ShinyShiny snippets: Google launches £599 Pixel tablet

Google's Pixel Tablet launches today (20th June 2023) priced £599 The Pixel Tablet launches today into a field more crowded than ever, priced £599. It's got the same chip as the company's flagship Pixel 7 smartphones, an 11-inch screen, and a bunch of apps optimised to take advantage. But the standout…

ShinyShiny snippets: Tests begin on 3D-printed rocket engine

Skyrora is testing its new 3D-printed rocket engines. Pic: Skyrora New 3D-printed rocket engines are being tested at the largest UK facility of its kind ahead of a potential space launch. Edinburgh-based Skyrora made them using its own Skyprint 2 machine for the first time, which the company says halves production…

ShinyShiny snippets: Citroën to launch sub £25,000 electric C3

Citroen e-c3 render. Image: Autosport Citroën will pitch itself headlong into the affordable EV market this October with a battery version of its revised C3 range, costing “below €25,000” in France and hitting the UK market at around £25,000. The ë-C3 will be part of a bigger Citroën C3 range also including ICE…

ShinyShiny snippets: Google Chrome adds more Password Manager features

Google has announced a major security update to the Password Manager on its Chrome browser that is aimed at helping users maintain their passwords natively and rely less on third-party managers such as 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, and LastPass. The update will have support for Chrome on desktop and iOS. The first feature of the update is…

ShinyShiny snippets: WhatsApp adds Twitter-like new ‘channels’ feature

WhatsApp is adding the Twitter-like ability to follow accounts outside your personal contacts. The new feature will be in a new section of the app called "updates", separate from your existing private chats, and behave similarly to news feeds on other social media platforms. Rather than needing to add a contact via their phone number,…

ShinyShiny snippets: Apple unveils $3499 Vision Pro headset

Image: Apple Apple on Monday unveiled a headset called the Vision Pro in the tech giant’s most significant product launch since the iPhone, promising that it will be “a new kind of computer”. The device, which resembles a pair of ski goggles, projects apps such as web browsers, video calls and…

ShinyShiny snippets: Fiat offers £300 e-grant for the electric 500

Fiat will launch its own EV grant as part of a nationwide incentive to encourage customers to buy its electric cars, making it the first manufacturer to do so.  The grant, called Fiat E-Grant, which is immediately available for customers, is worth £3000 and is applicable to purchases of the electric Fiat 500 and Fiat 500C. The Italian…

ShinyShiny snippets: AI deleting possible war crimes on social media sites

Image: BBC Evidence of potential human rights abuses may be lost after being deleted by tech companies, the BBC has found. Platforms remove graphic videos, often using artificial intelligence - but footage that may help prosecutions can be taken down without being archived. Meta and YouTube say they aim to balance…

How to spot online shopping scams

This week, newly published data from Lloyds Bank revealed that over two-thirds of online shopping scams begin on Instagram and Facebook. This alarming figure signifies how savvy fraudsters are using social media to prey on unsuspecting shoppers, who are in search of a deal. There has been a rise in online scammers creating fake business pages,…

ShinyShiny snippets: AI poses similar risk to ‘nuclear war’, experts warn

Artificial intelligence poses a similar risk of human extinction as pandemics and nuclear war, experts have warned. The boss of the firm behind ChatGPT, the head of Google's AI lab, and CEO of Anthropic - another major AI firm, have all signed an open letter. It reads: "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a…