Author: Brian Wallace

Since its inception in 1899 under the name A. Horch & Cie, Audi has dedicated themselves to producing vehicles that set the standard for luxury. And while the rest of the world is still struggling in a down economy, the manufacturer posted a record breaking month as recently as July 2012, with four Audi models (the Audi A3, A4, A5 and A6 models) recording year-over-year sales increased of 20% or more. Meanwhile, Audi pre-owned vehicles saw their second best July in history, selling 3,136 vehicles in spite of reduced inventory of available models. It can be hard to believe that a company that…

“I have a lot of couples coming to me about issues that cause tension in their relationships — of course, finances and job stress are the usual suspects, but I am also hearing more concern about computers and technology being a source of tension. It is clear that we need to reconcile how and when we are using computers and get a better gauge on their impact on our personal relationships,” says Dr. John Gray, relationship expert and author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. The problem that Dr. Gray is talking about is a widespread one. Forty-five percent of males and 37 percent of females agree…

Intelligence, from a scientific perspective, is a broad, and deep comprehension—”catching on,” “making sense,” of things, or “figuring out” what to do. The average IQ falls between a range of 90 and 110. An important disclaimer, however, is that intelligence tests do not measure creativity, character, personality, or other important differences among individuals, nor are they intended to. The notion that our intelligence is influenced by our genes has shifted from “taboo” to common acceptance. There are three genes associated with academic achievement: Dat 1, Dat…

If you are a current restaurant owner and still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon of smartphone applications, you are not just behind on the times, but you are also losing potential customers. Yes, even at this very moment some starving couple is searching for the perfect spot to enjoy a meal by using apps such as Urban Spoon or Yelp, and guess what? They will most certainly be dining with your competitors if they don’t see your company listed. Regardless of the industry you are in, the smartphone app revolution should elicit the participation of all businesses in the market space. Out of the 94%…

2010 saw the launch of what are now two major social media websites – Pinterest and Instagram. These two companies, started by young entrepreneurs, quickly gained users. As of Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in September of 2012, the photo-sharing program had 100 million users. Social networking sights such as these have had major impacts on the way that people interact and share ideas. Pinterest was founded by two failed app designers. When they came up with their unique pinboard concept and stuck to it, many investors and engineers turned away. However, that same pinboard design drew…

Over the first few thousand years of our existence (up until 2003), humankind generated 5 billion GB of data. Today, we generate that amount every two days. Think that’s a big jump? Well hold on to your seats, because experts predict that by next year we’ll be generating that amount every 10 minutes! This infographic takes a look at our “digital footprint” – the amount and type of data we consume as a society, from viewing videos to surfing the web to specific device usage, including desktops vs. laptops, e-readers vs tables and Androids vs iPhones. A full 75% of the information in the digital…

If you consider yourself even remotely interested in technology, you’ve heard the term “algorithm.” An algorithm is defined as a set of instructions for solving a problem or performing a task, and a quick look at history will reveal that humans have been using them for thousands of years – ever since the famed Greek mathematician Euclid devised a system for coming up with the greatest common factor of two numbers (a system which is still used by computers today!) These days, algorithms power some of the most important parts of our lives, including computer operating systems, internet and…

Move over Apple!  Android shifted into gear in 2012, providing 93.8 million phones with their operating system.  From the first to the fourth quarter, Android phone sales shifted from 59% of the market to 70%.  So what happened between then and now to spur such a big shift? In February of 2012, Chrome browser for Android was released followed by Google Play in March.  Then in April, Kindle Fire took over more than half of the Android tablet market and in July Android 4.1 was released. By October, Google became more valuable than Microsoft for the first time, as Google Play reached a daily revenue…

Have you ever wanted a toilet seat on a motorcycle that runs on bio-waste? No? Well, if you’d ever thought about it, I bet you’d wish you could have one. How about a sink that drains water from the attached fishbowl every time you use it. It’s supposed to be a strong deterrent for wasting water, but rumor has it, PETA wasn’t at all happy with that plan. Then there’s the Numi, a toilet that lights up, plays music, heats your rear and your feet and even has a self-cleaning bidet. Oh, and don’t forget the automatic sensor that lifts the lid for you when you enter the room. Toilets have certainly…

There is something on the web for everyone and with internet usage almost doubling what it was five years ago, there has got to be a way to hold all that data. Through innovation and the way content is consumed, there is a way. To put this into perspective, up until 2003 all the data generated was five billion gigabites; we now create that amount in 10 minutes. So what changed? First of all, people got smarter and saw the future of what the internet could be. We saw the future of sharability; no longer was it confined to hyperlinks in emails. Thus, embed codes and social sharing buttons were born. Devices…