It is remarkable that large corporations do not employ many people in their organisations that have the foresight to warn their Directors that what they might be doing will not only subject them to record breaking fines by the EU, but will also cost them billions. I had time to ponder this while going through […]
At a United Nations conference last month, Indonesia became the first nation to publish the exact location and activity of its commercial fishing flee.
On Jan. 5, 1930 Mao Zedong wrote the essay, “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire.” Yet over 80 years later, the phrase still rings true in today’s fragile and fractured China. One such recent example, although not nearly as serious in scale to what Mao was contemplating, occurred when CCTV, the state broadcaster, […]
Last Friday, December 13, Google announced its acquisition of Boston Dynamics, a prominent robotics manufacturer. Boston Dynamics is most famous for producing robots resembling animal-like quadrapeds and bipeds with remarkable agility and balance. Despite a streak of other robotics company acquisitions in the past half year, Google’s purchase of Boston Dynamics is significant in that […]
Editor’s Note: The following article was recently published in SITREP, The Journal of the Royal Canadian Military Institute. Re-Published with Permission from SITREP, Issue #6 Nov – Dec 2013 by Reza Akhlaghi Silicon Valley in the southern region of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California has been home to America’s most innovative […]
Last week, in an apparent fit of inspiration brought on by the government shutdown, Balaji Srinivasan gave a speech on what it would be like if Silicon Valley were to secede from the United States government. Srinivasan, a tech entrepreneur, praised Silicon Valley and the broader high-tech industry it represents for not being responsible for securitized mortgages, […]
When I think back to 2012, I will inevitably think back to Twitter as the lens through which I saw elections, natural disasters, and major political events unfold. When it comes to foreign policy and cross-border issues, Twitter is playing more of a role than ever. Highlights from the past year in the international Twitterverse […]
There’s been a fair bit of fur flying as a result of Al Gore’s recent article in Rolling Stone: Climate of Denial. Most of the controversy centers around the fact that Gore calls out President Obama for not doing enough on climate change – not using his “bully pulpit.” More about that tack in a […]
Recently issued rules from the country’s ominous-sounding “Ministry of Communications and Information Technology” have India’s web junta fuming in indignation.
Continuing on its quest to cover all of the world’s top 40 languages and 99 percent of its Internet users, Google has finally launched Iraq.
I noted in the last post below how the UK is ramping up its offshore wind industry and providing the port infrastructure to do this efficiently and in a timely fashion. I also noted recently the major boost that Google’s Eastern Seaboard offshore cable initiative is giving the industry and that the Cape Wind project […]
The venerable Matt Wald has been covering nuclear power and renewable energy technology at the NY Times since Hector was a pup. He has the lead story today: Offshore Wind Power Line Wins Backing. A high-voltage cable, costing $5 billion and with a 6 GW capacity, would run offshore connecting wind farms from Virginia to […]
The Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) is an information and analysis tool on global climate change developed by the World Resources Institute. It contains a truly impressive array of databases and graphics, excellent for delving deeply into questions of who, what, when, where and why greenhouse gases are being produced. It has data for the […]
Havana is not alone in its judgment that the Obama administration has not done enough in its first year to achieve rapprochement. Analysts have been voicing their dissatisfaction in connection with the end of year one: the Center for International Policy’s critique sums up the main complaints that have been circulating. Over-arching thesis: “Obama is […]
News of the disaster in Haiti drowned out most other concerns last week but the earthquake was not the only newsworthy thing that happened in the world. Earlier the same day as the earthquake, Google posted a surprising message on its official company blog that raised the possibility the search engine giant may leave the […]