Author: Bal Bansal

Categories
Week in Review

Week 17… 2021!

And just like that, April is over… and Hello May! Now who’s hoping for some hot weather? – Yes, me too!! It’s not been as warm as last year, so the sooner it warms up, the better.

Now, lets get straight into my Top Two Tech Stories of the week…

  1. Electric Highways on our Highways! – Well, ok – we call them Motorways over on this side of the pond.

Now we know rules will change in 2030 – and we’ll anticipate over the coming years and increase in electric cars.

That’s why, Ecotricity and Gridserve have opened the UK motorway network’s largest high-powered EV charging station, kick-starting the their Electric Highway joint initiate.

It’s over in Rugby, and according to the firms, these chargers have the capacity to add up to 200 miles of electric range in around 10 minutes. They offer all three connection types – CCS, Type 2 AC and Chademo – and accept contactless card payment.

A further 12 chargers will be added to the Rugby site at a later date, as part of the partnership between the two firms. This is exactly the type of infrastructure motorists want to see, and fill them with confidence!

2. Now, it’s Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK… and we’ve got some sales taking place!

For those who’d like to go touch, physical see some items before buying – Currys/PC World has launched some big savings for the May Bank Holiday weekend, with 4K and 8K TVs, Apple iPhones and more getting price cuts.

Now, whilst there are price cuts – please please please – do your research. Check on-line where it is the cheapest. Look at warranties etc… and above all, check, is it worth the upgrade/reason why you’re buying.

Mobile phone technology advances a lot year on year – but being honest, some of the older models work absolutely fine depending on your reasons for use – if it’s simple social media etc… then some older models are absolutely fine. However, if you’re reading this and thinking… well Bal, I want to treat myself…. then YES! Go for it! You should… But again (do your research first!!).

Speaking about the latest Currys promotion Ed Connolly, chief commercial officer at Dixons Carphone, said: “Our Epic Deals event give customers a chance to upgrade their home tech, and with the amazing prices on offer across this bank holiday weekend, there has never been a better time to shop.”

Connolly went on to add: “The Epic Deals event comes as we’ve been opening stores across the nation over the past three weeks, and we’ve seen customers come to our stores to find amazing tech and advice from our colleagues. We also understand that not everyone will feel comfortable returning to our stores just yet, so customers can continue to access to our amazing colleagues via our digital ShopLive service and Order & Collect.”

So there you have my Top Two Tech Stories… from better infrastructure of charging your electric car, to treating yourself this weekend on some tech goodies!

Categories
Uncategorized

Week 16… 2021!

Good Morning! – Another crazy week!! – A lot has been happening, such as the Apple Spring Event took place (but we spoke about this last week), UK politics (with up and coming local council and police commissioner elections) and finally, India – and how the new variant/wave 2 of Covid has hit the country!

So for the week gone, I’ll share my Top Two Tech Stories…

  1. Up first, Britcoin!

Now, I’ve previously shared with you what Bitcoin is, how it works and that wonderful video by the young girl. So now you (kind of) understand it… Rishi Sunak is exploring the idea of a new digital currency called Britcoin!

A Bank of England backed digital version of sterling would potentially allow businesses and consumers to hold accounts directly with the bank and to sidestep others when making payments, upending the lenders’ role in the financial system.

“We’re launching a new taskforce between the Treasury and the Bank of England to coordinate exploratory work on a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC),” Sunak told a financial industry conference.

Soon after, Sunak tweeted the single word “Britcoin” in reply to the finance ministry’s announcement of the taskforce.

2. Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek has expressed an interest in purchasing Arsenal Football Club!


Daniel Ek and his business parter Martin Lorentzon founded the company (Spotify) in 2006 in Sweden, and launched the product in 2008. It was listed in 2018 and the 38 year old is currently worth a cool $4.7bn.

The company has more than 180 million users, 87 million of whom are paying subscribers – and many, went to twitter to share that they would happily move to the premium paid service of Spotify if it’d help Arsenal buy some top class players!

From a startup, to a huge company…. to now potentially purchasing Arsenal. Truly, anything is possible! (Makes me thinks, what were you doing in 2006?!) – Could you have gone the same route and potentially be buying your favourite football team…?

So there are my Top Two Tech stories for the week. From Britcoin (now I’m at the end of this blog post – my auto spellcheck finally recognises it and stops changing it to Bitcoin!) and Spotify. Who knows, in the future, you could pay for your music with Britcoins and spend it at the Emirates!

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

What challenges are you facing?

Categories
Week in Review

Week 15… 2021!

Looks like the weather is finally picking up! With that, many in the UK enjoyed a beer or two, as the pubs and bars opened and this brought about some sense of ‘normality’… we still need to be careful, as I’m reading of a new variant in India of Covid-19 that could spread very easily and might already be here in the UK!

As it’s not confirmed that it’s in the UK, I’ll share my Top Two Tech Stories of the week gone!

  1. First up… Domino’s Pizza. Whilst I’ve had the debate if pineapple belongs on pizza or not (which I’ll save to resurrect another day), I’m sharing with you trials of Domino’s Pizza delivery via an autonomous vehicle!

Yes – we’ve seen and heard of these vehicles before. But like many companies – there’s always a fear of moving forward from an idea into a fully fledged pilot. However, Domino’s are not.

Nuro driverless cars in Houston this week as part of a pilot program, the company announced Monday, will deliver pizza’s! The company says “select customers” in Houston who make a prepaid delivery order from its store in the Woodland Heights neighborhood during certain dates and times can have their pizza brought to them by a Nuro R2 robot.

Here’s how the pizza deliveries will work: a customer places and pays for an order online from the Woodland Heights store and opts in to have the order brought by the R2. The customer receives a unique PIN via text alert along with updates on the vehicle’s location. When the robot car arrives, the customer enters the PIN on its touch screen, which opens the R2’s doors. Pizza ensues.

2. Next up – Apple and their Spring Event!

What’s in the Spring Loaded Event Bal?

Well… rumours are new iPads, new Apple Pencil and a few other bits. We don’t expect a new phone at this Event.

Refreshed ‌iPad Pro‌ models are expected to be the main event at Apple’s April event. Apple will overhaul the 11 and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models, but don’t look for major external changes — much of what’s new will be internal.


The third-generation ‌Apple Pencil‌ looks similar to the second-generation version, but with a glossy finish. It’s not clear what new features might be included if Apple does refresh the ‌Apple Pencil‌, but there have been rumors of a potential black model. 

We haven’t heard particularly reliable rumors about a new ‌Apple Pencil‌, so it’s not really clear if we’re going to see one at the April event.

Oh… and we might finally see the AirTags which we’ve been promised for a while!

For those unfamiliar with ‌AirTags‌, they’re small trackers that are equipped with Bluetooth and are designed to attach to important but easily lost items like wallets, cameras, and keys. ‌AirTags‌ (and the items they’re attached to) can be tracked right inside the ‌Find My‌ app alongside iPhones, iPads, and Macs, so you can keep an eye on all of your important belongings in one place.

‌AirTags‌ details have been leaking since the release of iOS 13, but we’re still not sure what the ‌AirTags‌ will look like. Based on some simple images found in iOS, they could be small, circular tags with built-in Bluetooth and ultra-wideband support.

So there we go… everything from Pizza’s to Apple’s this Sunday for you. Have a great week ahead, enjoy the Apple event and if you decided for a takeaway and live in Houston… why not have a Pizza!

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

What is your story?

It’s simple. What you do. What you learn. What you achieve. That is your story.

Once upon a time…

Categories
Uncategorized

Week 14… 2021!

Hope you had a lovely Easter. I recall, this time last year – at the start of Lockdown, in April – it was HOT! Well, let me re-phrase… the weather was absolutely lovely, and we were in gardens enjoying the suns rays. This year… we’re not quite at those temperatures but to get you warmed up for the week ahead… here’s my Top Two stories of the week!

  1. First up – it’s been a bit of a sad week. Not tech or innovation related – but nevertheless, would like to share my condolences to the families of DMX, HRH Prince Philip, Nikki Grahame, and others who passed away this week. It’s though when loved ones pass away – thoughts and prayers for anyone who’s going through tough times at the moment.
  2. Moving to tech… and to share something that came in my newsfeed recently was Tesla – and their naming convention for cars.

Now, you may be aware, there’s the Model S, 3, X and Y. For those eagle eyed amongst us – you’ll see it could (kind of) spell SEXY. Now, the reason why Tesla didn’t release the Model 3 as Model E is because Ford own the copyright for that name and wouldn’t release it.

Anyway… so we have SEXY.. but what next? Well… sources inform us that Tesla in China are working on a Model 2.. which could also be built in the Berlin Factory. It’d be similar to a BMW 2 series, Audi A2, etc… so the 2, as a name, works. People will know.

After the 2… there’ll be a Tesla 4. Again, slightly bigger than the 3…

So we have the naming convention of 2, 3, 4…. and my shirt.

That’s correct. Tesla – rumoured – to have an idea, to build a car called, ‘my shirt’.

Bal… are you pulling our leg?

Not at all. Tesla honestly wanted a line up called SEXY, it’s just unfortunately the E wasn’t available and went for 3, so it’s S3XY.

And coming up… we have 2, 4 and my shirt. Why?

This is a requirement because then the lineup can be: 2 S-3-X-Y 4 My Shirt.

And with that…. I’ll leave you with the classic. (Have a great weekend!)

Categories
Uncategorized

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Who’s your biggest fan?

Categories
Uncategorized

Week 13… 2021!

First and foremost – Happy Easter! Hope you’re enjoying Easter and have not consumed tooooo many Easter Eggs! With so much going on in the World, it’s becoming more and more difficult to pick only two stories – and for those asking will I include more, unfortunately not at the moment. But will try to do more blog posts…

Ok, let’s get to it this Easter Weekend!

  1. First up – Whatsapp Scam! – So this first appeared on Twitter. Basically, there’s a very clever scam that’s going around which concerns all Whatsapp users. The attack revolves around the six-digit verification code that WhatsApp gives out when you want to regain access to your account.

The message reads ‘Hello, sorry I sent you a six-digit code by SMS by mistake, Can you transfer it to me please? It’s urgent.’

What has actually happened is your friend’s account has been hacked.

Scammers are now trying to hack all their contacts. You are one of them.

They are trying to set up WhatsApp on a new device with your number.

WhatsApp acknowledges this and sends a six-digit authorisation code to your mobile phone by SMS.

“The scammers now try and get you to forward it to them by pretending to be a friend of yours,” he said.

“If you send them the code, your WhatsApp will be hacked.”

Which? and Mr Alexis urged users to turn on two-step verification as protection. They also suggested confirming whether the verification message is real by contacting the friend who sent the message without using WhatsApp.

2. And this week gone…. we had April’s Fool Day! – Now we had some really good ones this year, and some… not so good ones!

You are probably wondering which ones were my favourite… well, personally for me, I think VW did very well, they came in early, made it very believable and did all the ground work required. Innocent also teamed up with Heinz which was clever…. especially after the whole beans on Weetabix situation!

Which was your favourite?

So there we have it… whatsapp scams and April Fool Jokes which had us all believing…

Categories
Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s (Good) Friday Thought…

I’m often asked, how do I find the time to do all the charity work, the football coaching, and all the other activities and ventures I’m involved in… well, I do ‘overtime’.

Taken from the legendary, Gary Vaynerchuck.

Categories
Week in Review

Week 12… 2021!

Nearly Easter… Nearly April! – Where is the time going?! Well… still a lot happening, everything from ‘apparently’ the shortage of toilet roll because of Evergreen’s vessel that is stuck in the Suez Canal! With something like 327 vessels held up (on both sides) we sure can expect some delays on some supplies.

Saying the above – please, do not… go out and stock up on toilet roll. I’m sure we have enough supply.

Ok, my top 2 stories of the week (and there were plenty to chose from!)

  1. As many of you know, I’m on Twitter (@balbansal). Whilst I tweet about all sorts – it’s mainly about Nottingham Forest, Technology, Lean Thinking and Innovation, etc… Oh, and you can expect to see photo’s of lunch at my mums. But did you know, Jack (the founder of Twitter) sold his first every tweet for a cool $2.9m!

Crazy right! 2.9 million dollars! It went to a Malaysia-based businessman. If you’re wondering what it was, it was ‘just setting up my twttr’. If you’re interested in buying any of my tweets – please do reach out to me.

2. Now last week, I shared a story about the new Apple Car. Well, this week, our friend Elon Musk said… that you can buy a Tesla using Bitcoin!

In the US, orders for new Tesla cars can now be secured with the equivalent of a $100 deposit in Bitcoin.

The facility would be rolled out to other countries in the coming months, Mr Musk said.

But Bitcoin’s value rapidly moves up and down – meaning the cryptocurrency price of the car could change day to day.

Tesla has invested heavily in the digital currency, buying $1.5bn (£1.1bn) worth of Bitcoin.

So there you go… my top two stories of the week, and for those wondering… Bal – can I buy your tweets using Bitcoin?…. my answer is, not just yet… I’m definitely forward thinking, just not as much as Elon Musk… or shall I say, I’ve personally not invested so much in Bitcoin. Yet.