What will cause the power to shift among nations between now and 2050?
Futurist Thomas Frey: I often get interview requests from newspaper and magazines as they probe for a better understanding of the world ahead. However, the request I received two days ago was a bit unusual.
Doctors hope it will prevent the birth of oversized babies.
In a trial described as ‘disturbing’ by weight loss groups, babies will be given a diet drug in the womb to stop them being born overweight. One hundred obese moms-to-be will be given Metformin as part of a three-year study to tackle obesity rates and reduce the number of difficult births.
The “digital wallet” will store the banks’ customers’ credit and debit card account information, both for Visa cards and other cards.
The world’s largest credit and debit card processing network, Visa Inc, is building a digital wallet that people can use to pay for things online or with their phones instead of with traditional cards.
Continue reading… “Visa Plans to Launch Digital Wallet for Banks in the U.S.”
Nuclear power plant in Dukovany, Czech Republic
There are 440 commercial nuclear reactors in use worldwide. They are all currently helping to minimize our consumption of fossil fuels. But how much bigger can nuclear power get?
Postal Service reports more that $2 billion in losses.
The U.S. Postal Service is continuing to lose money, reporting a loss Tuesday of more than $2 billion over the first three months of the year and warning it could be forced to default on federal payments.
Continue reading… “Billions in Losses Reported By the Postal Service”
My car is much more focused on performance and power than it is on creature comforts. When I get into my wife’s SUV, it takes me a while to acclimate to all the gadgets and gizmos the car has. I can only imagine the shock to the system having to drive the Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid at normal speeds would have with all those buttons on the wheel…
Continue reading… “Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid Racer has the Most Complex Steering Wheel Ever”
While Sony is busy pointing the finger at the hacker group Anonymous for the on-going PSN and SOE hacks, Anonymous has problems of its own. This weekend AnonOps, an IRC network where some of the members congregate and plan operations, found itself under a denial-of-service attack. That attack finally ended with a number of its IRC servers being taken over.
The culprit: one of their own, a former IRC Operator (IRCop) named “Ryan.” Depending on who you believe, Ryan was power-hungry and wanted control over AnonOps for himself, or he was tired of the autocracy of the few Anonymous members who made up the group’s loose leadership structure…
Information at the speed of need
Futurist Thomas Frey: The distance between information and our brain is getting shorter.
Twenty years ago if you had access to a large information base, such as the Library of Congress, and someone asked you a series of questions, your task would have been to pour through the racks of books to come up with the answers. The time involved could have easily have been 10 hours per question.
In-car portable navigation systems could be gone entirely in five years.
Change is the one thing that is predictable in the technology world. Technology that was commonplace ten years ago, such as PDA’s, CRT televisions and fax machines are all quickly fading away.
Continue reading… “Five Tech Gadgets That Will be Obsolete in Five Years”
Christian Schallert in his 258 square-foot “Lego” apartment.
How do you fit a kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom, shower/toilet and a table into a tiny 258 square-foot apartment? If you’re Christian Schallert, you cram it all inside of custom-built walls and furniture that when transformed, creates a surprisingly cozy “LEGO” apartment. (Pics and video)
Continue reading… “Incredible Tiny “Lego” Apartment Transforms Into Infinite Spaces”
MIT scientists discover that bee venom can detect explosives and some pesticides.
Scientists from MIT have discovered that by coating carbon nanotubes in bee venom, they can create ultra-sensitive detectors for explosives such as TNT, as well as at least two different types of pesticides. This means that bees and their stingers could become important to making better environmental sensors.
The U.S. is running out of wireless spectrum.
The United States is facing an imminent spectrum crisis in which exploding demand from smartphones will soon overwhelm the nation’s wireless capacit, according to the FCC.