Category: Week in Review

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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.

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Week in Review

Week 11… 2021!

Ok, mid-way through March – and I’ll be honest, you thought 2020 went a little crazy, 2021 is mad! – In a nice way, that there’s a lot happening!! – And every week there’s something important, of interest or I should be reading/listening to.

So below are my Top 2 Stories of the week…

  1. Apple Car. That’s right, not Apple Care… but Apple are making a car. Now, you may have heard about this a while ago, and yes – they (Apple) have been talking to numerous other car manufacturers to get some inside knowledge on how to make a car…. but it looks like, we’re finally getting somewhere!

Carwow shared the above photo – which is looking like what the final model may look like.

So, Apple began working on “Project Titan,” with upwards of 1,000 car experts and engineers eveloping an electric vehicle at a secret location near the company’s Cupertino headquarters. This was back in 2014.

Over the course of the last several years, internal strife, leadership issues, and other problems impacted the car project and 2016 rumors even suggested Apple parked the plans for a car, but the most recent information indicates Apple has overcome development problems and still plans to develop a consumer-facing autonomous vehicle.

Excited? – I am!

2. How’s your phone? Are you an iPhone person? – Got the latest and greatest iPhone 12? – well… be prepared… new iPhone 13 details are being released!

It’s minimising the notch!

Apple are to take the long-standing Face ID notch and finally shrink it, giving us an upgrade we’ve long been waiting for. 

Kuo’s (from MacRumours) claim doesn’t specify how the iPhone 13’s notch will be smaller. From other rumors, the most likely change is a narrower notch, enabled by combining Face ID’s currently separate infrared projector and infrared receptor into one unified sensor.

Now… this week’s stories are mainly Apple related. I can confirm that this post IS NOT sponsored by Apple. It’s just 2 stories that grabbed my attention and thought I’d share. There were some others, like a chain-less bike, Tesla and China, and a few others – I’ll see how they develop and share more in the next few weeks!

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Week in Review

Week 7… 2021!

And so the year continues to go at some pace – it’s week 7, so much has happened so far, and I can only see more happening over the coming weeks and months! Sharing my top 2 from the week gone…

  1. Perseverance – That’s right… NASA’s Perseverance landed on Mars!!! So what’s so significant about this, well firstly… Perseverance has a large amount of data in its memory banks which it is gradually offloading to Earth and… the pictures it’s been sharing initially have been brilliant!!

Its initial mission will last one Martian year (roughly two Earth years), although it’s hard to see the agency not extending this if all the hardware remains healthy.

As well as searching for signs of life (Imagine… it finds clear signs of life… how awesome would that be!!), Perseverance’s other key objective is to select and package rock samples that can be brought back to Earth laboratories by later missions.

2. The New Service Stations! – Usually, when on a journey, and you need to fill up… you’d stop at your nearest service stations and fill up. However, times are changing.. on the outskirts of Braintree in Essex (UK), there’s a service station that is the first of it’s kind in the UK… that has space for 36 cars to charge at once!!

The super-fast electric forecourt will deliver 350kW of charging power – enough to add 200 miles of driving range in 20 minutes – to up to 36 cars at a time. And… it will use clean energy sourced from one of the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farms at Clayhill in Bedfordshire, overhead solar canopies, and a battery capable of storing enough energy to drive 24,000 miles.

It is the first of more than 100 electric forecourts that Gridserve, a clean energy company, plans to roll out across the country over the next five years as part of a billion-pound “sun-to-wheel” infrastructure.

So… looks like infrastructure is finally catching up! Yes, there’s a long way to go, but great to see this happening…

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Week in Review

Week 6… 2021!

There’s no stopping to 2021!…. It continues to move at some speed and keep giving!! – So what’s it given this week, well… here’s my Top 2 Stories!!!

1. Coca-Cola to start selling drinks in a paper bottle!!!

That’s right – the iconic drinks company, is going to sell (as part of a test) drinks in paper bottles! The company’s Brussels-based research and development team is working with Danish startup The Paper Bottle Company on this project, with an ultimate goal for bottles that ‘can be recycled as paper.’ – Let’s be honest, isn’t this awesome! – It’s no secret that the planet is filled with plastic waste, including consumer products like plastic bottles — ones quickly used, then discarded, often making their way into landfills, lakes, and the ocean… so this, paper bottle, is only a good thing!

The plastic alternative features a ‘bio-based material’ as the external carton-like barrier, one made using sustainably-sourced wood. The bottle includes a recyclable plastic lining that holds the beverage.

2. What did you have for breakfast this morning? What do you normally have? – Had Weetabix in a while?…

This week, Twitter went mental! – When Weetabix tweeted this…

And…. Everyone, when I mean everyone… Everyone! Got involved… all the big twitter folk/brands/organisations started tweeting…

… What a great marketing exercise! – It even made the news! – Good Morning Britain talking about it (and trying it)… to the House of Commons! That’s right… MP’s spoke about it!!!

So with that… there’s a couple of things we’ve learnt this week, firstly – we need to do more for our planet. So many companies are working towards sustainable solutions… but we must do our bit.

And secondly, Weetabix took Social Media Engagement to another level this week. I’m hearing, sales of Weetabix and beans have gone through the roof!

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Week in Review

Week 5… 2021!

Another busy week! – So much going on… everything from the Farmers Protest in India to how food prices are being increased in the UK! – it could be because of Brexit! (I think it is… especially hearing about how products and stock are being held at ports!!

So my 2 stories from the week…

  1. Nike Trainers – This is a new design of trainers that have been shared by Nike. You may be thinking, really… new trainers?… yes! – they are very easy to put on and take off. They have a hinge, so the shoe/trainer – effectively… splits in the middle, allowing easy access for your foot to come out… and go in! They are called the Nike GO FlyEase Trainer….

2. Tesla… no, I won’t be talking about Elon Musk taking a break from Twitter.. or the crypto currency he’s been endorsing… but more so, that the new steering wheel they’ll be having is legal in the UK!… AND…. be honest, how many of us, will think we are knight rider?! – Honestly, little things like these make me want to buy a Tesla… however, I did notice BMW have a ‘funky’ steering wheel in their new iX… all about the user experience!

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Week in Review

Week 4… 2021!

And so it continues! – The argument between the EU and AstraZenca was one of the highlights… appears that the EU didn’t sign in time hence the delay in orders… and then the unfortunate news that Covid-19 hit 100,000 deaths in the UK.

For me… here’s my Top 2 takeaways from this week…

  1. Drivers.. are you ready? – there may be a new Road Pricing structure brought into place! – This is because the treasury is losing £2.4bn of fuel duty (this was due to lockdown) but with the introduction of electric cars… it’s estimated that there’ll be a £40bn black hole! (that’s right… 40 BILLION!). So the think tanks are looking at charging drivers per mile (they drive), and other options. Either way… be ready for a ‘new type of tax’ for drivers, as we try to go green!
  2. Get comfortable… Boris announced that schools will not open till 8th March (at the earliest). Looks like this new variant of Covid-19 is spreading alot quicker than anyone thought. So lockdown… may continue. Whilst the games on Kahoot, and the family video games may have dwindled… it’s important to keep talking. It’s looking that lockdown will be here for a while… so stay strong, keep talking – and if you have no one to talk there, there’s a number of organisations that you can reach out to. Please do share your thoughts with someone….

My Top Two takeaways…. Stay safe and make sure you talk during lockdown and as it seems to be staying for a while, please look after your mental health and whilst we’re not driving currently, be prepared for changes that are coming!

I did mention I’ll be starting my podcast again! – Glad to announce I have some lovely folk lined up!! So watch out when that is released…

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Week in Review

Week 3… 2021!

Oh my…. it sure is a crazy year! And so it continues…. Joe Biden is sworn in as President of the United States of America, and started working on reversing a number of the items that Trump ‘did’…such as reinstating the USA into the Paris (Climate) Agreement.

So, what are my two highlights for the week gone…

  1. Liteboxer! – With lockdown continuing for the foreseeable future (until everyone is vaccinated), home working out continues to grow. Peloton has become huge – and continues to grow – but new to the market and growing very quickly is LiteBoxer. It’s $1,495 and called the Peloton for Boxing. Whilst it’s much more than a traditional punch bag… there’s so many more, new innovative, devices that are being released to help you continue as you were at home!
  2. PS5 – Got your PlayStation 5? – well… this week, there was a huge restock of the games of the games console… and it caused absolute chaos online! Over 160,000 people were trying to access Currys PC Works website at one point on Wednesday!! Now… there’s two elements to this…1) You can’t physically wait in line, so you have to be in a virtually queue…. and 2) Bots. Yes, Bots. One in particular Carnage Bot tweeted it had secured 2,000 PS5 consoles from Game’s supply of fresh stock! (How?… they scan the online retailers… and the exact second they’re released… the Bots go in and buy them!)

So there you go… boxing at home (guess Connor McGregor could utilize one of these machines!) and Bots taking your PS5’s.

Remember folks… stay safe!

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Week in Review

Week 2… 2021!

It’s all happening isn’t it! – But first things first, my apologies for not sharing my Friday Thought. I had a really busy week, and whilst I plan a lot of things, I just didn’t have enough time to get to releasing my Friday Thought.

But on a positive! – I’m on my second review of the week!!

  1. What’s WhatsApp? – That’s right!! This could be the norm in a few years. So…. WhatsApp released new ‘conditions’ if you want to keep using their platform. As you may know, they are part of the Facebook group – and whilst your messages are encrypted end to end, they want to gather some other data about you – and share it. Now for them, it’s all about the experience, but many have become scared, thought it’s violating their privacy and started to switch to Signal and Telegram. Whilst I’m not going to tell you what to do… there’s some great articles out there – and if you do want me to tell you what to do… WhatsApp me!
  2. China wants to build its own $306 billion use car market from scratch! Basically, they want to double the value of secondhand vehicle sales by 2025. Now China already has more then 270 million vehicles on it’s road… and estimated 15 million secondhand models were sold in 2019! Put some contrast on it… 173 people out of 1000 in China own a car… comparing that to the US, it’s 837. You can be sure to say, it’s all happening in China… wonder if the authors of AutoTrader are reading this?!

So here’s my top two stories of the week… I reckon it’s going to be a busy year, lots happening!! – and I’ll share my review of the week (or please get in touch with a better name!).

If you have any top stories to share – get in touch, or if there’s a particular topic you’d like me to share the latest on – happy to do so!

Till next week… stay safe, and take care!

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Week in Review

What a year… so far!

Wow… Can’t believe it. Only a week (and a bit) into 2021, and so much to talk about.

Let’s put aside everything that happened at Capitol Hill… (and the actions of Trump), and the vaccination roll out in the UK… (which is good), however this new strain of Covid isn’t…

And focus on a couple of things that have also hit the headlines.

  1. Elon Musk. Richest man in the World. Took over from Jeff (Amazon ) Bezos. Two reasons why I like this news… Firstly, he’s done well with Tesla, SpaceX and his other ventures – he’s truly believed in them and continued to pursue them! and secondly, he actively reached out to folk to ask how he can donate his money and/or put it to good humanitarian use!
  2. Hyundai and Apple. Getting together. To build an Electric Car… Apple have been trying for a while to get this project running, however, they’ve realised they need someone who has got the knowledge on cars. Step up Hyundai. They are doing very well at the moment. And when they announced they’re working with Apple, share price rose 20%! Why do I like this bit of news… well, it provides us options other than Tesla and a few others… and it shows you can’t do everything on your own, if you need help – ask for it! (no shame in asking for support).

I was thinking about replacing my Friday Thought with a round up, or at least 2 bits of tech/interesting news… however, I’ve been asked to keep the Friday Thought… so will slot this in elsewhere into the week!

Which takes me to my last point… what will 2021 bring?! We can clearly see the decrease in car sales (overall) however, the gap between sales of electric and combustion engine are closing in – meaning more electric cars are bring sold. Norway, however (with it’s Government grants, etc..) are the first country to sell more electric cars than petrol/diesel! (Well done Norway!)

Well, we’re on a lockdown for early part of 2021, and I don’t see much changing till Spring/Summer… which means, alot more homeworking, less travel and more hobbies? – of which, we all saw a number of people who took up their passions/hobbies and turned them into businesses! (which is great!) – some of you reading this and who follow me on social media, will know I joined the trend of baking. But with a slight twist, of doing vegan/eggless cakes. They came out quite tasty (not me just saying that!), and I started taking photos, sharing them on Instagram (@balsbakery), and started to get orders in! Been selling cakes, however – it’s probably something I won’t scale up into a business (just yet!) due to time…

So I’ll wrap up this Sunday Blog post with a few thoughts… 1. If you’ve got a passion, pursue it! and 2. This year, we’ll see a bigger shift towards more sustainable/environmentally friendly products (including cars).