List of All Articles with Tag 'tec'

Vancouver Whitecaps are back in the playoffs.

By Anna Tong, Max A. Cherney, Christopher Bing and Stephen Nellis SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT,

By Sheila Dang Social media platform X recorded high single-digit percentage revenue growth in the third quarter compared

Broadband customers could pay £150 more than they expected to over two years due to “unpredictable” mid-contract price rises, consumer group Which? has warned. Which? has called on regulator Ofcom to ban the practice altogether as it found that BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell Energy, TalkTalk and Vodafone customers could see increases of more than 8% on average in 2024 while Virgin Media customers could see rises of more than 10%, based on analysis of Bank of England inflation forecasts. Many of the biggest broadband firms – such as BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell Energy, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone – raise prices every April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus an additional 3%, 3.7% or 3.9%. Customers wanting to avoid these hikes can be charged punitive exit fees to leave their contract early. From working and school to online banking and social media, a good broadband and mobile connection is essential to everyday modern life Rocio Concho, Which? Based on average contract amounts from the Which? 2023 broadband survey; Virgin Media, BT and EE customers could see the biggest annual increases of £50.52, £43.68 and £43.68 respectively in the year from April 2024, the watchdog calculated. Shell Energy Broadband customers could see the smallest annual price hike of £27.16 on average. These hikes would come on top of the more than 14% mid-contract uplifts many consumers faced in 2023. Which? also calculated how much extra these two rounds of price hikes could cost a customer for each provider who took out a deal in January 2023 over the course of their 18 or 24-month contract. Based on average amounts from the Which? 2023 broadband survey, BT and EE customers who took out a contract in January 2023 could see some of the highest average price hikes of £147.43 and £147.31, while Vodafone and Plusnet customers could see rises of £122.38 and £117.87 respectively. TalkTalk customers could see a smaller hike of £76.09 on average over the course of shorter 18-month contracts. Shell Energy Broadband did not apply its 2023 inflation-linked price hikes of 12.5% to customers who joined from January to March 2023. However, if a Shell Energy customer joined before January 2023 then, based on average amounts from the 2023 broadband survey, they would pay an extra £45.27 a year from Spring 2023 to Spring 2024. Ofcom should also use their review to finally ban these unpredictable mid-contract price hikes that harm consumers and undermine competition Rocio Concho, Which? Virgin Media did not use inflation-linked price hikes in 2023 but some customers’ prices did increase by an average of 13.8% per cent due to ad hoc price rises, according to Which? According to Virgin Media, customers who signed up after November 2022 would not have faced the ad hoc price rise in Spring 2023. Those on a fixed-price promotional deal – like those offered to new customers – would also not have seen the price hikes take effect until after their deal ended. Which? argues that it is unfair for consumers to be signed up to deals that do not give them certainty about how much they can expect to pay over the course of their contract, and then face exit fees if they want to leave early. A survey by the group found that 78% of consumers believe that mid-contract price hikes are always unfair and that people overwhelmingly value pricing certainty for broadband contracts. Which? has launched The Right to Connect campaign calling for clearer and fairer pricing for telecoms customers and an end to unpredictable mid-contract price hikes. Ofcom is currently reviewing inflation-linked, mid-contract price rises and is due to publish its consultation in December. Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: “From working and school to online banking and social media, a good broadband and mobile connection is essential to everyday modern life. While we know that price changes are never welcome, against a backdrop of rising costs, increased usage and continued investment, we have openly and directly set out to customers that we are introducing inflation-linked price changes Virgin Media spokesman “That’s why it’s outrageous that unpredictable mid-contract price hikes have been allowed to continue in the telecoms industry for so long – especially when so many have been struggling to make ends meet during the cost-of-living crisis. Consumers must have certainty about the total cost of their contract. “Which? is calling on all providers to do the right thing and cancel 2024’s above inflation price hikes. “Ofcom should also use their review to finally ban these unpredictable mid-contract price hikes that harm consumers and undermine competition. “Consumers need to know exactly how much their contract will cost when they sign up.” We understand that price rises are never wanted nor welcomed but recognise them as a necessary thing to do given the rising costs our business faces BT spokesman A Virgin Media spokesman said: “We are always clear and transparent with customers about any price increases. We wrote directly to all customers who received a price rise this year to notify them of their exact increase, and gave them the right to cancel without penalty within 30 days if they wished. “While we know that price changes are never welcome, against a backdrop of rising costs, increased usage and continued investment, we have openly and directly set out to customers that we are introducing inflation-linked price changes from April next year. This widely used format will provide more certainty on when and how any future increases will occur while fuelling the investment required to ensure we keep providing the fast and reliable connectivity our customers rely on.” A BT Consumer spokeswoman said: “We understand that price rises are never wanted nor welcomed but recognise them as a necessary thing to do given the rising costs our business faces. “Our price rises are annual, contracted and transparent and we make this clear when customers sign up or renew their contract. With the average price increase just above £1 per week in 2023, and some of our customers exempt from the rise, we’re also doing all we can to ensure our services are accessible to the widest group of customers possible through our market leading social tariffs.” A TalkTalk spokesman said: “The preventable CPI-linked price rise in April 2023 was a direct result of Ofcom-regulated wholesale cost increases. In order to prevent the same thing happening next April, we are again calling on Ofcom to act and reduce the wholesale increases that lead to these price rises. “These are exceptional circumstances, and families and business across the UK need the regulator to act.” Read More Rise of AI chatbots ‘worrying’ after man urged to kill Queen, psychologist warns William hails ‘amazing’ eco-friendly start-up businesses Royal website subject to ‘denial of service attack’, royal source says TikTok finds and shuts down secret operation to stir up conflict in Ireland Spotify will not ban all AI-powered music, says boss of streaming giant Vehicle scam reports surged by 74% in the first half of 2023, says Lloyds Bank

The ‘phone phreakers’ of the 1960s and 1970s indirectly led to the tech boom of today.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday applied for a court order to force Elon Musk to testify in an ongoing probe related to his acquisition of Twitter and public disclosures he made in connection with the deal, according to court filings.

Elon Musk's Twitter stock purchases are under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to

By Toby Sterling THE HAGUE The Netherlands and the U.N. on Thursday launched a project to help prepare

By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON The CEO of privacy-oriented search engine DuckDuckGo said its talks with Apple about a

Apple has finally pushed an update to the new iPhone 15 that should stop it running hot. In recent days, some owners of new iPhone 15 models, as well as the Pro and Max, reported that the devices appeared to be much warmer to the touch than expected. It prompted worry that the new design and materials in the iPhone 15 had caused it to be worryingly hot. Last week, however, Apple finally broke its silence on the problem. It said that many new iPhones could run hot for normal reasons – because they are setting themselves up, for instance – but also because of flaw in the new system software. “We have also found a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software update,” the company said in a statement to Forbes. “Another issue involves some recent updates to third-party apps that are causing them to overload the system. We’re working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out.” As well as confirming that the issue could be fixed with a new update, Apple said that it would not throttle performance. Previous reports that the issue could be fixed with a new version of iOS 17 had led to fears that would bring slower processing in an attempt to reach cooler temperatures. Now that update has finally arrived, in the form of iOS 17.0.3. It is available now, and can be downloaded through the Settings app as usual. The new update also brings fixes for security bugs that could be used by hackers to gain access to the phone. One is thought to have been “actively exploited” already, meaning that the update is an urgent fix. Read More Apple is preparing an urgent iPhone 15 update after they started overheating The mystery AI device that could replace your phone Zuckerberg says Metaverse can bring back the dead – virtually

Scientists have got to the bottom of a 5-year mystery after finally identifying a tiny sea creature captured on camera in 2018. It is the latest in a series of oceanic discoveries and experts recently observed “zombie worms” devour an alligator in an incredible experiment. For the tiny creature, the baffling question of its identity took a team of zoologists and parasitic worm specialists to solve after the small creature was pictured by an underwater photographer in 2018 off the coast of Okinawa in Japan. After photographer Ryo Minemizu captured the image, he shared it on social media asking the hive mind if they knew what the creature was, but everyone was left stumped. Minemizu was determined not to give up and instead went back to the area and was able to capture another ladybird-sized creature that was the same, or very similar, to the original one he had come across. The research team that was interested in identifying the sea creature approached him and Minemizu sent them the sample to research. Your browser does not support the video tag. Current Biology (2023) The team’s results were published in the Current Biology journal putting an end to the 5-year long mystery baffling experts. In a fascinating twist, the team found that the sample was not one, but two creatures that were clinging tightly to one another. Both were identified as types of cercariae parasitic larvae worms, with experts dubbing one as the “sailor” and the other as a “passenger” thanks to how they behave when they are connected. Passengers were much smaller than the sailors and when they were bonded together, they formed a flat-topped hemisphere shape. They squeeze their bodies together with heads facing the inside of the sphere, meanwhile, their tails latch onto one another. Experts believe the two individual creatures have created a colonial organism that suits both of their needs and according to the study's authors, “represents the first case of labor division in digenean larvae”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

In late September, scientists at NASA and around the world eagerly awaited the arrival of the OSIRIS-REx capsule containing a sample of the asteroid Bennu. The capsule safely landed on Earth on Sunday 24 September in a Utah desert containing a sample of the asteroid Bennu – categorised as one of the two “most hazardous known asteroids”. When the capsule was first opened, it sparked audible gasps from scientists. Since its arrival, NASA has kept its cards fairly close to its chest but a new blog post from the space agency suggests that progress is going slowly for the “best reason” as there is more sample material than they had anticipated. They explained: “The abundance of material found when the science canister lid was removed earlier this week has meant that the process of disassembling the TAGSAM (Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) head – which holds the bulk of material from the asteroid – is off to a methodical start.” The OSIRIS-REx’s mission took 7 years to complete, with the sample currently being analysed by NASA taken three years ago before making its way down to Earth. Imagery from the moment the sample was taken confirmed to scientists that there would be asteroid material where they found it, but the quantity of dark particles were far more than they had anticipated. “The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” said deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead Christopher Snead of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “There’s a lot of abundant material outside the TAGSAM head that’s interesting in its own right. It’s really spectacular to have all that material there.” In the coming weeks, experts will continue to work through the particles and begin the complex process of carefully disassembling the TAGSAM to reach the bulk of the Bennu sample inside. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.