I’m in VR, suspended in an empty space that seems to stretch for miles. A stern-looking Victorian woman is standing nearby, scowling at me. I try not to judge her. After all, she’s on the run from a 300-foot Martian fighting machine. I’d look a bit grumpy too. I’m behind the scenes in London at …

The UK government has developed a tool that it says can detect extremist videos online. The technology uses machine learning to analyse the audio-visual content of a video and determine whether it’s likely to contain terrorist propaganda. The Home Office created the tool in collaboration with ASI Data Science. The government claims the technology can “automatically detect 94 percent of …

The Russian government has threatened to block YouTube and Instagram over videos and posts relating to Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch who has been linked to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. A 25-minute video was posted on Thursday by Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny. It sources Instagram videos and social media accounts published by a model and escort who posted videos in …

If you’ve ever passed on a cheaper phone plan because it wasn’t on your network, you’ll know that switching providers can seem like more hassle than it’s worth. But that’s about to change. UK communications regulator Ofcom announced new rules on Tuesday that will make it easier to switch networks. It says that one of the biggest hurdles in the process …

Entry-level phones may cost less than big hitters, but they come at the cost of space, speed and efficiency. Google’s looking to change that with Android Go.  Android Oreo (Go Edition) will launch Wednesday as part of the Android Oreo 8.1 rollout, and all Android Oreo devices with 512MB to 1GB of memory will be optimized for Android Go. Google …

There are plenty of reasons to love the British countryside but broadband speed doesn’t usually top the list. Fortunately for those in rural areas, a government scheme to help out internet slow spots has been extended for another year. The Better Broadband Scheme is a subsidised broadband service from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It costs no …

Let’s start with a confession: I’m one of those idiots you heard about on the news last year. Cast your mind back to July 2016. It was the summer of Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game that had us scouring the streets for Hypnos, Jigglypuffs and Seels. It was also a summer plagued with Pokemon-related calamity. Distracted Pokemon hunters crashed …

Google has been collecting Android phones’ locations even when location services are turned off, an investigation has revealed. Online publication Quartz observed Android phones collecting the addresses of nearby mobile phone masts and sending them back to Google. The details were collected even when location services were turned off on the phones, no apps had been installed and there was …

If you’ve been dreaming of HTC’s standalone Google VR headset, it’s time to wake up. The phone manufacturer was working with Google on a “new breed” of VR headset, it was reported in May. The wireless HTC headset was expected to support Google’s Daydream VR platform and work without a phone or a separate computer. Following a report by TechCrunch, …

Google Lens isn’t just for the Pixel 2 and 2 XL anymore: Reddit users report that the object-identifying software is now showing up on original Pixel phones. In a post to the r/Android subreddit, user LaceratedCantaloupe posted “Google Lens showed up in Photos today on my 2016 Pixel XL.” The post included a shot of the Google Lens screen and …