In this issue: THEY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE IS TWITTER THE PERFECT NARCOTIC? ROBOTIC FISH And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _ _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 86 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail is a free monthly (usually) newsletter dedicated to current and future trends, statistics and other nuggets of information. To subscribe, or unsubscribe, to the world's best cerebral snackfood visit http://brainmail.nowandnext.com/ Tell the whole world about brainmail - forward this to zillions of friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ : INSIGHTS & IDEAS > They know where you are A researcher at Facebook called Lars Backstrom claims that it's possible to locate a Facebook user to within 40km simply by looking at where their friends live. Meanwhile, Adam Sadilek, a researcher at the University of Rochester, New York, claims that if 9 of your friends attach GPS tags to their tweets, it's possible to get your location down to 100 metres around 50% of the time. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Is Twitter the perfect narcotic? Around 20% of 16-25 year-olds in Europe do not currently have a job. So why aren't more of them protesting? One reason might be social media. Far from being a revolutionary force, Facebook and Twitter could be quite the opposite. They are the new opium of the masses, keeping people glued to screens indoors rather than demonstrating outdoors. Even the recent fall in street crime in most cities has been seen by some as being related to screen addiction. Ref: Financial Times (UK) > Robotic fish The idea of a robotic fish might seem slightly ridiculous, but a British firm called BMT has created exactly this. Each robot is 1.5 metres in length - about the size of a tuna fish - and features a dual-hinged tail that moves just like a real fish. The purpose of the fish is to monitor water quality in oceans or lakes. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Wearable computers Despite radical changes in processors and interfaces, the computer keyboard and mouse have remained almost unchanged for the last 30 years. However, Microsoft Research in Cambridge (UK) have developed a wrist-based device akin to a wearable X-Box Kinect, which can be used to control a computer using only hand movements and gestures. The idea is that in the future such devices could be worn much like a wristwatch and be able to communicate wirelessly with almost any smart device. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Networks of the emotionally unstable A recent survey has suggested that people who are emotionally unstable are more likely to share information online than those who are not. This idea broadly correlates with studies conducted by John Cacioppo, a psychologist, which conclude that increased loneliness is linked with the rise in online interaction. Ref: The Observer (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : SOME NUMBERS The quantity of stored information doubles every 24 months. Ref: Mega Change 2050: The World in 2050 1% of the US population controls 40% of US wealth. The poorer half of the world's population holds just 1% of global wealth. There are 1,226 billionaires in the world. Ref: New Scientist (UK) The richest 7% of the world's population produce 50% of the carbon emissions; the poorest 50% produce 7% of the emissions. Ref: Mega Change 2050: The World in 2050 In the US there are more people under "correctional supervision" (in prison, on probation or on parole) than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin. Ref: The Guardian (UK) An Australian study looking at the habits of office workers says that people who spend most of their day sitting down, and do so for more than ten years, are 44% more likely to suffer from bowel cancer than those who move around. Ref: The Week (UK) Since the 1970s, areas where children can roam unsupervised fell by 90%. The number of children that regularly play in wild places in Britain has dropped from over 50% to less than 10% over the same period. Meanwhile, British 11-15-year-olds now spend half their waking day in front of a screen and between 1997-2003, American children with outdoor hobbies fell by half. The Guardian (UK) Unilever, the consumer goods company, received 30,000 local applications for 100 management trainee posts in China recently. However, only 80 were thought good enough to get a job. Ref: The Economist (UK) In the US, only 6.9% of private sector workers are members of a trade union. Ref: Mega Change 2050: The World in 2050 Polish is now the most common non-native spoken language in England and Wales, beaten only by the official languages of English and Welsh. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) Research by Skandia, an investment company, says that 33% of women in their 20s with a university degree - and 25% of men - are suffering from an anxiety crisis. Ref: Sunday Times (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "80% of the cost of a book has nothing to do with its content." - Gerd Leonhard ------------------------------------------------------------ : PREDICTION OF THE MONTH The Office of National Statistics predicts that there will be 90,000 people aged 100+ living in the UK by 2035. Ref: The Guardian (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : BOOK OF THE MONTH "The Future: 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know" by Richard Watson (Disclosure - this is one of mine.) ------------------------------------------------------------ : WORD DETECTIVE Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This phrase is used to describe the easiest, cheapest and fastest product that can be put into market to gauge initial interest or commercial viability. Ref: Wired (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : WEBSIGHT OF THE MONTH This month it's an app. A way of converting Twitter and Facebook links into virtual magazines: www.flipboard.com ------------------------------------------------------------ : STILL HUNGRY? Not a lot of people know this, but brainmail is put together using some of the leftover bits from the What's Next trends report. So if this snack-sized newsletter is leaving you a bit hungry, go to nowandnext.com for something more substantial (and that's free too). ------------------------------------------------------------ : BRAINMAIL LIVE If you are considering a future focused speaker for your next conference, workshop, or other event ask your speaker agency about Richard Watson or contact him direct via nowandnext.com. Richard is the creator of brainmail (along with Matt and Phil). ------------------------------------------------------------ : SMALL PRINT The material appearing in brainmail is sourced from a variety of usually reliable publications worldwide. However, we cannot guarantee the truthfulness of stories and a degree of commonsense should be applied before quoting or using any material in a commercial context. If something appears to be too good to be true it probably is.