Allergy-free Eggs
Were back after a short break. No breaks for a while, promise! Don't forget to share with a friend or two!
Each week we look at 10 new uses of technologies from any of the 30+ industries and the 25+ technology domains we watch. Get smart about the tech you bring into your products, your organization and your life.
Allergy-free eggs
| User trust | Ethics |
| Agtech and cultured food |
| Food and drink, restaurants, meal delivery |
Gene-editing technology creates allergy-free eggs, potentially benefiting millions with egg allergies. Read more...
- How would allergy free eggs affect other markets?
- At what point are consumers satisfied about the risk of off-target effects?
- Are there unintended consequences on the nutritional composition of functionality of such eggs?
Voice Partnership
| User trust | Consumer trends | Privacy |
| Consumer Tech | Speech Technology |
| Consumer goods |
Skullcandy introduces Skull-iQ App, partnering with Native Voice to enhance user experiences with voice assistants. Read more...
- What social conventions might get in the way of using a voice assistant?
- Is the product still valuable to the user without the voice assistant?
- Are all demographics served equally well by this product's AI-powered features?
Marketing Chatbot
| User goals | Incentives |
| Artificial Intelligence |
| Advertising and marketing |
Google is packaging generative AI in tools being made available to marketers using their platform. Read more...
- Can Google's AI suggestion be used to optimize the metrics that drive their revenue instead of the quality of the advertisement?
- Is a chatbot the best medium to implement these tools?
- Are there insidious feedback loops which could become problematic?
Bug Bounty
| Public trust | Cybersecurity |
| Consumer Tech | Web 2.0 |
| Data protection and cybersecurity |
Google launches bug bounty for mobile apps through a tiered program. Read more...
- Is the financial incentive enough for highly skilled individuals? Are there non-financial alternatives?
- Can any enterprise who creates software benefit from a bug bounty program?
- How could Google actively optimize their program?
Too little wind
| Implementation costs | Environmental impact | Social impact |
| Clean Tech |
| Energy, green tech, utilities |
Presenting the case for more wind energy in Australia. Read more...
- Who should have a say in determining the correct energy mix?
- Are cyclones and other extreme wind events really a justification for a wind-dependent energy grid?
- What technical problems remain unresolved in the industry?
Frictionless concessions
| Friction | User goals | Partial automation |
| Artificial Intelligence | Machine Vision |
| Big entertainment, pro sports |
Marvel Stadium introduces Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, revolutionizing shopping experience by eliminating queues. Read more...
- Could this technology encourage excessive spending or impulse buying among stadium attendees?
- How does theft and loss prevention change?
- How will selection be limited by this technology?
Electrified Construction
| Mental health | Friction |
| Batteries | Clean Tech |
| Construction, building and facilities management |
In Östersund, Sweden, the first fully electrified construction site will soon be building a new preschool. Read more...
- How would quiet construction sites impact workers who work from home?
- What components of construction are still impactful environmentally in terms of noise and vibration?
- How might workers need to adapt to this new constraint?
Smart Garbage
| Backwards compatibility | Human garbage can |
| Artificial Intelligence | Robotics |
| Energy, green tech, utilities |
Smart sorting technology is coming to help you sort your garbage and recycling efficiently. Read more...
- Will there still be a catch-all garbage for lazy and/or confused users?
- What new value can this system create in terms of observing user behavior?
- Is there the potential for customer backlash?
NSA wants our models
| Algorithmic influence | Bias | Social impact |
| Artificial Intelligence |
| Government, defense, policing, law |
NSA's research chief states that US intelligence should leverage privately built and publicly available AI models - since others will anyways. Read more...
- Is the reasoning, that adversaries will be using these models, justified?
- Do private companies have a say in who uses their models and for what purpose?
- How do we guard against the model's biases, particularly when these align with the objective?
Smartwatch legal battle
| Public trust | Alarm fatigue | Data drift |
| Artificial Intelligence | Consumer Tech |
| Healthcare, Medicine, Digital Health | Consumer goods |
Apple found to be infringing of patents involving the ECG technology of their watches. Read more...
- Does abiding by patent law result in inferior products for consumers?
- What is the acceptance of data from consumer data in the medical field?
- Is there post-market surveillance, particularly in term of the algorithmic performance?
The Crossfactors Newsletter
Each week we look at 10 new uses of technologies from any of the 30+ industries and the 25+ technology domains we watch. Get smart about the tech you bring into your products, your organization and your life. Pig hearts | Ethics | Adoption | | Medical and biotech | | Healthcare, Medicine, Digital Health | Company pioneers gene-edited pig heart transplants, conducting trials on baboons as a potential solution for babies with severe heart defects. Read more... How can parents in a position to...
Lots of food content this week. Not sure why. Maybe I was hungry. Review Response | User goals | Incentives | | Web 2.0 | | Food and drink, restaurants, meal delivery | A discussion of how restaurants should approach online reviews. Read more... Is there a better outlet for retaliatory reviews? Is there a growing or diminishing dependence on online reviews? How should a restaurant maintain an online personality? Cultivated Meatballs | Public trust | Consumer trends | | Agtech and cultured...
Each week we look at 10 new uses of technologies from any of the 30+ industries and the 25+ technology domains we watch. Get smart about the tech you bring into your products, your organization and your life. Metaverse Guardians | User trust | User safety | | Web 2.0 | VR | | Data protection and cybersecurity | Social Media | Undercover content moderators play a big role in ensuring safety and protecting users within the metaverse. Read more... Where does the balance lie between safety and...