The Sexiest (And Last?) Job Of The 21st Century | TechCrunch #careers #tech #datascientist


Data scientist, according to a 2012 Harvard Business Review article, is the sexiest job of the 21st century. Given that its authors are Thomas H. Davenport and D.J. Patil, the declaration is hardly surprising. Nonetheless, the IT industry is besotted with the term, and is expecting huge shortages of skilled workers.

A less well-known paper, “The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerization?,” was published less than a year later by two Oxford academics (data scientists, perhaps). The authors, Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne, examine 702 detailed occupations in the U.S. labor market and estimate that about 47 percent of total U.S. employment is at risk from computerization “over some unspecified number of years, perhaps a decade or two.” Nearly 100 occupations, covering a wide range of skills from manual to mental, showed a 95 percent or higher probability of computerization. READ MORE: The Sexiest (And Last?) Job Of The 21st Century | TechCrunch.

‘Her Story’ is a Compelling New Type of #Interactive #Storytelling | Ars Technica #video #gaming #transmedia



To anyone who was paying attention to video games in the mid-’90s, the term “FMV game” probably still inspires snorts of derision. The handful of titles that shoehorned simple gameplay on top of highly compressed full-motion video (FMV) usually suffered from low-quality sound and images, poor production values, limited interaction options, and ponderous repetition of a few short video clips through multiple plays. The results ranged from mediocre at the high end to some of the worst games ever made at the low end. By the end of the ’90s, filmed, live-action video clips gave way to polygons and animated, pre-rendered sprites as the gameplay and story-telling engine of choice.

But just as failed ’90s experiments in virtual reality are leading to a resurgence in the form today, the FMV gaming failures of decades past are finally being explored with the technology and game-design advancements of today. Her Story is proof that FMV games don’t have to be awful and that filming actors on a set could be a criminally underexplored form for interactive storytelling. READ MORE: Her Story is a compelling new type of interactive storytelling | Ars Technica.

Connecting #Inmates With Their #Children Through #Books | Marketplace.org #prisons #communication #tech #libraries


As part of our series about technology in prisons called “Jailbreak,” we paid a visit to a new program that uses technology to fill an important role in the development of the children of those who are incarcerated.

Organizers say the TeleStory program the first of its kind in the country. At the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library in New York, families of inmates bring their children to a special room filled with toys and books. Even more unique: the room is virtually connected to a prison on Rikers Island. via Connecting inmates with their children through books | Marketplace.org.

Adieu |Guy Laramée | Vimeo #art #books


Adieu / Guy Laramée from Colossal on Vimeo. Artist Guy Laramée (guylaramee.com/) bids farewell to the printed Encyclopedia Britannica. via Adieu / Guy Laramée on Vimeo.

16 #LGBT #Books That Will Actually Change Your Life | BuzzFeed #LGBTQ


As recommended by followers of the BuzzFeed Community. I also recommend reading the comments for why these books were recommended by users – heart-rending.

16 LGBT Books That Will Actually Change Your Life

Image Credit: Farrah Penn / Via BuzzFeed

These books showed you that it was more than OK to be gay. READ MORE: 16 LGBT Books That Will Actually Change Your Life | BuzzFeed

How a Museum Restores a Beautiful Painting from Hundreds of Years Ago | SPLOID #art #paintings #museums #restorations



Charles Le Brun’s painting of Everhard Jabach and His Family was finished in 1660. Now that it’s 2015 and hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, my favorite museum in New York, it was in need of a little bit of, um, reviving. The Met guides us through as it restores the giant piece of art and shows the steps the artwork needed to shine again. READ MORE: How a museum restores a beautiful painting from hundreds of years ago | SPLOID

Researchers in Japan Show off Super Fast Laser #Holograms You Can Touch | Mashable #lasers #tech #holographics



The dream of being able to touch and interact with holograms was the subject of many science fiction stories, but a lab in Japan has actually accomplished the feat.

Unlike the fictional holodeck on Star Trek, which used force fields to create a sense of touch, researchers at Japan’s Digital Nature Group used a different method: femtosecond lasers.

READ MORE: Researchers in Japan show off super fast laser holograms you can touch | Mashable

Friendly Reminder That American Girl Doll Created The Ultimate #Puberty Bible | BuzzFeed #libraryfun #books #girls


Image Credit: AmericanGirl Library

The Care & Keeping of YOU is the godliest book that ever freaking existed. If you didn’t have this sh*t growing up, I’m not quite sure how you survived. READ MORE: Friendly Reminder That American Girl Doll Created The Ultimate Puberty Bible | BuzzFeed

Dune, 50 Years On: How a Science Fiction Novel Changed the World | The Guardian #books #SciFi #ScienceFiction #Dune


It has sold millions of copies, is perhaps the greatest novel in the science-fiction canon and Star Wars wouldn’t have existed without it. Frank Herbert’s Dune should endure as a politically relevant fantasy from the Age of Aquarius. READ MORE: Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world | Books | The Guardian.

This Girl Taught Her Local Library A Lesson After They Blocked Her From A Robotics Class | BuzzFeed News #STEM #genderequality


Cash Cayen spends a lot of time at the local library in Timmins, Ontario. She was excited when she saw it was going to offer a session about robotics, and went to sign up. But the library said she wasn’t allowed — it’s for boys only. READ MORE: This Girl Taught Her Local Library A Lesson After They Blocked Her From A Robotics Class | BuzzFeed News