Author: Guy

We keep hearing that we’re too stressed because we’re always on and we spend too much time in front of screens. No argument there but technology can also help. Dr. Emilia Molimpakis of Thymia explains to Guy Clapperton that monitoring of employees in an anonymised, non-intrusive manner can expose all sorts of behaviours that indicate […]

So many myths about selling electricity between neighbours and yet it never seems to happen – meanwhile the cost of living is set to continue skyrocketing this year. Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton speaks to Jo-Jo Hubbard, CEO of Electron, about how the infrastructure and business models are coming around to enable people to trade […]

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Noise cancelling headphones work by adding noise. What’s more, if you measure the annoyance of someone when a contact centre agent asks them to repeat their contact information more than once, it gets disproportionately high. This matters when it can all be a matter of fixing the audio engagement. In this edition of the Near […]

Shopping is changing – we’re abandoning cash almost without realising it and you can walk out of an Amazon Go store feeling as if you haven’t paid at all. In this edition of the Near Futurist Guy Clapperton speaks to Charlie Hope, retail principal at IT services company BJSS, about what his retail clients are […]

What’s that? There’s another social network out there? There certainly is and we don’t mean Threads. Guy talks to Sue Fennessy, founder and chief executive of WeAre8, which aims to restore value to the participant (or “citizen” as it calls them), enable them to donate to charities and stop using hateful messages. Also Guy’s thoughts […]

We’ve all heard of the metaverse by now – but is it a “thing” or a marketing construct? There are no holds barred in this Dividing Lines debate, the series in the Near Futurist sponsored (but never dictated) by Diffusion PR. Futurist.com supremo Nikolas Badminton takes on Based.AF head honcho Robin Schmidt as they consider […]

Received wisdom suggests that we’re all going to work flexibly and it’s going to be great. Winter is coming, however – so will we scurry back to the office to stay warm or do the figures still add up? And what if we suggest that home working is actually less productive than office working anyway? […]

Dr. Carol Nakhle of the University of Surrey and Robin Peters of Snugg Energy discuss the energy crisis with near futurist Guy Clapperton: * Is the increase in pricing a useful tool to dampen demand? * How long will payback take if people invest in their homes? * Are the high prices prompting the right […]

A preview of Friday’s Near Futurist interview: * Dr. Carol Nakhle of Surrey University and Robin Peters of Snugg debate * Is the dice loaded against us reaching Net Zero? Should fuel prices be part of the plan? * What are the obstacles, like payback times? Latest fortnightly episode, available now