As Featured In:
Webby
AdAge
HBR
WSJ
Philips is beta testing a new platform that allows consumers to 3D print a replacement accessory for one of their electric shavers. Right now, it’s just one accessory and it’s only available in the Czech Republic – but the test is getting a lot of attention from product teams in a variety of sectors. The idea that … Read more
Imagine a future where an algorithm reads everything from your facial expressions during an interview to everything you have ever shared on social media in order to determine whether you get hired or fired. Actually, maybe you don’t need to imagine that future … because it’s already here. This is a book about the reality … Read more
This week the first all-female crew for a “manned” spaceflight headed to space—for ten minutes—on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. One of the passengers was pop singer Katy Perry who reportedly broke into song while on the flight (What a Wonderful World) and promptly kissed the ground when she landed safely back to Earth. Again, … Read more
The TED conference took place this past week and some of the talks have already been released. While most of the year the TED social channels repackage and release talks from past events, this is the one moment when you can actually watch talks close to when they were first presented live. Going through the … Read more
This week there were a few stories of questionably ethical uses for virtual reality headsets that raised some new questions about how it can and should be used. In one example, a California-based prison used VR on prisoners placed into solitary confinement as part of a general population reentry program, where incarcerated people “visualize scenarios like their … Read more
Thirty percent of the visitors to the Museum of the Future in Dubai have never been to a museum before. That’s just one of the fascinating insights that emerge from this interview VentureBeat did with the museum’s creative director Brendan McGetrick about the inspiration and creation of the immersive experiences that are inside the museum. I was … Read more
This past month Adobe launched a super useful enhancement that I’ve been testing it for a bit. The Adobe AI Assistant has a number of features to help anyone more easily understand what contracts are actually saying. Given most contracts are in PDF format, it’s a perfect extension to have this built into Adobe. The … Read more
What if everything doesn’t need to be better? A series of 80s shows originally released at a 4:3 aspect ratio and with non-HD level filming have been digitally “enhanced” with AI to make them higher quality and in the typical widescreen format preferred now. The upscaling is a disaster. Anyone watching immediately notices inconsistencies, weird AI-generated remnants and … Read more
A little over six months ago, De Beers Group announced the DiamondProof “diamond verification instrument” at a jewelry trade show in Las Vegas. The idea was that this device could sit inside a retail jewelry location and immediately distinguish between a natural diamond versus a lab-grown diamond. The official announcement for the device included this telling line: “with research … Read more
Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, Uber … all dominant players in their industry. What if the secret to their success is just that they were all willing to lose money for longer than any of their competitors? An article I read this week suggested that perhaps the ten year journeys of both Netflix and Hulu to now … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my latest book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - released 10/01/2024.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
Skip the obvious and anticipate the future with our weekly newsletter. Join over 25,000 subscribers and start receiving the stories (and insights) you’ve been missing.
In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, 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.
