Skyway Recommended September 30th to October 6th
This week: Can Tech Solve the Big Problems?; Looming Roaming, Wireless fight with CRTC; Can Data Help with Future Population, Food Crises?; Verizon Takes All; Ultimate in Backup: UN Builds a Backup Building
Each Monday we’ll pass on links to articles we thought were well worth reading from the previous week, for those who live where we do (British Columbia, Canada), work like we do (high speed business internet), and think about things we do (internet trends, internet privacy, internet censorship, cutting-edge technology, etc.). If you don’t want to wait ’til Monday, we usually tweet and link to these as we come across them…
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies | TED Talk: Can technology solve our big problems?
Jason Pontin talks about how capitalism is destroying the adventurous nature of science and technology in this TED video that was published during the month of October 2013. If we want to solve big problems, we will need politicians and capitalists to come together and work on them collectively, he claims. But he does not have much hope of this scenario playing out in our lifetime because of the nature of bad government, corrupt corporations and misguided venture capitalists. Go to Video…
IT World Canada | Carriers prepare for fight with CRTC on roaming, wireless code
As organizations increasingly shift to letting staff bring their own mobile devices, carrier policies and pricing of devices and plans becomes increasingly important. That’s putting the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the national telecom regulator, in the cross-hairs of carriers as the new chairman of the agency tries to flex its muscles. Read More…
GigaOm | There’s a food, energy & resource crunch looming and data can help
The world’s population is growing by 200,000 people a day. By 2050 it’s expected to reach 10 billion. So over the course of the next forty years the planet is expected to get a whole lot more crowded. Read More…
NY Times | Why Verizon Wanted it All
IT didn’t come as a complete surprise when Verizon Communicationsagreed earlier this month to pay $130 billion for the 45 percent of the Verizon Wireless unit that it didn’t already own. What’s startling, though, is the parent company’s dependence on its wireless unit’s operating profit. Without Verizon Wireless, the value of the old Verizon — the giant telephone company that provides dial-tone service as well as Internet and fiber optic TV to millions of customers — is vanishingly small. Read More…
Gizmodo | The UN Is Building an Emergency Back-Up Tower Next to Its Headquarters
As the United Nations wrapped up its 68th General Assembly last week, a major piece of news nearly slipped under the radar: Designs for the UN Consolidation Tower, a 36-story building that will flank the headquarters like an eager little brother, housing almost 3,000 employees. But besides offering much-needed emergency overflow space, this new building could end up making the UN more secure as a whole. Read More…