Summary: From electric Formula One to Mars exploration we have it all in this episode. Technology has brought us a long way, but technology has also create concerns such as the environment. Will motor sports fans embrace electric auto racing as we move away from internal combustion engines? The holiday shopping season is here. Will you be lured into some of the new marketing tactics by online and tradition retailers? Formula One Electric Cars The Formula One racing circuit announced a 10-race circuit that would feature the latest racing technology – electric powered race cars. The race circuit will feature races on the international scene, from Paraguay and the United States to Malaysia and Germany. The racing teams will look to bring some much needed attention to the electric car image, with 10 teams and 20 drivers slated to race. Google And Microsoft Block Child Porn Microsoft and Google have recently taken up the venture of tackling the problem of child pornography on the web. They are both making strong efforts to remove such results and access to these results from their search engines. We applaud both tech giants on their efforts to limit the exploration of children via the web. Google Map Shows Deceased In a very unique story from the CNN news folks, a father has requested Google to remove an image from their popular Google Maps. The image shown on the site is of a police car and law enforcement personnel surrounding what he argues is the body of his deceased son. Google has stated that it will take 8 days to remove the screen shot because new satellite imaging would be required. MAVEN Heading Toward Mars The Space Shuttle program may be obsolete but the flight into space is far from over. With the government shutdown looming, launching of MAVEN was slated to be delayed nearly 26 months. Clearer heads prevailed and MAVEN has her sights set on Mars. The unit’s mission over the next 10 months is to study the planet’s upper atmosphere and climate. Retailers vs Online The shopping habits of consumers have slowly been changing over the past five years. Online sales have increased from 5.9% to 7.6% sales. And that 7.6% of the $3.1 trillion in retail sales has the big-box retailers quickly rethinking their marketing and business models. Large chains like Target, American Eagle, and WalMart are adapting to the changing landscape of shopping. This new landscape includes rewards programs and shopping deals administered via app, a tracking of customer buying habits, and reworking of search engine features. With the largest retailers taking notice of what Amazon is doing, expect the next few years to continue to present a shift in shoppers’ buying habits and online sales to continually trend upwards.
