TREND REPORTS
(PDF) GelTouch - Make Your Own Buttons with a Gel Touch Screen
[Tech]
2015/09/24 10:57
Researchers covered a touch screen in gel that can harden into buttons of all shapes and sizes so you can use the display even if you can’t gaze at it.Touch screens are versatile and easy to use, but the slick surface isn’t great for some tasks—typing more than a quick e-mail, for instance—and becomes pretty useless when your eyes are occupied with other tasks.With all this in mind, researc...
You Really Only Use 3 Apps on Your Phone
[Consumer]
2015/09/24 10:57
Americans spent almost 70 hours in smartphone apps, on average, in June (excluding the web browser). Younger users, aged 18- 24, spent more than 90 hours. More apps are also reaching larger audiences: 60 apps had more than 10 million unique visitors in June, up from 44 a year ago, according to comScore.But attention is still largely concentrated among a user’s top few apps. The average America...
iZettle Raises $67M and Launches a Cash Advance Service for SMBs
[Investing]
2015/09/24 10:57
European mobile payments processor iZettle has announced a fresh €60 million ($67 million) raise. The round was led by Intel Capital and Zouk Capital, both existing investors, and takes the company’s funding to almost €150 million ($168 million).While Jack Dorsey’s Square has been setting out to disrupt the epayments market for small to medium-sized businesses in North America and Japan, iZ...
Diaper Screening Process : Loved Ones and TV Ads Are Top Sources
[Consumer]
2015/09/24 10:56
The factors that influence diaper purchases are relatively straightforward—function, fit and brand are top criteria for consumers. And when it comes to learning about which are best, 44% of global respondents go direct to the people they know and trust for recommendations, which is the top source of information in every region, though it is well below average in North America (32%).TV ads are...
Walmart Built The Fastest-Growing Retail App by Focusing on One Key Shopper Habit
[Business]
2015/09/24 10:56
Walmart has managed to do something very few retailers have accomplished: Convince millions of people its mobile app is useful enough to snag a prime spot on their phones’ home screen.That precious real estate has proven elusive to retailers whose customers shop at dozens of stores but have only downloaded a handful of apps, preferring to reserve that coveted space for apps like Facebook and G...
A Slimmer 3D Printer - Creator
[Design]
2015/09/24 10:56
Creator is an innovative 3D printer than uses half the space of conventional printers yet achieves the exact same result! How? The secret is in its moving platform that travels on both an X & Y axis so the extruder unit doesn’t have to. The resulting proportions are half the width, saving space without sacrificing product quality!Designer: Heo Seungkue[yankodesign]
(Video) Clearpath's OTTO Robot Can Autonomously Haul a Ton of Stuff
[Tech]
2015/09/24 10:56
Today, Clearpath Robotics (best known for its rugged, ROS-friendly, and infallibly black and yellow robotic platforms) is announcing OTTO, a “heavy-load material transporter” that can carry a ton of stuff around warehouses, fully autonomously. Actually, “a ton of stuff” is underselling OTTO’s capabilities, since it can happily roll away with one metric ton and a half of payload: that’s a...
(Infographic) The Cost of Living in America
[Investing]
2015/09/24 10:55
It's not just you – lots of people are struggling to make ends meet in America. And it's not just because of debt. The cost of living in America is remarkably high in many of its major cities, especially when compared to the median income of its citizens. This infographic takes the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, and more in cities across the 50 states and compares them to the national...
(PDF) BCG - The Robotics Revolution : The Next Great Leap in Manufacturing
[Business]
2015/09/23 23:30
It has been roughly four decades since industrial robots—with mechanical arms that can be programmed to weld, paint, and pick up and place objects with monotonous regularity—first began to transform assembly lines in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. Yet walk the floor of any manufacturer, from metal shops to electronics factories, and you might be surprised by how many tasks are still performed by...
