Tech Digest daily roundup: Scientists test living skin on robot

Scientists have created living human skin on robots that is water-repellent and can self-heal. Scientists want robots to look like humans as much as possible so they are relatable, which is particularly important when they are used in the healthcare and service industries. The researchers believe living skin is the solution to give robots the look and touch of being alive. To create the skin, the researchers submerged a robotic finger into collagen and human dermal fibroblasts – the two main components that make up skin’s connective tissues. Shoji Takeuchi, professor at the University of Tokyo, said: “The finger looks slightly ‘sweaty’ straight out of the culture medium. Sky News 

YouTube is being criticised for failing to tackle a network of cyber-criminals streaming fake Elon Musk videos to scam viewers. The criminals are hijacking YouTube accounts and using the videos to promote bogus cryptocurrency giveaways. BBC News found dozens of these streams being watched by tens of thousands of people over four days this month. On Tuesday, Elon Musk said YouTube was not tackling “scam ads”. YouTube says it removes channels that are reported. For many months, the streams have been fooling thousands of people into sending cryptocurrency to criminals, thinking they will receive a prize from Mr Musk. BBC 

We are witnessing the dawn of a new era of dating in the capital — and there’s one app at the centre of it all: Feeld. For years, Feeld has been steadily carving out a unique space in the world of dating, all with little fanfare. In the post-pandemic period, though, its presence and popularity has grown. Heralded as the world’s most progressive dating app (with 700,000 connections made each month), at first glance you’d be excused for writing it off as little more than a platform for hook-ups. Unlike Hinge or Tinder (where users are relatively hot on identity verification) users signing up to Feeld are invited to provide an imaginary name before being pushed through to a desires screen. Evening Standard

The UK’s competition regulator is planning to launch an investigation into the “effective duopoly” that Apple and Google hold over the mobile ecosystem. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was consulting on the launch of a market investigation into the power of the two firms following its publication of a year-long study into the issue. The CMA said it found the two companies were dominant across mobile ecosystems, which allowed them to exercise a stranglehold over some markets, including operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices. Yahoo!

Twitter is anticipating a shareholder vote on its $44 billion (€41 billion) sale to Elon Musk could come by early August, as it continues to work constructively to complete the deal with the world’s richest person, the social media company’s top executives told employees on Wednesday. Musk’s lawyers warned Twitter on Monday that he might walk away from the acquisition if the company fails to provide the data he seeks on spam and fake accounts. Euronews