In this issue: SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT PODCASTING MEETINGS FOOD FOR THOUGHT COMPACT CLASSICS PARTNER ROBOTS And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _ _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 31 - September 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail is a free snack-sized newsletter dedicated to current and future trends. To subscribe or unsubscribe go to http://brainmail.nowandnext.com Tell the whole world about brainmail forward this to a couple of friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ > Smells like teen spirit Last year Tokyo FM Broadcasting webcast a number of aromas that listeners could enjoy whilst listening to certain songs. The smells were jointly developed with musicians and were downloaded via 'aroma pots' developed by Japanese telecommunications giant NTT Communications. Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) > Life is speeding up A study commissioned by the British Council has found that the average walking speed in 32 cities worldwide has increased by 10% since the early 1990s. The fastest city in the world is Singapore and the slowest is Lilongwe in Malawi. Ref: Financial Times (UK) > Change is on the cards If you want to track what people are celebrating or worrying about a good place to start is the offerings of greeting card companies. Hallmark Cards, the largest manufacturer of cards in the US, recently launched a range of new cards to cover, amongst other things, depression, anorexia and cancer. Our own favorite (and we're not making this up) is one that reads "Sorry that my last card drove you over the edge". Ref: The Times (UK) > World's scariest home videos New York City is developing a YouTube style service in which Accident & Emergency (A&E) victims can send in videos of their injuries via a cell phone. The idea is to prioritise calls and help people treat wounds prior to arrival at A&E. Ref: The Times (UK) > Podcasting meetings Can't make that crucial meeting or teleconference? No problem. Simply download it and attend it later. Companies like LiveOffice and TalkShoe are developing products that allow busy people to listen to or watch meetings when it suits them rather than the company. Implications? Expect to hear the expression "I'm in a meeting" on various forms of public transport in the very near future. Ref: Business 2.0 (US) > Measuring innovation In the UK R&D expenditure is not officially classified as an investment. This will change in 2011, but there is still the issue that R&D spending (which is usually expressed as a % of GDP to measure 'innovativeness') tends to relate to old-style manufacturing rather than new economy services and intangible intellectual property. Ref: The Economist (UK) > Tired minds Researchers in the US have found that a prolonged lack of sleep may cause the brain to stop producing new cells in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with forming memories. If you can't remember whether you've had enough sleep or not recently it's presumably too late to worry about it. Ref: BBC News (UK) > Is that a cinema in your pocket? The idea that people won't watch feature length movies on mobile phones may be true, unless of course someone invents something that makes the screen 100 or 200 times larger. Impossible? Not if you think out of the phone box. Engineers are currently playing around with a new laser technology that will allow mobile phone users to project moving images on to walls or other flat surfaces. Ref: Newsweek (US) > Word detective: Technology-Induced Memory Atrophy A study by Trinity College Dublin has found that the more people rely on technology the worse their memory becomes. For example, 25% of people surveyed couldn't remember their own home phone number, although on average people did somehow juggle five passwords, five PINS, five Security IDs and two licence plate numbers. Most interestingly, perhaps, is the finding that 87% of over-50s could remember family birthday dates versus just 40% of under-30s. Ref: BusinessWeek (US) > Does my bum look big on this? The growing obesity epidemic is making its presence felt in some strange areas. A company in Texas has designed a reinforced "size friendly" toilet with 200% more surface area. Apparently most basic toilet designs date from around 1900 when posteriors were somewhat smaller (and lighter) than they are today. Ref: Trendhunter (Canada) > Food for thought Anxiety about landfill capacity and food waste have prompted some all-you-can-eat restaurants in Hong Kong to charge diners by the ounce for leftovers. Perhaps a better idea would be to say "You can't leave the table until you've finished your meal"? Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (Aus) > Restaurant futures The Internet is well known for its ability to aggregate demand and connect buyers with sellers. The latest example of this is a company called Primetime Tables. The online business is essentially a brokerage service connecting hard to come by New York restaurant reservations with hungry clients. Ref: Business 2.0 (US) > Numb gums Researchers in the US have developed a nasal spray that numbs gums, thereby making painful dental injections unnecessary. Like many useful innovations this was discovered entirely by accident. Ref: The Times (UK) > Social shopping network Iliketotallyloveit.com is a cross between Digg and Amazon where people with too much time on their hands can vote for products that they think are, like, totally cool and can add links for where they can, like, be bought. If a product gets enough votes it makes it onto the homepage. Anyone over the age of forty totally won't, like, get it. Ref: Springwise (Neth) > Women on the edge of a nervous breakdown A study by Virginia Commonwealth University (US) has found that reality TV shows like The Swan, I Want a Famous Face and Ten Years Younger are making women anxious and less confident and may result in eating disorders. A bit like glossy women's magazines then? Ref: International Journal of Eating Disorders (US) > Is photo re-touching the new cosmetic surgery? According to UK photo chain Snappy Snaps, there has been a 500% + increase in requests for retouching services recently. The reason for this, apparently, is that people want to look as good as possible on online dating and social networking sites. Ref: Daily Mail (UK) > Compact classics Are big books dead? A publisher in the UK has launched six 'compact editions' of literary classics such as Anna Karenina and David Copperfield. Billed as "Great books in half the time" the move is clearly a response to shorter attention spans and busier lives, but is the move such a bad thing? The answer probably depends on how sympathetically the books are 'cut down' and whether or not such 'easy reads' bring in new readers. Ref: The Guardian (UK) > A hotel for book lovers The Library Hotel in New York offers guests 6,000 books to read according to floor and room subject. For example, on the technology floor guests can check into room 600.001, which features books on computers, while on the Maths and Science floor guests in room 500.005 can feast on books about dinosaurs. The hotel also features a poetry garden, reading room and writers den. Ref: Washington Post (US) > The future of copyright Will the concept of copyright survive the 21st Century? Nobody knows, but it is looking increasingly likely that technology will enable copyright owners to easily find and block illegal use of their material on the Internet. Google (currently being sued for US $1 billion for copyright infringement) is at the forefront of such technology with content filtering tools like its new 'Claim Your Content' service. Ref: Red Herring (US) > Partner robots A Japanese company called Cyberdyne has created a wearable robotic suit called HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb), which uses sensors to detect electrical impulses in the human body and then uses motors to help the limbs to move. The idea is that the suit (an exoskeleton essentially) will help old people to remain physically active. Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) > Talent management software Companies have been using software to help with things like payroll for years, so it was probably only a matter of time before someone like SuccessFactors came up with software and 'dashboards' to help HR people decide who to train, who to reward and who to fire. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Ref: StreetInsider.com (US) ------------------------------------------------------------ : STATSHOTS The National Trust (UK) has 3.4 million members. This is 6% of the UK population and more than six times the memberships of all the UK political parties combined. Ref: Sunday Times (UK) In 2000 the average British lunch 'hour' lasted 36 minutes. Today it lasts just 19 minutes and 20 seconds. Ref: Queuing for Beginners by Joe Moran 85% of the avatars on Second Life have been abandoned. Ref: Wired (US) There are 1.2 billion email users and 1.8 billion active email accounts worldwide. Ref: Radicati Group (US) 28% of organisations have lost important data and 38% have stored valuable information on formats that are now obsolete. 60% of organisations have no formal policy on the storage or archiving of email either. Ref: Financial Times (UK) Of the 30,000 diseases known to medicine, there are treatments available for 10,000. Ref: Red Herring (US) In the US, 25% of gay couples have children. Ref: The Economist (UK) The proportion of Americans who say they have no close friends to confide in is 25%. Twelve years ago the figure was 10%. Ref: Macquarie University (Aus) It's estimated that in the US 16 million barrels of oil are used every year to produce bottled water containers. Ref: Harper's (US) There are approximately 44 million missing women in China. Ref: The Hindu (India) In the US the average adult spends 6 hours shopping per week and 40 minutes playing with their kids. Ref: Pubmedcentral.com (US) 10 languages die out every year. Ref: UNESCO ------------------------------------------------------------ : BOOK OF THE MONTH This is totally shameless plug, but book of the month this month has to be my own. Future Files: A History of the Next 50 Years is published in Australia on 3 September and will be available elsewhere very soon. Download the first chapter for free at http://www.futuretrendsbook.com ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "I'm an inventor. I became interested in long-term trends because an invention has to make sense in the world in which it is finished, not the world in which it is started". - Ray Kurzweil ------------------------------------------------------------ : WEBSITE OF THE MONTH http://www.guerrilla-innovation.com ------------------------------------------------------------ : STILL HUNGRY? If this snack-sized newsletter still leaves you feeling hungry feed your brain with something a little more substantial at www.nowandnext.com (and yes, that's free too). ------------------------------------------------------------ : LOVE IT? THEN SHARE IT Do you know someone whose brain is not being fully exercised? Someone that is snacking on media that isn't terribly satisfying. Floss their brain and brighten up their day with a copy of brainmail in their inbox - forward this to your friends. ------------------------------------------------------------