Future Stories TheJournal.ie

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode twelve: The Future Of Paying For Things.

It’s time to do the weekly food shop. You sit down on the couch, strap a VR headset on, and browse the aisles of your local supermarket.

Or maybe you feel like getting out of the house, so you head to the supermarket IRL, load up on dinner supplies, and walk out. No need to queue at the checkout - the scanners can tell exactly which items you have in the trolley, and your payment implant means you can pay with the wave of a hand.

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears about the future of buying things: from VR and AR shopping, to biometric payments by eyeball, to the not-so-distant future of a digital Euro.

Bought in? Join us as we look ahead to the future of paying for things.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough
Editor: Tracy Tough
Theme Music: Glenn Malone
Additional Music and Mastering: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland
Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):
Bruce Burke, founder of #PAY Symposium & Exposition
Reuben Godfrey, co-founder of the Blockchain Association of Ireland

Audio of Philip Lane, copyright European Union 2019 - European Parliament. [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20190226-0900-COMMITTEE-ECON]

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode eleven: The Future Of Being A Great Pet Owner

One in three Irish households own a dog, and one in four own a cat, according to Statista. But we don't just "own" our animals. Many of us see our pets as friends or loved ones. And the more we consider our pets to be humans, the more invested we become in their wellbeing.

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears from a bioacoustic researcher developing an algorithm that can decode dogs' barks, so humans can understand what their pet is trying to tell them.

Plus, a celebrity pet invasion: Tracy speaks to a UK pet agent who represents Instagram-famous cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, and more - including one Wexford chihuahua with over 50,000 followers.

Curious? Join us as we look ahead to the future of being a great pet owner.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough
Editor: Tracy Tough
Theme Music: Glenn Malone
Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland
Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):
Ann Vine, friend of narrator
Paula Stewart, Urban Paws UK
Tamas Faragó, bioacoustics researcher
John Pender, senior lecturer at Sligo IT

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode ten: The Future Of Dating

Around 57 million people have Tinder on their smartphones, and the app registers over one billion “swipes” per day, according to the BBC. But are dating apps the only way forward, or is the future a little more varied than that?

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears about the growing popularity of virtual dating assistants, who’ll take over your online dating profiles and flirt with potential matches on your behalf (for a fee).

Plus, she speaks to the team at Guerilla Science who run multi-sensory dating evenings, allowing people to get to know their dates by scent or sound alone.

Curious? Join us as we look ahead to the future of dating.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough
Editor: Tracy Tough
Producer: Paula Lyne
Theme Music: Glenn Malone
Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland
Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):
Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin, journalist
Jen Wong, director, Guerilla Science UK
Willie Daly, matchmaker

Source for Tinder figures: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42988025

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode nine: The Future Of Doing Your Makeup

Instead of having to re-do your face for a night out, what if your makeup could re-do itself, thanks to colour-changing particles?

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears from the people whose job it is to predict upcoming beauty trends for some of the world’s big brands. Plus, she meets the team behind HiMirror, a voice-activated mirror enabled with skin analysis tech. And she goes to the trenches, speaking to millennials as they prep their hair and makeup for a night on the town

Join us as we look ahead to the future of beauty.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough
Editor: Tracy Tough
Theme Music: Glenn Malone
Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland
Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):
Michael Nolte, Creative Director of Beautystreams
Cin-Yee Ho, Marketing and Business Development Manager Europe, HiMirror
Skincare and makeup fans: Clara, Helen and Rebecca
Audio clips from HiMirror used with full permission

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode seven: The Future Of Cleaning Your House

The average adult spends 3.5 years of their life doing household chores, but could you soon be living in a home that does the cleaning (and cooking) for you?

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough meets Mark Oleynik, the man behind the world’s first robotic kitchen, speaks to Prof John Barrett of CIT’s Nimbus Research Centre about what’s coming in smart home tech, and visits a new Dublin hotel with its own robot butlers.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of cleaning your house.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough
Editor: Tracy Tough
Theme Music: Glenn Malone
Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland
Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):
Mark Oleynik, CEO Moley Robotics
Professor John Barrett, Nimbus Research Centre, CIT
Brook Cameron, construction manager at Aloft Dublin
Audio clips from Moley Robotics used with full permission

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode seven: The Future Of Getting A Good Night’s Sleep.

Finding your dreams a little boring of late? Just add in some better music, brighter colours or more interesting scenery. And when you wake up, you can always rewind and check out the best bits.

As well as helping us figure out how soundly we’re sleeping, technology can be used to enhance our sleep in many ways - from ‘hacking’ our central nervous system so we can liven up our dreams to recording everything we dream about to be replayed later.

And if you’re having trouble drifting off in the first place, a cuddly sleep robot might help lower your heart rate and get you into shut-eye mode. This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough meets one of the founders of Somnox, and speaks to leading futurist Ian Pearson.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of your night’s sleep.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough
Editor: Tracy Tough
Theme Music: Glenn Malone
Additional Music: Mick Donoghue and Luke Denigan
Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):
Julian Jagtenberg, co-founder of Somnox
Ian Pearson, Futurizon