Ikea drones
Each week I share 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.
Inventory-counting drones
| Partial automation | Induced complacency |
| Robotics | Machine Vision |
| Retail | Supply chain, logistics, delivery, transport infra |
IKEA is using drones to count stock in its retail stores during non-retail hours. Read more...
- How does this impact workplace safety?
- Are new kinds of errors or failure possible?
- At scale, does drone management become a new type of job?
Heat pump calculator
| Incentives | Legacy infrastructure |
| Web 2.0 | Clean Tech |
| Energy, green tech, utilities |
Oak Ridge National Laboratory create web tool to calculate the benefits and implementation costs for ground-sourced heat (geothermal) pumps. Read more...
- Is the ability to reliably calculate these figures holding back adoption?
- Is the calculator simple enough to use for all?
- Who would benefit from increasing awareness and access to this tool?
Algorithmic black holes
| Incentives | Social impact | Mental health |
| Web 2.0 | Algorithms |
| Social Media |
A well-written account of a Google user trying to undo algorithmic bias after seeding it with a search. Read more...
- How does one guard against rabbit-holes?
- Should one be able to undo or reset, their personal algorithms?
- Is the lack of explainability and transparency acceptable?
AI not for good
| Cybersecurity | Incentives | User trust |
| Artificial Intelligence | Web 2.0 |
| Data protection and cybersecurity |
The weaponization of new technologies follows a somewhat predictable timeline. Industry experts expect that 2023 could see a significant increase in the use of AI for illicit uses. Read more...
- How does the exponential nature of technology impact such a timeline?
- What incentives can bad actors derive from your products?
- What investments are required to stay ahead of the curve?
Glazing art
| Copyright | Ethics |
| Artificial Intelligence |
| Entertainment, pro sports | Social Media |
Glaze protects digital art from being included in training datasets used to create generative AI models. Read more...
- How future-proof is this?
- Is it easy enough to use?
- Would this be useful as a plug-in that works along side existing image manipulation (e.g. compression).
Medical VR
| Regulatory | Reliability |
| VR |
| Healthcare, Medicine, Digital Health |
AppliedVR achieves a reimbursement milestone with its VR-based platform for chronic lower back pain therapy. Read more...
- To what extent do the limitations of consumer grade goods limit deployment in a healthcare setting?
- Are there issues with the patients using the device for other things, like gaming?
- Should the medical reimbursement match the cost of the hardware and delivering the service?
The human element
| Cybersecurity | Situational awareness | Trust calibration |
| Web 2.0 | Cloud computing |
| Data protection and cybersecurity |
There is a human element to 82% of data breaches. Read more...
- Which person on a product team is responsible for the human element?
- Has traditional cyber security made gains at the expense of social engineered exploits?
- Should the human be taken out of the loop? Can it?
Mushroom leather
| Consumer trends | Environmental impact |
| Materials | Nature |
| Agriculture | Manufacturing |
Many brands are looking at a new material made from mushrooms to replace traditional leather. Read more...
- What does the impact look like at the same scale as what it is meant to replace?
- Is it better to replicate or is this an opportunity to differentiate?
- Do consumers care about the non-biodegradability of synthetics?
AI adoption in radiology is hard
| Adoption |
| Artificial Intelligence | Machine Vision |
| Healthcare, Medicine, Digital Health |
A straight to the point tweet which explains not everyone is ready for AI. Read more...
- Should a field move faster than most are ready?
- What are the opportunities to leap frog legacy tech?
- Why has current tech failed this user so remarkably?
Text to video
| Public trust | Public safety | Copyright |
| Artificial Intelligence |
| Advertising and marketing |
A startup named Runway is showcasing the latest iteration of its text to video technology. Read more...
- How far away are enterprise-grade tools?
- What is the risk of forging forward with the copyright concerns still unresolved?
- Who is responsible for guarding against misuse?
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...