SMART CITY FANATIC

Last week. There was a little thing called a train strike.  The bad news? I could not visit the ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS SUMMER EXHIBITION!  The good to great news? I had a friend who ran to my aid and attended in my absence. Her name is SARAH GRAY.   We have been friends for around a decade, now. Sarah once hosted me for tea, after I attended the MILIPOL conference in Paris. I was struck by her kindness, generosity, talent, beauty and vision.  Now based in London, Ms Gray is what one might term a polymath. Good at and interested in, everything!   A fantastic mother of two great kids; businesswoman; designer; photographer and activist.  There is an old school, glacial, Grace Kelly like glamour to Sarah. But also, a compassionate, comforting aura.  A supernatural quality.   It occurred to me that, though it is indeed necessary to reach out and meet new 'influencers' via Instagram etc? I have an army of inspirational content creators, readied to m...

  Put simply... 1: It is whatever YOU want or need it to be. 2: Anything one can do in reality, done in virtual spaces and then linked up.  3: It is an interactive and 3-D world. Digital assets as substitute dress rehearsals for real world counterparts! 4: Yes, you need an 'avatar' name / role/ character. No, that is not an end in itself but merely means TO an end! 5: Yes: it is indeed, connected to 'crypto' and block chain currencies. No, one need not play with those tools in order to engage with said metaverse.  6: Is it web-3? Sure it is! As in, more interactive than web 1 (the basic internet circa dial up days) and web 2 (social media etc). Now? web 3: one can as good as live online! Short of actually eating, drinking, living etc. But ANYTHING ELSE? And i mean ANYTHING..is up for grabs! 7: It is indeed, an artistic platform. Bands can perform there! And yes, one can make money. That said? is that, in effect ANY different to the oldest websites, platforms, shares, et...

  Simple answer: the future is NOW. HERE. 1: Watch every current affairs talking point. If people are angry /annoyed/concerned? Chances are, tech has a solution! 2: Watch every tech company initiative. The ones that trend. Also, the ones that don't yet! 3: Check Linkedin : Pulse, especially, and its twitter pitches are legendary! 4: Pitch, baby, pitch! If you THINK you have 'that' idea for a tech start up to fly? Chances are, you might! 5: Check the social medias: what topics are trending? Chances are, at least one holds the key to the next app/pitch etc? 6: Consider YOUR personal experience. What are YIU lacking or missing in life and how can tech maybe help with that? 7: Survey the market! Which tech start-ups are growing and flying, vs which are tanking / stalling? Therein, lies a clue to what the future might hold and how you factor in  said.  8: Watch your competition. Whatever it is that they do, now? YOU must do, better, TOMOWRROW 9: Take a look at the following li...

 YES! And why not?  We have ALL read, with great interest, the news of the Google developer who left the empire. Why? Well. they think that the search engine has developed an AI which is now, prima facie 'sentient'. But so what? Seriously. Let's think about this, for one second.  1: It is just one person, leaving Google, saying things. Now, if there were a worldwide exodus of employees and contractors, abandoning ship? I might be worried. I'm not.  2: Now. That is not to say that anyone stating 'Google developed sentient AI' is, um, mad/delusional/wrong. Not in the slightest! But what I am saying, if I am saying anything at all , is: 3: GOOD! Seriously. I hope it IS sentient. Because if so, we just made a leap forward and yet, an inevitable one, which has been coming, for some time.  4: See, thing is? ALL AI is in, its way 'sentient'. As in: capable of thought, independence, initiative, agenda. It is just a tool. A method, rather than aim. The whole po...

 Short answer: NOTHING! I know. Controversial. But: consider that answer in the context of tech. The whole process of technology has in effect shifted, changed, destroyed, dismantled and reinvented the old service vs product paradigm. Think of it, this way: 1: An 'app' is all well and good.   Download it to phone. Use. Cue millions, even billions in revenue for the creators and an easier life for users.  But: HOW to USE it? In effect, the app requires its own training regimes. 'How to' guides etc. Has to be part of the whole package. Equally, chances are, said application, be it mapping, social, whatever, is connected TO service provision.  2:   If I create the ultimate transport aid, to rival City-Mapper et al?   It is yes, prima facie, a kind of 'product'. At the same time, however, I am thereby commenting on, interacting with and growing from a SERVICE. As in, the service of transport or whichever sector my app targets?  3:  Flip that logic for...

ATTACK OF THE DRONES! To quote the baddie in IRON MAN 2: 'Drone Better'. Was he right, or very wrong?  There is no question that it makes sense to try moving toward drone dominance, for a number of reasons: 1: Saving Money?  Drones are probably, prima facie, a less 'taxing' investment that training a person / army of said and still having to provide hardware to match.  2: Preventing lost lives? Seriously. It seems logical to presume to some extent, that robotics in the air = 'safer' than human counterparts. Why risk the lives of pilots in a cockpit, when it is both plausible and efficient, to avoid that needless deployment?  3: Stealth. Presumably, if one wishes to win wars, surprise remains key, right? As in a weapon in war itself. And, by removing or at least, reducing, significantly, any human element in the fight, one  thereby also minimises risk of blowback / leaked intel and so on? Silent -ish drones. Programmed. Honed. Dropped in. With the sole threat ...

 Answer: It's however YOU choose to do so! In previous episodes, we established that there is a way to at once embrace the universal premises of sustainability and apply those to one's own facts/circumstances/conclusions. And so it is, here, with the measurement stage.  There are, of course, well known and accepted criteria to accept and respect.  SOCIAL! ENVIRONMENTAL! ECONOMIC! The question is not what the terms of assessment 'are' but HOW those can be at once empirical / objective AND somehow related to an ethical value judgement and brand identity in a changing world.  I will not try and offer any calculable formulae via a superficial blog. But what I CAN say is that a balance of personal and societal utilities is not only possible but entirely logical and indeed, necessary, in the definition and consolidation of personal/professional progress.  Think about the word, 'sustainable'. Even in colloquial and casual terms, it tends to refer to relationships and s...

  ANSWER: It is whatever YOU make it! In the context of a city? It is possible to think of it, thus: 1: In PLANNING: Avoid urban sprawl. At ALL COSTS. 2: In ENERGY:   Be efficient with what we do have (fossil fuels; rising costs; even this government are trying, today, to handle that). Equally, be proactive with what we are yet to harness to the max.  That means alternative fuel sources from nuclear to wind/solar/et al. And think about whether you NEED to make that car / rail/bus journey. If you can work from home/ conduct a meeting, wirelessly? DO IT!  3: In BUSINESS :  Are your employees REALLY giving YOU value for money? And if not, why not? Think about how you can start a conversation with them. Be firm yet flexible.  Manage goals and targets, with in built review and negotiation. Make their welfare and development part of, rather than divorced from, the process of constructive criticism.  That way, pastoral care and professional growth coincide w...

Cars are BACK on roads. Well, they have been, for quite some time, in fact.  But: did you notice, when the pandemics and lockdowns were on? That it just felt a tad easier to simply walk down a street? There was quiet. You could actually hear the birdsong. And yes, above all? One could BREATHE, unfettered. Now, I do not wish to be some gloom merchant, stressing an end of the world forecast here. One gets enough of that, c/o imminent war predictions, worldwide financial meltdown prophecies and so on.  But what is, unavoidable,  alas, is that there is no escaping the fact, that it is indeed, harder to simply BREATHE, on roads. Why is that? Some of it might be psychosomatic. You are back in a crowded traffic jam. Stuck in an enclosed space, in a car? There are endless cyclists and now SCOOTERS using paths, instead of ROADS.  JOGGERS brush past with you, exuding a whiff of sanctimonious entitlement as they sniff their brand of bespoke, healthier air. And so on. I get it....

Ok. Yes. Deliberately gloomy, click bait friendly headline there. But I make NO apologies for that. Because in effect, THE GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND just did the same thing.  He used the term 'apocalyptic'. That is: 1: DEEPLY irresponsible. His job is to ensure calm, clinical, creative management of an independent financial system in the UK. He just did the very opposite; stoking the very panic he is entrusted to curtail and prevent.  2:  AND HE IS WRONG! Because 'apocalypse' is NOT the same as 'Armageddon'. For whatever reason? Those terms have become conflated and confused in recent linguistic idiom. Apocalypse = revelation. Now, that COULD, in theory, spell some world ending chaotic catastrophe. But it need not do so.   Revelations can be good, healthy, helpful. They can even enable GROWTH and PROGRESS, albeit, painfully so? So, in a way.. 3: Governor is also..RIGHT?!  As in, though he does not intend to be that, he is the bringer of necessary, tough bu...

  Ok, yes, that is a leading headline. It is what GOOGLE thinks you want to hear, right?  But what if I told you that travel apps are already facing extinction? Yes, they will always exist in some iteration. But the paradigm is shifting. Incrementally yet dramatically. Implicitly yet definitely. Here's why: 1: Tech changes, frequently.  The moment a new application launches? It has a thousand counterpart competitors, waiting in the wings. What you must ask yourself, therefore, is whether you, as a user want to invest time and perhaps 'fremium' monies, in a tool whose redundancy is all but inbuilt?  2: There are STILL things that apps cannot, or at least do not, as yet 'do'!  Sure, things have improved. An app can tell me at each stage of a journey, which direction / route/method to deploy. Yes, there is indeed, up to the minute updating available when delays or cancellations occur. But why stop there?  When was the last time an app gave you a PRECISE read o...

  Notice. I did not provide a question mark there. Did not even finish the sentence. I know: how rebellious! Truth is, more mundane than any specific grammatical experiment or bid to stand out in the saturated blog-o-sphere. My point is that, the MOMENT I keyed in 'why is my train' on Google, I was greeted neither with philosophical propositions on existence, nor vocal praise posts about 'why is my train so GREAT?'. The majority? ALL. TERRIBLE! As in everything short of 'why is my train so sh#t?!'.  That speaks volumes on the current state of affairs with rail transportation. Seriously. Algorithms do not lie. Facts are never post truth. And the simple fact here is that, statistically, the majority of queries surely are about why train and rail services are failing to satisfy travellers.  Does that mean all train routes are bad? That every carriage is awful? NO! And for the sake of socio-economic sanity? PLEASE STOP this NONSENSE about 'yeah they are gonna re...

    BLIPPAR IS THE NAME TO BEAT!  To quote the Google intro:  ' The Blippar app is an augmented reality browser. It uses the camera on your smartphone or tablet to recognize images and real-world objects and show digital content right on top . When you scan something, we use artificial intelligence to find relevant content.'  But that is not WHY these guys are WINNING. Allow us to highlight some other USP strengths, and that is just a start.       AR is their USP. The way in. Interactive; bespoke: They tell the user WHAT they want and make them THINK it is THEIR control.  WEBAR SDK: They TOOK AR and created an in house SPIN on said. PEOPLE = PLATFORMS! As in, it is NOT just a palm of hand travel app; it is a readied aid toward building an entire system, in house or personally. THEY USE THEIR TEAM! It might be an illusion, right? But that appearance of a personal, interactive touch is something we ...