Futurist Thomas Frey: How many pills do you take on a daily basis?
According to a 2010 study by Colorado State University, about 68% of American adults take multivitamin supplements. At the same time the average American fills 12 prescriptions a year.
Continue reading… “Our Alarming Culture of Pill People and Future Trends in Healthcare”
Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at Goldman’s technology conference this week with analyst Bill Shope. Among other factoids, Cook mentioned that 120 million people visited Apple’s retail stores last year.
Continue reading… “Apple stores get almost as many visitors as Disney theme parks”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkV3YnRTH0I&hd=1[/youtube]
The giant of online search is, of course, Google. You could prove it by comparing search market share, advertising revenue, user data collection or brand recognition, Bing, Yahoo and Ask wouldn’t even come close. Google’s unchallenged reach has its downside. One major hazard is obvious–super simplified search turns us into false, but confident experts.
Continue reading… “Google’s hidden costs”
Last year, out of the 92,000 new jobs added in the Bay Area, Silicon Valley accounted for 46 percent, or 42,000 jobs.
The prodigious job growth that has made Silicon Valley stand apart from the rest of America continues, George Avalos of the Oakland Tribune reports.
Continue reading… “Silicon Valley dot-com boom is back”
60% of U.S. adults say they track their weight, diet, or exercise routine.
A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that Seven in ten (69%) U.S. adults track a health indicator for themselves or a loved one and many say this activity has changed their overall approach to health.
Continue reading… “Personal Health-Tracking on the Rise”
Asia-Pacific surpasses North America to become world’s No. 1 market for B2C ecommerce sales.
B2C ecommerce sales grew 21.1% to top $1 trillion for the first time in 2012, according to new global estimates by eMarketer.
Continue reading… “Ecommerce sales topped $1 trillion in 2012: Study”
Once a country’s fertility rate falls consistently below replacement, its age profile begins to shift.
Chinese women have been subjected to China’s brutal one-child policy for more than 30 years. Women who try to have more children have been subjected to fines and forced abortions. Their houses have been razed and their husbands fired from their jobs. As a result, Chinese women have a fertility rate of 1.54. Here in America, white, college-educated women—a good proxy for the middle class—have a fertility rate of 1.6. America has its very own one-child policy. And we have chosen it for ourselves.
Continue reading… “America in the midst of a baby bust”
Educators have known that the online revolution would eventually envelop the physical classroom, but a torrent of near-revolutionary developments in the past month are proving that change is coming quicker than anyone imagined. In just 30 days, the largest school system in the U.S. began offering credit for online courses, a major university began awarding degrees without any class time required, and scores of public universities are moving their courses online. The point at which online higher education becomes mainstream is no longer in some fuzzy hypothetical future; the next president’s Secretary of Education will need an entire department dedicated to the massive transition.
Continue reading… “Online education replacing physical colleges at a record pace”
Time spent consuming information and entertainment goods is an important element of the overall satisfaction.
Netflix released all 13 episodes of House of Cards last week, allowing subscribers to watch the series in marathon sessions. ”The efficiency that makes binge viewing so compelling also accelerates the time a consumer spends with Netflix,” Variety noted. This novel release schedule highlights the question of how consumers value paid content relative to consumption time.
Continue reading… “Cost per hour a pivotal metric for paid content”
The US remains second to China, which had 62,000 MW of installed wind power at the close of 2011.
According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), wind energy was the single largest source of new electricity generation capacity in the U.S., during 2012. With 13,124 MW of new infrastructure, wind accounted for 42 percent of all new capacity, from renewable sources or otherwise, according to a press release put out by the organization.
Continue reading… “Wind power tops new electricity generation in U.S. for 2012”
Medicare has begun punishing hospitals with hefty fines if they have too many readmissions.
There are more than 1 million Americans who wind up back in the hospital only weeks after they are released for reasons that could have been prevented — a revolving door that for years has seemed impossible to slow.
Continue reading… “Medicare crackdown seems to be slowing down hospital readmission epidemic”
Technorati is one of the largest sites that monitor blogs and their influence. Last week they released their Technorati Media’s 2013 Digital Influence Report which paints interesting numbers showing how brands spend their money online, and how people react to this branding effort. There are two trends which seem to indicate we may just see a shift in the coming months which should be of interest to any online marketer.
Continue reading… “We will see a shift from social networks back to blogs in 2013”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.