ShinyShiny snippets: Sales of AR and VR headsets tumble, data shows

Worldwide shipments of virtual and augmented reality headsets dropped 12% to 9.6 million this year according to data from CCS Insight - a problem for Meta and other tech companies that are invested in the digital worlds' potential. VR headset sales in the U.S. also slumped 2% from a year earlier to $1.1 billion as of…

ShinyShiny snippets: UK’s first space mission ready for lift off

Image: Virgin Orbit The first space mission on British soil is due for lift-off in the coming weeks after the regulator granted licences. Virgin Orbit has been awarded licences to operate the UK's first space launch. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson's company demonstrated it has "taken…

ShinyShiny snippets: Oppo latest to launch foldable phones

Image: Oppo Chinese companies seem really keen to get their phones out before the end of the year, as hot on the heels of the Xiaomi 13 launch, there’s now the Oppo Find N2 and Oppo Find N2 Flip – two new foldable phones designed to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Samsung Galaxy Z…

ShinyShiny snippets: TikTok algorithm points some teens to ‘harmful content’

  A study into TikTok's video recommendation algorithm has found it suggests eating disorder and self-harm content to some new teen accounts within minutes. Research from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) saw one account shown suicide content within 2.6 minutes, and another suggested eating disorder content within eight minutes. Further investigation by Sky…

ShinyShiny snippets: Could TikTok be banned from US?

Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much these days, but have joined forces to unveil bipartisan legislation that would ban TikTok across the US. Representatives on both sides of the political divide in the House of Representatives and Senate have spoken out against what they perceive as a threat to national security. Those concerns were…

ShinyShiny snippets: Twitter re-launches Blue Tick from $8 a month

Twitter's paid-for verification feature is rolling out once again on Monday. It was paused last month after being swamped by impersonators. It is still $8 per month - but there is now an increased fee of $11 for those using the Twitter app on Apple devices. Twitter's owner Elon Musk has previously said in tweets…

ShinyShiny snippets: Discovery central to Land Rover EV platform

Image: Autocar. Land Rover is poised to radically reinvent the Discovery as part of its rapid and wide-reaching electrification programme with a view to distance it from the hugely popular Defender and re-establish the nameplate as a core pillar of the line-up. The Land Rover Discovery has historically been a highly important car for the firm.…

ShinyShiny snippets: Google opens technology centre for disabled

An alarm clock for people who are deaf is on display at the Google tech centre. Image: Google If you design technology with disabled people in mind, you design technology better for everyone. This was the sentiment from Google as it opened its first UK research and development centre dedicated to…

ShinyShiny snippets: Elon Musk’s Neuralink to begin ‘brain chip’ trials

Image: Neuralink Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expects a brain chip developed by his health tech company to begin human trials in the next six months. During a presentation by Musk’s company Neuralink, Musk gave updates on the company’s wireless brain chip. In addition to forecasting clinical trials, Musk said…