Web Secret 395: 2028

2016 is around the corner, and with the new year looming, it's time to look back.

Or maybe look forward.

To 2028.


So let's recap. (My comments in italics.)

In 2028

• Islam will be the world's largest religion with 2.2 billion followers
• The "average" person in the world will be a 34 year old Indian man.
• 50% of today's jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence
• 3D printing will mean many products will be produced on location. (Like in your home.)
• Most cars will be driverless
• The entire contents of the Internet will be able to be stored on DNA.
• The most valuable and fought over resource will be water.
• 1 in 3 people will live beyond 100 years of age.
• Chinese will be the most widely spoken language. (But we will have Star Trek like universal translators that will convert our speech when we speak to one another.)
• The Chinese economy will have been the largest for 14 years.

Looming over everything technology. Which has the power to enrich and the potential to overpower life as we know it.

Happy New Year.

Web Secret 394: Headspace

Meditation is being touted as a cure all for stress, stomach problems, anxiety, and just about everything else.

The problem is - and I say this as a self confessed meditation dropout - I never seem to find the time to practice it.

Headspace changes that, presenting itself as "a gym membership for the mind." And like a gym membership, it will cost you: $12.95 a month, or by a one year membership (equates to a monthly fee of $7.95.

Not sure about your commitment? Download the app and try it for free.

And find out more by watching the video.

Om.

Web Secret 393: When your phone is gone

I have only lost my cellphone once.

It fell out of my improperly closed handbag in Times Square. It was December 27, 2013. After a performance of Twelfth Night with the amazing Mark Rylance.

You can only imagine the trauma.

Fortunately for you and me, the New York Times came out with a handy blog post on how to mitigate this all too common disaster.

Here is author Katie Benner's primer on how to track and disable your smartphone if it goes missing.

1. FIRST, go into settings to enable the phone to back up your data and send you its location. If you have an iPhone, go to settings and tap iCoud. Turn on iCloud Backup, Find My iPhone and Send Last Location.

2. IF YOUR DEVICE GOES MISSING, you can then sign into iCloud.com or use the Find My iPhone app to see your device on a map, lock the device and place a message on the home screen with a contact number.

3. IF THE PHONE IS REALLY GONE, you can remotely protect the data by clicking the Erase iPhone button on iCloud or the Find My iPhone App. If you have backed up your phone in iCloud, you should be able to download all your information onto a replacement device.

4. FOR ANDROID PHONES, go into the device’s settings and then into security to activate the Android Device manager to track and erase a misplaced phone. If you are logged into your Google account, you can also type “find my phone” into a Google search box and see your phone on a map and make it ring, though you can’t lock or erase the phone.

Remember to do step one BEFORE you lose your phone.

Before.

Web Secret 392: The Lot

I don't know about you, but I avoid going to movie theaters like the plague.

The average venue in New York City is dirty, the audience badly behaved and the food is vile and unhealthy.

Why expose myself to that, when I can watch the film in the comfort of my home on Hulu, Netflix, Fios on Demand, and more?

If only "The Lot" existed in the Big Apple...

Movie tickets at The Lot cost $23. Tickets at my neighborhood theater cost $14.50.

Expensive, you say. But here's the thing:

For less than $10 more, The Lot provides:

• A state of the art movie screen and sound system
• Grey leather armchairs that transform into comfy reclines at the push of a button
• Gourmet food, wine, beer served on my personal tray table by an attentive waiter
• Immaculate restroom facilities
• A max of 80 people in each theater.

In La Jolla, California. Where I don't live.

I was lucky to visit La Jolla.

Saw "The Martian," (a great movie by the way,) in splendor, in comfort - while eating fish tacos and sipping a California Sauvignon Blanc. I topped it off with caramel popcorn (one of 5 varieties offered.)

It was wonderful.

More are slated to open. I can only hope that The Lot comes to your neignborhood. And mine.

Real soon.

Web Secret 391: Mint

How do you manage your bills, your cash flow and your budget?

Do you balance your checkbook once a month, hoping you come with in $250 of what you think it should be? Do you even use a checkbook? If you're my college age twins, you just hope you have money in your account to pay for your next meal.

If you're ready to move on from haphazard money management, you're ready for Mint.

Intuit, the same people who tortured use with QuickBooks, (a user unfriendly, nightmare product with a STEEP learning curve,) is seeking to make amends. Mint is effortless, FREE, and comes with a companion app.



How refreshing.