Nielsen, a marketing and advertising research company incorporated the latest census figures into its estimates of the prevalence of televisions in the United States. Highlights from the report include:

• The percentage of households with a television dropped from 98.9% to 96.7%.
• Reasons for the decline include changes in broadcast technology and the cost of owning a television.
• The report notes that while the number of televisions has fallen, in absolute terms Americans are consuming more forms of media through platforms other than the TV, such as the internet.

Read the entire report here and find out the wider historical context of the numbers.

Source: NielsenWire

Via: Marginal Revolution

Slate notes that there have been a number of famous figures who have recently died soon after they retired. Can retiring kill you? Slate reports:

• Studies suggest that it’s possible that those who retire early are likelier to die early. However it’s difficult to be sure because a lot of people who retire early often do so for health reasons.
• If the relationship does exist then it’s speculated that this is because the everyday routine of getting up and going to work keeps you both physically and mentally fit. Losing that daily routine can hasten your mortality.
• It’s also possible that people lose the will to live after they retire.

Read about some of the more notable people that have recently died post-retirement as well as some of the other issues that might be involved over here.

Source: Slate

The New York Times points out that the way that researchers publish and share their work was made for a different century. In a fascinating article they note:

• The existing process is slow and expensive. Peer review can take a long time and subscriptions costs are too high for the average consumer. It also puts a lot of power in the hands of a very small number of people.
• “Open Science” instead leverages the qualities of the internet to create open access archives and journals. Some examples include: arXiv, PLoS, and GalaxyZoo.
• Proponents of the new model note that the old system encourages scientists to compete with each other, while their system allows them to collaboratively work with each other and to compete with Lindsay Lohan – for competition on people’s screens.
• The journals respond that they would love to be free and open. But they charge money for a reason: They hire editors, publishers, and expend significant resources fact checking, reviewing and fighting against plagiarism.

To read more about some of the most fascinating initiatives in the field of open science click here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Freakonomics

The New York Times reported on Luxury Hospitals that cater exclusively to the super rich. Some of the fascinating points made in the article include:

• Luxuries in these hospital ‘rooms’ include a personal butler, a decadent menu (that includes things such as Gelato Ice Cream), linen designed for royalty, marble bathrooms, and, panoramic windows.
• Such hotel suites can cost anywhere between $1000 to $2400+ a day. Foreigners may be charged an additional $4,500 per day. One such luxury hospital estimates that 30% of their clients come from abroad.
• The profits can be lucrative. One hospital owner estimated that the luxury wing brings in $3.5 million a year.

To read about the Saudi King who needed even more than these ‘standard’ luxuries as well as some of the celebrities that have benefited from such facilities, click here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Salon

Whole Foods, a chain of stores that for years was plagued with the reputation of selling food that was too expensive for the common man, has been attempting to change its image. The effort has been successful with the company that was in dire financial straits just a few years ago now seeing its stock price rise 38%. MarketWatch reports some of the reasons behind the success:

• The co-CEOs have played a significant role in driving the company forwards. Their successes made them finalists for MarketWatch’s CEO of the year award. Their views on executive pay mean that no employee can receive a base salary that is more than 19 times the average salary.
• The company has a philosophy that involves organic, healthy, chemical and pesticide free products produced in an environmentally friendly way. This philosophy resonates with the 18-30 age group that have a lot of disposable income and have driven sales forward.
• The chain has also become more price conscious and has expanded its in-house brand called 365.
• Whole Foods has also experimented with innovative promotions. They include in-store “value gurus” that help shoppers find personalized bargains, “madness sales” on certain products, and “Fridays Five After Five” that offered food and wine samples for $5.

To read more about some of the grovery chain’s most successful practices click here.

Source: MarketWatch

Via: Freakonomics

The Economist took a look at why analysts predict that the United States will import just 36% of its liquid fuel by 2035, compared with the 60% that had to be imported in 2005. Highlights of the artcle include:

• The reduction in the reliance on foreigners is due, in part, to a fall in American consumption of liquid fuel. By 2035 daily liquid fuel consumption is forecasted to be below its 2005 peak.
• American consumption of liquid fuel is falling due to the post-economic crisis pace of the economy, and the high price of oil, creating an economic force that encourages conservation and substitution.
• America’s production of oil has also expanded.

To read more about the dynamics of the market for liquid fuel in the United States and abroad click here.

Source: The Economist

Researchers decide to find out if the cultural stereotype of people becoming more conservative as they aged was accurate. Their findings were surprising:

• As people age they seem to become slightly more liberal because they become more accepting and understanding.
• However this is not uniformly seen across all beliefs. People seem to become more liberal about things such as minority groups, but more conservative about civil liberties as they age.
• The era that one came of age in appears to define one’s political views, more than just age itself.

Read about some of the limitations of the study as well as the cultural biases that led to the perception of the old as growing more conservative over here.

Source: DiscoveryNews

Via: Marginal Revolution

The New York Times recently wrote an article that examined the reasons why Apple chose not to locate production of the iPhone in the United States. They found that:

• Contrary to popular perception companies have not outsourced to countries such as China because labour is cheaper. The price of labour is a small fraction in the overall cost of a product. Apple, for example, would have to pay just $65 more if it wanted to produce the iPhone in the United States, and this wouldn’t significantly hurt the hundreds of dollars that Apple makes from each phone. However the United States is unable to offer:
  • Speed – the report notes an incident where Apple revamped the screen of its device in the last minute before launch. The Chinese factory building the devices awakened 8000 workers that lived within dormitories on company property, gave them a biscuit and a cup of tea, and within the hour had them start full day 12 hour shifts.
  • Flexibility – Chinese workers are willing to live on corporate grounds and come in on weekends or work long nights.
  • Scale – the 8,700 industrial engineers that would be necessary to produce the iPhone would take 9 months to find in the United States. In China it took just 15 days.
• Apple notes that while the iPhones aren’t manufactured in the United States, the advent of the popular mobile phone has created jobs in other areas including:
  • Cellular providers
  • App software developers
  • Marketing Campaigns for the devices
  • Shipping services such as FedEx and UPS that deliver Apple Products

Read the entire 7 page report on Apple’s decision to outsource the iPhone’s manufacturing to China and what this means for manufacturing in the United States over here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution