It is axiomatic that progress often means trouble. Virtually every industrial revolution has brought about greater productivity and resulted, in the short term, in fewer jobs. The Fourth Industrial Revolution — that's the coming one, if you haven't kept track — won't be immune to this trend, according to a new World Economic Forum report. As many as 7.1 million jobs could disappear thanks, in part, to developments in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, genetics and biology, according to the The Future of Jobs report released on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The …

Microsoft and Facebook have been powering forward with virtual reality technology, but at the same time it has appeared as though Google has been falling behind in this particular category. It has now been revealed that Google is making moves to form its own division that is dedicated to virtual reality tech and computing. As a central component of this effort, it has now named Sundar Pichai – the company’s CEO – as a division head, according to several sources. This represents a massive shift in control positions at the company as it simultaneously indicates that the company has a new intention to …

Dick Costolo, Twitter’s last CEO, is cofounding a new fitness-focused startup with Bryan Oki. Oki formerly cofounded and led another fitness platform named Fitify. “Costolo also revealed that he’s joining -- as partner -- venture capital (VC) firm Index Ventures, which has bases in San Francisco and Europe,” Venture Beat reports.    

Robots are gunning for your job. The "Fourth Industrial Revolution" is already underway, according to a report from the World Economic Forum, which is focusing on how technological change is reshaping the workplace and global economies at its meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland. Developments in fields including robotics, big data, and artificial intelligence will change workplaces and the required different skills from workers in the years to come, according to "The Future of Jobs" report. Not everyone will be impacted equally, with the report concluding that the jobs most at risk are office and administrative roles. Other industries with negative …

It looks like there will be a difficult few years ahead for consumer-focused IoT products. Accenture’s Digital Consumer Survey polled 28,000 consumers in 28 countries about their use of consumer tech, and found that the declining demand for smartphones, tablets and laptops would not be offset by the rise in consumer IoT devices – as the next generation of devices will not initially grow quickly enough to replace the losses in today’s consumer tech. The report notes that price, security, and ease of use remain the key barriers to the adoption of IoT devices and services, and that the majority …

Americans are in an "it depends" state when it comes to disclosing personal information over internet-connected devices, according to a new Pew Research Center study. The study proposed different scenarios to which 461 Americans expressed whether they believed being monitored by a device was acceptable, not acceptable, or depended on the situation. Pew Research Center found that some scenarios were acceptable to the majority of Americans, but the answers often came with caveats. For example, most consumers find a security camera in the office acceptable, but with restrictions; one person said, “It depends on whether I would be watched and …

Market research firm Gartner predicts that by 2020 there will exist an Internet of Things black market valued at more than $5bn for Internet of Things (IoT) market. Even though most of that data will be used to carry out criminal activity, at least some of it will be utilised to protect personal privacy. The IoT will feature in more than half of new business processes and systems by 2020, according to Gartner. The research firm noted that, as the cost of embedding sensors into physical items and connecting them to other things continues to decline, the impact of the IoT on the lives …

Multiple houses were sent into a chill in the very middle of winter. Woke up at night, users found out that their Nest Learning Thermostat had been out of order. The company’s online forums and social media were filled with customers’ requests and discussions. “Woke up to a dead nest and a very cold house,” said one comment. “Not good when you have a baby sleeping!” Another one replied: “Mine is offline. Not enough battery (?) I’m traveling. Called nest. Known problem. No resolution. #nest #fail.” Afterwards Google-owned Nest explained the problem – a software bug is affecting some of the smart …

The new Wi-Fi enabled Barbie is making news again — and for all the wrong reasons. The chief executive of MasterCard on Friday singled out the $75 Mattel doll as a security threat — the second time the tech-smart Barbie has run into trouble. Ajay Banga said hackers can gain control of Barbie’s voice and then “talk” to a child. The hackers can then win the confidence of the kid and, under certain circumstance, attempt to gain access to your home, Banga told attendees at a cybersecurity conference at New York University. “Now think about hacking into that Barbie doll …

AT&T will soon begin installing Internet of Things-enabled technology in several of the country’s largest cities as part of a push to spread “smart city” innovations nationwide. The massive telecom company unveiled a plan last week at its Developer Summit in Las Vegas to develop a new “smart cities framework,” working with Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and the Georgia Institute of Technology to install connected devices in sections of those cities and on the university’s campus. The effort also involves a substantial collaboration with other tech companies, with Cisco, Deloitte, Ericsson, GE, IBM, Intel and Qualcomm Technologies all pitching in to provide the …