Geek sledding!
Quote of the Day: “A Harvard Medical School study has determined that rectal thermometers are still the best way to tell a baby’s temperature. Plus, it really teaches the baby who’s boss.” – Tina Fey
Continue reading… “Top 10 Photos of the Week”
The enchanted era of geographic gaffes is coming to an end.
Tens of millions of iPhone users last week found that they could suddenly leave their homes again without getting either lost or cross. Google was finally able to release an app containing its own mapping system. Google Maps had been sorely missed for several months, ever since Apple booted it in favor of the company’s own inadequate alternative—a cartographic dud blamed for everything from deleting Shakespeare’s birthplace to stranding Australian travelers in a desolate national park 43 miles away from their actual destination. As one Twitter wag declared: “I wouldn’t trade my Apple Maps for all the tea in Cuba.”
Continue reading… “The end of the paper map”
Data scientists serve as the gatekeepers and mediators between the systems and the domain experts.
There are many articles today about how big data in the U.S. is suffering from a crucial shortage of data scientists. The 2011 McKinsey & Co. survey pointed out that many organizations lack both the skilled personnel needed to mine big data for insights and the structures and incentives required to use big data to make informed decisions and act on them.
Continue reading… “If big data was easier to use we wouldn’t need more data scientists”
15 metropolitan areas have accounted for 41% of all U.S. electric vehicle registrations through the first 10 months of 2012.
The mix of new hybrid and electric vehicles varies as much among the different regions of the United States as does the mix of makes and models, if not more so. The 15 Designated Market Areas (DMAs) with the highest percentage of hybrid powertrains together account for almost 30% of all hybrid registrations nationally, yet these same 15 markets include just 12.5% of all new vehicle registrations. Nine of these 15 hybrid-rich areas have a hybrid penetration greater than 6%, while the national penetration is 2.97%. In San Francisco, the market area with the highest hybrid mix, almost one of every 10 new vehicles sold is a hybrid.
QuadCopter
War isn’t the only thing drones can be used for. Companies like FedEx are counting the days until drones are admitted to standard US airspace. The FAA will officially allow it starting in 2015, but the drones cannot fly higher than 400 feet above the ground and must be at least five miles away from any airport.
Continue reading… “Personal drones are coming”
About 112,000 natural-gas powered vehicles are now on U.S. roads.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. said it is working with General Electric Co GE and Whirlpool Corp. to develop a $500 appliance that will allow natural-gas powered cars to be refueled at their owners’ homes.
Continue reading… “Energy company developing home refueling appliance for natural-gas cars”
There are more cellphone users in Africa than in North America.
When you are a developing continent you can skip entire stages of technological progress, like going directly from no phones to cellphones without suffering through land lines in between. Africa, for example, now has more mobile subscribers than the United States or Europe, and that means big things for African economies.
Continue reading… “Africa has more cellphone users than all of North America”
Cody Wilson develops software that would allow anyone with the funding to easily build a gun from the comfort of their own home.
There used to be an order to the world and a structure to things. You couldn’t print a gun like a term paper. It was impossible to wreck a nuclear production plant with a few lines of code. Flying robots didn’t descend on you in the dead of night and kill you in your home.
Continue reading… “Top 15 most dangerous people in the world”
The Legged Squad Support System, or AlphaDog.
The robotic “pack mule” from DARPA and Boston Dynamics, the AlphaDog, has markedly improved capabilities since the prototype was introduced in October 2011. Then, the machine—intended to carry up to 400 pounds over rough terrain, while also serving as a power source for troops—was stuck on an inside track, connected to heavy cables. In this latest video from DARPA, filmed recently in central Virginia, it marches through the forest, responds to about 10 verbal commands, and follows its leader closely. Rough terrain like ditches isn’t a problem for the hearty man-made beast, and when it rolls down a hill, it recovers smoothly. On flat land, its trot is impressive, too. (video)
We now have real data to accompany all the anecdotal stories about the ongoing “Series A crunch” for tech startups. CB Insights, a venture capital analysis firm, has released a new seed financing report that digs into some real numbers about the situation.
Continue reading… “More that 1,000 startups are destined to be abandoned at the Series A stage”
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/53588182[/vimeo]
There are currently over 1.5 billion people in the World who have no reliable access to mains electricity. These people rely, instead, on biomass fuels (mostly kerosene) for lighting once the sun goes down. GravityLight is a sustainable lighting solution powered by gravity. (Pics)
Continue reading… “The $5 lamp that is powered solely by gravity”
The study finds that 0.5% of global data is analyzed, and just half of data requiring security measures is protected.
In 2012, the global data supply reached 2.8 zettabytes (ZB) – or 2.8 trillion GB – but just 0.5% of this is used for analysis, according to the Digital Universe Study.
Continue reading… “Less than 1% of the world’s data is analyzed, over 80% is unprotected: Study”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.