Summary Post

     Over the course of the semester my idea has grown and I have gotten many good ideas from class and classmates. The basis of my idea is to have a very interactive music networking site for fans, artists and companies that can find the music they want and love fast. Social media would have a huge impact on my idea because many parts of the software would incorporate Twitter and and groups that could connect people with similar interests or connect people who are trying to find new music they love.
     Excel would play a huge part in keeping financial data organized and display how the company is growing. Various charts and graphs could show picture data as well. A software like Shazam or Soundhound would be very beneficial to users who are trying to identify a song or to help someone out with a recommendation. For people who have these apps on their phone I would make it link right to my product so then it could go right into a blog post and they can share it with others.
     The famous blogger's post told me that with any idea the key to a successful entrepreneurial idea is passion. I have such a passion and love for music and want to help people find the music they love and discover new music. Once I find a new genre or artist, I immediately search for more songs by the artists and then related music and my iPod keeps getting better and better and makes me very happy. My product could become a hobby for people because they can discover new music and then go to gigs, buy music production software to try on their own or find out about a new band and follow them on Twitter or their fan page.
     The blogs I commented on were:

http://musiciannetworking.blogspot.com/

http://seanzsblog.blogspot.com/

http://thebasedblog.blogspot.com/

Week 8 Networking and Famous Blogs

     This week in lecture we learned about networking. In lab we also practiced using Unix and the Command line which involved connecting to other servers using ping commands, trace routes and other various commands. It was a little confusing to understand what was happening in the command line but it was mainly servers communicating amongst each other and giving and receiving commands. This week we have to find a famous blog that relates to entrepreneurship or technology.
     The blogger I am researching is Hesham Zebida. He has a BA in accounting and much of his earnings today come from his work on his blog. He studied web design and then started blogging when he realized the effect New Media has on today's society. His blog site teaches tips to successful blogging and has other great links to famous bloggers and how to deal with social media.
     Most of his blog tips are how to make money online off of blogging. He also posts about what other successful bloggers have done in their blogs so you can take their strategies and implement them so yours can be successful too. On his side bar he has many links to other popular blogs that can help an up and coming blogger. Such links are links to a design bookmarking site, famous bloggers site, Wordpress themes and thesis skins.

Week 7 part 2: Operating Systems and Digital Color

This week in lecture we talked about Operating Systems and Digital Color. Operating systems such as Windows, Snow Leopard or any of the Linux operating systems manage hardware and software resources for computers. Operating systems manage many different processes such as process management which controls all processes running such as a browser or an application. Memory Management controls how the system deals with saving files and memory stored. As for color, we learned about how to create colors and learned about brightness, hue and saturation.
    For my software, I would make it compatible with all operating systems so it could be used by all users. I would also make apps for mobile devices on Android and iPhone. I would make a free version and plus version that would have a small charge for users who are more familiar and interactive with the software. The app would include the ability to post a blog or request so if you here a song on the road you like you can use Soundhound or Shazam and then send a post asking to find more songs like it. I would also have an inbox so users can check to see if they've had any responses. For the plus users, they would also have access to the music store so they can buy songs on the go and it can automatically upload to their phone.
     Digital Color wouldn't play a huge role in my software but I would take it into consideration when I was creating the brand logo and other products. Also, the overall design of my software and how it looks when people open up the software. Personally, I always am more attracted to a product if it has a cool logo and looks very appealing and easy to use. So for my software I would make the brand logo very aesthetic and colors that make people interested to jump in. I would try to make the overall look be more appealing than iTunes since iTunes is rather simple in design. 

Week 6 and 7 Bits & Bytes and Storage

     This week in lecture we talked about Bits & Bytes and Storage. The difference between WAV's to MP3's was discussed and this related to my entrepreneurial idea because mine deals with music. If any files were shared on my software as a WAV file they could be compressed into an MP3 so they are more easily transferable. Storage was also discussed which has a huge impact on my company. Not only do users need to store a certain amount of songs and videos but the company on the other side has to have powerful enough hard drive's and servers to maintain all the traffic on the site and how many profiles need to be saved for all the users.
     When people purchase my software, I will make available to them various packages they can buy. There can be the basic version that offers limited services but all the basics you need to have fun and learn more about the music and artists you like. Then there can be a Plus version that can offer better and faster support by professionals and possibly access to more blogs, and memory to store more songs. It would also be stated on the package that the user should have a certain hard drive/amount of RAM on their computer considering the Plus version may need more speed. Just like iTunes, users could burn songs to a disk and name the disk. The playlists would save so you can have a record of what CD's you made.
     Depending on how many users sign up, there may be need for a server room at the office. These servers will store all information and usage that customers are enacting through the software. Another form of storage I would have would be sound recognition. Similar to Soundhound or Shazam for various  Smartphones, I would be able to make the user play a song and try and have the software recognize it or they can send it to a user. Then when you find the answer there can be a playlist or area where these songs are stored.

Week 5 input and output

     This week in class we learned how information and information systems carry out input and output instructions. Input can be many things such as keyboards, mouses, tablets, bar code readers, touch screens and iPod's. All of these output either text, graphics, information audio, video etc... Input and Output would always be occurring in my entrepreneurial idea.
     Input is always occurring with my business program. Customers will always be using a keyboard to type in their blog posts or messages to other users to help them with music searches. There could also be audio input for my software. People could upload youtube videos or upload streams of songs so users can hear what the other wants and find a more accurate search. Another method of input is if I did incorporate it with Twitter or Facebook would be to comment or make a page on Facebook and people would see what I would write. I could also upload sample videos or sample tutorials of how to use my product. Input is an essential part of my software because almost every second a form of input is being done.
     Output is obviously everything that my product gives back to it's users and the employees working behind the scenes. All the information received by customers and employees will be seen on the screen. They will see people's concerns, posts, complaints, recommendations, youtube posts etc... Another form of output would be the music coming out of the speakers. When you play the song, the music is the form of output that is released through the speakers. Another form of output could be the company logo or overall design. I would make the look of the product very attractive so people are drawn to the product and the images all the users see is the output. Input and Output is always occurring right in front of the users very own computer screen.

Week 4 hardware and computer forensics

     This week in class we discussed hardware and computer forensics. We learned all the parts inside and out for a computer. You can make computers style look better and make it run faster inside. Another topic was about identity theft. I believe all these topics can be used with my music business plan.
     First talking about identity theft, many may be concerned about getting their credit card information and various other types of personal information stolen. As discussed earlier, there would be music store where you could buy songs. Therefore, people would have to put in their credit card information in and risk their identity stolen. I would make sure to have a secure network so this wouldn't happen. Another risk is with the blog and telling people what you like. This of course is a risk people take every day with social media so this shouldn't play a factor.
     My idea doesn't really relate to the hardware of a computer. But at the office of my company there will be computers for the employees to perform work at. We will have servers for the blogs and networks and they will have different size hard drives determining how much memory they need to hold. The company could sell computer cases with the company logo on it.

Week3-Excel

     This week in class we talked about how useful excel can be in the workplace. Excel can organize financials for a business, display charts and provide easy management. Excel would definitely play a huge role in my entrepreneurial idea like any other business idea. Excel could manage my companies financials, show charts and graphs of how much the product increased or decreased in sales over months, years etc, and with pivot tables could organize data effectively and most of the calculations could be done for you.
     One way excel could help my business is the use of charts and graphs. each month there could be graphs showing growth in sales, revenue, age groups using the product, number of recommendations for songs, how many downloads were made after. The list could be endless. The graphs show the statistics in a neat format that could be presented to senior management quick and to the point. Another useful tool is all the formulas that can be done in excel. In order to get some of the calculations for the statistics in the charts and graphs, excels formulas and functions can get the job done very easily with minimal work by the user. Again, it is important for any company to keep track of its financials or in the case of my music idea, calculations regarding number of downloads, recommendations and or blog posts.
     Pivot tables would perhaps be one of the most important tools for my business. The pivot tables could organize large amounts of data and organize it into a easy to read sheet. It could contain information narrowed down extremely well. It can organize number of downloads by artist or genre or by similar song. Then next to it could be each individual download. The possibilities are almost endless. Also with pivot tables, it automatically adjusts if you change a $ amount so it would easily adjust if you added or removed something, and as always it does the calculations for you. Without excel, my company would have a very hard time organizing the large amount of information. Excel would break everything down into the most understandable format and would help my company grow and push forward.

Entreprenurial idea and first week of class

My entrepreneurial idea is an extremely interactive music library that gets hands on music experts and real music fans to give customers the satisfaction and knowledge they want. Whenever I get into a new genre of music or hear a new song I like, I try to find more exactly like it so I can expand my music library. But often times when I go to iTunes they aren't spot on with the genius recommendation. So my idea is you have a music library and then within the program there can be an interactive forum or blog where you put the song you like then ask music experts and other users for similar songs. This way, the recommendation is coming from an actual person or music expert in that genre and can refer a song to you better than genius can. Also, I was thinking of possibly linking it with a Twitter like software so people and experts can respond quickly and in short direct answers. In the forum the person can describe in detail what they like and add other songs they think are similar. I would also like to have a filter so instead of putting a song out there for everyone to see, the search would be narrowed down. For example, if you wanted to find a new rap song, you would post in the rap blog then there would be more options to narrow it down. There could be a filter for a time period as well. My goal is for this idea to excel as the perfect music library with the best recommendations from real fans of the same music as you.
This week in class we learned about social media such as how Facebook and Twitter effect our daily lives and how we work with computers. Social media would be a huge part of my entrepreneurial idea. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to incorporate a program like Twitter into my idea so people could get real feedback from real people. Also people would "join" or add to their favorites certain forums pertaining to their music liking. So people would be communicating all day recommending songs, talking about upcoming concerts etc... There could be a live chat so people could get answers on the spot. Another feature I would like to incorporate is groups you can belong to. If you are in a group with friends and then connect with others, you can network with other people and join groups you might like but didn't know about before. Through those groups and getting more music knowledge, you can find more music you like.
With this program, music experts, music lovers, or people who are trying to pursue a career in music could use this to gain ultimate knowledge about their music field. By social networking, music fans could create play-lists to their ultimate liking, musicians can find other artists they enjoy and people with jobs in music could use this to find new artists to sponsor or just find new music to put on a blog or recommend to someone. This new interactive music library forum could lead to everyone with ultimate happiness in the music they listen to!