What better hub of tech hype and hazards than the Smart Home?! For our Season 1 Finale,  we take you on a tour exploring gadgets galore in this flash round of four devices. Are Smart Home devices just "assisted living for millennials," or real innovations toward improving quality of life and longevity? 

Come in, and stay a while, as we go room to room, navigating novelty and searching for utility ...

• Bathroom: is Willo, the toothbrushing robot the answer to democratized oral hygiene, or just a marketing ploy towards helicopter parents?
• Kitchen: is Meater, the smart cooking thermometer really worth 10x its analogue predecessor, or is it an investment in perfectly cooked culinary confidence?   
• Bedroom: is EightSleep, the connected mattress pad a dream come true for peak performance, or is the 'sleep fitness movement' a cover for sleeping on a data hungry wearable?
• Living Room: is Mirror, Lululemon's smart mirror an embodiment of the physical and economic shift towards in-home fitness, or a reflection of much broader disruptions to come in home healthcare? 

Ratings Time: At the end of each room, we rate this each technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our reviews, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com
https://www.willo.com/
https://meater.com/
https://www.eightsleep.com/
https://www.mirror.co/

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#smarthome #connectedhome #IoT #residential #fitness #health #home #realestate #kitchen #AI #connecteddevices #consumerelectronics 

In this episode, we explore Rivian and the highly charged electric vehicle market. Are we in the fast lane toward zero-emissions driving, or stuck in a perpetual jam of consumer, commercial, technological, and political blockades? Buckle up as we plug in ... 

• What is Rivian and just how much of this $5 TRILLION market can it steal from incumbent OEMs and Tesla? 
• Why the dynamic duo of electrification + digitization represents both an existential threat and the future imperative to automotive business models?
• From $75,000 price tags to tax credits, from subscription models to rural infrastructure, how and why "network effects" are the true determinant of accessible EV economics?

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com
https://rivian.com/

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#automotive #cars #rivian #insurance #amazon #electricvehicles #fleets #electrification #environment #connectedcars

In this episode, we explore Robinhood and the raggedy rich world of investment apps. Are we witnessing the democratization of finance, or is buying-in to the egalitarian story actually happening at our own expense?  #HODL (hold on for dear life) as we investigate the viral and the volatile...

• What is Robinhood and why has the last year catalyzed growth in both retail investors and its valuation? 
• What does commission-free trading reveal about the influence of incumbents, the leverage of liquidity, and power of profits (not to mention PR)? 
• What does fintech's embrace of gamification and social media have to do with inclusivity, paternalism, and economic inequality? 

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com
https://robinhood.com/us/en/

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#financial #technology #fintech #robinhood #investment #mobileapp #retail #crypto

In this episode, we explore "deepfakes" and the head-spinning breakthroughs in AI-generated synthetic media. Does the ability to digitally doppelgänger anyone doing or saying anything preface the end of trust, a revolution in reputational risk, or just the next era of entertainment? Seeing is no longer believing, so listen up as we peer deep to parse:

• What are deepfakes and why does AI-generated media differ from traditional CGI (computer graphic imagery) and Hollywood special effects?
• What do porn, meme culture, diplomacy, and the biometric fraud have in common, and why are deepfakes the through-line?
• Why fighting tech with tech isn't enough, and the multi-pronged approach needed to drive digital literacy and safeguard against the "Liar's Dividend".

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com 
https://www.thispersondoesnotexist.com/

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#deepfakes #AI #syntheticmedia #computervision #reputation #media #disinformation #identity #deeplearning

In this episode, we explore Noom and the big wide world of personalized weight loss. Is app-powered psychological training the real recipe for transformation, or just the dish du jour served up by the zillion dollar Diet industry? Phew, we worked up a sweat navigating the narratives on this one... 

• What is Noom and why does it claim to care more about how and why we eat, than what we eat?
• As long as we have an ocean of exercise, food, sleep, and other apps disconnected from one another, is data-driven "health personalization" just a red herring? 
• How will digital wellness companies reckon their storied value props of long-term lifestyle integration with linear objectives around financial growth?  

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com 
https://www.noom.com 

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#wellness #weightloss #nutrition #mobileapp #noom #diet #psychology

Jaimy and Jess share a brief overview of Hype Hazard. 

In this episode, we explore Clearview AI and the fascinatingly factious facial recognition market. Is the ability to identify any individual in one click the future of safety, justice, and frictionless verification, or are we staring down the barrel of an irrevocable surveillance state? Get ready for your close up, as we zoom in on the apparatus of panopticon potential...

• What is ClearviewAI, and why has this tiny start-up prompted a global uproar?
• What's worse: lawlessly crossing the facial recognition rubicon that even Tech Giants demurred; or relying on the whims of a single start-up CEO to decide its fate?  
• Why facial recognition spotlights the fragmented state of data protections, and magnifies the widening gap between big data-powered innovations vs. legal safeguards and civil liberties.

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com 
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/18/magazine/facial-recognition-clearview-ai.html

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#facialrecognition #AI #surveillance #computervision #privacy #mobileapps #security #identity

In this episode, we explore Kahoot! and the suddenly booming market for educational technology (EdTech). Is the future of learning supposed to feel like a game show, or does gamified learning only further stunt academic preparedness and equity? Pens and paper optional, but 1000 points for your attention as we didactically debate...

•  What is Kahoot! and how did digital bar trivia morph into a choice educational and enterprise learning platform for over a BILLION people?
• What are the pros and cons of optimizing learning for speed, memorization, competition and quantification?  *Hint: it takes more than a multiple choice question to answer that!*
• Why EdTech is the perfect example of pandemic-powered acceleration, and what its normalization and digital reliance has revealed for the future of EdTech...

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com
https://kahoot.com/

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#education #edtech #gamification #socialmedia #kidstech #learning #gaming #delearning

In this episode, we explore non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and what on earth they mean for the arts, artists, and the future of digital media. Are digital property titles -- on a JPG, PDF, baseball card or tweet -- really worth six-figure valuations, or we just drunk on crypto speculation again?  Hold on to your acronyms as we dive into the NFT wormhole to help you understand:

• WTF are NFTs and what does crypto-mania have to do with a 250 year old art auction house? 
• Why NFTs for virtual game pieces or baseball cards may seem like stuff for the kids, but could represent economic empowerment for content creators of all stripes...
• Why NFTs could well be called dangerously hot... and what needs to happen to transcend early adopter demographics to fulfill the real promise for decentralized ownership? 

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com
http://cryptoart.wtf/

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz. Cover art for Hype Hazard is designed by Mary Talbert. 

#NFT #nonfungibletoken #cryptocurrency #blockchain #digitalassets #digitalmedia #creatoreconomy 

In this episode, we explore Woebot and the rise of artificial intelligence used for mental health and therapy. Are cute chatbots really the solution to scale mental health support for the billions? You might want to lie down on a couch as we unpack the big questions...

• What is Woebot and how on earth are we programming Cognitive Behavioral Therapy into code-based talking bots? 
• What are the trade-offs of sharing our most intimate thoughts (and health data) with a machine-powered confidant? And why do implications vary across demographics? 
• Why "emotive computing" exemplifies the stickiest ethical tensions facing businesses as consumer tech blurs the lines between wellness vs. traditional healthcare? 

Ratings Time: At the end of each episode, we rate this breakout technology on our highly scientific scale to help innovators put this into context. Tune in to hear our review, and tell us what you think!

• Trash: Garbage abound in tech-land, so buyer beware of rubbish in disguise! 
• Flash: A flash in the pan! Hot now, but fleeting once it exhausts early adopter segments
• Cash: Money-maker with scalable potential, but ultimately nothing innovative here
• Splash: Fundamentally innovative, and full of transformative potential to fix a real problem

Resources:
www.kaleidoinsights.com 
https://woebothealth.com/ 

Credits: Hype Hazard is designed, developed, and recorded by Jaimy Szymanski and Jessica Groopman. This episode was edited Randall Ward and our theme music was composed by Adam Roszkiewicz.

#mentalhealth #AI #chatbots #mobileapp #woebot #d2c #consumertech