Why Grabbing Greenland could kill 6G and burst the AI bubble

You’ve probably noticed that there’s a bit of a penchant for land grabbing at the moment.  Russia wants Ukraine, Israel wants Palestine, China wants Taiwan, and now, America wants Greenland.  The problem is that as more of it goes on, the behaviour becomes normalised and the international barrier to grabbing is lessened.  America’s Christmas foray into Venezuela has further regularised the concept of interference, which  means there’s probably a mandarin in Beijing who’s already cancelled their summer holiday and written “Taiwanese unification” on their wall calendar.

The problem with grabbing Taiwan is that it’s not just land-grab.  It comes with some interesting unintended consequences, which may profoundly alter the technology balance between China and the US, bursting the AI bubble and upsetting telecoms evolution along the way.

Read More

The Class of STEM

I recently wrote an article about various Government and industry initiatives in the UK to recruit more engineers to build our brave new world of net zero.  It’s an important subject, as it’s one of the few things that everyone agrees on.  It’s very clear that we don’t have enough engineers in the workforce; but we don’t seem to have any credible plan to increase the numbers in the short term.

What was interesting was the discussion that followed that article, which suggested that the class system still has a surprising hold on engineering status, particularly here in Britain.  It reminded me of the famous Frost Report “Class” sketch from 1966. 

Read More

Should Screwfix take over Labour Policy?

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an Energy Minister in possession of a net zero policy, must be in want of a Clean Energy Engineer.  Or so thinks Ed Miliband.

Equally, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that an anyone in possession of a dripping tap, must be in want of a plumber.  Or so thinks Screwfix.

It’s possible that only one of those two statements is true, but it’s been an odd few weeks, with two very similar policy documents being published about the need to train more engineers for the future of the UK.  One from Ed Miliband, highlighting the need for another 420,000 engineers by 2030 to support his Clean Energy Superpower Mission, which he believes will transform the UK.  A few days before that announcement, Screwfix – one of the UK’s largest builder’s merchants published a Voice of the Trade skills survey identifying a similar shortfall of 250,000 tradespeople in the same timescale, who they believe are needed to build and maintain our homes and workplaces.  Whilst Ed Miliband’s introduction to the Clean Energy Superpower Mission reads like a Government edict from “1984”, exhorting us to “take back control from petrostates” and an end to “union-free zones” in the industry, the Screwfix manifesto is a lot more pragmatic, calling for the Government to make it easier for young people to take up a career in trade through apprenticeships. 

Read More

The 2G / 3G / 70th Birthday Sunset

I have a friend who recently reached 70, having worked in and around the telecoms industry.  Hallmark and Scribbler don’t have many cards aimed at that specific combination, so it felt like time to design a custom card.  Being of that annoying engineering bent, I wondered what 70 would appear as in different number bases.

Imagine my surprise when I found that 70 in Base 18 is 3G, and In Base 27, it’s 2G.  Both of which are being “sunsetted” around the world, as mobile operators refarm their spectrum allocation to increase revenue from their 4G and 5G networks.  I couldn’t believe the coincidence.  And so, a birthday card was born.

Read More

Ticketing the Edinburgh Fringe

I’ve been going to the Edinburgh Fringe for many years.  It’s the world’s largest arts festival.  This year, 3,893 different shows were performed in over 300 venues around the City.  That led to sales of more than 2.6 million tickets.  In terms of ticket sales, it’s the third largest ticketing operation in the world, beaten only by the Olympics and the World Cup.  Unlike the Olympics and the World Cup, the Edinburgh Fringe takes place every year, so the pressure on the ticketing system is immense.

In many ways, the Fringe, in its current form, only exists because of the ticketing system run by the Edinburgh Fringe Society.  They publish the master programme guide and run EdFringe.com, which provides the single point of information and purchase for most attendees.  It’s a complex job, as it needs to coordinate with other ticketing systems run by larger venues.  Ensuring that the last remaining ticket for any show is not sold multiple times is a complex challenge in such a distributed system.  Which means that it is vital that it works.

The Fringe has come close to disaster in the past.  In 2008, the Fringe Society  introduced a new ticketing system, which failed on the opening day of ticket sales.  It should have been a “never again” lesson, but this year, when I went to book tickets, there was an unpleasant reminder that the lesson may not have been learnt.

Read More