Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

Ripped from the headlines: transwood.com: "Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of everyday trucking life…improving trucker safety, efficiency and saving transportation companies…a new mobile app [Jan. 2019] helps truckers find safe and close-by parking spaces via smart phone, in-cab information systems and the DOT 511 platform." trucks.com: "Zero-emission (ZE) truck and bus model...

The buzz: Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board member Michael Anissimov says, "Transhumanists advocate the improvement of human capacities through advanced technology. Not just…in gadgets you get from Best Buy, but technology in the grander sense of strategies for eliminating disease, providing cheap but high-quality products to the world's poorest, improving quality of life and social in...

The buzz: Ripped from the headlines. WebMD.com: "Contact tracing is essentially detective work."… "One of the oldest public health tactics, dating back centuries." CNN.com: …public health staff work with a patient to help them recall everyone with whom they have had close contact during the timeframe while they may have been infectious. To protect patient privacy, contacts are only informed that t...

The Buzz: "The Factory of the Future…Perhaps manufacturing will at last be able to leave behind the public impressions of labor-intensive, dirty and dangerous worksites…There is only one characteristic of the Factory of the Future that is essential: A creative mindset for problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking is key to embracing new technologies." (industryweek.com) So many questions! What w...

The Buzz: "For better and for worse, robots will alter humans' capacity for altruism, love, and friendship…'hybrid systems'—where people and robots interact socially—the right kind of AI can improve the way humans relate to one another" (theatlantic.com). "The internet acts like a kind of digital-fuelled alcohol, freeing us to say things to strangers that we would never dare to say if we met them"...

The buzz: "Pet adoptions are way up amid coronavirus crisis, even with shelters closed to public" (USA TODAY). "Like everyone else forced to improvise in the face of an unprecedented crisis, America's animal shelters are coming up with creative ways to stay open, so they can continue pairing people and pets. Americans are rushing, well, not to their local shelters but to their phones and laptops t...

The buzz: "Even incubators/accelerators [in India] that have been around for years, and have "processed" 50+ startups, usually don't have even one startup that has achieved impressive revenues/valuations" (Source). 90% of startups fail. Doomed from the start? Likely if they work with accelerators, which invest low seed capital in multiple startups for 12-week mentoring, expecting most to flop when...

The buzz X2: "Humans have been co-evolving with their technologies since the dawn of prehistory…. Coping with this new means liberating ourselves from such categories as 'human,' 'technological,' and 'natural' to embrace a new techno-human relationship" (Allenby & Sarewitz). "Growing up I always considered the interaction of humanity and technology presented in the original Star Trek series as a f...

The buzz: "The Factory of the Future has an evolving definition…even different names…Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 or the Digital Enterprise…Perhaps manufacturing will at last be able to leave behind the public impressions of labor-intensive, dirty and dangerous worksites…Only one characteristic of the Factory of the Future that is essential: A creative mindset for problem-solving and out-of-t...

The buzz: Ripped from the headlines. "Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They're Not Keeping It Secret" (NY Times 12/18): "Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it's anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is…One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an...

The Buzz: "Entertainment is ultimately an attention business, and the competition for attention has never been fiercer with new entrants from tech firms and non-media brands jumping into content production … With the explosion in content, consumers today are often overwhelmed when choosing content to watch." Apple unveiled star-studded content slate for its TV+ streaming service. Walmart is report...

The Buzz: "To become a Hacker you need skills, a strong presence of mind and what not? But before that all you need is an inspiration with a pinch of motivation…." (www.tech2hack.com). "What hackers do is figure out technology and experiment with it in ways many people never imagined. They also have a strong desire to share this information with others…." and "Most hackers are young because young...

The Buzz: "As video adoption for content marketing continues to rise, there's no doubt that more organizations are looking to online video to improve their strategies…smartphone and tablet adoption has created a prime opportunity for more mobile video content" (www.brainshark.com). Still not convinced? "The sheer cost of video production has come down to a point where there are no barriers to entr...

Today's buzz: "Auto makers look into their crystal balls – and their shops – to get an idea as to what's fueling the car of 2025. Most car makers agree: The next 10 years will see more change in the auto business than the last 20" (theglobeandmail.com). "Self-driving cars…once found only in science fiction, are about to become a reality" (Goldman Sachs, 2016). "When you think of a flying car one m...

The buzz (according to www.impactbnd.com): "Social media is ever-changing. There's always a new crazy way people can document every aspect of their lives, but what if you're a business? With so many social media sites already out there and even more popping up each day, where do you begin? Do you create a Facebook account or do you hop on whatever "the new Pinterest" is today? Utilizing social med...

The Buzz [literally!]: "Drones in the sky, drones in the sea, drones on land: this is the future of human augmentation" (popularmechanics.com). "From a military innovation, to an exciting hobby, to a technology that's transforming commercial industries, the use of drones has rapidly changed over the past years — and future opportunities in the field are limitless" (calu.edu). What does this have t...

The Buzz: "Passwords are an integral component of security hygiene, but beyond password strength requirements, it's largely a user-driven initiative" (digitalguardian.com). How is your password hygiene? Not to get personal, but passwords are our first line of protection against cyber criminals, so password health matters. Digital Guardian surveyed 1,000 people's password security habits. 44% chang...

The Buzz: "As more and more consumers embrace CBD and its reputed benefits, companies are jumping on the CBD bandwagon. According to the Brightfield Group, a CBD and cannabis market research firm, the legal CBD market is projected to surpass $23 billion in annual U.S. sales by 2023…Recreational marijuana is legal in 11 states and medical marijuana is legal in 23 states.…The firm's 2019 report on t...

Today's Buzz: "By 2030 the average person in the U.S. will have 4.5 packages a week delivered with flying drones. They will travel 40% of the time in a driverless car, use a 3D printer to print hyper-individualized meals, and will spend most of their leisure time on an activity that hasn't been invented yet … Most people will have stopped taking pills in favor of a new device that causes the body...

"Just about everyone involved in the show brought their A-game this year, with several major product categories seeing some truly transformative technology, namely in computing, gaming, and the smart home…the public debut of the first-ever laptop with a foldable display…the smart home is bound to get even smarter in 2020 …including smart door locks, connected toothbrushes, and the fastest beverage...

Here's today's buzz: "The one thing all small businesses have encountered…is the fact that people don't know who they are, what they do, or where they can be found. How can a business owner solve this issue? It's easy. Social media is the first step to take" (www.klusster.com/). "Social media is constantly evolving and it's exciting to think about what it will look like in just a few years' time."...

Today's Buzz: "If you have to tell people on your social media profiles you're an 'influencer', you are probably not. Reality check" (Rebecca Aguilar). Level set: An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience. According to InfluencerMarketingHub.com, "Influencer marketi...

The buzz: "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes Turn and face the strange." (David Bowie) If you're hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what #2020 holds for your company, your industry, yourself and the world, we've got the next best thing. Live today, January 15, 2020 – and on-demand from December 4, 11 and 18, 2019 and January 8, 2020 – we're bringing you predictions from more than 50 thought leaders cover...

The buzz: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards" (Søren Kierkegaard). If you're hoping to gaze into a crystal ball to see what 2020 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. Live today, January 8 and on January 15, 2020 – and on-demand from December 4, 11 and 18, 2019 – we're bringing you predictions from 60 thought leaders...

The buzz: "Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming" (David Bowie). If you're hoping to gaze into a magical crystal ball to see what 2020 holds for your company, your career, your industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. Live today, December 18, 2019, and on January 8 and 15, 2020, plus on-demand from December 4 and 11 – we're bringing you predictions from 60 thought leaders...