SocietyTechnology

Refugees Are At Risk From Dystopian ‘Smart Border’ Technology

New technologies deployed on borders for migration management and border security under the umbrella of smart border solutions are ignoring the fundamental human rights of migrants. Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones, for example) are often deployed in the surveillance of refugees in the US and the EU; big data analytics are being used to monitor migrants approaching the border. Though methods…
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MusicTechnology

Why Spotify Has So Many Bizarre, Generic Artists Like ‘White Noise Baby Sleep’

Welcome to The Cheater’s Guide to Spotify, a series about the schemes that rack up streams, money, and infamy on the popular streaming service. You’ve probably never heard of them, but Relaxing Music Therapy has had a pretty successful music career. At least, on Spotify. This “artist” has more than 500,000 monthly listeners on the platform, all thanks to One Simple Trick: optimizing…
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Technology

The Internet Needs a Diet.

Let’s be more careful what we’re feeding it. Today is digital clean up day and the 50th anniversary of Earth day. Let’s take the opportunity to reflect on our digital and physical footprints and where our relationship with the digital world is really headed. This…
AcademyTechnology

Cyberspace and the Law of the Horse: Summary

 This is my third article in a series of four paragraph summaries of academic business papers. Click here for the first & here for the second. Cyberspace and the Law of the Horse is a paper by Frank H. Easterbrook of the University of Chicago. It…
Smart CityTechnology

Micromobility: Unpacking the Opportunities and Challenges of E-Scooters

 Given the current technological improvements, the means of transportation are changing. Based on the well-known report of McKinsey, about 60% of car trips are less than 8 kilometers (5 miles) and this accounts for as much as 50 to 60% of today’s total passenger miles travelled in China, the European Union, and the United States. Apparently, this even highlights the importance of…
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COVID-19Technology

The Role of Technology to Prevent Outbreaks

As stated in the World Health Organization’s Managing Epidemics: Key Facts About Major Deadly Diseases, 2018, the past twenty years have been a period of deadly epidemics. In 2003, the SARS coronavirus, which no one had heard before, infected more than eight thousand…
DataTechnology

Data Economy

This week I would like to discuss network effects  and the value of data. The book value of Facebook is around $ 100 billion. But its market cap is over $ 600 billion. The difference is due to our data that we hand over for free. Let’s first describe the economic…