#innovation – Zack Chia

Ad spending in China continues to drive up

Posted on March 18, 2016March 18, 2016 by Zack Chia

Great to hear that our friends in China are taking online advertising seriously. The shift in budget to the digital space is evident that there is strong digital demand and companies are rushing to fill that spot. In retrospect, the internet was probably a small percentage of the overall country’s consumption of advertising. Today the amount has whipped up by more than 30% from an estimate of 14% to a staggering 49%. This would place China significantly ahead of the entire world. I remembered working with several China counterparts whom I felt they are ever so keen to embrace new technologies and trends happening on the digital space.

These days in China, advertisers are serious in understanding the consumer’s appetite and analyzing how people are getting themselves comfortable with what the online world had to offer. Especially for mobile consumption, data and content are often used for streaming, shopping and chatting. With the launch of major companies like Alibaba and Taobao, the use of mobile is imperative as e-commerce becomes integral to our daily lives.

Regardless of the current economic climate, the power of digital and its possibilities gave people strong faith and continues to boost ad spending throughout China. I do find the statistics to be rather impressive, considering the regional prudence in this economical uncertainty continues to loom across the region. Definitely very exciting as digital innovation becomes more and more prolific. The opportunity to grow and create new exciting options is readily available. Im expecting to see more awesome work happening in China!

More info and details can be found here.

Wheels of innovation

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Zack Chia

Wow, if you ask me what good design is, I would certainly vote for solid aesthetics combined with unrivalled functionality. Our landscape is changing, the building structures in modern environments are less forgiving compared to the spacious environments we were once so used to. Of course, adaptation means solutions that allows us to commute with efficiency. Check out this new mobile cycle. The Cargob Urban Eco-Bicycle is a very awesome delivery bike. I love how it places the cargo in front, making it so easy to access parcels. On top of that, there is a motorised mechanism at the back which basically accumulates energy from the riding and braking. This useful energy can be used as electronic energy to power devices like your mobile phones as well as the LED lights! And what’s forward moving if we don’t incorporate anything or everything with mobile right? There is the app which allows the user to navigate his route upon scanning the details of the parcel box. In addition, it also has a messaging system and parcel acknowledgement feature. Very neat and innovative product.

Oreo in a different light

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Zack Chia

Have you checked out the new flavour from Oreo? Their newly launched ‘Filled Cupcake Oreo’ literally gave their classic cookie a change in their food design. This one has got that awesome chocolate filling together mixed with original creme, right smacked in the centre. A rather enticing blend of flavour. I think what is notable is the launch of this cookie was rather less mainstream than usual. They unveiled on 245 W. 18th St. in New York and expose this delicious cooke to the excited passers-bys. The current launch date is set to 8 February in the US. I wonder when will they come to Asia??

Read for me, please.

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Zack Chia

Undeniably technology has slowly changed the way we live. Today, it can be said that humans are starting to rely on them to the extent where we are almost living on a lackadaisical routine. As cringing as it might be, technology does have its advantages especially if it could help to benefit physically impaired patients. Amazon’s new update for its Alexa digital gadget now incorporates a new smart speaker technology. The ‘Echo’ now narrates Kindle books and it can be activated simply by instructing the gadget with words like, “Alexa, read ‘book title'”.

This function immediately triggers Alexa to start the reading program. But do not expect real human reading with emotions but rather, a more robotic approach. Atop of the reading functions, it helps to track the books you were reading and also included smart voice commands like pause, go froward or resume. The complexity of the program is still in its infancy, so don’t expect it to be able to perform operations like jumping in between chapters within your Kindle book. Still, this can be a great help for people who wishes to listen rather than read. But truly, are we over relying on technology or are we really leveraging them to our greater convenience?

Eating LEGOs?

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Zack Chia

As much as creativity is concerned, being able to swap a couple of bricks and stacking them up all pretty isn’t going to make much of an impact. What’s really amazing is being able to create and built functionality into LEGO bricks. Especially one that serves to improve your daily routine. AstonishingStudios’s new creation is actually a ‘Cheerios Cereal Maker’. It is powered by the LEGO Mindstorm technology and is able to dispense one bowl of cereal together with milk. Check out the video to see more innovative details about the machine. It can be powered by a two Euro coins. The storage is also highly reloadable with enough space for your spoons and a bottle of milk. Awesome.

Life’s short play hard

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Zack Chia

You don’t see amazing feats like this everyday. Compared to Jean-Claude Van Damme’s leg split for Volvo, this is bringing it even higher. NVIDIA’s recent video for their new device, the NVIDIA Shield TV, push sky diving to its limit. One cannot stop but applauded their daring move. Take a look at the video. A plunging living room with the diver literally strapped to the sofa, enjoying his drink and playing his video game. All these while he falls freely down from high above. Skydiver Jeff Provenzano, straps himself to the living room which was flung out of the plane in mid-air. He demonstrates mad skills as he combats the spinning platform at high velocity WITHOUT failing to enjoy his console game! Is this even real? This is definitely a very solid approach to garner attention from their consumers.

Think and act

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Zack Chia

I often joked with my girlfriend that it would be extraordinary if we could text and drive at the same time without difficulty. “Unless we can type with our brain, this is not gonna happen, baby.” I replied with a smirk, assuring her that this day will come and sure enough, it has happened. At Stanford’s Neural Prosthetics Translational Lab, the researchers have created something transformational – a brain computer interface (BCI). Patients equipped with the BCI is able to type up to an average of six words per minute. Now, bear in mind that the project is in it’s infancy stage. As much as this might sound like a conservative figure, I believe it is the first step towards Neural automation. With the help of a brain controlled cursor, the patients used this platform as means to type the words they want. More of this groundbreaking news can be read from DigitalTrends here.

But the fact that technology is moving towards turning thought into action is definitely a feat worth mentioning. Not forgetting, how much we can do when we fuse this technology with human creativity.

Apple tracks your health with Earpods?

Posted on May 2, 2014May 2, 2014 by Zack Chia

An article on Mashable reports that Apple’s EarPods might feature heart rate and blood pressure measuring functions in the near future. More rumors surround this discovery with claims that Apple might have this new innovation as part of their future Apple wearable line. Most notably the iWatch. These were rumors from Secret, an anonymous app which sometimes feature juicy news that might not pass off true. Interestingly, if these rumors were true, it does make sense that Apple tied up their products with something that benefits their users.

Companies are tapping vigorously on functions within their organizations to create core competencies and developing them into an competitive advantage. Such is a great example of effective use of competencies where technology, design and strategy propel innovation. These features add value and improve the daily lives of people like you and me. And I think its a pretty smart and valid integration of functions. However, such innovations remain a novelty in today’s context still.

Healthy lens

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Zack Chia

Google has no doubt proven themselves worthy of being helmed a revolutionary tech company. From tech to auto, retail, entertainment, mobile and now health. Officially on Google Blog, a team of developers in Google X unit have been working contentiously on a revolutionary contact lens which aims to measure glucose levels. The team is in the process of creating a prototype that would do reading once per second. This invention is definitely a must have for those who need to deal with type 1 or 2 diabetes. A new revolutionary research by Google to change the way we maintain our health. Now, instead of pricking your finger to test blood sugar, all you need is just an easy pair of contact lens! Nicely embedded on the lens is a very minute sized chip which transmits data of blood sugar levels. There is also a small pinhole between lens and eyes that allow an easier flow of fluid into the lens itself.

Google X project leads Brian Otis and Babak Parvi talks about their take on using “At Google, we wondered if miniaturized electronics—think: chips and sensors so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair—might be a way to crack the mystery of tear glucose and measure it with greater accuracy.”

Flying postman

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Zack Chia

FINALLY. IT has arrived. CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has declared the company’s most awesome offering of the year – a delivery service directly from their warehouse, using flying drones! You cannot expect anything more cool than this. Seriously. Every time the postman would either leave me a note or left me stranded with just seconds from the door before he zooms off, leaving me completely furious. ‘Amazon Prime Air’ as they call the service, is here to solve my woes. Apparently the actual flying objectives are known as the ‘octocopter’. And as Bezos had said, each drone can basically deliver up to five-pound worth of package in the short span of half-an-hour. I would safely assume this service is going to run locally on a domestic basis in each country. Nonetheless, it is still cool. What really matters is not just the kind of technology we are relying on, but that this piece of technology actually goes green. The reality is most often or not technology brings more harm than kind but the drones which are powered by electricity, are still a greener approach compared to fumes emitting trucks. Amazon is another example of big giant corporations adopting a greener approach coupled with innovative solutions to improve our daily lives. Admirable.

“You give them coordinates and which GPS locations to fly to, and they take off and fly,” said Bezos.