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We have been suggesting for a while that voice and data will soon be free...well in India it is upon us! Competitors of Jio, launched by the Ambani Group, saw share prices tumble today as the reality of free voice and very low cost data for life becomes a reality. Business models work until they don't...that moment has just arrived for Telco's.
From Japan comes this discovery of a new soft, flexible but extremely strong material. It's made from hydrogel and glass fibres, and could be useful for repairing damaged joints and for protective gear like bullet-proof vests. I wonder if they could try reinforcing hydrogel with carbon fibres - that should be even stronger, but might be too stiff.
Here's a fascinating look at Planet Labs' mission to establish a constellation of hundreds of nanosatellites that scan the planet on a daily basis. The largest constellation of satellites in history - now operating since February of this year. That's the promise of UBER FOR SPACE, and it's just beginning!
American demand for electricity has peaked, and continues to decline on a per capita basis. Futurist Thomas Frey takes an in-depth look at this phenomenon and how it might play out in the future. While the future remains uncertain, and emerging economies are still rapidly growing their power requirements, exponential technologies will shake up the energy sector in all regions of the world.If ...
US President Bernie Sanders has signed a series of Executive Orders designed as emergency measures to combat climate change. The net effect is to make fossil fuels way too costly to produce and consume, forcing emissions lower and a massive swing to nuclear and renewable power. On top of that, the plummeting cost of solar has convinced many consumers, even those skeptical about global warming, to switch to a system of distributed power generation and consumption. These micro-grids and rooftop panels ...
This is a really interesting experiment by Verily, one of the Google offshoots. The goal is to combat malaria and other mosquito-born diseases by releasing sterile males and thus ultimately reduce the mosquito population.The world is watching with great interest.
Windows that harvest solar energy to create electricity? What an obvious idea! Yet it has taken until now for the first installation, in a bank building in the Netherlands...not exactly a country known for copious sunshine!Imagine the impact in high-sunshine countries.Then there are Elon Musk's solar-generating roof tiles - and the advent of solar paint is not far off, as our MindBullet ...
Interested in where the future of wearable technology is going? Follow this fascinating infographic from Futurism.
Police departments have been experimenting with drones for some time now. But this is a step forward; three British police departments creating a formal drone unit.Says a spokesman: 'Drones will aid officers as part of missing person searches; crime scene photography; responding to major road traffic collisions; coastal and woodland searches and to combat wildlife crime.' Of course, all ...
If you want a closer look at how solar power is going viral in Africa, bringing lighting to off-grid communities in innovative ways, read this article in the New Yorker. Just like cellphones leapfrogged landlines in Africa, solar power is leapfrogging the grid. Power to the people!
With this uber for space and 3-d printing at disposal even to print rockets in such a small lead time - what will be the competitive advantage of large manufacturing players? Do they even exist? What will be their value proposition?
At FutureWorld we spend most of our time considering the question "What if?" In fact all our MindBullets scenarios are precisely designed to stretch people's thinking, and get them to ask the question of their own businesses and personal goals.What if one of these crazy scenarios actually transpired? How would that affect my industry and business success? What if we did something today to ...
The idea of a 'biological hard drive' - using DNA to store data, seeing as though DNA already holds a staggering amount of data - has been around for a while. Now, thanks to the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing tool, scientists have created the first one.Just think of the disruption potential! Could we be about to completely reinvent computing? ...
Space mining is just a dream, right? Well, this company plans to begin harvesting moon rocks by 2020 - just two-and-a-half years away. And they're not alone.
The concept of the Hyperloop - a transportation system that would float humans and cargo through special vacuum tubes is juts one of Elon Musk's crazy ideas.Crazy, right? Perhaps not. One of the several teams working on the idea has just notched up what they call their "Kittyhawk moment".To quote Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Hyperloop One. "By achieving full vacuum, ...
Rocket Lab has gone fully commercial, offering launches for small satellites at a tenth of the cost of SpaceX. The 3D printed rockets are less than three stories tall, but they still make it to orbit, in just a few minutes. It's like Uber for space launches. You book your slot on the app, and get a real-time quote on your phone, which varies with the size and weight of your satellite. Most popular are cubesats, only slightly larger than a smartphone, and controlled by users on the ground. The ...
Which are the 2017 most valuable companies in the world? Here's the list.
Seven years ago, we published a MindBullet about how low-tech solutions to reforestation could alter the size of deserts. Now a Dutch engineer is putting that idea into practice.
Elon Musk is not alone in wanting to link the human brain into the global digital network. DARPA, the US defence research institute, is backing no fewer than six projects into neural links. Watch this space!
What if we could see into another person's brain? Would the age of telepathy be upon us?Perhaps that a little far-fetched, but this idea, of a wearable device that effectively acts as an MRI machine, could enable huge forward leaps in medical treatments. ...
