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Google’s antitrust appeal: if you don’t change defaults, do you change anything?

Summary: Google is appealing the US antitrust ruling that found it illegally held a monopoly in online search—and it’s asking the court to pause the remedies ordered so far. The debate is now less about whether Google is powerful (it is) and more about whether the proposed fixes change anything meaningful. A useful way to […]

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Ads come to ChatGPT: why this changes the incentives of consumer AI

Summary: OpenAI is starting to test adverts inside ChatGPT for some users, alongside a new lower-priced subscription tier (ChatGPT Go). That’s a major shift because it changes the “business logic” of consumer AI from a pure subscription product into the familiar internet model: attention + targeting + monetisation. OpenAI says ads won’t influence answers and

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How would a UK social media ban for under-16s work (and would it actually help)?

Summary: The UK government is consulting on the idea of a social media ban for under-16s, alongside measures intended to reduce phone use in schools and curb features that drive compulsive behaviour. The immediate political question is “should we ban?” The harder policy question is “what exactly would that mean, and would it work?” Bans

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Wikipedia’s name is trivia — but the real story is how the knowledge commons survives AI

Summary: Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales explained where the name “Wikipedia” comes from in a BBC interview clip. It’s a small human-interest moment—but it points to a bigger topic that matters more in 2026 than it did in 2006: how an open, community-governed knowledge system survives in an era where AI tools can remix and repackage

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Tech Life: Humanoid robots for household chores — how close are we?

In brief: Meet the humanoid robots designed to help with household chores. What this is about This episode looks at the push toward humanoid robots for everyday tasks — a trend driven by better computer vision, cheaper sensors, and rapid progress in robotics control software. Why humanoid robots are hard A humanoid shape is flexible,

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Grok ‘undressing’ backlash: why AI harms turn into platform governance fights

Summary: A backlash has erupted in the UK over the ability of Elon Musk’s Grok AI to generate image edits that effectively “undress” people. After criticism, X limited the feature so that only paying users can use it. UK ministers called the move “insulting” to victims of misogyny and sexual violence. This isn’t a niche

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Blue Origin plans Starlink rival ‘TeraWave’: why satellite internet is becoming critical infrastructure

Summary: Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin says it will launch more than 5,400 satellites to build a global communications network called TeraWave—positioned as a rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink. Unlike Starlink’s consumer-heavy pitch, Blue Origin is framing TeraWave around data centres, businesses, and governments, with headline throughput claims of up to 6 terabits per

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Cool future tech at CES — what to pay attention to

In brief: The technology show CES is back for another year in Las Vegas in America. What’s being shown CES is packed with flashy prototypes, but the most interesting stuff is usually: new form factors (foldables, wearables, mixed reality) practical AI (features users will actually touch) smart-home upgrades (standards, sensors, energy monitoring) How to read

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Tech Life’s 2025 rewind: what actually stuck after the hype cycles

Summary: The BBC World Service podcast Tech Life looked back at 2025, highlighting a mix of optimistic and unsettling themes: ambitious science (including “de-extinction” projects), the spread of AI into unexpected places, and the small everyday technologies that genuinely improved people’s lives. A year-in-review sounds fluffy, but it’s useful because it reveals what actually stuck—what

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