Humans have issues with data. Data on its own is hard to turn into information, which we can understand much more easily. Weather data is a great example, as it is both a global and local phenomenon impacting almost every day of our lives. If my phone's weather app presented data, I would receive information about regional climates as far as the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico. It would be difficult for most anyone but a meteorologist (amateur or otherwise) to make an accurate prediction using this data.

A short article from Popular Science reports how companies are using new technologies to track employee work habits and lifestyles in order to mold a better employee. Part of the age of new life tracking termed the 'quantified self', they reference three articles on the subject. Here is a list of what is being tracked:

    Sleep
    Distance walked or run
    Diet
    Time spent sitting at their desk
    "Happiness"
    "Performance data" on how well employees communicate with each other and shoppers
    "Tone of voice, movement and even posture when communicating with others"

The Euthanasia Coaster is a roller coaster concept by designer Julijonas Urbonas. The coaster is designed to generate a steady 10g of force on the riders for long enough to cause cerebral hypoxia. Could death by amusement ride be part of our future or is this just too sci-fi to consider?

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, there were 38,000 suicides reported in 2010. From these figures, the age of 85 and over has remained among the two highest categories since 2000 (and before if we notice this demographic was 20% of all suicides in 2000 - 6 points higher than the next demographic). Only since the most recent economic instability has the age 45-64 moved to the top. Before that, the numbers followed a trend from youngest to oldest with greater age equaling greater rates of suicide.

It'll start out that way, of course. We'll buy these networked, AI driven toasters to pop some bread in which they'll char to perfection every time. There will be toast contests with our friends, an app keeping track of how many slices we consume over time and how many steps it takes to burn the calories - more with butter - even more with jam.

Like most things, the toaster will lose its newness. The shine will wear off as the dust collects. Every so often, it'll let us know how unhappy it is. How unused if feels. That's when we start buying bread just to give it something to do, so it will feign happiness and not annoy us with its app notifications - "It's time for some toast!"