General Tech

The robot revolution isn't quite here yet but it looks like Bill Gates is thinking ahead by proposing a ‘robot tax' to offset the job losses that will occur as machines start carrying out more tasks and replacing humans. The idea seems to be, since we tax human workers on their …

Voice commands for televisions are now smarter than ever and hardly expensive, with Amazon debuting the first of its Fire TV sticks to support its Alexa vocal assistive service. Priced at just £40, the sticks are now available to pre-order, with the first ones set to ship out in April …

It looks like Google is going to be doing away with one of the less enjoyable aspects about YouTube- the unskippable 30 second ads. Google announced this week that pre-roll advertisements would be skippable going forward, making it less of a hassle while streaming YouTube to a TV, console or …

There are a lot of problems associated with drone delivery, from safe landings and take offs, to the family dog attacking it. But a new patent filed by Amazon suggests that dropping parcels by parachute could be a way to alleviate most of the issues and maybe even ditch the …

Earlier this morning we learned that Disney-owned YouTube MCN ‘Maker Studios' had dropped PewDiePie, the biggest channel on the platform due to some recent controversy surrounding some of the humor he has presented in recent videos. Since then, YouTube has given a statement of its own, cancelling the second season of …

Over the last six months, there have been plenty of tech companies increasing their pricing here in the UK, ranging from Microsoft and Apple to Dell and One Plus. Last week, Adobe joined the list and this week, Sonos has announced that its speakers will also be getting a UK …

The facility at Samsung SDI which produced some of the batteries for the Note 7 smartphone that had difficulties with surprise combustion, has now itself caught fire. The factory blazed for a few hours, requiring 110 firefighters and 19 fire trucks to put out the flames as they raged at the Chinese …

The European Union is about to make video streaming across borders a lot easier as this week plans were drawn up to enforce new laws that do away with geo-blocking content once and for all. These new laws will affect services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and could come …

Pixelated images, ‘potato' cameras, and pictures deliberately blurred to hide people's faces, could become a thing of the past thanks to Google's latest algorithm development. The company's neural network can now take an image of just eight by eight pixels and use clever guesswork, to work its way back to …

If you bought a PC between 2003 and 2008, then chances are your system contained a DVD drive. Now it looks like you may be able to claim back some money on that ancient purchase as a recent class action lawsuit revealed that drive makers like Sony, NEC, Panasonic and …

It looks like Vizio has some explaining to do as the Federal Trade Commission has found that the US TV seller illegally tracked its customer's viewing habits and then sold that information on all without any form of consent. Vizio is said to have installed software on 11 million of …

Uber has hired on on an ex-NASA engineer who previously developed concepts for personalised air vehicles, which could allow for an airborne taxi system. He will now begin work on Uber's flying car project, called Uber Elevate, which the company outlined in a white paper in October 2016. The idea …

The U.S.' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created a new carrier-like crane system for catching drones mid-flight. This isn't like the eagles police have been training, but an aircraft carrier-like system of providing a safe ‘landing' point for drones to return to. This could expand the effective range …

Late last year, Netflix finally gave subscribers something they had been wanting for years- the ability to download movies and shows for offline viewing. Unfortunately, it hasn't taken long for patent trolls to start gunning at Netflix over this new feature as this week, ‘Blackbird Technologies' filed a lawsuit against …

Our cousins across the pond celebrated their biggest ‘football' event this weekend and that means that the internet has largely ignored the results and spent a lot of time talking about the entertainment offered elsewhere during the game. The half-time show, for example, featured singer Lady Gaga doing her thing, …

In the aftermath of the massive recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over issues with its batteries, South Korea has announced new rules to safeguard against such a problem in the future. Safety requirements and new regular inspections of manufacturing facilities will come into play in the near …

Adobe has announced this week that it will be the latest company to start raising its prices here in the UK, citing the Brexit vote and the subsequent fluctuation of the GBP as the main cause. The company made the announcement in a notice sent out to Creative Cloud subscribers, …

Some of the top Hyperloop development teams around the world spent the weekend competing head to head with one another on Space X's Hyperloop test track to see who's design could operate safely, stay lined up and then bring itself to a comfortable stop. While many teams managed that, the …

If you own a Ford vehicle built between 2010 and 2016 but it didn't come with a number of contemporary connected features like remote-start and Wi-Fi access, you can now upgrade it so that it does. The Ford SmartLink adds 4G LTE access and comes with a companion app and …

Last week, we learned that Apple had launched a huge $1 billion lawsuit against Qualcomm over what the company deemed to be unfair licensing agreements. The US Federal Trade Commission was also suing Qualcomm for similar reasons. Since then, Qualcomm had its third quarter earnings call, during which company executives …

TransPod, the startup that plans to become the leading Hyperloop developer in the world, has announced a partnership with IKOS. The consultancy firm has more than a decade of experience in developing signals, tracks and power infrastructure for rail networks and will help develop similar systems for TransPod's Hyperloop design. …

The miniature flying camera drone, AirSelfie, is now available for pre-order, following a complete set up of the production line. Kickstarter pledges are set to ship out in March this year, with those pre-ordering the device now, slated to receive their's by May. AirSelfie is a miniature drone equipped with …

Towards the end of last year, Netflix finally gave its subscribers a feature they had been wanting for years- offline playback. This allows users to download TV shows and movies via the Netflix app for viewing while you are away from an internet connection. Now this feature has been made …

It turns out that when Space X and Tesla founder Elon Musk says he's going to do something, we should take him at his word. Following his unofficial announcement that he would begin digging tunnels to take cars underground to ease traffic, he's actually going to do it. Within a …

Way back in July 2016, a court ruled that the US government could not force Microsoft to hand over emails stored on a foreign server in Ireland, even if US authorities were granted a search warrant for the data. However, the government were quick to appeal the judgement, escalating it …

It turns out that Samsung is doing well for itself with a huge rise in profits over the last quarter, despite the company being embroiled in political drama over in South Korea and the worldwide mass recall of the Galaxy Note 7 and as well as a specific model of …

Earlier this week we learned that Qualcomm had managed to rile up the FTC over in the US, with the commission now investigating the chip maker for anti-competitive behaviour. Now it looks like Qualcomm is going to be fighting off two lawsuits as Apple is jumping onboard, seeking $1 billion …

A report by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not only vindicated Tesla with regards to the first person to die while using its Autopilot software, but has backed up its safety claims. It turns out that installing Tesla Autopilot software can reduce your chance of being in …

Display technology specialist DigiLens is one step closer to creating better Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality transparent glass displays, as the company just secured an additional $22 million in funding. DigiLens is currently working on AR displays that lie on top of transparent glass, which could pave the way for …

Panasonic has announced its intention to expand its current partnership with electric car marker Tesla, beyond the battery manufacturing deal the two currently have together. CEO at the company, Kazuhiro Tsuga said in an interview that he would like to see the company expand into autonomous driving sensors that could …