2013 – Page 66 – Impact Lab

Analysis, Business, Internet, Science & Technology News

Second Life officially turns 10 years old

June 27, 2013

Second Life provides startups with a few hard but valuable lessons on the realities of creating products and building audiences.

The once-trendy virtual world Second Life officially turns 10 years old this week. It’s been years since its initial hype wave. Many technorati thought it would be as important to the internet as Facebook itself and many may even be surprised that SL still exists. In fact, the pioneering VR world is both profitable and maintains a relatively large userbase for a 3D online world.

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Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

First ever surgery performed by doctor wearing Google Glass

June 26, 2013

Dr. Rafael Grossmann

At Eastern Maine Medical Center, Dr. Rafael Grossmann recently performed his first Google surgery with Google Glass in tow. It may be the first such Google Glass-equipped surgery in the device’s history – complete with a corresponding Google Glass Hangout (which wasn’t open to the public, for those looking to tune in to a live surgery when the thrill of a YouTube video just isn’t enough anymore).

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Analysis, Globalism, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

How IT is transforming the world

June 27, 2013

IT is transforming the world.

The many forces reshaping the way we work and live these days all have one thing in common: They are all the result of the transformative effect of IT. Such forces of change have recently been documented by Michael Chui and a team of co-authors from McKinsey Global Institute, who point to the way IT is transforming the world. They also say some good things about the DaVinci Coders program.

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Analysis, Globalism, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

U.S. will be pushed toward exascale with the fear of thinking war machines

June 27, 2013

An exascale computer operates at 1,000 petaflop.

This week’s discussion at a congressional forum was on China retaking the global supercomputing crown on cognitive computing, Computerworld reports. Unlike China and Europe, the U.S. has yet to adopt and fund an exascale development program.

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Analysis, Business, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Top 7 predictions for future healthcare technology

June 26, 2013

The opportunities at the intersection of health and technology will enable humanity to create health and wealth on a global scale.

Innovative technologies are going to transform healthcare in the future. They will change how we give and receive care and, ultimately, make the world a happier and healthier place to live. Here are seven predictions about where healthcare is headed:

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Alternative Transportation, Analysis, Science & Technology News

Self-driving cars are right around the corner (Infographic)

June 26, 2013

Self-driving cars aren’t that far off in the future.

The explosion of innovation is expected to get even more profound in the the years to come as the technology inside cars accelerates. Check out the infographic after the break that shows the near-future of car tech, revealing what might happen in the next five years.

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Ecological Products, Famous Inventor, Great New Product, Green Friendly, Hot Issues, New Discoveries, Wind Power

Introducing the Virtual Battery

June 25, 2013

Phil Watts conducting an experiment

Working day and night in his backyard workshop, energy pioneer Phil Watts has developed a significant number of breakthrough power technologies, but none quite as significant as the “virtual battery.”

The Virtual Battery Hybrid is an aggregation of 4 technologies; Thermoelectric power generation, solar thermal, ground loops and Nanofluid heat transfer fluid. This technology is currently part of the Colorado Innovation Challenge where people can vote on their favorite energy technology.

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Analysis, Big Problems, Business, government, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Berners-Lee warns that governments and companies are ‘trying to take control’ of the internet

June 25, 2013

Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, says the internet is facing a “major” threat from “people who want to control it on the sly” through “worrying laws” such as SOPA, the US anti-piracy act, and through the actions of internet giants.

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Analysis, Business, Entertainment, Music

What music should you listen to at work? (Infographic)

June 25, 2013

What music works best with your particular job?

What music you listen to at home may depend on your mood, what you’re doing, what you’re planning to do and who you’re with. When you listen to music at work, you should also take into account what you do for a living. (Infographic)

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Analysis, Nanotechnology, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

How to cram 1,000 terabytes onto a single DVD

June 25, 2013

Researchers have developed a technique using nanotechnology to increase the data storage capacity of a DVD from a measly 4.7GB to 1,000TB.

The 4.7 GB DVDs have slowly started to fade into obscurity thanks to Blu-ray. But is it going to make a comeback? Three Chinese scientists have discovered a breakthrough process that could, at least in theory, allow a DVD to store a whopping 1,000 TB—or a full petabyte—of data. Suck on that, Blu-ray.

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Analysis, Globalism, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The size of it: How the population of the world has changed

June 25, 2013

World population will grow from 7.2 billion people today to 9.6 billion in 2050.

In 1950, the world looked very different from how it does today. Europe was home to 22% of the world’s 2.5 billion people. Germany, Britain, Italy and France all counted among the 12 most populous countries. But strong economic growth in Asia coupled with high fertility rates in Africa have contributed to a big regional shift in the global population. The UN’s latest World Population Prospects expects the world to grow from 7.2 billion people today to 9.6 billion in 2050.(Chart)

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Analysis, Historical Perspectives, Science & Technology News, Space

Buzz Aldrin wants a manned mission to Mars within 25 years

June 25, 2013

Buzz Aldrin was the second person to walk on the Moon in 1969.

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969, it appeared as though mankind was on the verge of a new age of space exploration. After all, if the moon could be conquered, what could prevent us traveling to other planets, even to other solar systems?

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