Under Armour is One of America's Best Companies

My Background in Under Armour

As someone who has been a student-athlete my entire life, my interest in the clothing and products I wear has changed over the years.  As a young athlete I wore what was given to me, or what my parents could afford. Most of my attire on the soccer field consisted of a mix of brands from Umbro to Adidas. 

As I grew and became more involved in the sport so did my clothing.  As I started to play for better teams and academies I was directed as to what I could wear. The clothing and equipment began to get better with research and development.  When I began my tenure at the University of Maryland I was presented with a variety of clothing and equipment from the brand Under Armour.  

The Evolution of Under Armour:

Under Armour was developed by Kevin Plank, a UMD alumni.  It is a unique company that is one of America’s best.  Plank came up with the idea when he was a football player at UMD and became tired of cotton shirts becoming sweaty.  Under Armour has continued to evolve over the years and turn into a billion-dollar company.  

Plank began his design by maxing out his credit cards to nearly $40,000 and set up a company is his grandmother’s basement in Washington D.C. After a year he made his first team sale to Georgia Tech.  

Other Division 1 teams followed quickly, along with two dozen NFL teams.  The company soon moved its headquarters to South Baltimore where it developed its now-famous gearlines, which included HeatGear, ColdGear, and AllSeasonGear. 

Tim Ahner, UMD’s Athletic Department’s Head Equipment Manager for 13 years, stated in an interview, “The gear that was here when I first started 13 years ago to now has come leaps and bounds.  They are definitely putting the research and development into many things. We get to see everything first hand because they are 40 miles up the street through testing the equipment, and that goes a long way to telling us how the Under Armour brand continues to grow and get better.” 

Under Armour has been featured in movies such as "Any Given Sunday" and "The Replacements", and in 2003 the brand launched its first television commercial, which introduced a cry for athletes that would change the face of sports in three words: “Protect This House.” 

Under Armour makes the world’s most innovative footwear, apparel, and accessories for a variety of different sports, which is what makes it so unique. It is also available all over the world, and on the brands website. Under Armour’s unique capability to fit athletes of all sports has dressed elite ones such as Cam Newton, Tom Brady, Bryce Harper, Lauren Cheney, Stephen Curry, Misty Copeland, the Welsh Rugby Union, and more.

Ahner discusses how “Under Armour started making football shoes and uniforms and as the years have come on they have gotten a lot better there, especially in the shoes.  They started as an ‘under clothes base layer’ company, and obviously now they’re into everything. So they’ve made leaps and bounds from when they first started.” 

What Makes Under Armour Different?

Under Armour is known best for their innovative Moisture Transport System.  Under Armour apparel works to pull sweat and moisture from your body as your work, and pass it through material where it quickly and easily evaporates. The end result is you and your clothes stay dry, even when you sweat. Under Armour’s "Performance DNA" is sewn into every stitch of its apparel, and is designed to conquer any condition in any game for every athlete.  

The DNA is made up of ten different strands.  First, it has a strategic ventilation that is built into garments at key points where the body dumps heat, and keeps athletes cool in hot conditions. Number two is it’s 4-way stretch which improves mobility and accelerates dry time.  Three is its moisture transport, which keeps the body dry. Next is its odor control due to the fact that the fabric is treated with antimicrobial agents. 

The DNA has ultraviolet protection which shields your skin from the sun’s harmful rays and inhibits premature aging. Modular Protection Zones offer durable, lightweight protection at key contact points without sacrificing compression support. 360 degree reflectivity is a high visibility solution for training safely during low light conditions. 

The gear is wind resistant which blocks wind from penetrating to the body. This helps to regulate core body temperature.  The armourgrip locks gear in place using a tactified compound that prevents slippage. Finally, the Flatlock Seaming is specialized seaming that feels smooth against the skin and prevents chafing.

Under Armour’s distribution of products is very similar to Nike and other athletic brands, most sales come through wholesalers. What makes Under Armour unique is its international sales. Under Armour has extended its presence outside of North America in the past years and has nearly doubled its percentage of international revenue.  

Because Under Armour is a much smaller growth company, it has a great chance of growing sales of its products in other countries. Compared to Nike, Under Armour has been growing at a rapid pace the past few years. Both companies are putting up solid numbers in growth, but “Under Armour’s average of about 30% in both sales and earnings is impressive.” (Nike vs. Under Armour: Which is the better Sportswear Play?) 

Under Armour’s success could be tailored to it being vastly smaller than Nike, and it did imitate Nike’s growth strategy through recruiting athlete sponsorships and started as an athletic-shoe division back in 2006.

Aside from their unique materials and smaller growth schema, Under Armour is a lot different than other brands.  According to Ahner a lot of the differences have to do with the customer service side of things. “Under Armour is very customer service, very athlete driven. Under Armour is trying to get into everything, every sport. That’s the biggest difference I’ve seen, is the customer service on the team side of things. It’s absolutely amazing, we get monthly visits from our customer service representative and we didn’t get that from other brands.”

 This is no surprise as Under Armour states, “If you are not 100% satisfied with your gear, return it for a full refund. Anytime. Any Reason. Guarenteed.”

Under Armour’s Growth as a Company

http://seekingalpha.com/article/737571-under-armour-earnings-preview

It seems each year Under Armour is growing more and more popular in a variety of different sports, and is set for shocking growth over the next decade. “The company is on pace to reach a staggering $20 billion in revenue by 2025, up from nearly $4 billion this year,” according to Morgan Stanley analysts. This graph depicts Under Armour's Revenue and Net income between 2008 and 2011. 

Under Armour continues to grow at an even faster pace than Nike, as well as Adidas (the two biggest sportswear companies in the world). 

Two thirds of Under Armour’s growth over the next couple decades is expected to come from international sales and the company’s digital fitness apps.  “The much younger company has looked to its older rivals as a guide for what works and what doesn’t as it expands into new international markets.  This has already helped UA avoid mistakes and probably allow it to continue growing faster,” 

Plans to expand Under Armour’s operations are already under way.  “The company is aiming to move its global footwear offices to Portland, Oregon near the home of rival Nike by the end of 2016, having leased larger office space there and committing %5.5 million in donations to city parks as a demonstration of goodwill.” There are also plans to open a new manufacturing facility in its home base of Baltimore.

There is still some room for improvement as the company continues to grow.  Ahner states that, “They still have a way to go with shoes. They’re good right now but they are still growing. Their base layer is really good. Their every day wear is good. The one place I would love to see them grow is the outer wear. As far as heavy coats and that type of thing.  That is something that comes with a growing company. It’s not what they excel at, but I would love to see that come a long way.”

 Under Armour plans to continue to research and develop new apparel as their company continues to grow. My only hope is that I am still at University of Maryland to see the product continue to evolve into the best athletic apparel out there. 

Trust in Mass Media

Concepts of Perceived Bias in the News

There is specific language that we use to describe the news media about what “good” news looks like. Objectivity, balance, neutrality, plurality, and bias are among the concepts used to evaluate news media programming. These concepts guide public discussion. The public’s insistent demand for objectivity in the news and a naive faith in its possibility keep bringing debates about the media back to an insistence on unbiased coverage. Objectivity refers to a normative ideal that journalism can reach the truth and an instructional framework, which has attempted to differentiate news from advertising, facts from opinion. Objectivity provides a way to measure how far news media stray from fairness and balance toward bias and partisanship.  In pursuit of the truth, objectivity can be said to encourage a worthy goal to the extent that journalists seek to be fair, thorough, use verifiable facts, and step back from their own personal and organizational interests. Neutrality is closely connected with the spirit of objectivity, in the sense of non-alignment.  The journalist does not have a stake in one interest or another, but is able to stand apart and act on behalf of the public interest. Neutrality is increasingly irrelevant in the genres beyond hard news. Pluralism has been evaluated with respect to diversity in media outlets, in media professionals, and in the content itself. Pluralism developed in conjunction with the idea of objectivity and reflects the concept in which society is best served by having power distributed among many competing interests. New media, to the extent they allow greater access to citizens and other groups, may understand the ideal of pluralism better. The underpinnings of objectivity suggest that truth can be approached if enough care is exercised to gather the relevant facts. The notion of balance, however, suggests that the truth may be found by comparing two competing truth claims, which may arise from completely different perspectives, the truth statistically lying somewhere in between. Balance is easier to achieve on the surface by putting two voices against each other. Balance often refers to the more narrow representation of viewpoints within the programming. The goal corresponds to how print journalism often seeks to balance viewpoints within specific stories.  As one of the more common derogatory charges, bias suggests that there is an agreed standard against which a message can be evaluated, or “balanced” around. Bias implies an unstated unambiguous standard of “truth.” This allows critics to identify their own standard relative to their particular interests and gauge media accordingly.  Although there are differences between the concepts they all share a concern for understanding the news media’s performance. They all suggest a search for fairness, that social groups and leaders should have a voice, that positions receive a bearing, and that this chance not be corrupted by inappropriate pressure, suppression, or conflicts of interest. 

Audiences Level of Trust in the Media

Americans’ news environments are changing rapidly with the diffusion of digital media, the most notable trend being the explosion of social media such as Facebook and  Twitter as news platforms. Social media offer opportunities for news organizations to reach more people than ever before, especially for young people.  The new environment where social media function as news platforms provides an interesting context to examine. In particular, today’s social media users experience news as not just mass communication but “masspersonal” communication through which they can build interpersonal relationships with news sources. Both journalism and computer-mediated communication literature are lacking in the masspersonal approach. Most studies heavily rely on theories of mass communication while failing to consider relevant interpersonal communication theories. Social media has given rise to heated discussions over how journalists should use the media, resulting from the clash of social media norms and the traditional journalism norms. As social media users, journalists are subject to the influence of social media norms such as personality disclosure and interaction. Journalists often give feedback to audiences’ comments in public; individual journalists’ social media profiles tend to be more interactive and personal than the profiles of newspaper organizations. These findings indicate that journalists’ social media uses do not differ greatly from those of other users in offering personal thoughts an opinions and inviting more engagement with audiences. 

Aside from social media, both it has been found that both experimental and survey studies have found a common explanation for citizens’ perceptions of media bias. The  “hostile media phenomenon” maintains that citizens often view the news as being biased against their views, irrespective of the actual content of the news. Even when the news is balanced and objective, issue partisans are expected to view the news media as being hostile to, or biased against, their side of the issue.

There is little to suggest that over the past few decades news reporting has become more favorable to one party.  There has been bias found in reporting, however they don’t agree that one side is consistently favored over the other. It is possible that media bias occurs because with the information sharing and social media, the general public has become exposed to an overabundance of conflicting messages about bias on a daily basis. These messages, if unchecked, can trigger a widespread false impression of a high degree of bias within the media. Another reason why media bias may be found comes from the theory that individuals who are actively involved within the political spectrum, partisans, perceive the news media’s reporting as inflammatory if the given news outlet’s coverage directly conflicts with the viewers ideological viewpoint. 

Twitters relations with MH17

Twitter is an online social networking service that allows users to send and read short 140-character messages called “tweets”. Users can read tweets posted by people they follow and other people they don’t follow, as long as the user isn’t on private. Users can access Twitter through the website interface, or the app on tablets and mobile devices. Twitter is based in San Francisco and has over 25 offices around the world. The company experienced rapid growth. It had 400,000 tweets posted per quarter in 2007. This grew to 100 million tweets posted per quarter in 2008. In February 2010, Twitter users were sending 50 million tweets per day. By March 2010, the company recorded over 70,000 registered applications. As of June 2010, about 65 million tweets were posted each day, equaling about 750 tweets sent each second, according to Twitter. As of March 2011, that was about 140 million tweets posted daily. On September 12, 2013, Twitter announced that it had filled papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of a planned stock market listing. On November 7, 2013, the first day of trading on the NYSE, Twitter shares opened at $26.00 and closed at US$44.90, giving the company a valuation of around US$31 billion.

            MH17 was the mysterious case of a plane that was evidently shot down by Russian-made Buk missiles over eastern Ukraine. This investigation went on for 15 months and was finally solved a few weeks ago. The plane crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine. The government in Ukraine and several Western officials said the missile was brought from Russia and launched from the rebel-held part of Ukraine. But Russian officials have again rejected these accusations. It confirmed the missile could have been fired from an area of about 320 square kilometers in the east of Ukraine. Further study would be required to pinpoint the exact launch site. The visualization shows all of the different tweets about the MH17. It includes videos, articles, and just basic tweets about the plane, the mystery of the crash, and discovery of the crash. In my opinion, it would be very difficult to dissect this information just because there is so much and it is such a small font.

Safer than ever: Download Voice Activated Emergency Alert

Safer than ever: Download Voice Activated Emergency Alert

Voice Activated Emergency Alert 

Combined with local police stations, Apple releases new app for safety and protection

Now available in your app store, Voice    Activated Emergency Alert will make you feel safe wherever you are traveling. For starters, every person will make their own unique “activation phrase” which when spoken will automatically alert local police and keep them hands free if someone finds themselves in an unsafe situation. No buttons needed! Just say your own personalized activation phrase, and help is on the way! Along with informing the police of your location, your phone will turn into a recorder and camera to document all the events that take place. Your phone will also lock on the app in the event someone tries to deactivate the phone. This will also help the police track the suspect(s) if needed.   

Released on October 1, 2015, this app already is finding it’s way to many iPhone users. Don’t be a victim, help your local police, and protect yourself and loved ones. Download Voice Activated Emergency Alert today for complete protection. With this app you are guaranteed to feel safer knowing you have video recording, voice recording, location finder, and more as a hands free option.

Voice Activated Emergency Alert is offered FREE in the app store. False calls can be punishable as a criminal offense. 

www.vaea.com

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Google's driverless car

Cars with driver's seems to be Googles driverless cars primary issue http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/technology/personaltech/google-says-its-not-the-driverless-cars-fault-its-other-drivers.html?ref=technology&_r=0 … For the customers interested in Google's new invention, they should first investigate all the possible flaws. Although there will be a lot of influential advertising on how this car is revolutionizing the driving industry, safety is the main concern.