How we pay taxes.
Taxes are complicated. There are a lot of numbers involved. But that’s where graphs help answer the biggest questions: Where do our tax dollars come from? Where do they go? Who pays how much? How has it changed over time?
Continue reading… “14 charts that show how we pay taxes”
What does “I’m busy” really mean?
Janet Choi, CCO of iDone This, writes on her company blog, “going on about how busy you are isn’t conversation and doesn’t lead anywhere except making your conversation partner bored, or worse, peeved.”
Continue reading… “Is busy the new lazy?”
Minister Marco Antonio Raupp releases the Start-up Brazil program.
The government in Brazil is offering foreign companies visas and funding to relocate to South America. Startup Brasil is a new program offering up to $78 million in investment for domestic and foreign high-tech companies. Firms that participate would have to relocate to Brazil and hire local employees; disbursement of funds would take place through a series of government-subsidized accelerators concentrated in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. One of the participating accelerators, 21212, also has a New York office.
Continue reading… “Startup Brasil – Brazil offers foreign startups visas and funding”
MOOCs – massive open online courses
One of the world’s oldest, largest, and best business schools is the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They have 11 academic departments, 20 research centers, 230 standing faculty, and an endowment nearing $1 billion. With all those resource, it has produced 92,000 living alumni.
Continue reading… “A view into the digital world of MOOCs”
A prototype Samsung Windows smartphone.
The next big revolution in electronics are gadgets you can simply fold up to put in your pocket. We have already gotten a glimpse of the technology from manufacturers with Samsung showing off a ‘foldable’ phone.
Continue reading… “Manufacturers to reveal first ‘bendable’ gadgets that will never break”
Laboratory grown rat kidney.
Scientists in the the U.S. say the have “grown” a kidney in the laboratory and it has been transplanted into animals where it started to produce urine. Similar techniques to make simple body parts have already been used in patients, but the kidney is one of the most complicated organs made so far.
Continue reading… “Scientists grow kidney in the laboratory”
Warning of mini-drones’ potential as a terrorist weapon.
Eric Schmidt, the influential head of Google, has called for civilian drone technology to be regulated, warning about privacy and security concerns. He told the UK’s Guardian newspaper that cheap miniature versions of the unmanned aircraft used by the military could fall into the wrong hands.
Continue reading… “Eric Schmidt urges action to regulate mini-drones”
If kids are learning math, they should also learn logic.
These days learn-to-code startups abound. There is one in particular that is focusing on the very young and is having some success in elementary schoolsaround the country — even under served schools with no budgets for STEM but a great need for better tools.
Continue reading… “Why your kids should be coding”
SolarCopter
A team of masters students from the U.K. have built what they call the world’s first “solar copter.” It is a quadrotor that flies solely on solar power. It is only capable of short flights at the moment. But once the team adds a storage system they say it should fly longer. (Video)
Continue reading… “SolarCopter – world’s first solar powered helicopter”
The online education movement is transforming physical colleges at a fast pace.
The California State University system is the largest university system in America and they are aggressively expanding its experimental foray into Massive Online Open Learning (MOOCs), based on an unusually promising pilot course. They will offer a special “flipped” version of an electrical engineering course at 11 more universities, where students watch online lectures from Harvard and MIT at home, while class time is devoted to hands-on problem solving. A San Jose State University pilot found that the flipped class increased pass rates a whopping 46%, which university President Mohammad Qayoumi believes is enough to move full-steam ahead.
Continue reading… “California universities are aggressively expanding online courses”
Americans enjoy diving into a good book, but more and more of them prefer the digital version.
Ebook sales made up 22.5 percent of the publishing industry’s net revenue last year, according to a new survey from the Association of American Publishers. That’s up from just 0.05 percent 10 years prior, when the AAP first began keeping track of ebook sales, and up from 16.98 percent in 2011. The categories that saw the biggest increase in ebook revenues included adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and religious books. Even more encouraging, the overall net revenue for the US publishing industry was $7.1 billion, up 6.2 percent from 2011.
Continue reading… “eBooks account for nearly 23% of all U.S. publishing revenue”
The arguments in favor of self-driving cars are many: computer-sorted traffic could yield higher maximum speeds and optimized drive times (sayonara “stop and go,” hello increased fuel efficiency!), the option to drive whether you’ve had too much to drink or not and driverless valet park anywhere you go (as well as make better use of parking space — no more sloppy two-for-one parking jobs). Imagine your vehicle driving itself off to a maintenance facility without your assistance, returning home on its own, or the option to be as distracted as you like while your vehicle’s escorting you around, from texting to watching a video to catching up on your notes for a morning work meeting. (Infographic)
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.