In Stanley Kubrick's masterful film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the supercomputer HAL 9000 (heuristically programmed algorithmic computer) uses artificial intelligence to detect emotion and suffering, and controls all of a spaceship's systems, including its crew. The new labour monitoring practices we are seeing emerge today – with the stated aim of improving the working environment – appear just as outlandish. Take, for example, Canon's Beijing office, which has installed smart cameras that prevent any action from being performed (such as scheduling a meeting, accessing certain rooms, etc.) unless they detect a smile. In Europe, some companies are offering their employees the chance to participate in business-related trials which involve supplying them with glasses that establish emotion indicators. One example is the Shore app, developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Germany, and which is used in Google's'smart glasses'.

Darktrace saw a 33% increase in attacks across its customer base in APAC in 2021.

Climate change is far and away the greatest threat of the modern human era -- a crisis that will only get worse the longer we dither -- with American car culture as a major contributor to the nation's greenhouse emissions. But carbon-neutralizing energy and solutions are already on the horizon and, in some more developed countries like Sweden, are already being deployed. In his latest book, Our Livable World, science and technology analyst Marc Shaus, takes readers on a fascinating tour of the emerging tools -- from "smart highways" to jet fuel made from trash -- that will not only help curb climate change but perhaps even usher in a new, more sustainable, livable world. The following excerpt is reprinted from Our Livable World: How Scientists Today Are Creating the Clean Earth of Tomorrow by Marc Shaus. Reprinted with permission of Diversion Books.

Didi said that the suspect had no prior criminal record, had provided authentic documentation and passed a facial recognition test before starting work. However, it also said there was a complaint made against the driver on Thursday by a passenger who alleged the driver took her to a remote place and followed her after she got out of the car.

The British Government is spending unprecedented amounts of money on encouraging the development of cars that drive themselves. But the UK is little prepared for the disruptive and potentially devastating changes that such cars could bring to our streets, experts have warned. While huge amounts of work is being done in the UK and elsewhere on such technology, towns and cities are continuing to work largely as they have with private, driven vehicles – by both governments and private car and tech companies – little is being done to change the cities they will drive around. That could become a problem if autonomous vehicles truly take over, as the government has both predicted and supported. That's because little is being done by either the Government or other bodies to ensure that the country is ready to embrace the challenges brought by such technology.