Saturday, May 30, 2015

Do you Snapchat? Snapchatting is "in" thing to do

Today, consumers will take a picture and chat about it; with friends. That's what happened two weeks ago, when Primo showed me the Snapchat app. Primo had snapchat on his Iphone 5s, so he took a picture of me. Then, the picture was sent to the digital world for people to give their comments; or chat about it. Primo told me that the picture (file) does not exist on his smartphone, as the snapchat app. has sent it already. Fast forward to May 28, Snapchat is a two hundred plus employee company. Evan Spiegel, Snapchat CEO; mentioned that the tech. startup will do an IPO in the next 18 months. The company is moving into new office space, in Venice, CA. Venice is in the "silicon beach" area, as the tech. environs in western Los Angeles county go by this moniker. In addition, the LA county and Orange County areas house many tech. companies; so the two counties go by the "digital coast" nickname. Back to Snapchat, the company was courted by Facebook and Google in 2013. Yet, Snapchat declined the acquisition offers. The social media company has a market cap. of $3 billion. Yet, is the company profitable? This question has to be the main one, for shareholders and investors to ponder. The snapchat app. was the fastest growing social app according to GWI (global web index). The best demographics for snapchat users is the 13-25 age group, as teens use the app. frequently. In closing, Snapchatting appears to be the "in" thing to do. R$G will start calling you as "snapchatter"; if you snapchat more than once. Snapchat beat Facebook Messenger, Pinterest, and Instagram in the Global web index study. Hope Snapchat stays around for the next decade, and the company goes public. Kudos to Evan Spiegel, Snapchat co-founder; and his entourage for creating a covert social media application.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Catching U2 on the "Innocence + Experience" Tour

Last night, U2 performed at US Airways Center as part of their "two night" shows in Phoenix. The group played 26 songs, in 135 minutes. The Irish quartet played on three stages: one stage was innocence, one stage was experience, and the final stage was the huge LED screen. The latter stage served as a LED screen; and the band members walked in & out of the stage during songs. Of the 26 tracks, seven of them were from their latest album; "songs of innocence." For myself, seeing U2 at US Airways Center was the second time in my existence. My first time seeing them perform was in Sun Devil Stadium (Tempe), in 1997. The second time around, an opening band was not there. U2 performed an incredible show, with the first 10 songs being the first set. The second set (or part) was thirteen songs, including "The hands that built America"; from "Gangs of New York" movie. U2 sang the great ballad covertly, and only a few people realized it. Finally, the encore part or finale was three classic songs. Bono and The Edge said "good bye"; but the innocence and experience stages had "city of blinding lights" instead. The LED screen showed pictures of Los Angeles, and New York skylines during my favorite song. Phoenix is the third city, on the "I+E" tour. Seeing the concert with my trio of family members was quite memorable. The vibe, and electricity at a u2 show is ineffable. In closing, enjoy the picture above. Three beautiful ladies came on stage, during the "mysterious ways" song. Bono, and Co. know how to entertain people. Cheers!! The set list to the concert is online at http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/u2/2015/us-airways-center-phoenix-az-bc84d92.html

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Experimenting with dating, hookup apps.

Have you ever used Tinder, Match.com, or OkCupid before? These websites are on the internet, and the companies are hookup apps. that can be downloaded. If you have an Iphone or Android OS based phone, then you can download Okcupid; Tinder; and other hookup apps. IAC Corp. owns Tinder, Match.com, and OkCupid. The three "social discovery apps" are part of the Match Group, a subsidiary of IAC corp. Next, consumers use these websites to find the right partner in their life. But, Tinder users may not be the right people to look for; or "hook up with." According to GlobalWebIndex, 42% of the users on Tinder are in a relationship already. Yet, these users are searching for another partner. This statistic should lead humans to be more cautious, of their "swiping" habits on Tinder. A vast majority of the 42% of users are men, which are in a relationship. Guess being a player is cool. Not!!! In contrast, one should wonder how many of the users on Tinder; are married women seeking out men. These hookup apps. are questioning the principle of "committed relationships" and marriage. Are married couples really committed, or are they looking for a new love interest? Outside of the three hookup apps. mentioned frequently in this article, other niche relationship services are Hinge; pof.com; coffeemeetsbagel.com; and zoosk.com. OkCupid, Match, and Tinder are the three most popular downloads for dating apps. This statistic is from Apple App, and GooglePlay app stores. In closing, use caution while searching for the right partner on these dating apps. Hope you enjoy the picture above. Did you know that Coffeemeetsbagel (CMB) has more female users on it, than male users? True statistic, and story. Happy Trails!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Space Exploration Companies 101: Introduction, Terms, and Extras

In 2012 and 2013, NASA received funding from President Barack Obama. According to the White House's 2013 budget request, NASA would receive $59 million less than the 2012 figure. NASA would see a cut in planetary science spending, as well. With these various cuts in the government's budget spending happening, the organization may have thought "where is the money going to, and who is the competition stealing the airspace?" These questions bring in the diverse companies competing with NASA, such as Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and Blue Origin. First, Richard Branson wanted Virgin Galactic to take passengers on suborbital flights. The talented musical, airline, and telecom entrepreneur has tried to offer suborbital flights since 2007. Yet, the start date was pushed back an innumerable amount of times. The list of development problems started in 2007, with various crashes during test flights and continued sadly through 2014. Virgin Galactic started TSC (The Spaceship Company), and it is headquartered in Mojave, CA. TSC is building spaceships, that will help Virgin Galactic achieve the dreams of its 700,000 paid customers. Up next is Elon Musk's SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. The company is based in Hawthorne, CA. Since 2002, the company has become a major player in Space Transportation Services. SpaceX designs many of its parts in-house, in order to control costs and quality. This process has helped the firm, to offer one of the lowest launch prices in the industry. SpaceX has signed many contracts with NASA, and other private sector companies for its space launch services. Last but not least is Blue Origin, another privately funded aerospace manufacturer. The company was started by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com. Blue Origin is creating technology for humans, to have low cost, private access to space. The scientific process is done with an affordable cost, and increased reliability as the main principles. The company is based in Kent, WA. The company is focused on sub-orbital spaceflight products, and increasing human safety measures for space tourism. In closing, my goal was to inform you of a diverse set of "space exploration companies." When people think of the final frontier, they should know this subject has not dissolved into thin air. Enjoy the image above of SpaceX helping private companies, to receive satellite funding.