Who needs digital privacy?
A new generation of digital tracking technologies can now follow your every move, unleashing a world of personalised adverts. Privacy campaigners are furious. But embracing these tools may be the only way to save the media from bankruptcy
We all need digital privacy
Peter Bazalgette's apologia for dangerous new internet tracking technologies fails to realise that, without privacy protection, our economy will suffer
Are we losing the virus wars?
The openness of "generative" technologies like the PC and the internet has led to great innovations—but also to an upward spiral of viruses, worms and spam. Such bad code threatens to derail the internet and promote "sterile" appliances like the…
The Silicon Valley of China
On my 3,000-mile journey east to west along China's Route 312, I stumble across the giant city of Hefei. It is almost unknown outside China, but it aspires to be the country's Silicon Valley by 2020, and its aspirations are…
Making national identity work
The government should not scrap its ID scheme but radically rethink it. It should postpone the idea of the ID card and focus instead on allocating a unique national identity number, backed by biometrics, to each citizen—that is all that…
Virtual worlds and second lives
Over the last year, the virtual world Second Life has grown from a niche activity into a major phenomenon. Thousands are making money from it, and corporations are taking an interest. The distinction between real and virtual worlds is becoming…
The future of proof
The use of computers means that modern mathematical proofs can run to millions of pages. Such proofs can never be fully verified by humans alone. Does this mean, as some argue, the death of proof?
Technology and frustration
Functionally, the iPhone is nothing new. But if it takes off, it could herald a transformation of new media
The DNA computer
Scientists are attempting to create an entirely new kind of computer, one based on the building blocks of life. But don't get rid of your laptop just yet
King Google
Google is worth billions because it delivers readers to advertisers better than any other media outlet—despite not always being the best search engine
A better class of ID card
Like it or not, Britain will have an ID card scheme within a few years. But the government may be missing a trick: modern technologies mean that a national identity scheme can do much more than simply prevent people doing…
The Indian genius
What makes Indian software developers the best in the world?