Digital tool, you presume as a transparent and democratising “disrupters”, but as currently deployed algorithms pose a major threat to the human rights of marginalised groups. Safiya Umoja Noble, an assistant professor of information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, pens her experience in her latest book Algorithms of Oppression. Noble used Google…
Dr Donald Highgate working with Bristol and Surrey universities and Director of Research at Superdielectrics Ltd is to develop supercapacitors using the new polymer which was originally used in soft contact lenses which can surprisingly good at holding an electrostatic field. Dr Highgate is of the opinion that the new polymer could eventually rival or…
Cfius, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-agency committee which scrutinises deals for potential national security concerns, chaired by the US Treasury secretary, US Regulator have blocked the $580m acquisition of Massachusetts-based Xcerra Corp, a semiconductor testing company by Hubei Xinyan, Sino IC Fund, a Chinese state-backed fund established in…
The San Francisco-based host of TV show Bloomberg Technology, Emily Chang’s Brotopia offers an important examination of why technology industry is so dominated by men – and how women are pushing back, and have gone from whispering about sexism in the Valley to yelling about it. Chang’s journey to the memory lane and history of…
The world’s most powerful rocket the Falcon Heavy, lifts off on an historic maiden flight, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. US entrepreneur and The SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s mammoth vehicle billed as a risky test flight, designed to deliver a minimum payload to low-earth orbit of 64 tonnes – equivalent of putting five London…
Facebook has filed a patent for a technology to automatically detect user’s economic status by collecting users’ personal data including their internet usage, home ownership and education. The patent also suggested ab algorithm which may improve Facebook’s advertisement targeting capabilities. Facebook would ask users about their travel history, geo-tagging and devices the user owns and…
Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully launched the smallest-ever rocket to carry a satellite into orbit, a Modest SS-520 sounding rocket modified with a third stage inside its nose cone to get its payload into orbit and entered a new spaceflight record. The rocket was carrying TRICOM-IR, a three unit cubesat measuring not more…
Apple reported a record $20bn (£14bn) in quarterly profits, driven by strong growth in Japan and Europe, the result was a glimpse of sales figures for Apple’s expensive iPhone X. Tim Cook, CEO said demand for the product which starts at £1000 had surpassed expectations. Quarterly sales at Apple climbed by 13 per cent year-on-year…
Indian-American inventors Sumita Mitra and Arogyaswami Paulraj have been inducted into the US Patent Office’s National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHoF) this year. The NIHoF honours “ People responsible for the greatest technological advances that make human social and economic progress possible”. Mitra (69), a chemist at 3M oral care, and an alumnus of Presidency…