On The Digital Life this week, we discuss future crime and the surveillance state in light of China’s recent efforts to use predictive analytics and big data to stop terrorism. China Electronics Technology Group, a state-run defense contractor, is developing the software to analyze data on everything from employment to hobbies to purchasing habits of ordinary citizens to try to predict terrorist acts before they happen. The software, in more ways than one, echoes the fantastical pre-crime technology featured in the science fiction film Minority Report. In this week's episode we explore the question of predicting crime using technology and its consequences.

This week on The Digital Life, we discuss a world filled with robots and what this could mean for humanity as we adjust to another type of "being" in our midst. It’s coming sooner than we might think.

For instance, last week, Boston Dynamics, a Google company, released a video of their next generation Atlas robot, that shows it walking through the snowy woods, recovering from slips, and picking up a 10-pound box.

To demonstrate the robot's resilience, a Boston Dynamics employee wielding a hockey stick pushes the robot backwards, knocks a box out of its hands, and even shoves it to the ground. The robot is able to recover each time and go back to work, but the unease of watching a near humanoid manage these abusive trials is palpable. The phenomenon, known as the Uncanny Valley, has long-term implications for collaborative robotics.

This week on The Digital Life, we discuss privacy, security, and the hubbub around the FBI request of Apple to unlock an iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that Apple would not comply with the FBI request, as it would force the company to build a backdoor to the iPhone, an outcome that no reasonable person would find acceptable. The US government and the FBI in particular has a history of misusing information in the name of security, dating back to J. Edgar Hoover. And Apple's defiance of the FBI comes at a time when the US government is still trying to repair the damage of the Snowden revelations about surveillance and massive data collection. Nonetheless, the government is attempting to force Apple's compliance insisting that the law, not the company's technology, should not be the final word on access for data critical to an investigation.

On The Digital Life this week, as a part of our trendspotting series, we discuss the intersection of high tech and clothing.

Clothing is one of humanity's original technologies — it has protected our bodies for thousands of years. Today, clothing designers are working with multi-disciplinary teams, integrating input from engineers and synthetic biologists into their work. From 3D-printed couture to scarves dyed with bacteria to textiles grown in the lab, emerging tech is creating rapid innovation in the fashion industry. How do people interact with their clothing? How does clothing respond to the environment? And what is the next step? Join us as we discuss all this and more.

Resources

Boston MFA Exhibition: #techstyle
15 of the Best Designs Merging Fashion and Technology
Chameleon Clothing Adapts to Its Environment

This week on The Digital Life, we chat about the rapid evolution of design and innovation practice. Chinese companies are increasingly taking an assembly line approach to R&D, which allows them to accelerate the process using multi-functional problem solving teams. By industrializing the process, Chinese companies are looking to make innovative product development quick and inexpensive, using simultaneous, parallel engineering and design. Additionally, IP sharing is commonplace in China: Designs move quickly from one company to the next. For example, the hit toy of the holidays, the hoverboard, was created seemingly simultaneously by several Chinese manufacturers. Join us as we discuss the future of innovation.

Resources
Accelerated Innovation: The New Challenge from China
The Hoverboard Mystery: Where Did The Holidays' Hot Product Come From?

The world of transportation and logistics is changing rapidly as emerging technologies start to overlap with more traditional industries. In this episode of The Digital Life, we go on a technology trend spotting journey, discussing the intersections of supply chain automation and autonomous trucks, ride sharing and car manufacturing, and drones and passenger vehicles.

Resources
Self-Driving Trucks Are Coming, and They Will Change Everything
GM invests $500 million in Lyft, sets out self-driving car partnership
This Chinese Drone Could Carry Human Passengers

What does the future of work look like? As software, robots, and the IoT automate activities previously completed by humans, change is coming all too quickly. In fact, according to preliminary findings of a recent McKinsey report, 45 percent of all work activities could be automated today using technology already demonstrated. From fulfilling warehouse orders to suggesting medical treatments for ailments, this coming wave of automation will redefine jobs and business processes for factory workers and CEOs alike. In this episode of The Digital Life, we discuss the inevitability of automation and what that means for future occupations.

Resources
McKinsey Study: Four Fundamentals of Workplace Automation

This week on The Digital Life, we chat about hacking power grids, the IoT, and the escalation of cyber warfare.

Power grids are becoming increasingly subject to cyber attacks and now, at least one has been successful. In December, an attack on a utility in Western Ukraine caused a blackout for 80,000 customers, which was the first known power outage caused by a cyber attack. The malware used in the attack, called BlackEnergy, infected systems via a corrupted Microsoft Word attachment. In January, Kiev’s main airport went dark after a power outage, once again linked to BlackEnergy. As cyber attacks begin causing life and death situations in the real world, the concern over security and the IoT grows.

Resources

First Known Hacker Caused Power Outage Signals Troubling Escalation
Malware Clearly Behind Ukraine Power Outage, SANS Utility Expert Says
Hackers caused power cut in western Ukraine - US

On The Digital Life this week, we chat about digital healthcare services in 2016 (and beyond). From sensor technology for medication adherence to conversational UI, health analytics to digital care planning, we cover the top industry trends to watch. If you like what we have to say on this topic, we encourage you to check out our piece on MobiHealthNews.

This week on the podcast, we discuss accessing the digital life in 2016. How do you get online? A recent Pew Research Center study indicates that fewer Americans have high-speed Internet at home in 2015 than they did two years ago in 2013 — a drop from 70% to 67%. And while broadband use is declining (ever so slightly), people who access digital services solely via smartphones is actually up 5%. The competition between wireless high speed internet and broadband has clearly begun to heat up.

Is there an upper limit to high speed mobile internet growth?
Network saturation — too many consumers using too few towers — is one bounding constraint. And signal quality can be variable based on the weather. But high speed mobile access is less costly to roll out than broadband.

In this episode, we chat about the ever growing need for online speed and the battle between broadband and mobile.

Resources

Pew Research Center: Home Broadband 2015 Study
Broadband Use is on the Way Down