Technology & Global Trends

Group Members
Robin, Matthew, Kareem, David, Danielle

TECH

Re-Introduction of Airships

Airships and Airbuses to replace gas guzzling older machines

As the cost of fuel soars and the pressure mounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, governments and private companies are considering several schemes for a new generation of airship. Gasoline prices are pushing airlines to reduce the number of flights and retire older, less fuel-efficient aircraft. Aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus have responded by promising planes that use less fuel and produce less carbon dioxide.
Every now and then the idea of airships comes around again. Someone comes up with a new development that seems to open the door to a return of the idea only for it to be dashed by the cold hard economics of competing with relatively low cost established air transport. Manned Cloud, the latest development in the world of airships is a helium filled airship with a metal structure within. Shaped like a whale, chosen because it represents symbols of life in harmony with nature.
For the most part the only objection toward the development of airships lies in the cost of constructing the ship, but with the previously mentioned imminent threat of rising fuel costs the weight will shift and using airships will be the more cost effective alternative to what we know now as our regular mode of flight. Airbuses currently being developed and used multi-nationally for trips around the world…
For Canada this could mean more trips to remote places in the territories, which result in food, water and supplies not having to be flown in at such great cost and in turn not having to sell them at such an inflated price.

Foreverism

Embracing current technology that allows users to connect, interact, find and create an everlasting presence within the global technological community.
With the advent of MySpace, Facebook and now Twitter, creating an online identity has become so quick and easy that virtually everyone has one. This account permanently creates an online trail of where you were, where you are going, whom you interact with and what you buy. All of this information creates a databank specifically created by the user. Tracking friends, speaking to relatives, consuming with the touch of a button have become reality. This trend only continues to grow and evolve.
With problems of the past reemerging in our future, the issue of space will become ever more important. Where as in the past overcrowding in catacombs led to the creation of cemeteries the lack of space is leading to new possibilities in mortuary practices. As we are in an ever-evolving world it seems that technology may play a role in providing new opportunities in burial spaces.
Having its beginnings in North America, Foreverism has affected Toronto mainly through online retail, social networking and peer-to-peer sharing. Online accounts and identities have never been so important and vital to people and businesses. These personas are developed and maintained constantly. Big name brands have begun to see the potential in Foreverism in target marketing, homing in on buyers with special tastes and interests.
With GoogleWave soon to be released to a global market, online collaborations have never been so effective. It is the desire to experience everything in the now that has led to this foreversim. Social networking sites like Wreckamovie.com have emerged creating online platforms using the power of social networking for a collaborative purpose. All of these involve the cross-pollination of e-entertainment and interactive social networking to create something new and vital.


Robotic Replacement Parts

In the near future, most patients will be able to have robotic prosthetic limbs that will detect nerve activity and respond to thought.

In the near future doctors will be able to successfully place prosthetic limbs, which have electrodes that detect muscle activity through signals from the brain. When electrodes detect the nerve activity and the arm or the leg will responded accordingly. Already the influx of soldiers who have lost limbs from the current war in Iraq has created a large market for these products and advancements in robotic technology seems like it's getting better all the time. Now day the RIC, in association with the Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs (NECAL), has pioneered a muscle reinnervation procedure which takes an amputee's own nerves and then connects them to healthy tissue. Along with the aid of Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), the innovation has transformed the possibilities for amputees in the future. The fictional bionic man famously cost $6 million. In real life, bionic arm cost just 1 per cent of that figure totaling around $60,000. According to Gregory Clark, a professor in bioengineering at the University of Utah, a natural arm is able to make 22 discrete movements. The hope is that future prosthetic limbs will be able to perform much like a normal arm. With scientists in the UK having recently developed technology that enables artificial limbs to be attached directly to the skeleton using a titanium rod, the prospects for more complex prosthetic limbs are wrestled from the grasp of science fiction films and books and become an astonishing reality. At the end of the 21st Century, neural engineers will look back at the work of the scientists at RIC and NECAL and view them as pioneers. Their advances are probably just the tip of the iceberg. As for Canada, it will dramatically improve the lives of many, as daily tasks will no longer seem like the impossible and being independent and active will triumphantly become the lifestyle.

Shopping Apps as core revenue generators


“Brands will use apps to drive hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Apps will become a core revenue generator for businesses.” This statement defines the forecast that Apps may become first and possibly only point of contact for many blue chip companies.
eBay, Porter Airlines, Air Canada and other companies have started to launch iPhone apps that you can purchase goods from. However, in 2010, the vast majority of apps are novelty based and are not main revenue generators. However, for Apple and the App developers, they have been able to utilize this trend to make substantial amounts of money. We have seen from computer company Dell’s success from revenue generating from their twitter account, that there is potential in using social media to generate revenue. Also, branding on sites such as youtube and facebook demonstrate consumers willingness to uptake social media.
With the advent of 3G/4G technology becoming universal and the vast uptake of smart phones, brands will be able to send consumers to an app, rather than a website for purchases. We saw with the rise of website - brands sending consumers to a website, in place of store locations or a phone number. This trend signifies a possible turn away from a website to an app as the first point of contact for consumers.
This source of this trend came from Ted Morgan, CEO Skyhook Wireless (Mobile Trends PowerPoint from MyCourses). The nature of impact for Toronto, Canada is that for the large website design community, many of these people could be re-trained to focus on mobile technology if there skills were needed. This is a disruption trend, the status quo is that companies generate most revenue from retail and online, app could succeed both sources.

TECH - Carbon Nanotubes and Thermopower
An alternative energy source aimed at mobile and portable devices through the use of carbon nanotubes 16 atoms wide will see its first commercial use by 2015.

Researchers used these tiny 'wires' to create a powerful wave of energy - after coating them with a layer of fuel, the wires generated a so-called thermopower wave and scientists have stumbled across a reaction that will likely eventually be used to power electronics, computers and cell phones. This could lead to batteries that are up to 10 times smaller and still have the same power output. In the portable energy and energy conservation arena, we're trying to find power sources that have a smaller profile but hold more energy.
The nanotubes work much in the same manner in which batteries do: moving electrons from one end of the material to the other, creating a current in the process. However, unlike batteries, the nanotubes are not made from highly toxic heavy metals like lead, nickel and cadmium which are all extremely harmful to the environment. Additionally, these wires allow for absolute energy savings; conventional batteries are constantly leaking power. MIT associate professor of chemical engineering Michael Strano has illustrated an example of this unharnessed potential, saying "Most people don't realise a battery sitting unused in your laptop is leaking its power away ... If you take all the latpop batteries that are produced in one year, in the off state, they're leaking an amount of power during that year that we could store in a small nuclear reactor".
Existing Application: Paper batteries - batteries engineered to use a paper-thin sheet of cellulose (like regular paper) infused with carbon nanotubes. The tubes act as electrodes and allow the storage devices to conduct electricity - providing a long, steady power output comparable to a conventional battery.

Trend Origin: first discovered by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Trend Type: is in its nature a disruption of the status quo, as it cannot be used to augment current battery technologies and will require considerable redesigning of many products and devices on the techscape. Reasonable to assume that we should expect to see both much smaller devices (likely leading way to new interface technologies) and devices of the same size with exponentially increased wireless longevity.
Effect on Canada: growth in the wireless market - more and more internet traffic directed through mobile devices with our ability to be untethered for much longer periods of time.

GLOBAL - Designer Drugs
Drug companies will have sequenced thousands of human genomes by 2015 in anticipation of creating bespoke drugs for the masses.

In the near future, gene sequencing will become so cheap that it will be exposed to a new realm of possibility within medical diagnoses. In 2003, mapping one genome (of about 20,000 genes) cost 3 billion USD. Today, you can literally spit in a cup, place the saliva in the mail and get a peek at your own genome. What took 13 years to do in 2003 today also only takes 1 week and approximately 70,000 dollars. Within five years, the cost of sequencing an entire genome is expected to plummet below 1000 dollars. Not only does this open the doors on personalised medicines tailored to individual genetic profiles, scientists will make many new discoveries linking genetics to health and disease. Further into the future still, by 2020, sequencing a genome will cost less than 100 dollars. DNA sequencing will be a regular part of your annual check-up along with preventative medicines that will offset getting specific diseases you may be genetically predisposed to.
Existing applications: Services like 23andMe (https://www.23andme.com/) examine specific snippets of your genome for diseases such as diabetes, bipolar disorder and some types of cancer. Meanwhile a 'boutique' genome mapping company called Knome (http://www.knome.com/home/) maps your entire genome using a blood sample and then explain to you their findings; the latter being the more expensive solution at $68,000.

Trend Origin: The Human Genome Project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health.
Trend Type: Disruption of status quo - mass prescription drug production is likely to grind to a halt as more and more bespoke drugs are designed for specific people
Effect on Canada: Relief on the overloaded national healthcare system as more and more diseases are prevented or treated out-of-hospital with less and less requirement for surgical operations and medical facilities.