Top Picks of the Week - 16th Feb

 Here are our top picks of the week from the digital sphere. Enjoy!

1. These four trends are shaping the future of the world

WIRED UK sat down with HP’s chief technology officer, Shane Wall, to hear about the huge global trends that he thinks are going to shape the way we live, work and govern in the next 20-30 years. The first observation? Cities are only going to become bigger.
“For hundreds of years we’ve been concentrating more and more in cities,” Wall says. In 1991 there were 10 cities with a population of 10 million people or more. By 2050 there will be 60, the vast majority of them in Asia. And cramming ourselves into ever more densely populated urban spaces will bring a whole new set of challenges, Wall says.

Full story here.

2. IR35: you are now responsible

The law is changing. Tax will now be your responsibility – not the contractor’s. Do you know the parameters? Do you know who is inside, or outside, IR35? If you answered no - this may prove costly. You could be heavily fined, or you could make a wrong call and discourage potential contract workers. For some businesses, who rely on such talent pools, this could be catastrophic.
But what is IR35?

Find out more about the changes to IR35 and the ramifications for your business in our blog post here.

3. Bodyhackers: bold, inspiring and terrifying

• Stelarc, a 72-year-old Australian, has an ear on his arm. Soon he hopes to attach a small microphone to it so people can, via the internet, listen to whatever it hears.
• Jesika Foxx has permanently purple eyeballs, and an elf-like ear. Her husband, Russ, has a pair of horns under his skin.
• Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow - yes, that's his legal name - has the chip from his Sydney travel card implanted into his hand.

Click here for the full story.

4. What happened in the ERP market in 2017?

• Which vendor was most active?
• Who communicated the best?
• What were the ERP buzzwords of 2017?

Find out more with this review from Questions Consulting here.

5. Step inside the MIT lab designing new human-computer interfaces

Suranga Nanayakkara wants to humanise devices for the blind and deaf. And he hopes his breakthroughs will have a profound impact on how we all interact with technology. "A collection of smart devices may not make you smarter. There seems to be a gap between what technology has to offer and what we are naturally able to do"

Find out more here.