Author: Bal Bansal

Categories
Week in Review

Week 42… 2021!

Another busy week on the ol’ tech front! – but let’s not hang around and dive straight into my Top Two Tech Stories of the week!

  1. First up – starting and selling companies!

British entrepreneur Nick D’Aloisio, who sold the mobile app Summly to Yahoo for $30m (£21.73m) at the age of 17, has sold his latest company to Twitter.

The Sphere group chat app was founded by Mr D’Aloisio and Tomas Halgas.

Sphere, which connects strangers interested in common topics, has been sold for an undisclosed amount and will close in November.

Its 20 or so staff will join Twitter to integrate their community features into the social network.

The company started as a question and answer app that allowed users to instantly chat to paid experts. At the end of 2018, almost 500,000 people were using that version of the platform.

However, Mr D’Aloisio said he found himself drawn to the community aspect of the app which brought strangers interested in the same topics together.

“What was interesting was that people were talking so often throughout the day, and it wasn’t just talking to their friend on Facebook, but someone they had not met before about something they were interested in,” he told the BBC.

As a result, the app slowly pivoted toward a focus on group chats.

Sphere’s features include the ability to:

  • create multiple chats for a single group
  • send highlighted announcements so no-one in a group misses anything
  • send notifications to individuals or just those yet to read a message

“A lot of the messenger apps that exist are catered toward groups that already know each other, but with Sphere, the aim was to unlock new dynamics and bring together people around the world with shared interests.”

Mr D’Aloisio said he was struck by the toxicity on platforms like Reddit, Facebook, Twitch and Twitter, which has been widely criticised about its handling of harassment and trolling.

2. Most shops going till-less!

The Tesco Express on High Holborn looks identical to thousands of others across the country. But inside there are no tills and no self-checkout machines. Instead you scan a QR code on your phone to gain entry, and a complex system of cameras and weighted shelves figures out what you have picked up. Once you’re done you just walk out and your phone (eventually) buzzes to tell you how much you’ve spent.

Yes – we’ve been here before – with the Amazon shop that was opened, but looks like Tesco are using the new technology and many more will be doing so too!

“It creates like an exoskeleton image of you and follows you around and knows what products you have bought,” Bilal explains – the store assistant. “But don’t worry, it’s not recording you and we don’t know who you are.”

Big retailers around the world reckon the technology in use at this Tesco GetGo store on High Holborn will revolutionise shopping and could account for $400bn (£290bn) of transactions within five years, according to analysts at Juniper Research.

The Holborn shop is new but Tesco has been trialling the technology at an Express outlet at its headquarters in Welwyn Garden City since 2019. That was two years before Amazon launched the first of its similar “till-less” stores in the UK.

Aldi is preparing to open its first checkout-free store in Greenwich. Morrisons is testing its own vision of the technology, codenamed Project Sarah, at its Bradford headquarters and has plans to quickly roll out dozens of small stores at busy locations.

So get ready to see no tills, just walk in – get what you want and walk out. This is the future.

So there you go… from an alternative to the usual social media platforms to till-less shopping!

Categories
Week in Review

Week 41… 2021!

Not as much in the news this week – as previous weeks, but still alot going on in the world – and there’s some top tech stories that hit the news locally! So if you’re reading from outside the UK – these are two top tech stories mainly in the UK – however, I’m sure there’s elements of these you can relate to in one form or another…

So first up, we’re talking about stranded passengers at the Airport!

  1. NHS Covid Vaccine App Stops working!

The NHS Covid Pass, used to show a person’s vaccine status for travel and events, stopped working on Wednesday.

The feature, contained in the NHS smartphone app, usually allows users to access a barcode or text records about which vaccine doses they have had.

Instead, users received error messages or a notice saying that high traffic volumes are “limiting access to the service”.

Normal access to vaccine records was restored after more than three hours.

“The NHS Covid Pass service was temporarily unavailable between 11:45 and 15:15 today as a result of a technical issue with a global service provider that affected many different organisations,” NHS Digital said in a statement.

Online, many travellers expressed concern that they might not be able to prove their vaccinated status at airports or other departure points without the app.

Some claimed they missed their flight because of the problem, while others reported being “stranded” at an airport unable to fly.

We rely on technology so much – I recall, when I used to fly (pre-pandemic), my tickets were on my phone. I’d just flip up my phone (and if I was holding things/couldn’t get the phone out, I’d use my smart watch), and scan the barcode. Job done. No papers, etc… But this technology has to be reliable. I even recall, when we could use phones for tickets, I’d print a copy out – just in case! I suppose, I still take screenshots of barcodes, or used to, again, just in case something happened with the app.

2. Contactless Pay now upto £100!

The contactless card payment limit has increased from £45 to £100 on Friday 15th October, a move which has raised concerns about the risk of fraud.

Age UK warned that raising the limit could increase the potential for fraud, putting some older people off using bank cards to pay for goods and services.

“As the banks and some shops try to encourage people to use less cash, it’s important that they take proactive steps to help to boost people’s confidence to use cards as an alternative and to tackle fraud,” Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said.

“Both shop and bank employees should be trained to watch out for signs of coercion or abuse, such as unusual spending patterns, and be prepared to sensitively raise the issue with their customers when they believe it’s the right thing to do.”

Several banks will also allow account holders to set a contactless limit of less than £100 or turn it off altogether. And I think this is a good idea.

Despite the increased limit, many retailers’ terminals will need to be updated so for some the option will not be available immediately.

It may take “days, weeks, or even months” for some retailers to make the necessary changes, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), so for the time being customers will need to check with individual stores.

Remember the old days of cold hard cash? – You stood in a shop – looked at the cash you had in your hand, and you knew, that’s all you had to spend. You didn’t have any more. With the increase to £100, it’s now even easier to tap and spend. For some, it won’t be an issue as the funds will be in their account. For some, who are living on credit – I just hope, they are careful. Technology is great – allows flexibility and freedom, but we’ve noticed in our stories today, a) it’s not always reliable and b) you still have to stay in control!

Categories
Uncategorized

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Life is short.

We say this often. But do we really understand it? Do we really believe it?

When you’re gone. You. Are. Gone. So whilst you are here, enjoy the time you have… go do the things you want to and make memories.

Categories
Week in Review

Week 40… 2021!

What a week! Yes – you know, I’m referring to the Facebook Family outage this week… we had insta, whatsapp… all of them down. Good to see Twitter meme’s taking full advantage of the situation!

And then there’s new about Elon… moving Tesla, from California to Texas! This was going to be one of my Top Tech Stories this week, but I feel I talk a lot about Tesla on here, a lot about Elon and the reason is, they are always in the news!! But don’t you worry… I’ve found some really good news stories in addition to the two above for you this week.

  1. Sky to ditch the Satellite!

British broadcaster Sky is launching a TV that streams content via the internet, removing the need for a satellite dish.

The company describes Sky Glass as a “no-fuss” streaming TV.

One expert said it would put the broadcaster in direct competition with TV makers such as Samsung and Sony.

Another said while ditching the “outdated satellite dish” was long overdue, it was “an expensive way to watch TV”.

Sky Glass eliminates the need for an external box – and with built-in Dolby Atmos, there is no need for a sound bar either. 

Other specs include:

  • three versions – 43in, 55in and 65in
  • a single wire and just one plug
  • 4K ultra-high-definition quantum-dot screen
  • 10-bit high dynamic range to support Dolby Vision HDR
  • voice-activated interface
  • available in five colours

“Sky Glass is the streaming TV with Sky inside, providing the total integration of hardware, software and content,” group chief executive Dana Strong said.

“We believe this is the smartest TV available.” 

Although it will require a Sky subscription, content from BBC iPlayer, Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, ITV Hub and All4 will also be available.

Sky has not yet named the hardware partner who will make the device.

It has also not explained how exactly it plans to stream its content over the web, without delays or buffering.

If someone wishes to cancel their Sky subscription after purchasing the TV, they will still be able to use the TV but will lose some of the more advanced features, such as voice control and playlists.

Oh.. and it’ll be carbon neutral.

2. Airless Tires!

We have phones that can survive being immersed, watches you can drag over a cheese grater and screens you can fold without breaking, but a common nail can strand your car on the side of the road. Tires need to lose their air, but not that way.

Michelin is one of several tiremakers that have been developing airless tires but they seemed as improbable as GM’s early vision of self-driving cars. Now, however, the two companies are putting a pin in the calendar to have airless tires on the market by 2024.

That’s right – you may remember a previous blog of mine talking about these types – but they are finally going to be here!

The first thing you notice about the airless Michelin Uptis, or Unique Puncture-proof Tire System tires is that you can see through them. Glass fiber reinforced plastic vanes support the tread rather than air pressure. 

Uptis tires also have a green angle: The promise to scrap 200 million fewer tires worldwide each year by eliminating sidewall cuts and accelerated wear due to improper inflation. This environmental benefit will accrue regardless of which companies crack the code for airless tires.

Aspects I’ll watch on the road to the airless tire include:

  • What will these weigh? The increasingly electric car world is lardy enough already.
  • How do they drive? Driving purists will rend their vestments as they did over automatic transmissions and electric power steering, but the rest of us are open to better ride quality. 
  • Are they quiet? Tire contact is the main cause of noise that emanates from freeways and inspires all those ugly sound walls.
  • Will these be fully compatible with today’s wheels or best suited to new ones designed for Uptis ? 
  • Can existing auto safety systems like ABS and stability control work properly with Uptis tires? 
  • How well will they shed snow, especially if it packs into the vanes and becomes ice?
  • What will they cost?

Airless tires will be an overdue leap forward. Today’s pneumatic ones date back as far as combustion engine cars, and we know which way those are going.

Categories
Week in Review

Week 39… 2021!

Temperatures have well and truly dropped – and the feeling of autumn are well with us. As the fuel crisis in the UK continues, I’ll share my Top Two Tech Stories of the week.

First up, let’s talk robots!

  1. Astro your Household Robot!

When Amazon unveiled a domestic robot this week, it promised that the Astro is capable of “many delightful things”. Tellingly, the first practical example given by Dave Limp, the executive in charge, was checking whether his dogs were cheekily sleeping on the sofa while he was out of the house. It may indeed be useful to dispatch a robot on wheels remotely to raise its periscope camera and scan for pets behaving badly. But it hardly rivals the superpowers of Astro Boy (originally known as Atom), the android hero of a Japanese manga series from the 1950s and 1960s, when human-like robots felt tantalisingly close. In 1967, the American novelist and poet Richard Brautigan imagined “a cybernetic ecology where we are free of our labours . . . and all watched over/by machines of loving grace.” Brautigan was prescient about one thing: the task for which Amazon’s robot is best suited is surveillance, loving or not.

There is a well-known Punch cartoon of some Daleks from the BBC television series Dr Who at the foot of a staircase, cursing that their plans to conquer the universe are ruined. This machine suffers from similar limitations: it can navigate apartments but would be stumped by a two-storey house. Astro’s most human talent is recognising its owners.

Amazon has built into the device a screen and artificial intelligence, so that it can identify up to 10 family members, follow them around playing music or videos, blink its digital eyes and carry small items from one to another. In other words, it performs like a well-behaved toddler; it will even go away on command.

Where Astro outperforms the toddler is on sentry duty. It can act like a miniature guard, patrolling while the occupants are out and checking on unexpected noises, such as burglar alarms or breaking windows. If it finds an intruder, it will track him and observe the crime, unless he kicks it over. Astro is the latest surveillance device arrayed through smart homes, from video doorbells such as Amazon’s Ring and Google’s Nest to static internal cameras. Amazon is starting to sell its Always Home Cam, a drone with a camera that can fly around, taking video clips in each room.

2. Waze your way to the nearest Petrol Station!

Traffic app Waze is asking UK users to tell it which petrol stations have fuel available, amid the UK’s shortage of petrol at the pump. 

Users of the app are receiving push notifications asking them to “help your community stay informed”. 

This data is then plugged into the app’s live map for others to see which stations are open. 

Similar measures have been criticised as fuelling panic buying and adding to the problem.  

Many local Facebook groups and apps such as Nextdoor have been flooded in recent days with messages from people offering advice about which petrol stations have fuel.

Waze, a subsidiary of Google, said the feature to show fuel stocks was not new but the company “has made the decision to push ‘notify users’ to encourage its use”. 

“Fears of disruption to fuel supply have created bumper-to-bumper traffic at petrol stations,” Waze UK manager Ru Roberts said. 

“In some areas, speeds have slowed to as low as 3km/h (1.9mph) as drivers rushed to fill their cars.”

The push notifications “will enable motorists to guide others to forecourts which have remaining supplies, saving unnecessary journeys to those which have already run out,” he said.

So there you go… Waze to the rescue and Astro to the door!

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

What change would you like to see?

Change doesn’t come easy.

You have to work hard for it. Push for it.

It’s all about wanting a better, a different tomorrow.

Categories
Tech Tuesday

Save with Tech

So, we know that food prices are rising, cost of gas is on the increase, etc… and I’ve been asked, what tech is out there that can help!

Well, there’s quite a few things.

But I’ll share two today. One related to food. The other one for gas.

There’s an app I’ve had on my phone for a while. Used it a few times. It’s call, Too Good To Go.

Basically – those food related businesses who have food left over, put it on the app – that there’s food available, and rather than it being the ‘normal’ price, it’s heavily discounted! You just reserve the one you want, and it’s as easy as that!

You can get magic bags (so basically, the business won’t know what they have – but will have something!) or you can get specific items that the business knows are available towards end of the day (as they know they’ll not get all the customers they want and won’t sell out).

I love this app. For two reasons. One – We need to reduce food waste. Every year, one-third of food if thrown away. We can reduce this waste. And Too Good To Go does just that. Helps to reduce the amount of food that is thrown away.

There’s a few other apps similar to this, that help fight food waste. And others that offer discounts etc… but this one is great – feedback is good and it’s one that I’ve kept a close eye on.

Up Next – Heating!

Which is the Best Smart Thermostat? Comparison Table

Gas prices are rising. And to be honest, not alot we can currently do about it. However – what we can do is what control the amount of heating we have on.

Now, if you haven’t already – get a smart thermostat.

Why?

  1. Smart thermostats let you control your heating from your phone/mobile device. In that way, you can set when the heating should come on and when it should be off – that way allowing you to only have heating on when you are at home.
  2. They will learn your behaviours – some can work with weather conditions – so they know when it’s cold, you may want it to be a degree or two higher than normal.
  3. Link this – with a smart meter, you can see how much gas and electricity you are actually using – and then made adaptions as required. For example, switch of lights, unplug devices, be more clever when you charge items…

Data. I’ve spoken about it before – use the data you have to help you. Data such as, how much you are paying per kwh and then see if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Data such as, how much you’re actually using and how does it compare to others in your area – for example, do others have lower bills and then, find out why? – some may have loft insulation, some cavity wall insulation, etc.. might be worth investing in some of those.

At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control… gas prices, unfortunately you can’t control. However, your thermostat is something you can control – and something (being smart) can help you!

Categories
Week in Review

Week 38… 2021!

What a week! Gas Prices have shot up! By Wednesday night, over 6 energy firms in the UK had gone bust!! It doesn’t seem to be stopping. There’s also food shortages, Covid cases rising in some areas (thankfully – not an increase in deaths like we’ve seen before)… and now we’re hearing, non of this is going to end anytime soon!

What we can do is, a) remain positive (as possible) and b) know that, hopefully, this is temporary until the world sorts itself out.

From this week, here’s my Top Two Tech Stories…

  1. Scientists are working on technology that will erase all painful and scary memories from your brain!

This is something that it’s being explored, but Philipp Kellmeyer, a neurologist and head of the Neuroethics & A.I. Ethics Lab at the University of Freiburg, has several concerns. High among them is identity.⁠


“Targeted elimination or inception of memories for purposes other than medical treatment obviously entails huge ethical problems,” Kellmeyer tells Inverse, “including the possibility for interfering with a person’s identity — or instrumentalizing individuals by using false memory inception to influence their behavior.”⁠

While many of these painful memories do fade with time, particularly painful ones can leave a lasting mark in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and make seemingly innocuous aspects of daily life difficult to manage.⁠


While it seems far future, the technology may be nearer than we think. Computational neuroscientists are in the proof-of-concept stages of a new kind of PTSD treatment called decoded neurofeedback (DecNef) that collects and parses brain signals using machine learning to modify painful memories — all without the subject evening knowing it.⁠


It could be the road to healing for countless PTSD sufferers.⁠ And let’s be honest- how awesome is that.

2. Less time on Tik Tok!

Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, will limit use of the platform for children to 40 minutes a day.

The rules will apply to users under 14, who have been authenticated using their real names, and who will be able to access it between 06:00 and 22:00.

Parent company Bytedance announced the app’s Youth Mode in a blog post,saying it is the first short-video company in the industry to have these limits.

It comes as China cracks down on teenagers’ use of technology.

According to Douyin’s user agreement there is no minimum age on the platform, but under 18s must obtain the consent of a legal guardian. On sister app TikTok the minimum age is 13. 

New educational content – including science experiments, museum exhibitions and historical explainers – has been launched by Douyin as part of Youth Mode.

“Yes, we are more strict with teenagers. We will work harder to provide quality content so that young people can learn and see the world,” the post said.

And about time too if you ask me.

We really do need to reduce the time children spend in front of screens!

Well there you – erasing scary moments from your brain to reducing the time children spend on Tik Tok. Maybe, if the latter doesn’t work… we can revert to the former to remove anything stored in the brain that isn’t good?

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

My Friday Thought – Think and Be Positive.

It can be difficult. For sure. With everything going on in the world right now. Some are deciding if they should heat or feed their families (rising gas prices – and shortage of food/increased food prices!)… But amongst everything, be positive. The positive thinking will help you –

Categories
Throwback Thursday

Thursday Throwback

Yours truly, talking at the Coca-Cola Headquarters to folk from South America.

Last week, I was in the office for the first time since January 2020.

I remember, February 2020 I was in Rotterdam. And then was meant to fly out to Madrid. However, Covid-19 had Madrid locked and I rang British Airways. Suggested they push my travel to July, by then it should have all blown over.

Here we are. September 2021. Didn’t make that Madrid trip. However, did complete the project on time and in full.

Whilst we all got used to zoom/MS Teams calls. There’s something about being in person. Having the face to face conversation is something special.

So it was nice to be back in the office last week. Meeting people, talking and getting things answered quicker than on Teams and awaiting a reply.

I also recall when I used to do a number of talks.

Above, the photo – my Thursday Throwback, is of me at the Coca-Cola Headquarters in London. I was asked to talk to a number of visitors. They were from South America if I remember correctly. They were here to learn how we were doing things in the UK. How we were making the best of technology.

A nice informal setting. A lot of questions and answers.

I haven’t done any talks since the pandemic. In fact – haven’t done any talks for a while!

Therefore – it’s great, when a friend of mine has asked me to do a TedX type of talk in Wolverhampton! This will be happening in November this year – as long as this type of normality remains.

Might do a few more regular talks. Invite some friends. Have a few good conversations. Where people can take a few golden nuggets. It’s those golden nuggets that will help, grow and nurture you, your business and/or your organisation.

I’ll share more details to when this will be happening. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me, if you’d like me to talk at your event – and I’ll share my fee’s.