Final Post

            Never in my life had I come up with an idea that I thought I could actually pursue. I have always been in love with journalism. The news media fascinates me and the shift of newspapers to the web is what drove to start learning IST. In the crossing between journalism and IST I found this idea, and it has since fascinated me.

            Whoever denies that the newspaper business is in a precarious state is dead wrong. Countless newspapers have gone under because they have been forced to the web to survive, but once there have found it impossibly hard to draw readers to their site and away form the overwhelming web-wide competition. Without the readers, they could make money off of advertisements and various newspapers became the first to crawl towards extinction, putting up a fight until bankruptcy claimed another victim.

            Myheadline.com could become a solution to the decline of newspaper readership. By creating a single site that could serve as a marketplace for newspapers and magazines, accessibility to the news media would be increased. This idea has already been explored by a number of aggregator sites such as feedbucket.com and alltop.com. These sites create a feed in which you could insert all types of sites, with the intention of creating a constant news feed from various sources. However, this is only a weak jab at the possibilities that aggregating news sources could have.

            While my original idea was simply an aggregator site like so many others with a news feed from varied sources, I now realize what an impact a news-dedicated social media website could have. Myheadline.com will exceed the simple newsfeed. It will incorporate aspects of social media sites to facilitate the reading and sharing of a wide array of news stories. The idea is for people to create a user account, much like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin accounts, that will allow the user to subscribe to a variety of local and national newspapers that will then appear in a single home. This will facilitate the user to browse through several sources of news simultaneously.

             The user will also be able to share stories they find interesting or important to fellow Myheadline.com users. Furthermore, the website will follow the type of stories the user finds interesting so that in the future stories of that type continue to appear in the users home page. This will be facilitated through a function called “highlighting,” in which users “highlight” the stories they find interesting.  The number of times a story gets “highlighted” by users is recorded so that stories can be ranked in importance and interest. Commenting on stories is also an option, so that users can engage on discussions about news stories.

            In short, it is wrong to say that Myheadline.com would facilitate the consumption of news. Myheadline.com would utterly revolutionize the way news is consumed in our society.

Lecture Post - Operating Systems

Myheadline.com will be a social media website that facilitates the reading and sharing of a wide array of news stories. The idea is for people to create a user account, much like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin accounts, that will allow the user to subscribe to a variety of local and national newspapers that will then appear in a single home. This will facilitate the user to browse through several sources of news simultaneously.

         This week in class operating systems were discussed. We touched upon the different pros and cons that each operating system has in terms of running different kinds of software and how operating systems differ for personal computers, servers and handheld devices such as smart phones and tablets.

 I was interested the most by two aspects of different operating systems that came up in our discussion. Firstly, I was interested in how specific software can run on some operating systems and not on others. For example, some of my friends are into an online game called League of Legends and they are capable of playing it because they use Windows operating systems on their computers. However, if one were to try to play League of Legends on a Mac OS, one would find that the gameplay is significantly worse and that the program would be riddled with bugs that make it completely unpractical to attempt to play. This interests me a lot because, as a company trying to profit from their game, League of Legends loses a large number of potential users simply because the game only runs well on Windows OS. That is a lot of money lost. In my entrepreneurial project, I would make sure that my website and the software associated with is compatible with as many operating as possible.

Also, for a company to remain competitive in todays market, there is a need for an app that runs efficiently and on as many embedded operating systems as possible. This becomes interesting when one understands the differences in creating an app to run on Google Android, iPhone OS or BlackBerry, for example. The differences in getting the app published also differs, as some embedded OS’s are open source, like Google Android, and others are not, like iPhone OS. 

Lecture Post - Cloud Computing

Myheadline.com will be a social media website that facilitates the reading and sharing of a wide array of news stories. The idea is for people to create a user account, much like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin accounts, that will allow the user to subscribe to a variety of local and national newspapers that will then appear in a single home. This will facilitate the user to browse through several sources of news simultaneously.

Last week we touched upon the topic of cloud computing in class. Cloud computing is essentially a way of storing information and files in the "cloud" so that it does not take memory space in your physical location. Basically, this is achieved by storing everything in a remote location, in servers that are usually connected to your actual computer through the web. A lot of the things we use, such as music providers like Spotify and even our E-Mails, store our information in such a way. If you're computer is destroyed, you don't loose your mail or music, because it is in the "cloud."

This technology is pertinent to my entrepreneurial idea because MyHeadline.com would be a website that, to function properly, would require an enormous amount of memory. For example, the personal information of the users must be stored as well as all the articles and newspaper archives so that the website can work. The feat of storing such a massive database of articles and private personal information can be accomplished through the use of cloud computing. 

Professional Blogger Review

http://9to5mac.com/

            This blog is all about reviewing Apple products and gadgets that supplement their performance. However, the site is unique in that, while basing itself on Apple products, it also talks about products from other makers that surpass the quality of Apple.

            The way the blogger does this is by relying heavily on multimedia. The blogger frequently uses pictures and videos, ranging from advertisements of the products themselves to demonstrations of their functionality. Besides blogging about the quality of the products, 9to5mac.com also provides news about the announcements of products, shipments, release dates and such. Overall, it gives the blog a quality of being almost like an advertisement website, but a very useful one at that.

            Besides that, the blog also provides news about controversies and scandals surrounding Apple. For example, it covers topics such as the controversy surrounding the leaking of iPhone sales numbers by an Apple insider and the battle surrounding the name “iPad” in China. Also, the site offers links to websites such as Amazon.com and the Apple App store where users can get deals for purchasing products. 

Competitive Analysis

Myheadline.com will be a social media website that facilitates the reading and sharing of a wide array of news stories. The idea is for people to create a user account, much like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin accounts, that will allow the user to subscribe to a variety of local and national newspapers that will then appear in a single home. This will facilitate the user to browse through several sources of news simultaneously.

Competitor 1 – www.feedbucket.com

         Feedbucket.com captures an idea similar to that of Myheadline.com. It is, as Myheadline.com would be, a news aggregator site that allows users to assemble a feed composed of news stories from a variety of sites. However, Feedbucket.com is not nearly as comprehensive as Myheadline.com would be. It does not distinguish between the stories that go into the feed. Everything that goes through the web sites listed goes onto your feed. Also, it is merely a continuous stream of headlines and feeds without any personalization. Myheadline.com would stress the importance of catering the news stories the user finds interesting.

Competitor 2 – http://alltop.com

         Alltop.com is more similar to Myheadline.com than Feedbucket.com because it allows you to assemble a feed of news stories, but also divides the stories into sections of interest. It also displays the stories that are more popular at the moment and those that may be of interest to the user. It achieves the goal of a personalized news feed better than Feedbucket.com, but still not as well as Myheadline.com would. It lacks functions such as the “highlight” that allows the user to show the server what stories are considered interesting and help show what stories are trending on the web.

         Another thing that both these competitors lack and Myheadline.com would try to achieve is to work as a middleman between news sites and users to sell subscription packages to a large amount of news sources. Also, Myheadline.com would intend to make the consumption of news a more social activity by allowing users to share stories with their friends and comment on them in both public and private forums. 

Entrepreneurial Idea: Myheadline.com will be a social media website that facilitates the reading and sharing of a wide array of news stories. The idea is for people to create a user account, much like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin accounts, that will allow the user to subscribe to a variety of local and national newspapers that will then appear in a single home. This will facilitate the user to browse through several sources of news simultaneously.


This week we talked in class about computer forensics and how identity theft occurs, can be avoided, and dealt with. At first sight, one would no think that an entrepreneurial idea could incorporate computer forensics into its functionality. However, a site as such could be instrumental in reaching out and educating people about this problem.


With a wide database of newspaper articles, various archives can be created in which information and articles about a certain topic can be accessed, thus providing a wide source of information for readers. In terms of commuter forensics and identity theft, it can be used to educate people about identity theft through newspaper stories about cases of identity theft and also through articles that deal with it. If the site has many users, a campaign to educate them can be launched.


As a company, Myheadline.com can also take a certain steps to protect itself and its users from identity theft. Appropriate means of getting rid of servers with personal data of users would be taken, especially if Myheadline.com sells subscriptions to major newspapers and thus holds credit and debit card numbers of users.

Social Networking Post

Entrepreneurial Idea: Myheadline.com will be a social media website that facilitates the reading and sharing of a wide array of news stories. The idea is for people to create a user account, much like Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin accounts, that will allow the user to subscribe to a variety of local and national newspapers that will then appear in a single home. This will facilitate the user to browse through several sources of news simultaneously.

The lectures of this past week are especially pertinent to my entrepreneurial idea since my idea is in itself a social networking site. Ideas such as trending, privacy and profiling would all be incorporated in Myheadline.com. One thing we’ve learned almost above all about the importance social networking has acquired of late is that through social networking sites companies can interact with consumers, employers can interact with prospect employees and advertising and public relations can be managed in an innovative and crucial way.

Myheadline.com would stand in a position to all of these. However, it would be unique from all other social networking sites because it would do so in a special niche for the newspaper and magazine industries. The site would offer a way for newspaper companies to measure themselves against their competitors in an environment where they can see the direct responses of their readers. Prospective journalists can showcase their work, and if they become popular, employers can become interested in their work. Furthermore, Myheadline.com presents an opportunity for newspapers to advertise themselves directly to readers in an effort to acquire a larger amount of full subscriptions.

Myheadline,com creates a niche for the newspaper and magazine industry that would prove incredibly useful to both the industry and its consumers. Furthermore, the newspaper and magazine industry is in a very interesting position. The shift from print to the internet has been dramatic and has driven many newspapers and magazines into bankruptcy. Myheadline.com can do them a service and help them keep afloat by providing a smoother transition into the online version while exposing them to a broad pool of users. This would be very appealing to small newspaper and magazine companies that are struggling because Myheadline.com offers a means of acquiring the online traffic they need to get advertising revenue.

-Ricardo Imbert