Companies that want to sell software to enterprise in the next few years might be wise to start thinking about data. That doesn’t mean they need to become a “big data” company, per se, but at least thinking of what metrics your customers need tracked and how to deliver that information to them.
Continue reading… “The future of software is all about analytics”
The internet has made it possible for people to educate themselves, independently or in groups large and small, on an unprecedented scale.
There hasn’t been much change in universities since the Middle Ages. Universities have the campus with its lecture halls, dormitories, libraries, and laboratories surrounded by leafy quadrangles. They have added giant sports complexes, gyms and swimming pools, and gourmet restaurants, but the basic layout is the same. And the production process hasn’t changed since around 1200. Professors give lectures, students read books and take notes, there are examinations and grades, along with the occasional tutoring session, and a great deal of hanky panky. The professors wear tweed jackets instead of gowns, and the students wear – well, just about anything, including pajamas – but otherwise the university remains one of society’s most conservative institutions.
Continue reading… “Are universities terrified of MOOCs?”
A new study from the Oxford Martin Program on the Impacts of Future Technology suggests that almost half of U.S. jobs could be susceptible to computerization over the next two decades.
Continue reading… “Almost half of U.S. jobs at risk of computerization: Study”
For some patients and for some microbes, we are already in the post-antibiotic era.
The Centers for Disease Control, in a highly unusual new report, warned that America is threatened by a wave of new antibiotic-proof germs that could threaten public health, and that overuse of antibiotics in health care and industrial agriculture bears much of the blame.
Continue reading… “CDC warns “we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era””
102 billion mobile apps will be downloaded around the world during 2013.
Everywhere you look there’s someone using a mobile app for something. It’s an industry that’s flourished at an incredible rate since the arrival of the iPhone in 2007–and now, Gartner says this year, global revenues from apps will be $26 billion, a rise of more than 44% since last year.
Continue reading… “What’s driving the $26 billion mobile app economy?”
What happened to biofuels?
Everybody was talking about biofuels a few years ago. Politicians in the U.S. saw corn ethenol as a path to “energy independence,” while greener folks preferred biodiesel made from waste cooking oil. Fans of biofuels said that these were supposed to be just a bridge to second-generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol and algae biodiesel; these wouldn’t be made from food crops or limited feedstocks, and they would be much greener overall.
Continue reading… “What is the future for biofuels?”
How a self-driving car sees the world.
At about 8am every morning, Anthony Levandowski gets into the driver’s seat of his white Lexus for his daily commute to work. Most of us perform this routine five times a week, 50 weeks out of the year. But, Levandowski’s commute is different. He has a chauffeur and it’s a robot.
Continue reading… “Google’s quest to popularize self-driving cars”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has recently released their data on consumer expenditures for 2012. For the poor, food, clothes, and housing account for more than 60 percent of all spending. The rich have more left over for leisure, insurance, and savings.
Continue reading… “How Americans spent their money in 2012”
Nearly two-thirds of all international migrants live in Europe and Asia.
New data released by the United Nations shows that 232 million people, or 3.2 percent of the world’s population, live outside of their countries of birth. This global diaspora has big implications as countries try to balance growth with unease over outsiders. So where are all of these people anyway? And are they helping or hurting their new homes?
Continue reading… “232 million people live outside their home country”
Communication is the key when it comes to cancer care.
A new report has been released recently by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on the state of cancer care in the United States. The IOM is a non-profit, non-governmental advisory group. To get on one of their advisory boards you have to be a national, if not international, expert in whatever field is being studied. According to the cancer advisory board, the state of cancer care in the United States is abysmal.
Continue reading… “Cancer care in the U.S. is failing”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Our teenage years have always been a time of great awkwardness, super hormones, and bad decision-making. But lately these years have moved even further down the path of supreme weirdness.
Margaret Focarino, Commissioner for Patents, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was in a state of crisis in 2009. There was a huge backlog of pending patent applications and it was growing. The process for reviewing patents had not changed in decades and was out-of-date. Employee job satisfaction was low and the longstanding distrust between management and the patent examiners union was ever-present.
Continue reading… “Patent system gets streamlined makeover”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.