[Radar7] 8 futuristic gifts for your Smart Home

By , 5 December 2013 at 13:08
[Radar7] 8 futuristic gifts for your Smart Home
Digital Life

[Radar7] 8 futuristic gifts for your Smart Home

By , 5 December 2013 at 13:08

05 December 2013

Radar7 is our recurring feature where we’ll highlight the top seven pieces of thought-provoking industry commentary that should be on your radar.

1. 8 Futuristic Gifts for Your Smart Home

With Christmas quickly approaching, Mashable has some gift recommendations to bring smart technology integration to the home, including an improved cleaning robot, a power strip with a bendable frame, a showerhead with wireless speaker integration and more.

2. Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy. And it’s Dangerous to Hero-Worship Entrepreneurs

Discussion of authenticity and meritocracy in an entrepreneurial context is a regular theme in the examination of Silicon Valley. This Wired piece highlights the potential for privilege, the influence on inequality and digital elitism in the tech industry.

3. The Big Business Opportunities in Smartwatches

While early iterations of smartwatches have divided critics, both sides agree that the technology still has far more future potential. This Inc. piece suggests future additions including increase connectivity, enhanced background processing while maintaining simple screen notifications and micro projection features.

4. Canalys: Half Of All PCs Shipped in 2014 Will Be Tablets; Android 65%, Apple 30%

It seems that we’re fast approaching the tablet/PC tipping point, with 2014 predicted to be the year that tablet sales increase to 50% of all PC sales. As outlined in TechCrunch, with tablets both cheaper and more portable than a traditional PC, they may become the de-facto choice of the average consumer in the near future.

5. In Bitcoin’s Orbit: Rival Virtual Currencies Vie for Acceptance

While the news has been abuzz with discussion over Bitcoin’s $1,000 price milestone, The New York Times has published an overview into the alternative virtual currencies that have been cropping up, including their differences and the motivations of the creators.

6. Here’s what people did on mobile devices in Q3

With the mobile advertising industry set to grow over 300% in the next five years, there has been a steady growth in interest around future advertising trends in the sector. This VentureBeat article measuring impressions (the number of times an ad is displayed) revealed that Apple devices claimed 35% of impressions, with Samsung coming second at 29.58% of total impressions this quarter.

7. State-run fund RVC: Russia venture funding will reach $10B by 2016

According to RVC (formerly known as Russian Venture Company), Russia’s venture market neared one billion in total transaction amount in 2012. Far larger than the near non-existence from only a few years ago, VentureBeat reports that Russia’s venture market has recently experienced three or four years of accelerated growth.

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