The Sniffer

Trends: More E-Book Battles and Fab Tables

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:47:07 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young talks about Jeff Bezos’ vision for the Kindle. If they can sell you the device, great, but the real game is in selling the books themselves. (Via The New York Times). Cathi Bond thinks opening up e-books so they are interoperable could create great opportunities for literary mash-ups, a la Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond found this beautiful concept for a kitchen table, The Rendez-Vous, from Electrolux. Cook right on the table! Never be banished to the kitchen again! (Via Ubergizmo)

Trends in Search and Robots

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:49:00 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young talks about Hunch.com, a decision-making tool she’s had her eye on for some time. It uses input from users to improve its results. Nora thinks it works because it’s fun!

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond talks about so-called “robotic cargo-screening ferrets” which will be used to search shipping containers for contraband (via Eurekalert).

Design Trends: Wood and Dumpster Diving Are Back!

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:17:06 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young talks about the blog, Unconsumption, as an example of the broader trend towards making your stuff last longer, hacking it to suit your needs. Cathi Bond calls it 21st century dumpster diving. (via Core 77). It reminded Nora of an interview she did on Spark, with Anil Dash and Gina Trapani, about geeks holding onto their gear longer.

Cathi Bond notes that at the recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair, wood was featured prominently; sort of a dukied-up minimalist meets 70s rec room look. (via Flavorwire) Nora says it reminds her a lot of the aesthetic you find in contemporary Canadian furniture design, such as what you see at MADE. (Note milk crate!)

How about you? Are you seeing the ‘reduce, reuse’ hack your stuff aesthetic? Are you doing it yourself? Tell us your stories!

Trends in Building: Cheap, Efficient Solar, and Facades that Move

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:14:14 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Cathi Bond and Nora Young look at the latest in trends they’ve talked about before. Cathi considers these new innovations in solar from Australia. The hope is that it will make solar more efficient, and also cheaper. Cathi and Nora talk about moves to make solar more consumer-friendly, like one of the winners of the Picnic Green Challenge contest, Veranda Solar (via Treehugger). Good thing, too, because The Guardian notes that by 2020, home electronics could account for 45% of home energy use.

Also in this episode, Nora mentions a stunning building facade in Switzerland, part of a trend towards building exteriors that respond to the environment around them. Watch the video at excellent design blog, Swiss Miss (Thanks for telling me about it Alanna!)

Trends: The Return of Smart and Harnessing the Body’s Energy

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:03:24 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young is sniffing the return of smart. She mentions the new blog, The Awl, and the fact that Clusterflock seems to have a bit of buzz around it. (Kottke.org blogger, Jason Kottke, first told Nora about Clusterflock in an interview on Spark).

Meanwhile, tired of your mobile gadgets running out of juice? Here’s an interesting concept The Etive Kinetic Energy Charger: a device that harvests the body’s energy while you’re walking and uses it to power tech such as cellphones (via Gizmag).

Trends at the Movies, and Twitter TV

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:25:05 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young talks about David Lynch’s new online project, Interview Project, 100s of interviews with Americans he’s met on the road. It launches June 1st. (via Fimoculous). It reminds Nora of Walker Evans, but Cathi thinks it’s more like Twitter, with people’s current appetite for first person disclosure.

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond talks about the plan for the Twitter guys to link up with TV producers for a new reality-based TV show. (Variety via Fimoculous) Cathi and Nora: WTF?

Also, in case you haven’t guessed, C&N talk about how much they like Fimoculous.

Trendwatching: Mind Control and Google Map Politics

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:00:12 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Cathi Bond mentions Spanish research at the University of Zaragoza, that involves using mental focus to direct a wheelchair. Interestingly, users don’t have to sustain focus all the time; they can in effect ‘pre-program’ the route of the chair. (via Engadget). Nora says it reminds her of a story she heard on Radio Lab

Meanwhile, Nora Young mentions the recent kerfuffle over Google Maps’ decision to annotate a map of Tokyo with ancient images that show where the ancient, lowest caste ‘death workers’ used to live. People who currently reside there were none too thrilled over what it might mean to their property values (via Fast Company). Nora says it’s just one of many examples of the politics behind mapmaking. Expect to see more and more of this as people add detailed info to, say, Google Earth, or Second Life.

Life on Display: Celebrity Twitterers and Glass Houses

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:14:05 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young talks about this Business Week article on the cosy relationship between social media services, such as Twitter and Tumblr, and celebrities. It reminds Nora of Andrew Keen’s recent talk at The Next Web conference (via TechCrunch). Will social media eat itself? Cathi and Nora, erm, discuss. They also mention the great music writing of Carl Wilson and Robert Everett-Green.

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond points out beautiful homes in Chicago (via mocoloco). Stunning, yes, but you can also see right through them! Is this about living your life on display?

Trends in Energy and Good Ideas for Small Spaces

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:20:40 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Cathi Bond talks about this very cool solar “power tower” in Spain. Nora Young mentions that the folks at Dyson applied for a patent on a modular system for kitchen gadgets (via New Scientist). Will design/gadget hounds resist, or is it part of the simple, elegant solutions we see for small spaces, like Muji?

Trends in Jobs: Social Networking for Work and Future Jobs

nora@foursevens.com (Nora Young and Cathi Bond) — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:03:53 +0000

In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young talks about Blellow, a new microblogging/social networking platform designed to connect freelancers and self-employed people.

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond talks about Popular Mechanics’ picks for top ten jobs for the future, noting how many are related to alternative energy, and how much of a return to skilled trades they represent.