If you don't follow podcasts, this may be mystifying.

Why  is the podcast market growing at a compounded rate of over 27% per year, on average?

It's close to $11 billion in value now and is likely to be at $60 billion by 2027.

That's a lot of podcasts people are listening to.

Audio books never took off the same way.

So how is this different?

For one thing, podcasts are a reinvention of radio programs and talk shows.

The range of topics and what is covered goes much deeper than any radio programs do

You can probably find 25 good podcasts on investing alone. Or businesses.

Conversations aren't like books.

Authors write books in solitary contemplation. They agonise over the right word and phrase. Then the editors step in.

What you get is a structured set of thoughts well-explained and researched.

Podcasts are flee-flowing conversations. It's like listening to people you get to like and look forward to hearing from.

You can listen to music when you're walking or driving. But it's also the best time to tune into podcasts.

You won't know the miles go by. It will take you time to find the gems.

Persist. Because it's rewarding.

A moment in your life

What were you doing at 7.47 am today?

Not sure?

A project called human clock is integrating the dry numbers of a digital clock face to photographs of people displaying the time

It's not more efficient

A photograph freezes time anyway. But by crowd sourcing moments, you get a glimpse into the lives of people around the world

It picks up the time from your device or desktop and displays the photos for you to scroll through.

8.42 plastered on a post-it note across a dog's head

A signboard showing 20.49

You're welcome to contribute.

It's like a creative assignment on how many ways you can depict the passage of time.

Some of them are simply people holding up the time in the picture

But you'll find the points of departure

A deck of cards placed in a sequence

A set of pins arranged on a map. 

A lady mimics the hour and minute hands with her own.

A deal signed between partners.

The exact minute a bottle of wine was opened to celebrate

It feels silly and profound at the same time. It could be goofy or emotional. Your choice.

A time stamp of your life.

The 3D future of online shopping

It had to happen, sooner or later

Online shopping is an apology for the actual in-store experience.

You click and browse through a set of categories and images before arriving at what you'd like to pick up.

There's no thrill of discovery, no wandering down the aisle and coming across something unexpected.

A company called Matterport allows companies to replicate real shopping environments or any other space online.

Place products on shelves. Let people wander through them virtually before they pick up things and add them to shopping carts.

After being cooped up in homes and wearing masks for every trip outside, it's refreshing to see that 3D can also be used beyond game environments, for something as mundane as shopping.

This opens up the market for online bookstores - where you wander through aisles again, pick up books on the shelves and flip through them.

Probably letting the imagination run riot but it's surely possible

Right now, you can move from one section to another and see what you'd like to pick up.

Restocking may be simpler because people don't have to actually put merchandise on shelves.

It could even reset what virtual stores looks like in future.

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