Michael T. Ligayo - NU12 (10th out of 12) Smartphone apps for cars

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my NU12 submission for this week. (10th out of 12)

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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SMARTPHONE APP FOR THE INTELLIGENT MODERN CAR

How many times have you lost your car key? Or if your car is keyless, how many times did you have to worry about its mechanism? Did it irritated you that either your power lock or power window does not work simply and you had to go to the dealer or your friendly-neighborhood "talyer"  on to find out that the electrical connection between the dashboard and the door has a problem? Did you ever miss schedules of car maintenance causing some poor car performance? Have you gone frustrated on thick manuals and no idea where to look for? Was there ever a time when either your son / daughter borrowed the family car and you have no idea where they went? Was there a situation that you parked your car and you don't remember where you actually parked it? How many times have you left lights on and only found out about it when you can longer start the car?

I would bet a finger that at all of us has experienced at least either one or two of the situations above. And we always have issues on the electrical connections of the car or the mechanisms or simply the schedules of maintenance. And this is for good reason. At least not in any written literature that the electronics and mechanical features of the car has been integrated. The components of a car is being manufactured by several companies and the attempt between these companies to connect or integrate their products remains to be a dream up until this moment, especially since the companies involved are at times competitors of the other. Thus, the technology that is incorporated into the vehicle has never been integrated.

With the rise of the smartphone applications, this can be possible. Car manufacturers can design a downloadable phone application or accessible to the car dealer in which a new car owner can register and personalize. The application can communicate to the car making it a support to what the dashboard can do. Its functions can be connected to the vehicle through technologies like Bluetooth and the Internet. Naturally, settings would have to be personalized and registered. (This is where the unique Vehicle Identification Number can be used.)

It is very important to take note, however, that the car manufacturer should initiate this feature. This is for two reasons: (1) it is only the car manufacturer who would be able to integrate all the mechanisms and technologies that are coming from several companies and (2) there might additional hardware that needs to be added to the car in order for it to be able to communicate with the smartphone.

Here are some of the things that the application can do:

Through Bluetooth, the application can get information from the car to:

1.    Start the car

2.    Put up and down the window

3.    Open the locks

4.    Transfer music and videos to the entertainment system of car

5.    Inform the owner that it is time for a change oil

6.    Change air conditioner settings

7.    Automatically shut-off all lights and other car accessories if there are no people inside

8.    Change music and video settings

Through the Internet, the application can get information from the car to:

1.    Determine its current location

Other features:

1.    An easily accessible electronic manual

2.    Calendar features to remind the owner to change tires, change wiper, have cooling system cleaned or other maintenance activities necessary for the proper and continuous functioning of the vehicle

3.    Maintain a security setting such it will only be known to the owner

4.    Make available the production records of the vehicle (which is available on the car manufacturer)

Obviously, since the Internet is not yet 100% accessible on all location, the power of Bluetooth technology can be harnessed to do much of the features. With these, your smartphone is not only a gadget but also a remote control for the car. Finally, this application would be able to (1) integrate the technologies and features of the car, (2) would give alternatives to the current mechanically-dependent functions and replace it with electronic signals instead and (3) answer the common problems and issues we all encounter in a car using a one-stop-shop deal.4

Michael Ligayo - NU12 for Week of April 16, 2012

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my NU12 for this week – week of April 16, 2012.

Regards,

Michael

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Online Grocery Delivery

How many times have you been pissed-off in the grocery store because of long-lines? How many hours have been wasted waiting just to get to that cashier? How many times have you encountered asking one of the merchandisers to go back to supermarket racks to check the price of an item and the cashier cannot continue? How you gotten dizzy going back-and-forth alleys-after-alleys trying to find an item or looking for a shopping cart? For married men, what creative ways have you thought of to pick-up those items that only your wife uses? Have you ever paid for something that your child broke or shattered? More importantly, how many times have you been so embarrassed because shopping in the supermarket got out-of-hand and you did not have enough money to pay for what you got or your credit card was declined?

Well, we all experienced the discomforts and annoyance brought about by doing the grocery shopping chore. I would bet my finger if a person who does regularly grocery shopping would not have a story to tell. My mom and I were doing our regular bi-weekly grocery shopping at SM Sta. Rosa last Saturday, April 14, 2012. Unfortunately, because it was that time of the month when salaries are released, the in surge of people getting into the supermarket was unstoppable. More and more people gets into the alleys looking for their own items and lines into the cashier are getting longer and longer. These are just some of the problems that we encounter in the supermarket that pisses us off.

Here are some specific issues that I can enumerate with the current supermarket system. Of course, there are a lot more than what this list contains but I am hoping that this is enough to show the issues:

·         Supermarkets are seasonal businesses. This means that there is a particular season or time(s) of the year when there is a sudden increase on the number of customers, such as Christmas, release of salaries, etc. Unfortunately, most supermarkets are not designed to match the increase in the number of people, meaning, not much adjustment can be done by the supermarket and what the shoppers can do is just to wait for their turn in the cashier or wait for an alley to free-up. This is a similar problem with the number of shopping carts. Obviously, this is a waste of time and effort.

·         Some supermarkets are not arranged well. Racks and display areas can be very confusing and sometimes, you need to look for them or ask merchandisers for help.

·         In addition to this, some of the displays (such are those in bottles or glass) are in areas / rack levels where children can reach. This can result to breakage and parents have to pay for it.

·         Going to the supermarket can be a very tedious job and sometimes you really have to set aside a time for it in the morning or mid-afternoon just to complete the chore.

·         Because shopping carts are so exposed, passers-by usually see what is in your cart. Sometimes it becomes annoying as you see people stare at the cart and check on the person pushing it.

·         Advertising in the supermarket is so intense. There are a lot of items in front of you and unfortunately, this sometimes causes shopping to get out-of-the-budget. In addition to this, you only find out about the total price of your grocery at the cashier – where it can be embarrassing to come back or return or items.

·         There is difficulty ensuring that none of the items are destroyed or spoiled. For example, some people pick-up items on the freezer and simply leaves them on the open racks in case they do not want to purchase it anymore. This can cause spoilage of the items. Another example would be the items that fall on the floor and other shoppers only kick them somewhere else.

·         In addition, there is a lot of difficulty controlling FIFO or First-In-First-Out, which is the main warehouse management system in a supermarket. Since most of the items are perishable, non-compliance to FIFO can result to spoilage.

·         Finally, there is a huge inventory requirement because displays have to be extensive to make the supermarket attractive. This is of course aside from the fact that supermarket building has to be maintained. These can be costs to the company.

In summary, there are a lot issues and problems in the current system of the supermarket. This involves both the shoppers and business owners as well. The challenge is make the system convenient to both of these parties.

Basics of the Idea:

Given this premise, I thought of a new idea – online grocery delivery. The procedure is very simple. The shopper goes into the Internet, do a log-in, pick the item and indicate the quantity per item on an extensive list of supermarket products and closes the transaction by paying through online payment schemes. Once the transaction is done, the warehouse of the online supermarket system would assemble the grocery items and delivers it to customer. Sounds pretty simple and much more convenient, right? The key to the system is the platform / software that will be used. The features of the software will determine whether the shopping experience will be truly convenient or not. It must be taken note that at this point, the main advantage of this system is convenience compared to the current practice.

Platform of the Proposed Online System:

Whoever gets into this type of business can have two choices on how to create the software / platform. He can either have software developed by web developers or use currently available open source (software that has already been developed for a specific use, usually free of charge) software that can be found in the Internet. The former, obviously, has more disadvantages over the latter in terms of cost and time. In the effort to further develop this idea, I went to the Internet and looked for possible e-commerce platforms and came across www.LiteCommerce.com.

Figure 1. Log-In Interface of www.LiteCommerce.com

LiteCommerce is a PHP+MySQL-based e-commerce software is created to make running e-commerce store as easy as surfing the web. It is an open source type of software that can be downloaded and installed. Along with several other softwares that are available in the market, it can act as a buying and selling point as well as a Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. LiteCommerce has two primary interfaces:

·         Customer interface (shopping cart plus integrated product catalog)

·         Admin interface (web-based control center, shown in Figure 2)

Figure 2. Administrator Panel of www.LiteCommerce.com

Some of the main functions of the software are: (1) online / e-commerce buying and selling, (2) users can either set-up e-commerce business or buy online from existing users and (3) create e-commerce websites. Table 1 summarizes the features of www.LiteCommerce.com.

Table 1. Features of www.LiteCommerce.com

Set-Up and Software Architecture	·   Free open-source PHP/MySQL solution ·   Can work as a standalone online store and in connection with Drupal CMS with tons of ready-made Drupal modules ·   Web-based installation wizard that installs both LiteCommerce and Drupal (when run from the Ecommerce CMS package) ·   Storefront sections and blocks can be managed in the Drupal user interface ·   Modern object-oriented MVC architecture ·   Flexible modular system allows customizing without hacks to core files and simplifies upgrades ·   HTTPS/SSL support ·   Fully customizable design & layout ·   Compatible with popular browsers: IE 7+, Firefox 3+, Chrome 8+, Safari 4+, Opera 10+ ·   Using ORM technique
Shopping Experience	·   Storefront sections and blocks transparently integrate with Drupal pages into a single ecommerce website ·   Catalog pages are updated via AJAX without page reloading ·   Fast AJAX store-front interface ·   Full drag-and-drop support ·   Products quick look ·   Image galleries with a popup image browser and an in-page zoom function ·   Facebook comments tab ·   Mouse wheel updates product quantities ·   Fast one-page checkout (working for anonymous customers as well)
Marketing and Promotion	·   Custom search engine friendly URLs (when connected to Drupal) ·   Custom META tags for products, categories and other website pages (when connected to Drupal) ·   OpenGraph meta tags used when sharing product pages in Facebook, Google+ or other social network ·   Featured products, Bestsellers, New arrivals (paid module) and Coming soon (paid module) blocks promoting products in your shop ·   Market price ·   Who bought/viewed this product also buy (paid module) ·   Recently viewed (paid module) ·   Products on sale ·   Discounts depending on the order total (volume discounts, paid module) ·   Wholesale pricing (paid module) ·   Discount coupons (paid module)
Orders and Shipping	·   Address book ·   Order history for customers and administrator ·   Support for Moneybookers, 2Checkout, Authorize.NET (SIM), Quantum and PayPal WPS payment systems ·   Real-time shipping quotes from Australia Post and USPS servers ·   Unlimited number of admin-defined delivery methods ·   Digital delivery ·   Flat, weight, order total and range based shipping rates ·   International, domestic and local shipping ·   Sales tax and UK VAT ·   Export of the shop statistics to Google Analytics and Facebook Insights
Performance	·   Speed optimized architecture ·   Support for Memcached ·   Following Google and Yahoo! optimization recommendations
Catalog Management	·   Unlimited number of products and categories ·   Product options with optional price modifiers ·   Inventory tracking per product ·   Automatic thumbnail generation ·   Downloadable product files ·   Digitally distributed products (E-Goods, paid module) ·   Import/export to CSV files

www.LiteCommerce.com is a one-stop-shop software that can be used by anyone who would like to start off with an online business. Its features allow the users to better manage the business, including advertising (within the software), inventory management and customer database management. Further, it has a very user-friendly interface making the shopping experience hassle-free.

Actual Inventory Management:

Probably the biggest advantage of the online grocery delivery system to the supermarket business is a significant reduction on inventory. This is most especially true if the company is purely online-based. The management of the company's inventory can be done a lot easier since it does not need to maintain inventory on the supermarket shelves. Further, it can set a smaller re-order point since it only needs to maintain inventory ready for delivery. If the business progressed further, the company can have tie-up with suppliers for a just-in-time delivery. In fact, the company can have a tie-up with a supermarket such that it will only purchase on the supermarket what is ordered. This way, no inventory has to be maintained. The company will just serve as a trading firm or a middle man.

Pricing and Delivery Charges:

One of the items that the company needs to be very careful is pricing. Groceries are among the normal goods and thus, consumers are very elastic to this type of commodity. This means that any additions in price result to consumers shifting to other sources / suppliers. It is suggested that the price of the commodities should be the same or at par with what is available to the existing supermarkets. Delivery charges may be added though. It can be a fixed amount or depends on where the location of the customer is. 4

NU 12 by Michael Ligayo - Various Ideas

Prof. Jorge,

Below are the new ideas for this week.

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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New Attitude / Paradigm

 

Serving the World's Poor

 

My first entry to this list might not be entirely new to especially to the business community. With all the fuzz and advertising of what is known as Corporate Social Responsibility, it is highly possible that in one or two occasions this idea have passed through. However, I still chose to include it on this list since it is still something new to me (I only got to know about this last term) and I think it might be worthwhile for other business students like me to get to know about this idea. We might all benefit from it.

 

In summary, this idea simply tells us that the markets at the bottom of the economic pyramid are fundamentally new sources of growth for multinationals and because these markets are in the earliest stages, growth can be extremely rapid. The Harvard Business Review has a very good article on this entitled, Serving the World's Poor, Profitability by C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond. < what is your take?

 

http://kambing.ui.ac.id/onnopurbo/library/library-ref-eng/ref-eng-2/physical/wireless/trend-gsm/microgsm/HBRfinal.pdf

http://www.wbcsd.org/web/publications/sl-field-guide.pdf

 

25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself

 

In today's labor market, it is very much important that one individual has more than what it takes make it. Education, even a Master's Degree, is so accessible that it is no longer a big difference if you have one. This makes it a lot more difficult for individual like me to make it to the big world. However, there are a lot of self-help books and presentation materials that can help us. I came across this slideshare presentation stating the "25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself". I am guessing that this article was created before 2010 but I think it is still very much applicable. This is for the simple reason that it targets attitude more than anything.

  x < what will you adapt?  what are you going to own>

http://www.slideshare.net/kuchmuch/25-ways-to-distinguish-yourself    

 

New Spending Habits / Routine

 

9 Ways To Personal Financial Freedom by Suze Ormon

 

"I am never good at saving" is probably an understatement as to how poorly I manage my finances. Since 2010 I have been on the lookout for new and potentially easy ways for me to handle my finances. However, I always stumble into those concepts of investing and putting your money here and there. But the question is, what if you don't have the means to invest yet? What if you do want to get to a point first where you are financially free?

 

It was a good thing that I came across Suze Ormon. She makes the discussion on money and financial management as easy as A-B-C using layman's terms. More importantly, she combines finances with spirituality and your relationships to family, friends and God. This is most especially highlighted in her latest book – 9 Ways To Personal Financial Freedom. The links below gives an overview of the book and an overview of each step defined by Suze. < no ownership>

 

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/11/13/the-9-steps-to-financial-freedom-overview/

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/11/14/the-9-steps-to-financial-freedom-steps-1-3/

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/11/15/the-9-steps-to-financial-freedom-steps-4-6/

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/11/16/the-9-steps-to-financial-freedom-steps-7-9/

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/11/17/the-9-steps-to-financial-freedom-buy-or-dont-buy/

 

What pisses you off at AGSB? What must be done?

 

There are quite a few things that I would say "disturbs" me at AGSB. Here they are:

1.     There are issues on facilities. Some proofs of this problem are: (a) smelly restrooms, (b) dark hallways especially at the Salcedo campus, (c) dirty widow ledges and (d) not well-maintained canteen.

2.     Exorbitant fees. Examples are: (a) P200 if you forget your ID, (b) parking fee, (c) internet fee despite being slow and cannot be accessed properly at the Salcedo campus.

3.     Overall enrollment method. Some of the problems are: (a) records kept on being bugged and (b) personnel from the registrar are not available at 8am when the bulk of the registration happens.

4.     Students can also be a source of problem. For example, (a) there are students who do not pay attention to lectures rather keep on opening their Facebook, (b) there are students who keep on insisting on ideas that, quite frankly, do not even contribute to the lecture and (c) there are students who enrolled not for the learning but the degree. (I guess this is something that cannot be solved by Ateneo.)

5.     In terms of the curriculum, my main issue would be on the Electives. There are about 30++ choices of Elective subjects but only a handful is being offered. The minimum number of students has to be achieved in order to have one subject offered. This is a problem because not all of the Electives can achieve such a number.

 

I am very sure that there are other things that students complain about. However, as my #6 and probably the one thing that Ateneo needs to address first is:

 

6.     Over the last terms that I am with Ateneo, not much has changed about these concerns. The same issues / problems still plague the school.

 

However, I think as a first step to resolving these, the school should provide a venue for students to air their concerns. For example, as of now, only professors are being evaluated on a regular basis. Why not do the same for other factors that affect the students' learning environment? 3