My Big 4 inspiration within the last view days
Following the most important trends of our time, wich will disrupt nearly any of our businesses and change the way we live
1. Grab ‘n Go — Cashierless Stores
The other day, my four-year-old son said to me, “And there’s a store and they don’t have a till. I replied: “Oh really? It really burned into my brain.
Since then I’ve been thinking about what that means from time to time.
As a four-year-old child we have no relation to money and the value we exchange for a product or a commodity. Children live in the here and now and are so focused on the current situation that I really have to ponder what he wanted to tell me.
Maybe I should open a cashless shop ;-)
So, I took the last news about Lenovo’s AI Store as an opportunity to once again explore Amazon Go and Co.
***German Version***
1. Grab ‘n Go — Cashierless Stores
Letztens sagte mein vierjähriger Sohn zu mir: Und da ist ein Laden und da haben die keine Kasse. Ich antwortete: Ach wirklich? Das hat sich in mein Gehirn richtig eingebrannt. Seitdem denke ich ab und zu darüber nach was das bedeutet.
Als ein vierjähriges Kind haben wir ja keinen Bezug zu Geld und den Wert, den wir damit einem Produkt oder einer Ware gegenüber eintauschen. Kinder leben im hier und jetzt und sind so stark auf die aktuelle Situation fokussiert, das ich wirklich grübeln muss, was er mir damit sagen wollte.
Vielleicht sollte ich einen Kassenlosen Laden aufmachen ;-)
So, nahm ich nun die letzte Nachricht über Lenovos AI Store zum Anlass, um mich einmal mehr mit Amazon Go und Co zu beschäftigen.
2. Energy Storage — Battery idea: Hydroelectric pumped storage, but with bricks
Energy Vault is developing a new form of energy storage that works on a similar principle to hydroelectric pump storage, but uses bricks instead of water. When the energy is abundant and cheap, six cranes stack large, heavy bricks into a high tower. When the energy is scarce and in high demand, the cranes lower the bricks back to the ground and convert the stored potential energy into mechanical and then electrical energy. Energy Vault is building its first tower in India next year.
With this new invention, energy can be stored cheaply and efficiently practically anywhere, especially in cities. The greatest impact of this technology will come when it is coupled with renewable energies such as solar and wind.
3. Voice Assistants — Google and Disney Partner to Bring Storybooks to Life
A new partnership between Google and Disney brings Disney Storybooks to life. When you read Disney Little Golden Books, Google Home adds real-time sound effects and soundtracks to the story. The new feature uses speech recognition to detect when a reader has jumped forward or backward and adjusts the sound effects accordingly. Unlike other commands, the intelligent speaker’s microphone remains on during storytelling, allowing the device to track and add sound effects. Google is currently working on a select number of stories including Moana, Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella.
4. VR — Bells Latest Helicopter was Designed 10 Times Faster With VR
Bell Helicopter combines art with bold new technical features and has used VR for the first time to accelerate its latest FCX-001 project.
Previously, helicopter design was an extremely capital-intensive process that took between 5 and 7 years. In collaboration with Sector 5 Digital and HTC Vive, Bell has turned this process into a 6-month creative enterprise by turning physical mockups into CAD-based virtual and pilot tests into VR simulations.
Using a virtual cockpit, pilots were able to test countless iterations of the FCX-001 in virtual flight, draw directly onto the 3D model and perform real-time aircraft modifications.
