Tech and science

Schmidt is one of a growing number of people living with the noise of drones dispatched by companies including Amazon and Walmart as they seek to speed up home deliveries. Delivery drone services, not long ago a novelty, are becoming part of everyday life for many people in the US. Among them, Amazon Prime Air … Read more

Available for over a year A week ago, few outside of the tech world had heard of PHP. Now, after vulnerabilities were discovered, it’s an acronym many more of us are familiar with. With the help of insiders, we tell the story of the PHP crisis. Plus, Tech Life speaks to a comedian whose jokes … Read more

Apple says it will replace iPhone Duo handsets that have developed problems with their screens just days after the highly-anticipated smartphone went on sale. Photos posted by social media users show lines that appeared on the screens of the technology giant’s first ever foldable device, which has a starting price of £1,999 ($2,668) in the … Read more

Every public company has to tell potential investors how things could go wrong. Anthropic’s “risk factors” were unique, also disclosing how the AI technology it is developing could doom humanity as a whole. “Sufficiently advanced AI systems could, if not developed, deployed, and operated with appropriate safeguards, oversight, and security measures, pose catastrophic or existential … Read more

Artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic has revealed for the first time details of its business and said it intends to sell stock to the public in what will likely be the largest market debut in history. The company behind popular AI chatbot Claude said it will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ANT. The … Read more

Until a few years ago many of us may have been blissfully unaware of what a data centre was. These giant, warehouse-like buildings power virtually all our internet activity, from our web searches and emails to movie downloads and online banking. They are at the heart of the AI boom, housing the advanced computer chips … Read more

The UK says it will establish a national AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL) to help strengthen its defences against emerging biological threats. As part of Wednesday’s Budget, the government will commit £100m to establishing the new, “world first” institute with the support of leading AI firms. The chancellor will also pledge millions of pounds in spending … Read more

In Mauritius, IT administrator Loganaden Velvindron said he too was flat out since his team realised just how much software relies on PHP. “Many versions of php running are completely end-of-life, so we are having to rebuilding web apps and change code in some cases,” he said. He said part of the problem was the … Read more

Mohammed Ashim has been cutting hair and trimming beards for four years in Bengaluru. But recently the 22-year old has been strapping a camera to his head to record his work. The camera only records his hands and fingers – his client’s faces are blurred out. “The routine is simple, but you have to be … Read more

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. It’s a programming language which runs on a web server, behind the scenes of a website, and effectively lets you see the sites you visit. When you go to a site, PHP is the code which collects data and effectively turns it into a page you can read. It … Read more

Meta has agreed a deal with Mark Zuckerberg to stop the Facebook co-founder from leaving California after he threatened to move from the state because of a proposed tax on billionaires. The agreement allows Zuckerberg – reportedly one of the world’s richest people – to sell shares in Meta without losing control of the Californian-based … Read more

Organisations around the world are scrambling to fix a critical cyber-security flaw that could affect millions of websites. Speaking to the BBC before this latest flaw became public, AI Minister Kanishka Narayan reveals that the UK has previously used AI to find hundreds of flaws in government systems. Read more on cyber-security on our live … Read more

It was supposed to be kept quiet until everyone had a chance to fix their sites – but the news was leaked. From that point the clock started ticking. As I write this, there are no reports that anyone or anything has succeeded in using the flaws to attack a site. “There’s a real dilemma,” … Read more

Amazon announced on Wednesday that it had identified a “PHP2Shell exploitation attempt” that occurred on 17 October. In the attack, an anonymous internet address attempted to target weaknesses in one of Amazon’s decoy or “honeypot” systems, the company’s security chief CJ Moses said. The use of an anonymous IP address suggests that the activity was … Read more

The technology industry has already been reshaped by layoffs, cost-cutting and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), making career moves tougher. But there are other routes to a US green card. People with exceptional accomplishments or whose work advances national interests may be eligible for categories that bypass the PERM labour certification process. Applicants … Read more

Meanwhile, a “cheese roll” – bread and cheese – instead became slabs of cheese rolled into a sushi roll. While some on social media said they found the images “hilarious”, another was less interested in the AI-generated dishes, saying: “Well, that lot just helped my diet”. Meanwhile, one person on Instagram, external questioned why customers … Read more

Organisations which rely on the PHP programming language are being told they should install a significant software update today – or consider taking their websites offline. Two critical vulnerabilities with PHP, which is widely used across the internet, have been identified. The PHP Foundation, which supports it, is issuing updates which address them on Wednesday … Read more

“In my opinion, 100%. It’s just a question of when,” says David Nicholson, the Chief Technology Advisor at The Futurum Group, a market research company. The unveiling of the Tesla Roadster last week – a futuristic electric car powered by SpaceX rocket thrusters – served as a “symbolic embodiment” hinting at the two Musk companies … Read more

DNA science isn’t the only technology that are helping detectives solve cold cases. One of the challenges facing detectives on major cases investigations like the hunt for Sperino’s killer is the sheer amount of evidence they dig up. Officers investigating Sperino’s murder realised AI could help them wade through the mountains of evidence they had … Read more

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has won a dismissal of a lawsuit brought against him by his sister that claimed he had sexually abused her more than two decades ago. A US district judge dismissed the case after Ann Altman had refused to attend an independent medical examination, adding she was warned a failure to … Read more

Available for over a year Shiona McCallum visits a semiconductor plant making super-thin and flexible chips. Canada’s AI Minister talks to the BBC. And drone tech is monitoring fire-damaged landscapes. You can view Shiona’s report on thermal drones here: Presenter: Shiona McCallum Producer: Tom Quinn (Photo: A technician dressed in protective clothing inspects a wafer … Read more

UK smartphone users could benefit from new payment, ticket and travel apps if Apple widens access to its contactless payment tech, the competition watchdog says. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also wants the fees Apple charges firms to use its contactless tech to be “substantially lower”. It believes the iPhone maker’s current fees and … Read more

Revolut has been hit by an outage which it says is impacting “multiple services”, as thousands of customers report problems. Users of the British bank have flagged being unable to make some payments or access funds via its app on Tuesday morning. Platform outage monitor Downdetector had seen more than 1,500 user reports of issues … Read more

The US has ordered all artificial intelligence (AI) technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most government systems. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has banned all use of DeepSeek within civilian government agencies, and any technology built with the aid of its AI models. As a powerful AI model that is … Read more

A Saudi national charged with secretly planting a recording device in one of OpenAI’s meeting rooms has been accused of having “considerable support” from the Saudi government, according to a court filing, external in California. US prosecutors claimed Abdulrahman Alfozan, who worked for the AI firm, was in “frequent communication… with a member of the … Read more