Welcome to this 53rd issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”. Each week, I sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading. If you are a new subscriber to this newsletter, take the time to send me a note and introduce yourself, I love to understand who is reading.
Join us on Clubhouse to discuss how to interpret some of those trends and weak signals most Saturdays at 9 am EST (we’re on tomorrow).
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This is what I noticed this week, thank you for sharing this newsletter to those who look into the future.
Competitive Search and Analysis
Alternative data: An interesting Twitter thread suggesting that covid surges are correlated with upticks in negative online reviews for scented candles. 5 oblique strategies for navigating Google Maps. Is Google Search Deteriorating? An Introduction to Exceedance Probability Forecasting. The BBC Africa Eye /Forensics Dashboard is a collation of essential tools to carry out investigations in Africa. Distributed Denial of Secrets.
Our future
Student Designers Explore Radical Sustainability. Presence-Detection Technology and Biophilic Design. We Can’t Predict the Grocery Future. Vertical Farms Expand as Demand for Year-Round Produce Grows. Internet algospeak. Taking stock with teens. The dystopian autonomous taxi pulled over by police. Consumption trends in the food and drinks sector. A whole new world: education meets metaverse.
We keep you updated on those trends and more on Twitter.
Weak signals
Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?
Lunar Dust Collected by Neil Armstrong Comes to Auction. Turns CryptoPunk NFT Into Jewelry. New Amazon Worker Chat App Would Ban Words. VR comedy is growing with the metaverse. The home descriptions on this real estate site are hilarious. The Tik Tok of real estate. Pigments from pollution. Extreme pogo. Mildewed Age. A retirement community for millennials. Non-profit venture cap funds. China Is About to Regulate AI. When bankers sleep in the office to keep the financial system running. Sitting an Extreme Sport . Disney Shuts Down Club Penguin.
Join us to discuss those trends and signals every Saturday at 9am EST on Clubhouse. We have a panel of futurists that illustrate what those signals might mean, and a fantastic group of curious minds in the room.
On our radar
I had breakfast with our Minister of Finance this week, and can’t help but think our inflation numbers are off as we solely look at “consumer” inflation rather than what I call “industrial inflation”. So I looked for optimism biases: The shrinkflation phenomenon. Skimpflation. Why thinking about inflation leads to more inflation. Why Autos Are an Inflation Risk. Expectation (blue) for inflation has skyrocketed.
Down the rabbit hole
This section highlights a subject that lead me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors.
This week, I went down the rabbit hole into this site dedicated to latest words added to the dictionary.
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for curious minds and the polymaths …
The price of privacy. Mushrooms communicate with each other using up to 50 ‘words’. What Spotify data show about the decline of English. Research studies indicate that consumers of eggs in different parts of the world prefer different yolk colors. The so-called “jerrycan” is a masterclass in functional product design. Inside the fierce, messy fight over “healthy” sugar tech.
Feeling Good
6 chances to guess the movie. Industrial turnaround. Explore the world. A photographic Journey walking around Britain's Coast. The library of juggling.
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