The UK sleep-tracker industry is estimated to be worth £270m a year – and forecast to double by 2030. Could all this data be making our insomnia worse? The other day, I was plodding away on the treadmill at the gym when I overheard two blokes chatting. “I had a great night last night,” said …
Sleep perfectionists: the exhausting rise of orthosomnia Read More »
The safer phones bill could ban companies from applying algorithms for young ‘doomscrolling’ teens Social media companies could be forced to exclude young teens from algorithms to make content less addictive for under-16s, under a new bill with heavyweight backing from Labour, Conservatives and child protection experts. The safer phones bill, a private member’s bill …
New UK bill could force social media firms to make content less addictive for under 16s Read More »
One in four Australians don’t have access to essential technology. The Smith Family says a national device bank could help close the gap Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A Westfield shopping centre isn’t an obvious place to get homework done. But for Deborah Botende, it was one of her …
‘I felt I had no choice’: why Deborah did her schoolwork using the shopping centre wifi Read More »
German city’s Sinfoniker says aim is not to replace humans but to play music human conductors would find impossible She’s not long on charisma or passion but keeps perfect rhythm and is never prone to temperamental outbursts against the musicians beneath her three batons. Meet MAiRA Pro S, the next-generation robot conductor who made her …
Three-armed robot conductor makes debut in Dresden Read More »
Creatures can converse and share their stories by voice or text through visitors’ mobile phones at Museum of Zoology If the pickled bodies, partial skeletons and stuffed carcasses that fill museums seem a little, well, quiet, fear not. In the latest coup for artificial intelligence, dead animals are to receive a new lease of life …
AI gives voice to dead animals in Cambridge exhibition Read More »
The computer scientist’s dogged belief in the potential of neural networks helped unlock machine learning. But he’d be wise to remember the experience of a fellow laureate Way back in 2011 Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist with aspirations to be a public intellectual, published an essay entitled “Why Software Is Eating the World”, predicting that …
Freedom from the temptations pushed at us on a daily basis is now a class issue They are problems of success, really, these modern ills. Social media addiction, gaming disorders, the compulsive over-eating of sugar and processed gloop: they are products of a society with more than enough food, leisure time and boredom, and without …
Formerly reviled music technology is more popular than ever as designers experiment for a growing group of enthusiasts Queen refused to use them. The Musicians’ Union tried to ban them. Then computers overtook them. Synthesisers have been mocked, despised and discarded throughout their history, yet somehow they are entering a new golden era. A new …
‘You can try weirder and weirder things’: once-mocked synthesisers enjoy new golden era Read More »
Before it was shut down this year, the illicit and unmoderated chat site Coco had been implicated in killings, child sexual abuse and homophobic attacks The trial of a 71-year-old man has gripped France and horrified the world after he admitted to repeatedly drugging his wife and, over the course of decades, soliciting dozens of …
The anonymous, anything-goes forum at the heart of the Pelicot rape case Read More »
Analysts criticise lack of detail about the ‘robotaxi’ showcased by CEO Elon Musk Elon Musk unveils Tesla Cybercab self-driving robotaxi Tesla shares fell nearly 9% on Friday, wiping about $60bn (£45bn) from the company’s value, after the long-awaited unveiling of its so-called robotaxi failed to excite investors. Shares in the electric carmaker tumbled to $217 …
Tesla’s value drops $60bn after investors fail to hail self-driving ‘Cybercab’ Read More »
