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The story of the devastating fire this week at the National Museum of Brazil made me unexplainably sad. Yet on three different trips to Brazil, I never went there. So why am I so upset about it? Experts estimate nearly 20 million artifacts may have been lost. Even though many museums have ways to protect their … Read more
About a year and a half ago, a Japanese company called Gatebox released a depressing preview video of a new AI powered “Holographic Wife” that would offer lonely young Japanese salarymen companionship at home. The character is based on anime and stand about 8 inches tall inside a glass box. This week the company finally released their actual … Read more
The Washington Post story this week revealing the “previously unreported ratings system” used by Facebook to rate the trustworthiness of users on a scale of zero to 1 has all the usual components of an outrage-worthy announcement. How dare Facebook think they can rate all of us? What if they abuse this system or someone hacks it? … Read more
Recently Google engineers tested a Maps feature that equated the distance you walk to a number of mini-cupcakes you would burn off in equivalent calories. The only problem is, their fun little cupcake idea was a trigger for some people with eating disorders and others were just annoyed at the unsolicited suggestion. The feature and … Read more
As apartments get smaller and urban areas get more crowded, real estate companies and residents themselves will look for more creative ways to use limited space. A new robotic “microapartment” hitting the market now may offer an interesting solution focused on creating a living space smart enough to adapt at the touch of a button … Read more
Five years ago, Devon Akmon, director of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan was inspired by a food tour experience to create something similar to help outsiders understand the Arab culture through food. His program called Yalla Eats! has been running since then and offers a chance to get something anyone who has ever shopped … Read more
After years of pushback, some people think that esports may be on the verge of recognition as a “real” sport – courtesy of the International Olympic Committee.
This week IKEA will release its new 2018 catalog, and this timely piece looks at how a small internal army of hundreds of photographers, art directors, copywriters, proofreaders, prop masters, carpenters, photo retouchers, programmers and CGI specialists make the catalog globally relevant. From zooming in on kitchen photos (because Chinese kitchens are smaller than American … Read more
In a perfect example of Passive Loyalty (a 2017 trend from Non-Obvious), this article on discusses how to break up with your bank. While changing banks is notoriously inconvenient, the author of the piece was inspired to do so because of ethical differences with his bank (Wells Fargo) and its support of the Dakota pipeline. This consumer empowerment … Read more
The tenure of most Chief Marketing Officers is woefully short, but this fact is often dismissed as a symptom of changing leadership or sometimes ineffective results. New research points to the fact that CMOs often suffer from vaguely defined job responsibilities and confusion between whether more strategic thinking or focus on commercialization (or a hybrid) … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my upcoming book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - coming 09/24!
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
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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.
