San Diego, United States | AFP | San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge sees smartphones and social media as raising an unhappy, compliant “iGen.” QUESTION: What is the iGen? ANSWER: The iGen is the generation born in 1995 and later, and they’re the first generation to spend their …
Read More »Smartphones: a double-edged sword for terrorists
Paris, France | AFP | Bombs and guns aside, a smartphone can be a powerful weapon in the hands of a terrorist — but it can also provide intelligence services with the tools to track them down. Three years ago to the day, the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015 …
Read More »Fighting wars and disease, smartphones on the frontlines
Paris, France | AFP | At the sharp end of conflict in Syria, in a schoolchild’s bag in Kenya, whether fighting deadly diseases or studying forestry, the smartphone has become ubiquitous in just over a decade. This year, the number of users is expected to pass three billion, and AFP …
Read More »A machine makes water out of air – Watergen’s atmospheric water generator
Hanoi, Vietnam | AFP-Services (text stories) | Imagine you could quench your thirst with water that doesn’t originate from a river, spring or lake, but comes directly out of the blue sky, from the air that surrounds you. What sounds like a science fiction movie is already a reality, and …
Read More »Africa needs to beef up cyber security urgently: experts
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Africa is being increasingly targeted by hackers and must invest in cyber security, industry leaders said at the third Africa Cyber Security Conference closing Friday in Ivory Coast. Although Africa is not a prime target, “cyber threats have no more borders” and data pirates …
Read More »Technology and home languages
Marrying them in school boosts maths and science learning Kampala, Uganda | MMAKI JANTJIES | Technology, like mobile apps and online learning platforms, is becoming an increasingly important teaching tool all over the world. That’s also true in emerging markets; accessible technologies can essentially be used to take information and …
Read More »Learning computer programming, with no teachers and no tuition
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Aspiring software engineers Kevin Yook and Becky Chen are hunched over a computer screen, fervently discussing lines of code indecipherable to the average person. The pair of twenty-somethings are students at the Holberton School in San Francisco, founded two years ago by French …
Read More »US Air Force to begin fighter-mounted laser testing this summer
Washington, United States | AFP | The US Air Force will this summer begin testing a laser that will be mounted on an F-15 warplane, an official said Monday. The Pentagon last year awarded a $26 million contract to Lockheed Martin for a laser program called SHiELD (Self-protect High Energy …
Read More »Google guru Page tests flying taxis in New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand | AFP | Pilot-less flying taxis are being tested in New Zealand as part of a project backed by Google co-founder Larry Page that supporters say will revolutionise personal transport. New Zealand regulators late Tuesday approved plans for Zephyr Airworks, a subsidiary of Page’s company Kitty Hawk, …
Read More »EU aims to tax internet giants at ‘two to six percent’: France
Paris, France | AFP | The EU will soon unveil a plan for taxing major internet companies like Amazon and Facebook by imposing a levy of two to six percent on revenues in every country where they operate, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday. “The range will be …
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