Now that the cultural resistance has been broken down, ‘Zoom surgery’ is likely to remain a feature of modern medicine. But during Covid-19 lockdowns, with travel restricted, doctors have not been able to work in other countries or share expertise with colleagues face to face. As a result, some of the cultural resistance among surgeons towards telemedicine has started to melt away. In 2020, there were ninefold and fivefold increases respectively in the number of users and procedures on Proximie’s platform. Read more (Financial Times)
Category Archives: bathroom
The Promise and the Peril of Virtual Health Care
During the coronavirus pandemic, telemedicine looks like the future of health care. Is it a future that we want? Read more (New Yorker)
COLGATE IS A COOL MOM WITH IRIDESCENT NEW TOOTHPASTE LINE FOR GEN Z
Classic toothpaste brand Colgate is one of these companies. This week, the brand launched CO. by Colgate, a new oral care collection aimed at Gen Z. Using the empowering, self-care language that has come to dominate beauty marketing, the new collection is described as one that “transforms the simple act of brushing your teeth into a ritual for feeling good”. Read more Read more (Dazed)
How AI is transforming the way people shop
Facebook AI researchers and engineers are building the technology to — one day — let you do all this in one holistic, intelligent system. It means teaching machines what people easily learn: understanding the different items a closet or an apartment would have, how a garment relates to an accessory, and how an online product might look in real life — and doing this for millions of people around the world. Today we’re sharing new details on the cutting-edge AI techniques we’ve built to get us there. Our new system, GrokNet, can understand precise specifics about what’s in nearly any photo. We’ve also built technology that can automatically turn a 2D phone video into an interactive 360-degree view. We’re now one step closer to our vision of making anything shoppable while personalizing to individual taste. Read more (Facebook)
Soap wars India: New narrative
Soap is a product used for personal hygiene by all in India. It is likely to have a 99 per cent penetration across urban and rural India and by people at the top and bottom of the social class ladder. Over the decades, the dynamics of soap usage in families have changed — from a single soap for the family to individual soaps for each family member and from soap bars to face washes and so on. The big brands have responded to these shifts by expanding their product portfolio. Read more
The rise of the informed Indian skincare consumer
The typical Indian woman believes in the value of DIY beauty remedies based on age-old ayurvedic principles. She is raised on coconut oil in her hair, and favours gram flour, yoghurt and turmeric-based masks and scrubs that promise glowing, de-tanned, “lighter” skin. A significant number of women, particularly in rural India, still use talcum powder on their faces — perceived by some commentators as a possible hangover of the colonial era. Read more (Vogue Business)
The New Comfort: what does “home” mean in 2021?
Out with clean white spaces, and in with tactile havens. The interior mood right now is anything but sterile Read more
Home Trends 2021
Home Trends 2021 (Google Slides)
Home Trends 2021 (PDF download)
MACRO TREND THEMES: Resisting the bunker mentality; Taming the panopticon; Remembering humanity; Rethinking the healthy home; Ongoing evolving migration patterns; Aging populations; Rethinking what brings us joy; Rethinking the commoditization of home; Responsibility as the foundation; Reframing time and space; Making sense of place; Empowering agile materials and techniques; Adaptive and predictive machines for living; Expanding concepts of experience
CES 2021 PRODUCT TREND THEMES: (Whole House) Quick fixes; Empowering devices; Flexibility and adaptability; Ongoing data collection (Kitchen) Design Styling; Adaptive Living; Cultivating and experimenting; Circular rituals (Living Room) Aspirational space; Immersiave space; Human experiences; Designed to protect (Bedroom) Shelter in place; Maximizing downtime; Curative space; Proactive inducement (Bathroom) Prescriptive formulas; Immersive and responsive; Health maintenance; Self-sustaining efficiency
“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims,” said R. Buckminster Fuller. Out of necessity, the future of our homes is coming at us fast. It is loaded with technology and all that tech can do. We need to quickly understand and get ahead of this evolution of home design so that we can better inform what we need. The opportunities for home design will come from a better understanding of how human traits of behavior are adapting to change as well as earlier detection and action on the fragility of our future.
To better understand the context of what is emerging out of this COVID19 moment for home design, we looked at home-related products that will be shown at CES 2021.
We processed concepts through scenarioDNA’s culture mapping matrix to differentiate disruptive from emerging and residual from dominant codes. The analysis reveals greater opportunities to redirect new technologies to more abstract aspects of behavioral change.
Products and ideas exist across a spectrum of archetypes from residual to disruptive. What we are seeing in this is a trajectory of trends. The concern for makers is to understand where you are as a brand in relation to how people are thinking. The most provocative concepts are often the mundane ones that have an impactful tweak. Think of ambient light solar power and hydro-powered speakers informing future off-the-grid possibilities. Knowing what we are feeding now is critical.
Necessity continues to breed invention. At CES 2021, products shown reflect our time: air purification, entertainment, healthcare. Truly compelling is how we are handling the prospects of inclusivity, scarcity and waste. The recent scarcity of necessities has expedited new means of creation and new perspectives. Consider the device that uses an electric catalyst to turn water into plentiful disinfectant. Or the enzyme-powered compost that turns organic waste into air. We need to think ahead like that.
ciguë creates a hotel room of the future that emphasizes water recycling
For the Hôtel Métropole exhibition at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Parisian design collective ciguë recently showcased “Une chambre pour demain” (A Room for Tomorrow), an experimental redesign of a hotel room that champions water recycling. Created as a reaction against the amount of unseen excess and waste in the hospitality business, the pavilion takes the shape of a minimalist hotel room that uses a series of rainwater harvesting systems estimated to offer 70% water savings as compared to a standard hotel room. Read more (InHabitat)
Home tests could help in the fight against the coronavirus. So where are they?
Firms must make them more accurate and easier to use before they can meet federal guidelines. Read more (Washington Post)
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 