Grid

The main blog headlines this week are … Do we need a blockchain? I haven’t written about blockchain for a while. I guess it’s because I got bored of it. I’m not bored of the promise of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Just bored of how much hype there has been and of so many…

On Wednesday, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority published the first survey of whether retail or small business customers would recommend their bank to family and friends. The information must be published by the bank in their branches, website and apps, and is pretty embarrassing for some and good for others. For example, Metro Bank comes…

For all the negative views of technology, the positive is that it is enabling and inclusive. This is what Digital Human explores in depth. The main critique of my book is that it is too optimistic about the future of technology, and should be more balanced. Nevertheless, after yesterday’s post about the evils of the…

I was listening to Andrew Keen, digital sceptic, giving a keynote at a conference. He was lambasting the way in which the internet had developed, and the fact that it had gifted power to a small, select few companies, who own the world. Apple, with its trillion-dollar valuation, could buy four Chile’s or two Poland’s….

I haven’t written about blockchain for a while. I guess it’s because I got bored of it. I’m not bored of the promise of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Just bored of how much hype there has been and of so many companies claiming to have the latest blockchain breakthrough. However, when I saw this…

I keep thinking about the future internet and the ideal of creating a network where no one controls anything. It may sound silly, but it is developing already. In fact, in HBO’s excellent series Silicon Valley, the guys at Pied Piper recently did a pivot to try to create exactly this. The start-up gang are…

The main blog headlines are … Millennials: STOP EATING AVOCADOS!!! I’ve spotted a couple of interesting discussions about millennials and money in the last week, both of which say that the views on them are wrong. Stereotyped as avocado-crunching, cappuccino drinking, needies, the general media view is that this is a generation spoilt by helicopter…

Now I didn’t make this statement, to be clear. A banker did. He was talking about the four quadrants of service, and said that banking needed to become like the sewage system: invisible, but incredibly important that it works especially when it’s urgent. I liked his ideas, and he presented it like this. Banking today…

I know I’ve written a lot about China and the Chinese internet giants for the past couple of years, whilst leaving out much of what’s happening in the USA. It’s not to say the USA is boring, but it’s not innovating at the speed, rate or scale of the Chinese internet companies. By way of…

I’ve spotted a couple of interesting discussions about millennials and money in the last week, both of which say that the views on them are wrong. Stereotyped as avocado-crunching, cappuccino drinking, needies, the general media view is that this is a generation spoilt by helicopter parents to grow up to be the most earnest losers…