Jump The Curve Archives: 12/2008

Microsoft Jumps the Curve

Microsoft has developed a cool new interface that allows consumers to control images on the front of the device (or phone) from the back. As devices get ever smaller, this seems like a natural evolution of where interface technology is headed.

Interested in other other articles by America’s leading telecommunications futurist, Jack Uldrich? Check out these past articles:

Voice Recognition Technology Takes a Baby Step into the Future
The Shape of Things to Come: Foldable Cellphones
The Swiss Army Phone of the Future
More Cellphones = Fewer Roads
The Future of Telecommunications in Six Videos

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

Yes Wii Can!

I am not the fastest learner, but I like to think that eventually I catch on how to do things. This is especially true for physical activities such as perfecting my basketball shot or golf swing. According to this article, researchers at Rice University will now be studying how students (as well as older learners) can use Wii, the video game, to facilitate learning. Essentially, by detecting early on where the glitch in your swing or stroke is, the device can show you correct way to do it and thus help you learn at an improved rate.

The technology may not substantially improve the world, but it should make a lot of kids—as well as some of us older duffers—better athletes.

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

A Healthy Disregard for the Impossible

The Economist is running a profile on one of Google co-founders, Sergey Brin. I have written about Google’s ability to jump the curve before (here and here). One of the reasons Google is successful and will continue to be is because, as Brin says, he and the company’s other leaders have a “healthy disregard for the impossible.”

“Doing the impossible,” is a theme I constantly stress with all of my audiences because, unless one understands the power of exponential growth as it relates to technological progress, they will regard as impossible many things which will be eminently possible tomorrow.

For a sample of some “impossible” ideas, check out the following old posts:

10 Reasons We Will to 1000
What’s Impossible?
The Future of Reading

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

Zoetrope: Back to the Future

I’m a huge fan of using history to better understand the future. There is now an impressive new tool called Zoetrope that allows users to go back in time on the Internet. The tool has a host of impressive trend-spotting applications. An informative five-minute video can be accessed here.

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

Amazon Jumps the Curve

Earlier this week, I discussed how healthcare and life science companies need to jump the curve to the idea of a $1000 genome. I have also written about how advances in genomics will transform business (here, here and here), but in the latest development Amazon recently announced it would begin allowing businesses (and individuals) to access its massive genome database. It is yet another reason why the era of personalized medicine is accelerating.

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

Holograms: Coming to a Home Near You

On election night, Wolf Blitzer interviewed a reporter, Jessica Yellin, in a 3-D, holographic form. It was a little cheesy and, truth-be-told, it didn’t offer the viewer anything new. I wouldn’t dismiss holographic technology, however. As this article suggests, it could be in our homes by 2018 and, before that, it will likely find applications far more practical than Wolf Blitzer in the form of education, video gaming, medicine and entertainment.

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

A New Bio “Bible”

In my book, Jump the Curve, I dedicate a whole chapter to the idea that we can learn a great deal from Mother Nature. Well, now the Biomimicry Institute has just made the job of learning from biology that much easier. They have created a new website, AskNature.org. For more information, you may also want to read this article.

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

Jump the Curve to a $1000 Genome

Back in 1995 Reed Hastings began planning his new business. He wanted to send movies through the mail. At the time, movies were only rented in large, bulky VHS cassettes and his business model wasn’t feasible. Hastings had an advantage over his competitors, he understood that by the late 1990’s exponential advances in data storage would allow movies to be produced in a small, lightweight DVDs and that he would soon be able to execute on his plan to send movies through the mail.

Life science, healthcare and life insurance companies must adopt the same type of thinking in regard to exponential advances in genomics. Today, it is quite expensive to sequence a person’s genome (approximately $60,000). By 2013, however, the price is likely to be less than $1000 and when that happens a whole host of new products and services are going to be possible. The time to start preparing for this future is now.

Interested in reading related articles on genomics by America’s leading healthcare futurist, Jack Uldrich? Check out these past posts:

Personalized Medicine’s Accelerating Future
The Future is About to Get Personal
You’ll Look and Feel Good in Genes
A Trillion Reasons to Care about Genomics
The Coming Health Care Revolution

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments

New Wind Company Seeks to Jump the Curve

Is it possible that a wind turbine half the size of a conventional wind turbine could generate a comparable amount of electricity? According to this article  the answer is yes.

To better understand how this new turbine can also use less land; operate at higher wind speeds; and reduce transportation costs, I invite you to watch this short five-minute video.

Related articles:

Unlearning May Be Blowing in the Wind

Enjoy this post? Bookmark at the following sites.

                           

Email This Article To A Friend   View/Add Comments