Spotify Hifi’s announcement in February of 2021 seemed poised to shake up the streaming industry. With the introduction of lossless audio, Spotify would increase its credibility among audiophiles, not just casual listeners. Even if most people can’t tell the difference between lossless and high-bitrate compressed music, it indicated Spotify was paying more attention to sound quality. At the time, Spotify said that HiFi would launch “later this year” and that it would have “more details to share
Alphabet’s reportedly planning to promote one of its Moonshot projects from venture to business in a bid to take advantage of its recent breakthroughs in the field of quantum computing. It was only a matter of time. Time crystals, that is. Up front: Last year’s big story in the physics world was Google and its partner’s breakthrough experiment in creating a new phase of matter inside a quantum computer called time crystals. As we reported last year, this is a big eureka moment because time cryst
The scale of child sexual exploitation and abuse online is increasing at an alarming rate. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) recently announced that it’s finding more finding 15 times as much child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online as it was a decade ago. This content is particularly prevalent in Europe. According to a 2020 report by the IWF, most web pages hosting CSAM are based in the continent. In response, the European Union plans to introduce stricter rules on tech firms that host the m
Bugatti produces some of the word’s finest and most expensive cars, so our expectations for its first electric vehicle are sky-high. And, at CES 2022, we were finally shown what the automaker had in store. Are you ready? Are you prepared? Then — drum roll please — welcome to the world, BUGATTI’S ELECTRIC… scooter? WHAT THE FU? (Credit: Bugatti) As strange as it is to see Bugatti’s logo on a two-wheeler, to be fair, it’s a pretty sleek-looking vehicle. The escooter is foldable and features — acc
On first glance, that’s a breathtakingly impressive number: $260 billion. Developers on Apple’s App Store earned a quarter of a trillion dollars since its launch in 2008. Consider just how many companies and independents that cash has breathed life into, it’s staggering. But that’s not the whole story. If App Store devs have made $260 billion since 2008, that means Apple has potentially made over a hundred billion for doing, well, comparatively very little. Let’s explore this a bit futher. In a
Moxie Marlinspike, Signal’s founder, has announced he’s stepping down as the CEO of the company. In a blog post, he said that he’s now “very comfortable replacing myself as CEO based on the team we have”. While the company hunts for the new CEO, WhatsApp co-founder, and Signal Foundation board member, Brian Acton will take an interim role. Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike (credit: Wikimedia Commons) In this story, we’ll trace Signal’s journey to the present day, and the road ahead as it looks t
Don’t look now – but we are currently experiencing a rash of stories about a forthcoming global catastrophe. But in a change from reports of pandemics and climate change, this global catastrophe is produced by the impact of a giant asteroid. Or comet. Or both. This may feel extra ominous given the events in the recent Netflix film “Don’t Look Up”, in which the Earth is threatened by a “planet killer” asteroid. But how worried should we really be – and what would happen if such a body actually hi
As with any new innovation, it takes some time before the incumbents in the sector fully adopt change. The same is true for crypto. Just a few years ago, early adopters hit the headlines, with young, tech savvy, amateur investors becoming rich overnight. Today, with the influx of easy-to-use crypto trading apps and, even the adoption of the digital currencies by governments, it’s now on the cusp of mainstream adoption. Surprisingly, although some traditional investors have been experimenting wit
OnePlus’ flagship phone is one of the most anticipated devices for Android fans every year, given the company’s track record of delivering lots of bang for your buck. Every year, the company seems to slide more into straight-up premium territory, but on the whole OnePlus devices tend to offer solid value. This year’s OnePlus 10 Pro is particularly interesting, as it marks the first major phone from the company since it officially merged with Oppo (OnePlus has always been an Oppo sub-brand, but n
Every year, PC makers flock to CES to show off their latest hardware. Well, except the last couple of years, where the pandemic has made the event a more subdued, semi-virtual affair (the idea of attending a traditional, stuffed-like-sardines CES show floor is basically nightmare material in the age of coronavirus). Still, PC makers announced some cool stuff, and our list below showcases some of our favorite PC hardware from the event. Dell XPS 13 Plus The Dell XPS 13 Plus was definitely one of