Author: Bal Bansal

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!!!!!

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down on July 5, turning the helm over to cloud-computing boss Andy Jassy.

“We chose that date because it’s sentimental for me, the day Amazon was incorporated in 1994, exactly 27 years ago,” Bezos said Wednesday at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually.

Amazon announced in Feb, that Bezos would leave his post later this year. Bezos will transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board and is expected to dedicate more time toward initiatives like the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.

Bezos began his career in the hedge fund world in the 1990s, then left a cushy job to launch his own startup that didn’t turn a profit for years. 

Jeff Bezos in his open letter to public (Amazon annual shareholder letter) describes his vision. Here’s an extract from his letter.

“From very early on in Amazon’s life, we knew we wanted to create a culture of builders – people who are curious, explorers. They like to invent. Even when they’re experts, they are “fresh” with a beginner’s mind. They see the way we do things as just the way we do things now. A builder’s mentality helps us approach big, hard-to-solve opportunities with a humble conviction that success can come through iteration: invent, launch, reinvent, relaunch, start over, rinse, repeat, again and again. They know the path to success is anything but straight. It’s critical to ask customers what they want, listen carefully to their answers, and figure out a plan to provide it thoughtfully and quickly (speed matters in business!). No business could thrive without that kind of customer obsession. But it’s also not enough. The biggest needle movers will be things that customers don’t know to ask for. We must invent on their behalf. We have to tap into our own inner imagination about what’s possible.”

And it’s all about vision – even when the company was making no money, he continued with his vision… and never gave up.

So whilst he isn’t exactly leaving Amazon, he’s only stepping down as the CEO, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about his space ventures, however for the moment – this should be some Monday Motivation for many of us. Never give up.