The Near Futurist

Periodic look at the impact of future technologies on our lives - what can we do now to prepare for the next few years? Senior journalist Guy Clapperton presents a series of interviews with consultants, technologists and future thinkers in general that takes the shorter-term view rather than forecasting decades ahead. Want this voice at your event? Contact Guy to discuss!

Getting the Vibe part 2 07/09/2026

Getting the Vibe part 2 Near futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton concludes his chat with Name.com's product engineering lead Katie Wokasch (and finishes off this series of the Near Futurist!) continuing the discussion on vibe coding; when do you need an engineer and indeed why do you need an engineer at all if the code is written for you? And if an app can be made so easily to what extent is it part of your business? /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41436555

Getting the Vibe part 1 07/02/2026

Getting the Vibe part 1 Good news - if you need an app or website for your business you no longer need to understand coding as you used to. There's this thing called Vibe Coding which enables you to ask AI to code it for you but there are gotchas. In this episode Guy Clapperton talks to Katie Wokasch, product engineering lead at Name.com, where this leaves us. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41436535

Coding on a plate part 2 06/26/2026

Coding on a plate part 2 In this second part of the interview between Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton and Plate-up co-founder and marketing director Jade de Thorpe, we continue to consider vibe coding and AI but also look at customer trust - and what sort of advice de Thorp would give others thinking of starting a business using this sort of technology. Should you wait until your offering is perfect? /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41491930

Coding on a plate part 1 06/19/2026

Coding on a plate part 1 In this series of the Near Futurist we've looked at some pretty grand stuff but technology is also good for the smaller things in life. This time we talk to Jade de Thorpe, marketing director of Plate-Up, about how something as simple as meal planning can be kickstarted with AI and Vibe Coding (more on vibe coding in a couple of weeks!) /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41491890

Synthetically Yours part 2 06/12/2026

Synthetically Yours part 2 Tropical rainforest damage, supply chain delays - so muck damage happens to the environment and we basically stand by and watch it. A company called Another Earth wants to do something more active and is developing synthetic data on our planet to support AI forecasting - co-founder and CEO Maya Pindeus explains to Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton why this is important. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41395190

Synthetically Yours part 1 06/05/2026

Synthetically Yours part 1 Tropical rainforest damage, supply chain delays - so muck damage happens to the environment and we basically stand by and watch it. A company called Another Earth wants to do something more active and is developing synthetic data on our planet to support AI forecasting - co-founder and CEO Maya Pindeus explains to Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton why this is important. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41395165

Light at the End Part 2 05/29/2026

Light at the End Part 2 Continuing the discussion with IOWN Global Forum with its technology director Dr. Masahisa Kawashima on why photonic networks are going to be important in the next few years. In this episode he explores more about the elimination of the need for personal computing and smartphones, how this will be good for the environment and of course the skill sets that will be required to put this into effect. Guy Clapperton is the interviewee as always. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41264230

Light at the End Part 1 05/22/2026

Light at the End Part 1 If you're as old as Near Futurist Guy Clapperton you'll remember dial-up networks while everything in the office was connected by cable; now we have wireless networks almost ubiquitously, having seen copper, ISDN and now fibre underpinnings. But wait for it - there's a new standard in the offing. In this episode we offer the first part of a chat with Dr. Masahisa Kawashima, technology durector of IOWN Global Forum - a cross-industry group of 170 organisations working on photonic networking. Listen to find out why this is going to be important. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41263905

Safe as Houses part 2 05/15/2026

Safe as Houses part 2 The concluding part of Guy Clapperton's interview with Emilee Tellez, field CTO of Veeam. How organised are hackers these days, how "professional" have they become - and how can someone follow Emilee herself in starting off in sales and ending up on the board as a technologist? /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41214920

Safe as Houses part 1 05/08/2026

Safe as Houses part 1 The Near Futurist remains on a security theme as Guy Clapperton explores best practice with EmileeTellez, field CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Veeam in the first part of this interview. Why do board members so often think their tech is safe while the actual IT staff are panicking - and why, even now, are so few of the tech staff women? /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/41206810

Safe, Sound and Certified part 2 05/01/2026

Safe, Sound and Certified part 2 The second part of Guy Clapperton's interview with Glen Williams, CEO of security specialist Cyberfort. This time we explore certifications and what you need to be aware of when engaging a security specialist; also why a certificate is a snapshot rather than a guarantee. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/40709905

Safe, Sound and Certified part 1 04/24/2026

Safe, Sound and Certified part 1 Tech security has gone way beyond basic antivirus protection - in this next interview spanning two weeks, Guy Clapperton talks to Glen Williams, CEO of Cyberfort, about how the threat is evolving and what really hasn't changed. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/40709830

A Question Of Image - part 2 04/17/2026

A Question Of Image - part 2 Guy Clapperton concludes his conversation with Lawrence Rosenberg of Rosenberg.media about the future of public relations and communications - where AI is going to fit and more importantly why the human factor is going to be more important than ever. Also covered: ageism and false positives. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/40665265

A Question of Image - part 1 04/10/2026

A Question of Image - part 1 The fifth series of the Near Futurist kicks off with an interview with Lawrence Rosenberg. Fresh from his run on this years's "The Apprentice" he is setting up his own PR company, Rosenberg.media, and he has ideas on where the industry should be going. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/40641960

What's wrong with video conferencing - Studiobox part 2 10/13/2025

What's wrong with video conferencing - Studiobox part 2 Continuing Near Futurist Guy Clapperton's discussion with Manoj Chawla, inventor of the Studiobox - in part 2 we look at the practicality and ease of use of the device which aims to repair eye contact and improve communications and human contact over video channels. To watch us discuss this on video have a look here: Above is a pic of the Studiobox itself: /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/38511375

What's wrong with video calls - Studiobox part 1 06/10/2025

What's wrong with video calls - Studiobox part 1 We're so used to video calls now that we hardly notice how naff they are. No eye contact, people looking around the room - whatever happened to human contact? A phone call is often better. Technology industry veteran Manoj Chawla has been looking into what's gone wrong and has a potential solution in his device called the Studiobox. Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton has been playing with it. so they have a chat. And of course what would be the point if they didn't put it on video? You can watch rather than listen to this episode here: https://youtu.be/v-yABH82zAE /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/38456870

Driving (not just) in my car part 2 04/04/2025

Driving (not just) in my car part 2 Continuing the conversation between Near Futurist Guy Clapperton and TomTom's global business manager for traffic, Douglas Gilmour. We finish the conversation by discussing increasingly smart and collaborative map projects and how they're going to affect our daily lives. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/35994205

Driving (not just) in my car 03/31/2025

Driving (not just) in my car We all take satellite navigation for granted but maybe we shouldn't - it's finding its way into smart cities, fleet management, delivery and huge amounts of other areas. In this interview Near Futurist Guy Clapperton speaks to Douglas Gilmour, global develpment manager for traffic at TomTom to about how increasingly smart maps are making a huge difference to us. https://tomtom.com /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/35935055

A Little AI Learning - 2 02/14/2025

A Little AI Learning - 2 In part two of this interview, Ten10 co-founder Ash Gawthorp continues his conversation with Guy Clapperton about the impact of sudden innovation in artificial intelligence on people and learning. They cover company culture and the ability to fail, learning patterns, how to avoid burnout - and the impact of sudden technological change on smaller organisations. Find out more about Ten10 at /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/35175455

A little AI learning - 1 02/07/2025

A little AI learning - 1 Artificial Intelligence has been hitting the news even more than usual as Chinese company Deep Seek has turned the market upside down, hitting numerous businesses dependent on the complexity of building AI where it hurts - in the share price. But what about the people using and developing skills in AI? In this episode, Near Futurist podcaster and speaker Guy Clapperton speaks to Ash Gawthorp, chief academy officer and co-founder of consultancy and education company , about what sort of learning culture needs to be in place for businesses to be ready for this and future sudden sea-changes. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/35164255

From 5G to 6G part 2 01/31/2025

From 5G to 6G part 2 In this second part of the interview with Dimitra Simeonidou of Joiner, the academic project to explore what's coming next in 6G and beyond, Guy Clapperton asks about when to upgrade our devices, what the role of academia is in all this - and gets advised not to try to trademark the term "7G". Which is a shame. More on the work of Prof. Simeonidou . /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/35095485

From 5G to 6G - where networking goes next 01/24/2025

From 5G to 6G - where networking goes next You thought the conspiracy theories over 5G were bad but had stopped - well, we can only hope it won't all happen again because, wait for it, plans for 6G are afoot. Surely, asks Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton. we don't need it, isn't 5G fast enough? That's until our guest, Prof. Dimitra Simeonidou, head of the UK 6G Testbed, called Joiner (website ), reminds him that 5G signals tend to fail immediately you get on a two hour train journey or something. She also explores how the metaverse might actually happen but with a more "real" experience than you'd get from modern networks as well as the role of satellite technology. Tune in here for part 1 of this absorbing interview - part 2 will be here next week. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/34943460

A Smarter Way To Work part 2 01/17/2025

A Smarter Way To Work part 2 In the second part of this interview with Smartrectuiters CEO Rebecca Carr, near futurist Guy Clapperton explores the advantages of using artificial intelligence for recruitment. AI isn't the whole answer - but it's going to offer a lot of shortcuts! /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/34852165

A Smarter Way to Work 01/10/2025

A Smarter Way to Work Should we be worried about AI in terms of job seeking? Rebecca Carr is a specialist who sees pros and cons. She speaks to Near Futurist Guy Clapperton in. part 1 of this interview. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/34785740

Mind over technological matter 02/02/2024

Mind over technological matter We keep hearing that we're too stressed because we're always on and we spend too much time in front of screens. No argument there but technology can also help. Dr. Emilia Molimpakis of Thymia explains to Guy Clapperton that monitoring of employees in an anonymised, non-intrusive manner can expose all sorts of behaviours that indicate someone is heading for a crash. But to what extent should employers be monitoring people in this way in the first place - and what should they do with the information? Listen to this episode to find out! /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/29729623

Powering the People 01/05/2024

Powering the People So many myths about selling electricity between neighbours and yet it never seems to happen - meanwhile the cost of living is set to continue skyrocketing this year. Near Futurist podcaster Guy Clapperton speaks to Jo-Jo Hubbard, CEO of Electron, about how the infrastructure and business models are coming around to enable people to trade electricity with each other at last. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/29186743

AI and women - still an issue? 12/01/2023

AI and women - still an issue? /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/28841723

Sound and Fury 11/03/2023

Sound and Fury Noise cancelling headphones work by adding noise. What's more, if you measure the annoyance of someone when a contact centre agent asks them to repeat their contact information more than once, it gets disproportionately high. This matters when it can all be a matter of fixing the audio engagement. In this edition of the Near Futurist, IRIS Technology CEO Jacobi Anstruther explains the issues to Guy Clapperton - and looks into why the music industry still hasn't quite taken it in. Find out more about IRIS at /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/28463921

Shopping Around 10/06/2023

Shopping Around Shopping is changing - we're abandoning cash almost without realising it and you can walk out of an Amazon Go store feeling as if you haven't paid at all. In this edition of the Near Futurist Guy Clapperton speaks to Charlie Hope, retail principal at IT services company BJSS, about what his retail clients are asking - and therefore what we can espect next! Also Guy looks at the Logi Dock to tidy his desktop environment. Find out more about BJSS at and the Logi Dock . And if you wanted to find out more about Guy's media training service you can find the website . /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/28131692

Changing the world a message at a time 09/01/2023

Changing the world a message at a time What's that? There's another social network out there? There certainly is and we don't mean Threads. Guy talks to Sue Fennessy, founder and chief executive of WeAre8, which aims to restore value to the participant (or "citizen" as it calls them), enable them to donate to charities and stop using hateful messages. Also Guy's thoughts on the Amazon Kindle Scribe - the e-reader that also works as a note taking gadget. /episode/index/show/nearfuturist/id/27467067

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