There is a some snobbery in certain circles about LeWeb, but I am still very positive about this event that opens the mind to the amount of activity and impact that the digital revolution is having on business. The first day is always the best as it sets the scene for a number of different topics – some thoughts from yesterday:
@FredWilson, VC – Trends for 2015
Heath & Wellness and wearables are going to see massive growth – the IoT is going to increase exponentially and as a result the business and data opportunities. Battery technology from electric cars will start to have impact beyond transportation and we’ll see the end of gas stations in Manhattan. Bitcoin will finally start to get traction but probably not mainstream in 2015
@JOwyang – The Sharing Economy
The sharing economy is moving from B2C to B2B too, municipalities starting to share equipment and making money is a great example. Trust & privacy are going to become ever more important – we need to start thinking about a unified online trust score. Business is now about connecting the physical and digital, eg. Uber, AirBnB.
@Forrester on Wearables
Market on the brink of explosion, and not just on your wrist. Virgin using Google Glass in customer service, once we are through the wow factor we start to see real utility in certain areas. David Rose, Ditto Labs, showed the plethora of wearables and connected devices that are possible (+ logging and analysis of photos across the web).
@plibin from Evernote on making us all smarter
It’s not about being looked after (parents) or assisted (PAs) but about giving every worker super powers and making them work smarter. Many companies now looking at this, working better together and more efficiently – he said that PowerPoint was the worst thing that had ever happened to business!
@benhuh from Cheezburger on the future of media
Channel silos are dying and the format and the device are what defines the future of media – much more complicated to understand and deliver for. Video game companies have the most 3D content to deliver for channels like Oculus, how will old media companies survive in this new era if they don’t partner with those who know the channel.
