Pandora is going public with an on-demand streaming music service to rival the likes of Apple, Spotify and Google Play. But in doing so it’s effectively throwing out its “killer feature” leaving it with little to differentiate it. Pandora Premium costs $10 a month, putting it right at the going market rate. It’s an addition […]
A man who played a key role in the development of the Internet has died. Robert Taylor, who arguably conceived ARPANET, was 85. Taylor brought together two sets of existing work and ideas at ARPANET, a network at the US Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. The idea of a computer network joining together multiple […]
A Finnish museum plans to display an animated GIF for the next thousand years. Its title, As Long As Possible, acknowledges that may be a stretch. The GIF at Kiasma’s Museum of Contemporary Art is the work of artist Juha van Ingen and is designed to celebrate both the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence and […]
The boss of a planned space tourism service says there’ll be no toilets or sick bags on the flight. But Jeff Bezos says neither should be needed. Bezos, who made his fortune from Amazon, now runs Blue Origin. It plans to run flights for six passengers that cross the Karman line that lies around 62 […]
Berkeley researchers believe your shoelaces coming untied is just a matter of time. Their study found that unwanted untying comes from two forces combining to replicate the effect of the wearer intentionally pulling the laces undone. The research was originally done to explore why two different versions of the common “bow tie” knot have differing […]
The FCC looks set to continue a ban on voice calls by cellphone users on planes. The commission had previously considered dropping the ban on the grounds it was outdated and increased costs for passengers. Chairman Ajit Pai has formerly proposed ditching a 2013 plan to eventually allow cellphone calls. That proposal will need a […]
The developers of the game Cyberpunk 2077 have dismissed criticism of their decision to trademark “Cyberpunk.” CD Projekt Red says it will only ever use the trademark defensively. The company, best known for developing The Witcher, made the comments after criticism by users on the Reddit games forum, with the original poster saying “I hope […]
The way brains form memories could be completely different than previously believed according to new research. It suggests we make two simultaneous memories: one for short-term and one for the long-term. Until now the prevailing belief was that the hippocampus creates a memory that is then transferred to the cortex. That was partly derived from […]
YouTube has launched a $35 streaming TV service designed for cordcutters, but it has some irritating limitations. YouTube TV is not a VOD service like Hulu, but rather a set of streams of around 40 “real” TV channels. It’s made up of the major networks; some of the most prominent cable channels such as USA, […]
The makers of a bot for cheating at Blizzard games such as Overwatch have been ordered to pay $8.6 million for copyright infringement. German firm Bossland had previously asked the US federal court to dismiss Blizzard’s claim, arguing that it didn’t come under US jurisdiction. That request was denied and Bossland then chose not to […]
Valve is to take extra steps to reduce the visibility of shoddy Steam games while making sure good ones don’t get drowned out. It’s going to recruit players to check out submissions and dig out the hidden gems. The program was detailed in videos from gaming YouTubers Jim Sterling and John Bain (aka TotalBiscuit) who […]
A consumer group says many laptops it tested had battery lives around half those advertised by manufacturers. The difference may well come down to “real world” use vs generous lab testing conditions. Which?, a UK group similar to the US’s Consumer Reports, gathered together data from its tests of 67 models over the past year. […]