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Bring your own service: Employees want social tools at work, despite company restrictions and hesitation, reports new Microsoft survey

By Guest PostMay 28, 2013Culture, Technologyaltimeter group, analyst, asia-pacific, at work, better teamwork, charlene li, chris laping, employees, Europe, global survey, global workplace, infographic, information workers, ipsos, kurt delbene, latin america, microsoft corp., microsoft office division, microsoft survey, organizational policy, productivity loss, red robin, research firm, security concerns, social media, social tools, Technology, Twitter, water cooler, workplace, worldwide, yammer

Global survey across 32 countries shows worker appetite for social tools is increasing, even if it means spending their own money and defying organizational policy to use the technology.

REDMOND, Wash. — May 27, 2013 — Nearly half of employees report that social tools at work help increase their productivity, but more than 30 percent of companies underestimate the value of these tools and often restrict their use, according to new Microsoft research released today.

The survey, conducted for Microsoft Corp. by research firm Ipsos among 9,908 information workers in 32 countries, also found that 39 percent of employees feel there isn’t enough collaboration in their workplaces, and 40 percent believe social tools help foster better teamwork. More surprisingly, 31 percent said they are willing to spend their own money to buy social tools. (more…)

Grocery delivery service is greener than driving to the store

By Guest PostMay 27, 2013Environmentdelivery service, delivery service customer, delivery service trucks, grocery delivery service, grocery shopping, grocery store

At the end of a long day, it can be more convenient to order your groceries online while sitting on the living room couch instead of making a late-night run to the store. New research shows it’s also much more environmentally friendly to leave the car parked and opt for groceries delivered to your doorstep. (more…)

Ways Google Glass Would Be Great for Gaming

By Guest PostMay 27, 2013Technologyboard game, education, first person shooting, fps, freelance writer, gaming industry, genres of gaming, google glass, marcela de vivo, medicine, multiplayer system, puzzle, role playing, rpgs, smartphone, social media, southern california, Technology, trivia, virtual gaming world

Many are speculating the possibilities for the new Google Glass – a wearable computer that displays a screen in front of your eye that you can control by voice command – in industries, such as medicine and education.

One industry in particular that has people excited about the possibilities for using the device is the gaming industry. The Google glass can take gaming to a completely different level in all genres of gaming.

Multiplayer system, role-playing (RPGs) and first-person shooting (FPS) games could potentially be more efficient to play and participate in. The glass right in front of your eye places you in the hub of the action, allowing players to nearly be face-to-face and eye-to-eye with the opponents in their games. What’s more, there is the potential of better accuracy when shooting, with the glass serving as your pinpoint target. (more…)

Women donate less to charity than men in some contexts

By Guest PostMay 26, 2013CultureBerkeley, data, donation, economist, face to face, gautam rao, john list, philanthropy, specific altruism, stefano dellavigna, uchicago, ulrike malmendier, university of california, university of chicago

Given the chance, women are more likely than men to opt out of a request to give a charitable donation, a group of economists have found.

The issue of which gender is more generous has been debated for years. A new field experiment conducted by scholars at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley shows that when it’s easy to avoid making a donation, such as not responding to a door-to-door solicitor, women are less likely than men to give. (more…)

WALL-E, meet EVA: ‘Robo-doc’ navigates on its own, frees doctors to focus on the critically ill

By Guest PostMay 26, 2013Health, Technologybrain function, encrypted patient data, eva robot, intensive care unit, intouch health, ipad, irobotcorp, memory bank, neuro icu, neurological, paul vespa, remote presence robot, robot eva, ronald reagan, rp vita, technological features, the robot, ucla medical center

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the world’s first hospital to introduce a remote-presence robot into its neurological intensive-care unit in 2005, now welcomes the RP-VITA, the first robot able to navigate the hospital on its own.

UCLA staff affectionately dubbed the 5’5″, 176-pound robot “EVA,” for executive virtual attending physician. Unlike earlier models that physicians steered via a computer-linked joystick, this version drives on auto-pilot, freeing doctors to devote more time to patient care. (more…)

USGS Study Confirms U.S. Amphibian Populations Declining at Precipitous Rates

By Guest PostMay 26, 2013Natureamphibian populations, declines of amphibians, habitats, threatened species, wildlife refuges

CORVALLIS, Ore. — The first-ever estimate of how fast frogs, toads and salamanders in the United States are disappearing from their habitats reveals they are vanishing at an alarming and rapid rate. (more…)

Cannibal Tadpoles Key to Understanding Digestive Evolution

By Guest PostMay 25, 2013Scienceafrican clawed frog, anne everly, budgetts frog, cannibal tadpoles, carlos infante, carnivorous, cris ledon rettig, digestive evolution, function, human birth defects, intestinal birth defects, james hanken, lepidobatrachus laevis, molecules, nanette nascone yoder, north Carolina, proteins, state university, tadpole, xenopus, xenopus embryos, xenopus laevis

A carnivorous, cannibalistic tadpole may play a role in understanding the evolution and development of digestive organs, according to research from North Carolina State University. These findings may also shed light on universal rules of organ development that could lead to better diagnosis and prevention of intestinal birth defects.

NC State developmental biologist Nanette Nascone-Yoder, graduate student Stephanie Bloom and postdoc Cris Ledon-Rettig looked at Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) and Lepidobatrachus laevis (Budgett’s frog) tadpoles. These frog species differ in diet and last shared a common ancestor about 110 million years ago. Like most tadpoles, Xenopus exist primarily on a diet of algae, and their long, simple digestive tracts are not able to process insects or proteins until they become adult frogs. Budgett’s is an aggressive species of frog which is carnivorous – and cannibalistic – in the tadpole stage. (more…)

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