It’s been another busy week, including a couple of days in Frankfurt presenting to colleagues and customers:

Presenting to the fantastic @endava team in Frankfurt, Germany. pic.twitter.com/bP2RLyzPop

— Bradley Howard (@bradbox) January 9, 2015

And here’s a list of articles I’ve read – well, the ones worth passing on:

www.longfinance.net/images/Chain_Of_A_Lifetime_December2014.pdf – A white paper on how Blockchain can be used in the insurance industry. Endava contributed towards the report.

salesforce api – Google Search – Oh if only every API was as well documented as Salesforce. They are a shining light to the IT industry.

The reversible USB Type-C connector is turning heads at CES | PCWorld – USB Type-C will be the defining technology of the year. We’ll use it to charge laptops, stop getting frustrated with the USB slot the wrong way round, and it worked either way round. Why didn’t they think of that earlier?

Finextra: BMW enlists MasterCard for contactless card to access car-sharing service – The fight for contactless moving to mobile devices, or more identity moving towards plastic cards moves on.

Finextra: Circle adds NFC support to bitcoin app – I like circle and I like Bitcoin…

6066ed20-6a76-4461-bb07-2f4c2cc9eeb4-original.jpeg (600×4935) – 15 digital trends for 2015. This JPG has been published by a few people but I can’t find the original article.

Digital Specialists, Innovation Cycle – Thanks to my colleague Steve for sending me this article which nice and eloquently describes the process of innovation.

Google Sues Visa And MasterCard Over High Interchange Fees | PYMNTS.com – My enemy’s enemy and all that…

Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp halted after security breach – FT.com – More bad publicity about Bitcoin

What is Backend as a Service? | BAASBOX – At first I laughed at BAAS or mBAAS as it’s known, but actually it’s not so silly (just a little pedantic).

Finextra: Tencent launches China’s first online-only bank – I’ve been a long time admirer of the large Asian technology companies, and Tencent continues to impress with this move

Remo Giuffré – Illustrating a life/ work/ money balance. So true!

Apple is top Xmas mobile device – warc.com

Apple is top wearable device brand – warc.com

Getting the first 500 Twitter followers is the hardest – Brendan on Twitter asked me for a link to this article from a while ago

Music fans switch to streaming – warc.com – Some new stats on the music market

Asda sees a tough year ahead – warc.com – Yes it does.

Korean retailers face online hurdle – warc.com

Finextra: Santander hides Secret Santa Jenson Button inside ATM – Really nice marketing idea from Santander here in the UK. If you like Formula 1 you’ll go weak at the knees.

Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom – China, Russia, or the US? | Comment is free | The Guardian – Great article . The clue is in the Oxford comma.

Photographer Babycakes Romero Captures ‘The Death Of Conversation’ Due To Smartphones – I’ve seen photos from this collection go viral this week. I’ve stopped taking my phone with me everywhere now and… I’ll cover this in more detail in a separate post

IMG Launches Model Scouting Account On Instagram : News : Fashion Times – Great innovative idea from my former employer, IMG (sadly, not the models division).