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Gaze far beyond the Silicon Valley bubble. Our new newsletter offers a global view of the U.S.’s biggest tech companies. Be the first to get Russell Brandom’s latest analysis sent straight to your inbox.
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China: The world’s shopping cart
From wildly popular e-commerce apps to the rise of livestream shopping, China is changing the way the world shops.
Explore the deals:
A graphic treatment with a rectangular photo bubble and small icons of stars, fire, lighting, and e-commerce themed word bubbles. Within the photo bubble is a photo showing a cluster of Shein shipping bags laid out on a yellow background.
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How Shein and TikTok Shop are trying to shake the ‘Made in China’ reputation
By Peiyue Wu and Daniela Dib
A graphic treatment with a rectangular photo bubble and small icons of stars, fire, lighting, and e-commerce themed word bubbles. Within the photo bubble is a picture showing a row of small desk spaces with people working in an office environment. Printed on the wall in the background is a picture of people's thumbs and text that reads
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Cricket, influencers, layoffs: Alibaba’s risky bet in Pakistan
By Mutaher Khan
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Quiz: Can you identify Temu’s weirdest gadgets?
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40 trailblazing companies that are beating the West
Faster, smarter, more adaptable: these emerging market pioneers are outmaneuvering Silicon Valley for global domination.
Culture guides >
Playlists, streaming guides, book recs and more
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The Rest of World Holiday Gift Guide
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Turn it up: Rest of World’s 2023 global party playlist
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Scammers gonna scam >
From fake product reviews to scam loan apps
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Vigilantes for views: The YouTube pranksters harassing suspected scam callers in India
By Andrew Deck and Raksha Kumar
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M-Pesa has been huge for Kenya’s economy — and for scammers
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Chinese sextortion scammers are flooding Twitter
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How AI reduces the world to stereotypes
Rest of World analyzed 3,000 AI images to see how image generators visualize different countries and cultures.
Digital utopia >
Tech for good
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How tiny, cheap smart speakers unlocked the rise of digital payments in India
By Adnan Bhat
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WhatsApp voice notes are revolutionizing farming in Senegal
A team from the Center for Natural Resources Conservation inspecting the GPS collar attached to a wild Sumatran elephant in Kampar.
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GPS collars are helping save Sumatra’s last wild elephants
Mobile money, money, money >
The global rise of digital payments
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The little-known blockchain firm behind Southeast Asia’s digital payment systems
By Shaun Turton and Bopha Phorn
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The irony that’s “Digital India”
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Inside Foxconn’s struggle to make iPhones in India
By Viola Zhou and Nilesh Christopher
Read more features:
Heavily persecuted, highly influential: China’s online feminist revolution
BYD conquered China’s EV market. Europe and the U.S. will be a lot tougher
By Viola Zhou and Nanchanok Wongsamuth
Tears of a get-rich-quick guru
By Nilesh Christopher and Zuha Siddiqui
Lost in translation >
Language, translation, and the digital age
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What it takes to bring Wordle into other languages
A collage image showing two Kurdish languages within Google Translate, placed over an image of school children looking at a map of Iraq.
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The mission to preserve Sorani Kurdish by getting it onto Google Translate
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Why Indian universities are ditching English-only education
The future of work >
From power outages to bike shortages
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China’s AI boom depends on an army of exploited student interns
By Viola Zhou and Caiwei Chen
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Come downstairs or we’ll eat your order, delivery workers tell customers
By Laís Martins
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Brazil’s politicians, unions, and workers can’t agree on how to protect gig labor
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The World’s Last Internet Cafes
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