes your face for traits like neuroJcism and extroversion. Zara Stone takes us inside Perfect Corp., a Taiwanese unicorn looking to revamp the beauty industry with the backing of investors like Snap, Chanel, Goldman Sachs and Alibaba. Though seemingly cosmeJc, the company’s face-dissecJng technologies are opening the door to some dystopian possibiliJes. The InformaJon – hKps://bit.ly/3U2oym How Twitch lost the baTle for its soul – Business model, revenue streams TThe reacJon to the news that Twitch intends to change how it splits revenue with partnered streamers has been, on the whole, completely and uKerly negaJve. Streamers at every level of growth, from the big-Jme partners to the smallest affiliates, were displeased to learn that the 70 / 30 revenue sharing split that had been long asked for — and is the standard or beKer elsewhere — was not only being rejected but being slowly phased out completely. The Verge – hKps://bit.ly/3SB9HUh
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