Abstract Digest #17

Abstract Digest is a collection of this week’s best in news, creativity and business. Let us know on Twitter if we missed any better stories!

Future

Could desert crops become the new sustainable dinner?

Portable particle accelerators may soon become reality.

Shouldn’t smartphones have a passport app?

Driverless buses set to hit public roads for the first time in Switzerland next year.

FB Video: What will happen in 2016? 30 journalists predict the future.

Email a tree!

The megabrew deal is finally happening, as SAB Miller agrees buyout by AB InBev.

Getting punched in virtual reality will soon feel real.

Sainsbury’s eyes 2016 for single customer view personalisation plan.

Sensor-based buying to make up 15% of purchases by 2020.

Ford aims to accelerate self-driving tech by testing in a simulated city.

Present

Four departments agree to meet George Osborne’s cuts target.

Snapchat’s video viewing triples in just six months.

Harvey Nichols focuses on the joy of receiving rather than giving with new Christmas campaign.

Australian cab firm PR stunt backfires on Twitter in a big way.

New flu tracker uses Google search data better than Google do.

The President of the United States gets an official Facebook Page.

NVIDIA’s ‘mobile supercomputer‘ can make machines smarter.

TfL releases first official ‘walk the Tube‘ map for London.

Peep Show is a gift from the social media gods’ – How Channel 4 got Jezza and Mark back on your newsfeed.

Bloomingdale’s apologizes for ‘spike your best friend’s egg nog‘ ad.

Muslim woman donates $1 for every hate tweet received.

This software can detect human emotions in photographs.

Reddit AMA’s with company execs are a great way to generate buzz, but an open platform can backfire spectacularly.

Tomb Raider ‘Survival Billboard’ sees eight daredevils brave the elements

How social media is reshaping global money transfer.

The menace of memes: how pictures can paint a thousand lies.

Past

MPs urge Chancellor to ‘supercharge’ science.

Is John Lewis playing with fire with its Christmas ad?

Has H&M lost control of its fashion collaborations?

Sean Parker on the tech industry’s ‘tricks’: ‘social media feeds our narcissism’.

Get out from behind the desk and into the real world.

Facebook messenger can recognise your face – but will the EU allow it?

Opinion: ‘Privacy is starting to seem like a very 20th century anomaly‘.

How an iPhone changed an injured veteran’s life.

Don’t think you’re superior to me because you’re not on Facebook.

The new tea revolution: is the humble cuppa losing its appeal?

Opinion: We betray the young and their futures by pricing them out of London.

Also

These are the world’s happiest, richest and healthiest countries.

Don’t let your smartphone be lazy: Make it help cure cancer as you sleep.

WordPress now powers 25% of the web.

Learn how to code with Star Wars.

How big is Snapchat? (Warning: Flashing images).

Man pretends to be blind to test people’s honesty.

100 women directors Hollywood should be hiring.

See London through the eyes of a self-driving car.