Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● April 28, 2010
If you’ve ever walked into an electronics store and bought the latest piece of tech wizardry, you’ve probably experienced being mobbed by legions of sales associates pushing you to buy an extended warranty “in case something happens.” Regardless of whether your answer is yes or no, it begs the question: What are extended warranties? Are [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● April 7, 2010
Yesterday, the Canadian dollar danced around at parity and today we can freely exchange a loonie for a greenback on equal terms. But what’s not clearly highlighted is that parity may be more of a psychological milestone than a material one.
So what are the implications for Canadians as a whole?
Cross-border shopping
Despite its attractiveness, it’s important [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● February 23, 2010
After last Sunday’s Super Sunday defeat at the hands of America’s underdog hockey team, Canadians would be forgiven for any snarling epithets directed towards their southern cousins. After all, the rights to hockey, “Canada’s game”, were snatched right out of their rightfully deserving hands.
But before we open the floodgates holding back the caterwauling waters of [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● February 17, 2010
The shopping mall is dead.
Or so they would have you believe.
Major news dailies speculate that the age of the shopping mall might be coming to an end. As they put it, the spatial barrier of shopping malls is vastly outperformed by the near limitless reach of the internet. Web 2.0-inspired phenomena, including social shopping through Facebook, crowdsourced [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● February 10, 2010
Could Cupid be the economic stimulus that we sorely need this year?
Ok, I exaggerate slightly, but judging by this past holiday season’s dismal performance, Valentine’s Day might just be the panacea for our socio-economic woes.
The Christmas shopping season began with a mediocre Black Friday shopping experience as shoppers vacillated between spending during the festive season, [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● February 5, 2010
The human race is constantly plagued by its short memory cycle. Some say it was an evolutionary benefit that allowed us form and further our societies by forgetting the ills of the past. Others have likened it to a natural check on human society from achieving some form of social stability, forcing us to probe and question and push the boundaries of our existence – and [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● February 2, 2010
Mashable recently published a “sentiment analysis breakdown” of the effect that the iPad was having on the Twitterati. Based on data from Crimson Hexagon’s analysis of half a million tweets immediately following the unveiling of the iPad last week, you can see the breakdown for yourself:
(Source: Mashable.com)
I guess it just goes to say that no [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● January 29, 2010
A Valentine’s Day Guide
Disclaimer
The writers of this blog post promise to entertain, inform and enlighten, but in no way bear responsibility for any bad outcomes that might stem from the sentiments underlying this post. All comments, well-wishes and/or incisive concerns can be dropped off at the end of this blog post, tweeted @Wishabi, or forever [...]
Posted by: Prashanth Gopalan in: ● January 22, 2010
Government documents aren’t always a source of amusement. They take months to crunch the numbers, weeks to churn out the report and days to run the gauntlet of editorial scrutiny. And even after they’ve been through the countless fact checks, rewrites and resubmissions, they end up so dry and informative that they you often find [...]