Futurist Thomas Frey: Today, our best and brightest are drawn to elite colleges like Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and Yale. As they attend these institutions they are surrounded by some of the most talented people in the world.
A large-scale study of posts on Twitter has found that no matter how grumpy people are when they wake up, and whether they stumble to their feet in Madrid, Mexico City or Minnetonka, Minn., they tend to brighten by breakfast time and feel their moods taper gradually to a low in the late afternoon, before rallying again near bedtime.
The United States has fallen further down a global ranking of the world’s most competitive economies. The U.S. has landed at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.
Obesity is most widespread in the United States and Britain among the world’s leading economies. By 2030, about half of both men and women in the U.S. will be obese if present trends continue, health experts warn.
People are also waiting longer before marrying for the first time.
Marriages are at an all-time low. States in the South and West rank among the highest for couples getting married. But many of these states also have higher rates of divorce.
The most popular online activities are search and email remain and are nearly universal among adult internet users, as 92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Web, and a similar number (92%) use email. Since the Pew Internet Project began measuring adults’ online activities in the last decade, these two behaviors have consistently ranked as the most popular, even as new platforms, broadband and mobile devices continue to reshape the way Americans use the internet and web. Even as early as 2002, more than eight in ten online adults were using search engines, and more than nine in ten online adults were emailing.
Groupon, Facebook, and LinkedIn investor Marc Andreessen.
Hewlett-Packard announced this week that it is exploring jettisoning its struggling PC business in favor of investing more heavily in software, where it sees better potential for growth. Google plans to buy up the cellphone handset maker Motorola Mobility. Hewlett-Packard and Google’s moves surprised the tech world. Marc Andreessen (board member at Hewlett-Parckard) explains why software is eating the world.
Futurist Thomas Frey: Many dental offices today use a device called an intraoral camera to show patients why they need a root canal. With little more than a camera on the end of a lighted wand, the technology gives people a new insider perspective into one of the least observed, yet most used, parts of the human body – the mouth. (Pics)
State and local governments have cut 142,000 jobs this year.
Is the mass layoff making a comeback on an already lousy job market? Cisco, Lockheed Martin and Borders announced a combined 23,000 in job cuts this past week.
Futurist Thomas Frey: As the musical chairs game of unemployment money runs out, and an increasingly large number of people are left without a seat at the jobs table, desperation begins to set in.