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Construction of new homes and a Costco is underway in south Napa on Kaiser Road, on the former Napa Pipe site. The project is now called RiverSound.
Craiker
I’m always curious about businesses that collapse as new technologies explode and take over. Buggy whips versus the automobile, vinyl records versus the internet, video stores verses streaming. The list goes on and on. Some industries are able to adapt, as had the print media finding its place. Some of the earliest automobiles were electric but that failed to take hold. Yet, as new electric cars technology explodes, the international auto industries are able to keep up.
The rise of one 20th century technology giant, Kodak, only to fall to an upstart technology — digital imagery — that they had a hand in creating. Kodak’s management failed to recognize the potential of digital cameras as they were more concerned about the cannibalization of their then profitable film and paper business. In 1981 when Sony introduced the first consumer digital camera, Kodak executives laughed.
Adapting to technological advances is essential for any industry to capture and use it aggressively. Being open to new innovation in rapidly changing times is essential for survival today. An industry’s resistance to change can be its death. For Kodak, its reluctance to embrace digital technology and its over dependence on one product — film and paper photography — led to its downfall.Â
By the early 2000s, Kodak was already in a world of trouble both losing market share to its competition and to the exploding digital world. By 2004 digital camera sales had surpassed film camera for the first time and Apple was the leader. In 2004, Apple’s net income was $266 million. By September of 2007 they had grown to $3.5 billion. Today, they are worth over $3. 21 trillion, second only to Microsoft at $3.342 trillion. Kodak, the pioneer of digital, had no strategic long-term long-range plan and its leadership was paralyzed. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy and today is but a shadow of its former self.
The dream of technology innovation in construction is anything but a reality today.
This can happen everywhere, even among our own industries. For the construction industry, technology is far from taking over. Robots could have a large impact in our construction and AI could expedite projects’ quicker delivery.
The construction industry likes to tote the innovative technology methods of construction, but they are limited to making faster computations, CAD drafting, building information modeling or BIM, limited drone work and the Holy Grail: prefabrication of housing components in factories. The dream of technology innovation in construction is anything but a reality today.
Traditional construction is heavily dependent on labor — skilled and unskilled — combined with traditional clunky product delivery to a construction site. Prefabrication and automation is restricted to factories producing cabinets, doors, windows and appliances. Entire products such as a total mobile home are limited to pre-designed products and changing the design an inch or two becomes costly. But we all know, the more off-site work that can be performed, the more efficient, and cost effective, the process.
Advances in technology can streamline the construction industry such as:
All of these techniques will require more upfront investment but in the long run, the $1.8 trillion industry — and the American public — will benefit enormously. Various tech giants like Apple are developing high quality operating systems and apps, to help expedite the construction industry by transforming jobs from hammer and apron belt to iPad savvy workers.
Who knows? Maybe in our grandkids’ lifetime.
People left behind 2 million items at airports in 2023, according to The Unclaimed Baggage Found Report. Just 10% of lost item requests are found.
Whether it’s a beloved piece of jewelry or car keys, misplacing items is a stressful—and time-consuming—part of life. A 2023 Lostings survey found on average, a person spends 2.5 days a year looking for items they lost. But new tech innovations stand to decrease that statistic dramatically.
Tile, a Bluetooth tracker company, compiled travel industry data, news reports, and product information to illustrate how technology is reshaping the landscape of lost items.
When Andrew Jensen and Meredith VanAcker’s vehicle was towed without notice to an unknown location, the couple spent a week cycling along their Brooklyn neighborhood’s streets, key fob in hand, trying to find the car. The couple joined the ranks of tech-savvy individuals pursuing an end to lost items: They outfitted their car with an e-tag to track its location in real time.
It’s not just individuals: Hotels are also adopting digital lost-and-found technology. New apps can streamline the otherwise painstaking process of inventorying items left behind in rooms. Employees can photograph lost items using the app, which identifies the image with auto-tags that can even identify brand logos—and links the item to a GPS location stored in the app’s database that other staff members can quickly access.
Next time you’re on the go, consider the forthcoming hacks for leveraging tech to keep track of your most valued possessions.
Get some backup using Bluetooth trackers—but know the limits of their radius and battery life. Valerie Szybala’s lost luggage fiasco went viral in late 2022 when the tracking device she installed on her suitcase showed her misplaced baggage taking a circuitous journey to reconnect with her—including stops at a McDonald’s and at an apartment complex that was not Szybala’s. A rep for the airline at the time claimed the luggage was in a secure location.
Tracking devices can locate items using Bluetooth technology. This technology sends an encrypted, anonymized SOS-like signal between mobile devices nearby to help pinpoint the location of whatever’s tagged.
Different products are compatible with various smartphones, computers, and apps. Whatever product you use, check on the e-tag’s battery life. Some products have a battery that lasts a year; others claim three years of use. Similarly, each product has a different range, with GPS trackers offering the furthest range of detectability without relying on a phone that must be reasonably close to maintain a Bluetooth connection.
Bluetooth technology can update users on the location of their items tagged with the product when they’re within range. It works with Amazon’s Alexa system, so you don’t need to look at an app; instead, you can simply say, “Alexa, find my…”
When e-tags don’t make sense, stick a Bluetooth or QR code label on them. You can outfit bike helmets, reusable water bottles, hard-shell luggage, and other small items with QR-coded stickers that, when scanned, reveal a custom message and contact information to facilitate the item’s return. The stickers are less bulky and more affordable than e-tags.
According to the 2024 Uber Lost and Found Index, luggage, headphones, wallets, laptops, and tablets are among the top 10 most commonly forgotten items. All of these can be easily fitted with a QR sticker for simple returns.
Travel with an airline that uses RFID tag tracking. In 2016, Delta became the first major airline to utilize radio frequency identification tags. RFID tags are more efficient than barcode trackers but are only implemented in 27% of airports, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Air transport technology provider SITA reported the number of mishandled bags that were delayed, lost, stolen, damaged, or pilfered from 2021-2022 doubled across airlines and airports. The majority of mishandled luggage was attributed to staff shortages post-COVID.
Worldwide, 44% of airlines have adopted an international resolution to provide baggage tracking systems to follow luggage from check-in to arrival. By 2025, 67% of airlines plan to offer real-time information on travelers’ luggage—up from 25% in 2023, according to SITA.
Keep it simple by leveraging your phone’s settings. Instead of simply retracing your steps, many cell phones offer easy options to remember where an item was left. When you leave a designated location, you can use the reminder app to notify you of items you must not forget.
Google Maps and Apple Maps allow users to save their parking location within the app. But sometimes, just taking a picture of the street signs where you parked your car is enough to jog your memory—and save you a jog around the neighborhood—to remember where it was.
Story editing by Nicole Caldwell. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.
This story originally appeared on Tile and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Chris D. Craiker AIA/NCARB has worked on modular housing for 50 years.
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Construction of new homes and a Costco is underway in south Napa on Kaiser Road, on the former Napa Pipe site. The project is now called RiverSound.
The dream of technology innovation in construction is anything but a reality today.
Craiker
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