Month: May 2022

Clearview AI was fined for using internet-sourced images of UK residents in its database – but not before police forces used its service Last week, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) slapped a £7.5m fine on a smallish tech company called Clearview AI for “using images of people in the UK, and elsewhere, that were …

It’s about time facial recognition tech firms took a look in the mirror | John Naughton Read More »

The billionaire has received loans and tax breaks to help keep Tesla afloat, now he says other companies should go bankrupt for the good of the economy With the invasion of Ukraine and lockdowns in China putting added pressure on a supply chain that has yet to recover from the ongoing pandemic, many are predicting …

Elon Musk welcomes global recession: ‘it’s been raining money on fools for too long’ | Andrew Lawrence Read More »

Creating a machine that can perform the delicate work of picking an apple is tricky – and farmworkers say it could be a benefit Robots can do a lot. They build cars in factories. They sort goods in Amazon warehouses. Robotic dogs can, allegedly and a little creepily, make us safer by patrolling our streets. …

Will this fruit-picking robot transform agriculture? Read More »

A chance array of possessions gave the camera-shy Spanish stylist the inspiration for a revealing self-portrait Almudena López Calafate is no hoarder, but she doesn’t like to throw things in the bin unnecessarily. The red roses on her bedroom dressing cabinet were from her then boyfriend – a gift given with love – and she …

‘Reflections make me think of mystery’: Almudena López Calafate’s best phone picture Read More »

Patricia Collinson, 87, unwittingly ordered an Amazon subscription for app to say a prayer When my 87-year-old mother, Patricia Collinson, was given an Alexa speaker by my sister, she was delighted to find she could ask it to say the Hail Mary. Every morning for a week the devout Catholic asked Alexa to recite the …

Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary? Read More »

Marc Lamont Hill and Todd Brewster’s brilliant book considers the history of communications technology in a racist society Nearly all the books I have read about the internet have deepened my fears about the net effect of social media on the health of our body politic. For example, I thought three facts from the congressman …

Seen and Unseen review: George Floyd, Black Twitter and the fight for racial justice Read More »

US financial watchdog asked Musk 10 days before he announced his takeover bid why he had not disclosed his stake sooner The US financial watchdog has contacted Elon Musk about the disclosure of his stake in Twitter, asking the Tesla chief executive why he appeared to file a crucial form late. The Securities and Exchange …

SEC publishes letter asking Elon Musk to explain late Twitter filing Read More »

At King’s College London, students are designing games that explore diplomacy, drones and the psychological impact of battle. But can they really help? On the second floor of the stately King’s College London building on the Strand, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden are sitting around a table studying a map of …

From the invasion of Ukraine to weapons procurement: the war games seeking solutions to real-life conflicts Read More »

Emails describe strategy in 2018 by Sir Richard Dearlove and others to ensure Britain left EU on WTO terms A group of Russian hackers is believed to be behind the release of a cache of emails obtained from a former director of MI6 and other Brexiters unhappy with Theresa May’s failure to negotiate a ‘clean’ …

Hard Brexit plans by ex-MI6 chief hacked and leaked by Russians Read More »

Investors say Musk saved himself $156m by failing to disclose that he had purchased more than 5% of Twitter by 14 March Elon Musk was sued by Twitter investors for delaying the disclosure of his stake in the company, as the Tesla owner mounts a $44bn takeover bid for the social media platform. The investors …

Elon Musk sued by Twitter investors for delaying disclosure of stake Read More »