Final Project: Prezi

What I learnt from COM 212 class..

Thanks, Prof. Lockman!


What is Your Online Identity? On Prezi

What is your online Identity? on Prezi

Top 20 college investments

The Wall Street Journal published an article on college as an investment for the future, with top 20 rankings.

They compared the cost of college — tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies — and the estimated average payment for that graduate plus four-to-six years to compensate for time spent in school.

Top 15 schools ranked in this article were all private school, which costs almost $200,000 to attend for the four years.

There is only one public school, ranked as top 16, which is University of California Berkeley.

This gets me thinking that only those who are able to afford the private colleges have the chance to invest on their future. (Exaggeration, yes. But still holds somewhat truth.)

Let me know what you think!


Top 20: Colleges That Offer Best Return on Investment

Tokyo, The Most Expensive City

Yahoo Finance posted an article last Saturday, saying that Tokyo reclaims to be the world's most expensive city.

This rank is based on a combination of 128 goods, including food, daily goods, clothing and entertainment. However, rent, utilities and school fees are not included in this list.

I was personally surprised at this result, for that my expectation would have been NYC or Paris.

And more surprisingly, 4 out of top 10 most expensive cities are in Japan. Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe.

I happen to be from one of these cities, Kobe, and I currently live in Tokyo.


If you are curious about this result, take a look at the article or a blog that writes .


The World's Most Expensive Cities 2010 by Yahoo Finance

EasyExpart.com blog post on the World's Most Expensive Cities

VoiceThread Review

VoiceThread is a multimedia slide show that holds pictures, documents including excels and powerpoint, on which people can comment and exchange their ideas. And not just the comments, but you can also record your voice to express your thoughts.

I find VoiceThread exciting and useful way to exchange ideas, for the personal use or the educational use.

I found myself more focused on the VoiceThread presentation than on the regular powerpoints. It worked better to see the image as I read the texts, rather just only reading the informative essays.


For my own project, I decided to make a VoiceThread on "Engrish," using the image of English with the intention to have people giggle watching the slides, and also think about English and FLA classes again.

Hope it did. And I would love to hear your thoughts on my VoiceThread
Thanks!


Engrish Voice Thread

Are You an Early Adopter??

Ipad came out in Japan finally on May 28th, a few weeks after its first sale in the states.


Did you wait in line for hours and hours to buy an Ipad, knowing that Apple would probably produce something better and cheaper in the next few months?

If you did, you are one of the early adopters.

These early adopters are considered irrational buyers in economics. However, for business managers, they are essential consumer targets.

The study of consumer behavior says that early adopters are not affected by cost-benefits reasoning. It is more of their identity associations with new products and attention getting behaviors.

Jay Pil Choi, a professor at Michigan State University, describes early adopters as pioneers, with the comment, "If all consumers are striving for value and take the approach of 'wait and see,' the new products will never be able to take off much longer to succeed in the marketplace."

So without these people who wait in a line for hours and hours, IPad would have never made it in the market.

So marketing managers better appreciate these people, and maybe consider giving them a cup of coffee while they wait in line.

Applause, Please, for Early Adopters

Another Prime Minister....

First, I apologize for not blogging for the past week with mid terms and all.

However, this morning's news that Hatoyama Prime Minister resigned came as a shock. And I've decided to blog about it.

It came as a shock since after the conference with DPJ Secretary-General Ozawa, Mr. Hatoyama came out with a smile and a thumb up last night, giving us an impression that he is not going to resign.

However, looking back, Mr. Hatoyama was a pro at changing his mind every second.

There was a big reaction last month when he suddenly decided to push back the due date for Futenma battle to June, when his claim was to settle down this issue in May.

After Mr. Hatoyama, Mr. Kan is most likely to be elected as DPJ head, which should be decided at the meeting on June 4th.

Now what is remarkable is how Japanese prime ministers cannot seem to hold onto their position long enough.

Mori Prime Minsiter 387 days

Koizumi Prime Minsiter 1980 days

Abe Prime Minister 366 days

Fukuda Prime Minister 365 days

Aso Prime Minister 358 days

And now Hatoyama Prime Minister made a record of 259 days.

This fact that Japan has had 100 different Prime Ministers in the past few years is upsetting and this fact screams to the world how Japanese government is going through a corruption.

My hope for whoever becomes next Prime Minister, is to hold on to his/her seat for at least 2 years no matter what happens.

Taking responsibilities does not mean quitting and leaving all the mess to someone else.

WSJ Hatoyama resigns

Equity Analysts Have Been Overoptimistic for a Generation

According to McKinsey research, equity analysts have been estimating the growth rate almost too 100% high for the past quarter century.

This result only includes American stock markets, however, I found this article interesting for that I will be working as a junior Japanese equity analyst after graduation.

If anyone knows the deal about Japanese market, let me know.

Equity Analysts Have Been Overoptimistic for a Generation

Google gives Voice to students

Google official blog announced that now they are offering students a free phone number, voicemail transcription, call routing, cheap international calling and such.

According to Fortune Magazine, this voice service used to be offered only through invites, but now this free service will likely benefit students with their social net working.

Google gives Voice to students as Gizmo integration looms

Youtube video on Google Voice

Voice Thread Test on my Rio De Janeiro hang gliding experience.

Pandora

I am not talking about Avatar.

But this is a link to Pandora, online Radio site, where you can create your favorite list of musicans.

It does not work in Japan, if you know any sites similar to this.

Let me know.

Pandora

Job Hunting Through Social Networks??

Is the way to find a job changing??

According to the wall street journal article, it is.

This article explains the attitude that companies prefer referrals for the fact that they perform better and stay longer at the company.


How do managers find there referrals? This article says that that is where social networks like LinkedIn are playing a huge role.

They explain that LinkedIn is most focused on academic and professional interests, while facebook and twitter are based on more social purposes.

Nonetheles, they advise that we, as undergraduates, should create attractive professional profile of ourselves, such as academic interests, past experiences, and connections.

It looks like LinkedIn is actually becoming popular that for the past few weeks, I have got a several invites from friends to create an account for it.

LinkedIn seems to be the most professional social networking service, however, facebook and twitter are still used among human resource departments at companies.


This article also posted a several "interesting" hints for facebook and twitter.

For the facebook profile, since a lot of people post up their personal pictures online, be sure that they are set in private and do not update any pictures that you do not want your grandmothers to see.

For twitter, create two accounts for the personal use and the professional use. It is unlikely that Human resource managers want to know the candidates' friday night plans.



The Basics of Job Hunting Through Social Networks

Future Post Grad??

As a senior, having done all the job hunting (就職活動)

I found this article very interesting.

Teach For America After Harvard

Unlike many Japanese university students, it looks like that a lot of American students are willing to give up their few years post graduation to do volunteer work or some programs such as Teach for America.

There was an article on job searching with the use of networking communication, such as Linkedln. Next blog will be on that

Teach For America Website

Leadership Continued

Cool phone interview done on Harvard Business Review on Leadership

They list 5 leadership essentials from personal surveys. Strategist, future plan, executer, manager, human development, and personal profession.

However, as mentioned in the beginning, there are many different leadership strategies and hard to know which one we should follow.

I will try to look upon on such topic next.

Just my personal interest, but REALLY GAGA???

I still am not sure if this is real or not...

But I just read an article that Lady Gaga now has her left leg below the knee amputated!!

I mean, Really???

I just do not know what to make out of this news.

Take a look at it yourself.

Lady Gaga's New Fashion Includes Leg Amputation

Leadership Education

One thing I have realized about the difference between American college education and Japanese college education.


It is hard to find a class called "Leadership" at Japanese colleges.


I have taken a "Leadership" class at Boston College through an exchange program.


One thing "Leadership" class taught me is that anyone who is willing to work hard can learn and achieve leadership skills.


On contrary, Japanese people believe that Leadership is something charismatic and something people are born with.


In my opinion, it is pretty unfair that people are currently judged on multiple occasions such as class presentations or job interviews, without a chance to learn Leadership in class.


After going through job interviews myself, I am glad that I had a chance to study leadership before going into the work environment.


Harvard Business Review points out a few check points to improve your leadership, which are

• Monitor your performance. Note areas in which you excel and need improvement. Communicate these to your team.
• Realize that failures and mistakes are just one step on the road to success.
• Recognize that being aware of the impact that your behavior has on other people is a critical leadership skill.
• Remember that when criticism is difficult to accept, there is probably some truth to it.
• And, finally, learn to give yourself and others credit for improving.

These tips might help you better under the circumstances that I gave as examples.




More details are on this link. And I will try to post up some leadership management exercises later on as well.

Harvard　Business　Review Leadership

Have a great GW!

The first one to go.

Hi, Class.

As a business major, I would like to start off my blog by posting the most inspirational speech

given by a major enterpriser, Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs is someone I respect for his work and creativity, and definitely someone that I would love to work for.

This is really a famous video, so I am positive that most of people have seen it. But if not, please watch this video, when you have time. And I hope this will motivate you to do pursue your dreams.

New Blog

New Blog for COM 212

facebook status, mixi status, twitter

way too many different ways to let out your words out to the world. Can't tell if it's making it more convenient or less.