Jan 20, 2022HalloApp: This is an app I’d like to see more ofAt first blush, HalloApp is just WhatsApp with a newsfeed slung alongside. No great revolution here, you’d think. But I’d urge you to consider that this could actually be something quite major. Why? The newsfeed. Now the concept of a newsfeed in 2022 has something of a bad rep. …3 min read3 min read
Jan 9, 2022Pixels and Pharaohs: A smart window on the pastFirst published 29th May 2021 Probably the smelliest place I’ve ever been is the Jorvik Viking Centre in York. It’s a full-on, head-dunk immersion into a Viking world 1,000 years ago, where you walk around this pretend village, looking at all these Viking people in little huts with their chickens…4 min read4 min read
Jan 9, 2022All you can do with Crypto is waitFirst published 27th April 2021 How can it be, you might reasonably ask, that the crypto market is worth $2trn, and yet it doesn’t really do anything? There’s lots of activity, but if the entire thing went down tomorrow would you even notice? …4 min read4 min read
Jan 9, 2022Virtual worlds and beating heartsFirst published 18th April 2021 Around 25 years ago, on an overcast day in a small town in England, Oasis made rock and roll history. They played Knebworth, drawing a crowd of 250,000 over two nights. …4 min read4 min read
Jan 9, 2022Fro-Yo from Soho (or, how to save the world)First published 11th April 2021 Supermarkets were the future once, back in the 1950s. Imagine just grabbing a basket, wandering around and picking up whatever you liked. Liberation! Now 70 years on it’s hard to imagine any alternative to supermarket chain hegemony, five or six brands sitting square at the…5 min read5 min read
Apr 4, 2021BitClout: Don’t let this grim farce blind you to a deeper trend at workIf you want to make your Grandma fear for the future of humanity, tell her about BitClout. Explain that it’s a new website where you can speculate on the value of famous people. Like Twitter meets the stock-market, you can buy or sell anyone, anytime you like. Gwyneth Paltrow right…Bitclout4 min readBitclout4 min read
Mar 26, 2021Blue Roses, NFTs and making rent“You can only do so much with a like on Instagram” said Donnie Dinch, founder of Bitsky, on a recent NFT-themed edition of Clubhouse’s Good Time Show. All the seeds of a historical turning point are packed in that pithy statement. The heady promise of NFTs is to give rise…Nft6 min readNft6 min read
Mar 19, 2021The physical world fights backIts been a bruising year for the physical world, the real, corporeal world of bits and atoms. The urban world most of all — bars, restaurants, gyms, theatres, gig venues, shops, offices, cafes, museums, all shut. …6 min read6 min read
Mar 18, 2021Five predictions for London’s high streets in the 2020s1. Shops get a lot smaller Building an audience for your business is harder than it has ever been, as Alex Danco said recently “Whatever your business model is, acquiring users is the new building factories” ¹. Competition for eyeballs is fierce. What happens if the plunging cost of high-street…London6 min readLondon6 min read
Mar 17, 2021Omni-channel comes to lifeAn interesting reshuffle of urban, physical retail space seems to be underway. First we had dark kitchens, now we’re getting dark stores — Dija and Getir two recent London-based examples. To some extent this is the logical extension of Deliveroo multiplied by the surge in online grocery delivery, but the…Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
