BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Ancient Olympia to be digitally preserved
Ancient Olympia is to be digitally preserved, in a new deal between the Greek government and Microsoft. The collaboration uses artificial intelligence to map the site, and augmented reality to help restore the original home of the Olympic Games. It will allow viewers to explore the area as it stood more than 2,000 years ago. Microsoft has ambitions to rival Facebook with its own plans for the s ... Read more
2021-11-11 18:58:54
Apple v Epic: Court denies delay on App Store changes
A US federal judge has denied a plea by Apple to delay changes to its App Store as a result of its landmark legal battle with Epic Games. Apple largely won the fight with the maker of Fortnite. However, it was told it could no longer ban developers from telling customers about non-Apple payment options. Apple appealed against that ruling. However, it has been denied permission to delay implemen ... Read more
2021-11-10 19:39:15
Uber sued by Justice Department for overcharging disabled people
The US Justice Department (DoJ) is suing ride-hailing app Uber over allegations it has been overcharging disabled people. The DoJ claims Uber's "wait time" fees are discriminating against disabled passengers who need more than two minutes to get into a car. It says Uber needs to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But Uber said wait time fees were not intended to ap ... Read more
2021-11-10 19:38:53
Google app finds pets' 'art doubles'
They say dogs resemble their owners, but has your pet's portrait already been painted by Picasso or Rembrandt? Google's "Pet Portraits" uses machine learning to match pets to their "art doubles" held in the collections of institutions around the world. The furry-friend matching tool has been added to Google's Arts & Culture app for Android and iOS. A similar 2018 feature ... Read more
2021-11-09 18:41:37
Robinhood trading app hit by data breach affecting seven million
US share-trading app Robinhood has been hit by a security breach that has exposed the names or email addresses of more than seven million people. The company says the breach affected "a limited amount of personal information for a portion of our customers". And it does not believe the most sensitive information it gathers - US social security numbers and financial information - was rev ... Read more
2021-11-09 18:41:17
Twitter poll calls on Elon Musk to sell 10% stake in Tesla
Voters in a Twitter poll have urged Elon Musk to sell 10% of his stake in Tesla in order to pay tax. More than 3.5 million Twitter users voted in the poll, launched by Mr Musk on Saturday, with nearly 58% voting in favour of the share sale. The vote could see him dispose of nearly $21bn (£16bn) of stock in the electric carmaker. He has promised to abide by the result, in response to a "bil ... Read more
2021-11-08 18:48:27
REvil: Day of reckoning for notorious cyber gang
A global police operation has dealt a devastating blow to one of the most prolific cyber-crime gangs in history. The co-ordinated action against the REvil gang was announced on Monday by Romanian police, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Europol. The raids, which took place both on and offline, led to the arrests of two alleged hackers in Romania and one from Ukraine. REvil has been blamed ... Read more
2021-11-08 18:47:26
Instagram: A blessing or a curse?
Wake up, reach for your phone, open Instagram and start scrolling. It is an all-too familiar routine for many of us. But how does the app affect our mental health? Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen warned that Instagram was "more dangerous than other forms of social media", after it was revealed that the company's own research showed it could be harmful. At the time, Instagram sai ... Read more
2021-11-07 19:07:12
US offers $10m bounty for Colonial Pipeline hackers
The United States government has offered a bounty of up to $10million (£7.4m) for information about the hacking group known as DarkSide. In May, a DarkSide ransomware attack shut down a vital 5,500-mile-long fuel pipeline on the east coast of the US. The pipeline carries 45% of the fuel used on the east coast. The bounty is offered for information which can lead to the "identification or l ... Read more
2021-11-07 19:06:20
Zuckerberg's metaverse: Lessons from Second Life
This week, I travelled back in time to visit the future. It has been about 10 years since I first entered the virtual world of Second Life, arguably the internet's first attempt at what every tech giant is now racing to build: the so-called metaverse. The term metaverse was coined in the 1990s in a science-fiction novel, Snow Crash, where it served as a virtual-reality successor to the internet, ... Read more
2021-11-05 19:31:31