Hoping to increase its drive-thru speed, McDonald’s has begun to use voice recognition technology to compete against other fast food chains.…
Innovation
Innovation is a source of economic growth. Including the impact of new technology and the incentives that stimulate creativity, innovation is important for a market system. Depending on current events, econlife considers the impact and source of past and present innovation that includes the industrial revolution, the transportation revolution, the information revolution and people like Steve Jobs and Andrew Carnegie who made it possible.
How Legos Discovered It’s Not Easy to be Green
If we want our Legos to match, attach, and detach, we might have to wait awhile for them to develop the appropriate bio-based plastic.…
What a Tax, a Ship, and a Road Can Tell You
Somewhat invisible, time determines whether central bankers and legislators have the accurate statistics that they need for economic policy.…
Why Mapping Apps Create the Prisoner’s Dilemma
The success of a decision to use Waze, Google Maps, and other mapping apps to avoid traffic can depend on outsmarting the prisoner’s dilemma.…
Throwback Thursday: When Google Was Just Google
#TBT: Today’s Google is the result of 270 acquisitions. Let’s look back at what it (and others like it) used to be and then forward to what we have now. Google’s Growth Spurts During…
Throwback Thursday: Was Sears, Roebuck the First Amazon?
#TBT: Through the amazingly similar prefabricated houses that they both have sold, we can see why Amazon has been called the new Sears, Roebuck.…
What the Grocery Store Says About Us
More than a place to buy food, the grocery store says a lot more about the affluence from our GDP and our subjective well-being.…
A Dilemma: How Much to Pay for Our Privacy Protection
There is a doll whose name is Cayla. She has a pink skirt, a denim jacket, and a bluetooth connection. Like many toys, she can have a conversation with us. While these dolls are all Caylas, their manu…
The Lay’s Potato Chip Lawsuit
Lay’s Potato Chips became more than a snack when PepsiCo decided that a group of nine Indian farmers should not grow its special potatoes.…
Why Healthcare Spending Might Be Less Than We Think
When we look at the cost effectiveness of healthcare spending, we could conclude that it is not as excessive as the headlines indicate.…