Welcome to this 29th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”. Each week, I sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading.
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This is what I noticed this week, thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter to those who look into the future.
Business disrupted
Illustrations and examples that show our industries and business models are changing…
Your reality is out of date. Why digital retailers are now betting on stores. Microsoft Invented Google Earth in the 90s. Why Do American Grocery Stores Still Have an Ethnic Aisle? Alitalia shuts down. UPS is set to acquire Roadie, in deal with an eye on the last mile. The Great Shortage. Live events are the next subscription frontier. Tree as a service. Facebook introduces portable Portal Go.
Our future
Project Taara laser tech beamed 700TB of data across nearly 5km. Sci-fi agriculture in the here and now. The Form and Function of Science Fiction. The Future of Human Augmentation. NASA’s Sneak Peek at the Future of Space Travel. Developers Offer Mobility Services to Lure Car-Free Renters. The futuristic gondola. The Futuristic Farms That Will Feed the World.
A few trends reports spotted this week: The Meta Trending Trends for 2021. A database/list of trends ( check 2050 directly).
Weak signals
Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?
US spending on melatonin exploded by 42%. Or fast-headline veneer of pop culture. Vaporwave. Proof of travel. An AirBnB home for Disney. Collins Aerospace (a subsidiary of Raytheon) bought FlightAware, a real-time aviation tracking platform. Amazon Is Lobbying the Federal Government to Legalize Weed. Van Rams Into Toy Store In Dramatic Pokémon and Lego Heist. Our Digital Bodies Are Healing: Virtual Freedom. Bakeries as a source of insight. Advocacy academies. Defeating Censorship with User-Generated Content. Build your own tail. Can a tiny Swiss clothing company force the shipping industry to clean up its act?
On our radar
Each week, we spotlight here some of the projects we are working on.
In last’ week’s Clubhouse chat, we discussed the prospects of life-long education: I went down the rabbit hole and found a number of apps that allow you to learn, everyday, as you browse: Learn a new language while you browse. Hijack your feed: replaces Twitter ads with your todos. Replace web ads with visual essays by artists. Browser plugin replacing ads with art. Replacing ads with facts.
Holidays are over, but many families decided not to come back. Some strong signals emerging about the nomadic family: The first nomadic country on Internet. AirBnB new patent for nomadic families optimizing education. A private network of digital nomad. When Chance Encounters at the Water Cooler Are Most Useful. How an artificial language from 1887 is finding new life online.
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for the curious mind …
The Twitter meme of the moment is all about accountability. The Magical Number Seven: Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information. A Comparison of Several Manufactured Blades. Phantom islands. Italy’s book doctor. The surprising power of daily rituals. Rewilding Your Attention. Researchers complete first-ever detailed map of global coral. Route Setters of the Tokyo Olympics. Technology is revolutionizing food, but how can it be explained to consumers? The Woman Behind That Amtrak Map.
I like to discover new words, this week, I read about Deeptok.
Feeling Good
Watching tiny nature patterns. Miniature dioramas. Learn a new language while you browse. Oldies playing in another room and it’s raining ( more dreamscapes here). Click for visuals. My 90s TV. A timelapse or the Europe Stadium Tour. The Sound of Subways Around the World. Christo’s last wrapping, of course.
