International icebreaker
I am not even twelve hours into the Italy trip and it is clear that the iPhone may be the surprise social lubricant of the journey. People are unabashed about asking about it, wanting to hold it, play with it. And I am of course obliging.
The great thing is that being wowed by the iPhone has nothing to do with language. It is visual and tactile and immediate. An Italian at O’Hare and an Indian in Milan (where I am now) were flicking through my kids’ photos in no time flat. A great conversation-starter.
For what it’s worth, the phone works great over here and EDGE isn’t too bad either.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
I'm co-founder of CityFi, a strategic urban consultancy.This is all my other stuff.
Here's a little bit about me and how to get in touch.
Views From The Tank
Button Coral
(Cynarina lacrymalis)
Speaking
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Future Fest
Democratising City Data
Tobacco Dock, London, UK
July 6, 2018 -
American Planning Association Colorado State Conference
Cities As Platforms: Towards a State-Wide Living Laboratory
Keystone, CO
October 4, 2018
Marginalia
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I agree with every word in this article. Love the Taco Joe!
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When the language pot melts.
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This is an exceptional story.
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💯
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Waiting for the #notallflopstarters hash.
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We must challenge the current narrative dominated by Silicon Valley’s leaky surveillance capitalism and dystopian models such as China’s social credit system. A New Deal on data, based on a rights-based, people-centric framework, which does not exploit personal data to pay for critical infrastructure, is long overdue.
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This headline is my life story in an alternate timeline.
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For mindless computating.
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Observability vs. surveillance.
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This is the problem: blockchain-based systems are thermodynamically unsustainable.