Clipmarks | balthazarus's clips

Cars Have Personality...

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:52:36 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: For example, cars scoring high in the so-called power traits had horizontally elongated hoods, pronounced lower car bodies relative to the windshields and more angular headlights that seemed to suggest a frown. Conversely, cars on the other end of the power scale -- that is, those perceived as childlike, submissive, female and friendly -- had headlights with their upper edge relatively close to the midline and had an upward shift of the car's lateral-most points. ("In this way, the car gives us a big smile," Slice said.)

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Life Is A Highway: Study Confirms Cars Have Personality

Many people see human facial features in the front end of automobiles and ascribe various personality traits to cars -- a modern experience driven by our prehistoric psyches

Generally, the headlights were marked as eyes; the nose tended to be the grill or emblem; the additional air intake slots, the mouth

96 percent agreed on whether a car was dominant or submissive

In a finding that suggests perhaps there is a hidden road warrior in all of us, study participants liked power vehicles best -- the most mature, masculine, arrogant and angry-looking ones

do people extend the perception of the car to the person behind the wheel? And does that affect how drivers interact with other cars on the road?

our brains have been designed to infer a great deal of information about another person

from just a glance at their face

As a result, we are tempted to see faces everywhere, even in clouds, stones and, yes, cars

Tags: cars, sociology

Different contexts, different communication

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:44:07 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: As the new ways of communicating are upon us innovative skills of expression evolve to meet these new demands

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Expressing Emotions In E-mail So As Not To Be Misinterpreted

study how we use emoticons, subject lines, and signatures to define how we want to be interpreted in email. The authors find that "a shift to email interaction requires a new set of interactional skills to be developed."

Unlike face-to-face conversations, email interactions leave out tone of voice, body-language and context, which can lead to misunderstandings

no way of communicating is actually superior to another

each require a set of distinct interaction strategies

Capital letters, use of quotations, emoticons, exclamation points, punctuation, bullet points, style and even color help the sender communicate the meaning of a word or message

Participants also maintained their conversational flow by cutting and pasting from previous emails and using subject lines that referenced previous discussions

Signatures, disclaimers and other information about the person's state of mind were also commonly used when writing an email

Tags: email, face to face meetings, internet

What will happen in the next 5 years? read it here :)

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:09:21 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.networkworld.com

The Next Five in Five is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM's Labs

1. Solar power will be built into asphalt sidewalks, driveways, siding, paint, rooftops and windows

2. You will have a crystal ball for your health -- not a real crystal ball, but sophisticated analyses of your own DNA will tell you what types of health risks you face in your lifetime and the specific steps you can take to prevent them. DNA analyses will cost less than $200

3. "You will talk to the Web . . . and the Web will talk back

Clip Source: www.networkworld.com

4. Digital technology will enhance your in-store shopping experience, with "digital shopping assistants" inside fitting rooms, touchscreen and voice-activated kiosks that will help you choose clothing items to complement or replace what you've already chosen

5. "Forgetting will become a distant memory

everyday details will be recorded, analyzed and "provided at the appropriate time

stationary smart appliances

Tags: future, technology, health