Tensator Virtual Assistant at Dulles Airport
What comes to mind when you thing of the “display of the future”? Is it the hyper-neon displays of Blade Runner or the holograms from Star Wars? The world of digital display always seems to wiggle its way into the bleeding-edge technology of science fiction, but it’s not unwarranted.(Videos)
Digital goods have costs.
IT professionals are finding real problems with the idea that storing and distributing digital goods is a trivial, simple matter, adds nothing to their cost, and can be effectively done by amateurs.
Continue reading… “The storing and delivery of digital goods not easy and not free”
The GoGoLink app for the Chevrolet Spark links a smartphone to the touch screen in the dash.
General Motors will soon be making a novel offer to please it’s customers who are clamoring for more features in their cars by giving them less.
Continue reading… “Merging drivers smartphones and dashboards”
Banks have imposed other harsh penalties on consumers for minor lapses.
Despite efforts by regulators to to rein in aggressive practices by banks checking account overdraft fees have jumped during the past two years, according to new reports by two nonprofit groups.
Continue reading… “Despite regulatory efforts overdraft fees are rising”
The explosion in the use of Google, Facebook, Twitter and other services has resulted in the generation of some 2.5 quintillion bytes each day.
Paul Hawtin monitors more than 340 million Twitter posts flying around the world each day from his trading desk in London. He tries to assess the collective mood of the populace.
Continue reading… “‘Big data’ redefines trend-watching online”
Unlike traditional apartment renters, this breed of American tenants are older and have kids.
The Jacobson family bought their “dream home” in 2005 in the Phoenix area. They built flagstone steps to the front door. They tiled the kitchen and bathroom. They entertained often, enjoying their mountain views. “We put our soul into that house,” says Steve Jacobson, 37.
Continue reading… “Renting a home is the new American Dream”
Inner-city Minneapolis teens who screen-print shirts.
Just ten years ago the term “inner city” meant “dead city” and people would picture a city of destruction, dereliction and despair. But, today inner cities are now a hip hotbed of convenient culture, commerce and connection. Scholars such as Richard Florida and Edward Glaeser, among others, are showing that although increasing problems accompany increasing density, urban access to the good things of life increases even faster. The centripetal force of today’s cities is pulling the ambitious and educated back in, and increasing cities’ innovative capacity, without sacrificing (at least some would argue) their inclusiveness.
Continue reading… “Entrepreneurial innovation moving to the inner cities”
United Nations
U.S. officials testified on Thursday before the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology saying several emerging countries are rallying behind a campaign to have the International Telecommunications Union, the U.N.’s global standards body for telecommunications, declare the Internet a global telecommunications system. Led by China, Russia, India and now Egypt, which recently launched its own proposal, such a move would allow state-owned telephone networks to expand into VoIP. It would also give them the opportunity to charge fees for Internet service – and put the Internet at the mercy of international politics.
Continue reading… “U.S. officials warn that United Nations could seize the internet”
Twitter and other tech start-ups are gravitating toward San Francisco.
Twitter will be moving into its new headquarters in downtown San Francisco this month. It will occupy three floors of an 11-story 1937 Art Deco building that has sat shuttered for five years. Outside, its blue bird logo will replace the former main tenant’s sign, whose analog clocks remain frozen at 9:18, 4:33 and other times past.
Continue reading… “New tech boom in San Francisco brings jobs but also worries”
Today’s workers care intensely about how their employer operates in the community.
The notion that companies have an obligation to “give back” to the world in which they work and, especially, profit is an oft-debated topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Not every C-level executive is convinced of its importance. But the growing trend is for CSR to play an integral part in successful companies’ business planning.
Continue reading… “Debunking 4 myths of Corporate Social Responsibility”
Futurist Thomas Frey: In December 2006, Britain made its final payment of $84 million on a $4.34 billion loan from the U.S. that was made all the way back in 1945. Germany wasn’t the only country to go bankrupt after WWII. This money allowed Britain to stave off its total collapse after devoting almost all its resources to the war for over half a decade.
The average sales price of homes in foreclosure or bank owned was $161,214.
The leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, RealtyTrac® has released it Q1 2012 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™ which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 26 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the first quarter. The sales are up from 22% of all sales in the fourth quarter and up from 25 percent of all sales in the first quarter of 2011.
Continue reading… “Sales of foreclosed homes account for 26% of all home sales in the U.S.”