The best metaphor for Facebook is the monster created by Dr Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s story shows how, as Fiona Sampson put it in a recent Guardian article, “aspiration and progress are indistinguishable from hubris – until something goes wrong, when suddenly we see all too clearly what was reasonable endeavour and what overreaching”. There are clear echoes of this in the evolution of Facebook. “It’s a story”, writes Siva Vaidhyanathan in this excellent critique, “of the hubris of good intentions, a missionary spirit and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it’s an indictment of how…
Author: Loknath Das
Europe began regulating social media and technology companies last month when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect, and there are a few policies that the U.S. may want to consider importing. On May 25, the European Union implemented what is essentially a set of rules that technology companies must follow. The intent of these new laws is to give citizens more control over the data that these companies collect on them.While it does not seem like the U.S. is ready (or should) adapt all of them, there are several key rules that would be a solid foundation for the homeland.…
That India’s urban infrastructure is over stressed and over stretched is no secret. Our metros and other cities struggle to provide the basic civic amenities: from round-the-clock availability of drinking water and electricity, efficient management of solid waste and wastewater, to efficient transport and traffic management. Throw the lack of adequate housing in the mix, and we begin realise the extent of the India’s urban infrastructure problems. In cities across India, these amenities are scarce largely due to unprecedented pace of migration of population from rural to urban areas. The state of India’s urban environment, combined with the western world’s…
With social media sites like Facebook and Twitter coming down heavily on people sharing violent content, extremist groups appear to be migrating to Google+ to popularise their propaganda, the media reported. According to a report in The Independent on Saturday, Google acknowledged the issue by saying it had “more to do” in order to properly address it and had put dedicated teams in place to do so. “We have clear policies against violent content as well as content from known terrorist organisations and when we find violations, we take swift action,” a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying. Google said it was committed to keeping violent content and hate…
Facebook on Monday announced its partnership with the National Commission for Women (NCW) to conduct a digital literacy programme aimed at training women scholars in Panjab University. “We are committed to equipping women to express themselves freely. That’s why we invested through our products, policies and community education programmes to create a safe space for women to communicate and share,” said Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director-India, South and Central Asia-Facebook. Launched in collaboration with Cyber Peace Foundation, the programme will enable women scholars to learn using online resources, protect themselves and promote digital literacy to reap the benefits of the Internet.…
WhatsApp Business is reportedly adding a feature to let businesses offer an online catalogue of their products. While WhatsApp is yet to announce the new development, a screenshot showing the online catalogue feature has emerged online to reveal its existence. It could give a boost to the user base of the business-focused app that already has over three million active users. Last month, it was reported that in addition to the existing Android app, the Facebook-owned team is working on a WhatsApp Business app for iOS to expand its presence. The app is also in the rumours to receive a chat filter feature to help businesses…
One of the more disruptive emerging technologies, robotic process automation (RPA), appears primed for significant growth, despite the fact that many organizations remain confused or concerned about the impact these tools might have on their operations. Read also: New robots reduce human error in life science labs For some, RPA is seen as a technology designed to replace full-time human labor outright and therefore to be treated with caution. For others, it has the potential for huge cost savings and can enable enterprises to move people from mundane tasks such as data entry to more exciting endeavors. Recent research indicates that there’s a growing demand…
With loads of apps and other productivity software promising to handle all of your various Mac needs, it’s tough to tell which ones actually have the goods to back up all that talk. So, when you see an app with credentials like Top Paid App, 2015 App of the Year, an Editors’ Choice honor and a stellar 4.6 out of 5 stars from over 1,100 reviews in the Mac App Store, you should probably pay attention. That app is PDF Expert for Mac — and right now, it’s on sale for more than half off at $24.99 from TNW Deals. Love ‘em or hate…
HPE is adding compatibility for full-fat datacentre software to its Edgeline range, demonstrating its commitment to what CEO Antonio Neri has dubbed ‘the intelligent edge’. The company has validated a number of enterprise software stacks for use with its Edgeline EL1000 and EL4000 systems, including VMware, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP HANA and Citrix XenDesktop, allowing customers to run virtualisation and compute tasks at the edge with the same tools they use in their datacentre. “Not a junior version, not a light version, not a pared-down version, but rather the full enterprise-class power is now coming out of the cloud, unleashed…
The Latest Research Report Internet of Things for Diabetes Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 – 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. – MarketResearchReports.biz Internet of Things comprises systems and software, medical devices, and services. It has had a significant impact on the overall health care sector and has been beneficial in remote clinical monitoring, chronic disease management, preventive care, assisted living, and personal fitness monitoring. The Internet of Things has transformed the health care sector by lowering costs, improving efficiency, and bringing the…