IndoPost.com Breaking News and Opinion

The side effects of electronic communications: after five months feasibility study, America’s Postal Service (USPS) announced new plans to merge and close 223 Area Mail Processing plants and may cut 35,000 jobs

After an almost half-year feasibility study, America’s Postal Service (USPS) announced new plans to combine and close 223 Area Mail Processing plants in America, including California, New York and other states.  The new plans will close 14 mail processing centers in California, 12 units in New York and 9 plants in Illinois.  These new plans will be affecting 35,000 jobs.

The latest setbacks that hit America’s largest postal service were due to several reasons.  According to the press release, USPS cited a financial crisis that started in the late 2007, more people use e-mails and Internet to communicate, and its continuing obligation with retirement benefits.

The Area Mail Processing plants closing could help USPS to save over $2 billion for the next three years.  USPS is on track to reduce its operating costs of about $20 billion by 2015. 

The next generation of weight-loss capsule: America’s regulators approve Qnexa drug produced by Silicon Valley’s biopharmaceutical company Vivus, Inc.

A committee of experts managed by America’s regulators or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted 20-2 to let Vivus Inc to market the next generation of weight-loss capsule called Qnexa.  Qnexa is a capsule to be taken once-a-day.  The biopharmaceutical company is located in the technology hub of Silicon Valley's Mountain View.

The controlled-release pill for treating obesity is a combination of two types of drugs.  First, a drug called stimulant phentermine which is used to help lowering appetite on patient.  Second, another drug called topiramate which is used to escalate of feeling full in the patient's tummy. 

(Image: vivus.com)

Rovio expands its turf into outer-space with a brand new game dubbed as “Angry Birds Space” and set a release date on March 22, 2012

Mobile gaming fans around the world cannot wait any longer as the maker of Angry Birds has just announced a new series of the popular mobile game dubbed as “Angry Birds Space.”  On the new game, Rovio will partner will two top agencies, NASA and National Geographic.  There is no official announcement regarding the partnership and sharing opportunities.

In order catch up with the entertainment industry, the upcoming release will copy some distribution techniques from Hollywood powerhouse such as Disney.  Rovio marketing team is planning to launch “Angry Birds Space” thru mobile download, Facebook, and electronic stores.

As Rovio is launching the space-related theme games, Zynga could follow the Angry Birds maker’s foot-step by launching their future games which may be called “CosmoVille” in conjunction with its current popular titles such as “CityVille,” “CastleVille,” and others.

The original Angry Birds game was made popular thru Apple’s iTunes store a couple years ago, as many gamers download the game for their iPhones, iPads, and iPods.  Today, there are over 700 million copy of Angry Birds have been downloaded by its fans worldwide.

Click here to watch the trailer video via YouTube.

  

(Image: “Angry Birds Space”)

Metro style design: Microsoft announces a new logo for Windows 8 operating system which will be used for future personal computers (PCs), slates/tablets, and phones

The world’s largest software company introduced a new logo for Windows 8 operating system.  The new logo taps design principles and characteristics of Metro style.  The new logo with four squares looks very digital than older logos.  The most popular Windows OS was introduced in 1995 which also known as version 4.0.  Later the 2001’s XP version was also a big hit.  The current OS in the market is Windows 7 which was released for consumer in late October 2009.

As per a blog post written by Microsoft’s Sam Moreau, a Principal Director of User Experience for Windows, the Redmond-based company hired a design company Pentagram to work on the new logo.  Pentagram has multiple locations including in London, New York, Berlin and Austin.  Pentagram had designed many logos for top brands including Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., Benetton, Lands' End, and others.

Windows 8 OS for "Consumer Preview" version will be released for public on the special leap year day on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

(Logo: Windows 8 operating system)

With 520 million visitors per month from around the world, Microsoft’s MSN portal tries to grab more web traffics by aggregating breaking news trends and hottest topics from Facebook, Twitter, and variety of sources

Microsoft’s MSN launched an all-in-one portal which includes search, news, local and social networking on Thursday morning, Feb 16.  The new social media aggregator is known as msnNOW. The new site aggregates breaking news trends and hottest topics from Facebook, Twitter, and variety of sources such as BreakingNews.com.   All breaking trends and topics are generated in real-time.  In order to compete with the mainstream media, msnNOW’s human editors and team of experts will also provide more juices and pick the top stories and topics.

With 520 million visitors per month worldwide, the concept of all in one portal will be helping Microsoft’s Internet properties such as Bing search engine to grab more users.  Data from comScore showed that Bing was the number two search engine in America in January 2012.  MSN portal is now accessed in 48 markets and serving 27 languages around the world.

(Image: now.msn.com)

Air pollution (including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide) in big cities such as Los Angeles could be raising the risk of heart attack

A new study led by Hazrije Mustafic, MD, MPH, of the University of Paris Descartes, found air pollution could be causing heart attack.  Big cities such as Los Angeles are prone to polluted air including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.  In most of industrialized countries, heart disease is the number one cause of death.  Researchers also warned that spending just one week in a location with high levels of air pollution could increase the risk of heart attack.  The study is being published by the Journal of the American Medical Association for February 2012 issue.

The software giant Microsoft to release Windows 8 "Consumer Preview" on the special leap year day on February 29, 2012, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain

The world's largest software company has picked a special leap year day to release Windows 8 "Consumer Preview" at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.  The release date is set on February 29, 2012, which occurs only every four years.  Tech bloggers believe that Barcelona is a perfect venue for the announcement as Windows 8 operating system can be run on multiple platforms including on desktops, mobile phones, and tablets.  Very soon Windows 8 OS is a one big family of operating systems for running laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices. 

The Windows 8 OS was initially announced by Windows and Windows Live Engineering President Steven Sinofsky during the first week of June 2011 at the D9 Conference at a high-end golf resort near Los Angeles International Airport, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.  During the Build conference near Disneyland in mid-September 2011, worldwide developers were able to demo the new OS in Anaheim, California.  In order to get more fans before the end of last year, Microsoft engineers showed Windows Store to a group of developers in San Francisco on December 6, 2011.  Microsoft asked developers to start thinking about making money by developing Metro style apps as the software giant company will give them 80% rev share.
 
(Image: Microsoft)

The App State: California is now taking one of every four app economy jobs in America, as 466,000 jobs have been created by the booming of smartphones, tablets, mobile devices and gadgets since the first release of Apple iPhone in 2007

The well-known Golden State is now also known as the "App State."  The largest state in America is taking one of every four app economy jobs in America in 2011.  This assessment was based on the latest study with a title “Where the Jobs Are: The App Economy” authored by economist Dr. Michael Mandel.  Click here to download the full report in .pdf format.

The study analyzed the implication of mobile applications or “apps” on America’s economy.  The study took into consideration the latest booming of smartphones, tablets, mobile devices and gadgets.  It concluded that 466,000 jobs have been created by the new era of “App Economy” since the first release of Apple iPhone in 2007.  Those jobs include computer & mobile phone programmers, marketers, user-interface designers, sales managers and customer care staff providing support on apps and infrastructure.  The study analyzed all operating systems related to mobile apps including Google Android, Apple iOS, RIM BlackBerry, and Microsoft Windows Phone.

California is taking 23.8% of all app economy jobs in 2011.  In term of metropolitan areas, high concentration of app jobs in the state of California was in San Francisco with 8.5%, Silicon Valley with 6.3%, and Los Angeles with 5.1%.  New York metro has the largest pie of jobs and taking 9.2% of all app jobs in 2011.

(Table: “Where the Jobs Are: The App Economy” page 13)

Malaria disease kills 1.24 million people in 2010 while control activities supported by well-funded organizations including Microsoft’s billionaire Bill Gates is helping to stop more deaths

A latest study and number crunching on malaria disease headed by American Professor Christopher JL Murray from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, found that there were 1.24 million people died from the mosquito- disease in 2010.  This number almost doubled from the previous estimates. The study is being published in the British journal for medical research the Lancet.

The current research on malaria was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.   With a well-funded team, researchers applied a new set of data by using more advanced computer modeling. The team built a sophisticated database on chronological orders for malaria deaths between 1980 and 2010.

In general, malaria deaths increased since 1980 from 995,000 people and reached a top level of 1.82 million people in 2004.  The total deaths dropped slightly to 1.24 million in 2010.  Researchers praised the recent decline to “the scaling up of control activities [in Africa]” and more funds available from “international donors” [including funds from Microsoft’s billionaire Bill Gates]. 

Several populated regions in the world are still at risk of malaria including in West, Central, and East Africa, South East Asian countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines), and South Asia countries (India, Bangladesh), and South America (Amazon region). 

It's a smartphone world after all: smartphone shipments surpassed personal computers (including slates/tablets/pads, notebooks/laptops, netbooks/mini PC and desktop stations) for the first time in 2011

A new report published by Canalys, a data specialist firm who provides market intelligence on information technology, showed that vendors around the world shipped 158.5 million smartphones in Q4-2011.  This was an increase of 56.6% from one year ago, compared to 101.2 million smartphones that was shipped in Q4 2010.  In total for the full year of 2011, vendors shipped 487.7 million smartphones.  This was an increase of 62.7% from 2010, compared to 299.7 million smartphones that was shipped in the previous year.

In a setback comparison, personal computers (PCs) market increased only 14.8% in 2011 to 414.6 million units.  The hardest hit was on netbooks or mini PC, as the 2011’s full year shipments for this product line totaled 29.4 million units, or a drop of 25.3% over 2010.  Vendors around the world shipped only 6.7 million netbooks or mini PC in Q4-2011; this was a drop of 32.4% from the same quarter of the previous year.

One of the brightest products for PCs manufacturers in 2011 was a new family group of slates/tablets/pads.  This product line experienced the highest growth in shipment with 274.2% over one year ago with a full year totaled 63.2 million units.  PCs vendors shipped 26.5 million slates/tablets/pads in Q4-2011.  This was an increase of 186.2% from one year ago. 

(Table: Canalys)

Facebook gives a big thumb up to Zynga as the online gaming company contributed 12% of the world’s largest social networking revenues totaled $3.71 billion in 2011

Facebook, the world’s largest social networking, is planning to go public and the company’s shares will soon be listed in the Wall Street stock exchanges.  On Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Facebook sent all the paperwork to America’s Securities and Exchange Commission.  On the Form S-1 registration statement, the Silicon Valley-based company reported a big chunk of its revenues were from its partners. 

About 12% of Facebook’s revenues in 2011 which totaled $3.71 billion came from its partnership with Zynga.  Zynga went public in 2011 and the company is well-known for its online games include CityVille, FarmVille, CastleVille, etc.  Facebook stated in its filing with the America’s Securities and Exchange Commission “We currently generate significant revenue as a result of our relationship with Zynga, and, if we are unable to successfully maintain this relationship, our financial results could be harmed.”

(Images: Facebook and Zynga)

Let's say hello to Nikon Coolpix P510: a new digital camera with a gigantic 42x optical zoom, 16-megapixel, 1080p HD video, available in March for $429.95

One of the top digital camera brands in the world just announced a series of new products on Tuesday (January 31).  One of those new products was a Nikon Coolpix P510 which has a gigantic 42x optical zoom.  The new camera's lens could handle from 24mm to super-zoom of 1000mm.  The camera is also equipped with 16-megapixel.   It has a sensor that can take a five frames-per-second high-speed shooting photos.  For video recording, the camera has 1080p HD video capability.  The Nikon P510 will be available in camera stores in America in March for $429.95.  It will also available in two colors black and red.

(Image: Nikon Coolpix P510)

Tweet withheld: the world’s largest social communication website to censor users’ tweets on a country-by-country basis in an attempt to be a good business partner in certain countries

Many governments in the world do not welcome all expression by their citizens in general public such as in China, the Middle Eastern nations, Cuba, North Korea, and others.  In an attempt to be a good business partner in certain countries, Twitter, the world’s largest social communication website will soon censor users’ tweets.  But, the company will leave other parts of the world to see the censored tweets. 

According to Twitter blog post, the Silicon Valley-based company will now withhold offending content by a specific country if a local government objects to those tweets. To distinguish those censored posts, the company will post a censorship notice to warn its users.  The label text is shown as the following “Tweet withheld. This Tweet from @Username has been withheld in: Country. Learn more.” The “learn more” link will explain Twitter company policy.

(Image: Twitter)

The health benefits of drinking 3 cups of black tea on a daily basis include lowering blood pressure, preventing hypertension and lowering risk of heart disease and death

Using sample of 95 men and women with normal to high-normal blood pressure who consumed at least 3 cups of black tea per day for 6 months, a team of researchers in Australia led by Jonathan M. Hodgson, PhD, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, found that tea drinkers could lower their blood pressure levels by about 2 to 3 points.  The study is being published by Archives of Internal Medicine.

Health experts believe that by lowering blood pressure may also preventing hypertension and lowering risk of heart disease and death.

Researchers believe drinking black tea can improve the function of human body cells including maintaining good blood vessels.  Researchers also found that black tea also contains flavonoids which also help to improve blood vessel’s tone and cut human body weight and reducing body fat.

Apple reports spectacular financial results and all-time record sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs for fiscal 2012 first quarter (Oct to Dec 2011), while iPods sales continued to decline

With the passing of its former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs during fiscal 2012 first quarter, Apple’s financial results hit the highest level in term of revenue and sales from October to December 2011.  As per the latest financial results ended December 31, 2011, the world’s largest mobile gadgets company announced all-time high quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion.  The Company has a record setting of net profit of $13.06 billion. Compared to one year ago, the revenue for fiscal 2011 first quarter was $26.74 billion (or, an increase of $19.6 billion in term of revenue).  While in term of net quarterly profit, one year ago was $6 billion (or, an increase of $7 billion).

The hottest selling item was iPhone as Apple sold 37.04 million multi-touch phones during the October to December quarter.  The Company stated that iPhones demand increased about 128% over one year ago. 

The next hottest item was iPad as Apple sold 15.43 million iPads.  Apple noted that the demand for iPads increased about 111% over one year ago.

Apple didn’t sell many iPods during the quarter compared to one year ago.  The Silicon Valley-based company sold only 15.4 million iPods or a drop of 21% from one year ago.

Do you want a beer with that? Starbucks to sell beer and alcohol beverages in Atlanta and Southern California (incl. the greater Los Angeles area)

Starbucks Corp, the world's biggest coffee houses with over 11,000 cafes in America alone is exploring to start selling alcohol beverages (beer and wine) in several cafes in Atlanta and Southern California including in the greater Los Angeles area.  The timing for the new product lines in the newest marketplaces will be around the incoming 2012 holiday season.

Starbucks have been testing the market for selling alcohol beverages in its hometown Seattle in October 2010.  Later it expanded to its neighbor Pacific Northwest state including Portland, Oregon.  According to Starbucks press release, just before Christmas last year, the company also announced a similar testing place including in Chicago area.

Aside of adding alcohol beverages, the company is also planning to add more premium food into its menu such as savory snacks, cheese plates and hot flatbreads.

Please leave home without it: credit card was yesterday, PayPal to partner with brick and mortar retailers for payments, initial service will be in more than 2,000 Home Depot stores

Popular online payment company PayPal has partnered with several brick and mortar retailers such as Home Depot Inc. to let shoppers to pay with their PayPal accounts.  PayPal is owned by online auction website EBay.com.  PayPal has been used widely online and continues to helping EBay to generate a ton of revenues for their quarterly earnings.  The latest PayPal effort could win the new generation of customers from using credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and replacing them with a PayPal login and a password.

In its first trial with brick and mortar stores for payments starting this week, PayPal will coordinate with 51 of Home Depot stores in the San Francisco Bay area, as reported by bloomberg.com.  After the learning curves in the Bay Area, PayPal will expand in-store payments in more than 2,000 Home Depot Inc. stores around America by March 2012.

America’s General Motors is now the world's number one top-selling carmaker and sold more than 9 million vehicles worldwide in 2011 or an increase of 7.6% over 2010

America’s General Motors Co. (GM) surpassed Japanese carmaker Toyota and captured title of world's top-selling carmaker in 2011.   GM sold a total of 9.03 million cars in 2011, compared to 8.39 million cars in 2010.  GM gained 7.6% in term of global sales compared to 2010 sales.

GM’s global sales were up in all continents including North America, South America, Europe, and Asian countries. 

One of GM’s top brands is Chevrolet.  According to GM’s press release, Chevrolet sold 4.76 million vehicles around the world in 2011.  The GM’s popular brand Chevrolet had total sales of 1,775,812 cars in America, or an increase of 13% from 2010.  Asian countries include China had record sales of 595,068 cars, or an increase of 9.5% from 2010.  Other booming Asian markets in 2011 include Vietnam with an increase of 79% from 2010.   European countries include Russia with an increase of 49% from 2010, Turkey sales went up 30%, and Germany sales went up 21%.

GM also noted that Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan is now the best-selling car for the American carmaker.  The world’s total sales for the new platform car were 670,000 units in 2011.  Since launch in the late 2009, more than 1.13 million units of Chevrolet Cruze had been sold worldwide.

(Image: GM’s Chevrolet Cruze)

Smartphone Operating System Share in America: comparing Q3-2011 and Q4-2011, Google Android, Apple iOS, RIM BlackBerry, and Microsoft Windows Phone/Mobile

Nielsen just published their latest report on smartphone operating system share in America for Q4-2011.  According to the report, almost half of new smartphone subscribers in America picked Apple’s iPhone as their new handhelds replacing their old phones in December 2011.  The updated version of iPhone 4S with more powerful processor and more memory went on sale during the second weeks of October 2011.  AT&T subscribers will pay $199 for the basic model with two years contract.

Apple iOS that powering all iPhones, iPads, and iPods Touch continue to gain market share in America.  iOS captured 30% smartphone OS share in America during Q4-2011, compared to 28% share in Q3-2011, or an increase of 2% share.

Google Android mobile operating system had a total of 46% share in Q4-2011, compared to 43% share in Q3-2011, or an increase of 3% share.

Canadian-based RIM BlackBerry and the pioneer of smartphone hardware and software, continued to lost control of smartphone OS.  BlackBerry captured only 15% share in in Q4-2011, compared to 18% share in Q3-2011, or a drop of 3% share.

With all excuses of being new mobile OS in the planet, Microsoft Windows Phone/Mobile dropped 1% share in Q4-2011. The software giant company captured only 6% share in Q4-2011, compared to 7% share in Q3-2011, or a drop of 1% share.

(Chart source: Nielsen Q3-2011 and Q4-2011 data)

Good-bye Yang: Silicon Valley’s famous Asian visionary and search engine pioneer resigned from Yahoo’s board of directors and from all executive positions

As one of Silicon Valley’s top Asian visionary and search engine pioneer, Jerry Yang resigned from Yahoo’s board of directors and from all executive positions on Tuesday January 17, 2012.  Yang was Yahoo’s CEO from June 2007 to January 2009.  Yang spent 17 years with the search engine pioneer company and co-founded Yahoo! with David Filo.  When Yahoo! was formed as an Internet directory in 1995, Yang and Filo were students at the prestigious Stanford University.  They both became billionaires as Yahoo went public in 1996.

In December 2011, Yahoo! Search lost its second ranking in term of search market share in America to Microsoft Bing decision engine.  Yahoo and Bing formed a Search Alliance in July 2009 as Microsoft rebranded its search engine to Bing.  The pioneer search engine recently appointed former PayPal’s President Scott Thompson as the new CEO. 

With Yahoo’s stock market losing value, several shareholders have asked Yang to resign from Yahoo’s board of directors after the Thanksgiving holiday in November 2011.  Wall Street analysts speculated that Yang may have some conflict of interests as he was trying to become the bridge between investors and corporates who were interested to take the Silicon Valley-based company private. 

Yang is still one of Yahoo’s largest individual shareholders.  While Yang is out for now, he could still return to Yahoo! in the future as he is now working hard to convince and gather all his friends including Alibaba.com to help out with Asian cash to buy out Yahoo! entirely.