Now even something as prosaic as grocery shopping can display someone's financial and educational status.

ECONOMIST: Organic matter

Organizations like PES now enable educational institutions to issue an industry-standard micro-credential that recipients can easily display, manage and share without fear of denigration.

FORBES: Badges Lend Gravitas To Free Education Revolution

These machines use technology similar to videogame consoles of five years ago but have full-sized keyboards, display Chinese characters on a TV screen and can run a wide variety of educational and entertainment software.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia