Haft2Know

A recent breakthrough might eliminate the need for diabetics to repeatedly check their blood sugar by pricking their fingers. A scientist at the University of Western Ontario has developed a contact lens that will react according to the body's blood sugar and change colour to convey elevated or reduced levels to the wearer. The lens is being hailed as among recent times' biggest medical breakthroughs. In the coming years, we think we'll see more technology emerging, in which colour becomes a language we can both speak, and understand.

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TrendWatching.com presents their annual list of top 10 consumer trends, for 2010. These are trends they feel will help shape global demand next year, and in turn, supply. Themes centre around the end of the recession, pragmatism of goods of services, and of course the environment.

The sociology of the city features high in the list. A hundred years ago, less than 5 percent of the world's population lived in cities. In 2008, that number crossed the 50 percent threshold for the first time in history. In the last two decades, urban population of the developing world has grown by an average of 3 million people per week. What does this all mean to those living in urban centres?

Another familiar one to us is known as 'Tracking & Alerting' - using wireless communication to notify potential customers of what's available, and where - at any given moment. A perfect example of this is this past Haft2Know, about a mobile truck that sells warm cookies and desserts and alerts its NYC customers to its whereabouts by its website, and its Tweets.

The trends are fascinating, and in depth. Check out all ten here.

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Move over, Kryogenics. Swiss DNA Bank offers a different way to be immortalized.

'Perpetual docs management' is how this company describes what they do. It's an infinite time capsule, and for a one-time starting fee of about $300 USD you'll receive a kit in the mail that will allow you to submit to the capsule any data you may wish - photos, music, stories, your cat's pointilist pieces - as well as your own DNA. And there it will sit in perpetuum below the Swiss Alps, allowing future generations of your own family not only to remember you, but clone one of your own offspring to be your genetic twin.

The infinite link is here

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