As Wikipedia reaches its 15th birthday, our perception of the free online encyclopaedia feels quite different to when it was launched. The controversy and excitement that surrounded the service in the early days has passed. This isn’t surprising. An encyclopaedia is, after all, supposed to be merely
Author: The Conversation
Netflix has sent the world into a frenzy of anxiety by announcing through its blog that it will be trying to restrict users to only viewing content licensed to the country where they are physically located. This effectively means stopping customers from using a variety
Western governments, notably the UK and the US, are pushing the software industry to open “backdoors” into our encrypted communications. The argument touted by government agencies for nearly 20 years is that terrorists use strong encryption to hide their communications, therefore we should ban strong
Economists love Uber’s surge pricing. But it is doomed, because customers hate it. Why? Surge pricing occurs when the supply and demand for Uber vehicles becomes unbalanced, for example, due to inclement weather, a public holiday such as New Year’s Eve
Every time a toddler accidentally shoots a friend or family member, a teen kills himself via gunshot or a shooter…
Ever since computers were first introduced into the retail banking system in the late 1950s, there has been the vision of a future world where cash is obsolete. The near death of personal cheques, increase in debit and credit card use, and innovations such as PayPal
Who could possibly be against free Internet access? This is the question that Mark Zuckerberg asks in a piece for the Times of India in which he claims Facebook’s Free Basics service “protects net neutrality”. Free Basics is the rebranded Internet.org, a Facebook operation where
There are as yet unconfirmed reports that Twitter plans to extend its 140-character limit to 10 000. But why would Twitter consider radically changing its most unique characteristic? Today’s media culture is one of extreme speed and ephemerality – facts and factoids, comment, claims
“In just over 30 years, humans will be able to upload their entire minds to computers and become digitally immortal,” said computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil at the Global Futures 2045 International Congress in 2013. Without even considering the ethical
Until a few years ago, solar panels were a rare sight in South Africa, largely limited to the roofs of a few affluent households. This is changing rapidly, driven by three factors: the worldwide drive towards renewable energy, a highly strained local electricity supply, and a steady drop in solar panel prices