Emerging Technologies

Focusing on the future of consumer science and e-learning technologies

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Emerging Technologies

"The following are samples of emerging technologies that have been gleaned from publically available sources. There are 172 emerging technologies listed here, with more being added every day. IdeaConnection's service provides access to technology scouting and sources emerging technologies before they are available to the public."

After reading the list for emerging technologies, a few stood out to me. Some of my favorite included, using waste heat to make cars more efficient, regenerating adult teeth, prostate cancer risk estimation, and nanodiamonds to treat cancer.

New innovations open up the doors to create new technologies to improve our way of life. Although it may not seem connected, innovations connect us to the future.

[kristenmichelle26]

Amazon UK reports 'Cyber Monday' as busiest shopping day in its history

Internet retailer makes 4.1m sales on 2 December, beating the previous record of 4m set 76 hours earlier on 'Black Friday'

With the popularity of shopping online increasing steadily, UK announced that Cyber Monday was its busiest shopping day in history! E-Commerce is more popular than ever. Shopping online is so fast and convenient that shoppers prefer to shop from home. Technology has promoted shopping online for years now, and will continue to. As a consumer, I would much rather participate in Cyber Monday, then Black Friday shopping in the crowds!

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Delivery By Drone? Amazon Says A New Era Looms

CEO Jeff Bezos says the retailer is looking at reducing its delivery times to 30 minutes or less.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced a new way to deliver packages in up to 30 minutes! This is the future of e-commerce! This system should be up an running within the next four years. These new flying delivery drones will help drive e-commerce in the next few years. Emerging technology for e-commerce is everywhere! 

Although this will allow for faster deliveries from purchases made online, there are many safety hazards involved. The article states that the drone's are unsafe and can actually explode. Another issue these drones face is actually ensuring packages are delivered to the correct location. As with many technologies, there is always room for error.

[kristenmichelle26]

When it comes to e-commerce, retailers must ensure they are tablet-ready

Tablets are becoming the device of choice for online shoppers. Here are some ways to keep your brand ahead of the curve

There is a high chance that if you are shopping online you are using a tablet. Retailers must be sure their sites are "tablet ready" to accommodate their online shoppers. If a website is too hard to navigate from a tablet, consumers will be more likely to shop elsewhere.

"As ownership of tablets becomes more widespread among consumers, they are increasingly the device of choice for people wanting to shop where and when they want. The larger screen size has meant that retailers are able to offer levels of interactivity not previously possible on smaller smartphone devices; 33% of tablet owners use their device to shop online, while recent research by Adobe (pdf) shows that tablet users actually spend twice as much as smartphone users when purchasing through their device"

In order to keep sales up, retailers need to ensure they have a tablet-compatible website. Single click checkout would be one of my most requested features for a retail website to have. It was such a pain to type in card numbers and addresses over and over.

[kristenmichelle26]

While working on a group project for my HRD class I was introduced to a website called "voki." "Voki allows users to create personalized speaking avatars and use them to re-create historical actors, unique characters, or other figures. By controlling their voices, students can use their avatars for role play or to reenact famous speeches." Voki is a great way for students to create interactions and presentations.

"Students can use their avatars to engage in debates and topic discussions—such as Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan engaging in issues of states rights and federalism. Likewise, students could use their avatar creations to address a homework question on a course blog or wiki page. Another good use of Voki avatars is to re-enact famous speeches such as the Gettysburg Address, or to summarize the President's State of the Union Speech in under two minutes by examining word clouds released after the speech.

Finally, a wonderful use for these avatars is to apply gained knowledge of philosophical views of historical figures into fictional scenarios. For example, students can create a fictional character that meets a certain demographic (i.e. middle-aged Hispanic female nurse). Then the entire class, made up of various American citizens, can conduct a town hall debate on the key issues of the past and present. A variation of this format is to conduct a town hall of famous American politicians and personalities—such as Barack Obama, Reagan, Washington, Lincoln, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and John Stewart."

Voki faces some challenges, such as account issues. You must create an account in order to use Voki and all of its features. I would want to use Voki as a one time project and not have to worry about keeping up with an account.

[kristenmichelle26]

Apple recently introduced iTunes U, which allows you to download courses and notes offered by different universities. This is very useful but not compatible with all types of software. I am not an apple user, therefore this does not work for me. I would love to see this available for non-itunes users in the future. I love the idea of this. I can see this gaining popularity in the near future.

[kristenmichelle26]

Blackboard Mobile Learn & Blackboard Mobile Central provide an interactive mobile learning and online campus experience to engage everyone on their mobile devices.

Blackboard has come out with a free application for students to download on their smart phones. This app allows students to easily access their blackboard accounts from their mobile devices. The blackboard website is not very compatible with mobile phones so this was a huge deal! I recently downloaded the app and use it almost everyday! The app sends me notifications when grades have been posted (my favorite feature). I recommend every blackboard student to download this app. I wish this had been around years ago!

[kristenmichelle26]

Walmart's 'Scan & Go' iPhone app: The future of shopping?

The discount shopping giant experiments with letting customers use smartphones to speed through the checkout process. Will it work?

Wal-Mart has been testing new, faster, ways for customers to check out. As a consumer, one of the most annoying parts about shopping at Wal-mart is the long lines at checkout. This new feature would allow iphone users to download an app that would allow them to scan items as they pick them up in the store and add them to a "virtual basket" this would then allow them to simply pay for those selected items at a checkout point before leaving the store.

This new app faces many challenges, especially theft. This app has room for error on both sides. The app can glitch and cause a consumer to leave the store without paying for all of their items. Likewise, consumers can be dishonest about how many items they actually have in their cart.

[kristenmichelle26]

10 Predictions About the Future of Ecommerce

We asked 10 eCommerce founders to share what they think the future of personalized shopping holds

The future of e-commerce is quickly approaching. In the near future, consumers will be able to customize any product they want to fit their liking. With new virtual websites popping up, shopping online will be easier than shopping in stores! One thing I can't wait for is virtual sizing. I don't like shopping online because I can never tell what size to buy. The article describes virtual sizing," The hassle of trying on various sizes will decrease as video quality improves and we're able to measure and size clothes from the comfort of home." Not only does this benefit the consumer, but the vendor as well. Consumers will no longer have to constantly exchange their purchases for different sizes or colors. One of my favorite parts of this article describes the future of 3D printing of clothes! The article states, " I think 3D printing technology will get to the point where we'll be able to print clothes according to our sizes. How cool would it be to go to Banana Republic, pick out the fabric of your choosing and have the machine print out some shirts for you? It will happen."

Some challenges that are faced are of course quality issues as well as other tech issues that often occur when new technologies are introduced. It takes years to even begin to perfect technologies.

[kristenmichelle26]

With the launch of the ipad, e-learning is being incorporated into our every day lives. Schools are now using ipads to help kids learn. Students are being introduced to online textbooks and apps inside the classroom. This is a great way to engage the learners instead of the traditional textbook. Apps and games on the ipad are also new learning techniques being used in classrooms. 

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How convenient is this?!

[kristenmichelle26]

3D printers are becoming part of the medical world. Many hospitals are using 3D printers to create copies of human body parts. "For example, a Belgian company, LayerWise, used 3D printing to create a jawbone that was recently implanted into an 83-year-old woman. An Australian company, Inventech, has created what they call their 3D BioPrinters to print tissue structures using human tissue. And Bespoke Innovations is using 3D printing to create prosthetic limb castings."

In the near future 3D printers will be able to print two or more different materials at the same time which will unlock the ability to use them for many more things. The army is now looking into ways to use 3D printing to replace machinery on-site.

Some of the challenges 3D printing will face is pricing for consumers; and accessibility. Although it would be nice to be able to replace a part to a toy from home, it is cheaper for a consumer to go to the store and buy the part rather than replacing it via 3D printer.

[kristenmichelle26]

TMA World - Manufacturing models of top-down management have been replaced by knowledge-centric structures that place middle managers at the heart of organisations.

With the introduction of e-learning, there are many pros and cons. The pros outnumber the cons by many, which include, easily accessible, cheaper, and faster. Although, there are many challenges. e-learning is the future for all businesses. The article states, "

These environmental factors create the conditions in which e-learning can help managers develop the skills and knowledge to execute business strategy. However, to succeed we need to actively address a number of challenges:

E-Learning needs to be rigorously aligned with business needs. The value of e-learning can only be realised if we carefully ensure that what is being delivered genuinely helps our managers execute business strategy.

Boards and senior management need to exercise leadership to effect this alignment. Business leaders are often not involved with the e-learning initiatives they effectively sponsor. We need their support on three levels: Firstly, to encourage training and business people to integrate e-learning into development programmes. Secondly, to encourage line managers to value work-based learning as a fundamental component of working life. Lastly, to validate that e-learning does advance business objectives.

Learners need appropriate motivation. As anyone who works in e-learning can testify, e-learner motivation is critical to success. Therefore, the learning effort must demonstrate a tangible association between better execution of business strategy and further career enhancement. This is the ultimate challenge! The result of the learning experience needs to be valuable and meaningful. Even before we tackle the issues of pedagogy and instructional design, the issue of what's-in-it-for-me must be addressed. People learn if they understand the benefits to their job, and are supported and encouraged to learn.

Contrary to the many reports and articles claiming that we should treat corporate e-learners as we would any market segment, this approach reduces e-learning to the level of product. Of course we need to market e-learning to our colleagues to raise awareness, but the bigger challenge is creating the right environment and culture in which e-learning is valuable to individual career progression as well as organisational success. That, to my mind, requires us to capitalise on the current environmental trends that support e-learning. But it also places the onus on us to build appropriate levels of senior management support to deliver on a vastly under-rated management education promise."

[kristenmichelle26]

We live in a competitive world where employees need to be equipped with the right knowledge, tools and capabilities in order to effectively drive prod

Mobile learning is the future of learning. IT can be seen everywhere nowadays. There are more pros to mobile learning than traditional learning. One pro, stated by the article, "According to Global Industry Analysts, corporate training alone is a $200 billion industry, while e-learning represents $56.2 billion of this amount, and is expected to grow to around $107 billion by 2015."

""E-learning completely eliminates geographical challenges, while minimising time spent away from the job at hand, not to mention the saving on overheads. Since 2000, the global e-learning market has grown by 900%, and recent studies have projected that, by 2019, 50% of all classes taught will be delivered online,"

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Checkout lines quickly become unbearable, and are one thing that shoppers don’t like. Alex and Ani, a jewelry designer and retailer, implemented mobile checkout technology before the holiday rush to better manage in-store traffic and improve the shopping experience for customers shopping its...

[kristenmichelle26]

Working in a retail store myself, I know for a fact that mobile POS increases sales and productivity. At Nordstrom, we use mobile POS devices everyday to ring up customers. This avoids long lines and increases customer satisfaction. There are usually more sales associates and customers in the store than there are registers. In order for more sales associates to service more customers, mobile POS devices are the way to go!

There are challenges faced when using mobile POS devices. Sometimes the devices freeze and take a few minutes to start working again. Another issue has to do with the wifi used to operate the devices. If the wifi is disconnected or compromised, the devices will not work. These are all things that can be fixed int he future however.

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ElearningIndustry/~3/6DfbqHSdO1k/adobe-captivate-6-vs-articulate-storyline

Selecting an authoring software for your company might be a little bit tricky and this is exactly why you need to define a set of criteria that will help you choose the right one, based on...

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Captivate being used in the workplace!

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Teachers trained on new STEM learning technologies

Teachers from schools across the state met Friday for a demonstration of new educational technologies that will be piloted this fall.

"Much of the technology presented Friday consisted of learning software programs that provide immediate feedback to students and allow a child to work at their own pace". E-Learing is the future of learning in schools. Teachers and students are being trained on how to use tablets in the classroom. In order for students to be able to use new technologies, such as ipads, in the classroom, their teachers must also be trained on how to use them. Tablets are the future of learning for students. They provide interactive learning to engage students in the topic being studied. The article states, "Rachel Southwick, a fourth-grade teacher who participated in a demonstration of the Think Through Math program, said computer and tablet-based learning appeals to the interests of today’s children."

This type of learning also allows for those students who are faster learners to move on to other parts while slower students can pace their time and focus on their difficulties. I wish this was around when I was in school!