Tech that...
A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST NEWS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
IS FAIRPHONE FAIRER?
FAIRPHONE is a unique maker of smartphones in that it claims to present a more sustainable offering. The idea is it provides a device made from as much recycled material as possible. But that’s not all – the device also includes six internal ‘modules’ that are upgradable by the user – there’s even a little screwdriver supplied in the box for that task. The latest phone is the Fairphone 3+, which offers better front and back cameras and ups the recycled plastic percentage to 40 compared to the Fairphone 3.
The 3 is still on sale at £379, while the 3+ costs £425. Both run Android 10 and offer solid battery life.
Find out more at fairphone.com
IROBOT VACUUMS GET SMARTER
THE leading maker of robot vacuum cleaners, iRobot revealed this week that its offerings have just got better.
The iRobot Genius system is a new software update that builds on the software’s mapping capabilities
– as well as mapping rooms the software will also now recognise items in rooms, so you’ll be able to tell it to “clean up in front of the sofa” or “vacuum under the dining room table”.
See iRobot.co.uk for more details.
ELON’S HIGH ON THE HOG
EXCITEMENT greeted Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk’s announcement that he planned to show off some actual progress from his Neuralink start up. Neuralink is a small research company Musk reckons is working to build brain implants for humans to let them directly link up to machines.
Sounds creepy – but the devices could theoretically be used to help people with dementia.
In the event he showed up on the demo webcast with a pig called Gertrude, which he said has a brain implant and was suffering no ill effects. The implant was monitoring the pig’s neural activity, which was displayed on a live graph.
Setting aside the ethics of using live animals for experiments like this, the progress was less than overwhelming and experts suggested his ambition may take longer to realise than he has suggested...