Author: Toby Shapshak

The 15th of September was a big day for the crypto industry, which saw arguably the biggest change to this blockchain-based world. Called ‘The Merge’, it was a significant change in, well, the business model, for Ethereum, which is still stable and hasn’t collapsed. Ethereum is one of the biggest cryptocurrencies, second in size to Bitcoin, and it has fundamentally changed how it uses the blockchain to register changes and create value. Instead of using the very energy-intensive process known as proof-of-work, Ethereum has shifted to what is called proof-of-stake. It claims to be 99% more energy efficient. Among the…

The first thing you notice about the Audi e-tron Sportback 55 quattro S line is the rear-view mirrors. Or lack thereof. Instead, there are streamlined cameras and 7-inch OLED screens in the door. They are roughly on the same eye line but it does take some getting used to. The added advantage is that the Sportback warns you if there are cars in that lane (with an orange warning). If it’s clear, you see the green indicator light. It’s a small thing, but it’s useful. Make yourself at home Once you’re inside, it’s what we’ve come to expect from this…

The big takeaway from Apple’s over-hyped new gadget announcement last week was not the massive upgrade of the new iPhone 14 but of the original PC maker’s continued ability to spin a decent reality-distortion field. The phrase that emerged from the recorded briefing – in and about Apple’s remarkable circular headquarters in Palo Alto – was “dynamic island”. I removed the caps to keep us a little bit saner. There it was, in full sight after such a long absence, Apple’s amazing skill at producing Steve Jobs’ famous reality-distortion field. It has become institutional. Trapped on Apple’s dynamic island Dynamic…

Samsung have sent us its latest and greatest foldable smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. This incredible device is accompanied by the perfect companion, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Experience Samsung’s latest folding flagship and wearable device FRESH out the box. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 https://youtu.be/MucUfC-rXJQ

I recently went on a family holiday and read three books. Not necessarily “read” but listened to. I’ve always been a big reader. I have been my whole life. Reading was my refuge, something I could do that gave me great pleasure and opened my mind to the wonders of the world. Not surprisingly I always loved science fiction. Holidays are all about reading for me. But this trip was different, not just because it was the first holiday overseas after Covid, but because I was using my new (old) favourite app Audible. Again. I have been using the audio book app for probably a decade, although I have taken a…

It doesn’t get any weirder than this. As part of Elon Musk’s ongoing legal wranglings with Twitter – which he offered to buy for $44bn and is now trying back out of – the billionaire’s legal team tried to prove his contention that it has more than 5% spam bots. This figure is in Twitter’s legal filings and is the fulcrum through which Musk is hoping to walk away from the deal – especially given Twitter has lost over $20bn in value since his April offer. Musk claims these bots are more likely 10% of Twitter’s 229 million daily active…

As the US slowly starts to build up steam to counter the monopolistic power of Big Tech, Europe has leapt ahead with far-reaching and powerful legislation to neuter these out-of-control social media behemoths. The Digital Services Act was passed in April, and will soon help reign in the surveillance capitalism and anti-competitive behaviour of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and others. “The new EU standards, and the ethic of transparency on which they are based, will for the first time pull back the curtain on the algorithms that choose what we see and when we see it in our feeds,” wrote Facebook…

Uber promised its drivers they would be entrepreneurs in charge of their own destiny, but the ride-hailing company ultimately had “a business plan that proved to gradually undermine their own drivers,” writes the Washington Post. “Top executives advised local managers around the world to spend millions of dollars on lucrative incentives for new drivers and then steadily raise Uber’s commission, depriving those drivers of income and increasing the money that flowed to Uber,” according to the Uber Files leak of 124,00 documents demonstrating the cut-throat approach to its own drivers. This cache of emails, presentations, and text messages from 2013 to…

The last time I left London, having caught the Heathrow Express to the airport, I hung onto my plastic Oyster card, which still had a few Pounds of credit on it. When I went back to London for a family holiday earlier this month, I still had that card, as well as a long-since expired SIM card. I have both of those essential items from the many countries I have visited over the years. Knowing a bit about tech has made it possible to get around the world without breaking the data roaming bank. It has also let me occasionally…

Please send a copy of your ID or passport, I am often asked. Sometimes it’s for events, sometimes to book a flight. But my answer is always no. No, I reply to the email. I don’t even keep a digital version or picture of these utterly important documents on my devices, let alone do something as foolhardy as sending them via email. Most companies and travel agents are just stumped. Some try to reassure me that “this is how we always do it” or “we’ve never had a problem”. I politely point out that if my personal details were somehow…