In case you haven’t noticed, the 2014 holiday shopping season has begun. The chains began decorating stores in September, even before back-to-school season concluded, while digital, clothing and toy product lines were methodically rolled out. Any reading of retail industries’ projections suggest lessons learned from missteps in recent years and some familiar trend lines holding steady: • Deloitte LLP, the...
Artificial intelligence is getting smarter — and seemingly less artificial
Meet BINA48, a head-and-shoulders animatron with 32 facial-control motors under a rubber-like skin, a microphone in its ear, a speaker, and cameras in its lifelike eyeballs. It also has a zipper in its neck so engineers can get at the works in its head. In what its creators call a “mindfile,” BINA48 holds dozens of hours of reminiscences, as well...
Slaughter in the newsroom
With very few exceptions, major newspaper companies, especially in the US, have not made investments in their newsrooms for years. The notion of developing new content and expanding real reporting to improve financial performance is out the window. And you should care, because while biased coverage may appear to be the biggest problem, it can be argued the greater concern...
Aging Boomers need more healthy-living advice, products
As we have tracked for several years now, the fact that aging boomers are seeing modern medical science tagging more years on their lives has both positive and negative undercurrents. With more time and greater economic need to make their lives useful, productive and creative deep into the golden years, the Boomer Renaissance is now fully engaged. As we forecast:...
Traditional batteries are getting a powerful makeover
Batteries run a world of devices, from wristwatches to electric cars. But they store relatively little energy, often are made with rare or toxic metals, and most can’t be recharged more than a few times. Alcoa and battery maker Phinergy have developed a feather-light battery that uses aluminum and air as the electrical poles with a water electrolyte. The partners...
For this couple, a trend arrives ahead of its time
With an ease and certainty not easily challenged, 94-year-old June Blum remarks, “aging has come of age. I am skipping old age, but I’m certainly not skipping life.” She would know. To spend any time with June and Stanley, her painter/poet husband of 73 years, is a deep journey into how dramatically different the concept and reality of aging, particularly...
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Top Trends for 2015 Forecast at Conference
Global forecaster Gerald Celente and his Trends Research Institute have announced an exciting one-day conference this December during which the institute’s trends forecast for 2015 will be unveiled, discussed and examined to determine how these trend lines will affect individuals, families, communities and businesses in the year ahead. The event will be held Saturday, December 6, from 9 a.m. to...
Can postal banking deliver?
In 1911, following yet another financial panic, United States banks had a dodgy reputation. So, the trusty U.S. Postal Service began offering savings accounts and other financial services, backed by the government’s full faith and credit. Deposits reached $1.2 billion during the Great Depression. But the teller windows closed in 1966 when banks were offering a combination of insured accounts,...
Look back to see what’s ahead – it ain’t pretty
“Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” Few people aren’t familiar with this quote from philosopher George Santayana. But does history repeat itself because we fail to learn from it, or is it because history follows an unbreakable pattern we are doomed to repeat? The answer is crucial since, by all indicators, we are...