There was a time when the wrist felt like permission to grow up. A Casio DW-5600 on a nylon strap, a CA-53W sneaking math into recess, a Nelsonic game watch flashing pixelated Mario between classes, a Timex Ironman daring you to press “lap,” and those early Swatches that taught us about color and design before they taught time. For me, all of them were significant declarations of independence without us even realizing it. These timeless jewels didn’t just tell the hour; they

A Quiet Contender Enters the AI Arena While Silicon Valley debates risks and Brussels fine tunes rules, Costa Rica is quietly assembling one of the first national AI strategies in the Global South. The country that abolished its army and invested in education, health and nature is now directing that same civic DNA toward responsible automation. The signal is simple: innovation is welcome, but it must serve people, not the other way around. This does not come out of nowhere. C

A Small Country Takes a Big Leap While much of the world looks to Brussels for privacy standards, an unexpected player in Central America is rewriting its data protection rulebook: Costa Rica. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s a reflection of how far the country has come, and how deliberately it’s aligning with international privacy trends. For years, conversations about data privacy have revolved around the EU’s GDPR or Brazil’s LGPD, while Costa Rica, despite its reputation

Costa Rica’s Design Spirit Meets Legal Reality Costa Rica’s design scene is blooming with purpose. From surfwear that captures the rhythm...