Author: Connected World
#Factoftheweek 12.3%. This is the anticipated growth for fleet-management systems in Southeast Asia, growing from 3.6 million units in 2024 to more than 6.4 million units by 2029, according to Berg Insight. Fleet management in Southeast Asia is surging. After a slow period following the pandemic, the current outlook is strong due to: Overall economic growth Strong, competitive market Growing awareness of fleet telematics The penetration rate in the total population of fleet vehicles used by businesses is at the same time estimated to increase from 17.5% in 2024 to 27.1% in 2029. In a broader sense, the trends seen…
The warmer weather is here, and so are opportunities for smart home dealers to sell devices and technology that put backyards front and center, including automated outdoor shades. In greater numbers, homeowners are turning to automated shades to make maximum use of their outdoor spaces and turn backyards into beautiful private getaways just a few feet away from home. According to a January 2026 study by Strategic Revenue Insights, “The global motorized outdoor shade system market is projected to reach a valuation of approximately $12.5 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7.8% from 2025…
As technology advances, so too does the opportunities for farmers and the agriculture space to leverage data to make decisions about water, fertilizer, and harvest. Now, a new app aims to provide insight into crop health, weather forecasts, soil conditions, and climate patterns. Researchers at Virginia Tech have built a new tool that leverages Google Earth Engine and open-access geospatial databases to bridge the gap between agricultural research and practical decision-making. The app supports more than 45 crop types and can be applied to open-field farming systems worldwide. It pulls data from trusted sources that is updated regularly. Here is…
#Factoftheweek 5.2 billion users globally. That is the anticipated use for over-the-top messaging apps by 2026, which is a 16% increase from 2025, according to Juniper Research. What does this mean? Businesses messaging strategies will evolve, as they look to connect these channels to their platforms. Juniper Research suggests there is one clear, new standout opportunity: click-to-chat. Click-to-chat enables businesses to capture customer data and engage in conversational commerce experiences without overloading over-the-top messaging. Still, mobile messaging vendors should simplify enterprise adoption by offering preconfigured templates that ease the launch of website-originated messages. Communication is changing with the rise of…
Common Ground Alliance estimated in 2019 the annual total social costs of underground infrastructure damage in the United States reached roughly $30 billion. What if we had a better way to determine location of underground infrastructure? New research aims to answer this question. Purdue University engineers have developed a patent-pending method to decrease hazardous strikes to underground utility pipes during construction projects. This method leverages GPR (ground-penetrating radar) data to estimate the location, orientation, and radius of underground utility pipes. The technology analyzes the electromagnetic wave reflections, but the challenge with GPR alone is it often overlooks inherent uncertainties and…
#Factoftheweek: 6.6% Construction is a good career for many. In fact, in January, workers in construction and mining saw the biggest pay bump when switching employers—something to the tune of 6.6% pay premium over the job stayers, according to ADP Research. Compare this to the next industry—resources and mining, which was a 5.6% pay premium. Meanwhile, some industries, like leisure and hospitality, saw negative year-over-year change in pay for switching jobs. But that’s not all the good news for construction. Pay for new hires also jumped in January in the construction industry. For roughly a year and a half, the…
#Factoftheweek 9 in 10 construction workers in 24 states are not union members. Let’s break this down. The data comes from ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors). And it found at least 90% of construction workers in 24 states did not belong to a union in 2025. Overall, there was a record of 9 million nonunion construction workers compared to 995,000 union members. What does this mean? ABC urges state policymakers to advance policies that level the playing field, preserve worker choice, and address the issues the construction industry faces—issues like the worker shortage which will amount to 349,000 in 2026.…
Can AI (artificial intelligence) aid in the education of students? This is the question many higher education program leaders are aiming to answer. Now, one new trial is underway to teach future doctors how evidence is generated and evaluated. As one example, at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, professors created the IDEA (Independent Data Exploration and Analysis) project, which is required for first-year medical students at the school. The yearlong curriculum uses AI tools. When the project first launched, students used ChatGPT and Claude, but the class has since transitioned to TrialMind, a platform tailored specifically to…
#Factoftheweek How smart are our cities? Maybe not quite smart enough, but they will be smarter in the future. Smart cities contain several key areas of research. Let’s look at the most research figures in 2024 from Berg Research: Smart-street lighting: 27.9 million units (excluding China) Smart parking: 1.47 million units (in ground and surface mounted) Smart-waste collection: 1.56 million units (new on bins or retrofitted) Urban air quality monitoring: 206,000 units Another key area is smart-city surveillance, which is measured in dollars rather than units. Berg Insight suggests this market, which includes both fixed and mobile video and audio…
Energetic materials have been produced using manufacturing methods such as casting and milling, which emphasize efficiency and scalability. Although these approaches are well suited for large-scale batch production, they offer limited flexibility for customization—restricting innovation and potentially preventing performance optimization. This is where new additive manufacturing and 3D printing research enters the equation. Purdue University engineer Monique McClain is developing new methods to control materials’ behaviors throughout the manufacturing process. Professor McClain specializes in the early manufacturing stages such as selecting binders with unique properties to hold energetic particles together and determine how they are mixed. As an example, a…