Conceived in the early 1990s, the QR Code has spread exponentially during the pandemic. Its creator, Masahiro Hara, is one of the many continuing to innovate his most famous invention, which has changed everything from medicine to how we dine.
Tag: technology
A Swiss-German anti-vax dating app is the latest tool for COVID-19 skeptics. As the pandemic becomes increasingly politicized around the world, will it permanently change how and who we date?
In just a few months, NFTs, the digital equivalent of collectables, have generated over $10 billion. Now, luxury champagne and wine brands are moving into the world of digital assets. But as investors and vineyards toast to the future, will the concept pop or fizzle?
? Bonjour!* Welcome to Friday, where several European countries see record daily COVID cases, South Korea pardons Park Geun-hye, and Taste-the-TV is a thing. We also look at a familiar story unfolding in Ukraine, where former president Petro Poroshenko has been accused of being in cahoots with Russia. As mentioned yesterday, the Worldcrunch Today crew […]
Will the Great Resignation of the past year lead to a Great Reskilling the next…?
Even as it celebrates this year’s literature prize going to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah, Africa is again completely absent from the list of Nobel winners in science. In research as elsewhere, money is the key.
Startups that offer to deliver groceries in less than 15 minutes have learned from the past and are hiring full-time employees, even if they need temporary workers to meet demand.
So a dozen of the top CEOs in the world (including heads of Google, Microsoft, IBM and now Twitter) come from a country with 18% of the world’s population. But there are other numbers our overly proud fellow Indians should be running.
Robotics has become standard in much of industrial production, but AI also means robots are able to accomplish more and more complicated tasks. Here are some living examples around the world.
A recent unmanned attack could heighten tensions in the conflict zone and have broader geopolitical consequences.
Mark Zuckerberg boasted that his U.S. tech giant will begin a hiring spree in Europe to build his massive “Metaverse.” Touted as an opportunity for Europe, the plans could poach precious tech talent from European tech companies.
Long perceived as a country chasing Western tech, China’s business and technological innovations are now influencing the rest of the world. Still lagging on some fronts, the future is now up for grabs.
Reams have been written about the shift to remote working. And yet, for many people, the more pressing issue right now isn’t where, but how much they work. After the economic slowdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, companies all over the world are taking advantage of loosened lockdowns and progress on the vaccine front […]
Why must I feel like a washed-up nobody just because I have no need for a new “data plan”? All I want to do is make (and pay for) a simple phone call.
Cyberbullying has gained ground again this school year. For philosopher and free-market advocate Gaspard Koenig, it’s simple: social media has the effects of an addictive and harmful drug, and thus forbidden for those under 16.
Much has been said about China’s use of biometric technology for mass civilian surveillance. But facial recognition is being used elsewhere too, and not always as a tool for crime prevention.
Friends, colleagues, countrymen: After many long months of distancing, masks, quarantine, curfews and telecommuting, it’s time to get back together. Yet re-socializing isn’t as simple as it seems.
With more and more state and private entities setting their sights on space, Europe will need to assert itself, but in a safe, responsible way.
Now that central banks are opening to the idea of digital currencies, there may no turning back. But it comes with real risks, especially with regards to China’s ambitions.
Watching the nightly news on television was a recipe for unhappiness. It’s just one lesson from two years on the road in Europe, even though the depressing headlines will follow you through other channels.
Announced several years ago, 3D-printing in the building industry is becoming a reality with the first houses already going on sale in the United States. Start-ups and manufacturers predict this could be a revolution for the construction industry.
Can nature save capitalism? Biomimicry is thought-provoking because it provides many sources of inspiration to calibrate production models to nature, and thus continue to grow while respecting our environment.
Technological progressions have always changed how we behave. But AI has much more far-reaching potential to change the very meaning of what it is to be a human.
Seeing Manel de Aguas can prompt a range of reactions. The connected artificial “fins’ implanted in his skull might look silly to some, inspiring to others, or just very disturbing. “I don’t feel 100% human,” the 27-year-old Catalan told the La Razón daily last week. On his Instagram page, de Aguas describes himself as a […]
Europe is moving forward in a united front to force Big Tech that could lead to a historic showdown on the future of how the digital economy functions.
Registering facial recognition data with a biometric authentication application is all the rage in China, but it comes with major privacy concerns.
Sweden’s youth see caring for the old and sick as the business of the public sector. But as the welfare state gets weaker, the elderly can rely on neither the system nor the family.
France is just one of many countries that have long shunned online consultations. But now that it’s skyrocketing in pandemic times, there may be a mini revolution in health care.
From Zoom changing the way we work to artificial intelligence changing the way we shop, we’ve gotten used to reading about how information technology influences our daily habits and drives the world economy. But lately, we’re also seeing technology make more and more front-page headlines in the realm of politics and diplomacy. U.S. President Donald […]
Platforms like Tinder have a reputation for facilitating quick hook-ups. But their impact on society is far more profound than that, argues a French economics professor.
-OpEd- As the COVID-19 crisis swept its way across France, some of the products people needed the most — masks, respirators and key electronic components — simply weren’t available. Even more jarring was the fact that factories here couldn’t even respond to the shortages in a timely manner. Indeed, the pandemic was a wake-up call […]
As countries around the world scramble to conduct sufficient COVID-19 testing, there is now an urgent need for the design of rapid diagnostics of early symptoms to identify potential carriers to test, and eventually, isolate them. Researchers and the so-called “health tech” and “wearables’ sector are racing to release new devices, and adapt existing ones, […]
For most of human history, the best way to protect personal privacy was to simply stay at home. Lock yourself in your room, or the proverbial closet, and nobody can find out a thing. In little more than a decade, those walls and doors have vanished as digital technology invites us to take large chunks […]
Expect use of blockchain, the digital record-keeping system, to become generalized this year in banks and elsewhere.
Modern languages are rich, beautiful and complex, and took ages to develop. Hearts and smiley faces? Not so much.
When reality transcends constitutional and legal provisions, you must be extra clever about social media use.
Once again, we are entering the Twenties, a decade which, last century, saw an eruption of freedom caught between two immense tragedies. Here is a little taste of what might await us this time around.
New tech may soon be able to predict future political problems and independently develop solutions before issues even arise. But what does that mean for democracy?
He’s the mastermind behind has most famous deepfakes of the web. Donald Trump, Bruce Lee or even Elon Musk have been integrated into his videos, which are as fascinating and problematic as they are funny.
PARIS — In 1919, the International Labor Organization adopted the first conventions on women in the workplace. In 2019, the women who won the World Cup earned $850,000 less than their male counterparts. Three waves of feminism have transformed sexual and interpersonal dynamics. Still, the #MeToo movement reminded us of entrenched power-and-sexual dynamics in the […]