BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK How China Is Revolutionising Shopping Malls Key Takeaway: From 1990 to 2020, China’s malls reflected its economic growth, catering to the emerging middle class. These malls were built by US architectural firms and are now being reimagined as civic spaces for communities to meet and interact. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of online shopping have devastated foot traffic, leaving the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Megacities In The Digital Age Key Takeaways: Digitization and crowdsourcing will actually undermine the very foundations of the megacity economy, which is typically built on some combination of manufacturing, commerce, retail and professional services. Shopping malls, for example, which once thrived in megacities, are now suffering from the advent of e-commerce. Today, megacities have become synonymous with economic growth. In both developing and […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK TECHNOLOGY The Retail Revolution In China China’s dominance in manufacturing has made it the factory of the world. The subsequent economic growth enriched an ever-expanding middle class, and the country’s retail industry has quickly adapted to supply a growing appetite for consumption. Some of these developments in the way people spend their money, powered by the latest technology, will soon be appearing on […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY Platforms Are The Future Of Intelligence As we organize human work and learning at fantastic scales, let’s strive for something inspiring. Through our relationship with machines, humans are building a new, synthetic intelligence. Organizations are the home for this part-human, part-machine intelligence. The topic to which we now turn is the role organizations play in coordinating the immense scale of work and […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Mavis Pang – Entrepreneur & E-Commerce Marketer Mavis Helps You Focus on One-to-One Marketing What’s your story?I was working in a corporate job in commercial and customer service for more than 20 years in the petrochemical industry. In 2017, when I was already in a leadership position with a comfortable salary, I decided to leave my job to take a different path. […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP STARTUPS STRATEGY TECHNOLOGY Is It Possible To Compete With Amazon? Several years ago, the largest department store in Europe — and the third in the world — Spain’s El Corte Inglés, announced a two-hour delivery service for purchases of more than €20 and up to five products in more than 54 Spanish towns and cities, a move clearly designed to compete with Amazon Prime Now, which in Spain is still only available in […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK ENTREPRENEURSHIP STARTUPS TECHNOLOGY How the Coronavirus Is Going To Change the Food Sector Forever The coronavirus pandemic will radically accelerate automated self-service in the food sector. At the time of writing this, I was sequestered at home with my wife and boys with flu-like symptoms that we can’t rule out as coronavirus due to the shortage of testing kits. After worsening symptoms, our son was tested and the results […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Paula Da Silva, Executive Vice President of Global Partners and Alliances of CitiXsys Paula Da Silva has more than 10 years’ experience in the retail industry. Currently, she is responsible for the growth and administration of CitiXsys’ global channel partner ecosystem. What’s your story?Hi, I’m Paula Da Silva, Executive Vice President of Global Partners and Alliances for CitiXsys. I’ve worked in technology throughout my career and more specifically […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Leisia Tsang & Ellen Ogren, Founders of Little Starters New parents are commonly faced with the task of trying to find safe clothes for their kids to wear. Ellen and Leisia make this easy with their online shop. What’s your story? Ellen: With us both new to motherhood, we were on the hunt for casual-cool clothing for our little ones. We knew parents had […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CALLUM CONNECTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTERVIEWS Vincent Wong, Country Head of ShopBack Vincent Wong, dived straight into the ecommerce scene upon graduating and has now joined ShopBack. What’s your story? I dived straight into the ecommerce scene upon graduation. That’s when the digital economy was barely on the rise. I just had this inkling that this’d be the right wave to ride as the time for ecommerce […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Merging Of Mind And Machine Key Takeaway: Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is rapidly redefining human potential, with breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and machine learning enabling the translation of thoughts into action. The brain is a complex network of over 80 billion neurons, processing thoughts, memories, emotions, and sensory inputs. Advances in AI, miniaturized electronics, and neuroimaging have led to the […] Written by Empirics Asia April 16, 2025April 16, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Hard Problem Of A.I. Key Takeaway: AI systems are often portrayed as human, but they are not sentient, conscious, or feeling. They lack the interoceptive feedback that shapes human cognition and are not able to understand the content they produce. This disconnect creates a gulf between real consciousness and synthetic simulation. The illusion of humanity projected by AI becomes […] Written by Empirics Asia April 15, 2025April 15, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Future Tech Of Music Is Space-Bending Key Takeaway: Researchers have developed a technology that creates “audible enclaves” in open air, creating highly focused, localized zones of sound. These isolated audio pockets allow sound to materialize only at a precise point in space, unheard by others nearby. This breakthrough could revolutionize public communication, entertainment, military applications, and office design. The process, known […] Written by Empirics Asia April 9, 2025April 9, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Promise And Peril Of A.I. Therapy Key Takeaway: AI-powered mental health tools, such as chatbots and self-help apps, offer immediate emotional support to those in need. However, these tools cannot replace the complexity, depth, and ethical safeguards of human therapy, especially when dealing with serious mental health issues. AI lacks emotional understanding, cultural context, and real-time adaptability, which can be dangerous […] Written by Empirics Asia April 8, 2025April 8, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Humanity’s Greatest Threat Might Come From Above Key Takeaway: The discovery of asteroid 2024 YR4 has reignited fears about cosmic threats, highlighting the need for a global planetary defense system. Political scientist Daniel Deudney warns that unchecked expansion into space, especially with geopolitical rivalries, could be a recipe for global disaster. The fear of space, its vastness, and existential indifference is deeply […] Written by Empirics Asia April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How Cereal Sparked The Plant Based Revolution Key Takeaway: John Harvey Kellogg, a controversial doctor, played a significant role in the development of the plant-based movement. He combined the Progressive Era with “biologic living” and established an experimental kitchen to develop alternatives to meat. In 1896, the U.S. Department of Agriculture asked Kellogg to create a plant-based protein that could rival meat […] Written by Empirics Asia April 4, 2025April 4, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Are Viruses Alive? Key Takeaway: The question of whether viruses are alive or not has become increasingly complex due to the lack of a universally accepted definition of life. Viruses are neither truly alive nor completely inanimate, as they cannot replicate on their own and have no metabolism or self-contained cellular structure. They can, however, hijack a host […] Written by Empirics Asia April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Education Key Takeaways: The Industrial model of education that fueled the modern era and its dizzying reach did its job incredibly well. In his writing, Flynn illustrates study after study, spanning nations and decades, in which modern educational gift of abstraction — a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Raven’s Matrices — has been […] Written by Anthony Fieldman March 2, 2022October 19, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Is Transforming Its Economy Through Learning I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […] Written by Enrique Dans February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why You’re Not Seeing Success With Influencer Marketing With the new year around the corner, now is a good time to re-evaluate your past marketing strategies and gear up for the year ahead. For some businesses, influencer marketing has simply not seemed to live up to its lofty promises of genuine engagement, credibility, and transparency. Some have claimed that it has been failing […] Written by Michael Tan January 14, 2021January 15, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A New Philosophy of Business I’m about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and I’ll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what “community” means for business. “Where should community fit in my organization?” and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked