A firm that builds environmental sensors is teaming up with Google to turn Street View cars into mobile pollution sniffers. Three of the search engine’s mapping vehicles have been equipped with hardware to measure harmful compounds in the atmosphere …
Technical
Former US national security officials back end-to-end encryption
Three former US national security officials have given their support to end-to-end encryption and criticised claims that the government should have backdoor access or “duplicate” decryption keys. Mike McConnell, a former director of the National Secu…
Mars Orbiter gets ready for InSight Lander’s touchdown
NASA’s InSight Lander won’t be reaching the red planet until 2016, but the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is already preparing for its welcome party. In order to make sure that it’s at the right place to be able to receive radio transmissions from InSig…
Microsoft has a trick for making holograms from live video
We’ve seen Microsoft’s HoloLens do an awful lot of different things so far, but Halo, Minecraft and even medical applications are just scratching the surface of what the augmented reality headset is capable of. In a new research paper, Redmond outlin…
You can’t help but feel cool in Nike’s new face mask
When Olympic athlete Ashton Eaton finishes an event, he feels better after dousing himself with a bottle of water, but that’s not a very elegant way of keeping his head cool. That’s why the decathlete teamed up with Nike to build this prototype face …
The best SIM-only deals in the UK
Everyone wants the perfect phone contract. Whatever your budget, you’ll always want the maximum number of texts, minutes and data in your monthly allowance. There are other factors to consider, such as the quality of the network and international roa…
Argos now lets you trade-in old phones and tablets
What do you do with old gadgets that you no longer use? Give them away to relatives, or throw them in the bin? Argos is the latest UK company to jump into the trade-in business, offering cash for your unwanted phones and tablets. Plenty of smartphone…
Best Buy will sell the Apple Watch from August 7th
Until now, if you wanted an Apple Watch, you had to buy it in one of three places: online, at the Apple Store or at your nearest high-end luxury goods boutique. If none of those places are convenient, then you’ll be happy to learn that the wearable w…
Tiny surgical robot can bend and operate on hard-to-reach areas
The coin above wasn’t enlarged to make the pincer-like device look extremely small — it’s really that tiny. That “pincer” is a two-millimeter-thin instrument designed and built by a group of researchers from Vanderbilt University for incredibly prec…
Frontback shutdown shows that selfies don’t equal success
The selfie craze might not be slowing down any time soon, but that doesn’t mean that self-portraiture products are a license to print money. Need proof? Just look at Frontback. After two years of investment and hype from the likes of Reddit’s Alexis …
Summer is watching people beat games ridiculously fast for charity
Video game speedruns are always impressive feats of memorization, skill and flawless gameplay — but twice a year they’re also a conduit for altruism. Next week is one of those times. Starting on July 26th, Summer Games Done Quick will kick off seven…
Google Chromecast celebrates its second birthday with freebies
Today marks two years since Google debuted Chromecast, the small and affordable streaming device. To celebrate its second birthday, the company’s letting owners get in on a couple promotional offers: a free movie rental and access to 90 days of Play …
Google Voice transcriptions will soon actually make sense
One of the most prevalent qualms users have of Google Voice is its occasionally accurate (but usually absurd) interpretations of what’s being said. However, with the upcoming public debut of the Project Fi cellular service, Google has reportedly grea…
THORwin humanoid machine wins robotic soccer championship
THORwin isn’t quite capable of bending it like Beckham yet, but when it comes to robotic soccer players, it’s one of the best. The US-made machine has just won top prize in the adult-sized category at this year’s RoboCup in China, an international an…
Twitch starts dumping Flash for HTML5
Twitch is ditching Flash. The first step is a redesign of its video player controls, swapping out the old Flash model for shiny, new HTML5 and Javascript controls. Twitch videos are still Flash-based for now, but this is all in preparation for a full…