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Technology Explained

Evergreen context on technology, distilled into calm, readable pulses.

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Underneath every technology headline is a set of concepts — how a chip actually works, what makes an algorithm efficient, why a protocol matters — that rarely get explained because most coverage assumes you already know them. Briflio's Technology knowledge hub exists to close that gap: durable explainers on the mechanics behind the tools and platforms that shape daily life, built to still make sense long after the news cycle that prompted them.

The Four-Color Theorem Gets a Rare New Proof

The Four-Color Theorem Gets a Rare New Proof

Some math problems continue to haunt researchers long after they’ve been solved.

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What Is Math’s Mysterious Langlands Program Really About?

Technology

What Is Math’s Mysterious Langlands Program Really About?

The mathematical universe is boundless and heterogeneous, encompassing, over here, truths about numbers and equations; there, the logic of shapes and spaces; and over there, the study of change and probability.

American women in communities with ample broadband access lose less time waiting for services, reducing time poverty

Making broadband affordable and training people how to best use it are also key to saving time.

We designed a new way to build miniature fluidic devices to enable personalized cancer treatment

The devices make tumour-on-a-chip technology easier and cheaper to build, with the hope they can be moved into clinical use for personalized cancer treatment.

AI is helping ease competition for scarce space on the airwaves

Radio spectrum is a critical but limited resource, but advances in technology are making it possible to share.

AI Has Solved One of Math’s $1 Million Millennium Prize Problems

AI Has Solved One of Math’s $1 Million Millennium Prize Problems

On the morning of Tuesday, September 8, mathematicians at OpenAI announced that a group of 10,000 autonomous AI agents under their direction, running on an advanced model not available to the public, had found a “singularity” in the Navier-Stokes equations in three dimensions — thus resolving one of the six remaining Millennium Prize Problems posed in 2000 by the Clay Mathematics Institute… Source.

Visualisation of internet network connections

Why the Internet Can Reroute Around Broken Paths

The internet does not send every message through one permanent route. Data is broken into packets, and networks use routing protocols to decide where those packets should travel based on available connections. If a link fails, routers can learn new paths and redirect traffic. That resilience does not make the internet indestructible because major cables and data centres still matter. It does explain why losing one route does not usually end communication: the network was designed around many interconnected paths rather than a single central wire.

AI is helping businesses learn what customers will pay – and workers will accept

Businesses are increasingly turning to AI and personalised data to become more efficient.

Example Huffman coding tree used in lossless compression

Why Compression Can Shrink a File Without Losing Information

Lossless compression shrinks data by finding repeated patterns and representing them more efficiently. Instead of storing the same sequence again and again, an algorithm can store a shorter reference or code and reconstruct the exact original later. The trick works because real data is often redundant. Lossy compression goes further by discarding information judged less important, which is why a JPEG can become smaller but not perfectly identical after decoding. Compression is therefore a trade between redundancy, fidelity and the cost of storage or transmission.

Tux the Linux penguin mascot

Open Source Shares the Recipe, Not an Absence of Rules

Open-source software makes source code available under licences that allow people to inspect, modify and redistribute it under defined conditions. That does not mean the software has no owner or no legal rules. Different licences set different obligations, such as preserving notices or sharing modifications under the same terms. The practical power comes from transparency and reuse: thousands of organisations can build on the same underlying code instead of independently recreating it. Open source turns software development into a layered ecosystem of shared components.

Artist rendering of a GPS satellite in orbit

GPS Works Because Satellites Carry Extremely Accurate Clocks

A phone does not ask a GPS satellite directly where it is. GPS satellites broadcast precise timing signals and orbital information, and a receiver calculates how long those signals took to arrive. Because radio waves travel at the speed of light, that travel time becomes distance. Comparing distances from several satellites lets the receiver solve for its position. Tiny clock errors would become large location errors, which is why atomic clocks are central to GPS. Navigation is fundamentally a timing problem disguised as a map.

Replica of the first point-contact transistor

The Transistor Made Modern Electronics Possible by Replacing the Vacuum Tube

Early electronic computers relied on vacuum tubes that were bulky, hot and prone to failure. The transistor changed that by controlling electrical current inside a tiny piece of semiconductor material. Transistors could be made smaller, use less power and eventually be manufactured by the millions and then billions on integrated circuits. The important leap was not simply replacing one component. Miniaturisation compounded. Each generation could pack more switching elements into less space, turning room-sized electronics into laptops, phones and the chips now used for artificial intelligence.

The product is the problem: Why Meta’s $17 billion settlement matters beyond America

The agreement could mark a turning point for public policies on social media precisely because it addresses the architecture of the platforms themselves.

Essential digital technologies are critical infrastructure – they are not always built and managed that way

Search engines, social media and AI models can be made as safe and reliable as bridges and water supplies.

Live from ICM 2026: What Is Math For in the Age of AI?

Mathematicians are witnessing a profound shift in their field.

Daejon Love case highlights online romance scams: Research reveals scammers’ tactics – and how to defend against them

Dating apps have given an ancient profession, confidence scamming, a high-tech boost.

Britain’s quarter century: Netflix, memes and the supposed Christian revival

A look at how entertainment, culture and religion have changed since 2001.

Autonomous weapons can select targets without human help – now is the time for binding rules

Officials are meeting in Geneva to negotiate urgent controls on autonomous weapons.

‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions

‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions

The week before Christmas 2025, five mathematicians were holed up in a classroom at ETH Zurich.

‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions

‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions

The week before Christmas 2025, five mathematicians were holed up in a classroom at ETH Zurich.

The EU’s repair policies are changing the way tech is designed

From phones and laptops to coffee machines and earbuds, new legislation is making it easier to fix tech products.

Does Computer Science Need Computers?

Does Computer Science Need Computers?

The pioneering computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra, winner of the 1972 A.M.

Brain-reading wearables will soon be ordinary. What will this mean for the new generation of ‘neurotechnological natives’?

My new study poses nine vital questions for children growing up in the ‘brain-as-interface era’.

Smart glasses make secret filming easier. What does NZ law actually protect you from?

Cheap camera glasses make covert filming easier than ever.

Changes to Facebook and Instagram are key part of Meta’s $17B settlement with the states over harm to teens

Meta’s settlement calls for several key design changes to protect teens, but how the states will verify and enforce the changes is a big question mark.

Robots can run faster than elite human sprinters, but are they really athletes?

A robot may resemble a person, but it does not experience sport in the way humans do.

The ‘robot Olympics’ were spectacular – but will this technology end up helping humans?

Getting a robot to run 100m faster than Usain Bolt is impressive.

The ‘wonder material’ graphene can be made using a kitchen blender, a mobile phone and a newspaper

The development could allow research teams with limited resources to manufacture graphene.

Can baby monitors protect children without data security risks?

Connected devices could expose more data than parents expect.

‘Huge Breakthrough’ in the Math of Imbalance

‘Huge Breakthrough’ in the Math of Imbalance

One does not need a doctorate in mathematics to split 12 eager trivia buffs into two competitive teams.

Aliens at 40: from wearable cameras to exoskeletons, here are the technologies the film predicted

The 1986 science fiction thriller features everything from robotic exoskeletons to terraforming.

Are We Thinking Correctly About AI Intelligence?

Are We Thinking Correctly About AI Intelligence?

When an LLM answers a question, is it reasoning like humans, or just producing text that looks like reasoning? The distinction isn’t just philosophical, this determines what we can trust AI to do, how closely we need to supervise it, and ultimately what its real-world impact will turn out to be.

Some parents want to see primary schools go ‘device free’. There could be unintended consequences

The current debate risks turning into a zero-sum choice between screens and pen and paper.

There’s a better way to cool data centres that cuts their huge thirst for water

Piping water into the server halls could be a much more efficient way to remove waste heat.

Building a Quantum Computer, One Fragile Qubit at a Time

Building a Quantum Computer, One Fragile Qubit at a Time

Practically all modern computers, from the cheap microcontroller in your dishwasher to high-tech hardware crunching numbers for artificial intelligence systems, rely on versions of the same technology: slabs of silicon patterned with microscopic structures called transistors.

The global race to make a practical quantum computer just took a big leap forward

The new machine works in a different way to many other quantum devices.

How a 19th-century estate agent offered 3D ‘walkthroughs’ before the photography age

In 1838, a London estate agent began advertising its ‘cosmorama’ to rich clients seeking expensive estates.

NZ creates remarkably valuable tech firms. How can it keep more of the benefits?

A new stocktake of the tech ecosystem shows NZ has grown companies now valued at more than $133 billion.

Why AI training can backfire for older workers

For older employees already experiencing burnout, poorly designed or poorly timed training can become an additional job demand rather than a solution.

An AI agent spent your money – can anyone prove you authorized it?

AI agents cross company boundaries, but proof of their authority often does not.

Graduate Student Proves a Quantum Uncertainty Principle for Fractals

Graduate Student Proves a Quantum Uncertainty Principle for Fractals

At the quantum scale, tiny particles behave in bizarre ways.

Layoffs tied to AI hurt worker productivity – and the reason may surprise managers

For too many companies, the adoption of artificial intelligence has become an AI hunger game that spreads fear rather than engagement.

New tech adds phone tracking to license plate readers, associating devices with identifiable cars

License plate readers are widely used in the US.

How a new UN cybercrime treaty could be used to crack down on dissent

Even with human rights safeguards in place, the new convention risks giving authoritarian regimes new tools to target their critics.

Why the Legendary Erdős Problems Are Falling to AI

Why the Legendary Erdős Problems Are Falling to AI

On May 20, 2026, OpenAI made an announcement that shook the mathematical world.

When expressive humanoid robots are awkward, people become wary – new brain study

People who interact with expressive robots that make mistakes react with suspicion rather than seeing the bots as malfunctioning machines.

Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons?

Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons?

I’ll just say it: What the hell is going on with AI “reasoning”? Sorry for the air quotes.

Why the AI industry is so fond of the prefix ‘co’ – by an expert in linguistics

Why AI companies are so fond of the prefix ‘co’.

What video review controversies in sports reveal about AI and human decision-making

The World Cup’s VAR controversies reveal a broader challenge for AI-assisted decision-making: deciding what AI should handle, what it should support and what should be left to human judgment.

What is a side-channel attack? A cybersecurity researcher explains how computers can leak secrets without being hacked

Hackers have easier ways of getting information out of a computer, but side-channel vulnerabilities show that technology developers need to take a broad view of security.

Schools are rethinking whether every student needs a laptop

Rather than considering how much time students spend on screens, the more useful question is whether they are asking questions and solving problems with the help of technology.

As AI reshapes newsrooms, leading media outlets are charting different paths for its use

From the BBC’s implementation of AI guardrails to Reuters’ embrace of AI tools to disseminate breaking financial news, newsrooms’ missions and values are shaping their technological futures.

What really happens to your data when you click ‘delete’?

A common misconception is that deletion equals total erasure.

Got money questions? How to get chatbots to give you accurate answers

The gap between AI and a human adviser is narrowest for commonsense guidance.

The case for having an imperfect memory – a psychologist explains

What if today’s ‘total recall’ technology is creating a memory system we do not need or benefit from?.

A Master of the Traveling Salesperson Problem Finds His Own Path

A Master of the Traveling Salesperson Problem Finds His Own Path

In theoretical computer science, the key to cracking tough problems is finding the right tools.

Sometimes Being First Means Seeing the End Before Anyone Else

Jacob Tsimerman knows that many people see mathematics as a search for beauty.

Living Fully in the Math World Means Threading the Needle

Living Fully in the Math World Means Threading the Needle

One might imagine that, for a mathematician, proving a monumental theorem is a blissful experience.

What is open-source AI? A software engineering researcher explains

AI models that are open source allow developers and users to see and modify the underlying program code.

How Fast Is the Universe Really Expanding?

How Fast Is the Universe Really Expanding?

One of the biggest mysteries in cosmology seems to keep getting bigger.

Fields and Abacus Medals 2026

Fields and Abacus Medals 2026

Every four years, the math world’s preeminent awards are given to the finest minds of a generation.

Legally or not, the US government is controlling global access to the world’s most powerful AI

A Commerce Department order requiring Anthropic to wall off its most advanced AI models from foreign nationals could be the government’s attempt to keep the best AI technology for itself.

Play, pause, rewind – where do these universal media symbols come from?

Generally speaking, the universal media symbols we have today emerged across a range of early products over several decades.

African entrepreneurs operate in tough conditions: the skills they’ve honed could be useful to others

Businesses across the world are beginning to face the kind of complexity that entrepreneurs in African townships have navigated for years.

Chinese companies are taking over the EV market. What’s behind their meteoric rise?

In response, Australia must strengthen standards around data security, vehicle safety and battery recycling.

Screen time guidelines for kids and adolescents have shifted as research paints a more nuanced picture

Studies increasingly show that how kids are using screens is more important than the exact amount of time they’re spending on them – and parents and caregivers tend to know what’s best for their families.

NZ’s floated social media ban for under-16s could unite two groups that rarely agree

Support for banning social media among under-16s is growing.

Moore's law

Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years, with minimal increase in cost.

More than 50% of Australian university assignments used AI. How should unis respond?

A big challenge for universities is distinguishing whether students are using AI to help or as a substitute for learning.

Why power banks in hold luggage pose such a risk on holiday flights

The UK Civil Aviation Authority thinks that passengers are still unaware of the rules.

VAR was supposed to take the messy human element out of refereeing. How did it go so wrong?

Controversy over the World Cup’s high-tech refereeing system shows sport is still more an art than a science.

Why better-off cities and towns see more benefits from data centers than rural regions

Amid growing political pushback against data center development, more evidence is emerging of their impact on local economies.

Is recursive self‑improvement the dawning of AI superintelligence?

AI systems can now improve themselves by themselves.

What will AI do for us? Young adults in lower-income countries feel more positive about its potential – new survey

Until now, there has been little evidence of how young people in middle- and low-income countries use and feel about AI.

How to create the blackest black ever known – from nature to nanotechnology

What began as a symbol of status has become a complex technological challenge.

Researchers Reveal the Power of ‘Quantum Proofs’

Researchers Reveal the Power of ‘Quantum Proofs’

More than 30 years ago, researchers discovered that hypothetical computers based on the laws of quantum physics would be able to rapidly solve difficult math problems.

The new technologies in the UK defence investment plan

The Defence Investment Plan provides £5 billion for drone warfare.

Are we finally about to get decent wifi on trains and planes?

The prospect of seamless wifi coverage, whichever way you travel, could soon be a reality.

Digital poverty is holding university students back

Up to 19 million people in the UK face digital poverty — and digital access is now a human right universities can’t afford to ignore.

What Is the Positive Grassmannian and Why Does It Show Up Everywhere?

What links certain mathematical models of traffic flow, shallow-water waves, and quantum particle scattering? The surprising answer lies in a corner of the algebraic combinatorics world that goes by the name of positive Grassmannian.

Venezuela earthquakes highlight the limits of early warning systems

Why it’s still difficult to accurately predict earthquakes.

After 80 Years, Mathematicians Give Famed ‘Erdős Method’ an Upgrade

After 80 Years, Mathematicians Give Famed ‘Erdős Method’ an Upgrade

In 1947, Paul Erdős, the itinerant Hungarian mathematician, introduced what would become one of math’s most powerful tools.

Supreme Court rules your cellphone location data is protected by the Fourth Amendment

Geofencing warrants, which round up the location data of everyone in a specific place at a specific time, are now legally subject to Fourth Amendment protections.

Elon Musk is remaking the world, like Henry Ford before him – but more dangerously

A new book, Muskism, sheds light on Elon Musk’s mission to remake the world in his image – while the rest of us haven’t even been consulted.

World Cup propels surveillance to new heights

The World Cup is bringing visitors and AI-driven surveillance systems, but only one of those is certain to leave when the games are done.

Why Gen Z is falling in love with film photography

Armed with rolls of film, some young people are opting out of their algorithmic feeds in favor of experiencing life in ways that feel more deliberate, personal and tangible.

Is the Pope’s AI encyclical a warning on Tech Messianism?

We are living in a world backed by technology that seems to have a spiritual project of its own.

When your local reflecting pool or pond turns green with algae, don’t reach for chemicals – nature has better solutions

As the national conversation shifts to political finger-pointing, an important environmental question deserves careful scrutiny: What is the best approach to maintain urban water quality?.

Struggle to pay attention? How to tweak your life to help you focus

Two experts explain why staying focused, especially in our modern world, can be so hard.

WA police are scanning faces in public – and the law is not ready for the consequences

Western Australia’s police are now scanning faces in real time.

The hidden burnout crisis facing social media marketers

More than 2 in 5 social media marketers say they plan to leave their job within two years, and many cite insufficient mental health support from supervisors.

From Hormuz to the cockpit: How warfare and criminal activity undermine GPS and the race to safeguard navigation

From airliners to supertankers, GPS has long been invaluable for safe navigation, but its signals can easily be jammed and almost as easily faked.

World Cup technology: from ref cams to AI analysts, cutting-edge research is changing the game

The football technology being showcased at the 2026 World Cup often has its origins in university research.

More than chatbots: why business AI agents are Big Tech’s next product battleground

Meta’s just-launched Business Agent could mark a major shift in how companies of all sizes deal with customers.

Quantum sensors could spot hidden damage in the thousands of US bridges rated ‘structurally deficient’

Sensors cannot replace bridge inspectors.

The drawer problem: Why so many of us can’t let go of our old electronics, and what we can do about it

People don’t usually plan to hold onto their old devices, but that’s what many end up doing.

Sovereign AI? Anthropic shutdown reveals Canada’s weakness

Canada is now investing billions to strengthen domestic AI capacity.

Europe wants to limit its reliance on foreign tech – but funding is limited and the proposed rules are weak

Europe has now published its plans to secure its ‘tech sovereignty.

Drone use poised to soar as FAA homes in on rule change allowing pilots to fly them out of sight

Allowing people to fly drones beyond their line of sight could greatly expand commercial applications.

Friday essay: despite the AI hype, some experts warn of a bubble – what happens if it pops?

A massive new data centre in Sydney is the latest push in the AI boom – but a backlash is building.

Firefighters face a higher risk of skin cancer – nano fabrics with tiny, rough fibers can help keep them safer

The risk to firefighters isn’t just from breathing wildfire smoke – it’s also in the chemicals that get on their clothes and filter through to their skin.

‘Technostress’: why many older people feel shut out by the digital world

As more services move online, a study based on interviews with over-65s reveals growing barriers to staying connected, informed and independent.

If AI is addictive, where does the responsibility lie – with big tech or its users?

Generative AI systems show signs of being addictive, but the evidence is still at an early stage.

The AI scientist: now academic papers can be fully automated, what does this mean for the future of research?

The era of fully automated research has arrived.

Button-pushing explorers: How to grasp that AI agents can do amazing things while knowing nothing

Today’s AI systems are powerful, and it’s natural to see them as having humanlike intelligence.

Could sodium replace lithium as the dominant ingredient in batteries?

Sodium-ion batteries use more abundant raw materials but don’t currently perform as well as those made with lithium.

Businesses need more than generic chatbots to benefit from AI. Will this budget help?

This federal budget recognises AI can’t transform Australia’s economy if we don’t have the local tech, tools and expertise to implement it.

AI doesn’t create bias, it inherits it – how do we ensure fairness when it comes to automated decisions?

Biases contained within historical datasets makes addressing what underpins automated decisions difficult – defining what is ‘fair’ is key.

After you upload your data to the cloud, where does it go? The challenge of dual-use technologies

Data sovereignty is not just a technical issue — it is a collective challenge that all Canadians need to start taking seriously.

New ‘AI scientists’ are improving – but reveal their fundamental limits

More ‘natural’ collaboration between scientists and computers won’t necessarily be more effective.

How the evolution of blockchain is changing our ideas about trust

What is emerging is not the end of trust but its reconfiguration.

AI is making journalistic language more repetitive and predictable – and it’s a problem for all of us

The press is an important platform for creating and spreading new linguistic forms.

The missing link in America’s critical minerals push isn’t mining – it’s processing expertise

America was once the global leader in rare earth element production, but as processing moved to China, the US lost capacity and expertise.

Powerful AI is making facial recognition better at identifying you

New AI-based facial recognition techniques are reducing false positive and false negative matches.

Amazon is making drone deliveries in the UK – here’s why nimbyism could hamper a wider rollout

In Darlington, residents have raised worries about noise, privacy and theft over the new drone delivery service.

‘AI needs to be disarmed’: Pope Leo sees threat to humanity in technological arms race

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV has called for much closer regulation of AI technology, particularly in military settings.

AI is replacing humans in responding to some surveys – but simulated opinions are not the same as public opinion

AI models can simulate the answers thousands of people would provide to a survey, but the results aren’t a reliable measure of what real people would actually say.

Today’s bans on DIY repairs of everything from cell phones to tractors grew out of Hollywood’s fear of videotaping

Efforts to use technology to police copyright evolved into companies using copyright law to lock people out of repairing their own devices.

Dark patterns on the web are designed to manipulate you – why aren’t they all illegal?

Encountering a website that seems like it was designed to frustrate might leave you saying ‘there oughta be a law,’ but to have a case you need to show that the site tried to swindle you.

Iran is threatening undersea cables. The world’s ‘digital chokepoints’ have never been more vulnerable

The virtual world still runs on a very physical network – and states are waking up to the strategic implications.

Nearly everything we use online is owned by big tech. There’s a better way forward

Having digital autonomy is more important than ever, and the European Union is showing how it can be done.

Hacking the bomb? What Claude Mythos AI reveals about the gamble of nuclear deterrence

AI-powered cyber-security: the rise of new frontier platforms like Mythos highlights nuclear arsenals’ potential weak spots, and complicates the gambles inherent in nuclear deterrence.

What is a ‘digital detox’ and will it make me healthier?

Taking regular breaks from technology seems like a good idea.

Brain implants allow us to move and talk. But they could also be hacked

Paralysed people are already using brain-computer interfaces to turn their thoughts into text.

Quantum sensors use atoms, electrons and light as ultra-steady rulers – detecting faint motion, magnetism and gravity for navigation, medicine and science

Quantum computers are still a work in progress but quantum sensors are already in use at hospitals, laboratories and by defense contractors.

From gait analysis to fingerprint theft, how worried should we be about the latest advances in biometric technology?

You can wear a mask, pull up a hood, avoid looking at a camera – but you cannot easily change how you walk.

Hurricane forecasts have improved dramatically, saving lives, but federal cuts threaten to stretch NOAA resources to breaking point

A hurricane scientist explains the technology forecasters rely on to keep people safe and help communities all along the Atlantic coast know when to evacuate.

Machine learning

Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalize to unseen data, and thus perform tasks without being explicitly programmed.

Open-source software

Open-source software

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software whose source code is publicly available, allowing users to use, study, modify, and distribute it — in contrast with proprietary (closed-source) software.

Cryptography

Cryptography, or cryptology, is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior.

Internet

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices.

API

An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs.