Uber’s quiet cabs are sapping our social skills August 30, 2019 Uber’s recent move to offer passengers a “quiet preferred” option sparked a lively debate online, with some praising the move and others sharing stories of overly chatty drivers disturbing their journeys. Others bemoaned the change, branding it “dehumanising” for the drivers and “entitled”. Whatever side of the fence you sit on, there’s no denying that [...]
Self-cleaning homes and air taxis: What London will look like in 2069 August 29, 2019 Londoners might have to abandon veganism in the next 50 years as insect burgers become the capital’s next street food craze, according to a report that predicts underground skyscrapers and aquatic roads will reshape our capital. Researchers have also predicted that we will be playing “Quidditch-style” aerial sports matches. Though what the Health and Safety [...]
Micro Focus share price nosedives as it issues stark revenue warning August 29, 2019 Micro Focus’ share price collapsed in early trading today as it issued a dramatic revenue warning to investors, saying sales could fall by double the previous forecast. The British IT company blamed macro factors such as Brexit uncertainty and economic concerns for its woes as customers held off from buying new technology kit. Read more: [...]
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 review: A dramatic escalation in the war on noise August 28, 2019 Things have quieted down, if you’ll excuse the pun, in the field of noise-cancelling headphones. At the top of the unchanging pack sit Sony’s MDR-1000XM3, Sennheiser’s PXC 550 and the ageing champion, the Bose QuietComfort 35. Once seen adorning the crowns of every other commuter, the QC35’s long reign as London’s preferred method of blocking [...]
IBM and Vodafone’s $550m joint venture secures first deal August 28, 2019 IBM and Vodafone’s $550m partnership has signed its first contract, an eight-year partnership with National Express. The deal is intended to ensure that the UK-based leading transport provider can “adapt to today’s digitally savvy customers”. IBM and Vodafone joined forces in January of this year, bringing together their respective strengths in connectivity and hybrid cloud [...]
Apple apologises for listening to Siri conversations August 28, 2019 Apple has apologised after it emerged the tech giant allowed contractors to listen to conversations customers had with its voice assistant Siri. Workers are hired to grade Siri’s responses on a variety of factors in order to help the technology “learn”, however, last month it was revealed that contractors regularly picked up recordings of private [...]
Watch Elon Musk’s Space X Starhopper rocket hit new heights on Texas hover test August 28, 2019 Elon Musk’s Space X took another small step – or giant hop – on the entrepreneur’s mission to colonise Mars yesterday, as a prototype of its next generation Starhopper rocket reached its highest altitude yet on a hover test. The next generation rocket slowly climbed to 150m above Space X’s test site in Texas before [...]
Mitsubishi leads $50m funding round for London solar startup August 28, 2019 A clean energy startup based in Chiswick has closed a $50m (£40.7m) series D funding round, led by Japanese car giant Mitsubishi. Bboxx, which provides pay-as-you-go solar energy using in-home solar systems paid for via mobile top-ups, will use the funding to power up its international expansion efforts. Other investors included the European funds Bamboo [...]
Hey up, Siri: BBC to launch ‘Beeb’ voice assistant that recognises regional accents August 27, 2019 The BBC is preparing to launch a digital voice assistant next year that will be trained to recognise different regional accents from across the UK. The new assistant will not be a hardware device, but will be built into the BBC’s website and will also work across smart speakers, TVs and mobile phones. Read more: [...]
