It’s a great week for celebrity voices. Morgan Freeman has finally come to GPS voice navigation while Star Trek’s LCARS could appear in both the new show and on mobile devices. Freeman’s voice is now available as an option for the spoken directions in Google-owned navigation app Waze. Without explanation, the controls may be a […]
Google has given up on its modular smartphone plans known as Project Ara. The news comes only a few months after it significantly scaled back plans for the devices. The original idea was that the phones would effectively be nothing more than a frame with every major component replaceable and upgradable in a process that […]
The people behind OpenOffice say the free software may need to be ditched. A lack of staff working on the project is making it increasingly difficult to be confident about maintaining security in the software. The news comes in an email from Dennis Hamilton, vice president of the Apache group that oversees the software. He […]
Dozens of clothing items belonging to Steve Jobs are up for auction. But there’s barely a black turtleneck in sight. The curious collection of lots is being sold by the estate of Jane Fonda, though exactly how they ended up there is uncertain. The standout attraction for collector value is a leather jacket Jobs wore […]
If you like the idea of a stylus but prefer pen and paper, Lenovo’s latest tablet could be for you. The Yoga Book captures handwritten notes and drawings even through a paper notepad, though has some big limitations. Available in both Android and Windows 10 versions, the device folds out with a screen on one […]
The European Union has published strict guidelines to enforce net neutrality. However, the rules do have exceptions that mean they fall short of a ‘pure’ interpretation of the principle. While the net neutrality debate in the US has been bogged down in arguments about legal authority in the rulemaking process, the EU had already agreed […]
Six people have finished a year of isolation designed to replicate life on Mars. The crew have been inside a 36 by 20 foot dome near a Hawaiian volcano. It’s the third and longest such mission following previous experiments lasting four and eight months. While similar studies have concentrated on the long journey inside a […]
The man whose company made the first widely-sold laptop has died aged 75. John Ellenby was credited with having a notable ability to turn technology into commercially viable products. Ellenby spent much of the 1970s at Xerox when it was working on the Alto range, generally regarded as the first to use a graphical user […]
A school principal who wanted to clear out his bookshelves has created a game that’s attracted nearly 50,000 people. Belgium’s Aveline Gregoire says he was inspired to create the “Book hunters” game by the success of Pokemon Go. Unlike the Pokemon game, the book hunting game (known locally as “Chasseurs de livres”) doesn’t use GPS […]
A university’s prediction that the Northern Lights would be widely visible turned out to be a mistake caused by a lawnmower. The Aurora Watch service, based at Lancaster University in the UK, forecasts likely sightings of the Aurora Borealis, a natural colored light show caused by solar winds disturbing the Earth’s magnetosphere. Forecasting is of […]