Tim Culpan

Actually, Elon, You Can Count Twitter Bots. Here's How

Elon Musk’s assertion last month that the number of Twitter bots is as “unknowable as the human soul” may well be a negotiating tactic from a man who’s probably feeling a bit of buyer’s remorse. Yet tallying up how many machines are running around on Twitter Inc.’s platform is a pretty…

Twitter Must Tackle a Problem Far Bigger Than Bots

For years, anyone covering China as a journalist, researcher or public policy maker has had to deal with the issue of trolls, fake accounts, copycats and harassment on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Recently it’s been getting worse, and for a growing number of female writers of Asian…

Made-in-China PC Rule Won’t Advance Nation’s Tech Prowess

Beijing’s new requirement that government agencies ditch foreign computers and buy local is designed to wean the nation off overseas products. The move will certainly boost sales of Chinese-made PCs domestically, but it won’t do much to advance the nation’s long-held ambition to deepen its tech…

Australia Has a China Problem and a Chinese Problem

As Australians head to the polls this month, China’s role in domestic politics is becoming increasingly important. Yet many politicians, journalists and voters seem to be unable to distinguish between China the nation, the Communist Party that governs it, and people of Chinese ancestry. This is…

Apple Earnings Are a Big Step Back for Transparency

It’s been more than two years since Apple Inc. issued revenue guidance. The iPhone maker initially blamed the Covid-19 pandemic, and later added chip shortages, for its inability to forecast the future. Yet the move is part of a worrying trend toward decreasing transparency at the world’s largest…

The Next Cybersecurity Crisis: Poisoned AI

For the past decade, artificial intelligence has been used to recognize faces, rate creditworthiness and predict the weather. At the same time, increasingly sophisticated hacks using stealthier methods have escalated. The combination of AI and cybersecurity was inevitable as both fields sought…

Cyber Nukes Could Be Our Path to Digital Peace

Two world wars had raged within three decades, costing over 100 million lives, when history’s most destructive weapon was deployed in August 1945. The horrific prospect of nuclear-fueled, mutually assured destruction has kept superpowers in check since then, and a cyber equivalent may be just what…

This Supplier to Chipmakers Is Drowning in Success

Headline numbers for ASML Holding NV look bad, but what they really show is a global powerhouse struggling to handle its own unassailable popularity. The Dutch maker of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment forecast second-quarter revenue 10% below analyst estimates. Distraught investors, who’ve…

How Elon Musk Can Still Save Twitter From the Outside

Oops. Looks like Elon Musk isn’t joining Twitter Inc.’s board after all. Less than a week after Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal excitedly tweeted that the world’s richest man would get a seat, he’s now been forced to backpedal after saying Musk declined the offer. Musk was supposed to…

Supply Chain Worries Are Finally Going Viral

There’s a trite expression that perfectly encapsulates how corporate leaders should now be viewing their intense dependence on Chinese production: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. After Covid-19 first struck in China, shuttering factories there before disruptions spread…