posted by on November 17, 2010 at 09:48 AM
This week, I received news from 2 close friends at decidedly different ends of the happiness spectrum. In both instances, they pleaded “please don’t tell Facebook.”
Facebook – aka our friends – however you define them, has become The Media. Each message, link, posting is a flash of the Paparazzi’s cameras. Naturally the same can be said about Twitter or other platforms.
We are all celebrities now, struggling to redefine personal, if not private, news. When everyone can know something in an instant, when and how do you break the news?
posted by on November 02, 2010 at 11:06 AM
They don’t call it social media for nothing. There’s probably a million stories of how people reconnected with “X” from their past on the Internet and landed up doing things that should be reserved for special environments…like Vegas… or the next episode of “Jackass”.
Well the jury might be out on the wisdom of the Internet possibly make us feel and act younger, the indisputable good news is that it can actually aid in making aging more manageable.
In this week’s
New England Journal of Medicine, the article
Why Health Care Is Going Home by Dr. Steven H. Landers, M.D., M.P.H.
http://bit.ly/cVyllptalks about how portable technologies combined with the Internet can help create better outcomes—directly in a patient’s home. Traditionally the idea of best health care meant a patient visiting a medical facility. After all, it was a mark of modernization that women moved birthing to a hospital setting. Over time, at-home care began to be seen mostly through the lenses of palliative care or medical hand-wringing. Or as my parents’ generation whispered “where’s nothing more they can do; there sending him home to die.”
But the Internet has helped redefine previously rigid boundaries of physical space and time by making concepts such as working remotely, instantly communicating, gosh even house arrest, become common and accepted. It stands to reason that it is aiming its wrecking ball around the walls about where health care happens. It is easy to see how at-home care is especially good news for the aging population, people with intensive chronic conditions and those with mobility problems. The article quotes this sobering fact “nearly 90% of adults over the age of 65 years have at least one chronic condition, and nearly 70% have two or more coexisting conditions. Care for patients with multiple chronic conditions accounts for the vast majority of Medicare expenditures.”
Economics may be the business driver here but convenience will push consumer adoption. No doubt the benefits will drive adoption deeper into the population, from illness deeper into wellness.
We are ready for it. I have my mobile health apps already on my iPhone. Looking forward to a 3 minute video Q&A with my doctor, vet or pharmacist any day now. In the meantime, I’m glad to know that my senior Dad’s BP, breathing and blood scores can soon be managed remotely—and reported more quickly. No place like home, right on Dorothy.
Hmmm—The
USB symbol inspired by Neptune’s Trident? Stained royal teeth gave rise to the Bluetooth symbol? Potential origins of common computer symbols by Bryan Gardiner in a short, fun Wired column. Good geek reading and helpful awkward conversation filler awaits you.
(Read more of the article…)
posted by on July 28, 2010 at 12:48 PM
Chef Emeril Lagase always bemoans the lack of “smellavision” as he stirs some tasty looking dish. He knows that just one whiff will start us salivating and craving a bite. Wether it’s a pot of coffee brewing, a resiny Christmas tree or your mom’s brisket, our oldest and most primitive scent is deeply rooted in memory and can be highly motivating.
From scents pumped into a low-income housing development to help residents feel “optimism and happiness” to a billboard for a steak restaurant that blows the smell of char across a highway, ambient scenting, as the practice is known, is becoming big business.
That new car smell is being extended by auto manufacturers, hotels are spraying scents to boost productivity into meeting rooms and even plans for scented cellphones and credit cards are in the works. A fragrance for a Samsung store is cited for increasing electronic purchases by 20-30% - and - consumers related the scent (and ergo, the Brand) to innovation and excellence.
Even venerable institutions such as Credit Suisse and De Beers are getting into the scent business!
What’s interesting is that below the fragrance design is the deep examination of creating the ideal brand experience. What’s motivating? What’s emotional? What’s generating connection? What’s the desired outcome? Questions marketers ask constantly. Perhaps your next brainstorm will start with—What do we smell like? A provocative question (especially from a “Barbarian”!) So while we wait for smellavision and the iSniff – focusing on the basics always matter.
posted by on July 16, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Jay Zasa, our ECD posted earlier on the faux perception that we have “real” and “online” lives vs., well just having a life. HBR’s business blog, The Conversation has a post exploring the topic further. Whole post is good stuff but I particularly liked the final 10 points that list why and how online experiences enrich our lives. My favorite is #3:
“It’s time to start living in 21st century reality: a reality that is both on- and offline. Acknowledge online life as real, and the Internet’s transformative potential opens up:
