If you have a few hundred gigabytes of data that you want to send then it’s faster to have FedEx come pick it up rather than trying to transfer it over the internet writes Randall Munroe. When will the internet finally exceed FedEx’s prowess?

• Total internet traffic is currently around 167 terabits per second.
• FedEx can deliver about 26.5 million pounds a day.
• If you were to store data on MicroSD cards then FedEx could transfer about 177 petabits per second – a thousand times more than the internet.
• Based on current growth rates of the internet, the internet’s bandwidth will surpass that of FedEx by 2040.
• However that assumes that we won’t invent an even lighter form of storage than the MicroSD card. When we do FexEx could ship that instead to get even higher throughput rates.
• In fact, because transfer and storage are so deeply linked it is unlikely that transfer over the internet will ever beat the physical shipping of data.

Read Munroe’s entire fascinating and humorous explanation over here.

Source: What If?

Back in 2010 Glenn Derene compared UPS, FedEx and USPS to see which delivery company was the most careful with packages:

• Packages sent by FedEx suffered the most drops while those sent by USPS faced the least.
• Across all carriers marking a package as ‘fragile’ led to rougher treatment of the box.
• A USPS package deals with an average temperature change of 32 (presumably Fahrenheit) degrees. A FedEx package is exposed to temperature changes of 26 degrees.

Click here to read the comments of the three shipping companies, graphs that illustrate the conditions that the packages experienced and more.

Source: Popular Mechanics

A little under a year ago Patrick Radden Keefe wrote an in depth piece about the operations of drug cartels. A few of the very many highlights include:

• Custom built submarines, FedEx, and air conditioned trolley tunnels are all ways that narcotics make their way into the United States.
• Some arrested drug traffickers demand a receipt from the authorities for the drugs that were taken from them so that they can prove to their masters that they didn’t steal or consume the drugs.
• It’s even possible to buy insurance policies that protect against seizure.
• Other sophisticated financial products include lines of credit given to drug retailers who can’t afford to pay for the upfront cost of the product.
• While drug cartels don’t pay taxes the amount that they have to pay in bribes is likely equal to that of the corporate tax rate in Mexico.
• These bribes mean that even when they are arrested traffickers live cushy lives. One prisoner ordered his meals from a menu, had prostitutes delivered to him, and managed his drug affairs with a cell phone while in prison.
• Many of those who are a part of the drug organizations are also members of the police. They conduct their business in their police uniforms – sometimes even openly killing people.
• In contrast, when (honest) officers make a drug bust, they make sure to cover their face before appearing in front of cameras to ensure that their families aren’t targeted. Thus the cops dress like thieves while the thieves dress like cops.
• Getting drugs into the United States is only half the battle. The other half is exporting the cash back out of it and into the pockets of the cartels.
• And there is a lot of cash. A kilo of drugs that is bought for $2,000 can retail for up to $100,000 in the United States.

Read more about how marriages are used to ensure loyalty, the Mexican cities where every cab-driver is on the payroll, where the cartels invest their money, and much, much more over here.

Source: The New York Times

It turns out that Google and Apple aren’t the only options when it comes to mapping. In fact, the best mapping company in the world might actually be Nokia. Alexis Madrigal reported:

• While Google may use Street View cars to collect data, they have “only” travelled about 5 million miles. Nokia collects data from FedEx trucks that travel 3.3 billion miles a year, creating maps that are far more accurate.
• Traffic information is also collected from these vehicles, meaning that Nokia’s traffic information is accurate and comprehensive.
• Nokia is also more aware than other companies about how frequently maps change. New roads are built, old rules are updated, and for this reason Nokia has to update anywhere between 6% of its network for developed cities to 85% of it in developing cities in an effort to remain current.
• Nokia maps also learn about your habits over time and use that tailor a mapping experience relevant specifically to you.

See a visualization of how Nokia’s maps are developed, its equivalent of the Street View car, the people who drive them, and what the future of maps will ultimately look like over here.

Source: The Atlantic

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