It is the annual December phenomenon we have seen every year since we were children—Christmas lights. Glittery and festive, coloured or white, these little lights put most people in a festive mood. But in recent news, the UK’s independent telephony regulator, Ofcom, has warned that your Christmas lights could affect the quality of your Wi-Fi connection.

We can’t be certain of the future, but we are fairly certain that there are four technology trends you will be hearing about in 2016. Each year, technology that seemed nascent, or far from mainstream, suddenly becomes BIG. This is what we think will be big next year:

This little known fact will help you win at Trivial Pursuit this Christmas: Fibre-optic technology, the backbone of the world’s internet networks, was not developed in Silicon Valley, but in a field in Suffolk at Adastral Park.

Shopping online has reached epic proportions, and today (Black Friday) is evidence of that. People aren’t running out to the High Street, they are just logging on and clicking. Which is great news for larger retailers with an online presence / ecommerce, and bad news for gorgeous local shops. But it is not all doom and gloom for small businesses: enter cool new French startup called Get, founded by Adrien Touati and Deezer co-founder Daniel Marhely. Get allows local shops to ‘get with the times’ in terms of technology and modernise their retail approach.  

Recently you may have been reminded how difficult it can be to get through to friends and loved ones when a major event is occurring.  Whether it be the World Cup or a terrorist attack, messages of sadness or cheer, mobile networks seem to just stop working.

Total confidence, no shame and an outrageous smile: most of us would agree, these are some key qualities of a good sales person.  However the truth is, we all have to sell things, and we are not all blessed with a fearless demeanour, pearly whites and an irreverence for rejection.  Luckily, whether you are trying to sell your mates on your preferred ski holiday or your employees on the new CRM system, you can use these 6 sales tricks to win over your audience.  Better yet, you can outsmart the clever salesperson who attempts to use them on you!

If you have a few books next to your bed, waiting to be read, add five more to the pile. Each of these books is written by a legendary technology CEO, and offers unique insights into everything from the motivations behind successful entrepreneurship to the secret to building a loyal team. The technology sector is one of the most lucrative, powerful and fast-paced in the world… and many would argue that the CEO's of the companies that dominate, are able to offer uniquely useful lessons and ideas. Whether you want to start your own company or build the one you work for, you may want to check out these bestselling books.

The principle seems simple: businesses avoid the burden of supplying mobile devices to staff by letting them bring their own. But as corporate research has recently shown, businesses are trending away from BYOD given the logistical and technical difficulties involved.

How to Win Friends and Influence People was an overnight hit, and went on to sell 15 million copies.  The book’s author, Dale Carnegie, says financial success is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He emphasises the crucial component of making people feel important and appreciated, and explains the fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." He says, "Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers" and "talk about your own mistakes before criticising the other person."

Remember the days of the sacred space of your airplane seat?  It might have been small, cramped and smell of jet fuel, but it was your little nugget of freedom, where you could tune out, turn off and enjoy relative anonymity. No phone was going to ring, text going to come through or urgent email demand attention.