Drone owners to be charged annual fee under new proposals
By: New York Times 30 April 2019 The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is consulting on introducing a licence fee to cover the costs of operating the new drone registration scheme. From November, drone owners would have to register their details on a database and drone flyers would complete a free online safety test. But a […]
Border officials have ‘near-unfettered’ access to electronic devices, ACLU says
By: Colin Lecher April 30, 2019 United States officials have largely unchecked power to search electronic devices at the border, and can share the resulting data widely, the American Civil Liberties Union said today. The organization, which is suing both Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agencies had released new […]
Space tech to fight bowel cancer and exposure to air pollution
By: UK Space Agency and Chris Skidmore MP April 29,2019 New health technologies inspired by working in space will provide real-time diagnosis of bowel cancer and freedom from air pollution. The projects are being funded with a share of £5m from the UK Space Agency to mark the 70th birthday of the NHS. Science Minister […]
An algorithm wipes clean the criminal pasts of thousands
By: Dave Lee April 29, 2019 This month, a judge in California cleared thousands of criminal records with one stroke of his pen. He did it thanks to a ground-breaking new algorithm that reduces a process that took months to mere minutes. The programmers behind it say: we’re just getting started solving America’s urgent problems. […]
Facebook accused of blocking wider efforts to study its ad platform
By: Natasha Lomas April29, 2019 Facebook has been accused of blocking the ability of independent researchers to effectively study how political disinformation flows across its ad platform. Adverts that the social network’s business is designed to monetize have — at the very least — the potential to influence people and push voters’ buttons, as the […]
New tech could see drivers earn money on the go
By: Jack Evans April 29, 2019 Motorists could be able to earn money as they drive thanks to a new system being developed by Jaguar Land Rover. ‘Smart Wallet’ technology will see drivers earn cryptocurrency for sharing information about traffic jams and potholes. Those credits can then be used to automatically pay for tolls, parking […]
Our smartphone addiction isn’t just bad for our mental health, it’s a security risk
By: Gary Davis April 28, 2019 We’ve all had the “smartphone conversation.” The one about our unhealthy obsession and inability to put phones down. This fear is legitimized byresearch, showing that we spend approximately one third of our waking hours on our mobile devices – just over five hours per day. However, while we all […]
Autonomous vehicles make congestion pricing even more critical
By: Tech Crunch April 28, 2019 Autonomous vehicles will soon be ubiquitous on city streets. Before this happens, we should ask ourselves: Will they whisk us quickly through cities or make traffic worse? A car is a car, whether self-driving or people driven—taking up a great deal more space than busses, streetcars, or trains—so let’s […]
AR will mean dystopia if we don’t act today
By: Matt Miesnieks April 26, 2019 The martial arts actor Jet Li turned down a role in the Matrix and has been invisible on our screens because he does not want his fighting moves 3D-captured and owned by someone else. Soon everyone will be wearing 3D-capable cameras to support augmented reality (often referred to as […]