3D printing really takes off with the help of big data

The only thing holding GE back from fully integrating 3D printing was insufficient data to assure uniform results. "A part is made out of thousands of layers, and each layer is a potential failure mode," Prabhjot Singh, head of the GE lab working on such processes, told MIT Technology Review. "We still don't understand why a part comes out slightly differently on one machine than it does on another, or even on the same machine on a different day."Now GE has come up with a big data solution to that problem.

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Big Data Helps 3D Printing Take Off

How green is my internet?

The late Ed Koch, who served as mayor of New York City for multiple terms in the 1980s, was famous for asking, “How am I doing?” Extending the question to the impact of its operations on the health of the planet, eBay has developed a way to get an automatically updated response. And the online auction powerhouse hopes to encourage other businesses to ask the same question, too.

In March, eBay released Digital Service Efficiency (DSE) -- http://dse.ebay.com/ -- a dashboard designed to reveal the company's datacenter energy efficiency in the style of a car’s MPG rating. The metric is based on “four key areas: performance, cost, environmental impact and revenue,” eBay said. Quarterly performance reports are measured against the yearly goals.

On May 24, eBay posted its first quarter results on its DSE blog.

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Everybody Wins in eBay's Eco-Friendly Bid

Promotions on the spot

Serendipity at the supermarket occurs when you spot your favorite cereal and have the coupon in hand. More likely, though, you have to hunt for your coupon, only to discover that it expired last week. At that point, you can either pay up or settle for the cheaper generic -- unless, that is, you're able to get a coupon on demand.

This third option, available at some stores by a company called VisibleBrands, is one made possible by analytics.  Read more in 

'Clipping' Coupons as You Need 'Em 

Data and the Deep

Google Maps Street Views have been used to showcase countries and art museums around the world in the Google Art Project. The data gathered from camera captures around the globe contributes to the Google Earth project, which allows people to view "any location in the world," including the sky, the moon, and Mars. It also offers views of the ocean, on both Google Earth and its Wonders of the World Project, through its partnership with The Catlin Seaview Survey. Read more at 

Data & the Deep Blue Sea

How I ended up writing about alpacas is explained here

It's due to the connection made between them and Bitcoin.

So how did this less-than-obvious pairing begin? The Grass Hill Alpacas farm in Haydenville, Massachusetts is owned by Jim and Nancy Forster. It was their son, David Forster, who convinced them to accept bitcoins. Forster, who calls himself a “self-taught economist,” claims the distinction of being the first merchant to sell a product for bitcoins. 
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Alpacas: the unofficial mascot of bitcoin?

Jane Austen's influence on English language

A recent Guardian article on Jane Austen as the "queen of modern slang:" fits quite well with a piece I wrote a few months back about the influence of her work on the literature that followed -- as confirmed by big data in The Big Wow-Wow & a Bit of Ivory

The Guardian article informs us that

Oxford professor Charlotte Brewer told the Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye that while Austen had a great influence on the first Oxford English Dictionary published in 1928, she is quoted 1,640 times in the most recent edition.Entries include 321 phrases from her 1815 novel Emma, which includes ‘dinner-party’ and  ‘brace yourself’. She also came up with ‘if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 100 times’.

As the piece is very short, though, it adds in a piece of what it considers good news: an upcoming  BBC adaption of Death Comes to Pemberly. I don't usually like the modern writers' takes on the most popular couple of Pride and Prejudice. Someone picked out that book for me once, and I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. That's saying quite a bit. However, I have no objection to the Jane Austen stamps issued by the UK recently. They are little works of art in themselves.

Star Trek and the final frontier of currency

Yes, I did get paid to write about Star Trek, at least in terms of envisioning money in the future in works of science fiction. I also mention Star Wars and The Handmaid's Tale.

 Part of the geek appeal for Bitcoin users is that it is a real-life example of a concept often featured in science fiction or sci-fi-oriented computer games: an advanced, universally accepted form of currency.

Universally accepted forms of payments become essential in a society in which space travel enables humans – and other sentient beings – to hop from planet to planet inhabited by civilizations of all kinds. Read more in Is Bitcoin science fiction come to life?