Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday|See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Mulholland | Owner at Missing Link| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: John Mc Loughlin| Cybersecurity expert See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Zanele Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation FacilitatorSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Brent Lindeque, founder of Good Things Guy See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Dike| Head trainer at Missing LinkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowTodaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Richard Mulholland | Owner at Missing LinkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Kevin Dike| Head trainer at Missing Link| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zanele Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday|See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Stafford Masie | Board member at Discovery Bank and CSIR| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Robert Brine| Director of Cyber & Intelligence Solutions at Mastercard See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Mulholland | Owner at Missing LinkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Dr Sizakele Marutlulle | Branding expert See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zanele Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Mulholland | Owner at Missing LinkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steven Ambrose | MD at Atvance IntellectSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rich Mulholland | Entrepeneur & Blogger Extraord at Missing Link See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zanele  Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A report suggests that one in six online business interactions are with a bot and that a third of those that interact with one, don't realise it was not a human. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What3Words is making the difficult task of precise location easier for those looking to deliver a package, find a friend in a shopping centre or get rescue workers to where you are stuck. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Africans can identify with Taylor Swift fans that hoped to snag a ticket to see her Era Tour. Swift is a very popular artist and so there was always going to be more demand than supply. Ticketmaster was the partner to handle the sale of tickets which resulted in much anger and calls for the company to be broken up to allow for more competition. The criticism and calls for amendments to how the ticketing industry is run is justified, but it may not change the situation without the entire supply chain being considered.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

27 years later and we still are not slowing carbon emission enough. There is reason for outrage and optimism, but mostly outrage. The thing is no-one got anything good done while outraged, only when once calmed down, and appreciating the extent of the problem and then actively looking for practical solutions could a potential solution be implemented.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elon Musk has many fans, fewer than in the past but still many that believe he will shift us to renewable energy, find a solution for autonomous driving, build a humanoid robot to help/replace workers and get us safely to the Moon and Mars. All while providing global internet coverage, an alternative to traffic jams and long distance trains and a way to fix damaged brains. The catch for Musk and the other companies he is significantly involved in how to split his time between them. It may not be that he needs to be present for day to day operations, but giving the positions he holds with Tesla and SpaceX, not being able to respond when he needs to make decisions about big projects or launch timelines or currently managing staff costs could slow down the companies even though he has regarded himself as the person to supply the momentum to get things down. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Zanele Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator at TomorrowTodaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowTodaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The most recent additions to our historic records are sound and video, but advances in how we work will both may allow us to make them last forever.  Mandalorian Audio credit : Disney Mark Hamill audio credit: BBCSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI has improved significantly over the last few years and is central to what is at the heart of the much talked about 4th Industrial Revolution. But for all the problems it may solve, it raises as many new ones especially around how to classify it and whether deserves its own copyright or patent or even Nobel Prize. Image credit: Midjourney using the prompt by Bruce Whitfield "Cape Dutch farmstead in a storm, in the style of Tinus de Jongh" Audio credit: Yaboi Hanoi - Enter Demons & GodsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bitcoin network still uses this method while the Ethereum network has recently switched to a revised system called proof-of-stake. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First identified almost 5 000 years ago, Malaria’s name comes from the Italian for bad air from when it was believed that illness was carried by the air. It was first identified as a parasite in 1880, a doctor in Cuba the following year noted the connection between mosquitoes and the transmission of yellow fever and allowed for the parasite to be tracked to being spread by certain mosquitoes. The work resulted in Noble prizes for medicine being awarded in 1902 and 1907. Vaccines for smallpox gave some the hope that something similar could be found for Malaria. Last week we got the results of a multi year trial that suggests we may finally have one. The parasite that has been estimated to be responsible for the unnatural deaths of half of all humanity. Audio credit: Dr Matshidiso Moeti WHO Image credit: Mycteria / 123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It may have taken a long time, but citizens can expect better protection now The Information regulator adds teeth to two groups of law that add to the strength of South Africa’s democracy and institutions that are created to protect it.  Ensuring access to information held by the state and in set cases 3rd parties Ensuring your privacy can be protected Correction: Public bodies are required to submit annual Section 32 reports, not all businesses.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pandemic required the theoretical and experimental efforts of remote work to become the reality whether we were ready or not.Thankfully there had been efforts to make this possible and that technology had progressed to support it.Most work still falls into the kinds of work that can't be done remotely as it typically requires something to be made or extracted. Manufacturing, agriculture, mining and I will include education.There has been a major shift though, an increase in service related work and creative work that relies on digital production for the output. Full article image credit: © alphaspirit / 123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two of the entrepreneurs might not be well known to most in South Africa, and the third might be best known only thanks to a recent TV series about his impressive rise and spectacular fall.  Their stories mirror the mix of character, vision, timing and a good bit of luck to make something a success. There are thousands who are doing the same each day but because the timing or luck is not aligned. It is fair to say that few successful people get to that position without taking big risks and making decisions that they might prefer not make. Hopefully it offers some reflection on your own actions and that being this successful is not only not possible for everyone, it would be a bad thing to aspire to. Business Unusual might focus on the change and disruption for the potential it offers for progress, but change for changes sake is chaos and no-one hoping for progress would want that. image credit: Elnur / 123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You would never consider visiting or staying next to a lithium-ion battery plant but you may well spend a relaxing weekend at a pumped storage facility. Read the full article. The thumbnail is a display of potential pump water storage locations. Image credit: data.gov.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Netflix documentary The Most Hated Man on the Internet highlights the willingness of some to do anything to make some money and how vulnerable we are to those who are intent at getting access to our accounts. In this case to post naked pictures without permission on a website to get visits and money for ad impressions Copyright law could allow you to have the images removed but was a civil lawsuit for personal images at the time, thankfully that has now been changed and there are harsh penalties for publishing this content which is generally referred to as revenge porn. In this case the criminal offence was hacking. It is incredible that the sentence was less than three years. It was a plea deal, which is likely why it was less harsh. Although given the seriousness of the offence and how long the site remained live (from 2010 to 2012) and that they knowingly targeted people for the purpose of finding naked images to post them publicly and include their personal information for ad revenue. You might think that the risk is much lower now, that the penalties are much greater because there are more laws in place, which while not incorrect, is cold comfort should someone find out that they have been hacked and lost control of their accounts and its contents. The hacks then much like now depend on phishing and our limited ability to understand the implications of getting hacked. Read the full articleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The standard plan these days is become a billionaire and then set your sights on going to space.  It has been the play for Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and of course Elon Musk, but Mark Zuckerberg the richest billionaire by age (38 and $67 billion) is looking to go further into cyberspace rather than outer space. He has both the time and the money to do it, but it will not be easy.  Audio credit: Adam Mosseri Image credit: MetaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may think paying for heated seats as a subscription is a crazy idea, but is likely to be one that becomes more common.  The Daily Show clip can be found here - https://youtu.be/PukjFP0zgVYSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First Elon Musk was keen and Twitter was not, now Twitter is keen and Elon Musk is not. It will be decided in court in October if a settlement is not reached before then, but what was Musk hoping to buy in the first place? Audio credit: TED Talks Image credit: © TwitterSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are many characters in the evolution of duty free shopping, Business Unusual looks at two that have stood out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday | See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Virus have been around long before humans and their incredible variety and myriad of functions may become our most effective tool to fight cancer. A human trial using a cancer targeting virus is underway, the outcome may be a game changer for one of the most common causes of death in humans.  Audio credit: ImugeneSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nothing makes the switch to electric look more affordable or unavoidable than how much you have to pay to fill up you petrol or diesel vehicle.  image credit: ©jvdwolf/123RF.COMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Colin Cullis | Product Owner at Primedia Broadcasting See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meeting someone is easier than it has ever been and for many that is what makes meeting people so hard. Lots more in the accompanying article. Image credit: Markus Winkler on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We need to do more reduce global warming, but this may come at a high cost. Humans have for centuries set their behaviour according the weather and seasons. Some of the first gods regulated it, we never thought one day we would affect it and maybe even control it. Geoengineering is the science that may change that and save us from the worst of climate change, but there are costs and risks, so we are back in the realms of the fickle weather gods. What is it? An intervention to current conditions, typically weather related, to mitigate the impact of global warming. There options based in space, the oceans and the atmosphere.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Given the massive energy expansion China is undertaking, might they be the ones to help restore the lights in this country...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The principal change is that since World War 2, the United Nations has been the body that a country would need to convince that its war was justified and there are very limited reasons to justify a war. Humans have a long history of war and given its impact on those affected, there is generally a lot of information recorded about the events. It is arguable that a large chunk of human history is the details of the many conflicts that have been waged between groups.  Why war used to be declared Before the almost instant news cycle we are used to now, it was not easy to let everyone know about developments. If two rulers found themselves ready to go to war, it would take a good chunk of time to inform its residents that those who can fight would need to travel to join their commanders and that those that supply food and weapons would need time to both produce and transport the goods. Similarly trade and travel between nations that are about to go to war would need to let those who are in the other country some time to leave and to conclude or cancel trade deals.  All that coordination would result in chaos if claims of war were just rumours, so formal declarations made sense. Image copyright: kchung/123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netflix recently announced it had lost subscribers for the 1st time and expected to lose many more.The question is why and what it means for the TV and movie disruptor.Returning to a Star Wars analogy Netflix was founded as an alternative to the video empires of Blockbuster that would fine you for returning a video late, they opted to let you keep the video if you wanted but you could only get another when you returned it. They also pioneered using the mail to send and return the DVDs that were the standard in the 90’sTheir plan was for Blockbuster to acquire them and to grow with the dominant player. Blockbuster were not interested in being challenged and rejected the offer.The video empire of Blockbuster had turned the video fans on the fringe of their business into rebels and they revolted.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Dawie Kriel| See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How could the person that has managed to amass more personal wealth through business that anyone in history be considered out of his depth or incompetent? It relates to the Peter Principle which holds that competent people get promoted or in this case get involved in new projects until they tackle a project they are not able to manage.  Fans of Elon Musk would argue that he can do anything, critics will be looking for any misstep as a sign of his coming ultimate failure, but in the middle is the truth. Elon Musk is a very committed and impressive person, but he remains a person. He has significant investment and obligations to provide results for Tesla owners and shareholders while being the chief engineer of a space company that is sending thousands of its own satellites into orbit, dozens of crew missions and then the small matter of getting the largest rocket ship ever built to space. Elon Musk's Don't Doubt ur Vibe Guest: Colin Cullis | Product Owner at Primedia Broadcasting See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is sad that sometimes the unintended consequence of war is progress It does not reflect well on humanity that following significant conflicts new technologies emerge that would have either taken longer to mature or would not have existed.  The League of Nations was formed to ensure there would never be another world war, we know that did not work, but following the 2nd world war, the United Nations was created to succeed where the League of Nations failed.  Would a world body to manage diplomacy have been created if not for a world war? Would the world have come together to create additional bodies like Unicef if not for the harm done to the innocent during those wars and would we have the richest nations paying to create the largest humanitarian organisation in the World Food Programme to acknowledge that humans deserve help everywhere and that hungry nations can’t be stable.  We routinely see rockets send satellites and more often humans into space now. Those rockets are the direct descendants of rockets first designed by Germany to bomb its enemies. Those same rockets carried us to the moon, but we probably would not have managed it, if there was not also a need for massive rockets to send nuclear bombs anywhere on the planet. This is just a small sample of the recent innovations that came as a result of war. It is regrettable that without the risk of being defeated we are unwilling to allocate funds to find new solutions.  image credit:© macniak/123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We may regard crude oil as a single thing but it is a very diverse mix of hundreds of molecules that are produced over millions of years and under very specific conditions from the remains of plants and animals.  Image credit: © arsgera/123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A powerful tool to assist workers remotely is Microsoft’s TeamViewer, it allows your IT support person to see exactly what is not working on your machine and rather than having to explain what you need to do to fix, they can just fix it, because TeamViewer effectively makes your machine theirs. You probably forget when or to update programs so it can be done for you. Installing new software and getting the printer working is easy for those who know how and they can fix it from anywhere.  But when IT bosses ask how often people need help and what kind of help they need, it makes sense that staff that need to have issues with viruses or phishing attacks addressed often might see the business want to track the kind of links and mails you open. Image credit: UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia’s 1MDB fund raised $6,5 billion in bonds with reportedly $4 billion (about R60 billion) being looted and shared among those that set up the fund and the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The story thankfully reveals that the scam was discovered and that many involved are facing the consequences, but it has left Malaysia with a debt of over $7 billion. The lessons for South Africa include just how long it takes to prosecute cases like this and how sentences may not seem to fit the scale of the crime, it also shows that even if you do expose the corruption you may not get to prosecute everyone.  Image credit: Siftography on 123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They say the first casualty in a conflict is the truth. For those wanting to help, knowing who or where to send help is a challenge.   In the disputed elections in Kenya in 2007, the access to phones and ability to send a message or email started the modern shift for how to help in a crisis. An open source website called Ushahidi (Swahili for witness) would collect the reports from those witnessing violence in order for those areas to be avoided.   It has grown to be a regular service deployed during or after a disaster to gather local information to better coordinate the recovery. From fires to floods to conflicts the app has grown to help clear the fog of war and allow those looking to help to best direct their efforts.    Since then, the mobile phone has become as useful as a weapon in a conflict and as vital as water in a disaster.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Perhaps digital contracts that automatically trigger the sanctions for failure to meet the undertakings will keep the populists and strongmen from sending their and other countries to the brink. Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One company has seen their business soar during the lockdown - ecommerce site Shopify. Business Unusual looks at the resourceful founder that has seen his start up grow to at one point become the most valuable business in Canada.  Audio credit: Recode Image credit: ShopifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They may be millions of years old, but they are still new to humanity image credit: PexelsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we read about the build up to previous wars, it looks like the outcome could be predicted, but at the time it looked very different.  Are we in a situation now that looks like posturing and rhetoric that will settle down or will future generations look back and wonder how we missed the obvious signs? image credit: PixabaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inflation occurs if you make more money available but keep the supply of goods the same or if the money supply is stable but there is a drop in supply and it can also occur when the money supply and the supply of goods are the same but faith in the currency is reduced through increased debt and poor exchange rate or political instability. Right now we have all three in place in various economies. The US has increased money supply dramatically, almost half of all the money that has ever existed in the US economy was added in the last two years. South Africa has also drastically increased how much money is available in the economy. We also had lots of supply shortages which add to the problem including a reduction in oil supply pushing petrol prices higher. For countries like Venezuela and Turkey the political situation has added to the woes.  Deflation is effectively the opposite and although it is the consequence of negative inflation, it is bad as you compromise growth. You would rather use disinflation which is a reduction in the rate of inflationary increase. So if consumer price inflation were to drop from 5,9% to 4% that would not be deflation but disinflation If the inflation rate is negative or too low at under 2% you might use reflation to get it back to desired levels. Stagflation is not steady inflation, it is the worst case combination of inflation, high unemployment and low growth, so South Africa is most likely in stagflation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual survey in 28 countries of about 35 000 people to determine what the current levels of trust is in four key institutions - government, media, business and NGOs. What is trust A simplified version is that it is the belief you hold about someone that they will or won’t do something, a second element relates to the justification in doing or not doing something.  Psychologically, it would be a measure of your competence and warmth. When we come across people who do what they say and are engaging and persuasive about why, we will trust them. Generally, we tend to trust someone until they show they are untrustworthy in part because we actually met them, but modern life has you know and even interact with many people you never meet and so either resist trusting someone because you did not get to meet them or trust someone that had you met them you might not trust, or worse through manipulation you trust them falsely. Audio credit: Reuters Image credit: Pixabay  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Long delays and massive costs aside, this is epic engineering. In the end the telescope would weigh over six tons and be as high as a multi-storey building. It would detect infrared light and so would need a sunshield which turned out to be about the size of a tennis court. You can’t fit a double decker bus on a tennis court on top of a rocket. You certainly would also struggle to accelerate it to supersonic speeds and hope for anything to survive. So you need to make the largest, most expensive and complicated origami you can imagine. It proved to be so complex that in the end there were 344 single-point failures. A single- point failure is one that scuppers the entire mission if the failure occurs.  Anyone who has seen Don’t Look Up will understand that throwing objects into the air high enough that they don’t fall back is not easy and when you have 24 years of effort and over $10 billion in spending then the reality that just a single electronic bolt release failing would render the entire mission a waste. Quite the responsibility on those building and overseeing it. Image credit: NASA Audio credit: NASASee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Richard Mulholland | Owner at Missing Link See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 27, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has accomplished more than most can in a lifetime For those outside the crypto-world Bitcoin is likely the only new fangled form of money you have heard about. There are thousands of coins and platforms. Many are simply copycat versions hoping to catch unwary investors but some do offer new ways to imagine how finance, business and even governments can operate.  Buterin became intrigued with Bitcoin after his father introduced him to it at age 17. He was so intrigued he started writing for a Bitcoin publication and got paid as you might expect in Bitcoin. At the time he made less than $4 dollars per submission. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Politicians and pharmaceutical companies could have done more to tackle Covid-19 In December 2019 Business Unusual considered the disruption that could come from a pandemic. It came on the back of growing anti-vax behaviour from small sections of communities that did not only believe vaccines were not helping, there was a growing belief that they would cause harm.  As a consequence outbreaks of diseases that were on the verge of being eradicated were making a comeback with outbreaks that in some cases warranted drastic public action.  In December 2019 Samoa had a measles outbreak that affected 3% of the population. It followed a drop in vaccine use and showed how a virus with just a bit of complacency could run amok. It took a curfew and the cancellation of public gatherings with most civil servants being redeployed to administer vaccines for the month. By the end of December they had managed to vaccinate 94% of the nation.  It was not the first lesson we have had about what happens when a virus gets the better of us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Food production is a megabusiness and while you may know dozens of food brands, they all come from just a handful of companies.  This is a short history of how a biscuit formed an empire. Image credit:See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The long term solution may be to reduce the need for overhead cables or get rid of them all together. It was the height of the cables that caused the scandal with the trains South Africa bought that were too tall. Removing the cables would not only solve that issue but cable theft too. The solution is to use hydrogen and a fuel cell in the same way a diesel electric train operates, rather than diesel to run a generator, the hydrogen fuel cell generates electricity, is silent and only produces water as a by product.  The range for the current versions is about 600km. That would still need some hydrogen stations to be created along the route for cross country trips but they may be run by solar plants that can create hydrogen from water or simply moved there by train.  Image credit: Casey Horner UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Africa is at COP26 to discuss how to avoid a climate disaster, this is the plan.  The Presidential Climate Commission was tasked to both move South Africa towards a low carbon economy while managing the impact from potential disruption to jobs.  The idea of a just transition looks to both deal with how to lower our CO2 emissions and give those employed and dependent on those industries to maintain or ideally improve on the current conditions. While the focus is on the energy sector, carbon emissions include agriculture, manufacturing, mining and transport.  The plan would need to address emissions across the board to achieve the first of the two key jargon terms. Net-zero and zero-carbon. In trying to achieve this the measures may use mitigation or adaptation. The time frame to achieve the goal is 2050. That is 29 years from now, for most South Africans that is longer than their lifetimes. For those that are older it is about the time since South Africa has been a democracy. If you consider what we have managed to achieve since then you would either be optimistic or very doubtful we have the time or even the political will or ability to achieve it. Here is a brief explanation of each. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bots are often the reason sale items appear and sell out almost instantly This story begins with the latest Xbox that looks like a small fridge, Microsoft the makers of the Xbox said that if they could win a Twitter battle of brands they would turn the meme fridge into reality and after winning the contest in April released the mini fridges for a limited sales run in October. Lots of people wanted one, most did not manage to get one, but quite a few were seen for sale on auction sites at much higher prices.  The fridges were not bought by fans, but by a new kind of middleman that uses bot to buy high demand items to sell for a profit. Xbox has since made the fridge available again from December; those sales too seem to be plagued by bot purchases.  Guest: Colin Cullis | Product Owner at Primedia Broadcasting  Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As cities grow and land becomes more expensive so too does being able to afford a burial. Cremation allowed for less space to be used, but the CO2 and potential pollutant impact on dealing with 60 million deaths a year may make it a less favourable option.  Here are some alternatives. Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite the bad news associated with big tech, this is something to celebrate The first challenge as older South Africans will recall is getting connected. Many young South Africans may still struggle with access and cost, but like anything that you can supply in volume, you get to get it for less.  This is the first critical tipping point for progress.  The first fibre cables came online only in this century even though the first undersea cable arrived from Europe in the 1800s, but in the two decades the increase has been incredible. Image credit: Photo by JJ Ying on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taiwan is a significant economy but only 14 countries acknowledge it as a country. China and some in Taiwan want to see the countries reunited others would prefer the two remain neighbours. Depending on what happens, it will not only impact the citizens of the two regions but perhaps everyone. Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash  Audio credit: Blue OriginSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes you are the player, but sometimes you are being played. The impact that playing games is having on how we do business.  Photo by Sigmund on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The search giant is 23 years old, it is mostly amazing but doesn’t say don’t be evil anymore I have covered the ups and downs of Google a good many times for Business Unusual. It was the definitive disruptor to begin with but at only 23 it is now a massive global company with few that have not felt its effects although what its next 23 years will look like may not be as rosy. I am not saying it is no longer disruptive, instead like most if not all very large companies it begins to disrupt itself.  Image credit: bigtunaonline/123rf.com Audio credit: Robert SloanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Air and rocks are everywhere, why not turn them into a battery?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Apple moves away from its focus on hardware it is looking to improve the offerings it offers via software and services. Its pay services and ad network are two with Apple TV another big play. The other is the work to make their watch better as a health device. When SpaceX sends its first four private astronauts to space on 15 September for a three day mission in a low Earth orbit, it will be tracking how the astronauts are doing via Apple watches and surveys via iPads. Photo by Trac Vu on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The documentary on the 9/11 attacks in the US for the 20th anniversary is a good reminder of how freedom is viewed in different societies. It tracks the events that led to the attacks in response to US interventions in Afghanistan, the Middle East and other Islamic countries, the events on the day and then the long and lasting impact of the decisions to retaliate and invade and overthrow the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq. With the US withdrawing before the 20th anniversary effectively on principle following their longest war, it was hoped Afghanistan would continue as a free and independent country. It was hoped that the trillions of dollars spent to train and supply the government and military would set the country on a path to democracy. Before the US left, the Taliban had toppled the government and taken control of the country. They represent something very different to the US idea of Democracy, some wondered how did the US fail so completely, others might argue how did the US think it would ever be able to succeed.  Both are justified because while democracy may be a simple concept, it is hard to implement. Audio credit: Fox News: July 2010See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OnlyFans can be described as a relatively new service made up of existing older services to satisfy the oldest service. It is a platform for content creators that has photos like Instagram, videos like YouTube, and posting and messaging like Facebook and Twitter. It charges a subscription like Patreon. Creators and fans can supply a wide variety of content across many subjects, but for the most part the content is adult related. Most of the creators are women, most of the fans are men and since the start of the pandemic it has allowed many adult industry workers to maintain or increase their income. It had grown to two million creators, had 130 million users and revenues of over $5 billion. Not bad for a company that was only started in 2016 and effectively has just 4 shareholders.  Fans are happy, creators are happy, owners are happy - what could go wrong?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The speed and reach of global media including social media and the impact of influencers can make a gadget global in a very short space of time. Add the power of Chinese manufacturing and ease and speed it can be shipped and some toy cycles can be created in just a few days.  But too much exposure can make a must have toy, yesterday's news just as fast. image credit: UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple will check your messages and photos, they say for good reason. If you own an iPhone, the first question is what does owning it even mean. Apple will not allow you to load unapproved apps. Apple only allows you to have it worked on by Apple approved service agents and in the US when the next iOS update is released it will scan your phone messages and photos. These might not sound like good reasons to want to buy one of the most expensive phones on the market, but the reasons for the update do make sense even if not everyone agrees. Audio Credit: Apple Image Credit: Marija Zaric UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Could we solve the most common traffic violations by making our vehicles the law enforcer A TV show from the 90s called Beyond 2000 featured an insert on car technology that as a teenager I thought was a great idea and expected to be seen as standard by the time I was able to drive. A breathalyser built into the car.  To start the car you first needed to blow on the breathalyser. If you passed the car would start, if you failed it would not.  What if you got a passenger to blow for you? What if it was your child? That might work, but why would someone who is not drinking allow you to drive the car when you were over the limit. If you were willing to compel a child to blow on your behalf and then make them travel with you, you had bigger problems than just drink driving.  The makers, figuring that a willing plant at the departure point might blow for you, built in the need to blow again 5 mins into the trip. This also covered the bases for you having left thinking you were still okay only to get worse some time later.  Having the car come to a stop could have been dangerous as this was before GPS was common, so instead it would simply flash the lights in a pattern that could only mean the driver was over the limit. So what happened to the breathalysers in all the cars? Audio credit: Beyond 2000 Image credit: Pexels.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Customer satisfaction is a relatively new concept, customer dissatisfaction is ancient.  We can trace the history of poor service to a person called Nanni. The shipment of copper ore that was ordered did not arrive on time and was of poor quality.  What makes this report remarkable is that it was sent by the unhappy merchant over 3500 years ago.  The clay tablet is held by the British Museum and because we are living in the digital age you can see it for yourself by clicking the link. Audio credit: TEDx Talks Photo by chaitanya pillala on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let me tell you about the long and incredible series of developments that allowed a vaccine to be made available so quickly to deal with Covid-19. DNA is a library of everything your body might need to reproduce, build and look after you. It is a recipe book of sorts. RNA is a copy of a piece of it, a single recipe to make very important substances - proteins. For dealing with diabetes we need to add the protein insulin to allow us to function. If we could give you RNA we could create it for a short while, if we can fix the part of the DNA that no longer has the recipe we can fix the problem.  Fixing DNA is gene therapy. Lots of diseases relate to issues with DNA. It is a very promising field but only a small group of approved therapies have been devised.  For other uses, RNA can be used to produce antigens, proteins used by viruses that trigger the immune system. Once you know what the antigen protein is, you can look for the RNA code that creates it. Audio credit: TEDxBeaconStreet See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Star Trek made the line that space was the final frontier famous. It is true. Everything humanity has ever done is contained on a tiny speck floating in space. Carl Sagan called it the pale blue dot based on the image from the Voyager 1 spacecraft that was taken in 1990 when the craft had traveled about 6 billion kilometers from Earth, the picture of the galaxy included Earth which was no more than a speck on the image. Less than an hour later Voyager would shut down its camera never to take another image.  It took all of human history to get us to having the first person breach the bounds of gravity and orbit the Earth just once in 1961. Yuri Gagarin represented the first living thing that had taken billions of years of evolution to determine how to rise high enough above the Earth to remain there.  Image & audio credit: NASA & Blue Origin Colin Cullis presents a weekly insert on the Money Show with Bruce Whitfield about the innovations and disruptions that are impacting on business and you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Business Unusual first covered the story in 2018, unboxing videos were on the rise as creators and brands recognised the power of having their products demonstrated as videos to assist those thinking of buying their products to get a better sense of what they would be getting and tap into the excitement of opening something new.  In the three years since, his parents have switched to working on the channel full time. They have signed up for multiple merchandise deals with major retails chains and their 5-year-old twins now feature in the videos too. Colin Cullis presents a weekly insert on the Money Show with Bruce Whitfield about the innovations and disruptions that are impacting on business and you. © Pocket.watch Ryan KajiSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Chinese Communist Party celebrated their 100 year anniversary on 1 July, as a political party they have ruled the country continuously for 72 years, longer than the USSR which broke up and every other nation with the exception of North Korea. In that time it has endured terrible hardships of poverty and little economic opportunity, a good chunk of it by its own doing. But it has risen to become the second largest economy and if measured by how many people were lifted out of poverty the most successful government in history. It has worked to rightfully reunify with Hong Kong and continues to work towards reunification with Taiwan.  You would be forgiven for thinking it would be good for those regions to be returning to such a successful country. China would describe the story that way, but some may see it as China calling a deer a horse.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not everything will be ready, and many businesses will still have a lot to do to make sure they comply, but it is a big win for consumers and even a positive for businesses that can more easily do business with other countries that have also introduced similar laws. Photo by Marija Zaric on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It looks like only some will get to enjoy it. Even if you enjoy your work, there are few who don’t appreciate the time away from work to enjoy the fruits of your labour with family and friends.   This is what weekends are for, it is as timeless as the commandment to rest on the Sabbath, so a hat tip to the faithful for getting us our first day off.   The second day required a few thousand more years. Farmers worked during the day, the “early to bed early to rise” wisdom comes from the farm, no holidays until the crops are harvested, then the mother of all feasts and a few days to recover before starting all over again. The weekend is such a new concept actually that even the French, who typically will not use English words accept ‘le weekend’ even if the official term is French for ‘the end of the week’.  It was fed up factory workers in the UK that convinced owners to give them a Saturday afternoon off probably because productivity dropped anyway and not paying someone when they were not working too hard actually made business sense, even if it was the exploitative kind. Still it was 1879 with the 1st Industrial Revolution in full swing that the word first appeared in print.  142 years later and we are starting to talk about making the weekend almost as long as the week.  Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Audio credit: Andrew Barnes TEDx TalksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Zanele  Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator at TomorrowTodaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dogs, bees and AI may help us find more infections faster than current testing. There is good reason to believe that a sensor that can work almost instantly, cost very little, does not need lab conditions and can be used repeatedly may be right under our noses. We can smell and recognise over 10 000 unique smells, not that you have made a list. Yet we take it for granted even as it quickly and effectively allows us to find or avoid so many issues. An even more effective solution can be found in the snouts and noses of fellow organisms that are far more sensitive. Dogs are way better than us, they take only a little training to associate a smell with a reward and are about 70% accurate  Audio credit: Vox Unexplainable Image Credit: © vladimirfloyd/123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The boom in construction is unprecedented. Humans have built so much that the mass of our built environment probably weighs more than all the living things on the planet. From Forests to livestock and even us, the buildings we have created are now more massive. Life on Earth has been building for billions of years, humans far less so, in a book by David Farrier about how cities will fossilise he notes that just 300 years ago just one location on Earth was home to more than a million people. Edo in Japan, now there are over 500 cities greater than a million with Tokyo now at an incredible 37 million.  It is hard to get your head around a city that is two thirds the size of South Africa by population. Johannesburg takes up about 1600 sq km, Tokyo is 2200 sq km but is home to 35 million more people than Joburg.  While Japan remains one of the most built up nations on the planet, the progression is that all countries at some point head down the path to urbanise, densify and increase their big infrastructure projects.  Since World War II according to Farrier, we have cast enough concrete to pave the entire planet, land and sea.  Photo by Edward He on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

But what is the Metaverse? Audio Credit: New York Times Deal Book  Image Credit: Richard Horvath on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Almost every business uses computers, software and is connected to the internet, the three components needed for a modern day Trojan horse to compromise your operations The Greeks had not managed to get inside the walls of Troy after a siege, the plan was to create a horse statue to conceal soldiers and convince the Trojans that the Greeks had left and left the horse as a gift. The horse was taken inside the city to show the citizens the siege was over. At night the hidden soldiers left the horse and opened the city gates to allow the Greeks to enter and attack. The Darkside Group recently effectively shut fuel supplies to the East Coast of the US as a result of a hack on the company that managed the pipeline. The Colonial Pipeline hack was a major one but one of many that take place every day and the trend is likely to continue thanks to how little most businesses understand about cybercrime and the reticence to spend time and money to protect themselves.  Audio Credit: Kjersti FlaaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may not think capitalism would place an emphasis on the environment or people, but this form of it does For profit businesses have typically optimised their operations only for profit, why put it in the name if it was not the most important factor.  But changes to the environment and a younger generation skeptical of former generations stewardship of the planet are causing a change in where they want to see their money invested.  Environment, Social and Governance investing is an evolution with investors expecting more from the companies they invest in. They are still expected to create value and grow, but the shift is for it to be sustainable and fair to the environment and the people involved in the industry. Photo by Sharon Pittaway on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fortnite was the runaway hit in 2018 that has gone on to make millions for Epic Games. The game is played on most platforms but mobile is very popular, over 100 million played on iOS, over 75 million played on nothing else. Most were in the US and most were under 25. While the game is free to play, you can buy in game items for your character. It does not allow you to play better, but it does allow you to change your outfit or do special dance moves to celebrate your victories. It appears enough players really want to stand out and so Fortnite makes millions. Apple users can only download apps via the App store. App creators pay an annual fee to access the platform and submit If the game is passed by Apple as not contravening their rules it is free for developers to make their apps available. Should they charge for anything, Apple would take 30%. In November 2020 they announced that they would reduce that to 15% for income below $1 million per year. For subscriptions for services like Spotify, the rate is 15% after the first year. Apple is not alone in charging 30% but then it did create the first App store and has been charging the rate that everyone else adopted since it launched in 2008. Who is right and what about the issues with privacy and repairs. Photo by Dainis Graveris on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The good news is that the International Energy Agency, an autonomous intergovernmental organisation that has been tracking energy issues since the oil crisis in 1973 noted that while the 2021 increase in oil consumption would be more than the drop in consumption in 2020, petrol consumption probably peaked in 2018. It held steady in 2019 and dropped in 2020.  While, in time, you might assume it will rise beyond the 2018 high, they expect it will not reach the 9.33 million barrels per day again. The reasons include continued increases with fuel efficiency, a trend to more remote working and telecommuting and the increase in the sale of electric cars. Image credit: CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Zanele  Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator at TomorrowTodaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Metal-Oxide semiconductor transistors are arguably the most manufactured artefact in human history and there is now a global shortage. We need about a trillion chips per year but demand has outstripped the supply. Image credit: Laura Ockel = UnsplashSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First there was broadcast and streaming, then podcasts and now live online chat shows from apps like Clubhouse. The next step in making traditional media channels available to everyone. It will not always be good but it should fill in a gap for more focussed audio broadcasts for those that want to listen and contribute. Audio credit. Vergecast Ashley Carman  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal may have been avoided but it was inevitable. image credit: © Lukas Gojda/123rf.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.