Category: Smart & New Technology

Gold, e-waste, and a dependence on physical innovation…

Posted on by The Information Badger in e-waste, Information Technology, Innovation, Smart & New Technology, Technology

There’s a large Acer tree in the Badger’s garden with masses of delicate leaves which rustle sweetly when there’s a hint of breeze. In the Summer it’s a great place to sit in the shade under its branches with a cold beer. In the UK’s heatwave that’s exactly what the Badger did to escape the sun’s rays, read, track online interests, and cogitate about life. He’s probably drunk more cold beer than prudent but chilling out in this way allows the mind to be stimulated by something you read, at least that’s the case with the Badger. You can predict neither the trigger in advance, nor how your thoughts will develop to a conclusion once they’re triggered. So, what caught the Badger’s eye and triggered the stream of thought that prompted the writing of this post? It was reading that an interdisciplinary team of scientists has found a new and sustainable way to recover gold from e-waste (see here and here). 

The Badger’s interest was piqued because of his metals/materials research background prior to a career in IT during which a latent interest in metals/materials never entirely disappeared. Gold, recovering it from e-waste, and e-waste itself, are fascinating topics given this metal’s unique properties. The total amount of gold ever mined makes just a 22-metre sided cube, and tiny quantities are used in smartphones, computers, and most other electronic devices. E-waste is any electrical or electronic equipment that’s been discarded, working or not. We all have some – perhaps an old MP3 player, smartphone, or tablet – somewhere in a drawer or cupboard. E-waste volumes, containing gold and other important elements, are growing but less than 25% of it is collected and recycled.  A new, sustainable, cheaper, and less hazardous way of recovering gold from it is an important development, especially if we stop hoarding our old devices in the first place!

Once triggered, where did the Badger’s thoughts end up? They meandered but concluded something about innovation, a subject that seems to be dominated in the mainstream by AI and new services in the virtual digital world. But here’s the point. None of this virtual digital innovation could exist without underlying ‘true physical innovation’ in the world of metals and materials. Without innovation in the science, extraction, processing, manufacturing, and recycling of condensed matter none of the electronic devices we rely on in the online digital world of today and tomorrow would exist. Youngsters looking for a stable and fertile career path should thus consider the physics and chemistry of metals/materials because the world today and in the future  depends more and more on innovation in this field. One thing, however, is a certainty. You never know what will trigger your thoughts and where they will take you if you relax with a cold beer in the shade under a tree in a heatwave….

Smartwatch, traditional watch, or both?

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Online Services, Public safety, Risk, Security, Smart & New Technology, Smartwatches, Technology

Is there a smartwatch from the likes of Apple, Samsung, Huawei and others, on your wrist? A decade ago, smartwatches were essentially novelties for tech enthusiasts. Today they’re mainstream. In the ten years since Apple unveiled its first watch  they’ve become a popular, wrist-worn, command and control centres for time, date, productivity aids, communication, fitness and personal health.  Globally there are more than 450 million smartwatches in use, and the number is expected to rise to ~750 million by 2029. Many people are turning to smartwatches from traditional mechanical/ automatic watches because they do significantly more than just tell the time and their capabilities continue to expand as technology marches on.

So, does this mean the traditional wristwatch, which first appeared in the 19th century, will soon be obsolete? Many say yes, but the Badger thinks otherwise. A traditional mechanical/automatic watch performs its purpose of providing the time and date  extremely well. Accordingly, it’ll be around for many decades yet because it has design simplicity, is robust, doesn’t require frequent battery charging or software updates, and is immune to cyber threats. Traditional watches provide their core function – the time and date – in aesthetically pleasing hardware that can be chosen to suit any lifestyle or occasion. Many think that a traditional watch’s lack of connectivity to today’s online world is a disadvantage. On the contrary, the Badger thinks it’s an advantage.

Smartwatches, of course, come in many guises but one thing fundamentally drives their design, namely convenient access to the services and information that underpin the rhythm of life in the modern digital world. Their manufacturers routinely enhance their design, functionality, and usability as a wrist-based hub for time, date, and things like voice and message communication, activity and fitness tracking, and personal health monitoring and diagnostics. As a convenient computer on our wrists, however, they are yet another screen that grabs attention. They need regular battery recharges and software and security updates to protect against cyber threats. Like smartphones, there’s also a better model coming soon!

So, are smartwatches rendering traditional mechanical/automatic watches obsolete? No. Why not? Because most people today understand the dangers of the digital world, and they are increasingly aware from world events of the inconvenience and turmoil that can ensue when key energy, communication, and online infrastructure is damaged. Their smartwatch could be rendered useless in such circumstances, whereas a traditional mechanical or automatic watch will continue to deliver its core function, time and date, unabated. So don’t ditch your traditional watch for a smartwatch, have and use both (as the Badger does). You will then always be able to access the time and date on your wrist should a digital disaster occur. The obsolescence of traditional watches is a long way off because in the current world climate it’s prudent to have non-digital contingencies for unexpected digital difficulties…

Frustration caused by the plague of delivery vans…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Automation, Delivery, Driverless transport, Drones, Human Resources, Information Technology, Online Services, Public safety, Smart & New Technology, Technology, Transport

Life’s full of ups and downs, and some weeks are better than others! For the Badger, Easter week was full of frustrations, all ostensibly caused by society’s addiction to online shopping with home delivery. Like many, the Badger used his car to visit family, friends, and for errands over the Easter period. Every journey was delayed at some point by the stop, start, and illegal parking activities of vehicles that were part of the ever-growing plague of multi-drop delivery vans on UK streets.

Here’s one example that caused frustration. The Badger drove an elderly neighbour to their appointment at the local health centre, a journey which normally takes ~7 minutes with a route that entails driving through the town’s High Street. Well before reaching this busy street, traffic had slowed to a snail’s pace. This was because a well-known company’s multi-drop delivery van had parked on double-yellow (no-waiting) lines in the middle of the High Street. The driver had left the van to deliver a collection of packages to nearby residences. The illegally parked van caused havoc as car drivers tried to navigate around it against the constant flow of traffic coming in the opposite direction. Just as the Badger reached the High Street, the van driver returned, collected another armful of packages, and walked off with them in a different direction ignoring the obvious disruption their van was causing.

Just before it was the Badger’s turn to navigate past the van, the driver returned, drove off, and stopped again on double-yellow lines 50 metres further along the street. This made the disruption worse because another multi-drop delivery van had parked close by on the opposite side of the road creating a chicane for traffic in both directions. As a result of all this, the 7-minute drive to the Health Centre took nearly 25 minutes, making the Badger’s neighbour slightly late for their appointment. This, and similar experiences on other journeys over the Easter period, triggered some musing.

Online shopping with home delivery has revolutionised convenience, but one consequence is the plague of vans on our roads and the tendency of their drivers to ignore the rules of the road due to tight schedules, high delivery volumes, and the need for frequent stops. Since these van drivers seem to be immune to the rules of the roads, the Badger thinks there’s a need for an enforcement solution. If today’s digital tech can tell you when your online purchase will arrive at your door, then it’s clearly possible to use drone, satellite, and information technologies to a) detect in real-time when multi-drop van drivers park illegally on double yellow lines and b) automatically fine them and their employer for the misdemeanour. It currently seems that no amount of ‘company policy’ or ‘driver training’ makes a difference, but hitting them in their pockets probably will…

Today’s cutting edge is tomorrow’s obsolescence…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Automation, Driverless transport, Information Technology, Internet of Things, Life, Online Services, Smart & New Technology, Technology

As the Badger sat in traffic, a news item on the car radio grabbed his attention. It was a report that there are now no new car models in the UK that come with a CD player. The built-in CD player is joining the cassette tape player in the great scrapyard in the sky! The Badger’s reaction on listening to the report? A little sadness, but not surprised given the speedy evolution of in-car digital infotainment over the last 15 years. The march of connected, integrated, digital technology and the advent of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have rendered CDs in vehicles obsolete. The Badger glanced at the half-dozen music CDs, a mix of factory-pressed and self-burned, resting in the cubbyhole behind the handbrake and was hit by a wave of nostalgia.

Nostalgia is a natural and common human experience that can help in navigating the  present by drawing comfort and strength from the past. The Badger has a kinship  with his car CDs because they’ve often been played during notable journeys full of either happiness or great sadness. There’s something personally satisfying and engaging about physically selecting a CD, taking it from its case, putting it into the car’s player, adjusting the volume, and then doing the reverse when the last track’s played. Tapping a digital screen or giving voice commands to play your music in a vehicle is a different, less engaging experience. The Badger’s CDs will continue to be played in his car until it too is beckoned by the great scrapyard in the sky.

The demise of in-car CD players is just another illustration that obsolescence is an unavoidable aspect of the rapidly advancing digital age. In the 1980s, the CD put the in-car cassette tape on the path to oblivion with the fitment of cassette players as standard in new vehicles ending completely in the first decade of this century. Now digital systems sourcing music and other entertainment from the ether have essentially done the same thing for the CD player. This implies, of course, that what’s replacing the CD in vehicles today will itself become obsolete in due course, especially as obsolescence is happening faster and faster in the consumer electronics, software, media and entertainment, manufacturing, and automotive industries.

Things once acclaimed as cutting edge are always eventually relegated to the side lines by something else, so what will in-car entertainment look like in a few decades time? Well, if mass adoption of truly self-driving cars becomes a reality, then occupants will absorb entertainment without the distraction of actually driving. In-car entertainment will be dominated by immersive technologies, AI, well-being/mood sensors, and so on, making the driving experience into something akin to that of lazing about in a mobile digital living room. The thought makes the Badger shudder because it represents  another step towards the potential obsolescence of the human race!

In a world of complication, simplicity is best…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Change, Digital Transformation, Information Technology, Life, Smart & New Technology, Technology

The need to replace a broken light switch this week made the Badger think about how the march of digital technology produces a world of complication for the average person. Visiting a local electrical store for a new switch, one that simply turns the lights on or off when you press its rocker, led to a discussion with the store owner, a friend of a friend. They asked if the Badger wanted a ‘normal’ switch or a ‘smart ‘one. The Badger said the former. The shop was quiet, so we chatted.

Knowing the Badger’s IT background, the owner expressed surprise that he didn’t want a ‘smart’ switch that controlled lights using a smartphone app. The owner isn’t actually a fan of ‘smart’ lighting products for the home, but they sell them because they are a highly profitable product line with Millennials apparently the main customers, although sales had dropped recently. The Badger said a conventional switch served his need because it was simple, performed its primary function well (turning a light on or off), and devoid of complications like having a smartphone, an app, a Wi-Fi network or worrying about data security. The owner chuckled and called the Badger a dinosaur! ‘You won’t be buying one of my ‘smart’ fridges or washing machines then?’ they asked waving towards models in the store. They knew the answer.

A discussion on the pros and cons of ‘smart’ fridges and washing machines ensued. The owner believes that most customers for these items never used their digital and network features to the full. Most, they asserted, just used the standard functions that are found on more traditional, cheaper, models. We agreed that competition between manufacturers to add more ‘smart home’ capabilities to their products meant they’ve  become packed with features that make the units more complicated for the average person to use. What’s wrong with a simple to use fridge or washing machine that just concentrates on its fundamental purpose at a sensible price? Nothing, we concluded as the conversation drew to an end with an influx of new customers.

Since the 1980s, when the information technology landscape we have today didn’t exist, a host of technological and societal changes have occurred. Computational power, the internet, the digitisation of data, systems that interact independently, and new business models have had a massive impact, and many people still struggle with the changes and complications to their daily lives. Technology will complicate daily life for the foreseeable future, but people are beginning to shun technology for the simplicity of  traditional and familiar things that work and have done so for years. Do you really need to be able to talk to your fridge and washing machine? Just because modern technology means you can, doesn’t mean you should….

Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Light underpin the digital world of tomorrow…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Batteries, Change, Education, Information Technology, Learning, Obsolescence, Science & Engineering, Smart & New Technology, Technology, Transformation

A trip to the supermarket provided a reminder that without physics, chemistry, and mathematics none of our modern tech, internet, and online services would exist. Hardly a revelation, but what triggered this heightened awareness? Well, just the simple act of taking a small bag of spent disposable batteries to a recycling bin in the supermarket’s checkout area. The bin was full to overflowing with used disposable batteries from toys, clocks, TV remotes, cordless computer keyboards, wireless mice, and a myriad of other sources that use replaceable batteries as a power source. The act of depositing his spent batteries reminded the Badger that each one is actually a little capsule of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and that our digital world depends on these subjects and batteries of one form or another.

On returning home, the Badger reflected on the science, materials, manufacturing, and recycling of these disposable batteries and whether they’ll ultimately be made redundant by newer power source innovations in the decades ahead. After all, the Titanium Citizen Eco-Drive watch on the Badger’s wrist uses solar and artificial light for power rather than replaceable batteries. It’s a technology that dates back to the mid-1970s, so it’s not new. Furthermore, the 1980s pocket calculator sitting on the Badger’s desk is also solar powered with no replaceable batteries. It’s a memento from a major 1980’s software development project and it works just as well today as it did back then! The Badger thus found himself wondering why power derived from light sources hasn’t rendered the disposable battery redundant in the last 40 years. Well, to make a functionally reliable, manufacturable, commercially viable product that has physics, chemistry, and mathematics at its core takes years of research to come to fruition. The good news is that it looks like lengthy research is bearing fruit and we may soon see a revolution that makes natural and artificial light the power source for a wide range of our devices, see here and here.

We should not be surprised that the coming years are likely to see a significant change in how our in-home devices, smart tech, and personal computing devices are powered. The use of replaceable batteries looks destined to decline. There’ll ultimately be no more charging cables, and no more trips to the supermarket to recycle spent batteries! Things, of course, are never that clear cut, but if light photons hitting panels on a home’s roof can generate electricity for household use, then it’s inevitably just a matter of time before light will power our gadgets and render disposable batteries redundant.

Fundamentally, power sources – and everything else in our modern digital world – are determined by physics, chemistry, mathematics and years of research. We should never shy away from being educated in these subjects because they – and light – are the seeds that will determine whatever we want the digital world of the future to be…

The Smartwatch and health care…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital Transformation, Health & Social Care, Information Technology, Public Institutions, Smart & New Technology, Tech for social good

Lots of information about the use of smartphones in the UK is available – see here, for example. In 2012, 66% of those aged 16-24 and 5% of those aged 55+ had a smartphone. By 2023 the percentages had become 98% and ~86%, respectively. Indeed, today 80% of those aged 65+ have a smartphone, which reinforces the fact that they have become an essential component of modern life for young and old alike. The main use of smartphones across the whole age spectrum is for messaging, emails, phone calls, internet browsing, social media, weather forecasts, online shopping, finance and banking, and maps/route navigation. Adults rarely leave home without them, and if they do anxiety tends to be higher during the rest of their day!

While younger generations are more welcoming of advances in digital tech, the rapid rise in smartphone use by older age groups since 2012 shows that seniors will embrace new technology that provides them a benefit. Which brings the Badger to the smartphone’s companion, the smartwatch. Across all age groups in the UK today, ~1 in 4 of us have one. Since the game-changing Apple Watch arrived in 2015, more and more of us have been buying them. The adoption trend looks to be following a similar pattern to that of the smartphone since 2012. Unsurprisingly, smartwatch use is greatest in digital native generations (millennials and younger), but the 55+ and 65+ age groups currently account for ~ 20% of UK users. Take up in these age groups seems to be linked to interest in watch functions associated with health monitoring (e.g. heart rate, ECG, blood pressure tracking), wellness, (e.g. sleep, stress, exercise), and emergency alerting (e.g. falls monitoring). By the end of this decade, it seems likely that most of the adult population will have a smartwatch on their wrist regardless of the device’s pros and cons, The versatility, convenience, and health/wellbeing benefits they offer far outweigh the cons, especially for those in ‘senior’ age groups.

But here’s a question. If every adult wears a smartwatch to complement their smartphone within a few years, will the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) integrate the health and wellbeing data from watch functions into patient care to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and care? Hmm, the NHS seems quiet on this, but the answer is ‘probably not’ because smartwatches are not certified medical devices. The Badger senses that this might ultimately change, because when he accompanied someone experiencing an atrial fibrillation event to hospital recently, one of the doctors on arrival asked if they could look at any ECG and blood pressure traces captured on their patient’s smartwatch! That’s surely a sign that smartwatches will ultimately have a more important role in an NHS which continues to struggle to be fit for the 21st century…

Communication is at the heart of everything…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital devices and the environment, Information Technology, Internet of Things, Smart & New Technology, Smart City, Space, Technology

Electric lighting has revolutionised our lives by illuminating our homes, streets, and cities. It was only after the end of the First World War that electricity began to find its way into most of our UK homes. Rolling out electricity supply across the country took time. In 1919 only 6% of homes were wired up, and it took until the late 1930s for this number to grow to ~66%. By then all new homes in urban areas were being built with  electric lighting as standard. How things have changed since! Today the flick of a switch, a tap on an app, or a voice command will light up rooms in our home providing instant artificial light for reading, cooking, and hobbies even on the darkest of nights. It’s something we take for granted today, largely oblivious to the fact that light at the flick of a switch was an unthinkable luxury for the vast majority of people a century ago.

Lighting our homes, community, and city streets has become more high-tech today than ever before. Streetlights come on when it gets dark, help to keep road users and pedestrians safe and secure, and help to extend our activities outdoors. However, they have downsides. Light pollution from urban areas is one of them, as we can readily see in images taken by satellites and astronauts. There’s always a glow on the horizon which dilutes the visibility of stars in the night sky when walking through suburbs after dark. Furthermore, street lighting’s energy consumption is a matter of global concern because lighting accounts for ~19% of global electricity usage. With resources limited, climate change, and the world’s population forecast to be largely urban by mid-century, it’s not a surprise that ‘smart street lighting’ has progressed over the last two decades.

‘Smart street lighting’  – a connected, sensor-heavy, lighting system allowing individual or groups of lights to be controlled remotely in real time – enables public areas and thoroughfares to be lit more considerately based on their use. Motion detectors, for example, mean that areas can be lit only when people or moving vehicles are present. It’s energy efficient, climate friendly, sustainable and a component within the broader umbrella of ‘smart cities’. At the heart of ‘smart street lighting’ is a fundamental capability, namely the ability to communicate data between disparate and spatially separate entities – an ability which has been at the heart of technological progress for many, many, many decades.

‘Smart street lighting’ and Voyager 1, currently 15 billion miles from Earth in deep space, thus have something in common – both fundamentally need to communicate information to be useful. They are not only both testament to the talent of the scientists and engineers of their eras, but also to the fact that communication in one form or another has always been at the heart of everything in our lives…

A world without Google…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business Continuity, Information Technology, Life, Online Services, Risk, Smart & New Technology, Technology

A feature entitled ‘Where would we be without Google’ appeared on the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) website last week. It’s an insightful, entertaining article that takes a wry look at how Google (or more properly Alphabet) has become part of today’s critical infrastructure and why we must let it stay that way. The Badger nodded in agreement when reading the author’s words that the world created by Google should more accurately be described as the world that we – consumers, society, and legislators – have allowed Google to create. The Badger also sympathises with the feature’s conclusion, that for the sake of humanity Google must never be allowed to stop because  nobody knows what might happen if somebody switched its services off. The consequences would be awful in ways that we haven’t envisaged.

Since every facet of personal, public, and business life involves risk, believing that Google could never be ‘switched off’ seems foolish, especially when big tech wields more power than governments, and global instability is on the rise. Switching Google off would be a digital earthquake that shakes the very heart of today’s connected world. Its likelihood may be low, but it’s clearly an identifiable risk and so it’s worth thinking about the impact if it were to happen? Do you know what the consequences would be? Do you know what you would do if you woke up one morning and Google wasn’t there? Probably not, because it’s doubtful that most people have this eventuality on their personal radar. To tickle your thoughts, therefore, here’s a brief sense of the impact if Google was ‘switched off’.

Our go-to source for answers, information, translation, scholarly articles, and academic papers (Google Search, Translate, Scholar) would vanish. A billion or more email inboxes, virtual meetings, and chats would fall silent (Gmail, Google Meet,  Hangouts). Travellers and delivery drivers would become disoriented and wander aimlessly (Google Maps). Online collaborative work would grind to a halt and documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and critical business files would disappear (Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides). Similarly, YouTube creators and viewers would lose their stage and access to content, smart homes would lose their brains, and thermostats, house cameras, and doorbells would lose connectivity. Marketeers and advertisers would find their strategies undermined, and businesses using Google Cloud would be disrupted. Your Android phone would need a new operating system. Just imagine the turmoil as you and a billion others try to adjust at the same time!

It’s unthinkable that Google would ever be switched off, you say. Maybe, but thinking about the unthinkable is at the heart of good risk management. What can we do to minimise the impact on ourselves? Well, the saying  ‘don’t have all your eggs in one basket’ comes to mind. It’s as relevant today as it was before big tech dominated the world…

The biggest challenge of 2024 and beyond…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Life, Online Safety, Online Services, Opinion, Press & Media, Public Institutions, Public safety, Risk, Smart & New Technology, Technology, Wellbeing

This year, 2024, will bring many challenges of one kind or another. Every new year, of course, contains challenges, some which already feature in our awareness, and some which don’t because they tend to emerge from leftfield in due course. The online world, the traditional press, and broadcast media provide plenty of opinion on forthcoming challenges at this time of year, but they tend to highlight things that are already the larger blips on our awareness radar. To start the year off, therefore, the Badger set himself a personal challenge, namely, to decide on the world’s biggest challenge for 2024 and beyond, one that deserves to be a much bigger blip on everyone’s  radar.

The following reality provided the backdrop for the Badger’s deliberations:

  • Life today is dominated by digital technology, global connectivity, the internet, automation, and an addiction to smartphones whose applications provide immediacy of information, anytime, anyplace, for ~75% of the world’s population.
  • Digital evolution continues apace, AI is advancing rapidly and cannot be ignored, international conflict is on the rise, politics is increasingly polarised, and the world order is under considerable strain.
  • Unforeseen natural, humanitarian, financial, and economic crises, are an inevitability.

A front runner for the biggest challenge of 2024 and beyond emerged quickly in the Badger’s thoughts, ostensibly because it had already been bubbling in his mind for months. He quickly concluded that this front runner was indeed the world’s biggest challenge. So, what is it? Put simply, it’s to stem the rise of distrust.

Trust is a fundamental component of cooperation, relationships of all kinds, business, service, and interactions between social groups and different cultures. Society is on a slippery slope to failure without it. Unfortunately, research over the last decade or so shows that our levels of distrust have been progressively rising. Distrust in politicians, governments, corporates, and their leaders continues to rise. Similarly, distrust of the internet and social media continues to grow as we all become more aware of data breaches, fake and weaponised news, misinformation, disinformation, online safety, security and privacy issues, swindles, and cyber-crime. AI seems unlikely to change the trend. The Badger thus feels that stemming the rise of distrust  warrants being the world’s greatest challenge if we want a better society for our children and grandchildren.

Addressing this challenge is not easy, but change starts when lots of people make small adjustments to their behaviour. This year the Badger has resolved to stem his rising distrust of  ‘pushed’ online content that has become the norm in our 24×7 online world. He’s breaking the mould, taking back control, and engaging with it differently and more selectively in 2024. New Year resolutions, of course, have a habit of falling by the wayside. It’s early days, but so far so good…