When it comes to thinking about accessibility, so many of the dominant stories around technologies for disability, access, and mobility paint them as objects of empowerment or heroic, life-changing panaceas for social ill. In reality, most of the bugginess and time-suckiness of new tech is never talked about. In the latest issue of MIT Technology […]
Monthly Archives: June 2023
Shein’s charm offensive is off to a rocky start
Have you shopped on Shein? I have, a few times, and I’m not really proud of it. Apart from the universal sin of fast fashion—the overproduction and overconsumption of disposable clothes—Shein in particular has been accused of working with sweatshops, copying indie designs, and even sourcing cotton from government forced-labor programs in Xinjiang. Until recently, […]
Comics beyond sight
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Welcome to the big blimp boom
Some of these next-generation LTAs might even be used for human transportation. Hybrid Air Vehicles, a British company that’s raised more than £100 million ($125 million), plans to use its Airlander 10 ship to transport people on less-served and rural routes. Powered by internal combustion, the Hybrid Air vehicle also takes advantage of tech found […]
The forgotten history of highway photologs
On May 10, 1985, a tricked-out van drove south on US Route 1 in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, on a sunny spring day. Every .01 miles, a 35-millimeter movie camera mounted on the dashboard captured an image out of the front of the van, along with a digital readout displaying the date, route, mileage, and bearing. Highway […]
The future is disabled
“Normal” leaves a lot of people out, and it isn’t, by itself, an inherent good. In this issue of MIT Technology Review, you’ll read important stories of ongoing issues around accessibility. Lorena Ríos describes traveling to Ciudad Juárez, at the Mexico-US border, to explore a US Customs and Border Protection app for asylum seekers. Chancey […]
Job title of the future: metaverse lawyer
Madaline Zannes, IRL.COURTESY OF MADALINE ZANNES Qualifications needed: Technically, none; the metaverse isn’t an actual jurisdiction. There’s no “metaverse law,” and it’s not an area that lawyers can be licensed in—at least not yet. But those with a law degree can use the technology to stand out. “What’s most important is having an open mind,” […]
With campus numbers plummeting due to online learning, do we need two categories of university degree?
As recent headlines have made clear, New Zealand universities are in an existential crisis for a variety of reasons, including a sharp drop in international student numbers and chronic underfunding. But there is another crisis lurking – the disappearance of students from our classrooms following the pandemic. This was happening already, but with the COVID-related […]
Casualties keep growing in this month’s mass exploitation of MOVEit 0-day
reader comments 16 with The dramatic fallout continues in the mass exploitation of a critical vulnerability in a widely used file-transfer program, with at least three new victims coming to light in the past few days. They include the New York City Department of Education and energy companies Schneider Electric and Siemens Electric. To date, […]
Becoming superheroes, together
We must understand systemic inequalities so we can understand why and how to correct them. From both stories, we see how exclusion is less productive than inclusion. Leaving up barriers to women’s education means missing out on women’s potential contributions. Destroying public facilities out of hatred destroys them for everyone. If the goal is to […]