Science & Technology

One evening in February last year, a 23-year-old Uber driver named Niradi Srikanth was getting ready to start another shift, ferrying passengers around the south Indian city of Hyderabad. He pointed the phone at his face to take a selfie to verify his identity. The process usually worked seamlessly. But this time he was unable…

One evening in February last year, a 23-year-old Uber driver named Niradi Srikanth was getting ready to start another shift, ferrying passengers around the south Indian city of Hyderabad. He pointed the phone at his face to take a selfie to verify his identity. The process usually worked seamlessly. But this time he was unable…

A small drone descends from the skies and hovers in front of my face. A voice echoes from the drone’s speakers. The police are conducting routine checks in the neighborhood.  I feel as if the drone’s camera is drilling into me. I try to turn my back to it, but the drone follows me like…

One early evening in February last year, a 23-year-old Uber driver named Niradi Srikanth was getting ready to start another shift, ferrying passengers around the south Indian city of Hyderabad in his midsize sedan. He pointed the phone at his face to take a selfie to verify his identity. The process usually worked seamlessly. But…

Editor’s note: This is a translation of a story about a Chinese painter based in Italy who became a critical source of information for many in China during recent protests against the country’s zero-covid policy. Find the English language version here. 过去一周，随着针对中国新冠防疫政策的抗议席卷了社交媒体，一个推特账号@李老师不是你老师 变成了各种相关信息来源的“集散地”。中国各地民众纷纷通过私信发来抗议视频和实时消息，而该账号帮投稿人隐去身份，匿名将这些消息发布出来。 这个账户背后只有一个人：李（大家称他为李老师），出于安全考虑，他要求只透露姓氏。他是一位居住在意大利的中国画家，且从未在新闻行业工作过，但这并没有阻止他把自己的推特账号变成了一个单人值守的新闻直播间。 针对新冠清零政策的抗议活动在 11 月的最后一个周末达到了高峰，李老师每秒钟都会收到十几条私信，他也在尽可能在收到投稿的一瞬间分辨、过滤掉不实信息。尽管在过去的一年里，他一直在发布关注者们的匿名私信，但这对他来说，也是一次完全不同的经历。 长期以来，他一直在网上关注并谈论中国的社会问题。2021 年的时候，他开始在微博上收到私信，这些人担心暴露自己的身份，希望通过他将这些信息发布出去。 但是后来，他发布的消息开始被审查和删帖；到今年2月，他的账户被封禁。之后的两个月中，他又有 49 个账户陆续被禁。但他的关注者们大方地让他使用自己的手机号去注册更多的账号（来发布信息）。今年 4 月，他被微博禁止访问，于是辗转到了推特。也正是在推特上，他收到了大量国际账户以及翻墙访问推特的中国用户的关注。 上周，郑州富士康工厂的工人与管理层爆发冲突，李老师开始通过中国社交媒体和他的关注者提供的信息来跟踪事态走向。那一晚，他只休息了 3…

Our in-depth reporting reveals what’s going on now to prepare you for what’s coming next.Subscribe to support our journalism.

It’s always nice to start the day with a bit of unambiguously good news, so it brings me great pleasure to report that Apple’s DIY repair service for iPhones and Macs has launched in select (read: eight) European countries. The service is still not perfect (Apple’s devices arguably need to be made easier to repair…

Skip to main content / Now you can glide through all your Chrome tabs, bookmarks, and history with new site search shortcuts. Just an ‘@’ entry into the address bar will help start your search. Dec 6, 2022, 10:56 PM UTC| Image: GoogleChrome tab jockeys and bookmark hoarders, rejoice: you can now quickly swift through…

Adding an item to your shopping list with just your voice is a modern convenience you quickly get used to. But the pain of wrangling the app you added it to on your smartphone while wheeling a shopping cart through a crowded store can have you yearning for simpler days — and paper. A new…

Just days ago, Elon Musk took aim at Apple’s App Store policies while dragging it into the political and culture war crosshairs, highlighting how important the storefront is to so many developers and services. Today, Apple announced it’s changing long-standing App Store policies that put tight restrictions on what developers are allowed to charge their…