Scan Monthly No. 035January 2006 |
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Signals of Change
Optimizing Operations
SoC147
Recent advances in automated real-time data acquisition, software agents, machine learning, and other tools and techniques are helping companies to optimize complex business systems and processes and make them adaptive to fast-changing conditions. The developments are expanding the capabilities of operations research.
Personality Management
SoC148
Part of our personality we want front and center, on stage, impressing everyone in the world. Another part of our personality we reserve for intimate encounters with special people. Projecting our desired image and protecting our intimacy are both parts of the increasingly difficult task of personality management in today's media-intensive world.
Beyond Vision
SoC149
The rapid development of technologies related to sound and touch is narrowing the traditionally wide capability gap that has long existed between visual and nonvisual sensing technologies.
Toward Customized Medicine
SoC150
As scientists continue their pursuit of customized medicine through research in molecular biology and genetics, the broader social community is beginning to recognize and address infrastructure, regulatory, and policy needs and issues.
Relationships and Technology
SoC151
How many of your current acquaintances did you meet on the Internet? What does deleting a person's name from your cell phone say about your relationship? Technology mediates a huge portion of our relationships these days. Anticipating the uses that consumers might develop for any particular technology in building or maintaining relationships with other people is an excellent means for companies to design, build, and sell successful products and services.
Rethinking Conventional Solutions
SoC152
The Scan™ process's continual questioning of conventional wisdom helps us examine the assumptions behind existing products and services. A company that redesigned the humble wood screw and a company that makes furniture instead of firewood show what happens when people reimagine the assumptions behind processes that they've always taken for granted.
Insights
| A Television Revolution | View full summary |
| D06-2520 | Download this Insight |
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A revolution in television content distribution, programming, and advertising is on the way. Announcements at this year's (2006) gigantic Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, made one point perfectly clear: The television revolution that began to emerge in 2005 will go into full swing in 2006. The revolution will transform everything from content production to distribution. It will influence everyone from artists to engineers, from producers to consumers. Its major drivers will be companies that range from entrepreneurial start-ups to some of the world's largest corporations. This study examines some of the broader implications of the revolution for a variety of industries and players. Author: Thomas M. McKenna. 8 pages. |
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| Opportunities in a Cell-Phone–Centered World | View full summary |
| D06-2521 | Download this Insight |
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Cell phones have become the most ubiquitous mobile devices in the world and have changed the way we communicate. Increasingly, cell phones integrate a multitude of features and applications, moving the devices well beyond mere voice communication. The trend toward multiple applications in every cell phone is accelerating, and the number of features in some cell phones has become mind-boggling. The cell phone is on the way to become the quintessential IT device in a digital society, enabling access to a variety of devices and applications, providing real-time access to the most arcane types of information, and changing the way we organize our lives and navigate our day-to-day tasks. This study examines some of the more unusual applications and features that companies are building into cell phones as a means of speculating about the future of the ultimate mobility enabler. Author: Martin Schwirn. 9 pages. |
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Calendar
Scan™ Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 22 March 2006 at 9:00 am
- 17 May 2006 at 9:00 am
- 19 July 2006 at 9:00 am
- 20 September 2006 at 9:00 am
- 18 October 2006 at 9:00 am
- 24 January 2007 at 9:00 am.