Consumers>Roundup

Nine schools in North Ayrshire have paused use of facial recognition technology days after introducing it, following UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) inquiries. The schools wanted pupils to use the system…

Apple app developers will soon be able to email customers and tell them how to avoid Apple's payment systems. The current rules ban app makers from mentioning that there are ways to pay that avoid Apple's 30% cut, even through…

Over-60s who relied on only telephone and online contact felt more lonely during the pandemic, a study suggests. "Virtual contact on its own is not beneficial to older adults' mental health," researcher Dr Yang Hu of Lancaster…

Nissan is to announce a major expansion of battery production in Sunderland creating thousands of new jobs both directly and in the supply chain. The firm, which already makes the Leaf electric car in Sunderland, may also announce…

The US has taken down dozens of Iranian and Iran-linked news sites, which it accused of spreading disinformation. Many sites were offline on Tuesday, with notices explaining they have been "seized" by the US - alongside seals of the…

The government should offer vouchers to low-income homes to encourage the take-up of ultra-fast gigabit broadband, a report suggests. The Gigabit Take-up Advisory Group (Gigatag) also recommended employers offer staff discounts on…

A major internet blackout that hit many high-profile websites on Tuesday has been blamed on a software bug. Fastly, the cloud-computing company responsible for the issues, said the bug hade been triggered when one of…

The property ads pop up like they would on any other real estate website. A three-bed, two-bathroom apartment with a turquoise pool for rent on Colombia's Caribbean coast. A four-bedroom, four-bathroom wood-floored house near the…

Review platform TripAdvisor has apologised after initially opting to leave up an offensive review of the Auschwitz Museum in Poland. The review has now been deleted and the poster banned, it said, blaming a screening "failure".…

Cricket will join English football's social media boycott to tackle abuse and discrimination. The England and Wales Cricket Board, first-class counties, women's regional teams and Professional Cricketers' Association will all be…

Online racist abuse is "spiralling out of control", according to a leading anti-cyberbullying charity. Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has given control of his Twitter account to Cybersmile to raise awareness of the impact of abuse.…

Awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop tiny sensors smaller than your fingertip that can detect the presence of COVID-19 virus nano-particles on screens, tables and other surfaces Multi-disciplinary team from GE…

A "simple flaw" caused by a language difference led to a "serious incident" for a flight from Birmingham last year. All female passengers whose title was "Miss" were classified as children - not adults - on the Tui…

Authorities in Australia and the US are investigating a handful of gamers over match-fixing and illegal betting in Counter-Strike competitions. The Esports Integrity Commission is working with the FBI to investigate a "small but…

Nominees for this year's Oscars have been told that appearing by Zoom will not be an option. In a letter to nominees, the show's producers said they had gone to "great lengths to provide a safe and enjoyable evening for all of…

Abuse on social media is the biggest obstacle facing women in public life, First Minister Arlene Foster has said. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader called on social media companies to take "more responsibility" in…

Natural Cycles, the first app to be cleared by US regulators for use as a contraceptive, has criticised the approval of a new birth control service from period tracker app Clue. Natural Cycles knocked Clue's product…

Twitter is to ban users who repeatedly tweet harmful misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. Under the scheme, members will face a lock being placed on their account. Its duration will be determined by how many times they…

Clubhouse, the audio streaming app, featured the musician and digital strategist Bomani X on its icon in December, just as its user base was exploding. (Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press) Like most Clubhouse users, Rahaf Harfoush…

Smartphones are getting a bum rap. The common perception that as people become increasingly attached to their devices they are becoming less social is just wrong, according to Stanford communication scholar Gabriella Harari. In fact,…

If you've been rejected from booking an Airbnb rental, it may be because the app's artificial intelligence determined that you're a psychopath. Airbnb owns the rights to software that's designed to scan people's online presence to predict…

At Cliqz we aim for content personalization and increased relevance of displayed news results without collecting private data, profiling or compromising our users’ privacy. Cliqz started as a news recommendation product in 2008. During…

Game of Thrones, Caitlyn Jenner, the Rugby World Cup, what is Area 51, how to eat a pineapple and what is a dead ting? These are some of the top phrases and questions you searched for on Google in 2019. The Rugby World Cup - which South…

AT&T 5G Now Live for Consumers in 10 Markets Consumers and Businesses in Birmingham, Ala., Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Providence, R.I., Rochester, N.Y., San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. among first…

Google Maps may let pedestrians choose well-lit walking routes designed to keep them safe while traveling by night The feature would highlight well-lit streets using yellow lines It's unclear how the light data would be collected and…