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With the 12-1 vote, Los Angeles council approved ID cards for half-million city residents (incl. illegal immigrants) to obtain bank accounts, lend books at public libraries, and pay utility bills (gas, electricity, water)

Just one day after the general election, the second largest city in America has some great news for illegal immigrants. With the 12-1 vote, Los Angeles council approved ID cards for about half-million city residents who are mostly illegal immigrants (about 15% of total population in LA). With the LA ID Card, a cardholder can open bank accounts, lend books at public libraries and pay utility bills (gas, electricity, water).

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is one of the top sponsors of the LA ID card. Several councilmen and councilwomen also have supported the idea.

Right now, majority illegal immigrants are carrying cash. By giving a thumb up on the city ID card, LA council believes that cardholders will learn how to access banking services and take responsible to handle their financial needs.

Aside being for identification purposes, the magnetic strip of the LA ID Card can be pre-loaded with cash and later can be used as a debit card for shopping at supermarket or any convenience stores.

A similar city ID card has been propagated widely in other cities in California, including Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco. In San Francisco, the cost for getting the city ID card for a child age 13-year old or younger is $5. For an adult age 14-year and older is $15. While for senior citizen age 62-year and older, and for low income family is $5 per card.

(Image: San Francisco City ID card)

Sayonara America: Suzuki Motor announced to stop selling cars in the U.S. and will focus only on motorcycles and ATVs

One of the small Japanese car makers, Suzuki, announced that the company will leave the U.S. cars market. However, Suzuki will continue to open its showrooms for motorcycles and ATVs in the U.S.

America’s Suzuki which is a subsidiary of Japan’s Suzuki has its branch office located in Brea, just over ten miles from downtown Los Angeles. Early this week the America’s branch has filed for protection from creditors. The filling occurred in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana. As of the end of September, the America’s branch has $346 million in debts and $233 million in assets, with 365 employees.

Japanese small cars brand such as Suzuki failed to rebound from the economy turmoil in America since the end of 2007. At the same time, cars buyers in America have been attracted to new generation of cheap cars produced by South Korea manufacturers such as Kia and Hyundai.

In the very recent fiscal year, Suzuki only shipped about 30,000 cars compared to its top sales year during fiscal year 2008 where the company sold over 100,000 cars.

Suzuki remains one of the popular car makers in Asia. India has the best target market as Suzuki can sell over 1 million cars per year. Suzuki brand is also popular in other regions such as South East Asia including Indonesia.

(Image: Suzuki logo)

Apple tablet market share dropped to 50% in third quarter of 2012, compared to one year ago which was at 60% share, while Android tablets (sold by Samsung, Amazon, Asus, Google Nexus) gained market share

In the third quarter of 2012 (Q3-12), tablet manufacturers shipped a total of 27.8 million units of tablets, as per data provided by the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. Compared to the same quarter one year ago, the total shipments were 18.6 million units of tablets. This was an increase of 49.5%

Apple iPad remained at the number one spot and shipped 14.0 million units in Q3-12, compared to the same quarter one year ago which was at 11.1 million units. Apple iPad captured 50.4% market share in Q3-12, compared to one year ago which was at 59.7% share. Apple market share has dropped about 10% within the past twelve months.

Tablets run on Google Android mobile operating system continued to perform well in worldwide market. Android tablets were manufactured mostly in China and South Korea. Those tablets use several brands such as Samsung Tab, Amazon Fire, Asus Transformer, and Google Nexus.

In term of market share, the combination of Samsung, Amazon, and Asus accounted for 36% market share in Q3-12, compared to one year ago, those three companies only represented at about 10% market share. The three companies have shipped a total of 10 million units in Q3-12, compared to one year ago which was at about 2 million units. Among the three manufacturers, Samsung took the biggest market share as the South Korea-based company’s market share increased to 18.4% in Q3-12, compared to one year ago which was at 6.5% share.

(Image: tablet produced by IDC)

Maiden flight of America’s “Dreamliner”: after more than three years of delays due to logistic issues, the first commercial flight of Boeing's newest plane 787 has landed safely in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

One year ago, the newest Boeing's 787 Dreamliner was travelled in a commercial maiden flight from Narita Tokyo to Hong Kong. The flight was conducted by Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA).

After being utilized in several foreign countries, the inaugural flight of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has landed in its homeland at Chicago O'Hare on Sunday (November 4). The maiden flight in America was conducted by United Airlines. The event was cheered by many aviation supporters who accompany the first flight from Houston (Texas) to Chicago.

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner plane productions were delayed for over three years due to logistic issues. However, airlines companies around the world have placed orders of 800 jets.

One of the advantages of the new plane is on fuel efficient. The new plane uses more innovative materials which is lighter than similar type of jets. Over 50 percent of the plane’s body (fuselage and wings) consists of strong and light composite materials.

(Image: Boeing's 787 Dreamliner)

90 percent world’s mobile operating system were created in Silicon Valley, California: Google Android mobile operating system captured 75 percent market share, while Apple iOS took 15 percent market share in in Q3-12 (July-September)

Global mobile phone subscribers continue to switch their old-style cellphones with modern smartphones which can be used to access websites, chat, social media, play music, and doing other activities. Mobile phone manufacturers shipped 181.1 million units of smartphones during Q3-12 (July-September), as per data provided by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Compared to the same quarter one year ago, the unit count of smartphones reached 123.7 million units in Q3-11. The world’s smartphone market growth about 46.4 percent within the past twelve-month period.

The Mountain View, Silicon Valley-based Company introduced Android mobile operating system in the first week of November 2007. After five years introduction, Google retained the number one spot and captured 75 percent market share in Q3-12. One year ago Android had 57.5 percent market share. Android smartphones manufacturers include Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Sony. Manufacturers shipped 136 million units of Android powered smartphones in Q3-12, compared to one year ago which was 71 million units. Among all phone manufacturers Samsung is the only benefactor of Android as the South Korea-based company retained its crown as the King of smartphones maker. The newest Samsung branded smartphones include Samsung Galaxy III and the Samsung Galaxy Note (a.k.a. Phablet).

While Apple was named the most valuable technology company in the world, the Silicon Valley-based Company only captured 14.9 percent market share in Q3-12, compared to 13.8 percent market share one year ago. In term of units count, the gap between Apple iOS and Google Android phones have widened in Q3-12. Apple sold only 26.9 million units of iPhones in Q3-12, compared to one year ago which was 17.1 million units. The iPhone sales figure was helped by the launch of the iPhone 5 on September 21, 2012 (Apple sold over 5 million units during the first week launch). Apple is now going thru some internal management turmoil as two top executives were fired early this week due to performance issues.

The remaining 10 percent market shares in Q3-12 were divided among several operating systems. BlackBerry captured 4.3 percent share, followed by Nokia Symbian at 2.3 percent share, then Microsoft Windows Phone with 2.0 percent share, and Linux with 1.5 percent share.

(Table by IDC)

In order to combat thieves and robbers of cellphone handsets in America, AT&T and T-Mobile to start using national database to fight stolen mobile devices and ban them to be used on domestic wireless network

As mobile phone theft has increased significantly in recent years, by taking advices from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and recommendations from the chief of police from big cities in America, several top mobile operators including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, have agreed to build a national database. This agreement was established in early April 2012. This was also with the help of the wireless trade association (CTIA).

As it passed the deadline on October 31, 2012, only two major mobile operators that provide GSM equipment and mobile devices in America including, AT&T and T-Mobile, will start compiling database to block those stolen phones. Other mobile carriers that are using CDMA technology including Verizon and Sprint will introduce their database very soon. With the new technology of 4G LTE, all carriers had been informed to setup the database by the end of November 2013.

The new generation of mobile devices produced by manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Motorola, have been attached with IMEI number. This is a unique identification number which is similar to VIN number on vehicles. Although thieves can switch SIM card, however, the IMEI numbers will always remain with the phone.

After all mobile carriers have settled with their databases, the wireless trade association (CTIA) will combine them under one system. The unified system can be accessed by mobile phone operators in America, foreign mobile operators and law enforcement officers. By using the database police can easily track any cell phones that were reported stolen or lost. All stolen devices cannot be activated anywhere in the world including in America or in a foreign country.

(Image: CTIA logo)

Asian cars brands continue to outperform American and European brands, as the top-10 brands include Scion, Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, Subaru, Honda, Acura, Audi, Infiniti, and Kia

The latest data provided by Consumer Reports found Asian cars brands have taken nine spots of the top-10 cars brands. The top spot was captured by Toyota’s brand targeting for young adults which is known as Scion. Popular Scion models include xB and xD. Those cars are sold in America and their prices range from $15,000 to $20,000 per unit.

Toyota brand itself was helped by its car manufacturer located in Toyota City, Japan. Most of the cars produced by this plant earned the top rating. In recent years, almost all hybrid cars are made at this location and later shipped to America. Those subcompact hybrid cars include Toyota Prius c (small), the hatchback “classic” Prius, the larger van known as Prius v, and the latest model known as Prius plug-in. Those subcompact cars are sold in America and their prices range from $20,000 to $35,000 per unit.

Another top brand from Toyota was Lexus. This brand catered for luxury cars buyers. Popular Lexus models include RX 350 (subcompact SUV for family), iS (subcompact for young adult) and LS (top of the line for executives). Lexus RX 350 and iS models have a price tag at above $35,000, while the LS model has a price tag at above $70,000.

Other Asian cars brands in the top-10 best cars include Mazda, Subaru, Honda, Acura (a luxury division of Honda), Infiniti (a luxury division of Nissan), and Kia (South-Korean-based Company).

(Data source: Consumer Reports)

Japan's top mobile operator, NTT DOCOMO will provide funds of 10 billion yen ($125 million USD) to nurture startups that focusing on building applications for smartphones and tablet computers

As one of the largest providers of mobile networks in Japan, NTT DOCOMO was known as the pioneer of providing applications for smartphones when the company introduced a service called i-mode in 1999. The DOCOMO i-mode business model was later copied by other developed countries to provide a similar mobile service to their clients. The service provides Internet service and let users to access e-mail, surfing Internet, download files, photos, and others. Recently the company is also a leading developer of mobile payments system which is known as NFC. NTT DOCOMO is also the first network in Japan to serve the ultra-fast 4G LTE network for their mobile subscribers.

NTT DOCOMO recently announced funds of 10 billion yen ($125 million USD) which will be used to establish two new ventures. The first one is called DOCOMO Innovation Fund. The second is called DOCOMO Innovation Village. Both ventures will provide helps to accelerate building applications for smartphones and tablet computers. The first fund will focus mainly for helping startups in Japan. The second fund will be an incubation program. This program will provide supports for new startups to get resources, transfers of knowledge, accessing workspace and meeting rooms. The incubation facility will help developers and experts to exchange ideas and brain-storming.

In order to accelerate development, DOCOMO will focus only on eight areas and business models. Those include (a) content, (b) mobile payment system, (c) mobile commerce, (d) health and medical, (e) machines learning, (f) aggregation and platforms, (g) environment, and (h) mobile securities.

(Image: NTT DOCOMO logo)

Apple opened a newer and bigger brick-and-mortar store in Palo Alto (California) which is located about short miles from the global tech giant's corporate headquarters in Cupertino, Silicon Valley

Apple’s enthusiastic customers including kids, teens, and young adults with their parents had waited in line over night to be the first group of clients to enter the new store in Palo Alto at 340 University Avenue. The brand new brick-and-mortar store will replace the old store which is located just two blocks away. Aside of waiting for over-night, the first 1,000 customers will get a free T-shirt during the first day opening on Saturday, October 27, 2012.

Although the old Apple Store is considered as a very small store compared to the newer store in Palo Alto, it was a very famous hangout place for Steve Jobs. Apple’s co-founder would visit the store very often especially during new products launching such as iPhone and iPad. Apple should convert the old store as a museum for the company’s mobile devices.

The new store has about 15,000 square feet of retail space which is almost 70% larger than the old store. The storefront is full of 25-foot-long wall of glass with a very large Apple logo.

Inside the store, over 150 Apple Store employees will be ready to greet customers. The store includes about 30 units of 25-foot-long tables called the “Genius Bar." At this table customers and employees can sit down and chit-chat to each other about the products as employees also helping customers to setup and start using their devices.

(Image: Apple logo)

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Worldwide smartphone market share Jul-Sep ‘12: South Korea-based Samsung continues to dominate smartphone market, shipped 56.3 million units and captured 31.3% share, while America-based Apple shipped 26.9 million units and captured 15.0% share

Samsung remains the world’s largest smartphone vendor during the third quarter of 2012 (July to September), as the South Korea-based company shipped 56.3 million units of smartphone, as per data from IDC. Compared to the same quarter one year ago, Samsung shipped only 28.1 million units or an increase of 28.2 million units (up by 100.4%) within the past twelve months. In term of worldwide smartphone market share, Samsung controlled about 31.3% share during Q3-12.

Majority Samsung handsets run on Google Android mobile operating system. Top Samsung smartphone models for Android users include Galaxy III and the upcoming Galaxy Note II (also known as Phablet). In conjunction with the launch of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating system this week, Samsung will also launch a new model called ATIV S.

America-based Apple and the world’s most valuable technology company remains at the second place. Apple shipped 26.9 million units of iPhones in the third quarter. Compared to one year ago Apple shipped only 17.1 million units. In term of worldwide smartphone market share, Apple controlled only 15.0% share during Q3-12. With the launch of iPhone 5 which is now equipped with a larger screen and can handling 4G LTE network at the end of the third quarter, Apple will sell more iPhones in the coming quarters. Due to the company’s Asian suppliers and manufacturing issues during the launch, Apple cannot sell as many as iPhone 5 the company has planned.

Other smartphone manufacturers including RIM BlackBerry continues to suffer from loss of clients. BlackBerry shipped only 7.7 million units in Q3-12, compared to one year ago, the Canada-based company shipped 11.8 million units, or a drop of 4.1 million units (down by 34.7%)

(Chart: International Data Corporation, IDC, Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Q3-12)

America’s fastest highway with speed limit of eighty-five miles an hour (137 km/hour) is located in Texas which connects two large cities between Austin and San Antonio, as driver must pay a toll fee of $6.17 one way

Sports cars drivers who don't mind paying $6.17 one way to test their cars on the real road can go to Texas (note: we don’t endorse reckless driving behavior). Since the Texas Legislature agreed to let drivers to drive 85 mph, they won't be getting a speeding ticket as long as they drive on a new toll road called State Highway 130 (SH-130). The highway connects two large cities between Austin and San Antonio.

Texas’s Governor Rick Perry and former Republican Party president candidate has officially opened SH-130 on Wednesday, October 24, during a ribbon cutting ceremony as builders have finally completed the final 41 miles of SH-130.

Austin is a very popular city for high-tech headquarters such as Dell Computer. San Antonio is a well-known city for tourism destination and also famous for its basketball team the Spurs. However, due to booming population in those cities, commuters between Austin and San Antonio have been facing congestion for many years, and now they can be relieved as long as they are willing to pay $6.17 to escape the crowded streets.

(Image: Texas flag)

Let’s say hello to iPad Mini: Apple introduced a thinner and lighter tablet computer with the cheapest asking price of $329 for a 16GB model with Wi-Fi only, pre-order starts on Friday (Oct 26 '12)

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and VP of Marketing Phil Schiller were on a stage at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose on Tuesday, 10:00am Pacific Time, October 23, 2012. Those top executives from the world’s largest mobile devices company introduced a small tablet computer at a size of 7.9 inches (or, 20 cm) and will be called as iPad Mini.

According to Apple press release, the iPad Mini is about 23% thinner than the regular iPad or it measures at 7.2 millimeters. In term of weight, the Mini is about 53% lighter than the third-generation “New” iPad, or weight at 308 grams. In terms of price, the most affordable iPad Mini will come with a price tag of $329 which will include 16GB disc-space and Wi-Fi. For a new Mini with 16GB and equipped with cellular access will cost $459. The best iPad Mini has a price tag of $659, with 64GB disc-space and equipped to run on a wireless network (4G LTE).

There will be two types of color, black and white model. In term of power, iPad Mini uses a dual-core microprocessor known as A5 chip. For cellular access, the new tablet has an option to receive the ultrafast Internet access via wireless networks provided by mobile operators, including from AT&T and Verizon. Those two operators offer 4G LTE capability. The new tablet is equipped with a 5-megapixel digital camera. Similar to iPhone 5 smartphone, iPad Mini uses the new charger cable known as Lightning. A fully charged iPad can last at least 10 hours on its own battery power.

In America, pre-order will start on Friday (October 26). The device will be shipped seven days later (November 2) thru Post Office, or via express carriers such as UPS or FedEx. All Apple Store in America will open as usual office hours on November 2, and will start selling the iPad Mini to general public.

(Image: iPad Mini)

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.

Toyota utilizes hydrogen fuel cell technology to produce electricity at its headquarter campus in Torrance, Southern California, and saving the company about $130,000 per year

While Toyota counterparts, Honda and Mercedes, had introduced hydrogen fuel cell cars in America such as Honda FCX Clarity and Mercedes B-Class, the largest Japanese carmaker is still few years away from launching similar hydrogen fuel cell cars. However, the car maker of three popular brands in America including Toyota, Lexus and Scion, is not too late to introduce a hydrogen fuel cell generator at its Torrance campus in Southern California.

By partnering with Ballard Power Systems, Toyota activated a 1.1-megawatt hydrogen fuel cell generator on Thursday, October 17, 2012. While hydrogen fuel cell will produce zero emissions, the fuel cell generator will supply electricity to almost 50% of all electricity needed at its Torrance campus. With the use of an alternative energy generator, Toyota will be saving about $130,000 per year in the company’s annual utility bill. The company will also cut its energy acquired from Southern California Edison which is one of the largest electricity producers in the nation.

(Image: Toyota family brands logo)

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)

The new hybrid of a laptop and a tablet from Microsoft called Surface which runs on Windows RT operating system and equips with 32GB hard-drive space will cost $499 per unit, while a Touch Cover which functions as a keyboard will cost additional $100

After almost 4 months since Microsoft’s big announcement in Los Angeles on June 18, the software giant has finally revealed the asking price for the mobile device called Surface on Tuesday morning, October 16, 2012. As soon as the announcement, Microsoft has started taking pre-order at 9:00am Pacific Time via Microsoft Store online.

Surface is a hybrid of a tablet and a laptop personal computer. It will run on the new operating system called Windows 8 RT. The screen is touchable and almost similar to an Apple iPad. The mobile device can be hook-up with a cover which is functioned as a keyboard called Touch Cover.

In today’s announcement, Microsoft said that the company will sell three models of the Surface. All devices will have 2 GB RAMs for memory. They will only differ in term of disk space. The very basic model with 32GB hard-drive space will cost $499. If the basic model is bundled with a Touch Cover, the asking price is $599 (or, $100 extra for the cover). If users will buy the cover separately, the cover will cost $119.99. The top model with 64GB space with a Touch Cover will cost $699.

(Image: Microsoft Surface)

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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)

Japan’s Softbank plans to capture the number three wireless provider in America by acquiring a 70% stake in mobile operator Sprint Nextel Corporation for an asking price of $20 billion

Japan’s Softbank has decided to enter America mobile phone business. Softbank is one of the famous investor and venture capital for many Silicon Valley companies during the beginning of Internet era in the second part of the 1990s, including Yahoo search engine. This week Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son and also owner of Softbank is interesting as being a mobile operator in America.

Softbank is in the final stage to buy a 70% stake in Sprint Nextel Corporation for an asking price of $20 billion, as reported by bloomberg.com. Wall Street seems to cheering up for Sprint, as the number three wireless provider market value has doubled since June 2012.

In America, Sprint started to selling iPhone 4S since early 2012. Since iPhone was introduced to the world in 2007, the smartphone handset was exclusively sold by AT&T. As AT&T’s exclusive contract with Apple was about expired, the world most valuable company signed new contracts with other mobile providers. So, iPhone was later sold by Verizon. In Japan, Softbank was the first mobile operator to offer iPhone.

(Image: Sprint logo)

America Post Office proposes a new business line called Metro Post, for delivering e-commerce packages on the same-day, starting in mid-November 2012

The America Post Office (USPS) is planning to test a new type of package delivery service which is being called Metro Post. According to documents filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Friday (October 12), the same-day delivery service will begin taking orders in mid-November 2012. The test will end in mid-January 2013.

November is considered as one of the busiest months for shipping packages. This is due to the big sale weekend during the Thanksgiving Day holiday, as buyers are expected to flock into e-commerce sites and buying a lot stuffs including electronics, gadgets, and toys.

The USPS has not published information regarding rates for the new delivering service. However, they are expected that Metro Post to generate about $10 million dollar per year.

During the test, the USPS will pick 10 partners where they must have at least 10 physical stores or warehouses around America. The USPS also requires that those partners must have at least one branch to be located in the metropolitan city such as New York City. Due to limitations of the new service, the USPS promises to deliver only 200 packages per day per location, where they offer Metro Post service.

In order to get their packages delivered by Metro Post, the USPS asked shoppers to finish their shopping between 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The USPS personnel will pick those packages after 3:00 pm at any e-commerce local stores or warehouses. Each package will have its tracking code to ensure it will go to the buyer’s home or apartment on-time. The USPS is hoping to get the package to buyer’s front-door at around 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

(Image: USPS logo)

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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The 2012 notebook and desktop computers shipments to drop for the first time since 2001, the year many considered as the beginning of dot-com bust

According to a report provided by an information and analytics provider IHS, worldwide notebook and desktop computers market is having a very rough year in 2012. Previously, a similar occurrence hit the PCs market very hard in 2001, as many considered it as the beginning of dot-com bust.

IHS reported that shipments of traditional notebook and desktop computers to drop by 1.2% in 2012. The total shipments of PCs will be at around 348.7 million units in 2012, compared to 352.8 million in 2011, a drop of over 4 million units.

Tech experts are hoping that PCs industry will rebound in 2013 as the software giant is now preparing the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system. The upcoming launch of Windows 8 operating system has been scheduled for October 26, 2012. With economy is getting healthy, many old-style PCs will be replaced with new models. New PCs will most likely be pre-installed with Windows 8 OS.

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)

Amazon.com spent about $1.2 billion to buy several office buildings in Seattle from Vulcan Real Estate (owned by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen)

With plenty of cash on hand, the world largest ecommerce company Amazon.com decided to buy several office buildings in Seattle. Instead of being as a renter, now Amazon is a landlord. The seller is a real estate company owned by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, known as Vulcan Real Estate.

According to seattletimes.com, Vulcan Real Estate made a huge profit of selling those office buildings to Amazon. The local newspaper believes that Vulcan Real Estate had paid about $700 million to design and build those buildings and constructions started in 2008. As Vulcan now sold those buildings to Amazon.com for about $1.2 billion, or making about 65% profit.

As building inspectors will checking out all those buildings and hope to satisfy all conditions. The closing date is expected to occur in Q4 2012 (October-December 2012).

By being a property owner, Amazon is now creating a stronghold in the city of Seattle while at the same time making the ecommerce king long-term commitment to the Northwest region.

One billion Facebook users and counting: the world’s largest social networking hit an all-time record high of users

The world’s largest social networking has attracted one billion users since Facebook was founded in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was very proud to announce the new record setting on Thursday, October 4, 2012 morning.

Zuckerberg wrote “thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you” as the young CEO brought the social networking company to become a public company in mid-May 2012. While the stock market value of the company has dropped almost 50% since it went public, the recent announcement of new mobile advertising technology has helped to recover some of those market losses.

Zuckerberg was interviewed during the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco in early September 2012. After the interview, the stock market value increased about 5%, while at the same time, many Wall Street analysts have praised Zuckerberg’s view of the future of the company.

Too much background TV in American homes: noise will deteriorate kids’ development (i.e., interrupt focus, loss attention)

Using a telephone survey of 1,454 parents in America with at least one kid age at 8 months to 8 years old, a team of researchers led by Matthew A. Lapierre, MA, at University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, found that kids in America get a lot of background TV in their homes. The study titled “Background Television in the Homes of US Children” is being published by Pediatrics.

The study believes that too much TV is always harmful for kids’ development, although children are not watching TVs and while those TVs are playing in the background. With TV noise, it will be bad for a child’s brain. Those noises could repeatedly interrupt kids’ focus. Kids will also loss attention which causing cognitive functioning.

Researchers found kids in America get about 232.2 minutes or about 4 hours total of TVs that are playing in the background every day.

Researchers also found that low income families, families with younger kids, and African-American households are among the highest on getting a lot of background TVs in their homes.

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)

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)