Month: November 2015

By Vlad Vidaeff   In 2005, I happened to be one of the first batches of teenagers to try out what was at the time a strange new website: Facebook.  After graduating from high school, I was eagerly awaiting the start of college after the summer.  Going to school out of state, I didn’t know anyone else who was planning to attend the University of Michigan.  With Facebook gaining popularity among my age group, I thought it would be a fun way to get to know some of my classmates before I stepped foot on campus.  Ten years later, it’s (more…)

By Vlad Vidaeff   While the history behind how Thanksgiving came to be (cue the mistreatment of Native Americans) is controversial, the holiday itself has come to represent many wholesome values today.  To many Americans, Thanksgiving is a day off from work and an opportunity to spend quality time with friends and family while enjoying a home-cooked feast.  For many years, Thanksgiving has also been the most important shopping weekend for the retail industry.  Black Friday is the day when many retailers have traditionally offered deep discounts on hot items.  However, things have changed with the growing impact of the (more…)

By Vlad Vidaeff   As humans, we have always had a fascination with robots and the technological wonders that the future will provide.  The popular children’s television show The Jetsons had flying cars.  An artificially intelligent robot, Data, was a popular character on Star Trek.  Battlestar Galactica took a look at what happens when advanced robots revolt.  The Terminator franchise covers a similar theme.  Last week, on November 6, 2015, Toyota announced that it’s investing $1 billion in artificial intelligence research.  Toyota is creating a new company, Toyota Research Institute, to focus on the initiative with headquarters at Stanford and (more…)

By Vlad Vidaeff   I have been a huge supporter of webinars for quite some time.  After graduating with my MBA, I had an advanced understanding of marketing from a theoretical perspective.  However, most of the day-to-day skills that are necessary to be a successful marketer are not taught in business school.  Instead, I gained these skills in large part through on-the-job training.  To accelerate my development, I used webinars to gain exposure in areas where I was lacking.  Case in point, SEO.  I used webinars as a source to gain exposure to SEO.  As the field of marketing continues (more…)