Elon Musk reveals plans to connect human brains to computers July 17, 2019 Billionaire Elon Musk yesterday revealed plans to develop technology to allow human brains to connect with computers. Secretive “brain-machine interface” firm Neuralink was founded in 2017 to fight the “existential threat” of artificial intelligence developing further than humans. Read more: Tesla boss Elon Musk rebrands on Twitter as Daddy Dotcom At an event in California [...]
Google terminates Project Dragonfly, its censored search engine for China July 17, 2019 Google has “terminated” China’s controversial censored search engine, codenamed Project Dragonfly, a top executive has said. The project, which a former Google staffer had called “disturbing”, was shelved last December, but suggestions continued to circulate that the tech giant was still running it. Read more: Donald Trump hints at treason probe into Google Karan Bhatia, [...]
France joins US and UK in warning over Facebook’s libra July 17, 2019 France has joined the US and UK in saying strong regulations must be in place before Facebook goes ahead with creating its proposed libra digital currency. Read more: US senators grill top exec over Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency The warning came as G7 finance ministers converged on the French town of Chantilly for a two-day meeting [...]
EU targets Amazon in e-commerce antitrust probe July 17, 2019 Amazon is the subject of the EU’s latest antitrust probe, with the European Commission accusing the tech giant of abusing its dominance in e-commerce. The investigation, which began today, could see CEO Jeff Bezos’ retail behemoth lumped with a multi-billion dollar fine similar to other penalties issued to tech giant Google. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: “European consumers [...]
Revealed: The 25 most influential people on the internet July 17, 2019 US President Donald Trump, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and an egg have been named among the most influential people on the internet. Read more: Internet meme queen Grumpy Cat dies aged 7 The eagerly-anticipated list, compiled by Time Magazine, revealed an eclectic mix of celebrities, royals, politicians and foodstuffs that have dominated the [...]
Let Apollo 11 be an inspiration, mankind can achieve the impossible July 17, 2019 Fifty years ago this week, in one of the seminal moments in the history of humanity, man landed on the moon for the first time. As hundreds of millions watched with bated breath, hoping against hope that nothing would derail this most extraordinary of missions, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface and immortalised [...]
Facebook’s libra could solve the gig economy’s payment problem July 17, 2019 Ordering your evening meal or weekly groceries online has never been easier. In most cities, you can now book a car from your phone to get you from A to B in minutes. All of this is made possible by two things: the marketplace technology that facilitates instant transactions, and the gig economy that delivers [...]
Massive airport email scam blocked by UK spooks July 16, 2019 An attempt to scam hundreds of thousands of people using a spoof UK airport email address was one of a string of major cyberattacks prevented by spooks last year. Criminals sent more than 200,000 emails impersonating an airport from a fake gov.uk address last August in a bid to defraud people, but the messages were [...]
Advertising data platform Near raises $100m to fuel global expansion July 16, 2019 Advertising tech platform Near has secured $100m (£80m) in funding from a London-based private equity firm as it looks to expand its global presence. Read more: Competition watchdog launches probe into tech giants over digital advertising dominance The Singapore-headquartered ad firm said its new funding round, which comes from Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), will also [...]
Donald Trump hints at treason probe into Google after Peter Thiel complaint July 16, 2019 US President Donald Trump has hinted his administration might investigate Google for treason, after entrepreneur Peter Thiel called on the FBI and CIA to probe the company. Speaking on Twitter, the President said his administration will “take a look” at allegations Google has worked with the Chinese government. Read more: Donald Trump says his trade [...]