Go to 7-11 to Pick Up Shipments

(04/08/2016) Do you know now you (American citizens) can file their tax returns at 7-11? "Though the partnership with 7-Eleven might seem odd at first, for those who don’t have a bank account or credit card, this provides an option for them to pay their taxes with cash."In this aspect, finally, the US is catching up with 7-11 operations in Asia.

(11/13/2015) Now the convenient stores may provide another services to customers: picking up shipping packages. 7-11 in the US and Canada now add storage lockers for people who prefer to pick up their shipments. This logistics service provided by convenient stores might be new to American consumers, but it has been very popular in Asian contries for many years. Most people in Asia live in cities has no front yard that can 'securely' guard the shipping packages.

The following is a video (in Chinese) from a foreign backpacker explaining how he use 7-11 in Taiwan shipping stuff to another city.

This is another video (in Chinese) showing that shippers/receivers can use mobile app tracking their packages that are sent to the convenience stores.

Sony Discontinues Betamax Cassette Production

(11/10/2015) Most people (including me) may not know Sony's Betamax cassette still exist, but this news just posts its epitaph. Sony's Betamax was a revolutionary video recording technology that is considered superior in term of video quality than rival VHS technology. Because Sony insisted Betamax to be sold exclusively by Sony, their rival united together and supported another standard -- VHS -- and eventually toppled Betamax's dominance in video cassette market. One amazing part is that, when the rest of the world has let go Betamax long time ago, Japan is still very nostalgia towards Betamax.

Japan is a very unique market in technology. It has its own ecology, regulation and standards. As a result, the technology's catchup in Japan's market often follows a different path. For example, fax machine sales is still 'relatively strong' in Japan compared to most developed countries in the world. Seeing from the perspective market development, Japan is almost like a " Galápagos Archipelago" compared to the rest of the developed countries. The Betamax production is just an example. Those once big Japanese technology companies worked so hard to please their native consumers (Japanese), they totally missed the bigger market outside of Japan. In this aspect the cellular phone market is another example (NYT news). Washington Post has a good report on this aspect. Will Japan lead the next big wave of technology innovation like Internet in the U.S. in the 1990's? I doubt it.

Technology Literacy and Generation Gap

(11/10/2010) This is an amazing news report on the generation gap and technology literacy that impact our society.  A car dealer hires high school students to explain potential car buyers on how to operate the technological dashboard now embedded in new vehicles.  Can you think of an even more creative way to give teenagers an opportunity to earn extra money and learn business?

"Treat or Trick" App for Parents

(11/08/2015) Do parent need to search on Google map to see where is the best neighborhood to take their kids in Halloween? There is an mobile app -- Treatster (which is made by Target) for that.

"The site, created with 360i, allows parents to up-vote the best areas by tagging their locations as a "treat." The more "treats" a location has, the larger its pumpkin will appear. Kristi Argyilan, senior VP-media, guest engagement and measurement at Target, said the site is about the joy and excitement of Halloween and "allowing guests to engage in [the] holiday in the way that they naturally would. ... They're tweeting, and they're posting on Facebook. [The mobile site] is really about delighting kids and family when they go trick or treating.""