Apple Pay comes to the UK – but will it change your life? July 14, 2015 Apple Pay has made its debut in the UK with a strangely secretive launch from a company known for its high profile events. It’s a clever piece of technology that enables people to use the iPhone 6 and new Apple Watch in the same way as a contactless debit card, simply tapping it on an [...]
Pluto flyby pictures: Nasa’s New Horizons probe sends back “best image of Pluto yet” as it whizzes past dwarf planet July 14, 2015 A multi-billion-kilometre flight, taking nine years to complete, has culminated in a major win for space science: the Pluto flyby. The US probe shot past Pluto at 12.49pm UK time on a trajectory that brought the spacecraft within 12,500km of the body’s surface. The probe was travelling at 45,000 km/h (28,000 mph). Nasa [...]
Why is Flash not working on my browser? Mozilla bans plugin on Firefox because of “vulnerabilities” July 14, 2015 It turns out Apple founder Steve Jobs, who banished Flash from all his devices, isn't the only campaigner against the software, after Mozilla blocked all versions of Flash on its Firefox web browsers last night. Mark Schmidt, the head of Firefox's tweeted overnight that the company had blocked the software, which is used to power [...]
Spotify’s musical map of the world: These are the most popular songs in London, Manchester, New York, Berlin, and every major city around the world July 14, 2015 Londoners love Jamie xx while New Yorkers prefer the tunes of The Chainsmokers, and everyone loves a bit of hip hop. That's the musical tastes of music fans around the world, based on their listening habits of more than 20bn tracks in more than 1,000 cities around the world. Spotify has created a musical map [...]
Turing Phone: The makers of this smartphone say it’s impossible to hack and doesn’t break July 14, 2015 It sounds like a challenge for hackers if ever there was one, but a mobile phone startup is promising its upcoming smartphone is not just impossible to break, but also impossible to hack into. Aptly named the Turing Phone, it promises to be a secure phone, built for a post-Snowden and data surveillance world. Using [...]
Apple Pay launches in the UK: Where to use it, how to use it, which iPhone you need and how it works July 14, 2015 If you're the proud owner of an iPhone 6, 6 Plus or Apple Watch you can now spend your cash with little more than the flick of a wrist. Apple Pay has today launched in the UK, allowing people to use near field communication on their iPhones to tap and pay for items worth [...]
Not just for Harry Potter: Scientists develop an invisibility cloak using dielectric materials July 13, 2015 Invisibility may have been reserved for fantasy novels and folklore until now, but it looks like invisibility cloaks are not just for Harry Potter anymore. Scientists have developed a material that’s incredibly thin and doesn’t change the brightness of light around an object. This means it can “cloak” an object so it disappears beneath it [...]
Instagram reveals UK user numbers for the first time July 13, 2015 Instagram has revealed that it has 14m active monthly users in the UK. This is the first set of numbers the Facebook owned photo app has ever released for the UK market, so there is nothing to compare it to, but the company says that this shows significant growth. The company declined to go into [...]
Wearables startup Jewelbots wants to get girls into tech with hi-tech jewellery July 13, 2015 The percentage of women in the tech industry isn’t just low – it’s dropping. Wearables startup Jewelbots wants to change this by developing smart friendship bracelets to get girls interested in coding, and their idea has been a hit on the crowdfunding scene. The company, which launched last autumn, wrote about their idea on their [...]
How to improve your memory: Multitasking can actually be bad for your memory July 13, 2015 How long is your to-do list right now? From remembering to buy bread, to calling your mum, to replying to that e-mail, we all juggle any number of thoughts on a daily basis. But it turns out that trying to keep several things in mind simultaneously can actually end up weakening your memory. Neuroscientists at [...]