metapeople Hong Kong

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/08/24Steve-Jobs-Resigns-as-CEO-of-Apple.html

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Google has launched a striking social media project, “Google +” for a while. Even though it’s still in field trial and only selective Gmail users have invitations, the competition between Google and its rival, Facebook, is getting global attention. These two platforms share lots of similar social networking functions. Besides basic services like sharing status, photos, video, links, locations etc, Google + differentiate it from Facebook with “circles”. “Circles” allows you to organize your friends in different groups such as colleagues, relatives, acquaintances and you name it. Every time you update a status, you can choose which groups you would like to share with. In other words, you have higher privacy. It seems a good response to Facebook’s questionable privacy issues.

With 18 million members so far, will Google + be able to compete with Facebook which currently has around 750 million users, to become the largest social media platform in the future? As users, we hope the competition between them can bring us more personalizing and interesting functions that enhance our social networking experiences which undoubtedly a part of our lives already.

Boomerangs, kids of Boomer generation, are millennials that move back with their parents after colleges. The number of Boomerangs is increasing, 85% of graduating college seniors are planning to move back home to save money by not renting. Will these kids affect the Boomer’s purchasing habits?

Findings of Experian discovered that, Boomers will still shop for their grown-up kids. And they are more likely to own a hybrid, purchase media online, and buy a new car instead of a used one. Some fashion apparel brands such as American Eagle Outfitters and Banana Republic which target the millennials are also popular with the boomers, as they will shop for themselves and their kids. After all, parents love and care about their children. This is not surprising to see boomerangs affect the boomers’ spending.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14054860

When we are facing lifetime decisions such as marriage, housing, careers etc, we will probably ask for friends’ or families’ advises before making any decisions. How about which restaurants to have a casual dinner? Do you think you can make your own decisions without asking your friends first? 68% of Millennials (gen-Yers) said they can’t.

There are 80 million gen-Yers, now aged 16 to 34, in the world. A recent report by Barkley has interesting findings regarding to gen-Yers’ shopping habits. With the popular use of advanced communication technology (smartphones and social media), users can quickly gather updated information from friends by simply placing a query on the social page. This convenience nurtures the habits of gen-Yers to consult others first before making their choices on every issue, no matter how small it is. The report also reveals that gen-Yers prefer to shop with others rather than do it alone; and they prefer brands with a well-developed social- and mobile-media presence. So, brands without social media engagements may not be able to survive in the long run.

NETBOOSTER to acquire German Group METAPEOPLE and significantly strengthen its operations in the second largest European market.

http://bit.ly/kXF4y2

“Bring the Friend Effect to Search” is the keynote of Bing’s newly announced plan in search. It integrates Facebook data to search results for enhancing users’ total search experience. According to Bing, 90% of people seek advice from friends and family during their decision making process. Bing’s new feature combines this “Friend effect”. It highlights three main components: “Trusted Friends”, “Collective IQ”, and “Conversational Search’. In other words, it personalizes user’s search result by showing your Facebook friends’ recommendation to sites– which means “Like”; identifies popular sites by the amount of “Like” received; combines Facebook’s communication tools with Bing to enable immediate sharing or discussion of search results with friends in Facebook.
Not long before, Google also introduced its new social search feature “+ 1 button” to improve users’ search experiences. “Social Search” is going to be a competitive feature for all search engines.

Bing’s blog: “Facebook Friends Now fueling Faster Decisions on Bing”

http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2011/05/16/news-announcement-may-17.aspx

Google announced its plan to expand Android system to home automation area in annual developers’ conference “Google I/O 2011”, San Francisco. They proposed the idea of using Android device as the remote control of all your home appliances. For example, you can turn off lights at home by using Android smartphone if you left home with the light on. Sounds familiar? But this is just a start up. If all home appliances are powered by Android, the Android device will be the center of connection, funnier actions than just turning on and off powers can be performed. For example, while you are playing war games with explosions and gunfire effects in your Android device, lights at your home flickering with gunfire. With Google developers’ imaginations and innovations, greater home automation developments are expected.

Official YouTube video for “Google I/O 2011” – “Android@ home”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxzucwjFEEs&feature=c%C2%ADhannel_video_title