Guest Author • Jan 25, 2022 •
Karen Scott, University of Canterbury Since the catastrophic volcanic eruption on January 16, Tonga has been largely cut off from the world due to a break in the undersea cable that links Tonga with Fiji (and from there with the world). A complete fix may take weeks. Aside from the distress and inconvenience this is … Read More
Guest Author • Oct 19, 2021 •
Cherie Lacey, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Alex Beattie, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington More than half of the most popular New Zealand websites may be unfairly manipulating visitors, according to our latest research into the use of “dark patterns” in sites with a “co.nz” domain name. While legal, dark patterns … Read More
Guest Author • Sep 20, 2021 •
Amanda H A Watson, Australian National University If you’ve ever emailed a resort in Fiji or Vanuatu about that long-awaited holiday, it’s likely your email travelled through an undersea internet cable. Such cables carry much of the internet traffic around the globe, in conjunction with underground fibre connections, satellites and microwave links. For Pacific Island countries, undersea internet cables … Read More
Alison Campbell • Oct 02, 2018 •
The internet, while it can be a godsend if you need to find something out (gotta love google maps for directions), can also be a wretched hive of wrongness and misinformation. That misinformation can take many forms, but when it comes to 1080 it’s clear that those opposed to NZ’s use of this chemical firmly believe that a picture … Read More
Guest Author • Apr 23, 2018 •
Claudio Bozzi, Deakin University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The US Federal Communications Commission last month granted Elon Musk’s SpaceX permission to launch 4,425 satellites that will provide affordable high speed broadband internet to consumers. The Starlink network will be accessible in the US and around the world … Read More
Paul Walker • Mar 02, 2018 •
A couple of years back in an email about my book The Theory of the Firm: An overview of the economic mainstream I wrote: The other thing I don’t get is the price dispersion. $180 at the book depository but $355 at the NZ based Mighty Ape website. Isn’t this internet thingy supposed to do away with price … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 13, 2018 •
Timothy Summers, University of Maryland This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Protecting individual privacy from government intrusion is older than American democracy. In 1604, the attorney general of England, Sir Edward Coke, ruled that a man’s house is his castle. This was the official declaration that a homeowner could … Read More
Jean Balchin • Jan 17, 2018 •
I first realised my brother was missing when I logged into Facebook one evening to see his bashful face grinning at me from a ‘MISSING’ notice. Rather absurdly, I wondered why they hadn’t picked a better photo of John instead of this blurry, orange-toned selfie. I continued scrolling through Facebook while frantically calling my family. Funny, innocuous videos of … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 19, 2017 •
Ralph Holz, University of Sydney Most people have never heard of the software that makes up the machinery of the internet. Outside developer circles, its authors receive little reward for their efforts, in terms of either money or public recognition. One example is the encryption software GNU Privacy Guard (also known as GnuPG and GPG), and its authors … Read More
Sarb Johal • May 16, 2017 •
“Right now we have a health hazard to democratic functioning.” Those are the words of Professor Sam Wineberg of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University in the United States, my guest on this edition of The Psychology Report. You can listen to the original podcast here, as well as reading our conversation below. Professor … Read More