Ever since I was a teenager, I always thought there was something magical about thrifting. Magical might be a weird term to describe what I felt but I mean, come on! Imagine going to a shop with no idea what you will buy and going out of it with 10 new outfits, some jewelry that was simply too interesting to leave behind, and even something to decorate the house; all purchased for the grand sum of €30. Sounds like magic to me!

Last year, I heard of Vinted, an online platform that allows you to buy and sell used clothes with other users on the platform, and I have to say, I was rather suspicious about its value proposition. The whole point of thrifting is going to some random shop or a clothing pile somewhere in a market and surprising yourself by finding some cool pieces….. Right?

Well, to my surprise, I fell in love with the application. The digitalization of one of my favorite activities turned out to be as fun as the real deal itself! Vinted not only made thrifting clothes as an activity available to me at any place and time but also allowed me to profit from it as now I sell pieces that I don’t wear anymore to people that might like them.

However, there are some aspects of having this activity digitized that go against “thrifting” as a concept. The main one being the overpricing of items on the application; the price of the sold pieces does not reflect the quality of the pieces and designer items are often sold for immense amounts of money. Now new startups are also trying to tackle this problem. One such startup is FENYX, the platform of which will allow individuals to unlock the total value of their belongings by highlighting alternatives to premature disposal and what the value of their belongings is at a certain moment.

With such exciting players coming to the field, it is certain that the market for online thrifting platforms or marketplaces is far from stagnant.

https://www.startupnight.net/startups/2022/fenyx

https://www.vinted.nl/

No ratings yet. The global landscape is undoubtedly changing at a relative fast pace for the airline industry. An industry which has been constantly growing year after year. In 2019 there were more than 68 million flights representing 188000 flights per day and a 10% increase in comparison to the 2018. 2019 was a rather weak year for the global airline industry in terms of net profits, with 25.9 billion US dollars generated in comparison to the optimistic forecasts predicted in 2018 of 18 billion US dollars.

COVID-19 and Airlines 

The International Air Transport Association forecasted in December 2019 a global net profit of 29.3 billion US dollars for the upcoming 2020 in the airline industry. Unfortunately, the industry has been hit with perhaps the most devastating event in the history of the airline industry. Since the start of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic airlines have been pushed to their limits financially.  The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has measured the impact of the worldwide pandemic by comparing it to a hypothetical 2020 without the side effects of the pandemic. The ICAO has estimated that 50% to 52% of the global transit has ceased. Less people traveling means less available revenue to airlines. The ICAO determined the global loss in revenue to be in the range of 386 to 399 billion US dollars. It is yet nearly impossible to determine when this situation will be reverted, and airlines will prosper once again

MCAS and Boeing 737

However, this is not the only critical phase the airline industry has experience in the last years. 2019 a sequence of failures in the MCAS software lead to two tragic crashes involving the Boeing 737. Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) sensor readings are fundamental to assist pilots in correctly stabilizing the plane. However, if the readings are wrong the system will continuously push the plane’s down or upwards to try and stabilize the plane. Reports concluded that the system has not been properly tested and lead to wrong readings which consequently got pilots fighting against the computer over control of the plane. The MCAS system’s failures lead in big part to a tragic event and took the life of 347 passengers. The influence of the MCAS in the crash lead to further investigation over the software. Months later, reports of Boing outsourcing the software engineering of the MCAS software to engineers at 9 US dollars per hour, as an attempt to reduce costs fuelled the doubts regarding the safety and integrity of the company.

What technologies and IT trends might help reverse the declining stage of the Airline Industry?

AI and ML

While none of these technologies will help directly to reverse the current situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. There are arguably several technologies which could have an added value to the product offering of airlines and/or the way airlines conduct operations. One of them is AI and Machine Learning. From a customer-oriented perspective, AI could create better recommendations unique to the customer based on their specific needs during a trip, reducing baggage delays and providing real-time updates. Furthermore, AI could potentially disrupt the marketing strategies by tailoring offerings based on the user previous history, demographics, needs etc. KLM is one of the airlines alongside AVA that taken steps towards a digitalization strategy. KLM has implemented AI in their operation systems which has led to better decision making and more robust schedules.

One of the key steps to harvest the benefits of AI and Machine Learning is correctly leveraging data. Although there is currently a use of data analytics, it is relatively low in comparison to other major industries. Moreover, the use of data can be perceived as a natural step forward given the vast amount of data that is available to airlines.

Digital Twins

Digital Twins is another topic which is receiving more attention in the airline industry. The technology encompasses a 3D design of an airport collecting real-time information about planes arrivals and departures, delays, number of people in transit and much more. The technology is to be implemented in the operations room as a touch screen for controllers to have access to the current stage of the airport as well as tracking back historical events and replay them as it happened.

Sustainability and Fuel

Perhaps, an even more disruptive force than the COVID-19 is the rising concerns surrounding sustainability in the airline industry. Aviation currently contributes to 2% of the world’s carbon emissions and it expect to double by 2037.  However, it is not only the carbon emissions emitted by plains but also the plastic waste both inside the plane and outside. It is expected that airlines will be pressured by multiple stakeholders, namely: customers, governments, corporate governance, and investors. Although some attempts to fight the negative effects of aviation have been put in place, such as CORISA, which is global target to reduce one third of the current greenhouse emissions by 2040, this attempts only aim to partially offset the effects of the major environmental player: Fuel.

While improvements in Biofuels and efficient engines can decrease a portion of current greenhouses emitted, it is only a partial part of the grand total to achieve the desired stage. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is one of the main drivers to reduce the gap between the target stage and the current one. However, SAFs are only at an early stage of development and they will not be made available in the short to medium future. Furthermore, Biofuels and efficient engines are still overpriced which further put a toll on airlines net profits.

Sources:

https://www.icao.int/sustainability/Pages/Economic-Impacts-of-COVID-19.aspx

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/seven-trends-reshape-airline-industry

https://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2020/01/12-technology-trends-for-airlines-and-airports-to-focus-on-in-2020/

https://theconversation.com/the-737-max-is-ready-to-fly-again-but-plane-certification-still-needs-to-be-fixed-heres-how-147157

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/flightradar24s-2019-by-the-numbers/

https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2019-12-11-01/

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50177788#:~:text=A%20series%20of%20failures%20led,and%20pilots%20caused%20the%20crash.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-28/boeing-s-737-max-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers

5/5 (1)  

A couple of weeks ago, German TV show host Jan Böhmermann sat down for an interview with journalists from ARD concerning his new book. In his interview, he criticised how huge internet and telecommunications companies like Amazon, Google, or Facebook treat the data of individuals (Daserste, 2020). Such criticism does not seem to be much of a headline in a tech-sceptic European Union with strong data privacy legislation. His proposal, however, makes for a headline: a radical new way of thinking.

Nationalise Amazon, Google, and Facebook

Böhmermann proposed that companies controlling large amounts of very sensitive data (e.g. financials, interests, beliefs) have too much power to exist as ‘ordinary’ companies (Daserste, 2020). According to Böhmermann, these datasets are part of today’s essential infrastructure, however the people do not control these companies – nor the way their data is handled. The best way for the people to retain ownership of their data would thus be to nationalise the aforementioned companies. As an example, he uses the railroad services which were nationalized in the 19^th and 20^th century when they were an essential part of the national infrastructure.

Indeed, the data held by tech giants are very sensitive and consumers, depending on where they live, have varying degrees of control over their own data. The most problematic challenge for politicians and the legislative is the fact that no traditional instrument is known to make those players smaller and subsequently more controllable. This is due to the structure and dynamics of electronic markets. As their marginal costs are very small or zero, the tech giants can offer their services and software at no cost to the consumer (Shapiro et al., 1999). Furthermore, the offered services mostly gain in value when more people use the network, as can be seen from Facebook or Airbnb (Zhu et al., 2019). Logically, this means that the market will always develop into a monopoly and the state has no traditional instrument to interfere with this.

In light of this, Böhmermann’s idea sounds quite appealing. However, the idea is still in its very early phase with many question marks as to how exactly this could be realised. As opposed to railway companies which mostly operated in one country, the tech giants operate in nearly all countries of the world. Who would nationalize these companies? If their home country – the United States of America – would nationalize these companies, the US government would control data of millions – if not billions – of people abroad. This situation would hardly be acceptable to any other government. One solution to this could be the United Nations, as it is the most widely accepted international, diplomatic institution. The UN represents a body where all governments have a vote and can influence the decision as to how to treat the data.

Furthermore, it remains questionable as to how those companies should be nationalised. Should the government buy a majority of the shares? Who would provide the money for that? How would Facebook look, if it was controlled by the state? Would this prohibit innovation, and would the government be a better or worse protector for our private data?

What questions do you see as important and what aspects do you think support or oppose this idea?

Bibliography:

Daserste, (2020), Jan Böhmermann ist zurück, Available at: https://www.daserste.de/information/wissen-kultur/ttt/sendung/sendung-vom-13092020-104.html (Accessed: 2020).

Zhu, F., Iansiti, M., (2019), Why some platforms thrive and others don’t, Available at: https://hbr.org/2019/01/why-some-platforms-thrive-and-others-dont (Accessed: 2020).

Shapiro, C. and Varian, H. R. (1999) Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200167344_Information_Rules_A_Strategic_Guide_to_The_Network_Economy (Accessed: 2020).

No ratings yet. Recently many studies and articles emerged that talked about the decline of empathy. A common measure of empathy, a questionnaire, which has been completed since the late 1970s by hundreds of thousands of people has provided evidence for the collective loss of empathy. Shockingly, the average American in 2009 is 75% less empathic than in 1979. This troubling drop is supported by multiple studies. But what actually is empathy?
Empathy is the ability to understand and share someone else’s feelings. Simply put, it is the skill to walk in someone else’s shoes. It is regarded as one of the most fundamental skills of humans. Empathy allows people to communicate, establish and maintain relationships and most importantly to peacefully overcome conflicts. It empowers people overcome the powerful psychological instinct to divide into “us” and “them” and instead view “you” and “I”.  People begin to see outsiders as people instead of symbols of their group. Therefore, it is a great skill to overcome divide and the amazing thing: Empathy is free! If one is not convinced that caring for others is a good thing, one should give empathy a chance for purely selfish reasons. Ironically, by caring for others one can feel greater happiness, experience less stress and even greater professional success.

It is clear that empathy is a skill that is lacking in today`s world. However, the causes for the decline of empathy are not certain. Leading researches at Stanford University assume it is because people are not interacting face to face anymore. To be empathetic, one must learn to read others’ faces. Today we communicate via Facebook, text, and online chats most of the time, leaving no time to practice reading other peoples’ faces. Does that mean we have to get rid of technology? In short: no. People are not born with the ability to empathize. It is a skill that one must develop, and virtual reality (VR) can help.

Empathy is a cognitive effort. One, must imagine what it is like to be someone else and yet is still limited by one’s own biases and stereotypes. VR eliminates the cognitive effort and increases accuracy as one’s stereotypes are taken out of the scenario. Thanks to VR it is possible to walk in someone else’s shoes. The technology allows one to become a different gender, a different age, differently-abled or have a different skin color. However, when asked if VR creates empathy Jeremy Bailenson, Stanford professor and leading VR and empathy researcher replied: “My answer is that VR creates experiences. Experiences can cause empathy, but it depends on what you’re doing. Think about video or the written word. Neither automatically creates empathy, but each can if a piece is crafted carefully.” Further he explained that VR is not a magic tool that works every time. However, across all his studies VR outperforms control conditions (e.g. reading case studies, role play). Moreover, he discovered that to leverage VR the simulations should be paired with movements. In one of his studies participants had to lift objects in VR and put them in piles based on color. One half of the participants’ VR experience was altered so that they were colorblind. For them, the task was nearly impossible, while the control group experienced the task as annoying but doable. Afterwards, all participants were asked to help find websites that would be hard to read in the real world. The impaired group spent almost twice as much time helping others.

Long-term impact of VR experiences on empathy are unclear yet. However, many studies do show impact and rise in empathy after VR experiences. This offers many use cases. The VR company Shift advocates for VR’s use in healthcare education. It is more cost-efficient, more effective and faster for students to learn and implement critical new skills. Apex offers VR to train police officers using VR for realistic de-escalation and crisis intervention simulations. A different use case that can be applied to many industries is unconscious bias training. PwC uses a VR-based implicit bias training where employees learn to make inclusive hiring decision and point out instances of discrimination. Feedback of participants using the VR training showed that they had a stronger emotional connection to the training content and were more confident about their takeaways from the training.

There are many more uses cases of VR to foster empathic behavior, regarding many social issues, such as homelessness, racial biases and people’s attitude towards climate change.
What do you think, is VR the antidote? Will it make people more empathic and care about others? Do you think it will become a staple teaching method in education?

Sources:

https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/06/07/how-to-increase-empathy-and-unite-society

https://www.chcp.edu/blog/loss-empathy-society-today

https://bigthink.com/videos/jeremy-bailenson-how-experiencing-discrimination-in-vr-can-make-you-less-biased

https://www.shiftbias.com/

https://freeowl.com/2020/07/14/pwc-is-using-virtual-reality-to-train-employees-on-implicit-bias-business-insider/

More insight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GwLxp0STow

5/5 (3)  

This year might have been the most difficult year in history for the music industry. All festivals, concerts and live events were cancelled or further postponed, and the entire event industry is afraid of not ever being able to come back in the form it was before the pandemic. For over months the question for many artists and labels was how to alternate live music performances and concerts and make it accessible for the fans at home as well as profitable for the artists. However, on April 23 rapper and musician Travis Scott and video game developer Epic Games might have presented the solution. On that day and weekend, Travis Scott performed several virtual live shows in the video game “Fortnite Battle Royale”. According to Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, 12.3 unique players participated in the first concert on April 23 (Miceli, 2020). Across the weekend over 27.7 million users worldwide experienced the five concerts (Miceli, 2020) and five months later the full event has almost 100 million YouTube clicks on Travis Scott’s Youtube channel (Youtube, 2020).

The “Astronomical Experience” itself was rather short compared to a normal concert or festival appearance. For around 10 minutes gamers were able to adventure a gorilla-sized Travis Scott floating through time and space while “performing” his greatest hit singles such as “Sicko Mode”, “Goosebumps” or “Highest in the room” (Webster, 2020). Travis Scott himself was not performing with live vocals, the focus was rather on the visuals than on the artistry performance. For some people this might sound lazy or incomplete as it does not represent a real live performance. However, if you start a show with having a planet-like object soaring through the air until it gets close enough to you and blows up perfectly when the beat switches and you see a giant 15 foot computer animated Travis Scott jumping in front of your Fortnite character, the live vocals will not matter to you anymore. There was not a stage in this performance, but rather the entire Fornite map was utilized for this performance. Gamers could move freely in the map, while the visuals were constantly changing. Some songs were performed underwater while others were staged in space. Overall, the theme of the event and visuals were psychedelically influenced and especially towards the end of the performance the whole experience felt like you just got off a roller-coaster (Holmes, 2020).

Even though the event was planned for a long time, the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic was a rather unfortunate perfect timing for the event. Travis Scott was originally scheduled to headline one of the biggest music festivals in the world “Coachella” (Beaumont-Thomas, 2020). Nevertheless, the Fortnite collaboration allowed Travis Scott to be wider known worldwide and gain an entire novel younger fanbase that would usually not attend real life concerts or festivals due to age restrictions. As a matter of fact, the collaboration secured Travis Scott immense success regarding streaming and sales (Rutherford & Caulfield, 2020). On April 23, the day of the first Fortnite event, Travis Scott accumulated 10.3 million on demand streams in the United States. On April 24, the day after the first concert, Travis Scott’s streams surged by 136% with an accumulated 24.4 million U.S on-demand streams of his songs. Furthermore, Travis Scott secured his third No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as “The Scotts”, a collaboration with Scott’s idol Kid Cudi, inaugurates at the top of the chart in the United States. The song was premiered in the “Astronomical Event” (Rutherford & Caulfield, 2020). Overall, Travis Scott gained huge popularity worldwide and established himself as one of the biggest artists of the current generation.

The question arising now for many stakeholders in the music industry is whether virtual concerts have the potential to disrupt classical concerts and festivals. The answer to that question is plain and simple. No. Both from a consumer and an artist point of view the real-world connection between these two groups is missing. This connection makes concerts and festivals unique. Being in a crowd with your best friends at a festival and seeing your favorite artist perform can not be substituted by a video game simulation. Do not get me wrong, we might see many more virtual concerts in the future, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. However, real world music festivals and concerts will not disappear in the near future. The Travis Scott astronomical event introduced the world to a novel way of experiencing music performances. Nevertheless, the current technological advancement can not provide the same sentiment and feeling when attending a musical event. However, virtual concerts will not vanish once the pandemic is over. More innovative virtual reality concepts will be introduced in the future. But as long as these concepts do not reflect the community spirit and musical experience of a live-show, they will not be able to replace real-life events.

Bibliography

Beaumont-Thomas, B., 2020. Coachella 2020 announced with headliners Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/03/coachella-2020-lineup-headliners-rage-against-the-machine-travis-scott-frank-ocean-lana-del-rey
[Accessed 29 September 2020].

Holmes, C., 2020. I’ve Never Played Fortnite, But Was Forced to Attend Travis Scott’s Fortnite Concert. [Online]
Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/travis-scott-fortnite-concert-989209/
[Accessed 29 September 2020].

Miceli, M., 2020. Fortnite’s Travis Scott concert drew more than 27.7 million unique participants. [Online]
Available at: https://dotesports.com/fortnite/news/fortnites-travis-scott-concert-drew-more-than-27-7-million-unique-participants
[Accessed 28 September 2020].

Rutherford, K. & Caulfield, K., 2020. Travis Scott’s Streams & Sales Leap Following ‘Fortnite’ Virtual Concert. [Online]
Available at: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9369298/travis-scott-sales-fortnite-virtual-concert
[Accessed 30 September 2020].

Webster, A., 2020. Travis Scott’s first Fortnite concert was surreal and spectacular. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/23/21233637/travis-scott-fortnite-concert-astronomical-live-report
[Accessed 28 September 2020].

Youtube, 2020. Travis Scott and Fortnite Present: Astronomical (Full Event Video). [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYeFAlVC8qU
[Accessed 8 September 2020].

No ratings yet. Fitbit, Apple watches, Garmin’s and many more smartwatches have become very popular the last five years. These types of watches are also known as activity trackers and smartwatches. Currently, 21% of Americans say they use smart watches or activity trackers (Vogels, 2020). This trend potentially implies that people want to be more aware of their health.
Activity trackers and the mobile application which belong to these activity trackers encourage healthy behaviour (PWC, 2017). An apple watch for example notifies a user every hour to stand up and walk a certain number of steps. It has recently become possible to get an hourly notification to wash your hands and not touch your face in order to fight against COVID-19 (Putock, 2020). The applications and activity trackers help with the management of a healthy lifestyle. It gives the users the feeling that they are in control of their own health.

Additionally, the data which is created by the use of the activity trackers and smart watches can give healthcare professionals a better insight in the day-to-day patterns of individuals. In combination with AI this can help them to provide better feedback and give more advanced guidance to stay healthy (PWC, 2017).

The use of AI and the Inter of Medical Things (IoMT) very hopeful. AI can help people to stay healthy, professionals get insights in the daily patterns of the patients. This seems a very hopeful development in the medical world. But the use of these systems come hand in hand with very big challenge; security of the data. Even though the data will be securely stored nowadays data is nowhere really safe. A data leak may have huge implications. Very sensitive personal data will be out in the open which can be used against you at any moment in time.

The innovations which are being introduced in the healthcare can be very disruptive and improve the quality of life. Will in ten years a smartwatch or activity tracker prevent the population of potential diseases or will the use of smartwatches be decreased since the data is not securely stored?

Bibliography

Vogels, E. A. (2020, 01 09). Pew Research Center. Retrieved from About one-in-five Americans use a smart watch or fitness tracker: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/09/about-one-in-five-americans-use-a-smart-watch-or-fitness-tracker/

Putock, M. (2020, 03 13). How to set up hourly reminders on Iphone and Apple Watch to wash your hands and stop touching your face. Retrieved from https://9to5mac.com/2020/03/13/hourly-reminders-to-wash-hands-on-iphone-apple-watch/

PWC. (2017). No longer science fiction, AI and robotics are transforming healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/healthcare/publications/ai-robotics-new-health/transforming-healthcare.html