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The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts Why are cars designed to be capable of going much faster than the speed limit? (Don’t tell me they’re made with the Autobahn in mind.) Andy Crosby, north Wales Post your …

Why are cars designed to be capable of going much faster than the speed limit? Read More »

Image library boss speaks out amid anger over harvesting of material for ‘training data’ for AI companies Rishi Sunak needs to decide whether he wants to back the UK’s creative industries or gamble everything on an artificial intelligence boom, the chief executive of Getty Images has said. Craig Peters, who has led the image library …

Back UK creative sector or gamble on AI, Getty Images boss tells Sunak Read More »

Glasgow University has set up virtual trips showing stories behind the poems and exploring the poet’s life Guests attending Burns Night suppers this month can get unexpected help in appreciating Scotland’s national bard – thanks to virtual reality. The Art of the Burns Supper has been created by Glasgow University researchers and takes participants on …

Egg timer, Coke bottle and a skull cast: VR puts Burns memorabilia in reach Read More »

As the Post Office debacle has amply demonstrated, putting blind faith into a new form of technology can be perilous It doesn’t take much imagination to describe what happens when a large corporation, over 16 long years, is allowed vindictively to prosecute 900 subpostmasters for theft, false accounting and fraud, when shortfalls at their branches …

Horrified by Horizon? Then get ready to be totally appalled by AI Read More »

Study warns that lack of reporting may mask the dangers of still-mostly-illegal scooters on roads and pavements The majority of e-scooter accidents that involve someone needing hospital treatment are not being recorded in official road accident figures, a new study reveals, sparking fears that their dangers have been underplayed. The analysis found that just 9% …

Tiny proportion of e-scooter injuries appear in official UK data Read More »

A 1999 note highlighted concerns of subpostmasters about the Horizon system and heralded decades of ministerial failings In any big scandal with the power to dominate the nation’s attention, there are inevitably key moments when events could have been stopped in their tracks. Yet few early warnings could have been as prescient as a seven-page …

‘A tragedy is not far away’: 25-year-old Post Office memo predicted scandal Read More »

If there’s one area in which artificial intelligence could actually be useful, it’s in the writing of computer code As you have doubtless noticed, we are in the middle of a feeding frenzy about something called generative AI. Legions of hitherto normal people – and economists – are surfing a wave of irrational exuberance about …

The hard truth about AI? It might produce some better software | John Naughton Read More »

Creators of these chatbots often tout them as a way to combat loneliness, but they can create unhealthy attachments and affect gender roles It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a computer must be in want of an AI girlfriend. Certainly a lot of enterprising individuals seem to think …

AI girlfriends are here – but there’s a dark side to virtual companions | Arwa Mahdawi Read More »

Walking the dog led the photographer to a magical, misty moment with an elephant Himanshu Roy was walking his dog, Rio, through his home area of Vesu, part of the Indian city of Surat, when he saw the man and the elephant. “We don’t often see elephants here; Vesu is a very developed and residential …

‘Such rare and magnificent beauty in city life’: Himanshu Roy’s best phone picture Read More »

With market capitalizations neck-and-neck at $2.887tn and $2.875tn, Microsoft pulls ahead due to worries about iPhone sales Microsoft’s stock market value ended a trading session higher than that of Apple’s for the first time since 2021 on Friday, making it the world’s most valuable company as worries about demand hit the iPhone maker’s shares. Apple …

Microsoft beats Apple as most valuable company for first time in two years Read More »