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The Blue Pumpkin Debate

Blue pumpkin debate

If you see a child carrying a blue pumpkin this Halloween, consider that they may have autism and be nonverbal or have difficulty communicating or may not be dressed up like other kids. If you have school age kids, teach them what the blue pumpkin means and how to respect any peers they see carrying one. And if you have a child come to your door this Halloween holding one, you’ll know what it means so you can interact with empathy.

Self-Checkout Is a Failed Experiment

self-checkout

Self-checkout is not a delightful experience. Goods don’t always scan properly. The system stalls if you don’t put a scanned item in the right place. Double scanning an item, or buying something that requires validation, or getting an error requires waiting for a human employee to help you anyway. Self-checkout, in other words, usually sucks. A growing … Read more

The World’s Hottest Pepper Will Never Succeed for This Reason

Pepper X

A list of the world’s hottest peppers before 2023 includes some scary names. The Carolina Reaper. The Ghost Pepper. The Trinidad Scorpion. The Infinity Chili. Those are respectable, intimidating names for peppers that can melt your face starting with your taste buds. Apparently this year for the first time since 2017, there is a new pepper that … Read more

New Wiggles Documentary Offers Up Exactly the Radical Optimism the World Needs Right Now

Wiggles premiere

They say meeting your heroes never ends well. But they have never met the Wiggles. This week at SXSW Sydney I was able to attend the world premiere of a new documentary called “Hot Potato” which tells the story of the unlikely rise of the renowned children’s entertainment group and rock band, The Wiggles. During the pre-show … Read more

The Search for the Realest Person on Earth Starts with … Social Media?

BeReal

Social media today is often the home of negative emotions and addictive outrage. It’s no wonder many surveys are showing a mass exodus with shrinking usage on the top platforms alongside observations that “social media is falling apart.” One platform trying to shift this perception is BeReal, a popular app that sends users prompts once a day … Read more

How the Liquid Tree Might Be a Game-Changer for Urban Air Pollution

Liquid tree

“We are not trying to replace trees. We are trying to replace benches.” That’s the clever pitch of a project imagined and created by Serbian scientist Dr. Ivan Spasojevic who invented an urban photo-bioreactor called a “Liquid Tree” which uses a combination of water and microalgae to produce pure oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. As Dr. … Read more

The Las Vegas Sphere Could “Change Live Entertainment Forever”

LV Sphere

I don’t often buy into the cringe-worthy hyperbole you often get from press releases, but the opening of The Sphere in Las Vegas might not be exaggerating (much). The Sphere is a huge dome structure covered by LED lights and large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside. The opening show is a new live set … Read more

SXSW Sydney and a Sneak Peek at the Non-Obvious Podcast

SXSW Sydney 2023_Rohit Bhargava

Next week I’ll be back in Australia speaking at the international edition of SXSW in Sydney.
In addition to doing a Featured Session, I’ll be recording two episodes LIVE from the stage for my upcoming Non-Obvious Show podcast (launching later this year).

How “Blamevertising” Explains The Modern American Healthcare Crisis

blamevertising

The industry trade group that represents the Pharma industry (PhRMA) is running a series of attack ads on “middlemen” – blaming Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) for high drug prices, suggesting they are making record profits by pocketing the discounts they are supposed to negotiate on behalf of patients. In response, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association … Read more

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#1 WSJ & USA Today Bestselling Author

Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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