Researchers in Japan have designed an organic, disposable sensor that alerts caregivers when a new diaper is needed on a baby. It is made of a thin plastic film, which is embedded in a diaper for a few cents. (Investor’s Business Daily, paywall)

and

Sensors that monitor heart rates and body temperature have now been installed in bras to help wearers know when they in the company of a potential true love. The sensors send signals to smartphones with special analytical software, and if the wearer’s natural body signals are determined by the software to be “right,” the bra unsnaps! (Guardian Weekly)

These are just two of the many developments occurring in the growing world of inexpensive sensors. The diaper invention holds the promise of alerting young parents, who may be engrossed in a video game, Pinterest, email responses or catching up with their long lost kindergarten friend on Facebook. While the small cost of the sensor is appealing, a no-cost crying baby may still be the best indicator of a wet diaper – and also offer the opportunity of bonding between baby and caregiver.

If we were to start listing other places where sensors could enhance the “undergarment market,” this blog could quickly become R-rated. But we will say that these are yet more examples of interpersonal decisions being turned over to technology.

Share this post

As part of the investigation into the Asiana Flight 214 accident at San Francisco Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board learned that the pilot had set the plane’s speed at 137 knots and assumed the auto throttles would maintain the speed. The system did not maintain that speed, actually leaving the Boeing 777-200ER engines at idle speed through the final portions of the plane’s landing approach and placing the aircraft very near an aerodynamic stall less than 200 feet above San Francisco Bay. A 777 fleet captain for a different major carrier was quoted by Aviation Week and Space Technology, “I don’t know how the whole crew could take their eyes off the speed.” 

The incorporation of automated systems in many areas of endeavor might well be assumed to increase capacity and efficiency, but they also increase unanticipated risks.   Anyone care to go for a ride in a Google autonomous car?

Takeoff and landing are known to be the two key times to maintain maximum safety vigilance on all flights. With automatic capabilities now incorporated into the most advanced aircraft, one must question whether the technology guiding these planes is “training” flight crews to be less vigilant.  

 
With that being said, it is no surprise that a new study by psychologists at the University of Utah has learned that hands-free (voice-activated) texting – new technology that will be standard in some 2014 automobiles – is more distracting that talking on a cellphone, whether hands free or handheld. 

 Use the right lane while voice texting…

Share this post

New Jersey, once the premier gambling destination on the east coast, was surpassed in gambling revenues by Pennsylvania in 2012.  Atlantic City’s newest casino, Revel, just declared bankruptcy.

Three casinos have opened in Ohio since 2009, with another set to open next month in Cincinnati.  Michigan now has 22 casinos run by autonomous Indian tribes. Meanwhile, tax revenue from neighboring Indiana’s 13 betting sites has declined every year since 2009.

States, and casinos, are beginning to respond.  The Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City will be the first U.S. establishment to allow guest-room gambling on slots and poker via a television and remote control.   New Jersey, which recently approved gambling on handheld devices, is considering legalizing Internet gambling and wants to legalize sports betting in the state.

In Indiana, a bill by a state Senator would allow casinos to keep a greater percentage of revenue and allow state gambling riverboats to move inland.

While states continue to sanction and build more casinos, how long will operators see opportunity in building them?

We expect that states will attempt to move more aggressively toward online gambling to expand their pool of potential players.   With competition for gamblers growing throughout the country, we  also expect other states’ casinos to join New Jersey in ramping up technology capabilities in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage.

The big question is, will the Borgata deliver free drinks to the room?

Share this post

Could such an offering eventually become the moneymaker the Postal Service needs to replace the fall off in first class mail over the past several years?

If anything, such an offering, should it eventually be broadly offered in many cities, would be another enabler of the changing nature of retail, toward smaller stores and online shopping and fast delivery. Americans have increasingly found such convenience desirable, especially when compared to gassing up the car and zigzagging among various big-box stores and malls.

Share this post

This reassessment of how humans are relating to devices that connect them to the Internet comes at a time when the equities market has turned away from Facebook stock. Even the director of the executive offices at Facebook is encouraging people to turn off their screens.  People, he has noted, “need to notice the effect that time online has on your performance and relationships.” Reactions are surfacing elsewhere. For instance, the football coach at Florida State University now requires that all players disconnect from Twitter for the entire season. “It’s a distraction,” he observed.

In essence, society seems to be entering an era in which all things Internet are undergoing a revaluation.  “We’re done with this honeymoon phase,” explains Soren Gordhamer, who in 2010 started organizing an annual conference called Wisdom 2.0, which encourages the pursuit of balance in the digital age. “And now we’re in this phase that says, ‘Wow, what have we done?’”

We expect the Internet and entities connected to it will increasingly come under scrutiny, as digital technology joins the wide-ranging reassessment process we have called “Rethinking Everything.”

Share this post

This is yet another example of airlines doing whatever they can to save on fuel prices. We expect to see more moves in the transportation market to mitigate one of their biggest expenses. Meanwhile, the market for tablets and the reasons for corporations to purchase them continue to grow.

Share this post

The Adidas Virtual Footwear Wall renders products in 3-D on four 46-inch vertically-stacked touch screens. Customers can tap the play button to activate a video showing pro athletes using the product, removing a digital MiCoach tracking device in the shoe sole, plugging it into a computer and evaluating its results. At the end, all colors and styles in stock are displayed. A fitting boot next to the display allows for trying on the style. Only then does the customer need a sales associate to retrieve the desired sneakers from the stockroom. (Chain Store Age, April/May 2012)

At a time when brick-and-mortar stores are struggling to respond to encroachment from digital competition, this new in-store technology may create a bridge to capture today’s online shopper, while also increasing physical store efficiency.

Share this post

Even after watching record labels get it wrong for years, m­ovie studios can’t get it right. DVD sales dropped 20 percent between 2010 and 2011, and increases in Blu-ray sales and digital downloading didn’t make up the difference. Expect an increase in piracy, not an increase in consumers spending time and money to get access to watch a movie they have purchased on any device.

On the other hand, in August, Nintendo will sell New Super Mario Bros 2 and other games for its gaming platforms, the 3DS and Wii U, as both direct downloads and physical packages. The company has previously offered high-end games on discs and cartridges, and smaller games via download. Customers can purchase via Nintendo’s eShop online store, or they can buy download codes from traditional game retailers. (Wired, 4/27/12)

Unlike the movie studios, Nintendo understands the changes that Pervasive Computing is bringing. Digital games on smartphones are training individuals to want and expect immediate access, which is changing business and delivery models for traditional game companies. How long will it be before sales of physical games sold at brick-and-mortar stores disappear completely?

Share this post