Smeals, Virtual idols, and a friendship recession
December 9, 2022
Welcome to this 84th 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.
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I am sending this newsletter this Friday from Istanbul, Turkey. This is what I noticed this week, thank you for sharing this newsletter with those who look into the future.
Estelle.
Competitive Intelligence end-products
The journalist studio. A Visual Bibliography of Tree Visualization. The art of deck making. Google Search results add topic filters as part of carousel redesign. Count things. A fantastic directory of curation tools.
We have scheduled the dates for 2023 for our courses. “Advanced Search Techniques for Competitive and Customer Intelligence” will be offered on February 15, 2023. Registrations are now open.
Strategic blindspots
Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new business model opportunities while avoiding risks stemming from strategic blindspots.
The friendship recession. Pepsico wants to help restaurants start ghost kitchens. Robinhood Is Offering Retirement Accounts As Retail Trading Slumps. Robot Landlords Are Buying Up Houses. Frontier Airlines no longer has a customer service phone line. When Survivorship Bias meets Superstitious Learning. Moving production out of China. Restaurants may charge you for a good table. Why does the US keep running out of medicine?
Our future
New ordinance lets police robots use lethal force. The Future of Healthcare Segmentation. Pop-Up Farming Pods to Help Colonizers Grow Crops on Mars. Science is getting harder. The Why of Viva Magenta – Pantone Color Of The Year. How DALL-E & GPT-3 are human helpers, extending human abilities and making us more human. The network generation.
2023 reports: Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions 2023. Instagram Offers Its Predictions on Generation Z Trends for 2023.
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?
French workers can't be fired for being "no fun," a local court recently ruled. The S-plate and 7 Secret Singapore Status Symbols. The size of China's virtual idol industry. Disney’s new neural network can change an actor’s age with ease. French baguette given UNESCO protection. Woman sues Kraft over mac and cheese instructions. Substract the noise. Brand restaurants. Edibles for micro-dosing.
5 Interesting Facts About Insight Hunters.
On my radar
I joined last week the board of directors of Nortera, formerly Bonduelle Americas, which I will be chairing. I am therefore immersing myself into the world of frozen food: Smeals, or innovations from the freezer aisle.
Numbers
20- Youth unemployment in China
47- 47% of surveyed singles said not voting is a deal breaker
453 - Remote Work Is Gutting Downtowns, Will Cost Cities $453 Billion
Down the rabbit hole
This section highlights a subject that lead me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors: “A rabbit hole is not a distraction. A rabbit hole is your brain trying to tell you to pay attention to something you’re curious about. Ignore algorithmic rabbit holes” ( by are.na)
This weeks, I discovered: a curated and opinionated list of resources for Chief Technology Officers and VP R&D.
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for curious minds and the polymaths
Tea making and a new lifestyle. Sony powers your avatars. Where is the innovation? The Future of Alternative Meat Tech is Being Built in Israel. You can taste everything you see. AI & Society. Finding language in the brain. The “super agers”. Mapping the world's most popular toys. Creatives, and this quote:
“We turn air into reality, making connections that other people have not seen.”
Feeling good and inspired
24 Hours of Global Air Traffic. The Atavist. In my nature. Appropedia.
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Hello, I am new follower. I host a podcast called The Gifted Neurodivergent. It covers the extremes of creative giftedness/intelligence, understanding how it is oppressed and how the outliers really learn. I am also a futurist/big picture thinker. I am a weak signal seeker and then some. I am appreciate this blog/channel/subscription because it is rare and we need more people trying to understand what is coming. Because there is so much coming.