We've got lots of smart folks lined up to speak at Studios this month, starting next week with a FULL Tuesday:

 

11:30 AM: Paul Bennet, CCO of IDEO
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IDEO is a global design company committed to creating positive impact. From designing the first manufacturable mouse for Apple to advancing the practice of human-centered design, IDEO has long been at the forefront of creating change through design. Lunch will be served.

 

6:00 PM: Douglas Rushkoff and Seth Godin
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Douglas Rushkoff will discuss his new book, Team Human, in an interview with the acclaimed author of This Is Marketing, Seth Godin.

 

Though created by humans, our technologies, markets, and institutions often contain an antihuman agenda. Rushkoff, digital theorist and host of the NPR-One podcast Team Human, reveals the dynamics of this antihuman machinery and invites us to remake these aspects of society in ways that foster our humanity.

 

See the whole calendar of upcoming events here.

 

It's hard to avoid jumping on the trend forecast bandwagon this time of year. Fast Company tapped Matt and Peter from the Ventures team for their predictions, along with other venture capitalists, tech analysts, and entrepreneurs. Check out what they have to say about key technologies and opportunities for innovation in the coming year.

 

"In the coming year, we’ll see a number of technologies that blur the boundaries between what is real and what is synthetic...Another part of synthetic media is algorithmically generated content, in which tools like generative adversarial networks create, enhance, or edit media far more efficiently than humans. We’d also put news articles “written” by AI in this category." — Peter Rojas

 

"Society is just beginning to demand ethical consideration along with technological advancement. I think we’ll see this movement toward humane technology gives rise to new business models that are not built on harvesting our attention." — Matt Hartman

 

Our predictions for 2019 probably made it pretty clear, but we are pretty excited about our upcoming accelerator program: Synthetic Camp. The best way to stay on top of the latest synthetic media news is to follow @thebetacamp on Twitter. Applications for Synthetic Camp are still open, don't be shy.

The deal:
Investment from @betaworksVC
11 weeks in-residence @betaworkstudios
Hands-on guidance from the @betaworks team
Learning sessions
Access to our early adopter network
Mentorship from VCs actively investing in your category
Promotional credits

 

And in the spirit of year-in-review, Sarah's recent Medium post is a recap of the Livecamp program and a progress update from the participating teams.