Another mildly encouraging example is Charoen Pokphand, the largest conglomerate in Thailand, whose interests range from chicken feed to telecoms.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Asian business

Through the app, which goes live this week, Sky customers can interact more fully with content than ever before, following and contributing to online chat via an in-built Twitter feed, plus gain easy access to a range of extra information related to the show they are watching.

ENGADGET: Sky+ launches 7-day Catch Up TV, 2TB HD DVRs and adds zeebox extras to its iPad app

In a press release from November, SHARK said the camera feed went out on a drone camera after a single shot from the shooting range.

CNN: PETA eyes drones to watch hunters, farmers

Gastronomic orthodoxy has been in flux ever since Homo sapiens began to exercise choices about how to feed his appetites, instead of simply tucking into the first quadruped that came within range.

ECONOMIST: Food in history

But it can also mix technologies from a wide range of areas and, if an idea catches fire, summon up vast resources to feed the flames.

ECONOMIST: Why large firms are often more inventive than small ones