Walking into the CeBIT Conference is not unlike being ushered into some revolutionary space-age marketplace, where suit-and-lanyard-clad businessmen smile knowingly at you from behind a thousand different shimmering screens: laptops, iPads and feature walls with PowerPoints projected across them. CeBIT is APAC’s largest and longest running technology exhibition and conference, and it is an essential…
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Last week, tech magazine Wired announced that the current issue of the magazine would be guest edited by Serena Williams. Undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes of our time, Williams mentioned the significance of the Rooney rule in the NFL, which requires the league to interview minority candidates for senior positions. She also notes that…
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A few weeks ago, a teenage girl was reportedly raped by three adolescent males, while two other female adolescents recorded the event on a mobile phone. This footage was forwarded to a journalist who quickly passed it on to local police. Her location remains undisclosed. The police response was lacklustre at best, insisting nothing could…
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It is so much easier to write film reviews for movies you instantly love or hate. For me, Spike Jonze’s latest film Her provoked the former feeling – I absolutely adored this film. It was full of quotes and observations that were so beautifully phrased that I wanted to lean across to my fellow moviegoer and…
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It was my first week into year 11 and I had chosen to take Information, Digital Media and Technology – commonly known as IT – as an elective, and I did not pre-empt the controversy that this would arouse. ‘IT is for boys’, was what my friend told me. ‘You should drop it and take…
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Professional networking site LinkedIn has been forced to reverse its decision to block images of female engineers posted by engineering company TopTal. TopTal CEO Taso Du Val wrote in a blog post that: ‘Today was a disappointing day at Toptal. We saw extreme sexism within the tech community, from an industry leader and advertising…
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What has happened to the family pet? Dear Father Christmas, All I want is a puppy. I will love it and care for it and name it for its most redeeming characteristic…. My 1973 dog had a damp start to life, being the only pup that survived a dunking by gunny sack in the local…
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Women like touching their touch screens more than they like touching bodies, according to a recent study. An American company, Sachs Media Group, conducted a survey revealing women’s apparent addiction to technology. The survey pooled 1,000 participants across the United States, asking them to select which vice they would be least likely to…
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By now, we all know the story of JK Rowling, who, at the request of her publisher, published the Harry Potter books using her initials, instead of her full first name. Her publisher believed the book would appeal to boys, and thought boys wouldn’t want to read the book if they saw a woman’s name…
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Continuing on from my last column on whether or not writers should be paid for writing for the internet, this week I read an article about author Joe Simpson (Touching the Void), who decided to split from his publisher Random House over a dispute about ebook royalties. Random House were prepared to offer Simpson 25…
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A debate which has been brewing for a long time flared up again recently: should writers expect to be paid for writing for publication on the internet? Online publications Mamamia and The Hoopla recently published pieces on why they don’t pay writers (Mamamia) and why they do (The Hoopla). The Mamamia article in particular seems…
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I know I said writing is all about finding time to write. I wrote that I would do this, despite all my other commitments for the month of November, as I can’t call myself a writer unless I make the effort to find the time to write. Well, okay – I won’t call myself a…
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I’ve come to the realisation that taking part in NaNoWriMo as a uni student is not the best idea. November is the month where final assignments are due and the end-of-semester frenzy kicks into gear. It is also the month where summer days start filling the week with wonderful regularity and, to top it all…
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Roamz is a social media app that wants to guide you to the all the hippest places, daring users to ‘live like a local’ (jaded, stressed out and stuck in a routine, I guess). While imaginative and novel, Roamz is ultimately let down by a relatively small user base, limited suggestions and some hilarious suggestion…
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