Gamifying Healthcare

Healthcare is no game, but try telling insurance carriers that. Phillip gets manipulated into buying a denim jacket, innovation in fitness and fashion, Adobe "reinvents" fintech, and the guys go deep (real deep) on healthcare and insurance.

Phillip got a new jean jacket
Moral of the story: even when you know what's happening to you, even when you know you're being manipulated but digital marketing, you still buy the product. 
Brian suggests the inception theory of jean jacket marketing (perhaps Phillip watched Stranger Things 2?).
Pricing elasticity on an individual basis as an untapped area of potential

Minority Report Policing in Dubai

Dubai International Airport plans a new face scanning virtual aquarium.
They are legitimately there to just track your face and scan you and make sure you're not a terrorist of some kind.

A prediction: at some point facial scanning is going to drive advertising to you. 

Amazon's Inadvertent Market Contraction? 

Microsoft partners are getting lifts in azure deployments ever since Amazon acquired Whole Foods. It seems that retail is really shaken up about Amazon kind of owning the world. 
Keep an eye on it: Amazon needs large brands and enterprise partners to continue using AWS: a large exodus might cause business contraction. 
Something to keep an eye on: maybe the contraction in this space may have a negative effect overall on amazon's business because Amazon needs the large enterprise partners and brands to still use AWS. They can't all jump ship for Azure. 

Amazon's Athleisure Adventures

Amazon is in talks with two manufactures to create its own sportswear brand. 
Both Taiwanese companies already make clothing for the Gap, Uniqlo, Kohl's, Lululemon, Nike, and Under Armour. 
Brian predicts "make" will be more important than "brand." See episode 8 for reference.
Brian and Phillip meet Michael from Best Made Company, an upscale lifestyle clothing and gear company recently acquired by silicon valley startup, Bolt Threads to pilot a new type of spider silk. 
We no longer need a consumer marketing campaign for people to accept nylon or to buy more cotton (Phillip reminisces about "the touch, the feel of cotton.")
Shout out to Kniterate, and Bolt Threads, to potentially disrupting the textile industry. 

Apple's New Retail Stores: If It Works, Double Down

Apple's new Town Square store just opened in Chicago. 
Shocker: it's just a big giant Apple store.
Retail spaces are more than just about purchasing at this point: this is Starbucks 2.0. 
A new discovery: the Apple store and the play area at the mall are the exact same thing, we just don't call the play area a town hall. 
Mark it: Brian saliently wins Phillip over to his Apple optimism at 27:47: why wouldn't Apple invest in this more? Why not? Go ahead and make it bigger, make it nicer. 

Adobe and Banks Team up to "Reinvent" fintech

Adobe is working with banks to merge physical branches with digital experiences. 
Brian's having a hard time getting excited for Adobe teaming up with banks to merge physical branches with digital experiences. 
Adobe's "sensei" uses artificial intelligence to automatically reformat content on a bank's website to fit a screen inside the bank. 
It sounds a lot like they just used AI to build a responsive webpage. What's new? 
One interesting point: using a customer's geographic location to trigger a notification on a smartphone once they enter a branch: bank geofencing. 

Loyalty Programs and the FBI

REI and the FBI worked together to catch a suspected airport bomber by using an REI bag they found in the woods and tracing the purchase back to the loyalty card of the suspected bomber.  
We finally found a real use for loyalty programs in this country. 

Body Dataaaaa!

John Hancock partners with Apple to offer $25 Apple Watches. 
The catch: you have to exercise regularly for 2 years with it, or pay it all back. 
Insurance getting involved in body devices might herald a move to the gamification of healthcare. 
A move to "push" healthcare rather than "pull." Push customers to healthy living rather than wait for them to come to the doctor. 
Potential hazards: what if your provider has access to your purchase data? Do you really want them to see how often you ate at Taco Bell last month? 
Brian goes a "little bit future" and suggests free preventative care for every American to save the country a ton of money. 
Silicon Valley has the chance to make healthcare a game and transform its role. 
We have legitimate technology that can help save your life. 
In fact, it helped save James T. Green's life. 

Puerto Rico and Tesla Grid Update

Tesla is continuing to invest in Puerto Rico. 
can Tesla adopt their work on a larger scale? 
Is it smart for Puerto Rico to privatize their energy grid with Tesla's help?
Should we allow the privitization of a fundamental human need in 2017?
Tesla's and Google's work in Puerto Rico is a silver lining in an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Cryptocurrency

Russia considering it's own cryptocurrency, which goes against the fundamental tenant of cryptocurrency: decentralization. 
Bubble watch: Bitcoin is approaching 6,000 to 1 US dollars. 
Mastercard announces its own blockchain service. A reversal of their previous anti-Bitcoin position. 
Cryptocurrency Domain squatting: everyone is trying to stake lay claim to a name or brand while other markets go crazy. 
Bitcoin is still the wild west

The Hack Back Bill

A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives let's people hack back.
It's called the AC/DC act. Metal.
Legislation as a defense of people who have to do something technically illegal to stop viruses and malware, perhaps? 
An attempt of the the government to get a handle on new threats in a digital world.  

Snapchat Vandalized in AR

Snapchat partnered with Jeff Koons to add AR elements to his artwork. 
It was vandalized. 
But was it really? Someone used a separate app, recreated the exact model, and added virtual spraypaint vandalism. 
Brian, breaking with his usual optimism, thinks we're seeing a new norm: subversive acts built on AR in different spaces, layered one on top of the other. Lenses uon lenses, with little to no regulation or enforcement.  
That bleak note leads us to the SEC announcing investigations into blockchain.

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