Happy Holidays from Technology Futures, Inc. and MiniTrends – Verse by Dr. John Vanston, Design by Helen Mary Marek

December 24, 2011

For 33 years, we at Technology Futures have created our own holiday cards, selecting a theme that reflects a recent event or trend. Typically Dr. John Vanston, TFI Chairman, writes the verses and Helen Mary Marek, TFI Creative Director (and John’s daughter),  designs the cards. This year we were intrigued that researchers at CERN in Switzerland have apparently caused neutrinos to travel faster than the speed of light which has long been considered the maximum possible speed. Clearly this speed has been exceeded for centuries by a familiar jolly elf!

 

(Earlier Original Holiday Cards by TFI: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)

MINITRENDS Wins Pinnacle Best Business Book Award

December 22, 2011

Technology Futures, Inc. is pleased to announce that MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends by Dr. John H. Vanston with Carrie Vanston has won the Pinnacle Book Acheivement Best Business Book Award. This award is in addition to several earlier book awards received this year.

According to Dr. Vanston, “Many people will be starting the New Year with resolutions to achieve new goals. I am gratified with the attention MINITRENDS is receiving because I believe the book provides a path to make those goals a reality. The best way for individuals and businesses seeking to start new ventures or keep existing business innovative and competitive is to be constantly on the lookout for emerging trends that are not yet widely recognized. MINITRENDS helps people do just that by providing a mindset and process for initial idea generation and techniques to analyze and exploit these ideas.”

Based on Dr. Vanston’s more than 30 years of experience in identifying and applying technical, social, and business trends, MINITRENDS provides practical guidance to individuals and organizations of all sizes for extracting business opportunities from emerging trends that have a realistic chance of becoming profitable in the next 2-5 years. The book assists the reader in launching their own exciting, profitable “Minitrend Adventure” using their creativity, foresight, innovative nature, and basic good sense.

Additional accolades for MINITRENDS include an Eric Hoffer Business Book of the Year Award and finalist nods from ForeWord Reviews’ Business Book of the Year, USA Book News’ Entrepreneurship & Small Business Book of the Year, and Dan Poytner’s Global eBook Awards Business Book of the Year. Excellent endorsements and testimonials have also been received from top futurists Joseph Coates and David Pearce Snyder and many other opinion leaders and publications.

For more information on Minitrends, please visit the Minitrends Website or contact us by e-mail or (512) 258-8898.  (Click here to purchase book.)

For 33 years, TFI has helped organizations plan for the future by offering outstanding technology and telecommunications forecasting services and custom forecasts for key trends to high-technology and telecom organizations.

PRESS, MEDIA, BLOGGERS: Please contact Carrie Vanston at info@tfi.com or (512) 258-8898 if you are interested in doing a Minitrends article, to request an interview with Dr. Vanston, or to request a review copy of MINITRENDS.

“Almost President” Book Mirrors “MINITRENDS” Book on Value of Losing Presidential Candidates Platforms for Finding Trends

December 8, 2011

In the “Where to Search for Minitrends” section of our book MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends, Carrie Vanston and I note that an interesting indication of emerging trends can be found by examining the platforms of losing presidential candidates. Although most people pay little attention to the platforms of these candidates,  a great deal of insight can be gleaned from inspection of these platforms. From this insight, Minitrends may be found that lead to positive business opportunities.

A new book, Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race but Changed the Nation, by Scott Farris, expands on this issue. Mr. Farris mentions, for example, Tomas Dewey’s changing the focus of the Republican Party from opposing the New Deal to accommodating it, Barry Goldwater’s vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that converted the South from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party, and the role of William Jennings Bryan in shaping the Democratic Party into the progressive one. These ideas reflect the ones described in our book, i.e., Adlai Stevenson’s 1956 advocacy of a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which was signed in 1963, Barry Goldwater’s laying the ground work in 1964 for the Reagan Revolution, and Al Gore’s emphasis on Global Climate Change which not only raised awareness of environmental concerns around the world, but also led to his winning an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and Nobel Peace Prize.

Robert K. Landers does a nice review on the book entitled Influence Instead of Victory for the Wall Street Journal.

Carrie and I are looking forward to other authors writing about the other eight Minitrends discovery sources we describe in our book.

John H. Vanston, Ph.D.
Chairman, Technology Futures, Inc.
Author, MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends