Name: Faisal
Posts by Faisal Al Hinai:
- Prompts students to work/try harder on a daily basis, not simply during exam week.
- Allows parents the opportunity to address academic/behavioral issues and concerns early on.
- Ends parental illusion with regards to children’s grades prior to reports being handed out.
- More incentive for teachers to grade at a quicker pace, and gives them quicker feedback.
- Eliminates the need for weekly/daily report cards.
- Allows little room for children to solve problems on their own, the app involves parents immediately.
- Promotes further parental micromanagement, by making it easier for parents to check scores on exams and assignments and soon as the grades are posted, which might lead to tensions at home.
- Exerts further pressure on public school teachers.
- May cause extra stress on the child which could lead to undesirable side-effects such as depression.
- Muddles children’s goals. Child may put in effort in fear of parent instead of wanting to excel to be a better student to better themselves and their futures.
- If you have more than one child you can use the same user name and password for all your children.
- For more information on this product and School Connect, visit: http://www.schoolconnectapps.com/.
- “It feels like a $200 tablet. It’s not going to be as fast as an iPad.”
- “The Kindle’s e-books slide from page to page, even though book reading is Kindle’s strongest point. On Apple’s iPad, it looks like you are turning a real page.”
- “Not as versatile as the iPad.”
Good Parenting or Overbearing Parenting?
April 17th, 2012Not too long ago, parents were allowed instant access and updates to their children’s grades online via their school’s website. As of the 14th of March 2012, parental access was made easier by the public schools in the city of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, who introduced a free mobile app that allows parents of students to stay current with their children’s grades and more. This free application relies on InformationNOW technology, and is created by School Connect for Apple and Android mobile devices. School Connect is a non-profit, Oklahoma-based company that aims to provide free “mobile communication platforms to school districts”.
Through this School Connect app, parents are offered full access to their child’s “grade book, discipline records and attendance records” as soon as they are posted. All that is required is for the parent(s) to visit the Tahlequah public schools board of education office and show a photo I.D. They will then be given a user name and password for access.
Is this recent phenomenon promoting convenient and increased parental control a healthy one? Here are a few pros and cons:-
Pros
Cons
This app is certainly a milestone in parental access and convenience. However, this level of parental comfort brings rise to controversial questions regarding the diminishing student privacy, parental intrusion and the amount of access that ought to be accorded to parents.
NOTES:
Dying for a Power Nap at the Office?
January 24th, 2012
I must admit that I was out of good ideas for an informative blog post this week. I was on the verge of writing about each presidential candidate and their stance on education. Repetitive much? All hope for ingenuity was lost until I stumbled upon this quirky product.
The “OSTRICH”, a pocket pillow that is designed for naps at your desk by kawamura-ganjavian, is a creative solution to the common dilemma of exhaustion at the workplace. While the Guarana-free “5-hour Energy Drink” claims to be crash-proof, let’s face it, after 5 hours, 3 hours or maybe even 2, fatigue catches up with you, and a crash is inevitable. You cannot deny your body of its basic needs. Sleep is a basic need.
Instead of filling your body with ill-advised amounts of caffeine, consider the “OSTRICH”. Due to evolving work patterns, we tend to spent more time at our work environment; this requires the “need to make work and rest fully compatible within the same space.” “OSTRICH” allows you the opportunity to rest without the need to leave your desk. The product is a mixture of pillow, cushion, bed and garment. Its “cave-like interior” is designed to create a “micro environment” that isolates your head and hands from your body; resting your mind and senses, and giving you a chance to take a “warm and comfortable power nap at ease.”
All images taken from kawamura-ganjavian (http://www.studio-kg.com/ostrich/)
Kawamura-ganjavian is a Madrid/Lausanne-based architecture and design studio founded by Key Portilla-Kawamura and Ali Ganjavian. It was established in 2000 under the motto “A constant quest for innovation, ingeniosity and comfort”. You can find innovations by kawamura-ganjavian (including “OSTRICH”) at http://www.studio-kg.com/objects-index/.
NOTE: Stay away from “OSTRICH” if you are claustrophobic.
NOTE (2): “OSTRICH” is not currently available for online purchase, but keep visiting the website above for updates.
Christmas Decisions: Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2
November 22nd, 2011Christmas is fast approaching! By now you must be thinking about plans for the holiday season, everything from baking to decorating. The biggest challenge that many of us face as Christmas beckons is deciding on the perfect gift(s) for our loved one(s). Many have fussed over the recently released tech tablets from Apple and Amazon. Apple has recently released the 2nd version of its iPad, the iPad 2, and Amazon has also recently produced a tablet of its own, the Kindle Fire. Have you considered purchasing either tablet for yourself/your loved one(s)? Have you wondered which tablet better suits your or your loved ones’ needs? If so, the analysis of both products below should help clear your decision.
The table below identifies the main differences between the two products:
|
|
Kindle Fire |
iPad 2 |
|
Weight |
0.91 pounds |
1.33 pounds |
|
Display |
7” |
9.7” |
|
Screen Resolution |
1024×600 |
1024×768 |
|
Storage |
8 GB |
16, 32 or 64 GB |
|
Battery Life |
7.5 - 8 hours (with Wifi off) |
10 hours (with Wifi on) |
|
Camera |
None |
0.92 megapixels |
|
Price |
$200 |
$500+ |
First off, you will have to ask yourself whether you are looking for a small tablet or a large tablet, with or without a camera and how much you are willing to spend. As the table illustrates, the disadvantages of both products are clear, the Kindle Fire has no camera, which means you cannot record a video, take pictures or entertain a Skype video chat. In addition, the Kindle Fire also has a considerably smaller display screen (7” as opposed to the iPad 2’s 9.7”) and relatively shorter battery life. However, the iPad 2’s advantages come at a price; the iPad 2 costs at least $300 more than the Kindle Fire.
Is the iPad 2 worth the investment? Is the Kindle Fire a worthy competitor? Is it just as good? The common consensus from people who have tried both products can be summed up in the following three quotes about the Kindle Fire:
In conclusion, the Kindle Fire is not as fast as the iPad 2, doesn’t have as much battery life, has less storage size options, has a smaller display screen and has a slightly lower screen resolution in comparison to the iPad 2. In addition, it does not have a camera. While it may present itself to some as a replacement for the iPad 2, it is only a “good” replacement at best if you’re looking for a less expensive, smaller and lighter tablet.
How NOT to Manage a Brand 101: The Netflix Fiasco
October 5th, 2011
Introduction: Unprecedented Price Hikes
On July 17th, 2011, Netflix, A company that offers online video streaming, Blu-Ray Disc and DVD rental via mail at a flat rate and a fierce competitor for On Demand cable and Video rental stores like Blockbuster, announced a significant price hike for its services effective September 1st, 2011. Customers who experienced a flat-rate of $9.99 per-month for Netflix’s unlimited DVD rental and online streaming were told to expect a price increase to a new monthly rate of $15.98 for the same combo plan, raising its customers’ monthly bill by 60%! Otherwise, customers were being given the option of choosing between a DVD rental plan and an online streaming service, with each separate plan costing $7.99. Netflix Chief Service and Operations Officer, Andy Rendich, attributed “underlying costs” to the price increase.
Further Confusion
In addition to this unprecedented price hike, Netflix confused its customers even further when, shortly after the price hike, Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings announced that Netflix’s DVD rental service by mail will now become an independent company, Qwikster. Customers will be sent two separate bills, one from Netflix and another from Qwikster! This last decision by Hastings appeared mind-boggling to consumers who adored Netflix for its simplicity of service.
Aftermath
Hastings and Netflix failed to convey a clear message to its customers as to why the prices were hiked, why the DVD rental and online streaming services were now separated and why Qwikster was created. Thus, it came to no surprise that since the first announcement in July, Neflix has lost over 1 Million customers. In addition, the current price of Netflix’s stock is $114.90, showing an alarming drop of 62% from its height of $298.73 prior to the July announcement.
PR Disaster
In response to consumer outrage and Netflix’s stock price plunge, Hastings sent an email to Netflix consumers to apologize for and explain Netflix’s separation plans. However, this apology may have complicated things further!
Below, are two excerpts from Hastings’s email:-
“I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation. Many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success.”
“A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated. So if you subscribe to both services, and if you need to change your credit card or email address, you would need to do it in two places. Similarly, if you rate or review a movie on Qwikster, it doesn’t show up on Netflix, and vice-versa.”
On September 18th, 2011, The Netflix account on YouTube named “NetflixPublic”, released a video titled “An explanation and some reflections”, where Hastings and Rendich offer a very casual and insincere apology for the mishandling of the price hike announcement and the Qwikster confusion. This can be seen in the video below:
As a response to this apology, the popular show “SNL’s” Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis posed as Hastings and Rendich in an unaired Netflix “SNL” skit (video below), which offered a humorous rendition of the apology offered in the video above.
While the futures of Netflix, Qwikster, Nutflix (NOT Nutflicks), Qwakster and/or Nutqwakflikster remain uncertain, it is evident that the lack of transparency, greediness and poor PR cost the company its prolific stock price and most importantly, the loyalty of its customers.
