Business Colonies: Matching talent with pending work projects
Futurist Thomas Frey: The average person that turns 30 years old in the U.S. today has worked 11 different jobs. In just 10 years, the average person who turns 30 will have worked 200-300 different projects.
Continue reading… “Business Colonies: A study of structure, organization, and the evolution of work”
Slashcasters, a new breed of pitchmen for the digital age of retail
Futurist Thomas Frey: I was recently asked to do the keynote talk at a retailer conference in Orlando, Florida speaking on the topic of what the future of retail may hold. At one point in the conversation, the caller made the comment that one of the biggest problems in retail is that consumers are evolving faster than retailers can adapt.
Futurist Thomas Frey: When it comes to the topic of time travel, color me skeptical.
Do we even know what time is? Yes, we see the seconds clicking away on clocks, sunrise followed by sunset, tides coming in and going out, seasons changing from one to another, and little trees growing into big trees.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJaEVEoEETA?hd=1[/youtube]
PepsiCo Inc will be launching the “social vending” machine that lets users buy each other drinks remotely. This is further proof that its decades-old rivalry with Coca-Cola Co is going ever-more high tech.
Continue reading… “PepsiCo Introduces ‘Social Vending’ Machine Technology”
Scientists are studying how squid and other cephalopods change color and pattern of their skin to blend in with their environment.
Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish have the ability to instantaneously change the color and pattern of their skin to blend in with their surroundings. This has caught the eye of the U.S. military and now its goal is a new generation of high-tech camouflage.
Continue reading… “Military Hopes to Create Squid-like Camo”
“If a teacher can be replaced by a machine, they should be.” – Arthur C. Clark
Futurist Thomas Frey: In 1999, Professor Sugata Mitra embedded a computer in a wall in a slum in New Dehli, connected it to high speed internet and left it there. Kids in the area, mesmerized by this technology, learn to use computers by themselves.
Kindle Library Lending
Amazon announced Kindle Library Lending, a program that will let Kindle users borrow books from more than 11,000 libraries in the United States. The program follows Amazon’s person-to-person Kindle Book Lending feature that debuted at the end of 2010 and addresses long-running concerns that e-readers like the Kindle would bypass libraries entirely.
Futurist Thomas Frey: A report issued Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety boasted of the fact that red-light cameras were responsible for a significant drop in highway fatalities at the intersections where they were posted.
Fujitsu’s vein sensor is the world’s smallest and slimmest.
Technology to make biometric security useful is already in place. Manufacturers are making biometric security more efficient, and usable. Fujitsu has created the world’s smallest and slimmest vein sensor. The vein sensor recognizes the veins on the palm of a person’s hand, unlike a fingerprint sensor that reads a user’s finger prints in order to verify a person’s identit. The user just has to hold their palm lightly over the sensor in order to use it. The user doesn’t even have to touch the sensor, eliminating any hygienic issues.
Continue reading… “Fujitsu Creates the World’s Smallest Vein Sensor”
The emerging market for smartphone peripherals is set to explode
Futurist Thomas Frey: It recently occurred to me that I was pulling my iPhone out of my pocket several times an hour to check information. Over the past few months I‘ve become very self-conscious about the addictive nature of information and the OCD-like mannerisms that follow, and this constant checking-in is only one of several habit-changers I’ve noticed that accompany smartphones.
Pocket power.
Why shoud you care about being green if there’s nothing in it for you? The reason you should care about renewable energy is that it gives you lots of ways to start generating your own energy to power all those energy hungry gadgets you love. You won’t even notice that you’re doing it thanks to future technology. (Pics)
Continue reading… “9 Renewable Energy Solutions Small Enough to Fit in Your Pocket”
FlyNano
A radical new single-seat aircraft dubbed the FlyNano was unveiled at the Aero Friedrichshafen, Germany (April 13-16) byaviation consultant, flight designer and enthusiastic pilot Aki Suokas. You don’t even have to have a license to fly the single-seat fun flyer. It is made entirely of carbon fiber and weighs in at a mere 70kg. The FlyNano takes off and lands on water. The FlyNano falls under the weight of what is considered to be a plane so you don’t have to worry about applying for a flying license in most parts of the world. (Pics)
Continue reading… “FlyNano Electric Microlight You Don’t Need a License to Fly”