Hey trendwatchers, in this podcast Nora Young talks about a possible move to push back on our info-overload online lives. New York Times journalist (who has also contributed to Spark) Anand Giridharadas writes about two trends in services: the immersive spend-your-time-behind-a-screen experience, vs. a move to quick check-ins that help manage your offline life. Designer Jack Cheng advocates for The Slow Web, making a similar call to keeping our online tools in check, serving us instead of the other way around. It squares with my (Nora’s) own sense that the real push in a market crowded with streams of information and apps galore, is in creating tools that give you real utility, and offer the space for you to create meaning in your life.
Cathi Bond this time brings you Terminator Pants! No, seriously, Delta 415 jeans feature a protective pocket in the front of your jeans so that you can store your cell phone and access it all the time. The design is inspired by fighter pilots’ G suits, apparently. Definitely a sign of the times in terms of the advance of 24/7 wearable tech. Would you wear them?
Hey, thanks for another fascinating episode of The Sniffer.
Re: wearable tech interface:
You left out the ‘pullover’ with the wrist-placement for a smartphone!
I thought about trying to construct something like that — it looks awesome!
‘This thing I wear on my wrist says they’re not poisonous.’ – Leela, in Futurama
So exciting!
– TCK
‘This thing I wear on my wrist says they’re not poisonous.’ Ha!
I took an unopened copy of the entire first season of Futurama to the library as a gift and they wouldn’t take it. Apparently they’re worried about porno being inside. Yikes! How stupid is that? It’s not like they’re poisonous.