Technology & Innovation
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A Russian Internet security firm has discovered what is perhaps the world’s most complicated computer virus ever. Given its complexity, a specific country may be behind the attacks.
New facial recognition technology that reads faces for emotional cues could be applied on a mass scale to better understand the general mood of entire populations, even whole nations.
It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s also the bright thing to do, says former IOSCO chair Jane Diplock.
A report based on income, housing and life satisfaction to determine the happiest countries in the world, indicates that what makes people truly happy is hard to pinpoint.
For decades, the world’s most prolific scientists have relied on the American college undergraduate to represent humanity. Not surprisingly, they may not be very representative.
Alternative banks are increasingly popular in the US, though Europe still leads the way. Community credit unions are helping to enrich community businesses while making profit.
We’ve all noticed it – on television and the social web, an increase in politically partisan polemic and cultural isolationism. This “us vs. them” mentality doesn’t reflect the best of America, past or present, says author and essayist Marilynne Robinson.
Like San Francisco’s iconic cable cars, a new system of cable trucks is set to be installed between the port of Long Beach and Los Angeles, cutting emissions by as much as 30%.
SpaceX’s successful rocket launch is the proof of concept not only for private space missions but for an entirely new economy based on taking individuals and businesses to and from space.
After SpaceX’s successful rocket launch, its founder is riding high. But the space visionary nearly went broke investing nearly all his money into the company after selling PayPal.
Big-idea start ups are not dead, says GigaOm’s Derrick Harris. They’ve just moved to the cloud, where scalable technology allows companies–and individuals–to innovate like never before.
New technology platforms and lingering job shortages mean volunteering will be increasingly motivated by self-interest. So is it still volunteering? Or should we not worry about defining it?
Are the financial markets rational? It’s a tough claim to make as share prices and bond yields zoom up and down during a single day, hour, or even second, sometimes […]
Facebook banked $16 billion on its initial public offering, so why are market analysts disappointed? Perhaps because the company threatens the dominance of the stock market itself.
The reoccurring topic in the midst of the economic crisis effecting countries around the world is derivatives trading. It is a risk financial institutions take that has no benefit to customers, and can cause an outcome that will throw an economy into financial disorder.
New technology platforms and lingering job shortages mean volunteering will be increasingly motivated by self-interest. So is it still volunteering? Or should we not worry about defining it?
Class of 2012, you’ve heard it before: you will graduate into a world transformed by the global financial crisis. Unemployment among young people is at its highest rate since WWII, […]
Access to mobile computing, to allow employees to check email outside of working hours, increases productivity up to a point. After that it just burns people out and makes them unhappy.
Big Think hit the streets (the intersection of Wall & Broad, NYC) during the AM rush hour this Friday, May 18th with a guerilla theater piece for Facebook IPO day. […]
Mining the moon for natural resources is inevitable, says engineering professor Dr. Leonhard Bernold. He has created a system that avoids potentially crippling efficiency problems.
What is the Big Idea? Flickr, a photo sharing application with a social media component, used to be one of the most popular tools for sharing photos on the Web. Its […]
A new survey of corporate professionals across Europe shows that high-growth companies were the most likely to embrace social media, as were employees who were later promoted.
The degree to which companies can yield the power of individuals’ data to explain societal behavior gives them unprecedented amounts of power. Privacy is a relatively minor concern.
A new online social network wants to bring neighborhoods together in ways that may agree with how people want to know their neighbors, i.e. semi-anonymously and at their convenience.
What’s the big deal about J.P. Morgan’s $2 billion trading loss? Austan Goolsbee, an economic advisor to President Obama, said the American public should be concerned because, in his words, […]
A Ukrainian feminist movement called Femen draws attention to their cause by stripping from the waist up. Is that political action or simply playing into a hyper-sexual female stereotype?
Despite recent cases involving Walmart and JP Morgan, government regulation has kept business abroad relatively clean. Rather than loosen those regulations, other countries should follow suit.
Switching between the different hours of your work and social life can cause you to put on weight, says new research. What if working hours were more accommodating to our social lives?
A new outdoor gym in the English city of Hull encourages people to exercise by showing them a tangible return: Enough electricity to light the outdoor space and power their phones.
Warren W. Littlefield embarked on a journey of rediscovery 13 years after he was fired as the President of Entertainment at NBC. With the help of friends like Jerry Seinfeld, Kelsey […]