Technology

Productivity growth has slowed since 2004, and nobody is sure why.

Certainly, technology has done its job. In the wake of downsizing, budget cuts, re-engineering and outsourcing, it has filled in the gaps at company after company. As a result, supply chains are efficient and lean, the financial services industry is automated and manufacturing processes are flexible. 

With the rise of A.I. and an endless sea of personal data available, some start to question, "How free are we?" Yes, it is true that A.I. will free us from many of the meaningless tasks that we are saddled with on a daily basis. However, there are serious concerns as to how our data is used for both positive and negative reasons.

Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, is best described as machine learning. Instead of programming a computer to perform a task, the computer will program itself.

As AI continues to grow it will enhance our lives. We can already see this in action with Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. Companies like Amazon are using AI in order to predict your next purchase. Another great example of AI in current use is with chat bots that you find in websites like Facebook, and in customer support apps.

Blockchain refers to an expanding list of blocks where each one contains records. They are secured and linked to each other using cryptography. Within each block, you will find at the most basic level a hash of the previous block, timestamp, and the transaction data.

The origins of the blockchain technology are mysterious. Legend has it that Satoshi Nakamoto wrote the bitcoin white paper, developed bitcoin, and was behind the implementation and deployment of the original bitcoin.

5G, or 5th generation mobile, is the next big leap in wireless communications. 5G will radically improve the bandwidth, capacity and reliability of mobile broadband, and will push mobile speeds from 100 Mbps to upward of 10 Gbps.  

But the real excitement over 5G comes with new uses that simply aren’t possible with today’s networks. Many of these involve the revolution in sensors, low-cost transmitters and cloud-based software known as the Internet of Things (IoT).  

Renewable energy is set to be generating 50% of global electricity by 2050.

The New Energy Outlook (NEO) 2018 says that the continuing fall in the cost of batteries will massively increase the ability to store off-peak electricity and sell it when demand is high, which will enable renewable technologies--particularly wind and solar projects--to take an increasing share of the electricity market. 

Europe’s electricity market will be 87% renewable in Europe by 2050, while India’s will be 75% renewable, China’s 62% and 55% in the U.S., the report says.

Twitter has sharply escalated its battle against fake and suspicious accounts, suspending more than 1 million a day. The rate of account suspensions has more than doubled since October 2017, when the company revealed under congressional pressure how Russia used fake accounts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June, and the pace has continued in July, according to the data.

A pioneering project by Highview Power will turn air into liquid for energy storage to help electricity grids cope with a growing amount of wind and solar power.  

Massimo Bottura is one of the world's greatest chefs. He has made it his mission to put an end to global hunger and believes that technology can make this a reality.

Employees' brain waves are reportedly being monitored in factories, state-owned enterprises, and the military across China.

The technology works by placing wireless sensors in employees' caps or hats which, combined with artificial intelligence algorithms, spot incidents of workplace rage, anxiety, or sadness.

The "emotional surveillance technology" helps employers identify mood shifts so they can change break times, an employee's task, or even send them home.

Sixteen areas in China are using facial-recognition technology that can reportedly scan the country's population in one second, and the world's population in two seconds.

Over the last two years the system has been used to arrest 2,000 people.

The system is part of Skynet, a nationwide monitoring program launched in 2005 to increase the use and capabilities of surveillance cameras.

We are now experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), a period of rapid change driven by progress in science and technology. The main drivers of 4IR are AI, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT). Japan will play a leading role in global innovation with a new World Economic Forum (WEF) center devoted to maximizing the potential of the 4IR, says Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman.

The gig economy will become mainstream in the office within the next five years and life as an employee will "fundamentally change," a CEO that works with 30% of the Fortune 100 has said.

Catalant runs a matchmaking service that connects companies with professionals on-demand for specific projects. Users sign up through the website or access the service via a number of consulting firms that Catalant works with. Their profile is then put in front of company managers that are hiring for projects and at the end of the work the employee is given a rating.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plans to establish an organization to look into the use of artificial intelligence in loan application screenings and market trend predictions.

Online shopping is skyrocketing. So what are cities going to do about it?

The rising numbers of deliveries are adding to concerns about traffic and pollution in rapidly growing cities around the world. In Europe and Asia, cities have barred deliveries during certain hours, built warehouses to centralise distribution and provided millions in funding to encourage firms to switch to quieter, greener equipment. In the U.S., discussions about how to handle the glut of online shipments were somewhat slower to start, but they're happening now.

Amazon's smart assistant Alexa can now be made to encourage children to say: "Please," and: "Thank you," when they ask it something. The new function addresses some parents' concerns that use of the technology was teaching their offspring to sound officious or even rude.

The move has been welcomed by one of Alexa's critics. In January, the research company ChildWise published a report warning that youngsters that grew up accustomed to giving orders to Alexa might become aggressive when they have to interact with humans.

The Yomiuri Shimbun Paralympian Atsushi Yamamoto has returned to the athletics track after competing in snowboarding at the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics in March 2018.

Future spacecraft could think for themselves using the same technology that powers Bitcoin.

A new $330,000 NASA grant supports work to develop autonomous spacecraft that could make more decisions without human intervention. One example could be enabling spacecraft to dodge space debris faster than a human on Earth could help out the far-away probe.

Every day, we use products that are built using “rare earths”—a group of 17 elements that are, as the name suggests, very rare. They’re used to make everyday items such as rechargeable batteries, LED lights and display panels, as well as larger products such as wind turbines.

Now, it turns out, Japan has an estimated 16 million tons of the stuff on its turf. Researchers claim the trove might be enough to supply the world with metals such as yttrium and europium on a “semi-infinite basis.”

When I mentioned to a friend that my baseline neurosis had evolved from daily stress into anxiety, her response was, "Go for a float!"

A float?

Yes — spend an hour in a dark, soundproof room floating in a salted, body-temperature warm pool. "You just lie there and meditate," my friend told me.