China's Tiger Moms Are Spending Big on Tech Classes for Their Kids

China's Tiger Moms Are Spending Big on Tech Classes for Their Kids

It starts with the idea that kids must be trained early to prevail over robots in the workforce. Then it snowballs from there—$3,000 a year for tuition, $350 for a Lego robotics set, and $7,300 to test the newly acquired engineering skills in a competition in the U.S.

That’s what Zhuo Yu is spending on her 10-year-old son for a so-called STEM education in China—a problem-based approach to learning that combines knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The concept created in the U.S. is now stirring a craze across China, where about 10 million students are being fast-tracked for STEM success.

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IFTTT for groceries orders ice cream when it’s hot

IFTTT for groceries orders ice cream when it’s hot

Tesco has partnered with IFTTT so customers can auto-adapt their grocery delivery according to the weather, price drops, dinner reservations, and more.

Grocery shopping keeps getting easier. Now, British supermarket Tesco has partnered with IFTTT — If This Then That — to help customers automate their online shopping with personalized ‘recipes’.

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What impact will Google's Buy Button have on retailers and e-commerce players?

What impact will Google's Buy Button have on retailers and e-commerce players?

Google kondigde onlangs aan dat het een ‘Buy Button’ zou laten verschijnen in zijn zoekresultaten. In eerste instantie zou dit gebeuren bij mobiele zoekresultaten. Logisch, want we weten allemaal dat in sommige delen van de wereld het zoek- en online shoppinggedrag zich meer en meer mobiel afspeelt. Dit is nog maar de start van de launch, dus de kans bestaat dat die binnen afzienbare tijd verder uitgerold wordt naar desktop search pagina’s.

De nobele doelstelling is om het aantal stappen voor de consument te verminderen. Door stappen uit te sluiten en dus de consument rechtstreeks op Google pagina’s de verdere online transactie activiteiten te laten voortzetten en hun data te laten ingeven, worden essentiële data van bij de retailers weggehouden.

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Will 2015 be the year of Big Data? Or was 2014 already that?

Will 2015 be the year of Big Data? Or was 2014 already that?

I just read the following interesting article on Big Data. That Big Data is here to stay is obvious, but the trick will be to use Big Data smartly . That is why I often speak of Smart Data instead of Big Data.

The data itself does not necessarily have to be 'Big'. Much more important is what you want to do with that data and how you want to interpret it. There has to be some purpose. Its quality and governance are also important.

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Ex-Toys R Us chief on the importance of omnichannel

Ex-Toys R Us chief on the importance of omnichannel

The good news for retailers is online sales are seeing double-digit growth this holiday season. The bad news is all the packing, shipping and dealing with returns that come with digital selling is squeezing margins, former Toys R Us CEO Gerald Storch told CNBC on Monday.

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KLM Offering Airport Navigation Service with Beacons

KLM Offering Airport Navigation Service with Beacons

As of today, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is offering a route planner for passengers transferring at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. On arrival, passengers receive a map of the airport on their smartphone, showing the route they need to take and the time required to get to the next gate. KLM is the first airline to use beacon technology to provide this indoor navigation service.

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5 Amazing Applications with Beacon Technology

5 Amazing Applications with Beacon Technology

Forrester recently calculated that over 52% of the US retail sales are influenced by physical shop online use, either while shopping or during the upfront inspiration phase.
Beacon technology can play a major role here. Hence, several retailers are experimenting with this technology. But besides retail, there are other interesting applications with Beacons.

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