Subtle Changes, Big Impact

It’s interesting the subtle shifts in technology that effect how we interact. These happen every day with us barely noticing and each of them in isolation really don’t mean much. But compounded by a hundred, a thousand, tens of thousands of these small actions every day, the aggregate impact will be mind boggling.

Two subtle examples:

Snapchat’s addition of a birthday lens. While seemingly innocent, it represents another form of clever data gathering where we as consumers are paying for free access with our information. As they say information is power, in todays world, information is also money. Read the full article here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/snapchat-adds-birthday-party-lens-encourage-users-share-age-data-231955

The other subtle update was to Siri, a week ago I got a little reminder that Siri is always on once plugged in, transforming the virtual assistant from a passive service to an active one. In one fell swoop, Apple now competes directly with echo (or Alexa). And in that one small way, the product moved from the potential as a mobile assistant to a home assistant.

All these little things happen around us everyday without us barely noticing. As these small changes compound it will be interesting to see how we engage in just a few years.

Ian Chee

 

The Etymology of Function

I’ve been thinking a lot about where things come from. In the past inspiration came only in the form of people and culture. Today with the world changing so fast, inspiration can come from a million different places. One space that is often ignored by business and brands is function.

I break that down in this little piece of analysis. It’s a theme that I’ve been exploring for some time.

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2405725/the-etymology-of-function

Trying new things

It’s interesting how often we get into a routine and are resistant to breaking the mold. You would think that being in a creative field, change and breaking the mold would be the consistent norm. But more often than not we fall into patterns, ways of doing things, old habits.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/heres-what-would-happen-if-ad-agencies-hired-drones-employees-163251

That’s why we are constantly trying new things in the work place, what’s next, how can we morph. One silly example of this is our recent experience with drones. Im personally really interested in the technology, I guess we have to find now it’s practical application. Enjoy the video below.

The Power of Problems

One of my favorite quotes is from Einstein. “If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.”

One of the times that made me most proud was when a client offered me a substantial budget to help them discover more problems. It may seem counter intuitive, but clearly defining the problem I’ve learnt often can help you quickly resolve the issue or more clearly see what issues you should be resolving. More here at ClickZ:

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2383230/the-power-of-problems