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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 kill people in one episode) and China introduced a social rating system that gives citizens scores based on “good behaviors” (a plot line that leads to chaos in another episode). … Read more
I spent the early part of this week at SXSW and one of the themes of my talk (see slides here) was our shifting relationship to the truth. I believe we must choose to venture beyond our own media bubbles and seek out information from unfamiliar sources. This week the largest ever study of fake news found … Read more
This week you’ll find stories of DNA-based dating to automated agriculture, but there was one that captured my attention most. It relates to the latest report and findings from Google around their four year journey to pore through 2.4 million “right to be forgotten” requests. How can you get something that has been shared online … Read more
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 or labels and retailer Diesel launching its own store selling knockoffs. Other stories this week feature a fascinating data analysis of what might happen if women and men could compete … Read more
This week disruption was the theme in multiple stories featuring everything from new ASMR videos, to rocket launches to more than one story warning about the downside of technology. The stories remind us that regardless of whether we call these changes disruption or evolution, most of them don’t help everyone equally. There are winners and … Read more
In the first years of publishing my annual trend report, I used to wait until early in the year just so I could go to CES and incorporate some of the ideas and products from the show into my research. With the accelerated schedule of getting the report out by December, I end up forecasting … Read more
Electric cars are too quiet. For years, unsuspecting pedestrians accustomed to listening for cars would walk into the road in front of electric cars, unaware of their proximity. At the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan proposed an interesting solution: they will make their new cars “sing.” As creators continue to innovate to make tech as human-friendly as possible – … Read more
It takes some serious Non-Obvious thinking to dream up using discarded chicken feathers as a super efficient home insulation material – but that’s the idea from a London duo who created “Aeropowder” and are testing its fire safety before making it a commercial product. I love these kinds of stories because it takes something we … Read more
The last 50 feet is a problem for automated delivery and I have seen lots of solutions, from Amazon’s parachute drones to Mercedes’ delivery truck with drones. What if you could send the drone to a person instead of to a place? If you combined this with a tracking app on your phone or even … Read more
Did you hear Google was buying Apple for only $9b? The story went out over the wires earlier this week and immediately triggered automated investment bots to start trading in Apple stock, jumping the price from $156 to $158 (not an insignificant jump). Then the story was quickly taken down and attributed to a tech glitch. … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my latest book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - relesaed 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.
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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.
