Author Archives: Chris Davies

It's not quite the "battle of the billionaires" we were hoping for - that would involve more lasers - but Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are sparring over artificial intelligence. The Facebook founder started the spat by criticizing naysayers on AI, and though he didn't mention Musk by name, the Tesla founder has become one of the most vocal advocates for caution on the topic. That, unsurprisingly, didn't go down so well.

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iRobot had a great idea to automatically map the smart home, but may have permanently damned it by fudging its announcement. The domestic robot-maker is best known for its Roomba robot vacuum cleaners, which over progressive generations have gone from navigating by trial-and-error - effectively bumping their way around rooms - to generating increasingly detailed maps of each owner's home. It's that mapping data that iRobot wanted to leverage, through deals with third-parties.

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Adobe is dropping the axe on Flash, announcing that the little-loved - and in many cases, like that of Apple's Steve Jobs, actively loathed - plugin is on its last legs. Flash will officially be put out of its misery in 2020, Adobe confirmed today, having already been forced out of contention from mobile. However, the company is also calling on support from some of the big names in internet browsing and technology to see Flash out smoothly.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai has joined the Alphabet Board of Directors, expanding the executive's responsibility. Pichai has been at the helm of Google since August 2015, when it was scythed off from the rest of the company's businesses and became one of several under the Alphabet umbrella brand. Alphabet announced its Q2 2017 financial results today.

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Ford promised a performance improvement in the 2018 Mustang and they weren't kidding, pitting the prancing pony against Porsche's 911. Final performance figures for the refreshed car have been revealed today, and it seems it's not just the styling that the 2018 Mustang borrows from its GT350 sibling. Indeed, we're looking at the fastest production Mustang GT ever made.

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Mercedes-Benz's cars could already pull themselves in or out of a parking spot; now, they can completely autonomously park themselves in a garage structure. The driverless parking system has been installed at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, as a trial for the new convenience technology. Built in collaboration between Mercedes and Bosch, it allows drivers to hand over their car to an automated valet to be parked.

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If there's one thing you can almost guarantee gets Apple execs frustrated, it's seeing Samsung's name high on the list of suppliers for iPhone components. Now, according to new reports, the Cupertino company is looking to change that in a significant way. While the iPhone 8 may be dependent on Samsung Display for the OLED screen it's expected to debut in Apple's smartphone range, the groundwork is in place to wean future iPhones off their Samsung dependence.

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Chevrolet's Volt hybrid could get a jacked-up replacement in just a few years time, it's suggested, as slumping sedan sales force GM to get tough with its line-up. The Volt, currently in its second generation, combines an electric motor and battery with a gas engine. Thought it can be used as a plug-in, the car is also capable of recharging itself on the move by running the gas engine as a generator.

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Mercedes expects its Level 4/5 autonomous cars to be on the road as soon as 2020, but for now the automaker's vehicles are being purposefully held back from becoming too self-sufficient. That's the state of play according to according to Ola Källenius, at least, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. Speaking at the launch of the company's most advanced model in Zurich, Switzerland, he described the two strategies that are running in parallel to allow drivers to kick back even though they're at the wheel.

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Amazon is quietly building up its digital health tech talent, reportedly poaching a healthcare exec from Box. The Seattle behemoth may be best known for its retail business, but in the background it has a growing footprint in all manner of health technology areas. This latest Amazon talent grab appears to be another move to shore up those.

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The 2018 iPhone component wars may so far have focused on who'll make the processor, but LG has reportedly snuck in and snatched one exclusive right from under rivals' noses. Apple's plans for next year's smartphone - which could end up being the iPhone 9, iPhone 8S, or any one of a number of names - are supposedly demanding a big change in internal architecture. According to South Korean sources, only one firm has been able to meet those demands.

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Lyft is developing its own self-driving car technology, joining rideshare rival Uber and a host of automakers in chasing driverless vehicles. The company is opening a new self-driving research facility in Palo Alto, CA. over the next few weeks, Lyft announced today. However, where other companies have closely guarded their autonomous tech, Lyft is taking a very different approach.

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