PSFK's PurpleList

Has Apple failed to be part of our work life? Does the flop in sales of the iPhone X reflect a failure for the technology company to be a valuable tool in our digital technology. As we less and less rely on the native apps on our phones and computers, can Apple defend itself in terms of hardware?  In this episode, PSFK founder and editor in Chief provides his pov.  

Tech giant Amazon has launched its new Amazon Go store: a prototype brick and mortar experience in its hometown of Seattle in Washington. In this show, PSFK founder Piers Fawkes talks to two ‘Purplelist’ experts about their reaction: first, Flynn Joffray from Oak Labs who is building store of the future concepts – and then Bonin Bough, a CPG and retail expert.

We spoke with the General Manager of Nike’s NYC Digital Studio and SNKRS app Ron Faris about creating ephemeral communities in a world where Nikes aren’t just shoes anymore, they’re status symbols—like a Rolex, for your feet.

In PSFK’s Fashion Debrief, we spoke to Sefleuria founder and data scientist Jessica Graves about how the future of fashion is not going to be a human or AI situation, but rather an and—what she calls “human-in-the-loop AI”. AI is going to make tools acceptable and powerful for as many designers as possible so they can figure out what it is that consumers want.

For PSFK’s recently launched Fashion Debrief, we sat down with Timo to discuss why we need to rethink the function of fashion design in the 21st century. 

PSFK discusses the legacy, misconceptions and culture of Burning Man with five people from five very different industries. We spoke to Burning Man CEO Marian Goodall, BuzzFeed’s Head of Planning Insights Christine Huang, and Burning Man’s board member and author of ‘Burning Man: Art on Fire” Jennifer Raiser, Flux Foundation co-founder Jess Hobbs and Los Angeles painter and long-time burner Lily Simonson.

No doubt you’ve heard the age-old saying:“starting from small beginnings.” Well, Coss Marte takes that adage to a whole new level with his success story, which he wowed audiences with at PSFK 2017—so much so that he got a standing ovation from the crowd. Sit back and prepare to hear a story that will remind you that people deserve a second chance and that if you have the drive and perseverance, nothing can stop you from turning your life around.

We caught up with Google’s Head of Strategic Planning Abigail Posner to discuss a new ethnographic study their team conducted that examines this transition from storytelling to story living.  

Doc.ai, Scanadu and GenLife founder Walter de Brouwer was so inspired by the tricorder device in Star Trek that he set out to create one IRL. And that he did. Although not yet released on the market,  his team at Scanadu created the Scanadu Scout which you can hold to your temple and it will give you your health results—everything from blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and pulse oximetry—in just 10 seconds. I caught up with Walter to discuss his sci-fi esque predictions on the future of health.

Chas Edwards and his team created Pop-up Magazine in San Francisco in 2009, as a way to get people to interact with stories in a more engaged and ephemeral way.  Although the company is renowned for keeping most of the details under wraps, PSFK got an exclusive scoop from Chas himself about what we can expect from their shows in 2017 and beyond.

In kindergarten, we were taught that stories should have a beginning, middle and end. We were taught to bring them to life using metaphors, analogies and colorful language (like what I’m attempting to do right now). The readers or viewers then took these 2D or 3D  words and images and imagined what that story would have been like if they experienced it themselves. Well, these days, stories aren’t meant to be told. They are meant to be lived. Enter virtual reality – where you can leverage all of your senses – not just one or two – to the fullest extent to inhabit these stories yourself. We caught up with Google’s Head of Strategic Planning Abigail Posner to discuss a new ethnographic study their team conducted that examines this transition from storytelling to story living.

We sat down with IFTTT founder and CEO Linden Tibbets to discuss how IFTTT aims to enable smart home devices to feel rooted in a corpus of seamless, shared experiences.

It’s right up there with slow wifi, those 14 seconds between Netflix episodes or waiting for your Seamless delivery on an empty stomach—being stuck in a pharmacy waiting line. The pharmacy experience of old was one where the pharmacist would know you by name and you’d be in and out before you could even say the word “pharmacy.” These days you wait in line for sometimes hours while the pharmacist scans candy bars and laundry detergent, and then when it’s finally your turn, they’ve run out of your medication. Capsule to the rescue. Dubbed the “next-generation pharmacy here to make your life simpler and healthier,” Capsule is a smartphone app that connects directly to your doctor to deliver your medicine to your home or office at your convenience. As the brainchild of former Bain Capital investor Eric Kinariwala and longtime Walmart pharmacist Sonia Patel, Capsule’s mission is to alleviate the pain points of of going to a pharmacy, which ironically is the place where you’re supposed to get relief from what pains you. We caught up with Eric to discuss why the pharmacy experience is broken and how he’s rebuilding it from the inside out.

According to Caregoals CEO Blaine Warkentine, medicalized deaths filled with unwanted care lead to 30% shorter lives and the last year of life now consumes 60% of all health costs (or 1.5T). In fact, more than two million Americans die each year in an hospital or ICU, with an average of $10,000 dollars per day.  We sat down with Blaine to discuss how the U.S. healthcare system needs to do a better job in facilitating aging improvement and end of life care.  

When people think of life behind bars, it wouldn’t surprise me if they think inmates traffic dirty panties and bury guards in corn fields on the daily, thanks to Orange is the New Black’s sensationalized portrayal of prison life. That said, some of its depictions ring very true to the reality of serving time, like how difficult it is to assimilate back into society upon release. Former NYC drug kingpin and inmate Coss Marte is on a mission to change that with his prison-style fitness studio that opened its doors (or should I say, cell gates) at Saks’ Fifth Avenue’s The Wellery in May. PSFK interviewed Coss at his new studio to discuss how he went from selling drugs on a street corner to running a company on 5th Avenue, alongside racks of designer clothes and shoes.