The big online companies are calling for urgent reforms to protect us from having data intercepted.
Over a few weeks’ worth of bedtimes in the summer of 1984, my dad read me Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Though the dystopian context would have been lost on nine-year old me, the pervasive malevolence and the futility of the struggle was not.
Continue reading… “Our best defenders against Big Brother may be Google and Facebook”
Exercise during pregnancy alters the fetal brain.
According to new research, moderate exercise during pregnancy may boost your baby’s brain development. The research involving 18 moms-to-be and their babies found that “at 10 days, the children have a more mature brain when their mothers exercised during the pregnancy,” said study researcher Elise Labonte-LeMoyne, a Ph.D. candidate in kinesiology at the University of Montreal.
Continue reading… “Exercise during pregnancy may improve baby’s brain development”
China’s leading e-commerce marketplace.
Taobao, China’s leading e-commerce marketplace, racked up RMB 1 billion ($164 million) in mobile purchases from over 14 million user accounts one hour into China’s annual Single’s Day shopping blitz,
Amazon.com is partnering with the U.S. Postal Service to begin Sunday delivery, initially in NY and LA.
On Monday, the online megastore, Amazon announced a deal with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages on Sundays. Amazon said the first Sunday deliveries would be made this coming weekend.
Continue reading… “Amazon partners with USPS to begin seven-day delivery”
Whenever presented with a theory like Carl Jung’s theory of personality types (which Myers and Briggs formalized into a personality test) it’s important to remember that you are in possession of a unique set of neurons whose synapses fire in unique patterns that cannot easily be slotted into one of sixteen “types” from which one can draw conclusions about your destiny. (Infographic)
Continue reading… “How much money do people with your personality make?”
Would the world be a better place if Adolph Hitler never existed?
While many people will argue over who exactly was the worst of the worst, with names like Pol Pot, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, Ivan the Terrible, Genghis Khan, Nero, Osama bin Laden, Attila the Hun, and Hirohito entering the conversation, it’s easy to attribute a face to the evil we all despise.
Continue reading… “Optimizing Evil”
Neal Stephenson launched the Hieroglyph project to rally writers to infuse science fiction with optimism.
When you think of recent films such as The Road and TV series like “The Walking Dead,” today’s science fiction, Neal Stephenson argues, is a fixated on nihilism and apocalyptic scenarios. Gone are the hopeful visions prevalent in the mid-20th century. According to Stephenson, author of modern sci-fi classics such as Snow Crash, that’s a problem. He fears that no one will be inspired to build the next great space vessel or find a way to completely end dependence on fossil fuels when our stories about the future promise a shattered world.
Continue reading… “Why are science fiction writers so pessimistic?”
There will be significant growth for jobs that require a college education and occupations in health care, energy and technology.
The jobs market for the future currently looks bleak. The unemployment rate has been stuck above 7 percent since December 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And as futurist Thomas Frey recently told AOL Jobs, half of all the jobs in existence today will no longer be around by 2030.
Continue reading… “Top 19 fastest growing occupations”
“I don’t know of any astronauts who think we’re alone in the universe,” Chris Hadfield.
Chris Hadfield is a reasonable man. He is a former astronaut, former commander of the International Space Station, and a social media superstar.
Continue reading… “Do astronauts believe aliens exist?”
Halo
Smartphone thefts are on the rise in cities. It was only a matter of time until someone decided to bring the concept of a car alarm to your iPhone. (Video)
Continue reading… “Halo – an intriguing new iPhone security gadget that implements a loud alarm”
The world’s first ever permanent bitcoin ATM.
The first Bitcoin ATM in North America made a lot of hoopla when it went live in a Vancouver coffee shop last week. The ATM trades cash for Bitcoins. How many people actually used it? Here are some of the numbers:
Continue reading… “World’s first bitcoin ATM gets 348 transactions in first 8 days”
When Curalate, a visual analytics platform, set out to quantify the impact that different image qualities have on Instagram, it discovered that photos with blue as the main color got the most likes. Reds and oranges on the other hand tended to receive 24 percent less likes than blue-tinted shots. (Infographic)
Continue reading… “Instagram photos that are mostly blue get more likes: Study”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.