Final Blog

My entrepreneurial idea of a make-your-own burrito restaurant has evolved throughout the semester. I started with the idea of a make-your-own burrito place because whenever I go to Chipotle or similar types of restaurants the employees never make the burrito how I want it. Additionally, I got the idea from one of my favorite places in New York City called 16 Handles, which is a do-it-yourself type of frozen yogurt place. With the proper tools and marketing strategies, this could be a successful business.

            Week one I discussed the social media aspect of the restaurant and how I would actively use twitter. Twitter would help gain business because of the daily tweets about deals and specials. Week two I discussed the importance of being proficient in excel. This is especially important in the financial aspect of reporting costs, break-even points, the operating budget and everything else related to the money side of the business. Without the knowledge of excel there wouldn’t be any way of organizing the data to keep your restaurant in business in addition to making a profit.

            I discussed computer systems and the different parts of the computer in week 3. I decided that I would have two different computers in my restaurant- one register in the front and one in the back for the financial information. I went on to explain the different amounts of memory on each computer as well as the CPU.

            In blog 4 I discussed the use of the Google wallet and how it would increase efficiency in my restaurant. Blog 5 I talked about the blogger and in blog 6 I discussed operating systems. I would most likely have Mac OS X as my operating system, which allows the user to use pre-emptive multitasking. This is an important component to the financial aspect in trying to get the yearly or quarterly reports.

            Finally, the last blog I wrote discussed the website that I would have for my restaurant. It explained how the website would function and the specific things that go into making and designing a website.

            Overall, this project was a good way to get to understand what it really takes to open up a business and all of the elements that go into running a successful business. There are innumerable amounts of different technology related aspects that are involved in running a business and without the knowledge of them there is no way you could open a business. One day I hope to own a restaurant and I will definitely use these tools to open it.

Here are the three names and URLs that I commented on:

Christopher Nemetz-

http://cnemetzist195.blogspot.com/2011/09/chilly-sheets.html?showComment=1318378296817#c5157371983362744442

Thaney Cockrell:

http://thcockrellist195.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-one.html?showComment=1318378661940#c8970180192334861135

Matt Tallman:

http://matttallmanist195.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-1-social-media-matt-tallman.html?showComment=1318378869366#c5807762376744531198

Week 7- Networks

Inevitably, my restaurant will have a website. What is a restaurant today without an accompanied website with its menu, location, contact information, etc? The website will have its domain name, probably the name of the restaurant, but really what that is is the IP address. In order for the website to communicate it needs the IP address. Also, the organization ICANN will have to approve my domain name because it regulates and approves all the domain names on the internet.

Relating back to week one with social media, more specifically twitter- I discussed how I would tweet daily about deals, specials, and different incentives to get more business. All of this wouldn’t be possible without packets and protocols. Packets are a small chunk of information, typically part of a larger piece of information. My tweets will be sent to the twitter database in packets, and as a result be posted for all of my followers to see.

Another piece of vital information that will make my website function is the use of protocols. A protocol is rules of communication including syntax and semantics. A common web protocol that virtually everyone knows about, but doesn’t know its purpose is HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol). Every website begins with HTTP and is followed by the domain name. Without the HTTP, however, the website wouldn’t function. It is a four step process between the client (the website) and the web server (a running application that hosts the website). I would submit an HTTP request message to the server, and in return I get a response from the server. The response would contain the completion status information about the request in addition to the information requested- in this case the information within the website. 

The technicalities behind the website are difficult to understand, however, they are essential in creating a website that would help business. 

Week 6- Operating Systems

The use of operating systems and determining which one will work best for my restaurant is extremely important. The main function of an operating system is to manage hardware and software resources, so it is an essential part of my business. Another part of an OS is the kernel, which manages memory, order of processes are executed, and information is received and sent to devices. It is crucial that we have a reliable OS because we will have innumerable amounts of financial history and general records.

Determining what kind of operating system my restaurant will have is an important factor. Pre-Emptive Multitasking will guarantee that every process will have some operating time; this type of OS is available on Mac OS X and Windows 7. It uses an interrupt mechanism, which stops the current process and puts forth a demand to determine which process would execute next. This would be helpful in trying to organize different aspects of the business. For instance, when trying to get the yearly financial reports done, the pre-emptive multitasking would be able to predict which process should be executed in which order.

Blogger Review

Jordan Crook is a blogger for the website TechCrunch. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she went to New York University where she studied English Literature. Additionally, she dabbled in mobile marketing and mobile apps, as well as doing device reviews for MobileMartketer and MobileBurn.

            Crook’s article discussed the release of the iPhone 4S and despite the fact that the population was disappointed in the lack of a new design, Apple still managed to break records in pre-orders. She briefly discussed the new features of the iPhone, which include a faster processor, a better camera, and a voice recognition system. It was interesting to read because I actually knew what she was talking about when discussing the new features because we've learned about all of them in class. 

http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/10/iphone-4s-tops-1-million-pre-orders-in-24-hours/

Week 4- input/output

Efficiency and quickness are two things that are valued in today’s society- at least to me. Being introduced to RFID tags has opened up a new, future, world. Although my business wouldn’t necessarily need to acquire RFID because there are only a few items that need to be scanned at one time, the introduction of the Google wallet would be of use. The Google wallet, while still extremely new has the potential to open up new barriers that we have previously had.

            Customers would be able to come into my restaurant, simply take out their wallet and pay for their food. Its use of Near Field Communication (NFC) allows people to scan their wallet up to 4cm away from the scanner. This is much easier than having to take out a plastic card and swipe the card and sign. This will drastically increase efficiency especially when there are long lines. Unlike RFID, Google wallet is more secure because you need a pass-code in order to access it. This would help prevent any issues that could arise from theft.