Theresa May's plans for an internet crackdown are like a Chinese dictator, according to her own policy watchdog. The government's plans to fine technology companies if they fail to remove extremist material are a challenge to democracy, according to Max Hill, QC – the new independent reviewer of counterterrorism legislation. The fines are just one part of the Conservatives' wide-ranging plans to regulate and censor the internet, which they claim will help reduce terror. Those plans were laid out in the party's manifesto before the election, and the prime minister has committed to push forward with them despite not winning a majority in the election. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

When a group of museums and researchers in the Netherlands unveiled a portrait entitled The Next Rembrandt, it was something of a tease to the art world. It wasn't a long lost painting but a new artwork generated by a computer that had analysed thousands of works by the 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. The computer used something called machine learning to analyse and reproduce technical and aesthetic elements in Rembrandt's works, including lighting, colour, brush-strokes and geometric patterns. The result is a portrait produced based on the styles and motifs found in Rembrandt's art but produced by algorithms. This is just one example in a growing body of works generated by computers.

Scientists have invented window blinds that store solar energy and are capable of slashing 70 per cent off homeowners' energy bills. The creators of SolarGaps claim it is the world's first'smart blind' that can store solar energy in a battery and is being marketed as an alternative to rooftop solar panels. A set of blinds is expected to sell for around £210 ($270). Scientists have invented window blinds that store energy which they claim can slash an incredible 70 per cent off homeowners' energy bills The blinds have thin solar panels mounted on slats. A motor controls the direction they point in, and makes sure they are facing the sun.

Stephen Hawking predicted the Earth would turn into a hothouse planet like Venus as a result of President Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change agreement. In an interview with BBC on Sunday, the Cambridge University professor and physicist said Trump's action could lead to irreversible climate change, pushing "Earth over the brink." "We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible," Hawking told BBC News. "Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees, and raining sulphuric acid." The world's most famous scientist said the best hope of survival for mankind was to live on other planets.

Despite the massively larger size of the Google Home speaker, the winner of "who can actually hear a user" is the Echo Dot, which was able to hear me from farther away and without me having to look at it. After seeing the poor feedback of Watson in Bridge Crew, I decided to take my four digital assistants for a spin. After 21 questions across four assistants, I learned that Alexa cannot give basic information about Amazon Prime videos, none of them can properly understand which movie you're looking for information for, and none of them can actually recommend stuff. Also, Google still needs to learn how to round up. I also learned I'm going to need a bigger set of questions. First, the purpose of this test is to test the assistants on the one skill that is a must-have for a disembodied speaker: Information retrieval and processing. This is not a comprehensive test, but is indicative of the types of questions that one might ask based on conversation, i.e. two or more people are having a conversation and they reach a question that needs an answer. To begin with, I summarise the results, mostly for fun. After that, you can browse what I found the most interesting 40 questions, and the varied (or non-varied) answers offered by each assistant for those. This piece is not intended to be illustrative on who is the "best" assistant.

WhatsApp has built new features that are designed to make conversations look more visually appealing. The first of these improves on WhatsApp's existing text formatting functionality. While you've long been able to change the appearance of your messages to emphasise certain words or phrases, until now, you've had to remember a range of straightforward but fiddly commands to do so. To make text bold, you've needed to place it between two asterisks, like *this*. To italicise it, you've had to sandwich it between two underscores, like _this_, and to strikethrough a message, you've needed to use tildes, like this .

The most immediate impact of the emissions cheating scandal that has engulfed Volkswagen and may be spreading to automakers like Fiat Chrysler is an environmental and public health crisis. Worldwide, diesel vehicles are producing about 50 percent more nitrogen oxide than regulations allow, according to a new study, which links those emissions to 38,000 premature deaths in 2015. But, in the long run, the diesel fallout could reach further, helping set up carmakers as the next industry to be upended by Silicon Valley. As shifts like autonomy, electrification, and shared ownership change the way people use and buy cars, these companies will have enough trouble navigating the coming decades. Dedication to diesel adds to the challenge, chaining automakers to a losing technology.

SHORTLY after 9/11, the US deployed a new form of high-tech warfare: sending drones into foreign airspace to kill terror suspects. At first the strikes were restricted to Afghanistan, but soon they were extended into Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The strategy has been escalated by presidents Obama and Trump. Initially the US had a virtual monopoly on drone technology, but commentators pointed out that this would only be temporary. Legal scholars also warned that the strikes were of dubious international legality. The implication was clear: if the US could strike with impunity, what was there to stop others from doing the same?

The fourth industrial revolution is underway and it's threatening to wipe out nearly half the jobs in Australia. This latest round is characterised by intelligent robots and machine learning and PricewaterhouseCoopers economist Jeremy Thorpe said it's going to completely reshape the Australian jobs market. "Over the next 20 years approximately 44 per cent of Australia's jobs, that's more than 5 million jobs, are at risk of being disrupted by technology, whether that's digitisation or automation," he said. Stefan Hajkowicz, who is the principal scientist at the CSIRO, says it's white collar workers who are about to feel the pain. "The sort of job losses that we did see in the manufacturing sector in Australia -- the car manufacturing sector -- are going to get into the administrative services and financial services sector in downtown CBD postcodes and that's the big challenge that lies in front of us," he said.

And will regulation be harmonised throughout Europe?