2Degrees gets in on the 5G game

Peter Griffin, Editor. 01 December 2021, 9:07 am Mobile operator 2Degrees has switched on its 5G network in Auckland and Wellington for testing and optimisation, joining Spark and Vodafone in introducing the next generation of mobile technology. While 5G debuted in New Zealand in 2019 with significantly increased data transfer speeds touted as the key […]

Getting ambitious on the tech gender gap – #10KWāhine

By Vanessa Sorenson, Contributor. 01 December 2021, 9:07 am For years, those of us in the Aotearoa tech sector have been talking about the underrepresentation of wāhine. As a woman and a managing director in the industry myself, it’s something I’m asked about a lot – and the w’hy’ is obvious. In New Zealand, only […]

Users revolt as Microsoft bolts a short-term financing app onto Edge

Getty Images reader comments 78 with 65 posters participating Share this story Microsoft is taking a lot of flak for planning to integrate a short-term financing app into the company’s Edge browser. The app would allow users to make purchases immediately and pay for them at a future date. In recent years, Edge has built […]

Google Play apps downloaded 300,000 times stole bank credentials

reader comments 17 with 15 posters participating Share this story Researchers said they’ve discovered a batch of apps downloaded from Google Play more than 300,000 times before the apps were revealed to be banking trojans that surreptitiously siphoned user passwords and two-factor authentication codes, logged keystrokes, and took screenshots. The apps—posing as QR scanners, PDF […]

We still don’t know enough about the Omicron variant to panic

What we don’t know: Amid all the panic, it’s important to remember we still know very little about the new variant—and we’ve been worried about variants that have come to nothing in the past. The crucial questions are around whether it increases transmissibility, whether it worsens health outcomes—so pushes up deaths and hospitalizations—and crucially, whether […]

Ending online anonymity won’t make social media less toxic

By Shireen Morris and Andrew Ball, Contributors. 29 November 2021, 11:25 am In recent months the Australian Government has proposed cracking down on online anonymity. The idea is that attaching online posts to a person’s real name will reduce abuse and increase accountability. Online bullying and misinformation are growing problems, and government action to address them […]

Can Afghanistan’s underground “sneakernet” survive the Taliban?

When the Taliban captured the city of Herat on August 12, Yasin and his colleagues speculated that it wouldn’t be long before the Taliban’s invading forces took over their own city of Mazar-i-Sharif.  “Things were more tense in Mazar, too, so me and other computer kars of Mazar who work together held a secret meeting […]

Griffin on Tech: The biggest fix of all

Peter Griffin, Editor. 26 November 2021, 2:56 pm A day in politics is a very long time, as Judith Collins found out this week. On Wednesday, there was Collins launching an issues paper outlining how National would address eight “big fixes” the country needs, including “growing the tech sector”. “When I speak with tech people, […]

New TechHub platform to inspire the next generation

TechHub Schools Team. 26 November 2021, 2:40 pm The tech industry and schools got a little closer today, with the new TechHub kicking off. TechHub is a platform for the industry’s nationwide in-school programmes, helping introduce kids to digital tech. The new platform currently hosts the tech industry’s primary nationwide programmes in schools, launching with: […]

Digital Identity in New Zealand: technical choices have human impacts

By James Ting-Edwards, Contributor. 26 November 2021, 9:35 am From 11:59pm on 2 December, New Zealand will shift into the COVID Protection Framework, also known as the traffic light system. A key part of this system is the government’s My Vaccine Pass app, which supports more venues and activities to open up safely, by giving […]