Author: Bal Bansal

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Week in Review

Week 31… 2021!

Hope you’re keeping well. I’ve been away for the week. Took some time out- had the out of office on… and enjoyed a few sunny days by the south coast. I think it’s important for us all to recharge now and again. For me, I spent time reading a book, thinking about my purpose and enjoying some good food!

Ok, here’s my Top Two Tech Stories of the week…

  1. Up first, Whatsapp!

WhatsApp has introduced a new feature for its mobile app that aims to mimic the likes of Snapchat. While Disappearing Messages on the platform stretches to a minimum of seven days, WhatsApp has added a new View Once feature for photos and videos. The new feature is now available on iPhone as well as Android.

While the feature is great to have, there is still a risk if the receiver takes a screenshot of it. Henceforth, the platform can just update the feature with a notification alert – but we’ll have to wait for this.

This all sounds a lot like Snapchat and other platforms, where you can quickly (and for a short time) view a photo or video before it disappears. We can see our favourite and most used platforms adopting these features – maybe in a move to make us have less apps.

2. Up next… legacy systems!

Half of all government spending on computers is dedicated to keeping old systems going, a report has found.

The UK government spends £4.7bn a year on IT across all departments, and £2.3bn goes on patching up systems, some of which date back 30 years or more.

Labour said the situation showed Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove’s “incompetence and failure to deliver”.

The Cabinet Office said it was taking action to reduce the government’s reliance on outdated technology.

The Cabinet Office report, called Organising for Digital Delivery, warns that government could end up spending between £13bn and £22bn over the next five years on obsolete systems.

Some government digital services “fail to meet even the minimum cyber-security standards,” it adds, and data can not be properly extracted from them, making them “one of the greatest barriers” to civil service innovation.

The government has made a big push to use data to improve public services, but despite “significant sums” being spent on data storage departments are “making little use of this data to influence action or decision-making”. 

The report also says the government is not carrying out any kind of monitoring of performance of computer systems, as is common in leading private and public sector organisations. 

A performance management system was put in place in 2012, but has since fallen into disuse – and even the technology that monitors its performance is now obsolete and vulnerable to a cyber attack.

The report also highlights digital success stories, such as the rapid launch of the NHS coronavirus testing service and the furlough scheme.

The Home Office’s EU Settlement Scheme is also cited as example of rapid rollout.

The report says government departments that need a new digital service should launch a “minimum loveable product”. 

This means, for example, not worrying about making the website look nice and having lots of features, but to focus on the absolute bare essentials required for launching a service to the public.

There you go… from Whatsapp letting you share photos and videos for a short duration and then they disappear to systems being used by the Government that should’ve disappeared a long time ago!

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Bal’s Friday Thought…

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Week in Review

Week 30… 2021!

The Olympics continue – and (yes, I’m being biased) the GB team continue to pick up more and more medals which is fantastic! Also, as more and more folks are getting their vaccinations, there seems to be a sense of ‘normality’ in the air – not saying at all that the virus has gone, but more people are visiting the physical shops and more are now meeting up more frequently with family and friends. I would like to point out – we should continue to be careful.

So, my Top Two Tech Stories of the week….

  1. First up… the trusted old kindle might not work!

Some older Kindle e-readers will soon no longer be able to connect to the internet to download new books, Amazon has said.

First- and second-generation Kindles did not come with wi-fi functions included, using mobile internet only.

But the slower technology used at the time – 2G and 3G internet – is being discontinued in some places, particularly the United States.

Several other models will also be restricted to wi-fi only.

“Starting in 2021, some prior generation Kindle e-readers will not be able to connect to the internet using cellular connection through 2G or 3G networks,” Amazon told its US customers this week.

The switch-off is outside of Amazon’s control, as mobile networks repurpose the older parts of their radio spectrum for faster, more modern standards.

The same situation applies in other countries on varying timescales – in the UK, for example, operator BT has announced it plans to phase out 3G support by 2023.

Other British operators have yet to announce their plans.

The switch-off affects all sorts of older devices, such as 3G-only smartphones.

But such devices tend to be replaced every few years, unlike an e-reader, which may be replaced only once it is completely broken.

2. Facebook Smart glasses!

At Facebook’s recent earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed what we had already expected: The company’s first pair of smart glasses are the next product, coming this year. 

Facebook discussed its glasses, which are made in a partnership with glasses-maker Essilor Luxottica under the Ray-Ban brand, last year during a virtual Facebook Connect conference.

Facebook’s head of AR/VR hardware, Andrew Bosworth, confirmed a few things previously: “We’re being careful not to call them augmented reality glasses. When you’re overlaying digital artifacts onto the world, that’s really augmented reality. These aren’t augmented reality glasses. However, they do a lot of the concepts we think will eventually be critical for augmented reality glasses. It’s all components that people have seen before, but never all in one place. I’m being very coy about the feature set, as you can tell — that’s intentional, I’m not going to answer specifically what features it has. But I will say, one of the things that we’re looking at for all of AR, starting with our smart glasses, is how can they help you be more present.”

He also added that “I think they’re going to help people stay connected to each other, and never feel like they’re out of touch with somebody else. And also just be useful.” Bosworth didn’t sound interested in the glasses serving up notifications, however, and didn’t confirm whether or not they’d have displays. 

Facebook has said the glasses won’t have their own displays. Audio, then, would be what Facebook leans on. Much like Amazon’s Echo Frames, Bose Frames or Razer’s Anzu glasses, these will probably focus on audio as the immersive tech of the moment. Facebook recently created its own live audio rooms and spaces, matching similar efforts from Twitter and apps like Clubhouse. Facebook Reality Labs, which is pursuing a more advanced true augmented reality headset, sees spatial audio as a key piece of the puzzle in smart glasses. Audio is also a more achievable step in the short term. Facebook could experiment with assistant features and use the glasses to connect to audio spaces.

So there you go… time to upgrade that old kindle of yours and soon you’ll have glasses from RayBan that share your aunty’s Facebook notifications, most probably liking that recent photo of you on the beach.

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Bal’s Friday Thought…

In life… you need three hobbies.

One – for those creative juices. Keep that brain ticking over, exploring, understanding, learning, growing…

Two – for that body of yours. You only have one. Take care of it. Keep in shape – even if it’s going for walks listening to my podcast – Think Lean Get Digital (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc…)

Three – for living. Let’s be honest – any hobby or passion can help you make money. Find a hobby that will generate money for you. Or understand/learn something – that will earn you a passive income.

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Week 29… 2021!

I saw a tweet say, ‘pub quiz question one day will be, what year did the Olympics Tokyo 2020 take place?’.

The pandemic has a lot to answer for but here we are, and the Olympics are in full swing. A bit subtle, which is understandable with everything going on.

One thing you can rely on in 2021 is my weekly update of my Top Two Tech Stories!

  1. First up, Amazon moving into Crypto-currency?

Amazon is hiring a digital currency and blockchain product lead for its payments team, according to a

Amazon is hiring a digital currency and blockchain product lead for its payments team, according to a new job listing. First reported by Insider, the ecommerce giant is looking for an “experienced product leader to develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.” The listing, which Amazon has confirmed is legitimate, continues:

You will leverage your domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency to develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities.

Amazon.com doesn’t accept cryptocurrency as payment, but a spokesperson told Insiderthat the company was “inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon.”

2. Next up, who remembers clippy?

Microsoft’s much-maligned mascot Clippy is coming back from the dead – but only as an emoji. 

Clippy the paperclip was a simplistic virtual assistant who offered tips and advice to Microsoft Office users, from 1997 and until the mid-2000s. 

Its constant pop-ups to suggest “help” with the simplest of tasks – such as writing a letter – annoyed many. 

But Microsoft says it is now bringing back the design, for its modern Office products. 

Clippy would replace the existing paperclip emoji in its Microsoft 365 products, including its cloud services and the modern, online version of Microsoft Office, the technology giant tweeted, but only it that tweet received 20,000 “likes” – and within hours, it had surpassed 100,000.

So there you go, everything from Amazon job postings to clippy who’s making a comeback! Woohoo!!!!!

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Bal’s Friday Thought…

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Week in Review

Week 28… 2021!

I’m over the heartbreak of last Sunday Evening… that’s right, England not winning the Euro’s. What we can look forward to is the World Cup next year!!

So let’s not waste any time and dive straight into my Top Two Tech Stories of the week…

  1. First up… Netflix and video games?!

TV and movie streaming giant Netflix could offer video games as part of its subscription from as early as next year, a new report claims.

According to Bloomberg, a person “familiar with the situation” has stated that video games could appear “within the next year”, being available alongside the service’s current content as a new, standalone genre. Apparently, Netflix doesn’t have any plans to charge any extra for the video game content on offer, presumably meaning that current subscribers would be able to access the games with no extra steps required.

The report notes that Netflix has hired former Electronic Arts and Oculus veteran Mike Verdu as its vice president of game development; previously, Verdu worked as Facebook’s vice president and was in charge of helping developers bring their games to the Oculus VR platform.

The idea of Netflix adding games to its service isn’t new, of course; reports surrounding the possibility first appeared back in May, and the company itself has expressed that it’s “excited to do more with interactive entertainment.” We’ve also seen Netflix properties appear on Switch, such as Stranger Things 3: The Game – but will games like these end up being exclusive to Netflix’s service going forward?

2. Next up… do you know how dirty your phone actually is?

It’s very dirty.

So, in Japan… they’ve come up with a genius idea to sanitise your phone whilst you wash your hands!

What you do is, put your phone in the slot (blue on in the photo), and the phone is sucked in – sanitised and then returned to you – all whilst you wash your hands and dry them!

Love it. Great idea! We need more of these ideas. Because the less germs that are going around – the better it is!

So there you go – Netflix moving into games and the new invention in Japan to sanitise your phone whilst you wash your hands! Have a great Sunday!!

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Week in Review

Week 27… 2021!

Can you believe – England are in the finals of Euro 2020! (Being played in 2021 – because Covid 19 disrupted a few things last year).

Tonight – 8pm GB time – against Italy.

But first – let me share my Top Two Tech Stories from the week…

  1. First up, we have Facebook Market place!

That’s right – Facebook market place has grown to 1 billion users!

Whilst I personally have used it occasionally and quickly realised a) there’s a few people that can waste your time and b) then there’s an influx of folk if something is for free – and how to manage that (usually whoever responds first works) – but overall, great place to sell items.

Facebook does not release standalone financial details for Marketplace. It is in fact free for non-business users to put up a simple sales listing, as the firm makes it money from users simply being on its ecosystem and seeing all the advertisements on the site.

However, Marketplace’s user numbers have soared during the pandemic. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed that Marketplace now has more than one billion global users. This is up from a reported 800 million in 2018, for a service that was only launched in 2016.

There are others out there that folk use, like depop and Vinted…

In fact, depop was recently sold for $1.62bn.

2. Next up, new motorway service stations are coming!

So recently, I’ve blogged about electric cars – and even shared a story about the East London service station that can hold over 30 cars all able to charge at the same time.

Well, it’s spreading. Rugby has something similar. And there’s more and more popping up!

Gridserve has also outlined plans to install at least 50 ‘electric hubs’ at motorway service stations with each of them including anywhere between six to twelve ultra-rapid chargers. 

The 350kW devices mean the most advanced electric cars should be able to add 100 miles of range in a matter of minutes, depending upon the car.

Other providers including, Tesla and Ionity, already have ultra-rapid chargers on, or close to, the motorway network. 

Elsewhere, Gridserve has trademarked the name ‘Electric Forecourts’ and plans to open more than 100 of those charging hubs in towns and cities within the next five years. 

Each forecourt will include shops, cafes, toilets and even showrooms where people can learn about electric cars. 

Gridserve says all of its chargers are supported by solar farms, meaning that every unit of electricity taken from the grid is matched by an equivalent amount of solar energy going back into it.

So there you go – my Top Two Tech Stories for the week, all about selling on line via facebook and depop is big, about a billion big! And what’s even bigger is the number of charging stations for electric cars you are going to see soon!

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Alan Smith, Crystal Palace Youth Team Coach: I had a doubt whether or not he (Gareth Southgate) had a career in professional football in him. We had one particular game, which we lost, and I called him into the office and said: “Gareth, I think you’re too bright to do this job. I think you have to make a choice. If it was my choice, I think you should become a travel agent.”

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ECR – Electric Car Readiness

Ok, you may have missed this but new laws are coming in soon (2030) which will ban the sales of petrol and diesel vehicles only. Hybrid vehicles will be available to purchase till 2035.

It’s already started – many people are buying electric cars – but most are opting for an hybrid option first. And I agree.

Now you can get self-charging hybrid or a plug-in hybrid.

Either way – I think hybrid is a natural way forward from a petrol or diesel only car. It’ll help you a) understand more about the electric motor, b) how, where and when to use your battery power and finally c) will help bridge that gap from petrol to electric.

I used to have a hybrid car. It did about 30miles on electric. Which was ok for town driving. And then on the motorway – the petrol engine would kick in. This was good for me – regular trips of 140miles + single way, were not a problem. Petrol Stations readily available, easy and all I had to do was pop in, fill up – 5 to 10minutes later – I was back on my way.

I’ve moved from Hybrid to fully Electric.

Now whilst there are more and more fully electric car options – I personally opted for a Tesla.

And if you’re thinking of ordering a Tesla, before you do – use my referral code/link – and you’ll get 1,000 free supercharger miles! – it’s bal71307 (and the link – http://ts.la/bal71307

Whilst the choice is getting bigger and bigger by the day – there’s some great small electric cars that are now available… such as the VW ID range…

ID.4 | Electric SUV | Volkswagen UK

BMW are releasing a number of fully electric cars – and you may have noticed, a number of Nissan (the original Leaf has been upgraded many times – and is a very good car), Toyota, Mini and many others – have great electric cars on offer.

But before you buy an electric car, you may be concerned and questions I got whilst I was talking on BBC Radio on Sunday night was… what happens if my battery runs out?

Well, ‘range anxiety’ was one of my fears also.

Honestly. It all comes down to one thing. You just have to plan your journey a little better. Because – there are not as many electric car chargers currently as you’d like compared to petrol stations.

Saying this, I’ve done a few long trips. and was concerned about not having enough battery. However – the sat nav in the car helps. I put in my destination and the car asked if it was a round trip or anywhere I was going – and then magically (well, it seemed to be magical) worked out, how much battery would be used, and that I would not have enough for a return journey! – now, the reason I got a Tesla was because of their Supercharger network…. and what happened was, the Sat Nav told me – where and when and for how long I’d need to charge in order to complete my trip!

Again – a number of factors were taking into account, like how fast I’d be driving, conditions, etc…

Over the past year – there’s more and more chargers being installed in a variety of locations. There’s various apps you can download and see where your nearest charging station is, the cost to charge (you’re paying per kwh) and on some apps, even tells you if the charging point is busy or available!

Back to why I went for a Tesla – 1) their supercharger network is fantastic. I’ve used it a few times, just pull up – plug in and wait a short while. No need to tap anything, anywhere – the charger recognizes the car, payment details are already registered – the process is so easy and simple. Love it.

2) Tesla seem to be more advanced than some of the other manufacturers – they’ve been doing it for a while and are learning and pushing out updates regularly. And finally, 3) they can’t be doing that bad of a job- they had record sales in the last quarter and in the UK – was one of the best sold Electric Vehicles! I’ve driven others – and yes, others may have a better ride quality, or something else that is better – but overall, the Tesla experience has been great.

So there you go- start thinking about your next car being a fully electric – and start to think about home charging units (the grant for these will expire soon – so suggest you look at getting one installed sooner rather than later) and don’t worry about running out of battery – your car will warn you well in advance and there’s more and more charging stations popping up. Everywhere. Even Tesco. Because every little helps.