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A new photography concept has launched in Dubai that removes a major reason people feel apprehensive about professional portrait sessions: the photographer. Self.space offers private studios where clients control their own shoots using a remote, capturing unlimited photos in front of a full-length mirror equipped with a professional-grade camera.The 50-minute sessions include AI-powered retouching that processes images automatically, ensuring no human staff sees the photos before they're encrypted and delivered to a password-protected gallery. Each session costs AED 750 and includes access to lighting controls, music selection, makeup facilities and accessories, with the space accommodating up to four people.TREND BITESelf.space highlights how traditional service hierarchies are being dismantled as consumers demand greater control over personal experiences. The traditional photographer-subject dynamic where one person controls while another performs feels increasingly outdated to people who expect ownership of how they're represented. By removing human intermediaries entirely, the concept transforms a potentially uncomfortable situation into an empowering one, allowing customers to be both creator and subject without external judgment or direction.The studio's privacy-first approach is also key. In an era where consumers assume their digital content will be harvested, monetized or mishandled, the promise of zero human contact and AI-only processing becomes a premium feature. Here, artificial intelligence isn't positioned as a disruptive force but as a protective one handling retouching and privacy seamlessly. What other industries could reframe AI as a guardian of consumer autonomy and security?Related: Google's new Camera Coach for Pixel 10 Pro uses Gemini to help users take better photos. Instead of having AI create the image for them, it offers practical, in-the-moment tips on elements like framing, zooming, better angles, lighting, etc.
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
The screen-free movement has gained a stylish new champion as KARRI, a voice-messaging device for children, emerges from an extensive redesign by Jon Marshall at Pentagram. KARRI is a phone alternative developed for kids aged 5-13. It offers connection without a screen, relying instead on voice messages, which can be sent from the device to an accompanying app on a parent's phone (and vice versa), as well as between multiple KARRI units. The interface consists of a simple LED matrix display, regular buttons and a slide-to-talk button.The collaboration with industrial designer Jon Marshall signals a maturing category where alternatives to smartphones for kids are transitioning from niche concern to mainstream necessity. Parents want their children to be reachable, but are worried about handing over devices that grant unfettered internet access. Besides voice messaging, the device also offers GPS tracking and a flashlight. But no screen, no apps, no algorithmic rabbit holes. The KARRI Generation 2 messenger comes in four colors and is on presale at karri.io for launch in early 2026, priced at GBP 49.95 for preorders.TREND BITEMovements like Smartphone Free Childhood, which now counts 140,000 parents across 13,500 schools pledging to delay smartphone adoption until age 14, are creating a market for devices that bridge the gap between no-phone childhood and smartphone adolescence. As screen time concerns intensify and digital wellness becomes a family priority, products that offer selective connectivity communication without distraction or danger occupy valuable territory.
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
Heineken has launched Hijack Socialization, a campaign that disrupts Netflix sessions to nudge audiences toward real-world experiences. Created by Dentsu in partnership with Netflix and Uber Advertising, the initiative targets specific scenes across 75 Netflix productions that feature bars and social gatherings. When these scenes appear, viewers see a message encouraging them to pause their binge-watching and experience the moment in real life, complete with a QR code offering a BRL 25 (USD 4.60) Uber voucher. The campaign, which is distributing 10,000 vouchers across Brazil, runs through October and is limited to one voucher per person for those 18 and older. It's part of Heineken's broader #SocialOffSocials global campaign tackling excessive social media use and positioning Heineken as a catalyst for genuine social experiences rather than just another beverage brand vying for attention in crowded digital spaces.TREND BITEHeineken's Netflix intervention represents a sophisticated approach to combating "continuous partial attention" the modern tendency to split focus between multiple screens and platforms. By literally interrupting the streaming experience at emotionally resonant moments, the brand transforms passive consumption into active participation. The campaign's genius lies in its timing and context: rather than competing with entertainment, it uses entertainment as a launching pad for real-world experiences. Could your brand identify similar intervention points where digital engagement becomes a gateway to offline action?
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
A startup called LYKYN has just introduced what it says is the first consumer-ready smart mushroom-growing chamber. Unlike existing, low-tech kits consisting of a mycelium block in a bag, box or bucket, LYKYN's chamber is a sleek countertop cabinet. The unit's base is outfitted with sensors, fans and a humidifier that work with an accompanying app to automate the often finicky process of mushroom cultivation. Users simply add water, insert a pre-inoculated mushroom block, select their variety through the app and wait for harvest.The device targets both functional wellness and culinary crowds, supporting varieties such as lion's mane and reishi for cognitive benefits, as well as oyster and shiitake for the kitchen. LYKYN designed the chamber as a home appliance rather than a garage hobby project compact and minimal in aesthetic. The timing aligns with surging consumer interest in mushrooms, driven by growing awareness of their health benefits. Designed in California and manufactured in Turkey, the kit is selling for EUR 225.95.TREND BITELYKYN (and its Hungarian competitor Shrooly, which started shipping a similar product a year ago) reframe indoor mushroom growing from a fiddly DIY project to a sleek home appliance. Think of what Nespresso did for coffee or SodaStream for sparkling water: they turned a complex process into a stylish countertop ritual.
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
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