Category Archives: DigitalAge

$94 Trillion Global Economy

2022 could be the year when the global economy takes off.

Having expanded dramatically in the last decade and a half the underlying structure looks ready for some major realignments.

We’ve had more than a decade of no price inflation, microscopic or negative interest rates, growing inequality, and extraordinary asset price bubbles.

But now inflation is back, and fast rising prices will drive changes in how things are done.

Governments have pumped out tsunamis of money to keep businesses afloat during the pandemic, but those massive flows are going to dry up next year.

The future is uncertain and likely to be volatile. But one thing can be guaranteed. Change looms. The $94 Trillion global economy cannot remain as it is.

Tech Giants, Richest Countries

In the last decade and a half the world has witnessed the greatest surge of wealth creation in human history.

Not only have we created more wealth than ever before, we have created different kinds of wealth.

Physical wealth, stuff made out of molecules, still makes up most of our economic output.

But knowledge and data wealth – digital assets – have grown faster than physical assets and now constitute the most part of the economy.

We are leaving physical shortages and scarcity behind, Today’s challenges are those of abundance – of a cornucopia.

Visual Capitalist.

Differences Between the Economies of Scarcity and Abundance

digitalreality.ieee.org

The Scarcity Economy

The theory of scarcity refers to a mismatch between limited resources and consumer demand. If a resource is scarce, but demand is high, not everyone can get what they want. There is a mismatch between the desired goods and the supply.

Scarcity keeps prices high and helps drive profitability.

The Economy of Abundance Unlike the economy of scarcity, the economy of abundance is built on the availability of near unlimited resources.

The economy of abundance is almost always present in the digital world—digital products and content are easy and cheap to copy, store, and transfer to millions. Digital products do not rely on scarce resources.

This can be incredibly disruptive to a traditional scarcity economy.

Read the analysis here.

Aussie Podcast App Whooshkaa Sold To Spotify

Aussie podcasters took to Whooshkaa in a big way.

And now, it is going global – as part of the Spotify platform.

Global digital audio leader Spotify cited Whooshkaa’s world-class technology as the reason for its first Australian acquisition.

With more than 381 million monthly listeners and more than €1 billion in ad revenue this year, Spotify will allow Whooshkaa to access a large and fast growing global market.

Ecstatic Whooshkaa founder, Robert Loewenthal is over the moon:

Since 2016, we’ve worked hard alongside countless Aussie podcasters to build and re-imagine the future of digital audio.

No false modesty here – I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built with Whooshkaa. In five years we’ve grown, learned, pivoted, and innovated. Our current team is nothing short of astounding.

We’ve worked long days, nights, and weekends with talented individuals, businesses, schools, and media organisations to drive podcasting in Australia, with many high points along the way. Hedley Thomas’s The Teacher’s Pet for example, launched on Whooshkaa in 2018, has been downloaded more than 60 million times worldwide.

We’ve led the way on text-to-speech, speech-to-text, connected home integration, ad technology with dynamic insertion for all, enterprise grade private podcasting tools and more. Sport, comedy, business, crime, conversation, education, music, current affairs – Whooshkaa has welcomed and supported all.

Since 2016, we’ve worked hard alongside countless Aussie podcasters to build and re-imagine the future of digital audio.

Robert Loewenthal

Proud as we are of our laurels, we’re not resting on them. Our business is thriving. And by adding the power and vision of Spotify, we can propel the industry-leading tech and service you know and love to even greater heights.

The best is yet to come.

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Techno Optimism, Korean Canon & Booster Power

Reason For Tech Optimism

Energy is fundamental to all physical technology — to move atoms around in real space, you need energy.

Read More …

Aussies Hate Bosses

Aussie Bosses Aren’t Liked!

Millions of Australian workers say they dislike their boss largely because they believe their leaders struggle with soft skills such as emotional intelligence.

More on Smart Company

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A Collaboration Explored

De Heer with Gulpilil

‘I’m a ballerina, a dancer, I’m an artist, I’m a writer and I studied the earth, same as David Attenborough.’
— David Gulpilil

Read Online

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Facebook Bets Big On Influencers

The Zuck pivots to influencers

Marc Zuckerberg’s Meta (Facebook), under pressure from legislators around the western world, is moving fast to fine-tune its business strategies.

Facebook is launching a new professional mode for profiles. Professionals will be able to earn money without the need to create a separate business page.

Meta’s major brands – Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR, Onavo, and Beluga – are all undergoing revamps, adding new revenue streams and, on WhatsApp at least, branching into crypto use,

Facebook’s new professionals will be able to earn up to USD$35,000 a month using the Reels (videos) Play bonus program. Previously only open to users with Pages. it will now be open to professionals – but initially at least, invitation only.

Meta’s says it is putting $1 Billion into the bonuses program, which will reward Facebook professionals, Instagram influencers and members of Instagram’s Stars program.

Professionals will have the ability to create longer, 60 second reels, save drafts at any point and create compose videos from multiple clips.

Initially professionals will only be rolled out in the US but the program will be extended to other countries soon.

Once professional mode is turned on, anyone can follow you and see your public content in their feed. However, you’ll still be able to limit specific posts or updates to friends only.

Professional mode is Facebook’s answer to TikTok’s runaway popularity. With more than three billion downloads, TikTok has surpassed Facebook.

WhatsApp is moving into the payments industry – with WhatsApp users able to set up a digital wallet – called Novi – for a crypto currency called US Pax. (USDP)

Roughly the value of a US dollar, pax will allow WhatsApp users to transfer funds instantly to other WhatsApp users for no fees.

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The real reason China is pushing “digital sovereignty” in Africa

As the Chinese “tech stack” leads from undersea cables to smartphones and fintech apps, concerns grow for the digital future of ordinary Africans.

https://carlocadenas.com/ in Rest Of World.

The real reason China is pushing “digital sovereignty” in Africa.

YINKA ADEGOKE, writes in Rest of World  about the deepening tech-telecoms relationship between China and nearly every African country and, crucially, what it portends for the economic future of the continent.

Beijing is aiming to dominate African cyber industries and, most likely, incorporate them behind the Great Firewall of China.

Read the analysis here.

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Covid Speeds Changes In Unis

Digital disruption of Australia’s universities is being accelerated by pandemic impacts.

TEQSA – Australia’s Tertiary Education Quality & Standards Agency – says the pandemic is
accelerating many of the trends and changes that were already occurring in Australia’s
increasingly digitally disrupted higher education system.

Less of this …

The strongest shift is to blended and online delivery of programs.

Prior to the pandemic hundreds of thousands of international students came to Australian campuses for face-to-face learning. Now universities and other tertiary educators are developing hybrid models using digital, offshore and third party arrangements.

More of this …

This has been driven by the desire to support and retain students who have been unable to enter Australia, but it is also being viewed as an opportunity to reach additional cohorts of students.

The strongest shift is to blended and online delivery of

programs.

However, as with all shifts in business models, risks are heightened, particularly related to the rigour of third-party arrangements, the management of agents, the quality of the courses and of the student experience.

The pandemic has created financial pressures for tertiary institutions which are creating additional threats to the quality of higher education and the integrity of the sector.

TEQSA is already seeing increased competition for students and admission practices which may undermine generally accepted tertiary standards for transparency.

Online learning share increases …

The full TEQSA report.

forward-impact-of-covid-19-on-australian-higher-education-report-1Download

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Aussie Co Practice Ignition Bulks Up – $50 million funding

Founders of Practice Ignition

Guy Pearson and Dane Thomas, Founders of Practice Ignition / Practice Ignition

Practice ignition, an Australia-based client engagement and commerce site for professional service providers, has bulked up with $50 million (USD) in funding from JMI Equity, Tiger Global and EVP.

Practice Ignition says it wants to reshape the professional services industry using an all-in-one client engagement and commerce solution. PI integrates digital proposals, payments and automated workflows linking leading business apps such as Gusto, Xero, QuickBooks and Zapier.

CEO Pearson says the new capital will be used to double down on growing its core key markets in Asia, North America, North Africa and the Middle East. Strategic partnerships to add services will also be added to those it has already set up with Gusto, Intuit and Thompson Reuters will also be developed.

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Canberra Data Grab: Without Warrants

Whatever you write, who you phone, who you text: the government will be able to grab ALL your data

Vanessa Teague writes that everyone agrees that the threat of cyberattack is serious, the results could be devastating, and Australia is woefully underprepared.

The question is whether forced “assistance” from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), under orders from Home Affairs, will make us more or less secure.

Critical infrastructure is not just dams and power plants — the new Critical Infrastructure Bill also includes financial services, health care, higher education, communications and “data storage or processing” (i.e. almost anything). There are two risks for government intervention: incompetence and abuse. Neither is adequately managed in this bill.

Vanessa Teague

In recent years the Australian government’s IT specialists have brought us COVIDSafe, myGovID, Robodebt and CensusFail. They were unable to put a digital signature on domestic vaccine certificates, and remain unwilling to include encryption among their essential eight mitigation strategies.  Even well-intentioned “assistance” may  introduce or exacerbate vulnerabilities and problems instead of correcting them. Nothing in the bill requires that they consult anyone with relevant technical knowledge.

Then there is the risk of deliberate abuse of power, which is increased by the decision to include systems that contain ordinary people’s personal data.

Sometimes law enforcement agencies have to break into places for the good of everyone. When it is a home or office, the police need a warrant — this restrains their power and deters abuse, ensuring that invasive powers are used for good. Most democracies impose some similar restraints on access to electronic personal data. Recent Australian legislation (notably the TOLA and ‘Identify and Disrupt’ 2021 Act) already moves Australia away from this principle.

Read more on Electronic Frontiers Australia

Vanessa Teague is a cryptographer with a longstanding interest in the security of systems of interest to public processes, such as elections and open data. She is the CEO of Thinking Cybersecurity Pty Ltd and Associate Prof (Adj.) in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the Australian National University.

Experts Weigh In On Digital Rights

Justin Warren, PivotNine.

Digital policy is a sticky web of disjointed laws, privacy concerns and violations of our civil liberties. Most of us are concerned about mass surveillance, targeted advertising and government hacking but when it comes to improving and protecting our digital rights, where to begin?

Digital rights are fundamental to living in an open and free society.

I’d pass privacy legislation that stops private companies and governments from collecting information about us for one purpose and then using it for another purpose without our permission, including selling access to it or sharing it with third parties. The current notice-and-consent approach is fundamentally broken.

If we combined that with a private right of action (like the tort of serious breach of privacy, as recommended by the ALRC in 2014)  I think we’d starve bad actors of the fuel they need to abuse their power. Constant surveillance of everything we do shouldn’t be this profitable, so let’s fix the market failure with regulation.

We need a right to be left alone.

We need a right to be left alone.

Justin Warren
Stilgherrian the Word Whore

Statements about digital rights — which are simply human rights in the digital realm — are meaningless unless those rights are enshrined in law and enforceable.

However Australia is missing a necessary precondition for that being possible: a bill of rights outlining exactly what rights we have.

A necessary precondition for a bill of rights is a parliament that’s willing to give it priority across the political spectrum. A necessary precondition for that is for human rights to be an election issue — up there with the current top five of the economy, health, tax rates, the environment, and global warming.

For politicians to care, voters need to care. All voters, not just those willing to wave placards or tweet an ephemeral hashtag. Shifting political focus is a long-term goal, and that surely requires a strategic plan. That’s where I’d start.

Australia is missing a necessary precondition … a bill of rights outlining exactly what rights we have.

Stilgherrian

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The Age of Tech Giants

Sixteen years ago, everyday life was very different: smartphones as we know them today had not yet been invented, Facebook had only just been founded, and ExxonMobil was worth ten times as much as Apple.

More than a decade later, the rise of America’s digital giants has radically changed this landscape.

Climate Crisis An Opportunity

Do Something!

Demonstrators in Glasgow Streets, Nov 2021

The politicians and the lobbyists are arguing furiously once more. Nuclear or renewables? We need to invest in more research and development! But, in reality, do we?

More R&D would be good, no question.

But, is it absolutely essential before we plop our bucks on the counter?

Look at the graph above – from America’s Grantham Foundation: Solar panel prices have continuously decreased over the last decade. We all knew that.

Wind energy costs have continuously declined, but not as fast.

The real kicker is that energy storage costs (batteries to you and me.) have decreased fastest of all!

Energy storage at home, in businesses, industry and at grid level is now an economic proposition.

Investing in renewables is no longer a warm fuzzy option – it is a fast evolving profit opportunity.

Billion dollar markets are emerging as innovation drives the creation of ever more companies in new materials, bio-engineering and the life sciences.

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Just 10 Photos Enough To Indicate Market Moods

Research shows how investors can use news photos to better predict daily stock market returns.

The more we know about the mood of investors, the better we can predict stock market performance and returns.

While there are already ways to measure investor mood, they are usually via laborious surveys and get outdated quickly.

Now we have a way to get a daily snapshot of investor mood across global markets – developed and emerging – regardless of language.

Earlier this year, University of Missouri researchers devised a way to index daily investor sentiment using news photos in the US.

Research led by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia has now significantly broadened the scope of this technology, training the algorithm to accurately capture investor mood across global markets – smashing language barriers.

It works by analysing the ‘top lists’ of editorial pictures on stock image website Getty.

Using machine learning, the algorithm produces a daily score based on the types of photos used in global news reports.

Lead author Dr Angel Zhong said investors could use this information to better predict daily stock market returns, based on the mood of investors worldwide.

“You can get a snapshot of global investment mood by looking at the 10 most popular photos, rather than reading hundreds of news articles,” she said.

“This technology could have a huge impact for those wanting to get the feel of the day quickly and accurately.”

Zhong said when people are in a bad mood and facing higher uncertainty, they tend to buy and sell more impulsively and intensively.

“When the photo sentiment measure reflects a bad mood, it predicts a large increase in trading volume,” she said.

“Our study significantly broadens the scope of this tech by investigating how it applies in the international market, across developed and emerging economies.”

Machine learning is already used to scan newspaper text but this method doesn’t overcome language barriers, meaning it’s often only a measure of the developed world.

“If you only look at the text of news articles, you often miss out capturing non-English speaking markets. Analysing images removes that problem,” Zhong said.

“Based on photos in the news, we can predict stock returns in global markets in 37 countries – a healthy cross-section of developed and developing economies.”

Zhong’s study builds on the work of University of Missouri researchers, who trained the algorithm to recognise what a ‘good news’ and a ‘bad news’ image looks like, using examples in US media.

Now the algorithm uses those examples, plus more from around the world, to compare future photos and determine a daily market-level investor sentiment index – a daily score for global investment mood.

The Australian team at RMIT and Swinburne University of Technology has trained the algorithm to recognise what constitutes good and bad news coverage from 37 markets, increasing the complexity and global accuracy of the results.

From here, researchers hope to further expand the complexity of the machine learning algorithm by building a measure for each market by using country-specific news photos. The team is seeking strategic partners to accelerate this work.

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/media-releases-and-expert-comments/2021/oct/investor-mood-stock-photos

Underground Farming. It Works

Doesn’t sound like a big opportunity, but underground farming is having a moment.

We’ve long grown some foods – mainly fungi – underground and used ‘underground’ environments to process and store foods from wines to cheeses.

Now a Canadian company is taking the idea a step further – taking advantage of stable sub-surface temperatures.

Read further on TechCrunch

.

Will China’s Ban Hurt Cryptocurrencies?

Beijing bans crypto currencies … again.

Prices on cryptocurrency platforms Bitcoin and Ether have been volatile in recent weeks after China’s central bank recently stated that all cryptocurrency-related activities were illegal. That is widely seen as the county’s effort to curb currency manipulation, flight of capital, and technology-related risks it perceives in cryptocurrencies. But it would be “dangerous” to assume that the decline and volatility in cryptocurrency prices are a result of China’s ban, according to Kevin Werbach, Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics.

In a recent interview on the Wharton Business Daily radio show on SiriusXM, Werbach pointed to numerous other factors that shape cryptocurrency prices. The evolution of cryptocurrencies will be shaped by choices countries make on how to use them (e.g., as a digital asset or as a currency, or both) and the attendant regulation, he said. They are not about to become globally accepted as yet, even as some countries have embraced them; recently, El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as its currency and Switzerland cleared the way for more trading of Bitcoin and other digital assets in the country.

Read a transcript of the interview here.

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Hey Google (Siri) Do You Trust My AI-Generated Deepfake Voice?

AI-generated deepfake voices can fool both humans and digital smart assistants.

Widely available software that can mimic a specific individual’s voice produces results that can fool people and voice-activated tools such as smart home assistants.

Security researchers are increasingly concerned by deepfake software, which uses artificial intelligence to alter videos or photographs, for example by mapping one person’s face onto another.

But, is it you?

Read more at NewScientist.

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Planning An Aussie Defence Skunkworks

Black projects emerging from a Skunk Works – normal in most advanced countries. But, in Australia …

Odds on – not developed in Australia

Australia’s track record of bringing defence innovation into being isn’t great.

Even the Owen sub-machine gun – a no-brainer – was delayed by conservative and innovation wary bureaucrats for years.

Canberra’s byzantine political and bureaucratic processes hinder both speed and risk taking.

And, the situation will worsen when we concern ourselves with software-based technologies rather than pure domain-specific hardware.

We need Skunk Works – advanced research centres separate from the normal defence acquisition processes where innovative and off-the-wall ideas can be developed.

Continue reading →

Murdochs Suffer 9% Haircut

The Roopster and son Lachlan took a slight – 9% – pandemic driven haircut in 2021, according to the Hollywood reporter.

Still did well by Aussie standards: the elder Murdoch took home $31.1 million US while 50-year- old junior, Lachlan, had be satisfied with $27.7 million.

Meanwhile Lachlan is driving a $7 Billion dollar acquisition spree, apparently determined to rebuild the now sold might of Fox Corporation.

According to the Financial Times, using Revista Data flow stats, the younger Murdoch is using a variety of Murdoch assets, including Aussie-based REA to scoop up revenue generating operations.

He’s not limiting himself to media companies, as he’s also buying into the even riskier field of sports betting.

Perhaps he ought to have a chat to James Packer before going too far down that road.

Now back in the States after seeing out the worst of the pandemic in Sydney, Lachlan is working hard on launching a new TV news outlet in the UK.

After a tussle with Andrew Neil over editorial policy, (Neil lost, now looking for other opportunities) Lachlan signed on serial controversialist Piers Morgan.

Morgan, still smarting from being ghosted by Meghan Markle, is determined to continue generating headlines.

Once keen to cultivate Piers, the dropped him cold.

Piers wanted to play wise uncle to actress Meghan when he heard she was getting engaged to Harry. Took her down to his local boozer for a chat – not classy Piers – and was then stunned when she cut off all communications.

She’s already elevated herself to royalty and heavy drinking journalist Piers no longer figured in her calculations.

More from The Hollywood Reporter on the Murdoch pay packets.

BMW’s funky new 56 mph electric motorcycle, designed for the young

CE 2

Just revealed today, the BMW CE 02 concept is designed as an urban electric motorbike that falls somewhere between an electric scooter and electric motorcycle.

This isn’t just some slow, urban 28 mph (45 km/h) bike though. It’s actually fast enough for anything an urban rider can throw at it, featuring a top speed of 56 mph (90 km/h).

It also touts decent range for an urban ride at 56 miles (90 km). Again, that’s probably more than enough for most city riding. And based on how comfortable that seat looks, I imagine the bike will be used for mostly short city hops anyways.

Continue reading →

Billion+ Chinese Online

More than a billion Chinese consumers are now online, according to a just released report from China’s Internet Network Information Center.

The number of ‘netizens’ jumped 21.75 million in June alone, easily clearing the one billion user mark.

Nearly 47% of users 469 million consumers, use the internet to order in food.

Instant delivery is a growth business in China, particularly since the pandemic began.

Nearly a third of online users are aged 50 or above and the mature cohort is now the fastest growing.

China’s online focused enterprises are increasingly tailoring their offerings to the needs of the more mature – as, when they get used to the technology, they tend to use it to buy many different types of goods and services.