Report shows Airbnb is crowding out long-term housing in the UK
Airbnb’s short-term rentals are exacerbating a housing shortage and crowding out local communities, according to a report from The Guardian. The Guardian cross-referenced a database of Airbnb listings with government housing data. While the database included shared rooms, private rooms, and entire homes, 67 percent of the listings were for whole apartments. In some areas, the analysis found […]
How Tech Giants Use Social Media Against You
In late April, news broke that Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft had collectively spent half a billion dollars trying to convince the U.S. Government that it’s okay for them to exploit our data and not pay taxes. Facebook and Google spent most of their lobbying money on privacy issues, whereas Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft […]
Let’s clear up the Russian trolls involvement in the Last Jedi bashing
“Half of negative tweets about the Last Jedi were the works of Russian trolls”. It’s the breaking news of the week since researcher Morten Bay released his preprint paper. But aren’t we a little quick in jumping to conclusions? I’m a Star Wars fan since the Empire Strikes Back (yes, I’m that old). So when […]
#FRENCHTECHFRIDAY: Why France’s startups can no longer “Pitch”
A strange battle is taking place in France right now. A cake maker is threatening startups of legal action for using the word “pitch”. This could seem like a comical slip-up if it weren’t, in fact, tragic for France’s image abroad. Pasquier vs Startups The “startup nation” is taking an unexpected blow. Keen to […]
Where does France really stand in the Tech World?
We like to put things – and people – into neat little boxes: this country is good at inventing, this one does well in computer sciences. How much if it is true? The OECD has just released a comprehensive report on Science, Technology and Industry for 2017. Maybe it’s time to set the record straight. […]
Why it is wrong to worry about Robotics and AI
Sutton Trust releases report showing robotics and AI will worsen social mobility What it said and why it’s wrong by Luke Chambers One of the most repeated terms in relation to robotics is ‘Robotics will lead to significant job losses’ and ‘robots are replacing our workers’. So much so that it now competes […]
Longevity of the firm and zombie corporations
In stark contrast to say, The Netherlands, France bemoans the moment one of its home-grown emerging champions gets acquired by a foreign company. [I have a whole blog post in my head on just this topic alone]. Corporations are viewed in France as containers of jobs, with the obligation to provide secure employment to its […]
The future of food: Will we all be eating insects and algae soon?
The world’s food system might be at risk, experts claim in alarming reports that with a world population expected to reach at least 9 billion people by 2050, the world may not be able to feed itself if it doesn’t increase food productivity. However, countries need to prioritize sustainable methods of production, since current systems […]
The Digital French Council is worried about French government position on Open Data
Just a couple weeks after a loud argument between RATP -a state-owned public transport operator, and CityMapper -a public transit navigation app, the CNNum calls out French parliamentarians in a press release, encouraging them to support open data on the occasion of the digital Republic draft bill led by Axelle Lemaire -Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs, […]
Democratizing Robotics: InMoov lends the future of AI a hand
If all you saw in robotics yesterday was Microsoft’s failed attempt at it, then it was kind of a disappointing day for artificial intelligence. The humans built it, and the other humans broke it… bummer. Luckily for me, I was at Hacking de l’Hôtel de Ville where got to spend time with InMoov, the world’s […]