ShinyShiny snippets: TikTok fined £12.7m by UK’s data watchdog
TikTok has been fined £12.7m for failing to protect the privacy of children, the UK's data watchdog has said. An investigation conducted by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) found the video-sharing app breached data protection law. It says the breaches happened between May 2018 and July 2020. TikTok says it disagrees with the ICO's decision.…
Six tips on protecting the personal information stored on your mobile phone
For millions of people, smartphones act as a lifeline, helping us manage our day-to-day activities, keeping us connected to friends, family and colleagues no matter where we are in the world. However, thanks to modern technology smartphones allow us to store everything on our phones from online banking details and medical information to pictures and…
Searches for ‘Tik Tok banned’ up 488%, according to Google Trends
TikTok has come under serious scrutiny in recent weeks, being banned from UK and US government devices, among others. Domains and hosting provider Fasthosts used Google Trends to investigate how current events have affected search trends in the past month. From researching why these bans have taken place, to deleting the app themselves, the way the public…
ShinyShiny snippets: Elon Musk among those calling for halt in AI training
Key figures in artificial intelligence want training of powerful AI systems to be suspended amid fears of a threat to humanity. They have signed an open letter warning of potential risks, and say the race to develop AI systems is out of control. Twitter chief Elon Musk is among those who want training of AIs…
Brits consulted ‘Dr Google’ nearly 50 million times last year
Brits consulted ‘Dr. Google’ nearly 50million times in the past 12 months, according to new research by mutual healthcare provider, Benenden Health. The data reveals that health concerns related to heart and blood conditions, such as diabetes, are amongst the nation’s top health concerns, followed closely by issues related to digestion, with diarrhoea and IBS…
ShinyShiny snippets: Pope Francis in puffer jacket was (not surprisingly) a deep fake
On March 25, 2023, a photo that appeared to show 86-year-old Pope Francis out and about in a fashionable white puffer jacket went viral on social media. As many who saw it suspected, it was actually a deepfake image created via artificial intelligence (AI). It originally appeared on Reddit in the r/midjourney subreddit. Midjourney is an app that generates images from natural-language…
Top 15 things limiting family time – including work hours and cost-of-living crisis
A study of 2,000 mums and dads, with children at home, found their work shifts are the top cause of hindering family time (56 per cent), as well as homework (29 per cent) and social media use (20 per cent). Almost a third (31 per cent) also blame their lack of time together on the…
How to save money on prescriptions and medications
Keep taking the tablets! We offer ways you can save money on your medication as prices rise Consumers are expecting a number of painful price hikes in April, including prescription fees rising by 30p for people in England – taking the total price to £9.65 per item. In conjunction with Which?…
ShinyShiny: TikTok boss faces grilling at US congressional hearing
Bruising, damaging, relentless. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced four-and-a-half hours of questioning at a US congressional hearing on Thursday. As one congressman pointed out, some people run marathons quicker than that. Mr Chew will certainly be feeling it, after a torrid time giving evidence. Many tech execs have stood before Congress, and they often…
Holding onto Your Smartphone – an Environmental Approach
Smartphones all need an eventual upgrade, but this creates a problem of waste. Tempting as it might be to run out and purchase the most recent iteration of iPhone when it hits shelves, this isn't a winning approach for the environment or your wallet. Instead, there are good reasons to hold onto your phone for…
