• Stratospheric 4G network realised with antennas fitted to plane

    The German telecoms company said this was the world’s first successful demonstration of 4G voice and data connectivity over a platform flying at the edge of the stratosphere and fully integrated into a commercial mobile network. At the beginning of October, several test flights were carried out in Bavaria with a remote-controlled aircraft system at an altitude of approximately 14km. The antennas installed on the aircraft allowed a smartphone on the ground to achieve download speeds of 70Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps in the 2.1GHz range over a channel bandwidth of 10MHz. The high flight altitude, coupled with an almost unobstructed view of the ground, should allow an airplane to use special antennas to supply radio cells with a diameter of up to 100km, boosting the coverage of existing…

  • EU must counter 5G misinformation; 15 countries sign joint letter

    A joint letter signed by 15 countries across the European Union - including Poland, Sweden and Greece - puts forward their concerns that the “anti-5G movement” is gathering momentum across Europe. Conspiracies over the introduction of 5G networks have been gaining traction on social media platforms in recent months. They even include theories that the coronavirus epidemic could be linked to the new networks in some way. The proliferation of such theories, none of which have any grounding in scientific study, have led to real-world consequences, including repeated arson attacks on 5G mobile phone masts across the UK and the rest of Europe. An Ofcom survey in April suggested that 5G misinformation had become the most common false information seen by Britons. Both YouTube and Facebook…

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    IET EngX

  • Instagram made to crack down on ‘hidden advertising’

    Popular users often sign deals to advertise a product or service on their feed, but the distinction between paid-for content and standard posted content is not always clear. Clear labelling of incentivised posts is required under consumer protection law so that people are not misled. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating what it calls “hidden advertising” on Instagram over concerns that too many social media influencers are posting paid content without letting their followers know and that the platform is not doing enough to tackle the problem. Instagram will now make it easier for all users – and the businesses they promote – to comply with consumer protection law when posting content. The social network will prompt users to confirm if they have been…

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    IET EngX

  • iPhone 12 launch ushers in 5G, Magsafe charging, and ‘mini’ iPhone

    The line up now includes four devices with the addition of the smaller iPhone 12 mini, which has a 5.4” screen and will start at £699. Apple described it as the “smallest, lightest and thinnest 5G phone in the world”. It is also joined by successors to the previous generation models in the form of a 6.1” screen iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro which also has a 6.1” display and the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max. While maintaining very similar form factors to last year’s iPhone 11, the new products will test whether consumer appetite for 5G networks is enough to convince people to upgrade. The CEO of US network Verizon was present at Apple’s launch event explaining that his firm could now boast “nationwide” 5G coverage in the US. However, with its 5G implementations primarily running on 4G spectrum…

  • Birmingham Tech Week returns virtually in 2020

    Becoming the largest regional technology festival in the UK in 2019, with over 5,000 attendees, this year the week will be delivered entirely online and feature a number of high-profile speakers.These include Thomas Blood, Digital Innovation Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Jill Palmer, CEO at Click Travel and Avin Rabheru, CEO & Founder of Housekeep. The technology festival returns on the 12-16 October, this time virtually Keynote speakers include Amazon, Click Travel and Housekeep Key themes to be discussed will be 5G, FinTech, Smart Cities and AI Yiannis Maos, Founder of Birmingham Tech Week, said: “The week was founded on encouraging collaboration, celebrating regional success stories and inspiring organisations to get involved in all aspects of technology. Given the year…

  • High five for Amazon, as retailer expands palm-recognition tech

    Customers at the pair of Amazon stores near the retailer's HQ campus in Washington state, US, can show their palm for entry to the shop and again to buy goods, as part of the 'Amazon One' trial. "Just hover to enter, identify and pay", is the simple online description Amazon offers for its palm shopping experience . Writing on his company blog, Dilip Kumar, vice-president of physical retail and technology at Amazon, said the company chose palm recognition because it is more private than other biometric technology, plus a user is required to purposefully flash their palm at the Amazon One device to engage. This is designed to be a deterrent against fraudsters. “And it’s contactless, which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times,” Mr Kumar added in his post. The…

  • 3D-printed brain implant paves way for personalised neuromedicine

    The team believes their device could be used to develop treatments for nervous system problems and to help people with paralysis. They have already used it to stimulate injured spinal cords in animal models. The technology has been shown to also fit well on the surface of a brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and muscles, opening the possibility that it could be used for other neurological conditions too. Currently, brain-computer interface development is hampered by the huge costs and long development time it takes to produce prototypes. But these Sheffield researchers have shown that 3D printing can be used to make prototype implants much faster and more cost-effectively in order to speed up research and development in the area. The implants can be easily adapted to target specific…

  • 3D printing poses ‘grave and growing threat’ to people’s privacy

    If 3D-printed objects – of any size – have watermarks included in the material, other people could be able to track and trace the origins of the objects using cameras, laptops or mobile phones and see how the objects are being used. Research by Dr Annika Jones, from Durham University, and Dr James Griffin, from the University of Exeter, has warned about the lack of awareness among governments and companies about such privacy issues associated with 3D printers. The pair are calling for changes to treaties on copyright law and international human rights law, as well as recommending a new voluntary code of conduct to protect people’s privacy and a regulatory body to provide guidance and oversight. The two experts carried out 30 in-depth interviews with representatives from Chinese 3D-printing…

  • Fungus leather substitute offers greener alternative material

    Traditional leather, typically made from animal hides such as cow and goat, brings ethical issues as well as the deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions associated with livestock farming. Treating animal hide to turn it into leather, known as tanning, often uses hazardous chemicals that can leach into the environment. Leather alternatives, such as those made from plastic, are vegan in that they don’t use animal hides. However, traditional synthetic leather is made using the polymers polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which, like most other plastics, are made from fossil fuels and are not biodegradable. In a new review paper, researchers at the University of Vienna, Imperial College London and RMIT University in Australia argue that leather made from fungi has “considerable…

  • The race is on for the fastest charger

    The charger market is seeing a unification trend for improved user experience. With USB's compatible charging protocol, value-adding features such as ease-of-use, fast charging, and data transfer will upgrade chargers and optimize power management across multiple peripherals. USB-PD (power delivery) is the right technology to solve these market pains. To ensure that engineers are able to meet their design targets, Infineon – the leader in power - offers a comprehensive semiconductor portfolio of low RDS(on) high-voltage and low-voltage power MOSFETs that accommodate excellent power density while appropriately addressing thermal management and potential EMI issues. In this webinar session, several solutions will be presented. Furthermore, you will learn about the matching high-voltage and…

  • 3D-printed device boosts carbon capture efficiency

    While governments are primarily focused on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement and mitigate climate change, there is also interest in carbon capture and storage solutions. Carbon capture technologies could be installed at significant sources of carbon – such as power plants and factories – to mitigate their environmental impact, as part of holistic decarbonisation efforts. The device designed by the Department of Energy researchers is focused on improving the process of carbon absorption, which in a flue-gas stream from smokestacks is placed in contact with a solvent which reacts with the gas. This process typically produces heat when carbon dioxide interacts with the solvent, in turn diminishing the capability of the solvent to react…

  • View from India: The evolving workforce, workplace and workload

    Every crisis unveils a new dimension for opportunities. Adversity drives change as the future unfolds. The long-term transformation is to get rid of micro-macro inefficiencies. Kunal Kaul is on the supply side of the value chain and responds to client needs. “The pandemic took us by surprise and no one had anticipated its sheer magnitude. No one could predict the scale at which it has happened,” said Kaul, director enterprise business, Cisco India & SAARC, speaking at an online event discussing business continuity. At the behest of the chief information officer an online solution was designed for 100,000 users to access from home. “That was when we realised that the problem was real,” Kaul said in a matter-of-fact manner. Users have been provided with collaboration tools to connect with their…

  • Climate experts call for ban on adverts for polluting SUVs

    The 'Badvertising' campaign from the New Weather Institute think tank and the climate charity Possible showed in its report that SUVs now make up more than 4 in 10 new cars sold in UK. Last year, the International Energy Agency said that SUVs are the second-biggest cause of the rise in global carbon dioxide emissions during the past decade with only the power sector being a bigger contributor. On average, even the most fuel-efficient SUVs average around 20-25mpg, while less fuel-hungry sedans get anywhere from 30-40mpg. The New Weather Institute said that over 150,000 new cars being sold in the UK in 2019 were too big to even fit in a standard parking space and blamed the trend towards ever-larger, more fuel-hungry vehicles on the “corporate marketing strategies of big car brands”. …

  • 3D printing in space: astronaut Sabrina Kerber returns from ‘Mars’

    In December 2019, I embarked on a simulated astronaut mission in Hawaii. The EMMIHS-II mission is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) funded Euro Moon Mars Initiative (EMM), the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) and the International Moon Base Alliance (IMA). It took place at the renowned Hawai'i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) habitat. For two weeks, our international crew of astronauts lived, worked and researched in this habitat just like astronauts on the Moon. In addition to being completely 'isolated' from Earth, the simulation included eating food made from freeze-dried ingredients; leaving the habitat only on approved extravehicular activities (EVA) while wearing spacesuits with integrated life support systems, and being restricted…

  • Single-use plastic bag sales down 95 per cent in UK

    Data from the Environment Department (Defra) shows the main retailers sold 226 million single-use bags in the past financial year, 322 million fewer than in 2018/19. This is a drop of 59 per cent year on year, with the average shopper buying four bags compared to 10 last year and a whopping 140 in 2014. An estimated 7.6 billion bags a year were handed out by the leading supermarkets before the 5p charge was introduced in 2015. All retailers with more than 250 employees must apply the charge to their plastic bags, with many small businesses also reporting voluntarily. Combined, approximately 564 million bags were sold in the latest financial year, compared to 1.11 billion in 2018/19. The Government has consulted on extending the charge to all businesses and increasing the minimum charge…

  • Sainsbury’s to trial virtual queuing system for shoppers

    Customers will be alerted to enter a store  from the comfort of their car, a nearby cafe or their home, for example, through a  smartphone app, eliminating the need to stand in a socially distanced line outside the store.  The system, which runs via the app ufirst, will be piloted at its stores in Uxbridge, Pimlico, Dome Roundabout in Watford, Leicester North and Newham Royal Wharf from today (27 July). Sainsbury’s said the initiative, which will run until mid-August, will test whether the technology will help customers stay safe, save time and shop conveniently in stores. “We’re always on the lookout for how we can make our customers’ lives easier using technology,” said  Nigel Blunt, director of e-commerce at Sainsbury’s.  “We’re trialling a virtual queuing system which enables shoppers…

  • Google misled users over data privacy issues, says Australian watchdog

    The move, which is seeking a fine “in the millions” and aims to establish a precedent, comes as scrutiny grows worldwide over data privacy, with US and European lawmakers currently investigating how tech companies treat user data. In court documents, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accused Google of not explicitly getting consent or properly informing consumers of a 2016 move to combine personal information in Google accounts with browsing activities on non-Google websites. “This change... was worth a lot of money to Google,” said commission chairman Rod Sims. “We allege they’ve achieved it through misleading behaviour.” The change allowed Google to link the browsing behaviour of millions of consumers with their names and identities, providing it with extreme…

  • High-tech cash machines could replace physical bank branches

    While the use of cash has been rapidly declining in recent years due to the advent of new technologies such as contactless payments, a recent report estimated that some eight million Britons would struggle without cash. With concerns that Covid-19 could be passed on through physical money transactions, many shops (around one in ten according to consumer group Which?) are refusing non-contactless forms of payment. ATM makers Diebold Nixdorf expect that the crisis will see cash transactions plummet by 30 per cent over the whole of 2020 and drop by another 10 per cent in 2021. With the number of physical bank branches also declining, the company believes that ATMs could find a new role carrying out some of their functions. ATMs could, for example, be given deposit-taking abilities, along…

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  • Cellular data could be used to implement localised Covid-19 lockdowns

    With the UK announcing its first local lockdown in Leicester today, such data could help governments going forward to pinpoint where such measures may be necessary to prevent broader spread of the virus. The method is able to identify the most crowded areas with hustle and bustle, such as a city centre, where asymptomatic carriers have a higher probability of coming into close contact with large numbers of healthy people. With mobile phone ownership nearly ubiquitous in developed countries, the technique allows tracking of large numbers of device users as they move and gather over time. The researchers from Colorado State University used what are known as handover and cell selection protocols - the cellular network technologies that allow us to move about freely with our mobile devices…

  • John Lewis to build biomethane gas filling station

    In March 2019, the employee-owned business, which is the parent company of high-end department store John Lewis and Waitrose supermarket, pledged to become net-zero carbon across its entire operations by 2050 at the latest and its 600 heavy goods vehicles to be switched to low-carbon biomethane by 2028.  Since last year, the Partnership has reduced its total operational carbon emissions by 6.6 per cent and emissions from its transport solutions have fallen by 6.9 per cent. “The evidence of climate change is all around us, so it’s important we act now using available technology rather than wait for unproven solutions to appear,” said Justin Laney, partner and general manager of central transport at the John Lewis Partnership. “We are working hard towards our new aim of removing all fossil…

  • Facebook to allow users to switch off political ads

    Social media companies have been under intense pressure from campaigners, academics and lawmakers to take action against actors using dishonest techniques on their platforms to sway the results of elections. The 2016 US presidential election was heavily targeted by a Kremlin-backed disinformation campaign, with similar state-backed campaigns targeting other democratic events since. Last year, Google announced that it would ban microtargeting by political advertisers , while Twitter went further in announcing an almost total ban on political advertising . Facebook has been singled out as passive in the face of dishonest political advertising, upholding the right of politicians to lie in adverts (with no fact-checking by Facebook) even as fellow social media companies imposed restrictions on…

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  • Online scam ads targeted for takedown by ASA with new reporting tool

    The 'UK Scam Ad Alert' system has already been successfully trialled for three months during which time various scams, particularly those involving crypto investment such as Bitcoin, were taken down. Many scam ads of this type use false stories or doctored images of celebrities, misleadingly implying the celebrities have endorsed the service in question. Such adverts can have a significant financial effect on consumers that fall for them. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Action Fraud warned that in 2018/19 victims of crypto and forex investment scams had lost over £27m in total. Consumers can now easily report scam ads appearing in paid-for space online. The ASA said it would then “promptly” alert participating platforms with key details of the scam ad, as well as alerting publishers…

  • UK Government downplays importance of contact-tracing app

    Speaking at the daily Downing Street press briefing yesterday (11 June), the health secretary said the delayed contact-tracing app would only be brought in  “when it’s right to do so”. Hancock said: “As we launched 'NHS Test and Trace', we were clear we want to embed this system and get confidence that people are following the advice that’s given by human beings before introducing the technological element”.  The Government has rowed back on claims made when the app was first announced in mid-April, when it insisted the app would be central to its test, track and trace strategy. Originally, the app was due to be ready for a full countrywide rollout by late May. Developed by NHSX, the technology arm of the NHS, the app is intended to send a notification warning to the smartphone's owner…

  • Is it time to make touchscreens contactless?

    Contactless technology is proving invaluable during the current coronavirus pandemic by eliminating the need to exchange cash or press buttons on a chip-and-pin machine. However, for many businesses, such as fast-food restaurants, the only option for taking a customer’s initial order without face-to-face contact is a touchscreen - and that actually risks spreading infection more widely. Antibacterial touchscreens exist, but this misses an important factor. As well as being genuinely hygienic, kiosks have to be perceived to be safe by customers. An anti-Covid coating isn’t likely to cut it for the general public: many people won't trust it, no matter how good it is. Even before the current health crisis, there were reports of gut and faecal bacteria being found on every fast-food touchscreen…

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