Category: Hardware

Providing IT support and solution to small and medium businesses. Servicing Edinburgh, Livingston, Fife and surrounding areas. Responsive, Flexible, Professional and friendly local support.

No Leather, Jeans, Hard Surfaces, Other Credit Cards or Magnets – Warning for Apple Card

Just as the new ‘Apple Card’ is launched in the US, Apple has listed several surfaces and materials that could damage and discolour the coated titanium card – including denim and leather. Apple Card The newly launched (in the US) no fees, instant cash-back Apple Card is a partnership between Apple and Goldman Sachs with…
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Four-Year Lifespan For Self-Driving Cars

As large car manufacturers seek to reinvent themselves as ‘mobility companies’ in an effort to compete for global leadership in the growing autonomous driving sector, a Ford Executive has predicted that self-driving cars will only last four years. Only Four Years? The prediction of four-year lifespan for self-driving cars came from John Rich, the operations chief…
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Robot Tuck Shops About To Hit U.S. College Campuses

San Francisco-based start-up, Starship Technologies, has announced that it will be putting food delivery robots that respond to phone app orders on 100 U.S. university campuses in the next 24 months. The Bots It has been reported that 25 to 50 of the (23Kg battery-powered, six-wheeled) Starship bots will be let loose on each campus,…
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Your Password Can Be Guessed By An App Listening To Your Keystrokes

Researchers from SMU’s (Southern Methodist University) Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber-security have found that the sound waves produced when we type on a computer keyboard can be picked up by a smartphone and a skilled hacker could decipher which keys were struck. Why? The research was carried out to test whether the ‘always-on’ sensors in devices…
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Apple Launches ‘Apple Card’

Apple has launched its ‘Apple Card’ in the US in partnership with Goldman Sachs and with processing by Mastercard. Card The Apple Card can now be applied for by customers in the US through the Wallet app on iPhone (iPhone 6 and later).  The physical laser-etched card, which is made of titanium and has a…
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Facial Recognition at King’s Cross Prompts ICO Investigation

The UK’s data protection watchdog (the Information Commissioner’s Office  i.e. the ICO) has said that it will be investigating the use of facial recognition cameras at King’s Cross by Property Development Company Argent. What Happened? Following reports in the Financial Times newspaper, the ICO says that it is launching an investigation into the use of live…
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Amazon Echo: Child Labour Concerns

Reports of a 2018 investigation by China Labour Watch (CLW) into the Amazon Echo manufacture at the Hengyang Foxconn factory show that the recruiting of young interns from vocational schools could mean that the Amazon devices are made with the help of child labour. Schools Providing Workers For Night Shifts The report of the investigation…
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Opting Out of People Reviewing Your Alexa Recordings

Amazon has now added an opt-out option for manual review of voice recordings and their associated transcripts taken through Amazon’s Alexa but it has not stopped the practice of taking voice recordings to help develop new Alexa features. Opt-Out Toggle The opt-out toggle can be found in the ‘Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa’ section…
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A.I. Powered Bar-staff. Who’s Next?

In what’s been called the world’s first ‘A.I. Bar’ (developed by British data science product company DataSparQ) ordering a drink at a busy bar has been made easier, faster and fairer by using facial recognition technology to place customers in an “intelligently virtual” queue. Solving Old Problems Information and statistics (DataSparQ) show that pub-goers in…
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Vulnerability in Contactless Card Allows Bypassing of £30 Limit

Researchers from security company Positive Technologies have reported found a vulnerability in Visa contactless cards that could lead to your bank account being drained if your card fell into the wrong hands. Device The researchers developed a ‘skimming’ device which was able to intercept communications between a contactless card and payment terminal, thereby allowing the…
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