Gadgets are taking over the world 

Ray-Ban’s popular “Never Hide” advertising campaign launched in 2007, and is still regarded as one of the most creative and impactful for their brand. The campaign targeted the non-conformist spirit, centred on being true to oneself, personifying the desire to be an individual.

Fast forward to 2021. This month, Facebook and Ray-Ban launched Ray-Ban Stories, embedding the popular sunglasses with a Facebook based camera. On one hand, these are a super convenient way of capturing photos without a phone, or thirty second videos of yourself playing with your kid, or kicking that goal in the park. And from Facebook’s perspective, it’s a stepping-stone to AR glasses, which it is touting as the next major consumer device. They are very convincing – whereas Google Glass was an obvious camera device, Ray-Ban and Facebook’s glasses look scarily normal. 

Which is why Ray-Ban Stories could be a turning point that will change our social landscape. Will being able to film someone just by tapping the side of your glasses become a social norm? How will we feel going about our lives in public, knowing that anyone around could be wearing stealth surveillance technology? Will we need to explain to everyone we meet that we’re not actually filming them, and what does that say about the nature of friendship and trust? 

“Never Hide”. No one could have imagined that almost 15 years later the famous slogan could have such a different meaning. 

Meanwhile, Apple had their big annual conference announcing what to look forward to in the weeks ahead. 20^th September saw the release of operating system iOS 15 and the new iPhone 13, Apple Watch, iPad, and other devices are on the way. There was nothing earth shattering to see, but they made a big deal of improving battery life and other upgrades. 

You and me, we’re gonna to live forever… 

Obviously inspired by Oasis, Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner and others have started Altos Labs, a biological reprogramming tech company. Altos Labs is currently hiring some of the world’s top scientists to join them to search for the secret of immortality, giving them free reign on their anti-aging research. 

AI Yai Yai! 

There have been so many healthcare developments in the Artificial Intelligence space over the last few weeks! 

MIT are developing a robotic nose can detect first sign of disease. The Nano-Nose (based on the idea of dogs being able to sniff out diseases) is powered by AI. It is currently being trained to detect prostate cancer in urine samples, but it will be completely scalable to other diseases. One day, this powerful tool could be in millions of smartphones. 

Medtronic have launched an AI pilot program to tackle race, gender disparities in cardiac care. 

And researchers from Case Western Reserve University have developed a remarkably accurate algorithm that can predict which COVID patients will require a ventilator. 

Extra health tech news  

South Korean researchers have created a chameleon-like artificial "skin", which quickly adjusts its hues like a chameleon to match its surroundings, with applications for wearable tech.  

The World Economic Forum believes that digital technologies can address 5 sources of health inequity. 

A US-based team of researchers say their bioartificial pancreas could substantially enhance type-1 diabetes treatment. 

Sales reps are asking how they can build relationships with physicians. The New England Journal of Medicine says that physicians don’t have time to engage with less-than-premium content. 

That’s all for now. See you next month! 

#WordFromTheWeb

At AS&K, one of our key values is Being Curious ‒ asking what if, why not, could we? The Word From the Web blog series is one example of how we are horizon scanning and infusing the latest innovations throughout our medical communication services. Want to learn more about how AS&K can help you stay in front of the latest trends? Contact our Business Development Director, Alana Zdinak at alana.zdinak@asandk.com today!