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New Zealand Wants To Raise Their Tech Game, and They May Just Pull It Off...

new zealand tech
For New Zealand to be the most competitive for digital investments in the world, we need more internet providers in New Zealand.

This can be done by moving the National Broadband Network to the public sector and putting the government on the back foot, and with it putting the public on the side of broadband." New Zealanders Need Better Telecom Services  is another reason that people should demand the national broadband network built by the government.

The reason that so many Kiwis rely on the current government for basic services such as telecommunications is that the government simply doesn't have the money to build a modern, high speed broadband network.  It doesn't have the ability to spend hundreds of millions on a network that would actually make high speed fibre accessible to all the people of New Zealand.  It's simply not going to happen.

This is because New Zealand uses international standards for telecommunications.  In other words the international standards for telecommunications are set up to be the same with respect to bandwidth or frequency that the New Zealand government must provide itself for the purposes to which it is responsible for building the National Broadband Network.

The National Broadband Network can be built in two major parts: The National Broadband Network will have to be built, and be fully operational, throughout NZ.  What this means is that the company that will build the network must be the national broadband company.  It will not be owned by the Government, and it will not be controlled by an international consortium.  This will mean that the company that builds the network has no corporate shareholders, and will not be beholden to the political considerations of any company in New Zealand.

The Government owns, or at least has control of, a majority of the company that develops, manufactures and/or distributes the NBN (i.e. Telstra).  This means that when the company builds the NBN it can choose to build the NBN of its choice, it can choose to be a private company or a government company, but it cannot be both.

If the Government decides to sell that monopoly to the company that creates the new fibre infrastructure in the next ten years (such as NBN Co or CVC Group) the government will no longer be able to dictate to the company which technologies they choose to use.  It doesn't have that option.  So the Government has a very little control over the company that builds the NBN.  This makes the NBN less attractive to new companies that want to build or maintain

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Author: Hal Burr

Apple, Google, And Other Tech Companies Fight COVID 19...


Many tech companies are developing new technology to help fight the spread of COVID-19. Apple and Google are in the middle of developing a contact-tracing feature for their smartphones. 23andMe is conducting a genetic study to understand the range of severity of symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Facebook created a map that shows people who have reported COVID-19 symptoms. Alibaba hopes to use its artificial-intelligence technology to analyze CT scans. And some smaller tech companies are rolling out smart wearable tech and at-home test kits.



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What Role Has Each Social Platform Played In The Spread of True, or False News?

News Headlines

Twitter, Facebook, Reddit — as well as other social media platforms such as Snapchat and Tumblr — now show the full picture of our online news, according to a University of Waterloo study published today in PLOS ONE. The research, led by university professor Jordan Sinclair, used the platform to collect social media data across 3,000 news articles published between January 2018 to October 2019.

Their analysis, which examined Facebook comments, tweets, website posts and direct mail to determine the public's perspective on the health situation. Sinclair and his team also analyzed the content of Google search results for the same 3,000 news articles.

The results confirmed their hypothesis, that while many social media platforms are useful to consumers, they are not the main source of information on health and disease related topics.

Sinclair's team found that of every 100 news articles from January 2014 to October 2013 they collected for analysis, nearly 75 per cent were sourced from blogs, websites and other social media websites.

Although social media did not necessarily contribute to the spread of the news the way it did the news of the coronavirus, most websites — particularly the BBC and the Huffington Post — contained a disproportionate amount of information and, in some cases, promoted misleading information.

The study highlighted the importance of social media in informing the public through both news and opinion, because misinformation can have devastating consequences, Sinclair said.

"This results can be translated into a broader public health message of 'trust us, we think there is evidence for this,' and 'if you want help, check the source of what you're seeing online.'"

For example, many of the articles referenced a government-controlled media report which linked the virus to a number of health risks in Australia and even the country's prime minister Tony Abbott.

"This media report was not the truth, and its use by the media amplified and amplified the false information it was promoting. It promoted misinformation that had a wide audience. It then was picked up by a number of health care organisations across Australia, and it influenced public opinion and public health interventions, both in Australia and internationally," Sinclair said.

Sinclair said he's surprised at how prevalent the misinformation was on social media.

"It is surprising that so many of the articles on health care are so easily disseminated via social media; that is why a paper like ours is so important — it is a window into how quickly misinformation can spread."


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Author: Jurang Lang


When a Silicon Valley Technologist Works for the Government...


What if the government ran more like Silicon Valley? Engineer Matt Cutts shares why he decided to leave Google (where he worked for nearly 17 years) for a career in the US government -- and makes the case that if you really want to make an impact, go where your help is needed most.

Video Thanks To Our Friends at TED