The Dismal Trend in Audio Quality

Music appreciation has been increasing over the last 10 years, mostly due to popularity of portable music players including iPods. It seems like almost everybody owns an iPod, from young girls with Hannah Montana iPod cases to the Queen of England, thanks to President Obama.

Technology has allowed a wide range of music to be accessible to many different types of people. Because of this trend in technology, it would naturally seem that audio quality has improved as well. Unfortunately, this is definitely not the case.

Over 90% of the time that I see a person listening to an iPod, they are listening with the included headphones. If you have not heard these headphones, they sound worse than a clock radio from the '70s. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

I don't see how a person can spend $300 on a fancy audio player, just to listen to headphones that sound like neanderthal speakers (such as these). This would be similar to a mom buying a Ferrari only so she can take her kids to school.

I'm sorry if I have offended you, but all I ask is for consumers to spend $50 or more on a good set of headphones (Sennheiser, Grado, Bose, AKG). I promise it will be worth it, and $50 isn't much after dropping $300 on an iPod. Your ears will thank you.

President Obama at G-20 Meeting!

A Simple Understanding: G-20

In these past few days, the topic of many front page headlines has been the G-20 meeting (it also was the subject of my article "Consumer Power"). Everyone talks about G-20 as if it is common knowledge, when in reality, most people have no idea what G-20 is or means.

G-20 is a group of central bank governors from 20 of the most powerful economies of the world. They meet once a year to discuss, announce, study and review global finance. The goal of a G-20 meeting is to balance and maintain the global economy. Each year the meeting takes place in a different country, for instance this year the meeting is to be held in London.

The G-20 meeting this year is getting so much attention due to the fact of the global recession, which is the number one subject. They will look at and discuss many alternatives on how to solve this global mess.

Official Frog Domain Desktop Wallpaper Released!

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Hats off for Obama

For those of you that have read some of my past articles, you know that I have had many disagreements with president Obama. This current GM situation that has arisen, could have given Obama one more reason for me to disagree with him. He could have, once again, decided to bailout the automakers with a few hundred billion dollars, but in all honesty, I must say that I agree with him.

Obama did two things right: 1) He said that a  “pre-packaged” bankruptcy is the best conclusion for GM. The details of “pre-packaged” are not yet clear. 2) Wagoner was forced out. This situation, and quite frankly, my opinion, might offend many Americans. Many people may lose their jobs, and many more people may lose money in stocks, but we need to remember our values as Americans. Companies take risks, when a company like GM fails, all of America feels it, but we cannot let private companies become “risk-free”. A “risk-free” company is a nationalized company. We will understand more once “pre-packaged” bankruptcy is defined.

Wagoner needed to step down. Obama asked him to come up with a plan-of-attack and Wagoner could not do so. Any CEO that can no longer lead the company should step down. Thanks for your honesty Wagoner.

As of right now, Obama’s intentions are not yet clear. We do know that respect for capitalism is probably not the reason he chose not to bailout GM, but we do know he made a correct decision. I respect Obama for his decision today and hopefully it is for the right intentions tomorrow. 

Amazon Mechanical Turk: It Just Makes Cents

It seems like many internet users are looking for great ways to make money online. Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) might be the solution to that problem... Maybe...

AMT is a service provided by Amazon that provides work opportunities for internet users. A user must sign up to participate, and payments are issued through direct deposits into bank accounts or by Amazon gift cards if you don't trust posting your bank account online (like me).

So what type of work can be done on AMT? Basically different clients of Amazon post online jobs (called hits) that they desire for their site that a robot cannot do. These hits require human input (such as choosing a picture that matches a topic) and do not require much skill.

About 75% of the hits are extremely simple and provide payouts of about 10 cents per job (not much, I know). There are hits that pay much higher (I've seen up to $10), but these require a HUGE amount of effort and are not worth the rewards.

As you can probably see above, AMT is not a job that you can do full time and make minimum wage. The best time to do a hit would be during times of extreme boredom. It is not worth the time if you have better things to be doing. Over time, these small hits can add up to, say, a free DVD on Amazon or some money off a purchase.

Amazon Mechanical Turk is a great idea because it benefits users and Amazon clients. It is also one of the few sites online where users can legitimately make money, even though it is not much. If you have some free time and do not care about making a large amount of money, try Amazon Mechanical Turk. If not, I don't blame you.

Karate Obama Strikes again!

Review: HowStuffWorks - The Answer to Life's Questions

I find it extremely hard to find a good site on the internet that provides an in-depth answer of a question that I have. Most sites such as WikiAnswers and Yahoo! Answers answer basic questions by providing a short, quick answer to a question. Unfortunately, they do not have the ability to answer a question that has a long, complex answer.

HowStuffWorks is extremely different from these sites. It thouroughly describes topics that cannot be summarized in one sentence. HowStuffWorks answers questions like "What causes rigor mortis?" and "How do solar panels work?" with several pages of valuable information covering the topic. It also provides answers in many interesting technological areas such as how computers, cell phones, and GPS systems work, as well as almost any other topic you can think of.

Hours can easily be spent looking through what appears to be endless information on HowStuffWorks. It is one of the few websites I have seen that actually benefits society by improving user knowledge. The site looks very clean, and it is easy to search for a specific area of inquiry. For questions about processeses or to learn about how things work, I highly recommend HowStuffWorks.

Consumer Power

It has taken many years for America to transform from a producing nation, to a consumer nation. We now produce nearly nothing. America strives on innovation and intellect instead of labor. In other words: 1) Americans have ideas. 2) These ideas are produced in other countries. 3) Americans buy. It’s a circle that has somehow existed for quite some time.

The problem is that due to this current economic downturn, Americans are no longer buying. Without anyone buying, production in other countries is beginning to slow at an extremely fast pace. The “Big 3”, are no longer the only ones hurting; Toyota has nearly hit a brick wall. Producing countries, such as China, are putting pressure on the American Economic system. America was the anchor to the world economy, and it has slipped.  

Obama is planning his first overseas trip as president to discuss economics in London. He will be faced with an immense amount of pressure. American economics, as we know it, will be put to the test. Government intervention seems to be Obama’s personal belief when it comes to solving economic problems. This, Geithner’s “Newer Deal” and the G-20 meeting this Tuesday sounds like a recipe for economic change.

What are we to expect, not just from this upcoming meeting, but in the near future? The world’s goal will be to minimize the effects of American capitalism (if we can still call it that) upon the world. In fact, many countries would love to see a total nationalization of America’s largest banks. Obama will most likely have to defend as to why a complete nationalization did not take place. One of China’s many goals is to make sure their investments in American loans do not go unpaid. China spent the entire Bush administration buying up old American debts. This will be a large focus for the Chinese. America’s goals, according to what Obama has been preaching, will be to become less reliant on others and bring jobs back to America. These goals will be accomplished by trade tariffs.

Most likely, this meeting will be an over announced and over rated exchange of pleasantries in a room full of demagogues. Get excited.