Technology news

Astronaut Alan Bean died over the weekend at the age of 86. As the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission, Bean was part of the second crew that landed on the Moon, and he became the fourth man to walk on the lunar surface. He later commanded the second crewed mission to America’s first space station, Skylab.Bean was the last surviving member of the Apollo 12 mission, and following his death, only four Moonwalkers remain: Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duk

Astronaut Alan Bean died over the weekend at the age of 86. As the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission, Bean was part of the second crew that landed on the Moon and became the fourth man to walk on the lunar surface. He later commanded the second crewed mission to America’s first space station, Skylab.Bean was the last surviving member of the Apollo 12 mission, and following his death, only four moonwalkers remain: Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duke (A

HBO’s science fiction drama Westworld isn’t just known for its talented cast and its philosophical musings about the nature of reality. It’s also become famous for its reveals, from mind-bending bombshells that link two characters to simple pieces of backstory that bring new insight to a storyline. Watching Westworld is like peeling an onion, one layer at a time.
That’s why for the show’s second season, I’ll be diving into one particular spoilery revelation f

Digital assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are designed to learn more about you as they listen, and part of doing so is to record conversations you’ve had with them to learn your tone of voice, prompts, and requests. Recently, this feature-not-a-bug has landed Amazon in a string of bizarre headlines; in March users reported that their Echo speakers began spontaneously laughing, while last week a family in Portland said their device recorded and sent conversations to a colle

London-based design studio Marshmallow Laser Feast is using VR to let us reconnect with nature. With headsets, you can see a forest through the eyes of different animals and experience the sensations they feel. Creative Director Ersinhan Ersin took the stage at TNW Conference last week to show us how and why they created the project, titled In the Eyes of the Animal. He started by showing us a series of logos, and asked us if we recognized them. The entire audience did — they were univers

Social media, smartphones, and other cutting-edge technology were supposed to improve the social experience and facilitate communications and access to information. But now they’ve become the source of many ills, including fake news, live suicides, and murders, hate speech and trolling, inescapable filter bubbles, and an immense distraction problem. In the past year, we saw an increasing number of incumbent and former tech execs acknowledge the adverse effects that their most revered prod

Increased regulatory oversight on cryptocurrency trading is driving exchanges to take extreme measures. After Bitfinex and Poloniex, Bithumb is taking additional measures to ensure anti-money laundering (AML) compliance with its country’s laws. Bithumb — the world’s fifth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — is banning the use of its platform across 11 countries, the company announced on Sunday. The 11 banned countries include Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia,

Voice control gadgets – such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home or Apple’s Homepod – are becoming increasingly popular, but people should pause for thought about advances in machine learning that could lead to applications understanding different emotions in speech. The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, recently said that 20% of the company’s searches are initiated by voice via mobile phones. And, at the end of 2017, analysis of the US market suggested that a total

Here’s a casualty of the cashless society you might not have previously thought of: the humble street performer. After all, if more of us are paying our way with smartphones and contactless cards, how can we give spare change to musicians on the subway? London has one solution: a new scheme that outfits performers with contactless payment terminals.The project was launched this weekend by the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, and is a collaboration with Busk In London (a professional body f

Most people have a rough idea of what cyber crime is. It’d be hard not to, as the clue is in the name: a sort of criminal activity in the, uh, cyber world. Despite this, I’ve always had a feeling that people don’t really know what cyber crime is. And, on reflection, the only way to prove this was to see if the public could draw it. Luckily, The Next Web Conference was taking place, so we had no shortage of tech experts and enthusiasts to ask…   A sol

Pandora is launching a new Premium Family plan that gives up to six users unlimited music streaming for $15 a month. The deal matches the price of family plans from Spotify and Apple Music, which offer access for to up to five and six individuals respectively.With Pandora’s Premium Family plan each user has to create their own account. Then they’ll have get their own custom radio stations and playlists, be able to download music for offline listening, and have access to high-quality

A new law is set to come into effect from May 28th, 2018 in Kenya regarding the publishing and broadcasting of any videos for public consumption. Specifically, the Kenya Film and Classification Board (KFCB) states that, according to the law, anyone in Kenya broadcasting any videos for public viewing (including on social media and the Internet) will be required to have a filming license. Those who fail to register for a filming license with the KFCB face imprisonment or a fin

The transaction fees and time involved with Bitcoin have been some of the biggest hurdles in the adoption of the cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange. While multiple cryptocurrencies have emerged touting themselves as the solution — without actually providing any — things seem to be getting better for Bitcoin meanwhile. The median transaction fee rate for Bitcoin has been some of the lowest since 2011 in the last three months. As per transactionfee.info statistics, the median

iOS developer Brian Mueller’s Carrot Weather app has won numerous awards and features in Apple’s App Store for making it fun to check the day’s forecasts. It’s finally made its way to Google Play so Android users can enjoy its hilarious approach to bringing you weather information. Sure, you can see plenty of data at a glance, follow storms, and check forecasts for the several days ahead, just like most other such apps – but Carrot sets itself apart with ridiculous

Intel, one of the grand old statesmen of the tech world, is under investigation for potential age discrimination in its approach to layoffs initiated in 2016, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. At the heart of the matter is the perception and allegation that Intel sought to get rid of older employees and retain younger ones instead. That’s good for the company, as older workers tend to be better paid, more aware and assertive of their rights, and more likely to have families a

The Information reports that Apple is set to upgrade iPhones that are equipped with NFC chips with the ability to unlock doors, hotel rooms, and cars. The NFC (near-field communication) chip, present in the iPhone 6 and up, allows for contactless information exchanges, and makes it possible to use Apple Pay to pay for purchases at stores by holding your phone close to a supported credit card reader. Apple is expanding its capabilities so it can interact with smart locks, building security syste

Killer7, one of the weirdest games ever to see release on a Nintendo platform, is getting remastered for PC this year. NIS America will be publishing the surreal cel-shaded blood-letting Resident Evil-on-rails multi-character global-conspiracy noir adventure on Steam in the fall.
If you've never played Killer7, you've never played anything like Killer7. The game has a unique control scheme that takes your character through the environment on predetermined paths, switching to first-person mode t