Amazon's "Tricks"

On Wednesday in class we discussed an article about Amazon. The article explained a marketing technique that some thought to be "tricky" or "unethical". Amazon would sell their product at a lower price to new people visiting the website and it would be more expensive to people that are frequent users. Amazon uses cookie files to tell if you've visited the site before and/or if you are a frequent user. When people discovered this they were very unhappy to find out they were paying more then others for the same thing.

Amazon explains that it is a technique to find out if this would boost sales or make them more money. They do not think they are being tricky at all. They simply say they are experimenting with a new marketing technique. Although this technique will bring in more customers, its not fair to the loyal customers. It just doesn't seem right or ethical to have different prices on the same products for different people.

At the same time your bringing in customers others that have been loyal to Amazon are getting upset. This could cause a lot of problems leading to people going elsewhere. I understand what Amazon was thinking but it's just not fair to do it without anyones knowing. People are being ripped off while others are getting discounts, simply because they are new. People are now changing settings on their computers so they won't be recognized as frequent users. There were plenty of ways to go about this but I don't think Amazon made the best decision.

Kevin Durant is headed for the league

I've just edited another wikipedia article about Texas Longhorn superstar freshman Kevin Durant Player Profile. He has declared for the NBA draft and he is expected to go number 1 or number 2 in the upcoming draft. He is leaving Texas after 1 year to go to the league. This is no good for Texas fans like myself because he dominated teams in the Big 12. Although, we will have 4 returning starters it still hurts losing your best player.

Keyword STIUQXELA

In an experiment for class we are checking search results for the keyword stiuqxela and by clicking on the keyword it will actually bring you to one of the worst teams in the NFL's website.

Member Comment on some Shady Business

I've just completed my second comment on a members blog. We had talked about how you are able to look at where someone lives just by looking up their name. I thought this was a very interesting subject and very "creepy" as well. I agreed with her thoughts 100% and think its a bit of a privacy issue. You can find this "Shady Business" post on Laurens Blog.

Group member comment

I previously commented on a group members blog about his topic. He thought that it may be a boring subject but we all can learn a lot of through other people. Its always interesting to learn something new! You can find this post about his wikipedia on Nicks Blog.

Apple's iPhone

Since I was unable to attend class today due to the icy conditions, I have decided to blog about an article that I have read in Slashdot. While reading through the articles, I was reading an interesting article about the new iPhone being introduced by Apple. The article was called "Newton's Ghost Haunts Apples iPhone" .

It explained that the new iPhone is going to have trouble selling to the public due to its expensive price. Its hard to imagine how people are willing to pay so much for an iPod and a phone but will not be willing to pay more money to get both of them into one. There are many competitors that will attempt to come out with phones that are less pricey and alike. One major problem that the article addresses is finding a wireless network to take on the iPhone. This is a very interesting article and I will continue to check up on the iPhone and update my blog about it.

2nd Wikipedia Edit

I've just completed my second Wikipedia article edit and I decided to add some information to David Beckham. It's tought to find information that people have not already posted on him but he recently got hurt in one of his games. So I've decided to take advantage of that information and add it into the article. He injured his knee on Sunday, March 4 and he is expected to miss 1 month. Many people may know that he is suppose to come play in the U.S. in August for the L.A. Galaxy but you'll be happy to know if your a fan of soccer that this will not impact his arrival. If your interested in learning more about David Beckham, the wikipedia article can be found at David Beckham Fourth Season for Real Madrid.