|
 |
The Self-Driving Car |
|
| Imagine getting into your car and telling the driver to take you to the office, the airport, or the mall. You relax while you��셱e ferried to your destination and dropped at the door. Your car then waits discreetly for your return trip. Not too unusual if you employ a driver or use a limo service. However, that��셲 a little pricey for the mass market. But, imagine that your driver is not a human being but rather an affordable, computerized feature on your vehicle. |
|
|
 |
The Job Shortage Tur |
|
| A worker shortage. As recently as early 2003, over two million workers had lost their jobs since the start of the recession in 2001. At 6.2 percent, the national unemployment rate hovered at the highest level it had been in nine years, and the number of new jobless claims lingered above 400,000 for 20 straight weeks. People were screaming about offshoring, downsizing, and a lack of jobs. Little did they realize that they were at the beginning of a new era when skilled workers would be in very short supply and companies would be begging for workers. |
|
|
 |
Quashing the Identit |
|
| In the past five years, more than 27 million Americans have been victims of identify theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission. |
|
|
 |
The Emerging Tri-Pol |
|
| Consider the big picture, as we��쫣e laid it out in previous issues of Trends:
瑗� The population of the developed world is rapidly aging.
瑗� The United States is the only advanced nation where the workforce is forecasted to grow over the next 50 years.
瑗� The populations of the EU and Japan are actually expected to shrink over that time period.
瑗� Even China is rapidly aging and the size of its workforce will peak around 2025.
瑗� At the same time, Latin America, India, the Middle East, and Africa all have young, rapidly growing populations of under-utilized workers and under-served consumers. |
|
|
 |
Digital Books Start |
|
| Since at least the 1960s and possibly earlier, we��셶e been hearing predictions about the demise of paper. Xerox famously, and disastrously, attempted to create the ��쐏aperless office��� in the 1970s. If anything, we use more paper now than ever, owing to the ease of running off copies with laser printers and copiers. |
|
|
[129]권 
