Game of Prediction

In 1960 America’s new leader John F Kennedy ‘s winning presidential election was widely reported that the presidency has been clinched with the help of a “secret weapon” : a super computer that crunched troves of data to profile voters , allowing Kennedy to better target his political messaging before the polls opened. Borrowing from…

Cultish photo-sharing app fuelled jealousy, bullying

In 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders who wanted to cultivate a community of photographers and artisans  released a photo-sharing app called Instagram, with one simple irresistible feature. It would make anything you captured through your phone look more beautiful. In less than two years it went mainstream and caught Facebook’s attention as…

Facebook in talks to buy stake in Jio

Facebook has been in talks to buy a stake in Mukesh Ambani’s digital operation Reliance Jio to try to expand its presence in the Indian digital market with a preliminary deal for a 10 per cent share. Google also has been engaging in talks with Reliance Jio, after Microsoft last year announced plans to work…

Way forward for 5G networks

A couple of months ago, the heads from 18 small British telecoms companies met at a London bank to discuss investment, strategy, and mergers. In the meeting, they were asked if they thought the Chinese could eavesdrop through back doors in Huawei equipment all 18 hands went up. One of the bankers then asked, if…

Face scans mandatory for new mobile phone users in China

  A regulation announced in September 2019, was due to come into effect on Sunday when all people in China are required to have their faces scanned when registering new mobile phone services, as the authorities seek to verify the identities of hundreds of millions of internet users. China has for years been trying to…

Social-media influencers income soars

The Average price of a sponsored photo on Instagram has leaped from £104 ($134) t0 £1, 276 ($1, 6742 in 2019. Brands are willing to pay more to sponsor posts, videos, stories and blogs too. “Digital marketing is the equivalent of word of mouth but there will always be a mix between that and traditional…

Will Super-intelligent robots enslave humanity?

Alarms already sounded by Bill Gates, late Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk,  about artificial intelligence and how one day super-intelligent robots  will one day wipe out or enslave humanity. Superhuman artificial intelligence is an approaching tidal wave that threatens not just human relationships and jobs but civilisation itself. Conflict between humans and machines is seen as…

Are you one of the two million people who uses emoji every hour

  Gretchen McCulloch, a Canadian linguist, making sense of  the ways we communicate online “ how internet is making us  more nuanced and inventive writers”,  in her latest book she writes “ because of internet, through a revolutionary period in linguistic history, where writing quickly, within character limits and deploying ever-changing internet slang, is enriching…

Our extreme behavior with social media

Twitter and Instagram was used to hurl racist abuse at Paul Pogba, the Manchester United midfielder. Team-mates rallied to his defence, criticised social media companies who inturn gave their usual excuses that they were monitoring the situation banning those who participated in the abuse, investing in new tools to avoid such situations. The Twittering Machine…

“Find Your Strength and Sparkle Your Way to the Top”

  Michelle, an American-Italian Diva, is not your average Diva, advices readers to “ Keep Your Shit Together”, “ Give Good Face” and “Be Thankful You’re a Misfit” Michelle Diva’s book give powerful positive and polished tips from her vogueing days in downtown Manhattan clunes in the 90s to her successful career in radio and…