Grid

This week’s main blog headlines are …. The FinTech Wave, Part One I wrote a blog the other day for The Next Web.  I thought it was ok, and it has gained a lot of traction socially. Apparently, people like it and here I’m going to expand upon the basic theme …

I recently blogged about the lack of obvious return on investment for immediate (also called faster, instant or real-time) payments, and mentioned that I would be launching research about this.  Well that research survey is now live.  It will only take you ten minutes, so please join in by clicking …

It made me laugh today.  I was chairing a panel where Romana Kumar, Head of Global Transaction Banking for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), was discussing their trial of Ripple.  The background to this was announced in a press release on 1st February 2017: Ripple’s Distributed Financial Technology …

I was reflecting on a friend of mine who runs a FinTech start-up.  Their company was on a funding round, and struggling.  They struggled so much that they ended up having to lay off a load of staff, cut budgets and defer income.  In fact, they reached the point where …

I mentioned in my FinTech Wave that blockchain has entered the trough of disillusionment.  It’s certainly a lot quieter space this year than last.  In fact, when I say blockchain today, a lot of folks turn the other way.  What’s going on? A lot of it is to do with …

As mentioned in the first part of these two pieces, we talk a lot about FinTech.  We talk about it as though it is one thing when, in fact, it is many.  There are nuances to this market that is over a decade old today, that need to be fleshed …

A summary of the main blogs of the week … The FinTech Wave, Part One (part two next week) I wrote a blog the other day for The Next Web.  I thought it was ok, and it has gained a lot of traction socially. Apparently, people like it and here I’m …

I wrote a blog the other day for The Next Web.  I thought it was ok, and it has gained a lot of traction socially. Apparently, people like it and here I’m going to expand upon the basic theme to give a detailed analysis of how FinTech wings are spreading. There’s …

There are basic human needs: food, drink, sleep … wifi.  Once those are covered, everything else is supplemental.  It’s not needed.  It’s just stuff you want.  If you can eat, drink and sleep comfortably, what else is there? I only ask this question because I was thinking about what we …

I heard a rumour the other day.  The rumour goes something like: are you not surprised that banks grow into big beasts, as it’s government supported?  Governments want banks to be big and regulated, because governments can then access the data the bank is keeping about their clients.  IT’s access …

The first job Tom Blomfield (left in photo) ever had was delivering leaflets for estate agent Wilson Heal. He  lasted one day in the cold December rain before convincing the guys that leaflets were old school and they really needed a website, which Tom then built and still exists today. …

There’s a line in the 2013 film Her, it’s not just an operating system, it’s a consciousness.  The film is about Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix.  Theodore is a lonely writer who gets to trial a new operating system OS1, the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system.  The OS1 tailors …

This week’s blogs are all about how the internet started and where it’s future is going … The Birth of Computing and Development of the Web The last chapter of ValueWeb talks about what comes after the third-generation internet: the internet of value.  This is the internet being built today, …

We are already entering the fourth-generation internet, the internet of things, but it won’t really take off until the next decade, the 2020s.  Sure, we have self-driving Teslas and Nest home appliances, along with Samsung’s Smart Things, but it’s not mainstream yet.  For example, none of my friends has a …

Now we move onto the third-generation internet, web 3.0.  What is web 3.0?  It’s not been well defined or described.  Many would say it’s the internet of things, but I disagree.  The internet of things is emerging, but it cannot exist until a bridge between the mobile social network and …