BUSINESS - Learn Something New: Online Courses for $15 and Less

If your New Year’s resolution is to increase your knowledge, Udemy is offering major discounts on more than 17,000 online courses.

Interested in Business Administration? The popular An Entire MBA in One Course is being offered for $15 - a 92% discount.

The Ultimate Excel Programmer teaches how to make spreadsheets do more of the legwork for you and is on sale for $15.

Web development, photography, writing, social media, design, software and more are all offered by Udemy.

The deep discounts are available through Tuesday, January 10th. 

But how can you tell if the course is good?

An online learning platform that allows anyone to host their own video courses, Udemy does not require specialized expertise or credentials to create and sell a course on the platform.

Which means courses go from bad to great.

Some tips for finding a quality online course:

• Read the course curriculum - make sure it covers what you want to learn.
• Meet the requirements - prerequisites are listed that you will need to meet.
• Watch the course intro and previews - the instructor should be clear, organized, fit your learning style and should show (not just by talking) plenty of examples and practices.
• Check out the instructor - their experience should be relevant to what you want to learn and if they also offer a free course, enroll and check them out before investing money.
• See if the course has been updated - a committed instructor updates a course to keep it relevant.
• Analyze the good reviews - pay attention to the ones from people with photographs and aren’t generic - “This is the best course ever!” - there are fabricated reviews so you want to find the genuine ones.
• Read the bad reviews - if they offer a detailed review of the course, there will be valuable information in them.
• Try it - Udemy offers a refund within 30 days if you start the course and find it’s not right for you.

The number of organizations offering online learning is constantly growing - Coursera and University of the People are just a couple of examples.

Websites like MoocLab have reviews of online course providers to help you find the right provider and course for you.

If you’re looking for free online college courses from the world’s top universities, visit Academic Earth.

2017 can be a year of learning new skills - for a great deal or even free.

New App Identifies Dog Breed From a Photo

There’s a fun new Microsoft app called Fetch! that uses artificial intelligence techniques to classify images of real-world dogs into breeds. Available for iPhones and on the web, users upload a photo of a dog or take a picture with their camera and the app confirms the dog’s breed.

For example, if you upload a photo of a Labrador retriever, the app should say it's a Lab.

Created with a sense of humour, it includes a mode that lets you find out what breeds you and your friends are.

Fetch! was released by Microsoft Garage, an “outlet for experimental projects” and like other Microsoft artificial intelligence apps, it should become more accurate as users upload more photos and data.

A small experiment with a variety of photos came up with these mixed results:

Pretty close - poodle/golden retriever.

Sorry - Lab/boxer mix. A profile shot may not be the best for this app.

Fetch! was fooled with this goat. Maybe you can see a bit of cocker spaniel in the shape of the face?

 

The app did not get fooled twice. It recognized the cat right away.

While Fetch! may never replace a DNA test, it's a fun app for dog lovers.

Emotional Shopping - Current Online Shopping Trends

AOL Research has shown that 66% of online shopping behaviours include an emotional component. The Millennial generation has the highest proportion of emotional shoppers and the data suggest that these people are prone to impulse buying. Emotional shopping was given three categories:

• Expertise Browsing: shoppers want knowledge of the latest trends and products. This knowledge can be shared with others for a feeling of belonging.
• Boredom Browsing: shoppers browse and purchase items to fill their time.
• Dopamine Browsing: shoppers feel inspired and rewarded when purchasing items.

AOL Research partnered with Insights Now to survey 11,000 online consumers in an effort to determine what motivated shoppers. 30% of the time it was found that online shopping had a specific intent or purpose. Intent-based shopping occurs by people that are looking for good deals and those that have a problem that needs solving.

Online shopping carts were also found to be used for purposes other than making immediate purchases: These purposes include:

• Creating a shopping list.
• Creating a list to allow for easy comparison between products.
• Saving a list of products that inspire them.

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APPA Releases Member Marketplace

The American Pet Products Association (APPA) has launched their APPA Member Marketplace. The Marketplace allows members to access their benefits in a single online location. The Marketplace also includes 16 new programs that provide discounts.

           

APPA Senior Vice President of Member Relations and Business Development, Anne Ferrante said, “The Member Marketplace was designed to provide a one-stop-shop for our members to access and take full advantage of APPA’s exclusive member benefits. Our partner vendors and programs have always been a tremendous benefit of APPA membership, so it’s important to us to ensure our members are aware of these valuable resources that can assist with growing their businesses, oftentimes at a highly discounted rate.”

APPA members can login under the “Membership Benefits” section on the APPA website. Here members will find discounts on payroll processing services, office supplies, wireless services, fuel cards, etc. The Marketplace will also include industry-specific information such as the APPA National Pet Owners Survey.

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Veterinary App Provides Online Consultations for Clients

A new app is allowing clients to consult with a veterinarian using text and video. Vet24seven launched in July and is active in the Sacramento Bay area, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino. Vet24seven provides consultations for domestic animals. So far the app has several dozen veterinarians and hundreds of clients. Using the app is often cheaper than visiting a local veterinarian though the app does allow for referrals to a local veterinarian. Clients may upload photos and video of their animals.

 

Cal Lai, Vet24seven CEO and Co-Founder said, “We think Vet24seven increases the frequency of contact and makes the more remote areas more accessible… You can engage your veterinarian in causal regular everyday conversation related to your animal.” Lai believes the app allows owners to talk with a veterinarian instead of relying on inaccurate information found on the Internet. He said, “The problem with Dr. Google is everyone believes what’s on the Internet is real and true and good. Veterinarians have the ability and expertise to filter that information.”

Some veterinarians are worried that virtual veterinary care may be inadequate and veterinarians could break state regulations when treating patients. The California Veterinary Medical Association requires veterinarians to have a ‘veterinarian client patient relationship’. In order to develop this relationship a veterinarian is required to physically examine an animal before providing advice or treatment. Owners cannot be relied on to identify every abnormality an animal presents nevermind the signs that an animal hides.

Director of Regulatory Affairs at the California Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Grant Miller said, “There is really no substitute for placing your hands on an animal and smelling an ear infection. You can’t do that over a computer.” Veterinarian Dr. Diljit Kamboj said, “It is crucial that we do physical examinations. How am I supposed to give advice if I don’t know what’s going on with the pet?”

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