Non-Automotive Companies Making Electric Cars

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

 

The Expected And Obvious

There are numerous automotive companies that solely specialize in electric vehicles: Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and others abroad. There are also numerous legacy automotive companies that do not specialize solely in electric vehicles. Much of these companies have since launched numerous electric models, with some going as far to announce that they plan to be entirely electric sometime within the 2020s decade. At this point in 2021, it should no longer come as a surprise if any legacy automaker decides to announce an electrified version of an iconic model of theirs. An all-electric Ford F-150? Old news. An all-electric Jaguar? Already on sale. An all-electric Ferrari? Yes, that too is happening in 2025. Should that shock traditionalists? Again, at this point in 2021, it should not even be a surprise if something wild, ultra exotic, and ever rarer than Ferrari such as Pagani, decides to come out and say that they want to do an all-electric car. Because they actually did. Yes, Horacio himself said it back in 2019 about developing an all-electric model. Basically, if a company makes cars, it is simply no longer a surprise. This leads to the next point of discussion: the unexpected. Or perhaps it would be better to say the non-automotive delving into the automotive.

Non-Automotive Companies Doing It

Apple would naturally be a first to discuss on a list of non-automotive companies getting involved with electric cars. With rumors of Apple making a car going as far back as 2014 or 2015,  it has now become more of a question as to when will they actually build the car, as opposed to believing that the Cupertino company does not and will not make cars. 2021 news has it that Apple had looked to form partnerships with established automakers, but discussions with several companies, including BMW Group, Hyundai Motor Group, Nissan, Toyota, and Magna International, but fell apart. It is now rumored that Apple will build the car alone. This is the best approach for the company, given that it would allow for far greater in-house control over things. Not to mention that with Apple being a trillionaire company, they are not short of resources or funding. If a far smaller company like Rimac was able to build their own car, Apple should be able to do far more with the resources it has. They likely would have been able to get started on their car far sooner, if they had not bothered with attempting to form unnecessary partnerships.

Sony is the next company worthy of mention. When people think of Sony, they likely think of premium headphones, smartphones, cameras, and PlayStations. This same Sony unveiled an electric sedan last year called Vision-S. The Sony Vision-S is an all-electric concept sedan that was developed by Sony and first unveiled at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show. The car subjectively resembles what a 4-door Pininfarina Battista mixed with Tesla Model S would look like. Despite the positive reception for it, Sony claimed in January 2021 it has no plans to mass-produce or sell its Vision-S concept, but is using the concept to test autonomous technology and experiment with PlayStation for cars. Sony did not entirely rule out the possibility of building cars, meaning that should it ever decide to make another model intended for production, or change its mind about the Vision-S, this would not come as a shocker. In fact, Journalists said that the real surprise to them was when Sony said that they would not put the car into production. This makes it clear that there are people that would buy this car, or that they are at least expecting Sony to enter the automotive sector after seeing them debut a car. Before CES, did anybody expect Sony to present a car? Likely not. Since 2020, this has certainly changed. People want to Sony to mass produce it. 

Xiaomi is the last non-automotive company that will be discussed in this write-up as a noteworthy company that is confirmed to enter the automotive sector. Out of the 3 discussed, it is the only one that formerly registered its electric vehicle company, Xiaomi EV Company. Should this come as a surprise? Unless unfamiliar with the company, absolutely not. Even then, it is hard to not be familiar with Xiaomi given that is is the second largest smartphone maker in the world, only behind Samsung. In fact, calling it a “smartphone maker” does not even it do it justice given that Xiaomi makes just about everything from its smartphones, clocks, speakers, scooters, Wi-fi routers, watches, powerbanks, monitors, televisions, keyboards, mice, and many more. Because of this, it should actually be seen as natural and expected that they would want to start making electric cars. If Apple is doing it, Sony tested it, and others possibly doing it, Xiaomi clearly did not want to waste time doubting its capabilities.

Theoretical & Predictions

For some companies, it is likely and expected to see them enter into the electric vehicle-making market. For others, it may not be so expected, but a complete shocker. Then there would be the category of simply just not likely to ever happen. 16 companies below shall be examined for the likelihood of their electric vehicle chances.

Royal Bank Of Canada

When Canadians think of the Royal Bank Of Canada, frequently referred to as simply RBC, the iconic blue, yellow, white, colour theme is instantly visualized. This should not even remotely be a surprise given that it is not only part of the big 5 banks in Canada, but is also the wealthiest of them, too. With a  reported net income of $4.3 billion for the quarter ended July 31, 2021, their cash reserve is immense. While cash is unlikely to be an issue for the bank to fund development, the better question is how likely is it that they actually would? At this time, it remains very unlikely that the Royal Bank Of Canada will be developing an electric car. If this bank were to do so, it is reasonable to predict that it will build a sports utility vehicle with a luxurious interior.

Lululemon Athletica

The Vancouver-founded company has made recent (2021) headlines when The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) announced that the athletic apparel brand is the new Official Outfitter of Team Canada. Lululemon has been a longtime favourite of Canadians for its iconic athletic apparel. What if this apparel company were to make an electric car? It is safe to predict that the shock factor would be extremely high. Most people do not ever expect to see an electric car come out of clothing company. At least not at this time in history. Perhaps when it gets to the point that the huge clothing companies start doing it, and others pursuing it, only then would it become expected of Lululemon to enter this sector. Lululemon has immense net revenue and continually good sales,  allowing for funding of development to not be much of an issue. Its passionate userbase helps, too. Being a company revolved around fitness, Lululemon’s first car would likely either be a sporty 2+2 coupé or a sleek, sporty crossover. Perhaps the crossover is more likely, given that consumers would want to have the extra space for their gear.

BlackBerry Limited

BlackBerry’s iconic name and history goes all the way back to 1984. Formerly known for their iconic BlackBerry smartphones, the tech company is now a software company that specializes in cybersecurity and the Internet Of Things. BlackBerry has long abandoned hardware products, with the BlackBerry Priv being its last hardware product designed in-house. For this reason, it is exceptionally unlikely that BlackBerry would ever make an in-house electric car. If anything, it would more likely create an agreement with another company to use the BlackBerry name and logo to build the hardware of the car, while BlackBerry itself takes of the software. BlackBerry products have always been about utility and hard work, making it reasonable to predict that the company would build a pickup truck as their first offering. 

Canadian Tire Corporation Limited

Canadian Tire Corporation Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure, and housewares sectors. In 2022, the company will turn 100 years old, meaning that history of the iconic company is nearly a century old at this point. As the name suggests, Canadian Tire truly does deal extensively with automotive parts, and even has mechanics that service customers’ cars in the repairs part of the stores. In addition to this, many locations have been installing electric vehicle fast chargers. All of these suggest that Canadian Tire is well setup and equipped to make electric cars. However, there remains one thing: the company has never said or implied doing such a thing. Should Canadian Tire ever come out with an announcement about it, it should not come off as too surprising or shocking. It already has automotive parts and servicing in its DNA, which would make it very convenient for servicing its own cars. It is hard to predict which class of vehicle they would launch first. Likely something full-sized with lots of storage is reasonable to expect from them. Either a van, sports utility vehicle or pickup trucks fits their theme.

Canada Goose

Canada Goose is a luxury fashion company that specializes in extreme weather outerwear. Despite the name, the brand is well known across the world for its image and high price tags. As mentioned earlier, a clothes company getting into electric cars is going to come as an immense surprise, until when it becomes common. Canada Goose is no exception. While Canada Goose is a profitable company, it does not appear to have a mutli-billion dollar stream of revenue, meaning that funding and producing an electric car may be a challenge. Or maybe not? With extreme weather being a hardcore part of the company’s DNA, it is easy to predict that Canada Goose would build either a rugged pickup truck or sport utility vehicle as their first offering. 

Telus

Being a major telecommunications company in Canada, the Edmonton-founded corporation has a massive presence in millions of Canadians lives. With mountainous revenue and a plethora of experience with technology, mobility, and security, Telus on paper sounds about fit for automotive production. Even further, GM Canada and Telus announced on September 01, 2021, that they are working together to connect GM’s next-generation vehicles to TELUS’ 5G network. This represents the first time GM has selected a domestic communications company to provide connected-vehicle services for Canadian customers. There is a big question: does Telus have any actual experience building car parts and assembly? No. Would it be hard for them to get the engineers and the resources to do such a thing? No. Has Telus announced any intentions at all to make Telus-branded electric cars? At this time, no. What class of vehicle would they launch first if they were to ever do such a thing? A van or crossover is a safe prediction.

Microsoft

Quoting straight from the website:

“Microsoft was founded in 1975. Our mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential by creating technology that transforms the way people work, play, and communicate. We develop and market software, services, and hardware that deliver new opportunities, greater convenience, and enhanced value to people’s lives. We do business worldwide and have offices in more than 100 countries.”

No further explanation is needed. Microsoft’s name is common as bread and cheese; apples and oranges. With decades of hardware and technology experience along with a wide variety of applications, Microsoft is more than capable of producing its own electric cars. Having in excess of 30 billion of revenue certainly helps, too. While Microsoft worked with Cruise and General Motors in regards to certain technologies, it has never mentioned anything about actually building cars under its own name. It should also be noted that if they were to do so, Microsoft would likely call them Surface Cars, given that this is the title they often use for hardware products they make in-house. The Microsoft Surface Computers are notable example of this. If Microsoft were to make a car, it is more than safe to believe that it would be loaded with state-of-the-art technology. It would likely look futuristic, too. Which class of car would they make? It is a bit hard to predict given the company’s variable profile. Anything with 4 or 5 doors is a safe guess.

Walmart

Ask a Canadian, American or even Mexican to name departments stores and it is safe to say that Walmart would be on the list. Even in places where it is absent, Walmart’s name still would not come off as too alien, given that its revenue puts it on a very high position of the Fortune Companies. In regards to electric cars, Walmart is no stranger to the automotive world. Not only has it worked with companies to install electric vehicle charging stations on its physical properties, but has also invested in startups. The question that remains is will Walmart make electric cars wholly under their brand name? There are no concrete answers at this time. The closest thing available is when Walmart was testing electric vans from Gatik, a partner of its, with Walmart branding on it. This means that if Walmart were to ever start making electric cars, it is very easy to predict that they will make electric vans first, and likely pickup truck variants of those vans. 

McDonald’s

The red, yellow, and white themed restaurant exists on every continent except Anarctica, and that is only because it does not have a permanent population. What started off as a hamburger stand in California with 2 brothers has since grown to become one of, if not, the most internationally recognized fast food restaurant in the world. Will this massively successful fast food restaurant build electric cars? McDonald’s has never said or thought about it. The closest thing they have done in regards to electric vehicles was to install electric vehicle charging stations at locations, and even drive-throughs. This shows that McDonald’s encourages and welcomes electric vehicles, but does not have intentions to build any at this time. If McDonald’s were to build an electric vehicle, their first model will likely be something family-oriented and capable of tackling all weather conditions. This means that a 7-seating crossover or 8-seating sport utility vehicle would likely be their pick.

Nintendo

Nintendo  is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company founded and headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Given that this is the company everyone knows for providing the world the countless hours of entertainment through it gaming consoles and titles, Nintendo has a special place in the hearts of millions of consumers. What about electric cars? Has Nintendo given any thoughts or indications about electric vehicles? No words or hints are given at this time. What is certain is that if Nintendo were to enter this sector, that their car would be very sporty, tech-loaded, and consumer oriented. Either a “hot hatch” or crossover would be expected from Nintendo as their first electric car.

Takara Tomy

Most consumers probably will not know what Takara Tomy is or what it does, unless they are a fan, were a fan, or have heard of some of its most notable products: Microman, Transformers, Tomica, Battle Beasts, Beyblade, and B-Daman. Some of these products are out of production, while others such as Beyblade and Tomica continue rolling out. While the company makes plenty of die-cast car models, it does not make actual car parts. Being a rather small business on an international scale, seeing an electric car come out of them is highly unlikely at this time. As such, there is no evidence or plans of Takara Tomy making an electric car anytime soon. If they were to, competing with existing Japanese giants with far more global outreach and power, would be a rather intense challenge. At the same time, because Takara Tomy does not have history with gasoline engines, this could also make it their biggest advantage. They do not have to worry about phasing out or dealing with gasoline replacements. If Takara Tomy were to ever make an electric car, it is very safe to predict that their priorities would be making the car as fun as possible to drive. A sporty, cartoonishly styled hatchback or crossover would be expected as their first offering.

Nokia

The longtime Finnish telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company, touts themselves as a technology leader across mobile, fixed and cloud networks, where their solutions enable a more productive, sustainable, and inclusive world. Despite this, most people associate Nokia as being a smartphone maker, due to it immense popularity of its feature phones from the early 2000s. Even its defunct Windows phones, and presently produced Android phones still have a strong fanbase. Attempting to do a search for “Nokia Electric” cars is problematic in that search engines tend to bring up “Nikola” a startup that was supposed to release a fuel cell electric truck, but went off track. Either way, if there were strong evidence for a Nokia electric car, the results would have said so. They presently do not. If Nokia were to build their own electric car, it is very safe to assume that it will be a very rugged and capable crossover or sport utility vehicle with a thoughtfully designed, high-tech interior.

Yamaha

Yamaha is an extremely familiar brand to musicians and motorists alike thanks to its presence in instruments and motorized parts across the world. However, it should be noted that Yamaha Motor Company has been spun off from Yamaha Corporation as a separate company back in 1955. Yamaha Corporation is still the largest private company shareholder of it, though. Out of all the these companies mentioned thus far in the Predictions Section, Yamaha is the one that would be the least shocking to see an electric car from. The company already makes numerous powertrains and parts, meaning that it more than clearly has the resources to do so. There is only one strange problem: they do not want to make whole electric cars. At least, that is the impression they are sending so far. Yamaha Motor has even went as far as announcing that they were accepting orders for prototype hyper-EV electric motor development in a news release from April 12, 2021. At this point, it is rather confusing that they are taking such a passive approach to electric vehicle manufacturing. If Yamaha decides to make vehicles of their own, it will likely be a sport utility vehicle as their first offering.

Twitter

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and coworkers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People post Tweets, which may contain photos, videos, links, and text. These messages are posted to your profile, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.” -Twitter.

With approximately 180 – 206 million users spread across all continents, Twitter is what can rightly be described as a mega platform. Its sheer popularity is due to how efficient and useful its iconic Tweet system is. Does Twitter have any plans to make Twitter-branded electric cars of its own? No, there is no mention of this happening at the time. In fact, it does not seem as though any social media platform has even ever mentioned thinking about building branded electric cars of their own. Should Twitter come out to do this, it will shock the world for sure. It would also be greatly expected for Facebook, a company that truly has the revenue to do such a thing, to also make an electric car in response to Twitter’s. What kind of vehicle would Twitter make? It is somewhat hard to say. Tweets are light in nature, suggesting that the company might go with a compact crossover as their first choice. Yet, because it is also a social platform for a wide variety of uses, it is also possible they might even do something huge like an 8-seating sport utility vehicle. 

Henri Selmer Paris

This is an extremely familiar to name saxophone and clarinet players, especially professionals. Selmer touts itself as being a world leader in manufacturing high-end saxophones, clarinets, and mouthpieces. Being a fine instrument-maker that has been around since 1885, Selmer, without a doubt works with a lot of steel, wood, and plastic. This means that they are already familiar with designing, materials, machinery, and production-related matters. While this does not mean that it automatically translates into being good at cars, it does give them an immense advantage if they ever wanted to start doing so, in comparison to company that only deals with food for example. Has Selmer said anything about making electric cars? No, there are zero mentions of it at this time. What kind of vehicle would the French company debut with? Given that Selmer is notably a company of magnificent design, it is easy to predict that they would debut with a very fine luxury car. Selmer makes instruments in all sorts of sizes. Clarinetists and saxophonists often have very large instruments in their collections, such as baritone saxophones and bass clarinets. With Selmer being more than aware of this, their first car would most likely be a utility vehicle of the sort. One that would logically be no smaller than a mid-sized crossover. Perhaps even a station wagon might be their pick.

Gojo Industries

Most people know what Purell is, but what most may or may not know is that Purell is a product of a billion dollar company called Gojo Industries. Gojo makes all sorts of sanitizer, soaps, and personal hygiene products. With Gojo having a quarter of the United States’ hand sanitizer sales and an annual revenue of 500 million, it appears to be in good financial shape to make an electric cars. Will it make them, though? There are no mentions of it. One thing that can be almost certain, is that the vehicle would carry the Purell brand, as this brand is both extremely profitable and iconic in name. With Purell being a brand centered around hygiene and utility, it is very easy to predict that Gojo would build a Purell-branded van as its first vehicle. It would also be expected to have a lot of features in regards to health and safety, most notable HEPA filters.

The Reality Of It All

Never say never? For some of the companies above such as fast food companies like McDonald’s, the world will almost certainly not ever see them produce vehicles in their lifetime. Do these companies need to? Absolutely not. If anything, it is the existing companies right now, particularly resistant ones such as Toyota, Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin, and plethora of others that should start exclusively producing electric cars. That said, if an extremely unpredicted company like McDonald’s does decide to do cars, there is no harm in that. For some of the companies above, they already have a lot of experience with cars and machinery, such as Walmart and Canadian Tire. However, there is no concrete evidence that either of these two will make electric cars. For Walmart particularly, it does seem somewhat more likely, even if not done under their own brand name. Yamaha Motor is in a particularly strange position in that it technically already makes cars, just not wholly complete cars. For this reason, it is not even correct to call it a “non-automotive” company unless referring to Yamaha Corporation, the company it originally separated itself from. Yamaha should be the one that would be most likely to do make whole cars on this, but due to fear, uncertainty and doubt, it remains unknown.

Inspiration Behind This Post: Compilation And Explanation March 2018 – May 2019

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

What Happened?

Between Uropygial Gland: What is it? and up to Webpages: Laurentian Wireless, they all originally had an “Inspiration Behind This Post” section. From Webpages: Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group and onward I stopped putting it in. Now, I have decided to remove it from all of my writings. Why? As time went on, it began to look increasingly unprofessional in my eyes. This was especially true for articles. I was originally going to officially launch my services back in January or February this year, with the latest being March. I then put it off to take a little more time to properly finish the remaining parts of the portfolio project. Also, to get a few additional blog posts done.

With me planning to finally launch my services this month, I need the website to reflect the professionalism my brand touts. Having that section in articles, webpages, and other categories, detracts from the nature of the post. Maybe some might disagree, and think that it was a nice, unique touch. Either way, I have now decided to compile them all into this post from the first to the latest published on May 03, 2019. For the ones that did not have any, I will create it here. For all posts published after May 03, 2019, I will not post their inspirational sections here, but probably within another compilation. No guarantee, though. For now, enjoy my source of motivation for 40+ writings.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Welcome to Millennium Creek!

Ah, this was my very first post on the website. The creek had been silent and lifeless for two years, before it started flowing with life. How things have changed between then and now! I posted this as a sign of interest towards developing the website, but was not exactly sure when do it. This leads right up to the next post: Rediscovering its Purpose

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Rediscovering its Purpose

This post was created as an affirmation to turning Millennium Creek into a professional website focused on various types of write-ups. It goes into detail about why I came back to it, what I planned to do it, and more.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Uropygial Gland: What is it?

I have been aware of the basic functions of a bird’s oil gland for quite some time. However, I have not really thought much about this subtle gland. This has changed when I had handled a budgerigar some time this year (2018), and noticed that its gland looked odd for a small bird. This then prompted me to go and learn more about this seemingly simple orifice. I wanted to learn more about the function, appearance, and diseases of the uropygial gland.

Inspiration Behind This Article: 2018 All-electric Cars Canada

For this blog entry, my motivation stems from my love for vehicles, particularly all-electric ones. Electric car offerings are truly getting more exciting, as we go further into the future.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Alto Clef: Does it Have Any Real Use?

As anyone would be able to tell from the way I went into such passionate detail with parts of this post, I am really into band instruments. So much, that it was only natural that I would create this post as part of the Millennium Creek restoration effort for this week. Why the alto clef? It is an underrated clef that it grossly misunderstood.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Will America Eventually Ban All Chinese Smartphones?

I wanted to do a post on smartphones, but could not decide what exactly I wanted to write about. The latest flagship available? iOS?  LG’s plummeting smartphone sales? I then thought about Huawei and ZTE with the legal troubles they are going through. I thought that this would make an excellent, interesting, informative, provocative subject matter to discuss. Do I personally think that the United States will eventually ban all Chinese smartphones? If by ban, we are talking about a total ban as in no importation, forbidding sales, and blocking them off from American cellular towers, then no.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Racism in Canada 2018: Getting Better or Worse?

This week, I knew that I wanted to do a post on racism/multiculturalism on Friday. In fact, I had that determined before I even knew which topics I precisely wanted to cover for the previous blog posts. Racism is a serious issue that must not be ignored and swept under a rug. It is a problem that prohibits prosperity and safety. We must acknowledge that it exists, talk about it, and seek to eradicate it whenever we can. Canada may fare better than many other places in the world, but there is still much work and improvement that needs to be done.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Keystroke logging

Cybersecurity is not a glamorous topic, but is very important. I felt that this article deserved to be resurfaced, since it contains enough valuable information in a manageable format.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Encrypting Your Smartphone’s MicroSD Card

Despite being originally written in 2016, microSD card slots are still a valuable component in phones that support them. This article contains a lot of valuable information, majority of which is still relevant in 2018. For this reason, it deserved to be polished, reformatted and uploaded onto Millennium Creek, giving it a far better chance to flow and get the views it deserves.

Inspiration Behind This Article: China Dress: Simply a Dress or More Than That?

Keziah Daum. Who is that you may ask? Perhaps you are well informed about this story already, but maybe not. Keziah is a regular 18-year-old, American citizen from Woods Cross High School, Utah, United States of America. She is a Caucasian person that decided to wear a qipao for her 2018 prom. Why? She personally thought it would be a beautiful, unique dress to wear for the special event. Unfortunately, after posting photographs on social media, a Twitter user tweeted, “My culture is NOT your ****amn prom dress” Now based on what you already might know, or what you have recently read from this blog post: are there any restrictions for foreigners wearing a qipao? No, none at all. There is a reason why YesStyle, Modern Qipao, and Chinese Clothing Online ship to plenty of non-Asian countries. Even Amazon. This story has since caused a debate on whether or not, it was really cultural appropriation. Most have sensibly agreed that it was not. Even though the criticism was uncalled for, this story inspired me to research and learn more about what I simply always called the “China dress“.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Starbucks Anti-bias Training Day

I did not have plans to write such a blog post today. But when the headlines came up about Starbuck’s official anti-bias training taking place across over 8,000 American outlets, it inspired me to do another blog post on racism. Though the incident was very unfortunate and should have never happened, the story, follow-ups behind it, and all the media surrounding it, have been very interesting. It has sparked a lot of debate over the lingering presence of racial profiling, especially towards Black people.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Fiat Chrysler Automotobiles: June 2018 Discussion

When I heard that Fiat Chrysler was announcing a new five-year plan on June 1st, I knew that I was definitely going to do a blog post on it. I wanted to take a look at what was said, the rumors, and of course my opinions on this. The latter, not-so-surprisingly, ended up being the longest section of this entry. Which Fiat Chrysler brand is your favourite? How do you feel about their new five-year plan? The departure of Sergio Marchionne in April 2019? Comment down below and share your thoughts.

Inspiration Behind This Article: The Tokay Gecko

This post was originally supposed to be my unpublished 200-worded piece “Are Tokay Geckos Too Violent For Beginners?” But it did not happen. The original piece was not complete garbage, but was also not up to Millennium Creek standards and quality. I figured that if I were going to put up an information piece on tokay geckos, that I should expand it and include much more useful information. Why tokay geckos in particular? I wanted to do an article on an exotic animal of the sort. The tokay gecko’s stunning colours and feisty personality made it a good choice.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Indigenous Peoples of Canada

A little bit back, I created a rough notepad titled “Millennium Creek Upcoming Topics May-June 2018” There, I brainstormed a list of topics and types of writings I wanted to do over the summer. It has since been moved to a word file titled, “Ultimate Millennium Creek Writing Plan For June-July-August 2018” On this word file, I have laid out all the posts and different types of writing styles I plan to do. Since I had the topic of Indigenous Canadians in the notepad for some time, I decided to go with it. Writing about Indigenous Canadians has been an interesting, eye-opening, refresher about the people I live among. The people that have inhabited this country long before foreign settlers from other continents have arrived.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Health Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

As mentioned in the previous post, a summer plan was created for the types of writings and topics I wanted to do. While it did not explicitly state which topics or types of writing I was going to do, extra virgin olive oil was one that was planned for quite some time. Why this topic? I was searching around the Internet one day, and stumbled across a post that went into the lengthy health benefits of extra virgin olive oil. I then decided that I definitely wanted to do my own post on this topic. I wanted to add my take on it, and include information and tidbits that the others have failed to mention.

Inspiration Behind This Article: What is SaaS?

While I have been seeing the term “SaaS” for quite some time, it was not until more recently that I would do something more about it. I decided to add it to my writing plan of future topics. Now here it is on the Internet. Writing and researching it has given me a much better understanding of what it is, and more awareness of the companies that use or offer it. It probably should not come as a surprise, that I do prefer one-time purchases over subscription models when it comes onto computer software. I can see why businesses go with SaaS for the benefits discussed earlier. For me, one-time purchases suit my needs. What about you? Do you prefer subscription models or one-time purchases?

Inspiration Behind This Article: The Difference Between Nationality Versus Ethnicity

Aside from it being a planned summer article, I wanted to do this post to clarify the difference of these terms. There are many articles on the Internet that either have them mixed up, or written entirely inaccurately. This is not to say that mine is the best, and only one worth of reading. It is not. But, at the same time, it was thoughtfully and factually put together to give it credibility and quality. Found this article helpful, informative or interesting? Drop a comment below or share it with your friends and relatives.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Royal Bank of Canada Website Critique

A continuation of the plan summer plan to put up various categories of writings on Millennium Creek. If you read the beginning of this critique, you will know that Canadian Tire and Havelaar Canada will be appearing on Millennium Creek to join RBC as part of the portfolio for non-endorsed website critiques.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Canadian Tire Website Critique

This write-up is the second out of the three non-endorsed website critiques, being done for a portfolio project. Why did I choose Canadian Tire of all online retailers? Well, there were a lot of other online retailers that I could have went with. For the second critique, I wanted to choose an online retail that was based in Canada, that also has a physical store. For those two reasons, it should be no surprise that Canadian Tire was one of the first places that came to mind, so I went with it. Readers, what are your impressions of these critiques so far? Comment and share your thoughts.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Havelaar Canada Website Critique

This write-up is the third and final out of the three non-endorsed website critiques, being done for a portfolio project. If you have read my previous articles pertained to automobiles, then my inspiration behind this post should be very clear: my love all-electric cars. As such, I originally thought about doing a critique for Tesla. But then, I thought that the Tesla already has enough press and attention surrounding them, so I thought about doing Jaguar. Now Jaguar may only have one all-electric vehicle in the lineup, but the company as whole was attractive enough to make me consider it. I was then torn between Tesla and Jaguar. I then decided to do neither of those two, and went with the lesser known, Canada-based, Havelaar Canada. Turned out to be a good choice. If it does make it to production, I hope there will be a 4-door crew cab option.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is It Acceptable For Women To Breastfeed In Public? Yes

Upon finishing the articles and website critiques for the Summer Project, now Autumn Portfolio 2018 Project, the next part of it is argumentative essays. Seeing as though I had already done this particular topic originally on May 30, 2016, I figured that it made lots of sense to upload it as the first choice for this part of the project. For the argumentative essays I cover in this project, I do plan to cover both “For” and “Against” *insert topic*. I plan to do three topics, bringing it to six essays, or six sides depending on how you look at it. For those of you that hated doing argumentative essay in school, you would probably think this is madness. Truth is, as long as the subject matter is not complex, and you understand the format of argumentative essays, they are actually quite easy to do. Or am I just saying that because I am an experienced writer? Either way, drop a comment on this topic and let me know what you think of public nursing.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is it acceptable for women to breastfeed in public? No

This essay serves as the voice against public nursing. For the side that supports public nursing, click here. Now that both sides of this subject matter have been explored, I am almost certain that you must be wondering how do I, Millennium Creek, feel about women breastfeeding in public? Well, it should not come as a surprise, but it surprises me that this is even a debate in the first place. As far as I am concerned, I do not know of any mother that would flagrantly expose their entire chest with the intention of creating shock and disgust. Virtually nobody would want to put themselves and their child in unnecessary danger. A mother nursing her infant should be treated as casually as somebody drinking from a water bottle to satisfy their thirst.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Should Canadians Be Required To Know Both French And English Upon High School Graduation? Yes

I honestly do not remember why I chose this as one of the subjects I wanted to cover for the essays part of the portfolio. I do remember going through lists of good topics to do for an argumentative essay. I do not recall specifically seeing anything titled “Should Canadians Be Required to Know Both French and English Upon High School Graduation?” I believe that I did run into something that had to do with language and bilingualism. From there, I decided to go with this one. Do you also agree that Canadians should know both languages by the time they graduate? Type your comments and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Should Canadians Be Required To Know Both French And English Upon High School Graduation? No

This essay serves as the voice that is against forced bilingualism on high school students. For the voice that supports it, click here. Do you agree with the points in this essay? I strongly suspect that most people would side with this voice, but I might be wrong? Let me know by leaving a comment. “Should Bilingualism Be A Graduation Requirement In Canada?” Perhaps would have been a nicer sounding title for these essays.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is Technology Limiting Creativity? Yes

This is the 3rd and final topic for the argumentative essay part of the portfolio project of 2018. I came around to choosing this topic by browsing a list of good essay topics. Why this one in particular? Though you may very well know at this point that I am into electronics, it is also because of how interesting and thought-provocative it is. In fact, I honestly feared that I would not know how to go about writing this. Thankfully, it came through and I managed to get this side of the topic done. Do you agree that technology is limiting creativity? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is Technology Limiting Creativity? No

Now that the “No” voice of this essay topic is complete, this marks the completion of the essay part of my 2018 portfolio project. As explained on the “Yes” voice, my inspiration behind choosing this topic for an argument, was the result of two things:

1. Browsing through a list of topics to do for an argumentative essay
2. My love for technology

With that said, it is obvious that I believe technology is not limiting creativity. The problem is people themselves not knowing how to be creative, and where to draw their sources of inspiration. My own website, Millennium Creek, is a good example of creativity that would not have been possible without the appropriate technology in place. Do you also agree that technology is not limiting creativity? Or have you sided with the “Yes” voice? Comment and let me know. While some people would love a world without smartphones, computers and televisions, our lives would be significantly harder in too many ways.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Speech: Let It Become A Legal Requirement To Label Genetically Modified Organisms In Canada

I do not think I have ever written any speech of the sort before. Whether it be intended for school, work or business. The idea of writing a speech definitely brought feelings of uncertainty, but I still did not cancel the idea. The completion of this speech marks the first write-up of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio part. Why a speech? Why this topic? As to why I would want a speech, it is because I thought it would be a valuable, challenging write-up to have in my portfolio. As for my topic of choice, I simply searched around for good speech topics. Interestingly, what happens to be a good topic for persuasive essays, also happens to be an excellent topic for speeches. For that reason, it is no wonder I have seen some people go as far to call speeches “spoken essays”. What do you think? How do you feel about this topic? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Beautiful Blue Creek (Haiku)

A Haiku was originally going to be the first write-up for the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. Instead, I opted to write a speech first, making this the 2nd writing in the category. Why a Haiku? The last time I have written a Haiku probably dates back to elementary school. Yes, that is indeed a frighteningly long time!

Much of the content on Millennium Creek tends to be articles or writings that often tip 1,000 words. Doing a short Haiku on creeks, felt refreshing and very different. I am quite a fan of the simplicity and beauty of Haiku. I may create more of them in 2019. For now, I will proceed to working on the next creative piece.

For those of you that absolutely love Haiku, I recommend you have a look at Basho: The Complete Haiku, On Haiku, and maybe this mug? Have you ever written a Haiku? Perhaps you frequently write Haiku? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Walk of the Wilderness

Is this a story? Or is it a poem? A poetic story? Those are the questions that frequently came up in my mind while I was writing this. Truth be told, this is supposed to be a “long poem”. It probably might not look like it to some, but that was the intention. It is neither a fictional or non-fiction story. Now because poetry admittedly is not my specialty, there may be some debates on how good it is, or how you might personally disagree with my classification of it this work. Walk of the Wilderness marks the 3rd creation of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. It was supposed to be the 2nd, but if you already read the “Inspirational” section of my Haiku, you will have the answer to why it is not.

So aside from creating this as a “look what I can do” sort of thing, you must be wondering about what the actual inspiration of this particular poem is, right? It happened when I tasked myself with the objective to complete a third Creative Writing piece. It was originally going to be a write-up of one of my real dreams. I could not decide which dream to write about. I did not want to waste too much time on it, because 2018 was coming to an end very soon. I wanted to get the Creative Writings done before Christmas. I then decided to just write one massive, story-like poem about a brief dream belonging to no one, themed around walking through the wilderness. I did not plan, nor even look at other poems for inspiration. I just threw myself in front of the keyboard, brainstormed the title, and wrote whatever came to my mind.

As anyone can tell, it is advisable to plan and get inspiration when writing poetry. It makes it more organized and refined. Or at least I think so. Well, I suppose writing whatever floats up also has its perks, too. Particularly, if you are trying to really flex that originality muscle. What did you think about this long poem? Think it does not deserved to be called such? Feels more like a story?

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: What Love is This?

This long piece falls into the same category of my previous Walk of the Wilderness, classifying as a long poem. If you view it as a series of short poetic stories, I will not blame you for seeing it that way. Now that aside, What Love Is This? is the 4th and final creation of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. What you will not know about this write-up, is the fact that it was not supposed to even come into being. In fact, I was originally going to stop the Creative Writing portfolio after writing #3. But suddenly, I felt a strong desire to create just one more long poem, before calling it complete. I am quite glad I did.

Why love? I figured that if I was going to write poems, that I had to do at least one love theme. Sounds like such a cliché thing to do, but the urge was strong. Very strong. Like Walk of the Wilderness, What Love Is This? was written in the same manner: placed myself in front of the keyboard, brainstormed a little, and just let my fingers do the rest. As a result, you may either find the poem adorable or creative, or very uncool.

Inspiration Behind The Product Descriptions From an Old Portfolio

I was originally going to start the 2019 portfolio project with the following writing categories: Blog posts and copywriting. I then had a change of heart and revised it to be product descriptions and copywriting, while making the blog posts optional. The reason is because I am going to be officially selling my services in the coming weeks. Likely in February, but possibly March. While my services have already been available for some time, I have never posted them officially and openly on social media.

Back in 2018, I completed articles, website critiques, argumentative essays, creative pieces, and the occasional blog post. Blog posts are nice and all, but they have not been a focus on Millennium Creek. I believe that getting product descriptions and copywriting into my portfolio sooner, would make it look far more attractive than common, regular blogs posts.

Seeing as though  I had already completed a write-up of original descriptions a few years ago, it made sense to tidy them up, and publish them as the first for this category. And yes, I am aware that writing product descriptions is a form of copywriting. By “copywriting” I have web pages in mind for the next category.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max Accessories

The completion of this makes it the 2nd write-up of the Product Descriptions part of the portfolio project. The 1st was Product Descriptions From an Old Portfolio. Creating these names and descriptions from scratch was no easy task. I took a look at Google Maps and other products to get an idea for names and certain technical details. Even then, it still took some work. Nevertheless, completing this gave me some valuable experience and insight about product copy.

Why the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max? Those two are among the most recognizable high-end devices in the world, making them a sensible choice to write portfolio descriptions for. Of course, there are many other fantastic devices out there. Some of which you can argue are even better. And finally, I would love to know what your top three picks would be if these products were real. Comment down below.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Kaskawulsh Men’s Fashion

Fashion is a big deal because you have to wear clothes. You have to protect your body from the elements of the outdoors. And most obviously, you do not want to violate laws of indecency. Some people care greatly about looking stylish. Others value comfort, while some prefer to just buy whatever is affordable and necessary. The world of fashion is truly, very broad. I could have done men’s luxury fashion, women’s fashion, children’s fashion, ethnic fashion, and many more. For this portfolio piece, I decided to go with an imaginary, upscale brand that is not too expensive for the masses, but is not very cheap either.

Which of these products would you buy if they were real? Comment down below and share your interests.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Cielistellati Fine Musical Instruments

My love for musical instruments. That is the driving reason behind choosing this as the 4th and final subject for the Product Descriptions category of the portfolio project. Woodwinds, brass, orchestral strings, percussion, keyboards — they all have their unique strengths and voices. If Cielistellati instruments were real, and money were no barrier, which of these instruments would you buy? I have a deep feeling that 95% of population would pick piano or violin. Prove me wrong by commenting on what your choice would be. Even if it is piano and violin, there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Both are beautiful when played by musicians who have been trained properly.

For those of you who are Italian, or at least understand the language, Cielistellati comes from the Italian words “cieli stellati” meaning starry skies. Your eyes would indeed be starry with the craftsmanship and sound quality of these instruments, if they were real.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Laurentian Wireless

Every website obviously has webpages. Does every website have good pages? Unfortunately, they do not. I wanted to have a knack at writing webpages. I went ahead to test my webpage content writing skills with this category of the portfolio project. The reason why I chose a wireless carrier, will not be a surprise to any readers who have read most of my write-ups. (Love for smartphones and other electronics!)

Now finally, if Laurentian Wireless were a real company, would you subscribe to them? Or would you prefer to stick to Telus, Koodo, Rogers, Fido, Bell, Virgin Mobile or Freedom Mobile? Comment down below and let me know. I would also like to know what you think of this write-up. Should I have included certain details within pages that I missed? Your constructive feedback is very important to me.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group

Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group (Red Maple GTA HRG) is the second write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. We all need a good, clean, peaceful house to dwell in. Therefore, this makes home renovation an extremely big industry. So big, that it was only natural that I would include it as one of the 5 webpage topics to go with. And because I am based in Ontario, I chose to go with an Ontarian-themed, imaginary example company.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Wonder Food of 6 Worlds Restaurant

Wonder Food of 6 Worlds Restaurant (WF6WR) is the third write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. Not only is the hospitality and tourism industry interesting, it is a huge sector of commerce. When coming up with an imaginary example company, I knew I wanted to include a restaurant, but was not too sure of which theme to go with. Thinking of all the ethnic restaurants around me, I decided to go with a unique, multi-ethnic theme. A little challenging, but I like how it turned out.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Seaforth Serpents

Seaforth Serpents is the fourth write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. People love their pets, particularly cats and dogs. While cats and dogs are popular and all, I wanted to go with something a little more niche for the 4th write-up of this area: reptiles, particularly snakes. I originally expected this piece to be quick and easy to type, but it proved me wrong. Animal shop websites actually have a lot of important text that needs to be on their webpages, or you risk numerous complications. Still, I personally love reptiles, so writing this was not uninteresting.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Thunder Things Automotive Group

Thunder Things Automotive Group (TTAG) is the fifth and final write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. As mentioned in earlier automotive writings, I love all-electric vehicles, making this a very alluring choice to go with. TTAG may be an imaginary example company, but I really would like to see Canada create its own home-grown brand soon.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: “Maseromeo” What If Maserati And Alfa Romeo Merged Into One Brand?

As mentioned within the first paragraph of this post, this was originally intended to be a blog post written shortly after completing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: June 2018 Discussion. Why did I still bother with it? Because it was too interesting of a discussion to throw off. Both Maserati and Alfa Romeo are internationally recognized brands that can stir up a variety of emotions.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: The Truth About Alfa Romeo’s Logo Surprised Me Greatly

My inspiration for this blog post is summed up perfectly within the first paragraph of this post: stumbled across an image with text about the logo, thus leading to me creating an entry all about it.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets?

Without a doubt, the other celestial bodies around us are extremely fascinating. Some believe there is, or was life at some point on them. Others, such as myself, believe they never had or will ever be capable of supporting life. As such, I wanted to create a blog post entirely dedicated to this, and why they cannot support life.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Remote Work Is Not Nonsense; It Is The Way

This blog post may very well be the most passionate-driven entry posted on Millennium Creek. Being someone who believes strongly in remote work, I felt as though I was called to do this when I saw someone write remote work off as nonsense on Twitter. Within the post, I go into plenty of detail about what remote work is and is not.

Feeling Inspired?

This was a ton of text to go through, but I do hope that you managed to read it all. And most importantly, I hope it left you feeling inspired to take some action of the sort. Whether it be reading the write-ups they link to, or creating a write-up inspired from them.

Is Technology Limiting Creativity? No

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored. Lastly, the opinion in this essay does not necessarily reflect Millennium River’s beliefs on the subject being discussed.

Creativity Versus Technology

Technology has spawned from creativity. Creativity has reached newer heights as a result of advancement in technology. Does everyone agree with this? Certainly not. Some think that modern technology has reached the point, that it is now limiting creativity. Why? Because the inspirations behind the ideas being brought forth are becoming increasingly unoriginal. Is it true? There is some truth to this, but not all forms of technology are creative, nor should technology be blamed for the alleged decline in creativity. Technology is the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area. As with many other things in life, it must be used responsibly.

Technology has led to numerous breakthroughs, improvements and sources of entertainment:

1. Technology has led to life-saving medical advancements
2. Technology has led to the creation of many beloved Internet websites and brands
3. Technology has made it easier to share and create

Less Dangerous Medicinal Creativity

Technology, the creation of the Internet, and updated medicinal practices has allowed for less harmful medicinal treatment.

Tobacco is one excellent example of this. The plant at one point, was actually considered to be good for the human body. Doctors and other pseudoscientists would insist that it was a good stress reliever, cleared up the throat, and is sociable and fun. Thankfully, these claims have been long tossed out, due to better knowledge and research made possible by better research facilities through technology.

Eating 500 grams of blueberries a day will stop hair loss in both men and women. It will also grow back bald spots. Such bold claims a century ago, would likely have people convinced that it is actually true. Thanks to today’s technology and better educated minds, such creative medicinal claims will no longer have the masses take their word for it.

The point above may sound like an argument against technology. This is thanks to mediums that allowed groups to promote such nonsense. However, it makes society glad that such claims can no longer fly through without facing scrutiny.

Many Brands and Websites Were Born

As a result of both creativity and technology, thousands of websites and brands have been born over the last two decades.

Google, YouTube, WordPress, Instagram, Twitter, Amazon, eBay, Pinterest, DeviantArt, Quora and Microsoft are just a scratch on the surface for the sheer number of websites in existence. Some are more popular than others, though all of them mentioned are high-traffic examples.

Another major example of technology, creativity and innovation would be Tesla. As many very well know by now, this is an automaker that specializes in a portfolio of only all-electric vehicles. A decade ago, they were very small and had only one vehicle in the lineup. Not very many automakers cared about making serious all-electric cars. There was Rimac Automobili that launched around a similar time. Now, there is the upcoming Faraday Future and Lucid Motors — both companies with only all-electric cars in their portfolio. Not only this, but several traditional automakers have finally gotten serious about expanding their all-electric lineup. They are also getting creative, too.

While these companies have had their fair share of issues, faults and scandals, the concept and idea of them are beautiful examples of technology and creativity.

Sharing Is Easier Than Ever Before

Thanks to the Internet and better, faster, more efficient, high-tech modes of transportation, sharing works their various mediums is quicker than ever before.

Artwork and photographs. With the Internet, computers and smartphones in existence, sharing a drawing or photograph can be shared to the world by posting it on websites such as Instagram, ArtStation, Artsy, Etsy, DeviantArt and Pixiv to name a few. On top of this, some websites even offer translation tools to translate texts. This makes it understandable to a viewer who has no knowledge of the language’s text they are reading.

Another similar example would be international purchases. For example: a Canadian can purchase something from the United Kingdom, without waiting for a ship to ferry it over. The invention of airplanes plays a major role in the speed and ease of delivery here, as well as the logistics, shipping, receiving and other things used in the process of dealing with international orders.

It is clear that technology has made it much less of a burden, and more of a joy to share works and products easily with countries from all over the world.

Technology Is Growing Creativity

Technology has allowed for better and more careful medicinal advancements. It has allowed many brands and websites enjoyed today, to come into being. And it has made it quicker, easier and safer to share and transport products and ideas. Could the evidence of technology growing creativity be any stronger?

With the technology that exists in 2018, and the technology to come, the future holds many things. It would be overly romantic to consider it all good and no bad. With greater technology, will come greater curiosity and experimentation. In fact, technology has made some too creative. As mentioned earlier, technology, like other things in life, must be used responsibly and in moderation.

Is Technology Limiting Creativity? Yes

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored. Lastly, the opinion in this essay does not necessarily reflect Millennium River’s beliefs on the subject being discussed.

Technology and Creativity

Creativity and technology: does it sound like they go hand in hand? Or perhaps, it is the opposite? Looking at this website itself, Millennium Creek, this would be the result of creativity and technology. However, how “creative” is this creative website? The answer to that question would depend on how a viewer sees it. To delve into the answer of whether or not technology is killing creativity, the definitions of these terms must be explored.

Creativity

Creativity #1; the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Creativity #2; Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. Creativity #3; The state or quality of being creative.

There are several definitions depending on the source, but all of them agree with one thing: use of imagination to create something new. For technology, the definition is science or knowledge put into practical use to solve problems or invent useful tools.

True Creativity Is No Longer Present

It can be argued that technology has led to the creation of many innovative brands and companies today. However, true creativity comes from the outer world; not some inner virtual world. A walk through the misty forest. The sounds of ocean waves. A conversation with a gentleman after an ensemble performance. The experience received from boarding a ship across the sea. The cryptic a look a random woman had on her face, when walking past her. If people today had the type of technology present centuries ago, true, fine creativity would be critically endangered.

1. People spend far more time on electronics such as smartphones, televisions and gaming consoles, as opposed to drawing inspiration from real time scenarios.
2.  Plagiarism and copyright infringement is higher than ever before, thanks to technology.
3. Android and iOS, the two biggest smartphone operating systems, are no longer as unique as they used to be.

Unhealthy Amounts Of Screen Time

People of today, spend much more time in front of the screens of various electronics. Long ago, before the invention of such tools, people had to get out. They spoke face to face, spent more time exploring and trekking their surroundings, and visited numerous subjects of around them. Their inspiration was taken from outside of a virtual world.

Take a walk down a street in a modern city, and there are plenty of people to be seen walking on talking on a smartphone. People walking with their head pointed down at their screens is another big problem. The waiting room? Again, plenty of people will be seen with their head down on their screens as opposed to reading a book, or solving puzzles.

Further evidence of the problem is the rise of health issues stemming from too much time spent on high-tech devices. Eye strain, neck problems, back problems, poor circulation, and obesity are all complications that have increased from the rise of more electronics being available. This hurts both health and creativity.

Technology is addictive. It is clear that many people are not responsible and modest with their use of it. People are far more likely to take inspiration from something online, rather than a real life experience.

Technology Made Plagiarism Worse

Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as their own. Interestingly, technology has also allowed for better tools and laws to crack down on plagiarism. Yet, despite all the rules and tools in place, it still keeps happening. Why? Because copying, pasting and other piracy tricks make it very easy to do.

Before the Internet and computers existed, people could still copy others work of course. But, there was no way to simply select texts or images that did not belong to them, and easily put them in their name. They had to rewrite or recreate what they were trying to copy, making it less encouraging for them to bother with. With the Internet and electronics in place, copying work is far less time consuming. Creators and businesses know that plagiarism is rampant, which is why they often use tools such as Copyscape, Grammarly, right click disablers, watermark their drawings, limit audio to short samples and many more. This speaks volumes about the prevalence of plagiarism and how it has become so rampant with increased technological advances.

Another similar point that should be mentioned are counterfeit brands. Brands such as Rayban, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Gucci, Coach, Samsung and Apple are excellent examples of this. Better manufacturing tools and high-tech electronics has allowed for it to be much easier to copy others works, as opposed to being original.

While technology has brought plenty of tools to discourage plagiarism and protect others works, it has ironically also made it much easier to do.

Technology Copying Technology

Without a doubt, smartphones powered by Android and iOS occupy over 90% of the smartphone market share. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it had a number of features that made it both look and feel like a product from Apple. Likewise, when the first Android-powered smartphone, HTC Dream, launched a year later, it had numerous features that made it drastically different from an iPhone. Fast forward to 2018, and it is clear that the two are becoming increasingly similar, and not in a good way either.

The first example would be hardware. Original Android smartphones had things like removable batteries, headphone jacks, expandable memory and capacitive navigation buttons. The iPhone had a singular home button on the bottom bezel, and Apple design language. Today, if one of the 2018 iPhones were powered off and placed among other 2018 Android smartphones with the front side up, spotting it would not be instant. And for Android smartphones, manufacturers are removing hardware features, particularly the headphone jack, at an alarming rate. Gone are the days when picking up an Android smartphone would guarantee a removable battery, headphone jack and expandable memory.

In terms of software, there are a number of Android manufactures that keep making their skins based on iOS, rather than being creative. Worse, some of the more fraudulent makers go as far as copying the physical design of an iPhone, too.

Android and iOS are excellent examples of technology that came into being from creativity. Yet, they are now increasingly drawing their inspiration from each others hardware and software, instead of trying to stand out from one another.

Technology’s Impact On Creativity

Is technology limiting creativity? It certainly is. People’s inspiration now largely comes from others online works, plagiarism is higher than it ever was, and even examples of creative technology are losing their shine. The solution? People must limit their time spent behind the screen, and draw most of their inspiration from real life.

What is SaaS?

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Introduction

Seeing this term a lot and wondering what it means? Once it is understood, it is easy to see why it is so prevalent in today’s Internet-driven age. SaaS is an acronym for Software as a Service. SaaS, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) make up the three main categories of cloud computing. In today’s society of digitization and increased used of electronic devices, effective software is very important. How it is also delivered to consumers or enterprises, is another area that is of much relevance and discussion: traditional software downloads versus Software as a Service.

Software

Software are the programs and other operating information that a device uses to function. This includes personal computers, tablets, smartphones, industrial machines and many others. Applications are software placed onto devices to perform a specific set of functions. For example: an alarm clock application on a smartphone will perform functions related to making sounds at certain time. A word file on the other hand, will perform tasks related to typing and formatting texts.

Traditional Software Download Versus Software as a Service

The traditional method of obtaining software is by buying the software upfront, with a one-time fee, and installing it onto a device. The software’s licences might be limited to the number of users and/or devices where it can be downloaded and used. Depending on the developer(s), there may not be any additional updates with one-time purchase software. Some, however, do offer lifetime updates for their applications. With SaaS, users or enterprises subscribe to the software, rather than paying an upfront cost. They are usually billed monthly or annually. They can end their subscription when they no longer have any need for the software. Since SaaS is hosted over the Internet, it comes with a number of benefits: direct automatic updates from the provider, no hardware costs, no initial setup costs, scalable usage, cross device compatibility, and allows users access to the service from any location with an Internet enabled device. While SaaS may have its advantages, it also has several disadvantages that will be discussed below.

Disadvantages of SaaS

Users have no control over the system processing the data. While providers often have a privacy policy, access management and the privacy of sensitive information remains a major discussion around cloud hosted services. This is further worsened when hacks occur that cause data to leak en masse. Connectivity requirement is another notable disadvantage of SaaS. Without Internet connection, access to the software is not possible. Likewise, if the Internet speed is poor, this will result in cumbersome performance. Another thing to mention is that not all users like a subscription based model. Some prefer a one-time purchase, even when there is the option for low monthly or annual charges.

Examples of SaaS

Now that SaaS has been discussed, it is now time to look at five popular examples of SaaS and discuss them. Microsoft Office 365, G Suite by Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Dropbox, and Slack. Bear in mind that any pricing mentioned, is relevant as of August 2018.

Microsoft Office 365

Quoting directly from the website:

“Office 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that brings together the best tools for the way people work today. By combining best-in-class apps like Excel and Outlook with powerful cloud services like OneDrive and Microsoft Teams, Office 365 lets anyone create and share anywhere on any device.”

Microsoft offers plans and pricing in the four following categories: Home, Business, Enterprise and Education. Microsoft’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access are typical offerings found in much of their plans. Office Home & Student 2016 for PC stands out as being the only offering that can be purchased as a one-time purchase.

G Suite by Google Cloud

As the name suggests, the G Suite is a set of cloud hosted, productivity tools, software and products developed by Google. Gmail, Google+, Calendar, Hangouts, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Sites, App Maker, Keep, Jamboard, Drive, Cloud Search, Admin, Vault and Mobile are the various offerings within the G Suite, depending on which edition is purchased. They offer Basic, Business and Enterprise, all of which can be tried for 14 days. Prices range from $5 USD – $25 USD.

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud services platform that offers a broad set of global cloud-based products including compute, storage, databases, analytics, networking, mobile, developer tools, management tools, IoT, security and enterprise applications. AWS offers a pay-as-you-go approach for pricing with over 120 cloud services. Due to the sheer number of services they offer, that have widely varying price points, it is not practical to list the names of each and every service and their costs on this article. Information on pricing can be found through AWS Pricing.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a file hosting service that allows users to store, share and collaborate files. Being a cloud service, files can be accessed from a computer, smartphone, or tablet anywhere with Internet connection. Changes made from one device automatically sync from across all devices where a user has Dropbox installed. Their pricing plans for individuals are Plus or Professional. For Teams, they offer Standard or Advanced.

Slack

Slack is a cloud-based set of proprietary team collaboration tools and services, developed by Slack Technologies. The name is an acronym for “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge”. Teamwork in Slack happens in channels. This is a single place for messaging, tools and files to help people save time and collaborate together. A channel can be made for every conversation. These channels can also be split up by team, project, client, and other categories relevant to the work being done. The team members can join and leave the channels as needed, in contrast to lengthy e-mail chains. The use of threads keeps side conversations from derailing the topic or project at hand. For pricing, Slack offers their service within four categories: Slack For Teams, Slack Enterprise Grid, Slack for Nonprofits, and Slack for Education.