Technology
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Now Facebook wants to create its own currency
Is the social media giant turning into a shadow government? This is the warning from some experts, today, after Facebook announced ambitious plans to launch a new global currency called Libra.
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Call for cyberwar rules as US attacks Russia
Does the world need new rules of war? Yesterday, we learned that the US has placed malware deep in Russia’s power grid. Elsewhere, most of Argentina was mysteriously plunged into darkness.
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Artificial stars could redesign the night sky
Why not re-write the stars? We have the ability. Already, Japan wants to create fake meteor showers, China wants an artificial moon for street lighting and Russia wants to sell advertising.
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Underwater metropolis planned as seas rise
Is the best response to climate change to invent new ways of living? The Japanese Shimizu Corporation plans to build a giant underwater metropolis powered by energy from the seabed.
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Amazon faces facial recognition rebellion
Shareholders of Amazon will demand, today, that the company stops selling its system to the police. It is simply too powerful and invasive, they say. Is facial recognition going too far?
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iPhone cracked in WhatsApp surveillance attack
News is emerging today that a weakness in WhatsApp has allowed spy software on to phones, possibly for years. The implications for our privacy are huge. Civil rights groups are outraged.
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The strange habits of Twitter’s Jack Dorsey
Every morning he meditates for an hour, takes an ice bath and breakfasts on salt juice. And that’s just the beginning. Is the man with a mission to fix Twitter onto something? Or just weird?
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Gatwick drone chaos could be an inside job
Last year, a drone attack grounded over 1,000 planes at Gatwick airport. Now, police have concluded that the culprit had insider knowledge of how the airport operates.
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New robot ‘on the path to self-awareness’
Scientists at Colombia University have built a robot that learns about itself in the same way as a baby. It could be a major step towards machines that are fully self-aware.
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Apple takes on Amazon Prime and Netflix
Last night, Apple announced that it will create original shows and films for its hotly-anticipated streaming platform, Apple TV+. Should traditional TV still have a place?
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Google Stadia heralds gaming revolution
Netflix has transformed TV and film. Spotify has revolutionised music. Now Google aims to do the same for gaming with a new streaming service, Stadia. But too much choice is stressing us out.
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‘Woolly mammoths could walk the Earth again’
Scientists in Japan have made a “significant step” towards bringing the ancient species back from the dead using the DNA of a frozen mammoth. But is it the right thing to do?
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Boeing grounds entire crash aircraft fleet
The world’s largest aerospace company has finally taken action after finding new evidence at the scene of this week’s fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash. How much trust has the industry lost?
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The web at 30: a ‘monster hijacked by crooks’
Should we be celebrating its birthday? There is no denying that the internet has revolutionised every aspect of human life, from war to dating to shopping. But has it made things better?
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Women at risk in a world still made for men
On International Women’s Day, a new book is shedding light on how everything from smartphones to stab vests are designed for the “average” man, with dangerous consequences for women.