CalvinAyre.com

Advances in robotics have workers in many fields fearing the future, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the benefits that will come from no longer asking humans to risk life and limb to perform tasks necessary for economic growth. Last week’s ‘robot Olympics’ in China was an eye-opener given the capabilities on display. The pace of tech growth can be exponential and we’re in a far different world from what this tech was capable of just a few years ago and will be even more so a few years from now. Robots will take on many roles currently performed by humans, with significant impact on the number of people employed in certain sectors. Governments around the world will need to launch retraining programs to ensure these workers aren’t left behind. But there are obvious advantages in assigning dangerous/hazardous tasks to non-humans. How many lives could have been saved had robots been capable of retrieving lethally radioactive graphite from Chernobyl’s roof rather than those poor reservists in ineffective lead aprons? There are any number of manufacturing processes involving toxic substances that could be done far more efficiently and safely by eliminating humans from the equation. Robots mining in small underground spaces wouldn’t be susceptible to the sudden release of toxic gases. How many wildfires might have been contained early on by parachuting in robots in situations deemed to be overly risky for human smoke jumpers? Robots could also be tasked with on-the-ground patrolling in remote areas to spot and extinguish fires before they got out of control. As demonstrated by some of the robots participating in last week’s events, the tech still has its limitations. But there’s no putting this genie back in its bottle, and we need to embrace the new possibilities robotics can offer as much as we prepare for its negative impact. Where will robotics have the biggest impact, and what’s the most underappreciated example currently flying under the radar?

If I was just starting out as an entrepreneur today, I’d be all over integrating AI and Enterprise-scaling blockchain and applications that leverage this paradigm shift. Also Metanet, the integration of all of the above with the internet. But since I’m not 20, I’m currently focused on buying a place on the Mediterranean shore near a traditional village with good restaurants.

Meta’s settlement of its California federal trial was abrupt but not all that shocking, given that it admitted no wrongdoing, its financial penalty is a fraction of its annual profit and the company was prepared to pay multiple times that sum. It’s telling that the settlement came before Mark Zuckerberg had to take the stand. Unlike Elon Musk, who has fans and haters in equal measure, Meta’s CEO has never enjoyed much public support. Meta likely feared that his testimony would only inflame jury sentiment. Meta still faces countless state-level suits, not to mention suits filed in other countries. Other social media firms will face pressure to impose the same tweaks to their own platforms or be left looking like they don’t care. The list of revisions Meta will make to how its social media platforms deal with young people is long but the company won’t be changing its controversial algorithm. So the actual positive impact on youth may be minimal. Meaning parents need to find ways of stepping up their game. The digital world is here to stay and no one wants their kids growing up ignorant of the tools they’ll need to use to get ahead. But a balance must be struck and parents need to exert greater control over what their kids see and do online. That means educating themselves on what’s out there, learning to impose digital guardrails that kids can’t circumvent, and just being more aware of what kids are up to. I know modern life is hectic and many parents don’t have a lot of spare time on their hands. But you are your kids’ best line of defense. Back in my day, kids were told to turn off the TV and go outside to play. The difference now is that kids take the ‘TV’ with them wherever they go. We need to let kids be kids again, at least until they’re sufficiently old to grasp the impact of what they’re doing online.

Love this idea. Every little efficiency tweak counts if we hope to safely steer our climate ship to shore. ft.com/content/6e5036…

When Bodog launched, most online gambling marketing was pretty primitive, usually just popups showing slot reels, playing cards or athletes in generic uniforms. The messages these ads conveyed were equally generic, making sites indistinguishable from each other. We did things a little differently. My personal public relations escapades, initially under the ‘Cole Turner’ identity, were conceived as a James Bond-like fantasy involving personal danger, exotic locales and no shortage of pretty girls. We toned down the dorky derring-do once I ditched the Cole persona, but the portrayal of a luxury lifestyle endured. What can I say? The bulk of Bodog’s clientele was young men, and young men share a few universal interests. Also, most of my peers in Costa Rica weren’t MBAs like me, just bookies conditioned to keep their heads down. By putting a real human face on a faceless industry, we gave customers confidence that Bodog, unlike some of its competitors, wouldn’t take their money and run. We did other things our rivals never thought of, like sponsoring the Hollywood premiere of sports betting movie Two for the Money. Cameras couldn’t miss our logo as Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey walked the red carpet and other celebs played poker on Bodog-branded tables at the after-party. Speaking of Pacino (and another example of knowing your target demo), we did a deal to incorporate Bodog logos and other brand placements into the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. I even made an appearance as an in-game character. (Say hello to my little friend!) Most gambling sites set up booths at the World Series of Poker, and most were boring. Ours was a two-story affair with a games room on the lower level and a ‘bedroom’ up top where you could have a pillow fight with the Bodog Girls (once you’d opened an online poker account). We made short videos of these pillow fights and emailed them to users. Since they were almost certainly sharing these clips with their friends (who likely also gambled online), we reached a lot of customers we hadn’t before. Big data wasn’t so big back in the day, so we had to craft our approach more on instinct. That instinct proved correct. If you can do something different than your competitors, great. Otherwise, do what they do, just do it better. And it never hurts to do something other people think is ‘cool.’