Archive for the ‘Future Tech’ Category
Polaroid—the company that has been teetering on the brink of extinction for a while now—recently came out with a new digital camera powered by Android. I think that’s a good move, but they’re a little late to the game in doing it.
If you remember those old Polaroid cameras, they were all about instant photography and photo sharing. You’d take the picture and it would print out from the camera, right on the spot, and you could share it with a friend.
But somehow, Polaroid missed the shift to digital and stayed with their analog model way too long. That’s why most people don’t own anything by Polaroid anymore.
In reality, Polaroid should have owned digital photography, because the digital revolution was easy to see. In fact, it was here long before the first cell phones. I know this for a fact because I was writing about digital photography as early as 1983. Unfortunately, Polaroid didn’t see digital photography as a hard trend; they saw it as a soft trend. Remember, hard trends will happen; soft trends might happen.
Because Polaroid failed to see digital photography for what it really was, today they’re playing a big catch-up game. And even with their latest release, they still have a lot of catching up to do. Their newest release, The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera, features a high definition 16 megapixel camera with built in 3X optical zoom, touch screen display, and Wi-Fi, making uploads to social networks as easy as the touch of a button. But let’s face it…every Android phone has a camera. Every iPhone has a camera. So what they’re really giving us here is a little better lens and a zoom, which the smart phones can do now in a digital way as well.
Do we have a lot of innovation taking place here from Polaroid? No. It sounds good and it looks good. But in reality, they aren’t offering anything most people haven’t already owned for quite a while. It just didn’t have the Polaroid name on it.
So from a technology futurist’s point of view, Polaroid has to stop playing catch up and start innovating if they want to reclaim their spot as the leader in photography sharing.
Daniel Burrus
Posted in Anticipating the future, Business Strategy, Future Tech, Perspectives, Technology News. Tags: Business, Business Trends, CES 2012, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, Polaroid, Success, tech jobs, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
By Daniel Burrus and John David Mann
Anyone who has kids—or who has been around them for any length of time—knows they are attracted to video games like moths to light. You might be tempted to think these young-uns are using their time idly.
In reality, they’re pioneering the future of business training and education.
This is part of a trend I call gameification, which I first identified in the early eighties and is today reaching its tipping point.
Gameification represents part of a predictable sequence. Many of the greatest technological advances in business have come originally from the world of kids and their games. Here’s how the sequence flows:
• First, an innovative concept or new technology often starts out in the world of games for children. Sometimes it’s the military (or in times past, the space program) that serves as the launch point. But it’s amazing how often it’s kids’ games.
• From there it sooner or later gains the attention of the adults in the business community as they learn how to adapt and apply it to their needs.
• Finally, it creeps into the education sector.
Just look at the evolution of social media.
Continue reading ‘Gameification: Accelerating Learning with Technology’ »
Posted in Anticipating the future, Future Tech, Gaming. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
In terms of TV, Xbox is doing something that Apple TV has been doing for years, but Xbox is taking it to a new level. With Apple TV you have Hulu, Netflix, and Access. You can play games, watch TV, and read your emails. But the thing that the Xbox is bringing to users is their Kinect system, which includes a 3D video camera combined with voice recognition to allow users to control the screen with their hand and body movements. No mouse and no remote control—just hand and body movements.
This is taking the Xbox on a predictable path. In the late 1980s I predicted that IPTV (internet protocol television) was where we were going. Now here we are. And in the future, IPTV will continue to grow.
Looking at the hard trends around us, it’s clear to me that the real future of television is apps. Have you ever wondered why you can have 500+ cable channels and nothing to watch? It’s because you don’t have AppTV.
To understand how AppTV would work, let’s look at the iPhone. Two people can have an iPhone and have the same service provider. But those two phones would be completely different from each other. Why? Because when you have an iPhone, you customize it for your needs by picking the apps that are significant to you. You turn an iPhone into a MyPhone.
In that same way, with AppTV your TV will be customized for you. Think of it as an iPad big enough to be in your living room. Here’s how it will work: We will be using apps on the TV so that when you sit down to watch, you’ll have a customized viewing experience rather than hundreds of stations you don’t want to watch.
Not only that, but there will be a camera on those TVs, just like the tablets and smart phones have today, and it will use facial recognition. So when you walk in the living room, it will know you are there and will self-configure the right apps for you. If the entire family is in the room, you’ll use your voice to let it know which apps you want to have available.
For example, if your family consists of five people—two adults and three kids—and the dad and one child are in the room, the system will have the apps for those two individuals available for them. The two people can then decide which of those shows they want to watch.
So IPTV and apps is the future of television. And what the XBox is doing today is part of that progression. As the technology progresses, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, as well as other manufacturers, will continually fine tune it, making the future of TV happen today.
Posted in Anticipating the future, Future Tech, Innovation, Technology News. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, internet connected TV, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
Listen to my interview with Alisa Parenti in Wall Street Journal’s, “Money, Markets and More.”
Posted in Anticipating the future, Future Tech, Technology News, Trends. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
By Guest Author James Adams
As evidenced by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and European debt debacles, the pervasive sense of economic malaise that began more than three years ago isn’t fading anytime soon. The apparent ineffectiveness of stimulus packages and a zero interest rate policy have left Americans understandably skeptical of their government’s ability to return their living standards to pre-recession levels. Stagnant economic conditions have generated at least one positive development, however: spurring a long-overdue interest in financial education.
After my layoff from a money management firm in early 2009, I decided that I needed an extended hiatus from financial services. Two years spent apologizing to banks, pension funds, and insurance companies for imploding mortgage securities that my firm had purchased for them had drained my zeal for the profession. As my growing sense of guilt for my small role in the financial crisis deterred me from pursuing unemployment benefits, I decided to instead work at McDonald’s. There was just one problem: despite repeated application efforts, they wouldn’t hire me. Eventually, I was hired as a Waffle House server and assigned to work on the weekend graveyard shift.
No sooner did I land at the diner than I found myself under the tutelage of Edward, one of the restaurant’s only two “master grill operators.” The mustachioed veteran barely showed thirty-five of his nearly fifty years of age. An otherwise average build was accentuated by broad shoulders and sinewy forearms. In addition to cooking, Edward provided trenchant (and usually ribald) commentary on all customer and employee activity. Beyond entertaining the wait staff with colorful innuendos and euphemisms, he imparted a few career lessons I’ll never forget.
Continue reading ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Waffle House’ »
Posted in Anticipating the future, Future Tech, Perspectives, Solving Problems. Tags: Career, Economist, Economy, Executives, Finance, Finance Book, James Adams, Lost Job, New Career, Occupy Wall Street, Politics, Waffle Street, Wall Street. No Comments »
Mobile shopping activity increases, forces retailers to improve apps, online services
By Sandra M. Jones, Chicago Tribune reporter
When many Americans enter a store these days, they have three things: a wallet, a shopping list and a smartphone.
Until recently, smartphones did little more than help shoppers find a store location or take a photo of a product to share with friends. A few sophisticated shoppers showed off their shopping apps for checking inventory or comparing prices, but they were few and far between.
Not this year.
As mobile shopping activity increases, the pressure on physical stores to compete instantaneously with online retailers is growing. Two-thirds of smartphone owners shop from their mobile devices, according to a report released Wednesday from Chicago-based digital research firm ComScore Inc. And one of the most common shopping activities is comparing prices, a feature that threatens to take a cut out of bricks-and-mortar stores’ sales and profits.
With a smartphone, a consumer can look over a product in a store, check the price and then buy it online or at another traditional retailer.
“Mobile phones are empowering consumers to find the best prices on the things they want and to compare among merchants,” said Mark Donovan, a senior vice president at ComScore. “We’ve been able to do that on a PC for a long time.”
Indeed, 30 percent of smartphone shoppers research product and price details from their cellphones and 26 percent scan bar codes to compare prices among various retailers, ComScore said. That figure is expected to grow as more shoppers rely on smartphones as their personal shopping concierge.
Continue reading ‘Smartphones Help More Shoppers Be Savvy’ »
Posted in Anticipating the future, Communication, Future Tech, Technology News, Trends. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, holiday shopping, Smartphones, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
By Daniel Burrus and John David Mann
Kids these days … all the time they spend plugged in to all those video games. Isn’t it terrible?
Or is it?
While many parents and teachers lament over what a waste of time video games are, they are walking past a historic opportunity. The only thing being wasted here is the true value and potential of these technological marvels. Instead of decrying them, we could be using these high-tech “toys” to create a revolution in education and training.
“Kids these days, they have no attention span….” Oh no? These games take our kids into a highly immersive, interspatial, 3D world where they learn how to operate a breathtaking range of tools, including futuristic vehicles, complex weapons, and other machines. Take a few minutes to really watch them in one of these games. They pour hours into memorizing elaborate scenarios and developing the most sophisticated strategies and tactics to accomplish goals and win the game.
And they don’t do all this alone. Often you’ll find them wearing a headset, collaborating with teammates from all over the world, sometimes even using cordoned off sections of the screen to videoconference so they can collaborate face-to-face in complex real-time solutions.
How often do you do that with your colleagues?
Continue reading ‘An Education Revolution: Automate and Humanize!’ »
Posted in Anticipating the future, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Innovation, Perspectives. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, Occupy Wall Street, Social Media, social media revolution, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could predict the future—and be right?” writes Daniel Burrus. “You can: all you have to do is leave out the parts you could be wrong about!
This Soundview Live webinar, How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible, looks at how Burrus’s seven radical Flash Foresight ”triggers” have transformed dozens of careers, fortunes, and lives. These principles provide an easy-to-implement blueprint for applying the same strategies to your own business, revealing hidden opportunities and allowing you to solve your biggest problems—before they happen.
Title: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible
Date: Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Time: 12:00 p.m. EST/9:00 a.m. PST
Registration Link**: https://soundview.ilinc.com/register/vfhffvp
**Registration is free if you choose “Burrus.com Promo” or “FlashForesight.com” in the “How You Heard About The Event” section when registering.**
Who should attend:
Any business strategist, company leader or consultant trying to determine what the future holds for business opportunities.
You will learn:
• How seven valuable principles can help you find deep business insights.
• How to change the way you think about your current obstacles and open your mind to limitless new opportunities.
• How to stimulate innovations and positive change.
• What you need to do to survive and thrive in the challenging times that lie ahead.
How does a Soundview Live event work?
A Soundview Live event is an interactive conversation, where business experts are engaged in dialogue with Soundview’s editors and listeners around their subject of expertise. Questions are encouraged and listeners are guaranteed to come away with clear business principles they can apply to their own company and career.
Posted in Anticipating the future, Business Strategy, Flash Foresight, Future Tech, Innovation. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, Occupy Wall Street, Social Media, social media revolution, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
Spontaneous demonstrations have popped up around the world and around this country before- that’s nothing new. They’ve been happening for over 45 years, including during the Vietnam War era.
But what is different about the movements most recently is Smartphones: 85% of phones sold globally this year have been Smartphones. This translates to internet, email and social media access.
Cumulatively, Smartphones sold over the last several years create an enormous user base of people with access to this inexpensive type of computer. This enables an increasing number of spontaneous demonstrations, because these Smartphones and most importantly, the instant information and communication they provide makes it very easy to organize them. It’s so easy to get large numbers of people to meet at a specific point, and it’s also very easy to find people of like minds.
For example, there are many forms, let’s call them “online communities of interest.”
There are 2 types of online communities: online communities of interest and online communities of practice. Not many use practice, but it can be very big for business.
For example, an online community of practice might be chief financial officers from banking, and all of the chief financial officers of all banks might decide to have an electronic community for that level.
Or, it could be a company. For example, one of my clients has over 30,000 engineers. So, maybe it’s a community of practice of engineers within that company, since there are so many. They problem-solve and share best practices.
Communities of interest, on the other hand, the subject or interest might be sailboats. But not just any sailboat, it might be a 15-foot laser sailboat, or it might be a 50-foot sailboat, or it might be a certain brand of sailboat. Or it could be a Corvette; but not just any Corvette, it might be 1960 Corvettes.
Now there are literally millions of these communities of interest, where people are laser-light focused on one area.
So, if you’re trying to set up a protest, you can do a quick search for “communities of interest,” find many, many people that are interested in that one thing, and invite them to the protest. And bingo, there you go, you’ve got yourself a protest.
You can find them easily, using GPS and other means to target them geographically, or have them meet simultaneously in major cities, and make it even global.
The point being that it’s going to be easier and easier to organize protests and have large turnouts, and to build momentum with them. Now, we are just beginning to see that.
I think we were all interested in seeing what happened in the Middle East, some of the protests, and how quickly those were formed and spread. And, of course, we all know that was done with the spread of Smartphones.
Soon, all phones will be Smartphones, because it’s becoming less and less expensive to create the components that are needed for a phone to be smart; meaning getting Internet access and email.
Posted in Communication, Future Tech, Perspectives, Social Media, Technology News. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Innovation, Occupy Wall Street, Social Media, social media revolution, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
When we think of social media, the average user thinks of Facebook or Twitter.
It’s important to keep in mind, that Facebook is only the dominant company of the moment. Facebook represents a category that will remain, however their position will most likely change.
For example, look at the social media categories.
Social networking. Who’s the leader? Well, it’s Facebook. But that’s only one category within social media, and it’s big, it’s huge, it’s gigantic.
But then we have professional networking. Who’s the leader of that? LinkedIn.
And then, there’s geosocial marketing. And, of course, we’ve got companies like Foursquare.
And then, there is blogging, which is part of social media. And, of course, the category leader is WordPress.
And then, there’s microblogging, which, of course the category leader is Twitter.
And then, there’s video sharing. And while there are many, video sharing sites the category leader is YouTube.
Continue reading ‘Is Facebook The New Internet? Part 1′ »
Posted in Future Tech, Innovation, Social Media. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Facebook, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
One inevitable byproduct of advancing technology and every changing competitive landscape I talk about in part one of this article is commoditization. Someone makes an innovative breakthrough, and by doing so they stand out as unique in their field. However, because of the breakneck speed of technological advance, soon everyone else is offering those same features. A product feature that was special, unique, even astonishing, rapidly becomes a standard feature. This is why the reinvention imperative is about not occasional reinvention but continuous reinvention.
The fact is that every product or service has the potential to become a bland, vanilla, me-too commodity that competes on price alone. More important, any product or service can be taken in the opposite direction and made unique, and therefore far more valuable.
In the nineties, the idea of kaizen, continuous improvement, was all the rage. No more. The pace of transformation is too fast. What’s needed is continuous decommoditization. Decommoditization means going against the natural tide of entropy: The tendency for our products and services to settle into a watered-down version that seems safe and caters to the broadest marketplace (read lowest common denominator). The truth is that there is nothing safe about commoditizing.
Toshiba learned this lesson the hard way. In 1996, I happened to be consulting to Toshiba. “By the early 2000s,” I pointed out, “laptops will become the new desktop and people will use them largely to get on the Internet.” I suggested they outfit every laptop model with a built-in modem. In fact, here was the idea I floated: When the laptop first powers up, the startup screen says, “Welcome to Toshiba Mobile Customer Concierge … ” and then offers the users an array of online services to help them get the most use out of their laptop’s new features as a mobile worker.
Continue Reading >
Posted in Business Strategy, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Innovation, Management. Tags: Business, Business Trends, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, empowerment, Flash Foresight, Futurist, Success, tech trends, Trends. No Comments »
Technology is evolving…fast. For that reason, it’s imperative that your firm focus not just on the changes that are happening today, but also on the technological trends that are emerging and shaping the future of your organization and your industry.
Why? Because the more anticipatory you can be in regard to technology, the more creatively you can use it to gain competitive advantage.
As someone who has been accurately predicting the future of technology for over 25 years, I urge all leaders to focus on the following three trends that are emerging and reshaping the business landscape as we know it.
1. Just-in-Time Training
Thanks to cloud-based technology, we’re on the brink of a revolution in just-in-time training. This will enable people to use their laptops, cell phones, and tablet computers as tools to receive training precisely when they need it. In the current training model used by many organizations, people receive training for a variety of things before they actually need the expertise, thus taking the people away from their jobs and costing the company a lot of money. With just-in-time training, companies can keep people in the field without the specific training.
Then, when the person needs a certain skill set to complete a job or do a task, he or she can receive the training for it in real time via cloud-based technology.
For example, suppose your company specializes in selling and repairing commercial HVAC units. There are a number of different units your repair staff needs to know how to fix. But rather than taking your people out of work and putting them in a multi-day training course, you keep them in the field without the specific training. When they have to repair a unit they are not familiar with, they can receive the training on how to fix it in real time via their mobile device as they are servicing the unit.
Now, let’s take this trend a step further. Suppose the commercial HVAC repair person is onsite, servicing something he’s never worked on before. He uses the just-in-time training module via his tablet computer. But he’s still confused about a certain aspect of the repair. All he has to do is touch the “help” icon on his screen and it immediately connects him to a master trainer live on the screen. But instead of just telling the master trainer what the problem is, the repair person can put on a headband that has a camera on the front, much like the headbands with a light on the front that people use for camping or car repair.
By wearing this digital, high-resolution camera that interfaces with the mobile device, the repair person can show the master trainer exactly what the issue is. Now that master trainer can see what the repair person sees and can tell him exactly what to do. The master trainer can lead the repair person through the repair as if he were standing right there with the repair person. Talk about a dramatic savings and increase in efficiency!
Realize that using cloud-based technology for just-in-time services goes way beyond repair. It could be used to train people on new software, train salespeople on product upgrades, instruct employees on new policies and procedures, etc. And it’s different and better than a standard tutorial, because the training can be accessed via any device, anywhere, and at anytime…and it offers an option for live help. In reality, the applications for cloud-based, just-in-time services are virtually limitless.
Continue Reading >
Posted in Anticipating the future, Business Strategy, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech. Tags: Burrus, Certainty, Change, Cycles, cyclical change, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, desktop pc, Flash Foresight, future of the web, IT innovation, IT strategy, IT trends, tech news, Trends, Web 4.0. No Comments »
Between smart phones, smart pads, apps, cloud computing, and the myriad of other technological advances and transformations occurring today, many company leaders are wondering how to navigate it all. Historically, CEOs and other C-suite executives are used to having control over everything within the company’s walls. As such, they are not happy with the increased focus on such things as cloud computing, yet that’s precisely what their company’s staff is using when they use their personal computers to search Google or access other cloud-based applications.
This dislike for today’s new technology is understandable. It is, after all, outside of the control of the corporate veil the executives have worked so hard to develop and secure. But let’s face it…things like apps, SaaS, social media, smart phones, smart pads, and a host of other cloud computing options that your employees use, both at home and increasingly at work, are here to stay. Consider this: In early 2010, there were 150,000 apps just in the Apple store. Then that number increased to 200,000 apps. Now we’re close to 300,000 apps with billions of downloads. So it’s growing fast, with no indication of slowing down.
As a strategic consultant to large organizations, I’m amazed at how many executives are not embracing this paradigm shift. As a leader, you have to ask yourself, “Will there be more in the cloud options, including audio, video, storage, and apps, next year than there is this year? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” That means you can’t ignore it. Many of your own people are using cloud-based services right now. And if they’re using them, being more productive at home than they are in the workplace, and doing things that are more advanced on their smart phones and smart pads (at least in their minds), then your company has a problem. You can’t have people thinking the company is archaic in terms of technology or that the executive team is trying to hold people back. Instead, you need to be helping your people to move forward.
Granted, it’s human nature to protect and defend the status quo, and there are some security concerns with the emerging technologies. But at the same time, you have to remember the old adage that states, “It’s easier to ride a horse in the direction that it’s going.” In this case, the horses of technology are going in a new direction at a pace and speed we’ve never seen before. It’s time for executives to pay attention to this and do more than just go along for the ride.
Case in point: In January 1993, IBM knew the future of its company and it was the most admired company on the planet. But the horses of technology changed direction. By the end of 1993, IBM was getting close to going out of business. It missed the shift. But IBM is not an isolated case. Many other companies have missed the shift. Think about it…when was the last time you bought something from Polaroid?
Today’s gigantic technological shift is already taking place, and the last people who should miss it are today’s business leaders. The shift is here, it’s easy to see, and it’s as plain as day. Therefore, it’s time to start directing the horse on the journey. The question is, “How?”
Continue reading ‘Use Technology to Shape Your Company’s Future’ »
Posted in Business Strategy, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech. Tags: Burrus, Certainty, Change, Cycles, cyclical change, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, desktop pc, Flash Foresight, future of the web, IT innovation, IT strategy, IT trends, tech news, Trends, Web 4.0. No Comments »
