In this issue: WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? TECHNOLOGICAL ACCELERATION UNUSUAL ECONOMIC INDICATORS #6 TAKE A FLYER INTERNET TRENDS And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _ _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 37 - March 2008 ------------------------------------------------------------ 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ > Show Me the Money In 2007 a British survey asked children aged under-ten about the "very best thing(s) in the world". In tenth place was God. In first was money. According to the UN, Britain ranks 20th in the world in terms of child well-being. Ref: Harper's (US) > Database of Future Crime An official spokesperson for the Association of Chief Police Officer's in the UK has suggested that DNA samples from children as young as five should be collected and stored in a database for future crime detection purposes. Ref: The Observer (UK) > Who Let the Dogs Out? Conventional management wisdom says that companies should invest in business units that are 'star' performers. However, an analysis of 25-years of American stock performance says that the opposite might be true. Companies tend to be better off if they invest in their 'dogs' (meaning core businesses rather than diversifying into glamour businesses or hot sectors). Ref: Strategy + Business (US) > Blood Pressure Vaccination? Forget popping pills, scientists in Switzerland may have invented a drug that can be used to vaccinate against high blood pressure. The drug (CYT006-AngOb) has been shown in trials to reduce blood pressure for as long as four months. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Risk Management According to the Eurasia Group - a political risk advisory and consulting firm - the top risks for 2008 include; US economic protectionism, Iranian tensions, terrorism, Russian foreign policy and Latin American energy bottlenecks. Ref: Eurasia Group (US) > Word Detective: Grass Station Like a traditional gas (petrol) station but for filling up vehicles with biomass fuels (some of which are made from grass). Ref: Time (US) > Business Book Trends Want to read the latest advice from celebrity executives and academics but don't have the time? Well true to trend Harvard Business School Press has released a series of books all about 100-pages long. More innovatively the publisher is also taking a page out of the iTunes songbook by selling individual chapters of digital business books from an online library. Ref: The Economist (UK) > Technological Acceleration Is the speeding up of daily life a modern phenomenon? Perhaps not. Before 1780 it took around 500 hours to spin a pound of cotton thread. By 1780 this time had fallen to 20 hours and by 1800 it had fallen to 3. Ref: Future Hype by Bob Seidensticker > Word Detective: Biotech Art Biotech art is art that addresses questions such as the moral dimension of biotechnology. This can include the use of 'live' material or can use materials like latex and plastic to produce fake life-forms or consumer goods. See an example at www.genpets.com Ref: Cosmos magazine (Aus) > US Connectivity and Economic De-coupling A traditional saying is that "When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold". The US is still the world's largest economy, responsible for 20% of global economic activity, but a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that a sluggish US economy or crash won't necessarily dampen growth in other key regions. Ref: The Atlantic (US). > Take a Flyer Fed up with security and baggage carousel queues at US airports? Then Flylite might be just the idea for you. Simply tell the company where you are going and then send them your luggage. Flylite packs it and sends it all the way to your hotel where it's waiting for you on arrival. After your trip you send it back, they clean it and hold it in storage ready for your next trip. Ref: Business 2.0 (US) > Can You Manufacture Authenticity? A recent issue of the Harvard Business Review featured an article debating whether the authenticity trend was anything more than marketing and there has been a plethora of other articles surrounding the news that ethical brands such as Tom's of Maine and Bodyshop are now owned by Colgate-Palmolive and L'Oreal respectively. Other ethical, organic, socially responsible and anti-capitalist brands that are now part of a big business include Seeds of Change (Mars), Green & Black's (Cadbury), Aveda (Estee Lauder) and Back to Nature (Philip Morris). Ref: The Times (UK) > A History of the Future (Part 1) The 1900 issue of the Ladies Home Journal (UK) touted a handful of predictions for the year 2000. These included the appearance of 'ready cooked meals' and opera "telephoned to private homes". Not bad, although the idea that the letters C, Q and X will disappear from the alphabet was obviously a little premature. Ref: The Guardian (UK) > Unusual Economic Indicators #6 Whilst low-cost cosmetic surgery procedures continue to be popular in the US, surgeons are reporting drop-offs of up to 10% for big-ticket plastic surgery. Ref: Wall Street Journal (US) > Weird Watch Trends There must be something odd in the water in Japan. One of the latest fads is watches with no hands. We've seen this before, of course, but the new LED watches are so complicated that it can take ten minutes to teach people how to use one. See an example at www.tokyoflash.com/en/watches/1/ Ref: The Times (UK) > A History of the Future (Part 2) The cover story of the February 1950 issue of Popular Mechanics (US) was "miracles you'll see in the next 50 years". Predictions included "soup and milk delivered in the form of frozen bricks". However, the magazine did correctly predict the emergence of solar power. Ref: The Guardian (UK) > Internet Trends According to a report by Ofcom (the UK telecommunications watchdog), people aged 65+ are spending 42-hours per week online, which is 4 hours more than the 18-24 year-old age group. This seems high. The report also claims that daily average mobile phone use is now 4 minutes per day, which seems low. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : STATSHOTS Only one person lives in 50.3% of US households. Ref: Iconoculture (US) The US Department of Defence is aiming to replace 33% of armed vehicles with robots by the year 2015. Ref: The Economist (UK) Almost 10% of British homes no longer have a landline telephone. Ref: Ofcom/Daily Telegraph (UK) 14,000 new cars take to the road in China every single day. Ref: Seed magazine (Canada) The number of air travellers worldwide is expected to double by the year 2023 and triple by the year 2031. Ref: BBC News (UK) Sales of CD music titles sold in paper jackets (i.e. reminiscent of vinyl records) rose by 100% in Japan in 2005. Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) 90% of all scientists and engineers in the world will live in Asia by 2010. Ref: Purdue University (US) Of the 120,000 blogs created daily, 50% are about the same subject - the writer. Ref: Esquire (US) Australia generates 2% of global Intellectual Property. In 10 years times this is expected to be 1% Ref: CSIRO (Aus) By the year 2015, West Africa will become the world's largest source of crude oil outside of the Middle East. Ref: PFC Energy (US) A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation says that 53% of US students (grades 7-12) consumed another form of media whilst 'watching' television. Ref: Williams Inference (US) ------------------------------------------------------------ : BOOK OF THE MONTH The Book is Dead. Long Live the Book by Sherman Young ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "Tug on anything and you'll find it is connected to everything else" John Muir ------------------------------------------------------------ : LOOKING FOR A SPEAKER FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT? Do you want some of these innovations, insights and ideas put into context and brought to life? Then get in touch via nowandnext.com. Even if we can't help, we'll know someone, somewhere in the world, that can. ------------------------------------------------------------ : AND FINALLY ... Interested in trends? 2008+ is a look at ten emerging trends that will shape our lives in 2008 and beyond. The GBP £49 publication includes sections on eleven industries and features a new version of the now legendary 'trend blend' map (this year based on the Shanghai subway). A sample can be found online at nowandnext.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. ------------------------------------------------------------