A New Year’s Resolution and Thoughts on the Markets
I haven’t quite solidified my personal goals for 2013, but one of them will be to write/blog more frequently. I was thinking – though unreasonable it might be – that I’d set a goal to blog daily. This might be a failed effort already considering it is now 1:20AM on the 2nd of January on […]
Airbags for Everything
Earlier this month, Amazon won approval for a patent that would deploy an airbag system for smartphones. Many vehicle airbag systems rely on accelerometers to deploy the airbag. These accelerometers are the same type of accelerometers built into smartphones and an increasing array of devices and used for things like screen rotation. It is conceivable that eventually a wide […]
IBM’s Sixth Annual 5 in 5 Tech Picks
Read IBM’s sixth annual 5 in 5 tech picks here. I think point two hold tremendous promise: Recognition systems can pinpoint a face in a crowd. In the future, computer vision might save a life by analyzing patterns to make sense of visuals in the context of big data. In industries as varied as healthcare, […]
Digitization of Everyday Things: Wells in Africa
An AP story from earlier this week highlights the work Scott Harrison and Charity Water is doing to to install sensors in wells in Africa so water flow can be monitored remotely. With declining sensor prices, expect to see more sensors deployed to monitor charitable work in hard-to-reach places.
How Companies like Groupon and Kickstarter are Shrinking Design Cycles and Improving Supply Chains
Companies like Groupon, Quirky, and Kickstarter are slowly starting to have an impact on design cycles and supply chain efficiency in very interesting (and unexpected) ways. Take Groupon for example. It is in over 500 markets in 44 countries. Earlier this year Groupon launched Groupon Goods. Established companies are now using Groupon Goods in a number of […]
Washington, DC Trip Report: W Hotel + Market Lunch at Eastern Market
I’m behind on dozens of trip reports and hoping I can use some of December to get caught up. In the last few months, I’ve been to Istanbul, Singapore, London, Stockholm, Tokyo, Taipei, Houston, Phoenix, and Minneapolis among other destinations . I’d planned to write a trip report for each, but have failed to make the time. In […]
Why I Still Use Foursquare
I was incredulous asked the other day why I still used Foursquare – as if it was some passing fade and I somehow missed the exit sign. In fact, I’ve remained a pretty religious user of Foursquare. According to Vizualistics I check-in about 70 times a month. While I do like seeing the service evolve, the primary reason […]
The Second Digital Decade’s Impact on Food Service
Today I had lunch with a friend whom I haven’t seen in several years. We met in a part of the city I rarely visit so I wasn’t familiar with the restaurants. Our phone conversation setting up our lunch plans went something like this: friend: “What are you in the mood for…” me: “I don’t know, […]
The Changing Flow of Story Telling: The Potentially Large Impact of the Second Screen
Today there is a tremendous amount of focus on the proverbial “second screen.” But today when most refer to the second screen they mean some screen adjacent (and subservient) to the television. I think this relationship is changing. As I’ve outlined in other places, ownership rates of connected devices has increased significantly in recent years. […]
The Innovator’s Dilemma in Entertainment: Netflix, Original Content, and the Value Chain
The Innovator’s Dilemma in entertainment is playing out in real time, and Netflix is its most visible example. When Netflix released its first original series in February 2013, it was more than a gamble – it was a strategic step up the entertainment value chain. By year’s end, the company planned at least five proprietary […]