X refused to remove Australian stabbing from platform, Gov.uk app could lead to ‘mandatory ID scheme’
Australia’s internet regulator says X refused to take down a video of a high-profile stabbing in Sydney that was watched by Axel Rudakubana just before he murdered three young girls in Southport. The body, eSafety, said it “noted with great sadness”, that Rudakubana viewed the violent footage of the attempted murder of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. It said other major tech firms complied with its request to take the video down, but X – owned by Elon Musk – only blocked it in Australia, meaning Rudakubana was able to view it minutes before leaving his home to carry out his deadly attack. BBC
Rachel Reeves’s Budget has triggered a surge in demand for robots as the Chancellor’s Budget tax raid makes employing human workers too expensive. Automate UK, the industry body for industrial robots, said over half of its members had seen a jump in enquiries since Ms Reeves announced an increase in employers’ National Insurance rates and the minimum wage. Peter Williamson, the head of the organisation, said industries that had traditionally relied on cheap labour were increasingly turning to robots. Telegraph
A new app to hold citizens’ driving licences, passports and benefits documents risks being used as a “launchpad for a mandatory ID scheme”, privacy campaigners have claimed. Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, last week unveiled plans for a gov.uk app and gov.uk wallet, intended to save time and hassle for millions by allowing them to carry on their phones digital versions of paper documents. These would include proofs of right to work in the UK, rights to benefits, veteran ID cards and DBS certificates, which employers use to check the criminal record of someone applying for a role. The Guardian
I’ve tried and tested many AI eraser tools on smartphones over the years, but the one on the new Samsung Galaxy S25 series might just be the best I’ve ever used. Having debuted way back in 2021 on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, Object Eraser isn’t one of the most exciting ‘new’ features of Samsung’s AI-packed smartphone lineup, but it’s one that’s been so well refined in the years since its launch – and quietly so – that it genuinely had me returning to the Galaxy S25 demo area at Samsung’s UK HQ to try it again, as I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing. Tech Radar
Samsung really wants to lure iPhone users over to the other side. “If you’re an iPhone user who may be due for an upgrade,” its new lure teases, “here’s a list of 25 reasons to make the switch to Samsung this time around.” It is 25 because this is all about the Galaxy S25. And while the new phone is the closest Android contender to iPhone’s security and privacy we have seen, there’s one major risk that home and business iPhone users need to understand before they switch. Forbes
Britain’s car owners are split into two tribes: the have-drives and the have-nots. If you have private off-street parking there are very few reasons not to buy an electric car (if you can afford to). The challenge, and one putting a brake on the transition away from polluting fossil fuels, is for motorists who jostle with neighbours to park on the street and access to public EV chargers. “There is this real thing about driveway privilege,” says Snigdha Tiruvuru, head of partnerships for Char.gy, an on-street charging company. The Guardian
