web analytics

JerseySmarts.com

Throwing Good Money After Bad…

Posted on by

Every once in a while I look up some of the recent sales information on the video game industry. Like most people in their later 20’s, I grew up on a healthy diet of Nintendo with the occasional mix of Sega. As such, I’m really happy to see Nintendo making a comeback in the video game industry with its Wii console and its DS Lite handheld system (I own both). But some of the information that you learn when looking into the video game industry’s sales is simply frightening. The following comes from an article that I recently read:

It turns out Sony has lost more money on the hardware side of the PS3 than it made from the stupidly successful Playstation 2.

Are you serious?! Everyone has a Playstation 2 and Sony managed to LOSE the money that it made on that system?!? If this information is accurate (and Lord knows how you would be able to verify it), then someone at Sony needs to be fired right now. The article goes on…

Microsoft reportedly lost $4 billion on the original Xbox and the Red Ring of Death cost $1 billion to put right on its own.

Gah!!! The original XBox may not have been as ubiquitous as the Playstation 2, but to lose that type of money and get back in the video gaming business in ludicrous. The same article notes how Nintendo is actually making money on each Wii sale because of the low cost to manufacture the hardware. Amazing.

In the video game wars it appears that success doesn’t come down to graphics or speed or any of the perks that come with the Sony and Microsoft systems. It appears that success is a function of fun and feasibility. And Nintendo has mastered that function.

A Greener Restaurant Bringing in More Greenbacks

Posted on by

Sometime in May I ran across this article which I thought would be interesting to share: Can restaurants go green, earn green? The article talks about the link between a sustainable food service industry and earning profits. It begins by talking about how Ted Turner is moving his Ted’s Montana Grill restaurants towards a greener future. From the article:

…you won’t find a plastic straw or cup in any of Ted’s Montana Grills’ 55 casual dining restaurants. The straws are made from biodegradable paper. The menus are printed on 100% recycled paper. Even the cups are cornstarch.

Cornstarch cups and paper straws? I’m not sold on those ideas just yet.

Anyway, if you get the opportunity try to read this entire article. There are some interesting tidbits in there about the cost of energy for restaurants and the cost of wasted energy for the entire restaurant business. Also, the article talks about some other eco-friendly moves that some food servicers are undertaking. I thought it was an interesting read – I think you will, too.

Anyway, check out Jersey City Locksmith for the best locksmith service in the Garden State!

Unexpected Good News For Those In Need

Posted on by

Earlier today, USAToday.com ran a story about some of those government stimulus checks that have not reached their intended recipients yet. Turns out that the government is diverting checks away from those who owe back taxes, child support payments, student loan debts, and other government-related debts. From the article:

So far, 1.8 million rebate checks have been intercepted by Treasury Department computers showing that individuals owe money to federal or state governments.

The biggest beneficiaries: parents who are owed child support.

I think this is great news. A population which can certainly use some extra help during these economic times is getting it from their own rebate checks plus they’re getting some money that they should have already received in the first place! Of course there is the larger population of deadbeats who not only are not receiving their checks, but haven’t made their various payments to the government. This is another population that could use some help. But that’s for another rebate program at another time.

Sheltered Inexperience in the Working World

Posted on by

One of the many reasons that I enjoy volunteering my time and expertise to Sigma Pi Fraternity is because it allows me an opportunity – small though it may be – to help train tomorrow’s workforce. As discussed in an earlier post, there are a growing number of young employees who are shocked at the demands of the working world. While it’s easy to just call these morons a bunch of idiots and move on, it is sometimes beneficial to find out why these people are the way they are and what their characteristics create in the office setting.

For my part, I see inexperienced employees being thrust into various “leadership” positions at their jobs for the wrong reasons. I see people with family connections or school connections that are given titles and authority when they have no experience with such roles. On the flip side, I see some of my fraternity graduates not having their collegiate leadership experience taken serious because it is based off of being a member in a fraternity. What horrible, bad decisions employers are making!

I’ve seen young adults thrown into leadership positions and watched as they lashed out when times have gotten tough. Sometimes these people put up a very mature front and act like they are twice their age, but to the trained eye they are laughing stocks. I’m sorry but you don’t spend as much time as I do training young adults in leadership skills and then NOT notice the severe lack of leadership skills in those who you communicate with on a daily basis! From people that I work with as colleagues to those who my company does joint ventures with, a lack of definitive leadership is all over the place.

Once upon a time I worked for a job where people would sleep their way into leadership positions and then completely crumble when times get tough. Frankly, it was hilarious.

So this is a message to all of my young fraternity leaders out there – don’t worry if you’re in a job where inexperienced people are being promoted over you. Just watch as they fail because they’ve never felt what it’s like to have to perform under pressure. And for my readers who are not fraternity or sorority people, but who have leadership experience and are STILL being passed by – I give you the same message. With a tightening economy and less money to go around, performance will become a major aspect of all jobs (as it should be already).

Though I do offer this advice: keep an eye on everyone around you at your office. If you’re ready to take a job or if you think someone above you is ready to crumble, then I hate to put it so bluntly but you have to be opportunistic and be ready to pounce. If you have the leadership training, then brush it off and get ready to shine when the time is right!

One of my more devious posts, I know. But hey – the current economic situation calls for it.

McCain Suggests $300 Million Prize

Posted on by

A few days ago I posted a review for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s new book, Real Change. Somewhere in this book Speaker Gingrich talks about the need for large monetary prizes from the government which will spur an innovation revolution. It would appear that Senator John McCain read that chapter as he is proposing a $300 million prize for the first person who develops, “an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology.” From the article:

The bounty would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, “a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency,” McCain said in remarks prepared for delivery Monday at Fresno State University in California.

McCain said such a device should deliver power at 30 percent of current costs and have “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.”

I think everyone in America would be willing to pay $1 for such technology to be created. But why stop there? Why not make the contest aspire to even greater heights and look for a battery that can be mega-mass produced not just in America, but around the world? This type of engine could breathe life back into Detroit and make GM the number one name in automobiles once again. In fact, if every American is willing to pay $1 for McCain’s competition, then wouldn’t we all be willing to pay $3.33 so we can create a $1 billion prize? I’d be down for it.

This is the type of innovation that will put America back on top of the leading edge of science and technology. We will, however, have to rely on foreign scientists and immigrant scientists to make these discoveries, but that’s another topic for another time. Hey, maybe if we can figure out this type of automobile technology we can figure out how to make math and science interesting in our schools again!