Rowan Finley
Bio
Father. Academic Advisor. Musician. Writer. Aspiring licensed mental health counselor. My real name is Jesse Balogh.
Stories (562/0)
'Shark Tank' Story
In a world full of technological advances, there seem to be more and more ways to stay connected with one another. People’s usage of social media sites, texting, and mobile applications have increased more than ever before. However, most communication devices are all geared for adults, teenagers, or mature children. There have been very few ways for young children to communicate with those around them, especially in a simple, safe manner. MIT graduate Gauri Nanda, founder of Toymail, recently aired in February of this year on season 8, episode 18 of the show Shark Tank. Talkies are cute stuffed animals that provide a safe means for children under the age of 10 to send voice messages to their parents' phones or to other children’s Talkies. The link to the episode is provided below on the resource page. There are three main reasons that stand out as to why Gauri Nanda’s Toymail Talkies have been successful and will most likely be successful in the long run.
By Rowan Finley 4 years ago in Journal
Exploring the Six Components of Apple's Macro-Environment
“Always be prepared,” so the boy scout’s motto goes, but always being prepared for the curve balls thrown by the macro-environment is not as easy as it might sound. The macro-environment is made up of “six principal components: political factors, economic conditions in the firm’s general environment (local, country, regional, worldwide), sociocultural forces, technological factors, environmental factors (concerning the natural environment), and legal/regulatory conditions” (Thompson 2016). Every business or company out there, including Apple, must prepare for, as much as possible, and respond to the pressure of the six components of the macro-environment.
By Rowan Finley 4 years ago in Journal
What Growing Up in Florida Was Like
I grew up in a very tiny town in central Florida. There were mostly woods around my house. The interesting, somewhat strange thing, about where we lived was that pretty much all of my extended family on my mother’s side lived on the same 90 plus acres. My grandparents lived in a house across the pond. Then I had three sets of uncles and aunts spread across the property. My grandpa, being quite the visionary that he was, thought that it would be nice to give each of his adult children a piece of property to live on and raise their families. As children, my cousins and I were practically in paradise with all of the trees to climb and plenty of woods to tramp through. We would spend hours building forts out of pine trees and palmettos. Sometimes we would dig giant holes in the ground and cover them up with ply wood. One of my aunts had several horses so we would go on the great horseback rides, taking the horses over the railroad tracks, down long trails. There was always something to do or some great adventure to have. When the ponds were full during the rainy season we would have mud fights and go redneck surfing. Redneck surfing consisted of sitting on a pool boogie board, using a rope to tie it to the back of a four-wheeler, and hanging on for dear life as it raced through the muddy water. Many times we would canoe through the ponds to each other’s houses. The summer time was truly our favorite time of the year!
By Rowan Finley 4 years ago in Families
Australia's Healthcare System Versus America's Healthcare System
As the population’s life expectancy continues to rise, the elderly are developing more chronic health issues. Both the U.S. and Australia are faced with providing accessible, affordable, quality healthcare for their citizens. The U.S. healthcare system is one of the most expensive systems in the world with health expenditure as a percentage of the gross domestic product of 17.7 in the year 2010 (Niles, 2015 p. 60). Australia on the other hand had health expenditure as a percentage of the gross domestic product of 8.9 in the year 2010 (Niles, 2015 p. 59). While Australia runs a universal healthcare program which has proven to be successful, the U.S. has attempted some wobbly steps toward achieving universal healthcare, but is far from the strong strides which are needed.
By Rowan Finley 4 years ago in Journal