Firefox to take another crack at putting ads in new browser tabs
Firefox creator Mozilla is having another crack at incorporating ads into its web browser. They'll appear as personalized sponsored links when a user opens a new tab, though Mozilla insists the personalization will occur "without needing to vacuum up all of your personal data or sharing it with others."
Intel drones offer high-tech help to restore the Great Wall of China
Drones are being tried and tested in a growing range of industries, from movies and logistics to agriculture and health. Heritage conservation is another sector exploring this tech, with Intel using its own advanced drone platform to assist with work to restore decrepit parts of the Great Wall of China.
Instagram begins trials on in-app payments to help you insta-pay
Instagram is moving tentatively toward offering its community a more integrated shopping experience with the limited launch of a new in-app payments platform. The new feature lets you enter your payments details directly into the app, paving the way for a more seamless, and faster, shopping experience.
China nabs world record for biggest drone display, but it’s a bit of a mess
Chinese drone company Ehang has just nabbed the world record from Intel for the most drones flying in a single display. On Tuesday, May 1, Ehang sent 1,374 quadcopters skyward, their LED lights sparkling in the night sky. But video footage of the display showed many of the drones were out of sync at times.
JetBlue hopes its new A320 cabin will ‘bring humanity back to air travel’
JetBlue put its new restyled A320 cabin into service on May 2. The design offers flyers comfier seats — the widest available for the A320 — and the most leg room in coach of any U.S. airline. It has also enhanced its in-flight entertainment systems with large seat-back displays and more on-demand content.
Stunning ‘gigalapse’ shows London in detail as it changes throughout a day
There are gigapixel photos and there are time-lapses. Now, a team of London-based creatives brings you the "gigalapse." Shot over the course of a single day in England's capital, the series of 7.3-gigapixel images let you explore the city in great detail from the top of the country's second-tallest building.
Urban dwellers will like the sound of these noise-canceling windows
For many urban dwellers, the noise can be so aggravating that it means keeping the windows firmly shut for much of the day. Wouldn't it be great if you could enjoy a bit of peace and quiet in your urban home even when the windows are open? Thanks to researchers at a university in Singapore, it could soon be the case.
Apple reveals healthy iPhone sales as Cook hints at more handset variations
Apple on Tuesday reported a solid second quarter in line with its own forecasts. Despite recent reports of weak iPhone X demand, Apple boss Tim Cook said its flagship handset sold "more than any other iPhone each week" across the three months, resulting in 52.2 million iPhone sales during the quarter.
Google’s Clips camera is now ready to snap your ‘big moments and little ones’
Google has launched its Clips smart camera. The $249 device is programmed to spot interesting moments and automatically triggers when it spots them.
Airline smart luggage ban will be a real headache for travelers
Last year, several major U.S. carriers announced a ban on smart luggage whose batteries can't be removed. The ban began in January 2018, and now, a few months later, prominent smart luggage company Bluesmart has been forced to shutter its operations. The company will no longer support its smart luggage.
A fleet of delivery robots could soon be coming to a campus near you
Starship Technologies' autonomous delivery robot has so far been tested in more than 20 countries, covering some 100,000 miles in the last four years. A recent trial involved taking a fleet of the wheel-based robots to a Silicon Valley campus, allowing workers to order meals from the comfort of their desk.
Blue Origin sends New Shepard space capsule to its highest altitude yet
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space company launched its sub-orbital New Shepard rocket from its spaceport in the west Texas desert on Sunday, April 29, with the ascent taking the capsule to 351,000 feet (66 miles, or 107 kilometers) above the surface of Earth — several miles higher than previous launches.
WhatsApp co-founder to depart after apparent clashes with Facebook
WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum announced on April 30 that he is leaving the company. Reports suggest he has become frustrated with the direction in which parent-company Facebook is taking the messaging app, with particular concerns centering on data privacy and business strategy.
‘An absolute nightmare’: When online banking goes wrong — very wrong
Customers at a major U.K. bank have been having a torrid time with online banking over the past week, with no end in sight for many. The chaos at TSB started after engineers tried to migrate customer data between systems, resulting in weird transactions, phantom deposits, and millions unable to access their accounts.
Judges in top photo contest rule anteater in winning image is stuffed
A wildlife image that won a prize in a top photo contest has been disqualified after judges concluded it featured a stuffed animal. The photographer insists the animal — an anteater — is real, but investigators said it's too similar to a (dead) one at a visitors' center close to where the shot was taken.
Did Amazon just give itself a $2 billion raise? Prime will now cost $119 a year
Amazon is raising the cost of its Prime membership by $20, pushing the annual fee from $99 to $119. It'll go into effect for new sign-ups on May 11, and for renewals on June 16. Amazon launched its shipping and entertainment package in 2005 and it now has 100 million members globally.
Tesla Model X crashes into gym, driver says it accelerated by itself
A Tesla Model X recently crashed into a gym after it suddenly accelerated. The driver said it happened without warning, though Tesla suspects the gas pedal may have been pressed accidentally. It's now examining the car's computer logs to find the cause and to discover if Autopilot was engaged at the time.
Website builder Weebly to be snapped up by payments service Square
Website builder Weebly has been acquired by payments service Square. Led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Square hopes the acquisition will expand its presence overseas and give merchants "one cohesive solution" for building their businesses. Weebly promised its users that its site would continue to innovate and improve.
Fake ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ accounts are scamming people out of cash
Facebook scammers are setting up fake accounts in the name of Mark Zuckerberg and using them to trick users into handing over cash. The deceit is a variation on the once-popular advance-fee email scam that gets people to wire small sums of money in expectation of receiving a larger sum.
Casio said to be leaving the digital compact camera market
Casio is preparing to exit the compact camera business, according to a report out of Japan. The Tokyo-based company has apparently concluded there's no longer an easy route to profits in a market increasingly squeezed by the smartphone sector, with many handsets these days offering excellent photographic features.
Ford GoBike ebikes come to San Francisco to conquer those steep hills
Fans of bike-sharing schemes now have more ebike options if they find themselves in San Francisco. Following in the footsteps of Jump, Ford GoBike has this week introduced 250 electric-powered bicycles to its fleet, making those trips up San Francico's famously steep streets a whole lot easier.
Pepper the robot’s latest gig is at the Smithsonian
Pepper's latest gig is at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. And there won't be just one or two of them helping out. The museum, research, and education complex is hiring 25 of the diminutive droids to assist at several of its locations, with visitors encouraged to interact with the friendly robot.
Virgin America, the ‘airline of Silicon Valley,’ takes its final flight
Virgin America has flown for the last time. Flight 1947 departed Los Angeles at 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, bound for San Francisco. Judging by the response on social media, the airline that brought us funky mood lighting, comfy leather seats, and jazzed-up safety videos will be sorely missed.
Airbus’ latest A350 aircraft to break record for longest commercial flight
Airbus has started testing an aircraft that can fly more than 20 hours without needing to refuel. The A350-900 XWB will go into service for Singapore Airlines next year, flying passengers between Singapore and New York City on a 19-hour trip — nearly an hour longer than the longest current flight.
YouTube removed 8M videos in 3 months, and machines did most of the work
Anyone can upload anything to YouTube, but the company's computers are getting better at fishing out objectionable content. On Monday, April 23, YouTube revealed that it removed 8.3 million videos in the last three months of 2017, with its machine-based systems doing the majority of this work.
Britain’s best-known money-saving expert sues Facebook over fake ads
The U.K.'s best-known money-saving expert is fed up with Facebook's apparently lax attitude toward removing scammers' ads that use his name as an endorsement for bogus financial products. And he's taking the social networking giant to court in a bid to finally sort it out.
Udacity’s new online degree targets ‘most pressing issue of our time’
E-learning school Udacity is gearing up to launch its first-ever nanodegree program in cybersecurity. Aware of the growing threat of cyberattacks and the need for more specialists to tackle the issue, Udacity is putting the call out to relevant companies and organizations to help it design the course.
A phone scam is nabbing millions of dollars from the U.S. Chinese community
Phone scammers purporting to be from a Chinese consulate office are tricking people across the U.S. into handing over large sums of money. Since December of last year, 21 members of the Chinese community in New York City alone have lost a total of $2.5 million, according to the New York Police Department.
Rest that hand, this $365K machine can sign your name for you
With 585 moving parts packed into a pocket-sized box, The Signing Machine from prestigious Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz is an extraordinary piece of work. Created to showcase the company's mechanical clockwork technology, the machine can sign your name so you don't have to. It will, however, cost you $365,000.
Say hi to Daisy, an Apple-made robot that recycles old iPhones
Apple has set itself recycling targets with its tech products, and to help it meet them it's employing the services of Daisy. Daisy is a highly dexterous robot that's able to take apart 200 iPhones an hour, identifying the reusable parts and components before carefully extracing them from the device.
Robot chefs are the focus of new Sony and Carnegie Mellon research
Sony and Carnegie Mellon University are collaborating on A.I. and robotics research, starting with a focus on optimizing food preparation, cooking, and delivery. Food preparation tasks are complex and varied, so the resulting tech could eventually be applied to a wide range of industries.
Amazon reveals there are over 100 million Prime members
Amazon has always been rather vague when it comes to the issue of how many people pay for Prime. But CEO Jeff Bezos has just revealed the figure — 100 million globally — in a letter to shareholders. Bezos added that in 2017, more new members joined Prime than in any previous year, both worldwide and in the U.S.
TaskRabbit back online after cyberattack, warns users to monitor their accounts
TaskRabbit is back online after a cyberattack forced the company to suspend its operation on Monday. The CEO says it's still investigating the extent of the damage, and warns users to monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity. It added that it will notify every affected individual as soon as it can.