Archive for March, 2007

Trick out your hybrid to get 100 mpg

Monday, 12 March 2007 10:15 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Some people are way handier than I am. Some efficiency geeks in California have hacked their Toyota Prius, enabling it to get 100 miles per gallon.

The upgrade invoved adding inexpensive lead-acid batteries and
"some innovative software" to fool the car’s computerized controls into using
more of the energy stored in the batteries.

I was NOT good enough in chemistry or physics class to just tinker with the software that regulates the freaking electricity in my car, but these guys claim it’s only a $5,000 investment to get a lifetime of 100 miles per gallon.

Since 95% of the remaining petroleum is stored under Middle East countries that keep exploding, perhaps this is  a small price to pay and a smart strategy for the future.

Scientists save data in Bacteria — living hard drives!

Saturday, 10 March 2007 11:14 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

New Technique Stores Data in Bacteria. Whoa.

Could this make your morning yogurt the world’s biggest hard drive?

Bacteria_2

Everything I need to know I learned from invading Goths

Friday, 09 March 2007 15:08 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Wardperkins
New idea for strategic thinking: For every minute you spend thinking about the future, spend a minute thinking about ancient history.

The more I read about the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, the Chinese and other ancient civilizations, the more I see the patterns in the development of all technologies. You can see the nature of both social and technological disruption, and that’s really what the study of the future is about, anyhow.

If you get a chance, check out the new series on the History Channel about the Dark Ages. A stunning look at how Western society made great strides forward and then spent 600 years rooting around in the mud. Now there’s a disruption!

I’m not predicting a great downfall anytime soon, but it’s always nice to review the cautionary tales of history, wouldn’t you say?

Darkagestimeline
 

Telemarketers, death, and Anna Nicole Smith

Monday, 05 March 2007 13:33 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Question: How will your business deliver its message to an overstimulated public?Telemarketer

A funny thing happened last week to my friend Bob, the CEO of an industrial instrumentation
company. He gets a call from a guy on his cell phone who’s selling insurance. Bob barks "Take me off your list. I’m not interested," and hangs up. The man calls back immediately. Bob really lets him have it, tells him that this is his cell phone, it’s harrassment, and never to call back again.

Bob arrives at his office, and his administrative assistant tells him "Mr. Jones from the Insurance Company called, the one you hung up on. You were looking for a policy, and he was just returning your call from yesterday."

You see, Bob’s not a barbarian, he just receives no less than 30 calls a day at his office, looking to sell him credit services, telephone services, investment opportunities, copier toner, and all kinds of crap. He’s totally overstimulated and just gets rid of the nuisances as quick as possible.

I think this has a lot to do with the media frenzy over Anna Nicole Smith. Hear me out.

Below is a screen capture from Fox News’ homepage from this past week. (Click)

Foxanddeath

Now, for topics of national discourse we’ve got death, destruction, and the death and destruction of a sexpot. CNN’s TV coverage is no different. A tornado hit, people are dead, we get 8 hours of non-stop coverage. A buxom blond celebrity dies, and Wolf Blitzer practically has an aneurysm.

How are these things connected?

I think that between telemarketers, pop-up adds, beepers, cell phones, BlackBerrys, and tons of embedded advertising, the American brain has had it. We’re in a state of perpetual distraction, and the only thing media can do to keep our attention is to bluster on about the most basic fears and desires. Sex and death, sex and death, SEX AND DEATH!!! This public that is so overstimulated only responds to the most basic messages.

Now, looking toward the future, this too will lose impact. For you marketers and public relations professionals, how will you speak to this public in the future?

  • Social Networking?
  • Permission marketing?
  • More advertising?

Plan for the attention arms race.

-Garland

Want to find the next Starbucks? They could be bankrupt failures today!

Friday, 02 March 2007 17:06 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

There’s the book gaining more and more attention Starbux
called Discovering the Next Starbucks,
which is about picking great companies ahead of the curve.

Just a reminder — the hot company is tomorrow could possibly be a dismal failure today.

Disney failed at the amusement park business three times before prevailing. The same number of failures as Pepsi. And so on. You’ve probably heard the list of Lincoln’s failures and Edison’s 1800 useless designs for the lightbulb. I’ll spare you.

In America, we worship entrepreneurial success, but are often more cool about the entrepreneurial failures that undoubtedly precede them.

The fantastically successful entrepreneur of tomorrow is probably drunk in a bar right now, sweating his unpaid mortgage and lamenting his past strategic decisions.

Failure is not a guarantee of future success, though it’s almost always one of the points along the way.

-Garland

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This is the official trend blog of Competitive Futures, a management consultancy that provides trend research and analysis for business and government around the world. Here, we update you on interesting trends we see as part of our work for our clients.


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