Showing results for "What Is the What" in Computers & Technology

When Sleepers, Wake! was released in Australia, it immediately became influential around the world. Now its author, the polymath and former politician Barry Jones, turns his attention to what has happened since - especially to politics, health, and our climate in the digital age - and to the challenges faced by increasingly fragile democracies and public institutions. 

Many think of the internet as an unprecedented and overwhelmingly positive achievement of modern human technology. But is it? In The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is, Justin Smith offers an original deep history of the internet, from the ancient to the modern world - uncovering its surprising origins in nature and centuries-old dreams of radically improving human life by outsourcing thinking to machines and communicating across vast distances. 

The world loves 4G phones, tablets and other gizmos and we take the tech for granted...but when that 4 grew up into the next-gen 5, it seems everyone perked up and started caring about phone-networking tech. Journalists journaled, politicians, er, politicked and tin-foil hat wearers reached for the extra-thick reinforced foil. Why all this fuss? Believe it or not, 5G could change the way you live.

Ah, the Cloud. It's such a useful bit of tech jargon, isn't it? The kind that's casually thrown around in work meetings by bosses who (kind of) understand and maybe even at the nerdier type of dinner or drinks parties. People joke about the Cloud while others take it for granted, and some worry about this mysterious entity where all of our data is stored, accessible at the touch of a screen from anywhere on Earth. But what even is the Cloud, and for that matter, where is the Cloud?

Whether it's from dodgy acronym-titled crime shows to news stories designed to terrify you down to your socks, we've all heard about sites like Silk Road and the ways criminals use cryptocurrency online. But did you know that among the various shady corners of the dark web you can also find portals to the BBC and Facebook? So, let's go on a journey from the birth of the Net through the strangest dark services to the surprisingly positive uses of dark technology, including dodging the watchful eye of oppressive censors.

New technologies are offering companies, politicians, and others unprecedented opportunity to manipulate us. Sometimes we are given the illusion of power—of freedom—through choice, yet the game is rigged, pushing us in specific directions that lead to less wealth, worse health, and weaker democracy.

Brought to you by Penguin. Ever wondered what goes through other people’s minds – their silly questions, their inner anxieties, hopes and dreams? In What We Ask Google, the company's Data Editor Simon Rogers explores insights from the world's biggest dataset: an epic snapshot, two decades...

Virtual reality is able to effectively blur the line between reality and illusion, pushing the limits of our imagination and granting us access to any experience imaginable. With well-crafted simulations, these experiences, which are so immersive that the brain believes they're real, are already widely available with a VR headset and will only become more accessible and commonplace. But how does this new medium affect its users, and does it have a future beyond fantasy and escapism? In Experience on Demand, Jeremy Bailenson draws on two decades spent researching the psychological effects of VR and other mass media to help listeners understand this powerful new tool.

A groundbreaking endeavor to explore human spirituality through the evolving technology of artificial...