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A winter storm that moved through Arkansas on Thursday dumped 10 inches of snow in the Northwest corner and covered much of the rest of state in sleet and freezing rain.

Sleet and snow continued to fall in parts of the state Thursday night and could add another inch of precipitation, said Justin Condry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.

"The precipitation will wrap up most likely with eastern locations clearing at about 4 or 5 a.m.," he said Thursday.

[LATEST: Roads icy across Central Arkansas on Friday, officials say arkansasonline.com/24traffic]

But low temperatures this morning could leave roads treacherous.

On Thursday, tractor trailer rigs jackknifed on icy Little Rock interstates while galloping power lines left thousands of people without electricity in Poinsett County.

Galloping occurs when high winds cause ice-laden transmission lines to bounce and come into contact with other lines, said Brandi Hinkle, a spokeswoman for Entergy Arkansas. Some repairs to damaged equipment were made Thursday.

"We hope to restore power by later this evening, but the wind could continue to cause galloping and power interruptions," she said Thursday.

The National Weather Service predicted wind gusts of 35 mph Thursday in eastern Arkansas.

There were 20,410 power failures in Arkansas by late Thursday afternoon, according to https://poweroutage.us, which tracks power outages nationwide. That number included 11,031 Entergy Arkansas customers.

Arkansas ranked fifth nationally in the number of power outages in states as the storm moved across the midsection of the country. Tennessee had the most outages as of late Thursday afternoon with 145,528.

Condry said the situation in Arkansas wasn't as bad as expected because cold air aloft created sleet instead of freezing rain for much of the state.

"It changed over to sleet a lot sooner than expected," he said. "Sleet doesn't actually stick to streets and power lines necessarily, so you kind of avoid that impact of power outages. That's why we haven't seen as many of them."

At one point Thursday, more than 60% of Cleveland County's electricity customers were without power, according to https://poweroutage.us.

Stephen McClellan, Cleveland County's director of emergency management, said ice on pine tree limbs was causing the limbs to break and fall onto power lines.

"The ice just clusters up on those pine needles," he said.

By 6 p.m., 2,072 of Cleveland County's 5,017 electricity customers were still without power. Most of those without electricity were customers of C&L Electric Cooperative.

"Tomorrow mutual aid crews from Arkansas electric cooperatives that were less impacted by the winter weather will be dispatched to assist C&L Electric of Star City with outages in the hardest hit areas," Rob Roedel, a spokesman for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, said in an email Thursday. "Crews from Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. have been assisting with outages and will also assist C&L Electric tomorrow."

The low temperature Thursday night was expected to be 24 degrees in Cleveland County, followed by a low of 19 degrees tonight.

McClellan said there weren't any designated shelters in the area.

"If need be we can open the fire departments and things like that, and the churches," he said. "If we had to, we'd come up with something."

By late Thursday afternoon, power had been restored to some Poinsett County customers, but 4,336 of the county's 14,514 electricity customers were still without power. Of that number, 3,859 were Entergy customers.

Other counties with significant power outages at 6 p.m. Thursday included Phillips with 2,276, Arkansas with 1,672 and Jefferson with 1,537.

Dave Parker, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said primary roads were "in relatively good shape" Thursday afternoon, although about 14 tractor-trailer rigs had "incidents" on icy Little Rock interstates, including some jackknifing.

"They're all serious, but I wouldn't call them major incidents that shut down the interstate," he said. "Most of them were caused by people driving a little too fast."

Parker said road crews were busy Thursday plowing sleet and snow and putting down salt.

"Overall, the main roads are passable, but we're still advising everybody to stay home," Parker said Thursday. "We've got to get through today. We've got to get through tonight."

"Tomorrow, it's going to be bitter cold. Tonight, everything we plowed and we moved is going to freeze. What is left over Friday night is going to freeze again. I won't feel comfortable until probably Saturday night."

The frigid precipitation led to the cancellation of more than 61 flights Thursday at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock.

The state's largest airport, however, remained open throughout the inclement weather, and whether a flight is canceled is a decision made by each airline, according to an email from Clinton National spokesman Shane Carter.

"Airlines decide when they fly," he said. "Check your flight status before coming to the airport."

Clinton National crews employing more than two dozen pieces of equipment began applying anti-icing material on the priority runway about 1:15 a.m. Thursday and continued clearing surfaces and adding chemicals as needed, according to the email. Areas around the airport fire station and the air carrier ramp also have been cleared.

Once the freezing precipitation ends, airport crews will continue to treat and sweep surfaces to reduce refreezing tonight, according to the email.

About half of the arrivals and departures at Northwest Arkansas National Airport were canceled Thursday, said Alex English, a spokeswoman for the airport in Highfill. That amounted to 21 departures and 17 arrivals.

"Our runway remains open and operable, so many of these cancellations are due to inclement weather at the airports we are flying to/from," she said.

The weather also led Rock Region Metro, the transit service for Pulaski County, to cancel most bus service Thursday.

Many schools, city offices, courts and businesses were closed because of the weather Thursday and were expected to remain closed today.

Condry said most of the state will be above freezing today after a cold start this morning.

Low temperatures this morning were projected to range from 11 degrees in the north to about 25 degrees in south Arkansas.

Although the temperature will struggle to get above freezing today, sunshine should help melt ice and snow, but it will refreeze as the mercury plummets again tonight.

Low temperatures Saturday morning will range from 4 degrees in north Arkansas to about 20 degrees at the Louisiana state line, according to the forecast.

High temperatures across Arkansas are projected to be in the upper 30s Saturday and the 40s Sunday. Both days will be sunny, according to the National Weather Service.

Gallery: ADG staff Snow Storm Photos

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Jackknifed trucks, galloping power lines add to Arkansas winter weather woes - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Media top headlines February 3

In media news today, Jeff Zucker resigns from his role at CNN after failing to disclose a consensual relationship, CNN insiders react to the presidents abrupt exit, and Al Franken says Whoopi Goldbergs name is proof she is not antisemitic.

Whoopi Goldberg is being held accountable for her Holocaust remarks after being suspended from her post at "The View," but CNNs Don Lemon argues she should be shown some mercy as an ally.

The "Don Lemon Tonight" anchor proposed that those on the left must continue an alliance with one another even if theres been internal wrongdoing.

"In this environment, we have to be allies to each other," he said. "Sometimes your allies say stupid things. Sometimes they say dumb things. But guess what? Theyre your allies. Theyre at least on your side and theyre trying to learn."

WHOOPI GOLDBERG SUSPENDED FROM THE VIEW FOLLOWING HOLOCAUST REMARKS

"We have to stop trying to cancel people and shouting down our allies," Lemon added.

Don Lemon attends the "Mary J Blige's My Life" New York premiere at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center on June 23, 2021. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Lemon used the 2015 election campaign trail as an example, when Black Lives Matter protesters were "shouting down" Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders who rallied in support of the BLM movement. The host promoted having ally-to-ally conversations, now between Goldberg and the Jewish community.

"Whoopi is an ally to the Jewish community," he said. "She is. She said something that she shouldnt have said. OK, fine. But dont put her in a corner and marginalize her. Use her to the best of your ability to get the conversation and your points across about whats wrong about that kind of thinking because shes not the only one who thinks it."

Lemon considered Goldberg a "huge platform" to stimulate this kind of conversation and defended her remarks by pointing out that her show is called "The View" and not "The Facts" for a reason.

Whoopi Goldberg co-hosts ABC's "The View" on May 28, 2019. (Walt Disney Television/Lou Rocco)

"The show is called The View," he said. "Her view was wrong. OK, so, lets work with that."

Since Goldberg does not have a history of antisemitism and delivered "sincere" apologies, Lemon argued, punishing Goldberg is "heavy-handed."

WHOOPI GOLDBERG CONFRONTS HOLOCAUST REMARKS WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: DON'T WANT TO FAKE APOLOGIZE

Meanwhile, Lemon was quick to box all Trump voters as Klansmen and Nazis on-air with former CNN colleague Chris Cuomo on Jan. 13, 2021. He then defended his own remarks the following day.

"If you voted for Trump, you voted for the person who the Klan supported. You voted for the person who Nazis support," he said. "You voted for the person who incited a crowd to go into the Capitol and potentially take the lives of lawmakers ... You voted on that side, and the people in Washington are continuing to vote on that side."

CNN'S DON LEMON DOUBLES DOWN ON LUMPING TRUMP ALL TRUMP VOTERS WITH KLANSMEN, NAZIS: I BELIEVE WHAT I SAID

Other media pundits continue to make excuses for Goldberg as well, rejecting her cancellation and, instead, calling for her to be educated on the matter.

LA Times editorial writer Karin Klein wrote in an article Wednesday that even though Goldberg "blew it big time," her ignorance indicated the scale of Americans who are also ill-informed on the topic.

"One good thing about a celebrity mishap is that it prods people into new awareness of the topic in question," she said. "Goldberg learned something; the best we can do at this point is not punish her but follow her example."

ABCs "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg declared the Holocaust was "not about race." Monday, Jan. 31, 2021. (Screenshot/The View/Twitter)

A Daily Beast op-ed penned by MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen on Tuesday also agreed that Goldbergs comments were "unfathomably stupid," but still do not equate to her cancellation.

"Firing Goldberg would provide her critics with a momentary whiff of moral superiority, but it would do nothing to help American Jews or enlighten those whose views of Jews, like Goldbergs, are shrouded in misinformation," he said. "The response to stupidity does not always need to be cancellation sometimes it can and should be education."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

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CNNs Don Lemon defends Whoopi Goldberg in Holocaust comment fallout: We have to be allies - Fox News

Behind Africans Thirst for Prophecy; Confusion about the Present and Anxiety about the Future

Late last year, the Ghana Police Service issued a statement in which it warned those it referred to as doomsday prophets to desist from prophesying or face prosecution and a term of imprisonment of up to five years. It reminded the Ghanaian public that it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumor or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumor or report is true. The statement stirred a heated debate, with not a few commentators wondering how a prophecyan event that has yet to occurcan be shown to be true, and whether a threat by law enforcement is the best strategy to deal with an issue that, technically speaking, lies beyond the purview of the law. Nonetheless, many shared the authorities concern about growing public faith in prophetic statements by major religious figures and in the figures themselves.

Ghana is not the only African country where prophecy has ruffled the social matter. In Nigeria, where Pentecostal pastors similarly enjoy tremendous social prestige, the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, understandably a time of anxiety for many families, tends to be dominated by pastoral proclamations on what to expect in the New Year. Such prophecies typically cover the gamut: from extreme weather events to untold airplane crashes, winners of forthcoming elections and major sporting tournaments, tragedies involving members of the political elite, and the fate of the economydomestic and global. With a few exceptions, they tend to be as broad and as ambiguous as possible. For instance, among the prophecies for 2022 released by 79-year-old Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian of God (RCCG), Nigeria, were gems of exactness, such as, more than 80 per cent of projects starting in 2022 will succeed; in spite of everything happening (sic), this year will be a year of some massive breakthroughs [in science and in finance]; infant mortality rate will drop by at least 50 per cent; and the issue of migration will take a new turn in the new year.

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For his part, Daniel Olukoya, Adeboyes counterpart at the Lagos-based Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries asked his congregation to pray against inflation and starvation and against massive political instability, which will put a lot of people in disarray (sic). According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation in the country rose by 17.2 percent in November 2021. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that there are more than 3.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria, mostly victims of the yearslong Boko Haram insurgency.

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The deliberate ambiguity of most prophecies is a matter of prudence, for a precise prophecy is an invitation to trouble, especially if such fails to come to pass. In 2020, the late Temitope Balogun (T.B.) Joshua of Synagogue, Church of all Nations (SCOAN) had a lot of explaining to do following his prophecy that God has spoken to me; Coronavirus will end by March 27, 2020. He later apologized that the Holy Spirit had misled him and that his message of an end to COVID-19 was meant only for Wuhan, China, where the outbreak was first reported. The Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown on Wuhan and continued to battle COVID-19 after 2020. The same Joshua had ended up with egg on his face following his prophecy that Hillary Clinton would defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Following Trumps unexpected victory, he reversed himself, saying that his prophecy in fact referred to the winner of the popular vote.

What explains the increasing popular fascination with prophecy across Africa, mishaps such as the foregoing notwithstanding?

In the first place, prophecies, tracking the Pentecostal explosion of the past three decades, speak to popular perplexity amid an acute and persistent hunger for meaning. For many people, prophecies regarding strange deaths, inflation, starvation, and political stability resonate precisely because these are matters of pressing and ongoing concern. In this sense, prophecies function as a kind of social text, useful for keeping track of where the shoe pinches the rump of civil society. A prophecy concerning migration makes sense in a country like Nigeria where emigration provides an out for young people who increasingly feel stuck.

Nor is belief in prophecies separable from trust in their purveyors, the ubiquitous Men of God who, as I argue in my forthcoming book on the subject, have stepped into the vacuum created by the degradation of higher education and the retreat of the intelligentsia from public life. As yesterdays Man of Letters has ceded his authority to todays Man of God, informed economic forecast and political analysis have given way to pastoral prognostication. To be a respected Man of God in many parts of Africa today is to exist almost beyond law or sanction. Erstwhile university academics who morphed into Men of God, Adeboye and Olukoya enjoy social respect approaching sanctification.

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An intelligentsia in retreat is just a part of the problem. Historically negligent of common welfare, the state remains largely absent from many peoples lives, visible only when it mobilizes violencea capacity that, as it happens, it can no longer claim absolute monopoly over. In varying degrees, the states traditional role has been assumed by sundry nonstate and religious entities, which explains why pastoral power and its announcements have become more relevant to the public than state power. One way in which the pastorate lays claim to legitimacy is through prophetic proclamations, and the scarier those proclamations, the greater the Man of Gods control of the publics imagination. Hence Ghanas doomsday prophecies.

Finally, growing uncertaintyabout politics, the economy, life itselfheightens the thirst for prophecy. When the only certainty that people have is that things will get worse, prophecy can offer assurance that their situation is not beyond redemption.

In seeking to regulate prophecy, the Ghana Police Service is not so much wrong as it is misguided. The problem is not that there are doomsday prophecies. The issue is that the distrust of the state and other secular authorities is so deep, people would rather take their chance with prophets. They have nothing to lose but their credulity.

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Behind Africans Thirst for Prophecy; Confusion About the Present and Anxiety About the Future - Council on Foreign Relations

The simple answer is no.

Easiest analogy;

You are the host of a party. You then invite 11 other people, for a party of 12 people. One member of your party (let's call them W) is not liked by 3 other members (we will call them 'the clique'). During the party, 2 members of 'the clique' talk about W to every other member of the party to the point where some of the other guests dissociate from W. Can blame W blame you for defamation?

I would say yes if any one of these conditions could be met:

(A) You would have to have known about the nature of the relationship between W and 'the clique' prior to inviting all of them to the same party.

(B) You would have to have knowledge of and ignored the actions of 'the clique' during the party.

(C) You would have to have knowledge of and ignored any request W made to limit 'the cliques' actions.

In this situation you are social media, W is a public figure, 'the clique' are bad actors, and the other guests are random users.

Condition A requires websites confirm identities with background checks (Think Chinese internet). This is possible, but expensive for small private sites (like JapanToday) and could be seen as invasive for those who could pull it off (like Alphabet/Google or Meta/Facebook).

Condition B requires that the websites not moderate or monitor what discussions happen between it users. Users are not free to share any kind of content between other users (hi moderators, watch this get edited) on any website. Facebook will take down content it does not like, JapanToday will lock comment sections and delete posts deemed inappropriate.

Condition C requires websites to receive complaints and not act on them. Facebook has historically had no direct phone number but there is a reporting system and again they will delete content. JapanToday has a reporting system in place and does delete comments.

While there is an argument to be made about the decision-making process and timing of editing, moderating, and presenting content, it is hard to argue that a third party can act in a way that exposes a media company to defamation.

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Do you think media companies should be held liable for defamatory third-party comments on their Facebook pages or discussion boards? - Japan Today

The promise of new technologies bombards us. As a manager, investor, entrepreneur, or innovator, which of these technologies should you monitor closely in 2022? Is it AI and its promise of penetrating more businesses and practices, or should you focus on Web 3.0 and its disruption of Web 2.0?

In this post, I present my thinking and how I came up with the shortest list in the world for technologies to watch in 2022.

Let's take a closer look at which technologies should interest us in 2022

While working on my list of technologies to watch, I stumbled across a research paper by Lei Mi from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shannxi, which I found inspirational.

In his paper, Mi introduces the term "Key Core Technologies" that are the "cornerstone to boosting economic and social progress." Mi explains that as technologies continuously evolve, all new technologies are combined and integrated from earlier ones. As technologies upgrade and deliver greater value, we see a dramatic increase in productivity that facilitates rapid social and economic advances that are enabled by a shortlist of "key core technologies."

Mi explains that Key Core Technologies is the "cornerstone of the technical system" and are based on "scientific discovery and technological invention." Most importantly, Key Core Technologies have these three attributes:

In many cases, the Key Core Technologies, with their powerful attributes, kick off new "Technology Waves." For example, we went through the"Connectivity" wavenot too many years ago. Web and Mobile technologies were the "Key Core Technologies" of the day, and companies like Apple and Google were the day's heroes.

With more web pages to browse and mobile devices to carry around, we discovered the value of data and leaped from the "connectivity" to the"data" wave. That's when big data captured our imagination, and companies like Facebook and Netflix served as excellent examples of how big data can benefit client experiences through personalization, for example.

With enough data under our possession, we arrived at the"wave of intelligence,"where we are today. AI and Machine Learning come to our aid to make sense of our data and turn data into insights and insights to actions.

What lies ahead is open to interpretation. Some argue the next big tech wave will not be digital at all. Instead, it will be the age of disruptive technologies such as Synthetic Biology and Nanotech. Others claim we have yet to scratch the surface of AI, that technology enablers such as Augmented and Virtual Reality will take us to the Metaverse. While at the same time, Blockchain and Decentralization will open up the way to Web 3.0.

This is what the full-stack engineer of the future may look like

The exciting thing about the different technology waves, and the Key Core Technologies enabling each wave, is the "vocabulary" of these technologies.

If you think, for example, of the initial wave described above, the wave of connectivity, it had its unique and new vocabulary: cloud computing, touch screens, app's, 3G, or GPS, to name a few terms of the day. The companies that were first to understand this vocabulary how to utilize it to product and venture building are the biggest in the world.

Companies that did not understand the "vocabulary" were pushed back or diminished altogether.

The lesson to learn is that understanding what thecurrent tech waveis, which are theKey Core Technologiesto monitor, and understanding thevocabularyof these waves and technologies is existential to business success. If, for example, there is good reason to believe NFT's will disrupt the gaming industry, and your company plays in this domain and does not understand the unique vocabulary of NFT's - expect troubles on the way. Even if it's just because your competitors can speak fluent "NFTish" and will grab the business opportunities they unlock. Sometimes it's as simple as Nokia CEO's message from hisfarewell speech: "We didn't do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost." So that "somehow" could very well be the illiteracy of the day's technology.

So which Key Core Technologies should we pay attention to in 2022? The list is surprisingly short, which speaks loads to these technologies' Revolutionary, Essentiality, and Leadership powers.

First on the list is AI. It may sound like Artificial Intelligence has been around for a long time, but actually, we are just starting to benefit from this technology's capabilities. The bigAlphaGo neural network breakthroughis just as old as my laptop, six years old. AI is revolutionary in that it is the first time we can train machines to learn independently. Admittedly, for the first few years of deploying AI, 90% of what we did was look for patterns in data. We could do beautiful things by looking for patterns in data, such as personalized experiences or utilizing assets in more beneficial ways.

But now, there are new advancements. For example, withGenerative Adversarial Networks(when two machines can compete with each other to become more accurate in their predictions) orTransformers(a deep learning model that adopts the mechanism of self-attention), we can leap forward to new functionalities.

Here's an example; you can find a trace of these technologies in your Gmail when you type a sentence, AI can complete it for you, or if we push these tech capabilities to the extreme, an autonomous robot in a warehouse can train itself on how to move about safely- whichis impressive because machines are starting to teach themselveshow to complete very complicated tasks.

Amazon Go is still a great example of how IoT and AI come together to provide a better client ... [+] experience

The second core key technology to consider isIoT- and the unique thing about IoT is that it enables us to connect the Physical and Cyber worlds. So what does it mean to join the cyber and physical worlds? Here's an example: Think of an Amazon website. Every item a visitor to the Amazon website "click" links to a unique page; every decision triggers algorithms to help personalize the experience. But when you think about the physical world in comparison, it is mostly not intelligent and not connected, so you and I can double-tap a bottle of wine at the shop all day long, and it will not provide me with any helpful information. Now think about the "amazon go" store, that's the shop where you can pick up a product from any shelf and walk out, as there is no queue to pay.

It's a great example where IoT digitizes the physical world, and products, environments, and spaces can become intelligent and automated. This combination of AI and IoT (also known as AioT) provides us with a new perspective on how people move and interact in physical spaces. In addition, it can seamlessly connect with existing cameras and generate insights using out-of-the-box AI-powered skills. For example, AioT can transform and disrupt commerce and enable fraud detection in the real world. Furthermore, it can help improve employee safety. Finally, we must understand the vocabulary of AioT as it will continue to evolve and impact businesses in the coming years.

Which technologies did not make my Key Core Technologies watch list, but I'll watch anyway? A few have the potential to evolve into KCT in the future and already have the potential to disrupt industries. If you are looking for near-term returns, the biggest challenge with these technologies is how long it will take these technologies to mature and scale. There is enough evidence that once they hit sufficient maturity and scalability level, they will disrupt many industries; however, it is unclear how long this maturity phase will take.

I'm a bit split of AR and VR fall under the definition of "Key Core Technology." For example, one could argue that AR and VR devices combine commoditized software tools and cutting-edge IoT and AI capabilities. In that sense, AR and VR are tail technology of AioT. Even if we go beyond the devices up the tech stack and climb towards platforms and applications layers that provide the complete package of an AR/VR solution, those layers use existing technologies.

However, we need to watch these technologies because of their disruptive potential. I'm not convinced either AR or VR will become "Leading" technologies as Lei Mi defines them. Still, they will create drastically different user experiences and new business models. They deserve to be on the "watch us" list of technologies on these two fronts alone.

So why should we be excited about AR and VR? If we use AI to understand the context of what is happening and use IoT to connect the physical and digital worlds, we can use AR and VR to mesh these worlds together.

We hear more and more about the Metaverse and how we will experience it using AR and VR. AR and VR, or XR, or another name used to describe these capabilities, is "spatial computing." All point in the same direction of new ways to interface with data & collaborate in additive (augmented reality) and immersive (virtual) ways.

As these technologies mature, we should expect some exciting things will happen:

VR did not make the list but is a strong contender

Here the plot thickens even further. First off, some would argue Blockchain is not a "technology" compared to the way AI is a technology. Regardless, Blockchain could becomeRevolutionary, even if what we see to date is more of an evolution of Blockchain and not a revolution.

It's been over a decade since the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto published his (hers?)white paperestablishing a model for Blockchain. Ten years have passed since Laszlo Hanyecz traded his Bitcoins to gettwo pizzasfrom a local pizza store, which may very well be the first-ever Bitcoin trade.

We must ask ourselves a difficult question. Over this decade, did Blockchain disrupt any industry? The short answer is it did not. It did disrupt many people's bank accounts as the volume of trading in crypto and nowNFT'sis constantly growing. To this end, it is hard to claim Blockchain is "Essential" in the same way IoT or AI have become, and it is not "Leading" either. But oh... the potential. Many talented people are backed by smart and not so smart money, focused on making Blockchain reality in contracts, finance, healthcare, and yes, possibly even rebuilding the world wide web to a new Web 3.0 configuration. So no, Blockchain is not a Key Core Technology yet, but if things go as planned (or wished), it will graduate to this level. So let's continue and monitor this "technology" closely.

True, many of us worldwide don't have a stable 5G connectivity, but the midnight oil is already burning in faraway labs where6G is under development. As expected, it will be tremendously faster than 5G; some numbers claim 100X faster. And the reason this matter is because, for the IoT, AI, Blockchain, and AR/VR world we are envisioning, a vehicle to transport data at faster speeds is a must. On the flip side, without the advancements of 5 and 6G, some experiences and business models we hear about will never mature. 5 and 6G are more of a critical enabler than a Key Core Technology. If these faster modes of communication will cover the world, or if an alternative will arise, both will help disrupt multiple markets and industries in collaboration with IoT, AI, AR/VR, and Blockchain.

Now, You might be wondering why there are only two key core technologies?

It just shows the Leading strengths of IoT and AI. these core technologies are so powerful that if we combine IoT and AI, we get digital twins; autonomous vehicles, AmazonGo style shops, and an endless number of other Intelligent and Automated applications.

But there is one other thing that is super interesting about these technologies: they definenew business opportunities.

When these technologies (including their long-tail of sub-technologies) combine,different opportunity areasemerge with unique & fundamentally better ways to solve business problems - ways that were not possible before the emergence of these technologies.

For example, when we combine the power of AI and IoT weachieveintelligent automation: we can shift responsibilities from humans to machines. So we can move from human-led operations to bionic operations. In Bionic environments, AI augments our capabilities; it's like having a little secret helper that whispers in your ear and helps you complete tasks in a better way.

If you used Waze to drive to work this morning, it's one example of how AI augments our ability to get more efficiently from one place to another. At its extreme, Intelligent Automation leads to fully autonomous operations, where humans are entirely out of the loop.

An excellent example of a company that pushedIntelligent Automationto the extreme isOcado, an online supermarket in the UK with one of the most advancedautomated robotic warehouses. This warehouse was not designed for people or to streamline the operation between people and machines. It was designed with a "robots first approach," - and this allowed to build an environment where robots can operate and collaborate autonomously in fulfilling online shopping at an extreme speed and efficiency.

Another business opportunity lives in the intersection of Blockchain & AI that enablesDecentralization and Trust.Once we "decentralize," we can bring trust, security, and traceability into many use cases. An example of Decentralization to bring "trust" to the food we eat and improve supply chains' impact on climate and sustainability isOpenSC, a .org I had the pleasure of supporting during its incubation.

OpenSC uses AI and Machine Learning, IoT sensors, and Blockchain to verify claims about sustainable food production, trace products across supply chains, and share this information with businesses and consumers.Nestle is a recent joiner to OpenSC"to provide consumers with the ability to trace their products right back to their origins." There are other aspects of Decentralization that can benefit businesses beyond the hyped Crypto and NFT opportunities that grab the headlines; companies like OpenSC will bring the benefits of Blockchain to more industries.

Another is the opportunity for Key Core Technologies (and soon to be KCT,) to converge and enableSpatial Creation & Collaboration.These are the more futuristic worlds of AR, VR, Metaverse, and Web 3.0. As I discussed inmy post on Metaverse opportunities, there is still some work before these technologies mature and scale. But we are already seeing initial Proof of Concepts and Minimal Viable Products that hint at their hidden potential. Here's an interesting example:

At the last CES in Las Vegas, Hyundai, which collaborates with Boston Dynamics, (that's the company that makesSpotthe dog-robot and all of the videos of theparkour robotsyou can see on youtube) announced a Metaverse collaboration.

This collaboration will enable users to enter a virtual world representing a different location on Earth or another planet. At the same time, a robot will be present at the physical site that the virtual world is simulating. By bringing the virtual and physical worlds together, the human operator in the virtual world will manipulate objects or machines at the remote physical side. The on-site robot will repeat every movement the human operator makesgenuinely fantastic stuff.

2 other business opportunities worth mentioning:

So we have the core technologies and the broad opportunity areas that they create. Still, to deliver value with these technologies, there is one more thing we need to do, and that is to align desirability, Feasibility, and Viability. Let's unpack what I mean:

We need to align the stars between theFeasibility & maturityof these technologies tothe desirability of use cases and the Viability of business models.

Going through such an exercise can help identify technological maturity, our client needs, and business models. Such an exercise also helps identify opportunities in the near or far term.

But more importantly, it helps us understand which technologies hold the most significant potential for us, so we can keep them on our "important technologies to watch" list.

As promised, a short list of technologies to watch, but hopefully one that will deliver value,

See more here:
The World's Shortest List Of Technologies To Watch In 2022 - Forbes