The Internet is a vast series of tubes, computers and devices, networked together sharing the same information. But where do all those pieces of hardware reside? Shodan founder John Matherly found out when he pinged all the
Browsing: World
Many countries are playing catch up by allowing plane passengers to keep their mobile phones switched on – albeit in flight mode only – during take off and landing. But many have probably already done this. A study in the US found almost
President George W Bush is reported to have said: “When I take action, I’m not going to fire a US$2m missile at a US$10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.” As the quote suggests, when it comes to national defence, enemies are unlikely to be deterred by an
Wikipedia is often seen as a great equaliser. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people collaborate on a seemingly endless range of topics by writing, editing and discussing articles, and uploading images and video content. But it’s starting to look like global coverage on Wikipedia is far
The message arrives on my “clean machine”, a MacBook Air loaded only with a sophisticated encryption package. “Change in plans,” my contact says. “Be in the lobby of the Hotel ______ by 1 pm. Bring a book and wait for ES
Anyone who reads the technology news can’t have failed to notice a certain preoccupation in the past couple of years on the part of developers to bring viewers close to the action of TV, films and computer games through virtual reality. Every other day, it seems, we hear of yet another allegedly ground-breaking solution in the quest for
Ask 10 people what they think about Africa’s rising cities and you get 10 different opinions. The only thing they will agree on is that traffic is awful. In truth, 52 cities with more than a million inhabitants are becoming a magnet for innovation, with echoes of the industrial revolution. Take a look at sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest number
Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) was one of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s grand gestures. Sweeping to power in 2007, he quickly set to fixing that country’s problems in education, health and productivity. Although it was clear that he only ever understood technology superficially, he nevertheless saw it as the answer to all of
If the music industry is to be believed, music piracy is a huge problem. So far, however, very little has been done to stop it. But we are starting to get an idea of what motivates people to do it. If record labels want to survive, they should start looking at the growing body of evidence about why music lovers continue to refuse to pay. Although there is some scepticism
If press coverage is any measure, it appears electric vehicles (EVs) have finally arrived. Tesla’s Model S was named Automobile Magazine’s Car of the Year, the Nissan Leaf is topping the EV sales ranks and the industry is abuzz with anticipated sales impact of BMW’s super-light i3. Yet for all the hype, EVs remain more common in glossy