Three-quarters of people will live in cities by 2050.
It’s fashionable to attach the ‘smart’ tag to any technological trend today and this is particularly true of our cities. But, digging beyond the hype, what actually is a smart city and what progress are we as a society making towards that vision?
Continue reading… “Connected cities of the future are starting to emerge”
The amount of data collected is expected to swell as more schools use apps and tablets that can collect information.
With the shift to computerized testing, tablets in the classroom and digitized personal records, schools are collecting more data than ever on how children are doing. Now, some educators believe, it’s time to put that data to use.
Continue reading… “Technological advances and privacy concerns clash in the classroom”
Code academies have proliferated the higher education and vocational landscape over the past few years. They are posing big questions on the value of a formal four-year college computer science degree and answering consumer demand with a savvy proposition: come to us for an indispensable skill and we will line you up for a high paying job, without making you incur $100,000 in student loan debt.
Continue reading… “Code Academies Caught in the Government Sausage Factory”
Phthalate levels correlated with infertility in men.
Federal researchers recently spent four years tracking 501 couples as they tried to have children in a study on the impact of everyday chemicals on fertility. One of the findings stood out: while both men and women were exposed to known toxic chemicals, men seemed much more likely to suffer fertility problems as a result.
Continue reading… “Widely-used phthalates a threat to male fertility”
BYD Qin Plug-in Hybrid Electric Car
It’s hard to keep up with the Chinese electric car market — it’s harder to find a good, reliable source for Chinese EV news. But wait, there were hardly any EV sales in China last year — not much has been going on there.
Continue reading… “BYD Qin plug-in hybrid electric car is demolishing the competition in China”
Are our youth too plugged in?
Mobile device usage has exploded. Some people are questioning the proper use of these devices among children. Most teachers and parents agree that this technology is a valuable tool—but are students too “plugged in”? How much screen time is too much.
In the fourth quarter of 2013 was the turning point in which the U.S. mobile industry started making more money off of data than from voice. Data became a bigger revenue source for carriers than voice services. From this point on data will be the primary growth driver for the U.S. mobile industry, while voice will recede in the rearview mirror.
Continue reading… “Data becomes major revenue driver for U.S. mobile industry”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Throughout history, speed has been synonymous with greatness. In sports, those who ran the fastest were heroes. In times of war, those with the fastest chariots, ships, planes, and weapons had a significant advantage. In the business world, a company’s competitive edge has typically been formed around speed – quickest delivery, fastest transaction times, or speed of information.
Continue reading… “The Next Bold Step in Transportation: Personal Rapid Transit Systems”
Digital publishers are creating magazines to supplement their websites.
It seems like a really bad time to start a magazine with circulation numbers sinking and print ad rates dipping just as fast. But digital publishers like Politico, Pitchfork and Pando are doing just that: backwards-engineering their online publications for the physical page.
Continue reading… “Why today’s digital publishers are creating print magazines”
Watching TV and listening to the radio are the top two digital activities in the average American adult’s day.
Fifty-eight percent of American adults own smartphones. Pair that with the fact that digital culture permeates almost every aspect of our lives, and we can already assume the average person spends a lot of time with gadgets.
Continue reading… “Average U.S. adult spends 11 hours a day with electronic media”
Companies are in need of Generalist individuals with new, agile skills that can see the big picture.
Most companies have specialist organizations that support its business priorities. For as long as we can remember, organizations such as finance, HR, IT, and marketing have been in existence. In most companies, domain expertise, efficiency and process execution dominate the agenda for these organizations. You get hired, promoted and measured based on your expertise and value-add in your particular specialization.
Letting nature wash the problems of the world away!
Quote of the Day: “If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize.” – Muhammad Ali