Category: IT News

UK press doesn’t understand chemistry or Amazon, launches bomb-making panic

James Robinson
UK press doesn’t understand chemistry or Amazon, launches bomb-making panic
UK public broadcaster Channel 4 sparked a presswide panic with a story: “Potentially deadly bomb ingredients are ‘frequently bought together’ on Amazon.” But the ingredients are common black powder ingredients. Black powder is useful for many hobbyist applications (“fireworks, model rockets, antique firearms, or to blow up the occasional stump”) but it’s not a useful bomb-making compound (that would be... Read More

DHS informs 21 states that Russian hackers attacked their voting systems in 2016 election

James Robinson
DHS informs 21 states that Russian hackers attacked their voting systems in 2016 election
The Department of Homeland Security today revealed which states were targeted by Russian hackers trying to break into voting systems during the 2016 election cycle. DHS said “most” states were unsuccessfully attacked, but didn’t make clear how and where the hackers were successful, or whether the sustained cyberattacks helped Donald Trump win the presidency. BREAKING: US government tells election officials... Read More

European Commission spent 360,000€ on a piracy study, then buried it because they didn’t like what it said

James Robinson
European Commission spent 360,000€ on a piracy study, then buried it because they didn’t like what it said
Estimating displacement rates of copyrighted content in the EU is a 360,000€ study commissioned by the European Commission from the Dutch consulting firm Ecorys, whose mandate was to “research the effect piracy had on sales of copyrighted content” — the report was completed in 2015, but never made public. That’s because the report concluded that “the results do not show... Read More

Oxford University’s driverless car guru wouldn’t trust his kids in one…yet

James Robinson
Oxford University’s driverless car guru wouldn’t trust his kids in one…yet
The University of Oxford’s driverless car guru Paul Newman has admitted that he wouldn’t trust his kids in an autonomous vehicle yet, but remains bullish about a near-future where we wonder why we ever drove ourselves. Newman, speaking at the recording of ‘The Engineers: The Rise of the Robots’ a BBC Worldwide production hosted at London’s Science Museum, is Professor... Read More

Driverless cars and an automated future are a big problem for unskilled youth

James Robinson
Driverless cars and an automated future are a big problem for unskilled youth
In the United States there are around 3.5 million truck drivers, and when you combine that with all the cab and ride-sharing employees, that number creeps closer to 4 million, which is just over 1% of the country’s population.  Meanwhile in the UK there are 600,000 truck drivers, over 200,000 cab drivers, and we haven’t even gotten into more niche... Read More

Belkin’s new battery pack delivers long-lasting power in a small package

James Robinson
Belkin’s new battery pack delivers long-lasting power in a small package
Belkin is back with a brand-new battery pack, one the mobile accessory maker claims is its most compact and fast-charging yet.  Part of its Pocket Power series, the new pack will be available to purchase in three power tiers: 5,000mAh, 10,000mAh and 15,000mAh. Competitors like the Anker PowerCore provide 20,000+mAh to play with, but Belkin's latest is nothing to sniff... Read More