After a week in San Francisco without any of the buildings shaking and a geo fault line appearing outside my hotel, I can say with confidence that the on-line gaming market is going to be gigantic in the US.

Zynga has a great lead in free to play games for social sites, but the real money will come when the on land Casino’s start opening up to free to play casino based games. They have to do this because legalised on-line gaming is probably 2 years away.

But by opening and registering players now and allowing them to play build the traffic and potentially loyal player base. These players will all be verified up front for social responsibility reasons, something that the other free to play games certainly ‘do not do’ (yet).

So the free to play model is how the US market will develop and prove its scale, these players can be marketed to and eventually full paid gaming will take place, but the company who wins in the free to play space, may very well win the largest market share once the market opens.

Google + has a great future, but as what I am not quite sure yet, no one, other than the Google team seem to be using it, so what is it really for?

It feels smarter than Facebook, but inevitably FB has now copied some of the G+ features. 

Some smart cookies are working at both companies, and my spies tell me they are hiring both identity and payments experts.  G + has stated their aim is to create a global identity service, matching credentials to users -  the essential capability to create global ecommerce activity.  But FB will never IMHO be used as a real user credential; it seems to go against their whole ethos. 

Clearly it comes as no surprise that I am a super fan of global identity, for so many reasons that it could bore you to death.  I am also a massive fan of Google, but actually I am not sure these two things sit together, although I hope so.

John

Just on my way back from my monthly trip to see some of most important partners in Europe.  I travel light, but this time I had the pleasure of one of my colleagues who wanted to measure the potential for our capability in Germany.

Now he is a few years younger than me maybe 8, and six foot tall.  Clearly those who know me know this is a height I only see when changing light bulbs. 

Unfortunately he is blessed with the same balding features, and chooses to buy his spectacles from the same manufacturer as I do.

For whatever reason we had our passports together with travel documents and on our return we presented, accidentally the wrong documents.  This gets you thinking, how many documents are used at border control that are not owned by the individual?  The chip on the passport does have data pertinent to the holder, and the data is triangulated with PEP’s and Sanctions, but none of this stuff actually proves you are you!

The teams at border control are actually highly trained in this form of identification, but a few choice questions would surely help to identify even more accurately.

Actually my colleague and I did present the wrong documents, but we were travelling together and we presented the documents together, so no need to write to the home office just yet! I am sure the borders control staff realised we were just mixed up.  But it does show that even legitimate physical ID is not that reliable, especially when you have attractive bald mean in front of you!

John

There is something compelling about talent shows, the format of the voice, BBC1 Saturday nights, is especially compelling as the format is a current celeb listens without seeing the act and has to decide if they want the artist as part of their team to take to the sing offs.

So can you really identify anyone from just their voice, are voices so distinctive that an individual or computer can identify talent, or even if it is who they say they are?

If this is possible, to identify and individual, accurately at high confidence just by voice, or perhaps the person speaking some otherwise confidential data about them, this improves on second factor authentication ten fold.

I was skeptical, but my technology team has been testing this capability within our labs function and believes that it can be the most secure form of second factor authentication as part of a secure Identity Management program where credentials are held in the cloud.

As we deploy our global ID platforms and add multiple sign on capability into government services and ecommerce my mind wanders to if we could also identify the voices that could also be the recording artist of the future. Maybe not, perhaps this final element we leave to Will Iam , Jesse j, Tom Jones and XXXXXX from the Script.

Lord Sugar has started again, his hunt for an apprentice to run his empire.  The candidates have what seems like an age to impress him, after which one of them gets an investment and the rest are rather mercilessly fired.  I quite liked it when they got a job, but the law suits have probably stopped him actually taking these people on in his own business.

What happens when you really want to take on a so-called apprentice?  It just isn’t possible to get candidates to interview over 10 weeks working for free.  Reliance is often given to a candidate’s fake LinkedIn page, where apparently they really are qualified.

And what happens when a private equity house invests in a business, where ‘people’ are also their main asset?

Sometimes companies resort to old-fashioned references, the sort that asks questions that former employers are not legally allowed to answer.

So what to do, a simple back ground check can look at someone’s identity, their work history and sometimes even dig into their true history and capability to do the job you hope they can.

If the job is important and most are, a background check on the next apprentice you take on would possibly weed out the kind of candidates we can all laugh at on the BBC apprentice,  over the next few months.

John 

Now I wouldn’t leave my doors unlocked when I go out, although sometimes my teenage son does.  I also wouldn’t give a stranger down the pub my credit card details and ask them to look after my wallet.

So why do so many people effectively do this on social media sites?  Details about who they are, their family, partners and often even their homes.  But add to this the photos when they are on holiday and the would be criminal has the metaphoric keys to their house.

Most sites have privacy settings and simply by enacting these stops ex-lovers stalking you, would be criminals watching you and ID thieves being you.  If you're single, don’t worry you can still be found, you just don’t have the crazies hounding you, but there again if this is your thing, carry on.

John 

Now this might come as a surprise but Screaming Lord Sutch of the Monster Looney Party, isn’t a real Lord of the Realm! But it was his real name, as he changed it by deed poll.
 
But if he had registered on Linkedin and registered his qualifications as ‘political strategist’ and ‘modern reformist’ he would most likely have got head hunted to Chair an international lobby group on a large six figure pay check.

We all know many people pad out their history on Linkedin, (this is really easy to check by looking at ten contacts you know well, do you remember them doing everything they say, or even doing any of what they say?) perhaps half fabricate, maybe a bit, and most change some small detail they want to forget.

But an increasing number are complete fabrication, their names, history, occupation, roles, almost everything about them. This might be because so many recruitment consultants trawl the pages of Linkedin looking for candidates, which IMHO is absolutely fine.  Therefore Linkedin has started to become the largest ‘shop window’ the recruitment industry has for ever been waiting for.  But actually with so much data unverified and fictitious perhaps it is also their biggest waste of time.

This Walter Mitty effect can hardly be blamed on Linkedin, but does get in the way of their potential to be the global social networking site for business and commerce.  That said, it is entertaining to watch contacts who are looking for new jobs constantly changing their Linkedin titles, like throwing bate into the fishing pond, to see if anyone is looking for the ‘Group Universal Head of Carbon Communication technologies’, or ‘stationary cupboard and Pencil monitor’ to you and me!

Oh and by the way, if reading this it strikes a nerve, relax; the job title above is purely fictional, much like your profile!

John 

Customers love to shop on-line with Ocado, yet it’s high street nemesis Tesco that has over 50% of the UK on-line grocery market.  So what is important on-line, and why do the other Supermarket giants find it so hard?

Ease of use, getting what you order, freshness, flexibility in delivery and trust in the overall experience.  This bit all bodes well for Ocado, but the step costs of a distribution business really means they have to understand their customers , so that they return week in, week out.  I call this their companies Identity Capital, it’s what makes Tesco good at what they do, even though their overall product might, arguably IMHO, might not be quite as good as Ocado.

But the other Supermarkets also have infrastructure in place, with distribution networks, quality products and value propositions.  I believe an organisation, especially one who’s business also trades on-line can measure their future value by the Identity Capital they have or hold and utilise with their customers.  Therefore future valuations can be derived if this data could be understood  and communicated to their investors.

Right now that might not really be in their short term interest, as perhaps they might be slightly behind the curve, but as for Tesco and Ocado, they might end up winning the prize if the others don’t invest in the Identity Capital of their customers.  

John

I sat on my delayed train back from London to Leeds; delayed because the price of copper is so high it is worth thieves, risking their lives to steal cables from the track.  As I sat there reading that China’s growth is slowing to that of a sprint, the global commodity markets had reacted with their usual hysteria and short and medium term prices had started to drop through the floor.

Thing is, was this going to stop the toe-rags nicking the copper from the lines, but more importantly who is paying for it?  It seems inconceivable that the local fence or Pawn Broker is taking in 20 metres of freshly harvested cable!

Therefore it must be the scrap merchants, who use a self certification process to identify the seller. It makes you wonder how that conversation would go...

Toe-Rag: "err Governor, (I apologise, I have given this caricature a southern accent) want to buy some freshly harvest cable, bout 20 metres?"

Merchant: "yes, where did ya get it, mate?"

Toe-Rag: "me Grandma 'ad it down the end of her Garden (almost true) under a bush (that was the lie).’’

Merchant: "do ya ave any proof of ID?’’

Toe-Rag: "Library Ticket?"

Merchant: "Lovely!"

(the above passage is fictional and by no way means anyone South of the River Thames actually behaves in this manor)

Let’s face it, if these criminals were made to properly ID themselves, with a compliant historical audit trail kept, these kind of crimes would dramatically reduce. 

I don’t actually want China’s growth to decline, it’s a race to the top, not the bottom, even if that did mean my train stopped getting delayed.  But the introduction of a proper ID and Verification process within the Scrap Metal and Salvage merchants would mean I get back to Leeds on time, reduce insurance related claims and allow our overstretched public resources to be better focused.

John

A number of savers caught a cold a few years ago when the Icelandic banks realised that it is helpful not to lose your depositors money, especially when you’re offering great rates to attract it in the first place.  It was a worrying and scary time for everyone from Grandma’s to Local Authorities, all of whom had deposited money at rates higher than the high street banks.

The older banks were quick to remind us that bricks and mortar penny returns on our life savings were better than these flash rates offered by internet savings accounts.  And they might have got away with it, apart from, oh yes the banking crisis that showed perhaps they were not quite as competent either.

But Internet savings accounts are both safe and often provide the highest returns.  I am pleased that a number of high profile, solid businesses are launching new products into this market over the next six months - they will be easy to open, instantly online, run by some of the biggest brands on the high street and offer some great savings rates, and of course powered by our software and verification process.

I’m in any way, well at least I would be if I could just remember which mattress I stuffed last Saturdays scratch card win under!  No matter, I am in the final draw for the Readers Digest £250k Spring Draw, I’ll just wait for that. 

John