It is that time of the year again. The Mobile World Congress (MWC), the biggest technology exhibition and conference worldwide, starts in a few days. Thousands of delegates, exhibitors, press, security and service personnel, are arriving in the Catalan capital city for the show. Here are a few tips to…

Recently, the GSMA released the latest eSIM specification, making it easier to provision devices with new credentials. Operators and device manufacturers now can get rid of the physical SIM card for good. — Thirty years ago, the arrival of the second generation of cellular networks, the European GSM, gave birth to the subscriber identity module (SIM) card. Initially, the size of a standard credit card, it had to be inserted in the first GSM phones from the side or the bottom of the…

Digital Twins offer a new level of insight and endless possibilities of interaction between the physical and digital worlds. — Last week, I moderated a webinar with industry leaders Unity, Cosmo Tech, and Microsoft about Digital Twins. Digital Twins enable organizations to interact with their physical assets in realistic, immersive environments. During the panel, Microsoft’s Sam George emphasized that “simulation is one of those critical killer apps with Digital Twins…

These devices, designed decades ago, don’t connect to the internet. The 80-year old E-6B flight computer and the 40-year old HP-12c calculator are still being sold in their original form and continue in use by millions of people worldwide. — What happens when companies push too far with product development that favors the new over the old? Nothing positive: they violate one of those universal laws of marketing by creating products that their customers don’t want.

Ericsson, Nokia, Sony, British Telecom, Oracle, and Cisco announce they won’t participate in MWC2021 this year. — Last month, the GSMA congratulated itself for MWC Shanghai’s success, the first physical event of its kind this year. While there were over 20,000 visitors at the show, almost 100% are living in China. Now, with only 13 weeks left until the official start of Mobile World Congress Barcelona, dark…

After Ericsson announced their cancellation of MWC this year, the GSMA gave their usual spot to a cloud services consultancy, signaling others that their preferred locations at the show could be up for sale. — Mobile World Congress Barcelona is the largest professional technology show in the world. Every year, in normal circumstances, over 100,000 people come to the show to see new technologies, attend keynotes from the top leaders in the ecosystems, and, especially, do business.

Fira Barcelona has organized a two-day broadcast event together with Mediapro, a leading TV and media company, also based in Barcelona. Fira and Mediapro are producing SmartCityLive. According to the organization, SmartCityLive “will have an innovative platform that will broadcast the conferences and presentations of the new event live and…

Working closely with municipalities, regional and national governments, and at European level,Catalan NGO Rezero promotes policies and good practices to reduce waste. — By Alexandra Neag (Cities of the Future) and Marta Beltrán (Rezero) In the current climate, where the pandemic has led to a new peak in packaging use, it’s easy to forget about additional global-scale challenges. …

On Wednesday, June 3, we’ll be holding an online discussion about the privacy and security implications of digital tools to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. — Please register here to receive the broadcast link. During the session, we’ll evaluate some of the risks associated with the technologies, especially those related to the security, privacy, and protection of citizens’ information. Panelists: Catherine Tucker, Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT Sloan, a leading expert in internet and data privacy