Final Post

Over the course of this project, I have come up with a new product line called "Heat it Up" and made decisions regarding its technical aspects. "Heat It Up" is a line of winter apparel including coats, ski pants, scarves, hats and gloves that are lined with heaters to provide warmth on cold winter days.  The user only needs to charge the apparel for 15 minutes before going out and it's effective for 12 hours.  Through a control pad located on each piece of clothing, the user can select the desired temperature, ranging from 65 degrees to 85 degrees, in 5-degree increments, as well as turn the heating system on or off.    I chose Excel as the software program to help me run the business and the Linux Operating system to manage its hardware and software.  In addition, the computer chips in each piece of clothing will contain binary information to carry out all the functions. When I look back over the past several weeks, all of my blogs together form a great technology business plan for "Heat It Up".

When I first came up with my product line I had no idea all the various technical aspects that would need to be determined to implement it. The hardest part for me was coming up with the original idea.  I went through several ideas before I came up with one that would be technically feasible. During subsequent weeks, my blogs were relatively easy to create once I had learned the information in each weekly class. Most of the choices each week were clear since my product lent itself to only one option.   From a technical standpoint, I feel I could go ahead and carry out the launch of this product. With the addition of the business /financial side of it, "Heat It Up" can be a very successful apparel line.

Now at the end of this whole process, it is very rewarding to see how I completed an entire technical plan including software, hardware, etc. This project was very worthwhile. I learned so many skills including how to create, use and interact with blogs, and the many technical components that need to be determined to successfully implement a new product. It was also interesting to view others entrepreneurship ideas. The ones I commented on were: The sleeping Beauty, The Orange Blogger and ProcrastiTermination. Overall this project taught me a lot about blogging and entrepreneurship ideas. 

Techcrunch

 In 2005, Michael Arrington developed TechCrunch, a technology blog which has become one of the most influential news websites throughout the entire technology industry.  Because of this blogging site, he is considered one of the most powerful people on the internet. Arrington, who majored in economics and received a law degree from Stanford University, practiced corporate and security law and was involved in several startup companies during the Internet gold rush. 

TechCrunch is a blogging website which provides news and analysis on the technology industry as well as information on startup technology companies, products and websites.  It is the largest of the many technology-based blogs out there. TechCrunch is often more arguable than its competitors which is due to its editor, Arrington’s, relationships with the media and his conflict of interest as an investor.

TechCrunch’s influence has gained it interviews with influential people such as Barak Obama and John McCain. TechCrunch has grown so much since its inception that it is now associated with several other websites known as The TechCrunch Network.  The link for this blog is http://techcrunch.com/

week6-operating systems

‘Heat It Up’ will use the Linux Operating System to manage its hardware and software resources. Linux is a great choice for this product line because it is an open source.  Linux source code is widely available online for free.   So I can communicate with the online community, ask questions and copy and or modify the information I need to develop the software programs that work best for my product.

I do not want my customers to have to rely on iPhones (Mobile Market Operating Systems) when out and about.  There will be a hardware module sewn into each article of clothing.  Therefore the clothing is self-sufficient, not needing any external connections other than the charger for the power supply.  (The product should be powered up prior to going out.)

The Linux operating systems will manage the software programs for charging the clothing, turning the product on and off, and adjusting the temperature.  In addition, programs will be needed to create a display on the hardware screen indicating when the product is fully charged, whether the product is on or off, and the temperature that is requested.  These are the functions that the hardware can carry out through the direction of the software programs. Some of these tasks, such as adjusting temperature and displaying the temperature on the screen will happen simultaneously so cooperating multitasking is required.

Week5

Within “Heat It Up” apparel there is a computer chip that contains all the binary information needed to carry out the functions the apparel allows the consumer.  There are bits that are coded for fully charging the heating system in the apparel, for powering on and off the heating system in the apparel, and for adjusting the temperature of the apparel.

The apparel needs to be fully charged to allow for the heating system to work for up to 12 hours.  There is one bite with the value 1 or 0 representing either yes it is charged or no it is not charged.  So the computer chip knows whether the system has been fully charged because it reads the one bite with the  values 1 or 0. Once the heating system has been fully charged, the consumer can choose to have the system on or off at any time throughout the day.  Once again there is one bite with the value 1 or 0 indicating the heating system is turned on or off.

When the heating system is on, the temperature can be adjusted.  There are five different settings for the heating system (65, 70, 75, 80, 85), meaning there are five different binary numbers associated with each.   Each of these binary numbers is made up of a combination of 1’s and 0’s and each contain 7 bits (just under 1 byte).  For example, the binary number for 65 is 1000001. Overall, the chip for this product requires less than one kilobyte to hold all of the binary information.

week4-input

      Each "Heat It Up" apparel has a control pad located somewhere on the garment. Each pad is small and encased in a soft material. Each pad has an up and down arrow which allows you to select the desired temperature, or turn off the heating system completely.
      You can choose from the lowest temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit to the highest temperature being 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and any five increments in between (70, 75 and 80). At any point during the day or night you can adjust the temperature with the use of the arrows on the touch pad.
      The up and down arrow buttons are connected to a little chip inside the apparel that processes the instructions to either increase or decrease the temperature within the heating system. This allows the user to not get too hot or too cold while wearing the apparel throughout the day and night.

Week3-Hardware

For the “Heat It Up” brand, all my apparel can be attached to a charger that warms up the heating system inside the clothing. As long as you have the charger and an electrical outlet, you can heat up any of the winter apparel.

            The charger’s hardware fully heats up each piece of apparel in a specific time, depending on the type of clothing. The winter coats take the longest to heat up, at 15 minutes. Clothing such as the scarves and gloves take less time. The charger will automatically stop charging once it has given the apparel enough power to last a period of 12 hours. If 12 hours of heating is not desired, the charger can be turned off before it is totally charged.

            The maximum temperature level for each piece of clothing is 85 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there is a control switch on the apparel itself, which allows you the option to lower the temperature. It can be reduced in increments of 5 degrees to as low as 65 degrees. So, throughout the day you can lower and increase the temperature as desired. In addition, the power can be completely turned off at any given time. This feature allows you to conserve power and only use it as needed, and giving the item a much more efficient usage of time.

Week 2 – Software

Excel is a great digital tool to help me run the “Heat It Up” business. It can thoroughly organize the large amount of data I will collect on the company. As data is received from different store locations, it can be inputted into the Excel charts and spreadsheets to allow for further manipulation of the data.

            More so, Excel will allow me to do a test to determine which months, during the winter, my apparel sold the most, as well as which apparel (coats, gloves, scarves etc.) did the best in stores. In addition, based on the price each item is sold for I can calculate the profit margins and determine if price adjustments need to be made. Since the city of Syracuse is known for its cold and snowy winters, I will be documenting the information based on this city.

After one year, I will continue using Excel in documenting the company’s business, but on a larger scale. Overall, Excel will keep my business organized. Weather calculating or creating data charts, using the Excel program versus doing it by hand, will allow me to make fewer mistakes and be more efficient.

Heat It Up - What it is

Have you ever been so cold in the middle of winter that all you wanted to do was sit by a nice fireplace? Well now you can feel that heat while standing in the middle of a blizzard. With this new line of winter apparel, including winter coats, ski pants, hats, scarves and gloves, you can feel the warmth when it’s negative degrees outside.

The clothing line provides heaters that are lined within the clothes. The way it works is you plug your clothes into a charger that heats up the inside lining. The cords are only needed in the process of heating up the clothes. The good thing about this is that there are no cords or batteries attached to you while wearing the clothes. All that is needed is to wait 15 minutes until the charger has completed heating the clothes. Then for 12 hours you are able to stay insulated on a cold winter day. Also depending on how cold it is, you can adjust the strength of the heat up or down. Then after a long day you can recharge the clothes and get ready for another cold day of winter.