Technology
What a partial internet shutdown would mean for PNG
Debate arose in Papua New Guinea last week over comments made by Communications Minister Sam Basil about the possible imposition of a month-long ban on Facebook…
Digital Asia links: ode to the Belt n’ Road, rumour quasher, more
WeChat has built a mini-program into its social messaging application dedicated to refuting “rumours”, including postings on topics such as the disappearance of Malaysia…
Asia: jobs policy vs the machines
Concerns about the negative impact of technology on the labour market are not new.
As early as 1817, at the beginning of the first industrial revolution, economist David Ricardo…
Attack of the Twitter bots
One evening recently, over a glass of wine at an art opening, a friend who works in the cultural sector told me an interesting piece of news about my Twitter account.
“Do you…
5G dreaming
Do you dream of the day you can download a full movie to your phone in under two seconds? Or of the day you can set up your fridge to order your groceries? What about the day a…
Drones level the battlefield for extremists
In early 2016, I contributed to an Armament Research Services (ARES) report on the use of commercially available drones by non-state actors in contemporary conflicts,…
Is Japan’s rare earth discovery fool’s gold?
Rare earth. The term sounds like something derived from the imagination of J. R. R. Tolkien, but these composites of seventeen rare minerals are a silent but central…
Facebook’s May day
Facebook has now spent almost two years careening from public relations disaster to public relations disaster. Fake news, election meddling, radicalisation, and the relatively…