Flying taxis could be just 2 years away, Jaguar removes third-party support for EVs
The first piloted flying taxi could take to the UK skies in two years. The Department for Transport (DfT) has released its Future of Flight Action Plan which also proposes flying taxis without pilots on board by 2030. It has also predicted regular use of crime-fighting drones and critical 999 care deliveries by the end of the decade. The “roadmap” – or more precisely flight plan – would mean the adoption of technology “once confined to the realm of sci-fi”, according to the DfT, with drone technology boosting the country’s economy by £45bn by 2030. Sky News
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) trialled the use of smart poles built on top of its existing fibre network to boost mobile connectivity coverage in the UK, a move the company pitched as the country’s first. In a statement, VMO2 explained the 4G and 5G smart poles are smaller than traditional masts and do not require planning permission, cutting the time and costs associated with installing mobile infrastructure. Working with Liberty Global, which has a 50 per cent stake in the UK operator, the smart poles were deployed next to VMO2’s fibre network street cabinets. Mobile World Live
It could soon be even easier for the authorities to find people using ‘dodgy’ Amazon TV Firesticks to watch content for free in the latest development in a crackdown on internet pirates. A clampdown on pirates is underway after broadcasters and sports leagues complained they are losing out on huge sums of money as people use modified Firesticks to watch things like sport or paid-for films without paying. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT UK), which clamps down on copyright theft, has been carrying out an operation to crack down on people using the devices. Yahoo!
The North American esports final of online shooter Apex Legends has been postponed following claims of hacking. Clips shared by players show unwanted cheat modes being activated mid-match, sparking panic among opponents. The organisers of the official regional contest said the “competitive integrity” of the contest had been compromised but have yet to share further details. BBC Newsbeat has asked publisher Electronic Arts (EA) for comment. Two high-profile Apex Legends players, Genburten and ImperialHal, posted clips of cheats being inserted into their games. BBC
Jaguar I-Pace owners are angry at JLR for abruptly pulling third-party access to its cars, ending the EV’s ability to work with smart charging technology. This means owners will now, in essence, see their energy bills soar, because they will no longer be able to remotely charge their EVs to preset amounts at the most economical times. Smart energy tariffs such as Intelligent Octopus Go – which can achieve rates equivalent to 2.4p per mile by remotely regulating the car’s charge – are no longer compatible with the I-Pace. Autocar
Popular artificial intelligence tools are becoming more covertly racist as they advance, says an alarming new report. A team of technology and linguistics researchers revealed this week that large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini hold racist stereotypes about speakers of African American Vernacular English, or AAVE, an English dialect created and spoken by Black Americans. “We know that these technologies are really commonly used by companies to do tasks like screening job applicants,” said Valentin Hoffman, a researcher at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and co-author of the recent paper. The Guardian
