Microsoft

36 Cents per Chat Query Prompts $30 Microsoft Fee

Microsoft’s announcement of pricing for its AI productivity suite 365 Copilot shows its intent to monetise its AI, ending any expectations of free AI provision.  Furthering Its (Monetising) Ambitions – Microsoft 365 Copilot &…

Snooper’s Charter Updated. (Poorly)

Amendments to the UK Online Safety Bill mean a report must be written before powers can be used by the regulator to force tech firms to scan encrypted messages for child abuse images.  What Is The Online Safety Bill?  The Online…
pen test

What’s Involved In a ‘Pen-Test’ ?

If you’d like to know what a ‘Pen Test’ is and the sorts of things you can expect from one, this article will give you a helpful overview. Pen Tests  Put simply, pen testing is short for “penetration testing” and in a virtual…
phone on plane

Tech Travel Trends

In this article, we take a look at a few examples of nascent travel and delivery options in action.  Many New And Innovative Options With so many innovative technologically advanced (and green) transport, travel, and delivery products…
atom

How Bright Is Your Toothpaste?

The Oppenheimer blockbuster launched with an IMDB rating of 9.0, so it appears lots of people liked it. Whilst the film made mention of many of the pioneers in physics who helped during the Manhattan project, it could perhaps have made more…

Hydropanels Produce Pure Drinking Water From The Air

Hydropanels are an innovative and sustainable way to extract clean, reliable drinking water from the air off-grid.  How Hydropanels Work  Hydropanels (such as those made by Arizona-based SOURCE®) work by using a solar panel to…

How To Make A Windows PC Startup Faster

Just a few clicks and changes in the task manager can save you time by making your Windows PC startup faster. Here's how: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to bring up the task manager. Click on the 'Startup' tab. Click on 'Startup Impact'…
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AI Fears Prompt Hollywood Actors To Strike

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the US actors’ union with 160,000 members has gone on strike mainly over fears that AI will reduce earnings and damage their profession.  New…

What Are ‘Zero-Day’ Attacks?

In this tech insight, we look at what ‘zero-day’ attacks are, then look at some recent high-profile examples and ultimately at what businesses can do to protect themselves from zero-day attacks.  Sophisticated Attacks That Highlight…

New Sketch-To-Image AI Tool Launched

London and San Francisco–based start-up Stability AI has announced the launch of ‘Stable Doodle’, a sketch-to-image AI-based tool that converts a simple drawing into a dynamic image.  Creates An Image From A Simple Doodle and…

Musk’s New AI Company’s Mission To “Understand The Universe”

There’s nothing like setting the bar high and Elon Musk recently announced in a Twitter Spaces audio chat that the purpose of his new AI company, xAI, will be to “understand the universe”.  What Is xAI?  xAI is Elon…

Avoiding Enemy Aircraft … Or The Car in Front!

In July 1940, a Bristol Blenheim was the first aircraft to successfully use radar to detect enemy aircraft, proving that radar could help provide an effective electronic defence whilst being deployed in the air. It’s often been said that…

Art Solar Panels That Are Practical And Beautiful

A group of solar panel start-ups is producing panels that enhance the look of buildings by combing them with art or making them as coloured cladding, facades, or roof tiles.  Solar Panels That Blend In  A group of Dutch…

Quick Access To Emojis

If you’d like a really fast way to find and use particular emojis on a Windows PC, here’s how:  In Microsoft Word, Press the Windows key + the full stop symbol on the keyboard.  Keep typing the word that describes the emoji…
phone user

Millions Sign Up To Meta’s ‘Threads’ Twitter Competitor

Following the release of Meta’s alternative platform to Twitter called ‘Threads’, Meta’s head, Mark Zuckerberg, reports 100 million signups to the new platform in its first five days.  What Is Threads?  The Threads app,…
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How ‘Copilot’ Can Help Your Business

In this tech insight, we take a look at what Microsoft 365 Copilot is, how it is being used, and how it can help your business.   What Is Copilot?   Introduced in March 2023, Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant that’s…
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1.5 Million Seat NHS IT Support Deal

Microsoft and NHS England have announced the signing of new five-year contract whereby Microsoft (via a major reseller) will roll out the Microsoft 365 cloud-based online productivity suite to 1.5 million NHS staff.  Trusted Relationship…
phone photos

Apple Photo Stream Shutdown Warning

Those with photos and videos stored on Apple’s Photo Stream may wish to back them up elsewhere or lose them when Apple retire Photo Stream on 26 July.  What Is Photo Stream?  Apple’s Photo Stream was a feature introduced in…
Intel

The Start Of “More Noise”

On 18th July 1968, Intel was incorporated. These days, you’ll know them as the wildly successful manufacturer of microchips and indeed the processor that you’re using right now in whichever device you’re holding may well have “Intel…
cultivated seafood

Sustainable Seafood … Cultivated Codswallop?

According to German-startup ‘Bluu Seafood’, its range of cultivated seafood is a way to protect oceans and animals as well as ensuring a high-quality, sustainable supply of nutritious food. What Is ‘Cultivated Seafood’ ? Cultivated…
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5 Ways to Speed Up Your Phone Charging

If you would like to save time and speed up your phone charging, here are five easy ways you can do this:  1. Switch To Airplane Mode  Switching on Airplane mode stops the cellular, Bluetooth, radio, and Wi-Fi features which…
Microphone
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Voice Changers

In this insight, we look at ‘voice changers’, technology that lets users change and disguise their voices in real time and in playback.  What Do They Do & How?  Voice changing software (and hardware) alter the sound of a…
Apple

Why Is Apple the First $3 Trillion Company?

Following Apple recently becoming the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value, we look at some of the main reasons for the company’s incredible popularity and growth.  The First $3 Trillion…
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Android Update Glitch Causing Silent 999 Calls

A recent update to Android 13 has led to reports of an increase in the number of false 999 calls / ‘silent’ calls.  Reports By Police  The police have reported that an increase in the number of silent 999 calls in recent months…
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AI Improving Coding & Data Sorting

Google DeepMind’s AlphaDev artificial intelligence (AI) system has produced new algorithms that can write code better than humans and could create better programs.  Discovering Enhanced Algorithms  In a recent research paper,…
keyboard

Computers Before Keyboards

Computing was a lot more challenging before July 4th 1956 because that’s when MIT revolutionised their Whirlwind Computer … by introducing a keyboard ! Before that, interacting with computers was a laborious, time-consuming process.…
Hard Disk

Millions Of Hard Drives Being Scrapped Is Preventable

The Circular Drive Initiative (CDI) has reported that millions of usable hard drives are being unnecessarily destroyed, adding to the growing pile of e-waste.  How Big Is the Problem?  According to reported comments to the BBC from…
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Force Your Android Screen to Be Bright – Even When You’ve a Low battery

If you've less than a minimum threshold of battery life left, Android Phones typically automatically dim the screen (making it almost unreadable) sometimes when you need to be able to read it the most! If you want to force it to be bright (even…