Six lessons that guided 2016

1. In the 99% of healthcare that happens outside the doctor’s office, care planning is vital to reaching health goals
A team effort, led by Beth Herlin, developed content for a three part series unearthing the history of Care Plans, delving into the current state of care planning, and what all this means for their future development. This past Fall, Beth traveled to the Stanford Medicine X to give a keynote on Care Plans, and the concepts that the team developed continue to saturate our in-house and client based design.
Care Plans: A 3-part series of the landscape, design and future of personalized healthcare

Episode Summary

For our final podcast of 2016, we chat about the big themes on the show and our favorite episodes over the past year. We had conversations on design and tech with some wonderful guests including ground breaking geneticist George Church and open science advocate and researcher, John Wilbanks. From AI to genomics to cybersecurity, we covered a wide range topics on The Digital Life in 2016. So what did we learn from a year talking tech?


AI is too smart for its own good.
Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, with both high profile public failure and success by a number of tech giants this year. For instance, Microsoft had to terminate Tay, its teenage chatbot, after the bot started tweeting neo-Nazi propaganda and other abusive language at people. Meanwhile, Google's DeepMind created an AI capable of beating some of the very best human players in the world at Go, the Asian strategy board game. And, we were introduced to a brand new "Rembrandt", which was 3D-printed with eerie accuracy by an artificial intelligence algorithm, trained by analyzing the artist's paintings.

Episode 149: Artificial Intelligence 149: Artificial Intelligence
Episode 151: AI Goes to Art School 151: AI Goes to Art School
Episode 163: AI Goes to the Ballpark 163: AI Goes to the Ballpark



DNA replaces silicon as the new material for innovation.
The fields of genomics and synthetic biology continue to press forward in astonishing ways. In Seoul, Korea, a controversial lab revealed plans to clone endangered animals in order to save them from extinction. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Boston University (BU) synthetic biologists created software that automates the design of DNA circuits for living cells.

Episode 148: On Cloning
Episode 150: Engineering Synthetic Biology
Episode 154: DNA as Data Storage
Episode 158: Writing Human Code
Episode 168: The Microbiome168: The Microbiome
Episode 169: Genomics and Life Extension 169: Genomics and Life Extension
Episode 170: Chimeras and Bioethics 170: Chimeras and Bioethics
Episode 176: Three Parents and a Baby 176: Three Parents and a Baby

Hacking and cybersecurity are front and center as online and offline worlds collide.
In 2016, cybersecurity became a primary issue in a host of critical areas including communication, energy, and politics. Power grids, airports, and other infrastructure were increasingly subject to cyber attacks and an increasing number were successful. The debate over privacy and security was reinvigorated by the hubbub around the FBI request of Apple to unlock an iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters. And, Wikileaks distributed e-mails obtained by sources who hacked the DNC and individuals associated with the Clinton campaign during the U.S. presidential elections.

Episode 139: Hacking Power
Episode 144: Apple vs. FBI
Episode 166: Hacking the DNC
Episode 179: Internet Takedown

The automation of work is coming.
We got another startling look at what the future of work could become as software, robots, and the IoT continued to automate activities previously completed by humans. 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, the coming wave of automation will redefine jobs and business processes for factory workers and CEOs alike.

Episode 140: Automating Work 140: Automating Work
Episode 141: Future Transportation 141: Future Transportation
Episode 145: Robot World 145: Robot World
Episode 153: Smart Cities and Sidewalk Labs 153: Smart Cities and Sidewalk Labs
Episode 173: Labor and the Gig Economy 173: Labor and the Gig Economy

Design and science are intersecting in new and significant ways.
Whether it’s in the creation of high tech clothing, embeddables, or materials, design and science are coming together in new and significant ways. 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. And this year, in the burgeoning world of designing embeddables, the U.S. Patent Office approved Google’s patent for electronic lens technology, which implantable directly in the eye. These mechanical eyes might  give you superhuman abilities — to see at great distance or view microscopic material, and document it all by capturing photos or video.

Episode 143: Clothing and Technology
Episode 155: Designing Embeddables
Episode 161: The Future of UX
Episode 171: Embeddables
Episode 172: Quantum Computing

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life this week, we chat about our tech predictions for 2017 — from AI to custom manufacturing — and look back at how well we managed with our predictions for 2016. 

Resources:
Tech Predictions 2016

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life this week, we chat about the top tech stories of this year. From Twitter's acquisition woes to exploding batteries in the Galaxy Note7, Apple vs. the FBI to the Wikileaks influence on the US presidential election, it's been an eventful and notable year with plenty of surprises.

Resources:
Theranos Debacle Triggers an Avalanche of Lawsuits by Investors Who Should Have Known Better

Who will buy Twitter? We ranked all the possible buyers.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 users’ phones are blowing up, literally

Verizon is buying Yahoo for $4.8 billion

WikiLeaks grilled on Trump, Assange in rowdy Reddit AMA

Apple vs FBI: All you need to know

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life this week, we chat about Facebook's new censorship tool, which features largely in the company's attempts to get back into China. The software, among other things, will regulate what kind of content is allowed in the Facebook news feed. The Chinese government is particularly concerned about unfavorable news reports, on subjects from pollution to protest, that have the potential to go viral. While critics cry foul, Mark Zuckerberg's response is that having some access to Facebook is better than none at all. Is this just a pragmatic view from Facebook, as it continues to grow its global user base? Join us as we discuss all this and more. 

Resources:
Facebook Said to Create Censorship Tool to Get Back Into China

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life podcast this week, we discuss parenting in the digital age. Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a study on Children and Adolescents and Digital Media. The study identified both benefits from the use of digital and social media — like early learning and exposure to new ideas and knowledge — as well as risks — including negative effects on sleep and a higher incidence of obesity and depression.

In this episode we explore setting boundaries for our children in the seemingly boundary-less environment of the digital life.

Resources:
When Tech is a Problem Child
Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life podcast this week, we discuss digital influence in the wake of this US presidential election cycle. From Wikileaks to Hillary's e-mail server, fake news on Facebook to digital online tribes of like thinkers, in this election cyber communication matured into a mammoth force.

Facebook has been accused of helping to spread misinformation and fake news stories that influenced how the American’s voted. And, not only did WikiLeaks release thousands of hacked internal DNC e-mails just before this summer's Democratic National Convention, it also published e-mails purportedly from John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman less than a month before election day. There's no doubt that digital has become incredibly influential, the question is, what happens next, as misinformation and real facts intertwine online in new ways.

Resources:
Facebook, in Cross Hairs After Election, Is Said to Question Its Influence

WikiLeaks grilled on Trump, Assange in rowdy Reddit AMA

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life podcast this week, we discuss diversity in the world of tech, and the cultural, economic and societal factors that contribute to the oftentimes difficult landscape of inclusion in the industry.


Resources:
John Maeda Steps into New Role to Help Bring Inclusion to the Tech World

The Lack Of Diversity In Tech Is A Cultural Issue

Dear Tech Companies: Focus on Diversity, Not Foosball – WIRED

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life podcast this week, we discuss the top emerging technologies of this year based on information from the World Economic Forum, a study by PwC and our own analysis. From nanosensors to drones, synthetic biology to AI, this year has seen a huge crop of emerging technologies move into the
commercial realm and the public consciousness. Join us as we break down our top five, and consider the implications for people, business, and the planet.

Resources:
These are the top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2016

What are the eight essential emerging technologies for business?

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life podcast this week, we discuss the distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) that took down the Internet on the East Coast for a sustained period of time last Friday. Dyn, a Domain Name System (DNS) services company from New Hampshire was hit with multiple waves of attacks on its Internet directory servers.

This DDoS attack was propagated by an IoT botnet — essentially webcams, DVRs, and routers from all over the world — that were infected with malware. This is a very public example of an IoT outcome that was malicious rather than beneficial, an interesting case study for this emerging technology that raises serious questions about its future implementation.

Resources:
What We Know About Friday's Massive East Coast Internet OutageFriday's Massive East Coast Internet Outage