Mark Skilton, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Environmental group Greenpeace has slammed Amazon for its environmental practices in its latest report on the green credentials of the technology industry. Greenpeace is concerned that Amazon Web services…
MongoDB co-founder and chairman Dwight Merriman still writes code.
TechCrunch/Flickr
While much focus and discussion of the so-called “Big Data revolution” has been on the data itself and the exciting new applications it is enabling — from Google’s self-driving cars through to CSIRO and…
Lush’s gripe with Amazon is an explosive issue and it’s not just about ethics.
firepile
The ongoing battle between cosmetics company Lush and internet retailer Amazon is starting to give off a distinctly unsavoury odour. At the beginning, many supported plucky little Lush as it sought to…
The Amazon contains half of the world’s tropical rainforests.
CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture/Flickr
Drought in the Amazon increases the release of carbon into the atmosphere, according to research published today in Nature. The Amazon plays a key role in the Earth’s climate system, thanks to the extent…
That’s one way to get around Facebook’s facial recognition.
mw238
While every year since the advent of the internet has had its share of privacy stories, 2013 has been a cornucopia of news about surveillance and personal data. Undoubtedly, the biggest story of the year…
A race to the bottom on cloud costs sounds good on the surface, but it could also drive volatility for cloud users.
shutterstock.com
Since Google announced the launch of its Compute Engine in mid 2012, the competition for this lucrative slice of the cloud market has heated up. Amazon AWS, which has the lion’s share of the cloud infrastructure…
You can wait a long time for a postman to show up in the country.
amandabhslater
The biggest names in internet retail appear to be dramatically stepping up efforts to make delivering your online orders, fast, reliable and extremely hi-tech. But in a week in which Amazon talked up its…
Amazon worker wraps someone else’s Christmas present.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
If there’s any time of year that retail companies fear bad press it’s in the run-up to Christmas, so undercover footage revealing gruelling work conditions which was broadcast last week and the ongoing…
UAVs as small as 10cm by 2.5cm are already in use for surveillance by the military. What are the privacy implications if these devices become easily accessible?
Defence Images/Flickr
What happens when an Amazon drone drops through your roof or lands on the neighbour’s toddler while delivering a parcel? Can an unhappy pig farmer shoot down a drone operated by animal rights activists…
Apparently keen to inject a bit of fun into its image after a damaging few weeks of press coverage, online retail giant Amazon has announced that it is experimenting with the use of drones to deliver its…
Dell and IBM are two companies feeling the pinch by the growing corporate shift towards cloud computing.
Mauritz Antin/EPA
When Amazon, known by most as an online department store, extended its web services business into Australia in 2012, few outside the IT sector noticed. Data released last week by the Australian Securities…
Detailed excavations of a Bolivian large mound known locally as Isla del Tesoro (Treasure Island) have revealed evidence of humans living in the region much earlier than first thought.
Lombardo U, Szabo K, Capriles JM, May J-H, Amelung W, et al. (2013)
Researchers have discovered the earliest evidence yet of humans living in the Bolivian Amazon, putting the first known human habitation of the region at about 8000 years earlier than was previously thought…
Megafauna such as Glyptodon were muck-spreaders.
Pavel Riha
If Earth were like a human body, large animals might be its arteries, moving nutrients from where they’re abundant to where they’re needed. Currently the planet has large regions where life is limited…
The internet sent newspapers back to the drawing board.
Achifaifa
Brant Houston, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Perhaps the proverbial tipping point in US print journalism has been reached. With the US$250m acquisition this week of The Washington Post by Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, the US newspaper…
Washington Post: yours for a mere $250m.
Daniel X O Neil
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, has bought iconic newspaper The Washington Post for US$250m. Cash. The first question to ask, then, in age where newspaper readership and sales are plummeting…
Companies can keep on ducking tax, despite what the OECD says.
Yahoo! Inc
The long awaited report on combating corporate tax avoidance by the OECD sadly has to deal with a corporate tax system which is unfit for purpose. It is a follow-up to the G8 meeting last month in Ireland…
Tax protests outside a Starbucks in London. But do people really care enough to make a difference?
Steve Parsons/PA
The tax arrangements of major brands such as Google, Apple and Amazon have prompted a fierce debate over questions of organisational ethics, social justice and international co-operation. But as a consumer…
Online retailer Amazon has come in for criticism since it was revealed they electronically tag their factory workers - does this represent the ‘new world’ of work?
Scottish Government
Every age has its estimate of the pressures and perils of work. Adam Smith, writing in the 18th century, focused on the toil and trauma of work. Karl Marx, writing in the 19th century, spoke of the alienation…
When it comes to IT products, Australian consumers pay more than their American counterparts.
AAP
Apple Inc. has often portrayed itself as the champion of consumers, with its advertising campaigns on “1984”, “Think Different”, and “Rip, Mix, Burn”. However, this reputation has been called into question…