THETRENDSREPORT
Proudly brought to you by NATIVE VML
July 2015

AMONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF TRENDS IN MARKETING,
STORYTELLING AND DIGITAL CULTURE LOCALLY
ANDABROAD.

AUGMENTATION

While Google’s Soli project will allow us to
interact with our digital devices in new and
exciting ways (and also help us eliminate nasty
screen smudges), there are still many practical
applications for tactile input devices. While we’ve
all grown accustomed to the mouse, keyboard
and stylus as primary input methods, there are
companies looking at providing us with far more
innovative solutions.
Tactile interfaces in a
digital world.

Tactile interfaces
Ming Kong, a graduate of the Royal College of
Art has developed a conductive material that
employs innovative touch technology to control
and navigate computer-aided design software.
The silicon-based conductive material can be
moulded into different shapes to create a tactile
interface for digital modelling.
Kong says the project attempts to revisit a
fundamental design question — the relationship
between form and function.
READ MORE

The freedom of a pen
Straight off Kickstarter, Phree is a smart pen
which links directly to your phone, tablet or
computer via Bluetooth. What happens next?
The freedom to write or draw on any surface.
While your phone may be the perfect pocket
device, it is not the perfect input device. Phree
attempts to remedy this by allowing you to use
any surface (thereby maximising input real
estate), capturing your hand-writing or drawing.
Are the days of touchscreen keyboards
numbered? We’ll see.
READ MORE

Artificial Intelligence,
awesome or scary?
AI has been a long-time dream for many
scientists. Imagine a computer that can
formulate ideas, create art and experience
emotions. The possibilities would be endless.
But what if these smart computers decide to turn
against us?

Elon Musk and AI
Elon Musk has donated the bulk of a $7 million
grant to a group of scientists who have been
charged with ensuring that artificial intelligence
does not turn evil. Musk is not alone, Stephen
Hawking and Bill Gates have also expressed
concerns that artificial intelligence could prove to
be a threat to the survival of humanity if it’s
development isn’t handled properly.
READ MORE

Twitter to implement Deep Learning
Deep Learning is a branch of Artificial
Intelligence which seeks to give context to
arbitrary bits of content. Twitter has created a
team called Cortex, to implement Deep Learning
Artificial Intelligence. The aim is to help give
context to the millions of tweets that are filtered
through the Twitter system on a daily basis.
READ MORE

INNOVATION

We’re living in an age where it isn’t good enough
to only build a great quality product or provide an
excellent service. A certain level of “wow” is also
required to win the hearts and minds of the
consumer. That “wow” factor comes in the form
of innovation.
Corporate Innovation -
who is doing it right?

Why Is America so good at innovation?
America, home of the free, land of the brave.
Perhaps there is something to that. Of the top 10
companies in the United States, 3 are tech
companies that were founded in the last half
century. In Europe, there are none. Why is
America turning out great tech companies at
such a rapid rate? Is it the culture? The business
structures?
READ MORE

How to create a company culture that sticks
How do you stay innovative? Simple, create a
company culture that fosters it. India-based
media giant InMobi have created an
OpenSource blueprint, YaWioO, designed to
build and foster a culture of innovation and team
work.
READ MORE

The world’s most innovative companies
How does a company make it onto
FastCompany’s top 50 list of the world’s most
innovative companies? Companies that make
the list are not only responsible for contributing
to our well-being, but each one has a great
corporate culture that fosters out-of-the-box
thinking.
READ MORE

Talent is as important as funding
South Africa is also home to exciting
innovations, especially in the start-ups arena.
Seedstars World invests in top start-ups through
a competition held across 50 countries. 12 start-
ups have been chosen from around the country
to pitch for a chance to compete in Switzerland
for up to $500 000 in equity investment.
READ MORE

An operating system is the base platform for all
of our modern devices. Whether we’re talking
about Android, iOS, Windows or Linux, operating
systems have their own quirks and features
which make them unique.
Operating systems.

Windows 10
Windows 10 will be hitting the shelves at the end
of the month. With features like Cortana (a voice
controlled assistant) and Xbox One gaming
support, Windows 10 is set to be one of the
most exciting operating systems to come out of
Microsoft yet. The fact that Internet Explorer has
been shelved is reason enough to upgrade.
READ MORE

Zorin OS 10
For those of us who are more adventurous,
Zorin OS 10 has just been released. Based on
Ubuntu, Zorin OS gives Windows users a
familiar experience as far as interface is
concerned, but with the improved stability of a
Linux-based OS. While Zorin OS might not be
for everyone, it will give those wanting to dip
their toes into the world of Linux an easier
change-over experience.
READ MORE

MOBILE, DATA AND
SOCIAL

Productivity applications have been around for
ages, but could you replace your desktop/laptop
with your phone? Would you have access to all
the same features and functions?
Mobile productivity.

Andromium
Forget lugging around that heavy laptop or being
chained to your desktop. Andromium is on its
way - an operating system and hardware dock
that allows you to use your Android phone as an
ultra-portable desktop machine. All you need is
an HDMI screen and you’re set.
READ MORE

The iPad Pro
The oft-rumoured 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" is expected to launch after mid-November. Overseas manufacturer
Foxconn will start supplying components for the large-sized tablet in late September, according to
Taiwanese blog DigiTimes. READ MORE

South Africans and mobile devices in the
workplace
More than 95% of South Africans rely solely on
their mobile devices within the office. This is
according to a new survey conducted by Dell in
partnership with Microsoft. The aim is to identify
what kind of devices are being used by
employees in South Africa and how companies
can issue devices that are more useful to their
employees.
READ MORE

Omni-channel retailing is the use of a variety of
channels to interact with and enhance the
customer’s shopping experience. This includes
research before a purchase. Such channels
include: retail stores, online stores, mobile
stores, mobile app, telephone sales and any
other method of transacting with a customer.
Omni-Channel
retailing.

Omni-channel and social media
Traditionally, omni-channel strategies have been
a primary focus of the retail sector. With the
ubiquitous nature of social media, omni-channel
strategies have not only become viable, but
absolutely necessary in marketing campaigns.
READ MORE

MARKETING
ATTHE SPEED OF
CULTURE

Not so long ago, comic books were experiencing
a slump in sales. In a shift spear-headed by a
then bankrupt Marvel, licensing deals and an
acquisition by Disney turned the comic book
giant around. The after-effect? A boom in the
entire comic book industry. Movies abound, and
the fan-base is growing on a daily basis.
The age of the
comic book.

Comic Con 2015
Comic Con 2015 was host to over 130,000 visitors this year, with some visitors standing in queues for up to
48 hours to see their favourite franchises in action. The first Comic Con (1970) saw only 300 visitors, a
testament to the rise of comic book culture.
READ MORE

Camp Chronicle
Camp Chronicle is an educational summer camp
that uses comic books to assist kids with literacy
and learning issues. By creating comic books
from scratch, these kids are learning skills that
will not only help with learning issues, but also
with their ability to tell coherent and imaginative
stories.
READ MORE

Digital has been around for a while now. We
have the obvious benefits like connectivity and
access to information, but how are we
leveraging this technology and this wealth of
information to make our lives better?
Digital and a better
lifestyle.

Big city movement
Throughout cities around the world, digital information is readily shared and collected through multiple
devices that have become part of everyday life. But in the streets of Singapore, this amounting of "big data"
will soon be used to improve urban life through LIVE Singapore! - a project that uses real-time data to track
and affect the activity of a city.
READ MORE

STORYTELLING

While most of us experience social media
through stories we are familiar with, social media
has also begun unlocking stories that we are
unfamiliar with. The power of social media
doesn’t lie in experiencing the familiar but rather
the opening of our eyes to the unfamiliar.
Hidden stories.

Mecca through the eyes of Snapchat
Worshippers in Mecca are streaming their stories live on Snapchat, opening up the Saudi city to non-
Muslims online. The online push was successful and Snapchat users are able to get a glimpse of the
Muslim holy city on the 27th night of Ramadan – which some believe to be Laylat al-Qadr, or the “night of
power”. READ MORE

They’re called YouTubers, celebrities who have
built massive subscriber bases on YouTube. At
their core, they are smart content marketers who
have built communities with clever viral video
marketing. Oh, and they’re rich.
Getting rich on
YouTube.

Pewdiepie made $7.4 million last year
Another year, another mind-boggling mountain of
money for the most famous, most popular
YouTuber in the world, Sweden’s Felix
“PewDiePie” Kjellberg. According to Swedish
newspaper Expressen, the 24-year-old brought
in $7.4 million in revenue in 2014 from his
YouTube production company. Last year, he
made headlines with a $4 million haul. The
reason for the increase? Another absolutely
colossal subscriber jump from 27 million that
year to 37.7 million today.
READ MORE

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