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.
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!
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!!!!!
I’m over the heartbreak of last Sunday Evening… that’s right, England not winning the Euro’s. What we can look forward to is the World Cup next year!!
So let’s not waste any time and dive straight into my Top Two Tech Stories of the week…
First up… Netflix and video games?!
TV and movie streaming giant Netflix could offer video games as part of its subscription from as early as next year, a new report claims.
According to Bloomberg, a person “familiar with the situation” has stated that video games could appear “within the next year”, being available alongside the service’s current content as a new, standalone genre. Apparently, Netflix doesn’t have any plans to charge any extra for the video game content on offer, presumably meaning that current subscribers would be able to access the games with no extra steps required.
The report notes that Netflix has hired former Electronic Arts and Oculus veteran Mike Verdu as its vice president of game development; previously, Verdu worked as Facebook’s vice president and was in charge of helping developers bring their games to the Oculus VR platform.
The idea of Netflix adding games to its service isn’t new, of course; reports surrounding the possibility first appeared back in May, and the company itself has expressed that it’s “excited to do more with interactive entertainment.” We’ve also seen Netflix properties appear on Switch, such as Stranger Things 3: The Game – but will games like these end up being exclusive to Netflix’s service going forward?
2. Next up… do you know how dirty your phone actually is?
It’s very dirty.
So, in Japan… they’ve come up with a genius idea to sanitise your phone whilst you wash your hands!
What you do is, put your phone in the slot (blue on in the photo), and the phone is sucked in – sanitised and then returned to you – all whilst you wash your hands and dry them!
Love it. Great idea! We need more of these ideas. Because the less germs that are going around – the better it is!
So there you go – Netflix moving into games and the new invention in Japan to sanitise your phone whilst you wash your hands! Have a great Sunday!!
Can you believe – England are in the finals of Euro 2020! (Being played in 2021 – because Covid 19 disrupted a few things last year).
Tonight – 8pm GB time – against Italy.
But first – let me share my Top Two Tech Stories from the week…
First up, we have Facebook Market place!
That’s right – Facebook market place has grown to 1 billion users!
Whilst I personally have used it occasionally and quickly realised a) there’s a few people that can waste your time and b) then there’s an influx of folk if something is for free – and how to manage that (usually whoever responds first works) – but overall, great place to sell items.
Facebook does not release standalone financial details for Marketplace. It is in fact free for non-business users to put up a simple sales listing, as the firm makes it money from users simply being on its ecosystem and seeing all the advertisements on the site.
However, Marketplace’s user numbers have soared during the pandemic. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed that Marketplace now has more than one billion global users. This is up from a reported 800 million in 2018, for a service that was only launched in 2016.
There are others out there that folk use, like depop and Vinted…
In fact, depop was recently sold for $1.62bn.
2. Next up, new motorway service stations are coming!
So recently, I’ve blogged about electric cars – and even shared a story about the East London service station that can hold over 30 cars all able to charge at the same time.
Well, it’s spreading. Rugby has something similar. And there’s more and more popping up!
Gridserve has also outlined plans to install at least 50 ‘electric hubs’ at motorway service stations with each of them including anywhere between six to twelve ultra-rapid chargers.
The 350kW devices mean the most advanced electric cars should be able to add 100 miles of range in a matter of minutes, depending upon the car.
Other providers including, Tesla and Ionity, already have ultra-rapid chargers on, or close to, the motorway network.
Elsewhere, Gridserve has trademarked the name ‘Electric Forecourts’ and plans to open more than 100 of those charging hubs in towns and cities within the next five years.
Each forecourt will include shops, cafes, toilets and even showrooms where people can learn about electric cars.
Gridserve says all of its chargers are supported by solar farms, meaning that every unit of electricity taken from the grid is matched by an equivalent amount of solar energy going back into it.
So there you go – my Top Two Tech Stories for the week, all about selling on line via facebook and depop is big, about a billion big! And what’s even bigger is the number of charging stations for electric cars you are going to see soon!
Alan Smith, Crystal Palace Youth Team Coach: I had a doubt whether or not he (Gareth Southgate) had a career in professional football in him. We had one particular game, which we lost, and I called him into the office and said: “Gareth, I think you’re too bright to do this job. I think you have to make a choice. If it was my choice, I think you should become a travel agent.”
Ok, you may have missed this but new laws are coming in soon (2030) which will ban the sales of petrol and diesel vehicles only. Hybrid vehicles will be available to purchase till 2035.
It’s already started – many people are buying electric cars – but most are opting for an hybrid option first. And I agree.
Now you can get self-charging hybrid or a plug-in hybrid.
Either way – I think hybrid is a natural way forward from a petrol or diesel only car. It’ll help you a) understand more about the electric motor, b) how, where and when to use your battery power and finally c) will help bridge that gap from petrol to electric.
I used to have a hybrid car. It did about 30miles on electric. Which was ok for town driving. And then on the motorway – the petrol engine would kick in. This was good for me – regular trips of 140miles + single way, were not a problem. Petrol Stations readily available, easy and all I had to do was pop in, fill up – 5 to 10minutes later – I was back on my way.
I’ve moved from Hybrid to fully Electric.
Now whilst there are more and more fully electric car options – I personally opted for a Tesla.
And if you’re thinking of ordering a Tesla, before you do – use my referral code/link – and you’ll get 1,000 free supercharger miles! – it’s bal71307 (and the link – http://ts.la/bal71307
Whilst the choice is getting bigger and bigger by the day – there’s some great small electric cars that are now available… such as the VW ID range…
BMW are releasing a number of fully electric cars – and you may have noticed, a number of Nissan (the original Leaf has been upgraded many times – and is a very good car), Toyota, Mini and many others – have great electric cars on offer.
But before you buy an electric car, you may be concerned and questions I got whilst I was talking on BBC Radio on Sunday night was… what happens if my battery runs out?
Well, ‘range anxiety’ was one of my fears also.
Honestly. It all comes down to one thing. You just have to plan your journey a little better. Because – there are not as many electric car chargers currently as you’d like compared to petrol stations.
Saying this, I’ve done a few long trips. and was concerned about not having enough battery. However – the sat nav in the car helps. I put in my destination and the car asked if it was a round trip or anywhere I was going – and then magically (well, it seemed to be magical) worked out, how much battery would be used, and that I would not have enough for a return journey! – now, the reason I got a Tesla was because of their Supercharger network…. and what happened was, the Sat Nav told me – where and when and for how long I’d need to charge in order to complete my trip!
Again – a number of factors were taking into account, like how fast I’d be driving, conditions, etc…
Over the past year – there’s more and more chargers being installed in a variety of locations. There’s various apps you can download and see where your nearest charging station is, the cost to charge (you’re paying per kwh) and on some apps, even tells you if the charging point is busy or available!
Back to why I went for a Tesla – 1) their supercharger network is fantastic. I’ve used it a few times, just pull up – plug in and wait a short while. No need to tap anything, anywhere – the charger recognizes the car, payment details are already registered – the process is so easy and simple. Love it.
2) Tesla seem to be more advanced than some of the other manufacturers – they’ve been doing it for a while and are learning and pushing out updates regularly. And finally, 3) they can’t be doing that bad of a job- they had record sales in the last quarter and in the UK – was one of the best sold Electric Vehicles! I’ve driven others – and yes, others may have a better ride quality, or something else that is better – but overall, the Tesla experience has been great.
So there you go- start thinking about your next car being a fully electric – and start to think about home charging units (the grant for these will expire soon – so suggest you look at getting one installed sooner rather than later) and don’t worry about running out of battery – your car will warn you well in advance and there’s more and more charging stations popping up. Everywhere. Even Tesco. Because every little helps.
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.
Well… so much has happened this week! – The most important one being (for me) England beating Germany (first) and then Ukraine (last night) to make it to the Semi Finals of the Euro’s!
For those interested – Denmark (to be played on Wednesday) and the finals are next Sunday!
Ok, for this week – here’s your Top Two Tech Stories!
First up, following from my mid-week post on Sir Tim Berners-Lee, he’s only gone and sold his first web browsers code as an NFT!
An NFT of the original source code for the world wide web, written by its inventor Tim Berners-Lee, has sold for $5.4m at Sotheby’s in an online auction, the auction house said on Wednesday.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a kind of crypto asset that records ownership of digital items, and has recently become a major asset in the creative world, with NFTs of artwork, music and internet memes selling for millions of dollars.
The NFT sold on Wednesday was created by the English scientist Berners-Lee in 2021 and represents ownership of various digital items from when he invented the world wide web in 1989.
The sale effectively comprises a blockchain-based record of ownership of files containing the original source code for the world wide web. The final price was $5,434,500 and half of the bidders were new to Sotheby’s.
The world wide web, or “the web”, is the system for navigating and accessing information on the internet. But you already knew that – right?
2. Ok – up next, don’t you hate it that you have to travel to the fridge to get your beer or cold drink?
Well.. that’s a problem of the past! That’s right – Heineken have made an autonomous beer cooler – that will follow you!
That’s right – 12 carrying 12 cans of cold beer right behind you! How awesome is that?!!!
The Dutch brewing company Heineken recently unveiled the “Beer Outdoor Transporter” — a branding concept cooler that uses motion sensors to trail behind its owner. The company launched an online raffle on Thursday for people who want to own one.
While it cannot apply your sunscreen, blow off the sand from the beach or cook your Independence Day hot dogs, it seemingly solves one issue.
“Nobody loves lugging around like a giant cooler and sweating in the 100-degree heat,” said Joshua Egan, brand director at Heineken USA. It was built around a “charming” AI personality and was shown this summer to mark the nation’s return to semi-normalcy after gatherings last summer were discouraged due to the coronavirus. It was also unveiled to draw attention to the brand’s new beer can design, as the beverage category faces increasing competition from hard seltzers.
It does not have to house Heineken products. The robot is constructed to tote around ice, so you could seemingly use any beverage you would want to keep cold. Like for example – Coca-Cola. Just saying.
So there you go – my Top Two Tech Stories for this week, all about Sir Tim Berners-Lee and beer’s following you around!
