Brand-name drug prices rise sharply while generic drug prices plummet.
Brand-name prescription drug prices are rising faster than the rate of inflation, while the price of generic drugs has plummeted, creating the largest gap so far between the two,according to a report published Wednesday by the pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts.
Continue reading… “Price of brand-name drugs rises sharply”
Much of what we believe to be factual has an expiration date.
In primary school you learned that there were nine planets in the solar system. There weren’t any that were known to exist outside of it. Since then, astronomers have spotted over 800 planets around other stars (and thousands more “candidates”) and demoted Pluto to a mere “dwarf planet”. Even a cursory glance at other fields reveals similar patterns.
Continue reading… “Samuel Arbesman explains ‘The Half-life of Facts’”
Kim Jung-un, ruler of North Korea
On Wednesday, the People’s Daily online deleted a story and 55-photo slide show that named Kim Jong-un, the young, chubby ruler of North Korea, as the “Sexiest Man Alive of 2012.”
Continue reading… “North Korea leader is no longer the ‘Sexiest Man Alive of 2012’”
TV remains top tops for influencing purchase decisions.
Most consumer commerce transactions still take place offline, in physical stores, yet ecommerce makes deeper inroads every year. Similarly, the majority of online purchases still occur on the desktop, but smartphone and tablet commerce are assuming greater prominence.
Continue reading… “TV remains the greatest influence on purchase decisions”
A manifesto on the future of news published by Columbia University’s center for digital journalism argues that the news industry as we know it no longer exists.
Over the past few years there has been a lot written about the future of the news industry. They have written about how the rise of the web and social media have disrupted it, and how traditional players and others can recover from this disruption and repair their business models by using things like paywalls. But the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University says that trying to figure out how to repair or rebuild the news industry is a waste of time: the paper’s authors argue that there is no such thing as the “news industry” any more, in any realistic sense, and the sooner both new and existing players get used to that idea the better off everyone will be.
Continue reading… “How can post-industrial journalism adapt to the new realities of news?”
Companies that had collected unstructured data (texts, emails, reports, and so on), but had no idea about what to do once it was stored.
Even though Big Data is all the rage it’s rare that you’ll hear real case-studies from companies that are storing, processing and analyzing vast stores of data.
Continue reading… “Companies store data but have no idea what to do with it once it’s stored”
Black Friday still reigns supreme on mobile devices.
When it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it looks like Black Friday still reigns supreme on mobile devices. According to data compiled by the mobile data compression company Onavo, when it comes to increases in usage, mobile apps from Amazon, Newegg, and Gilt all saw significantly higher gains on Black Friday compared to Cyber Monday.
Continue reading… “Mobile shopping on Black Friday saw higher gains compared to Cyber Monday”
According to this Gallup poll, 25 percent of Americans are still “seriously trying to lose weight.”
A recent Gallup poll asked Americans about their dieting habits and what they consider an ideal weight. Sixty percent of Americans say that their weight is about right. This is good news considering research like that of Peter Muennig from Columbia University found that women who were concerned about their weight had more mental and physical illnesses than those who were happy with their size, regardless of their weight. As it turns out, people don’t take care of things they hate, and that includes their bodies. So more people liking their bodies means more people who believe those bodies are worthy of care.
Continue reading… “Sixty percent of Americans happy with their weight: Denial or acceptance?”
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit Total, consumer debt in the U.S. fell again in the third quarter. This figure has been falling for four years. As consumer debt has been falling, so have consumers’ delinquency rates. As of Sept. 30, 8.9 percent of outstanding household debt was in some stage of delinquency, with 6.6 percent at least 90 days late.
Continue reading… “Student loan debt growing and so is the delinquency rate”
The new PlayMaker school in Los Angeles is using gaming technology to teach curriculum.
Maybe play isn’t the opposite of work but synonymous with it. There is a growing body of scientific evidence, reviewed here by the University of Georgia, showing education is not the same as disinterested drudgery: For children and adults, “play is an important mediator for learning and socialization throughout life.”
Continue reading… “New movement in the classroom to put play back in education”
Google’s driverless car
California, Florida, and Nevada have made Google’s driverless cars street-legal and some day similar devices may not just be possible but mandatory. Some day automated vehicles will be able to drive better, and more safely than you can; no drinking, no distraction, better reflexes, and better awareness (via networking) of other vehicles. Within twenty to thirty years the difference between automated driving and human driving will be so great you may not be legally allowed to drive your own car, and even if you are allowed, it would be immoral of you to drive, because the risk of you hurting yourself or another person will be far greater than if you allowed a machine to do the work.
Racks of networking equipment connect servers inside a Google data center
In a new research exercise known as the Daily Information Needs Study, Google wants to improve its mobile search services by automatically delivering information you wouldn’t think to search for online.
Continue reading… “Google to improve its mobile search services by searching the ungoogleable”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.