13 2018 December
The 2018 Non-Obvious Book Awards – Top 50 Business Books Of The Year
Every year my team and I read and review hundreds of books in the process of curating ideas to incorporate in our annual list of...
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01 2018 September
Can Kellogg’s Reinvent Froot Loops As A Lifestyle Brand?
I remember last year I was walking past some trendy retail stores in NY and I saw a few handbags with the Pan Am logo....
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03 2018 August
What British Grocery Chains Can Teach Us About Delivering Retail With Empathy
British supermarkets are quickly becoming the unexpected pioneers in adding more empathy into retail. In January, Tesco introduced a “slow checkout line” for customers who...
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18 2018 July
Can Hyperlocal Apps Actually Make Us Interact With Our Neighbors?
The idea that neighbors might want the food you won’t eat might seem far fetched depending on where you live. Yet the hyperlocal food sharing app...
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13 2018 June
Customers Are Not Always Right (And Sometimes Don’t Deserve Nice Things)
Yes, Elon Musk finally released his flame throwers to the consumer market … and people promptly began using them in totally inappropriate ways. It is...
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23 2018 April
How To Sue A Robot And What The TED Conference Is Really Like
Should technology be a source for hope or fear? That was the question that seemed to emerge this week as I read several stories offering...
Read Now26 2018 March
Black Mirror Predicting Reality, Coke Uses Blockchain And Spotify Tries To Be The Netflix Of Music
If you are a fan of the Netflix sci-fi series Black Mirror, this was a surreal week. Walmart patented autonomous robot bees (which get hacked to...
Read Now08 2018 March
SXSW Top Trends, Predictably Dumb Companies And Disturbing Problems With Ride Sharing
In this recap, there are many stories of companies behaving badly, stupidly or with evil intent. United airlines replaced their employee bonuses. BrewDog launched a...
Read Now26 2018 February
StockX Takes On Ebay (And Wins), Predictive Banking And A Surprising Gamble From Moviepass
This was a busy week with continuing stories from the Olympics, teens showing leadership, and the launch of a questionably moral new reality show from Netflix....
Read Now16 2018 February
Gender At The Olympics, Diesel Sells Fake Products and Why Apple’s Homepod Is A Bad Buy
The value of branding was questioned in a few stories this week, including one of a perfume store selling scents without the “noise” of marketing...
Read Now02 2018 February
Why Are Icelanders So Creative? Hint – It’s Not Their Environment
The power of empathy was a big theme this week, in stories from Amnesty International and a “robotherapy” chatbot. Both look at new and interesting...
Read Now07 2017 November
What I Learned By Predicting Trends For 8 Years (And Almost Becoming A Futurist)
I have often resisted describing myself as a futurist. To me, a futurist was someone who offered an ambitious prediction of the far future —...
Read Now01 2017 November
A Store With Nothing To Sell Helps You Reclaim Your Online Privacy
Visit this "Data Detox" store to take back control of your online privacy.
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