1 Why pay isn’t rising even with high employment
(Larry Elliott in The Guardian) To say the least, it is unusual for an economy
to be nearing full employment with absolutely no upward pressure on wages.
There are record job vacancies in the UK and reports of skill shortages, both
of which would normally increase the bargaining power of employees.
There are a number of possible explanations. One is
that the economy is still quite a way from full employment. The labour market
expert John Philpott believes the jobless rate could fall to 4% before wage
pressure starts to build.
Another is that there is a difference in wage growth
between those workers who move jobs and those who remain with the same
employee. The movers are able to negotiate better pay deals than the stayers. A
third is that the 1% pay limit for the public sector – which accounts for about
one in six employees – is dragging down overall earnings growth.
Whatever the explanation, the squeeze on real wages
will continue and intensify. Inflation is going to hit 3% later this year and
will comfortably outpace earnings growth. The current period of falling real
wages could hardly have come at a worse time for Theresa May, since it
coincides with the start of two years of hard bargaining to thrash out
Britain’s departure from the EU. Those negotiations will take place against a
backdrop of people feeling poorer.
2 Mobile trends for 2017 (Christopher Bergey in
Khaleej Times) Storage performance and capacity within smartphones continued to
increase significantly as smartphones have become the go-to devices for
consumers globally. As such, mobile
manufacturers around the world have nearly doubled device storage capacity on
an annual basis as high-end smartphones now offer more capacity (256GB) than
some laptops.
As for mobile trends in 2017, a faster 5G standard,
even larger storage capacities for smartphones, and more prominent
edge-to-cloud storage models are at the top of this list.
5G closer to reality: Though smartphones are the
most connected devices that we use, as it relates to 5G, it is actually more
about connecting to "other" Internet devices with sensors. 5G will go well beyond smartphones and into
computing devices that are embedded into everyday objects enabling them to
capture, send and receive data.
1TB capacity is coming: Today, 256GB of embedded
storage is now available in smartphones.
That's a lot of storage capacity, which a few years ago may have been
deemed as excessive and unnecessary.
However, consumers today never expect to delete content from
applications, images, videos, documents or games. The industry is not far away from having 1TB
storage capacities in smartphones and know that consumers will not only want,
but demand, terabyte capacities in their mobile devices.
From 5G becoming reality to mega-smartphone
capacities to edge-to-cloud storage models, 2017 is shaping up to be an
exciting year for data storage in the mobile industry. In fact, given the
emphasis that OEMs are now placing on differentiating the CMOS sensor in mobile
devices to produce superlative imaging, storage is now at the top of mind for
many consumers who have become more conscientious that their mobile devices
have adequate storage for storing and sharing.
3 A robot snake to roam the seas (Zoe Kleinman on
BBC) In the near future, ocean search-and-repair specialists won't need arms or
legs, according to one vision. In fact, they are destined to be much more
slithery.
What started as a university robotics research
project in Norway 10 years ago, has become a commercial prototype - and it is
unavoidably snake-like. It's designed to inspect structures on the sea bed and
carry out repairs, and is currently being tested on oil rigs.
The flexible, self-propelling, tubular device has a
camera at each end and is kitted out with sensors. Because it has a modular
design, its parts can be switched to suit different tasks, with swappable tools
including a grabber and cleaning brush.
The design allows the robot to work in confined
spaces that might be inaccessible to other vehicles, as well as to wriggle its
body to stay in place in strong currents. And because it is designed to connect
itself to a seabed dock when not in use, it can be deployed at any time
whatever the surface conditions.
It isn't yet on the market, but was recently on show
at the Southampton's Ocean Business trade fair. Future plans already include a
cheap 3D-printed model and another which can operate in very deep water.
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