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A lot of our favorite stories from 2021 revolve around the fact that the continued public health crisis have pushed technology companies, consumers, and governments to innovate immensely. In Part 1 of our 2021 Tech Recap,  we walk through the big changes that took place in three fields - specifically food & restaurants, the space industry, and cloud computing.

With the food and beverage space, what interested us was how consumer preferences for  ‘take out’ have resulted in a burgeoning online ordering culture across the globe. We deep dived into the trend of Ghost Kitchens or Cloud Kitchens earlier in the year, and data suggests that the demand for these online only virtual restaurants is only rising. Big brands such as Wendy's, Chipotle, and even social media company TikTok are all planning on moving into this space.

Another favorite topic of ours was Space. 2021 could very well go down as one of the biggest turning points in human space flight, as a record number of ordinary citizens left Earth on  spacecrafts built by private companies such as Blue Origin, Space X, and Virgin Galactic. Although, this realm of space tourism is currently permitted only to the ultra ultra wealthy, 2021 was extremely promising for space, as it reignited the collective global ambition of establishing humans as a space faring species. The possibility for an average person to roam the cosmos could very well happen in the, hopefully not so far, future!

Finally, we could not finish Part 1 of our 2021 Tech Recap without the cloud. The ongoing pandemic and surge in digital activity is making cloud computing the absolute centerpiece of new digital experiences and the numbers are mind boggling! The cloud computing market is projected to reach $474B in 2022, up 16% from 2021. But the increased competition could really set up an interesting next few years in the market with new players constantly chipping of the incumbents.

Check out our deep dives in each of the three covered industries from earlier in the year:

• Restaurants Go Online - How Cloud Kitchens are Making Your Food
• Space Exploration is Sexy Again - A New Space Race Is Underway! How Did We Even Get Here?
• Cloud - Cloud Wars: How Cloud Computing Changed Business & Technology Forever

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Hey! The Things Have Changed Podcast Team is taking a winter break! We hope that you have the time to do the same!

We're going to use this time to reflect about the most interesting stories of 2021 so that we can share that with you on January 9th!

Stay tuned and stay curious! Much love from the Things Have Changed Podcast team!

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These days nearly every company is, or is in the process of becoming, a tech company. Retailers have mobile apps and e-commerce platforms. Grocery stores no longer expect customers to come inside to shop — they can place an order online and pick it up outside the store, or have it delivered right to their homes.

Take McDonald's for instance - McD is more than just a burger joint today. It has essentially become a restaurant that offers its customers premium digital experiences such as its easy ordering through the mobile application, loyalty drops and self-order kiosks — thereby transforming the 'fast food experience'.

This proliferation of technology in every day businesses has resulted in a huge growth in a specific set of skills that companies highly desire today. The increasing need to bridge the gap between - Customer, Business and Technology, has given rise to  “Product Management”, and Product Managers or PMs for short, have quickly become one of the most sought after roles within the Digital Economy.

Today, we speak to Diego Granados, Senior AI/ML Product Manager at Microsoft and one of the best Content Creators on Youtube helping people all over the world, break into Product Management.

He provides the THC community with some incredible insights into what the role of a Product Manager entails, what gap did he see to create a platform to share his advice and tips to get into the space and the all important question.. Do you need to have a technical background to get into Product Management?

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In a world of extreme climate change, the traditional way of producing food is simply not enough to feed the world of the future. As less and less arable land is available, humans have to get creative with how we farm... and the Dutch may have a solution.

They've employed a tried and tested methodology to solve their food problems: Greenhouses! 

The Netherlands is small, and densely populated. In spite of this, it is the second-largest exporter of food by value globally, second only to the United States which has a staggering 270 times its landmass, in part because of the high yield inside greenhouses.

Some incredible statistics - Greenhouses can shrink water use by 90%, yield 10 times larger than traditional farms, and cut the need for chemicals by 97%. The Dutch success has spurred entrepreneurs and startups around the globe to leverage this model to satisfy their respective local food needs.

In Part 2 of our Farms of the Future series, we dive into greenhouses/glasshouses; the highly productive form of indoor farming. Likewise, we discuss how new technological innovations and integrations into this age old farming technique are increasingly making it a viable and crucial tool in our fight against climate change!

Moreover, we talk to a seasoned "Glasshouse Grower" in the Netherlands to learn more about how this industry has changed over the years. Marcel Dings is the owner of Brookberries, a glasshouse that grows strawberries. Co-host Jed Tabernero was able to physically tour these glasshouses last summer.

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Close to a third of the world's adults are unbanked. Crypto aims to solve this disparity!

The mission of the blockchain is not all about making money. It's about providing access and inclusion as well. The blockchain is basically computer code, which works peer to peer to validate transactions, thereby completely bypassing the need for traditional financial institutions i.e. banks.

Currently, there are over 1.7 Billion people worldwide who cannot access financial services. They can’t protect their money, gain access to wealth-building tools and services, or effectively plan for their future.

The potential widespread use of open decentralized digital finance – financial services delivered via the internet,  can greatly reduce this disparity! Just look at some examples of countries like Nigeria, Vietnam, Turkey and Philippines that have recorded high rates of Crypto adoption! For example, almost a third of Nigerians now own some form of cryptocurrency. Nigerians actively use cryptocurrency for buying or selling goods and services and sending money across borders to family and friends.

Increased crypto adoption with increased innovation have a real opportunity to democratize  traditional financial services. But decentralized finance to many is still very complicated and nascent a technology to master and leverage.

Hossein Azari is tapping into this very pain point to build CMORQ, to empower consumers by giving them an easy access to decentralized finance for personal banking. Through the CMORQ app you can exchange, send, and lend crypto to earn passively.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Hossein, we talk about the current complexities of crypto, and how CMORQ aims to solve this problem and be the easy onboarding app for millions of customers around the globe!

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Innovation is exciting! And all of us have witnessed new technology entering every major industry, none more so that the traditional financial industry.

When was the last time you even went into a bank? Financial transactions such as accessing money, depositing checks or even buying stocks, can all be done  on an app remotely at anytime and anyplace! But in spite of all the technological progress, we still have to trust the banks as our middlemen to every single transaction we make.

However, with the advent of “cryptocurrencies” and the “Blockchain”, many new technologies are being built, including the emergence of Decentralized Finance or “DeFi”.

DeFi seeks to get rid of the middleman completely. A big unlock here is the automation of tasks that traditionally require a third-party intermediary. For example, instead of needing a bank to approve a fund transfer from client to freelancer, the process can happen automatically, thanks to sophisticated code/programs called “smart contracts” to mimic the services in the financial industry!

Although decentralized finance is only 5% of the crypto market, it is the fastest growing space within crypto and our guest today, Hossein Azari, Founder & CEO of DEFI company CMORQ, breaks it all down for us at Things Have Changed.

Hossein has an incredible rap sheet, a Doctorate in Computer Science from Harvard University, an MBA from Columbia University and in addition to this, he sold his first financial company, Clarity Money, a personal finance company, for $100 Million to Goldman Sachs!
 
So it begs the question.. what is he doing building in crypto?

In Part 1 of our incredibly fun chat with Hossein, we explore:

• What’s specifically wrong with traditional finance, that Hossein is aiming to fix?
• How Crypto and DeFi can balance the scales by helping the Middle & Lower class join the Money Class

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Food is the very nourishment of life. Climate change, population growth and population density have come to challenge the way we feed ourselves. Let's look at some factors that are affecting the way we grow food:

• World’s population is in more urbanized areas - 60% of the population lives in cities
• Farms Waste Much of World's Water - On average, farms around the world account for 70% of all water that is consumed annually.
• Demand for locally grown food in urban areas is rising - For environmental reasons, as well as efficiency and ability to have produce that is often damaged during transport (e.g. berries)

One of the emerging solutions is vertical farming and its different techniques. In this episode, we talk through how vertical farming can be a viable solution for highly urbanized areas and in the shift to sustainable food growth.

The very way we make our food is changing.. what will the farms of the future look like? Tune into this episode to find out!

Materials for Content:

• Vertical farms are growing more and more vegetables in urban areas
• Vertical Farming Techniques
• Aerofarms Impact
• Vertical Farms fill a Tall Order
• Bowery - Why Vertical Farming

Soundclips:

• Vertical Farming as a solution for Food of the Future - Vice
• The rise of vertical farming - VPRO DOK
• How Aerofarms' vertical farms grow produce - CBS Mornings
• Farms Waste Much of World's Water
• Each degree of temperature rise, 10% of existing agricultural land will be lost
• How much your food has travelled to get to your plate

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Technology has already come after several blue collar jobs of the past, like assembly line workers, cashiers, phone operators, and travel agents, to name a few.

But is it possible for AI to automate and replace the job of a software engineer?

Most technology we use today involves software - from watching our favorite shows on Netflix, to ordering a Starbucks pickup, to scheduling an early morning Uber to the airport. It should come as no surprise that programming has been the most in-demand job in our digital economy over the past 20 years.

But as of late, a fascinating new technology known as GitHub Pilot has been making waves in tech. Copilot is an automatic coding tool, powered by OpenAI, one of the world's leading AI research laboratories and founded by tech titans such as Elon Musk and Sam Altman. It can effectively look at code written by a human programmer and suggest further lines or alternative code, eliminating some of the repetitive labor that goes into software development.

Today, we chat with Nick Vincent once again, but this time about the ethics and irony of AI being able to automate programming itself.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to keep up with the latest stories in our ever-changing digital economy. @thingshavechangedpod

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Every minute, 990,000 Tinder profiles are swiped, 156 million emails are sent, and 16 million text messages are sent out.

Moreover, Google processes 40,000 searches a second and 1.4 billion people log into Facebook every day.

We live in a digital economy, and it runs on data!

Just think about it, every time you check your Instagram or Twitter feed, Google a new recipe, or search the web for the latest sneaker drop, you are providing tons of data that companies can then leverage to sell you personalized ads, which equals big money. The digital ad revenue business is a whopping $200 billion industry thanks to our generous data contributions.

Our guest today is Nicholas Vincent, a post-doc researcher at Northwestern University, who is studying this very interaction between technology and social behavior. Nick is leading the charge to balance the scales between data providers (us) and data brokers (the personal data industry).

Nick puts forward the concept: "What if those organizations profiting from your data had to pay you a share of that earning?" These data dividends have been getting a lot of traction, with presidential candidate Andrew Yang launching the Data Dividend Project, which is pushing tech companies to pay users for their data.

Additionally, Nick and colleague Hanlin Li are suggesting new ways to address the power imbalance:

🔸 Data Strikes: withholding or deleting your data so a tech firm cannot use it - Leaving a platform or installing privacy tools.
🔸 Data poisoning: contributing meaningless or harmful data - You play music that you dislike on your device and then walk away, thereby confusing the algorithm.
🔸 Conscious data contribution: Giving data to the competitor, such as switching to a new search engine or transferring photos to a new platform.

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