In each of its annual budget requests, the Trump administration made deep funding cuts to federal research spending, in spite of Congress’ consistent refusals. However, the administration’s 2021 proposal actually sought to promote AI and quantum comp…
Healthcare is a human right, however, nobody said all coverage is created equal. Artificial intelligence and machine learning systems are already making impressive inroads into the myriad fields of medicine — from IBM’s Watson: Hospital Editio…
GM has high hopes for its upcoming Cadillac Celestiq sedan, slated for release in 2023. The flagship EV is being built to help the brand recapture its reign as “the Standard of the World.” As such, it’s expected to arrive packed to the gills w…
Modern cameras exist in high definition ubiquity — they’re in our laptops and phones; strapped onto our helmets and dangling from our drones — heck, you’d be hard pressed to find someone on the street without a video capture-capable device in …
When Arturia launched the MicroFreak in early 2019 I said “there’s nothing stopping Arturia from adding more oscillators down the road through firmware updates.” They have born that out time and time again. In January of last year it added a noise so…
It might only be January with CES just a day behind us, but Samsung is getting new phone season started with the reveal of three new Galaxy devices today. Right in the middle you’ll find the Galaxy S21+, with a 6.7-inch screen and a three-came…
CES may be over, but Samsung wasn’t done with its announcements this week, revealing its new line of Galaxy S21 flagship phones a bit earlier than usual. There are three models once more, with the Ultra sitting at the top thanks to its large 6…
With Mobile World Congress pushed back to the summer it seems Samsung wasn’t content to wait to unveil its new Galaxy phones, announcing them today in a virtual Galaxy Unpacked event. This year we’re looking at three models once again, with th…
Despite trying times, Samsung never let up with its high-profile smartphone launches last year — we got the Galaxy S20 series early on, followed by the Note 20 series over the summer, and then the fast-tracked S20 Fan Edition just after that….
This week’s CES may have been a little more sedate than usual, but gaming laptops still made a strong showing at the virtual show, with companies like Razer, Alienware and ASUS showing off their latest portable beasts. If you’re looking to add…
Among so many things that are horrific about last week’s deadly attack on the Capitol building was the fact that it was planned for weeks. In the open. With that in mind, we are left wondering about the cybersecurity questions raised in the af…
We don’t normally see a lot of phones at CES, but this year companies have seen fit to push up their announcements, particularly TCL and Motorola. Both have debuted new mid-range 5G phones at the show, the better to compete with Google’s exist…
Keeping track of Roland’s various drum machines and grooveboxes is getting tough. But its latest, the Verselab MV-1 is unique for a number of reasons. For one, it’s the company’s only instrument that combines the classic TR-style 16-step seque…
So, wild week huh. Probably not how most of us had hoped to start the new year off, but hey, it didn’t really pan out for the president either what with Twitter and Facebook having finally suspended Donald Trump’s social media accounts. And as…
The right wing mob that stormed and briefly occupied the US Capitol building at Trump’s behest on Wednesday were not radicalized in a vacuum. Online networks peddling racist, white supremacist and misogynist ideologies expand across both the i…
A couple of years ago, I wrote about a TV series that I’ve always had a big soft spot for: Babylon 5. The show aimed to deliver a grand sci-fi epic on a budget closer to General Hospital than Star Trek. But its real strength was in its writing…
While Chromebooks have been fully embraced by schools for their low cost and ease of use, it’s been an uphill battle to get other laptop users to take them seriously. However, the past few years have seen a lot of higher-end Chromebooks with b…
Once the shining city on a hill that the rest of the world looked to for leadership and guidance, America’s moral high ground has steadily eroded in recent decades — and rapidly accelerated since Trump’s corrupt, self-dealing tenure in the Whi…
There are plenty of ways to start getting fit in the new year, but 2020 ushered in the era of the at-home workout service. While companies like Peloton and Daily Burn have been delivering live and on-demand exercise videos to smartphones and s…
2020 is thankfully in the rearview mirror, which means — among other things — a year of new hardware to look forward to. While we’d normally have to wait a little longer for news of high-profile smartphone launches, 2021 is already shaping up to be…
In late October, Huawei did something different to mark its latest smartphone launch: It hosted a “drive-through’ press event. It hired a fleet of luxury cars to taxi me and other reporters to a warehouse in the south-east of London to showcas…
Despite the pandemic, it’s been a pretty great year for video game hardware. Microsoft launched the Xbox Series X, a powerful obelisk packing a 12-teraflop GPU, and the smaller Series S, which can run games natively at 1440p resolution. Sony, …
Despite the pandemic, it’s been a pretty great year for video game hardware. Microsoft launched the Xbox Series X, a powerful obelisk packing a 12-teraflop GPU, and the smaller Series S, which can run games natively at 1440p resolution. Sony, …
When stars of a certain large size and energy run out of fuel, the result is a supernova explosion that can be spotted with the naked eye just once in a lifetime. Some leave behind a relatively spherical supernova remnant. However, others expa…
The last time I exited an all-encompassing public health crisis, day to day life changed subtly but permanently. It was 2003 and, living in Hong Kong, we had just faced a SARS epidemic that left a little under 300 people in the city dead.This …
Whenever Twitch announces a new approach to handling harassment on the platform, there’s been a common, overwhelming response from streamers: “Please, please, be more than just words. Please follow this up with actions.”That’s how Twitch Partn…
This year has made clear that the internal combustion engine’s days are numbered. 2020 saw explosive growth in the automotive industry’s EV segment, with nearly every major manufacturer and brand group announcing, unveiling or debuting new and…
On a semi-weekly basis, we compile a collection of the best long-form stories on tech, tech culture and more. We’ve collected a list of the best selections from 2020 for you to revisit — or enjoy for the first time — as we finish up one dumpst…
The holidays are usually a time to get together with family to bond but, for obvious reasons, they’re going to look a little different this year. You might be meeting outdoors, sitting six feet apart or using Zoom to chat from hundreds of mile…
If you’re hopping over from the PlayStation country, or just picking up your first game console, there are plenty of worthy Xbox titles worth diving into. Sure, Microsoft hasn’t been as aggressive as Sony when it comes to hustling for big budget excl…
The best laid schemes of mice, men and niche British audio brands can go awry when the world is gripped by a global pandemic. Meters Music announced its new flagship headphones back in January, with shipping due a few months later. It’s now De…
For some of us, being forced to stay home and work remotely via video conferences was a temporary reprieve from our daily commute. But for Jonathan Lee, Zoom was a life changer. Lee, 28, is a paraplegic who uses walking aids to get around, and…
First identified in 1545, smallpox ravaged humanity for centuries, spreading rapidly from India through Europe and into the New World. Smallpox is estimated to have killed 300 to 500 million people in the 20th century alone. But thanks to an u…
While some forms of entertainment like movies and sports were hit hard by the pandemic, gaming actually thrived in 2020. Since we were all stuck indoors, we spent a lot more time in front of screens, discovering new experiences, replaying olde…
The coronavirus most definitely did not stop Apple from releasing a slew of new hardware in 2020. The company announced three updated iPads, five new phones, some crazy-expensive headphones and three new Macs with its new M1 silicon inside. Pu…
The modern world would be a pale shade of itself if not for the myriad foundational technologies developed at the Bell Telephone Labs. Its engineers invented the transistor and photovoltaic cell, charge-coupled devices, frickin’ lasers — even …
People were buying electric bikes and scooters long before the pandemic. Some saw them as a cheap and reliable way to reach the office. Others wanted a vehicle that could take them to the nearest park, supermarket or brunch-time meet-up. The c…
2020 has been very good to SpaceX with the aerospace transportation firm surpassing a number of milestones and achieving virtually every goal it set out for itself during the year. Both the company’s autonomous and crewed space vehicles operat…
Given that it was expected to last 10 years and considering all the early problems, it’s hard to believe the Hubble Space Telescope made it to 30. What’s more, it continues to be one of the most useful instruments in space, not just for doing …
After you’ve unboxed your new iPhone, it’s time to think about the accessories you want for it. This is especially pertinent if you’re the owner of a new iPhone 12 because those handsets only come with one lonely Lightning cable. There are new…
It’d be easy to just say all of 2020 was terrible and call it a day. But while most of the year was awful for everyone, some things in tech suffered more than others. TikTok, for example, got jerked around by the Trump administration for month…
2020 has felt like an eternity, but the year is finally coming to a close. Despite everything we’ve all been through, though, there were a few bright spots in the world of tech. Console makers blessed us with mouthwatering next-gen hardware, w…
Two companies looking to build a hyperloop transport system are taking very different approaches. In the US, Virgin Hyperloop is working hard to develop its technology almost entirely under its own power, while in Europe, its major rival, Hype…
Electric vehicle stocks have experienced stratospheric growth this year. What will they need to achieve in order to justify their share prices?
It’s been a week of big deals, big trouble (at least for Facebook), and even bigger televisions. Apple announced its new over-ear AirPods Max, Sony’s Funimation officialized its billion-dollar bid for rival Crunchyroll, and SpaceX scored a hug…
The robots are evolving. Up until now they’ve been little more than rank automatons under the direct supervision of a human “in the loop.” But as AI and machine learning continue to advance, a new generation of robots is sure to emerge, more c…
Virgin Galactic is poised to launch the SpaceShipTwo as early as Saturday on a milestone powered flight test following a month-long delay due to COVID-19 restrictions in New Mexico. The company hopes to send a pair of astronauts, CJ Sturckow a…
As a child you likely had some sort of media player for your favorite tunes. Some might remember the Fisher Price record player, or maybe you had a My First Sony tape deck like I did. These days it’s a little trickier to build up a kid’s audio…
Even if you’re not a hardcore PC player, you might be tempted to buy a gaming keyboard for its sturdy construction and mechanical keys. But the tradeoff is often much noisier typing, as well as a larger build thanks to features like media butt…