Gabi Bruckner

Hey Sammi!
To answer your question, yes. Selling an official CD equates an easier distribution of royalties. So if we cut out the music piracy issue artists/labels still made more in physical CD sales.
The issue with Spotify, etc. is that it’s a “stream”. So think of it as a rented out song. You don’t own the copy, you didn’t physically buy the…[Read more]

Hey Sean –
The music industry will definitely fully stray away from CDs. There’s a common pattern with tech formats in music consumption over the years. Vinyl was replaced with cassettes. Then cassettes were replaced with CDs. Then CDs were replaced with mp3 players. Mp3 players were replaced with streaming services…
It’s especially harder now…[Read more]

Daniel – thanks so much for sharing.
It’s definitely unfortunate for recent-grads like myself to graduate with a music-related degree and face this pandemic head on. You study something you love for 4 years, have a plan to work in it, and then it collapses right before your eyes. I mean, I do try to keep it positive – but it surely has left us…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing Chand! Really enjoyed how you outlined both benefits and troubles with the concept of smart cities.
One of the biggest smart city initiatives that comes to mind is California’s ban on the sale of gas cars in 2035. Obviously once this ban goes into effect, electric vehicles will become far more common in the state of California.…[Read more]

Misha – really enjoyed reading this post! Currently, I have an Alexa. She helps me make my grocery lists, set my kitchen timer, etc while I’m in the kitchen. Having her there has been a huge help keeping me in check while I’m multi-tasking.
If I could, I would love to have Alexa-enabled kitchen appliances so I could have one continuous hub…[Read more]

Great opening discussion Amber! Certainly we’ve all dealt with our phone’s “listening” to us. And it’s not even limited to just phones…I could just simply google search some sort of product on my Google Chrome browser on my laptop, to then find an advertisement for this product on my mobile Instagram feed. Each of these devices are culprits to…[Read more]

Great post Mohamad! My dad is big into sports – football and soccer are always on rotation, but my dad also stays in touch with baseball and hockey from time to time. As a kid I’ve watched professional sports welcome technology with open arms and now the fan dynamic is so different from what it was 20 years ago. Now, you can find that each p…[Read more]

Lesley, thanks for adding to the discussion! Great points in how Spotify is behind in some advantages its competitors have already invested into. Another reason that streaming services are struggling financially is due to the royalty payments/lawsuits associated with labels over the service. Of course, I believe where royalties are due – they…[Read more]

Hi Misha! I totally agree, I have become so used to Spotify’s premium service that I can’t find myself to ever go back to the free-plan.
Of course, I do believe there should be better payouts for musicians by stream. Hopefully in the next coming years the payout system will be even better than it is now based on Spotify’s consumer reach and %…[Read more]

Very awesome concept and company! The website layout reminds me of Amazon – which I think is a plus for the company to feature a user-interface people already are so accustomed to. Adding to what Philip had mentioned – I was absolutely stunned to find out about the e-waste being dropped off in rural areas in China when I took a business class in…[Read more]

Hey Sean! I’m glad you brought up allergies. I am allergic to my pet’s dander, and I deal with so much hair on the daily that my air purifier simply could not keep up. Some of the robot vacuums have a HEPA filter inside – which is amazing for people like me! I’d love to see this evolve into dust monitoring though. Would be interesting to see what…[Read more]

Hey Kelly! I did a huge dive into robot vacuums a few weeks ago when I decided to buy one. Being a pet owner myself with the worst shedder/mess maker on the planet…I needed something to help keep up multiple times a week. For me, I chose LiDAR navigation because I wanted to make sure my vacuum knew that a pet was around and wouldn’t bump into…[Read more]

Very interesting perspective Amanda! While doing my research, I also found out Roomba got into some heat over data privacy, and released a full statement in how this data is only stored on the Roomba and then deleted after a cycle run. Still wondering though if that’s remotely possible…I mean data doesn’t just “delete”.

Hi Erin! Since buying one myself it’s been a life-changing experience as a pet-owner. I sometimes set it to turn on while I’m not home, and come back to clean carpets and floors. At first I wasn’t sure if it was worth it given that years ago I saw a Roomba just ping back and forth at random without a clear route. Nowadays, there’s soooo many robot…[Read more]

Hi Misha! My parents are also contemplating on getting a Roomba for my grandparents as well. I think it’s a great investment for various different kinds of people. Whether you’re a pet owner, a parent, a grandparent – to be able to alleviate one of the most daunting/time-consuming tasks to get more done is certainly a win in my book!