Monthly Archives: April 2021

Online grocery retailer Ocado has unveiled a major push into autonomous driving technology. It has teamed up with another British company, Oxbotica, to build self-driving vehicles for itself and others who use its platform. That could include automatic forklift trucks at warehouses, self-driving delivery vans, or even “kerb to kitchen” robots for the final leg. […]

A Canadian politician has apologised after appearing naked in a video call with colleagues. “This was an unfortunate error,” William Amos, who represents the Quebec district of Pontiac, said in a statement on Wednesday. “My video was accidentally turned on as I was changing into my work clothes after going for a jog,” he said. […]

Within hours of Iran proudly announcing the launch of its latest centrifuges, a power blackout damaged some of the precious machines at its site in Natanz. Iran has described this as an act of “terrorism” and pointed the finger at Israel. But there is still mystery over the cause. In Israel, some reports have suggested […]

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi is wading into electric vehicles with a $10bn (£7.3bn) investment over ten years. The Chinese tech giant’s goal is to “offer quality smart electric vehicles,” it said on Tuesday. Xiaomi is the world’s third largest smartphone maker behind Apple and Samsung, according to data firm Canalys. The company will be entering […]

The US has blacklisted seven Chinese groups it accuses of building supercomputers to help its military. It is the first move by the Biden administration to make it harder for China to obtain US technology On Thursday, three companies and four branches of China’s National Supercomputing Center were added to the US blacklist. This bars […]

US President Joe Biden has issued an order targeting homemade guns, known as “ghost guns” because they are unregistered and untraceable. “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment,” he said on Thursday. The president is enacting new measures through an executive order, meaning he does not need approval from […]

England and Wales’ contact tracing app will soon ask users to share details of venues they have checked in to, if they test positive for the coronavirus. The update to the NHS Covid-19 app will be deployed ahead of shops reopening in both nations on 12 April, as well as outdoor hospitality in England. The […]

A new regulator aiming to curb the dominance of tech giants has started work in the UK. The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will first look to create new codes of conduct for companies such as Facebook and Google and their relationship with content providers and advertisers. The new unit will be based inside the Competition […]

A smartphone with a microscope camera offering 60x magnification has been revealed by Chinese phone-maker Oppo. BBC Click’s Chris Fox went hands-on with the Oppo Find X3 Pro to see what the microscope could capture – and whether it was useful or just a gimmick.

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has admitted that sanctions imposed on it by the US in 2019 have had a major impact on its mobile phone business. The US took action amid claims that the company posed a security risk and last July, the UK said it would exclude the company from building its 5G network. […]