I imagine … Those words have inspired humankind as long as humans have been able to imagine. And the historical creations that have come of those words have rocked humanity in beautiful and wondrous ways, and they have shaped our world. Now, we have them again from a millennial writing about the Apple Watch …

  • I imagine being able to walk into a store and simply brandish my wrist at the checkout counter without having to get out my wallet, smartphone, or anything else. I look forward to a workplace that allows workers to more easily track the movement of goods and incorporates online time tracking applications that keeps employee time. And I am excited for a future where geo-location and other methods are used to put me, as a consumer into a market segment that makes sense so businesses can advertise to me things that I might like. It’s a win-win scenario for both businesses and consumers.

My, my, we have come a long way from Mozart, moving pictures, and even Microsoft. I might add to that flying a mission to Mars. Oh, and speaking of flying …

  • A record number of travelers are expected to take to the skies this summer thanks to a rebounding economy.

How do you like that? I guess consumers are okay enough with the economy to get on a flight and go somewhere, which generally means hotels, rental cars, and restaurants will benefit from the travelers. Maybe some of the money socked away from lower fuel prices is finally coming out.

  • U.S. airlines will carry 222 million passengers between June 1 and Aug. 31, topping the summer of 2007 when 217.6 million people flew. That figure includes 31 million travelers on international flights, also a record.

I’d imagine a lot of those folks are going to Europe, which, dare I say, is just the tonic for Europe coming out of its economic doldrums.

  • In barns filled with classical music and lighting that changes to match the hues outside, rows of chickens are fed a diet rich in probiotics, a regimen designed to remove the need for the drugs and chemicals that have tainted the global food chain.

See what I mean about imagination? Do you think that Mozart ever imagined some of his delighted listeners would be egg-laying chickens? By the way, in case you did not see this coming, there is a follow up to my writing about the growth of the organic food industry the other day. It ain’t just about produce anymore.

  • As food giants face growing pressure to offer healthier produce, Southeast Asian poultry firm Kee Song Group says its use of “good” bacteria in feed and water means it can meet one the industry’s biggest challenges: how to mass produce drug and hormone-free poultry at a reasonable price.

And it ain’t just Asian food producers going in this direction.

  • Tyson Foods pledged to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in chicken by 2017, one of the most aggressive timetables yet by a U.S. poultry firm. The top American poultry producer, which supplies fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, is among a number of groups globally incorporating probiotics into feed.

There is money to be made in them thar healthy hills that is for sure. What would you bet that airlines will soon be touting healthy food menus as a way to attract fliers in what now appears to be a much more competitive airline market?

  • A Colorado computer hacker told the FBI that he briefly made an airliner fly sideways by hacking its computer system.

Well, you probably did not see the above coming, as it has little to do with health, or record numbers of airline passengers, at least not directly. It does point out, however, how easily both are threatened if a person plugged into the gaming system on an airplane can make it go sideways. Somebody had better get on this one quickly, as the stupid people killing stupid people crowd are avid readers and they love to use technology to kill.

  • Jibo, the social robot from robot scientist Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, is still almost a year away from commercial availability but Breazeal and her team have finally moved onto a working prototype.

Yup … The future is now, as the robot above is the kind that can carry on a conversation, offer advice, and tell the children when it is time to go to bed.

  • Jibo isn’t an appliance, it’s a companion, one that can interact and react with its human owners in ways that delight. This friendly robot could one day be your family’s personal assistant

Is there money to be made in social robots or in robotics in general? Me thinks, yes, so you might want to check out this link.

 Trade in the day; invest in your life …

Trader Ed