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”
The enchanted era of geographic gaffes is coming to an end.
Tens of millions of iPhone users last week found that they could suddenly leave their homes again without getting either lost or cross. Google was finally able to release an app containing its own mapping system. Google Maps had been sorely missed for several months, ever since Apple booted it in favor of the company’s own inadequate alternative—a cartographic dud blamed for everything from deleting Shakespeare’s birthplace to stranding Australian travelers in a desolate national park 43 miles away from their actual destination. As one Twitter wag declared: “I wouldn’t trade my Apple Maps for all the tea in Cuba.”
Continue reading… “The end of the paper map”
There are more cellphone users in Africa than in North America.
When you are a developing continent you can skip entire stages of technological progress, like going directly from no phones to cellphones without suffering through land lines in between. Africa, for example, now has more mobile subscribers than the United States or Europe, and that means big things for African economies.
Continue reading… “Africa has more cellphone users than all of North America”
Cody Wilson develops software that would allow anyone with the funding to easily build a gun from the comfort of their own home.
There used to be an order to the world and a structure to things. You couldn’t print a gun like a term paper. It was impossible to wreck a nuclear production plant with a few lines of code. Flying robots didn’t descend on you in the dead of night and kill you in your home.
Continue reading… “Top 15 most dangerous people in the world”
Happiest people live in Latin American countries.
Qatar is the richest county in the world but the world’s happiest people don’t live there. They don’t live in Japan either, the country with the highest life expectancy. With a chart-topping percentage of college graduates in Canada, they didn’t make the top 10 of the happiest people in the world either.
Continue reading… “Latin Americans are happiest people in the world”
Demand for coal rose 4.3 percent last year.
In the next six years, global coal demand will rise 2.6 percent annually and challenge oil as the top energy source, according to the International Energy Agency.
Continue reading… “Global coal demand will challenge oil as top energy source”
Friday, Dec. 21 is the date some say the Mayans prophesized would be the end of the world.
More than 500 people from a fringe Christian group for spreading rumors about the world’s impending end have been detained by Chinese police, China’s state media reported Tuesday.
Continue reading… “More than 500 people detained in China for spreading doomsday rumors”
Eight in 1o people identify with a religious group.
More than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group worldwide. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.
Continue reading… “Pew study on the global religious landscape”
Vint Cerf, inventor of the Internet Protocol [IP] and Transmission Control Protocol [TCP].
One of the two or three people who can rightly claim to have invented the internet is Vint Cerf. He is now worried about its survival.
Cerf is specifically concerned about the World Conference on International Telecommunications, happening now through December 14 in Dubai. At this meeting, for the first time since 1988, the countries of the world will gather to try and update international agreements on how to handle data, voice, and other communications technologies. (Video)
Continue reading… “Internet inventor, Vint Cerf, worried about its survival”
Top 18 fastest growing cities are in China.
The top 50 fastest-growing cities, by GDP per capita, are practically all in the developing Asian world. The top 18 are in China. The rest are in China, Indonesia (Jakarta), India (Chennai), and Australia (Perth).
Continue reading… “The world’s fastest growing (and shrinking) cities of 2012”
Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy
Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, believes college should look very different from the typical four-year institution. The Khan Academy is a popular site that offers free online video lectures about a variety of subjects, lays out his thoughts on the future of education in his book, The One World School House: Education Reimagined, released last month. Though most of the work describes Mr. Khan’s experiences with Khan Academy and his suggestions for changing elementary- and secondary-school systems, he does devote a few chapters to higher education.
Continue reading… “New type of college proposed by Khan Academy founder”
Silicon Valley tops the list.
The world’s unquestionable leader in generating high-tech start-ups that launch new technologies that change the way we live and work is Silicon Valley. Many cities around the world have tried to emulate its success. But until recently, the data has been lacking to calibrate and rank how far they have come.
Continue reading… “The world’s top cities for startups”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.