Photosynthesis Tech

Two down, one to go. Researchers have completed the second of three major steps needed to turbocharge photosynthesis in crops such as wheat and rice, something that could boost yields by around 36 to 60 percent for many plants. Because it’s more efficient, the new photosynthesis method could also cut the amount of fertilizer and water needed to grow food.

Researchers at Cornell University and Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom successfully transplanted genes from a type of bacteria—called cyanobacteria—into tobacco plants, which are often used in research. The genes allow the plant to produce a more efficient enzyme for converting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into sugars and other carbohydrates. The results are published today in the journal Nature.

Scientists have long known that some plants are much more efficient at turning carbon dioxide into sugar than other plants. These fast-growing plants—called C4 plants—include corn and many types of weeds. But 75 percent of the world’s crops (known as C3 plants) use a slower and less efficient form of photosynthesis. Researchers have been attempting for a long time to change some C3 plants—including wheat, rice, and potatoes—into C4 plants. The approach has been given a boost lately by novel high-precision gene-editing technologies that are being applied to the C4 Rice Project (see “Why We Will Need Genetically Modified Foods”).

The Cornell and Rothamsted researchers took a simpler approach. Rather than attempting to convert a C3 plant into a C4 plant by changing its anatomy and adding new cell types and structures, the researchers modified components of existing cells. “If you can have a simpler mechanism that doesn’t require anatomical changes, that’s pretty darn good,” says Daniel Voytas, director of the Center for Genome Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Instead of mimicking C4 plants, the researchers borrowed a three-part photosynthesis mechanism from cyanobacteria. First, proteins form a special compartment within a plant cell that concentrates CO2; second, the compartment contains a speedy enzyme for converting that CO2; and third, the cells use special pumps in their membranes to usher CO2 into the cells.

Earlier this year, the researchers engineered cells to form the special CO2 compartments. The new research takes care of the second part—the speedy enzyme. They’re collaborating with other researchers on the third part, the pumps. Ultimately the researchers will need to put all three parts together in the same plants.

Maureen Hansen, a professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell, says the advances won’t be seen in commercially grown food crops for at least five or 10 years.

To do that won’t be a simple matter of transplanting one or two genes. It will require transferring 10 to 15 genes, and making sure the genes are stable, says Dean Price, a professor of medicine, biology, and environment at Australian National University. Price was not involved in the current research. Only then can extensive field testing begin, along with the regulatory process for genetically modified crops.

The approach will likely be limited at first to a few plants that researchers are particularly good at genetically modifying, such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. However, Price says, there are genetic workarounds that could quickly make it possible in a wider range of crops.

Tech for Democracy

Information is more available and accessible than ever before, and we are witnessing the power of the crowd to respond to news events with greater impact. As technology continues to play a larger role in our everyday lives, we must ask ourselves what ultimately is the responsibility of technology when it comes to the dissemination of information?

At Fundly, we see thousands of campaigns daily, from a small-town parent raising money for her kid’s school to massive fundraising efforts by some of the world’s largest charities. We also see polarizing campaigns such as the one started by a teacher from North Carolina that raised over $150,000 in a few days to help feed the children of Ferguson, Mo.

The Role of Technology

While the campaign to feed the students of Ferguson was mostly well-received by the public, there were a string of complaints from individuals who felt that supporters of the campaign were making biased, and in some cases offensive, comments on our site. Their upset was understandable, but when you look at the role of technology you see that it facilitates democracy, including the good and the bad that goes with it.

We receive angry emails every day demanding that we take down specific campaigns. Our job as a technology platform, however, is to remain un-biased and allow everyone to have an equal voice. It would be irresponsible of us to take down campaigns based on the demands of a vocal minority, unless there is a clear violation of our terms of service.

I’m not advocating for racist remarks on crowdfunding sites. In fact, our terms of service prohibit this, and I’ve had to remove racist comments from the “Feed Ferguson” campaign. However, beyond our basic terms of service, people have the freedom to raise money for the things they care about, no matter what they are. We may not like some of their campaigns or positions, but if we want to protect all of our democratic rights, we must allow them.

Tech Investment

A few years back, Nick Carr and others predicted information technology would become so commonplace that it would cease to be a competitive differentiator.

Well, it doesn’t seem to have happened yet. A new survey finds that enterprises that dive into technology investments tend to come out ahead in the end. Furthermore, those enterprises that embrace DevOps are proving to be a step ahead of the competition.

These are the takeaways of a study of 1,450 executives, commissioned by CA Technologies, which finds that technology-driven enterprises who are investing in new innovation and development capabilities are growing revenue at more than twice the rate of those not-so-technology inclined.

The survey data also indicates that enterprises are backing away from IT outsourcing, and bringing more software development back in-house. Over a four-year period, the percent of software development done in-house will have increased 11 percentage points, from 33 to 44 percent. This maps to another industry survey by Computer Economics that also finds a reduction in IT outsourcing.

As the survey’s authors put it: “Bringing more software development back in-house is a recognition that these skills need to be a core part of enterprises’ DNA, but sometimes the pressure to expand your application footprint means you can’t grow skills organically fast enough. When this becomes an issue, enterprises are turning to software acquisitions as a way to get the talent and technology they need.”

A surprisingly high level of software acquisitions — presumably meaning buying a software developer or the rights to code — point to the evolution of businesses of all types to software companies. Fifty-two percent report that they have either made a software acquisition or plan to in the next 12 months. Only 19 percent say they have no plans to do so.

It’s not clear how cloud factors in this equation. One school of thought would suggest companies would be less intimately involved with application development, since they may be using cloud services. However, it’s also likely that many enterprises — from outside the software industry — are becoming cloud service providers themselves.

Guide to Blind

At the Centre for Research and Advanced Studies in Guadalajara, Mexico, researchers have developed special lenses for the blind.

The idea is to turn traditional glasses into a navigation device to allow users to freely move from a specific point while avoiding both static and moving obstacles. It uses ultrasound technology, sound sensors, GPS and an artificial voice to guide the user.

Similar “smart” glasses have already been developed, but what sets this Mexican-made device apart is their use of ultrasound technology to detect translucent objects.

Researcher Alfonso Rojas Dominguez explained:“The “Smart Guide” project is trying to develop intelligent glasses to help visually-impaired people in their everyday lives; recognising documents, recognising tickets, colours, and also to help them with their mobility, recognising obstacles, directions to get to their destination via GPS, ultrasonic sensors and via a pair of cameras that process images through the lenses.”

Bouncing ultrasonic waves off surrounding objects, the technology can also read different colours and writing on objects and surfaces.

The aim is to sell the device at a retail price between 800 and 1,200 euros.

Learn Tech

Learning professionals are often the first to admit that when it comes to technology, they love the idea of the newest shiny product. But successfully implementing the latest toys for mobile learning, video streaming and social collaboration may be another thing altogether.

Practitioners and vendors alike say even the best thought-out rollouts can have problems, including getting employees to actually use the tools. And sometimes the latest fad can be just that — a passing fad.

Take the idea to build an entire curriculum in the online virtual world Second Life, which was all the rage a decade ago, said Rob Lauber, chief learning officer at McDonald’s Corp. “What everyone thought was going to become a cottage industry overnight actually died overnight.”

Even established technologies such as learning management systems are still not being fully used, and most of the reasons why are often out of learning leaders’ control: budget constraints, learning’s low position on information technology’s totem pole, bandwidth issues and inadequate resources to keep up with the necessary data input.

Budget constraints and integrating data from multiple systems still rank as some of learning leaders’ top technology challenges, according to the 2014 Chief Learning Officer Learning Technology Report.

Coming to Grips With Today’s Hottest Trends
Alicia Shevetone, vice president of strategies at Clarity Consultants in Campbell, California, said less than 5 percent of her clients are making a sincere effort to develop mobile learning, partly because they are stymied by budget constraints or they do not understand what it takes to introduce a new technology.

Some get too excited and buy first before doing their homework, said Katherine Guest, co-founder and chief marketing officer of OnPoint Digital Inc., an online and mobile learning company. “We’ve heard learning professionals say that their company just bought hundreds — even thousands — of tablet devices, with no real plan as to what they would install on them, and no thought as to how they might be used to enhance existing learning programs.”

In that sort of situation learning leaders should find out first which, if any, employees are allowed to access proprietary company information on their personal devices, she said. If they have corporate-owned devices, IT may only allow apps from their corporate app store or mobile device management platform.

Some practitioners prefer to get senior leaders excited about technology-related possibilities by developing something tangible before asking for an investment. Leah Minthorn, acting director of North American operations learning at Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc., recently designed a mobile learning app, even though not all workers have company-owned devices and there are security issues with using their own devices.

“I do things backwards, because I think it makes them more apt to approve things,” she said.

Governmental entities in particular are less inclined to be early adopters because it’s a very slow process to get people comfortable. Kevin Bruny, chief learning officer for Virginia’s Chesterfield County, likened it to turning a steam ship. However, Bruny said in his situation there isn’t much need to roll out mobile learning because most county employees in the field can complete their duties without additional performance support tools.

But that brings up a relevant point. Work tasks, outcomes and infrastructure matter when it comes to technology-motivated learning decisions. For example, Laura Helliwell, senior director of technology for corporate learning at Harvard Business Publishing in Boston, said it’s challenging to develop online content for organizations that still use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8, as the older browser doesn’t support content developed using HTML5.

Tech Expo

The fifth annual tech IT out Technology Showcase & Expo, hosted by the Southwest Missouri Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP), kicks off at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Oasis Convention Center, 2546 N. Glenstone Ave. This show offers technology breakout/education sessions, 60-plus technology exhibitors, over a dozen sponsors, and houses around 800 information technology and business professionals from a five-state region.

Technology industry giants such as Microsoft, IBM, Brocade, Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent are among the many high profile speakers, exhibitors and attendees at this year’s conference. It will also showcase a Small Business Education Series as well an in-depth, intimate, by-invitation-only conversation with Jeff Charlson, Vice President of Information Systems Division for Walmart stores who will be discussing “Collaboration.”

Session topics include CyberSecurity, Artificial Intelligence in Action, Event Detection, Warning and Reporting (weather), a briefing on the breach of Community Health Care, Espionage, plus social media and impacts on small businesses.

Sponsored by CenturyLink Business, this conference brings something for everyone interested in information technology, the advances being made across all industries as well as the latest and greatest technology brought to you by local, regional and national IT specialists.

Cost to attend is $40, registration is required; no cash will be accepted at the door.

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. for registration and check-in. Keynote Speaker Neal Tilley, Senior Director, Education Technology-Alcatel-Lucent presents Communication Evolution: It’s about TIME not TECHNOLOGY at 8 a.m. in the Maui Room. The event closes at 6:30 p.m.

iWatch

Apple’s embrace of wireless charging for its new Watch may be a defining moment for a technology that’s languished for years amid competing standards and consumer confusion.

Supporters of wireless charging see a future where people no longer worry about topping up their gadgets, are free from tangled power cords and low-battery warnings and where terms like “outlet” and “plugged in” will be as anachronistic as “dialling” a phone.

Users seem to like the idea too: in a recent survey by technology consultancy IHS, 83% were interested in wireless charging; in China, the figure was 91%.

But, while the technology is largely there to do this, competition to set a global standard is getting in the way of delivery. It’s reminiscent of the Betamax vs VHS videotape wars of three or four decades ago, or the more recent battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD for supremacy in high-definition optical disc format.

For now, there are three alliances, but not much to show. Last year, fewer than 20-million phones were shipped with wireless charging built in, according to IHS – less than 2% of the billion smartphones shipped around the world.

“There are a lot of bees around the hive,” said Omri Lachman, chief executive of Humavox, an Israeli start-up with its own wireless charging technology. “Up to now, we’ve not seen a mass aggregation of wireless charging in devices. There’s a good reason for that: three standards for the same form of technology.”