Vistas News – For the Millennial

Tech

Sidewalk Toronto’s master plan raises urgent concerns about data and privacy

By laku on February 2, 2020February 2, 2020

On June 24th, Sidewalk Labs, the Google sister company proposing a smart city for Toronto’s eastern waterfront, released its mammoth 1,500-page Master Innovation and Development Plan
During Sidewalk Labs’ approximately two-year public consultations, privacy and control over data quickly emerged as flashpoints. A July 2019 survey by The Forum Poll found that while only 38 per cent of Torontonians were familiar with the smart-city project, 60 per cent of those people did not trust Sidewalk Labs to collect data on its residents.

Business

Shutterstock EU-Japan trade deal comes into force to create world’s biggest trade zone

By laku on January 31, 2020February 2, 2020

Two new landmark agreements between the EU and Japan come into effect on February 1, 2019: the Economic Partnership Agreement and the Strategic Partnership Agreement. The economic agreement is the largest bilateral trade deal ever made by the EU in terms of market size and will be the largest zone of free trade created in history.

Business

Beyond Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico, Latin America’s innovation potential is largely untapped

By Vistas on January 30, 2020February 2, 2020

Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico were Latin America’s big winners in the 2017 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII), which ranks the world’s economies on their innovative capabilities (innovation inputs) and measurable results (innovation outputs).

Tech

Blockchain in retail sector

By Vistas on January 29, 2020February 2, 2020

By Swathi Hameed The technology of blockchain has been around for more than two decades now. Ever since Bitcoin, an application of blockchain, hit the airwaves in 2008, a number of applications have cropped all of which seek to leverage the principles and capabilities of the digital ledger technology. Many people see blockchain as a

Business

Design global, manufacture local: a new industrial revolution?

By laku on January 28, 2020January 28, 2020

What if globally designed products could radically change how we work, produce and consume? Several examples across continents show the way we are producing and consuming goods could be improved by relying on globally shared digital resources, such as design, knowledge and software.

Tech

How we used cameras in the sky to track invasive plant species

By Vistas on January 28, 2020January 28, 2020

Pretty pink, orange and white flowers of the shrub Lantana camara or wild sage, are common in ornamental gardens across many parts of the world. Although considered beautiful and hardy by landscape designers, the species is reviled by conservation biologists as “one of the worst weeds in recorded history”

Tech

Can the world’s megacities survive the digital age?

By Vistas on January 28, 2020January 28, 2020

Today, megacities have become synonymous with economic growth. In both developing and developed countries, cities with populations of 10 million or more account for one-third to one-half of their gross domestic product.

Politics

Why do we keep having debates about video-game violence?

By laku on January 27, 2020January 28, 2020

After the series of tragic mass shootings in El Paso, Tex., and Dayton, Ohio, and shocking murders in Ontario and British Columbia, all on the heels of the horrific events in Christchurch, New Zealand, we once again are having debates about the effects of video-game violence on society. We need to stop.

Politics

The White House is upending decades of protocol for policy-making

By Vistas on January 27, 2020January 28, 2020

Whether it’s overhauling asylum procedures, adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, or rolling back fuel standards, a pattern has emerged when the Trump administration changes policies and creates new ones.

Business

Is India’s Growth Slowing Down?

By Vistas on January 26, 2020January 28, 2020

Rahul Kabra With an ongoing debate across the whole country whether the economic slowdown is structural or cyclical, it is evident that the growth has been slowing down. Gross Domestic Product (GDP ), a measure of all the goods and services produced within a country, has been slowing down since the beginning of 2019 which