The blog assignment

This week is the last week for us to do the blog assignment. For me, it is a meaningful assignment. Before, when I watch the news, I only watch sport or entertainment news. Because of this assignment, I began to watch business news on TV or on New York Times website at least once a week. Even if we do not need to post the article on our blogs, I hope that I can sustain this habit for a long time.

About Half in U.S. Would Pay for Online News, Study Finds

According to statistics, only 48% American are willing to pay for online news. This figure is less than any other countries in Western. In several Western European countries, this figure is more than 60%. Another statistics is that American only want to pay three dollars for online news per month. However, in the Western countries, the average figure is seven dollars. One of the reasons is that there are more free online news people can get in the USA than Western countries. In addition, in Western contries, news is dominated by a handful of large players, but in the USA, the news market is fragmented. Accordingly, even if many organizations want to band together to charge for digital access, people still can find free online news easily. On the other hand, in the USA, people can easily get free newspapers on street. That's why just few people will pay for online news.

Electronic Arts Plans to Cut 1,500 Jobs

Electronic Arts is a famous company which prodces many popular games, such as the Madden, Rock Band, and Sims series. Although the company got much profit from those games, it still cannot resist the recent economic recession. Accordingly, the company decided to lay off 1500 workers and shrink the prodcut line. However, for increasing the company's revenue, it had acquired Playfish nad started to make on-line games. Those games now are very popular, and many people who are different age play those games, such as Restaurant city or Pet society very often on facebook. Actually those on-line games are free, so the most of the revenue come from virtual goods. Electronic Arts hoped the acquisition of Playfish can help the company survive in this serious economic recession.

.Many in U.S. Want Texting at the Wheel to Be Illegal

This article I found on New York Times website is interesting, although it is not about business. In US, there is not a explicit law to prohibit drivers using cell phone when driving. However, many people think that it is very dangerous to use cell phone while driving. In addition, some people say that those people who use cell phone while driving shoud be punished as harshly as drunk driving. On the other hand, if people use hand-free cell phone while driving, most of people think it shoul be legal. According to some research, using the hand-free cell phone while driving do not eliminate the danger because even they use hand-free cell phone, because they still do not concentrate on driving. In my opinion, using the hand-free cell phone is much safer than using general cell phone. It is necessary to prohit people talking general cell phone or sending text message while driving. It is safe not only for ourself but also other drivers.