Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Writer Chris Mims at Quartz posits an interesting future for smartwatches–as sensors for smartphones. He cites proposed updates to the Pebble smartwatch OS as an example of how this could work. NameTag is a facial-recognition smartphone app the allows the user to take a…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. A new Pew poll finds that Americans are skeptical of extending the lifespan through artificial means — though it is unclear if they were being asked about extension of a healthy lifespan. IBM unveils today a new computer architecture designed to work more like the human…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Drone delivery? A Philadelphia dry cleaner used an off-the shelf drone to successfully deliver 2 shirts to a nearby customer in a promotional gimmick. Current commercial technology requires a pilot for the drone and a spotter at the delivery site, but both…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. US researchers have developed an automated vaccine production facility that uses hydroponic irrigation to grow genetically modified tobacco plants for producing targeted biochemicals. This approach to biochemical production can cut the lead time for culturing new vaccines to approximately 6 weeks, increasing…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Aspiration and reality, while many people have a goal of healthier eating and avoiding high calorie fats, the truth can be quite different. McDonald’s has admitted that while salads make up a large part of image enhancement into healthy food,…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Data suggests that young Americans with student debt may be deterred by that debt from buying homes and cars, adding drag to the US economy. Researchers at Amherst College and Simon Frasier University ran a head-to-head competition between a D-Wave quantum computer,…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Mining mobile phone data enabled researchers to draw more efficient bus routes in Abidjan, the largest city of Ivory Coast. When maternal rats are fed a high fat, high sugar diet during pregnancy and lactation their offspring have a higher preference…
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Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Nest’s smart thermostats are rolling out new peak-load management capabilities, enabling the company to offer participants cash discounts if they enable their thermostats to manage their electricity and A/C consumption during heavy load periods. Demand reduction for participants is always voluntary, and…
DetailsHere are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. “Computational sociologists” are using recipes to understand global eating patterns. Global food prices have been increasing for a decade and rose 2.7% in 2012. Price volatility has also increased substantially in the last few years, though neither prices nor volatility have…
DetailsHere are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today. Disruptive TV technologies like Dish’s “Hopper” and Barry Diller’s “Aereo” are threatening the business models of TV broadcasters. CBS/ABC/FOX/NBC are threatening to pull the plug on their free over-the-air transmissions and become cable-only channels. Neurologist Robert Burton argues that the…
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