Which kinds of business would benefit most from the implementation of lean manufacturing? This process, also denoted as lean production, is more useful in some industries than others. One way to distinguish the kinds of industries which the adoption of this strategy might prove wise is to consider the extent to which the adoption of VA - value added - products/services is necessary. The logic here is: efficient manufacturing cannot be yielded if there are no non-value-added aspects of the product and its manufacturing process to subtract.
Evidently not all products are sold with the idea that it is the "extra value" added to the product or service that represents a) why the product or service is good to begin with and b) what the customer is actually attracted to.
Actually the question is fairly difficult. It presumes knowledge of the characteristic buyer. For instance, if I'm an avid PC gaming nerd, the process of purchasing a video card may not at all be influenced by the kind of value-added thinking that implementation of lean manufacturing or other toolkits (5s) operate under.
Sep 18, 2008
Sep 16, 2008
Gen X and Y 401K Plans
401k plans look less and less worthwhile. There are a few reasons for this. 401K administrations and 401k Plan Retirements are negatively impacted by us youngsters and our relatively volatile career and professional lives. Given our inconsistent, fickle career choices, more and more individuals are finding it useful, even necessary, to cash in their 401k plan early. See this USA Today article if you're thinking about doing this. Living expenses and credit card debt are major deterrents for retirement savings. A weak and hardly confident stock market hardly makes things better.
Christine Dugas, USA TODAY, writes
The article also shows that this behavior is more or less based on Gen X and Y's relatively lax attitude concerning debt and/or the use of credit. According to this logic cashing in even a small business 401k plan is justified only because, well, it doesn't bother us much.
Christine Dugas, USA TODAY, writes
Of the group surveyed, 40% said they cashed out their workplace retirement plan when they switched jobs. Few had asked for guidance. And more than half said they are now unhappy with their decision.
Gen X and Gen Y consumers often recognize that they accumulate too much debt, according to a recent survey of adults ages 21 to 41 by Fidelity Investments. In that group, 51% said financial priorities, including mortgage bills and credit card debt, prevent them from saving for retirement. These young adults often face an ongoing struggle with debt management, says Pam Norley, executive vice president of Fidelity Consulting Group.
The article also shows that this behavior is more or less based on Gen X and Y's relatively lax attitude concerning debt and/or the use of credit. According to this logic cashing in even a small business 401k plan is justified only because, well, it doesn't bother us much.
Mar 17, 2008
About the Warden
I apologize for the recent lack of updates. I've been pretty swamped with my graduate program; a lot of the material is very new to me, and most of it can be described as "fundamentals of computer technology" (i.e. how computers work). For a gaming enthusiast, it's amazing how little I knew about the operations of a computer.
In any event, I've been reading lately about botting and privacy concerns with regard to MMORPG's. I'm a bit late, but I just read about the Warden; a program developed by Blizzard to sniff out hacking and/or botting programs that players might be using while playing WoW.
Of course the biggest concern is the fact that the Warden actually scans your entire computer. That is, anything that is open and/or running is a possible target for the program. So, for instance, if you're playing WoW but have a browser running at the same time, and one of your windows includes the website of your credit card account, the Warden could "read" your information stored in your browser and/or your temporary internet files.
I'm running a bit late but I will update this post with additional (scary) information about the Warden. If my own experience is any indicator, it would appear that not as many people know about it as they probably should. My guild knew nothing of the sort, but it was a fairly significant concern a year or two ago.
In any event, I've been reading lately about botting and privacy concerns with regard to MMORPG's. I'm a bit late, but I just read about the Warden; a program developed by Blizzard to sniff out hacking and/or botting programs that players might be using while playing WoW.
Of course the biggest concern is the fact that the Warden actually scans your entire computer. That is, anything that is open and/or running is a possible target for the program. So, for instance, if you're playing WoW but have a browser running at the same time, and one of your windows includes the website of your credit card account, the Warden could "read" your information stored in your browser and/or your temporary internet files.
I'm running a bit late but I will update this post with additional (scary) information about the Warden. If my own experience is any indicator, it would appear that not as many people know about it as they probably should. My guild knew nothing of the sort, but it was a fairly significant concern a year or two ago.
Jan 28, 2008
6 Unique Properties of the WoW Economy
7 Signs you're dealing with a virtual economy, based on reflections of my experience with the World of Warcraft economy:
- When there are problems server-side, the whole world, not just the economy, grind to a halt.
- Lag is more dangerous than too much supply, lack of infrastructure, or
- Everyone starts with the same amount of capital regardless of race, gender, class, or height.
- The biggest difference between gold-begging and expressing financial needs is that the former is always directed randomly and in public places; the latter is guild-financed and totally legit.
- Auctioneer is your investment broker. When it fails to update and/or is buggy, it's analogous to your investment broker showing signs of dementia while still in control of your portfolio.
- A bank amounts to storehouse. And anything more than that is sketchy and probably unethical. See here for an example.
- Prices are driven by the raiding schedule of 13-yr olds. Damnit
World of Warcraft: Europe is more conducive to gold farming
Students at the University of Sheffield reported data that seemed to suggest an inconsistency in Blizzard's enforcement of its opposition to gold selling.
Now, the data is quite outdated, at least in the context of virtual worlds/MMORPG's. I have no idea whether or not the data the authors cited as evidence for their claim is still viable. But the data motiving their conclusion was this:
I need to verify whether this discrepancy is at all current. My guess is that, if anything, the discrepancy in WoW gold prices is larger today.
The USD price per 1000g has decreased rapidly over the past 12 or 13 months, at least in the US. Some of the culprits may include increased wow gold compensation from questing, increased pool of high-level, active players, and an increase in the number of players able to control/monopolize entire markets in their player auction house.
These effects have certainly influenced European WoW gold prices, though its hard to know the extent. In any event, the research conducted over at gamerprice.com attempts to show conclusively that the divergence between US and European World of Warcraft gold prices can be sufficiently accounted for in the context of Blizzard's hyper-enforcement of its anti-gold selling policies in US.
Now, the data is quite outdated, at least in the context of virtual worlds/MMORPG's. I have no idea whether or not the data the authors cited as evidence for their claim is still viable. But the data motiving their conclusion was this:
This means that European gold is 8.33 times cheaper, costing just 12% of the price of the same gold on the US realms.
I need to verify whether this discrepancy is at all current. My guess is that, if anything, the discrepancy in WoW gold prices is larger today.
The USD price per 1000g has decreased rapidly over the past 12 or 13 months, at least in the US. Some of the culprits may include increased wow gold compensation from questing, increased pool of high-level, active players, and an increase in the number of players able to control/monopolize entire markets in their player auction house.
These effects have certainly influenced European WoW gold prices, though its hard to know the extent. In any event, the research conducted over at gamerprice.com attempts to show conclusively that the divergence between US and European World of Warcraft gold prices can be sufficiently accounted for in the context of Blizzard's hyper-enforcement of its anti-gold selling policies in US.
Blizzard is policing its American realms far, far more rigorously than it is policing its European realms. The figures are so very different, that they suggest an extreme imbalance, even extreme negligence on behalf of Blizzard Europe.
This suggests that in America, it’s actually harder for a farmer to produce gold than it naturally would be, because of an active and ongoing purge of these accounts, and indicating rigid standards, and good policing.
Linden Labs: one step closer to government intervention
Second Life Bans Traditional Banking | Game | Life from Wired.com
Linden Labs delayed response to this virtual banking crisis was almost criminal to some--just look at the reactions. How long until California fires the first shots? I'm guessing within the year.
Where does the social responsibility for failed virtual banks fall? If its on Linden Labs, and many seem to be arguing that it does, developers ought to rethink just what they're willing to shoulder.
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Jan 27, 2008
World of Warcraft Gold: Wow gold inflation?
Well, looks like prices for World of Warcraft gold have rebounded a bit. If we're lucky the price per 1000g will surpass 50.00, but don't get your hopes up.
Wow gold in general has seen inflation, almost hyperinflation--though it'd be hard to restrict usefully the scope of the term "inflation" since it's kind of hard to measure, for instance, the relative purchasing power of 1g. Moreover, since wow gold isn't centrally controlled via a Federal Reserve-type of institution, we can't really do anything about the influx of gold. That makes it hard to compare a unit of gold from one time to another.
In any event, I'm hoping to release a somewhat comprehensive report on the steady decline of World of Warcraft gold over the past year. The goal is to associate significant drops in US price with various real-life events, such as Blizzard policy enforcement and/or changes, news and developments in the gold-selling industry itself, and a whole lot more.
Well, the value of wow gold has rebounded from a weekly low of
Wow gold in general has seen inflation, almost hyperinflation--though it'd be hard to restrict usefully the scope of the term "inflation" since it's kind of hard to measure, for instance, the relative purchasing power of 1g. Moreover, since wow gold isn't centrally controlled via a Federal Reserve-type of institution, we can't really do anything about the influx of gold. That makes it hard to compare a unit of gold from one time to another.
In any event, I'm hoping to release a somewhat comprehensive report on the steady decline of World of Warcraft gold over the past year. The goal is to associate significant drops in US price with various real-life events, such as Blizzard policy enforcement and/or changes, news and developments in the gold-selling industry itself, and a whole lot more.
Well, the value of wow gold has rebounded from a weekly low of
Jan 22, 2008
The simExchange: to predict a video game's performance
Well, I just joined an extremely provocative video game sales/review prediction service called The simExhange. This is probably old news to many of you, but I just reviewed it for the first time today and let me say: I am impressed.
simExchange: the basics of a video game-specific prediction market
simExhange serves two basic functions: (1) as a portal for game enthusiasts and/or interested market researchers to share their expectations regarding either how well an upcoming game will be reviewed or how well a game will sell for in a given month; (2) as a prediction market, allowing users to use virtual currency to purchase and sell properties of newly released video games
In a nutshell, the prediction market--which is essentially a game involving performance-based contracts--investment game---goes like this (should you decide to get involved): after registering (which is free), you can view the current games listed on simExchange and buy or sell stocks and futures using simExhange's virtual currency, DKP.
DKP? What is this, a World of Warcraft raiding guild?
Well, no--it's not a guild in any sense. The creators of the program simply paid homage to that term and decided to use it for the name of their virtual currency. As far as how DKP functions in simExhange, here's the official word:
DKP is used to make trades, analogous to its function as a method of bidding on or purchasing virtual item drops within a particular gaming community. It retains its traditional sense here, but simply changes the metric of its standard. Instead of DKP representing how well a given player has performed for her guild over a particular duration, it here represents how well a game (or console) has sold since its release.
At the most basic level, the trading process here should be pretty familiar to most of us. 1 DKP of stock=10,000 unit sales (not $10,000 worth of sales). So if Game A is trading at 250 dkp, then the market predicts that the game will sell 2,500,000 units globally over the span of its lifetime. Thus if a buyer thinks that Game A will sell for significantly better than the market prediction, he should be willing to purchase it anywhere below the 250 DKP price tag.
Earning DKP in simExchange
There are passive and active methods for earning DKP in simExchange. Examples of the former include referrals and time trust: every 15 mins. you get +250 DKP. Its capped at just 25,000 DKP, so the time trust alone won't allow you to truly rake it in. For additional information about earning DKP, you should visit the Get Started page on the official website.
One unique thing about the simExchange service is that you can submit web content, in the form of articles, and earn DKP for your efforts. I have not completely familiarized myself with this feature, but it seems that a lot of the community has taken advantage this opportunity and the result is rich, pertinent content.
This is a nice idea and meshes well with user-generated content sites such as YouTube revenue sharing(video) or Associated Content (writing). But more importantly, it gives a foundation for simExchange's educational merits. I'd recommend joining simExhange if only for this reason: there is a ton of great information about upcoming games (and consoles), their potential marketability, and strategies for more advanced trading. Speaking of that...
simExhange: advanced trading
If you activate the advanced trading option--its turned off by default--you will be able to choose between two ways of entering orders:
You can either (1) type the price you want to pay per share and the quantity of shares you want to buy or sell in the order form OR (2) you can simply click on one of the existing orders in the order book.
Essentially the advanced trading feature makes it easier for you to short sell if you think that the market's expectations for a given console or game is unjustifiably high.
Additional tutorials/explanations
As I mentioned before, the site really has a wealth of quality information. If you want to read up more on this unique service, or if you'd like additional tutorials about prediction markets, for instance, then register and check out the tutorials section.
simExchange: the basics of a video game-specific prediction market
simExhange serves two basic functions: (1) as a portal for game enthusiasts and/or interested market researchers to share their expectations regarding either how well an upcoming game will be reviewed or how well a game will sell for in a given month; (2) as a prediction market, allowing users to use virtual currency to purchase and sell properties of newly released video games
In a nutshell, the prediction market--which is essentially a game involving performance-based contracts--investment game---goes like this (should you decide to get involved): after registering (which is free), you can view the current games listed on simExchange and buy or sell stocks and futures using simExhange's virtual currency, DKP.
DKP? What is this, a World of Warcraft raiding guild?
Well, no--it's not a guild in any sense. The creators of the program simply paid homage to that term and decided to use it for the name of their virtual currency. As far as how DKP functions in simExhange, here's the official word:
DKP is the common currency among players in Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games like World of Warcraft and Everquest, earned for performance and used for bidding on items. It is also the name of the currency on the simExchange. DKP is a completely virtual currency and is not backed by real money. On the simExchange, 1 DKP of stock price corresponds to 10,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime for a game.So the currency is a measure of how well a given game sells for over its whole lifespan. It's a completely closed market: there is no direct exchange between real dollars and DKP. This isn't Second Life. ;-)
DKP is used to make trades, analogous to its function as a method of bidding on or purchasing virtual item drops within a particular gaming community. It retains its traditional sense here, but simply changes the metric of its standard. Instead of DKP representing how well a given player has performed for her guild over a particular duration, it here represents how well a game (or console) has sold since its release.
At the most basic level, the trading process here should be pretty familiar to most of us. 1 DKP of stock=10,000 unit sales (not $10,000 worth of sales). So if Game A is trading at 250 dkp, then the market predicts that the game will sell 2,500,000 units globally over the span of its lifetime. Thus if a buyer thinks that Game A will sell for significantly better than the market prediction, he should be willing to purchase it anywhere below the 250 DKP price tag.
Earning DKP in simExchange
There are passive and active methods for earning DKP in simExchange. Examples of the former include referrals and time trust: every 15 mins. you get +250 DKP. Its capped at just 25,000 DKP, so the time trust alone won't allow you to truly rake it in. For additional information about earning DKP, you should visit the Get Started page on the official website.
One unique thing about the simExchange service is that you can submit web content, in the form of articles, and earn DKP for your efforts. I have not completely familiarized myself with this feature, but it seems that a lot of the community has taken advantage this opportunity and the result is rich, pertinent content.
This is a nice idea and meshes well with user-generated content sites such as YouTube revenue sharing(video) or Associated Content (writing). But more importantly, it gives a foundation for simExchange's educational merits. I'd recommend joining simExhange if only for this reason: there is a ton of great information about upcoming games (and consoles), their potential marketability, and strategies for more advanced trading. Speaking of that...
simExhange: advanced trading
If you activate the advanced trading option--its turned off by default--you will be able to choose between two ways of entering orders:
You can either (1) type the price you want to pay per share and the quantity of shares you want to buy or sell in the order form OR (2) you can simply click on one of the existing orders in the order book.
Essentially the advanced trading feature makes it easier for you to short sell if you think that the market's expectations for a given console or game is unjustifiably high.
Additional tutorials/explanations
As I mentioned before, the site really has a wealth of quality information. If you want to read up more on this unique service, or if you'd like additional tutorials about prediction markets, for instance, then register and check out the tutorials section.
Jan 15, 2008
Online earnings since May 2007
Well I calculated my gross earnings since May 2007 until mid December 2007. I'm looking at about $2,800, the majority of it made from writing gigs and the occasional sales of an online good.
I'm pretty happy about it, but I had anticipated a better showing. I suppose the upshot of it is that I proved to myself it is possible, though not easy, to make some money online. The next step is to actually make a significant amount, one that has implications for the rest of my life. ;-)
I'm pretty happy about it, but I had anticipated a better showing. I suppose the upshot of it is that I proved to myself it is possible, though not easy, to make some money online. The next step is to actually make a significant amount, one that has implications for the rest of my life. ;-)
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