SBP's Profile

Very interesting article about technology seeping into restaurants. I know Chili’s has a very similar offering by using a tablet at the table to reorder drinks, order dessert, and pay the bill. However, in its current state, this tool is often broken, unclear, and does not meet the needs of the consumer. A key example of this is splitting a check amongst multiple people, a common occurrence at B-Dubs or Chilis. Additionally, the job of a waiter/waitress at this type of restaurant should be to try to encourage increased food and drink purchases. A tablet may prevent this and could have downstream complications for the restaurants revenue stream.

To your point, gamers spend hours (if not days) playing their respective game. The world of intense gaming is built less on “on-demand” and more on an immersion experience. The mobile experience may be counterproductive to this fact and prevents players from getting immersed as they are limited by battery, wifi, and the fact that they are traveling. I think VR is the logical next step in this business and it will take game immersion even further and allow the gamer to not just play the game, but be in the game.

Very interesting article about the use of EMRs within hospitals. My experience with physicians using EMRs is very similar to the problems outlined here. It often takes many minutes to fill-in a patient’s note, which in essence is minutes that a doctor is not spending with the patient. How hospitals battle the tension of maximizing patient/physician facetime with the need for clear, concise, and accurate information will be of most importance going forward.
I also am curious of how the different EMRs will communicate in the future. Currently, EPIC has nearly 50% marketshare but there are a number of other large players, including AllScripts and Cerner. It will be interesting to see how these competitors work together in the future as they all have the same ultimate goal, to help the patient.

Very interesting article about the use of technology in a very antiquated field. I question though will VR in the museum be successful. Why buy a VR and not just Google Image the painting? What is next for VR: zoos? baseball games? There is something to say for actually getting to experience where you are. Part of seeing the Mona Lisa is not just to see the Mona Lisa, but to get to be physically present at one of the homes of art in the world. While, VR could be a great way to introduce art, I struggle to accept that this is the future of museums.

Thanks for sharing. It is very interesting to see how hospitals are incorporating new technology from our smart phones. A key question that I have is, what (if anything) will the hospitals do with this data? I am a little skeptical that doctors, who are already very busy, will have the time to review data being transmitted from a patient’s phone to the EMR. During my time with CVS (where I helped implement technological improvements, connecting CVS to the doctor’s EMR), we found that it is doctor’s are driven by urgency and that doctors most often will not check the EMR for a patient that they are not seeing (especially one that has an appointment a few weeks out!).
Additionally, as I often find with my Fitbit, it is very easy to fudge health data (e.g. if I know my blood pressure was going to my doctor, I would only take it when I knew I was very relaxed). Overall, it will be very interesting to see how the medical profession moves with the times and finds ways to incorporate technology and keep the patient connection at home.

I must ask, are cruise ships really that responsible for Venice sinking? I question the impact of reducing supply of cruises to Venice and the impact it may have on Venice’s problems in general. As global warming continues worldwide, Venice will continue to be submerged, regardless of cruising. Would the cruise ship industry be better suited to make a more conscientious effort to help curb the impact of global warming in a worldwide effort (e.g. more green ships)? This may need to be done in parallel with changing supply, but simply cutting supply may not be enough.

While I completely agree that Tesla needs to break their reliance on ZEV credits as a source or revenue, I question Musk’s motives in pushing for more stringent regulation. Is Musk’s statement: “There’s massive lobbying by the big car companies to prevent CARB from increasing the ZEV credit mandate, which they absolutely damn well should. It’s a crying shame that they haven’t. And as a result, you can barely sell the ZEV credits for pennies on the dollar.” he makes it seem that it is a crying shame because he cannot make as much of a profit. Is Musk really concerned about the effects of climate change or about turning another profit?

Nestle is synonymous with chocolate. Is looking for chocolate substitutes really the right direction, or could this have more downstream impact to their brand equity. Instead, Nestle may want to look at Mars Candy, who has had similar problems with cocoa production. Mars has made a commitment to to change their operation to be more “green”–which will not have an impact on product quality. Not only is this maintain the product integrity, but it also matches their ambition to help climate change at a larger scale.

Do you think it is fair for the French Minister of Ecology to push for a boycott given the fact that Nutella is making clear efforts to promote improved production of palm oil? It is interesting that the French Parliament recently voted down a tax on palm oil products, despite many other vegetable oils facing a tax in France. It appears that the palm oil lobbyist of Malaysia and Indonesia have a strong influence in French politics!
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-palmoil-idUSKCN0Z90Z7

It is an interesting thought to play more baseball day games to try to combat the the high use of electricity. However, earlier in your post you mentioned how “as extreme heat waves become increasingly common, will it impact attendance in future years? If fans opt to stay home and escape the heat, ticket and concession revenues will decline.” Moving more games to daytime hours may have similar effects as people will be unable to come to the game due to work, school, and other commitments. Additionally, many games are played during night to counteract the impact of heatwaves (it is colder during the night). How do you think teams can balance this tension between keeping attendance and revenues up, while combatting high use of electricity during the night-time hours? These goals almost seem to be diametrically opposed in the world of baseball.