News written by James Delahunty (September, 2017)

UK Prime Minister says that the decision by TfL not to renew Uber's license to operate in London is disproportionate.

Theresa May weighed into the row over the decision by Transport for London (TfL) not to renew Uber's license to operate as a taxi service in the city, saying she felt the ban was disproportionate. May made her comments in an interview with the BBC ahead of the annual Conservative Party conference.

"Yes there are safety concerns and issues for Uber to address, but what I want to see is a level playing field between the private firms and our wonderful London taxis, our black cabs, our great national institution," May said.

"I want to see a level playing field. I think a blanket ban is disproportionate."

May went on to say that London mayor Sadiq Khan had put 40,000 jobs at risk, and disrupted the lives of an estimated 3.5 million Uber users, with the stroke of a pen. Khan, who is a member of the Labour party and chairs the TfL, had backed the decision not to renew the license over safety fears. The TfL finds that Uber is unfit to run a taxi service in the city.

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Rockstar Games has released a second trailer for its upcoming Red Dead Redemption II, due to be released during the spring of 2018.

Red Dead Redemption II is the third title in the critically acclaimed Red Dead series from Rockstar Games, following 2004's Red Dead Revolver, and 2010's Red Dead Redemption. The upcoming title serves as the prequel to the latter, but rather than having a former outlaw seeking redemption (John Marston), its protagonist is outlaw Arthur Morgan as he rides with the Dutch van der Linde gang.

Red Dead Redemption was widely praised for its stunning visuals depicting life on the American Frontier in 1911. The new trailer doesn't show us much, but shows us enough to know that the game will look superb too.

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The U.S. communications regulator has urged Apple to enable FM radio chips in iPhones, as it would help in emergency situations.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he hoped that Apple would reconsider its position on FM radio chips in iPhones, citing the usefulness of FM radio in emergencies. "I hope the company will reconsider its position, given the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria," he said, reports Reuters.

However true that may be, Apple has responded by pointing out that iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 handsets don't even have FM radio chips or antennae capable of receiving FM radio signals. It went further to highlight safety solutions already incorporated in its products.

"Users can dial emergency services and access Medical ID card information directly from the Lock Screen, and we enable government emergency notifications, ranging from Weather Advisories to AMBER alerts," the Cupertino giant said in a statement.

It is unclear to the FCC if it has the regulatory power to require Apple to enable the chips in older iPhone models.

Twitter has announced that it is testing a 280 character limit for tweets for selected users, doubling the ever-present 140 character limit.

Explaining the trial, Twitter product manager Aliza Rosen said that for some languages, 140-characters is a much more limiting factor than others, comparing English to Japanese and how the latter can convey more information in one character.

"We want every person around the world to easily express themselves on Twitter, so we're doing something new: we're going to try out a longer limit, 280 characters, in languages impacted by cramming (which is all except Japanese, Chinese, and Korean)."

Right now, only a small group are able to tweet more than 140 characters, and of course, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is one of them.

Twitter's 140 character limit was based on the 160-character limit for SMS text messages, with the 20 character deficit being reserved for username information. Nowadays, enforcing a limit for that technical reason doesn't make much sense, but Twitter also wants to continue to keep tweets brief.

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Halo fans with Xbox One will be happy to know they can play back through the Xbox 360 catalog of Halo titles on their consoles.

While Halo: Reach was already backwards compatible with Xbox One, Microsoft has revealed that now Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary are now compatible with the Xbox One and Xbox One S. They will also soon be playable on the Xbox One X console.

All Xbox 360-era downloadable content for Halo titles is already available for free from the Xbox Store. If you own the games digitally, you can download any of them from the Xbox Store except for Combat Evolved Anniversary which requires a disc for the moment.

Multiplayer between Xbox One and Xbox 360 players is also available through Live.

via: Engadget

Ride-hailing service Uber will not be issued a new license to operate in the city of London after its current license expires on September 30.

The decision was made by Transport for London (TfL) and affects over 40,000 Uber drivers and an estimated 3.5 million passengers. According to the TfL, the decision was made for public safety and security reasons. London mayor, Sadiq Khan, backed the decision publicly.

"I fully support TfL's decision - it would be wrong if TfL continued to license Uber if there is any way that this could pose a threat to Londoners' safety and security," Khan said.

Uber said it will appeal the decision, and added that it signals to the world that London is far from being open, and is "closed to innovative companies."

"By wanting to ban our app from the capital, Transport for London and the mayor have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice," said Tom Elvidge, general manager for Uber in London.

"If this decision stands, it will put more than 40,000 licensed drivers out of work and deprive Londoners of a convenient and affordable form of transport. To defend the livelihoods of all those drivers, and the consumer choice of millions of Londoners who use our app, we intend to immediately challenge this in the courts."

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Several reviewers have found a problem with the new Apple Watch Series 3 and LTE connectivity, which Apple says it is investigating.

The ability to connect directly to an LTE network and break free from iPhone tethering was probably the biggest selling point of the Apple Watch Series 3 unveil last week. It promised a smartwatch that can stand on its own and work more or less anywhere an LTE-capable cell phone could.

However, according to reviewers at The Verge and the Wall Street Journal, the new Watch seems to have a problem with LTE connectivity. Writing for The Verge, Lauren Goode found that the device frequently struggled to connect to LTE and would often connect to unknown wireless networks.

In a review for the Wall Street Journal, Joanna Stern summed up the problem in the headline: Apple Watch Series 3 Review: Untethered... and Unreliable.

This is bad news for those who would like the smartwatch but had previously held off a purchase because of the required tethering.

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Lara Craft to return to the cinema screens with Oscar winner Alicia Vikander in the leading role.

Warner Bros has released the first official trailer for the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot. Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Fifth Estate, The Danish Girl) replaces Angelina Jolie in the role of Lara Croft, as she explores an island off the coast of Japan while investigating the mysterious disappearance of her father.

Vikander is flanked by Dominic West (The Wire's 'McNulty', 'Theron' in 300) and Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight), and is directed by Roar Uthang. Geneva Robertson-Dworet penned the screenplay. This movie adaption is based on the 2013 reboot of the video game series.

The trailer teases plenty of action as Croft battles an organization called "Trinity" and discovers a mythical tomb her father had previously revealed.

The reaction to the trailer has been mixed so far, which is understandable given Hollywood's abysmal track record of adapting beloved video game franchises for the big screen.

Check out the trailer.

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You can now pre-order for the Xbox One X console ahead of its launch this holiday season, and Microsoft has expanded the list of titles that are enhanced for its upgrade.

Pre-orders of the Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition kicked off in August and produced record setting sell-outs in the first five days. Now, gamers can pre-order the standard edition Xbox One X from local retailers around the world, or from the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft also announced that the full list of new and existing titles that have been enhanced to take advantage of the Xbox One X' new hardware has grown to 130 strong. It includes a large variety of games like Far Cry 5, L.A. Noire, Greedfall and Okami HD.

There is a full list of enhanced games with more details available at Xbox.com.

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Google Chrome will soon tackle annoying autoplay videos on websites with new browser features coming next year.

Autoplay videos can be extremely annoying when browsing the web. You load a webpage to read an article, and suddenly it is there in your face; an unrelated video that is playing full blast in your browser window. For laptop users, this is particularly frustrating.

Chrome developers have heard the complaints and will roll out new features in the browser across Desktop and Mobile that will tackle the problem. The browser won't allow autoplay videos that play sound, unless the user has "indicated an interest in the media."

Users will be able to mute specific websites permanently in Chrome 63 too, according to Mounir Lamouri.

On Mobile, if you have added a website to your Home screen, then autoplay videos will be fully allowed by the browser. On Desktop, autoplay will be allowed for websites you typically watch a lot of media content on.

Read more: Chromium Blog

SpaceX shared an amazing video this week that can only be described as an official blooper reel for its Falcon 9 landing attempts.

The rocket firm routinely lands the booster (first stage) of the Falcon 9 rocket after it is separated during flight. SpaceX will attempt a landing except in cases where the payload is too heavy to leave enough fuel for the burns required for re-entry and landing.

It wasn't a success from day one however. Before SpaceX made landing an orbital rocket booster a routine operation, it witnessed its boosters explode ("rapid unscheduled disassembly!") and violently crash to the Earth for one reason or another. With each failure, the rocket firm gained valuable information to help to fine-tune the landing process.

While it probably was frustrating for SpaceX employees each time something went wrong, it has led to one spectacular video showing all the ways SpaceX recommends that you don't try to land a rocket booster!

Have a look at what they came up with!

Nintendo is responding to overwhelming demand by bringing the NES Classic Edition consoles back to store shelves in 2018, promises more Super NES Classic Edition shipments too.

Nintendo had signaled that the NES Class Edition would not be returning after selling out, upsetting some loyal fans who had hoped to buy the console packed with retro titles. Now, Nintendo promises that more NES Classic Edition units will ship in Summer 2018 to meet demand.

Additionally, Nintendo is also planned to ship the Super NES Classic Edition into 2018, from its launch date of September 29. More units of Super NES Classic Edition will ship on its Sept. 29 launch day in the U.S. than were shipped of NES Classic Edition all last year, with subsequent shipments arriving in stores regularly.

The Super NES Classic Edition includes 21 legendary titles, such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid. It will cost $79, including two controllers and a HDMI cable.

More information: NES Classic Edition, Super NES Classic Edition

On the heels of yesterday's reveal of new iPhones, a new Apple TV 4K and Watch Series 3, Apple has quietly raised the prices of some of its iPads.

Without any announcement, Apple raised the priced of iPad Pro models by $50. A 10.5-inch iPad Pro now costs $799 with 256GB storage, and $999 with 512GB of storage. The largest iPad Pro models, at 12.9-inch, now cost $949 with 256GB of storage, and $1149 with 512GB of storage.

The entry level iPad Pro models with 64GB of storage are unaffected.

According to 9to5Mac, the cost increases are likely due to the rising cost of NAND flash storage, due to overwhelming demand for more solid-state storage in devices. Ironically, Apple itself has been pushing up the cost of NAND while sourcing storage for its new iPhone 8 and iPhone 10 models.

Source: 9to5Mac

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States finds that Tesla's Autopilot system was partly to blame for a fatal accident in 2016.

40 year old Joshua Brown lost his life in May 2016, when his Tesla vehicle collided with a truck. The driver of the truck was unhurt in the incident. Mr Brown was utilizing the autopilot system available in Tesla vehicles at the time of the collission, prompting the NTSB to probe its potential role in the incident.

Following an investigation, the NTSB concluded that the system was partly to blame because it allowed drivers to use Autopilot in an environment it wasn't designed to perform in.

"In this crash, Tesla's system worked as designed, but it was designed to perform limited tasks in a limited range of environments," Christopher Hart, NTSB member, said.

"Tesla allowed the driver to use the system outside of the environment for which it was designed, and the system gave far more leeway to the driver to divert his attention to something other than driving."

Previous reports that Mr Brown was watching a Harry Potter film at the time of the collission were dismissed, and the NTSB revealed that neither Mr Brown, or the truck driver, were under the influenc of drugs or alcohol, nor were they fatigued, at the time of the crash.

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Apple has unveiled the hotly-anticipated iPhone X at a press event at the Steve Jobs Theater, sporting a radical redesign for the iPhone brand.

With the absence of the ever-present Home button and Bezel, the new device celebrating the 10th anniversary of iPhone certainly looks different. With a gorgeous 5-8-inch edge-to-edge OLED display (1,125 x 2,436, 458ppi) and glass back-plate, the device certainly stands out from the crowd for aesthetics. The new Super Retina display supports HDR and True Tone.

Because there is no Home button, a gesture (swipe up from bottom) instead is used to return to the Home screen from any app. A larger side button can be used for a variety of things, such as summoning Siri. You can also summon Siri with voice command as before.

The feature change prompting the most buzz is the inclusion of Face ID facial recognition technology, which is yet unproven for mass deployment in smartphones, especially when compared to the success of Touch ID (deployed since iPhone 5S) and similar fingerprinting scanning features. Face ID can be used as an iPhone unlock mechanism by simply looking at the phone, for iTunes purchases, for Safari Autofill, third party apps and to determine when you are looking at the screen to avoid premature dimming. It is enabled by an array of censors on the top of the iPhone screen

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Apple has unveiled the next generation of iPhone today at the Steve Jobs Theater, including the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

The new iPhone revises the design a bit with glass on the front and back, and available in silver, space gray and gold. Both models are water and dust resistant. The iPhone 8 features a 4.7-inch display while the iPhone 8 Plus increases to 5.5-inch display, both whiche use True Tone to adapt color and temperature to ambient light.

New stereo speakers also provide deeper base, and 25 percent higher volume over iPhone 7.

Under the hood, Apple has made some significant improvements. The iPhone 8 models feature the A11 Bionic chip, which Apple claims is the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone. The A11 Bionic packs a six-core CPU in 64 bit design, providing a 25% improvement over A10. A new Apple-designed GPU boasts a 30% speed improvement over the A10.

For those conscious of recording video and snapping photos, iPhone 8 packs a new 12mp sensor (dual 12mp sensors for Plus model), the A11 includes a new image processor with faster low light autofocus and new hardware noise reduction abilities.

A new camera feature called Portrait Lighting can sense depth and rework lighting automatically. Real-time analysis of lighting on a subject's face provides for vastly improved imaging abilities. You can record in 4K at 60fps and also ion slow-motion in 1080p at 240fps.

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Apple has unveiled an upgraded Apple TV with support for 4K video and high dynamic range (HDR) at the Steve Jobs Theater.

To play 4K with HDR, the Apple TV 4K upgrades to an A10X processor and a new version of the tvOS operating system. On the content side, Apple has partnered with the big boys in Hollywood, including Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Sony, Universal and Paramount to bring many more movies in 4K to iTunes.

To answer the important question, the price of 4K movies is the same as others and even better, content that was purchased previously will be upgraded to 4K HDR (if available) automatically!

For streamers, Netflix and Amazon Prime TV 4K content is coming soon, as it has been available on other platforms for some time now.

For international users, Apple announced that the TV app will be available in more countries soon also, and will feature more live Sports and News content.

Apple TV 4K will also add more gaming abilities and content.

For pricing, Apple TV 4K will cost $179 with 32GB of storage, or $199 for 64GB. The non-4K unit will cost $149 (with 32GB storage). Orders can be made from Sept 15, and the Apple TV 4K will be available from Sept 22.

Apple has launched an upgraded version of its Watch device at the Steve Jobs Theater today, untethering the device from iPhone.

The firm made a big deal out of the fact that the Watch is now the number one selling watch in the world, and that it claims a 97% customer satisfaction rate. Additionally, the Watch is also the most used heart monitor in the world, and Apple wants to exploit that fact.

Above all else, the best thing about the Watch upgrade is it no longer has to be tethered to an iPhone when you are on the road. Instead, the Watch has built in LTE support, connecting directly to your cellular network. This will make Watch more attractive to those who don't want to switch smartphone OS.

For health-conscious users of Watch, Apple is making several notable software changes, including a completely redesigned workout app. The user's heart rate is now also displayed right on the watch face, and can notify you if it detects an elevated heart rate when you are not active.

Additionally, it can also detect arrhythmia, when your heart beat is not regular. Working with the FDA and Stanford researchers, Apple is also producing an "Apple Heart Study".

For music lovers, Apple Watch now links with Apple Music to stream over 40 million songs right over LTE.

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