The death of the catalogue:Online Marketing

The death of the catalogue: Online Marketing

In the last financial year Argos sales totalled to 4.3 billion and it has employed 33,000 people. On average 18 million people have an Argos book in their household, which is two thirds of the population  However The “laminated book of dreams” could get the axe because the struggling chain announced a shakeup that includes at least one in ten stores closing down within the next 5 years. With the growth of online marketing and web sales will Argos will not remove their catalogue, nevertheless they will reduce the production of them precipitously due to a 3% drop in earnings.

 Argos has faced intense competition with online retailers like Amazon and play. However Argos have taken action by putting internet access in stores, Wi-Fi and a fast track collection service

Open University

The Open University

The Open University is the largest academic institution in the UK, in terms of student numbers. It has:

•     more than 250,000 students
•     close to 7,000 tutors
•     more than 1,200 full-time academic staff
•     more than 3,500 support and administrative staff

The Open University is unique because it is the only university in the UK that is dedicated to distance learning. Although it has an administrative building, there are no lecture theatres, seminar rooms or halls of residence. Instead, all students studying via the OU get to study their degree from home - being sent relevant materials via the post or by email and completing and returning the essays and assessments by the same method.

·         It was established in 1969, and the first students started in January 1971. The majority of students are based in the UK, but its courses can be studied from anywhere in the world.

·         The administration is based at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, but has regional centres in each of its thirteen regions around the UK.

·         It was rated top University in England and Wales for student satisfaction in the 2005 and 2006 UK government national student satisfaction survey.

Entertainment & Leisure

Entertainment and leisure

Virtually every area of the entertainment has been touched with by digital technology. Digital technologies enable more personal creativity because it is very cheap to produce magazines, music videos, radio and books together however this has the effect of:

-Providing a fantastic variety and allowing new talent to publish

-Allowing a great deal of mediocre work to be published

-Creating a certain similarity in feel to great deal of what is published.

Consumers have more variety of choice in entertainment as a result of digital age.Sky+ allows consumers to record TV onto a hard disc. The simplicity and flexibility makes it easy for people to create their own personal channel onto which which they can record their favourite programs. Furthermore it allows you to skip the advertisements that fund that particular show. However this could have a major effect on the way we pay for TV. 

Another way ICT has impacted on entertainment is communication. Before you were restricted to the lounge or cinema at set times but now it's available at anytime or anywhere. MP3 players and iPod's are conveniently small and allows you to listen to your music library whilst you are on the move whereas before you had a have to carry large CD player. DVD recorders allows you to record films or TV programs in high quality and watch them anywhere and anytime a DVD player is available. 

Before if you wanted to watch a film or tv program  you only had limited sources to watch it on

Crime and crime prevention

Spam texting

How to prevent spam text messages:

1. Guard you phone number

Your mobile phone number is a valuable piece of information and something that spam messengers are trying to get your number.

Do not give out your mobile number when registering for websites online and don’t post your number on any internet site where it could be picked up and passed on without your knowledge.

In most cases you can refuse permission for the company to share your details with third parties, so make sure you tick or un-tick the “share details” option when filling in registration forms.

2. Don’t reply to spam messages

While legitimate marketing and advertising text messages can be stopped by texting STOP or STOP ALL to each message, if you receive a spam message replying in this way is a bad idea.

This is because it will notify the sender of the spam message that your mobile number is active and in use and could lead to you receiving more messages.

3 Check your bill

Several people are finding that they are being charged for receiving spam text messages – sometimes anywhere up to £5 a message!

This can quickly make your bills rocket, so make sure to check each bill and report these

In most cases you can refuse permission for the company to share your details with third parties, so make sure you tick or un-tick the “share details” option when filling in registration forms.

Statistics

·        Spam accounts for 14.5 billion messages globally per day accounts for 14.5 billion messages globally per day.

·      According to a study by the Radicati Research Group Inc., a research firm based in Palo Alto, California, spam costs businesses $20.5 billion annually in decreased productivity as well as in technical expenses.

·         Advertising-related email accounts for approximately 36% of all spam messages. The second most common category of spam is adult-related in subject and makes up roughly 31.7% of all spam

·         http://www.spamlaws.com/spam-stats.html

how technology has changed how crime is committed and how it is detected.

Crime Prevention

 – CCTV

– street lighting

– citizen protection devices(e.g. mace,
tasers)

– metal detectors,

– ignition interlock systems(drunk drivers)

– Threat assessment instruments

– facial recognition software used in
conjunction with CCTV

I phone rotten to the core?

Foxcom (Taiwanese manufacturer of Apple iphones, ipads etc) have been criticized over working conditions at it's factories. A worker who was brain damaged in an accident at Shenzhen plant where a life threatening electric shock occurred has been threatened to be cut off funding for his treatment if he doesn't report back to a disability assessment. Apple has been caught on flaws, the approaches has been that of “fix and repent” or “deny and rectify” than to issue . It is difficult to imagine that Apple is above criticism or that the negative publicity will not hurt the brand in the long run. For now however Apple’s burgeoning fan base seems unfazed by these flaws. 

Steve jobs said that the "current crop of 7 inch tablets are going to be DOA- dead on arrival. However since the departure of Steve jobs Apple have released a new tablet called the i pad mini because other companies like Amazon and Google were selling 7 inch tablets and making large profits. The iPad mini  thin and light, the iPad mini is the perfect size for holding in one hand. The iPad mini also fits comfortably in the pocket of a coat or a handbag. prices starting at £269 for the GB.

public apologies and face flak.

Texting: 20th anniversary

SMS 20th anniversary 

Today, text messaging is the most widely used mobile data service, with 74% of all mobile phone users worldwide, or 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion phone subscribers communicating via text message.

Research has shown that driving while texting is twice as dangerous as drunk driving. One example of distraction behind the wheel is the 2008 Chatsworth train collision, which killed 25 passengers. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the train driver had sent 45 text messages prior to the crash

In 2010, we sent an astonishing 6.1 trillion text messages or 192 000 per second! Our obsession earns the telecoms industry $114.6 billion a year

The first SMS ever sent was in 1992 by Brit Neil Papworth who texted ‘Happy Christmas’ to Vodafone director Richard Jarvis at a staff Christmas party. Papworth sent the Short Messaging Service from his work computer to an Orbitel 901 handset.

It is the single most-widely used application in the world - 81-percent of mobile phone subscribers use it.

According to Britain's independent communications industries regulator OFCOM, more than 150 billion texts were sent in 2011 alone

However texting will be at a decline because of twitter,whats app and facebook and other social network sites which allows you to send free instant messages.

 

 

 

 

 

http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/02/22/thanx-v-much-celebrating-20-years-of-the-humble-text-message/

 

Life in the information age: Hoax sites

Drawbacks to the internet as a source of information

   -It is easy to publish on the internet; anyone across the world can do it.  

   -There are a lot of unscrupulous businesses that have sprung up on the internet to take advantage of people.

   -Another growing problem is that many information providers are finding means of charging for their information that had been previously free.

   -Hackers can create viruses that can get into your personal computer and ruin valuable data.

                       

                                     Examples of fake websites

 

 

            

 

http://www.thedogisland.com/

 

This a fake website about an island where dogs are free to roam and bark and play all day long. Think dog sanctuary and you're there. Contains photographs, a rate card and many other resources.                

http://www.fvza.org/

 

 

 

Clearly nonsensical, but the question is - do these people really believe in what they're saying, and are just nuts, or are they creating a spoof site and they know it?

 

How do you know a site is real?

 

Many websites are scams trying to get money or personal information from honest, hard-working people. Real websites represent legitimate companies.
If there is not a full address with a house number or phone number for the company is most likely it is a hoax website.  Check the copyright date on the website. This is often listed at the bottom of the home page or the contact page. Current dates are more reliable than older dates, although some legitimate websites were created many years ago. Check the website to see if there is a Better Business Bureau logo. These logos indicate that the website owner is an approved member of the BBB.