Tech Digest daily roundup: Royal Marines uses drone swarms in battle drills
In a first for the UK’s armed forces, Royal Marines have used drone swarms to assist in battle drills. Autonomous machines were present in the air, on the sea and underwater to help the soldiers as they carried out simulated raids on missile and radar installations across the UK. Those in charge of the trials were quick to say that the aim is not to get rid of the marines themselves, but rather to improve their performance. “We must always remember that this tech is there to enhance commando excellence, not to replace it,” said Colonel Chris Haw, the officer in charge of the experiments. Sky News
Good news for those people who, for whatever reason, need a quick and easy way to delete their recent browsing activity on mobile devices: Google’s previously announced privacy feature that will delete the last 15 minutes of search history on mobile is now rolling out. It was back at Google I/O 2021 that the company announced the “quick delete” option alongside several other safety- and privacy-focused tools. The firm said it was one of the most demanded features by users. The tool is currently only available in Google’s iOS app but will be coming to Android later “this year,” according to the company. Techspot
Netflix’s gaming feature has a current working name of “Shark” and is represented by this image in their iOS app: a shark fin. Could an image of PS5 controllers and Sony’s Ghost of Tsushima (director’s cut coming Aug. 20th) indicate a partnership with $SONY? Cc @HedgeyeComm $NFLX pic.twitter.com/FLghlRlu20
— Steve Moser (@SteveMoser) July 15, 2021
Netflix appears poised to enter the gaming arena, after it announced earlier this week that it had hired ex-EA executive Mike Verdu to lead its expansion into the lucrative sector. While this could, potentially, be considered yet another headache for market leader PlayStation, it’s possible the Japanese giant could also see an opportunity here – and if images datamined from the streaming service’s app are to be believed, a potential partnership could be afoot. According to dataminer Steve Moser, there are already video game references within the Netflix app’s source code, including a logo for a service called ‘N Game’, as well as assets for a couple of unbranded DualSense controllers and Ghost of Tsushima’s artwork. These could be errant leftovers from testing, but they’ve certainly fuelled speculation. Pushsquare
Fakespot, known for its web browser extensions that try to weed out fake product reviews, suddenly no longer has an iPhone or iPad app — because Amazon sent Apple a takedown request, both Amazon and Fakespot confirm, and Apple decided to remove the app. The giant retailer says it was concerned about how a new update to the Fakespot app was “wrapping” its website without permission, and how that could be theoretically exploited to steal Amazon customer data. Fakespot founder Saoud Khalifah told The Verge that Apple abruptly removed the app today without any explanation. Apple confirms it removed the app, but disputes the circumstances. The Verge
The person who paid $28 million to join Jeff Bezos on a trip to space is unable to do so because they are busy, the private rocket company has announced. Instead, the first ever paying customer of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket firm will be 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, it said. As well as being Mr Bezos’s first paying customer, he will also be the youngest person on space. He will join Wally Funk, who is aged 82 and will become the oldest ever person in space. Mr Bezos and his brother Mark will make up the rest of the passengers on the New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin announced more than a month ago that the auction for a seat on the trip had finished at $28 million. But it has refused to say who the winner was, even as the time of launch approached. That person will “remain anonymous at this time”, Blue Origin said in its new announcement. Independent
