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
Author: The Conversation
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introduced into the retail banking system in the late 1950s, there has been the vision of a future world where cash is obsolete.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
Hollywood has broken two very different records this holiday season. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the first movie to reach US$1bn in gross sales in just 12 days. This beats the previous record set by Jurassic World, which had the added benefit
On 21 December, SpaceX made history by successfully launching a rocket and returning it to a safe landing on Earth. It’s also the day that SpaceX founder Elon Musk was nominated for a Luddite Award. The nomination came as part of a campaign by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
“The end of television” is a headline that’s been liberally thrown around for the past 15 years. Indeed, the past year saw audiences becoming more and more amenable to adopting new ways to watch TV shows, with live audiences for broadcast and cable programmes declining sharply