The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has upended the way we live in so many ways that it’s shaping up to be the kind of world-altering event that rivals the two world wars, the Great Depression, the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11 and the rise of the internet. It’s still far too early to predict how it will affect everything, especially … Read More
The virus and its consequences have focused a spotlight on fault lines that have been ignored for years. But instead of providing a wakeup call, few in power seem willing to seriously confront it. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. COVID-19 is a deadly virus. It can target our vital organs, choke our flow of oxygen and slow down our … Read More
I thought it would be a one-off, but even after a dozen stories in various platforms over these past three months all anyone at Nokia still wants to ask me about is acronyms. Despite delving into serious topics such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence, office diversity and personal journeys, colleagues I encounter mostly appear to recall my goofy take on all the wacky … Read More
The prime minister’s unmatched zest for ruling has beaten down and worn out anyone with even a hint of potential to succeed him. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. Seated in a plush conference room of a Lisbon hotel in late 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fielding questions from his traveling press entourage. He detailed his meetings … Read More
The super speed and low latency of 5G technology leaves little to the imagination, and dreamers salivate at its potential. At the same time, the breakthroughs have also spawned a slew of conspiracy theories with little connection to reality. 5G’s dizzying upside ranges from creating the ability to perform long-distance medical procedures to deploying autonomous vehicles and downloading a two-hour … Read More
Naftali Bennett has served as Israel’s defense minister, education minister and economics minister, and most recently he has emerged as the leading candidate to unseat longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But despite an equally illustrious background as a high-tech entrepreneur, the 48-year-old Bennett wasn’t quite up to speed about Nokia. In a September newspaper interview, the leader of the right-wing … Read More
Israeli politics are moving in the opposite direction to America: the demographics play to the right. A Biden-style victory could simply never happen here. Op-ed published in Haaretz. With Israel seemingly headed toward another election, many long-languishing opposition forces are hoping that Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the United States can be a harbinger of the Israeli version of … Read More
Will Smith’s I, Robot sees machine algorithms evolving to control humanity and inherit the earth. Ex Machina’s humanoid robot, Eva, betrays and kills her creator and hapless savior, Caleb. And Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator is a cyborg assassin sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, preventing her from giving birth to a son (who will eventually lead rebels against the machines that have taken over … Read More
It’s the buzzword de jour of our rapid technological advancement. But what exactly is the fourth industrial revolution and how is it truly revolutionary? For starters, your job may disappear, your city could be transformed, technology will mesh with your body and the current lightning speed of innovation you are experiencing will just get faster. The bombastic phrase itself was … Read More
In a country rife with deep disputes, the local Nokia office offers a rare haven in which Israel’s various tribes come together. The two-story hub in the high-tech zone of the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba houses a variety of engineers from Nokia Software, researchers from Bell Labs and salespeople to local service providers. But in a larger sense … Read More
CRM? SMP? KPI? It’s enough to make you cry out for an SOS. What is it with all these high-tech acronyms? I know every industry has them, but from my brief experience at Nokia it seems like here it’s a way of life, an initiation of sorts into a nerdy private society that weeds out those of us who aren’t … Read More
To mark my first month at Nokia, it seemed fitting to pause for a moment to summarize my initial observations about the stark transition I made from the world of journalism. There is a lot to absorb in this personal and professional upheaval, ranging from the new jargon through the meetings-centric working environment to the advanced personal tech and even the office … Read More
News of last month’s massive data breach in Finland, in which thousands of psychotherapy patients in the country discovered that their confidential records had been hacked and they were now facing blackmail, sent shockwaves through the typically stoic Nordic nation. But for Nokia UX designer Aapo Puskala it was a call to action. As a trained psychologist, he could relate to the … Read More
In 15 years as a Mideast correspondent for the Associated Press, I received countless e-mails from readers to the thousands of stories I’d written. Most complained, critiqued and even threatened. But I never encountered anything quite like the one that arrived on June 6, 2020. Responding to a global roundup about those who’d lost their jobs to the coronavirus pandemic, … Read More
AL-DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Jared Kushner and U.S. officials visited a major air base in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, speaking to Emirati and American pilots on the tarmac, as Iran’s supreme leader called the UAE’s recognition of Israel “treason that will not last for long.” The U.S.-brokered deal to establish diplomatic relations between Israel … Read More