Posts

Oxford University's driverless car guru wouldn't trust his kids in one...yet

Image
The University of Oxford’s driverless car guru Paul Newman has admitted that he wouldn’t trust his kids in an autonomous vehicle yet, but remains bullish about a near-future where we wonder why we ever drove ourselves. Newman, speaking at the recording of ‘The Engineers: The Rise of the Robots’ a BBC Worldwide production hosted at London’s Science Museum, is Professor of Information Engineering and heads up Oxford Robotics Institute at the University.  Asked by the audience whether he would trust his children to a current driverless car he answered in the negative.   “No...not yet,” he said but explained that the whole concept is coming on in leaps and bounds and that we were close to a world where driving was as rare a skill as horse-riding.  “I think eventually we will have vehicles that can drive themselves and the expectation is that you won't want to drive,” he said. “I think it might be..become a skill like horse-riding where it’s rare to have that in some cities, but that’s

Leaked specs show the Pixel 2 will be a flagship worth waiting for

Image
Google's follow-ups to last year's Pixeland Pixel XL are two of the flagships we've still not  seen this year - with a reveal expected October time - but judging by the specs that just leaked onto the web, they're going to be worth the wait. The posted benchmarks show a phone with a 2.4GHz Snapdragon 835 CPU, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage space and a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with 4K video support. On the front there's a 7-megapixel snapper. Those specs more or less match up withearlier rumors of what the Pixel 2 phones are going to be packing, and if they're right then these handsets are going to be a match for the 2017 flagships from the likes of Apple andSamsung. Remember we're anticipating that two or maybe even three Pixel 2 phones will make an appearance. Screen time The spec that really stands out from the benchmark listing is a 2,560 x 1,312 pixel, 5.6-inch display - not only does that suggest this is the larger XL model but it also hin

Best shows on Netflix: 50 great Netflix TV series

Image
UPDATE:  Season 5 of Orange Is The New Black is out now and the show has gone through something of a transformation. This series marks the show as the longest running Netflix-funded series, and there's another two seasons on the way! Netflix is snapping up, commissioning - and occasionally cancelling - new shows at a furious rate at the moment. To help you guide the way through the good, the bad and the 'what the hell am I watching?' we've compile this best Netflix shows feature to highlight the best Netflix series around at the moment.    From Netflix Originals that are changing the TV game (The Crown, Stranger Things - both nominated for a TV BAFTA) to A-list event TV that’s got pride and place on Netflix’s service (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad), there’s never been a better time to bag yourself a  Netflix subscription and binge watch. And that’s where we come in. This list is an always-updated selection of the best Netflix TV shows available on the streaming platfor

Should you be excited about the Essential Phone from the co-creator of Android?

Image
When the co-creator of the Android operating system announces a smartphone, you pay attention. Andy Rubin recently introduced the Essential Phone, a bid to give the iterative smartphone market as much of a jolt as Android itself did. It’s touted a bold vision for a modular phone that can futureproof your next purchase. The father of Android is onto something when he says he wants the Essential Phone to evolve with you over years. The ex-Google executive could pick up the modular pieces of Google’s failed Project Ara phone, and give us a flagship-level device that doesn’t need to be fully upgraded every other year. Rubin’s could do for hardware with mods what he did for software with Android customizations a decade ago. But the Essential Phone could also easily become another also-ran handset, one with trendy idea masked by a recognizable name. It’s hard to go up against the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google, even for Rubin. Let’s take a closer look at the Essential Phone and its chanc

Google Pixel 2 release date, news and rumors

Image
Update:   The largest of the three Pixel 2 models may have been  benchmarked , revealing high-end specs and strong performance. The next flagship phone(s) from Google likely won't arrive until late 2017, but we're already thinking about what the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL may have in store for us. The search giant is done with the Nexus line and in its place the firm has created a slightly more premium, and far more mainstream range. We’re talking, of course, about the Google Pixel  and the larger  Google Pixel XL , two high-end handsets aimed at the same market as the  iPhone 7  and Samsung Galaxy S7 . They were a strong first try too, scoring high in our reviews, but they stumbled in some areas and arguably didn’t quite stack up to their rivals. But Google is sure to learn from its mistakes and make the Pixel 2 even better.  Cut to the chase What is it?  The next of Google's Pixel phones When is it out?  Late 2017, possibly October What will it cost?  A flagship price

10 camera backpacks and bags to protect your DSLR and lenses

Image
Whether you're getting up before dawn to hike up mountains for that one special sunrise shot, or commuting with your camera in tow, every photographer needs to keep their kit safe and protected, and from backpacks and day-sacks to holsters and rollers, photographers can now carry their kit, accessories (and even some lunch) in all kinds of luggage. Most of bags featured here are for DSLR cameras, whose interchangeable lenses, some of them mighty in size, demand some thought when you're mobile. Most also now find room for a laptop – as big as 17 inches in some cases – or at least a tablet; with post-processing so integral to digital photography, who wants to wait until they get home to see how a photoshoot turned out?  1. Thule Aspect DSLR Backpack As well as a DSLR, various lenses and flashes, the long, slim Aspect can house a giant 15.6-inch laptop in a side-opening sleeve, as well as an iPad. It has the premium look and feel of a hiking backpack, and while it’s not a top hiki

Microsoft is planning to make Cortana even more conversational

Image
Shouting out commands at your laptop is a lot of fun but there are occasions when typed input works better - and apparently Cortana's engineers have taken note. You can already type queries into Cortana on Windows 10 but the digital assistant is soon going to work more like an instant messenger app, according to insiders. In other words, the experience would be more like it is with Google Assistant on mobile, where you have a back-and-forth text chat with the AI. Voice input for Cortana isn't going away, but it sounds like text input is incoming. That's all according to "sources familiar with the matter" speaking to Windows Central, so don't take it as 100 percent certain just yet. We don't have any timeframe on when this new feature might arrive, but it makes sense for Microsoft to expand the number of ways you can interact with Cortana. On the move The report on Windows Central is backed up by an article on Thurrott which adds a little extra info: appare