Signals of Change

Prediction Is the Future SoC369

Technologies now exist that can anticipate a variety of phenomena, from crime to illness. For a whole host of industries—from security to marketing to health care—prediction is the future.

The Meaning of Money SoC370

A dictionary definition of money—a generally accepted means of exchange—is a gross oversimplification when the subject is a consumer's personal relationship to money. Recent research on the psychology of money indicates that rethinking traditional assumptions about money may be a very profitable strategy.

New Energy-Purchasing Behaviors SoC371

Consumers currently have no means to determine how much energy their appliances use. Consuming energy is like shopping in a store without price tags. But that situation is about to change.

Understanding Smell, Using Scents SoC372

New and experimental olfactory technologies are set to enlarge the role that scent plays in commercial products. Health care, marketing, safety, and multisensory interfaces all stand to reap advantages from advances in scent research.

The Careful Consumer SoC373

We are seeing a significant shift in the consumer mind-set in markets throughout the world. Because of the recession, most people are reevaluating the way they shop, and many are less inclined to shop spontaneously. Is the shift temporary or permanent?

Gene Selecting SoC374

Discoveries in genetics and the ability to select for specific genes and gene sequences are forcing cultural conventions to evolve. Recent developments in genetic research indicate that gene-selection technologies may eventually see application in influencing people's intelligence, competitive drive, and interpersonal relationships. Gene selection even holds the potential to shape human evolution.

Insights

User Interfaces: Evolution or Revolution? D09-2594

Most advances in interface technologies and techniques continue to fit into the category of evolutionary changes by providing frequent, incremental improvements in functionality, capability, usability, and convenience. The possibility exists, however, that several of the more innovative emerging interface technologies—such as context sensitivity, emotion awareness, and machine vision—may interact synergistically with the more traditional interfaces, such as speech recognition, haptics, motion sensing, keyboards, and computer mice to create dramatically different and improved ways for people to interact with machines. The resulting rapid changes in multiple elements of the human-machine–interface ecology would likely unleash a wide and even revolutionary set of new dynamics and affect any application in which a person interacts with a machine. Companies monitoring only developments in the user interfaces currently common in their industry or market domain are likely to be late adopters of any revolutionary changes that are already emerging across the diverse world of user interfaces. These changes will generate a trove of opportunities for new technologies, products, and services. Author: Martin Schwirn. 13 pages.

Scan™ Meeting Digest: 22 April 2009 Meeting D09-2595

This document is a digest of the Scan™ abstract clusters that participants in the 22 April 2009 Scan meeting identified. The digest includes a description of the Scan process for people who have never attended a Scan meeting, a list of the clusters that meeting participants identified, and a one-page description of each cluster's premise and supporting abstracts. The document has active links that allow the reader to access the supporting abstracts for each cluster in Scan's online abstract database. The document also has links to previously published Scan documents relating to the particular cluster. Clusters of abstracts for this April meeting included smartphones prevail, climate-driven migration, recession as an entry point, talent follows opportunity, assumptions about consumers, blogging a new course in journalism, machines that see, infiniminutes, cutting costs without cutting jobs, and cocreation becomes codecision. Compiler: Kimberly H. Wiesbrock. 35 pages.

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 in Menlo Park on:

• 22 July 2009 at 9:00 am
• 23 September 2009 at 9:00 am
• 21 October 2009 at 9:00 am
• 20 January 2010 at 9:00 am
• 17 March 2010 at 9:00 am
• 19 May 2010 at 9:00 am.

Scan also sponsors occasional Scan abstract meetings in Croydon, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. Contact your SRIC-BI (now SBI) marketing representative to schedule participation in any of the Scan abstract meetings.