Radar7 Edition 6 –   (Here’s edition 1, 2, 3, 4 and  5)

24 Oct 2013

Radar7 is our recurring feature where we’ll highlight the top seven pieces of thought-provoking industry commentary that should be on your radar.

1. Morality and User Interface Design

Creating the front-end interfaces for weapon control is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about user interface design. But as this piece in Medium highlights, there is a complex web of morality issues for designers tasked with creating interfaces for such systems.

2. Consider the e-bike: Can 200 million Chinese be wrong?

Much has been made of a future dominated by driverless cars, driven primarily by Google’s seemingly successful early attempts to refine the technology. But as this great piece in QZ argues, is the electric future actually two-wheeled, not four?

3. Why the world’s technology giants are investing in Africa

Sadly today Africa only seems to cross our news feeds when a tragedy occurs. But as the BBC points out, in actual fact the continent is booming and finally organisations are starting to take note. This piece looks at three tech giants and their investments in Africa.

4. TED talks are lying to you

This provocative piece from Salon looks at the current penchant for talks and books from the “creative class”, labelling them a genre of “surpassing banality”. The author asks whether there is enough genuinely new content in today’s creative-crazy world.

5. Apple’s new consumer experience chief, Angela Ahrendts, on the future of retail

The decision by Apple to hire Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts to reshape its retail business caused something of a stir in the industry. This Fast Company piece collects Ahrendts’ thoughts on where the future of successful retailing lies.

6. One in 10 Serious Relationships That Began in the Last Decade Got Started Online

Beneath the rather PR-friendly headline of this piece on the Atlantic – that essentially online dating has revolutionised our relationships – there is an interesting undercurrent about how the creep of technology is starting to impact our social and emotional lives.

7. Native Content: The Cure For Mobile Advertising’s Woes

The fact that mobile is set to dominate our future is no longer in doubt. What remains to be seen is how brands effectively evolve to take full advantage of the trend. According to Contently, the answer is not feed-based ads, but native advertising – those messages that integrate seamlessly into a user’s feed without detracting from the reading experience.