The EU Commission has outlined its long-awaited plans to overhaul ageing regulations for digital companies. Under the sweeping plans, the largest tech companies could face hefty fines and the threat of being broken up. The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act will update the 20-year-old e-Commerce Directive, which regulates digital services in the EU. … Read more
A new House of Lords report says the UK government needs to better coordinate its artificial intelligence (AI) policy and the use of data and technology by national and local government. The main conclusions of the House of Lords Liaison Committee’s report, ‘AI in the UK: No Room for Complacency’, are that there is now … Read more
Niche social media platforms like Gab, 4Chan and Telegram have been described as “deeply problematic” due to the amount of misinformation they carry, including broad scepticism over the coronavirus vaccine. Sarah Connolly, who works as director of security and online harms for the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was asked by … Read more
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have demonstrated that small quantum computers can be used to solve problems with real applications. Quantum computers hold the potential to exponentially expand computing power, transforming certain sectors such as cyber security and research. In 2019, Google researchers announced that they had reached “quantum supremacy”: a quantum computer … Read more
A compact device capable of projecting images and video directly onto the retina of a human eye has been developed by researchers from the University of Fukui. The Fukui team created the device by integrating a laser module capable of outputting red, green and blue lasers with a microelectromechanical (MEMS) mirror. The direction in which … Read more
TV presenter Dr Shini Somara talks to signalling engineer Inge-Sarah Andersen from Network Rail about her wealth of experiences and knowledge of industry, her inspirations and how she will continue to make an impact in engineering and technology. Shini Somara: What technology are you involved with? Inge-Sarah Andersen: I am currently an assistant signalling project engineer at … Read more
Millions of children in England are using messaging platforms that they are not old enough to be accessing and the introduction of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) could increase their risk of exploitation, the Children’s Commissioner for England has warned in a report. The Commissioner’s report follows announcements by Facebook – and indications by other social platforms, such as Snap – … Read more
High-powered computers are back, but how do we deal with their thirst for energy? By the end of the 1980s, big iron was showing more than a touch of rust. Monster machines like the Cray-2 ruled supercomputing. It was an age when, supposedly, no-one got fired for buying IBM: Big Blue dominated enterprise computing with … Read more
An MIT study has demonstrated that deterioration in the performance of InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) transistors at small scales is not an intrinsic property of the material. For computing power to continue to improve into the future, supporting more computationally expensive processes, engineers will need to develop ever-smaller and more densely packed transistors. For decades, … Read more
CEO of EngineeringUK, Dr Hilary Leevers outlines the work being done by her organisation to inspire and engage with ‘tomorrow’s engineers’ in the 11-to-14-year-old age bracket and beyond. “All young people should be enabled to understand what engineering is and be motivated to engage with it as a career pathway,” says Hilary Leevers. It’s a … Read more