King’s Cross ditches facial recognition technology after watchdog savaged plans September 3, 2019 King’s Cross has denied it will reintroduce facial recognition cameras at the site, as details emerged of its plans to use the technology to identify criminals. In a letter sent to the Mayor of London last month, the developers behind the 67-acre site said they were rolling out an upgraded facial recognition system that would [...]
King’s Cross facial recognition technology ‘not used since 2018’ September 3, 2019 Facial recognition technology has not been used at King’s Cross since March 2018, the site’s developers have insisted. Property development firm Argent, which is overseeing a regeneration project on the 67-acre site, was forced to defend its use of the controversial technology last month amid concerns about privacy and personal data. Read more: King’s Cross [...]
Can’t name the UK technology secretary? That’s because we don’t have one September 3, 2019 Do you know who our secretary of state for technology is? Or can you name the tech minister? No? That’s not surprising, because they don’t exist. While we all might agree that technology is a key ingredient to a successful and vibrant economy and to our advancement as a society, there is still no one [...]
Car alarm: Half of UK consumers fear driverless vehicles September 2, 2019 Almost half of UK consumers are worried about the dangers posed by driverless cars, a new survey has revealed. Roughly 43 per cent of adults surveyed said they were concerned about the problems that may arise from autonomous vehicles, as car manufacturers race to develop the new technology. Read more: Former Uber driverless guru charged [...]
What is Zao? The Chinese ‘deepfake’ face-swapping app that’s gone viral September 2, 2019 A controversial face-swapping app has provoked a major privacy row after going viral in China over the weekend. Zao, a new app that can place anyone inside their favourite TV show or movie by using a selfie, has sparked fresh concerns over so-called deepfake technology in the wake of its swift rise to the top [...]
Pie in the sky? London urged to plan for flying taxi future September 2, 2019 Airbus will tomorrow urge London authorities to plan for a future in which electric air taxis roam the skies and drones carry cargo a few thousand feet above the city. The aviation juggernaut has already built a prototype air taxi, as have arch rivals Boeing, Uber and several other manufacturers. Airbus will urge city planners [...]
The next dimension – bringing 3D advertising graphics to the masses September 2, 2019 What’s the most visually stunning advert you can think of? Perhaps it’s one of the John Lewis Christmas campaigns, or maybe it’s an ad by Apple or Samsung that shows their phones in incredible detail as they float across the screen. Whatever you imagined, it was likely made using computer-generated imagery (CGI), or other 3D [...]
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has account hacked as series of racist messages posted August 31, 2019 Twitter is investigating after the social media network’s co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey had his account hacked. A series of offensive and racist messages were posted to Dorsey 4.2m followers on Friday evening. Read more: Google uncovers ‘indiscriminate’ iPhone hack attack lasting years Among them included false reports of a bomb threat at Twitter’s [...]
Google uncovers ‘indiscriminate’ iPhone hack attack lasting years August 30, 2019 Google security researchers say they have found evidence of a “group making a sustained effort” to hack iPhones over at least two years. The researchers found a number of websites being used to launch “indiscriminate” attacks on iPhones when visited. The team estimated the sites were visited “thousands of visitors per week”. Read more: Apple [...]
Uber’s quiet cabs are sapping our social skills August 30, 2019 Uber’s recent move to offer passengers a “quiet preferred” option sparked a lively debate online, with some praising the move and others sharing stories of overly chatty drivers disturbing their journeys. Others bemoaned the change, branding it “dehumanising” for the drivers and “entitled”. Whatever side of the fence you sit on, there’s no denying that [...]