2015 Trends

WEBBMEDIA GROUP
2015 TREND REPORT

Disruptive technologies that will affect consumer behavior
and impact your business strategy in the coming year.
ABOUT WEBBMEDIA GROUP

Webbmedia Group is the leading digital strategy consulting firm for emerging
technology advising in media, entertainment, advertising and technology companies,
and for higher education, nonprofits and government. We research near-future
trends in digital media and technology, and we develop business strategies to help
our clients engage bigger audiences and capture more market share.
In addition to our strategic advising services, we also offer a unique subscription
to our trends research. Our subscription clients receive bespoke in-person
presentations and custom trends reports each quarter. For those clients who want
additional perspective, we follow quarterly trends presentations with an ideation
session bringing your staff together with experts from outside your industry for fresh
perspective and insights.
For further information about this report and how Webbmedia Group can help your
organization, please contact:
Amy Webb
Founder
Webbmedia Group
trends@webbmediagroup.com
Tel: +1-267-342-4300
2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group
INTRODUCTION
At the end of each year, Webbmedia Group applies our FuturePrint Trendspotting Framework to surface the most important emerging trends in digital
media and technology for the year ahead. Our research follows three tracks:
far-range trends (10 - 15 years ahead), near-future trends (3 - 10 years) and
immediate trends (within the next 36 months). This 2015 Trend Report offers
55 key insights from the latter category,
representing the immediate trends that we
think will matter most in the coming year.
Webbmedia Group is vendor-neutral.
While we do advise numerous companies,
universities and R&D labs similar to those
mentioned, we do not have a financial interest in any company in this report. Rather, they are organizations were following,
and we have included them to illustrate
our key insights.
THE FUTUREPRINT METHODOLOGY

The FuturePrint Trendspotting Framework is a tool
we use with Webbmedia Group clients. It helps us
analyze consumer behavior, microeconomic trends,
government policies, market forces and emerging
research within the context of the continually evolving tech and digital media ecosystem. We look for
patterns and attributes that help us to identify a set
of likely trends on the horizon.
Our FuturePrint also includes a series of challenges. We evaluate each trend using a series of questions to determine whether or not the trend weve
identified will stick. As an additional check, we build
future scenarios for those trends using a methodology we developed to identify the characteristics of
continuing innovation.
will be used to Track its success; its Urgency within

the marketplace; the probability it can/ will be Recalibrated; and a system that encourages Extensibility, given the number of ongoing variables within
digital media and technology.
Often, the most important trends arise from seemingly unconnected dots. The FuturePrint helps us
connect the dots as we create essential digital
strategy for our clients. Our FuturePrint helps reveal
near-future scenarios so that our clients can develop creative ideas to overcome current challenges
or problems that will be caused by whats to come.
We use it to develop new ways to gain and engage
audience, to stop the erosion of marketshare, and
to pivot entirely if an emerging technology stands
to wipe out a longstanding business. This year, our
FuturePrint has revealed 55 trends.
The final step of the FuturePrint is what we call the

F.U.T.U.R.E. test, and it pressure-tests any ideas
borne out of the trends we identify. The F.U.T.U.R.E The next section explains how you can use Webtest includes six key factors, assessing the Foun- bmedia Groups annual Trend Report within your
dation of a project; its Uniqueness; the metrics that own organization.
HOW TO USE THE 2015 TREND REPORT

Our 2015 Trend Report explains how your organization should act in the coming year.
Our annual Trend Report helps to ensure that your organization is better positioned to fend
off near-future business disruption and competitive threats, while simultaneously identifying new
collaborators and partners. Most importantly, it should spark new ideas and opportunities to help
your organization innovate and grow.
Explaining why these trends matter.
Rather than simply offering an overview of the trends we think will matter in 2015, our annual report takes
the additional step of explaining why and how these trends will impact your organization. In some cases,
you will see very specific use cases and descriptive illustrations, so that you can more clearly envision the
potential outcomes of these trends during the next 12 months.
HOW TO USE OUR REPORT

Each trend offers five important pieces of information.
We recommend using our 2015 Trends Report as part of
your organizations ongoing strategic digital assessment
and planning process.
Webbmedia Group advises numerous organizations on
digital trends using a cross-disciplinary approach. In addition to this annual report, our clients receive a monthly list
of the up-and-coming founders, startups, apps, companies and partnerships that will create opportunities and/ or
challenges within and across industries. As we keep our
clients abreast of changes in the digital media space, we
engage them in ideation and discussion to launch experiments, test new ideas and develop practical strategies for
the future.
If you are interested to learn more about how Webbmedia
Group can advise your organization on critical changes in
digital media and disruptive technologies, please contact
our office.
Key Insight
Short, easy explanation of this trend so that
you can internalize it and discuss with your
colleagues.
Examples
Real-world use cases, some of which will
sound familiar.
Whats Next
What this trend means for you and your
business in the coming year.
Watchlist
Notable companies, founders and researchers
working in this trend space.
Years On The List

Weve noted how many years weve been
tracking the trend, even as it has evolved.
01 - 04
ALGORITHMS
First year on the list
KEY INSIGHT
At its essence, an algorithm is simply a set of rules or processes that must be followed in
order to solve a problem. For thousands of years (Euklids algorithm is 2,500 years old!) algorithms have been used to increase speed and efficiencies, and theyve been applied to assist
with our everyday tasks. In the coming year, well see the launch of services using algorithms
to create stunning designs, to curate the news and even to target voters for individual messaging in close political districts. Well see the rise of public algorithm exchanges. We will
also begin questioning the ethics of how algorithms can be used, and well scrutinize the
tendency of some algorithms to go awry.
Project Dreamcatcher from Autodesk
01
Algorithmic Design
Project Dreamcatcher from Autodesk is the next wave of computational design systems.
While it doesnt replace a designer herself, it does give her the ability to feed a projects design requirements, constraints and exemplars into Dreamcatcher, whose algorithm will then
return possible design concepts. If youve ever been in a meeting when a few people offer
up an app theyd like to emulate, while others prefer a different user interface, algorithmic
design systems can take the best of both, combine them into one and then help you refine
the favored design.
01 - 04
ALGORITHMS
02
Facebooks new curation tool surfaces embeddable news

stories for media organizations
Algorithmic Curation
Algorithmic curation is a process that automatically determines what

content should be displayed or hidden and how it should be presented to your audience. Facebooks NewsFeed already uses an algorithm to curate all the posts created in your network to serve only the
content it thinks will engage you most. It has deployed a new service,
FB Techwire, across its network to surface embeddable news stories for media organizations. Google and Yahoo news will continue
to refine their algorithms, which use our online behaviors to determine which content to show. In 2016 and beyond, we expect to see
algorithms curating news content not just based on our interests,
but also for our most recent behavior. Rather than delivering a full
breaking news story to our mobile phones, algorithms will deliver the
waiting in line at Starbucks version of that story, a more in-depth
longread to our tablets, and a video version of that story once were
in front of our connected TVs. As a result, news organizations and
other content producers have thrilling opportunities in the year ahead
to supercharge and personalize content in ways we have never seen
before. (See also: Consumer > Device.)
04
03
Algorithm Ethics and Oversight
Algorithms promise power and efficiency

but they can also cause significant damage
when left unchecked. The biggest change
in algorithms since Euklids time is that we
are adding in subjective judgements to algorithms and allowing them to show us answers. We are increasingly misclassifying
objects, data, and...people. There are numerous stories of algorithms wrongly identifying
terrorism suspects at airports. High frequency trading algorithms once nearly destroyed
the stock market. A glitch in Amazons algorithm caused the price of The Making of a
Fly: The Genetics of Animal Design to spike
to $26,698,655.93. In 2015, we will discuss
how to include an accountability system for
algorithms.
Algorithm Marketplaces
Long ago, developers realized that everyone wins when knowledge is freely exchanged. As a result, communities
of developers are offering up their algorithms in emerging algorithm marketplaces. Algorithmia is building a sort of
Amazon for algorithms, where developers can upload their work to the cloud and receive payment when others pay
to access it. DataXu offers a marketplace for its proprietary algorithms. Meantime Github, the code sharing network
started by Linux creator Linus Torvalds, will continue to grow.
05
SMART VIRTUAL PERSONAL ASSISTANTS (SVPAS)

Second year on the list
Key Insight
SVPAs made our list last year because they were just beginning to enter the market as
stand-alone mobile apps. (Others call this technology predictive applications or predictive
intelligence.) They used semantic and natural language processing, mined data from our
calendars, email and contact lists and used the last few minutes of our behavior to anticipate
the next 10 seconds of our thinking in order to help consumers manage daily tasks, finances,
diet and more. In 2015, we will see SVPA technology become a key part of emerging platforms
and devices.
Examples
Most of the 2014 SVPA apps have now been acquired. In fact, some were only on the market for a few weeks. Emu was acquired by Google, Donna was acquired by Yahoo, Cue
was acquired by Apple...and the list goes on. When it was still active, Emu was a clever
stand-in for a personal secretary. It would monitor the conversation and automatically
make suggestions as two people texted. If you asked your friend to see a movie, Emu
would immediately geolocate both of you, suggest a nearby theater and show films
and times, then check your calendars for your availability. It would even display a preview for you to watch. Once it determined the best time for you to meet, it would
help you purchase tickets and enter all the data into your calendar. And it did all of
this inside a single mobile application. SVPA technology is growing more powerful and will be
included in services and products offered by a number of familiar companies. Amazon has
launched Echo, which will assist you in your living room.
Whats Next
Marketers, credit card companies, banks,

local government agencies (police, highway
administration), political campaigns and many
others can harness SVPAs to both deliver
critical information and to better read and
understand constituents. One company on
our 2013 trends list, Expect Labs, has just
transitioned its beta MindMeld app into an
intelligent SVPA interface for any app, device
or website to use.
Amazons Echo is an SVPA for the living room.
Watchlist
Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft,
Yahoo, Expect Labs,
06
COGNITIVE COMPUTING
Third year on the list
Key Insight
This trend evolved from a key idea in our trend 2013 report: anticipatory computing. Cognitive
computing systems use natural language processing and artificial intelligence in order to
understand our intentions.
Examples
In his seminal 1950 paper, computer scientist

Alan Turing asked Can machines think? According to IBM, the answer is yes. And pretty soon, faster than humans. IBMs cognitive
computing platform Watson is best known
for eviscerating the reigning human Jeopardy champions in 2011. Prepare to hear a lot
about Watson in 2015. IBM hasnt built a clever computer gimmick, its built a revolutionary
cognitive computing platform
capable of learning, adapting
and proposing solutions to extremely difficult problems. Hospitals are using Watson to advise
on seemingly impossible cases.
Watson will be built into customer service workflows, to learn
about our individual needs and
respond with exactly the right information when we need it.
Whats Next
IBM is now developing advanced data-centric supercomputing systems that will embed
compute power everywhere data resides in
a system, which means a convergence of
analytics, modeling, visualization, and simulation, and driving new insights at very fast
speeds1. In 2014, it announced the SyNapse
chip, which processes information using a
network of more than one million neurons
that communicate via a system of electrical
spikes. In other words, just like our brains.
New Research shows robots transitioning
from basic computational or productivity
assistants to machines capable of creating
unique forms of music or even evolving an
entirely new language. We expect to see
Watsons cognitive computing power continuing to inspire developers and data scientists
alike, who will begin to adapt this technology in a wide variety of ways in 2015. One
possibility: Watson could be a boon for those
working with difficult customers who can list
the many, many things they dislike but can
never articulate exactly what they do want.
IBMs Watson is a cognitive computing platform.
Watchlist
IBM
1 http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/45387.wss?lnk=ushpls1
07
DEEP LEARNING
Key Insight
Experimental, brain-inspired systems are capable of translating pixels into English.
Examples
Artificially intelligent computers are now

capable of deep learning using neural networks. In 2011, a Stanford professor created a neural network that could identify
cats in photos after just watching YouTube
videoseven though no one had told
the network what a cat was. Towards
the end of 2014, Google researchers
unveiled a new project that uses neural
networks and deep learning to identify
multiple elements of a scene without human assistance. Its software learned how
to think by processing vast quantities of data. For example, previously Google could only identify that a
photo contained a frisbee. In its latest experiment, it correctly wrote a caption:
a group of young people playing a game of
frisbee. (In the past few years, Google has
been acquiring image recognition teams and
patents including PittPatt, DNNRsch and
Viewdle.)
Whats Next
Deep learning isnt just restricted to Google. Microsoft has its own image-describing
platform, COCO. Facebook is using deep
learning to make inferences about our photos
and about our intentions. Binatex is a deep
learning trading and investment firm. Qualcomm is developing neuromorphic chips,
which have been used in robots to help them
recognize objects they havent seen before,
or navigate themselves to a new location.
Deep learning is still a young field, but in 2015
this early experimentation will begin to lay the
groundwork for all thats to
come. Internet searching
will be aided by deep learning. So will we humans, via
hyper-personalized content.
Googles experiment
identified the objects in
this photo, captioning it:
Two pizzas...
Watchlist
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Baidu, Stanford, University of Toronto, Singularity University, UCLA, UC - Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, NSA, Qualcomm
08 - 14
PRIVACY
KEY INSIGHT
Ongoing breaches have continued to dismantle the public trust. According to a Pew Internet
and Society poll, 91% of Americans surveyed either agreed or strongly agree that consumers
have lost control of their personal information and data. Whether its fear of a third party
monitoring our mobile phone activity or concern about the safety of online transactions, people are increasingly concerned about their privacy.
1
08
The Blackphone is a smartphone that effectively blocks

out any potential eavesdroppers.
Ultraprivate Phones
10
Consumers are increasingly wary of their mobile phones and the vast amount of data carried on them. In 2015, we will see new mobile services aimed at easing that anxiety. The
Blackphone and the technology running it (which Webbmedia Group covered extensively
at the Online News Associations annual conference in 2014) is a smartphone that effectively
blocks out any potential eavesdroppers. Its a joint venture of Silent Circle, a private and
encrypted network, and a Spanish handset manufacturer. Another entrant, Open Whisper
Systems, is offering encryption system for Android calls and is the tool used to encrypt popular messaging service WhatsApp.
09
Encryption Management
In 2013 and 2014, companies like Target and

Home Depot had troves of credit card data
stolen. Surprisingly, many companies had
not been encrypting their data. To be sure,
encrypting data makes it harder to hack, but
also harder for staff or consumers to make
legitimate use out of it. In 2015, companies
will pour resources into shoring up their digital security. Those who dont stand to lose
multiple millions of dollars.
Passwords
There isnt a company or industry unaffected by password leaks and hacking. Dropbox and
Snapchat were in the news for breaches in 2014, but large corporations are vulnerable, too.
Adobe famously allowed 150 million passwords to be retrieved by hackers. Late 2014, the
U.S. State Departments entire unclassified email system had to be shut down because of
a system breach, causing a wave of frustration as staffers had no easy way to communicate
with each other or between embassies. Password protection requires multiple levels of supervision by both the user and the service provider. We expect to see providers demanding
two or three-factor authentication requirements in 2015. For example, Twitter will roll out
Digits, a stand-alone service to manage access to other applications. Just like WhatsApp,
Digits will send a confirmation code via text message thats good for just one use. Meantime,
a startup called Nymi will offer three-factor authentication: your heartbeat, an authorized
device and a wristband. Encrypted email and keys, previously reserved for the hacker and
intelligence community, will become more mainstream.
1 http://www.pewInternet.org/2014/11/12/public-privacy-perceptions/
08 - 14
PRIVACY
11
Private Networks
14
In 2014, Snapchats popularity revealed our desire to send deeply private messages to each
otheras well as our desperation to protect the content we share, once it was revealed that
Snapchat photos had been intercepted by hackers. A new crop of private social networks
will launch in 2015 that promise the highest levels of security ever seen. Users will still need
to divulge names and email addresses (though for now, there is no verification check). One
to watch: MeWe, which offers private social networking and file sharing.
Ownership
As we continue to upload troves of personal data to social networks, photos and

video sharing sites, wearable services and
elsewhere, we will continue to question who
owns the rights to our data. Until that debate
is settled, some companies are building creative platforms around our data. For example, Pixlee is a service that mines customer
data and the photos we post on social me12
Anonymity
diaand shares that information with retailers,
Anonymity is one of the digital trends weve been tracking at Webbmedia Group for the past who can repurpose product photos on their
24 months. Popular anonymous content sharing apps Whisper, Secret and Yik Yak have sites. The platform helps companies identify
collectively secured more than $100m in venture funding at a more than $500m valuation. and surface photos for their websites.
Theyve also met harsh criticism for allowing cyber-bullying and for failing to prove that users
real identities really are being protected. There are a number of new entrants to the anonymous content market. While we do not think that anonymous networks will survive as is
into the future, our research shows an opportunity and need in 2015 for digital trust systems
allowing comments to be cloaked but the commenters to be verified.
13
MeWe offers private social networking and file sharing.
Digital Consent
Lawyers could soon use our personal data against us in court. Fitbit data, processed through
a third-party analytics tool, was used in a courtroom in late 2014, around the same time that
the FTC began investigating Fitbits practice of selling users personal data to advertisers.
Consumers are increasingly aware of how their wearable devices are collecting and potentially distributing personal information. Meantime, recent experiments at Facebook and on
Harvard Universitys campus have raised questions about collecting private data and surreptitiously surveilling our movements. In the coming year, we expect to hear more debates
about what kind of studies constitute human-subject research and which ones simply violate
our privacy. We will see growing demands for digital consent agreements and increased
transparency.
15 - 21
SECURITY
KEY INSIGHT
Lack of oversight and poor quality control led to significant cyber attacks in the past year.
We predict more sophisticated attacks in 2015.
15
Heartbleed was a devastating security bug disclosed in

2014.
The Cloud
By now, we are all well aware of security issues with data stored in the cloud. In response,
on the one year anniversary of its first Snowden story, the Guardian unveiled its SecureDrop
system, which allows whistle-blowers to share files without being tracked. Anyone who wants
can now submit confidential documents and data to the Guardians reporters for investigation. We applaud this idea, which is one we recommended to Webbmedia Groups publishing
clients during 2013 and 2014. That being said, we have not seen other media organizations
developing systems to securely transfer information or to encrypt their own data. Because of
the Affordable Care Act, doctors must all convert to electronic medical records, which contain sensitive, private patient data. Were also seeing a new crop of remote diagnostic tools,
such as the Klara app, which sends photos of your skin to dermatologists. Financial services,
government agencies, foundations and universities are all storing and transferring data on the
cloud...but is it really safe? In 2015, we anticipate several new services and tools to launch
which will enable users to securely exchange information.
16
Malware
Most businesses do not realize this, but malicious software (malware for short) can be
sent to anything that plugs into a wall or another machine. Malware is starting to turn
up in unusual places, like USB drives (while
still unopened in manufacturers boxes) and
home routers. Added attention to securing
peripherals will be critical in 2015.
17
Open Source App Vulnerabilities
In 2014, we saw two devastating breaches in open-source projects: Heartbleed and

Shellshock. Hackers exploited vulnerabilities
that had existed for years but had been left
unchecked and full of bugs. Hackers know
there is a probability that other dormant problems exist. As open-source software, protocols and platforms become more ubiquitous,
it will be critical to look for looming threats.
Businesses, financial services groups, healthcare organizations, government agencies and
more must perform weeklynot occasional
security checks.
Malicious software can be

sent to anything that plugs
into a wall or into another
machine.
15 - 21
SECURITY
18
Bounty Programs
Because 2013 and 2014 were successful years for hackers, and because the coming year
will bring an onslaught of new mobile technologies (and their payment systems), cybercriminals will target larger, more lucrative institutions: banks, financial institutions, universities,
customer data repositories. Security expert Brian Krebs says that the market for finding,
stockpiling and hoarding (keeping secret) software flaws is expanding rapidly and went so
far as to advocate for a compulsory bounty program. In response, a number of white hat
(read: good hacker) bug bounty programs are launching. HackerOne is being used by Yahoo, Slack, Twitter, Square and MailChimp. Friendly hackers hunt down potential vulnerabilities and get paid for their work.
In 2015, we expect to see ongoing, international
pre-emptive strikes against dark net operations.
19
Portable Security
Its no secret that the lockboxes in hotel

rooms are easily opened. Staff members
have emergency keys, while keypads have
been proven to unlock by simply entering entering 000000 as the passcode. DefenDoor
will launch a portable lock in 2015, and it will
work anywhere consumers want extra physical security. Its a lightweight gadget and app
that includes a camera and accelerometer. It
detects vibrations and motion, and will deliver activity back to a mobile phone. It can
be used on car windows for an alert if anyone tries to open it, outdoor gates to monitor
package delivery, or even as an extra layer of
protection on your hotel safe. It cant protect
you against intruders, but it will at least tell
you who they were.
21
20
Mesh Networks
Mesh networks rely on bluetooth and WiFi

rather than cellular infrastructure. As a result,
a local peer-to-peer mesh network expands
as more people use it. Mesh networks do not
completely anonymize each user, however
they obscure individual users as the network
continually grows and shrinks. Mesh networks can be used when the Internet goes
down, since there is no centralized switch
to turn off. In 2014, Firechat was used during protests in Iran, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Mesh networks offer a massive advantage
during natural disasters and civic unrest: they
might give people access to the Internet in
countries with very little infrastructure. We
expect to see experimentation in developing
countries in the coming year.
Dark Net
In 2015, we expect to see ongoing, international pre-emptive strikes against dark net operations. In the past year, Silk Road 2, Hydra and Cloud 9 were all taken down, with their
bitcoin accounts seized. Tor, which has been used by benevolent and malicious hackers
alike (and was funded in part by the U.S. government), has been targeted recently.
22
ONE-TO-FEW PUBLISHING
Key Insight
Newsletters, podcasts and niche networks that captivate smaller audiences will make a comeback in 2015.
Examples
This. represents a new kind of niche

social network where where each
member of the community only gets to
share one link a day.
Chris Hardwick, whose Nerdist podcast is now a multi-platform show said1: Our culture is so niche-oriented
now, you dont need 3 million people to listen to your
podcast. If 10,000 people listen, which isnt a hard number to achieve, then 10,000 people listen to your podcast. You can do something with that, you can build a
community, and literally change the world, just recording
into a recorder. You can also make money. The CPM
(cost per 1k impressions) for commercial radio ranges
from $1-$15, but with a popular podcast its closer to
$20 - $45. To be fair, there are potentially far more people listening to commercial radio at the moment, but our
research favors podcasts to scale. Meantime, This. is a
new kind of niche social network where each member of
the community only gets to share one link a day. As of
the end of 2014, it had a few hundred users with many
more pining to get a coveted invite. Dozens of newsletters, including Media REDEF, have been backed by
investors even though comparatively they have smaller
audiences.
Whats Next
Thereare similar communities ready for their own OneTo-Few networks: political watchers, makers, feminist
activists, small business owners, IT lawyers and others
who are trendsetters within their niche fields. Advertisers
always want to see scale; yet its clear how badly consumers want to be a part of small, exclusive networks.
There is opportunity in that tension.An influential network
with 90%+ regular engagement speaks to attention, and
thats the metric that will matter most in the near future.
Some brands are already beginning to abandon traditional digital marketing for niche networks. We believe it is possible for
brands to have 1:1 conversations
at scale, and for news organizations to publish content as conversations. We also see opportunities for government agencies
to chat in a personal, meaningful
way with their communities. There
will be lots of possibilities in 2015.
Watchlist
Jason Hirschorn and his REDEF group; This American Life; Serial; This. (from Andrew Golis); PRX; TinyLetter
writers Rusty Foster (Today in Tabs), Alexis Madrigal (5IT), Ann Friedman (The Ann Friedman Weekly), Webbmedia Groups Amy Webb (Electronic Interestingness) and Erin Griffith (Another Fucking Newsletter); newsletters
from Quartz, Foreign Policy (FP Interrupted newsletter).
1 http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/talkingtech/2013/08/15/podcast-explosion/2647963/
23
VIDEO
Fourth year on the list
Key Insight
In 2014 we watched an unprecedented number 38.2 billion in Q2 alone of online videos.

Thats more than 40% from the year previous. The majority were watched on smartphones.
Unique monthly visits to video sites more than doubled, up 146% in a single year.1 YouTube
and Facebook were the number one and two platforms respectively. Whats new for 2015
is speed and delivery.
Examples
Right now, many people throughout the world can stream live video, and they can participate
in video conferences from virtually anywhere, anytime they want. Consumers are creators,
uploading videos to social services such as Vimeo, Instagram and Vine.
Whats Next
Be on the lookout for something called WebRTC. Its the real-time communications
technology powering Google Hangouts and
Amazons Mayday video chat service. And
its going to shake up the Internet as we know
it today. Wifi is nearly as ubiquitous as our
connected devices are now, and always-on,
city-wide networks are being built everywhere. That solves connectivity issues,
but it doesnt solve for the connection
itself. There are too many steps in the
process, and thats what causes lag, bandwidth gobbling and consumer frustration.
WebRTC works from the browser (Firefox
or Chrome), and its part of one of the other
Network overload prevented millions of fans from streaming the 2014 season premiere of Game of Thrones.
trends were continuing to watch: connected

machines. Rather than bridging computers to
networks, which must route and relay information along various channels, WebRTC and
similar peer-to-peer technologies help computers to talk to each other without obstruction. This may seem like a subtle change in
Internet architecture, but consider the implications: you would no longer need a third-party
operator, like Skype, to video conference with
a friend. Games would load and play faster.
Pandora and Spotify wouldnt need to buffer.
This technology would also allow the worlds
biggest mobile network, WhatsApp, to incorporate live video.
Watchlist
Huawei, Telefonica, Hrvatski Telekom, Bouygues Telecom, OnSIP, Avaya, TokBox,
Weemo, AudioCodes, Dialogic, Temasys, Twilio, Microsoft, Google, Cisco
1 http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2014/4/comScore-Releases-March-2014-US-Online-Video-Rankings
24
INTELLIGENT DRONES
Second year on the list for drones
Key Insight
Drones are now available in an array of sizes and form factors, from lightweight planes and coptors to tiny,
remote-controlled bugs. The upcoming crop of drones will have the ability to think and make inferences.
Examples
Robots harnessing neural networks and artificial intelligence are already capable of making
inferences and decisions when programmed
to do so. In the next year, this technology will
be brought to drones for research and commercialization.
Whats Next
Finland-based Sharper Shape is working to produce

smart drones capable of making independent decisions
while flying. The U.S. Navy is testing a fleet of drone bots
that can function without human direction. In England,
University of Sheffield engineers are developing a quadcoptor and robotic cameras to learn about its surroundings as the unit flies. It can both navigate safely and seek
out specific objects when asked. Micro-drones are on the
horizon, too. These microbots can fly into tiny spaces to
survey collapsed buildings or areas with hazardous materials...and they can be that fly on the wall weve always
wanted. To be sure, this is only the beginning of intelligent
drones. Its an ongoing trend that we will continue to monitor for the coming decade.
Watchlist
Sharper Shape, DARPA, U.S. Department of Defense,
U.S. Navy, the U.S. Airforce, the University of Sheffield,
the Micro Autonomous System Technologies (MAST)
Group at the U.S.Army Research Laboratory, the
General Robotics Automation Sensing and Perception
(GRASP) Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania.
New drones have the ability to think and act on their own.
25
INTELLIGENT CAMERAS
Key Insight
A new crop of intelligent cameras have the ability to communicate with each other, with applications for the auto industry, cartography and immersive photography.
Examples
A few years ago, Webbmedia Group was introduced to a prototype at the MIT Media Lab. It
was a camera that offered a new form of photography, femtophotography, which gave us
the ability to see through walls. Bouncing light
indirectly and reflecting off of walls constructed a real-time 3D shape, which allowed us to
see beyond the line of sight. Now, engineers
at the University of Washington have developed a way to automatically track people
as they move. Networked cameras can detect
and follow specific faces as people move. In
the future, we might overlay an animated version of our lives on top of real city streets in
platforms like Google Earth.
Whats Next
This experimental technology will take more

concrete form in 2015. Combined with facial
and object recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence, smart cameras will provide
unprecedented security opportunities. They
can also be used in our carswhich could
bring us one big step closer to hybrid-autonomous vehicles, where drivers could choose
to take control of the wheel or allow the car
to drive itself during stop-and-go traffic. This
technology could be combined with maps,
allowing us to see immersive, 3D scenes right
from our phones. There will be more business
opportunities for advertising, product testing
and fan engagement at sporting events.
Frames from a moving camera recorded by the Swiss

Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, show
how UW technology distinguishes among people by giving
each person a unique color and number, then tracking
them as they walk.
Watchlist
University of Washington, Camera Culture Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, National Instruments, Samsung, Electronic Frontier Foundation, AIT Austrian Institute of
Technology, University of Birmingham, Northeastern University, University of Arkansas
26
INDEXING THE CLOUD

Key Insight
The cloud is an effective, easy storage system thats now available to anyone. Whats new for
2015: seamless content sharing and distribution between devices. This offers news, entertainment media, marketers, advertisers and other content creators a new opportunities.
Examples
In 2015, we expect to see new content upstarts promising
that they are the Spotify of News.
Storing and synching content on the cloud

will mean starting to read a magazine story
on your office computer, then picking back up
where you left off on the elliptical machine at
your gymwithout ever using a device of your
own. Just as email no longer requires a dedicated device, neither will music, videos or
other content in the near future. Our research
shows a growing shift away from ownership in
the content space. Rather than owning content itself, users will instead want to own the
playlist theyve indexed in the cloud.
Whats Next
With each new year, we hear a lot of businesses promising to replicate the success
of new apps that shift customer behavior. In
the past, weve seen startups saying theyre
the Pandora of X, the Uber of X and
the Netflix of X. Users want to find and
save content to their own dedicated lists,
but they also see recommendations.
In 2015, we expect to see new content upstarts promising that they
are the Spotify of News.
Watchlist
Watchup, Spotify, Amazon, Netflix, Oyster, Pandora, iHeartRadio,
N3work, YouTube
27
EPHEMERALITY
Key Insight
In 2014, we saw mass-market adoption of ephemeral networks such as Snapchat. In the

coming year, ephemerality wont be restricted to stand-alone apps, but will instead be built
in to most of our existing messaging applications.
Examples
Consumers increasingly demand immediacy

and security. They want content to disappear,
in part to prevent others from seeing in, but
also to keep their streams and inboxes clean.
Some brands, such as NowThisNews and
Taco Bell, are finding success in ephemerality.
In 2015, Line will become
one of the hottest messaging
networks in the world.
Whats Next
Instagram launched a Snapchat competitorBoltin a few test countries at the end

of 2014. It allows you to share disappearing
photos between friends, but it also allows
users to send disappearing texts. Meantime,
Facebook is working on a feature that will
allow users to auto-delete a post at a future
date and time. Ephemeral networks can be
harnessed for more than questionable photos. There will be numerous business opportunities in 2015: new uses for text-messaging, safer mobile payments, personal health
test results, time-sensitive marketing materials and more can all benefit from encrypted
ephemeral networks.
Watchlist
Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Google,
Confide, WeChat, WhatsApp, Line, Stripe
28
AMBIENT PROXIMITY
Key Insight
New technologies can be programmed to push or receive information to/ from our mobile
phones. Mobile users become part of an always-on information network.
Examples
Youve no doubt heard about beacons, which are tiny devices that can be programmed to push
(or receive) information to/from mobile phones. A new crop of beacons are now compatible
for iOS and Android phones. The beacons themselves are tiny and can be programmed
without lots of tech know-how. For example, Scheels, a giant sporting goods retailer in the
Midwest, is using beacons to enhance its in-store experience. Consumers who install the
Scheels app on their phones can interact with beacons to receive information, discount
notifications and the like. But beacons also help the store and the brands they work with learn
more about consumer behavior in real time. Beacons are located near particular products
throughout the store, and theyre helping brands understand things like how many people
have walked by a certain product, how long they stood next to the product, and the like. But
the data goes two ways. In practice, this means that a company like Under Armour could
potentially know how many women stood at their endcap and looked at a pair of their running
shoes...as well as how long they looked at the product. In theory, they could also pull in details
from Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook to learn if that consumer had previously liked the Under
Armour brand or saved any photos of Under Armour shoes. (Or their competitors shoes, for
that matter.) If Under Armour has that kind of data to play with, it could target a consumer
with custom messaging in real-time, while shes interacting with the product. Meantime, in
2014 outdoor media company Titan hid hundreds of beacons all over pay phone booths
throughout Manhattan, with the consent of NYCs Department of Information Technology and
Telecommunications but without the consent or knowledge of mobile phone users walking by.
Whats Next
A new Internet protocol (IPv6) is emerging and

will power our Internet of Things over WiFi, so
that soon, everything we own will have its own
unique identifier. Beacons wont be necessary
once our mobile phones have the ability to
interact with any connected device, whether
thats a classroom blackboard or your cars
rear tires. However in the next 24 months, we
expect to see new offerings from Paypal and
Qualcomm, and to see increased use of beacon technology in retail.
Apple now uses

iBeacon technology
to assist with in-store
product purchasing.
Watchlist
Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, PayPal, Qualcomm, Swirl, GPShopper,
MITs Media Lab, Estimote.
29
VIRTUAL REALITY
Key Insight
In 2015, we will see some unusual suspects entering the VR space. We will see two main options in the
coming year, tethered and untethered VR.
Examples
Virtual reality is a computer simulated environment. When tethered, VR is experienced

wearing a pair of goggles, and it can stimulate sensations of being physically present
in the scenes a user is viewing. VR can be
experienced untethered as well, by slipping a
mobile phone into a special mask.
Whats Next
Experiments now include pop stars (Paul McCartney), financial institutions (Fidelity), government diplomacy experts and more. Gannett Digital has created an early
news storytelling prototype using VR technology. There
are a number of commercial VR products, including Sonys Morpheus, the Oculus Rift and Canons MREAL System, in addition to the numerous VR projects on
Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Combined with earables, tiny
wireless speakers that both play music and track your biometrics, a VR experience will soon include unobtrusive,
immersive sound. We anticipate VR software getting better during the next year, speeding up motion sensors while
decreasing visual lag. In 2015, Facebook, which acquired
Oculus, will be experimenting internally with VR to learn
more about ocular computing methods. They, like others
in tech, want to build a computing environment that uses
our eyes, not our fingers tapping on a keyboard.
Watchlist
Gannett is starting to experiment with Virtual Reality for long-form, nonlinear journalism.
Oculus, Facebook, Google, Sony, Canon, Gannett,

MIT Media Lab, Stanfords Virtual Human Interaction
Lab, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technologys Virtual
Reality Laboratory, University of Marylands Clark
School of Engineering.
30
CONSUMER > DEVICE

Key Insight
As computers, tablets and smartphones have evolved, media organizations, marketers and advertisers have adapted their existing content for these constantly iterating devices to fit screens better. The unintended consequence of
making sure that content fits the device is that the user and her individual needs are left behind.
Examples
Storytelling is multidimensional. There are many variables to think

about when crafting the digital version of news story, such as: where
is the consumer right now and what is she doing? Is she at home, at
work or in a new location? What types of content will be relevant for
her, given a particular moment in time and her interests, activities and
location at that moment?
Whats Next
We believe that content-driven organizations, whether they are news

media or brands hoping to reach their individual customers, can gain
significant market share in 2015 if they think about all of the possible
story dimensions within the context of what the user is doing...rather
than what device shes holding. To make this work, we recommend
developing strategies for aggressive versioning in 2015: content creators can work alongside algorithms to repackage and syndicate different versions to different devices depending on a users individual
needs, given that those needs will change throughout her day. Any
content provider must be able to answer the following questions:
Whats the waiting in line at the coffee shop version of this story?
Whats the running on a treadmill at the gym version of this story?
Whats the sitting at work, ready to concentrate version of this story?
Webbmedia Groups illustration showing how to think about the consumer.
Watchlist
Google Now is the closest to this scenario.
31
CONTINUOUS PARTIAL ATTENTION

Key Insight
Continuous partial attention, a term coined by former Apple and Microsoft executive Linda
Stone, is not the same as multi-tasking. When we multi-task, were trying to be more productive and to accomplish more within a restricted amount of time. When we divide our
attention among our screens, daily tasks and each other, were only paying partial attention
to each person or thing.
Examples
Weve all been in this situation. We leave our

mobile phones out on the table during dinner,
glancing at it with each new push notification.
We watch the latest episode of our favorite
television show while posting our reactions
on Twitter or Facebook.
Whats Next
A number of popular methodologies, like David Allens seminal book Getting Things Done,
have taught us how to more effectively manage
our time. Soon, we will see apps and technologies to help us manage our attention. Some
new wearables scheduled to ship in 2015,
such as the Pavlok, can be programmed
to shock userswith up to 340V in electric
currentinto more productive behaviors.
Meantime, content creators and publishers should consider our increasing inability
to focus on just one screen for any length
of timeand create programming, video,
editorial content, marketing content, game
logic and more to leverage that behavior.
Watchlist
Melon, Pavlok, Lumo
Pavlock can be programmed to shock userswith up to 340V in electric currentinto more
productive behaviors.
32 - 35
WEARABLES
KEY INSIGHT
As of December 2014, Webbmedia Group is tracking 284 wearable devices, which have an
average price point of $350. More than half are dedicated to fitness or biometrics. We estimate that less than 5% were designed with fashion-forward women in mind. Contrary to what
many people think, watches comprise only a fraction of the wearables space. For example,
the EyeTap is both a camera and a display that sits over your eye. The FoxTel shirt converts
live football (or other) game data into physical sensations you can feel in real-time. Fujitsu
released a glove that allows the wearer to control machines in other cities. Athos makes athletic gear with biometric sensors that gives you your performance feedback as you train. BSX
Insight has a device just for your calves, and it measures your lactate threshold.
Advertisers, marketers, journalists and everyone else whos even tangentially connected to
the content business view wearables (and watches in particular) as the next screens to capture. Many outside of the health and fitness space are already at work building apps and
products that combine location, news or deals with notifications.
The future of wearables will include lots of different devices and screen times, however we
dont think that wearables will be ready for meaningful content delivery for the next few
years. Instead, nearly all wearables coming to market in 2015 including the Apple Watch
are primarily data gatherers or controllers that still will require our mobile phones.
The Melon headband monitors your brainwaves through electrical activity, collecting data over time and telling the wearer
when shes most able to concentrate, when shes likely to be
productive and when she should just take a nap.
FoxTels Alert Shirt converts live game data into

powerful sensations that are experienced instantly by
the wearer.
32 - 35
WEARABLES
32
Women
There are still relatively few wearables specifically designed with women in mind. In 2014 we saw some partnerships
between popular designers and wearable tech companies, and we expect to see more in 2015. But for women, it
isnt just about design. Wearables that help track womens health issues and personal safety stand to grab significant market share in the coming year.
33
Kids
An entirely new market segment will open up in 2015, and thats kids wearables. Developers are creating wearables
for parents who want to monitor their infants and young children. Several watches, such as the Filip and Tinitell, allow their parents to track their childrens coordinates, send them messages and make calls to the device. The LeapBand and NZN Lit track and encourage physical activity. Sproutling collects real-time data on infants, reporting
their body temperature, heart rate, body movements, and sleep patterns as well as room temperature, humidity, and
light. LGs KidzON allows parents to monitor their childrens conversations and sends schedule notifications to kids.
34
Neuroenhancers
Some wearables can help you become more productive and might even boost your mood. In the coming year,
three intriguing headbands are coming to market: Melon, Thync and Muse. The Melon headband monitors your
brainwaves through electrical activity, collecting data over time and telling the wearer when shes most able to concentrate, when shes likely to be productive and when she should just take a nap. The Thync measures your brain
activity and allows you to select different moods energy boost or relax depending on your preference. Muse is
a headband with seven sensors measuring your electrical activity and trains you to relax. Rather than waiting to get
home and unwind with a glass of wine after work, you could instead program your headband to kick on during your
commute home and arrive pre-relaxed.
35
Brain-to-Brain Interfaces
While we wont see these come to market next year, we will see emerging research in this space during 2015. Devices using electroencephalography (EEG) have so far produced stunning results: mind-controlled helicopters from
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and robot arm from the University of Minnesota. Now, some new
research has proven that we can use our minds to control each other. The University of Washington has developed
a way to directly link two peoples brains together with a wearable device that looks like something out of The Matrix:
a swim cap with lots of cords. Using the Internet, researchers transmitted signals from one persons brain to control
the hand motions of another person with a lag time of less than a second. University of Minnesota researchers have
discovered that users who practice mind-body awareness training, such as yoga and meditation, are more successful at using these new interfaces.
36
WIRELESS BODY AREA NETWORKS

Key Insight
Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) communicate information from your wearable devices back to medical servers, app manufacturers and your home computer.
Examples
Wireless sensors, such as devices to monitor

your heart rate or oxygen level, collect data
and send it back to a central hub (most often, your smartphone) which then relays the
information to a medical team or health care
monitoring service. There are a lot of benefits: rather than moving into an assisted living
facility or spending a lot of time in the hospital, patients can instead move back home
while being provided with virtual care.
Whats Next
In the coming year, well see several new ingestible and implantable wireless medical
devices that deliver drug therapy, monitor
our vital statistics, stimulate our brains, help
manage pain and bladder control and more.
Even without realizing it, many of us are walking WBANs right now. While some of the established medical devices use strong encryption algorithms, many new wearable devices
dont. Theyre sending a lot of unencrypted,
unsecured personal data including our locations across the Internet. Enterprising hackers can intercept these transmissions, even
without being directly next to us. In 2014, the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
was investigating several cybersecurity cases
related to WBANs, and we anticipate WBAN
security growing as a trend in the coming year.
Watchlist
Medtronic uses WBANs to connect patients to hospitals via wireless device interrogation.
Medtronic Inc, Hospira Inc, Google, Apple,

St. Jude Medical, Food and Drug Administration, Advanced Medical Technology
Association, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
1 http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2014/4/comScore-Releases-March-2014-US-Online-Video-Rankings
37
BIOINTERFACES & GESTURAL INTERFACES

Second year on the list.
Key Insight
Optical sensors, pico projectors and bio-acoustic sensing arrays are transforming our hands,
arms and legs into control pads.
Examples
Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon developed

an interface they call Skinput, which projects a control panel from a watch onto your
forearm, allowing you to control your iPhone.
The Fin, which begins shipping early 2015,
is a programmable ring that allows you to
control the music on your phone, change the
channel on your smart TV and more.
Whats Next
We saw a number of gestural interfaces come

to mass market in 2014, including the Leap
Motion Controller. Gesture detection is built
into Samsungs Smart TV. The next iteration
of gestures is to combine them with more sophisticated technologies. We expect to see
more wearables offering biointerfacesmainly serving as alternative remote controls and
smartphone touchscreenslaunching during
the year. For many designers, the next evolution in tangible interfaces is to make the traditional interface disappear entirely, instead allowing us to make small gestures and use our
voices to control the computers in our lives.
Watchlist
Fin, Carnegie Mellon, Microsoft, University
of Michigan, NewDealDesign
The Fin, which begins shipping early 2015, is a programmable ring that allows you to control the music on your phone, change the channel on your smart TV and more.
38
QUANTIFYING EMOTION
Key Insight
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have been learning how to use our computer cameras
to monitor our emotion. In effect, they hope to create an emotion data layer between consumers, their devices, and potentially each other.
Examples
Affictiva, started at the Media Lab, has now

analyzed more than two million faces across
80 countries. In doing so, the company has
created a vast database of emotions. Another company, Emotient (founded by University of California at San Diego PhDs),
is working on its own emotion-recognition
technology. Researchers can use this technology to tap into our emotional reactions
to brands, advertising, news stories, music,
movie trailers, video content and more. Emotion-aware software will also be incorporated
into game systems and to further enhance
facial recognition accuracy.
Whats Next
Affectivas software developer kit was made

available to the public mid-2014. Emotients
API offers an API. We anticipate a crop of new
mobile and Google Glass apps that leverage
emotion-aware computing to launch during
2015.
Watchlist
Emotient, Affectiva, Intel, Google, Microsoft
Emotient uses emotion-recognition technology to tap into
our emotional reactions to videos and music.
39
HEADS-UP DISPLAYS
Key Insight
Heads-up displays provide a layer of real-time information as we need it, whether were driving to the office or trying to remember a coworkers name once we get there.
Examples
iOptiks heads-up display.
With its tiny screen, Google Glass is a wearable heads-up display capable of showing maps
and turn-by-turn directions. It also shows recent social media posts and text messages,
and it can overlay the names of buildings and
provide other information about what the user
is looking at in real-time. Cars are being built
with the same technology, bouncing a reflection off a dashboard monitor so that the driver
can see her speed and navigation displayed
on the windshield.
Whats Next
Heads-up displays will become more ubiquitous in 2015. A number of companies, such
as Innovega, are working on sleek glasses
capable of showing several pieces of information at once without obstructing vision.
The glasses project transparent cards showing her any number of sources (Facebook,
Instagram, maps, the Internet) and even allowing her to video chat in real time. Headsup displays are getting smaller, too. Researchers are working on connected contact
lenses for mass-market use.
Watchlist
Google, Innovega, Oakley, Lenovo, Electronic Arts, Food and Drug Administration, MIT
Media Lab
40
IoT
Key Insight
Millions of smart digital devices, from the Nike Fuel Band on your wrist to the phone in your
pocket to the coffee maker in your kitchen are talking to each other, monitoring your activity
and automating tasks in order to make your life easier. These devices and their protocols
make up the Internet of Things.
We are surrounded by an unprecedented number of sensors, devices and data. In order to
connect to the Internet and to each other, each device needs its own unique address. (We
started running out of those a long time ago, which is why so many company names and
their web addresses tend not to contain vowels.) Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is helping
to expand the IoT so that there are enough usable addresses to go around. International
standards organizations are working on a future open standard, just as HTTP and FTP play
critical roles in how we move content around on the web today.
In 2015, connected devices that use machine-to-machine communication will take over our
living rooms, our kitchens, our cars, our gyms and our schools. Well see numerous connected light bulbs, car locks, mailboxes, pantry sensors and coffee makers come to market
throughout the year. These devices will begin actively communicating to each other, and to
you.
In the near-future, after the IoT hits critical mass, the next evolution will be smarter design.
Connected devices must be simple, they must share a common language (they currently do
not) and they need to offer a feature that makes sense for the device. IoT devices cannot
assume that all users will infer how or when they should be used.
Watchlist
IFTTT, GE, Intel, Cisco, IBM, Qualcomm, Sony, Samsung, LG, Nest, Sen.se and Mother,
Google, Hadoop, Arduino, SmartThings, AT&T, Verizon, Ericsson, Atmel, Dragon
Innovation, littleBits
41
ROBOTS
Key Insight
Robots come in all shapes and sizes, from autonomous drones to self-driving cars. They
help on the battlefield, in surgical centers and soon, in your offices.
Examples
Robots have the ability to venture into areas unsafe for humans - or even spaces that are
simply too small. If designed well, robots can work to more exacting standards, put in longer
hours and provide great efficiencies. They also have the potential to disrupt manufacturing
and to provide new opportunities for that sector and for security,
news media, entertainment, construction and other industries.
Whats Next
To help alleviate physical weight on troops, DARPA is developing a four-legged robot, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), to integrate with a
squad of Marines or Soldiers.
Ever wished you could be a fly on the wall in certain meetings? In

U.S. states that dont require two-party agreements for voice recording, thats a near-future possibility thanks to tiny insect-like robots
that can record audio and video. Robotic technologies are also being
developed for paraplegics and others with ambulatory disabilities, to
assist humans with difficult physical tasks and to help children learn
how to program. In 2015, researchers will continue experimenting
with algorithms to smooth out motions and movements. Theyll also
work on cloud-based software updates for artificially intelligent robots, so that if one learns a new skill, that information can be transferred to all robots within a network.
Watchlist
Google, Intel, Cisco, DARPA, iRobot, Touch Bionics, Anki, Northrop
Grumman, Ekso Bionics, Arcbotics, Rethink Robotics, Bosch,
Double Robotics, Robotex, Qbotix, Barobo, Prox Dynamics
42
3D PRINTING
Key Insight
In 2015, we will see a number of new ways to use 3D printing technology, and materials will
shift from plastics to metals to makeup and even human tissue.
Examples
We tend to think of 3D printing as a trend

in the Maker community. However, General Electric is the worlds largest user of 3D
printing technologies, and it will invest tens
of millions over the next few years to develop
capacity. 3D printing has the potential to disrupt a number of established businesses and
industries. It offers faster prototyping, accelerated product development cycles and custom manufacturing. Soon, one size fits all
wont need to fit anyone ever again.
Formlabs makes an
at-home printer that
doesnt require extensive
calibration.
Whats Next
Ubiquitous home printers are still a ways off,

therefore we see big opportunities for 3D
printing centers. In the next year, well see
companies custom-printing orthotics and
footwear, eyeglasses and athletic equipment. New startups have found a way to
print metals more affordably. Meantime, a
Harvard student figured out how to create
custom makeups using a 3D printer. NASA is
researching how to use a 3D printer to manufacture food in space. In the coming year,
3D bioprinting will become commercially
available. One company, Organovo, is selling 3D printed liver tissue to pharmaceutical
labs. 3D printing will continue to fuel rapid
innovation in labs, which are experimenting
with new techniques to print new kinds of
plastics, hybrid materials and polymer components.
Watchlist
Local Motors, GE, Formlabs, Organovo,
Aurora Labs, Shapeways, MakerBot,
University of Illinois Urbana, University
College London.
43
MODULAR MOBILE
Key Insight
Googles Project Ara is a modular phone system that can be configured for any user in every
country.
Examples
Google has been trying to completely reinvent the mobile phone...using design principles from the old DIY computers of the
1980s. Googles Project Ara is a modular
phone system that allows users to swap in
components. Rather than having to buy a
completely new phone every two or three
years, modules offering faster speeds or better video cards can be inserted without any
technical know-how.
Whats Next
Google is working closely with developers to

take its prototype to market sometime late
2015/ early 2016. Even if Ara fails, it will have
inspired (we hope) a new form of mobile design. It would likely disrupt the standard twoyear contract agreements required anytime
you want to buy a new phone.
Watchlist
Google, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile
and carriers worldwide
Googles Project Ara is a modular phone system that

allows users to swap in components.
44
BITCOIN + BLOCKCHAIN
Key Insight
Bitcoin is a digital currency, and it promises complete anonymity while using a crowdregulated public ledger system.
Examples
Bitcoin is much more than a
cryptocurrency.
Bitcoins are mined using powerful computers

and scripts, but its a competitive process.
While bitcoin isnt the only digital currency,
and its volatility rules it out as a safe longterm investment, we are now seeing bitcoin
being used by more businesses worldwide.
In this digital currency system, bitcoin is the
protocol participating on the block chain
platform. Block chain is the transaction database thats shared by everyone participating in bitcoins digital system.
Whats Next
The block chain is a sort of distributed consensus system, where no one person controls all the data. For that reason, some people argue that a block chain system would
have prevented the massive credit card
breach at Target. A new company, Blockstream, will turn the block chain into a
universal platform that can be used for
anything requiring signatures or authentication. It will therefore enable people
to participate in trustless transactions,
where buyers and sellers work with an
intermediary like an escrow manager, a
trustee or other middlemen.
Watchlist
Coindesk, Coinbase, Blockstream, Boost VC, Kraken, Robocoin, Coinsetter,
SecondMarket
45
UBER FOR X
Key Insight
In spite of harsh criticism about its business practices, 2014 was a significant year for Uber.
With an $18 billion valuation, the app connecting drivers to passengers is now worth more
than Whole Foods, Yelp and big data company Palantir.
Examples
Shyp is an on-demand shipping service.
Uber does two things very well. First, it monetizes downtime. For professional drivers,
Uber is a fast, easy way to find riders. Its
also been a boon for people whove lost their
jobs, offering them a way to make money
when traditional jobs are hard to find. Second, Uber provides a seamless payment interface. Riders dont need to carry cash or
even a credit card, as the entire transaction is
handled via a simple mobile interface.
Whats Next
Its likely that Uber will continue to face legal and ethical challenges in 2015. That
wont stop other businesses from building
their own Uber of X applications. In the next
year, expect to see pitches and demos for
Uber of X delivery and intermediary businesses, including fast grocery delivery, helicopter rides, portable ATMs, alcohol delivery,
in-home massage service, dry cleaning and
laundry, iPhone repair, personal shopping,
medical marijuana, dog walkers and on-site
car mechanics.
Watchlist
HouseCall, Shyp, Instacart, SixDoors, Nimbl, Zeel, Ringadoc, Washly and many others.
46
LENDERSHIP
Key Insight
Rather than buying to own products, consumers are paying to temporarily lease them.
Examples
Platforms are quickly replacing brickand-mortar retailers. The appeal of

having access to the latest dress/movie/song, along with the ability to re-borrow it, increasingly trumps consumers
desire to actually own and store it in
their closets. In fact, you may be part
of the lendership economy without
even realizing it. If you own a Kindle
and youve purchased books for it,
youve actually purchased a license
for the book not the book itself.
Whats Next
Impermanence puts pressure on CMOs to

tell a different story. As the lendership economy grows in 2015, brand visibility will become more important, as will the consumers
relationship to the brand. We expect to see
new subscription lending platforms for prescription glasses, baby gear and equipment,
home and office furnishings, art and even
personal technology. Still dubious? Consider
Rent The Runways rapid growth: 5 million
women members in 5 years for its marquee
dress borrowing service.
Watchlist
Rent The Runway, Netflix, Sparkbox, Toys Trunk, Bag Borrow or Steal
47
API PROTECTION
Key Insight
What does it mean if APIs, which have traditionally been open for all to use, can be protected
under copyright?
Examples
Last spring, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled

in favor of giving Oracle a copyright on
its Java APIs. Google had used some of
the code in its Android operating system
against the wishes of Oracle. Advocates
decried the courts decision, saying it would
impede innovation. There are thousands of
public-facing APIs and more than a hundred
thousand private APIs currently in use.
Whats Next
API Commons is working to establish an

API Interface Commons, much like the Creative Commons licenses being used all over
the web for content. Meantime, we expect
to see new copyright filings and lawsuits in
2015.
Watchlist
API Commons, dozens of tech companies
API Commons wants to provide a simple and transparent

mechanism for the copyright free sharing and collaborative
design of API specifications, interfaces and data models.
48
COLLABORATIVE SOFTWARE
Key Insight
New productivity tools combine the best of email, instant messaging, social media and cloud
storage, offering a single place to communicate with colleagues.
Slack is real-time messaging, archiving and search
for business groups.
Examples
Yammer and HipChat remain the market leaders, but there are new apps on the
horizon. Asana and Flow both offer project
management. Wrike offers project planning,
charts and time management tools. Slack is
a hybrid instant message/ email system that
lets you sort and tag, search, and choose
to broadcast messages to your whole team
or just to a few members. For organizations
suffocating underneath the hefty weight of
email, Slack has offered a helpful alternative.
It integrates with a slew of other services, like
Dropbox, Google Drive, IFTTT, Heroku,
Mailchimp and Zendesk.
Whats Next
2015 may be the beginning of the end of

email as we know it, as more and more offices abandon internal email systems for these
apps. Look for the launch of Facebook@
Work in the coming year. Its Facebook for
your internal work needs, and it leverages
your staffs proclivity to check updates and
post photos during work hours.
49
SOCIAL PAYMENTS
Fifth year on the list
Key Insight
New social payment systems offer the ease of seamless transactions, but theyre also budding social networks in their own rights. These certainly arent the first wave of mobile-social
payment systems, as the first apps came out several years ago. We do think the market is
now right for widespread social payment engagement.
Examples
Venmo is a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) payment system, one that spent 24 months in
beta. After two rounds of acquisitions, its
now owned by PayPal. Unlike PayPay, Venmo doesnt charge transaction fees. It allows friends to pay each other or to easily
split bills. When you make a payment to a
friend, you can tag it with whatever youd
like. Which has made Venmos social feed
become a popular network itself. Just like
a Facebook feed, Venmo shows photos of
friends and what theyve been spending their
money on. Venmo is the fastest-growing mobile payment system around.
Whats Next
We expect to see deeper third-party integrations with P2P APIs. Venmos relatively fast
success means that the network has grown
exponentially. That makes it and P2P payment networks possible targets for hackers;
it also means competition in the space will
heat up during 2015.
Watchlist
Venmo, Square, Ingenico, BOKU, PayPal
Venmo is one of the fastest-growing P2P payment networks.
50
REPURPOSED TECHNOLOGY
Key Insight
Many of our once-ubiquitous technologies are no longer being used, but theyre still taking
up physical space. Smart companies are figuring out how to give retired technologies a new
purpose.
Examples
New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and

San Jose are repurposing abandoned pay
phone booths as WiFi hotspots and charging stations. In some areas, towers are being installed that will offer those services plus
modern phone systems, allowing anyone to
make free phone calls within the U.S. In commercial areas, towers will include screens for
advertisements.
Whats Next
We will see the phone booth initiative spread

to other cities throughout 2015. Expect to
see more charging stations throughout airports, train stations and other areas where
people tend to congregate, and expect to
see new ad spaces popping up there as well.
Smart marketers will find a way to capture
attention while people wait for their phones
to charge. We anticipate more repurposing
on the horizon: newspaper boxes, computer
towers, shipping containers and the like.
Repurposed phone booths in New york City will soon offer

free charging and WiFi.
Watchlist
Titan, CityBridge, Qualcomm, Pensa, various large cities
51
DATA
Fifth year on the list
Key Insight
Data is a broad category with many stakeholders, applications and implications. For example, data on our locations, our health and our individual preferences is collected and analyzed
to help others predict everything from the next disease outbreak to what copy should be
used in a Superbowl ad. Its also used to understand population changes, political landscapes and public sentiment.
In the coming year, Big Data will continue to be a buzzword and a trend throughout many industries and fields. Businesses will want access to analytics tools in order to make important
business decisions, while government agencies will rely on data to
determine funding for various programs.
Organizations of all sizes should begin thinking about what data
makes sense to collect, analyze and interpret. We recommend
that large organizations (public, private, foundations, nonprofits,
universities, government agencies) create a Chief Data Officer
position and bring on board someone with the unique skills to
champion data initiatives, make smart decisions, collaborate on
security and surface insights.
Speaking of Data Officers, we are predicting a shortage in Data Scientists in 2015 and beyond. There just arent enough skilled data
scientists to fulfill all the work available (a shortage of 200,000 by
some estimates). Kaggle helps match companies with data scientists, while IBMs Watson aims to help companies solve all of their
own data science challenges. New Relic Insights allows companies to mine their own data. Eureqa Desktop from Nutonian allows
companies to outsource their thinking to a data science robot.
In the coming year, Big Data will continue to be a buzzword and a trend throughout
many industries and fields.
52
CLIMATE
Key Insight
Last year, the U.S. General Services Administration discovered $800k worth of rogue fans
running in the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. Thats just one space. A deeper
analysis of 100 GSA buildings uncovered another $16 million in possible energy savings.
Which for some is a more meaningful way of quantifying our energy consumption.
You could argue that part of our current environmental problem stems from missing data
and, as a result, missed opportunities. Until recently, it was difficult to understand just how
much energy was seeping out of older buildings. Bostons FirstFuel Software company
used open data to analyze the efficiency of more than 1 billion square feet of building space,
and discovered that 2.6 billion kilowatt-hours of energy were being wasted. Thats enough
energy to power nearly all the homes in Pittsburgh every year. Meantime, that there are parts
of upstate New York still using pipes that were built when Lincoln was president.
We often conflate fuel consumption with
power and energy, so elected officials argue
about the causes and effects of resulting climate change. Though it makes a great narrative, the real problem isnt just our gas-powered cars or the soot spewing from factories.
Many people are finding success stories in
data.
New devices that use our smartphones to
show real-time consumption and efficiency
data are coming to market in 2015. There are
numerous opportunities for those in the IoT
space, for utility companies, for local governments and for those hoping to engage consumers with environmental causes.
In the coming year, Big Data will continue to be a buzzword and a trend throughout many industries and fields.
Photo credit: Jnos Kerekes
https://www.facebook.com/ajnagraphy/photos/pb.158435997574385.-2207520000.1417344815./364382146979768/?type=3&theater
53
SPACE
Key Insight
A commercial space boom is only just beginning.
Examples
Some of the most exciting tech innovation isnt happening in Silicon Valley its
centered deep inside the Mojave Desert,
where 17 space-related companies are
closing in on commercial space travel,
exploration and development. We saw
successful (and tragically, some unsuccessful) commercial space launches in
the past year. Academic and government agencies have celebrated great
achievements in recent months, including
landing a spacecraft on a comet.
Whats Next
Expect to see more launches in 2015. The

reasons for commercial exploration are numerous, from mining to a competitive research market to supplementing government-run space programs, both in the U.S.
and abroad. In addition to the spacecraft
themselves, there will be a boom in launch
vehicles, landers, probes, rovers, space stations and research craft. Well also see partnerships formed for astroid and moon mining and for space manufacturing. There will
be ancillary opportunities across industries,
from durable clothing retailers to skilled manufacturing operations. Media companies,
too, should think about early partnerships,
while private equity firms should start looking
at the soon-to-launch companies that will ultimately supply the tools, materials and technologies for commercial space operations.
Watchlist
SpaceX will soon use autonomous drones to recover

reusable rockets.
Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic

(The Spaceship Company), XCOR
Aerospace, SpaceX, Interorbital Systems,
Stratolaunch, Masten Space Systems,
Firestar Technologies, Copenhagen
Suborbitals, Japanese Rocket Society,
Orbital Sciences Corporation, Planetary
Resources, NASA, ESA and many more.
54
NET NEUTRALITY
Key Insight
In 2015 a decision will be made about who controls the Internet.
Examples
Senator Ted Cruise tweets about Net Neutrality, comparing

it to the Affordable Health Care Act.
The FCC did not decide on net neutrality in the past year. However, it was a hot topic among
Internet activists and politicians alike. As just one example, Senator Ted Cruz likened Net
Neutrality with the Affordable Health Care Act in a somewhat confusing tweet. The debate
pits Internet companies against the White House and open technology advocates. Comcast
and various ISPs want to restrict access to the Internet, while many people argue that charging additional fees to access bandwidth goes against the very nature of the Internet and how
it was built. The best explanation weve seen to date was written by David Weinberger
on Medium1: [The Internet isnt] a broadcast medium, we are not mere consumers, and
when content includes stuff that we make and that we partake in socially, calling it content
is highly misleading. But its not misleading if youre a cable company. You make your big
money selling content. Thats why you want to prioritize some content over others. Its one
important reason you give your subscribers ten times more capacity for downloading than
for uploading. If youre a cable company, its all about content. That is the original sin of the
way we get access to the Internet in this country.
Whats Next
The debate will continue well into 2015.
Watchlist
The FCCs Chairman Tom Wheeler and
Julius Genachowski; Columbia University
Law School professor Timothy Wu; AT&T
chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson;
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings; the White
House; Senator Al Franken; Senator John
McCain; Marc Andreessen; CEO of the
Internet Association Michael Beckerman;
Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts
1 https://medium.com/backchannel/netflix-is-a-data-hog-6e790140b189
55
FTC
Key Insight
In 2015, the Federal Trade Commission will take a bigger role regulating bogus Internet
companies, scammers and cybercriminals.
Examples
Whats Next
The FTCs main purpose is to protect

consumers against fraud, deception The FTC will play a larger and more visible
and unfair business practices. As role in ongoing discussions about cybercrime
more and more of our business shifts and hacking in 2015.
to the Internet, the FTC is stepping
into the spotlight. The FTC has been
speaking at digerati conferences, hosting workshops, examining
if and how to regulate the IoT and
even going after big-name hackers.
Watchlist
Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Director Jessica Rich, Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeny
The FTC will take a larger role in regulating and policing

cyber fraud in 2015.
10 QUESTIONS
How to relate these trends back to your business in 2015

We recommend thinking about these 55 trends as they relate to your organization,
asking questions such as:
01. Which of our customer segments does this trend address?
02. How are our competitors/ related agencies harnessing these trends (or failing to do so)?
03. How are non-competitors applying this trend?
04. Will this trend create new competitors for us?
05. Where does this trend create potential new partners or collaborators for us?
06. How does this trend impact our industry and all of its parts?
07. Who are the drivers of change in this trend? Which companies, founders, startups?
08. How will the wants, needs and expectations of our customers change as a result of this trend?
09. How does this trend inspire us?
10. How does this trend help us think about innovation?
We also recommend tracking all 55 trends throughout the year, noting major changes and adding new
developments as they happen. The emerging technology and digital media landscape is constantly
evolving, and at Webbmedia Group, we often find that midway through the year, weve added at least
a few new trends.
COMPANIES MENTIONED IN OUR 2015 TRENDS REPORT

Advanced Medical
Technology Association
Affictiva
AIT Austrian Institute
of Technology
Algorithmia
Amazon
Anki
API Commons
Apple
Arcbotics
Arduino
AT&T
Athos
Atmel
AudioCodes
Aurora Labs
Autodesk
Avaya
Blackphone
Dialogic
Firechat
Blockstream
Double Robotics
Firestar Technologies
BOKU
DNNRsch
FirstFuel Software
Bolt
Dragon Innovation
Fitbit
Boost VC
Dropbox
Bosch
Ekso Bionics
Food and Drug

Administration
Bouygues Telecom
Electronic Arts
BSX Insight
Electronic Frontier
Foundation
Canons MREAL
System
Formlabs
FoxTel
FP Interrupted
Emotient
Fujitsu
Carnegie Mellon
Ericsson
Gannett
Cloud 9
ESA
GE
Cisco
Estimote
Github
CityBridge
Expect Labs
Google
Coinbase
EyeTap
GPShopper
Coindesk
Facebook
Guardian
Coinsetter
Federal
Communications
Commission
HackerOne
Confide
Bag Borrow or Steal
Copenhagen
Suborbitals
Baidu
DARPA
Barobo
DataXu
Binatex
DefenDoor
Heroku
Federal Trade
Commission (FTC)
HipChat
Home Depot
Fidelity
Hospira Inc
Filip
HouseCall
Fin Ring
Hrvatski Telekom

Huawei
Line
Nimbl
PittPatt
Hydra
littleBits
Pixlee
IBM
Local Motors
Northeastern
University
IFTTT
Lumo
iHeartRadio
MailChimp
iRobot
MakerBot
Ingenico
Masten Space
Systems
Innovega
Instacart
Instagram
Intel
Interorbital Systems
Japanese Rocket
Society
Northrop Grumman
NowThisNews
NSA
Nutonian
Nymi
MeWe
NZN Lit
Media REDEF
Oakley
Medtronic Inc
Oculus Rift
Melon
OnSIP
Microsoft
Oracle
MIT Media Lab
Orbital Sciences
Corporation
Kaggle
Muse
Kindle
N3work
Klara
NASA
Kraken
National Instruments
LeapBand
Nerdist
Leap Motion Controller
Nest
Lenovo
Netflix
LGs KidzON
NewDealDesign
New Relic Insights
Organovo
Oyster
Palantir
Pandora
Pavlok
PayPal
Pensa
Pinterest
Planetary Resources
Prox Dynamics
PRX
Qualcomm
Quartz
Rent The Runway
Rethink Robotics
Ringadoc
Robin Labs
Robocoin
Robotex
Samsung
Scheels
SecondMarket
Sen.se
Serial Podcast
Shapeways
Sharper Shape
Shyp
Silent Circle

Silk Road 2
Taco Bell
Singularity University
Target
SixDoors
Telefonica
Skype
Temasys
Slack
This
SmartThings
This American Life
Snapchat
Thync
Sony
Tinitell
University of
Pennsylvania
SpaceX
TinyLetter
University of Sheffield
Weemo
Sparkbox
Titan
University of Toronto
WhatsApp
Spotify
TokBox
University of Washington
Whisper
Sprint
Tor
U.S. Airforce
Wrike
Sproutling
Touch Bionics
XCOR Aerospace
Square
Toys Trunk
U.S. Army Research

Laboratory
St. Jude Medical
Twilio
Yammer
Stratolaunch
Uber
U.S. Department of
Defense
Stripe
UC - Berkeley
Stanford
UCLA
Swirl
UC - San Diego
Swiss Federal
Institute
of Technology
Under Armour
T-mobile
University of Arkansas
University of
Birmingham
University College
London
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
Verizon
Viewdle
Vimeo
Vine
Virgin Galactic
Washly
Watchup
WeChat
Yahoo
U.S. Department of
Homeland Security
Yelp
U.S. General Services

Administration
YouTube
U.S. Navy
U.S. State Department
Yik Yak
Zeel
Zendesk
Twitter
Venmo
MORE INFORMATION
For further information about this report and how Webbmedia Group can help
your organization, please contact:
Amy Webb
Founder
Webbmedia Group
trends@webbmediagroup.com
Tel: +1-267-342-4300

2015 Trends

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

2015 Trends

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

WEBBMEDIA GROUP

2015 TREND REPORT

ABOUT WEBBMEDIA GROUP

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

THE FUTUREPRINT METHODOLOGY

will be used to Track its success; its Urgency within

The final step of the FuturePrint is what we call the

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

HOW TO USE THE 2015 TREND REPORT

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

HOW TO USE OUR REPORT

Years On The List

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Facebooks new curation tool surfaces embeddable news

Algorithmic curation is a process that automatically determines what

Algorithm Ethics and Oversight

Algorithms promise power and efficiency

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

SMART VIRTUAL PERSONAL ASSISTANTS (SVPAS)

Marketers, credit card companies, banks,

Amazons Echo is an SVPA for the living room.

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

In his seminal 1950 paper, computer scientist

IBMs Watson is a cognitive computing platform.

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Experimental, brain-inspired systems are capable of translating pixels into English.

Artificially intelligent computers are now

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

The Blackphone is a smartphone that effectively blocks

In 2013 and 2014, companies like Target and

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

As we continue to upload troves of personal data to social networks, photos and

MeWe offers private social networking and file sharing.

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Heartbleed was a devastating security bug disclosed in

Open Source App Vulnerabilities

In 2014, we saw two devastating breaches in open-source projects: Heartbleed and

Malicious software can be

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Its no secret that the lockboxes in hotel

Mesh networks rely on bluetooth and WiFi

This. represents a new kind of niche

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Fourth year on the list

In 2014 we watched an unprecedented number 38.2 billion in Q2 alone of online videos.

trends were continuing to watch: connected

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Finland-based Sharper Shape is working to produce

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

This experimental technology will take more

Frames from a moving camera recorded by the Swiss

INDEXING THE CLOUD

Storing and synching content on the cloud

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

In 2014, we saw mass-market adoption of ephemeral networks such as Snapchat. In the

Consumers increasingly demand immediacy

Instagram launched a Snapchat competitorBoltin a few test countries at the end

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

A new Internet protocol (IPv6) is emerging and

Apple now uses

2015 Tech Trends | webbmediagroup.com | 2014 Webbmedia Group

Virtual reality is a computer simulated environment. When tethered, VR is experienced