Category: Tech Talk

Miscellany of questions and information tidbits on day-to-day interaction with technology

COMELEC data breach: Filipinos worldwide at risk of digital fraud!

April 9, 2016 benign0 13 Comments

A security ‘mishap’ has resulted in millions of Filipino voters’ personal details exposed to cyber-criminals. In a 6th April blog report, global digital security solutions firm Trend Micro reported that “a massive data breach leaked the entire database of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC).” Based on our investigation, the data dumps include 1.3 million…

Crime, Tech Talk

Are Robots Really So Bad?

February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 ChinoF 30 Comments

Thanks to science fiction like Terminator, Dr. Who and Metropolis, mainstream human culture runs the fear that if robots rule the world humanity will be exterminated. This perhaps reflects the fears of workers towards robots replacing them. It’s helped as well by that recent video of the Atlas robot being pushed over by a researcher,…

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Tech Talk

Gamergate and the Culture of Online Shaming

February 25, 2016February 26, 2016 ChinoF 26 Comments

Only recently I read up on the details of Gamergate, an incident where a spat between two ex-lovers in the gaming industry became a full-blown harassment campaign on the Internet. I will let other sites like Rationalwiki give the details about the incident. It came to my attention since a recent news report said that…

Tech Talk

Thinking beyond just “getting more young girls into STEM”

February 10, 2016February 10, 2016 FallenAngel 8 Comments

In the United States, at least, bridging the gender gap within sectors and industries is a big issue. Simply put, American society is currently concerned with getting more young girls and women to go into fields of study/interest that are perceived to be traditionally male-dominated. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field happens to…

Culture, Education, Science, Society, Tech Talk, Technology

Women are being STEM-shamed into coding work by Silicon Valley!

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016 benign0 9 Comments

You know why Silicon Valley and the whole tech industry is pushing women and minorities into taking up coding and into various techno-geeky fields of study? It’s because they want the other 50 percent of the workforce to join the pool of programming professionals and put downward pressure on tech salaries. So when you come…

Culture, Education, Society, Tech Talk

350 kph bullet train to link Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Bandung

January 21, 2016 benign0 7 Comments

Construction of a high-speed train line allowing travel between Jakarta and Bandung at speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour has started. The USD 5.6 billion project is a key component of a long-overdue programme to upgrade decrepit infrastructure being spurred by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Indonesia lacks a mass-transport system, forcing its increasingly…

Development, Lifestyle, Tech Talk

Rise of the machines to result in net loss of 5.1 million jobs!

January 20, 2016 benign0 33 Comments

According to a report on the results of a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey conducted across 15 economies that “account for approximately 65 per cent of the world’s total workforce”, robots and artificial intelligence technology will eliminate 7.1 million jobs over the next five years. The new technologies will, however, create 2 million “new positions”…

Economy, Tech Talk

Beware of Violence-mongering Propaganda

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 ChinoF 14 Comments

Memes, picture messages and other viral content are popular on the Internet because of the fun they sometimes bring. But at other times, they can also be used for misinformation and propaganda. And the trouble is, people often don’t question them when they should. More than ever, the Right-Wing (or perhaps right-wing may not be…

Civics, Media, Society, Tech Talk