News
Using Web2.0 tools to attract and retain generation Y employees
Written by Olivier Adam on Tuesday, 09 June 2009 21:50
This video has been floating around for some times, but it is still quite interesting to watch. BestBuy, the giant home electronic retailer, has been using web2.0 tools to attract and retain its employees. Those tools, mainly targeted at generation Y employees which is the core of their employees, allow them to network and communication between each others and with the management as well. They have a forum called the WaterCooler, a website called BlueshirtNation, a wiki and a marketplace called Loop where employees can put in ideas they have for the company and other employees and management can comment, rate and even give support to the project. They also have a system called Tag Trade which wants to be a prediction market, using the employees as the traders of this virtual market. There's still too few companies out there that recognize the different needs of the generation and as we can see, there are some positive returns that can be obtained by taking some actions on that side.
How will you play tennis in 2083?
Written by Olivier Adam on Monday, 01 June 2009 08:28
Lacoste released, for their 75th anniversary, a very interesting video showcasing how they foresee the future of sport, in this case tennis, 75 years from now. The video shows a player, equipped with a full suit that enhances his strength and give him faster reflexes. His "goggles" give him real time information about the game and enhanced clarity. How much of this we will see in the future? I'm convinced quite a few of these enhancement will appear at one point in the future, the question will be how long it will take before they allow any type of body enhancement in sports. But as soon as one allows it, all the other professional sports will have to allow them as well as they would loose too much of their spectators otherwise.
The future as envisioned by Microsoft
Written by Olivier Adam on Thursday, 28 May 2009 12:24
Microsoft recently released quite a nifty video about their vision of the future. This special division of Microsoft, called Office Labs, plays with any kind of concept that can originate from the different departments of Microsoft. They explore different avenues and putting it all together, they came up with this vision of the future. What is interesting is, even though some of the things they show in the video seems quite futuristic, if you take a step back, you realize that mostly everything in there already exists. Most of it is still in a prototype stage, but all these ideas could become quite common around us in just a few years.
Robot Taxis
Written by Olivier Adam on Tuesday, 26 May 2009 10:44
Designed by a Czech firm, this is just at the concept stage, but it could very well represent how this mode of transportation could evolve in the future. Even though an improvement in public transport will mean a greater and easier access to public transport for everyone, there are always some occasions that you need some kind of door to door transportation system, so taxis will always be around. Eventually, with the proper equipment and technology, vehicles will be able to go to the proper direction on their own which would make this concept more of a reality. This mode of transport could be very eco-friendly as well, both on the construction of the vehicle as well as usage as it could easily be fitted with an electrical engine and go recharge itself when it's low on power.
Virtual worlds for kids
Written by Olivier Adam on Friday, 22 May 2009 08:14
After wildly successful MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) like Everquest and then later on, World of Warcraft, video game producers have been focusing on a new segment of customers, kids below 10 years old. While early teens will already be quite interested in the current offering, younger kids will usually not be as attracted by those games. Using existing licences, a few developers are hard at work to make these world a realities. BarbieGirls is one of these games, which has been attracting girls for 2 years already. For the boys, even though there are a few games available out there, they will have to wait a little longer for Lego Universe as it has been postponed for a 2010 release. Nevertheless, this is already predicted to be quite a hit with kids as soon as its released. Let's just hope that some of the addiction that we see in older gamers will not become a reality for the kids that join those worlds. Eventually, we can expect virtual worlds to become the major form of entertainment for everyone, more popular than movies, TV shows, music, reading books, etc.
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