Mirna Mirna

With homes, cars, and phones getting their fair share of boasting their smart capabilities, it comes as no surprise that tech gadgets and specifically sports and fitness technology have occupied a whopping 4.9K net square feet of exhibit space in this year’s annual Consumers Electronics Show (CES 2019). One can argue that such gadgets do not grow your muscles faster nor get you fit any quicker, yet there is no denying that they do make the process simpler, more efficient and all the more enjoyable. Here are some of the coolest sport gadgets that were featured at CES this year.

JAXJOX Kettlebell Connect

Hailed for being an extremely versatile piece of equipment, the JAXJOX Kettlebell Connect is a smart Kettlebell that allows you to change weights with increments of almost 3 kgs. The kettlebell sets weight range between 6 kgs to 20 kgs and can impressively switch in just under 3 seconds. The piece of equipment is also synced to your phone via Bluetooth 4.0 technology allowing the user to track their reps, sets, weights, and rest time and ultimately analyzing the user’s fitness IQ to see whether he or she is on the right track or not. The gadget is also hailed for its advantage of being space efficient especially for space-savvy as well as traveling fitness professionals.

FightCamp: Boxing Workouts from Home

Like JAXJOX, this product is also riding the wave trend of “fitness from the comfort of one’s own home.” Users can purchase a whole training package that includes the full boxing set or a set of boxing trackers that do most of the magic for this specific piece of equipment. The FightCamp trackers provide boxers with insightful data on their workouts; whether it’s the speed of your jabs or the power of your uppercuts. An extra option provided with the FightCamp is the access to live training given by elite trainers bringing a world-class boxing gym straight to your home.

Welt: Smart Belt

A stylish looking leather belt might not seem like a wearable device, but to those who look closely, it’s a smart wearable that monitors your physical and eating habits by keeping a close lookout on the circumference of your waist, with the latter being a general indicator of health. Affecting a large chunk of the mid-age population, a large waist circumference indicator risks many health complications such as diabetes, cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases among others. Welt monitors such an indicator and provides you with day to day insights as well as health warnings that make sure you don’t tip off your balance and go crazy by overeating on every outing that you claim is your cheat day.

Slighter: Not your Everyday Lighter

Named an honoree at CES 2019, this lighter is definitely not your everyday cigarette lighter. Coming all the way from Lebanon, the company Slighter created a sleek looking device that offers its users a new way to kick the habit. The cigarette lighter learns how frequently you light up in the first week, then personalizes a plan for you in order to reduce how many times you smoke by purposefully not lighting up until you reach your goal. Users can also share the data with their friends and family and can also learn how much they have saved up money along their way to reach their goal of either reducing cigarette consumption or halting smoking entirely.

As the intersection of both sports, fitness, and technology grows even more significant, entrepreneurs and athletes are hoping to increasingly leverage such exciting business opportunities by building on both consumer insights and data-driven research to indeed create what today’s tech-driven consumers want.

In the past few years, consumer needs and purchases have gradually been shifting for a demand in holistic wellness, where people are now driven to invest in products that provide them with unique and positive experiences for their health and wellness like never before.

Wellness has made its way across various sectors and now most notably the beauty industry. Brands like L’Occitane En Provence are now integrating elements of wellness into their product offerings to satisfy all their health-conscious customers. As affluent consumers spend more time researching and reviewing beauty routines brought to them by the active online community, beauty standards are ramping up, and L’Occitane is redefining wellness and beauty to evolving customer expectations.

But, what does wellness necessarily mean at this point? It is a view of life that celebrates the best version of yourself mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. Meditation, organic and natural beauty products, fitness, food, innovations in medical data, and health tracking technology are now becoming dominant lifestyle purchases that help you engage with your health in a unique way all so that you can make conscious choices that contribute to your quality of life in order to achieve a satisfiable and holistic wellness.

A modern-day approach to wellness

With wide access to information, consumer awareness has heightened to viewing health and wellness as more than just a lifestyle choice but a natural and positive state of being. In other words, wellness is more than a trend; it is a customary habit where individuals can express who they are and how they live by their values. Consumers no longer want to purchase products that don’t blend with their values, especially products that may include harmful or mysterious chemicals. The bottom line is that consumers will lean into products that are transparent, honest, organic, and environmentally friendly; products that can accommodate to their taste and preferences and ultimately be their partners when it comes down to making positive life choices.

This on-demand wellness economy has pushed brands to establish a purpose-driven approach in order to deepen their connections with their wide range of consumers. This has posed them to blend wellness into their marketing strategies and innovate their products and offerings so that they can motivate consumers and provide solutions to their day-to-day tensions, concerns, and challenges. As the world of wellness expands, companies that integrate a vision of holistic wellness have an opportunity to impact positive consumer behaviors that defines what they wish to achieve for now and the future to come.

Beauty meets wellness: L’Occitane empowering a wellness experience

Global skincare and luxury beauty brand, L’Occitane En Provence has a natural and intrinsic bond with wellness as it strives to sooth and energize its consumers through its newly launched L’Occitane Café, that was just recently opened in Dubai. By moving beyond its products and in-store experience, L’Occitane intends to provide consumers with experiences that refuel their body and mind through an additional wellness and nutritious experience that encourages their self-reflection. Combining nutrition as part of its lineup of offerings is merely a natural extension of the beauty brand as it provides visitors with a genuine and authentic journey that positively contributes to their wellness.

Authenticity and accessibility not only make products more fun, engaging, and trustworthy but drives brands to explore and provide consumers with a holistic wellness experience. Brands like L’Occitane are able to reach further into their wide-ranging consumer landscape and harness an extraordinary relationship that enhances both beauty and wellness in a natural and passionate way.

2019 is an exciting time in the world of entertainment and cinemas. It’s all about movie sequels, Marvel Studios, and Walt Disney Studios bringing our favorite characters back after a long-time coming. It’s hard to keep track and so we’ve compiled the top movies for you to keep an eye out on, all so that you won’t have to miss out on anything.

January
Serenity

What better way to start the year than with Hollywood’s biggest names and best cast yet brought to you by Avirion Pictures. Featuring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Diane Lane, Jason Clark, Djimon Hounsou, and Jeremy Strong, Serenity tells the story of fisherman, Baker Dill (McConaughey), living a calm and peaceful life until his ex-wife tracks him down and unexpectantly shows up begging for his help. Prepare to follow them on a whirlwind in this anticipated thriller.

February
What Men Want

A remake of the 2000 American romantic comedy film, What Women Want, the Paramount Pictures movie stars Taraji P. Henson as Ali Davis in this lighthearted comedy film where she plays a successful sports agent that is repetitively left out by her male colleagues. She then suddenly gains an ability to hear all men’s thoughts and takes this to her advantage to lead and compete against them. How far will she go to get what she wants and what are the consequences she may overlook? Let’s find out the female capabilities in this hilarious spin-off.

March
Captain Marvel

One of the anticipated films coming from Marvel Studios this 2019 is Captain Marvel as it is in fact Marvel’s first female superhero film. Not much has been revealed about the plot just yet but one thing for sure is that the film will be set in a specific time period – most likely the early 90s. The film will follow Carol Danvers as she suits up into becoming Captain Marvel. She is part of the elite Kree military team, notably known as Starforce that is in a battle against two alien races taking over the world. Enemies like the The Skrulls who took part in Fantastic 4 will be making an appearance. Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson will also make a feature in the film, but during his days before Iron Man 2, Captain America, The Avengers series, etc. and before meeting any superheroes or aliens. To all comic fans, especially avid Marvel fans, it will be very interesting to watch Marvel’s take on a female superhero.

April
Avengers: Endgame

Endgame has become the most awaited film yet this year after Avengers: Infinity War left Marvel Studios die-hard fans with a tragic ending. With several characters disappearing and some tragically murdered, fans were at the edge of their seats questioning what on earth just happened in this particular Marvel universe film. Endgame is meant to answer these questions and while Marvel isn’t giving much away, let alone giving any hints, fans are impatiently waiting for the movie to be released to reveal which characters could be brought back to life and which superheroes will be sadly left to their heartbreaking fate.

May
John Wick Parabellum: Chapter 3

Finally, our most notorious hitman from Summit Entertainment is coming back to screens in the third chapter of John Wick’s franchise movie series: Parabellum. We were last left with Wick being with a bounty on his head by worldwide hitmen under an open contract for $14 million, as he broke the most important rule of all: never kill another hitman on Continental Hotel Grounds. Stakes are high for the world’s greatest assassin as now Wick is in preparation for a global war to fight for his own life. A new exciting newcomer set to grace the screen is Halle Berry, who will take part as “Sofia” and is said to have a number of things in common with John Wick. Can May come sooner?

June
Toy Story 4

It’s been 20 years since the original Toy Story and nine years after the release of Toy Story 3, and now our favorite family franchise Walt Disney animation couldn’t have come at a better time. The new teaser trailer shows all our beloved toy characters holding hands while swaying and smiling. As we make it to Slinky, we are introduced to the latest character in the film, Forky, a disposable spork unhappy to be around the other characters repeatedly screaming out, “I do not belong here!” Forky is dressed in an outfit that Bonnie has seemingly customized for him and is going through an identity crisis as he is coming to terms that he is now a toy in the world rather than just a mere spork.

Invented in 1920, plasters, also known as adhesive bandages, have certainly come a long way from safely covering our wounds, ensuring they heal in their own time, and keeping any microbes away. Fast forward a couple of years later and now bandages are transforming and innovating into electric bandages, all so that your wounds heal and close up faster.

How does an electric bandage work?

Scientists have known for a while that electricity can powerfully speed up the skin healing process than having to rely on the old traditional way of waiting for scars to repair themselves. Sure our skin has some remarkable capabilities of generating new tissue and healing over time, but if you’re badly injured, that can sometimes leave a scar.
Scientists in the US and China developed the self-powered electric bandage that is powered through energy produced by skin movements to generate electrical currents that stimulate healing.
The wearable bandage is made up of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), copper foil, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is hard-wired so that a patient can wear it around their torso, enabling the energy caused through breathing or body movement to move to the affected area and heal it.

How effective is it?

Scientists tested the bandages by placing them on the back of wounded rats and witnessed scarring tissues heal up in as little as three days than the average twelve days it takes naturally. Not only did the electric bandage accelerate healing when looking at it under a microscope, but also showed a substantial decrease in bacteria whilst minimizing infection. The fact that something like a bandage is transforming after 2,500 years demonstrates just how far innovation in healthcare is effective in solving problems and treating wounds, especially when it comes down to deep scars that patients would like to avoid when faced with serious injuries.

What does this mean for the future of healthcare?

Other than dressing wounds, doctors are planning to see if the bandages can be placed inside the body rather than the outer skin. The next goal is to produce materials embedded with robust hydrogel that can cure internal damage and, in this case, the biggest goal is to reach neural networks in the brain.
As innovation heightens so will solutions in healthcare especially when developing materials that could cure and treat the most sensitive impairments and injuries faced by patients today. With more knowledge in this field, making use of electricity and the existing technologies can significantly accelerate healing processes.

Whether it’s the aesthetic appeal of your destination making it all the more “Instagram-able,” or the integration of different social, cultural and technological aspects into the everyday traveler’s journey, 2019 promises to be an exciting milestone for travel. Indeed, and with the advent of booking services as well as social media, consumers are well aware of where to travel; and now it’s time to discover what consumers desire when traveling with the unveiling of the 2019 travel trends.

Travel Companion Chatbots

As much as travel apps are useful for tourists, they are also considered a source of nuisance given that specific apps focus on specific market niches. An app might be able to book your flight; another might offer restaurant recommendations in the vicinity. As a result, many become redundant and occupy a significant amount of space. Travel chatbots, a simple software that interacts with you through chat, are refreshing alternatives that use pre-existing browsers or messaging apps and spares the user from navigating through different layers of information to get an answer to a simple query. Users can ask the bots anything relating to their travels and the bot would automatically answer with the help of its database. As an intricate interface coupled with Artificial Intelligence, these chatbots also get smarter with time as they get increasingly used to travelers’ preferences.

Eco-Friendly Destinations

As eco-conscious generations, Gen Z and millennials are ever more looking for sustainable destinations for their travels. From turning buffet and kitchen scraps into soil nutrients, to launching hydroponic vegetable and fruit farms that help hotels become self-sufficient, and adopting a reduced plastic policy, such initiatives appeal to the eco-conscious consumers. Investments in such initiatives seem to stir big talking points, especially for the younger and upcoming generations. A rising star amongst such destinations is the Jordanian Feynan Ecolodge located deep in the heart of the Dana biosphere reserve resting on Wadi Feynan. A true Bedouin experience, visitors can enjoy unique adventures in the breathtaking desert landscapes by day and rest with the local natives while sipping a cup of sweet tea at night.

Wellness Tourism

As consumers increasingly seek to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life, wellness tourism seems to be the perfect opportunity for such travelers with it hitting the US $639 billion mark. Such trips are centered around providing travelers with opportunities to expand and explore oneself physically, mentally and spiritually. Trips organized around such a concept should include regular exercise, healthy food, and spa treatments. Even destinations sought by business people around the world have added wellness components so that travelers can keep up their healthy lifestyle while abroad. An example that perfectly illustrates such activities is the Juicy Mountain Rustic Health Retreat in Turkey. Visitors get to enjoy a wide variety of delicious juices sourced from local produces and head on to incredible daily yoga, fitness wrought, nature-connected journeys.

Sky Pass Services

For years, travel agencies have promised their customers to book the right airfare price, yet in most situations, trips are reserved and unsure whether prices will change or not. SkyHi, the first of its kind third-party airline service lets you fly up to five times per month without breaking the bank by paying a per month flat fee and booking one-way flights for as low as $35. With its intricate algorithm, the service surfaces departing flights within the next ten days and allows users to book their tickets without having to anxiously refresh their browsers looking for that low priced ticket to their favorite holiday destination. Alongside partnering up with major airliners such as Lufthansa, American Airlines, United and British Airways, SkyHi currently offers flights to premium destinations such as New York City, Paris, London and Toronto all the while adding additional cities to their maps.

Purposeful Travelling

As people’s desire to learn something new while abroad grows and according to booking.com, a travel aggregator and metasearch engine, a staggering 56% of travelers agree that traveling has taught them invaluable life skills, both volunteering and skill-based holidays traveling have become well sought-after destinations. Such purposeful traveling experiences are increasingly becoming more salient for the upcoming Gen Z generation which continuously questions expensive university degrees over life skills learned while traveling.

Undoubtedly, a common factor to such trends is the large degree of personalization that such developments in travel offer. For that same purpose, services centered around tourism have to keep consumers’ preferences in the forefront should they look to stay relevant in the future.