Design:
- Rethinking design and (dis)ability. Sara Hendren makes a convincing argument that we need to stop drawing a line between assistive technology and technology- because all technology is assistive.
- Microsoft debuts an unusual hinge solution for it's latest laptop/tablet devices.
- In counter-intuitive product news: Amazon has a physical data storage solution for all the information going into their cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS). It gets shipped back and forth via FedEx and has uses a Kindle as a "living" shipping label.
Camera Technology:
- A new type of camera, formed from an array of smaller cameras (16 to start) to produce high quality images through computational assistance. It got a lot of press this week- this was the article we saw that had the most interesting coverage, with some images of the internals.
- DJI (best known for high-end consumer drones) is expanding their product line by making standalone cameras - maybe in response to GoPro making it publicly known that they're working on drones. It's an odd but now common circularity of non-competitors turning into competitors as the market opportunities created by one company but enabled the technology of another are made clear.
Designing Space:
- Pizza Hut's odd original architecture has more staying power than you might expect, albeit not in the hands of Pizza Hut.
Energy:
- Recycling is far from being a clear winner when it comes to knowing where to spend our money and efforts to fight climate change and improve the environment. Reducing air travel has a much bigger impact, with far fewer cumulative actions required.
- Given how energy intensive animal products are on a per-calorie basis, it's an obvious candidate for the kind of reduction efforts that yield positive environmental impacts. Given how much cuisine all over the world is wedded to animal products, it's a huge behavioral challenge. Enter promising animal products without the animals company Impossible Foods- which just picked up $108 M from the Gates Foundation.
- Looking at the limits of Lithium-ion batteries and energy density of various fuel sources.
- Smith Electric Vehicles is on the verge of bankruptcy after $32 M from the U.S. Department of Energy. Maybe it's time for Tesla to try their hand at making trucks.
More next week.