Topic Reading-Vol.2299-7/28/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Open offices make people talk less and email more

What makes people interact more with each other in a workplace? Of course, the objective is not to have people waste their time chatting gossips or just for fun but to create more productive and innovative solutions for their tasks through interactions and collaborations.

However, according to a survey that monitored individuals’ behaviors in open offices, simply putting people in an open space seems unlikely to achieve the objectives, but rather it is distractive to individuals’ productivity. That’s because such an environment could deteriorate privacies and concentration on their work. Also, open office environment seems to make employees more defensive. That’s understandable because you may not feel secure if there are no boundaries around you.

Enjoy reading and think what the best way is to make a productive workplace, or what kind of workplace you want to work in.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180718-open-offices-make-people-talk-less-and-email-more

Topic Reading-Vol.2298-7/27/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Prime Day was the biggest shopping event in Amazon's history

It is a one-day only, though it was extended to 36 hours this year, global shopping event exclusively for Amazon Prime members. It marked the biggest sales event for the online giant, exceeding the tabs of any other sales event like Cyber Monday, Black Friday, or its previous year’s event. It was estimated that the sales would go over three billion dollars, but the exact amount hasn’t been disclosed. However, the company claims that it has sold over 100 million products worldwide. If this was the biggest online sales event in the U.S., it also shows how big China’s biggest sales event, Singles’ Day is. The Chinese online platformer sold $25 billion within 24 hours on November 11 last year, a hefty increase of 40% from the previous year.

Amazon wanted to add more prime members and sell more own products like Kindle and Amazon Fire TV stick. Prime members need to pay a membership fee to get various benefits like free delivery at desired times, free video streams and reading contents. The membership fee varies by country. For example, only $36 annually in Japan and $119 in the U.S.

Who takes advantage of the sales event like this, the buyers, the sellers or both?

Enjoy reading the article and mark the event day on your calendar.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/18/news/companies/amazon-prime-day-sales/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2297-7/26/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The secret tricks hidden inside restaurant menus

Menu engineering. Indeed, some restaurant menus of large chains or prestigious restaurants are carefully engineered to present their food items more attractive and enticing. They want their diners to choose more profitable dishes, drinks, and desserts. There are many ways to serve the purpose. One typical way is to use descriptive names, such as homemade pancakes, farm-raised salmon, and freshly baked bread. Another way to enhance diners’ appetite is to use proper font types, colors, and sizes of the letters shown in the menu. For example, rounder typefaces sell more sweets while angular fonts represent salty or sour taste. Also, orange or read stimulate appetite, the favored colors by fast food chains, while green represents healthier diet. Furthermore, today’s and emerging technologies allow restaurants to create a tailor-made menu and recommendations when you visit the restaurant again.

However, if you remember the report in Vol.2232, “Why you eat more when you’re in company,” what seems to affect the most, or at least, to eat more is to have dining companions.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what stimulates your appetite the most.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171120-the-secret-tricks-hidden-inside-restaurant-menus

Topic Reading-Vol.2296-7/25/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Photographers capture the rise of South Korea's 'loner' culture

Their parents worked hard to build the economic foundation of the country. In return, many of them were able to afford to buy things they had wanted, such as home appliances, a car, and even a house. In the meantime, the cost of housing and education have been rising to the level where parents opted to have fewer children. In fact, South Korea’s birth rate had dropped from around six down to only 1.2 during the last half-century. The country is rapidly aging like its neighbor Japan.

The influences of such changes in the social environment seem immense. More and more those single children seem to be used to being alone and even feel more comfortable by themselves than being with others. They don’t seem to mind eating, living, or even traveling alone. Such individualistic culture is called honjok, a combined word of hon, alone, and jok, tribe. While such trend has created new businesses to accommodate their need and desire, such as dining space for lone eaters and specialized furniture and apartment for singles, the outlook for economic growth and the social foundation is becoming questionable. When more people chose to live alone, what will happen to the marriage, divorce, and fertility rates of the country that is already aging?

Enjoy reading the article and seeing the photos of loners in South Korea.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/honjok-south-korea-loner-culture/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2295-7/24/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Indonesia mob slaughters nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge killing

Another threat to an endangered species in Indonesia. It seems that many people tend to act for immediate benefits or by emotional instinct. The world’s largest island country, with more than thirteen thousand islands, is trying to protect endangered species like orangutans and crocodiles. But as shown yesterday’s Volume 2294, more trees and forests are being destroyed for the sake of economy and as a result, the intelligent primate species are losing their habitats. Now, nearly 300 protected crocodiles in a state-run sanctuary in West Papua were all slaughtered by the local residents with knives, shovels, hammers, and clubs in retaliation for a local man thought to have been killed by one of the crocodiles from the site. Even though those villagers broke the law and will be charged, the perished reptiles will never come back.

Read the article and see the disgusting photo and think what human nature is about.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44844367

Topic Reading-Vol.2294-7/23/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

A battle to save Indonesia's orangutans

The orangutans are species of great apes native to Indonesia and Malaysia but they are now only found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. As they live in the trees and eat fruits mostly, forests are their natural habitat. There used to be nearly 300,000 orangutans in the wild, but the most recent estimate says there are only around 100,000 of them and the number is rapidly decreasing. Indeed, they are one of the most critically endangered species.

Despite the Indonesian government’s attempt to protect the wild forests in the area where the remaining endangered species inhabit, development projects haven’t been ceased yet. The investors claim that they had put so much money already, and people want jobs, too. Local farmers in the area also want to use the land for their living.

The population of Indonesia is 267 million for now and is going to add another 100 million in the next decade while the population of wild orangutans is expected to be halved in the same period.

Though Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates, they don’t seem to be able to figure out how to cope with the intrusion by other primates.

Enjoy reading the article and think when humans learn to balance economy and ecology.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44380704

Topic Reading-Vol.2293-7/22/2018

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Humanoid robot runs through the park by itself

Atlas is a bi-pedal humanoid robot developed by an American robotics company. The 1.8-meter tall robot was funded by Uncle Sam and first unveiled in 2011. It is designed for search and rescue tasks both outdoors and inside buildings. It uses multiple sensors to balance, avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation, and manipulate objects. The robot can turn 180 degrees while jumping, perform a backflip, and run across grass on an uneven terrain. If it wore clothes and disguised itself as a human athlete or soldier, it would be hardly suspected if it were a machine.

SpotMini is a small, four-legged civilian-use robot that weighs 30 kilograms including the arm. It can navigate offices, climb stairs, open doors and even fight off a human armed with a hockey stick. The robot also can pick up and carry a payload of up to 14 kilograms. This amazing robot will become on sale in 2019. Though the price tag hasn’t been announced yet, the robot seems to have received good interests from the world.

If you get an AI-speaker and one of these robots, you’ll probably be living in a world where science fiction writers had dreamed of.

Enjoy watching the video and imagine when you’ll have one of those robots in your house to do the housework for you.

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/05/11/atlas-spotmini-boston-dynamics-robots-run-navigate-cnnmoney-orig.cnnmoney/video/playlists/cant-miss/