On Our Radar - from donating your data to M-Pesa’s next steps

Big data

Smarking Drives Big Data To Parking Industry (via TechCrunch)

We’re seeing a growing number of parking mobile app and big data approaches that point to the potential of similar approaches in other fields.

Forget about used clothes and food drives—donate your data to save the world (via Quartz)

60% of people are willing to donate their data for uses that will benefit the public, apparently. Would you be?

Data privacy

Redditor cracks anonymous data trove to pinpoint Muslim cab drivers (via Mashable)

Another reminder – if it were needed – to illustrate why it’s wise to be wary of the claim of ‘anonymous’ data.

Mobile payments

Can Mobile Money Conquer New Markets? (via MIT Technology Review)

What (and where) next for M-Pesa, whose Kenyan transactions jumped to $12 billion in the first six months of 2014. 

Educational games

The World’s First Badass Educational Game (via Good Magazine)

Just spotted this from a while back, but deserves wider reading for this line alone: “In the past, educators would simply impose education over a game like covering broccoli in chocolate.”

Digitally-enabled fundraising

Girl Scouts bring you digital cookies (via allanalytics.com)

A fun (yet serious) logical extension of the US Girl Scouts’ digital innovations in the past few years.

Digital Currency Intersects with Charitable Giving (via CSR Wire)

Global Impact now accepts bitcoin payments.

On Our Radar - from high-tech cities to the disappearance of the Internet

Cities

Can politics keep up with the rise of high-tech cities? (via The New Scientist) 

New technologies are fast changing urban living. We're questioning what we can do to ensure that government and citizen-run projects keep up with the pace of private firms.

Mobile banking & payments

2015 Gates annual letter (via The Gates Foundation)

Bill and Melinda Gates have made a 'big bet' on mobile banking. The ubiquity of mobile phones and the marginal cost of processing digital transactions continues make financial services more efficient.

Mobile app payments now represent 16 of all Starbucks transactions (via Fast Company)

Starbucks is leading the mobile payment pack, now averaging more than 7 million mobile transactions in store each week, and soon to roll out their mobile ordering service. 

Big Data 

Counting better does not always mean knowing better (via Sci Dev Net) 

How big data can help bridge gaps where national statistical offices fail to respond to the growing need for data in developing countries.

How big data battles human trafficking (via U.S. News)

From services for victims to prosecuting offenders, new technologies are being utilised to address exploitation. But the power of big data for social impact is really predicting the crisis. 

Sharing Economy

How the sharing economy will impact marketing (via Tech Crunch)

The rise of a marketing marketplace, which introduces brands to a diversity of professionals, in house, at scale .

The internet

Google's Eric Schmidt predicts the Internet will disappear (via Tech Times)

Feels like we're not far away from the Internet being a "part of your presence all the time..."

On Our Radar – from civic crowdfunding to psychological reliance on iPhones

Big data

James Murphy Shares Remixes Made With Tennis Data (via Pitchfork)

Data is dull? You cannot be serious…

Lean Innovation

Charities, Innovation and Lean Start Up (via Nominet Trust blog)

Kieron Kirkland from Nominet Trust shares heaps of learning and useful advice on how charities can innovate while keeping the home fires burning.

Run a Nonprofit Like a Startup To Move Fast and Help Things (via TechCrunch)

Ryan Seashore shares similar thoughts and examples on the same theme.

Mobile payments

In Business – Money Making (via the BBC)

Peter Day’s excellent In Business podcast makes it back into the list with a speedy exploration of the emerging mobile and digital payments market.

Technology reliance

The Extended iSelf: The Impact of iPhone Separation on Cognition, Emotion, and Physiology (via Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication)

This study investigated the psychological and physiological effects of iPhones users’ separation from their cellphones during cognitive tasks: “Our findings suggest that iPhone separation can severely impact attention during cognitive tasks.”

Smart homes

The smart homes of CES turned me into a believer (via the Daily Dot)

Selena Larson gets comfortable with a house with smart locks, keys, scales and plants.

Crowdfunding

Local Governments and Nonprofits test Crowdfunding for Civic Projects (via the Chronicle of Philanthropy)

A good overview of the emerging potential and challenges of civic crowdfunding.

On Our Radar– from powerful healthcare analytics to in-house tech company philosophers

Data 

How big data is improving healthcare (via The World Economic Forum)

Some sensible tips for those interested in bringing analytics tools into a healthcare setting.

The Shazam Effect (via The Atlantic)

Producers and music labels are definitely playing closer attention to the data driving the music business, but is it taking over the songwriting process? And does it really matter if our brains are already wired to prefer melodies we already know?!

The future of fundraising (via Stanford Social Review)

Good, short overview of fundraising trends for the year ahead, with a focus on technology being used to engage donors at every giving level and big data becoming even more easy to manage and understand.

How Ebola roared back (via The NY Times)

A gripping read about how the epidemic sweeping West Africa might have been stopped in its tracks.

Apps

App Usage Grew 76% In 2014 (via TechCrunch)

Every app store category saw session growth in 2014, but growth within the shopping category was the largest. Is this the year we finally see more sales close on mobile and tablet?  

10 apps you should have on your work phone (via The Telegraph)

We can vouch for at least half of these simple and time saving productivity tools.

Philosophy

Google Philosopher (via psmag.com)

Who wouldn’t want a resident philosopher in their company? How age-old debates are providing Google with useful answers to contemporary problems (and apparently, keeping them out of court).

On Our Radar – from business innovation to big data trends for 2015

Big Data

Speak to the eyes – the history and practice of information visualisation (via jeffersonbailey.com)

As data visualisation becomes ever more important to make sense of increasingly large data sets, a fascinating look back at what has come before.

Big Data knows when you’re going to quit your job before you do (via bloomberg.com)

Slightly misleading headline aside, interesting to note the potential useful application of machine learning in HR settings.

Big Data top trends for 2015 (via KD Nuggets)

Interesting take on what might come in the year ahead. Looking forward to new tools that will help non-data scientists wrangle data.

Innovation

In Business – 21st Century Unlimited (via the BBC)

Peter Day, who produces one of our favourite podcasts, investigates various approaches to innovation in the business world. Very much worth a listen

The top technology failures of 2014 (via MIT Technology Review)

What, if anything, can be learned from initiatives that didn’t quite go to plan last year?

Social Impact

Social programmes that work (via the New York Times)

A nice round-up of successful evidence-based programmes in the States, and the importance of evaluation.

The sharing economy

The sharing economy and the future of finance (via TechCrunch)

Is the finance industry facing an uncertain future due to the rise of the sharing economy? Christopher O. Hernæs thinks so.

On Our Radar – From the dark side of the collaborative economy to how Big Data is changing business

Collaborative Economy  

The secret to the Uber economy: wealth inequality (via Quartz)

Exploring the dark heart of the collaborative economy

Can Washington DC beat Uber at its own Game? (via The Verge)

Rather than banning Uber Washington DC taxi commission is launching “Universal D.C. TaxiApp" in March

Internet of Things

Seven Internet of Things startups to keep an eye on (via Tech City News)

Seven firms have been chosen to take part in the UK’s first Internet of things Launchpad, funded by Innovate UK, Tech City and Cambridge Wireless

The Ghosts of Websites past (via The Washington Post)

A bit of internet nostalgia as The Washington Post lists the most popular websites from the last 18 years 

Big Data

How big data is blurring industry lines (via Forbes)

Interesting take on how consumers are making decisions about a product based on the data it collects and the analytics it enables, and what this means for companies like Nike

What can we learn from cities' smartphone data (via Next City)

How phone data can be used to help us understand how we interact with the modern city