04
magazine
The City of Linköping in Sweden has granted planning
permission for the world’s first vertical greenhouse/office
block, with construction due to start later this year.
The result of a collaboration between Plantagon
International, SWECO, Tekniska Verken and The City of
Linköping, the Plantagon Greenhouse will be 60 metres high
and feature a 16-storey office building on the inside and
space for urban agriculture on the outside.
Owe Pettersson, COO of Plantagon, which is occupying
one floor of the building, said: “Behind the greenhouse façade,
it’s a regular office building that can be used in many different
ways, like a hotel, office or school. The Plantagon Greenhouse
will be a model for the whole world to demonstrate that you
can actually grow food efficiently and safely in a large city.”
The Plantagon Greenhouse will connect to the district
heating plant in Gärstad and a nearby biogas plant, giving
it access to excess heat and carbon dioxide.Waste from the
greenhouse will be used in the biogas plant.
Top of the Apps
The main app trends of 2014,
according to
The App Annie Index
2014 Retrospective
:
n
Facebook Messenger,WhatsApp and
Facebook were the most downloaded
apps of 2014, worldwide and in the UK.
n
Match.com was the top UK App in
terms of UK revenue, followed by Skype.
n
Google Play apps were downloaded
more, but iOS generated over 70% more
yearly app revenue than Google Play.
n
Revenue from the iOS App Store was
approximately 2.9x Google Play revenue
for 2014 in the United Kingdom.
n
Yearly combined iOS and Google Play
revenue in the United Kingdom grew by
approximately 30% in 2014.
n
Yearly combined iOS and Google Play
downloads in the United Kingdom grew
by approximately 5% in 2014.
n
The top 10 travel and transportation
apps grew by over 30% in downloads,
driven by ride-sharing businesses like
Uber.
n
Japan, South Korea and the US
collectively generated more revenue
than the rest of the world combined.
n
The mobile video streaming app
category, which includes companies like
Netflix, grew by 44%.
The full report can be downloaded from
agenda
Putting offices to work
Printing money
Businesses that charge for monthly
paper bills and statements are adding
mark-ups of as much as 442%,
according to Keep Me Posted, which
campaigns to protect consumers’
right to choose how they are
communicated with.
Its analysis shows that customers
are being charged up to £1.90 for a
hard copy bill/statement that costs only
35p-65p to produce and send.
In the worst case scenario, i.e.
charging £1.90 for a 35p communication,
the mark-up is almost 4.5 times the true
cost (£1.90-0.35p = £1.55/.35 = 4.42).
I love it when you call me names
The term ‘tech geek’ is no longer the put-down it
once was. According to the latest Crucial.com
Tech-
Know Meter Survey,
58% of Americans now
consider the term to be
complimentary. Almost
half of women (45%)
view tech entrepreneurs
as ideal spouse material,
compared to just 5%
who would pick out a
football player. Six out of
10 think tech geeks have
the earning potential to
become billionnaires.
Healthy business
The search is on for
Britain’s Healthiest
Company 2015
. VitalityHealth (formerly
PruHealth) and Mercer are looking for the UK
business that has done most to look after the
health and well-being of its staff.
The competition is open to companies with
at least 50 employees and will survey lifestyle,
behavioural and clinical risk factors, such as
weight, diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol intake,
stress, cholesterol, blood glucose levels and blood
pressure, as well as how often people attend health
screenings to monitor and understand their health.
For
Britain’s Healthiest Company 2014
, the
University of Cambridge and RAND Europe
surveyed 25,000 employees from 82 companies
and found that there was a strong link between
lifestyle risk factors, employees’ health and their
performance at work.
The survey found that nearly two thirds (62%)
of employees had a minimum of two bad lifestyle
choices and that sick leave and presenteeism
(working while unwell) were costing companies,
on average, 7.7% of their yearly wage bill.
Chris Bailey, head of corporate consulting for
employee health and benefits at Mercer, said:
“The results from the last two years of
Britain’s
Healthiest Company
suggest that organisations
investing in the health of their employees are
rewarded with a competitive advantage. The data
shows that, of the 2014 participants of
Britain’s
Healthiest Company
, the top 20% healthiest
companies had 37% less ‘lost productivity’ than
the survey average.”
Who’s going my way?
Liftshare, the UK’s largest car share
site with 420,000 plus members, has
launched an iOS app to simplify the
matching of drivers with people in need
of a lift. Drivers can post details of their
car journeys with just a few taps, while
those who need a lift simply have to
enter a destination to see who is going
their way. Passengers can choose a
driver using in-app messaging, verified
profiles and user reviews. Once their
selection is made, they can confirm
payment with one tap.
