India built a high-tech surveillance to manage 250M festivalgoers

Indian authorities had to manage 250 million festivalgoers. So they built a high-tech surveillance ministate. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Death Decreed over Zoom

Virtual courts were meant to be the solution to a congested system in Nigeria. Then it was used to sentence a man to death. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Designed in Minecraft, Built IRL

In Gaza, citizens are imagining what public spaces could be, and then actually building them. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

In China, therapy is going mobile, fueled by a rising middle class

The country’s booming middle class is driving the market for digital self-help. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Digital Banking, Now Halal

A council of clerics and 154 fatwas determine if a fintech startup gets the certification it needs to reach the country’s Muslim consumers. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

An Israeli dealer pioneered the smartphone drug marketplace

Silk Road is dead. Meet the next generation of digital black markets for illegal drugs: fully decentralized, pay-by-crypto, and end-to-end encrypted bazaars. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

On Zoom, Y Combinator’s foreign startups have a leg up

Without the long haul to Palo Alto, foreign founders could tend to their startups back home and remotely woo investors. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

WhatsApp Schools in Lebanon

After the catastrophic blast in Beirut this month, more than 55,000 students were left without classrooms. For them and many others, Lebanon’s “WhatsApp schools” are the only solution. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Virtual worship was already on the rise in India. Then Covid-19 hit

India is leading the world in virtual religion: live streams from holy sites, extensive footage of festivals, VR temple experiences, online prayer orders, and even social networks. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Saudi Arabia's women gamers want to be taken seriously

No longer confined to the privacy of their rooms, Saudi women are creating their own culture. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

You Spy. We Chat

Navigating China’s censorship and India’s apps ban, Tibetan refugees rethink their dependence on WeChat. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

What China's national security law means for Hong Kong's status as a data hub

Global data centers look for new homes as Beijing ramps up control over Hong Kong. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A man who wants to “democratize” AI

The AI talent shortage isn’t going away anytime soon. Fusemachines CEO Sameer Maskey says he’s found a solution. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Social robots are here to manage our emotions – Rest of World

Emotional-support robots are changing the dynamics of hospital care. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

From social media darling to America’s most wanted: Your guide to TikTok

How did a Chinese video-sharing platform become a matter of national security? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

(Not so) free encyclopedia

Sarah Hegazi’s suicide made international news, and despite over a dozen profiles pages on Wikipedia, a post on her was removed from Arabic Wikipedia. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Gone Phishing

Obinwanne Okeke was supposed to be a rags-to-riches Nigerian success story. Then the feds followed the money. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The young South Koreans who are opting out

As people all over the world adapt to life in isolation, this community of individual loners has years of experience. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

One software pioneer built an app store that unlocked for 90% of India

12 languages opened up the app store to 90% of the Indian population. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

UBI-like experiment in Brazil is “like oxygen to the economy” amid a pandemic

The Brazilian beachside town of Maricá has seen early signs of success by keeping things hyperlocal. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Africa’s phone phenom: Your guide to Transsion

Everything you need to know about the Chinese company and the secret sauce it calls “glocalization” | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The unacknowledged trauma of Facebook’s foreign content moderators

Thousands of foreign moderators keep the worst content off Facebook but receive little support for the traumatic work. Could that change? | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Coding for Transparency

An army of independent developers has been working nonstop to make sure the information is available to the public. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Bangladesh's economy relies heavily on Facebook

There is no Amazon. There is no eBay. If you want to buy a dress or a crested finch from the comfort of your home, you have to use Facebook. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A man trying to automate Thailand’s hospitals

The coronavirus pandemic is pushing doctors to use robots to treat patients. This pioneer saw the new world coming. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A vigilante uses a new tool for justice in India: Instagram

This Indian Instagram vigilante dispenses justice. Never mind the methods. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The Disneyland of Social Media

Politics is so toxic in the Philippines that, to protect its culture, the Kumu livestreaming platform made a radical decision: ban it. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Can a former model predict your future? A million Turkish users say yes

Meet the flamboyant founder behind the app that’s disrupting the centuries-old tradition of coffee fortune-telling. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Twitter Bought My Bot

Meet the enterprising entrepreneur who sold his solution and landed a job offer from Jack Dorsey on the spot. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A day in the life of two Indian students under lockdown

Thanks to a government-imposed internet slowdown, students in Kashmir are struggling to keep up with their classmates. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Brazil's grassroots chat groups succeed where public services fail

Finding that elusive bus to work, reporting on a blocked sewer, or dodging gang activity: Brazil’s poorest find novel uses for familiar tech platforms. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

A lending app that publicly shames you when you’re late on payments

Okash, a popular fintech app in Kenya and Nigeria, threatens to notify everyone on your contact list about what you owe. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

The trouble with scale – Why not all growth is good

For the so-called ‘Rest of World’ countries, the risk that comes with scale is ignorance of the local, which brings with it the potential for catastrophe. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Behind the Wall

Yes, China’s internet is strictly policed, but it’s also a place for weirdness, subversion, and the occasional glimpse of freedom. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

K-pop fans mobilized globally to change Twitter’s policy

When the social media platform threatened to delete a deceased K-pop idol’s account, thousands of fans turned it into a living memorial. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Anatomy of an Internet Shutdown

How citizens, telecom employees and activists in Sudan turned a battle for digital rights into a referendum on the government | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

What it takes to order KFC in Gaza

Despite the cost of delivery and the food arriving cold, some Palestinians still think it’s worth it. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

How the most prized degree in India became the most worthless

An oversupply of programmers and universities has left thousands without work. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Rest of World

We’re a new global nonprofit publication covering the impact of technology beyond the Western bubble. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago

Rest of World - Reporting Global Tech Stories

We’re a new global nonprofit publication covering the impact of technology beyond the Western bubble. | Continue reading


@restofworld.org | 4 years ago