Your Phone Can Tell Whether You're Depressed

It's a bit creepy to think that some marketer or national security specialist may be analyzing your movements by tracking your phone and drawing conclusions about your mental state. But maybe you value the attention? JL

Lucas Matney reports in Tech Crunch:

Researchers analyzed how often users were on their phones, how often they were leaving home, and how much they were generally deviating from their daily route.Users “with depressive symptoms tend to move less through geographic space.”

"Thank You For Calling, Now Please Die:" Life At a Tech Support Call Center

As bad as it is being on call waiting forever and then trying to explain your problem to tech support, imagine trying to answer the frantic, angry inquiries of people like you every day for a living. JL

Lee Hutchinson reports in ars technica:

The exact moment I realized that I hated the job and needed to quit before I hurt myself was the evening of Thanksgiving. I found myself logged into the phones with a paper plate of dry turkey, frantically troubleshooting an overflowing call queue of customers who all apparently decided to get drunk, break their computers, and then call tech support all at the same time.

Fast Cars, Big Data: Competing on Analytics

Data is literally driving performance in autos. And it may be a precursor of the links that will become imperative to keep all industries competitive. JL

Bernard Marr reports in Forbes:

Just like the speed of the cars, the speed at which data is transferred is of vital importance. In 2013 Lotus changed the storage provider they used for the data received by their cars to a faster system which enabled them to transfer 2,000 statistics per lap. They credited this as a key factor in the dramatic improvement in performance.

Data Reveal Tax on Soft Drinks Discourages Consumption

The debate about whether taxes change consumer behavior tends to rely on distortion and innuendo designed to support whatever position the protagonist takes. When it comes to taxes on sugary sodas like Coke and Pepsi, the argument by opponents is that it is regressive (affecting most those who can least afford it) and that it wont change demand anyway.

Recent evidence, as the following article explains, raises an interesting question about regress vs progress.

Mexicans are the world's largest per capita consumers of soft drinks and soda. They also, not surprisingly, suffer the world's greatest number of deaths attributable to consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. So the question is whether the regressive impact of the tax is offset by the positive impact on health and longevity. This sort of analysis is why measurement is becoming both more interesting - and more important. JL

Akshat Rathi reports in Quartz:

A new study looking at the effectiveness of Mexico’s tax on sugary drinks—implemented in January 2014—found that purchases had fallen by 12% compared to a year earlier.

How Smartphones Are Changing the Way We Shop

As devoted, even obsessed as we may be with our smartphones, research is beginning to suggest that our relationship has limits. And at least one of those limits is a crucial determinant of future human-technology relations: trust.

We are comfortable researching, analyzing and communicating, but we are - so far - drawing the line at using our phones to make purchases. The reason may be that it is simply too hard on the small screen - we dont trust our understanding given the small print, or trust our thumbs given the small keys (and hence the 'buy' button many big tech companies are introducing on their sites) or it may be that buying without seeing, feeling, even smelling the item in person is still sufficiently alien that the size of the phone has created one barrier too many.

The good news is that given our familiarity and usage of the phones for so many other tasks, such behavior can be changed with enough incentives. The only question is time and cost. JL

Sarah Halzack reports in the Washington Post:

For all the time we spend swiping and tapping on our phones, we still aren’t willing to make purchases on them. Shoppers are largely using their phones as a personal, pocket-sized sales associate that helps them browse and research while they are in a store. Retailers adapt their mobile strategies to do something counterintuitive: Boost in-store sales.

If You Are Reading This, You Are Richer Than You Think. Really.

Context and perspective. Does knowing that most people in the world are much worse off make you feel better already?

No, we didn't think so. But try the wealth calculator below anyway and confirm your status. JL

Suelain Moi reports in The Fiscal Times:

If you’re reading this article in the U.S. or the U.K., you’re likely already in the top 29 percent. That’s because you’re making $50 or more a day. In a global context, the Pew study says, “a much greater share of Americans and Europeans are middle or higher income than are people in emerging and developing nations.”

Research Says Bad Bosses Make You Sad, Lazy and Fat

Well, being able to blame your problems on someone in authority is a partial offset. JL

Ana Swanson reports in the Wonkblog:

Various polls of workers have shown that between 13 and 36 percent of U.S. workers report having had a dysfunctional manager, and 98 percent have reported experiencing uncivil behavior at work.