09 2024 January
The World’s Biggest Tech Trade Show: CES 2024
Coming back to work last week, my inbox was filled with pitches about products, technologies, and innovations that are launching at CES this week. I...
Read Now02 2024 January
How Sound Boxes Are Accelerating Digital Payments Across India
Digital payments are easier than ever in India, but what if you’re a street vendor who accepts them but doesn’t read or write? How could...
Read Now12 2023 December
The Minus Chair Saves the Earth by Cutting Down More Trees?
What if you could design furniture that captures more carbon than it emits? That’s the vision behind the Minus Chair, a design award winning new product...
Read Now18 2023 November
Waze Launches New Danger Zone Alert to Tell You If You’re Entering an Accident-Prone Area
I admit I’m not generally a fan of Waze for driving directions. I find the constant alerts and questions asking if an area is still...
Read Now11 2023 November
Leica Pioneers the Anti-AI Camera That Fights Deepfakes by Certifying Every Picture
This week, German camera maker Leica introduced their new M11-P professional camera, which includes new digital watermarking technology that allows the camera to digitally verify that...
Read Now07 2023 November
Doritos Creates AI That Silences the Sounds of Crunching While Gaming
Listening to someone crunchily eating Doritos is probably high on many lists of annoying behavior but imagine how much worse it must be to listen...
Read Now02 2023 November
Flushless Toilets, Plastic Reuse, and More Ideas From the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
Imagine a toilet that never needs to be flushed. Arid desert land converted into abundant living spaces. Plastic yellow gallon oil containers upcycled into chairs and...
Read Now19 2023 October
How the Liquid Tree Might Be a Game-Changer for Urban Air Pollution
“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...
Read Now17 2023 October
The Las Vegas Sphere Could “Change Live Entertainment Forever”
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...
Read Now14 2023 October
SXSW Sydney and a Sneak Peek at the Non-Obvious Podcast
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).
Read Now26 2023 September
Necrobotics, Electrified Chopsticks and Other Winners of the 2023 Annual Ig Nobel Awards
You might be tempted to lump the Ig Nobel Awards in with the Darwin Awards as simply a celebration of human stupidity – but it’s...
Read Now19 2023 September
The Creator of the Greatest Software Ever Invented Just Died
Dennis Austin just died and I feel like he deserves a bit of a tribute. Maybe even a parade. He’s the co-inventor, along with Michael Gaskins,...
Read Now14 2023 September
7-Eleven Japan Tests Palm Scanner to Check If You Are Eating Veggies
Radar speed scanners slow down drivers by showing them how fast they are going. The awareness creates the behavior change. Could the same idea shift how...
Read Now