... 'I will never live a day without them'. 

Google's gizmo is a wearable computer with a head-mounted display [HMD] under development by Google's Project Glass research and development project, with the mission of producing a mass-market ubiquitous computer.

Google Glass displays information in a smartphone type hands-free format that interacts with the internet via natural language voice commands.

While the frames do not currently have lenses fitted to them, Google is considering partnering with sunglass retailers such as Ray-Ban and may also open retail stores to allow customers to try out the device.

The Explorer Edition can't be used by people who wear prescription glasses, but Google has confirmed that Glass will eventually work with frames and lenses that match the wearer's prescription.

The glasses will be modular and therefore possibly attachable to normal prescription glasses.

View GoogleGlass video.

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... enabling objects to self-assemble.

Such technology could be used to install objects in hard-to-reach places such as underground water pipes, suggests Mr Tibbits who explained what the extra dimension involved.

It might, for example, herald the age of self-assembling furniture and other items. Even, eventually, buildings, say TED attendees.

Mr Tibbits, a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology self-assembly lab, told the BBC: "We're proposing that the fourth dimension is time and that over time static objects will transform and adapt."

The process uses a specialised 3D printer that can create multi-layered materials. It combines a strand of standard plastic with a layer made from a "smart" material that can absorb water.

The water acts as an energy source for the material to expand once it is printed.

"The rigid material becomes a structure and the other layer is the force that can start bending and twisting it," said Mr Tibbits.

"Essentially the printing is nothing new, it is about what happens after," he added. Tibbits also foresees that such a process could in future be used to build furniture, bikes, cars and even buildings.

"We are looking for applications and products that wouldn't be possible without these materials," he added.

TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading."

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... its Axe and Hellmann's brands.

Meantime, an article in this week's Advertising Age reports that brand programs are still at the development stage, with the Samsung partnership focussing on advertising and content creation for smart TVs, smart appliances and mobile applications.

And, explains Ms Tifford, the deal finalised last week with Sony is based on "understanding how central the role of music is for some of our brands and how we can work with Arcade."

Tifford says that the EA Sports partnership stems from understanding that "whether it's the young mom or the young male, gaming is a critical part of their lives."

The latest round of alliances supplement Unilever's existing deals with Twitter, Google and Apple, which last year included a customizable graphic novel for the iPad.

Taking no pause for breath, Ms Tifford hypes: "A lot of these partners are coming to us so they can crack the code on how to communicate with the rest of the advertising community because they know we're incredibly tough [and] incredibly demanding, but that also helps them shape their offerings, so when they go to the next advertiser they're equipped to answer their questions."

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... the missing pieces that link the social value chain.

This year's most fashionable buzzword - "multichanne marketing" - is the magnet that is attracting outside competition to the digital space, Forrester says.

The researcher cites such interlopers as search marketing agency Covario, digital marketing suite and demand side platform specialist IgnitionOne, digital marketing technology company Kenshoo, and The Search Agency - plus some of the biggest independent search agencies and platform providers.

Social dialogue increasingly makes consumers part of building the brand, and brands are taking that conversation to TV.

Earlier this month, Twitter acquired social TV analytics firm Bluefin Labs. This followed an alliance with Nielsen in December to create the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating using the SocialGuide platform. 

Yesterday IgnitionOne released a report - The Integrated Marketing Playbook - which outlines cross-channel optimization.

The firm contends that social and search marketing flow naturally together because brand marketers believe their companies are "social by design".

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... even more agency ingestions. 

The coalition, led by so-called 'corporate advisory boutique' Clarity Capital Partners [CCP], predicts a boom in mergers and acquisitions this year as the big holding groups step up their acquisition efforts, especially in digital and social media.

The biggest takeover in Britain last year was the £3.2bn purchase of Aegis by Japan's Dentsu, in addition to which there were a series of other deals, including the sale of Adam & Eve to Omnicom, BBH to Publicis and AKQA to WPP.

"We expect this level of activity to continue," says Marcus Anselm, partner at CCP, who described this trend of big groups using acquisitions as a means to grab talent as "acquahire".

Anselm cites the sale of Adam & Eve, on which he advised, as an example. Omnicom has used the agency, known for its acclaimed John Lewis ads, to inject energy into its existing subsidiary DDB, by merging the two shops to form Adam & Eve/DDB.

According to stockbroker Brewin Dolphin, more than 90% of takeovers in the advertising sector last year were for companies with a value below £30m, while roughly 70% were specialists in digital advertising.

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... now."

The roadhouse is one of only six locations in the world outfitted with Tesla 'Superchargers' - six feet tall white slabs sited away from the gas pumps, as if implying they want no part of such primitive old technology.

Gloats the Forbes journalist: "Plugging in my sleek, silver $85,000 Tesla Motors Model S for a half-hour charge that will get me another 150 miles of range, a guy filling up his SUV ambles over. “How much is that costing you?”

“It’s free,” I reply. 

Solar panels supply the electricity at Supercharger stations, with a 500-kilowatt-hour supersize version of its car battery as backup storage.

That drives the cost of each station up to $250,000, but Tesla's backer Elon Musk says the solar panels will pay for themselves in a few years and his firm can sell stored power back to utilities.

According to Forbes.com, Tesla claims it is paying little or nothing to lease space for the charging stations. "Tesla so far has installed six supercharging stations in California and believes it will take only 100 locations to provide free coast-to-coast coverage, at a cost to the company of $25 million," writes Mr Woody.

So why does Woody believe that the future of 'Big Oil' is at threat?

“The clearest way to convey the message that electric cars are actually better than gasoline cars is to say charging is free," he says.

"Two major wild cards are at play. The first is China, the world’s biggest car market and one unabashedly interested, given its oil import dependency, in electric vehicles.

"The Chinese government has decreed that 5 million of them should be on the road by 2020 but has yet to decide on fixed or swappable batteries as the standard. China’s scale can decide the winner.

“Whoever is successful in this race in China will get the government to sanction and say, "This is the way to go," believes Ofer, an old China hand who has spent the past few years giving Better Place an inside track with Chinese policymakers, party bosses and automakers.

“They’re going to experiment for a while,” he adds. “And that’s why we need to move as fast as possible there.”

The second - and perhaps the more formidable - wild card is Warren Buffett, whose venture capital firm Berkshire Hathaway owns a 10% stake in BYD, a Chinese automaker that makes electric cars on Musk’s standard: non-swappable batteries.

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... self-styled status as a soothsayer."

Burrell believes that the title's UK edition is at a pivotal point in its relatively short history, transitioning from a monthly paper product into a business that supplements its revenues with exclusive events, bespoke consultancy services and a retail project, all trading on its reputation for being able to predict the future.

Argues Burrell: "It's a journey that, to varying degrees, the entire print media needs to make but if anyone should know the way to the higher ground it really should be Wired". 

Earlier this month the journal staged Wired 2012, described by its editor David Rowan as "a pretty high ticket price" event [£1600 per head to be exact], for which around forty visionary speakers were parachuted into London from as far afield as the USA, India and South Korea.

Said Rowan prior to the event's opening: "Wired doesn't go in for cosy discussions. There are no panels, they don't work – I go to thirty conferences a year."

For their money, attendees received not just the wisdom of tech pioneers such as Tumblr founder David Karp but also forward-thinking creative artists such as the designer Thomas Heatherwick and the actress and social media entrepreneur Lily Cole.

Editor Rowan works closely with speakers to ensure their talks are well-conceived and not verbose. "Our brand is about tight editing and excellence of design and we have to convey that on stage as well."

Carving down to the real beef, delegates were able to fraternise with hackers, computer security experts and brain scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As Rowan puts it: "We want to ensure the networking is fantastic so that everyone you meet is worth a long conversation."

Additionally, Rowan is eagerly pursuing retail revenues that also raise his brand's profile via a pop-up Wired store where visitors can sample products chosen by the magazine's editorial team.

But "it's more of an experience than a retail palace," he modestly avers.

It mirrors other Condé Nast ventures such as the Vogue cafes in Moscow and Dubai and a Russian GQ bar. Sited in London's Regent Street (rather than in trendy Old Street among the 'Silicon Roundabout' cyber-startups), befitting a print title that carries upmarket advertisers such as Burberry and Audi.

How long before the fast diminishing number of paper publishers seize similar lifeline?

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... their respective new smartphones and tablets.

Moreover, the tech-savvy UK market (which is small compared to the US) would be an ideal test-bed for the technology. So how would such a scheme work?

The answer is 'White Space' which exists because the TV broadcast frequency in, say, London can’t be used in, say, Oxford, as the huge London transmitter would interfere. But on the far side of the Oxford transmitter the London frequency is empty ('white') and can be used for other applications without impacting on TV reception.

When 'White Spaces' were first mooted, the idea was for devices to detect and avoid existing transmissions, but such a plan is both impossible and impractical (despite the best efforts of both Google and Microsoft).

Devices are therefore required to call up a national database to get a list of locally available bands.

The technological trick is to use this 'white space' to utilise spare frequencies not being used locally for TV transmissions. These frequencies would interfere with neighbouring transmitters if used for TV broadcasting but can be used for short-range radio links – taking advantage of the building penetration and range that the frequencies permit.

But it’s the economics of this reported plan that are really clever!

Spectrum is, of course, a limited resource. This is why the telecoms companies and TV broadcasters are willing to pay such vast sums of money for access to and ownership of it.

However, this white space isn’t usable by either of them. But it is usable by something like a Wi-Fi service.

While such a service doesn’t in itself have mega-money making potential, it’s cheaper than those other slices of spectrum. Indeed, it’s thought and assumed that the wi-fi service will be free as long as devices connect with the central database and tune in to what they’re permitted to use.

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... the environment.

Once considered a niche playing field, green retailing has moved from “nice to have” to “must have” as both customer and regulatory demands tighten for the industry.

And some of the biggest players are leading the charge to more environmentally aware practices. Tesco has loudly proclaimed its intention to become “a leader in helping to create a low-carbon economy.”

To achieve this, according to ceo Terry Leahy, "Tesco will transform its business model so that reduction of our carbon footprint becomes a central business lever".

With the likes of Tesco, Co-op as well as Sainsbury, Home Depot, Marks & Spencer, Starbucks, Zara and WalMart leading the way, not having a distinct environmental plan built into retail strategies has become the exception, where only a few years ago it was the rule.

What to expect then in 2020?

• Premium pricing for environment-friendly products, more low-energy production, and the creation of new and higher standards for ethical trading.
   
• Service and in-store experience continue to break out of the “one-size-fits-all” offering. Both are becoming more individualized and specialized for specific target groups.

• Today’s shoppers are, of course, a highly differentiated demographic that promise to become even more so in the future.
   
• Working women, baby boomers, singles, teenagers and even children want products, services and shopping experiences that are as distinctive as they are themselves.

Leading retailers aim to satisfy these requirements by diversifying. Hence the trend to niche stores, like those for “tweens” (9-12 year olds); or Footlocker’s partnership with Nike, its biggest supplier, to launch a network of specialty House of Hoops basketball stores across the US.

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... similar schemes backed by Barclaycard, Visa, Paypal and Google.

Claims OEEV: "It will give consumers a simple and secure shopping experience, allowing them to purchase goods and services using their handsets in physical locations such as shops, using contactless technology, as well as online."

The trio also aver that the plan will make it easier for retailers and others to offer discounts and other incentives without the need to issue paper coupons or plastic account cards. 

Meantime a spokesman for rival network Three said it hoped to be involved at some point soon, while offering no hint as to whether or not this would be a solo venture.

Quoth Three's mouthpiece: "We are pleased the European Commission has taken a thorough look at the proposed m-commerce joint venture.

"We are still studying the detail but we understand that its investigation has found no significant competition issues. We will continue to monitor developments closely and look forward to the invitation to become a customer of the joint venture on the same terms as all participating UK mobile operators."

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