Weekend Thoughts - 7.15.17

Image by J Aaron Farr, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Microsoft must be on an environmentalist bent of some sort lately, as the company has recently announced an "AI for Earth" initiative. The program will attempt to use artificial intelligence to solve the major environmental issues that we are currently facing. Ultimately, Microsoft's President Brad Smith said, "Our goal is to empower others in new and more impactful ways to help create a more sustainable future. This program expands our commitments to democratizing AI and advancing sustainability around the globe." So far, the company has focused on creating more detailed land maps to aid conservation, improving agriculture with smart technology, and using drones to collect mosquitos to track and prevent potential emerging infectious diseases. Considering the state of affairs that our world is in, Microsoft deserves a big round of applause.

2. Elsewhere in the technosphere, Amazon has been considering allowing third-party developers to access the private transcripts of Alexa-powered devices so they can build better voice apps for the device. This is something that Google Home already allows. If Amazon moves forward with this decision, it would raise privacy concerns for its customers. At this point, Alexa developers can only see non-identifying information, like the number of times you use a specific command, how many times you talk to your Amazon Echo, and your location data. This change would potentially allow third-party developers access to actual transcripts, although we do not know the method that would be used and how much data would be divulged.

3. Audi is concerned that millenials will be bored in self-driving cars, so the company has developed a research product called The 25th hour, which is designed around the issue of what people will do to avoid boredom while riding in their fully-automated vehicles. The idea is that people will have extra time in their busy days to spend doing something other than focusing on the road. My initial reaction was, "Why wouldn't people use that time to read books?!" But while it's probably more likely that people will be watching television or scrolling through Facebook than reading, this project's existence means that automobile manufacturers are already thinking of ways to keep their customers entertained (and probably market to them, as well). In my opinion, the riders' recovered time would be best spent producing content rather than consuming it, but that's a whole other conversation altogether.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 7.8.17

Image by maddalena monge, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Volvo has not only announced that all of its cars will be hybrid or fully-electric by 2019, but also that kangaroos have been throwing off the self-driving detection system that is being used for their autonomous vehicles. Definitely didn't see that one coming.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 7.1.17

Image by Jody McIntrye, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. This week marked the 10-Year Anniversary of the release of the original iPhone, and John Gruber at Daring Fireball wrote a short piece that explored some of the various ways that the iPhone changed the world. Among some of the things to consider:

"The iPhone’s potential was obviously deep, but it was so deep as to be unfathomable at the time. The original iPhone didn’t even shoot video; today the iPhone and iPhone-like Android phones have largely killed the point-and-shoot camera industry. It has obviated portable music players, audio recorders, paper maps, GPS devices, flashlights, walkie-talkies, music radio (with streaming music), talk radio (with podcasts), and more. Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft wouldn’t even make sense pre-iPhone. Social media is mobile-first, and in some cases mobile-only."

As usual, it's an extremely well-written piece and I'd like to suggest that we take some time to think about all of the things that the iPhone (and other smartphones) catalyzed over the past decade that are taken for granted nowadays.

2. Speaking of Uber and Lyft, the surge pricing model that those companies employ may start coming to your local parking meters soon. Imagine pulling up to a parking space on a Saturday night—the same one that you parked in earlier the same day for one dollar—and being charged eight dollars instead. It definitely seems like this is plausible and I wouldn't be surprised to experience this in the next few years.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 6.24.17

Image by Hilari, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk and the co-founder of the meditation app Headspace, has explained how and why mindfulness has been thriving under President Donald Trump. For example: the day after Trump was elected, the app saw a 44% increase in SOS sessions, a feature designed to help people navigate through sudden meltdowns. Numbers like these beg the question: could Trump's reign motivate a shift of global consciousness for the better?

2. New DNA research has shown that contrary to humans' experience with domesticating wolves into dogs, cats essentially domesticated themselves by hanging around humans for thousands of years. In other words, it's not that people put cats into cages—rather, we allowed them to domesticate themselves. Cats were attracted to mice and rats that showed up after human civilizations started producing crops and other agricultural byproducts, and just stuck around. And as a cat lover, I'm really glad they did.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 6.17.17

Image by Zervas, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. Working in and following the technology industry for many years has made me no stranger to company acquisitions, but I didn't see this one coming: Amazon plans to acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion later this year. However, this move makes a lot of sense for both companies. The 431 Whole Foods Market store locations will provide Amazon with a larger physical retail footprint that it can use to develop and test its various retail experiments, which include novel shopping mechanics like augmented reality and automation. Those brick-and-mortar stores will add to Amazon's existing 70 U.S. fulfillment centers which should result in quicker delivery times and a wider range of available products for the Prime Now service. Whole Foods has experienced seven quarters of declining sales, an overhaul to its Board of Directors last month, and vocal grumblings from unhappy investors. This acquisition may end up saving the company from going out of business. Amazon also gains yet another advantage over competitors like Walmart, Google Express, and Instacart. And finally, adding a new selection of grocery items to its catalog may end up boosting sales of Amazon's smart speakers, creating a stronger presence in the home. Imagine walking into a store and making a purchase without interacting with another human being, or talking to a device in your home and receiving any product you desire within minutes—those are just two scenarios that Amazon may be able to deliver on in the near future.

2. Two teenagers were rescued from Paris' catacombs after wandering lost for three days in the pitch-black underground tunnels. They were treated for hypothermia after being found by search teams and rescue dogs. A section of the 150-mile maze of underground tunnels is open to the public, however entering the rest of the underground burial ground has been against the law since 1955. Still, people have accessed the illegal portion through secret access points. I wouldn't normally cover a news event like this, but it comes close to home for me. In 2006, during an extended European adventure, I met up with a group of Parisian teenagers for what I assumed was a legal tour of the catacombs, but turned out to be a nine-hour trek in the illegal section. My experience included a leader with a hand-drawn map who carried speakers blasting French music, narrow hallways and low ceilings (we crawled through a 50-foot section that was roughly knee-high), unexpected drop-offs and cavernous pits, beautiful and thought-provoking graffiti, running into seemingly-lost individuals and a dog, and wading through rat-infested water. Even at the age of 19 and only spending less than half a day underground, I considered the possibility that I might not make it out alive—I can't even imagine what it would be like to be down there without a working flashlight or other people who knew where to go. It was one of the most rewarding risks that I have taken thus far, and I'm extremely grateful that I survived the experience. When I read the news about these teenagers' experience, I was relieved to learn that they survived and recognized that it afforded me an opportunity to give a brief glimpse into my own catacombs story. Perhaps I'll expand on it sometime in the future...

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.