Oculus Rift virtual reality headset to be compatible with Xbox One games such as Halo June 11, 2015 Oculus Rift has finally arrived. Kind of. Three years since Oculus first got off the ground with a Kickstarter campaign, and just over a year since it was bought by Facebook for $2bn, the virtual reality company today debuted the consumer version of its Oculus Rift headset. Expected to be available to buy early in [...]
War of the wearables: Jawbone sues Fitbit for second time ahead of IPO June 11, 2015 The war of the wearables is hotting up even more. Jawbone, the maker of the Up fitness tracker has filed a second lawsuit in the US courts alleging that soon-to-IPO rival Fitbit, which also makes fitness trackers, infringed several of its patents. It's the second lawsuit filed by Jawbone against Fitbit in two weeks – [...]
Mixing diamonds and graphene could revolutionise engineering – and it all comes down to friction June 11, 2015 When you add diamond, one of the world's hardest natural materials, to graphene, the world's strongest man-made material, the result is practically frictionless, scientists have discovered. The resulting mixture, as scientists at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory discovered when they added diamond nano-particles to the one-layered carbon substance, is the first to [...]
Theresa May is pushing for snooping powers but the independent reviewer is not so convinced June 11, 2015 Home Secretary Theresa May is continuing her push for further web surveillance powers to counter terrorism, but the independent watchdog has raised some serious questions about her plans in a new report. David Anderson QC, the author of the government-commissioned but independent report , says: There should be no question of progressing proposals for the [...]
Amazon’s facing another EU investigation – this time its ebooks business is under the microscope June 11, 2015 Amazon is the latest US tech firm to face the scrutiny of regulators in Europe. The European Commission has opened a new investigation into the retail giant, this time putting its ebook business under the microscope. Brussels will be taking a closer look at Amazon's contracts with publishers and whether the deals are anticompetitive and [...]
Middle-class kids are selfish, and it’s bad for their health June 11, 2015 Richer children tend to be more selfish than their poorer counterparts – and this could be hurting their health. A new scientific study has found that children as young as four could reap health benefits from being more altruistic. But this behaviour is “less common among kids from high-income families”, the research, published in [...]
WWDC 2015: Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference showcases the tech we’ll all be using in the months ahead June 10, 2015 APPLE PAY The rollout of Apple Pay marks a new era for contactless payment and it’s going to be here as soon as July. After a successful trial in the US, Apple has teamed up with most major British banks so all you need to do is register your credit or debit card on [...]
Ocado’s making robots that will help in the workplace June 10, 2015 The online grocery company Ocado is getting into the robot business as work begins today on developing technology which will become humanoid helpers to workers. The company will work with leading researchers across Europe to combine artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced vision technologies to create robot support worker which can lend a helping hand. [...]
51 per cent of Facebook’s advertising revenue comes from overseas June 10, 2015 Facebook brings in more advertising revenue from overseas than it does in the United States, company executives have said. Some 51 per cent of global advertising sales in the first quarter of 2015 were from overseas – with the fastest growth in Asia. Total advertising revenue for the first quarter increased 46 per cent – [...]
Spotify reveals user numbers after Apple Music launch as TeliaSonera funding pushes valuation to $8bn June 10, 2015 Spotify has revealed the number of users it has, just days after the launch of a rival music streaming service by Apple dubbed a "Spotify killer". The service which made music streaming popular now counts 75m active users – growth of 88 per cent since May last year – while the number of subscribers has [...]