Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, likes to play a game he calls Find the Robot. As he goes about his everyday life - shopping, traveling through airports - he looks for machines performing tasks that humans once handled. Most of what he sees doesn't impress him.

Sixty-six percent of shoppers are more likely to purchase at retailers that offer in-store mobile technology, an increase of 52 percent year over year, according to a SOTI poll of consumers. As many as 73 percent of respondents view the availability of in-store mobile technology as a signal of better customer service and loyalty, up 26 percent from the previous year.

Will a robot run my organization in 10 years? Maybe, even though a chief executive's job, which requires a fair amount of problem-solving and creativity, is probably less susceptible to automation than middle-skill jobs such as machining and bookkeeping. At the same time, new research shows that most jobs have some proportion of tasks that can be substituted by workplace automation. Including a CEO's job.

While most of the world has fixated on the plunging Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and Beijing's missteps managing the currency, China's labor market has become increasingly fragile. As wage arrears and layoffs grow, unrest in factories and on construction sites is spreading.

The new year is here, and bringing some important changes for the freight industry. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been preparing to do away with various different registration numbers, in favor of a more simplified Unified Registration System (URS). The first stage of its implementation already began in December, and the second one is to be rolled out later this year.