Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 48

How Coldplay Is Redefining What Sustainability Means for Music Concerts

What if a music concert was created with sustainability as a priority? Coldplay is showcasing just how significant a difference this could make in their new Sustainability Update from their Music of the Spheres World Tour. Their ambitious goal was to “cut the tour’s direct emissions by more than 50%” and in reviewing the June 2023 Sustainability Update Report, it is impressive how wide ranging and intentional their program is. 

The band is reducing their CO2 footprint by using electr...

How One-Star “Review Bombing” on GoodReads Is Tanking Books and Manipulating Public Opinion

Recently in a workshop I was leading, a gentleman mentioned he would often judge a book by its Amazon reviews. The problem with this strategy is that sometimes those reviews are unfair, biased or come from people who have never actually read the book. Author Cecilia Rabess is a case study in what happens when a book becomes the target of a concentrated negative “review bombing” campaign online. Many of the one-star reviews for her novel were from “readers” who admitted they hadn’t actually r...

Student Who Ate $120k Banana from Modern Artwork Tells His Story

Last year, a US judge issued a landmark ruling that an artist “cannot copyright duct tape or bananas.” These were the two primary materials used by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan when he taped a banana to a wall, called it art and then was promptly sued by another artist who said he was actually the first to duct tape fruit to a wall.

Later, in a twist no respectable modern art lover could have anticipated, Korean student Noh Hyun-soo visited the exhibit and ate the banana (which is cha...

Will Humans Inevitably Turn Faith in AI Into a Religion?

Imagine a future where AI was all-knowing and all-understanding. These are abilities humans have typically ascribed to Gods worthy of worship. Soon, they may also be among the feature set of artificial intelligence. An article in The Walrus takes this possible future to it’s extreme – asking whether there may come a time when AI itself is worshipped as a religion. The question may not be as unnecessary as we wish it were: 

“The massive decline in traditional religious adherence, combined ...

Are You Investing In Pointless Luxury?

It is a bad sign when it takes more than a few seconds to find a light switch.

Most business travelers can recall staying in a place where nothing is where it should be. A place where there are outdated ipads offering touch screen controls for simple things. A TV remote control that needs to be charged for hours before use. Curtains and AC that operate only by a touch screen hidden behind a closet door. Power chargers or plugs that are built into a secret drawer. Basic items like an iron ...

Discovering The Future Normal In Rio de Janeiro

Inside a quiet air conditioned room on the bottom floor of a repurposed building on the Northern end of Rio de Janiero, a small group of kids are playing video games. It’s a scene that would be completely ordinary if it were happening anywhere but here. This is Vigário Geral, one of the largest favelas in Rio and a notoriously tough place to grow up.

Everywhere you look inside this place, you can see signs of the delicate balance that is required to keep everything moving. Young men patro...

How We Are Launching The Future Normal Everywhere At SXSW

Years ago, I was part of a marketing team that was managing the presence for global tech brand Intel at the Consumer Electronics Trade Show. Like most other big brands, Intel had a huge expensive booth to showcase all of their newest innovations. They were also the tech powering innovation from countless other brands at the show too. As you walked the trade show floor, you saw Intel’s technology inside cars or making smart appliances smarter or built into laptops. Everywhere you turned, it seeme...

Welcome to the Era of Co-Writing … With Artificial Intelligence

Right now people are alternately blowing their own minds with the capabilities of ChatGPT and criticizing it’s current limitations. Whether you consider it dangerous or useful, the most likely use case for generative AI right now is as an automated tool to write faster (and perhaps better). 

Consider the fact that Microsoft is already experimenting with adding ChatGPT functionality to Word, Excel and Powerpoint. It is also inspiring artistic explorations, such as the vintage AI-enabled typewr...

CES 2023: The 25 Non-Obvious Inventions, Technologies and Ideas To Watch

Welcome to the future. Or rather, the future normal. That’s what I expect to unfold today from the Consumer Electronics Show here is Las Vegas. CES 2023 is back with full global participation and much of the usual innovation we have all come to expect from the show. Thinner screens (and foldable now too!), lighter laptops, more connected devices for the home, AI-enabled everything, VR headsets and lots of automation in automobiles. Reporting from the trade show floor all week, here are some of m...

The Most Popular Non-Obvious Stories of 2022 (Based On Reader Feedback)

Every week for the past year, I’ve curated the most fascinating stories every week in my weekly email Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter. This year the newsletter was honored in the prestigious Webby awards too. It’s always interesting for me which stories seem to resonate most with readers based on how many email responses I get, how frequently a story is shared on social media and how frequently the link to the full story is clicked. Based on this combination of quantitative and qualitative data,...