'technology' Category
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Digital Minister of fax
August 14, 2022Although I’ve heard some mixed feedback domestically, Kono Taro-san’s refreshingly self-aware tweets as newly-appointed Digital Minister are pure 🔥 for the international community who has some experience in Japan.
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“That’s where the strength comes from…”
July 11, 2022This trailer video gives me goose bumps in anticipation…
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(K)now to cover (Y)our butt (C)heeks
April 16, 2022Last year a financial institution with which I had been a long-time customer asked me to re-verify my identity by providing two forms of ID. I uploaded a copy of my passport and my driver’s license. After “several business days” of processing, my passport was accepted. As for my driver’s license, on the other hand, […]
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The unicorn game
January 29, 2022It would be easy for me to make hay about this week’s announcement of the decline of Sigfox. My previous fund in France passed up on the opportunity to invest in Sigfox back in the day. My former partner astutely determined that Sigfox’s “boil the ocean” approach to building out a broad-scale IoT network infrastructure […]
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World Fintech Festival
November 4, 2021I predict that this will be an enjoyable session. Please join us virtually if you’re interested in Japan’s startup ecosystem, have an open mind, and are able to take a punch… World Fintech Festival – November 11&12
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Deny, Dither, Discuss, Deliberate… but then Dy-no-mite !
September 17, 2021A friend of mine shared this graph with me the other day. A number of striking implications jump out, such as the cultural insights into an America which now ranks bottom among the G7 countries for vaccine adoption. However, I will steer clear of that particular political minefield. For me the really interesting story is […]
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New investment: Braid
June 19, 2021Earlier this month we enthusiastically closed on our seed investment in Braid Technologies. When we first meet Guido and Ivo in 2020, we were impressed with their technical prowess and open minds. It took us a few months to finally grasp the transformative potential of the technology they were building. Braid is building the next […]
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Clubhouse in Japan: catching fire like flash paper (and fizzling out equally quickly)
April 11, 2021We were having an interesting discussion this week about the rise and fall of Clubhouse in Japan. I was fortunate to be enlightened by a couple brilliant individuals who are much more in tune with the phenomenon here. In late January Clubhouse launched in Japan and quickly shot up to first among free apps on the […]
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Bitcoin: Which sovereign nation will be the first ?
March 28, 2021A fun parlour game these days is to speculate on which major developed country will be the first to announce that it is storing a significant portion of its treasury reserves in Bitcoin. I’ve noticed that not only Bitcoin maximalists enjoy playing this game; even crypto-skeptics will usually indulge too. All but the most ardent […]
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Laying the foundation for Smart Cities
December 1, 2020Urban planners, politicians, and real estate developers in most international cities across the globe grapple with the prospect of transforming their metropolis into a smart city. If you work in real estate or any adjacent sector, you’ll know that the concept of smart cities is hot. Yet like many euphoric new trends, the notion of […]
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Musings on BTC and MMT
November 12, 2020The other day I was having a pseudo-intellectual discussion with an old friend of mine who is an economist (I brought the pseudo- ; he brought the intellect). As an aside, I like to poke fun of this guy because in public appearances he always begins his introduction with “I am in economist.” (Isn’t it […]
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Most valuable startup unicorns
August 19, 2020Since the startup unicorn count has become a metric of governments worldwide, here’s the latest unicorn compilation from the brilliant minds over at CBInsights…