Future Beat | The National

Hello there, Reasonable minds can agree that governments and businesses should try to spend money efficiently. That said, governments are not businesses, nor should they be treated as such. The different needs of both the public and private sector, have somehow become blurred. Nowhere is that more apparent than with the announcement that tech tycoon Elon Musk would be appointed by US president-elect Donald Trump to lead a government efficiency department . Mr Musk is no stranger to making appearances in Future Beat. His SpaceX, Tesla and crypto endeavours have paid off for him personally , and enriched many lives overall. That said, his track record on efficient spending isn't exactly perfect to say the least. He has had some expensive failures. While it's next to impossible to find an entrepreneur or technology visionary with a perfect record, it's important for the those misses to be closely examined, especially if they're tasked with making government more efficient. The Big Story In brief | If there's one thing we've learned about social media platforms, it's that the users who fuel their success can often be fickle. Back when entrepreneur and space tycoon Elon Musk bought X (formerly Twitter) back in 2022, many users sought to abandon the platform due to his various polarising views and business practices. Now, with Donald Trump defying predictions and winning the 2024 election, those angry with Mr Musk's overt support for Mr Trump are once again looking for other platforms. This time, they're looking to something called Bluesky . Why it matters | We've been down this road before to some extent, but that doesn't make it any less intriguing. Remember Mastodon? The alternative to X had a sharp spike in user growth back in 2022, yet because of its decentralised and open-sourced approach, coupled with a less-than-stellar user interface and sign up process, the full hopes of Mastodon were never truly realised. There was also the once much-heralded alternative to X, called Post . It revolved around the idea of micropayments that could potentially subsidise news organisations, giving them a vested interest in the platform. Yet again despite tremendous media coverage and an initial burst of users, it shut down in 2024. What this means is that there's definitely an appetite out there for something similar to X, but no developer has seemed to crack it. Sustained user interest over a long period of time will set aside a successful imitator from a once-hopeful social media contender. Quoted | “Users are fleeing X after Trump's victory, but the platform will be hard to replace. Its relevance may increase under a second Trump presidency, regardless of user objections.” – Matt Navarra , social media consultant Construction commenced | Work starts on Dubai’s first aerial taxi vertiport Security dilemma | Which countries are most prepared and least prepared for a cyber attack? AI influencers | Some companies are turning to artificially generated people to promote their products Bitcoin and Tesla surge | What other assets are benefitting most from the 'Trump bump'? Archaeologists have located the site of an important 7th-century battle in southern Iraq by using Cold War satellite imagery to “wind the clock back” to trace its whereabouts. Through the use of older and underappreciated archived photographs along with the use of technological advancements, are we about to experience more of these discoveries? This is a signal: Institutions throughout the world have treasure troves of documents, maps and photographs that, surprisingly, have yet to be digitised. To put in frankly, in some instances, these documents are collecting dust, but that doesn't make them unimportant by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps more importantly, the increasingly powerful tools used to take photos and map locations from space will inevitably be available to average users, meaning that we'll be seeing similarly astonishing discoveries connecting the past to the present. How coffee and cocoa are giving gold a run for its money Tetris Forever: The best, worst and weirdest variants of the once-unbeatable game Does Apple Vision Pro's immersive experience justify hefty price tag? Opinion: How to future-proof a city From food to fashion: How space technology is being used in everyday life