23andMe has been advertising that its tests offer diagnostic information for a variety of human conditions.
23andMe, the pioneering genetic screening service, has been told by the FDA that it “must immediately discontinue” marketing of its Personal Genome Service (PGS) until it receives FDA authorization.
Continue reading… “FDA orders 23andMe to stop selling genetic tests”
The expansion means hundreds of thousands more cars must come onto the Uber system.
To overcome its growing pains, Uber has come up with a brilliant new strategy. Uber is launching a pilot program to finance new cars. The company is partnering with GM, Toyota, and financial institutions to offer 100,000 driversreduced monthly car payments, in an effort get more Uber drivers on the road.
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”
Circuit Scribe, a new Kickstarter project, seems to have made laying out a new electronic circuit a less cumbersome task. Instead of fiddling with those components, you can just draw a circuit on paper, hook up a battery to it, and go on your way.
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?”
3D printed modular cell phone.
Motorola announced last month a plan for a modular smartphone. Project Ara will be a simple way for users to individualize their phones, swapping out parts like the battery and camera until users have a phone that’s just for them. They plan on doing that with 3-D printing.
Continue reading… “Project Ara: Motorola And 3D Systems will 3D-print modular cell phones”
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”
Sony’s SmartWig
Sony’s patent for a “SmartWig” is a strange concept that leaves you scratching your head. While tech companies are chasing the smartwatch and eyeglass form factors for the future of wearable computing devices, Sony’s exploring the possibility of using wigs that connect wirelessly to smartphones.
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”
Monster.com and market research company GfK conducted a survey of 8,000 workers across the United States, Canada, India, and Europe which we suppose makes it somewhat official: America is number one! Number one in the percentage of employees who hate their jobs, that is.
Continue reading… “Americans hate their jobs more than everyone else in the world hates their jobs”
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