Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 38

The New Luxury Airline for Dogs Called BarkAir Is Not a Joke, It’s a Brilliant Marketing Stunt

Apparently it has been a dream of dogfood subscription brand BarkBox for more than a decade to create an airline dedicated to flying dogs and their human companions around the world. Now they are making it a reality through a partnership with private jet charter company Talon Air and the way they are doing it is actually quite smart.

They are focusing on long haul routes from the east to west coast of America and to London. The seats are all luxury with special amenities for dogs. They ha...

AI Disproportionately Affects Women. We All Need to Fight Back.

This week, the “world’s first Miss AI” digital beauty contest was announced with $5000 prize awarded based on beauty and skill using AI tools. One tech expert predicted that the AI girlfriend industry could hit $1B in revenue soon despite multiple reports of how the creators of these digital companions may be hoarding your private data.

While these issues could adversely affect people of any gender, one report found that 96% of all deepfakes online are non-consensual fake videos of women. Clearly...

Meet Tupperware: The Slowing Fading Brand That Should Have Won the Nostalgia Trend

Tupperware parties were a thing; once so iconic that they symbolized an entire cultural movement of work-from-home (mostly) female entrepreneurs in a time when opportunities for women to run and own their own businesses were rare. Today the company is in rapid decline and the public shift away from plastic food containers is only one reason for it. A larger reason is the brand’s steadfast refusal to update its product line or direct sales-centric business model.

As it stands, the slow dem...

What If There Is No Loneliness Epidemic?

An epidemic suggests that something is spreading over a short period of time and is worse right now than it was in the past. By this definition, should loneliness qualify? The common wisdom today is that our devices are simultaneously making us more anxious and lonelier. This article suggests that perhaps the rise of loneliness isn’t the one-dimensional wisdom we often take it to be.

Yes, people are more disconnected now and are craving human connection perhaps more than in the past. Still, as th...

Playing Happy Reef Sounds Could Bring Coral Reefs Back to Life

A happy and healthy coral reef has a sound. The various “snaps, groans, grunts and scratches that form the symphony of a healthy ecosystem” are not just a symbol of a thriving reef. Underwater scientists have begun testing using these sounds in areas with degraded reefs and are finding the sounds attract coral larvae to settle. When they do, a new reef is formed. 

As the problem of degrading coral reefs continues to spread, this is a story that could have wide ranging implications. With t...

Augmented Reality Comes to Sports, Thanks to Wrestlemania

Last weekend The Rock made his return to wrestling and a “new era” for the sport was on display at WWE’s Wrestlemania 40 event. The event itself was largely what fans of the sport probably expected, but the use of augmented reality technology in the broadcast stood out because of how integrated it has become. While other sports are launching small-scale pilot tests of the technology, WWE seems to be all in.

From the over-the-top introductions to wrestlers where they walk through AR genera...

Should Prisoners Be Allowed to Use Social Media? Inside the #JailTok Movement and Debate

There is legislation under consideration in the UK that would have “harmful content filmed inside prisons removed from social media platforms more quickly.” It stems from a disturbing case where a woman saw a video of her son’s killer rapping from prison and mocking the justice system. There are plenty of other videos on the #jailtok hashtag that show prisoners doing shots, inciting violence and revealing the private identities of prison guards.

Some of these accounts also include prisone...

Aruba Becomes First Nation to Use the Internet Archive to Back up Their Entire History

The Indigenous population of Aruba was first colonized by the Spanish, and then the Dutch – which has given the Caribbean island a diverse history. As archivist Stacy Argondizzo also explains, “they were one disaster away, basically, from losing everything.” Back in 2018, the Internet Archive first began discussions with the country about helping them preserve all of their artifacts in the vast data stores of the San Francisco-based nonprofit.

Given that the nonprofit frequently faces law...

The App That Recreates Social Media’s Dopamine Hits Without Actually Letting You Post Anything

One of the irresistible allures of social media has always been the dopamine hit from people engaging with the things that you post. Getting likes feels good. What if you could create that same feeling without the toxic repercussions that come from just posting to chase this engagement? A new app called Palmsy offers an interesting solution – letting you post anything you like without uploading it anywhere. 

On Palmsy, your posts remain privately on your phone and the app generates randomized “li...

AXA’s New Foresight Report Offers 100 Reasons to Love the Future

There are plenty of futurists who will offer you a list of all the ways the world can go wrong, and things could be worse. Against that backdrop, this timely report from AXA Insurance’s foresight team offers 100 Reasons to Love the Future (PDF Download Link). The beautifully designed report covers everything from growing youth involvement in social issues to innovations looking to protect the oceans. Future music playlists, the impact of female entrepreneurs, transforming food systems and AI-aug...