Students in Shanghai ranked as the world’s best.
The OECD is out with new global rankings of how students in various countries do in reading, science, and math. You can see below how Asian countries are obliterating everyone else in these categories.
Continue reading… “U.S. students rank below global average in math, reading, and science”
Face-reading technology raises many questions about privacy and surveillance.
Private emotions are often revealed in tiny, fleeting facial expressions, visible only to a best friend — or to a skilled poker player. Now, computer software is using frame-by-frame video analysis to read subtle muscular changes that flash across our faces in milliseconds, signaling emotions like happiness, sadness and disgust.
Continue reading… “When algorithms grow accustomed to your face”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Every time I delete spam from my inbox, I feel a tiny piece of my life flitter away.
Sitting needlessly at stoplights, or watching the minutes tick away as I wait in some line, or being forced to fill out yet another form, our precious time is being coopted by everyone from inconsiderate businesses, to overbearing government, to painful security checks at the airport.
Continue reading… “When Wasting Time becomes a Crime”
Only 1% of orders on shopping sites came from people who visited a social network immediately before.
Online sales on Black Friday hit another record this year. Social media only played a relatively small role — at least when measured directly, according to the latest data from IBM.
Continue reading… “Only 1% of online Black Friday sales were driven by social media”
Sebastian Thrun
Sebastian Thrun, founder of Udacity, captivated the world with visions of self-driving cars and Google Glass and has signed up 16 million students for online classes. So why is he pivoting away from MOOC’s? Thrun says, “We don’t educate people as others wished, or as I wished.”
Continue reading… “Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun: MOOC’s not effective for undergraduate education”
Helium is a highly necessary commodity in the modern world.
Almost everyday we are told about the unsustainable pressure we’re putting on our natural resources. And while it prompts visions of oil, fresh water, and coal, you’d be surprised at how many of our creature comfort commodities are dwindling just as quickly.
Continue reading… “7 things you didn’t know the world was running out of”
U.S. comes in 31st place on internet speed.
How fast we can access the internet is very important. There is evidence that internet bandwidth is a key driver of economic growth and online participation, and there is plenty of other research to point to its role in social value creation.
Continue reading… “Global comparison of household internet speeds”
It has been well documented that smokers make less money than nonsmokers, but it’s less widely known that former smokers earn a 7% wage premium over people who have never smoked, according to an analysis of nearly two decades of U.S. data by Julie L. Hotchkiss of Georgia State University and M. Melinda Pitts of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Continue reading… “Ex-smokers earn more than those who have never smoked”
Number 1 on the list – San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA.
Do you want to make more money? It’s easy, just move to San Jose, Houston, or Washington D.C. Well, maybe it’s not really so easy. Of course there’s no guarantee that you’ll earn a bigger paycheck in these cities—but it is more likely, as they’re among the highest-paying metro areas in the country.
Continue reading… “U.S. cities with the biggest (and smallest) paychecks”
SpiderFab 3-D robotic printer
Since the 1970’s, space-based solar power has been a futuristic fantasy but the advent of 21st century 3-D printing may bring it a step closer to reality. (Video)
Continue reading… “Will 3D printing bring space-based solar power to reality?”
Google’s self-driving car.
Human beings make terrible drivers. They talk on the phone and run red lights, signal to the left and turn to the right. They drink too much beer and plow into trees or veer into traffic as they swat at their kids. They have blind spots, leg cramps, seizures, and heart attacks. They rubberneck, hotdog, and take pity on turtles, cause fender benders, pileups, and head-on collisions. They nod off at the wheel, wrestle with maps, fiddle with knobs, have marital spats, take the curve too late, take the curve too hard, spill coffee in their laps, and flip over their cars. Of the ten million accidents that Americans are in every year, nine and a half million are their own damn fault.
Continue reading… “Burkhard Bilger on Google’s self-driving car”
This has been the worst year ever for the TV business. According to Citi Research, audience ratings have collapsed: Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011.
Continue reading… “Here are the stats to prove that TV is dying”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.