Decades ago, notorious Kiwi-Australian journalist Derryn Hinch observed that con-men tend to make money off people who are just stupid and greedy. That was true enough in the pre-digital ’80s and ’90s, when the stock-in-trade of con-artists was get-rich-quick schemes. Today, though, that’s all changed. Scammers make money because
* I am republishing this article because Xtra’s actions are costing us memberships Readers of the BFD who have signed up for our FREE newsletter with an Xtra e-mail address have been contacting us for months now because Xtra keeps blocking and bouncing our e-mails to them. We have tried
As more and more people are finding out, as the reality of ‘Net Zero’ bites hard, you don’t realise how much you depend on modern technology until it’s gone. Even 100 years ago, H G Wells remarked that everyone who pined for the ‘good old days’ of the
Gabriela Pariseau Gabriela is an Assistant Editor in the Media Research Center’s Free Speech America division. She is a graduate of Christendom College where she earned a B.A. in History. Gabriela has also contributed to The Catholic Register, Arlington Catholic Herald, Students For Life of America and Iowa
Paul Haskell-Dowland Mohiuddin Ahmed Edith Cowan University Mark A Gregory RMIT University theconversation.com Optus customers woke up Wednesday morning to find they were unable to get their social media fix, and they weren’t happy. Around 4am AEDT, customers started to report an inability to access both mobile and
Robin Kramer University of Lincoln theconversation.com For a while, limitations in technology meant that animators and researchers were only capable of creating human-like faces which seemed a little “off”. Films like 2004’s The Polar Express made some viewers uneasy because the characters’ faces looked almost human but not
Adam Behr Newcastle University theconversation.com In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music … to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing. Not surprisingly, Paul McCartney was positive about the appearance this week of what has been trailed as the
* I am republishing this article because Xtra’s actions are costing us memberships Readers of the BFD who have signed up for our FREE newsletter with an Xtra e-mail address have been contacting us for months now because Xtra keeps blocking and bouncing our e-mails to them. We have tried
Mark Tsagas University of East London theconversation.com AI chatbots are already widely used by businesses to greet customers and answer their questions – either over the phone or on websites. Some companies have found that they can, to some extent, replace humans with machines in call centre roles. However, the
We’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to find that damned 10mm socket, but imagine working in one of the most secure labs on Earth… and realising that you’ve got the wrong toolkit entirely. A cornucopia of scientific revelation lies before you – and you can’t open it.
This series is designed to help people to understand modern technology, and become more confident in using computing devices. It is not designed to educate experts. The author is involved in tutoring older students at SeniorNet, a New Zealand wide organisation. SeniorNet hopes that students will feel more confident in
This series is designed to help people to understand modern technology, and become more confident in using computing devices. It is not designed to educate experts. The author is involved in tutoring older students at SeniorNet, a New Zealand wide organisation. SeniorNet hopes that students will feel more confident in
Readers of the BFD who have signed up for our FREE newsletter with an Xtra e-mail address have been contacting us for months now because Xtra keeps blocking and bouncing our e-mails to them. We have tried repeatedly to get them to stop blocking and bouncing our e-mails but nothing
In a key plot point in the Back to the Future films, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), stuck in 1885, secretes the DeLorean time machine in an abandoned goldmine. Seventy years later, the machine is retrieved – dusty but intact and almost fully functional. The still, dry air of the mine, away
Susan Carland Academic, author and social commentator Whitney Monaghan Lecturer, Communications and Media Studies, Faculty of Arts Davide Orazi Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Monash Business School Michael W Clune Author; Knight Professor of Humanities, Case Western Reserve University Clem Bastow Author and cultural critic lens.monash.edu Everyone wants
Simon Angus Simon pursues a thoroughly multi-disciplinary research agenda as a complexity and data scientist. He uses computational and data science techniques to study socioeconomic, biological, or physical phenomena. Simon’s interest in computational and algorithmic thinking started very early with much time spent on the family’s first computer
