Category: Science &Technology

{While information is at the heart of the CIO’s role, the technology that facilitates the delivery of information is just as important. CIOs need to track developing trends and innovations and judge whether they will benefit their businesses. It’s an essential part of the job. But what are some of the emerging tech trends that look set to disrupt the workplace now and in the future?
}

{{
Key Trends }}

We’ve outlined some of the trends likely to impact on businesses in the coming years in our new white paper. In it we highlight some of the technology that many companies are starting to embrace. Like OpenStack – an infrastructure service that’s used in 75% of deployed servers. Originally developed by NASA, OpenStack is used by companies like HP in cloud convergence solutions, like the one built for GS1, a not-for-profit organisation and the world’s leading supply chain standards provider. Find out more about GS1’s cloud convergence solution in our case study.

{{Experimental Technology }}

We’ve also included technology that is experimental and on the periphery of the business world. It’s the kind of technology that’s not yet mainstream, but has big potential. Wearable technology, flexible displays (like the ones being produced by HP), and sensor-heavy devices have the potential to transform the workplace – be it remote or office based – and promote greater collaboration. This is something Kevin Laahs touched on in his post, Why Ease of Use Matters to Mobile Workers. Here, Kevin discusses the importance of using sensor-driven devices to get personal analytics. The data from these devices will allow companies to proactively help workers in their day-to-day lives, by having contextual information about what they need, when they need it.

{{Peering into the Future
}}

And finally we’ve taken a peek into the future by looking at some of the things the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is currently developing. DARPA is renowned for bringing innovation to the US military and many of its tech solutions have the potential to make it from the battlefield into the workplace.

{{ True Business Value }}

Some CIOs might look at some of the innovations we’ve included and think they’ll never introduce them into the workplace because of budget and time constraints, security concerns and the ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality. The smart CIOs will monitor the trends carefully and assess whether the technology will deliver true value to the business.

Business Value Exchange

Paris ({{AFP)}} – Modern Europeans are descended from three major groups of ancient humans, not two as was previously thought, according to a gene analysis published on Wednesday.

Until now, the mainstream theory was that Europeans descended from early farmers who moved into Europe from the Middle East about 7,500 years ago, and local hunter-gatherers they interbred with.

But a DNA analysis in the journal Nature says there was a third group in the mix: people from northern Eurasia.

The finding means that North Eurasians — who inhabited a vast swathe of land stretching across much of Russia and northern Asia — contributed to the gene pool both in Europe and North America.

Their influence on the Americas were borne out in previous studies which showed that North Eurasians crossed to modern-day Alaska more than 15,000 years ago via an “ice bridge” that connected islands in the Bering Strait at the time.

“What we find is unambiguous evidence that people in Europe have all three of these ancestries,” said David Reich of Harvard Medical School, who led the study with Johannes Krause at Germany’s University of Tuebingen.

The 100-strong team of scientists drew on a vast collection of resources.

They unravelled DNA teased from nine ancient skeletons found in Sweden, Luxembourg and Germany. The remains were those of eight hunter-gatherers who lived about 8,000 years ago, before the advent of agriculture, and one farmer from about 7,000 years ago.

“There was a sharp genetic transition between the (era of) hunter-gatherers and the farmers, reflecting a major movement of new people into Europe from the Near East,” said Reich.

The genomes were overlaid with the genetic codes of 2,300 present-day people living all over the world.

“The ancient North Eurasian ancestry is proportionally the smallest component everywhere in Europe, never more than 20 percent, but we find it in nearly every European group we’ve studied and also in the Caucasus and Near East,” said Iosif Lazaridis, one of the Harvard team.

Northern Europeans have relatively more hunter-gatherer ancestry — up to about 50 percent in Lithuanians — whereas southern Europeans have more farmer ancestry, he added

{Microsoft confirmed that it’s buying massively popular game Minecraft and the studio behind it, Mojang. The purchase amount is $2.5 billion. Don’t panic: Microsoft says it “plans to continue to make Minecraft available across all the platforms on which it is available today: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.” }

Though Microsoft is purchasing the Minecraft intellectual property — game, licensing, and any other rights involved — it isn’t getting the game’s creator, Markus “Notch” Persson. A note from the Mojang team says, “Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool” (Carl Manneh is Mojang’s CEO and Jakob Porser is a co-founder).

Haven’t heard of Minecraft? Frankly, we’re impressed. The game’s rise from indie darling developed by a single man — “Notch” — to multi-billion dollar powerhouse has been meteoric, and highly publicized. Not only did it pioneer a movement in the game industry toward releasing early, unfinished games, but Minecraft became a massive mainstream hit. The game’s iconic “Creeper” character is a staple among both gaming’s hardcore and casual mobile gamers.

Rumors of an acquisition by Microsoft began last week, with a rumored purchase price of $2 billion. According to those reports, Notch approached Microsoft about a buyout. Mojang’s statements today seem to confirm that report. “He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance,” says Mojang’s statement on the news. “Over the past few years he’s made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang.”

Tech news

{You might need to change your email password in the very near future. A member at a Russian Bitcoin forum has posted almost 5 million Gmail passwords, around 60 percent of which are reportedly still working. }

It’s not clear how the poster managed to scoop up all this account info, but Google tells Cnews that it comes from a long stretch of hacking and phishing attempts that stole data from individual users.

Gmail’s servers weren’t breached, the search giant says, and much of what’s there is old. That’s somewhat comforting, but you may want to check if your account is one of the unfortunate targets — you don’t want to give thieves easy access to your most sensitive info.

engadget.com

{ olleh Rwanda Networks, (oRn), a partnership between KT Corporation and the Government of Rwanda, has selected Nokia Networks to deliver the radio and core network as well as managed services to build first commercial LTE network in the country.}

With this Public Private Partnership (PPP), Rwanda has been placed on the fast track towards establishing a strong and reliable telecommunications infrastructure.

CEO of oRn, Peter Jeon, said : “This is a defining moment for Rwanda and its citizens. In addition to opening up a whole new world of data services, this LTE network will also be a strong proof point of our commitment to enabling and empowering the people of this country. A strong track record in similar deployments, coupled with cutting-edge technology expertise and capabilities, made Nokia Networks a natural choice as our partner for this ground-breaking project. We will work together to accelerate the arrival of the latest communications technologies in Rwanda.”

Sudesh Maharaj, customer team head, Growht Markets, Central and West Africa at Nokia Networks, added: “As well as from placing Rwanda on the global LTE roadmap, this initiative also has the potential to radically alter the current communications landscape in the country. This contract underlines oRn s faith in our capabilities to deliver on its vision to launch commercial LTE services in Rwanda.” (c) 2014 Euclid Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.

{{Agencies}}

{{Exciting a specific part of the brain with electromagnetic pulses could boost our ability to remember certain facts, a study in Science suggests.}}

The US trials involving 16 volunteers found they made 30% fewer mistakes in memory tests after the procedure.

Scientists are now investigating whether the technique could help people with memory disorders and reduce memory loss in later life.

Independent researchers describe the method as “ingenious”.

{{‘Naming faces’}}

Researchers at Northwestern University in the US targeted a particular nerve hub known as the hippocampus.

This area of the brain has a central role in basic memory processes that tie unrelated facts together – such as remembering someone’s name or the contents of last night’s dinner.

Scientists pinpointed this region in each of their 16 volunteers using detailed scans and then assessed their baseline memory.

Participants were presented with pictures of faces while hearing unrelated words and asked to learn and remember the face-word pair.

A device was then used to apply short bursts of electromagnetic stimulation to the area of the head directly above the hippocampus hub.

The sessions lasted 20 minutes a day for five consecutive days.

Volunteers scored significantly better on similar memory tests after this procedure – even 24 hours after sessions were completed.

The study revealed they made 30% fewer mistakes at this point, compared with scores before they had the procedure.

And they showed no signs of improvement when exposed to a dummy, placebo version of the device.

{{‘Closer synchrony’}}

Prof Joel Voss, who led the study, said: “We show for the first time that you can specifically change memory functions of the brain in adults without surgery or drugs, which have not proven effective.”

He added: “This non-invasive stimulation improves the ability to learn new things.

“It has tremendous potential for treating memory disorders.”

Researchers are now investigating how memory changes in older age, and hope to start trials on people with early signs of dementia.

Dr Nick Davis, who was not involved in the study, said: “The method used to stimulate the hippocampus is quite ingenious. It is very smart work.

“The work is exciting as most of our knowledge about memory circuits comes from animal studies or people with memory impairments.”

Scientists say the device works by emitting a strong electromagnetic field in rapid pulses.

This then generates an electrical current in nerve fibres – mimicking the usual electrical activity in the brain.

{{An Indian charity has unveiled 108 new lavatories in a village which gained notoriety when two young girls were found hanged from a tree there in May.}}

The teenage cousins were killed in Katra Sahadatganj in Uttar Pradesh when they went unaccompanied to relieve themselves in the fields.

Campaigners say the lack of toilets and the need to walk long distances makes women vulnerable to attack.

Nearly half of India’s 1.2 billion people have no toilets at home.

Unveiling the brightly-coloured, cheap lavatories on Sunday, the sanitation charity Sulabh International said it aimed to provide the same facility for every dwelling in India.

“I believe no woman must lose her life just because she has to go out to defecate,” Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the charity, said.

“Our aim is to provide a toilet to every household in the country in the not-too-distant future,” Mr Pathak told the media.

The circumstances of the murder of the two young cousins in Katra Sahadatganj remain unclear.

But they were killed when they – like countless other girls and women – walked to the fields in the dark, for privacy, to relieve themselves.

In his Independence Day speech on 15 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to end open defecation.

“We are in the 21st Century and yet there is still no dignity for women as they have to go out in the open to defecate and they have to wait for darkness to fall,” he said.