We live in a time of exponentially improving machines. First chess, then Space Invaders, go and most recently poker - our games now seem mere taunts in a struggle for supremacy between humanity and AI. Even in losing, however, we may learn something about what makes us special.

For many companies the Cloud has changed the way they use software. For a fortunate few, it has completely changed the way they do business.

I still can't quite get my head around it, but for some consumers, it seems that the future of technology lies in its past. Ancient feature phones, 8-bit video game consoles and even cassette players are all making a comeback. So is the retro-tech trend just sad Gen X'ers trying to relive the glories of their youth, or something more interesting?

There is a classic trade-off between rules and innovation, particularly if you work in a heavily regulated industry. So how do leaders balance the need for stability, compliance and certainty with a 21st century appetite for adaptability, agility and disruption? One approach is to learn to think a little less like a ruler, and more like a machine.

When photos of the Mi Mix smartphone hit the web, more than a few jaws also hit the floor. Black, sexy and ceramic with a bezel-less display, this sophisticated Philippe Starck designed phone was exactly the kind of device that a young Steve Jobs might have imagined and then built. Except this wasn’t Apple. It wasn’t even American. It was Xiaomi, a Chinese manufacturer once known for copying, rather than creating products. To understand the rise of Xiaomi and the growing number of emerging Chinese technology and appliance brands, you need to know something about the way that the Chinese think about innovation.