Shopping mall.
Does America have too many malls? The traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are being threatened with economic destruction the their online competition. What will the ramifications of the e-commerce revolution have on commercial real estate?
The Android-based Ouya console brings the indie-game concept to hardware and it raised over $8 million on Kickstarter.
2012 was the year of Kickstarter … at least for games.
After developer Double Fine (The Cave, Psychonauts) broke the crowdfunding concept wide open with its hugely successful campaign that raised over $3.45 million to produce a classic-style point-and-click adventure game (tentatively titled Double Fine Adventure), everyone wanted in on the concept. That led to the games category exploding on the site.
Continue reading… “Kickstarter raised $79 million for games in 2012”
Futurist Thomas Frey: The year is 2018 and the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the organization charged with selecting the winner of the famous Nobel Peace Prize, has changed their process. They’ve decided to host a global election to allow the people of the world to decide which of the candidates is the most deserving.
A-commerce will become the new e-commerce.
More than 27 million small businesses operating today in the United States form the bedrock U.S. economy. And in 2013, technology will increasingly enable this valuable economic sector to focus on establishing and nurturing client relationships, while automating and streamlining essential business functions, says Jerry Nettuno, founder and CEO of online appointment scheduling service Schedulicity.
Continue reading… “‘A-commerce’ will be on the rise in 2013 in the U.S.”
51% of all online activity came from mobile devices.
More than fifty percent of consumer activity during Christmas day took place on mobile devices, according to a study released today by mobile analytics platform Mixpanel. Based on its analysis of over 695 million actions, the study shows a 11 percent increase the week prior to the holiday.
Continue reading… “51% of online consumer activity on Christmas day took place on mobile devices”
Canada is the “guinea pig for mobile apps”
Canada has many reasons to be proud. They have mostly dodged the economic crisis that continues to rattle the rest of North America. Canadian businesses enjoy lower corporate tax rates, plus plenty of government subsidy programs. Not to mention the fact that the populace enjoys universal healthcare coverage and the ability to travel without being labeled “loud Americans.”
Continue reading… “Canada is North America’s ‘guinea pig for mobile apps’”
Amazon remains on top for customer satisfaction.
Amazon remains on top with customer satisfaction as Apple’s online store slid out of the top five, according to an online retailer study by Foresee. In fact, Apple had its lowest score in four years, achieving only an 80 percent rating.
As 3D printing expands its influence into mainstream culture, plenty of amazing things are happening. There are a lot of 3D printing companies expanding and getting more funding, but enterprising designers are finding more and more ways to use the fledgling printing technology. While some of these uses are a bit troubling (like piracy of copyrighted material and firearms), others show that, with enough ingenuity, 3D printing can change lives. Let’s take a look at some of the industry’s bigger stories from this year.
Continue reading… “2012 was a year of expansion for 3D printing”
In 2012, total cumulative global Wi-Fi-enabled device shipments reached five billion, according to ABI Research. And the pace of innovation isn’t slowing, with new Wi-Fi protocols rolling out in 2013 and close to 20 billion WiFi-enabled devices predicted to be in the market by 2017.
Continue reading… “Global Wi-Fi shipments reached 5 billion in 2012, will quadruple by 2017”
Apple iPods
They were launched over a decade ago and were the forefront of the digital revolution. But sales of iPods and other MP3 players in the UK slumped by more than a fifth in 2012 while consumers turned to smartphones as their gadget of choice.
Chickens at Bell & Evans eat feed laced with oregano oil.
Anyone visiting Bell & Evans these days will notice the smell of oregano wafting for Scott Sechler’s office. The smell is so strong that visitors will wonder whether Sechler has quit the production of chicken and gone into the pizza business.
Continue reading… “Chicken farms turn to oregano as a substitute for antibiotics”
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”