Sci/Tech News for the World
Qt Ubuntu 24.04 betas show that there's room to innovate
19 April 2024 @ 5:29 pm
Hot on the heels of Ubuntu Noble beta come the betas of the Qt-based remixes, with some interesting differences The beta versions of Lubuntu and Kubuntu 24.04 are out, showing that there's room to improve on the standard Ubuntu formula.…
AI energy draw from Chicago datacenters to rise ninefold
19 April 2024 @ 4:00 pm
No wonder industry is exploring nuclear as an alternative to electricity US energy provider Exelon has calculated that power demand from datacenters in the Chicago area is set to increase ninefold, in more evidence that AI adoption is will put further strain electricity supplies.…
WhatsApp, Threads, more banished from Apple App Store in China
19 April 2024 @ 2:30 pm
Still available in Hong Kong and Macau, for now Apple has removed four apps from its China-regional app store, including Meta's WhatsApp and Threads, after it was ordered to do so by Beijing for security reasons.…
Unintended acceleration leads to recall of every Cybertruck produced so far
19 April 2024 @ 1:55 pm
That isn't what Tesla meant by Full Self-Driving Tesla has issued a recall notice for every single Cybertruck it has produced thus far, a sum of 3,878 vehicles.…
A quarter of 5-7 year olds now use smartphones, says regulator
19 April 2024 @ 12:00 pm
Social media use and gaming show steep increases within the age group, after UK comms watchdog given new powers The UK's telecoms regulator has found that nearly a quarter of children between the ages of five and seven own a smartphone while a similar percentage use social media unsupervised.…
Cybercriminals threaten to leak all 5 million records from stolen database of high-risk individuals
19 April 2024 @ 11:28 am
It’s the second time the World-Check list has fallen into the wrong hands The World-Check database used by businesses to verify the trustworthiness of users has fallen into the hands of cybercriminals.…
Germany cuffs alleged Russian spies over plot to bomb industrial and military targets
19 April 2024 @ 10:15 am
Apparently an attempt to damage Ukraine's war effort Bavarian state police have arrested two German-Russian citizens on suspicion of being Russian spies and planning to bomb industrial and military facilities that participate in efforts to assist Ukraine defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.…
Wing Commander III changed how the copy hotkey works in Windows 95
19 April 2024 @ 9:30 am
No, boss, I'm not just playing a game. I'm testing compatibility. Honest It is almost 30 years since Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger was released. In addition to allowing users to kick some Kilrathi ass, the game also played an important role in testing Windows 95.…
Some smart meters won't be smart at all once 2/3G networks mothballed
19 April 2024 @ 8:30 am
UK reckoning with prospect of millions of homes with obsolete hardware Months after being quizzed by a committee of cross-party MPs, the UK government is still failing to clarify ways to support the substitution of millions of smart meters that will become obsolete when 2G and 3G networks are switched off.…
Your trainee just took down our business and has no idea how or why
19 April 2024 @ 7:30 am
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in the debrief meeting On Call Welcome once more to On Call, The Register's Friday foray into tech support memories contributed by you, our much-appreciated readers.…
With early computers, you didn't boot up to a fancy schmancy desktop, or a screen full of apps you could easily poke and prod with your finger. No, those computers booted up to the command
On an
Websites have gotten a lot
Mysterious hooded computer guys doing mysterious hooded computer guy .. things! Who knows what kind of naughty digital mischief they might be up to?
Unfortunately, we now live in a world where this kind of digital mischief is literally rewriting the world's history. For proof
ProWritingAid VS Grammarly:
Are you searching for an
Dutch startup Meatable has hosted the first legally approved tasting of cultivated meat in Europe. On the menu was a lab-grown pork sausage. Meatable says the produce is “indistinguishable” from traditional meat, but causes no harm to animals or the environment. To replicate the flavours and textures of livestock, Meatable first extracts a single cell sample from a pig. The sample is then cultivated in a bioreactor. Over time, the sample multiplies and forms real muscle tissue, which is shaped into a familiar meat form. In Europe, however, no one was previously allowed to eat the output. That changed when the…
AI threatens to decimate the translation profession, according to a new survey by a British union. Almost four in ten translators (36%) said they’ve already lost work due to generative AI. Nearly half of them (43%) said the tech has decreased their income. They fear far worse is to come. Over three-quarters of translators (77%) believe GenAI will negatively impact future income from their creative work. The survey was conducted by the Society of Authors (SoA), the UK’s largest trade union for translators, writers, and illustrators. SoA said the livelihoods of translators are at risk. To protect them, the union wants…
California-based quantum circuitry company Rigetti has brought a commercially available quantum computer to the UK. Only the second in the country, it was installed in collaboration with Oxford Instruments NanoScience — a cryogenics company that provides the cooling needed for superconducting qubits. The system, supported by grants from the UK government, is Rigetti’s first UK-based quantum computer and will be accessible via the company’s cloud computing services. When it comes to quantum computing, you need the actual circuitry hardware that hosts the qubits, advanced cryogenics systems, software to run error-correcting quantum algorithms, and specialised programming languages. And the means to…
Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Linnea and Andrii talk about artificial general intelligence, repairable airbuds, some Wolverine nerdery, drone delivery adoption, and much more. The guest of the show is Caroline Viarouge, CEO at EIT Manufacturing. A big part of the conversation focused on the cooperation between the UK and the EU when it comes to research and innovation. Here are the stories and things…
Amid the semiconductor industry’s slowdown and increasing geopolitical tensions, Dutch chip machine-maker ASML reported a decrease both in sales and profits. Europe’s most valuable tech company saw orders fall to €3.6bn in the first quarter of 2024, down from €9.2bn in the previous quarter. Its net profit also dropped to €1.2bn — a 37% decrease compared to Q4 2023. “We see 2024 as a transition,” ASML’s President and CEO Peter Wennink said in a statement. Wennink expects a stronger second half of the year “in line with the industry’s continued recovery from the downturn.” Interestingly, China represented ASML’s largest market…
Under orders from the EU, tech giants have launched 11 advertising transparency tools. None of them are fit for purpose, according to a new study from Mozilla. The tools provide libraries of data about online adverts. By exploring the repositories, researchers can identify the funders and techniques behind the ads. At least, that’s the idea. The libraries are obligatory under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a law designed to safeguard online environments. By shining a light on ad content and targeting, the EU hopes to tackle disinformation and manipulation. The impact could be global. Because platforms often respond to international…
A British drone maker plans to launch air taxis in 2026 after raising a whopping $110mn. Skyports has already flown electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft on delivery and monitoring trials. The new funding brings commercial air taxis closer to the services on offer. The first flights are slated to take off in the United Arab Emirates. Earlier this year, Skyports inked a deal with authorities in Dubai to build four vertiports ahead of the launch of air taxi services in 2026. Skyports intends to then bring air taxis into other markets. The company is currently developing the UK’s first…
Berlin-based Ecosia, best known as the tree-planting search engine, has teamed up with French startup Kanop to monitor its reforestation efforts from space. With around 20 million users, Ecosia is the world’s largest not-for-profit search engine. It is also one of the biggest tree-planters in the world. The company claims to have planted 200 million trees since its inception in 2009. To date, Ecosia has monitored its tree-planting efforts using ground-based observations. But with the help of Kanop, it is about to take things up a notch. Based in Paris, Kanop uses optical, radar, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)…
We have all been guilty of falling under the foundation model spell of the past year-and-a-half, initiated by OpenAI’s unveiling of ChatGPT to the public. But it is not only where large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 are concerned that incredible progress has been made in the field of artificial intelligence. And one company has been behind more impressive milestones than most — DeepMind, acquired by Google in 2014 for a reported £400mn to £650mn. Speaking at the TED 40th anniversary conference in Vancouver, Canada, on Monday, DeepMind’s CEO and head of Google’s entire AI R&D efforts, Demis Hassabis, confirmed…
PhotonVentures, a Dutch deep tech fund aiming to boost Europe’s photonics industry, has closed its second fundraising round with over €15mn — bringing its total capital to €75mn. The fund targets startups and scaleups developing solutions with photonic chips for a wide range of applications: from data transmission and health diagnostics to smart sensors, AI, AR, and VR. PhotonVentures will initially invest in 20 early-stage companies with international growth potential. It will focus on Seed to Series A rounds, with investments varying between €1mn and €2.5mn. The VC firm is a spinoff and strategic partner of PhotonDelta, a manufacturer of…
Following the launch of its first e-note last year, PocketBook has now added a color E Ink model. The 10.3-inch Eo is built around Kaleido 3 technology, and sports a built-in camera, octa-core processing and dual speakers.Continue ReadingCategory: Mobile Technology, TechnologyTags: E-Ink, 
The overall winners of the 2024 Sony World Photography Awards have been revealed. This year's selection of images showcases a sublime mixture of unspoiled landscapes, amazing animals, and extraordinary people going about their lives.Continue ReadingCategory: Photography, TechnologyTags: 
Australia's robotic submarine program is a year ahead of schedule as the government takes delivery of the first Ghost Shark Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) prototype, with three more to follow next year.Continue ReadingCategory: Military, TechnologyTags: Submarine, Royal Aust
Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) has released the seventh annual issue of its comprehensive AI Index report, written by an interdisciplinary team of academic and industrial experts.Continue ReadingCategory: TechnologyTags: Artificial Intelligence, LLM (Lar
Founded in 2007, when "van life" wasn't even a term, let alone an acceptable lifestyle choice, Portland's Outside Van has thoroughly sharpened its skills building personalized mobile dwellings for everyone from forward-looking weight watchers to bike-pedaling gamers. Now it feels the time right to take what it's learned over those hundreds of builds and channel it into a more over-the-counter-style camper van series available at dealerships around the US. It turns the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 144 AWD into the Syncline, a rugged adventure machine with charmingly r
A new octopus-sucker-inspired suction cup could make it much easier and more energy-efficient for robots to lift and release rough-surfaced objects. The secret lies in using water to mimic octopus mucus.Continue ReadingCategory: ScienceTags: University of Bristol, Biomimicry
Penguins are fast, fantastic swimmers, so why not make an underwater robot inspired by them? That's just what German underwater tech company EvoLogics has done, with its new-and-improved Quadroin AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle).Continue ReadingCategory: Robotics, TechnologyTags: Underwater, 
A perfect storm is brewing for China's most densely populated areas due to rising sea levels and subsiding land that has been accelerated beyond normal fluctuations. Scientists have sounded the alarm that, without intervention, urban areas below sea level could triple in size by 2120, impacting up to 128 million people.Continue ReadingCategory: Environment, ScienceTags: Climate Crisis, 
Logitech has introduced new software that gives users of its peripherals easy access to ChatGPT. After matching the feature to a keyboard key or mouse button, the user can quickly tap into the power of GPT via preset or custom recipes.Continue ReadingCategory: Computers, 
Officials have given the thumbs up for a new tallest skyscraper in the United States – and it's not headed for New York City or Chicago as you might expect, but to a tornado-prone area with a population of only around 700,000 people: Oklahoma City.Continue ReadingCategory: Architecture, LifestyleTags: Building