• Autonomous cars: will we be driven to distraction?

    Personal transport has reached a pivotal point in its evolution as self-driving cars shift drivers’ focus away from the road and towards the interior cabin, where an array of technological distractions are being developed to help them work, play, shop or socialise. Experts predict autonomous cars will become mobile entertainment/infotainment ‘pods’ where consumers watch immersive films and TV, game in virtual reality (VR), or use windscreens as a lens to the outside world using augmented reality (AR) to overlay content and advertisements. Concepts for self-driving cars feature interiors that more closely resemble luxury private jets than vehicles from the past, with flexible interior layouts, swivel seats and big screens. As car makers, tech giants and electronics firms pump millions…

  • Climate change could cause ‘economic devastation’ in Africa, report warns

    While global leaders are meeting in Egypt to discuss ways of tackling the climate crisis, a new study has shed light on the devastating economic impact rising global temperatures could inflict on the African continent. The study, published by Christian Aid, found that current climate policies put the world on track for 2.7°C of global warming by the end of the century, and warned that this could lead to an average 20 per cent hit to African countries' expected GDP by 2050, and 64 per cent by 2100. Even in the unlikely event that global temperatures only rise by 1.5ºC, as set out in the Paris Agreement, African countries would still be expected to face an average GDP reduction of 14 per cent by 2050 and 34 per cent by 2100, the report said.  The report was launched on finance day at the…

  • Hands-on gadget review: Yale Floodlight Camera

    Like many people, I have subscription fatigue, thanks to four different TV streaming services and three types of cloud storage. So a new pet hate among gadgets is anything that requires a direct debit. Enter, the Yale Floodlight Camera. Where most security cameras and doorbell cams demand a monthly fee to store footage in the cloud, this can store videos onboard. So you can choose to team it with a bigger Yale security system, but it works fine as a standalone 1080p high-definition camera with no subscription fees. There’s no built-in storage but you can add a MicroSD card of up to 256GB. That’s enough for ten days of footage (with H.265 compression and 2MP resolution) when recording non-stop. That capacity obviously lasts a lot longer if you don’t set the video to record constantly but have…

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  • Hands-on gadget review: Laica Visione kettle

    Induction hobs are modern and safe, but kettles designed to work on induction hobs have been unsatisfactory, until now. Why boil water with an electric kettle that’s sat next to a fantastic, high-tech hob that could be doing the same job? To work on an induction hob, a kettle needs ferrous metal in the base. A magnetic field, generated in the hob, induces eddy currents in the metal, which generate heat. For example, copper or aluminium pans can contain a layer of steel in the base to make them induction-compatible. Most induction-friendly kettles, then, have been old-fashioned, stovetop designs. Which seems at odds with a modern, sleek hob. If a cottagecore, whistling kettle isn’t your thing, but you do want to use induction, the new Laica Visione is an interesting, innovative option. It…

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  • US and EU clash over electric car subsidies

    The European Union (EU) has spoken out against US President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which includes tax breaks for US-made electric vehicles (EV)  and batteries. In the view of Brussels, those benefits would put e-cars made in the EU at an unfair disadvantage in the lucrative US domestic market. European ministers also fear their complaints have not been listened to by Washington.  "I'm not sure whether they are aware of our concerns," said Christian Lindner, Germany's finance minister, stating that politicians should do "everything to avoid a tit-for-tat scenario or even a trade war." His French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire, said he expected the European Commission to come up with "a strong response to this US policy", which it said could "harm this level playing field between…

  • Theatre: ‘Not One of These People’

    Dramatist Martin Crimp is known for plays with unconventional structures that prompt questions about the dramatic process. Now, he takes to the stage for the first time, directed by Christian Lapointe and supported by a cast which does not exist. ‘Not One of These People’, which came to London’s Royal Court Theatre for three nights in early November in a co-production with Québec City’s Carte Blanche and Carrefour international de théâtre, is based around use of deepfakes: media (in this case, images and videos of faces) generated using artificial intelligence. It begins with static StyleGAN-style portraits projected onto a gauze while Crimp reads their dialogue off-stage. As Crimp joins them on stage, they begin to blink, frown and eventually ‘speak’ alongside him like uncanny ventriloquist…

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  • Personalised TV – the future of AI-powered entertainment or a step too far?

    Two decades ago, a then-nascent DVD rental service adopted an emerging technology: a relatively basic algorithm that made simple recommendations to users based on what their fellow members liked. The service was Netflix, its software was Cinematch and it represented a turning point in the history of entertainment as we know it. As a precursor to the recommendation systems that power streaming today, Cinematch’s algorithm was based on collaborative filtering. It took millions of its members’ film ratings and used them to predict how much other members would enjoy the same movies. It had its limitations. The recommendations were only as accurate as the ratings from members. It struggled to recommend films to users who were yet to rate titles. It failed to factor in that multiple people may…

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  • Scotland pledges £5m for climate change loss and damages

    At the climate change summit in Egypt, Scotland's First Minister has urged world leaders to deliver on climate pledges made in COP26.  Sturgeon has also announced a £5m funding pot to tackle loss and damage caused by climate change in developing countries. The economic support will come from t he Scottish government’s climate justice fund, she said. It will be offered in the form of g rants as opposed to loans, so as not to compound financial hardships already seen in the countries impacted by climate change. “In virtually everything we do on loss and damage, Scotland is trying to ensure that we listen to international perspectives, especially the perspectives of the global south,” the First Minister said. “The funding Scotland has announced today is a small sum in terms of the overall…

  • Synthetic video: don’t call them deepfakes

    Among the many ways we have become aware that AI is gnawing away at the fabric of society is in doubting the evidence of our own eyes. Deepfakes have added fuel to existing social media, disinformation and online sexual abuse bin-fires – attracting almost uniformly negative sentiment. A 2020 study by UCL researchers published in Crime Science ranked them as the most harmful AI application. Although there is no universally agreed-upon definition, a typical deepfake uses AI to replace a person in an existing video with another. The vast majority of deepfakes are used to switch pornographic actors with celebrity women, but they have attracted popular attention as tools of political disinformation. In March, a poor-quality deepfake of President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing Ukraine’s surrender…

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  • Net zero buildings: the future of construction?

    With humanity scrambling to respond to climate change, countless companies, investors, public sector  bodies and national governments have made commitments to achieve ‘net zero’ carbon emissions in  the next two or three decades. Net zero is the notion that any greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted through  an organisation’s activities must be balanced out through an equivalent amount of carbon being  removed from the atmosphere. It is a huge challenge, yet if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate  change, achieving net zero will be vital. There is one industry where meeting such targets is especially important: construction. Globally, some  39 per cent of GHG emissions are associated with the industry, according to the World Green  Buildings Council. Of this total, 28 per cent comes…

  • Confused UK drivers believe they can buy a fully autonomous car today

    Thatcham's 'Trust in Automation' consumer study – compiled from data gathered earlier this year by Opinion Matters from a sample of 4,000 car owners (2,000 in the UK, 2,000 in the US) – has revealed that just over half of UK drivers think that they can buy a fully autonomous car today. The survey framed the 'fully autonomous' question by asking respondents if they thought it was possible to purchase a car today that can drive itself, where by ‘drive itself’ this meant a car with technology that can drive the car completely autonomously, as safely as a competent human driver would, and which allows the driver to remove their hands from the steering wheel. However, only 'assisted driving' systems, which require driver support, are currently available in the UK. “Realising the government…

  • Blue quantum dot tech improves power efficiency and colour accuracy of LEDs

    Quantum dots are nanoscale crystals capable of emitting light of different colours which can bring greater power efficiency, brightness and colour purity to displays than previous generations. Major manufacturers such as Samsung are already using the tech in some of their premium displays to improve their HDR capabilities. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed a way to construct blue quantum dots – typically the most difficult colour to manufacture – to be more accurate, efficient and cost effective than existing quantum dots. The new method is based on self-organising chemical structures and a cutting-edge imaging technique. While pixels can appear almost any colour to the human eye, they are not actually the smallest element on your screen as they…

  • Creating an immersive at-home entertainment experience

    A cosy night in Our first pick for creating a more immersive at-home entertainment experience is rather obvious, but sometimes the simplest of technologies are the most effective. So, to take these cosy nights-in up a notch, why not try to find an 8K picture quality TV, perhaps on the larger scale… Of course, there are plenty of TVs on the market for people to choose from, but one with an 8K picture quality will give you the best experience. “If you want to experience the highest quality displays, then 8K is the way to go,” says consumer tech company Reliant. “8K displays provide extreme levels of accuracy, so you don’t miss details in anything you watch. So, if you want that cinematic film night experience, then an 8K screen will provide the most accurate picture and immersive experience…

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  • Insulating social homes could save £700m, research suggests

    Bringing social housing buildings to an EPC of C or above would reduce energy bills by 42 per cent to £776 a year, according to the analysis of heating cost figures from the English Housing Survey and EPC data published by the government. The National Housing Federation said poorly insulated homes are one of the country’s “biggest environmental polluters” and have become a “major culprit” in the cost-of-living crisis. At the moment, a family in social housing with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of D or below spends on average £1,343 a year on heating, based on the current energy price guarantee. At the same time, t hree-quarters of social housing residents rely on benefits and a large number of families are at risk of falling into poverty or debt because of increased energy costs…

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  • Spain closes part of airspace due to risks posed by Chinese rocket debris

    Spain briefly declared an official 'no-fly' zone in the region of Catalonia over fear of the risks posed by the uncontrolled fall of part of the rocket used to deliver China’s Tiangong space station.   Barcelona and Ibiza airports were among those impacted by the grounding, which lasted around 40 minutes on Friday. The EU  Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST) operations centres, said the core stage of the rocket was about 30 metres long and weighed between 17 and 23 tonnes, making it “one of the largest pieces of debris re-entering in the near past”.  The rocket blasted off on October 31 2022 from southern China  to deliver the last module of the country's space station, which is currently under construction. As gravity pulled the projectile back to Earth, most of it was expected to…

  • Why partnerships are the key to sustainability innovation in a digital world

    While ‘digital transformation’ claims to be a magic wand for businesses needing innovation, the truth is that more than two-thirds of all digital transformation efforts end up failing. Others are left in ‘pilot purgatory’: according to the World Economic Forum, more than 70 per cent of industrial businesses are stuck here. The answer to scalable, sustainable success? Collaboration. Partners, platforms and co-innovation ecosystems amount to profits for all the players – and planetary positivity. Partnerships are the key to sustainability innovation in a digital world. Here’s why. To improve profitability, sustainability, customer experience or other objectives of an organisation’s transformation, it’s crucial that they innovate in partnership with technology providers. This need is particularly…

  • Is chemical recycling greenwashing?

    The US has a serious plastic problem. Over the summer it emerged that the recycling rate of the ubiquitous material had sunk to less than 6 per cent. For context, the European Union together with Norway, Switzerland and the UK recycled on average 37 per cent of the plastic waste they generated in 2020. The US generates more plastic waste than any other country in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2019, Americans generated 220.5kg of plastic waste per person, whereas Europeans generated an average of 121.6kg. Plastic production is expected to increase dramatically, with the amount of plastic waste produced globally on track to almost triple by 2060. Around half of this will end up in landfill and less than a fifth will be recycled…

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    E+T Magazine

  • Sunak calls for ‘further and faster’ transition to renewable energy at Cop27

    UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been participating in the opening of the Cop27 international climate change talks in Egypt, at which he is scheduled to give a speech discussing the UK's strategy for weaning the country off fossil fuels. “The world came together in Glasgow [Cop26] with one last chance to create a plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5°C," Sunak is expected to say during his opening address.  "The question today is: can we summon the collective will to deliver on those promises? I believe we can. By honouring the pledges we made in Glasgow, we can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth." On the first day of the summit, Sunak said the world must “deliver on the legacy” of last year’s Cop26 summit in Glasgow…

  • MPs call for ban on plastic waste exports by 2027

    The cross-party Committee wants a new strategy to use less plastic, re-use more of it and boost recycling. An estimated 380 million tonnes of plastic are produced worldwide every year, but the enduring nature of plastic products - often designed for single use - has led to a major waste issue, particularly involving plastic packaging for consumer and industrial goods. The UK exports around 60 per cent of the over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste it creates. Turkey has become the main destination for this waste following China’s decision in 2018 to ban non-industrial plastic waste imports. However, as with China, instead of the plastic waste being recycled, there are numerous reports of shipments emanating from the UK simply being dumped and burned in Turkey, causing “irreversible…

  • Lung disease detecting AI could cut winter pressure on the NHS

    The diseases are potentially serious infections that mainly affect the lungs but often require a combination of different diagnostic tests such as CT scans, blood tests, X-rays, and ultrasounds. These tests can be expensive, and there are often lengthy waiting times for results. University of the West of Scotland (UWS) researchers originally created an AI to quickly detect Covid-19 from X-ray images. But it has subsequently been proven to automatically identify a range of different lung diseases in a matter of minutes, with a claimed accuracy of around 98 per cent. The technology could be used to help relieve strain on pressured hospital departments through the quick and accurate detection of disease – freeing up radiographers continuously in high demand; reducing waiting times for test…

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    E+T Magazine

  • Decarbonising public buildings in UK could cost £30bn, estimates show

    Decarbonising the UK’s stock of public-sector buildings could cost up to £30bn, according to figures obtained by the BBC’s 'Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg' programme through a Freedom of Information Act request.  The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the estimates were an “indicative” figure, based on current "undiscounted 2022 prices" and stressed that the  costs were “highly likely” to change over time. “We have halved emissions from the central government estate in the last 12 years and invested £2.5bn in supporting those running our public buildings such as schools and hospitals to make similar progress," a government spokesperson added.  “This is on top of our wider efforts to increase our use of home-grown energy such as renewables, increasing our energy…

  • BBC broadcast tech: then and now

    Daily London broadcasts by the newly formed British Broadcasting Company began from Marconi House on The Strand, on 14 November 1922, using the call sign 2LO, with transmissions from Birmingham and Manchester starting on the following day. The first broadcast by the young company, which was heard as grainy, muffled speech, was read by Arthur Burrows, who joined the BBC as director of programmes. Notably, he was one of the first people to move from newspaper to broadcast reporting. At the end of 1922, Scottish engineer John Reith, who was just 33 years old at the time, was appointed general manager of the BBC, which then had a staff of four. Reith is remembered for establishing the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Within months, the growing organisation…

  • Book review: ‘How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon’

    Right at the end of the reign of Queen Victoria, as the 19th century turned into the 20th, a serialised novel appeared in the Strand magazine called ‘The First Men in the Moon’. Published 35 years after Jules Verne’s ‘From the Earth to the Moon’, HG Wells’ novel hypothesises on concepts that we now know – thanks largely to the Apollo missions of the 1960s – to be accurate. Leaving aside the English novelist’s prediction of ‘great beasts’ and ‘monsters of mere fatness’, there are more recognisable references to how desolate the Moon is – think Buzz Aldrin’s “magnificent desolation” – and weightlessness. The inescapable fact is that lunar landings featured large in the Victorian consciousness. More importantly, says Iwan Rhys Morus in his excellent ‘How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon…

  • View from India: Digital rupee pilot carries promise of sovereign backing

    The RBI is India’s central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee. Last week, it rolled out its CBDC, also known as Digital Rupee, e-Rupee or e₹ . The State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC are the nine banks that are part of the pilot project. As per CBDC, the digital rupee would be legal tender in a digital form of fiat currency, which can be understood as the Indian rupee. The Digital Rupee is a currency issued by central banks responsible for governing and managing the asset. It is also exchangeable one-to-one at par with the fiat currency. What comes to mind is whether the digital rupee is similar to crypto currency. The differentiator is that the…

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    E+T Magazine

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