Second Life, a 3D virtual world used to be hyped up as the future of internet communication. But now Second Life is more commonly thought of as an example of overbaked optimism about what’s next in tech.
Continue reading… “The 3D virtual world Second Life has a higher GDP than some countries”
Many companies are starting to integrate blockchain technology into ledgers, using it to track diamonds and ensure fair land distribution. The projects are first steps toward making governments and industries more transparent and eliminating fraud and corruption.
Only a fraction of the countries in the world make up the bulk of the tons of money spent on video games. The top 20 nations alone will spend $83 billion on video games by the end of 2015, according to intelligence firm Newzoo.
NOTE: For people interested in entering the fast-moving field of game design, DaVinci Coders now offers an immersive career-shifting course taught by one of the industry’s true thought leaders.
Continue reading… “Top 20 countries that make up most of the $91.5B global gaming business”
Futurist Thomas Frey: A few weeks ago I was asked to appear on CCTV, the Chinese-American television channel for an interview about the topic of border walls.
With the crisis in Syria deepening, affecting bordering countries and virtually all of the European Union, the show’s moderator asked me a series of tough questions about immigration trends and whether border walls, like the one proposed in Hungary, would become a growing trend.
In retrospect, the thoughts I conveyed on-air to this complex situation were not as crystallized as they could have been, forcing me to rethink my responses.
Continue reading… “Five-Part Sharing-Economy Solution to the Refugee Crisis”
At the Port of Oakland there are massive cranes sitting there that are veritable money-printing machines. As ships coming from Asia dock in the San Francisco Bay, these industrial behemoths quickly usher goods-bearing containers off the deck and onto land. Modern container ships are filled with thousands of containers. At peak efficiency, a single crane can remove about 40 of these per hour — and for each one they unload, companies moving containerized cargo are charged a terminal handling fee of around $300.
Continue reading… “Why America’s shipping ports aren’t automated”
Citigroup’s chief economist, Willem Buiter, sees a storm brewing in China. He estimated that there is a 55 percent chance of a made-in-China global recession in the not too distant future, which he defines as a period of sub-2 percent global growth.
Continue reading… “China is ‘financially out of control’ according to Citi’s chief economist”
There is a hypothesis by Theodore Modis, that we can expect the rate of technological progress to begin slowing soon, because contrary to Ray Kurzweil, and ilk, technological progress is not exponential, it is logistical.
Modis argues that the exponential growth in technology is a fallacy and that the true nature of the growth is logistic.
Continue reading… “Probability of Singularity in Question”
According to Florida State University (Tallahassee) a new formulation for light-emitting-diodes (LEDs) could make lighting systems using the as cheap as incandescent bulbs, . FSU has come up with an inexpensive single layer combo-organic/inorganic material formulation that can glow red, green or blue (or all three together for white LEDs).
Continue reading… “Single layer LEDs”
HowMuch.net has come up with a very cool data visualization that’s a little bit unorthodox. The way it works is that it visualizes the entire world’s economic output as a circle. That circle is then subdivided into a bunch of blobs representing the economy of each major country. And then each country-blob is sliced into three chunks — one for manufacturing, one for services, and one for agriculture.
Continue reading… “Very cool data visualization will change how you look at the world economy”
An online financial services start-up, Wealthfront, has squarely and unashamedly targeted Millennial wallets and raised$64 million last month. That’s on top of $35 million that venture firms plowed into the company earlier this year.
Continue reading… “Millennials have become the Ben Franklin generation”
The labor movement in the U.S. is finally starting to go online. It was born from the shifting economic environment created by the Industrial Revolution—and we are, once again, at a technological turning point: this time, change is driven across transistors rather than by steam engines. Labor issues are as much in flux as any part of the economy, with Uber and other “on-demand economy” companies creating both new opportunities and new perils for workers. Workers’ rights are struggling to keep pace with technological progress.
Continue reading… “Has digital technology created a new labor movement?”
The economy in China is shrinking, and it’s happening faster than anyone expected, not even the country’s government.
Continue reading… “Data visualization shows China’s economy is shrinking”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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