Remote-controlled warfareIn Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US army are increasingly utilising “unmanned aerial vehicle” — remote-controlled flying robot drones — that allow soldiers to fight without ever going near the frontlines.
July, 2009
Hail a taxi from the future
Even with hybrid cab fleets hitting the roads in a growing number of cities, when it comes to efficiency and intelligence, the design of most cabs falls short. Designboom featured a collection of taxi concepts from automakers and designers in markets around the world.
Bill Gates remembers 1979
Gadget site Gizmodo have been celebrating the year 1979, so Bill Gates (yes, the Bill Gates) wrote in with his own memories of a time when Microsoft had 13 employees and 16-bit microprocessor were cutting edge.
Breakfast Media Wrap: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as essayist – again
The pick of Saturday morning’s media
30 classic albums recreated in Lego
How can you improve on iconic rock albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind, U2’s The Joshua Tree or The Beatles’ Let it Be? Easy: recreate them our of Lego.
Turnbull drags Coalition closer to ETS deal
Malcolm Turnbull has shifted the Coalition closer to supporting the Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme this year after winning shadow Cabinet support for a negotiating position this afternoon.
Iran’s religious cleansing
Political dissidents aren’t the only people facing brutal treatment in Iran: the country’s non-Muslim minorities are regularly persecuted by both state and society. So why doesn’t the West take notice?
Oh, the economics you’ll find in Dr Seuss!
Why The Lorax teaches us about property differentiation, what Green Eggs and Ham has to say on supply and demand, The Cat in the Hat’s lessons in industrial relations, and more hidden economic theories in the works of Dr Seuss.
Japan’s big plans for solar energy
Partly spurred by the loss of dominance in the solar industry, Japan has plans for widespread deployment of solar PV technologies to push the price of solar energy down to the same as conventional energy.
An apology is not an excuse
California will apologise to the Chinese-American community for institutional racism that dates back to the Gold Rush. But an apology can leave far greater acts of racial discrimination unacknowledged, says Andrew Bartlett.
How journalism became a middle-class profession
Once upon a time, the popular British press was the domain of the working class while the broadsheets were staffed by the middle class, says Roy Greenslade. Not anymore.
Satirist the most trusted for news
The latest TIME poll reveals Daily Show host Jon Stewart as the most trusted newscaster in the United States. The poll was rather limited, but even so, writes Josh Taylor.
Queensland: a sunny place for shady politics
Queenslanders may not have moved so far beyond the Bjelke-Petersen era as they would like to think; his legacy of mixing government with business lives on under a secretive and self-serving Labor government, says Scott Prasser.
NAB’s grubby $2 billion cash grab
The way shareholders got preferential treatment yesterday from the NAB, which wanted to raise $2 billion quickly, but then “stagged” most of the shares and took a free profit, was disgusting.
Afghanistan: a mess wrapped in a blood-soaked riddle
Pro-war pundits contrast the theocratic rule of the Taliban circa 2000 with an Afghan future that exists only in their imagination, neatly ignoring the real Afghanistan that the war has brought into being, writes Jeff Sparrow.
Wankley Awards: And the Wankley goes to … a badly cooked story
The Wankley this week goes to the itchy trigger fingers of the Daily Telegraph website editors, who were so eager to get the scoop on the MasterChef finale, they ran the story early and with the wrong winner.
Harry Evans: my 40 years of Canberra joy
Harry Evans, Retiring Clerk of the Senate, has seen it all. In a speech to be delivered in Canberra today, he reflects on his time at the helm of a stuffy institution still in need of serious reform.
Ashes 09: the swine flu diaries
Crikey’s Ashes correspondent Jarrod Kimber becomes the second high profile (ahem) Australian cricket journalist to get swine flu.
Political snippets: Australia’s newest electorate finally has a name
Poet Judith Arundell Wright has beaten out the likes of Joh Bjelke-Peterson and Ricki-Lee Coulter as namesake for Queensland’s new electorate, a Nazi garden gnome goes on trial, Bob Brown in a purple haze and more meaty chunks from Richard Farmer.
Tour de France: Evans falters as Contador steams ahead
For Australia’s cycling cheer squad, the extent of Cadel Evans’ demise has come as a genuine shock. So how did Australia’s golden boy from a genuine yellow jersey chance to 12th place?
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Onya, Thorpie!
Readers give the Thorpedo the thumbs-up, the straight dish on digital radio, some California dreamin’ and more.
China’s ore tactics eroded from within
China’s attempts to try and crack the iron ore producers is being undermined by soaring world prices, says Glenn Dyer.
