Big Tech

Google Pays Contract Workers “A Few Cents” to Transcribe Your Conversations Google has been paying contractors to listen and transcribe Google Home recordings of completely unaware users. One of the contractors decided to blow the whistle to a Dutch-language news site, revealing that some of the conversations are up to a minute long.

Amazon Plans to Launch More Than 3,000 Satellites to Create Orbital Internet Amazon has plans to launch a fleet of satellites to get the internet to undeserved communities around the world. We don't doubt that the company can do it, but might it have adverse effects on the communities it's trying to serve and add to the growing space debris problem?

Amazon Keeps Alexa Voice Recordings Indefinitely In May, Deleware's Sen. Chris Coons sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, asking how long the company keeps recordings and transcripts of its customers. Amazon says it keeps the records indefinitely, deleting them only when a user makes the move to delete the data first.

Google Filed a Weird Multiple-Page Smartbook Patent The race towards a great foldable phone now has its strangest entry yet: Google has filed a new patent for a book-like device that might have as many as five foldable screen "pages" to flip through. Here's how it would work and how likely it is to actually happen.

Apple Identifies MacBook Air Fault, Will Fix for Free MacBook Air owners beware - your laptop may well be subject to Apple's latest repair program, after internal documents reveal an issue with the logic board. While Apple is remaining quiet about specifics of the fault, it has stated that repairs will be free.

What Will Jony Ive’s LoveFrom Agency Do Now? Apple's legendary Chief Design Office, Jony Ive, has announced that he'll be leaving Cupertino that brought his iconic designs to life to form a new design agency, LoveFrom. But what will Ive and his team actually be designing? Will it be more of the same, or a radical departure?

Android Q vs iOS 13 — Key Features Compared With both big smartphone operating systems' next generations curently undergoing beta testing, we take a look at all the key features and changes and ask the question - which is best? And, perhaps more importantly, which will move the smartphone game forward?

Amazon Prime Day Is Back With an Extra Day The only thing better than a full day of deals and discounts is TWO days of deals and discounts. Luckily, Amazon has announced that their annual celebration, Prime Day, will now last two full days, instead of one, giving you a chance to really save some money.

5 Things We Learned from BBC Interview with Facebook’s Nick Clegg Today, Nick Clegg, Facebook's Vice-President of Global Affairs and Communications, sat down for an interview on BBC radio, and faced a grilling on his company's activities, past and present. Up for discussion were regulation, the Christchurch shooting, and Russian meddling.

Amazon Reveals New Eye-Friendly Kindle Oasis Amazon unveils the latest changes to its Kindle line up, with a refresh of the premium Oasis model, adding amber lighting that is designed to be kinder on the eyes in low light conditions. However, while this might appeal to night time readers, is it essential?

Facebook Launches Libra Currency and New Calibra Service After weeks of rumors, Facebook has confirmed that it is going to get into the cryptocurrency game, unveiling the Calibra wallet and Libra currency. Can Libra compete with Apple and Google, and should we trust Facebook with peeking into our personal finances?

What’s the Impact of Internet Users Ditching Desktops for Mobile? Two big internet researchers dropped new studies within the past few days, and they both make the same point: Way more internet users opt for their smartphones over desktop or laptops when getting on the internet. A growing number are even smartphone-only.