Your future contact lenses could give you superhuman vision
“Just one year after eyewear startup Innovega announced a prototype of its high-tech iOptik lenses, the company is showing off the product at this year's International CES.
The Innovega eyewear system is made up of two parts: glasses and contact lenses. The contact lenses give you enhanced focusing abilities, so you can see near and far at levels beyond what the normal eye can see. For example, if you put a finger up to your eye while wearing the contacts, you can actually see the fine details of your fingerprint; whereas, the natural eye can't focus on an object so close up.”
"We're hoping technology like this will eventually replace your smartphone," the spokesperson said.
In the future the online and offline life will be mixed. It will be hard for a person to stay offline, due to the online devices, which are getting normal in our daily lives. When we’re just walking on the street, we can see more information than a normal eye can see. Via your eyes you can search for information about the buildings and humans you can see. Due to the developments that are already this far, hesitating isn’t necessary anymore. We’re going to live an online-offline life. It is inspiring, because our lives are changing in a huge way. There are going to be consequences for our private lives and the way we’re living with each other.
NJOY is a brand that sells e-cigarettes in the US. By launching their new campaign, people get sensitive for this brand. In their commercial they’re talking about friends who do everything for each other, like helping to move to another house or to avoid a bar brawl. They also want each other to be healthy, and that’s why you should offer the NJOY e-cigarette to your friend. How they call it by themselves: “Friends don’t let friends smoke”. They’re presenting their e-cigarette like they’re a healthy way of smoking, because it does not contain tobacco.
This idea is very cool, because this brand does not try to touch the smoker; it tries to touch the friends of the smokers, who all care about him/her. In this world we do often care more about others than about ourselves. We want to be there for our friends, especially in this time when socialization is getting bigger again.
It is also cool because it touches the core that quitting smoking is not easy. That’s why you need a pressure group that helps you. It’s about getting healthier in a way that is possible to follow. NJOY is getting your trust, due to their honest.
So when the New Year started, everyone had wishes for the upcoming year and this time one of the wishes was that your friend will stop smoking in 2014.
As a person with lots of allergies, sometimes it’s hard for me to find specific food. Sometimes I also want to eat a cookie, or a piece of chocolate, or go out for dinner in a ‘save’ restaurant.
Cape Town is a city with a strong focus on food allergies. Every supermarket in this city sells food for the ‘abnormal’ citizen, like me. On Kloofstreet you can find the “Wellness Warehouse”. This warehouse has a ‘eatwell’ department, with food free from allergies. They try to sell products as healthy as possible.
Also the ‘normal’ supermarkets are busy with selling products for the abnormals. For example you can find food from “The Allergy Free Kitchen”: bread and brownies without gluten/wheat/dairy. Perfect!
The Mother City also offers restaurants with a focus on allergy free. You can order gluten free Pizza’s at “Da Vinci’s” and sometimes menu cards have signs of products which it contains.
Nowhere else in the world is such a focus on food allergies. In general Africa does have a strong focus on improving health, because of all the diseases in the continent. Probably that’s why they are the innovators in cooking and selling food allergic free meals. This has future growth potential, because lots of people are discovering they are allergic for specific ingredients. Food allergies and intolerances are growing. At this point, the rest of the world can learn from South Africa.
Extreme weather can have a devastating result. The Tsunami House has been built to withstand the worst nature; even a tsunami. This house has been built by Designs Northwest Architects.
Technology can influence abundant things in this world. One thing that we still can’t influence is nature: we can’t hire the sun for a day. That’s why we need to be smarter than the weather. It’s an attractive idea, because it’s a house with a story. The designer has been thinking about the location. What is the weather in this area? For what should it be resistant? What can happen in the future? That’s an innovative way of thinking about building a house. It has future growth potential, because the weather is an unexpected subject in this world and due to the changes in climate we need to be aware about the possible upcoming resistances.
This video does explain exactly what PeekInToo is about. We as humans are always very busy with the life of others. We’re dreaming a lot about being somewhere else than in our own lives. We've already grown in a virtual world. PeekInToo has future growth potential, because it's a sneak preview of someone else’s live. Due to the technological revolution we are going to be able to ‘live some else’s live’. In the future we won’t be just me, but we will also be someone who’s looking through the eyes of someone else.
So in the future, the one day we are the famous singer Beyoncé, and the other day we’re playing a rugby game. Isn’t that exciting?
Why is it that women who take charge tend to be called bossy, whereas men who do the same is just doing his job as a boss? And why is it that men are called dedicated when working during midnight, and are women called selfish?
Those questions does still exist during this century. The fact is that 77% of males and 6% of females believe that men deserve employment more than women.
Pantene is a brand that stands for empowering women to shine boldly. It highlighted the issue that there are double standards for the same issue. The message from Pantene to women in this commercial is; ‘be strong and shine’.
Since 1970 feminism is a big word in our society. Even if we think that women have the same rights in the western world, there are still enough situations that men have a more positive image than women. This Pantene commercial points that out en shows women that they may shine. It reminds us of the way we still need to go to reach the goal of a world where women do have exactly the same rights and images as men.
The newest way of fitness is pop-up fitness. KiwiSweat has been thinking about finding a way to make fitness exciting time after time. When you’re going to the same building with the same window and the same view, you’re getting bored and you need to stimulate yourself to keep on going.
KiwiSweat pops-up within the New York City. Have you ever been thinking about yoga underneath the Brooklyn Bridge? KiwiSweat makes this possible.
This idea has future growth potential, because within this 24/7 economy and instant gratification-age we’re getting bored too fast. Staying healthy is an important subject but going to the same gym is getting bored. That’s why KiwiSweat came up with this innovative idea. The Urban Nomads are making the city moving constantly, and that’s why this idea fits within the mentality of 2013. It’s an inspiring idea, due to the changing of the context of the subject and the innovative way of thinking about making something annoying something exciting.
3D printing has had a rapid evolution of 3D printing. It started with the ‘simple’ printing of objects, but it’s getting more developed. Foodini is a food printing machine and it’s ready to go to the domestic kitchen. The Barcelona-based start-up Natural Machines want to introduce 3D printing machines in combination with food into the kitchen. Foodini is able to roll pasta gough, fill pieces of ravioli and many more things. Foodini has already printed dishes like pimpkin, pizza and crackers.
That 3D printing would become huge, was obvious, but that we can print food this fast in our own kitchen, makes a promise for the future. Foodini is inspiring, because it shows us that printing food is going to be the future. We don’t need to go to the supermarket anymore, because every evening we can start printing our food. We just need to press the button. Maybe we don’t even need to cook anymore in the future. And it will not only happen with food, also with all the other objects within house. It’s just the beginning of a big consequence in all our lives. In the future, everyone will have different 3D printing machines within their houses to make life much easier.
But there will be more consequences. All of the shops will change. Probably shops won’t disappear, they only get a different meaning. Shopping will become a special thing, instead of a quick walk through the street. It’s like going to Disneyland, but in a different way.
Some people are always struggling with their weight. They hate the gym but are aware that it is necessary to be active. The citizen of the UK are introduced to StepJockey. It is a project that raises awareness of the health benefits of actions such as taking the stairs, through smart labels that detail how many calories can be lost by climbing them.
The UK Department of Health is funding StepJockey. Research suggests that stair climbing burns more calories per minute than jogging and even walking down them is healthier.
Currently, the team is crowdsourcing data about the country’s stairs. They’re asking fans to type in the location of the public staircase they want to measure and they count how many steps that specific stairs has. The site can calculate than how many calories are burned by walking on that specific one. Users, or fans, can print or order posters to hang next to the stairs. The poster does contain a QR-code. Due to this code, passengers are able to scan their burned calories and share it with their friends.
TRENDS
When you’re standing in front of the stairs, the one goes automatically and the other one is asking for your energy, which one would you choose? I’m sure that more than 80% of the citizen would choose the easy way. But when a poster tells you how many calories you can burn by simply walking the stairs, what is your choice than? StepJockey is giving passers-by that extra bit of encouragement to avoid the easy way up.
This idea has future growth potential, because it’s a form of ‘Community Strength’. It’s a sign that we as citizen are busy designing our own world together, instead of the government, who always has been the ‘boss’. We spread awareness via a horizontal 'model' instead of the common vertical model. We help each other to become aware of becoming healthy again. We’ve become lazy and we don’t want to be that anymore, but we simply forget how to be healthy again. The awareness about ‘what is healthy and what is not healthy’ is growing right now. First we started discovering the health of our food. Now we look further, now we also think about health during the day, when we simply need to buy a shampoo.
Christmas is the time of the year that people are wrapping presents and put it under a Christmas tree. Why wasting so much paper, if it’s also possible to plant your veggies with it?
Eden’s Paper is Christmas paper that counteracts the waste of wrapping paper in an innovative way. Within the wrapping paper are seeds, which start growing when they are putted in the ground. The wrapping paper is available in tomato, onion, carrot, broccoli and chilli variants. It’s 100% recyclable materials and biodegradable tissue, which does contain the seeds.
There are also other initiatives who are doing the same. Throw & Grow has biodegradable confetti, which turns into flowers after it’s been thrown at weddings.
This idea has future growth potential, because sustainability is a big issue within this world. If we want to take care of this earth, we need to start thinking in a way that we up-cycle the nature. This paper is multi functional and is an example of how bigger objects can be created sustainable.
I’m sure the Christmas tree will be happy with Eden’s wrapping paper!
Next winter holiday everyone, technology freak or not, must experience the Winter Wonderlab of Google.
New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Sacramento are the cities where this ultimate winter feeling can be experienced. The Winter Wonderlab shops are offering customers a chance to try out Google products like the Nexus tablet, Chromebook and Google Chromecast.
Unfortunately the popular Google Glass isn’t available in this Winter Wonderlab.
Customers are invited to, “check out new gadgets like the Nexus 7, make a slow-motion video in the giant snow globe, or just escape the holiday hustle with endless games, music, and videos.”
TRENDS
The Winter Wonderlab is an expression of the trend escapism and delighting. We still see the trend experience economy these days; also this pop-up shop contains this trend.
Google itself says it like this:
“Winter Wonderlab is a delightful escape from the hustle and bustle.”
These days people are busy and don’t even know where to find a minute of rest. This rest should be experienced as a delighting of the busy world. Google understands this feeling and wants to give the hard working businessmen a present with Christmas: enjoy the ‘winter wonderland’ of technology without thinking about your hustle and bustle.
So, if you’re nearby, and you want to experience a lab of technology, in an cosy Christmas atmosphere, then you know what to do!
“Bicycle CPT is a community platform to promote bicycle culture in Cape Town and advocate a healthy, safe, cycling-friendly city for all. Let's transform the city together...”
This is what Bicycle CPT is all about. When you walk in this city, you can hardly see one citizen on a bike. This community want to give this culture to Cape Town. They offer lots of possibilities to join them. You can just hop on your bike to explore Cape Town’s network of bicycle friendly venues, shops, cycling routes, bicycle events and rides.
The site offers the possibility to share new ideas to reach the goal. They also make it easy for you to find places where you can buy a Bike, where you can bicycle and they offer events to join.
This November they proudly present their first pop-up bicycle shop in Cape Town: BikeStyle. This pop-up shop will showcase some of the hottest urban bike brands and lifestyle products.
Bicycle CPT already presented their “Bike Friendly Campaign” with Lifestyle on Kloof. The campaign encourages and empowers business owners to make their venues bicycle friendly. They are also in the program of the World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 Project.
AN ATTRACTIVE AND INSPIRING IDEA
This idea is inspiring, because this initiative wants to transform the busy Mother City into a city where it’s safe to go by bike. It’s an ambitious aim, but not unrealistic. “Bicycle CTP” has a strong focus on the values health and safety, and that’s why it’s so attractive. This city is extremely focussed on health, and that’s why this idea fits in the mentality of today. This initiative can change the image of the city. What if Cape Town has no traffic jams anymore, what if this city starts travelling by bike? It has future growth potential, because of these traffic jams, which are still growing. It’s a solution for this extreme problem.
It’s also a 'protest' against the government of South Africa. They want people to walk, because they think it’s safer when you’re not going faster than 5 km/h. This initiative wants to change the mentality in this idea and let the citizen go by bike.
It’s also a sign of the big trend ‘sustainability’. All the traffic that passes the city every single day ruins the earth. This community shows how to get back to a healthy environment and lifestyle.
Maybe this will lead to the first city of the world, without traffic jams.
A ROBOT: The editor of ‘The Long Good Read’ newspaper
The newspaper Guardian is experimenting with a new weekly publication: 'The Long Good Read'. The interesting part about this creation is that robots are the ‘humans’ who curate the best recent longform pieces and it prints copies in under an hour.
The Guardian office does still exist of hard-working human journalists, but ‘The Long Good Read’ newspaper uses an algorithm to filter out the most suitable and most popular articles from the past week’s Guardian. As you can read, in the end the text is made by a real human editor.
We’re living in an age of digital news publishing. We all know the online journalists are becoming more popular and the newspapers are disappearing. That’s why there must change something in the way of presenting news on a paper. This robotted newspaper is just a small beginning of a paper-revolution. Imagine, every morning you’re receiving a newspaper, which completely focuses on your interests in the core, as well as the lay-out. You can say, it’s a newspaper with your name on top of it. The digital age also offers the possibility that he is getting to know you. We already know that google has a spy-eye on us, and know which advertisements it should show to us to convince us of a shopping. The newspaper of the future will know about your exact interests and only those parts will appear in your personal newspaper. That’s why ‘The Long Good Read’ has future growth potential.
'The House of Machines', a mix of gas oil, beer, coffee and fashion
‘The House of Machines’ in Cape Town is a mix of a bike shop, a bar, café and clothing retailer. The pace offers experiences and products, which cannot be found in the rest of the city. Due to the combination of all these elements it is a creative space.
The shop is set up by bike builder Drew Madacsi, fashion designer Paul van der Spuy and craft beer group Brewers & Union co-owner Brad Armitage. The House of Machines is constantly busy with putting ideas together to find a high balanced result.
This concept store wants to forest a community of people, who are interested in one of the elements, which are featured within. This house does consist everything: the smell of freshly made coffee to ice cold beer and the smell of gasoline. It’s a store for bikers, bus also non-bikers.
“The House of Machines” is inspiring, due to the combination of completely opposite elements. Everyone who walks into this house will have a connection with at least one of the elements. That’s why it has potential for a big audience. “The House of Machines” has an authentic character, which means that people are getting attracted quickly. It reminds them to their youth. It gives them a nostalgic feeling.
When you walk in, you come into a world of virtuality and involvement. It’s a world where everything comes together; the men-part, but also the part for women. You’re getting involved by all the smells, which are coming into your nose.
The cooperation between brands, which do not have any connection with the other, it has future growth potential. “The House of Machines” shows us that a combination of opposite brands do work very good to attract a big audience. Probably this will grow, to be a store for all the individual preferences and your audience will be mixed, instead of just one target group. This courses a mix of cultures and ages. Due to the growing trend socialization it will become a place where people love to stay and meet other. People have the desire to be surrounded by others.
Personalisation and socialisation and no waste are the keywords for the developing market of technology during 2014.
Since the century with the 2 in the front started, the majority of the population had the desire to be on their own. We put the stamp “Individualisation” on this period. The last few years we’ve seen signs, which refer to being social. We don’t want to be on our own anymore, but we want to be surrounded by friend. Look for example at the campaign of “Share a Coke with..” from Coca Cola, which was super popular. We are also busy with creating togetherness by designing our own horizontal economy. For example Airbnb was one of the first companies, which opens the door to an economy, which is completely owned by the consumer. The consumer can rent his own apartment, and at the same time he can hire a house, located at the other side of the world, for the period he wants. We see a lot of this method of horizontal economy popping up.
But, the development of the technology goes on and on and our life becomes easier, due to those gadgets and machines. The growth of technology and the trend socialisation bumped each other. How can we become more social and have a feeling of being surrounded by friends, while technology is taking over our lives? These trends seem to be an enemy for each other. Or is there a way to go hand in hand?
Yes there is. It’s not possible to stop one of these growing trends, so the solution is very easy: let the technological stuff be that personal, that it looks like you can become friends with them. The most important key to give a personality to technological stuff is giving it senses: see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Recently the first Computer Orchestra became reality. Every person in the world can sing his or her “AAAH” tone and upload it to a programme. With all these tones it’s possible to let your laptop sing or you can even start a full orchestra.
Of course we all know the IOS 7 of apple is recently developed. This update makes it possible to start a conservation with your phone, ‘who’ also remembers what you’ve said before.
This trend is also visible in the world of health. Yahoo Japan has developed ‘hands on search’, a voice activated 3D printer for visually impaired children that responds to speech. Summarized: you talk to the machine, he answers with printing that object. But it goes another step further.
Objects are getting senses so you can for example talk to or via them. Besides it will also be a form of no waste. Do you already know the ‘talk to the hand’ mobile gloves? O2 “upcycles” old mobile phones into gloves you can speak into. The gloves can be connected to any existing mobile phone handset using Bluetooth. So now you’re talking with your own glove! Right now they came up with something new: “Talking Bags”. Designer Sean Miles has added accessories, made from recycled mobile phones, to his collection of vintage fashion accessories.
So: 'technology', 'personalisation', 'socialisation' and 'no waste' are the four trends, which will walk hand in hand in the future. Can you already imagine those four trends, walking on the street..? Exactly! That’s where I’m talking about.
Do you remember that you told to your friend that you want to pack your bags right now and go on a holiday? Right now it’s not a dream anymore. Heineken went one step further within this experience: Departure Roulette. When you go to Terminal 8 at JFK airport, you can play this exclusive game. Forget about your previous destination, press the button and the game will tell you where you’re going.
This idea is a form of let fairytales come true. People are always dreaming, but why only dreaming? Just make sure those dreams will come true. Pack that bag and go on a holiday for a while, if that’s what you want. Let the virtual become reality. Departure Roulette will choose where you’re going. It’s a form of making life more exiting. It has future growth potential, because this game wakes people up about you’re having dreams to let them come true. Sometimes people forget that you’re here to have fun, instead of always working. It’s a form of the trend ‘Cool hope’. Hope will change in reality! Just press that button..
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