DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via Mashable.

Todd Wasserman in Mashable: "Will your wrist be the next billboard? With new entries from Sony, Samsung and Motorola hitting the market, plus rumored interest from Apple, smartwatches appear to be the next emerging category in computing. Some 15% of consumers are currently using wearable technology, a category that includes fitness bands and smartwatches, according to a recent study by Nielsen." Read full article in Mashable. E.T.P. 5'

Photo via Fast Company.

According to Fast Company Duolingo is reinventing how to learn a language, and I have to say that I agree, I'm learning French et je suis très heureuse! (This is not a sponsored post, by the way, I wish it was haha!) "Duolingo, the free language learning app, is rapidly expanding by embracing crowdsourcing as a way to provide more language courses to its 12 million users. The company launched with six core languages--French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, and English--providing free language instruction using a simple graphic interface similar to Rosetta Stone, to users who can't afford the hefty price tag of language learning software programs. Although they wanted to add every single language on Earth, hiring experts for each new language wasn't a viable option. Since its launch in 2012, Duolingo has received requests for over 500 languages, including fictional ones like Klingon." Read full article in Fast Company. E.T.P. 5'

Photo via The Guardian.

Steven Poole cleverly writes in The Guardian: "The news that Facebook has splurged $2bn (£1.2bn) on buying Oculus Rift, the world's first really viable virtual reality headset, has set off waves of plaintive snark in the world of videogames. Virtual reality headsets were supposed to be about totally immersive space battles or sword fighting simulations, not about peer-through simulacra of distant relatives' new kitchen windows. I mean, it's bad enough when Facebook friends have children and instantly change their profile picture to a baby photo, as though having regressed to mewling and puking infancy themselves. Imagine seeing that appalling phenomenon in the future Faceworld." Read full article in The Guardian. E.T.P. 5'