A new year brings new opportunities! But first, let’s look back at 2017 through the three articles that stayed with me most.
Everything you want to know about bitcoin but were afraid to ask
Did the conversation over Christmas dinner turn to hard forks, ICOs and mining, leaving you wondering what everyone was talking about? Fortunately, I could hold my own because I had read this article by NRC technology editor Wouter van Noort in early December. He answers 14 questions about bitcoin. If you want to join the discussion at the coffee machine in the new year, I thoroughly recommend reading it.
In science, too, you want to be first
In this article in Het Financieele Dagblad, written by Klaas Broekhuizen, Professor Leo Kouwenhoven, also a consultant researcher at Microsoft Station Q, shares his vision of the future of quantum technology. I can almost hear some readers asking: how did quantum technology work again?
A conventional computer processes zeros and ones. A quantum computer instead uses quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in a superposition of states. This offers the potential to solve certain problems much faster. In an earlier article, Broekhuizen used a maze as an analogy: a conventional computer tries routes one after another, learning from its mistakes, while a quantum computer approaches the challenge differently, using quantum effects to explore possibilities.
In the 2017 interview, Kouwenhoven predicted a prototype quantum computer within five years and a “serious version” within ten. It was clearly a development to keep an eye on in the years ahead.
Need to rescue an online campaign? Just post glowing comments yourself
The use of influencers by major brands attracted plenty of attention again during the year. Journalist Loes Reijmer, for example, wrote a sharp piece in de Volkskrant about Shell using influencers to promote an initiative. What had happened?
Shell had partnered with The Plastic Bank, which exchanges collected plastic for money or goods in poorer countries. Together, they aimed to clear one million kilograms of plastic in Haiti. For every water bottle Shell sold, two kilograms of plastic would be collected. Several influencers agreed to pose with a water bottle to promote the initiative. Anna Nooshin’s post, however, did not go down well with some followers, who questioned Shell’s environmental record. Nooshin responded with a statement that received very positive reactions from a number of followers. The journalist’s subsequent research found that these supporters worked for Shell’s marketing agency. PR rule number one: do not manufacture your own chorus of approval.
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