Holiday Season

Well it is here, it has officially arrived. Up till now it has been a wild ride, this year has flown by and I could not be happier with the outcome.

As many of you guys know, or if you don't you will soon find out. I was promoted back in February to Producer. This was an exciting time, it was the next step up that would guide me to with what I have been wanting to do. I was not expecting of it happening so fast, or would I be ready for what was ahead of me, but I have survived and I am happy with what has happened.

We have been working pretty much around the clock for the past two years, I can officially say that I have worked more in the past two years then anything that I have done in the past. This time it has been really hard work, but the game that we are all working on is taking some big strides and can't wait for it to be released in March. Time sure flies when you are working over 80 hours a week. And here is the shameless plug, you can check out www.freakycreatures.com. If you would like to be invited to our close beta which is happening now, please let me know.

A week before Thanksgiving I got the biggest thanks that I could ever wish for. I was asked to work on my very own game, something that I am very excited about. This is a huge deal and I couldn't be any happier about it. I know that it will be a lot of work, and it has already began, but it will rock this world when it gets released later next year. As it gets closer I will let you all know about it and what are plans are. Besides how cool is it to see your idea come to life? Seriously when you go wouldn't it be cool if, and that if is happening and everyone agrees that it will be cool.

We just moved offices, so we are no longer in Malibu, but we are still close to the ocean, on Sunset and PCH. This has been a lot of work trying to coordinate to get everything moved slowly and trying not to lose people's crap. I can't imagine how much crap people have. I do have my own office that is the furthest away from civilization, which is good...no one can hear the screams.

Most of my free time has been getting together with my totally amazing girlfriend. I couldn't be happier and look forward to spend every day with her. She has gotten me through some rough times here at the office, and I can't imagine where my life would be without her. In October we celebrated our 1 year of being together. We decided to go to San Diego for a few days and make a long weekend a little longer. It was such an unforgettable time, and it brought us a little closer. My boss also had a few tricks up his sleeve with our trip which made it even better, oh and we saw Shamu as well.

Well besides that I have been busy with school as well. I can happily say that I am enjoying all of my classes and look forward to finish up school shortly. I am done with all of my Business classes, which is a little sad, since I did have some great fun in them, but now it will be computer classes.

For everything else, there isn't too much to report. It has been a great year and I am hoping for the same next year.

I want to wish everyone happy holidays and have a great new year. Hopefully all of your dreams will come true next year.

Take care,
Matt

Week 11 : Feedback

On Yahoo, normally they have a section right under an ad for Feedback. If you click on it, you are taken to a survey about the ad. I thought it was interesting and was wondering how many people actually submit comments with regards to an ad.

What if more ads did this? If you went to a new website, what would happen if you could give some input. What about those full page ads that pop up?

Week 10 : What did they just say?

I am sure that everyone is familiar with the ads for new prescription drugs on TV. I think it is a little funny to hear about the added side affects that the drug may cause. I mean if they have sold you on helping you do the side affects turn you off to the product? I don't know about you but if I was going to take one of these drugs I don't think that anal leakage is high on my list.



I also enjoy greatly the "see our ad in" parts. I know that the commercials are interesting, but what would tell me more about the side affects and the product, the last time I looked at a magazine it didn't tell me all of the information that is shown on a TV commercial. I think that they should change it to maybe, "also seen in". That way if someone is interested in finding out more they can simply hunt down the magazine and see what information they were interested in. Just some food for thought.

Week 9 : N-Gaged?

I have worked in the Video Game industry for the past 6 years. During this time there has been some great products that I have worked on and have been truly happy about. One of those things was the N-Gage. Okay you can bash it all you want and believe me you have every right to. There of course was this one and it just goes on and on but none the less this was going to be the next big thing. You have had a lot of commercials that show you what I thought at the time was new and got you interested in what it was.



It was at the time going to be the one of the biggest things that was going to happen. However once it was released it turned out not to be. Who would be willing to take their battery out of the phone to change games? Well Nokia listened to it's users and released the N-Gage QD.



However it seemed like it was too late and no one was going to go with the flow. The N-Gage didn't make it and in the long run it was a great idea but not too many people were going along with it. Sure there was the Nintendo DS and the beginning of the Sony PSP, but did those have phones?



Would it be different if the Sony PSP didn't come out? Would the N-Gage would have prevailed?

Week 8: The Polls

There was an interesting video about what words you associate with each of the upcoming candidates that are running for president on yahoo today.



I thought that it was interested and how they ran through the different words and figured out which words you thought about first when you saw a picture and how you reacted. It seemed to me to be one of those things that catches your attention, something quick and eye popping that companies try to find out from the very beginning to catch your eye so you buy their product.

I think this video brings up something new as well. I don't ever remember candidates going after so many ads and thinking about new places to post them. There is a good article here about an ad that is displayed in a video game. There is also an ad here as well. I think that this is huge, especially trying to get the attention of the youth maybe not as big as rock the vote but something that they can see and think about as they are relaxing playing against their friends. I don't know what this will do for the future, but I am sure that there will be a place where it will need to stop, until that place is found I am going to be sitting and waiting.

Week 7: Caffeinated what!?!?!

The other day I was bored and figured that I would kill sometime and look at Yahoo for something to make time past. There was an article (here) about new caffeinated products. I thought that it was odd and very unique to see that they are starting to add caffeine in a variety of products, but was shocked to see that they have even added it to soap. Ironically you can find some here. Though I haven't seen this in any store as of yet, but can't wait to see the weekly special of caffeinated soap. I just hope they don't get to the point to advertise this product too much, as I can only accept a certain amount of caffeinated products per day, and I don't need to start off on a caffeinated high when I am in the shower.



I think that the Starbucks affect (a theory that I have with regards to having a store on every corner and seeing even kids with their Starbucks coffee) was large enough and don't really seem a real reason that we should start adding caffeine in every single product out there. I just don't like the way we are heading as a society and relying so much on caffeine. Sure that caffeine is considered a drug now and that many many people are addicted to it.

I can't wait to see what else happens and where else they can find places to place caffeine in. I can't wait for the scratch and sniff caffeine stickers that will be around soon.

Week 6: Money out of where?!?!

Superbowl commercials are normally the highlight of the Superbowl for a lot of people, even myself. I make sure that I am glued to the TV for the commercials and don't want to miss what everyone will be talking about the next couple of weeks. Each year they always run the greatest Superbowl commercials ever to appear and I caught this last year about this time and saw one commercial that I missed in 2000. Even though companies pay a very large sum of money for even a 30 second spot, is it worth it?



I think so, I mean how many of millions of people will be watching the TV at that moment when it is your really big moment to shine. Of course there have been some that haven't really settled to well with people, especially the GoDaddy.com commercials, but then again, it is something that we can always remember.



What will be this years big one that will stick with us for a very long time. We will have to wait and see. Hopefully it will be a good one that no one is expecting...

Week 5: Dude you're getting a Dell

Remember the early days of dell's adverting with the Dell Dude?



Does the Dell Dude, remind you of the new Mac vs. PC guy?



It seems like the cool guy trend still exists today. Even though it has been around for a while, maybe not in the same content but it is still out there. I was thinking the other day that it is kind of odd that Dell has gotten past the "cool guy trend" and seems that even though their computers are at schools that kids are taught with. Maybe that was their decision that if they started adverting to the hip and cool kids then market to schools that would be their way into the lives of kids. Could that have been their marketing strategy?

Week 4 : Yahoo

Logging onto Yahoo today you were presented with a couple of ads for the new ABC shows.


If you went ahead and clicked on the center ad, the ad would grow and play a little animation.

If you highlighted each show it would show something different.






I think that this was great to show advertising and very simple for the user to see what they were going to be tuned into tonight when they return from a hard day of work. I would be interested in knowing how many people did in fact click on these ads to learn more about the new shows on ABC. I thought by now more and more companies would do this advertising, since it seems pretty simple. It does catch your eye and makes you want to learn more about what is going on. Also add a few little cool animations and you have my attention. Hopefully there will be more of these in the near future.

Week 3: Stuck in Traffic

I was driving to work the other day and saw a truck with a little sticker on the side of it about advertising. This made me think of what a great idea to have a semi truck with an ad on it. So I found a site that would take an ad and have it on the side of their trucks.

This I think is a great idea, not only for the truck company to get a little more money, but also advertising. Sure that there are other ways to advertise, but I think that this one is especially great. Can you imagine how many people would see this a day? I know that if I was working on something that I wanted to get people's attention with this would probably be the first place that I would get my ad posted.

Week 2: Raising the bar

Many companies go from changing logos and taglines all the time. Cingular has changed their tagline and logos quite a few times. When ATT purchased Cingular the company tagline was "Fewest dropped calls" After a few months Cingular changed their tagline to "More bars in more places"Many people have wondered why a company would change a tagline from stating that the calls don't drop as much to you have better reception in more places. I think that it is a little confusing to say that you have the fewest dropped calls then change everything to say that you have better reception. People have noticed this change and begin to wonder what exactly Cingular is trying to say. Marc Babej and Tim Pollak wrote a good article about the tagline change on MediaPost Publications.

It seems to me that once you create a tagline, you should back it up with full support. It is something that identifies your company or product. It shouldn't be changed but if it has to be it should be something minor, something that won't cause confusion all around. Cingular I think did make a mistake by changing their tagline, causing a lot of people to question what the reasoning behind it was.

I still see the Cingular "More bars in more places" still advertised today, though mail flyers, web banners, billboards and television. This caused me to look around some more and try to figure out why they would change from "fewest dropped calls" to something completely different.

Week1

Advertising can be found by just looking around anywhere. One trend that has caught my eye is the dealership putting on the stamps on the back of the car.

I think that this is good for the dealership, but what message are you trying to show other people on the road. We all know that if you liked the dealership you would keep the free license plate frame. Seeing these makes me really think about what the dealership is trying to portray. If you are not happy with the dealership, you would simply remove the license plate frame from the car and put your own (I rather be swimming). I think that they (the dealerships) are trying to force the image of where people got their new car. I think that it might be harder and harder for dealerships to make money especially with the way that gas prices are these days. However is it really worth it to stamp a car with where you got it from? I have seen this a few times driving around and have thought about it a lot recently.

If people aren't happy where they have bought a particular car I think that we would know. But how many times do you hear that people have a bad experience when they are buying a car? I think that advertising is key and helps get the word out about your business, but I don't like seeing this trend that is spreading. I know that if I went out to get a new car and saw this, I wouldn't be particularly happy with it.

Assignment for 5_1_08

Principal: 35000
Rate: 0.064
Time: 5
=48199.47
For monthly payments divide by 60
=803.32

35000 with 6.4% for 5 years
Even though the monthly payments would be cheaper, since you are taking out more
money, you would be paying more money in the long run, by almost $7000.

Principal: 35000
Rate: 0.059
Time: 3
=41777.09
For monthly payments divide by 36
=1160.47

35000 with 5.9% for 3 years
Even though the monthly payments would be more expensive, you would be paying less in
the long run.

NPV
For Option A you would see a profit of $477.09
For Option B you would see a profit of $161.66
For Option C you would see a debt of $849.69
For Option D you would see a debt of $1601.95

MIRR
For Option A you would see 6%
For Option B you would see 6%
For Option C you would see 4%
For Option D you would see 3%

Evaulation:
Option A and Option B would be better, not only are they returning a profit but their
MIRR is the higher percentage. Though Option A would be the best option and make the
most money back.

Dashboard

Some ideas for dashboards:

EA As of 4_21_08:

Last Trade: 52.06
Day's Range: 51.36-52.37
Previous Close: 52.01
Total Revenue: 1502000000
Operating Income or Loss: 7000000
Total Current Assets: 3597000000
Total Current Liabilities: 1026000000
Net Income: 76000000

Secret History of the Credit Card

The video that covers the secret history of Credit Cards is very interesting. It relates to other videos that we have covered and watched in class. It talked about how people found loop holes in the system and how they were able to make it last for a long time before other people saw what was happening.

Being an owner of a credit card, it really made me think about reading the original contract that I received when I first signed up for my card. But I do remember skipping over all of the contracts, since I didn't understand what they said. Though this is a little concerning about how a company can raise your rates, if they find out that you are running late with other companies. That information is really concerning, since where will it end. Does that mean that everyone that you are paying will end up taking advantage of you?

Another concerning part of the video was the fact that 7 million people file for bankruptcy in the past 5 years (though I know the video was a little old). That is more than 1 million people a year, and that turns out to be almost 5% of everyone that has a card (154 million have cards).

Frontline does a terrific job of covering issues, and reporting them so people can understand what is going on. I really enjoy learning about issues, and loop holes in our systems that I wasn't aware about.

Ratios:
Two competitors that I am using for this assignment are Electronic Arts (EA) and THQ. They are both publishers for video games. Currently EA is the largest publisher in the world.

EA Balance Sheet

THQ Balance Sheet

All of these values that are displayed are in thousands unless noted otherwise.

EA:
Current Ratio:
Assets / Liabilities
5146000 / 1114000 = 4.62
There are $4.62 of current assets available to meet each $1 of currently maturing obligations.

Debt to Capital:
Current Liabilities + long – term liabilities / Capital + Total Liabilities
1026000 + 88000 / 4032000 + 88000 = 0.270 = 27% of assets are financed by creditors.

Gross Profit:
Gross Profit / Net Revenues
1879000 / 3091000 = 0.608 = 61% of sales.

Profit to Sales:
Income / Net Revenues
39000 / 3091000 = 0.012 = 1%

Market to Book: (not in thousands)
Market Capitalization / Shareholder Equity
16450000000 / 4303000000 = 3.823


THQ:
Current Ratio:
Assets / Liabilities
1013541 / 244584 = 4.14
There are $4.14 of current assets available to meet each $1 of currently maturing obligations.


Debt to Capital:
Current Liabilities + long – term liabilities / Capital + Total Liabilities
303476 + 39979 / 774828 + 39979 = 0.667 = 67% of assets are financed by creditors

Gross Profit:
Gross Profit / Net Revenues
393682 / 1026856 = 0.383 = 38% of sales.

Profit to Sales:
Income / Net Revenues
78206 / 1026856 = 0.076 = 7%

Market to Book: (not in thousands)
Market Capitalization / Shareholder Equity
1490000000 / 774828000 = 1.923

Startup.com

Here is my thoughts about the video that we watched while in class.

One of the very interesting things of the video Startup.com was the whole idea of friendship. There were two people that were very close friends, however their friendship was stretched to the very limits. At first it seemed that everything was going good, however once there were some money issues with the company, their friendship changed.

I know that it is one of the things that happens in every relationship, but it seemed to me that it was more vicious. It seemed that once their relationship changed, it was the entire company that was affected.

Another big thing was that the two people involved Kaleil and Tom both parted ways, but they also started a new company after govworks.com. It seems like they must have worked out what each person was going to be doing and discuss all of the companies decisions.

Kaleil I think was the one that was really interested in running the company even without talking with Tom, who was the second CEO. To me I think that communication was very broken and it affected the entire company. If communication was made about all decisions I think it would have been better and govworks.com could be around today.

Also it seemed that no one was taking charge of why the company was failing. It seemed to me that Kaleil was trying to point the finger elsewhere which lead to the problem. This includes letting Tom go and forcing him out of the company.

Assignment #4

TiVo
Balance Sheet

TiVo Inc. = TIVO

Total Assets: 163,148
Total Liabilities: 149,378
Capital: 13,770

Total Liabilities/Total Assets: 0.9156
Comments: Assets financed through Equity



General Motors
Balance Sheet

General Motors = GM

Total Assets: 148,883,000
Total Liabilities: 185,977,000
Capital: -37,094,000

Total Liabilities/Total Assets: 1.2491
Comments: Assets financed through debt. This could be related to fuel prices on the rise and most people turning to smaller cars that get better gas mileage.



Microsoft
Balance Sheet

Microsoft = MSFT

Total Assets: 6,733,900
Total Liabilities: 32,908,000
Capital: 34,431,000

Total Liabilities/Total Assets: 0.4887
Comments: Assets financed through Equity


Disney
Balance Sheet

Disney = DIS

Total Assets: 62,772,000
Total Liabilities: 32,392,000
Capital: 30,380,000

Total Liabilities/Total Assets: 0.5160
Comments: Assets financed through Equity

Two competing companies

We all know that there are companies that have it out for one another. These companies are rivals and they can battle hard to win the influence of many many people.

The two companies I am going to choose are THQ and EA (Electronic Arts). Electronic Arts is the number one video game publisher in the world. THQ on the other hand is number 3 (this is behind the newly created Universal Activision).

These are financials from yahoo for THQ:
Balance Sheet

Income Statment

Cash Flows


These are financials from yahoo for EA:
Balance Sheet

Income Statment

Cash Flows

Thoughts on The Wall Street Fix

After viewing this video, it makes you wonder about all companies that are out there. It really opens your eyes and makes you think about how a company can have such a high buy rating from analyists. It really made me think about all of the companies that I have seen on Wall Street and makes me wonder if this is still going on. It was also a little worrysome to think that all of executives for large companies that were not only stealing money but stealing money from people that were supporting them. That I think was the worst thing that really stood out at me as I watched the video. Wondering how some people would try to do everything in their right to make money and really just stepping on all of the people that support you and your company. It was also really interesting to learn about how the anlyists were involved and how they could influence so so many people.

This video really opened my eyes and will make me search around a little more before I enter the stock market and before I listen to analyists about whether I should buy or sell all of my stocks.