Welcome to my website. I’m a believer in an Internet for everyone, decentralized and accessible to all. Yet still half the planet has no access. I’m an early adopter and player with social media, yet mostly seeing how it works to benefit platforms and advertisers who show little genuine care for the rights and privacy of the users of those platforms. And I’m an experimenter with Web 3, trying to balance the enormous possibilities with the risks in order to see what’s next.
Here – at the intersection of business, communication and technology – I analyze and discuss trends, behaviours and practices in social and digital communication to help you (and I) understand the new landscapes and what they mean for each of us. Thanks for visiting.
Latest Articles
- The metaverse is not your destination
Updated on August 11, 2022 When Meta fka Facebook announced its change of purpose and name last year to become a self-described “social technology company,” it was widely seen as a signficant move in establishing the leading role in defining and enabling the metaverse as the next level up from current social networks, AR, VR, virtual worlds, the whole online shebang that is layered onto the current Internet. Which gets to my point in this article – considering the question,… - The Uber Files data leak and the chasm between ethics and lobbying
Updated on July 20, 2022 On July 11, the Guardian newspaper dropped a bombshell across the media and political landscapes with the first revelations about Uber and its law-breaking activities around the world, on an industrial scale, in the pursuit of profits. News about the Uber Files published by the Guardian and a global array of media partners was the visible first step in making use of a treasure trove of data leaked by a whistleblower to shine a bright… - Keep an open mind about AI
The suspension of a Google engineer called Blake Lemoine, who claimed an AI (artificial intelligence) in the form of a computer chatbot he was working on had become sentient and was thinking and reasoning like a human being, has stimulated a lot of comment over the past few weeks following the story’s publication in the Washington Post. It formed the starting discussion that Shel Holtz and I had in this month’s long-form episode 263 of the For Immediate Release podcast,… - Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3: making foldable phones mainstream
In mid-May, I got a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3. Launched in August 2021, this device bolstered Samsung’s reputation for innovation and leading-edge technology where they succeeded in bringing to market a smartphone with ‘flexible glass‘ that clearly was ready for the mainstream. Since then, Samsung has gone on to grab a commanding share of the overall foldable-smartphone market where sales of the Flip 3 accounted for 51% of all foldables shipped during Q1 2022. Overall, Samsung… - A showcase of talent for the world
Updated on June 6, 2022 We watched the Platinum Party at the Palace music concert on Saturday night (4 June 2022), broadcast live by the BBC from outside Buckingham Palace in London where more than 20,000 people had gathered to experience it in person. It was in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marking her 70 years on the British throne. What I saw on my HD TV at home was a stunning event, a spectacular showcase… - See the wood for the trees with NFTs
Updated on May 28, 2022 We’re seeing the metaverse and Web 3.0 being used to hide promo codes, and companies are getting people to look around and earn things in the metaverse – that’s where I think there’s going to be a lot of growth. In NFTs, we see a market that is quite flooded, but it’s become the path of least resistance for companies to get involved in the space. NFTs are how brands are dipping their toes in…
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- As we start another heat wave here in the UK, the talk about temperatures increases. One topic I find constant, especially in conversation with American friends, is understanding what various temperature measurements mean. For example, what’s 30 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit? (The answer is 30°C = 86°F.) The questions are […]
- Everyone has an opinion about Brexit. About the good. The bad. And the ugly. The chaos at the port of Dover this weekend – along with everything else related to transport: queues and baggage-handling nightmares at airports, train strikes over staff pay and benefits – are being put in the […]
- My topics for discussion with Shel in For Immediate Release 270, our monthly long-form podcast episode for July 2022, published on July 18, 2022: The Uber Files The Uber Files are a leaked database of Uber’s activities in about 40 countries that reveals how Uber stormed into markets around the world, and how […]
- A few days ago I met up with some good friends for lunch at a terrific pub outside Dorking. It was a pleasant 90-minute drive on a warm and sunny day from Newbury via Guildford and through the Surrey Hills. To make the journey even more pleasant and very relaxing, […]
- My topics for discussion with Shel in For Immediate Release 263, our monthly long-form podcast episode for June 2022, published on June 20, 2022: Google has not created sentient AI — yet The suspension of a Google engineer called Blake Lemoine, who claimed a computer chatbot he was working on […]
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