ShinyShiny tech roundup: Twitch reportedly victim of huge data leak

Game-streaming platform Twitch has reportedly been the victim of a leak divulging confidential company information and steamers' earnings. More than 100GB of data was posted online on Wednesday. The documents appear to show Twitch's top streamers each made millions of dollars from the Amazon-owned company in the past two years. Fortnite streamer BBG Calc told BBC…

ShinyShiny tech roundup: Facebook blames ‘faulty configuration change’ for outage

Facebook has blamed a "faulty configuration change" for an outage that prevented the company's 3.5 billion users from accessing its apps and services, including Whatsapp and Instagram, for nearly six hours. The platforms crashed on Monday afternoon, with users unable to send or receive messages or refresh their news feeds. In a Facebook post after…

ShinyShiny tech roundup: Barbie goes into space ‘to inspire young girls’

Barbie teams up with ESA & astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti for space week (Image: ESA) Barbie is partnering with the European Space Agency and its only European female astronaut in an effort to inspire young girls to pursue careers in space and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). As part of an…

ShinyShiny tech roundup: AI can tell if it’s going to rain in next 2 hours

Artificial intelligence can tell whether it is going to rain in the next two hours, research suggests. Scientists at Google-owned London AI lab DeepMind and the University of Exeter partnered with the Met Office to build the so-called nowcasting system. Traditional methods use complex equations and often forecast for only between six hours and two…

Ford and Hermes announce delivery service to your car boot!

Ford and Hermes UK have announced a Secure Delivery to Vehicle pilot which will enable parcels to be delivered directly to vehicles located at the owner’s home address. Launched in selected areas of the UK this month, the delivery to vehicle option is offered to customers with FordPass, expanding the range of connected services already…

ShinyShiny tech round up: Meet Astro, Amazon’s house robot

Amazon is launching Astro, its first household robot, powered by its Alexa smart home technology. The company said it can be remote-controlled when not at home, to check on pets, people, or home security. It can also patrol a home automatically and send owners a notification if it detects something unusual. Amazon said it was…

ShinyShiny roundup: Facebook puts Instagram Kids on hold

Plans to make an "Instagram experience" for under-13s, dubbed Instagram Kids, have been paused. Facebook would use the time to listen to "parents, experts, policymakers and regulators", Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote. It follows leaked internal research the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said Instagram was "toxic for teen girls". But in a recent blog, Facebook head…

These are top ways Brits are making themselves more trackable, claim experts

Accepting cookies, using public Wi-Fi and even having a smart washing machine are just some of the ways people are making themselves ‘trackable’, according to experts. Others are also guilty of signing up to mailing lists, sharing fitness achievements via apps and using Wi-Fi when out, which can result in personal details being accessed by…

ShinyShiny tech roundup: Solar-powered ‘camper van’ unveiled

  Image: https://www.solarteameindhoven.nl/article?presenting-our-newest-solar-vehicle-stella-vita A group of Dutch students has reimagined van life and is hitting the road to Portugal. Just don’t call their groundbreaking new solar-powered vehicle a camper van. “We call it a self-sustaining house on wheels,” said Lotte van Dasler, part of a team from the Technical University in…

ShinyShiny roundup: Apple resists EU call for common USB-C charger

The European Commission has set out plans for a common charger port for all mobile phones, tablets and headphones, in the face of resistance from US tech giant Apple. An 18-page directive released on Thursday said a common charger for all brands “would benefit consumers and reduce electronic waste”. It estimates that it will save EU…