Porch pirate retribution bomb
A former NASA engineer and YouTube personality, Mark Rober, has developed a new and improved porch bomb to serve justice to porch package thieves. The brown paper parcel, when opened, creates an explosion of bio-degradable glitter, fart scent, and is recorded and automatically uploaded to the web. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: With the proliferation of doorbell cameras combined with the popularity of social networks, it stands to reason that public shaming will eventually reduce doorstep theft. Rober’s device reminds us that packages of even moderate value will soon include tracking devices, and perhaps biometric locks that beam the opener’s fingerprints to the shipper for verification or, perhaps, investigation.
The decade for wearables
According to research firm Canalys, wearables reached 45.5 million units shipped, growing 65% since Q3 of 2018. Fitbit, an early player, has been pushed down by the success of Apple and Chinese competitor, Xiaomi. Google purchased FitBit for $2.1 billion last month in a bid to keep up with this hot new product category before Apple and Xiaomi run away with it.
dis-rup-shun: The market for wearables was nascent before Apple brought its weight to the party and made smart watches main stream. The question, then, is if Apple will do the same for smart glasses. We know that the company has been working on smart glasses, but are they ready for the mass market, maybe late in 2020, or is this a 2021 product? Probably Apple alone can make smart glasses widely appealing to consumers, and drafting in the wake of Apple will increase the business of those players currently working on glasses — so Apple’s move would lift all boats.
The most popular games of the decade
SlotsTemple, a tracker of gambling, has summed up the decade’s most popular video games, based on user feedback. The best selling title of the decade? Grand Theft Auto V. The most popular genres are action (36%), RPG (23%), Platform & Adventure (18%). The best selling console was the PS4, having sold 102.8 million units.
dis-rup-shun: The question at the close of the decade will be, can Apple and Google generate significant revenues from casual gamers, or by converting everyday people into casual gamers with smartphone all-you-can-game plans, and cross-platform technologies? While the companies strive to grow the casual gaming pie, my bet is that their success will come at the expense of existing casual games channels rather than by converting the un-gamed.