A Japanese company is making 34 employees redundant in order to replace them with IBM’s Watson Explorer AI. Human workers at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance are set to be replaced by an artificial intelligence that can calculate payouts to policyholders.
Continue reading… “Japanese company replaces workers with AI”
One of the most stressful questions a new parent confronts is, “Who’s going to take care of my baby when I go back to work?” Figuring out the answer to that question is often not easy. When NPR, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, surveyed more than 1,000 parents nationwide about their child care experiences, a third reported difficulty finding care.
Continue reading… “Child care shortage has real consequences for working families”
To the 78 organs that make up the human body, a group of scientists says we should add one more: the mesentery. Located in our abdominal cavity, the mesentery is a belt of tissue that holds our intestines in place. While anatomists knew it was there, it was always thought to be composed of several different segments, as opposed to being one single structure. This knocked it out of contention for organ status, as our bodily organs must be continuous, as well as provide some vital function to our anatomy.
Continue reading… “The human body’s 79th organ?”
BMW unveiled a concept for the interior of driverless cars on Wednesday at a press conference in Las Vegas at CES. The concept, dubbed the BMWi Inside Future, showcases how BMW envisions its autonomous vehicles may look when they start to hit the market. The interior concept is centered on connectivity and includes a panoramic display that can be operated just like a touchscreen — except physical contact isn’t necessary.
Continue reading… “BMW unveils futuristic concept for the interior of its driverless cars”
The virtual currency has continued its breathtaking rise surging past $1,000, after already winning the crown of the best-performing currency in 2016 by more than doubling its value in the course of the year.
Continue reading… “Bitcoin is the best-performing currency”
Remember the guy we featured a few months ago who 3D printed a functional scale model of a Subaru EJ20 flat-four? Well, he’s got another creation, and this one’s even better. It’s a replica of the LS3 V8 found in the last-gen Chevrolet Camaro, and aside from a few fasteners and bearings, it’s entirely 3D printed.
Continue reading… “3D-Printed V8 engine works just like the real thing”
China is planning some serious upgrades to its public transportation system in the next few years. By 2020, the country hopes to have increased its high-speed railway coverage by 18,650 miles. The project will cost an estimated 3.5 trillion yuan, or about $503 billion USD. Not only will the population be more mobile, but the rails will significantly cut down on carbon emissions and air pollution.
Continue reading… “China spends over $500 billion to expand high-speed rail”
Over the last several decades, the digital revolution has changed nearly every aspect of our lives. The pace of progress in computers has been accelerating, and today, computers and networks are in nearly every industry and home across the world.
Continue reading… “Ray Kurzweil’s three technologies that will define our future”
A few months ago The Washington Post reported that Facebook collects 98 data points on each of its nearly 2 billion users. Among this 98 are ethnicity, income, net worth, home value, if you are a mother, if you are a soccer mom, if you are married, the number of lines of credit you have, if you are interested in Ramadan, when you bought your car, and on and on and on.
Continue reading… “The danger behind the algorithm economy”
For modern families, the adage “food is love” might well be more true put another way: food is power. Not long ago, Dr. Leonard Sax was at a restaurant and overheard a father say to his daughter, “Honey, could you please do me a favour? Could you please just try one bite of your green peas?” To many people, this would have sounded like decent or maybe even sophisticated parenting—gentle coaxing formed as a question to get the child to co-operate without threatening her autonomy or creating a scene.
Continue reading… “The collapse of parenting and why parents need to grow up”
Shay Howe and Darby Frey believe the path to better management starts with a question. Howe, former VP of product at Belly, and Frey, former head of engineering at Belly (both recently left Belly for new, undisclosed jobs starting in 2017) just launched Lead Honestly, a weekly email product that sends managers five questions, and one management tip, per week. The service is aimed at creating better communication and trust between managers and employees, particularly as employees transition into leadership roles, which require a new skillset that can be tough to learn on the job.
Continue reading… “Five questions to help you become a better manager”
There may be no industry better suited for the IoT than agriculture, because every farm varies just a little from its next-door neighbor. Soil fertility, elevation, ground slope, moisture content — the list goes on and on — all make a difference. If you could collect data on all that stuff, it might make the difference between getting a bumper crop or an average crop out of your fields. Not surprisingly, the big agriculture companies all smell opportunity in the wind. That’s why….
Continue reading… “A glimpse into farming IoT”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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