Premium summer big reads: How Facebook grew too big to handle

Facebook established a growth team dedicated to increasing the company userbase. Photo/getty Images.

The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2019 from our premium international syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Times of London and Harvard Business Review.

This morning we look at the astronomical growth of Facebook, Singapore's Changi Airport, Indonesia's child jockeys, Prince George and Princess Charlotte's school and cyborgs.

How Facebook grew too big to handle

The tech giant's 'growth team' brought it over a billion users – but did it also sow the seeds for current troubles?

The Financial Times looks at the role of Facebook's growth team.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has faced some tough questions this year. Photo / Getty Images

My 27-hour vacation in Singapore's Changi Airport

On an overnight stay, Stephanie Rosenbloom wandered from the Shiseido Forest Valley to the Canopy Park, eating prawn dumplings, salted-egg potato chips and chrysanthemum gelato under a glass sky.

This is the story of Stephanie's airport vacation.

With a soaring waterfall, forests, endless shops and restaurants, and even a sound-and-light show, a few hours' layover in Changi Airport may not be enough time. Photo / Lauryn Ishak, New York Times

Where jockeys retire at age 10, after five years in the saddle

In the city of Bima on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia's sprawling archipelago, the use of child jockeys in professional horse racing is part of a long-standing tradition.

And the average age is dropping, with jockeys as young as 5 bestride a horse and most 10 or younger.

Adam Dean of The New York Times looks at the dangers of this tradition.

Child jockeys, between ages 5 to 10, in a professional race on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia in July. Photo / Adam Dean, The New York Times

Inside Prince George and Princess Charlotte's school

Neither old posh nor new money, Thomas's in south London was the surprise choice for the country's two most famous primary-school children.

Jessie Hewitson of The Times meets the head teacher and asks who are more demanding – the parents or the paparazzi?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Thomas's Battersea with their children, Prince George, six, and Princess Charlotte, four, on the latter's first day earlier this month. Photo / AP

Why the cyborgs are coming — but they won't kill us

Cyborgs will rule the world by the end of this century. They're already here in the form of sophisticated computer programs that think for themselves. Soon they will leave us behind by thinking thousands of times faster than humans. To them, we will be as slow-witted as plants. But don't worry, the cyborgs will need us.

Bryan Appleyard of The Times talks to visionary scientist James Lovelock about the rise of artificial intelligence — and where humans will fit in to the new world order.

• The end of humanity: Will AI free us, enslave us — or exterminate us?

Cyborgs will rule the world by the end of this century. But don't worry, they'll need us still. Photo / Getty Images