Talking to the machine

The story behind the compiler, a remarkable innovation that made modern computing possible.

Sky taxi to fly in Dubai 'from July'

A drone that can carry people will begin "regular operations" in Dubai from July, says the city's Roads and Transportation Agency.

Musk offers free car to German 'hero'

Find out what's buzzing in the social media world today

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong arrested in South Korea

The case is linked to a scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geung-hye.

Parents told to destroy 'spy' dolls

Researchers say hackers can use an insecure bluetooth device to listen and talk to a child.

Ford developing pothole alert system for drivers

The carmaker says it is testing technology to detect potholes and warn drivers of their locations.

ZTE scraps 'design our smartphone' crowdfunding campaign

ZTE had created a smartphone based on ideas submitted by the public.

Google and Bing to demote pirate sites in UK web searches

Illegal music and film websites and unofficial sport streams to be made harder to find.

US legislation revived to curb warrantless geolocation tracking

U.S. legislators have reintroduced bills that would place curbs on warrantless access by the government to electronically generated geolocation information of Americans, including on the use of cell-site simulators that can capture cellphone data.

Bicameral legislation introduced Wednesday, called the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act, aims to create clear rules for when law enforcement agencies can acquire an individual’s geolocation information, generated from electronic devices like smartphones, GPS units and Wi-Fi equipped laptops.

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Tech groups gear up for FISA surveillance fight

A controversial provision in U.S. law that gives the National Security Agency broad authority to spy on people overseas expires at the end of the year, and six major tech trade groups are gearing up for a fight over an extension.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expires on Dec. 31, and Congress almost certain to extend it in some form. 

The tech trade groups, including BSA, the Consumer Technology Association, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, are asking lawmakers to build in new privacy protections for internet users. 

"It is critical that Congress takes a balanced yet focused approach with respect to Section 702," the groups said in a letter sent to top lawmakers Wednesday. "We urge your committees to ensure that any reauthorization includes meaningful safeguards for internet users' privacy and civil liberties."

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Sky jam

UK air traffic control is investing £600m in a new cloud-based system to cope with rising demand.

What Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg told the BBC

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke to the BBC's Kamal Ahmed off-camera. What did he tell him?

Charging a mobile phone in a cafe? Pay up, says Vienna owner

Owner says fee targets "extreme" customers who leave devices plugged for too long.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai writes back to girl, 7, who wants a job

She told him she "liked computers and robots" as she explained why she wanted to work there.

Blackberry sues Nokia in patent clash

Nokia faces claims that it is using nearly a dozen of Blackberry's inventions without permission.

Google patents 'crumpling' car safety system

Panels on the vehicle will crumple before impact to lessen the effect of a crash.

Microsoft misses regular security fix date

The delay means many versions of Windows will remain vulnerable to a known bug.

Valve 'comfortable' if virtual reality headsets fail

The software firm says its VR business is going well, as users experiment with the technology.

Microsoft bumps up Surface prices in UK

Surface laptops rise up to 15.1% in price in the latest tech-related increase following the Brexit vote.

Pavement lights guide 'smartphone zombies'

The lights are designed to catch the eye of phone-absorbed pedestrians.

Facebook algorithms 'will identify terrorists'

Mark Zuckerberg says artificial intelligence software will review posts on the social network.

A privacy-focused browser developer just bought Ghostery

Cliqz, the German developer of the privacy-focused browser of the same name, has acquired the tracker-blocking browser extension Ghostery and its development team from its creator, Evidon.

Partly owned by Mozilla, Cliqz will combine Ghostery’s technology with similar functions in its browser, but plans to continue development of the extension for other browsers too, it said Wednesday.

The sale will resolve an apparent conflict of interest for Evidon, which on the one hand provided the Ghostery extension to enhance privacy, and on the other sold aggregate information to businesses regarding which trackers users blocked. It will still obtain that aggregate information from Cliqz, but one step removed.

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Is Nokia bringing back the 3310 and who would want a retro phone?

Rumours suggest the iconic mobile from the year 2000 will return to shelves but the company has refused to comment.

How the Oscars became high season for film piracy

"Screener season" brings its own Oscar buzz to pirate movie sites.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild paid-for downloadable content divides fans

Nintendo announces a paid-for downloadable content (DLC) pack for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which has split fan opinion.

Yahoo and Verizon 'near to agreeing revised sale terms'

Yahoo and Verizon are said to be close to agreeing revised sale terms, after the search giant was hit by cyber attacks.

London Dungeon apologises for 'upsetting' tweets

The London Dungeon attraction apologises after complaints that a marketing campaign was distasteful.

Can modern incarnation of C5 succeed?

Sir Clive Sinclair's nephew develops a successor to the C5 trike, which he hopes can find a market.

Work to be done

How Australian entrepreneur Matt Barrie set up and grew website Freelancer, which links people who need tasks done with others who bid for the work.

Count down

Spotify may be "too big to fail", according to Billboard magazine, but the clock is ticking as the company hatches its plans to go public.

Italian tragedy

The story of Tiziana Cantone who killed herself after private sex videos of her went viral.

Mobile money

How mobile technology is profoundly changing access to money in the developing world.

Distracted to death

Drivers using mobile phones on the road are four times more likely to have an accident - but can apps also make us safer?

The flatpack robot that could explore planets

A new generation of Super Ball robots could help us explore planets.

Prince's music is coming to streaming services this Sunday

After months of rumour, it's been confirmed Prince's music will become available to stream this weekend.

Video shot on Inverness Coastguard helicopter's tail camera

Aerial footage of the Highlands recorded on a camera fitted to the tail rotor of a helicopter is released by the coastguard agency.

The robot helping children to code and other tech toys

BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at some of the latest gadgets at London's Toy Fair.

Samsung chief in second grilling over corruption claims

The South Korean conglomerate is accused of giving donations in exchange for political favours.

UK targeted by 'dozens' of serious cyber attacks each month

Many of the attacks in the last three months "threatened national security", a government expert says.

Valve to let developers pay to get games on Steam

Developers will pay a fee to publish their games directly onto the popular Steam service

Restaurant apologises after rejecting waitress with emoji

The restaurant chain Miller & Carter claims it accidentally sent 18-year-old Megan Dixon for a job with a crying emoji.

The device for catching drones mid-air and other news

BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at some of the best of the week's technology news.

BBC reporter v Game of Thrones' Bjornsson

As computer game For Honor is released, Marc Cieslak and Hafthor Bjornsson test their strength.

Apple 'optimistic' about post-Brexit UK

Apple boss tells PM the firm is "optimistic" as the US Chamber of Commerce says some US firms are delaying investment.

Can I trust a fertility app to stop me getting pregnant?

Sexual health experts say there needs to be more research into how effective fertility tracking apps are at preventing pregnancy.

Google coding champion whose Cameroon hometown is cut off from the internet

Africa's first Google Code-in winner has left his hometown, because Cameroon has cut the internet there.

ISP raided by Spanish police over 'football piracy'

Police in Spain raid an internet service provider suspected of hosting an illegal TV streaming business.

Wordpress blogs defaced in hack attacks

More than a million pages have been defaced by hackers exploiting the bug, say security experts.

Cyber security lessons offered to schools in England

Lessons in schools will seek to identify teenagers who could defend the UK against cyber attacks.

Privacy groups claim FBI hacking operation went too far

Privacy advocates are claiming in court that an FBI hacking operation to take down a child pornography site was unconstitutional and violated international law.

That’s because the operation involved the FBI hacking 8,700 computers in 120 countries, based on a single warrant, they said.

“How will other countries react to the FBI hacking in their jurisdictions without prior consent?” wrote Scarlet Kim, a legal officer with U.K.-based Privacy International.

On Friday, that group, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, filed briefs in a lawsuit involving the FBI’s hacking operation against Playpen. The child pornography site was accessible through Tor, a browser designed for anonymous web surfing. But in 2014, the FBI managed to take it over.

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Microsoft lawsuit against indefinite gag orders can proceed

A Microsoft lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice over indefinite gag orders attached to search warrants can proceed, following a federal judge’s ruling on Thursday.

The tech titan sued last year to end the government’s practice of indefinitely blocking it from informing customers of search warrants for their information. Microsoft alleged that such orders violate its First Amendment frees speech rights and the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of its users.

The Justice Department argued that Microsoft couldn’t bring either of the claims in a motion argued in front of the judge two weeks ago.

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Android privacy assistant seeks to stop unwanted data collection

Not sure what your phone is collecting about you? A free Android app is promising to simplify the privacy settings on your smartphone, and stop any unwanted data collection.

The English language app, called Privacy Assistant, comes from a team at Carnegie Mellon University, who’ve built it after six years of research studying digital privacy.  

“It’s very clear that a large percentage of people are not willing to give their data to any random app,” said CMU professor Norman Sadeh. “They want to be more selective with their data, so this assistant will help them do that.”

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Apple's iCloud saved deleted browser records, security company finds

Apple’s iCloud appears to have been holding on to users’ deleted internet browsing histories, including records over a year old.

Moscow-based forensics firm Elcomsoft noticed it was able to pull supposedly deleted Safari browser histories from iCloud accounts, such as the date and time the site was visited and when the record was deleted.

“In fact, we were able to access records dated more than one year back,” wrote Elcomsoft’s CEO Vladimir Katalov in a Thursday blog post.

Users can set iCloud to store their browsing history so that it's available from all connected devices. The researchers found that when a user deletes that history, iCloud doesn't actually erase it but keeps it in a format invisible to the user.

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Mood music

How roboticists and programmers are trying to make their creations more empathetic and "human".

Rubbish, waste and recycling collection frequencies

The time between waste collections in some areas has been getting longer, and a handful of areas now have to wait for a month.

Twitter shares dive as losses widen

Twitter's fourth-quarter losses nearly double as user numbers grow but advertising revenues do not.

Firms split on who handles aftermath of cyber-attacks

The confusion could leave companies open to future attacks, suggests BAE research.

NBA creates e-sports league for basketball

The US basketball league and a video games maker launch contest starting in 2018.

Sports Direct 'hid data breach from staff'

Sports Direct staff were not told when their unencrypted data was stolen, according to reports.

US idea to collect travelers' passwords alarms privacy experts

To better vet foreign travelers, the U.S. might demand that some visa applicants hand over the passwords to their social media accounts, a proposal that’s alarming privacy experts.

“If they don’t want to give us the information, then they don’t come,” said John Kelly, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, on Tuesday.

Kelly mentioned the proposal in a congressional hearing when he was asked what his department was doing to look at visa applicants’ social media activity.

He said it was “very hard to truly vet” the visa applicants from the seven Muslim-majority countries covered by the Trump administration's travel ban, which is now in legal limbo. Many of the countries are failed states with little internal infrastructure, he said.

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Irish court hears case challenging transatlantic data transfers

Max Schrems' 2013 complaint to the Irish data protection commissioner over Facebook's handling of his personal information put him in an unusual position on Tuesday: He's a co-defendant, alongside Facebook, in a case before the High Court of Ireland.

The case concerns the standard contract clauses that Facebook and other companies relied on to legalize their export of European Union citizens' personal information to the U.S. for processing in the months after the Safe Harbor agreement was overturned.

The three-week hearing began Tuesday with representations from the data protection commissioner, which brought the case; Schrems and Facebook will get their turn next week.

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Eco-car wins eight Indonesian students their F1 dream

Eight Indonesian students spend a week with Ferrari's F1 team in Italy after designing a prize-winning eco-car.

The Ocado warehouse run by robots

The BBC visits online grocery retailer Ocado's factory

Facebook in court over refugee selfie fake news stories

Facebook faces allegations that it failed to remove posts that defamed a Syrian refugee.

Uber hires 'flying car engineer' from Nasa

An ex-Nasa engineer is Uber's latest hire as it explores the possibilities of flying cars.

Rail firms mull iris scan train fares

Technology such as biometric scanning and smarter trains could improve rail travel for UK customers.

Twitter rolls out new anti-abuse tools

Twitter announces more changes for users, aimed at combating bullying on its platform.

Google ordered by US court to produce emails stored abroad

Google has been ordered by a federal court in Pennsylvania to comply with search warrants and produce customer emails stored abroad, in a decision that is in sharp contrast to that of an appeals court in a similar case involving Microsoft.

Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Rueter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled Friday that the two warrants under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) for emails required by the government in two criminal investigations constituted neither a seizure nor a search of the targets' data in a foreign country.

Transferring data electronically from a server in a foreign country to Google's data center in California does not amount to a seizure because “there is no meaningful interference with the account holder's possessory interest in the user data,” and Google’s algorithm in any case regularly transfers user data from one data center to another without the customer's knowledge, Judge Rueter wrote.

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TV maker Vizio pays $2.2M to settle complaint that it spied on users

Popular smart TV maker Vizio will pay US $2.2 million to settle complaints that it violated customers' privacy by continuously monitoring their viewing habits without their knowledge.

Beginning in February 2014, the California TV maker tracked what TV shows customers were watching on 11 million TV sets sold in the U.S., the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General said in a complaint, released Monday.

Vizio smart TVs captured "second-by-second" information about video displayed, including video from consumer cable service, broadband, set-top boxes, DVDs, over-the-air broadcasts, and streaming devices, according to the complaint.

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Superpower software

As the number of cyber-attacks escalates, can a new approach to security help keep us safe?

Stay in bed

Could a robot that enables staff to work remotely change how companies and their staff work?

Unlocking car parks

The Australian app that frees up parking spaces owned by hotels and offices for the public.

Turning to Twitter instead of the police

Why one Saudi woman turned to social media to help her regain custody of her baby.

US House approves new privacy protections for email and the cloud

The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Monday the Email Privacy Act, which would require law enforcement agencies to get court-ordered warrants to search email and other data stored with third parties for longer than six months. 

The House approved the bill by voice vote, and it now goes the Senate for consideration.

The Email Privacy Act would update a 31-year-old law called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Some privacy advocates and tech companies have pushed Congress to update ECPA since 2011. Lax protections for stored data raise doubts about U.S. cloud services among consumers and enterprises, supporters of the bill say.

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WhatsApp reduces spam, despite end-to-end encryption

Can a spam filter work even without reading the content of your messages?

WhatsApp thinks so. Since last April, the messenger app has been successfully fighting spam abuse, even as it’s been using end-to-end encryption.

That encryption means that no one -- not even WhatsApp -- can read the content of your messages, except for the recipient.

More privacy, however, can raise issues about spam detection. If WhatsApp can’t scan your messages for suspicious content, say for advertisements peddling cheap Viagra, then how can it effectively filter them out?

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Lucky money

Chinese New Year will see billions of cash-filled "red envelopes" sent digitally to friends and family.

Future school

How drones, robots and mixed reality are making their way into the curriculum.

Nintendo Switch console revealed

BBC Click's Marc Cieslak takes a look at Nintendo's long-awaited home console, the Switch.

Samsung reveals cause of Galaxy Note 7 phone fires

Samsung reveals what caused the overheating and burning of some of its Galaxy Note 7 mobile phones.

Start-ups banned from India recruitment

Some universities are blacklisting start-ups from recruiting on campus in a row over them pulling job offers.

Lighter, upgraded spacesuit revealed and other news

BBC Click's Marc Cieslak looks at some of the best of the week's technology news.

Lunar New Year makeover for online game Overwatch

The update to the online game was influenced by Chinese literary classic Journey to the West.

Kaspersky security researcher arrested in Russia

A cybersecurity researcher working for anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab in Russia has been arrested

Sky TV to go satellite dish-free in 2018

Sky is to offer a complete subscription television package without a satellite dish for the first time.

Facebook snaps up Xiaomi's Hugo Barra

Facebook hires Hugo Barra to lead its development of virtual reality products.

Alibaba's Ant Financial buys MoneyGram for $880m

Alibaba's online payments arm is buying money transfer business MoneyGram for $880m.

Google parent Alphabet's shares fall as profits miss target

Shares in Alphabet, owner of Google, fall as tech giant misses profit estimates.

Apple sues chip-maker Qualcomm in China

Apple is taking legal action against Qualcomm in China alleging the chip maker abused its market dominance.

Virtual reality 'could help treat vertigo'

Virtual reality could be used to diagnose and treat visual vertigo, according to a team of Cardiff University scientists.