• UK regulators finally clear Microsoft’s $69bn takeover of Activision

    The UK watchdog initially blocked the acquisition over worries it would “alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market”, leading to reduced innovation and fewer choices for UK gamers. In response, the company reworked the agreement, offering to sell Activision’s non-European streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment as a way to assuage the regulator’s concerns. Microsoft said its new proposal was a “substantially different transaction” to the one proposed in 2022. As a result of this concession, the CMA agreed to look afresh at the deal and launched a new investigation in August, which has now been concluded. It said the agreement will also help to ensure that cloud gaming providers will be able to use non-Windows operating systems for Activision content. “The CMA is resolute…

  • Britons throw away nearly half a billion ‘fast tech’ items annually, research shows

    According to Material Focus, around 471 million ‘fast tech’ items were binned in the past year, with an average cost of around £4 per item. But while many of the items are perceived to be disposable, even low-cost electricals contain precious materials such as gold, aluminium and lithium, which should be recycled instead of sent to landfill, the campaign group said. Annual spend on fast tech reportedly passed the £2.8bn mark for the first time in 2023 and there are over 100,000 tonnes of waste electricals thrown away yearly.  Material Focus said the study has been released in a bid to raise awareness of the issue and encourage people to donate or recycle anything with a plug, battery or cable.  The research also shows that the UK’s consumption of fast tech is expected to outstrip fast…

  • Gadgets review: Acer’s e-assist bike, EZVIZ PS300 Portable Power Station and more

    Haloo Revolve Image credit: Haloo £549.99 This gas-fired garden pizza oven heats up the pizza stone to 500°C and, unusually, the 13in stone slowly revolves for more even cooking. The design is simple and innovative, with a detachable, battery-powered motor. https://haloobrands.com/pages/revolve-pizza-oven Acer ebii Image credit: Acer Around €2,499 Acer’s first-ever e-assist bike uses artificial intelligence to adapt to riding conditions, pedalling power, route and rider preferences. Maintenance is minimalised, thanks to the no-rust carbon belt drive and airless tyres that can’t puncture. It also alerts you to potential collisions...

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • BT launches first drone SIM in the UK

    BT Group has unveiled the UK’s first Drone SIM, with the goal of tapping into the true potential of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations. The SIM has been designed to function at high altitudes and under difficult weather conditions, as it is expected to be used in emergency situations such as search and rescue. Other uses include delivery of medical supplies and infrastructure inspection.  The SIM will use the EE network and offer unlimited data plans and continuous connectivity in the sky. The product represents a “dramatic shift” from using local Wi-Fi or radio transmissions, enabling drones to travel significant distances while staying connected, according to BT.  It will also enable “high priority and ultra-responsive connectivity” and improved video-streaming quality…

  • Project watch: a look at Sizewell C and the Thames Tideway Tunnel

    Sizewell C The UK government has pledged a further £170m to speed up construction of the upcoming Sizewell C nuclear power plant. With the UK’s ageing fleet of eight nuclear power stations needing replacement, and only EDF’s Hinkley Point C undergoing construction, Sizewell C will play an important role in backing up renewable energy in the switch away from fossil fuels. It is anticipated it will provide 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the funding for Sizewell C would be used to prepare the site for future construction, procure key components from the project’s supply chain and expand its workforce. The funding announcement came as Great British Nuclear was launched, a public body established to help deliver the UK’s nuclear…

  • World’s first hydrogen-powered gas turbine run by European consortium

    The Hyflexpower consortium has successfully adapted a combustion system of a Siemens Energy SGT-400 gas turbine for hydrogen.  The consortium was formed by Britain’s Centrax, French energy company Engie, the German Aerospace Center, Siemens Energy and European universities, with financial support from the EU. The test was carried out at a Smurfit Kappa paper packaging factory near the French city of Limoges.  The process was compared to replacing the carburettor of an internal combustion car engine by Engie vice president Frank Lacroix. “We’ve just achieved a world first, which involves injecting 100 per cent hydrogen into a gas turbine to produce electricity,” he told reporters. Green h ydrogen is a versatile, storable, potentially zero-carbon fuel source that has been hailed as a…

  • Cutting methane emissions ‘essential’ to achieve climate targets, IEA says

    The agency has highlighted the importance of reducing methane emissions – something now possible due to new a nd affordable technologies.  The organisation has published a report named The imperative of cutting methane from fossil fuels. The document shows that, while a drop in fossil fuel demand would cut methane emissions, these reductions by themselves would not occur fast enough to meet the world’s climate goals.  For this reason, its authors called for additional targeted actions to tackle methane emissions from fossil fuel production and use to be implemented. These could include eliminating routine venting and flaring and repairing leaks. Methane is far less abundant in the atmosphere than CO 2  but is responsible for around 30 per cent of the global rise in temperatures to date…

  • UK installs 50,000th electric vehicle charger

    The country’s 50,000th charging device to be installed is an ultra-rapid device at a service station in Weston-super-Mare. The 40,000th EV charger was installed in February 2023, meaning the speed at which the UK is now deploying EV charging infrastructure has significantly increased. In contrast, a full year passed for the previous 10,000 chargers to be installed (February 2022 to February 2023). The news has been celebrated as a huge milestone in the country’s target of installing 300,000 chargepoints by 2030.  “Hitting 50,000 public charging devices is a really important milestone for the country and illustrates the sea change behind the increased rate of chargepoint installations,” said Melanie Shufflebotham, chief operating officer at Zapmap. “Having passed 40,000 chargepoints in…

  • Fintech brings banking to the unbanked in developing countries

    Challenger banks are potential game-changers in raising the levels of financial inclusion in the emerging economies of Africa and Asia. They exploit digital technology – in particular the smartphone – to increase the penetration of financial products and services in remote areas. The uptake of general-purpose technologies such as smartphones and internet connection could have a significant impact on global poverty. According to the guidelines set out in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s financial inclusion initiatives, traditional financial organisations do not adequately serve the poor rural communities in emerging economies. In fact, in the eight vast and largely undeveloped countries – Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda – covered in a recent…

  • Scientists to assess radioactivity of ocean water samples near Fukushima

    In 2011, a massive earthquake off the coast of Japan resulted in a tsunami that wrecked the facility beyond repair. Since then, the plant has been producing around 100m³ of contaminated water as part of efforts to keep the reactors cool since the meltdown. In the following 12 years, the plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has accumulated 1.34 million tonnes of water – enough to fill 500 Olympic-size pools – but has run out of storage space. Japanese authorities subsequently agreed to begin releasing some of the plant’s treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, much to the chagrin of Chinese authorities, who expressed concern over its environmental impact and banned Japanese seafood as a result. But Tepco has been filtering the contaminated water to remove most of the…

  • ‘Modular’ dam system cuts cost of renewable energy storage

    Developed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in the US, the dam has been designed as an energy storage facility that can help to balance loads on the grid. The method, known as closed-loop pumped storage hydropower (PSH), uses off-peak, surplus power to pump water from a lower-elevation reservoir to a higher-elevation one. During periods of high demand, the stored water is returned to the lower reservoir, driving turbines to produce electricity. Although the losses from the pumping process mean it consumes more energy than it generates, it can provide energy during times of peak demand and can be used to store intermittent renewables such as solar and wind power. Image credit: Courtesy Of Swri “PSH accounts for approximately 95 per cent of all energy…

  • California passes Delete Act to protect residents' data privacy

    The Delete Act ( SB 362) has been signed into law by California governor Gavin Newsom, as part of an effort to protect citizens’ online rights. California residents need only make a single request to get all their data scrubbed from data brokers’ records. Previously, residents could still request that their data was deleted, but they were forced to submit a request to individual companies to achieve it.  In order to make the new requirements possible, the legislation also mandates that all data brokers register with the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), which would create a single form for residents to request that their data is deleted. Data brokers are companies that gather and sell people's personal information, such as address, age or marital status. They include credit…

  • Global warming has cost £13m an hour, researchers find

    New Zealand researchers have measured the economic costs of extreme weather events linked to climate change. Their research has found that these occurrences have caused at least $2.8tn (£2.3tn) in damage over the past 20 years, The Guardian has reported. Although the figures vary drastically year-on-year, the scientists found that s torms, floods, heatwaves and droughts have resulted in an average cost  of $140bn (£115bn) a year from 2000 to 2019. The latest data shows $280bn in costs in 2022. The researchers obtained this figure by c ombining data on how much global heating worsened extreme weather events with economic data on losses. Two-thirds of the damage costs were related to the loss of life, while a third was due to property and other assets being destroyed. The study also found…

  • Cream of the crop: meet the finalists for the IET Excellence and Innovation Awards

    Nearly 100 expert judges have spent the summer poring over hundreds of entries to this year’s awards. There is added nuance to all the awards as the IET looks to build on the introduction to societal issues over recent years. The organisers say: “Once more, we want to celebrate the engineers using science and technology to find solutions to the biggest challenges humankind is currently facing. We believe in excellence and innovation but with impact and a long-term view, and we are incorporating social and environmental impact across all categories.” The big reveal is on 15 November 2023 at the inspiring Glasgow Science Centre – just a short walk over the Millennium footbridge over the River Clyde to the Crowne Plaza where the IET’s Powering Net Zero Week is taking place (see page 98). …

  • Labour promises railway and energy reforms if it wins the next election

    Speaking at the party’s conference in Liverpool, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh confirmed that plans announced under former leader Jeremy Corbyn to return the UK’s train system to public ownership have not been dropped under Keir Starmer. “There is no point offering infrastructure announcements of investment unless we radically reform railways as well, because for too long decisions around investment and infrastructure have been made completely divorced from the reality of the way railways are run,” she said. “I am here to confirm today that the next Labour government will radically overhaul our rail system and we will outline the detailed vision for that in the coming days, weeks and months. “We are working in lockstep with unions, mayors and with local leaders and industry…

  • Samsung and SK Hynix allowed to ship US chips to Chinese factories

    The US has granted a waiver to technology firms including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix that will be allow them to supply US-made chip equipment to their China factories indefinitely without separate US approvals, South Korea’s  Yonhap News Agency has reported.  The US government has already notified the two companies of its decision, which takes effect immediately, Choi Sang-mok, Seoul’s senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, told reporters.  Previously, the two companies were required to seek  one-year waivers to the US sanctions on the import of advanced technology to the Asian giant. The waivers would have expired this month. “The US government’s decision means that the most significant trade issue of our semiconductor companies has been resolved,” said Choi. “Uncertainties…

  • World’s largest offshore wind farm begins powering Britain

    The National Grid has connected Dogger Bank in the North Sea, set to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, to the UK electricity transmission network.  The 277-turbine wind farm is located 70 nautical miles off the coast of Yorkshire. Upon its completion, scheduled for 2026, Dogger Bank will occupy an area almost as large as Greater London. It   is expected to produce 3.6GW of power, enough for six million homes a year. The wind farm was jointly developed by Britain’s SSE and Norway’s Equinor and Vårgrønn.  UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has celebrated the news, saying Dogger Bank will bolster energy security, create jobs, lower electricity bills and keep the country on track to reach net zero.  “Offshore wind is critical to generating renewable, efficient energy that can power…

  • Greece uses augmented reality to take visitors back to antiquity

    With only a smartphone, tourists can now see what the Parthenon looked like back when it was used as a temple of Athena thousands of years ago – paint included.  The Greek telecoms provider Cosmote, with the support of the country’s Culture Ministry, has created Chronos, an augmented reality (AR) application that superimposes a digital image onto several buildings within the Acropolis, including the Parthenon  temple, the adjacent Roman theatre and parts of the Acropolis Museum. The app is named after the Greek word for time and the leader of the mythological Titans.  The images provide insights into how the site looked thousands of years ago. Visitors only have to point their phones to a part of the building to see the marble sculptures that used to be housed there before they were removed…

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    E+T Magazine

  • UK investigates Snapchat AI chatbot over privacy risks

    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued Snap, the parent company behind Snapchat, a preliminary enforcement notice over the privacy risks posed by its generative AI chatbot ‘My AI’. As a result, Snapchat could face a multi-million pound fine or even be forced to shut down the  feature in the UK.  The ICO issued the notice after conducting an investigation into the tool, launched in spring 2023. T he chatbot, powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology, marked the first example of generative AI embedded into a major messaging platform in the UK.  However, the ICO has found that the risk assessment Snap conducted before it launched My AI did not “adequately assess the data protection risks” to users, particularly children aged 13 to 17.  “The provisional findings of our investigation…

  • UK awards £89m for ‘cutting-edge’ EV technology

    The UK will provide  £89m of funding to drive forward its goal of becoming a world leader in zero-emissions vehicle technology. The funding package includes four collaborative R&D projects, five scale-up projects to assess if businesses in the automotive sector are ready for growth, and seven feasibility studies to prepare projects to develop large-scale manufacturing facilities in the UK. The initiatives include Aston Martin’s plans to develop a luxury battery EV platform and Perkins’ project to develop a hydrogen-hybrid integrated power system for off-road vehicles. It is estimated that the projects combined will ‘create or safeguard’ more than 4,700 jobs while saving up to 65 million tonnes of CO 2 from being emitted over the next decade. The funding has been awarded through the…

  • Pet tech boom: biometrics and AI gain favour among cat and dog owners

    Anyone who’s noted the increased numbers of dog walkers in their neighbourhood will know that the Covid-19 crisis unleashed a pet ownership boom. Millions acquired four-footed companions to help them through the stresses of home isolation. The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals found that 36% of all current UK owners of dogs, cats and rabbits acquired their pets after March 2020, indicating that 4.1 million dogs and 3.7 million cats have been homed since the onset of the pandemic.  Pet population rises synced with other digital dependencies heightened by lockdown. Our use of connected technology helped to manage routine but essential aspects of daily life, from grocery delivery to virtual medical check-ups. And as more pet food was added to online shopping baskets, it became clear that…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK Armed Forces to get £88m sensor upgrade to detect chemical threats in battle

    It will be a first of its kind for the UK Armed Forces, as the wearable sensor will be able to detect threats from both vapours and aerosols. Under the contract, UK firm Smiths Detection will develop three next-generation chemical sensor products for the MoD, to be operational by 2028. This includes a wearable personal chemical agent sensor that continually monitors the environment around the user, a survey chemical agent sensor that can check potentially hazardous areas or surfaces, and a remote chemical sensor for use in fixed locations. As new hazards emerge in the future, the equipment can be continually updated and improved, identifying a greater range of chemical threat coverage, the MoD said. Minister for defence procurement James Cartlidge said: “It’s vital we protect our service…

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    E+T Magazine

  • US agency sues Elon Musk over $44bn Twitter takeover

    The long-running feud between Musk and the SEC has escalated, as the Tesla owner now faces a lawsuit over the company’s purchase of social media platform Twitter, now rebranded as X . The SEC is investigating w hether Musk broke federal law in 2022 when he bought stock in the platform and the paperwork that he filed in relation to the transaction.   Before the billionaire obtained full control over Twitter, Musk bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, becoming its  majority shareholder. The purchase was not disclosed in an SEC filing until the following month and led the company's other shareholders to sue Musk, with no success.  Musk’s purchase of Twitter stocks merely months before his acquisition of the platform could see him facing charges of insider trading, market manipulation…

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    E+T Magazine

  • MPs call for ‘urgent stop’ to police use of facial recognition tech

    Earlier this week, policing minister Chris Philp proposed giving police access to more than 45 million images stored in the passport photos database for use in facial recognition technology, to help catch criminals like shoplifters and burglars. But a joint statement backed by dozens of MPs and peers, including former Brexit secretary David Davis MP, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, Green MP Caroline Lucas and former shadow attorney-general Shami Chakrabarti, warns of “serious concerns” about the “incompatibility with human rights” and “discriminatory impacts” of facial recognition surveillance. It also said expanded use of the technology lacked sufficient legal basis and a democratic mandate. Governments around the world are considering whether to prohibit or permit the use of live…

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