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Undercurrents

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Our culture is shifting all around us. In Undercurrents, we present our observations and insights about where our society is heading.

Recent Posts Tagged With 'trends'

• Billionaire Policy Makers

  Posted on Wednesday August 27th, 2008 at 13:57 in billionaires, gates foundation, george soros, ideas, one campaign, policy, politics, save darfur, third parties, trends

  Have you noticed lately the emergence of billionaire policy makers?  It really came to my attention when I saw the TV commercial by T. Boone Pickens promoting his personal energy plan.  That made...

• Oh, The Places You’ll Go (Virtually)!

  Posted on Tuesday August 26th, 2008 at 11:04 in changing expectations, customers, innovation, internet, online funerals, society, technology, transparency, trends, virtual

  With technology, it seems you can be everywhere you want to be.  Can’t make it to a class?  Take one online.  Can’t drive down to check out a new neighborhood?  Take a Street View tour.  Ther...

• Move It, Or Lose It

  Posted on Monday August 25th, 2008 at 14:34 in apple, changing expectations, Computers, download, entertainment, innovation, internet, media, Microsoft, Online, sony, technology

  I’ve been following the trend of migration of TV viewers to the internet for a couple of months now and recently came across this article in The Los Angeles Times. What really struck me was this qu...

• Cohabitation Wars!

  Posted on Tuesday August 19th, 2008 at 16:24 in cohabitation, couples, Dating, demographics, divorce, faith and values, families, family, living together, marriage, religion, society

  It’s obvious that times are changing– in many ways.  Too many to count, actually.  I know this makes me sound old, but I was born in the 80s, so I’m not that old…yet.  On...

• And You Thought Only The Government Was Eavesdropping On You…

  Posted on Monday August 18th, 2008 at 13:33 in communication, dcist, eavesdrop dc, entertainment, overheard dc, pop culture, Privacy, trends

  In and around Washington, D.C. you encounter tourists on a daily basis.  Whether on the Metro, walking around downtown, taking a tour of the monuments or going to souvenir shops, it is inevitable tha...

• Innovation In Sports

  Posted on Thursday August 14th, 2008 at 08:47 in changing expectations, football, futuristic football, innovation, olympics, sports, sports leisure, synchronized diving, trends

  I am by no means a sports fanatic, but two things this week really surprised me.  First was synchronized diving in the Olympics - two athletes standing side-by-side on two diving boards and attemptin...

• Hungry? Don’t Think Fast!

  Posted on Friday July 25th, 2008 at 10:25 in americans, changing expectations, fast food, food, globalization, health, Healthy, mcdonalds, meals, obesity, overweight, risk

  While skimming one of my favorite blogs, YumSugar, I learned that Monday was National Junk Food Day.  I didn’t even know that there was a day dedicated just to junk food, because it seems like ev...

• America: Are You My Mother?

  Posted on Wednesday June 11th, 2008 at 14:26 in american tale, antidepressants, are you my mother, authenticity, children's books, counterfeits, dare to be yourself, deep listening, Faith, faith and values, fake, hidden in plain view

  A funny thing happened to me last week: I learned something valuable about 21st century America from a children’s story.  That’s right: the pages I stumbled upon were from none other than the 196...

• Do We Just Pretend We Care?

  Posted on Monday June 9th, 2008 at 16:31 in american dream, carbon offsets, convenience, earth, environment, environmental, global warming, green efforts, habit, planet, society, trends

  This article in today’s BrandWeek made me wonder — are Americans pretending to care about the environment, or do they really care?  People seem to be talking the talk…but will they...

• The Era Of Collaboration

  Posted on Friday June 6th, 2008 at 09:14 in breaking barriers, collaboration, ideas, saturation, society, trends

  All around me, I see a new era emerging - an era of collaboration. I believe we are turning the corner on an intense period of competition, where the philosophy of “win at all costs” is m...

• We Love Our Moms!

  Posted on Friday May 9th, 2008 at 14:01 in america, american family, census bureau, demographics, epm communications, moms, mothers day, pregnancy, single moms, stay-at-home, trends, work

  Because Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday (and because we have a couple of expectant moms in our office now), I thought this would be a great opportunity to blog about moms!  Last week, m...

• The Union Square Silent Rave: Dancing To Your Own Music

  Posted on Wednesday April 23rd, 2008 at 16:13 in flash mob, ipod, new york, personalization, silent rave, trends, union square

  On April 18, 2008, thousands of people gathered at Union Square in New York City to dance without music.  Well, that is, without audible music — every single participant was wearing headphon...

• The Question Is: Does It Really Matter?

  Posted on Wednesday April 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 in cats, chemicals, contamination, controversial, Dogs, nalgene, pets, risk, saturation, society, trends, worry

  I have noticed an extreme increase in the number of articles about chemicals in the news lately.  Whether it’s the recent Nalgene bottle panic or headlines about chemicals in our water supply,...

• “Greenology”

  Posted on Tuesday April 22nd, 2008 at 14:32 in Earth Day, environment, green, greenology, trend, trends

  Since today is Earth Day, I wanted to share my new catch phrase for the environmental movement – “greenology”.  I’ve seen a few uses of  this word, including a blog that has it as its...

• Now I Have A Lot Of Shiny Coasters…

  Posted on Thursday April 17th, 2008 at 10:00 in cd, compact disk, customers, imeem, ipod, itunes, MP3, personalization, trends, wal-mart

  That’s what I’m going to use my old CDs for. (Editor’s note: for all you kids out there, CDs, or “compact discs” were once like small Frisbees that had music encoded on them....

• Did Kermit Call It?

  Posted on Tuesday April 15th, 2008 at 09:57 in environment, ge, general electric, green, sustainable, trends, wired

  Kermit the Frog said, “It’s not easy being green.”  But was he right?  Last Friday, General Electric Co. shocked Wall Street by reporting a sudden drop in earnings. Since GE is seen as a bellw...

• The “Alternative Option Curse”

  Posted on Monday April 14th, 2008 at 21:00 in Alternative, bags, canvas, environment, globalization, Paper, plastic, reusable, trends

  There’s something amusing about movements that ask consumers to stop using one product vs. another for the good of society, the environment, humanity, or whatever, including the accusations tha...

• Can Social Networking Harm You?

  Posted on Friday April 4th, 2008 at 14:03 in changing expectations, employees, employers, ethics, facebook, information overload, michael fertik, myspace, Online, online profile, personalization, posting information

  Thanks to the prevalence of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, privacy remains a popular topic for discussion.  It’s not unusual to scroll through my friends’ online p...

• Personalize My Web

  Posted on Thursday April 3rd, 2008 at 16:15 in changing expectations, communication, customers, innovation, personalization, personalized, search, trends

  It’s all about the little things.   Google and its accompanying products have brought web personalization to a new level.  Tuesday was April Fool’s Day.  As in years past (anyone remember ...