Technology Facts

70% of the US and European stock market trades are completely automated with no human input!

Back in 2006, 1/3 of al stocks traded in the USA and EU were traded electronically by specially designed algorithms without any human input. Today, it is estimated that around 70 % of stocks traded in the US and EU markets are bought/sold by algorithmic programs, with some markets pushing 80 %.

In order to understand this, it is important for you to know what algorithmic trading is. Algo trading is the use of electronic platforms for entering orders with an algorithm which executes pre-programmed trading instructions.

These instructions include many commands and variables, such as timing, price, or quantity of the order. And what’s most amazing is that in many cases the order can initiate without any human intervention.

All those algorithms are used by banks, pension funds, among many other important places.We see mathematics in every day life use, but when it comes to many we can see it magically becomes a lot more interesting!

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Volvo has created a pedestrian airbag!

Most cars have airbags to protect their passengers. As such their located on the inside of the car. Volvo has come up with a new airbag that protects pedestrians and is located on the outside of the car underneath the front hood. It is meant for cars driving in cities where there is heavy pedestrian traffic. It operates at speeds of 20-50 km/hr (about 12-30 mph).

The car has sensors on the front that detect a human form and this causes the airbag to deploy. It helps protect the victim in two ways. First, it lifts the front hood to give more space between the person and the hard parts of the engine. Second, the actual air bag covers and creates a cushion over the lower part of the windshield.

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Both Bejeweled and Tetris come from the same country! Can you guess which one?

Shakiri (English: “The balls”) or bejeweled as everyone knows it goes back all the way to 1994! Russian programmer Eugene Alemzhin developed this puzzle game for DOS.

The main purpose of the game was to gain a high score by matching three or more balls of the same color in line, just like the bejeweled in your phone. After matching the balls, these would explode and new ones appear in their place.

Unlike modern versions of Bejeweled such as Facebook’s famous “Candy Crush Saga” this game is over when no more combinations are possible in the game field. Shakiri in fact was the influential game that made “PopCap Games” create bejeweled by making it closely matched to it's mechanics arose.

So next time you play any of these “match three games” or pretty much any match game, remember that there are many other great things that come from Russia besides their Vodka!

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About 1/3 of US teenagers have sent a full-nude of themselves via text!

A new study of teen sexting reveals that 28% of teenagers have at some point texted a fully-nude picture of themselves. Socioeconomic trends had nothing to do with this. Parents with a high school diploma were only 2% more likely to have kids who sext than parents who had college degrees.

Under most existing laws, teenagers can be prosecuted for creating and distributing child pornography for sexting. If they court of law were to actively seek people out, several million teens could be prosecuted.

Some way that this is a positive policy as it prevents teenagers from making “irresponsible decisions,” others say that it does absolutely nothing, and some say that laws of this nature should not exist because teenagers should have the right to explore and express their sexuality.

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The Airforce once successfully destroyed an Earth-orbiting satellite from an airplane!

In order to properly test equipment, the US Air Force has to make some sacrifices. In 1985, President Reagan ordered a rather expensive test. He authorized a test that would hopefully result in the destruction of an orbiting satellite.

Specifically, an air-launched anti-satellite multi-stage missile (ASAT) would be launched at the Solwind P78-1, an orbiting satellite that had been launched in February 1979. On September 13, 1985, Major Wilbert D. “Doug” Pearson flew a “Celestial Eagle” F-15A 76-0084 launched an ASM-135 ASAT and destroyed the Solwind P78-1

The ASAT collided with the satellite at 15,000 mph. Prior to the test, NASA modeled the effects of the destruction and determined that debris from the Solwind satellite would still be orbiting around Earth until the 1990s. This caused NASA to increase debris-shielding plans for their space station.

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