Innovations introduced more recently are being adopted more quickly.
The rates of new product introduction and adoption are speeding up and it seems to be across the board. For instance, an automobile industry trade consultant observes that “Today, a typical automotive design cycle is approximately 24 to 36 months, which is much faster than the 60-month life cycle from five years ago.”
Continue reading… “Adoption of technology is speeding up”
At Carnegie Mellon University computers are running a program that analyze images to learn common sense.
A computer program analyzes images 24 hours a day to try to learn common sense. The aim is to see if computers can learn, in the same way a human would, what links images, to help them better understand the visual world.
Continue reading… “Computer analyzes images to teach itself common sense”
The interior of the Tesla Model S offers a glimpse of the data-rich driving environments of tomorrow.
Cars will be big data collectors in the future. They will continuously monitoring the operation and function of the many moving parts of the vehicle and hopefully giving you a warning well in advance of pending failure.
Global consumption of natural gas will rival the use of coal and steal the market share from oil on the world market.
The “next defining energy trend” is poised to be natural gas as it increasingly becomes a primary global energy source, according to a report released today by GE.
Continue reading… “Natural gas is set to be the next big energy trend”
Machines will generate more data than will people in 2014.
Connected fitness gadgets such as Fitbit and Jawbone are being snatched up by consumers this year. But in 2014, we will see this kind of ubiquitous sensor technology extend to the enterprise as part of the “Internet of things,” according to an analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
Continue reading… “2014 will be the year of the Internet of Things”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Recently my wife Deb came up with a rather comical phrase to describe her occasional memory lapse, referring to it as her “photogeriactric memory.”
Continue reading… “Where do great ideas come from? More importantly, where do they go?”
The same research team is also working on a digital lollipop.
In Sword Art Online, an anime series, gamers take part in a virtual world that is teeming with danger, but also with food. What if such an experience was a reality? What if you could not only interact with food in a virtual environment, but also actually taste it? Scientists at the National University of Singapore have developed a new electrode that could be the first step in making that happen. (Video)
Continue reading… “Scientists create electrode that lets you taste virtual food on your tongue”
The impact of most of these “chemicals of emerging concern” on the health of people and aquatic life remains unclear.
A new report by the International Joint Commission, a consortium of officials from the United States and Canada who study the Great Lakes has found that only about half of the prescription drugs and other newly emerging contaminants in sewage are removed by treatment plants.
Continue reading… “Only half of prescription drugs are removed by wastewater treatment plants”
There will be a job market for wearable computer developers and engineers.
Developers are still learning how to use Google Glass. The Glass Development Kit is expected to be unveiled shortly and will build on the Android toolkits that a small but growing developer community is learning their way around the platform. But there are unique challenges for wearable computer software creation. How do you create apps for a wearable computer that lacks a mouse, a keyboard, and a touchscreen? How do you create programs for a hybrid of glasses and a computer that depends on a voice interface and a single button? It creates challenges.
Continue reading… “Developing apps for wearable computing poses new challenges for developers”
Women are more likely to form social alliances and then manage threats from outsiders through social exclusion.
In a lab at McMaster University in Ontario, researchers took 86 straight women and paired them off into groups of two—either with a friend or a stranger. There, a researcher told them they were about to take part in a study about female friendships. But they were soon interrupted by one of two women.
Continue reading… “Women have evolved to be ‘indirectly aggressive’: Study”
Taco Bell has been killing it on Twitter, creating a hip, fun presence to turn customers into evangelists.
More and more brands are marketing themselves via short-form social media like Vine, Twitter, Instagram, Instagram video and the newer platform Snapchat. They are not marketing by broadcasting their silly old messages but by treating their prospects and customers with respect, engaging with them directly through brief snippets of conversation, personality and humor. But it’s not just for fun: Consumers who engage with brands via social media demonstrate a deeper emotional commitment to those brands and spend 20 to 40 percent more than other customers, according to a report from Bain & Company.
Continue reading… “2014 marketing trend: Small messages make a big impact”
Carriers don’t want anti-theft software for fear it would eat into the profits.
Lawmakers in San Francisco and New York have been pushing hardware makers like Samsung to provide anti-theft software for cell phones that would allow owners to remotely deactivate a phone should it get stolen, rendering it useless. But according to the San Francisco district attorney, George Gascón, carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint aren’t crazy about the idea of implementing such a “kill switch.” Why? Because they’d lose money.
Continue reading… “Cell phone carriers reject kill switch for stolen smartphones”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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