The bathroom of the future is going to make your electric toothbrush look decidedly low-tech. A futurologist has predicted that in less than 25 years smart mirrors could perform health checks, while robots will be able to do a person’s make-up and even paint their nails.
Continue reading… “The smart bathroom of the future”
You probably do some form of recycling if you live in the U.S. You probably separate paper from plastic and glass and metal. You rinse the bottles and cans, and you might put food scraps in a container destined for a composting facility. As you sort everything into the right bins, you probably assume that recycling is helping your community and protecting the environment. But is it? Are you in fact wasting your time?
A burger made with cultured meat.
By 2030, the average person is expected to consume around 45 pounds of meat annually, according to a study from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That’s a number that rises substantially in the United States. The strain that will put on the planet is extreme, to say the least. But according to developing lab science, soon you can have your burger and eat it too.
There is some startling news from the world’s most notorious whistleblower: Your smartphone can be taken over with an invisible text message.
Continue reading… “Edward Snowden warns about a scary new privacy threat”
The Fair Pay Act is a strict gender-equality law recently enacted in California. The law puts the burden of proof on a company to show that it has not shortchanged an employee’s salary based on gender. It’s a powerful tool to address a wrong that has already happened. But can discrimination be prevented in the first place? Even managers who don’t think they are biased may be—and just their word choices can send a signal. A new wave of artificial intelligence companies aims to spot nuanced biases in workplace language and behavior in order to root them out.
Continue reading… “How AI is finding gender-inequality in the workplace”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new camera that can photograph a trillion frames per second. Compare that with a traditional movie camera which takes a mere 24. This new advancement in photographic technology has given scientists the ability to photograph the movement of the fastest thing in the Universe, light.
A paralyzed man is able to move using his brainpower thanks to a ‘neural-bypass procedure’ that has been heralded a world first. Neurosurgeons achieved the world first by transmitting signals from the 26-year-old American’s brain to electrodes placed around both knees.
Continue reading… “Paralyzed man first to walk using brain power alone”
Japanese car maker Toyota announced this month that it has planned to have self-driving cars commercially available by 2020 — the same year Nissan, General Motors and Google plan to have autonomous vehicles on the road.
Continue reading… “Toyota plans to have self-driving cars on the road by 2020”
By 2025, half of all adults under 32 won’t pay for traditional cable subscriptions, according to a new Forrester study. An online survey of 32,000 U.S. adults found that 76 percent subscribe to cable. Of the 24 percent who don’t pay for cable, 18 percent are cord-nevers—people who have never paid for a cable subscription—while 6 percent are cord cutters, meaning they have canceled their cable subscriptions. The report notes that this year, digital cord-nevers have surpassed cord cutters and represent “the next stage of evolution in TV viewing.”
Continue reading… “By 2025, 50% 0f consumers under 32 won’t pay for cable”
We usually think of rockets that are headed to space are being launched from the ground. But, as demand for satellite launch services rapidly increases year-over-year, interest in air launching rockets is returning to a growing market of lighter-weight payloads. And those might want a mothership.
Continue reading… “Motherships are making a comeback for air launching rockets into space”
If you were hoping to have your next package delivery sent to you by drone, you may have even longer to wait than you thought. The FAA estimates it will be three years before it has a framework for drone operators to fly the machines without direct human oversight.
Continue reading… “It could be years before drones are flown without direct human oversight: FAA”
Japan has hotels that are operated by robots and androids that serve as clerks at department stores. The latest unmanned project to come out of Japan is the robot cab. (Video)
Continue reading… “Japan starts driverless taxi experiment”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.