There is much chatter these days about the next generation of workers and whether they are technologically better equipped to face the changing job market. Many seem to think that by growing up with touch-screens, Siri and social media, the iGeneration will have a leg up in the future workforce compared to their less digitally native predecessors. This…
They play iPad games during potty training. They learn computer coding before they can read. Their mothers’ smartphones become their first object of jealousy. Their sonograms are shared with the world before they see the light of day. In fact they are born into a digital panopticon that will track their every movement, every milestone…
SXSW came and went, and in the weeks surrounding this mother of all conferences, Austin was abuzz with events that forebode what’s to come in the future of education. The weekend prior to SXSW an event called STEAM3 set off. STEM is better known an acronym for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – the…
Since my post Scenario’s With Children – How a Class of First-Graders See Life in 2026 has received some interest, I thought I would share another piece from another scenario session with a girl scout group. This group too consisted of very young elementary school age girls. The format is a little different. We talked about…
In I’m Gonna Pop Some Tags I referred to an article indicating that toy innovation has been sluggish since the recession. But even if the average consumer might not feel the effects of an improving economy (yet), an increasing number of economists believe we are on our way out of the abyss. At the same…
Here’s something that’s going to make you feel instantly old: The oldest X’ers are turning 50 in 2014. In a time when all the buzz is about aging Boomers and flailing Generation Y and Millennials (the youngest adult generation is so mythologized that it has two names!), Generation X is so quickly blending in with…
Are you ready for Library 2.0? Hoopla is an app service that works with Android and iOS to deliver digital library material. The app connects with public libraries across the country via library pin numbers. Users can download content that ranges from ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies and TV-shows. They even provide educational material. And of course…
Most personal insolvencies these days are caused by expenses related to the two service industries we depend on the most in our modern society – healthcare and education. And not surprisingly some of the most disruptive technological and social innovations are happening in these two areas as well. Much of the skyrocketing healthcare costs in…
In my post Online privacy and the cyberbaby-generation I addressed what I think is a distorted narrative when online sharing habits and privacy concerns are discussed. Despite the fastest adoption of social media happening among the older cohorts, a slew of studies and articles seem to limit their focus to young people’s internet habits. When…
“We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here.” No we don’t have flying cars, but perhaps Volkswagon have engaged enough interest to literally get something off the ground in a not so distant future? Anyway, let’s have a look at the 27 other breakthroughs Buzzfeed mentions. Are these inventions scientific one…
