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Introdução. O aumento da população idosa tem gerado discussões por grupos de estudos, organizações políticas e de saúde mundiais. O envelhecimento é beneficiado pela autonomia mental do idoso, considerando fatores como liberdade, sexualidade, independência e experiência de vida. Mas estereótipos decorrentes da falta de informação relacionados ao processo de envelhecimento modificam a valorização do idoso, gera preconceitos e imagens negativas, compromete a interação entre as pessoas e prejudica a qualidade de vida. A Gerontotecnologia é uma área de estudos e pesquisas para desenvolvimento de tecnologias voltadas para melhoria da qualidade de vida de idosos e de novas descobertas relacionadas ao envelhecimento, possui interdisciplinaridade com áreas da saúde e áreas tecnológicas e busca promover adequações em produtos e técnicas para compensar perdas cognitivas, físicas e perceptivas dos idosos e dar suporte técnico às pessoas responsáveis pela saúde de um idoso. Objetivos: Descrever o uso de aparelhos eletrônicos por idosos em ambientes domésticos. Materiais e Métodos. Trata-se de um estudo prospectivo, exploratório, descritivo e transversal. Casuística: A amostra foi composta por 135 idosos residentes nas cidades de Ribeirão Preto, São Carlos, São Paulo, e Manaus. A escolha de entrevistados foi aleatória. O projeto foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do HCFMRP-USP. Os procedimentos de coleta de dados incluíram a) Questionário com perguntas fechadas e semi-abertas, b) Protocolos de Avaliação da Capacidade Funcional e qualidade de vida (The Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL) nos meses de maio a outubro de 2010. Para a análise de dados foram utilizados os softwares: EpiInfo 3.4 e SPSS Statistics Viewer. Resultados: Os produtos e tecnologias de comunicação (televisão, DVD e celular) são os aparelhos mais utilizados pelos idosos e são também os que mais receberam relatos de dificuldades no uso. Quanto às dificuldades relatadas, não saber usar a maioria das funções, de diversos aparelhos é um dos motivos para a baixa frequência de utilização. Conclusões: Observa-se que muitas funções dos aparelhos não são utilizadas no dia a dia, em parte por sua complexidade e por possuírem inúmeras funções que não são conhecidas pelos usuários, que para usá-las precisam recorrer ao manual de instruções, o que geralmente não o fazem uma vez que a grande maioria dos manuais está em outro idioma. Os dados coletados sugerem que os botões de controle dos aparelhos devido ao tamanho e contraste entre cor e fundo dificultam a visualização e a utilização dos mesmos. A demora na execução da tarefa por falta de conhecimento das funções do dispositivo e medo de danificarem os produtos faz com que os idosos optem por pedir para que uma pessoa mais jovem realize a tarefa por eles. / Introduction. The aging population has led to discussions by global study groups, political and health organizations. Aging is benefited by the elderly mental autonomy, considering factors such as freedom, sexuality, independence and life experience. But stereotypes stemming from lack of information related to the aging process modifies the value of the elderly, generates prejudices and negative images, compromises the interaction between people and undermines the quality of life. The Gerontechnology is a field of study and research to develop technologies for improving the quality of life of seniors and researching new findings related to aging, in interdisciplinarity with areas of health and technology seeks to promote adjustments in products and techniques to compensate for cognitive, physical and perceptual losses of the elderly and provide technical support to the caretaker. Objectives: To describe the use of electronic devices by the elderly in homes. Methods. This is a prospective, exploratory, descriptive and transversal study. The sample comprised 135 elderly residents in the cities of Ribeirão Preto, Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo and Manaus. The choice of interviewees was random and the project was approved by the Ethics Committee of HCFMRP-USP. The procedures for data collection included: a) questionnaire with closed and semi-open questions b) Protocols for Functional Capacity Evaluation and quality of life (The Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (IADL) from May to October 2010. For the data, were used the analysis softwares: EpiInfo 3.4 and SPSS - Statistics Viewer. Results: The products and communication technologies (television, DVD and mobile) are the most commonly used devices for elderly and are also those who received more difficulties reports. And not knowing how to use most functions of several devices is one of the reasons for the low frequency of use. Conclusions: There are many functions of the devices that are not used in everyday life, partly because of its complexity and because they have numerous functions that are not known by the users who needs to refer to an instruction manual, something that many do not bother to do. The data collected suggest that the devices control buttons have the most problems due to size and color contrast between background and difficulty to see and use them. The delay in completing the task for lack of knowledge of the device and the fear of damaging products makes the elderly choose to ask for a younger person to perform the task for them.

The Indonesian manufacturing sector faces significant challenges in its attempt to upgrade and remain competitive in both domestic and global markets. Indonesian manufacturing firms are increasingly integrated into global markets via global value chain ties. Yet, little is known about how such involvement impacts upon the ability of Indonesian firms to upgrade. This study aims to understand the nature of upgrading processes within the Indonesian manufacturing sector through a comparison of the Indonesian garment and consumer electronics manufacturing firms. To gain a better understanding of upgrading processes, this study integrates the conceptual frameworks of technological capability (TC) and global value chains (GVC) in its analysis. While the GVC literature provides useful insights into the role played by global value chain leaders in assisting, or constraining, through the ways in which they govern value chain ties, the upgrading processes of local producers, the TC framework gives a valuable understanding of the role of capabilities of local manufacturing firms and their ability to undertake upgrading processes. By combining these two frameworks, this study asks the following question: what roles do governance and technological capability play in upgrading processes within the Indonesian garment and consumer electronics value chains?To address the research question, this study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data through surveys and in-depth interviews of Indonesian garment and consumer electronics firms. Firm level case studies are analysed to obtain detailed insights into the process and dynamics of upgrading, value chain governance and capability acquisition undertaken by Indonesian garment and consumer electronics manufacturing firms. Based on the evidence drawn from the survey and eleven case studies within the Indonesian garment and consumer electronics sectors, this study suggests that forms of value chain governance and types of technological capability both play important roles in upgrading processes. Furthermore, upgrading processes and dynamics take place not only in global value chains but also in domestic value chains. Insertion into domestic value chains may, in fact, promote the ability of some Indonesian garment and consumer electronics manufacturing firms to undertake functional upgrading. By demonstrating that the technological capability of the Indonesian garment and consumer electronics manufacturing firms can play an important role in upgrading especially when firms are engaged in domestic value chains but is less pronounced when firms are engaged through hierarchical ties into global value chains, the study provides a more dynamic perspective then standard studies on upgrading and value chain linkages. In terms of policy, this paves the way for a more active role of local manufacturing firms from developing countries to be recognised as contributing to upgrading processes.

The rise in popularity of consumer electronics with surveillant capabilities e.g., fitness trackers, networked appliances, video doorbells, and voice activated personal assistants, illustrates a concerning phenomenon: an expansion of the surveillance state. In conjunction with these consumer products there is an underlying economic system, surveillance capitalism – a meshing of the logics of capitalism and surveillance – which works in an often-unseen manner propelling forward a scheme which dismantles the privacy rights of individuals, perpetuates discrimination, and erodes democratic norms and rules. Most broadly, this dissertation interrogates how surveillance is sold in advertising and news media and examines the roles each have in fostering individuals to succumb to persistent surveillance. To answer this question, a corpus of texts was assembled containing approximately 300 items, produced from 2017 through 2019, found in advertising and journalism and related to various surveillant consumer products. Then, through extensive critical discourse analysis of the data, three unique themes emerged which are deployed to sustain the hegemony of surveillance capitalism: fear, optimization, and weightless criticism. These themes are examined closely, and examples are brought forth in individual chapters. The analysis also reveals and explores a complex set of economic pressures which force news journalism in particular to become complicit in, rather than confront, surveillance capitalism. Moreover, in the conclusion a lifecycle of surveillance in media products is developed to illustrate what is driving and sustaining the hegemony of this economic system. This research asserts the need for an unyielding aggressive discourse from news journalism against surveillance and surveillance capitalism more broadly. / Media & Communication

Information, communication and entertainment (ICE) appliances are consumer electronics and information and communication technologies (ICT). Forecasts suggest that ICE appliance use will soon become the most significant domestic electricity end-use in the UK. Knowledge concerning “real world” ICE electricity consumption is currently limited and it has been suggested that this deficiency could lead to ineffective policy programmes. This socio-technical study measured ICE appliance electricity consumption in fourteen UK households’ and undertook household interviews to explore the behavioural factors that influenced the measurements recorded. The interviews were informed by two social psychology theories: (i) Triandis’ (1977) Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB); (ii) Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DIT). The study supports the position that ICE appliance use and standby power consumption are significant electricity end-uses in UK homes. Key appliances that contributed to the sample’s average electricity consumption are identified. Inconspicuous electricity consumption from network appliances is an issue of particular concern due to policy gaps. The interviews found that a range of internal and external factors influenced ICE appliance use. Behavioural intentions and habits were found to be facilitated or impeded by personal ability, knowledge and physical constraints. Social structures and expectations also supported the more expansive ownership and use of ICE appliances and energy consumption was an issue largely excluded from adoption decisions. The findings imply that a multifaceted approach is required to reduce household ICE appliance electricity consumption. This study supports the recent implementation of minimum energy performance standards and provides further recommendations that include: (i) improved product design; (ii) the expansion of mandatory energy labelling; (iii) improved electricity consumption feedback in UK homes; (iv) the use of behaviour change campaigns; (v) the integration of ICE appliance energy saving objectives into UK policies.

This study examines three commercially driven swedish news organizations that cover consumer electronics in some way. These are: MacWorld, Dagens Industri and Ny Teknik. The aim of this study is to analyze the policies and ethical guidelines regarding consumer electronics of each news organization and see how these translate to the finished articles. This study also aims to examine if the articles from each news organization can be interpreted as native advertising and/or adverising for the product. To achieve this, qualitative interviews have been conducted with representatives from each news organization, about their guidelines and general attitudes regarding consumer electronics. Furthermore, a qualitative content analysis of 13 articles in total has been conducted. To limit this study, one product has been chosen as the analysis object. This product is the Apple Watch and all the analyzed articles has a focus on the product. The results show that the policies and ethical guidelines about consumer electronics where very similiar between the three news organizations. All three were strongly against native advertising and any other form of favouritism. They emphazied that their credibilty towards their audience was the most important thing and that their focus were on what was important and interesting for the audience, not financial gain. However, the representatives, did say that they experienced their reporting about consumer electronics as difficult, and descibed it as a balancing act. The content analysis show that all of the articles about the Apple Watch had similarities to native advertisning and regular advertising for the product, and that they could be interpreted as such. There was a discrepancy between the policies and the actual articles. The interviews painted a picture of the ideal and morally correct way of reporting about consumer electronics. The articles on the other hand did not always live up to these standards. However, this should not be interpreted as if the media organizations were immoral and lied about their use of native advertising. Yet, this study illustrates the difficulty in reporting about consumer electronics without it being interpreted as advertising, and supports previous calls for revised guidelines and definitions about what is and what is not considered native adverising.

<p>Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business.</p><p>Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character.</p><p>The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions:</p><p>A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way.</p><p>When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.</p>

Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business. Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character. The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions: A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way. When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.

Taiwan has had a strong OEM electronics industry for over 20 years now, but in a time of narrowing profit margins Taiwan has been trying to move to a more OBM oriented strategy. In this study I have shown that even though Taiwan has been able to create several globally recognizable and –in the eyes of consumers- high quality consumer electronics brands its worldwide image as a country has not improved among consumers. Taiwanese products are viewed as being only slightly superior to Chinese brands. This means that new and established Taiwanese brands don’t have the advantage that Japanese brands have just by coming from a country with a good reputation. Consumers in Europe and North America have less knowledge of the country of origin when it comes to Taiwanese brands compared to Japanese and Korean brands. Because of the bad reputation of Taiwanese products brands are hesitant to associate themselves with Taiwan creation a vicious circle. Taiwan’s rival Korea however has been making progress, it’s brands are more recognizable as Korean and the image of Korean products is also better even though the individual brands are not necessarily rated more favourably by consumers. It’s not recommended for individual Taiwanese brand owners to associate itself with the country as this would in most cases negatively affect its brand value. It’s also found that Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese brands with a high perceived quality are often mistaken as Japanese. It may therefore be helpful to for Asian brands to try to associate themselves more with Japan or East-Asia in general. As for improving the country image of Taiwan, the Taiwanese government should redouble its efforts to improve the country’s image to a level it deserves according to the technological advances made in Taiwan in the past decades.

Mass customization is promoted in manufacturing industry as a way to satisfy individual customer requirements in a flexible, efficient and cost effective way. However, mass customization within the specific sector of &lsquo / electronic consumer goods&rsquo / is relatively underdeveloped, whilst the contributions of industrial designers to mass customization remain quite unclear. This research redresses both of these issues, elaborating on the possibilities of mass-customization in the electronic consumer goods sector, and explaining how industrial designers can take a central role in implementation. Chapter 2 contains a literature review on key terms related to mass customization. A portfolio of mass customization case studies, from both within and outside electronic consumer goods, are presented and analyzed in Chapter 3, which also reports on a new classification system to define six discrete customization types. User needs research methods, including IDEO methods, are reviewed in Chapter 4 to determine those methods most applicable for use in the pilot (Chapter 5) and main (Chapter 7) &lsquo / research through design&rsquo / customization projects. The pilot project, conducted with METU industrial design undergraduates, explored opportunities and barriers for mass customization of electronic consumer goods / the main project, carried out by the Vestel ID Team under the SAN-TEZ scheme, resulted in a new mass customized all-in-one (AIO) PC for Vestel Electronics. In Chapter 6, results of interviews with Vestel staff are presented, uncovering the current situation within Vestel Electronics for implementing mass customization. Chapter 8 contains the research conclusions, including discussion of a proposed design-based mass customization design and development procedure.