IndoPost.com Breaking News, Opinion, Indonesia and USA

FedEx Corporation predicts booming ecommerce holiday shopping from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Eve and will hire 20,000 seasonal workers

FedEx, one of the largest express deliveries companies in America predicted an increase of 13% of shipments during this year’s holiday season shipping volume. The Memphis, Tennessee-based company is planning to hire 20,000 seasonal workers to fill tasks of delivering packages to worldwide homes and offices. FedEx forecasted to deliver over 280 million shipments from Thanksgiving week (starting around November 19) and Christmas Eve (December 24). FedEx also predicted that December 10, 2012 (Monday) will be the busiest day in the company's history.

While America is still facing this year’s President Election in early November and uncertain economic issues due to gasoline prices, many believe this year will be the largest ever for ecommerce holiday shopping. More buyers will flock into online to buy electronics, toys, cloths, and others.

The express shipping company also predicts that more buyers will decide to purchase stuffs before the Christmas Eve. This type of buyers will increase the number of last-minute orders, therefore, they will pick FedEx as the shipping option.

Yahoo to say bye-bye to South Korea users as the Internet portal is closing its office at one of the top Far East markets

About 250 employees at Yahoo! Korea branch will have to pack their belongings before the New Year eve including taking home their Gangnam Style music attires and stuffs. According to a blog post posted on Yahoo! corporate site, the Silicon Valley-based company is quitting the South Korea market and return to America. In term of Internet and mobile phone usages, South Korea is considered as one of the most advanced nations in the Far East and also has the fastest broadband access in the world.

Yahoo! opened its office in South Korea in 1997, after 15 years, it is about time to call it quit before the New Year 2013. Yahoo! Korea is fighting hard and facing an incredible challenge from a couple of local search engines such as Naver and Daum. While Yahoo! was the pioneer of search engine which started in the mid of 1990s, Yahoo! have continued to lose market share in America and worldwide. Yahoo! signed a 10-year global deal with Microsoft in July 2009 and has been using Bing to power its Internet properties. However, Bing remained at a stable level and still unable to compete with Google to gain search market share.

Yahoo! has a new management under a new CEO and former Google executive Marissa Mayer. Mayer has started to clean up the house before taking a leave due to family reason. The company will downsize and will let go a bunch of unproductive employees. After South Korea, the new management team is looking after other regions to save cost of operations.

Bye-bye Newsweek magazine print edition: a new digital era and a new brand name Newsweek Global will start in early 2013

The print edition of Newsweek, one of the popular weekly magazines in America, will end on December 31, 2012. The announcement was made by the current editor-in-chief Tina Brown via a blog post on Thursday morning October 18, 2012.

Newsweek’s first print edition was published on February 17, 1933. In 2013, the magazine will celebrate its 80th anniversary. According to wikipedia.org, the magazine has a total of 1,527,156 circulations from around the world in 2012. The magazine print editions serve 12 different International languages.

As the magazine will transform into digital format, the company will change from an old name Newsweek into a new name Newsweek Global. According to Brown's post, there will be only one digital edition and this will serve all readers from around the world.

The digital format will be available for readers thru several types of devices. Those devices include (a) e-readers such as Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook; (b) tablets such as the Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, or Microsoft Surface; (c) through PC desktop or laptop; and (d) via smartphones such as Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy III.

Users must pay a monthly subscription that will range from $2.99 per month, or $24.99 per year.

(Image: Newsweek digital format)

Taking daily multivitamins (i.e., Pfizer's Centrum Silver) may help to reduce the chance of developing cancer by 8% in men

Using a sample 14,641 male, a team of researchers was led by J. Michael Gaziano, MD, MPH, from the Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. The study found that multivitamins reduce the chance of developing cancer by 8%. The study titled “Multivitamins in the Prevention of Cancer in Men, The Physicians' Health Study II Randomized Controlled Trial” is being published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

All samples in the study were men aged 50 or older with occupation as doctors. They all were free of cancer. Researchers randomly selected samples and divided the samples into two groups. For the first group, researchers gave them monthly packets of Centrum Silver produced by Pfizer Inc. For the second group, researchers gave them fake multivitamins (placebo). The study started in 1997 and was conducted for duration of 10 years.

The results showed that there were 2,669 new cancers among all men in the samples including 1,373 men with prostate cancer and 210 men with colorectal cancer. Based on 1,000 men in the samples per year, researchers found 17 cancers among multivitamin users. On the other hand, for every 1,000 men in the samples per year, 18.3 cases of cancers among men taking fake multivitamins (placebo).

(Image: Centrum Silver)

To celebrate this’s year holiday season, Japanese’s video game console maker Nintendo dropped the price of the “classic” Wii to $129.99, while the new “Wii U” is expected to arrive one week before the busy Thanksgiving shopping weekend

Japanese’s video game console maker Nintendo decided to drop the price of the “classic” Wii to $129.99. With the new pricing, the console maker will add a new configuration which includes two popular gaming titles, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. Both titles will be included on a single game disc. Gamers can buy the reduced price console starting on October 28 in America, while some gaming and electronic stores will start selling earlier. This new configuration will include a black Wii console.

Nintendo is also planning to launch a new game console which is called Wii U system. Initial orders will be delivered one week before the busy Thanksgiving shopping weekend. The cheapest Wii U or the Basic unit with 8GB of hard drive storage will be hitting gaming and electronic stores with a price tag of $299.99.

The “classic” Wii was launched just one week before the Thanksgiving shopping weekend in 2006. This year Wii has been in the market for six years. The Wii game console was the best selling product in the gaming world until Microsoft surpassed Wii with the launch of a hand-free controller for Xbox 360 game console which is known as Kinect, during the first week of November 2010. With the help of Kinect and Xbox 360 bundle, the world’s largest software company continued to maintain as the bestselling console maker in America in the last two years. It appears that this record sales will end in November 2012.

(Images: top, Nintendo Wii game console in 2006; middle, Nintendo Wii U game console in 2012)

Developing countries push mobile growth into its limit with 6 billion cellphone subscribers in the world, as China and India each has around one billion subscribers

According to the latest data published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are over 6 billion cellphone subscribers in the world today. China and India has the largest share of mobile phone subscribers with each has around one billion subscribers. Developing countries such as Bahrain, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia, have continued to show strong growth and catching up quickly with other nations in term of mobile phone usages.

Developing countries also experienced strong growth in mobile-broadband services, as those nations have outperformed other developed nations. In general, the world’s average growth rate was at 40 percent while the average growth rate in developing countries was 78 percent. Global mobile-broadband subscriptions had doubled, while fixed-broadband subscriptions remained at constant.

In term of price of services, the price of telecommunication and Internet services plunged 30% globally between 2008 and 2011. The biggest drop occurred in fixed-broadband Internet services, as the price of this type of service has dropped by 75% around the world.

(Image: ITU logo)

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Chemical ingredients in foods like tomatoes, red peppers, watermelon and papaya, known as Lycopene can help to reduce the risk of stroke in men

A team of researchers led by Jouni Karppi, PhD, of the Department of Medicine, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland, found that chemical ingredients in foods known as Lycopene can help to reduce the risk of stroke in men. The study title “Serum lycopene decreases the risk of stroke in men: A population-based follow-up study” is being published in the journal Neurology early this week.

Researchers used a sample of 1,031 Finnish men in age group from 46 to 65 years. The study was conducted in the city of Kuopio in Finland. For duration of 12 years in the study, researchers found that men who had highest lycopene levels in their blood have lowered chances of suffering a stroke. The risks factors of getting stroke have lowered by 55% to 59%.

Chemical ingredients in foods known as Lycopene (red color) usually found in tomatoes, red peppers, watermelon and papaya. Tomatoes and tomato-related products (i.e., V8 tomato beverages) contain the most ingredients of lycopene among all foods. Lycopene contains high amount of antioxidant which helps protect cells in human body from damage. Disease occurred due to damaging cells. Experts believe lycopene also helps to combat inflammation and blood clots in human body.

(Image: V8 tomato beverages)

116.5 million people in America are using smartphones and counting: Google Android captured the number one spot in mobile OS in August 2012, Apple iOS captured the second spot, RIM BlackBerry continued to drop, and Microsoft Windows Phone remained weak

There were more than 116.5 million people in America in August 2012 who used smartphones for communication, chatting, taking photos, sending text message and accessing websites, as per data provided by comScore. According to the research firm, compared the growth of smartphone users from May 2012 to August 2012, this was an increase of 6%.

Google Android mobile operating system is still in control in smartphone market in August 2012. There are several phone makers that have utilized Android to sell their products including Samsung, Sony, HTC, and others. Android captured 52.6% market share in August, compared to 50.9% market share in May 2012, or an increase of 1.7%. Android’s latest OS is called Jelly Bean (version 4.1) and continued to attract new phone subscribers worldwide.

In term of smartphone market share, Apple iOS remained steady and captured the second spot. iOS captured 34.3% market share in August, compared with 31.9% market share in May 2012, or an increase of 2.4%. With the launch of iOS version 6.0 and the new iPhone 5 during the third week of September 2012, iOS is trying gain more smartphone subscribers in America and around the world.

RIM BlackBerry operating system market share continued to drop in America, while it remained strong in other parts of the world such as in Indonesia, India, and Middle East nations. BlackBerry took 8.3% market share in August, compared with 11.4% market share in May 2012, or a drop of 3.1%.

The software giant Microsoft’s mobile operating system known as Windows Phone continued to be slowed to gain any attractions in the smartphone arena. Windows Phone managed to capture 3.6% market share in August, compared with 4.0 percent market share in May 2012, this was a drop of 0.4%.

(Images: left, Google Android Jelly Bean; right, Apple iOS 6)

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Extra vitamin D may not stop respiratory infections, although getting high doses of supplements of vitamin D are ineffective to protect against colds, flu, or sinus infections

Using a sample of 322 healthy adults in New Zealand, a team of researchers led by David R. Murdoch, MD, Department of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand, found that getting high doses of supplements of vitamin D are ineffective to protect against colds, flu, or sinus infections. The study titled “Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Healthy Adults The VIDARIS Randomized Controlled Trial” is being published (free) in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) this week.

The 322 people in the sample test were divided into two groups of 161 persons each. One group was given large doses of vitamin D on a monthly basis for duration 18-month period, and another group just took a placebo. The research findings showed that both groups developed many respiratory infections during the clinical trial.

The natural vitamin D is usually found in dairy products, such as milk, cheese, and others. If human skin is exposed to sunlight, it will automatically produce the natural vitamin D.

In order to prevent against colds, flu, or sinus infections, medical experts suggest that we should eat a balanced diet with ingredients include vitamins and minerals. Regular exercising will also help to maintain a healthy life.

Some dilemma facing the first generation all-electric cars: a full refund, cheap leases, big discounts, although those all-electric cars are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit

The first generation all-electric cars in the market are now facing some serious dilemma. Two of the top brands and models produced by (a) Nissan, the maker of the Nissan Leaf and (b) General Motors (GM), the maker of the Chevrolet Volt, are offering cheap leases and big discounts since early this year. Not only buyers of those two electric cars are getting big discounts, but they are also eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit. Each of the two companies have sold about 10,000 all-electric cars in 2011, and continued to reach slightly above those numbers in 2012.

Chevrolet Volt’s asking price was around $40,000 per car during introduction period, but in today’s market buyers will get up to $10,000 discount, or paying an average of $249 per month for 36-months lease deal.

While monthly lease for a Nissan Leaf has gone down to about $219 per month, with around $3,000 down-payment and for 39 months total lease term. The leasing price was around $250 per month in the beginning of the year. So the monthly leasing price has dropped about $30 per month.

As reported by a local news in Arizona, one of the big concerns facing Nissan is the car manufacturer must buys back some of its Leafs in the state of Arizona. This was due to premature battery power loss in the hot climate state. To follow guidance under the Arizona Lemon Law, Nissan has bought several Leafs back from unsatisfied owners.

(Images: left, Nissan Leaf; right, Chevrolet Volt)

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Cherry consumption is associated with a lower risk of recurrent gout attacks (caused by accumulates of uric acid in human blood stream)

A team of researchers led by Professor Yuqing Zhang at Boston University found that eating cherry can help to lower risk of recurrent gout. Gout is caused by accumulates of uric acid in human blood stream. The study titled “Cherry consumption and the risk of recurrent gout attacks” is being published by Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

Using a sample of 633 individuals with gout for duration of one year, Prof. Zhang and the team of researchers found that people in the sample that ate cherries for at least two-day period, indicated a 35% lower risk of gout attacks. The study also confirmed that risk of gout attacks was about 75% reduced, if people in the sample ate cherry and combined taking drugs fighting the uric acid in blood stream.

The measurement of one cherry serving is equal to one half cup, or 10 to 12 pieces of cherries. To be effective for preventing a gout attack, consuming at least three servings of cherries, or about one and a half cups, or about 30 to 36 cherries.

High level of uric acid in the blood stream is usually causing uncomfortable in the big toes and pain in foot and knees joints. With too much uric acid in the body, it sometime also causes swelling and inflammation in the joints.

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Facebook Gifts: the world’s largest social network introduces real gifts and allows users to send and receive presents from their friends and family members

The world’s largest social network introduced a new feature this week which is called as “Gifts.” This new feature allows users to receive and send gifts to/from friends and family members. For Facebook users, they have been receiving or sending greeting and congratulations in virtual form. However, it is not complete without the real gifts. By adding gift that can be touched and can be seen by eye, Facebook business development and engineering teams saw an opportunity to market the “Gifts” feature to over 950 million users worldwide.

The "Gifts" feature will help Facebook to become a big player in the ecommerce world and compete with other ecommerce providers such as Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target. “Gifts” will act as an online store specialized in gifts to users. Facebook has signed several leading gift suppliers such as gift-card from Starbucks, candy companies, toys, and others. Gifts could also help Facebook to generate more revenues from smartphones and tablet PC users, as half its users log in on from mobile devices. Experts believe that in recent years Facebook users spent significant time on the social network from their mobile devices.

Facebook users can choose a gift they like, write a digital greeting card and attach the card into a gift that will be sent. Users are also allowed to post the gift on the timeline and setup the appropriate time when the gift to be delivered to a receiver. Receivers are given more choices including selecting color, size, model, and other criteria. Facebook also allows users to exchange the gift item with other gifts if they do not like the original gift. Of course, the new gift must be in the same amount of value as previously. The sender can choose when to pay Facebook, as they must enter their credit card number during order and save the credit card number for future use. Users can also wait until the receiver received the gift and pay the gift suppliers later.

(Image: Facebook Gifts)

The largest state in America became a pioneer of privacy laws that protect Californians who are actively using social media, including Facebook and Twitter

Based on the initiative of two senators in California, Governor Jerry Brown signed two legislations to protect people who live in the largest state in America. The two privacy protection laws are the first ever signed by a governor in America. The California's decision could pave a way for other states to follow the similar path. These two laws will also impact the global initiatives to protect their citizens.

Starting January 1, 2013, companies are banned from firing their employees and taking discipline actions if employees refused to hand over their login and password which are related to their social media activities including Facebook and Twitter accounts. Employers are also not allowed to force candidates to turn over their personal e-mail accounts.

One of the two laws also bans colleges and universities to ask current active students’ and prospective students’ user name, login, or password, especially student athletes. In the world of college sports and to follow NCAA rules, many coaches who are recruiting student athletes may try to take a peek on their social media accounts. Some universities have assigned staffs to monitor athletes’ social networking contents. However, all those practices will end in three months in California.

(Images: left, Twitter logo; right, Facebook logo)

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The end of brink-and-mortar stores: implications of tablet computers and handheld devices on the shrinking stores spaces, as many office-supply businesses are closing down and downsizing shops

As more people in America are conducting their daily life thru tablet computers and handheld devices, the need for buying office-supply has dropped significantly in recent years including PCs, printers, and papers. At the same time, people are changing their shopping behavior as they are now purchasing stuffs via online. So, the need of physical stores has reduced significantly.

Office-supply business continued to face new obstacles as one of the well-known brands in America, Staples, is planning to closing down and downsizing shops. According to the company press release, the top office-supplier in America is reducing the size of physical stores by about 15% by the end of fiscal year of 2015, where it expects to save about $250 million. The company will close 30 stores in North America, while at the same time it will also downsize 30 stores during fiscal year of 2012.

Americans Pediatrics warned youngsters to stay off trampolines at a party event, at a public playground, or at their home’s backyard

Pediatricians in America urged kids to stop playing with trampolines while at a party event, a public playground, or at their home’s backyard. Americans kids’ doctors believe that about 100,000 injuries occurred due to the bouncy mats every year. While trampolines manufacturers have added more safety features to the latest models in order to lower the risks, however, due to playing with trampolines, more kids have flocked into emergency rooms across America in recent years. The latest warning was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Most trampoline injuries occurred when more than one user are jumping on the mat. Majority injuries happened due to a heavier person is jumping while a smaller kid or lighter person is bouncing at the same time. One of the most reported injuries was in regard to cervical spine injuries which occurred when a user fell off the trampoline.

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Special Report: How to Prolong the Life of Lithium Batteries, Found in Almost All Portable Electronics

Long anticipated laptops and phones are finally here, but one problem still remains: how to prolong battery life. Lithium based batteries seem to be found in almost all portable electronics, including PCs and cellphones. Everyone wants their batteries to last as long as possible, but some well-meaning advice from friends can harm your lithium battery’s ultimate life span.

Many people believe it is better to charge when your portable electronic is almost empty, as it supposedly gives you the maximum capacity. Should you charge when the battery is half full, the battery would believe this point as the empty point, and your battery capacity would be shortened by half. However, this doesn’t apply to lithium batteries; this advice is meant for nickel based batteries. Doing this often will result in damage to your battery’s health, possibly making your device unusable if the battery is completely emptied too often. These days, there is a safety circuit in place to prevent the battery from reaching that point, but there are always exceptions. Leave your electronic uncharged for days on end, and even that safety circuit won’t save it.

There are, nonetheless, some benefits to discharging heavily, which is waiting until near zero to charge your device. Should you notice your battery readings becoming more and more inaccurate, many manufacturers advise discharging once a month in order to calibrate your battery meter, giving it more accurate readings.

Heat is another factor contributing to lowering your battery capacity. Leave a device containing lithium batteries charging and running, and after another year or so, the batteries will be downgraded to around 60 to 80% of its original max capability. This is the reason why people who switch their desktops with laptops notice a significantly reduced battery life performance after one year of use. This issue concerning laptops and computers can be fixed by removing the battery when using a corded power source. It may be wise to check out safety concerns, as some manufacturers have stated that the battery casings can collect such nuisances as moisture and dust that can cause a decrease in capacity.

Should you not plan on using the lithium battery for a long period of time, reduce the charge level to about 40% and place the battery in the fridge, not the freezer. Manufacturers recommend storing batteries at 40% as it prevents two extremes. Leaving the battery at 100% can apply unnecessary stress and can cause internal corrosion. If the charge is too low, the battery can become permanently unusable, due to battery self-discharge after a period of time.

California’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 10.6% in August, compared to 10.7% in July 2012, but remained as the third-highest unemployment rate in America (Nevada #1 and Rhode Island #2)

While the largest state in America, California, is not considered as the 2012 election swing states, the race between the incumbent president Barack Obama (Democratic Party) and Republican candidate Mitt Romney is boiling in several swing states due to large number of undecided voters, such as Nevada, Iowa, Florida, Ohio and Virginia. The average of unemployment rate in America in August was at 8.1 percent, while the unemployment rate in those swing states are mostly higher than the average.

According to data from America’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, companies in California added about 12,000 nonfarm jobs in August 2012. Companies continue to add more jobs during the past 13 months in a row. However, California remained as the third-highest unemployment rate in America at 10.6%. Two others states were ahead of California in term of unemployment rate, Nevada has the highest unemployment rate at 12.1%, and followed by Rhode Island at number two with 10.7%.

Citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, latimes.com reported that there were several top industries in California that adding jobs in August 2012. First, education and health services added the most jobs in August as students returned to schools and posting an increase of 8,900 jobs. Second, leisure and hospitality added about 4,400 jobs.

Wal-Mart says good-bye to Amazon Kindles, as the world's largest superstore chain strengthens its Internet business and fights against the Ecommerce King in term of online sales

As the world's largest superstore chain, Wal-Mart will stop displaying Amazon Kindles in all of its stores. The latest Wal-Mart’s decision is almost similar to Target’s decision which blamed Amazon's marketing tactics with better pricing system and low profits. Many potential e-reader buyers have utilized brick-and-mortar stores to window shopping as they later purchased the devices online via Amazon website.

The black-and-white Kindle was first introduced in late 2007 and later becoming one of the top sellers of e-readers in America. Most buyers have bought the e-reader thru Amazon’s website. After several upgrades, the Ecommerce King introduced Kindle Fire running on Android operating system with colorful screen during the Thanks Giving holiday in late November 2011. The original asking price for Kindle Fire was $199 and later dropped to less than $150. Early September 2012, Amazon introduced several new models for the Kindle family including Kindle Paperwhite (with a bright screen) and Kindle Fire HD (with faster microprocessors and mobile apps which link to Amazon online stores).

While Wal-Mart will remove Amazon’s products from its stores, according to Reuters, Wal-Mart will continue selling other e-reader products such as Apple iPad tablet computers and Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader.

In the meantime, Wal-Mart has been very aggressive to add more engineers to strengthen its Internet business. In early September 2012, the superstore chain has been testing iPhone and iPad apps for checkout feature in its stores. In late August 2012, Wal-Mart also introduced a new search engine known as Polaris to help buyers to search products online easily.

(Images: top left, Wal-Mart iTunes logo; right, Kindle e-reader)

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America’s seafood harvests reached a new record high in 2011, as West coast (i.e., Alaska) and East coast (i.e., Massachusetts) showed significant increases in term of volume and value

Seafood catch in America reached a new record high in 2011 after 17 years were at a stable level. All fishing regions from West coast to East coast showed significant increases in term of volume and value of their catches. According to a report provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in term of volume, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is the number one port and brought in 706 million pounds of seafood in 2011. In term of value, New Bedford, Massachusetts, is the top spot and registered $369 million worth of seafood in 2011.

In the West coast, Alaska’s fishermen brought in 5.4 billion pounds of seafood. Alaska is the number one seafood producer in America and followed by other states including Louisiana, California, Virginia and Washington. Alaska’s fishermen also registered $1.9 billion in the value of the total catch. Aside of being the top volume, Alaska is also the number one seafood money maker and followed by other states including Massachusetts, Maine, Louisiana and Washington.

China is the number one nation to consume a lot of seafood, America is the number two. While America’s fishermen harvested more seafood in 2011, however, Americans ate less seafood in 2011. People in America ate about 15 pounds of seafood per person in 2011, compared to 15.8 pounds in 2010, a slightly drop of 0.8 pounds (or a drop of 5%).

Microsoft offers Office 365 version Home Premium to help family with at least 5 users to save money, including applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and others

Microsoft plans to charge about $100 per year for a family for the new Office 365 cloud-based platform. Each family will get Office license for at least 5 users, or averaging only $20 per user per year. Users must pay annually, so they cannot pay monthly. Office 365 includes applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and others. The applications can run on a laptop, a desktop PC, or on a tablet (i.e., Surface). Each user can login into Office 365 with their own account (i.e., using a Live ID) and working on their documents separately.

Microsoft will also increase the storage for storing Word, Excel, PowerPoint files. The old storage size was 7GB. The new storage size is now 20GB.

Aside using Office applications, Microsoft is also trying to promote Skype communication system over the Internet (VOIP). Each family will get a free 60 minutes calling plan with other family members and friends anywhere in the world.

The new Microsoft’s offer is considered as a new trend. The giant software company has shifted its strategy toward paid-subscription clients. The new business model will send users’ files into a cloud-based platform, compared to the old-model where users will have to install the Office applications on each their laptops or desktops, while storing their files locally.

The benefits for subscribers includes that they will receive updates frequently on new products and services. Microsoft promises to release new features to all paid-subscribers as soon as those new features are available for free download.

(Image: Microsoft Office Preview)

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Let’s say hello to Apple iPhone 5: a thinner, lighter, and faster smartphone than previous models, with 4-inch retina screen and A6 microprocessor

The world’s most valuable technology company has announced the new Apple iPhone which will be called as “iPhone 5.” Many tech watchers speculated that the latest smartphone may have been called “the new iPhone” which is almost similar to the naming convention for the new iPad. The new iPad was launched early this year but the tablet was not called as iPad 3.

According to Apple’s press release, the new smartphone is thinner, lighter, and faster than the previous models. The new phone is equipped with 4-inch retina screen and A6 microprocessor. The back cover is made of aluminum for light weight. The phone is also equipped for faster wireless technology known as LTE 4G mobile networks. With the new microprocessor, iPhone 5 will also consumer less energy and will deliver better battery life.

Mobile phone subscribers in America can pre-order the new iPhone 5 starting on Friday, September 14. The new phone is scheduled to arrive on Friday, September 21, 2012. Mobile phone operators such as AT&T required subscribers to sign up a two years contract and the asking price for the 16GB model is $199, for the 32GB model is $299 and the top model of 64GB model is $399. Aside it will available at the home country on September 21, iPhone 5 will be available on the same day in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the Britain.

(Image: Apple iPhone 5)

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iBoarding: major airlines (incl. Delta, American Airlines, United) to support Apple Passbook, a new feature in iOS 6.0 for keeping boarding passes, frequent flyer cards, discount coupons, and others

As Apple is scheduled to release the newest operating system known as iOS 6.0 on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 in San Francisco, several major airlines will soon integrate Apple Passbook into their networks. Although some airlines have introduced their own mobile app to be used as boarding passes, however, Apple Passbook will have more features and can store boarding passes, frequent flyer cards, retail discount coupons, movie tickets, loyalty cards, and others.

An initial test of Apple Passbook occurred in a Virgin Australia flight. Australian Business Traveler cited a local traveler who posted several screenshots of the boarding pass. The traveler has an Apple iPhone running on a developer preview edition of iOS 6.

In order to take advantages of Apple Passbook, major airlines in America, including Delta, American Airlines, and United, will allow passengers to carry mobile boarding passes and will replace the traditional printed boarding passes. At airport gates for airlines, authorities will be able to scan passengers’ iPhone, iPad, or iPod, as those mobile devices will be the official boarding passes.

(Image: Apple iOS 6.0 Passbook)

Green tea contains chemical epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG) which helps to maintain and grow brain cells and also improve the function of human brain

Consumption of green tea has been increasingly popular in the world, especially in Asia including China and Japan. Researchers have found green tea to contain healthy antioxidants. There are so many benefits of drinking green tea such as helping prevent cardiovascular diseases and now also may improve mechanisms in human brain.

A team of researchers in China led by Professor Yun Bai of the Department of Medical Genetics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, found the organic chemical epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG) helps to grow the production of neural cells in human brain. Several labs tests have proved with some encouraging results.

Researchers have long believed that drinking green tea is worthy for helping human brain to function on alert everyday. Aside of helping to maintain good memory, researchers believe the chemical properties of EGCG could affect the production of brain cells which benefiting spatial learning.

The latest study with a title “Green tea epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) promotes neural progenitor cell proliferation and sonic hedgehog pathway activation during adult hippocampal neurogenesis” was published by Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (Volume 56, Issue 8, pages 1292–1303, August 2012).

(Image: Bigelow Green Tea)

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Namaste McDonald's: one of the world’s largest fast-food chain to open its first vegetarian restaurant in India and will serve a new type of burger made of potato patties known as McAloo Tikki, starting in the mid-2013

As one of the world’s largest fast-food chain, the American-based company has over 33,500 restaurants in the world. However, to serve over 1.2 billion people in India, McDonald's has just over 250 restaurants. In honor of local cultures and religion beliefs (Hindu and Muslim), McDonald's restaurants in India do not sell beef or pork.

McDonald's provides several types of menu items to cater to local tastes in India. For example, the fast-food restaurant serves a big burger made with chicken patties which is also called Maharaja Mac. The size of this burger is almost similar to Big Mac beef burger. Other popular menu items include McAloo Tikki, a vegetarian burger made with a combination of potato patty, red onions, tomatoes and local sauce.

The fast-food chain plans to open its first vegetarian restaurant in India in the mid-2013. According to AFP, McDonald's has picked the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in northern India as the first pilot project. The location of this first vegetarian restaurant is expected to be near the Golden Temple in India.

(Logo: McDonald's)

World food prices increased an average of 10% in July 2012 as hot weather damaged harvest lands in America and Eastern Europe

World Bank has urged governments such as in Africa and the Middle East to add more programs to help its helpless populations as world food prices soared an average of 10% in July 2012. According to World Bank, the prices of main food sources such as corn and wheat had increased by 25% from June to July 2012. While other top food sources including soybean has increased by 17% within the past two months. Only the price of rice went down about 4% during the period. Due to the high prices, World Bank urged the head of nations to draw the right policies to help its unfortunate citizens.

World Bank worried that the recent price hikes could impact on poor families as many of those will not be able to afford to send their kids to schools. Many kids will suffer from malnutrition as most of them will eat less food due to the high prices.

This year’s hot weather in America has damaged crops which impacted on farmers to produce less corns and soybeans. While dry summer in Eastern Europe countries such as the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, has reduced wheat production.

(Logo: World Bank)

Men who ate a moderate amount of chocolate (dark chocolate) every week are less likely to suffer strokes

Using sample of 37,103 Swedish men, a team of researchers led by Susanna Larsson, Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, found that men who ate the most chocolate every week are less likely to suffer strokes. Researchers believe men who ate at least 63 grams of chocolate per week could reduce their chances of suffering a stroke by about 17%, compared to men who ate a very little or no chocolate at all on a weekly basis. The study is being published in the journal Neurology on September 18, 2012 issue.

Researchers have followed men in the sample, age from 45 to 79 year old, for duration of about 10 years. Men who consumed chocolate, especially dark chocolate, show health benefits on their cardiovascular which also reduce chance of getting heart attacks.

Dark chocolate contains high amount of flavonoids. This type of ingredients also found in many type of fruits, vegetables, and wine. Eating dark chocolate could also help to lower blood pressure and increase blood flow and healthy blood vessels. Health experts believe that dark chocolate seems to improve the good cholesterol level and reduce the bad cholesterol level.

(Image: Hershey’s dark chocolate)

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Global weapons transfer agreements hit new record sales: America controls 77.7% of all sales, as Saudi Arabia is the number one weapons purchasers, India is the number two, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the number three

Global weapons sales agreements between developing and developed governments have reached $85.3 billion in 2011. According to a report provided by Congressional Research Service, America controlled 77.7% of the worldwide sales in 2011 and generating $66.3 billion from all transactions. This was the highest sales since 2004. The 2011 sales also considered as the highest single year sales in term of total in the history of weapons sales from America.

Russia was the second-highest seller on weapons sales. The cold-war rival generated $4.8 billion in sales in 2011, or representing 5.6% of the total.

In term of buyers, Saudi Arabia bought the most weapons as the oil-rich nation spent $33.7 billion in 2011. Almost 99% of the Saudi Arabia’s spent went to America’s weapons companies. India was the number two buyer and spent about $6.9billion on weapons. At the third spot was the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and spent $4.5 billion buying sophisticated weapons in 2011.

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Cartoon stickers, such as Elmo, Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob, may influence elementary school students’ food choices

Researchers at Cornell University and New Mexico State University found that elementary school students’ were more likely to take an apple or an orange for lunch when fruits were attached with a cartoon sticker, such as Elmo, Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob. The study is being published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine and was first released online on August 20, 2012.

The study with a title “Can Branding Improve School Lunches?“ was conducted by three researchers, including both Brian Wansink, PhD and David R. Just, PhD from the Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, and Collin R. Payne, PhD from the Department of Marketing, New Mexico State University.

Using sample of 208 elementary school students, from 8 to 11 years, during a lunch time for one week period, researchers found over one-third of the youngsters picked up fruits that were attached with a cartoon sticker. When there were no cartoon stickers, only about a quarter of the youngsters picked up fruits.

(Images: top left, Elmo sticker; top right, Apple)

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Microsoft has opened registration for Windows 8 operating system version “Pro” upgrade for $14.99 as long as buying a Windows 7 PC

At 10:23 AM Pacific Time, on Monday, August 20, 2012, Windows team sent out a tweet and announced the giant software company has opened registration for its Windows 8 upgrade promotion as long as users have bought a Windows 7 PC. Users who purchased Windows 7 hardware from June 2, 2012 to January 31, 2013 are eligible to get the Windows 8 version “Pro” for $14.99.

Microsoft also assigned a website for the Windows upgrade offer. The website has listed 140 countries that are eligible for the cheap upgrade. Go to windowsupgradeoffer.com for the full list of countries.

The Windows 8 operating system is slated for release on Friday, October 26, 2012. The announcement was made by Windows division President, Steven Sinofsky, during a Microsoft annual sales meeting on July 18, 2012.

(Images: top, @Windows Twitter handler; bottom, Windows 8 Upgrade promotion website)