6a. Hear ye, hear ye! I hearby declare by the order of the government the following decrees...

Economic trends

1. Computer powered enterprise

Shopping online for things of any scarcity has become an arms race of computer programming. For those unaware, the world of bots, replicable code that works in specific ways, has given birth to what I coin the shop bot. The biggest culprits to why shop bots exist is streetwear. If you do know about streetwear brands like Supreme, but don't know as to why new drops of pieces run out so quickly, bots are to blame. Competing against bots is most likely futile, as the economic incentive behind the scarcity of the products they are tailored to push those who create them to always be on top of security features. Building bots for other purposes, however, can still be a lucrative market. Any type of interface work that accelerates commerce for small online businesses or consumers will carry its weight in gold. Certain programs have already been created to screen items that are different prices across the internet to resell for profit, and creating automated systems that can capitalize on movement of items can be one step further in online automation. The opportunity is exploitable to those with experience in computer coding, and the level of exploitation comes with the expertise one has in it. I've seen bots in action before as I have come across those looking for the more niche items, and I have come across normal wholesale resellers who simply move simple product for marginal return of investment, but the bridge between the two seems wide enough, and lack of focus small enough, that there is a chance there is a market group that could be targeted.

example for those interested: forcecop.com

2. Security concerns

I don't know about everyone else but I continuously get paranoid about my security. Alexa and Siri are definitely listening in on us. The move away from closed wall platforms that don't easily share their information for the sake of profits and patents, open-source projects have become a new interest of mine and what they could do for others. In the case of Alexa and Siri, there are already open-source assistants like Mycroft which offer similar products but open to others for their own purposes. Providing collective means of promoting open-source tech would be a great way to both increase security (if everyone can see what's going on, no one can be lied to if they are being spied on) and usability (people don't like setting their own stuff up; create something easy enough to just download and use and you're set). the same exploitability goes for this as with the bots, its up to those who know code and their level of expertise. I myself can be self taught but it's a matter of time and practice to exploit it properly.

interested in Mycroft? https://mycroft.ai/ get coding wizards!

Regulatory Trends

1. Tobacco restrictions on those under 21

For the case of Gainesville, it's only the sale of tobacco that has been restricted by age for it takes state and federal mandates to actually change the legal age for smoking. the legality of this space will be murky and honestly I don't recommend this idea unless you want to go through a lot of legal loops, but an UberEats style product that can create both an online market and delivery service for tobacco products could be highly profitable. In the same case as apps like Postmates the person who orders isn't actually ordering the food, they instead post an order that someone can pick up and fulfill and then give to the person who posted the order. The legal distinction of whether reimbursement for this is considered a sale without a license will require more investigation, but for the case of exploitability coding and market are no issue at all. The legal hoops are the only issue I see being the barrier to entry. Why did I think this? Who doesn't think of at least one "It's like Uber for ___" idea?

interested in the legislation? WUFT 89.1 has the scoop

2. Seed to sale laws may change in Florida

Love him or hate him, Ron DeSantis is calling shots in Florida, and one of the newest changes he wants to make is changing Florida medical cannabis licenses from being vertically integrated. What that means is that in the current market, companies have full control from grow operations to processing to sale of bud. One of the restrictions these businesses face though is the restriction of companies from selling other company products. Should this change happen, more businesses can enter the market to focus on the specialization of each layer. The exploitability would be difficult as there are regulations for growing requirements and licenses would be difficult to get a hold of. the liquid capital would also be difficult to acquire as larger businesses who have started expansion from legal states will be able to enter and establish credibility much easier than any startup coming from Florida itself. Any and all access to the supply chain would be a good entry into the market, each level would simply require different investments into their prospective market whether its growth or transportation.

want a quick read up about the possible change? some words about DeSantis' move.

5. Now I heard from a guy who told his girl about this one dude who's mother...

It's one thing to know what bothers you, but entirely different is the pulse on what's going on in our community and how we can help tackle those problems. Here are some issues I've come across that could be interesting given the uniqueness of Florida.

1. Police: Manager stole lottery tickets

https://bit.ly/2RgeHgY

What's the sitch? (shoutout kim possible)

Florida Lottery offices were concerned because of discrepancies over the orders of a convenience store's lottery ticket sales. The manager in charge was brought in for attempt to defraud and grand theft. The main reason he was caught was due to an audit that found he was constantly ordering but the convenience store numbers didn't match up with the amount of product he was ordering.

Who's issue is this/Who is hurt by it?

considering this story is being recorded now, when the police stated the fraud situation had started back in 2016, the Florida Lottery offices may need more help with keeping track of purchases and making sure these types of fraud don't occur again. The fear of fraud may cause a pause in handling of lottery tickets which can slow sales down for stores that may rely on them for parts of their income.

2. Tips for selling houses to millennials

https://bit.ly/2WgME4O

What's the 411 on the problem? (Urban Dictionary can explain)

The housing market has multiple factors, one big one being new market shares are being taken up by a younger crowd from a different generation that baby boomers can't shake from heckling. Like come on, I get we have busy schedules but don't smack us for not wanting to spend significant portions of our budget remodeling when we definitely have decoration on point. But any-who, many sellers fear different consumer tastes may turn off potential young buyers of new homes.

Who's issue is this/Who is hurt by this?

First it's an image thing but we can set aside the baby boomer millennial conversation aside for demographics. In this case sellers who are not completely in touch with millennial consumer habits may not be able to sell homes that they wish to fill, while millennials will have difficulties finding help with either finding homes that are well taken care of that don't require entire percentages of their budget to fix. I get that some things are quick fixer-uppers but you can't complain about having a door that isn't fully functioning isn't a turn off. Fix your door landlord!

3. Want to see the future of travel? Head to Overtown

https://bit.ly/2TePNAh

I can't find a funny Ice T question from Law and Order but you get the idea: what's up?

Startups will be getting together and working on pitches and presentations focused on what the future may look like for companies in the travel and leisure industry. Includes things from Google specifically for all things travel related, B2B rental securing for vacation planning, and a whole bunch of other wacky takes.

Well now who really is being hurt here?

I couldn't tell you since I'm not the biggest fan of big business, but any company with outdated knowledge of code and data collection and privacy concerns will need massive employee overhaul to make sure no tech leads to the situations other companies that deal with people's sensitive information have faced. Fiji sounds nice but if Trivago goes on and posts about how wonderfully low they sold me a vacation package my house might be next for America's Next Top Robbery.

4. Mail carrier robbed of master key to access apartment mailboxes in Little Haiti

https://bit.ly/2sPlrsx

-. . .-- / -- .- .. .-.. / .-- .... --- / -.. .. ... ..--.. (Morse code translation, because telegrams. I'm not funny don't flatter me)

An armed robber held a mail carrier at gun point and stole the postal key which acts as a skeleton key for almost all mailboxes from the US Postal Service. With it, the robber can commit all types of fraud and theft with the tampering of someone's mail. both the armed robbery and theft of postal key are federal offenses, while the chance of tampering with mail is also a federal offense that is repeatable with every attempt.

What do we do?

Well in the case of this type of crime, letter carriers are in the most way of harm. the other people who's mail is not under threat of fraud will also be damaged by this. The main issue I see come out of this is the conflict of standardization with the physical keys and security concerns over how those things will be handled should safety measures fall short.

5. You must now be 21 to buy tobacco in this Florida college town, joining a national trend

https://bit.ly/2AYENQr

I was originally thinking of smoke signals as a joke but fat chance there's a keyboard for that

The Gainesville City Commission voted 5-1 on raising the age for the sale of tobacco to 21. This would seem crazy but given that this is a national movement that is slowly trying to gain traction it makes sense that Gainesville would want to tamper down on young adult and teen smoking as it is getting more rampant.

Who's to bear the weight of this undue burden brought upon by the State™?

first off calm down libertarians this is a city thing so you can just hop the city limits and get your Juul pods. The real hurt will be local businesses who provide tobacco products as a major portion of the population will no longer be allowed to buy any tobacco products.

What have y'all seen that can be a hinderance to our local community? These range across some south Florida cities and Gainesville so don't feel limited by your geographic location.

4a. Do you have time for our lord and savior Dr. Pryor?

Let's keep it short and sweet, I have an Idea with a capital I and I talked with others about what they might like or dislike about the general concept.

1. What is the idea

from my bug list, I believe there is a combination of market and technology that can be harnessed. In the case of bug list item 3: water losing its heat, I believe that there is a chance of including technology that does not require expensive installment (heated tubs) but provides the ability to keep that water heated.

2. What doe the people want?

The unmet is the lack of heated tubs that keep water warm during baths. That need is primarily found within both genders, but could be specifically targeted to females ages 16-35, usually Millennial or Gen-Z, who are of middle to upper middle class who may frequent specialty shops like Lush or Bed Bath and Bodyworks. The need has not been new one and has been tackled with things like heated tubs but the expense to use ratio isn't in their favor. To meet this need, most people stick to adding more hot water into the tub should it go cold. 

3. Who is the consumer?

To fully hash it out, the prototypical consumer would generally be a Millennial or Gen-Z, middle class female or male who has the funds to buy what would be a piece of equipment that would be attachable to their bathtub to maintain the heat in the tub.

4 Some feedback from prototypical consumers

Amongst a collective of dorm floor neighbors and an RA, I have compiled a few interesting features that stuck out both in similarities and differences.

I. Similarity- Timing

the one thing that seemed the most consistent is how frequent of a bather someone is. the most inconsistent bathers were around once every two weeks to 1 month, but the most consistent bathers were a minimum of once a week usually as a form of stress relief. 

II. Difference- Length and purpose

there was a lot of diversity in this topic, most girls ranging from no more than 30 minutes to some going past an hour depending on how much time. that is also impacted by why they bathe, the longer times having mild correlation to those who use it as a time for stress relief and those who bathe shorter periods of time strictly as a means of cleaning. 

III. Similarity- Products

one thing that came up among most if not all was the use of bath products, ranging from gels to bath bombs and regular soap and shampoo. All these products come with different viscosities and materials, so I will have to revise the construction to be careful of materials that can jam the product from circulating water.

IV. Difference- Price

Price is one of the most subjective items that people tend to focus on. When talking to multiple floor mates, frugal spenders versus lavish self-care enthusiasts had different opinions of price ranges for what they would be willing to spend on, so figuring out the costs of the item would tailor the market audience even further to know who to better attend to.

5. What to take away

The opportunity seems to have legs, my biggest hurdles to tackle seem to be prices and purposes, price due to the market and who is both willing and able to buy and the purposes for what proper advertising or demographic fit the product can take form for.

6. So in the end...

I do still think the opportunity is viable, with my original projection still being around 70 percent possible. the feedback has helped narrow what the opportunity should encapsulate and the focus of function.

3a. Daniel Daniel Fo-faniel, Banana-nana No-naniel...

My entrepreneurship story has been told before for this class but let's run it back with a twist of newness.

     My entrepreneurship started out with middle school, where I introduced my friends with foreign candies that they loved but were too young to find for themselves. I immediately went searching online for the cheapest candy per unit and would try to convince my mom and dad that I could make a profit out of it. They didn't shoot my idea completely out of the water and bought me a few cases (I ended up eating my own supply, the first cardinal sin) but they taught me to be more realistic and learn to look at my costs more closely.

     after that I worked in retail and then in shipping at a UPS store, where I learned more about a multitude upon multitude of different industries and small businesses. I talked with someone who owned their own cupcake company and lawn care service, an Amazon reseller, multiple government services, landlords and even people who owned acres worth of parking lots.

I did enroll in ENT3003 the semester before, but working full time I prioritized my hours over my grades and regret that. With school now being my main focus, I wish to truly create something alongside my group mates and Dr. Pryor and hopefully launch a successful product or service and get the ball rolling again with a real entrepreneurial mindset.

2A. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz

The bug list is here the bug list is here! Stick around and hear my complaints and maybe you too can learn what it is that bothers you!

1. When it comes to returns, almost every Amazon return had to be dropped off, and UPS drivers who are supposed to come with a shipping label and take it just simply leave the sticker. the real bug is needing to dedicate time to go out of my way to drop items off for my returns.

2. I constantly have to carry multiple cables for a bunch of different electronic items: USB cables, lightning chargers, computer chargers and more. The real bug is the constant preparation needed when there isn't a way to keep them standardized, making my search for cables in my bag more of a hassle than ever.

3. When I occasionally take a bath, the water becomes cold a lot faster since there's no heated tub in my home. The main bug is that I don't want to waste more water by adding hot water to reheat the bath.

4. Most bike seats, whether for wide hips or not, have a point where the seat meets the bar that connect with a screw and bolt, but those bolts are at a point that brush up against my legs and scratch my thighs. this bug should be self evident I just don't want my legs scratched up.

5. The bluetooth speaker I currently have is nice, but when I have multiple items that I switch between, its a tedious process to turn one piece of electronic's bluetooth off to connect another.

6. When I want to buy some snacks for myself, I have too much of a sweet tooth to narrow down my decisions. I'll get chips or pretzels and suddenly my cart is filled with all salty foods, or vice versa with sugary snacks like gummy bears.

7. I bike everywhere on campus, even the smallest of distances are a mini exercise. the bigger bug is the switch from pedal to powered bicycles is such a steep cost that it's a barrier to entry for people to have environmentally friendly options of fast transport.

8. I love backpacks simply because its another source of more pockets. my only bug with bags is that the general design of them leaves too much free space that makes both organization not conducive to saving space and the pressure on the shoulders and back with undue weight distribution can be painful.

9. I love books, and ebooks are a great thing to have. the one thing about normal books that I like more than is the ability to pass down physical books. The secondhand ebook isn't really a thing, and the chance to have online markets that reduce prices for others who maybe want to join in having ebook.

10. I take the bus everywhere, and while I love radio, I don't always love the choices radio DJs play. the biggest bug I have is not having a direct choice in that music being played on the bus even if it's only for a five minute trip.

11. Muscle tension, whether from working out or from life stress, is a consistent part of my day. Relieving it is simple, whether visiting a massage therapist or buying a self massager, but the bug is how inconvenient it is to carry equipment or schedule appointments in a busy schedule for relaxation.

12. While this is similar it comes from a different source of pain. Carrying cables is almost an inevitability in today's world. my bug is the hassle of those cables constantly getting caught on something during everyday activity, whether a charging cable on a door handle or my earbuds caught on my bike handlebars.

13. College students always hear "oh just Venmo me," or "just use my Cash App." My bug with these is just how freaking many mobile payment apps there are and how not everyone will have every app! (if you do, godspeed.)

14. We are all lazy about something, and I will admit saving is not my strong suit. What I am not lazy about is spending time on lazy clicker video games. My bug is why isn't there a connection between gamifying and saving that actually translates into savings?

15. I have always wanted to get into fermented drinks like kombucha or kefir, but my biggest bug is how much information is behind blog posts trying to sell their own brand instead of offering a collective how-to or introduction to a community that is actively wanting to support new interest in their craft.

16. Most places are switching to banning plastic bags at shopping centers. While I love this and support helping the environment, my bug is how convenient it is to just get disposable bags and what will come after them in the name of convenience?

17. Living in a dorm is sweet, but the appliances aren't always up to their modern counterparts. My bug is how it is impossible to upgrade current appliances with some form of add-ons to be like other appliances.

18. I'm just starting to get into sneakers, but the sneaker market is vast and piecing together a style from within is difficult. the biggest bug with that though is that there isn't a cohesive source of information over releases besides side stories in niche news sources.

19. Having worked for a franchise storefront, there is a lot of liberty in store policy alongside the strictness of certain corporate policy. My bug though is the lack of proper iterative upgrades and constant check-in's from regional managers feels hindering to the general workflow and the training of employees for new changes is slower than just releasing self-education modules for employees to finish.

20. College is nice, and the move in to dorms or apartments is always a nice decorating experience, but my bug is how some houses in the house hunt don't come with furnishings and the different things one needs to furnish a house are separated into multiple stores or are just hard to transport.

Hope you enjoy, critique and ponder! Keep living, loving and wander!

ECHO! Echo! echo. echo

Testing testing 1, 2, 3. Hello world!