Business Unusual

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 s

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/l

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 d

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.