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Rest of World
@restofworld.org
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We’re a nonprofit publication covering global technology outside the West. For the latest updates subscribe to our newsletter here: https://restofworld.org/newsletters/global/
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For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks was a model for how tech could transform Gaza. Just days after October 7, its office was blown to pieces by an Israeli airstrike. Now, with a tentative ceasefire in place, it’s trying to rebuild.

Read our new feature from @mohamhawish.bsky.social & Aseel Mousa:
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
restofworld.org
Reposted by Rest of World
datasociety.bsky.social
Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile, but an analysis of permit filings by @restofworld.org shows only a small number of potential positions — and most are not skilled IT jobs, but those in security and cleaning. restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...
Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise
Chile and tech giants promise economy-wide impact but permits show fewer onsite jobs after construction.
restofworld.org
November 10, 2025 at 6:09 PM
restofworld.org
🎁 ⏳️ Rest of World's pop-up merch store is back, for a limited time only. Head to shop.restofworld.org to find the perfect present for the reader in your life (or for yourself)
November 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
restofworld.org
In his first interview on the job, Syria’s new tech minister Abdulsalam Haykal talks to @emilywither.bsky.social about how he plans to rebuild the country’s shattered digital infrastructure — and why he came back after years in exile
https://restofworld.org/2025/syria-tech-minister-abdulsalam-haykal
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
restofworld.org
“If there is still a Gaza, there will continue to be a Gaza Sky Geeks.”

After two years of war, members of the pioneering tech hub Gaza Sky Geeks are surveying the damage and trying to figure out how they can rebuild
restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sky-geeks-bombing-rebuilding
November 9, 2025 at 3:56 PM
restofworld.org
“Some of the easiest, most lucrative places for TikTok to make money were wealthy markets like the Gulf that were unburdened by Western norms about privacy, human rights, and democratic self-governance.”
https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-saudi-uae-investors-us-ban/
How TikTok cozied up to wealthy investors in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
In her new book, Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok, journalist Emily Baker-White charts the Chinese app’s rise to becoming a global juggernaut. Here is an excerpt on the company’s courts...
restofworld.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:11 PM
restofworld.org
The online shopping boom is built on the backs of millions of workers
https://restofworld.org/2025/hu-anyan-deliver-parcels-beijing-book-china-interview/
November 7, 2025 at 1:03 AM
restofworld.org
They were building a tech scene in Gaza. Then came the war
restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sky-geeks-bombing-rebuilding
November 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
restofworld.org
In her new book, Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok, journalist @ebakerwhite.bsky.social charts the Chinese app’s meteoric rise.

Read an excerpt on the company’s courtship of Saudi Arabia and and the UAE restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-...
How TikTok cozied up to wealthy investors in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
In her new book, Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok, journalist Emily Baker-White charts the Chinese app’s rise to becoming a global juggernaut. Here is an excerpt on the company’s courts...
restofworld.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
restofworld.org
“Data centers are like warehouses filled with machines and cables, and there's little need for workers”
November 5, 2025 at 5:14 PM
restofworld.org
With a tentative ceasefire in place, members of Gaza Sky Geeks are reflecting on two years of war, surveying the damage done to Gaza’s tech scene, and asking how they can help rebuild their community.

Read our new feature:
https://restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sky-geeks-bombing-rebuilding
November 5, 2025 at 4:01 PM
restofworld.org
Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile. But our analysis of permit filings shows a much smaller number of potential positions — mostly in security and cleaning, not skilled IT jobs.

New: restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...
Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise
Big figures floated by Chile, and tech giants promise economy-wide impact, as permits show fewer onsite jobs after construction.
restofworld.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Rest of World
mvzelenko.bsky.social
This is one of the most important stories we've told at
@restofworld.org, and I hope you get a chance to read and share it.

restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...
November 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Rest of World
mvzelenko.bsky.social
This morning @restofworld.org published the incredibly heart-breaking story of Gaza Sky Geeks, the vibrant Gaza-based tech hub that was the darling of international press through the 2010s 🧵

restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
restofworld.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:52 PM
restofworld.org
Love global tech journalism — and staying warm? Keep it hygge with our stylish new beanie, featuring Rest of World's signature diacritics.

See what else we've got in store, for a limited time only: shop.restofworld.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:29 PM
restofworld.org
Gaza Sky Geeks started with a question that sounded like a dare: could a startup accelerator survive under siege? Founded in 2011 with support from Google and operated by Mercy Corps, it became the heart of the Strip’s tech scene.

🧵 about our new feature: restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...
November 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
restofworld.org
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks was a model for how tech could transform Gaza. Just days after October 7, its office was blown to pieces by an Israeli airstrike. Now, with a tentative ceasefire in place, it’s trying to rebuild.

Read our new feature from @mohamhawish.bsky.social & Aseel Mousa:
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks built a tech future for the Gaza Strip. Then came war.
restofworld.org
November 4, 2025 at 2:27 PM
restofworld.org
When published in 2023, “I Deliver Parcels in Beijing” became a bestseller in China. Readers lapped up anecdotes from the lives of those powering the ultra-efficient e-commerce industry — workers often treated as dispensable. The book is now available in English.

Read an interview with its author:
“I Deliver Parcels in Beijing”: Chinese literary sensation reaches U.S.
Hu Anyan, a former courier who wrote a best-selling book about the grueling job of delivering packages, discusses life, technology, and the future of work.
restofworld.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:38 PM
restofworld.org
“It’s almost impossible to transition away from fossil fuels without nickel from Indonesia,” said one researcher. Fueling that transition — and risking their lives in the process — are thousands of migrant workers from China
https://restofworld.org/2025/chinese-migrant-workers-indonesia-nickel-ev/
The Chinese migrant workers powering the deadly EV nickel boom
30,000 Chinese workers travel thousands of miles to remote islands in Eastern Indonesia to process nickel — and put their lives at risk on the frontier of the green energy transition.
restofworld.org
November 2, 2025 at 3:46 PM
restofworld.org
🎃 Here's what Rest of World's Product team has been up to this spooky season, including open-sourcing our AI Narrations plugin for WordPress, sticky mastheads, accessibility improvements, and a new addition to the notoriously haunting 404 page:
restofworld.org/inside/produ...
Product Updates: Open-sourced AI narration plugin, and more experiments with recirculation
Boo. That was me attempting to get into the spirit of Halloween. It’s October and that means it’s “spooky” season, “pumpkin spiced latte” season or “decorative gourd” season if you’re in the US.
restofworld.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:58 PM
restofworld.org
From Bangladesh to Buenos Aires, Skype powered friendships, business, and love stories. Now that it’s gone, what do you remember most?
https://restofworld.org/2025/skype-shutting-down/
When the world connected on Skype
On the eve of its demise, Rest of World readers remember how Skype changed their world.
restofworld.org
October 30, 2025 at 8:02 PM
restofworld.org
As China tightens its export restrictions on rare earths — critical minerals in semiconductors, EVs, smartphones and more — the U.S. is racing to find supplies elsewhere. Can Brazil fill the gap?

Read our latest story:
restofworld.org/2025/china-r...
As China tightens its grip on rare earths, can Brazil be an alternative source?
China’s export curbs have forced the U.S. to find critical minerals elsewhere. Can Latin America keep up the supply?
restofworld.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:49 PM
restofworld.org
The metaverse is rewriting the rules of who can be a K-pop star
https://restofworld.org/2025/metaverse-kpop-idols/
October 30, 2025 at 12:01 PM
restofworld.org
“For patients like my mom, who feel they don’t get the time or care they need from their health care systems, these chatbots have become a trusted alternative.”

The sick and lonely are finding comfort on AI chatbots like DeepSeek:
https://restofworld.org/2025/ai-chatbot-china-sick/
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek
In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
restofworld.org
October 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
restofworld.org
"China is methodically rewiring the global EV supply chain around its industrial and geopolitical interests.”

Read our new report on how China turned the world into its EV supply chain
China’s $143 billion push to dominate the global EV industry
After years of investing in Europe, Chinese EV and battery firms are turning to Asia, Africa, and Latin America
restofworld.org
October 29, 2025 at 2:06 PM
restofworld.org
“Mining absorbed almost everyone,” Marta Ríos, who runs the civil registry in Tolar Grande, Argentina, said of the lithium boom. “At first it was strange to see trucks all the time, buses full of workers — suddenly, there was no unemployment.”

Then the boom went bust restofworld.org/2025/lithium...
October 28, 2025 at 4:54 PM