Using Google’s map technology and cloud platform, Global Forest Watch can track tree use, abuse, and regrowth. Combining satellite technology, public data, and crowdsourcing, the arena Resources Institute, Google and greater than 40 partner organizations have launched Global Forest Watch, a web-based community-oriented map designed to trace changes in forests world wide in near real-time. Global Forest Watch provides data layers that describe forest change, forest cover (tree density), forest use, conservation data, and reports about forest-related issues from users. It provides insight into the health of the world’s forests, which remain vital economic, social, and environmental assets for each nation. The website exists because forest health have been declining. Greater than 500 million acres of forest were lost between 2000 and 2012, in accordance with data from the University of Maryland and Google, and only 197 million acres of forest were regrown, replanted, or revived in this period. This isn’t a sustainable trend. “That is the equivalent of losing 50 soccer fields’ worth of... Read More »

Microsoft’s Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 represent big improvements over the originals, but they still make sense just for certain users. Of the complete critiques which have been directed at Microsoft’s device strategy, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s is among the most apt: The outside campaign is “confused.” “Confused” fits better than “doomed,” “failing,” or any of the alternative terms that seemed appropriate a number of months ago, when the skin line was defined entirely by unenthusiastic reviews, unsold inventory, rapid price reductions, and a $900 million writedown. The harshest criticisms aren’t any longer appropriate since the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are big improvements. The previous beats its predecessor in every regard, while the latter addresses the unique Pro’s biggest weaknesses, inclusive of battery life. Windows 8.1 also is a way more cohesive experience — even the fashionable UI, whose once-anemic core apps at the moment are full-featured enough for comfortable day-to-day use. The devices also include pretty nice perks: a year of free... Read More »

Success within the Internet of factors era depends on gathering intelligence within a thriving ecosystem and, for sure, being cool. This year marked the 23rd anniversary of 2 clever guys — John Romkey and Simon Hackett — hooking up a toaster to the net. The device was connected by TCP/IP and was controlled with the easy Network Management Protocol. Or even though it had just one control (power on/off), it was a big hit on the Interop networking conference that year. Later a robotic arm was added, which picked up a slice of bread and dropped it into the toaster — no human interaction needed. Fast forward and today we haven’t any shortage of factors connected to the web (greater than 10 billion things, in line with Cisco), from things we wear (watches and footwear) to the cars we drive. Heck, we’re even attending to the purpose where living “things” are connected — equivalent to self-watering plants. Welcome to the superb Internet of Everything. [... Read More »

Employees resisting social business? You could improve adoption by predicting how these types will react to new ideas. Has this happened in your company? You introduce a social business platform to great fanfare. You advertise and promote internally, perhaps even sponsoring games and scavenger hunts with the hopes of having your employees fascinated about using it. At first everything appears to be going great, but eventually usage stalls — even perhaps deteriorates — and also you never reach that critical mass of employee adoption that offers the business benefit you were searching for. There’s an excellent chance that scholar Everett Rogers and technology consultant Geoffrey Moore may have predicted this example years ago. Within the early 1960s, Rogers developed a theory called the Diffusion of Innovations. If you have ever used the term early adopter, you’ve gotten been talking about this theory without even realizing it. The speculation specializes in understanding the standards which could accelerate or inhibit the spread and adoption of a brand... Read More »

Using an experimental Android prototype, Google wants developers to jot down apps that do something interesting with real-time awareness of users’ surroundings. 16 Top Big Data Analytics Platforms (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) Google desires to hear from developers who can create mobile apps that depend on precise awareness of users’ surroundings. On Thursday, the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group, to not be confused with its X Lab, invited developers to submit proposals for applications that make the most of Project Tango, an experimental Android-based phone. The telephone is built with custom hardware and software for tracking the device because it moves in real-time and generating a 3D model of the local area. Project Tango hardware, able to taking 1 / 4 million 3D measurements every second, depends on a software development kit (SDK) with APIs for accessing position, orientation, and depth data through Android apps written in Java or C/C++, or during the Unity Game Engine (which may build for Android... Read More »