22,000 WiFi users in the UK have unwittingly agreed to unblock sewers by hand. They failed to read a clause placed in terms and conditions as a stunt. Purple provides Wi-Fi services that businesses and other facilities offer as public Wi-Fi for customers. To access the connection, customers need to confirm they accept a set […]
Google is adding high-dynamic range (HDR) movies to its Play Store. They’ll only work on compatible TV sets and carry the same eyewatering cost as 4K videos on the service. HDR isn’t about resolution, but rather increased contrast (with more detail visible in very dark or bright scenes) and a bigger color range, both of […]
Blizzard has announced seven teams for a city-based Overwatch league. The NFL-franchise style league will include owners from sports and business. Unlike most North American sport leagues, the franchised teams will cover the globe, with the initial teams being in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami/Orlando, New York, San Francisco, Seoul and Shanghai. The plan is to […]
A new cellphone design works without any battery. But it has some major drawbacks and would require some major infrastructure work to take off. The phone is the work of University of Washington researchers. Although it doesn’t have a touchscreen or any smartphone apps, it does use Skype technology for voice calls. The energy use […]
Your Internet experience will probably suck worse than usual on Wednesday. It’s part of a coordinated “day of action” to protest planned changes that would reduce the enforcement of net neutrality. Back in May the Federal Communications Commission, which has changed both its leadership and political make-up since the last US elections, formally proposed reclassifying […]
PS4 games are now available on PC for PlayStation Now subscribers. As you might expect, most of the titles are a couple of years old. In the US, there’ll initially be 20 PS4 titles on the service: Akiba’s Beat Broken Age Castlestorm Definitive Edition Darksiders II Deathfinitive Edition Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition Evolve Exist Archive: […]
Scientists using the Large Hadron Collider have identified a form of particle that until now was only theoretical. Dubbed Xi-cc++, it’s the first double heavy particle, something that might help reveal more about how atoms hold together. The BBC explains that every particle is made up of quarks, each of which is of a particular […]
Volvo says every new model it sells from 2019 onwards will have at least some electric motor in the engine set-up. It’s calling it “the historic end of cars that have only an internal combustion engine” and is the first major manufacturer to make the step. It’s not quite the death of the combustion engine […]
Popular GTA modding tool OpenIV is once again available for download. It appears Take-Two was given enough reassurances that it won’t pursue legal action. The software was removed from download last month after Take-Two sent a legal letter demanding it be shut down. At the time Take-Two said publicly that the move was because the […]
Samsung is to re-use parts of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 for a new handset in what it’s billing as an environmental move. As you’d hope, those parts won’t include the battery. The ‘new’ model, known as the Note Fan Edition, will only be sold in South Korea at first. Given the handset’s popularity – […]
Windows 10 is testing a way to make it harder for ransomware to encrypt files. The optional feature would only allow approved apps to access, read from or write to a particular folder. “Controlled folder access” is planned to be part of Windows Defender and is already being tested by some users in the Windows […]
The notorious traffic of Los Angeles could generate electricity via crystals in the road surface. A pilot study aims to replicate existing set-ups that turn footsteps into power. The study will try to exploit piezoelectricity, which takes advantage of the fact that mechanical stress applied to some materials including crystals will build up an electric […]