Posts from the 'internet of things' Category

The Future Of Your Home

Your Home Is Now A Consumer Electronic

A few years ago, I wrote about how trends in the automotive industry and the rapidity of change have practically turned our cars into consumer electronics – every few years we give them up for new models because we want all of the new features and functions. I postulated that a few of the trends (towards renting and leasing over buying) are leading me to think that our cars are quickly becoming as replaceable as our smartphones. Who wants a three-year-old tech? We can’t even connect to our smartphones or auto drive our cars with Siri. read more

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Say Goodbye To Privacy From The ChatBots of the Future

Chatbots Of The Future: Privacy Even More Overrated

Let’s talk chatbots.

There have been several interesting articles over the holiday break about how Amazon Echos have been “behaving badly”. One was on a TV talk show triggering ordering things, another was a child in the house ordering dollhouses, without parental approval. There’s a hotel in Las Vegas which is going to install one in every room, thus driving, even more, privacy concerns. read more

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Are Singapore & Sweden More Innovative Than The United States?

Who Is More Innovative? A Tale Of Three Countries

In two different recent articles, both Singapore and Sweden were singled out as leading the way in two completely different, very innovative directions, both of which seem disruptively innovative compared to the United States. Typically, when you see lists of the worlds most innovative countries, something like number of patent filings of new ideas is used to determine that number. Most times, the United States is far ahead in that regard, although China is catching up (it remains to be seen what China is actually patenting and whether or not it really is more innovative than what the United States and the rest of the world is doing). read more

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Startups, Innovation and The Future

Thinking About the Future Leads To Startups and Innovation

We get this question a lot – why do you focus on these three things on your blog? Well, if you ask me, innovation is all about attempting to predict the future – looking at the market, at trends, both mega and micro, and coming up with high level scenarios to determine the state of the world, the market and the company itself in that future. We look at startups because typically they have a lot to teach these enterprises: speed of development, innovative ideas, new technologies, etc. – we look at these startups not only as possible acquisition targets (although personally I prefer innovating from within, I understand a balanced innovation program of both internal innovation and external innovation – or even tapping into open innovation, is probably the best solution) we also look at their business models to determine if any of it can be applied within the organization. For example, are there places within the organization which could be better served with a more of a Lean Startup model, or some of its elements? Would we be able to bring more innovation into a specific process by introducing more of an agile methodology into the process? read more

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