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Hello, and welcome to the HORIZON weekly newsletter. Particularly warm greetings to our many new subscribers - please do forward this on to colleagues and connections in your network who would also enjoy the insights.
Below you will find some hand-picked fresh thought-leadership content, giving you an overview of recent developments, topical innovations, and what we're seeing and hearing out there towards the digital frontier.
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Recent articles
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In the future we may all have Square Eyes.
The term, referencing someone being so fixated on a screen for such a long time that the very shape of their eyes change, was first used back in 1957.
No longer are we just distracted by television: screens - with the marketing and advertisements they carry - are today absolutely everywhere.
Depending on where you live and what you do, you will likely be exposed to anywhere from several hundred to thousands of ads every single day.
They are of course not a modern invention: the first known written advertisement was a papyrus textile fibre (similar to thick paper) from ancient Egypt, dating back to around 3000 BC.
The first newspaper advertisement appeared in the Boston News-Letter in 1704.
The objective aim of ads are to inform, persuade, and remind consumers about products or services - ultimately aiming to increase brand awareness, generate sales, and encourage repeat purchases.
Today ads make our digital lives possible - the mechanism for how and why many of the online services we enjoy (and rely on) do not require an explicit pay-per-use.
As screen technology has progressed, costs have plummeted and almost any flat surface can become a digital ad opportunity for pop-up offers, earworm jingles, and targeted time-bound deals.
Foldable mobile devices offer more digital real estate, and Augmented Reality swimming goggles that project key data points about your workout (with a monthly subscription for the best bits, naturally) are already now.
Soon no realm will be free from relentless marketing: not your car, nor your favourite Artificial Intelligence (AI) companion app, or even the sky above.
We've already seen upsell ads being projected onto in-car displays by manufacturers; one recent example insidiously offered a SUV driver an extended warranty on-screen every time they hit the brakes.
OpenAI is discussing plans to introduce advertising to its AI products, as the ChatGPT maker seeks new revenue sources as it restructures as a for-profit company.
In the air, drone swarms can be brought together to form a gigantic QR code for spectators - or mere bystanders - can use to engage with a brand.
Even above that, astronomers have called for a global ban on space advertising, in hopes that the issue can be nixed amid a period of rapid commercialisation and privatisation in spaceflight.
In 2043 the famous Expressionist painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, will be 150 years old.
One of the most iconic images in art, it is seen as symbolising the anxiety of the human condition.
Perhaps we'll wear a similar agonised face - a scream about the screen - if we can no longer tell what is real from what is artificial, as physical and digital become inexorably intertwined like the graphic accompanying this piece?
What the future looks like - that's up to us.
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Time to begin planning for next-generation tech hardware secured against emerging Quantum threats - soon with enhanced Singaporean flavour.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, suggested recently that the advent of practical Quantum computing may be closer than some predict, potentially within a three to five-year window.
Gartner sees Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) as the second most important technology trend for 2025.
As the realities of Quantum computing come ever-closer, this is likely to have significant repercussions for the digital security we take for granted today.
Once access to practical Quantum computers becomes available, almost all the security algorithms and associated protocols will be vulnerable to criminals, competitors, and other adversaries.
Such is the size and scale of the impact, a successful PQC migration will take time to plan and conduct; it will make the global year 2000 (Y2K) scramble look like a cakewalk...
So much so that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encourages organisations to already proactively prepare for future migration to updated products which provide post-Quantum protection.
NIST recommends that firms establish a Quantum-readiness roadmap, prepare a cryptographic inventory, understand potential supply chain implications, plus engage and align with tech vendors.
The crux of this is to protect current digital infrastructure against future Quantum threats.
Earlier this year a Swiss semiconductor company unveiled Quantum-resistant secure hardware in what they labelled a "world first".
SEALSQ's innovative technology is said to resist both current and Quantum computer attacks, meeting FIPS and Common Criteria standards.
The company is planning a US footprint offering wafer probing, final testing, advanced assembly solutions, and reliability testing - aligning with USA government policy around reduce foreign dependence.
Like any company involved in high-end tech, especially chips, they are hedging given the macro global geopolitical bifurcation and looming tariff-turbocharged trade war to consider.
Whilst the bulk of design and development remains in Europe, SEALSQ already produces hardware today in Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore.
SEALSQ has just announced it is creating a new Singapore subsidiary entity "...that will be dedicated to creating a Post-Quantum Semiconductor Personalization Center".
Singapore is a significant player in the global semiconductor industry, producing 10% of the world’s chips and 20% of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
In April 2022 Singapore set up the National Quantum Office, and released a National Quantum Strategy in April 2024.
Forward-thinking nations along with tech titans like Apple and Samsung are actively getting ready for the future now with research, plans, and action to ensure they will be Quantum-secure; are you?
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The Road Ahead Is Behind You.
An innovation may provide enhanced situational awareness for motorcyclists, increasing safety by effectively giving them eyes in the back of their head.
Though largely accounting for a small proportion of road traffic, in many countries motorbikes account for a disproportionately sizeable share of serious injuries and fatalities as riders are so exposed.
Motorcycles suffer from blind spots directly behind plus to the right or the left of the rider, with even any brief turn of the head to check potentially increasing the likelihood of an accident.
The plug-and-play zūmo R1 Radar from Garmin can be retrofitted to provide monitoring of the proximity of other road users to the biker, particularly important in situations such as dense urban traffic.
Blind-spot monitoring devices are common in contemporary four-wheeled vehicles, being introduced to the sector by Volvo over two decades ago.
Introduced as a factory-fit option on some of its new high-end motorcycles by BMW Motorrad back in 2015, the feature has percolated down to other manufacturers; this new product offers retrofitting to older machines.
Information from the rear-mounted radar detector can be conveyed to the motorcyclist by handlebar-mounted light modules offering a visual cue and giving them additional time to respond appropriately.
Alternatively, these situational awareness warnings may be integrated with a dedicated satellite navigation screen, or a smartphone.
There is also the option of having these safety signals be piped into the helmet if configured with an intercom unit (so need to look away from the road ahead).
The last couple of decades have seen significant advancements of a wide variety of aids aimed at increasing safety for drivers, riders, and the likes of pedestrians.
As in so many facets of modern life, the price of tech progress means buttons are out and touchscreens are in.
Such enhancements like lane keep assist may reduce the probability of an accident, but the associated lights, bings and bongs can also potentially be distracting - and annoying.
Until we reach full Level 5 autonomous capability (where no human input whatsoever is required), in the future we'll see more screens, more software, plus more assistance and augmentation systems in all vehicles.
Some may relish the time where humans become effectively just cargo...
Though for those that crave true automotive freedom - especially on two wheels - the time to enjoy such control and independence, powered by petrol, is very much now!
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Thank-you for reading and being part of our community - we trust you find these original pieces on emerging technology and digital innovation useful, valuable, and thought-provoking as we bridge the gap between today and what future tech might bring tomorrow in Plain English.
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