Over the past decade almost US$200 billion has been invested globally in mobility technology that promises to improve our ability to get around. More than US$33 billion was invested last year alone. Another measure of interest in this area is the number of unicorns, which has doubled in the past two years. A unicorn is… Read more »
Bestselling business books promise to teach you the winning formula and reveal the secrets of success. But the inconvenient truth is that exceptional successes in business are largely based on luck. No rule exists for achieving exceptional performance because it usually requires doing something different or novel and there can be no recipe for such… Read more »
Short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb are increasingly displacing hotels and holiday letting agencies as the go-to form of accommodation. The ease of booking it all in seconds on your smartphone adds to the appeal of renting a well-appointed flat in Noosaville, or having basil or turmeric on hand in the kitchen of your Katoomba… Read more »
A total of 6718 electric vehicles were sold in Australia in 2019. That’s three times as many as in 2018, but it’s still small beer. More than a million fossil-fueled light vehicles (including SUVs and utes) were sold in the same period. The sales figures were published in the wake of UK Prime Minister Boris… Read more »
Darwin City Council installed a network of hundreds of new devices across the centre of the city last year. This web of “smart” lights, environmental sensors and video cameras is designed to give the council more power to monitor and manage urban places – and the people who occupy them. The council says the A$10… Read more »
The Australian government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has spent more than A$200 million over the past five years developing a National Digital ID platform. If successful, the project could streamline commerce, resolve bureaucratic quagmires, and improve national security. The emerging results of the project may give the Australian public cause for concern. Two mobile apps… Read more »
“Porn is the billboard. Cam is the product,” my housemate and porn performer in Las Vegas tells me. She makes most of her money from camming: a form of live streaming, where viewers tip for a sexual performance via webcam. For her, performing in porn films is now more of an ad rather than… Read more »
In the 1980s, a global race was underway: to find a more efficient way of converting energy from the sun into electricity. Some 30 years ago, our research team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) came up with a breakthrough, called the PERC silicon solar cell. The cells have become the most widely… Read more »
In recent years, experts have focused on finding better ways to improve remotely delivered mental health care. Now, virtual reality (VR) may pave the way for myriad new opportunities. Using VR for remote therapy involves conducting “face-to-face” sessions in a virtual environment. This mode of treatment could make counselling more accessible to those living and… Read more »
In the first week of 2020, hashtag #ArsonEmergency became the focal point of a new online narrative surrounding the bushfire crisis. The message: the cause is arson, not climate change. Police and bushfire services (and some journalists) have contradicted this claim. We studied about 300 Twitter accounts driving the #ArsonEmergency hashtag to identify inauthentic… Read more »
Lithium-ion batteries have changed the world. Without the ability to store meaningful amounts of energy in a rechargeable, portable format we would have no smartphones or other personal electronic devices. The pioneers of the technology were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for chemistry. But as society moves away from fossil fuels, we will need more… Read more »
Al Gore’s 1992 forecast of a Digital Earth — where satellites beam data to reveal all the planet’s environmental dynamics – has gained momentum with the publication of the Manual of Digital Earth last month. The major anthology is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It’s a mark of the importance China attaches to… Read more »
Imagine yourself graduating from high school, with the world before you. But now you must decide what career you want to pursue. You hope for a job that will pay the bills, but also one you will enjoy. After all, you will spend a large portion of your waking hours at work. But how can… Read more »
On Thursday the federal government responded to the recommendations of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) “world-leading” Digital Platforms Inquiry. The response, however, is a less-than world-leading roadmap for reform. Few dispute the ACCC’s inquiry was ground breaking, as it held to account tech giants including Google and Facebook, and the power they wield… Read more »
Australian astronomy punches well above its weight, in terms of the research it leads and the facilities it houses. We have made remarkable discoveries in the past year alone. Our scientists have recently narrowed down the time frame for the first light in the universe. We have established that the black hole in the Milky… Read more »
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