Technology
And you don’t look cool. People
aren’t staring because you look cool;
they are staring because wearing Google
Glass makes you look strange.
Since early 2015, I’ve started to wear
Google Glass less. I’m once again happy
to receive notifications on my phone
and I haven’t been taking as many
photographs with Google Glass. I wear
contact lenses, so wearing Glasses is a
bit silly, especially Google sunglasses,
which just don’t look cool on me.
And the hardware needs work. The
current Glass design is bulky; battery
life is OK, but not great (up to three
quarters of a day); and 4 of the five
pairs I used had to be replaced due to
small technical issues (Google service
is amazing). Photographs do looks
amazing, but video streaming and video
in general could be much improved. But
hey, it’s a prototype, so you make do.
Google Glass now feels a little dated.
It’s incredible to think that in a year
technology has moved on so much
and that such an exciting and ground-
breaking device can date so quickly.
My new Motorola 360 watch does the
majority of things Google Glass does;
Oculus Rift is much more immersive;
and Microsoft’s new HoloLens visor
combines both Glass and augmented
reality technology, making it the
ultimate wearable device and creating
a new computing platform at the same
time.
An amazing experience
Google Glass has been an amazing
experience; it’s challenged norms
and allowed Google and other tech
companies to learn what is possible.
Now the Google Glass Explorer
Programme is at an end, and a new
Google Glass V2 has been developed
(most likely for commercial clients, I
hear), Google and their competitors
can focus on developing a more socially
acceptable device that doesn’t freak
people out so much and gives you a
reason to stop staring at your screen
whilst you stroll along the road.
So thank you Google for the
opportunity to be part of what was an
incredible, sometimes scary, but never
boring, year. Google Glass is dead, long
live Google Glass.
Steve Reilly is the CEO of VistaBee Ltd.
VistaBee is the world’s first crowd-
sourced video platform for real estate
and news. Clients include Zoopla
Property Group, Newsquest, DC
Thomson and Google.
0800 88 24 072
magazine
16
The digital currency Bitcoin has a
growing number of supporters in
business and government. Last summer,
George Osborne set out measures
aimed at making the UK a ‘global
centre of financial innovation’, and a
Chinese government official recently
recognised Bitcoin’s potential. In the
business community, Microsoft now
accepts bitcoin as a payment method.
Corporate treasury departments are
unlikely to be so supportive of bitcoin –
for a number of reasons:
Price risk:
Bitcoins aren’t supported
by derivatives markets, so any corporation
that accepts bitcoin as a currency will
experience price volatility on a daily basis
without any means of protection against
extreme losses in the value of its holdings;
Liquidity risk:
A lack of supportive
market infrastructure means that trading
is likely to be in smaller quantities than
corporates require on a daily basis.
Exchanging large amounts of bitcoins
could involve large bid/ask spreads, leading
to a loss of value and/or the need for
transactions to be spread out over a period
of time, which would incur higher costs
and greater exposure to price fluctuations;
Counterparty risk:
As payment
systems using bitcoin are currently
unregulated and offer no guarantees, what
recourse would there be if a large payment
did ‘not go through’ and with whom
would that recourse be? Even if there were
recourse, treasurers require payments to be
made immediately and be assured of their
outcome.
Any one of these risks would be a
concern for treasury departments charged
with protecting their organisation’s cash
holdings. All three together should set off
alarm bells in even the most adventurous
treasurer.
Minimising exposure
That said, if an organisation does decide
to start accepting bitcoins, despite
protestations from its treasury, there are
steps that can be taken to ensure exposure
is kept to a minimum.
Minimise holdings:
Treasury should
exercise efficient bitcoin management and
Bob Stark, VP of strategy at Kyriba,
advises businesses to treat bitcoin with
extreme caution
Bitcoin: how to
reduce the risks
...continued
only hold as many as are required to meet
forecast bitcoin obligations. Holding any
more will expose treasury to unnecessary
price risk.
Back it up:
Online wallets should be
backed up and encrypted. Any passwords
should be carefully stored; once a
password is lost, it’s gone forever and no
IT department can bring it back. Offline
storage, such as a USB stick, should also
be backed up and treated as if it were a
physical wallet full of cash.
Avoid putting all eggs in one basket:
Without the backing of central banks and
with no protection against counterparty
risk, a company could be left with nothing
should anything go wrong with its bitcoin
wallet, payments or exchange provider.
When making large bitcoin transfers,
consider spreading the risk through the use
of multiple counterparties.
Stay abreast of regulations and speak
with auditors:
Bitcoin is a recent arrival
in the corporate world and the regulatory
landscape around it is still evolving. In
the US, bitcoins have been designated a
commodity, so any increase or decrease
in price that occurs while an organisation
holds bitcoins will generate capital gains
or losses. Other markets have their own
customs, so treasury should stay informed
and keep up-to-date with developments.
Establish strong audit and controls:
One of the inherent benefits (or
challenges) of bitcoin is the considerable
level of anonymity that it affords and
the lack of audit trails. To counter this,
treasurers should ensure that internal
processes and audit trails are even better
for bitcoin payments than for regular
payments.
Bitcoin is currently a volatile currency –
and one that treasurers should handle with
extreme caution. In time, however, early
adoption pains will be overcome and it will
inevitably evolve into a legitimate financial
tool. Until that time comes, treasurers are
advised to stay safe and remain cautious in
all their dealings with bitcoin.
When making
large bitcoin
transfers,
consider
spreading the
risk...
