Author: Connor Livingston

The concept of business intelligence has been around for decades, but only in the last dozen or so years has it become an essential tool that businesses use to make major decisions about directions and strategies. The rise of the internet has made it the central focus of companies around the world whether they’re internet-based or not. As a result, BI’s important has continued to rise. Society is transitioning towards using mobile devices as primary tools for day-to-day life. Many of the purchases and other transactions occurring in the world are shifting towards promoting mobile interactions…

The iPhone isn’t just a communications tool, it’s a personal computer connected to every piece of electronic information in the world. It’s the most powerful tool in existence and the biggest thing to happen to education news since the invention of writing. It can compress the Einstein’s life work and the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius into three by four inches, and most people waste it on Angry Birds instead. Increase your IQ and become a better person by using these education apps instead. Star Walk Star Walk turns space itself into an open book, one read through your iProduct. It adds…

The Tom Cruise-driven vision of a future (almost) completely without murder worked with the concept that if we could use precognition to know when a murder was going to happen in the future, we could prevent it from ever happening. It was a science fiction concept that has tantalized the imagination on different levels with other concepts introduced in the film. Floating visual computer interfaces and iris-recognition technology aside, the crime-fighting components are well out of reach. Or are they? According to this infographic, we may actually have somewhere to go with all of this using…

Stunning. Intuitive. Brilliant. Worthless? The first three words in the series can clearly be used to describe the CNN #COP17 Ecosphere Project, a real-time visualization of the climate change discuss that led up to the UN Climate Change Conference 2011 being held now in Durban, South Africa. The fourth word in the series is up for debate. CNN is putting much emphasis on coverage of the conference both through their television presence as well as on the web. They have a show dedicated to the event that ran frequently in November and will continue until the end of the year. The Ecosphere project is…

Robotic science is intended to create devices that can aid humans in activities. In some case, it’s to help perform tasks that are too difficult or dangerous for humans. In other cases, it’s to relieve us of mundane tasks. Then, there are cases of robots that do little more than invade our nightmares. Such is the case with this robot designed by Harvard. This flexible device is able to wiggle and writhe it’s way through tight spaces. There are uses for such a device, we’re sure. We just don’t what those uses are yet outside of possible the defense department having some diabolical plans for it. https://twitter.com/#!/girimedia/status/144931103797547008…

In Mark Zuckerberg’s response to the FTC, we learned that Facebook is being forced to be more transparent, more privacy-oriented, and to get permission across the board for any changes they make both by users, the FTC, and anyone else who cares. This is a real blow, not because it hampers their ability to make money with the site but because it will force them to make some adjustments to the phone they’re developing. The folks at Geek Culture “discovered” what the real plans were before. How they will change with the FTC agreement is anyone’s guess, but one thing is sure – they’ll need to make changes…

2010 was a good year for the economy in terms of the number of initial public offerings (IPO). 2011 is trending to be slower overall with 76 as of October 25th versus 152 in 2010. It was still a strong year compared to the start of the recession in 2008 and 2009 when there were 78 combined for both years. There were losers in this year’s crop, but those who found success did so in a big way. LinkedIn, HomeAway, and Spirit Airlines are all showing good numbers compared to their launch price. Most, however, are still underwater. There were enough filings this year in preparation for 2012 to fill a bathtub….

The Kindle Fire was just the start of Jeff Bezos’ and Amazon’s “Holiday Gadget War 2011″ against Apple (and everyone else). From now until next Monday, Amazon is selling all non-iPhones for a penny with a 2-year contract. The phones on the list aren’t old models, either. Included are the new Motorola DROID RAZR, Samsung Galaxy S II, LG Revolution 4G, and HTC ThunderBolt 4G. Many of the phones on the list retail for over $600 and are sold by carriers and retailers for over $200 with 2-year contracts. With the $199 Kindle Fire already expecting to break 5 million units sold in Q4, Amazon is clearly trying…

At some point, the sheer oddity of Japanese technological solutions to various problems will stop surprising us. That day may have come as the latest addition to the long list of creative Japanese problem-solving tech involves a bear pillow, snoring, and a smaller bear glove that monitors blood oxygen levels. Dr. Kabe from Waseda University’s Kabe Lab created the Jukusui-Kun (Deep Sleep), a robot bear that uses internal microphones to monitor for snoring. As you’ll see in the video below, snoring sounds makes the bear’s hand move towards the face and brush it with a cotton cloth to compel the…

The precedent has been set and it’s a very bad one. A US judge ruled that Twitter must release all of the details of Birgitta Jonsdottir’s account, as well as two others. Their links to WikiLeaks has put them under the scrutiny of the Justice Department after last year’s video of US helicopters shooting two Reuters reporters in Iraq. Speculation is that Jonsdottir is not the target but rather a piece of the case they’re currently building against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “This is a huge blow for everybody that uses social media,” said Jonsdottir. “We have to have the same civil rights online…