October 2023 marks 50 years since ‘commercial’ radio was launched. Capital, LBC, and others…
https://www.boomradiouk.com/fifty-years-of-commercial-radio/
HS2 at Euston
A look at progress and planned configurations:
Contactless!
It seems ages ago, and it was (2009), since the memorable Barclays’ “waterchute” ad of the man jumping onto the slide and eventually passing through the supermarket where he grabs a bunch of bananas and at the same time waves his debit card at the reader to make the payment, while still in motion on the waterchute!
I thought it rather silly at the time, that payments might be made without confirmation of a pin number, but now ‘contactless’ is very popular, and fun!! At one of my favourite supermarkets, the lady at the checkout even joins in, and makes an extra beep sound, as I wave my card at the reader!
Far from being the agile chap on the slide, the reality is that I don’t have to find my reading glasses to see the numbers on the keypad to make my payment. TV commercials are much overrated.
Big Data
‘Big Data’ and algorithms is where it’s at. If you ( a corporate entity) collect a big enough sample (e.g. from Facebook) you can fairly accurately predict people’s likes and dislikes and possibly understand them, better than they consciously know themselves.
Patterns can be seen in very large samples, which is how systems can have expert knowledge, without spending years acquiring it. Now, how long have I been on Facebook – since 2008! Enough said.