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Let’s face it, robots are cool. They’re also going to run the world some day, and hopefully, at that time they will take pity on their poor soft fleshy creators (a.k.a. robotics developers) and help us build a space utopia filled with plenty. I’m joking of course, but only sort of. In my ambition to have some small influence over the matter, I took a course in autonomous robot control theory last year, which culminated in my building a Python-based robotic

Electric vehicles can help keep the air clean in our cities – as we’ve seen recently with the reduction of traffic through COVID-19 lockdowns – but they face two obstacles. In the short term they’re still expensive. In the long term charging millions of vehicles from the electricity grid presents challenges. I’m part of a new project, launched today, that tackles both of these obstacles head-on, and it could mean owners earn more money than they’re likely to

TLDR: Easy website creation for visual builders is the calling card of this Sparkle Pro Website Builder lifetime subscription offer. Website builder apps have a tough job. They need a robust set of cutting edge features and customization options to keep web development pros happy, while being simple enough that a first-time user can get a good looking site completed without pulling their hair out.  That’s a finer line than you might realize. Many apps and services are either too simp

The first time I ever encountered a regular expression was many years ago now, but I still remember my first thoughts on it: What is this string-like thing? I don’t want to touch it, it looks scary. I don’t remember quite what that regex was doing, or how exactly it looked like, but it scared me to death. In hindsight, I now realize that it wasn’t actually that scary after all. In face, it was an easy way to solve the problem in hand. But why did I ever feel this way? It&

Google-backed Indian hyperlocal delivery service Dunzo said it suffered a data breach that left customer data including email IDs and phone numbers exposed. Dunzo provides pick up and deliver services in over seven cities in India. Given the majority of India’s business relies on offline commerce, through Dunzo, you can ask a delivery person to visit a shop to purchase something and deliver it to you for nominal fees. The service also allows you to pick up a package from a friend’s

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. It’s election year in the US, which means you’re probably going to see lots of political ads. While some social media platforms have banned them — such as Twitter — Facebook has yet to do so. But luckily, as of this June, it does offer an option to shut them off yourself. Facebook‘s history with political ads, and politics i

Prolific Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo is at it again with another prediction on Cupertino’s upcoming products. Specifically, Kuo believes Apple is planning to launch a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and a new MacBook Air with the newfangled chips as early as this year, as well as 14 and 16-inch Pros next year. In a research note, Kuo says(via MacRumors): We predict that Apple will launch new MacBook models including the new 13.3-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ equipped with the ‌Apple Silicon&zwnj

Ubisoft was apparently planning to reveal a new Far Cry game at its weekend E3 replacement event. Today, a leak gave away most of the major details about the game, including a look at the main villain. Ubisoft has also confirmed we’ll be seeing the game at the show. Anton would not be pleased. See you on Sunday at #UbiForward. pic.twitter.com/HieToJzDxp — Far Cry (@FarCrygame) July 10, 2020 We already suspected there was going to be a Far Cry game at this weekend

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it,” Albert Einstein once said. For those who aren’t financial gurus, allow me to put this quote in layman’s terms: everyone who’s able to save up a little, and is patient enough, can get wealthy. It’s not how celebrities get rich, it’s how the millionaire next door gets born. So how does it work? To become this achievable milli

Once upon a time, client-agency evaluations were merely 'nice to have'. But in recent years, structural changes in the industry have caused the evaluation process to become business critical.
Apart from digitisation, and the fragmentation of the industry, one of the most fundamental changes to the marketing industry in recent years has been the increased involvement of marketing procurement professionals in negotiating these high-value contracts.  They are used to using robust quantitative

In recent weeks, we have seen the power of media in helping to amplify and propel social movements, with passionate calls for racial justice and equality dominating our feeds. At the same time, major brands have taken unprecedented action in the fight against hate speech and intolerance online.
With Black Lives Matter finally starting to get the momentum it deserves, I’ve been heartened to see so many companies take a stand when it comes to investing in brand-safe environments. It matters

One of the biggest consequences of COVID-19 for enterprises beyond 2020 will be the acceleration of the trend to working the majority of the working week from home. Already organizations were encouraged to look into it on the promise that each employee working from home would, on average, work an additional 1.4 days per month, and that there would be greater productivity due to a perceived improvement in work/life balance. This working from home percentage was increased in an accelerated f

Japanese auto marque Honda is reportedly buying a stake in a Chinese battery maker that’s a big supplier to the electric vehicle market. Reuters reports that Honda will purchase a 1% stake in Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, better known as CATL. The two are reported to be working together to develop EV batteries. [Read: How you can watch BMW unveil its hotly anticipated iX3 EV next week] You might not know the CATL name, but you’ll probab

This is adapted from Plugged In, TNW’s bi-weekly newsletter on gear and gadgets. Subscribe to it (and our other great newsletters) here. Recently, a rumor made the rounds that Apple is planning to remove the charger and earbuds from the iPhone 12 box. This was heightened — more fuel poured onto the fire if you will — by leaked package designs that show no space for the peripherals. Even better, it appears that Samsung is gearing up to get rid of t

The crisis of trust
The advent of the digital era had a profound impact on the field of marketing. The internet's capacity for brand discovery was a game-changer — e-commerce platforms and social media websites enabled small businesses to compete like never before. But the same changes that allowed brands to become omnipresent had a side effect: they instilled a loss of trust.
According to Forrester, this trend is reflective of greater changes in our society. We are always informed, which

The Kite Factory was highly commended in the ‘Not for Profit’ category of The Drum Marketing Awards 2020 with its Paddington’s Postcards campaign for Unicef UK. Here, the team behind the entry reveal the challenges faced and strategies used to deliver this successful project.
 
The challenge
The not-for-profit sector has entered a period of profound change.
At the heart is an evolution in how people support charities, and what they get out of the relationship. There is a g

After a long drawn out lockdown where businesses and communities alike have felt the strain, stress and instability of our globally shared reality, it comes as no surprise that the UK’s dubbed “Super Saturday” saw restaurants, pubs and hair salons reopen en masse up and down the country, some with more success than others.
Already many pubs have had to reclose due to outbreaks of coronavirus, and the government's inability to get anywhere with a Track and Trace app has forced b

Facial recognition technology is increasingly being trialled and deployed around Australia. Queensland and Western Australia are reportedly already using real-time facial recognition through CCTV cameras. 7-Eleven Australia is also deploying facial recognition technology in its 700 stores nationwide for what it says is customer feedback. And Australian police are reportedly using a facial recognition system that allows them to identify members of the public from online photographs. Facial recog

First there was City, then there was South, and now — TNW West! We’re excited to announce that we’ll soon be expanding our TNW spaces with our third location, situated in the Westas, one of Amsterdam’s greenest neighborhoods. TNW West will allow us to almost double the size of our community in Amsterdam, connecting and supporting more fast-growing tech companies and talent. In partnership with MRP Development, one of the largest property developers in the Netherlands, we

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. As gyms and sports complexes have been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve started to work out at home using various fitness apps. But I find it cumbersome to look at workout videos on the phone, and follow trainers’ movements. So, I resorted to mirroring my phone screen on my TV. But I was annoyed when notifications from WhatsApp an

Tencent recently entered exclusive talks to buy Chinese gaming company Leyou, which produces the popular Warframe series of video games, and intends to take the company private. Leyou confirmed details of the agreement in a Friday press release. Bloomberg, which first reported the deal, noted the Hong Kong-listed company was worth around $1.1 billion before its trade was suspended in the lead-up to the announcement. China-based tech conglomerate Tencent serves as the world’s largest

TLDR: The RokBlok is the world’s smallest wireless record player and may be the world’s coolest way to play music — period. Occasionally, a particularly well-conceived article or review will get right to the beating heart of a topic with just a single line of text.  Such was the case with the RokBlok and this succinct one-line encapsulation from TechCrunch: “It’s cute as a button, clever as hell and utterly absurd.” Yes, yes and yes. And due to all three

Nope, it’s not just you: a bunch of your favorite apps are crashing on iOS — and it seems Facebook is to blame. A swathe of popular services, including Spotify, Pinterest, Twitter, Viber, Venmo, Tinder, and even Apple’s App Store, are experiencing technical difficulties. The exact number of affected users is unclear at present, but over 15,000 people have collectively reported unable to access Spotify, Pinterest, and Waze, according to Down Detector. The issues mostly affect i

AI startup Dataminr helped law enforcement surveil the ongoing protests against police violence by analyzing tweets about the demonstrations, the Intercept reports. The company accessed the data through Twitter‘s “firehouse,” a real-time stream of all tweets on the platform that’s rarely provided to tech firms. The alerts were sourced from both news reporters and bystanders watching or attending the rallies. According to internal documents reviewed by the

Modern marketing teams understand that high quality content is integral to a successful strategy. In fact, recent research showed that large companies plan to dedicate 42% of their marketing budget to content creation in 2020. At that scale it simply must deliver great ROI.
Why is it so beneficial to change your process to increase content focus and how is this accomplished? Here are some key pointers to guide you in your process.
Boost efficiency using focus and spotlight
There are many differe

This article was originally published by Sarah Wray on Cities Today, the leading news platform on urban mobility and innovation, reaching an international audience of city leaders. For the latest updates follow Cities Today on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, or sign up for Cities Today News. At a recent Cities Today Institute roundtable, cities across Europe told a consistent story – public transport ridership is down between 60 and 90 percent on pre-coronavirus

In the hyper competitive world of mobile apps - where funding is cheap and a land-grab attitude to customer acquisition prevails - a marketing technology arms race has broken out as companies scramble to drive customer insight, improve performance and gain competitive advantage.
But according to AppsFlyer marketing director EMEA David Llewellyn, throwing money at martech isn’t the solution, in this sector or any other. More important is having the right people, the right culture and the ri

The Park has released a new report focusing on the future of experiential marketing – a technique for growing brands and proving what they’re about. Drawing on research from YouGov, authored pieces from The Park’s leadership team and interviews with industry experts, the report starts with a table overview of what we know about current and future restrictions on our lives and what it means for our industry before looking at four key areas of focus.
Jack Lamacraft, managing dire

Facebook has removed pages of the heavy-metal bands SoldierSS of Evil, Whitelaw, and Frangar for violating the platform’s hate speech policies. The ban follows a new Al Jazeera investigation that identified 120 Facebook pages — with a total of over 800,000 likes — of mostly heavy-metal bands and record labels with direct ties to white supremacist ideology. Al Jazeera flagged five of these pages to Facebook for breaking the platform’s hate speech rules by displaying white

Unlike the big players in out-of-home (OOH) advertising, the small indies that power the corporate mural industry didn't have the cushion of investors' money to fall back on when the coronavirus downturn took its course. While firms like Global Street Art were among the first media casualties of the coronavirus crisis, as part of The Drum's Can-Do Festival, its chief exec sat down to share how it overcame adversity by focusing on its community projects until its commercial work starts

Leading mental health charities have come together to create a space to provide advice and online resources for young people.
Designing something from scratch usually sparks an incredible rush of excitement. But when presented with the results of how the pandemic is impacting people and then asked to help, you’re forced to pause. Mental health surveys show that around one in five people are having problems nationally.
Here’s the scary bit. When you look at a younger demographic speci

Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day. Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Planck used to say: Let’s get it! Bitcoin price We closed the day, July 09 2020, at a price of $9,277. That’s a minor 1.59 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$150.02. It was the lowest closing price in one day. We’re still 53 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-

Helping marketers and business leaders was the core aim of The Drum’s Can-Do Festival, a three-week virtual conference that involved over 40 hours of interviews, fireside chats and panels designed to offer insights and solutions for the industry during a time of global uncertainty.
Some of The Drum’s team have chosen their personal favourites from the festival, to point you towards sessions you may have missed. 
The full content stream can be found at The Drum’s dedicated

The hotly anticipated BMW iX3, the company’s first electric vehicle that’s part of its core product line up, will be officially unveiled next week. On July 14 at 10AM CEST, the German automaker will take the covers off the EV and it’ll be the first time the public or press has seen it for real, CarScoops reports. While vehicle unveilings are typically reserved for the press, it seems BMW is letting anyone watch the livestreamed event. All you have to do is go to this

Let’s face it, many corporate podcasts need work, a lot of it. Podcast expert John Palumbo offers three tips for dialing up this popular, but tricky internal communications tactic
Think about your favorite podcast. Now think about the internal, private podcasts your company produces. Are they as good? Even close? Probably not. Well, that means you’ve failed.
At this very moment internal communications are arguably the most important function at companies of every size. There has neve

Australia-based over-the-top platform Binge has teamed up with e-commerce platform The Iconic to create unisex loungewear for users who streaming shows at home during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The loungewear, called ’Inactivewear’, aims to allow Binge’s users to watch shows on the platform in maximum comfort, according to The Iconic. Over half of Australians (57%) stated they have streamed at least 20% more content while at home during the lockdown.
“I’m delighted to h

James Reed, chairman of the recruitment business, Reed, has launched the ‘Keep Britain Working‘ campaign which aims to preserve jobs and protect livelihoods throughout and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.
With recent unemployment numbers going up and new job opportunities in some sectors going down, the campaign encourages both businesses and individuals to demonstrate their commitment to protecting jobs. The initiative is supported by some of the UK’s leading businesses and indiv

Ebikes are hot right now. Coronavirus lockdown measures have spurred people to find socially distanced forms of transport and many are choosing bicycles. Sales are soaring, and in some places supply is hard to come by. So what do you do if you can’t get hold of one? Sabotage your washing machine to build your own ebike, of course! That’s what one enterprising home-engineer did recently, and yes, they’ve named it: “The Spin Cycle.” Nice. [Read: EV fans deplete Dutch