In this episode of The Digital Life, we recount our favorite episodes of the past five years; With guests like Luke W, Soren Johnson, Brenda Brathwaite, David Gray, and a host of others, the ride has been a fun one so far. We’ll continue our coverage of UX, design, tech and culture and look forward to the next 100.

In this episode of The Digital Life we discuss recent news in emerging technology.

Big fashion houses and experimental designers alike are flocking to smart clothing as the latest expression of wearable technology. Sensors combined with online connectivity, are enabling information flow directly from our clothing — whether it’s measuring heart rate for sport, flexibility for rehabilitation, or Tweets for fun.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed new regulations for commercial drone flights.

And Apple might be taking on Tesla and General Motors by venturing into one of the most complex product areas: the electric car.

Join us as we dig into these topics from a UX and design perspective.

Across the United States, from New York to Los Angeles to Boston, there are a variety of new initiatives to develop Smart City services, using sensor technology and the Internet of Things to improve the quality of urban living.

Examples of these initiatives range from well-coordinated transportation services using big data to reduce traffic congestion and save commuters time and fuel, to public safety and security services controlling police dispatch, municipal repairs, and even snow removal.

In this episode of The Digital Life, we discuss the long-term implications of designing Smart Cities, and the potential pitfalls of such wide-ranging projects, as the digital infrastructure of our environment grows.

The Super Bowl last weekend was a testimony to the integration of technology at the highest level of sporting competition — from the ultra high-definition cameras for broadcast clarity, to the tablet displays for reviewing plays with coaching staff, to the deluge of viewing audience commentary via social media.

In tribute to that exciting finale to the 2014 football season, in this episode of The Digital Life we discuss the training, techniques, and technology for professional football and how the advances the NFL is making toward a complete view of health metrics and performance in real time is inspired by the quantified self movement.

The NFL has taken the lead in quantifying their athletes play, including sensor technology in helmets for measuring impact, electronic health records (EHRs) on the sidelines for reviewing player history, and wearables in the uniforms to track position on the field. What does this technology integration mean for the future of health?

In this, the 80th episode of The Digital Life, Dirk Knemeyer interviews Jon Follett on the process of writing and editing “Designing for Emerging Technologies”. The book, published by O’Reilly Media and available on Dec. 4, 2014, explores areas of fast-moving technology in desperate need of user experience design — from the IoT to robotics, 3D printing to wearables, neuroscience to synthetic biology, genomics and more.

To put the book together, a collection of 20 essays from some of the tech industry’s top thinkers, Jon spent 16 months working with design innovators, engineers, and scientists from pioneering companies like Adaptive Path, Autodesk, Essential Design, Fjord, Google, Intel, Involution Studios, MIT Media Lab, Normative and Rethink Robotics.

In this podcast, Dirk and Jon discuss some of the behind-the-scenes thinking and decision making that went into the project.