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Update
Hi, Digital Paladin is taking a break from posting; please check back in 2026!
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Caveat Emptor
“If it is too good to be true….it is probably a fraud!” Ron Weber. Sharing a couple of interesting topics from recent Risky Business podcasts:
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Corollary of the Third Law
“If technology is distinguishable from magic, it is insufficiently advanced” Corollary of Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law as expressed in the novel “Foundation’s Fear”. As noted in a recent article from McKinsey “The state of AI in 2023: Generative AI’s breakout year”, a significant number of organisations are already using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in…
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Good news, bad news!
In recent news, Google have announced the rollout of passkey technology which should eliminate the need for passwords on Google Accounts. As explained in a previous Digital Paladin post, this should significantly reduce or eliminate cyber risks associated with passwords such as phishing, easily guessed characters, and passwords being reused across multiple websites or apps.…
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Digital Maturity Framework – Alignment Part 1
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” attributed to Lewis Carroll. “Business strategy refers to a set of actions and decisions that an organisation takes in-order to achieve its long-term goals and objectives. It should be based on a comprehensive analysis of both internal and external factors that may…
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Digital Paladin Maturity Framework
The Digital Paladin Maturity Framework assesses the effectiveness of an organisation’s digital and ICT functions, capabilities and investments. The framework is based on synthesis of experience across multiple organisations and industry best practice. It is particularly focused on linkages with an organisation’s broader objectives and outcomes and has six elements: Future posts will cover each…
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“K=R=P”
“Kindness equals Repeat Business equals Profitability” Tom Peters, Author of “In Search of Excellence”. Published in the 1980’s, “In Search of Excellence” by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, remains one of the best business books of all time and which incidentally, significantly influenced my own career direction. In a recent podcast interview with Guy Kawasaki,…
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Reality Bytes Harder!
“Comedy equals tragedy plus blockchain” Mark Twain misquote. Following on from Digital Paladin’s earlier Reality Bytes! post on crypto, it’s important to differentiate between frequent crypto-currency heists and the failure of get rich quick schemes (including the recent collapse of FTX) and the underlying potential of blockchain technology. The Freakonomics Radio podcast channel has a…
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Are passwords finally dead?
Digital Paladin views Apple Passkey as one of the most important features incorporated in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, the latest releases of Apple’s operating systems for mobiles and computers. Apple Passkey is based on FIDO – Fast IDentity Online – a fast, secure and most importantly password-less authentication solution which utilises public-key (asymmetric) cryptography.…
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“Honey I shrunk the tech again!”
Following on from the last Digital Paladin post “Honey I shrunk the tech!”, I came across an even more dramatic example of miniaturisation. In a recent “What’s Your Problem?” podcast, Emily Leproust, co-founder and CEO of Twist Bioscience, describes how his company is developing a DNA based data storage solution. While the technology is still…
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“Honey, I shrunk the tech!”
“As engineers, we have to see beyond existing technology and ask, ‘Is there a better way?’” James Dyson – Engineer and Founder. My first mobile phone was the size of a small house brick, weighed almost as much and didn’t do anything other than make and receive phone calls. Although the iPhone 13 is not…
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Reality Bytes!
“The possible cryptovariable space Allied cryptanalysts were typically faced with during the Second World War when attempting to read Enigma traffic is 107,458,687,327,250,619,360,000, which is approximately 10^23 … With such daunting odds facing any cryptanalyst, it is not surprising that the German cryptographers felt secure using the Enigma. The strength of the large numbers, numbers…
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Further Perspectives on AI
“Researchers at the DeepMind Technologies artificial-intelligence lab said Thursday they had predicted the structure of nearly all known proteins, a significant advance in biology that will accelerate drug discovery and help address problems such as sustainability and food insecurity.” Wall Street Journal July 28, 2022 A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “DeepMind AI…
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“Hard Valuable Fun!”
In this recent podcast from the “How I Built This” channel, Guy Raz interviews Max Levchin – “a computer genius from Soviet Ukraine, who joined Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman and others as they grew PayPal into a massively successful online payment service.” There was so much great content in this interview – including the…
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“Open the Pod bay doors HAL …”
“… I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that” – this conversation from 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most iconic movie quotes of all time. There is a fascinating story in a recent Wall Street Journal titled “Google Suspends Engineer Who Claimed Its AI System Is Sentient“, about a software engineer…
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Digital Tranformation Redux
In a recent McKinsey Podcast, Kate Smaje and Rodney Zemmel —global leaders of McKinsey Digital — provide a contemporary update on digital transformation: “what it really means, how to deliver on it, and why it should remain front and center on the CEO agenda.” Interesting topics include “the role of metrics in assessing the success…
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Coinbase Innovation Story
In this episode of “How I Built This”, Guy Raz interviews Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with over 7 million users and 2,700 employees. Regardless of how you feel about cryptocurrencies, this is a fascinating story on innovation in the payments’ arena.
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6 Secrets of Great Timing
In this Masters of Scale podcast with Reid Hoffman, the iconoclastic Marc Andreessen shares his perspective on the 6 secrets of timing innovation successfully: Being too early can be as bad as being too late –the General Magic documentary is a great illustration of this. Ecosystem readiness is critical. History doesn’t always repeat itself –…
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Innovation Genome Project
Pre-Covid, I participated in a one-week study tour of Silicon Valley and met with over 30 organisations ranging from start-ups to large tech companies. Without doubt, the most engaging and informative presentation was by Bill O’Connor at The Vault in San Francisco. In the Innovation Genome project, Bill identified the common elements from the top…
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