Iceland is the de facto home of Wikileaks and is also a country concerned with privacy issues. The country is now considering leveraging their experience and reputation of being digital-data friendly to the next level. Presently, the country is considering branding itself as the “Switzerland of Data.” If Iceland does
Continue readingTag: technology
A Puff of Absurdity: The Newsroom: On Journalism, the Environment, and Sexism
I just finished watching the final season of The Newsroom as it appears catching up on shows is becoming a personal tradition on the first day of any holiday. It was a cringe-worthy six hours with a few redeeming story-lines. Here be ton o’ SPOILERS including the fact that it ends
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: No thanks Uber, I’m not signing your petition
So the ride-sharing app Uber is urging Vancouverites to sign a petition on its site to put pressure on the City to allow Uber to operate. An ad for the petition invaded my Twitter feed and I decided to take a closer look. Here’s the petition with my commentary. Spoiler:
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Inequality for All
I watched Robert Reich’s film last summer on a camping trip. I woke up in the middle of a pitch-dark night and couldn’t fall back asleep. I tried a movie on my phone to lull me into a coma, but this was the wrong one to choose. Reich’s film clearly
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Airbnb vs Uber and the power of mobile
Airbnb and Uber are similar in many ways. They both use tech (particularly mobile) to solve a distribution problem and they are both market darlings with skyrocketing valuations. They are both massively disrupting the established hotel and taxi industr…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Airbnb vs Uber and the power of mobile
Airbnb and Uber are similar in many ways. They both use tech (particularly mobile) to solve a distribution problem and they are both market darlings with skyrocketing valuations. They are both massively disrupting the established hotel and taxi industries respectively, complete with significant legal battles in these highly regulated industries
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Airbnb vs Uber and the power of mobile
Airbnb and Uber are similar in many ways. They both use tech (particularly mobile) to solve a distribution problem and they are both market darlings with skyrocketing valuations. They are both massively disrupting the established hotel and taxi industries respectively, complete with significant legal battles in these highly regulated industries
Continue readingThings Are Good: LHC Data Freely Accessible from CERN
The Large Hadron Collider run by CERN is making huge insights into the fundamental workings of the universe. Already it has found evidence the Higgs-Boson and other groovy particles in physics. Now CERN is setting all that data that’s been collected free to use! Now you can use research generated
Continue readingThings Are Good: Surfing Oceanic Data
The ocean is massive and it’s experiencing massive change thanks to climate change and humans depleting its resources. We know this, but we don’t know the extent of the harm done to the oceans nor many other aspects of life in the seas. A surfer and engineer, Benjamin Thompson, decided
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Robots, migration and the future of work (Briarpatch Magazine)
I have a longer read in the newest issue of Briarpatch Magazine, which is dedicated to the world of work. If you don’t know Briarpatch, be sure to check out the other articles in this issue and consider subscribing; this is one of Canada’s oldest independent left publications and definitely
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: People are the Weakest Link – Security Camera Madness.
Ask any IT professional about security and you can almost always prepare yourself for a story or three about people using strongly encrypted passwords such as ‘password’ or ‘admin’. Or if it is a particularly good day, helping people understand that encrypted functions exist… Here is story from CBC.ca about
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Apple numbers: languishing iPad sales a function ofthe phone subsidy model
The ability to make phone calls on a modern smartphone is now just one app among many. For most people it isn’t even close to the most used app with Facebook, YouTube, messaging, games, and the like dominating usage. And it is also an app with many com…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Apple numbers: languishing iPad sales a function of the phone subsidy model
The ability to make phone calls on a modern smartphone is now just one app among many. For most people it isn’t even close to the most used app with Facebook, YouTube, messaging, games, and the like dominating usage. And it is also an app with many competitors like Skype
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Apple numbers: languishing iPad sales a function ofthe phone subsidy model
The ability to make phone calls on a modern smartphone is now just one app among many. For most people it isn’t even close to the most used app with Facebook, YouTube, messaging, games, and the like dominating usage. And it is also an app with many competitors like Skype
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Transportation After Fossil Fuels: A Decade Away?
Once upon a time, I rode the maglev at the Japan pavilion at Expo 86. Since then, I’ve come to see that that was the Commodore Vic 20 of high speed travel. What’s the new standard? ET3. So if you’ve been having a hard time imagining a post-carbon transportation system
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Clean Energy is Actually the $Trillion Sector, Not LNG
According to Analytica Advisors, the global demand for clean energy technology was estimated at $1.1 trillion in 2012 and projected to grow to $2.5 trillion by 2022. It also estimates that the cleantech industry in Canada grew nine per cent in 2012. In the same period, the mining, oil and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Iranian Drone Can Help Lifeguards
An Iranian company has built a drone that can help lifeguards save lives. The drone can carry flotation devices to weak swimmers faster than a lifeguard can. It’s a good use of drone technology and a demonstration of what is possible when we use this tech for helping our everyday
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Amazon vs Apple
While Apple is a wildly profitable money printing machine that hoards its cash and returns billions to shareholders, Amazon makes no official profit. As Benedict Evans points out, this is just a sleight of hand for Amazon has numerous profitable busine…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Amazon vs Apple
While Apple is a wildly profitable money printing machine that hoards its cash and returns billions to shareholders, Amazon makes no official profit. As Benedict Evans points out, this is just a sleight of hand for Amazon has numerous profitable businesses, it is just that it reinvests every penny back
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Tech on the Side: Amazon vs Apple
While Apple is a wildly profitable money printing machine that hoards its cash and returns billions to shareholders, Amazon makes no official profit. As Benedict Evans points out, this is just a sleight of hand for Amazon has numerous profitable businesses, it is just that it reinvests every penny back
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