The newly released assessment by the UK government’s scientific advisers that the GBP12bn test and trace programme “is having a marginal impact” in reducing Covid-19 transmission has refocused attention on how other countries are faring with their regimes. Since test-and-trace programmes were first mooted around the world at the outset of the pandemic – including […]
With the first wave of pre-orders disappearing in a matter of hours, consumers clearly overcame initial confusion over the naming of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S (although there have been reports of a massive boost in sales of the Xbox One X suggesting some still don’t quite understand what’s going on). Microsoft’s […]
With a month to go until the launch of Sony’s 4K gaming machine, there is now a clear picture of which titles will be available from 12 November (at least for those lucky enough to successfully pre-order a console) and what’s in store over the coming year. If you’ve missed all the hype so far, […]
Campaign groups and small business representatives have called on consumers to shun this week’s Amazon Prime extravaganza and support small retailers instead. On Tuesday and Wednesday the tech giant will host its annual Prime Day event, with thousands of tempting bargains – many at up to half price. However, campaigners are calling on consumers to […]
Name: Fatima. Age: Early 20s. Occupation: Ballet dancer, for now. That sounds ominous. That’s because Fatima might not be a ballet dancer for much longer. God, why not? Will she be OK? She’ll be fine, because Fatima’s next job could be in cyber. What? What do you mean could be? What’s cyber? She just doesn’t […]
Economies struggling with the costs of Covid-19 could face a double blow from escalating trade wars unless international talks to rewrite cross-border tax rules are successful, the OECD has warned. The Paris-based organisation, which has been steering the talks, said governments would come under further financial pressure from retaliatory tariffs should governments fail to agree […]
Facebook says it is updating its hate speech policy to ban content that denies or distorts the Holocaust. The decision comes two years after its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said in an interview with the tech website Recode said that while he found Holocaust denial deeply offensive, he did not believe Facebook should delete such […]
“Chill out, Mum, you’re overreacting. Watching TV is just as bad,” my daughter yells as I beg her and her brother to put down their devices for just five minutes. My daughter can see me getting agitated and gives me the “you are a loser” eye-roll that all 12-year-olds seem to master. I’m trying to […]
Tamara Rojo may be a great tragic dancer on stage, but in person she is far from the voice of doom. “The performing arts and dance have survived millennia,” she says, sitting in her office looking out onto a floor of empty desks. “They’ve survived pandemics and hundred-year wars and all kind of disasters. Getting […]
Google’s first smart speaker has finally got a much-needed upgrade in sound with the new Nest Audio. The speaker replaces the Google Home and costs GBP89.99, fitting in between the GBP49 Nest Mini and GBP299 Google Home Max. The design is completely different from the original Google Home. The outside of the Nest Audio is […]