LSN : Daily Signals : Stat: Consumers are holding on to their smartphones for longer

A magazine that crowdsources the future of finance

Hacking Finance in collaboration with Anthemis designed by OOO Studio, New York

London – The events series Hacking Finance has launched an eponymous print magazine exploring the future of financial services from a broad range of perspectives.

In collaboration with Anthemis, a London-based fintech venture capital firm, Hacking Finance’s mission is to re-invent finance for the digital age. The new magazine sets out to build a community and cultivate change by inviting voices from different fields and disciplines to contribute stories, essays, interviews and other relevant content for publication. With stories about skateboarding, colonialism and outer space, the first issue – themed around the idea of movement – looks at financial policy, opportunity and access.

Calling itself ‘a new commons for the new eco-system’, Hacking Finance reflects some of the ideas we touch on in our Morality Recoded macrotrend; chiefly, that consumers now expect brands to break out of their silos, open up dialogues and consider their customers as collective stakeholders.

Dubai Expo 2020 will explore mobility and connected brain interfaces

US pavilion, Dubai Expo 2020

Dubai – The US pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 will include a simulated ride on the Virgin Hyperloop One.

Fentress Architects has unveiled its design for the pavilion, which focuses on the US’s impact on global mobility. Visitors to the pavilion will be able to experience a simulated ride on the high-speed Virgin Hyperloop One, the much-anticipated transport system that is due to be launched in 2021.

Responding to the question ‘what moves you?’, the pavilion will also explore brain-connected technologies, virtual reality and body advances such as wearable exoskeletons and 3D-printed organs. Ahead of the US and United Arab Emirates’ collaborative mission to Mars, which is set for 2021, future developments in space travel will also be addressed.

Technologies like brain-computer interfaces could be a reality sooner than expected. For more, read about the five innovators merging brain control with entertainment.

Hi Fly is trialling flights without single-use plastics

Portugal – The Portuguese airline recently ran a test flight without any single-use plastics, making it the first commercial airline to do so.

HiFly, which has three more test flights planned, hopes to ban single-use plastics from its planes entirely by the end of 2019. Instead, passengers will use bamboo cutlery and compostable food containers made by Vegware, or other plant-based or recycled materials. While HiFly is the first airline to pledge to eliminate single-use plastics from its services, other carriers such as Air New Zealand, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have begun phasing them out.

As consumers become more aware of the environmental impact of air travel and tourism, travel operators need to adopt more sustainable practices. According to some estimates, more than 20,000 planes are in use around the world, serving 4bn passengers annually. In our Conscious Tourism market, we explore some of the ways the airline industry is addressing its pain points in a bid to alleviate consumers’ concerns about the environment.

HiFly plastic free flight

CES 2019 Preview: Neutrogena will 3D-print personalised face masks

Neutrogena MaskiD (video size)

Las Vegas – Ahead of CES 2019, the skincare brand has announced the MaskiD, a 3D-printed face mask powered by data.

To start the process, users are required to take a selfie on a smartphone 3D camera, which creates a multi-dimensional map of the face and determines the shape of the mask. Then, they are able to decide what type of treatment is needed for each facial zone, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Neutrogena’s Skin360 device, which was unveiled at CES 2018, can be used to synchronise real-time data to the app and make recommendations for the mask.

‘Neutrogena MaskiD marks one step towards a new model of product development where we find innovative uses for the latest technology, such as digital imaging, skin analysis and 3D printing, to give consumers new ways to achieve their best skin ever,’ says Dr Michael Southall, global R&D lead at Johnson & Johnson.

Neutrogena is living up to its reputation as a pioneer of technology-enabled beauty devices that allow at-home Analysis. Keep an eye on our News section for the latest stories from CES 2019.

Stat: Consumers are holding on to their smartphones for longer

Figures show that sales of iPhones are down as more consumers upgrade their devices less frequently. In a letter to investors, Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed the company’s failure to meet recent revenue estimates in part to the fact that people are holding on to their iPhones for longer.

According to BayStreet Research, which tracks the mobile industry, smartphone users are waiting, on average, 11 months longer than they did in 2015 to upgrade their phones. One of the factors contributing to the trend is a shift from buying phones on contract to instalment plans.

As the lifecycle of smart devices increases, there is an opportunity for brands to reduce their waste and consider how modular design could encourage longer-term relationships with consumers.

Thought-starter: Can apparel reduce the risk of sports injuries?

Advances in material science are driving a new wave of performance wear that protects and supports the body during physical activity.

While much attention has been concentrated on the diagnosis and treatment of contact sport injuries, far less has been placed on prevention – specifically, the opportunity for performance sportswear that mitigates physical impact.

One recent example of this is Reebok, which found that 50% of women experience breast pain while exercising and one in five women don’t work out because they don’t have the right sports bra. Reebok collaborated with the University of Delaware to create its PureMove sports bra, which contains Shear Thickening Fluid, used by NASA to protect astronauts from space shrapnel and by the military for bulletproof vests.

Beyond protective smart materials for sportswear, a number of companies are exploring performance-driven textiles that respond to changes in body temperature, intuitively adapting to help cool or warm a person as they exercise. Switzerland-based activewear company Odlo has created its Futureskin base layer collection, drawing on their respective industry expertise to assess how the human body works and new ways of mapping it.

Read the full microtrend here.