Future Perfect

From ‘Is this You’ to ‘This Is Me’

Kabul: facial recognition
The security protocols for working in Afghanistan dictate that the driver doesn’t hold up the name of the person they are picking up, but …



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17 Aug 2010

In: Kabul
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Things That Make You Go Ssiiiihht

30 Jul 2010



Ssiiiihht: that’s the sound that a consumer makes when she buys a spare phone/laptop charger – the sharp intake of breathe that comes from …
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Having the Intelligence to Outsmart the Network

18 Jul 2010



Remember when using a map application on a mobile phone was a lesson in frustration and humility? Underperforming hardware, through-a-straw data connection and a choice …
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5 Billion Customers Can’t be Wrong

09 Jul 2010

In: Salton Sea
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(Or can it? A % of those customers will have 2nd and 3rd subscriptions) An ITU press release from early 2010 with the estimate of 5 …
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New Interactions in the Chinese Urban Vocabulary?

25 Jun 2010



Start here. As anyone whose spent a day tailing consumers in Shanghai will tell you: a Chinese shopper and her bags are not easily parted …
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Love Your Caretaker

25 Jun 2010

In: Shanghai
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Fire extinguishing equipment (photo below) at this upscale xiao long bao/soup dumpling restaurant includes the faces of two members of staff – presumably trained in …
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666: The Market for Numbers

10 Jun 2010



Numbers, as the trailer for the show goes are everywh3re. Whilst the value of those numbers varies according to personal preference e.g. lucky numbers, …
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Thoughts on Cloud Printing

09 Jun 2010



Been thinking about this announcement by HP to add email addresses to a range of printers. You might think of this as a small thing, …
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Minimal. Slots.

09 Jun 2010

In: Ashgabat
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A beautifully minimal phone kiosk design – doesn’t include a coin-return slot. The explicit design choice of a one-way direction of coins assumes a 100% …
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Yield / No Yield

07 Jun 2010

In: Ashgabat
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One of the subconscious challenges of a heavy travel schedule is in constantly recalibratung to the ebb and flow of different traffic norms. In the …
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