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Week 34… 2021!

A lot happened this week! – So much so… I was tempted to share more than two stories, but no… we have a process and the process shall be followed, because expectations may rise, variation is not good…

So let’s get straight into it… here’s my Top Two Tech Stories of the Week!

  1. First up, we have a German company, that’s created a road where it’ll charge electric vehicles!!

Indiana (US) may very well be the primary state to have a wi-fi charging street that tops up your electrical automobile as you drive alongside it.

Because the 21st century rolls on, we’ve all had these one or two moments the place we see some new expertise and the tempo of innovation actually comes residence to roost in our heads, usually with some recollection of Star Wars or Star Trek.

Perhaps for some it might have been the self-driving characteristic of the Tesla, or good residence methods, however for motorists in Indiana, that second could come by means of a shiny new wi-fi street.

Whereas battery charging instances are getting better every year, it’s nonetheless essentially the most limiting issue relating to the acquisition of an EV. The Indiana Division of Transportation (INDOT) has determined to sort out that by burying electrified wire coils that create a magnetic subject alongside the street floor, mimicking the best way wi-fi charging stations for tablets and telephones are designed.

As a way to use the roads, vehicles can be fitted with a receiver coil to choose up the cost as they go alongside, and turning into magnetized, draw electrical energy from the coils themselves. How awesome is that!

2. Up next… 12 year old makes £290,000 from NFT’s!

A 12-year-old boy from London has made about £290,000 during the school holidays, after creating a series of pixelated artworks called Weird Whales and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

With NFTs, artwork can be “tokenised” to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought and sold – you may remember this from a previous blog post of mine.

They do not generally give the buyer the actual artwork or its copyright.

Benyamin Ahmed is keeping his earnings in the form of Ethereum – the crypto-currency in which they were sold.

This means they could go up or down in value and there is no back-up from the authorities if the digital wallet in which he is holding them is hacked or compromised.

He has never had a traditional bank account! Crazy – right?!

“It was a little bit of a fun exercise – but I picked up on really early that they were really receptive to it and they were really good,” Imran said. 

“So then we started getting a little bit more serious – and now it’s every single day… but you can’t cram this stuff, you can’t say I’m going to learn coding in three months.” 

The boys did 20 or 30 minutes of coding exercises a day – including on holiday, he said.

So there you go… a 12yr old who’s made £290,000 from NFT’s and wireless charging for electric cars!

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

I’ll be honest. It’s a bit of a deep one today. With recent events – what is the purpose of being? I’ve been reading a few books recently and looking at articles/diagrams that explain it.

Not going too deep here – we’re only on this planet for a limited amount of time. Make the most of it…

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Week in Review

Week 33… 2021!

Bit of a crazy week this week. A lot has been happening, both in the tech world… and also, my personal world.

Anyway, here’s my Top Two Tech Stories of the week… and starting with Elon who never seems t disappoint us!

  1. Tesla’s Human Robot

Tesla will branch out from building electric, self-driving cars to produce humanoid robots designed to “eliminate dangerous, repetitive, boring tasks” and respond to voice commands from their owners.

The robot, referred to as Optimus by those inside the company, will be 173 centimetres tall and weigh 57 kilograms. Its body will be powered by 40 electromechanical actuators and its face will feature a screen display.

Optimus will be able to carry a cargo of up to 20 kilograms, and Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk claims that a working prototype will be ready next year.

“Tesla is arguably the world’s biggest robotics company because our cars are like semi-sentient robots on wheels,” he said. “It kind of makes sense to put that onto a humanoid form. We’re also quite good at sensors and batteries and actuators.” Said Elon.

Musk said the machine will be limited to a walking speed of 8 kilometres per hour and will be deliberately weak enough that most humans will be able to overpower it if needed. “You never know,” said Musk, who had suggested earlier in his presentation that artificial general intelligence – hypothetical AIs that could complete any task a human can perform – was the largest threat currently facing humanity.

Up next, we have something happening over at Apple…

2. Not one but a few launch events for Apple!

We know that Apple is planning to launch a wealth of new devices before the end of the year – including the iPhone 13, the Apple Watch 7, the iPad mini 6, a new entry-level iPad, updated AirPods and a couple of MacBooks – but when are they going to be unveiled?

According to a new DigiTimes report based on supply chain sources, all of this hardware will be launched in the month of September 2021, across a couple of virtual events that are going to be streamed online.

It would be an unusual move for Apple, but it’s not entirely out of the question – after all, prerecorded virtual events without any in-person attendees are easier to queue up than ones held in a physical location with an audience.

Apple traditionally has a lot of hardware to launch in the final third of each year, with the new iPhone usually starting everything off in September. However, last year’s launch schedule was heavily impacted by the global pandemic.

And how is the pandemic going to effect other companies – we know it’s having an impact on the car market – where automotive manufacturers have had to cut down production due to shortages in the supply chain (mainly down to chip shortages).

So there we go… Elon with a human robot, and Apple with a lot of devices coming around September (onwards) time… within several events.

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

This week’s Friday Thought is dedicated to my friend, Inder Mahil who passed away earlier this week.

He was the same age as me. No underlying health conditions.

We went punjabi school together on Saturdays when we were kids, we went to the same university and had a good drink together… and recently saw him take his young son to football training.

It’s a bit of a lengthy Friday Thought – but honestly, Life is so short. Make the most of it. No regrets.

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Week 32… 2021!

One has been on holiday… hence the delay in this week’s Top Two Tech Stories… however, here they are!

  1. Up first… Tech related (maybe) but close to my heart (definitely!)

Lamborghini actually did it. For the first time in the history of Lamborghini supercars, the storied company from Sant’Agata Bolognese revived a nameplate for a new vehicle. It’s not just any nameplate either – the Countach is arguably the exotic car that created the supercar segment. And now, after 30 years, it lives again.

And let’s be honest… how awesome does it look!

Why is this close to my heart… when I was a kid, I had a poster of the original.

First thing’s first. You can’t have a Lamborghini Countach without a V12 and this one has it in spades. The familiar 6.5-litre naturally aspirated engine develops 769 bhp (573 kilowatts) on its own, but it has help in the form of a 34-bhp (25-kW) electric motor powered by Lamborghini’s 48-volt supercapacitor tech. With everything combined, the Countach cranks out 803 bhp (599 kW) to all four wheels through a seven-speed gearbox. Lamborghini says it reaches 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds, 124 mph in 8.6 seconds, and if you never lift, wind resistance will stop you at 221 mph. It’s easily the quickest, fastest Countach ever.

2. Tik Tok helping you work rest and sleep…

TikTok has announced a series of changes it says are designed to protect its teenage users’ wellbeing.

Users aged 13-15 will not receive push notifications from 21:00 – and for 16- and 17-year-olds, from 22:00.

This is to help them focus on work, study, relaxation and sleep, the video-sharing app says.

It is also changing its default settings so 16- and 17-year-olds will have to opt in to receive direct messages.

About time some of these apps took some responsibility and ensured that well-being is a priority.

So there you go…. from the new Countach (even though it’s not electric… but I’m looking forward to it very much!) to wellbeing is being taking seriously by Tik Tok!

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Bal’s Friday Thought…

Quite simply really. Stay Happy. Be Good… and Enjoy yourself.

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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.