The collapse of distance is perhaps the most politicised technological trend. Travel is now brief; communication, instant. Economic globalisation has too many consequences for wealth and its distribution to list; and over the 1990s, immigration to the UK increased substantially.1 Technologies such as real-time translate earphones, or global freelance marketplaces enabled by smart contracts, will soon be implemented.

Leadership was on the news as I went to meet Julian Tranter, the MD of Environmental Services at Kier Group. There are few companies less like his than Uber, the flashy and scandal-prone private hire company. Uber has had a bad year: the CEO resigned in June.1

The forthcoming ‘right to be forgotten’ aims to change a world in which everything is remembered. Currently, clicking through the internet is like wading through deep snow. It is visible exactly where you have been.

Although the democratisation of information is a net positive, it is worth examining the negative consequences. The media is possibly the industry which has been most substantially changed by a disruptive technology – the internet. Those changes are still unfolding. But since the press has specific duties in the context of a democracy, it follows that politics, for better or worse, has been disrupted too.

Mad Men is a popular TV series depicting 1960s advertising in America, the industry’s “golden age”. In one memorable scene, several creatives meditate about how to sell lipstick to women. Eventually they ask the chief creative’s PA what women might like. If they went on to discuss where to place the ad to maximise ROI, it was not depicted.

Automation, Data, and Trust - themes which converged at this September’s IGNITE 14th SEPTEMBER - and Nimbus Ninety's office is already (mostly) clear of bits of kit packed away following another successful 'IGNITE' event. It was a tremendous conference, and we'd like to thank everybody who spoke, everybody who attended, the venue, and our sponsors.

Antoine Baschiera is the CEO of Early Metrics, a rating agency for start-ups and innovative SMEs looking at non-financial metrics. As ‘start-up culture’ goes, now is an interesting time; more start-ups, more venture capitalists, and more corporates, enter the market every year.

Catherine Allen is an immersive media specialist, having led the production of two of the BBC’s first VR experiences and contributed on VR to WIRED. I wanted to ask her what the future holds for VR, and to find out, we all be living in virtual spaces in the future?

‘General Data Protection Regulation’ is arriving in early 2018. I take a look at what it could mean for businesses.