From its earliest beginnings the internet has been exploited as a vehicle for sexualised content. In fact, in many ways, porn has driven some of the biggest innovations in internet technology, from using primitive hypertext to transmit images, to online transactions, streaming, and so on. So, despite the fact that
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
A handful of ex-employees who designed software for social media companies left their jobs and are on a mission to tell the world about the manipulative software they now regret. A cynic might suggest they’re after their own slice of media revenue. When I was there I felt
Freedom of choice, sang Devo, is what you got. Freedom from choice is what you want. Today, we humans of the most privileged generation in human history, have almost unlimited choice in almost everything. Supermarkets bring us the bounty of the world, in every season. Smart TVs and tablet computers
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
There’s an apocryphal story that tells of a hospital where, on cue every Friday evening, any patients left in a particular bed of the ICU would mysteriously expire. For weeks, this went on. Apparently stable patients would suddenly shuffle off this mortal coil like clockwork, every Friday evening. Finally,
Press Release: National Party National will double the size of New Zealand’s technology sector by 2030 with a $1.29 billion plan that will aim to create at least 100,000 new high-paying, future-proofed tech jobs. “Doubling the size of the technology sector by 2030 is an
When science fiction authors William Gibson and Bruce Sterling made Victorian inventor Charles Babbage’s “Difference Engine” the centrepiece of their novel of the same name, it was a reminder that many “modern” inventions have long, long histories. Babbage and co-inventor Ada Lovelace’s Difference Engine, and its even
The Silicon Valley oligarchs are going to war with the Morrison government. At issue is the government’s efforts to force the tech giants to pony up some of their mountains of gold for the content they’ve been scraping for free for years. While it’s true that the
Paul Haskell-Dowland Edith Cowan University It’s surprising how quickly public opinion can change. Winding the clocks back 12 months, many of us would have looked at a masked individual in public with suspicion. Now, some countries have enshrined face mask use in law. They’ve also been made
Last week I wrote a post in regard to a recent announcement from Acting Superintendent Gini Welch that the NZ Police would now be operating a zero-tolerance speed limit breach policy permanently. In that post, I looked at some of the thinking behind the Police’s sudden urge to
The late Christopher Hitchens said, in defense of free speech, “Every time you violate or propose to violate the free speech of someone else, you, in potentia, you’re making a rod for your own back”. Because, as Hitchens argued, who gets to decide? Right now, it may be people
Angela Renton The University of Queensland A recent demonstration video released by Elon Musk’s firm Neuralink might not look like much at first. In the video, a pig named Gertrude eats snacks from a person’s hand, while an accompanying computer screen displays blue lines that peak and trough,
