Innholdsfortegnelse for #427 i Techlife News

IT’S WITHIN REPORTERS’ HANDS TO CHANGE THE RECORD April 18, 1930, 20:45. The BBC’s news announcer took to the airwaves for his daily evening broadcast and calmly uttered the words, “there is no news ” to the UK. Then, for the remaining 15 minutes of the news broadcast, piano music was played instead. It’s just one occurrence that signifies just how emphatically different journalism’s relationship with technology – and by extension, its audience – once was when compared to today. Even though this has become a noteworthy news event in itself, nearly 90 years on, it’s practically impossible to imagine there being a ‘no news’ scenario now. For more than 20 years, technology has been transforming both the production and consumption of news, creating new opportunities for writing, engaging with…

The 2010s represented a real change in the world of technology, changing the way we work, live, and communicate. But where are we headed next, and what can we expect to happen in 2020? This week, we take a closer look at innovations that are just around the corner… 2020 IS ALL ABOUT 5G Perhaps one of the biggest changes expected to hit the market in 2020 is 5G technology, promising super-fast download and upload speeds, more stable connections and unlimited possibilities for new apps, software, and hardware. Though the United States, the United Kingdom, and China have already begun to turn on networks in parts of their countries , it won’t be until the end of 2020 when we begin to see widespread adoption of the new tech .…

Internet giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are facing tougher calls for regulation than ever before, as the devastating impact of social media on our children’s health begins to come to the fore. This week, we take a closer look at the “social generation,” exploring what needs to be done to create a safer, more positive digital environment for everyone… DAMAGING IMPACT Today’s millennials and Gen Zers are living in truly unprecedented times, with their smartphones now “constant companions” that alert them to updates on their friends, their favorite celebrities, and the goings on around the world. Youngsters are always-on, always updating, and always glued to their phones - teenagers spend an average of nine hours per day online, with many “worried” they’re spending too much time browsing social networks…

AN EXPANDING NETWORK THAT WILL DRIVE THE FUTURE “When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole.” Famed inventor and futurist Nikola Tesla said this in an interview with Collier’s magazine in 1926 . Fast-forward nearly 100 years, and the huge brain he predicted is pulsing away – and growing at an exponential rate. There are already seven billion devices connected to the Internet of Things – not even including smartphones, tablets, laptops or fixed phone lines. Applying Tesla’s prediction, this means that some time in the not-too-distant future, there will be more devices connected to the “huge” converted brain, than there will be human brains on the planet.…

With movie admissions in the US at a ten-year low, we take a closer look at how technology is transforming the way we consume Box Office content, from the Big Screen to the Small Screen in our pockets, explore how Netflix is changing the game with multi-million dollar film productions, and consider the impact of Apple’s upcoming streaming service on the sector… THE BOX OFFICE Whilst, on the surface, it may appear as though consumers are spending less time and money at their local movie theatres, the American film industry generated $32 billion in revenue last year, increasing around 2 percent year on year. According to research firm IBISWorld, the industry has “grown sluggishly in recent years and movie theater growth has increasingly come from ancillary concessions,” although demand is…

FACEBOOK AND APPLE BOTH MAKING IT A PRIORITY Change is afoot. After a year now infamous for a range of publically appalling data harvesting debacles, tech giants have taken a look at their practices and begun to change the way they approach data security and privacy. Or, to look at it another, more cynical way – tech giants have acknowledged our need for privacy, made more pertinent by how poorly they managed it in the past, and decided that this is how they can capitalize on it, from here on. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg (he of the Cambridge Analytica scandal ) published a new, “privacy-focused vision for social networking”. Zuckerberg now believes that “the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they…

With consumers becoming increasingly conscious of their health and the environment, new startups are innovating in food and introducing new technology to reduce carbon emissions and make us healthier and greener. This week, we delve deeper into the growing FoodTech industry, and explore some of the biggest innovations set to shake up our mealtimes… CHANGING INDUSTRY Put food and technology in the same sentence, and it’s likely that brands such as Uber Eats and Blue Apron come to mind. Both have innovated in their fields, allowing consumers to order food from their smartphone or have a box of ingredients shipped to their address, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the food industry. Food delivery accounts for around one percent of the total food industry…

With Google, Xiaomi, and Huawei all releasing powerful smartphones with mid-spec features for less than $400, we ask whether it’s time for Apple to introduce its own low-cost iPhone. In today’s competitive times where Apple’s smartphone market share is shrinking, appealing to price-conscious consumers yet to jump to iOS could be just what the Cupertino firm needs… APPLE’S SMARTPHONE BATTLE iPhone and Affordable are not two words you’d often string together in the same sentence, but as the smartphone battle heats up and global smartphone shipments are down, Apple needs to do more to appease investors and ensure consumers stay locked-in to the iOS and Apple ecosystems. According to Canalys, smartphone shipments fell 18% year-over-year during the quarter, hitting a five-year low of 36.4 million units, with Apple shipping 14.6…

THE ASPIRATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF AN OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD GENERATION It’s been a decade since the world boasted its first YouTuber to gain one million subscribers. By contrast, by the end of 2018, there were more than 4,600 channels with more than two million subscribers each . These still rather select individuals are part of something now much, much bigger; a generation of entrepreneurs who have made a living not where others failed, but where nobody else has ever found success before. That’s not to suggest that some haven’t failed, however. For every Fred Figglehorn – the fictional character of Lucas Alan Cruikshank that became the first YouTuber to hit one million subscribers – there are thousands of others who haven’t been able to command the same level of attention online.…

NEGOTIATING THE DIVIDE BETWEEN MAN AND MACHINE Admittedly, this isn’t the most positive topic, but Boeing’s recent troubles have introduced us to a technologically focused conundrum that we may keep running into for the next few years. Two horrific commercial plane crashes in the space of just six months, causing the tragic deaths of some 326 passengers and flight crew, have led to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX worldwide. In October last year, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in Indonesia , killing everybody on board the aircraft. Shortly after takeoff at 06:20, the pilots experienced a problem establishing their correct speed and altitude; an error also experienced the last time the plane flew. Outside the plane, an ‘angle of attack’ sensor had falsely indicated that the plane’s nose…

WHY IT’S THE ‘NEXT BIG THING’ FOR SMARTPHONES It’s impossible to deny the nigh-on revolutionary effect that Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and all of the features built upon it have had on our lives. It has been instrumental in improving military accuracy, as well as bringing a new level of sophistication to transportation and traffic features around the globe. Now, though, it seems that another navigation revolution is at hand: the emergence of indoor positioning technology. At the most basic level, indoor positioning – or indoor navigation – can be understood as a shrinking of GPS and related technology to indoor spaces. This raises the possibility of its everyday use for mapping, showing and exploring buildings’ internal compartments, including the likes of public buildings, shopping malls, big stores, parks,…

With Tesla continuing to innovate in the automotive industry with eco-friendly, low-emission vehicles for businesses and consumers, we take a closer look at the company’s impact on the environment and explore its future plans for our roads, our homes, and our skies... SUSTAINABLE According to some, buying a Tesla is the best thing you can do for the planet if you want to reduce your carbon footprint and help to reverse the effects of global warming. Indeed, not only will you be reducing your reliance on fossil fuels, but you’ll be helping to lower the costs of batteries and helping to make a 100% renewable energy grid more affordable. The more demand there is for electric vehicles, the cheaper Teslas and other vehicles will become. “I think it’s probably fair…