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Autonomous once again: The corporate takeover that went wrong

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

When Mike Lynch embarked on a beauty parade for his Cambridge-based data sorting company in the heart of Silicon Valley last year, he didn't think that just over a year later he would be leaving the company he founded 16 years ago. But among the 27,000 jobs Hewlett Packard this week announced it is planning to cut is Mr Lynch himself.

Will Dean's Ideas Factory: Billr app means an end to asking 'Why am I paying for your steak?'

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Somehow, it's never easy. Even if there's an even number of you. Even if everyone has the same meal. And the same drinks. Even the tip can make things complicated.

Transforming London for Olympics inspires a way to unite British business

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The Olympic Games transforms cities. As well as the inevitable construction of all the sporting venues, transport systems are overhauled and some districts are radically regenerated.

Trending: There's an Ape for that

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Humans are not the only primates going ape over iPads, so are, um, apes. Several zoos in the US have started to introduce their orang-utans to computers as part of their mental stimulus programmes, and it turns out the animals are big fans of the hi-tech tablet. Staff at Miami's Jungle Island turned to the iPad on the suggestion of dolphin researcher Jack Kassewitz. The main app used is Tap To Talk, which displays pictures of various objects such as a mango or a bucket, one of which the trainer then names, and the orang-utan then presses the corresponding button.

The 10 Best telescopes

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. Skywatcher Skyliner-250PX FlexTube 10'' Dobsonian

The 10 Best Telescopes

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. Skywatcher Skyliner-250PX FlexTube 10'' Dobsonian

Facebook: Is it worth it?

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Yes

Max Payne 3's in-game gunfight physics make it a modern wonder

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

One thousand five hundred and forty two feet per second; 1,051 miles per hour; 1.3 times the speed of sound... no, not the speed of Superman, but the deadly rate at which a bullet leaves the muzzle of computer game antihero Max Payne's Desert Eagle handgun.

Max Payne 3's in-game gunfight physics make it a modern wonder

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Will Dean's Ideas Factory: Everything you wanted to know about your city

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

This column previously covered a neat experiment that was using open data for London's air quality to point out automatically areas of iffy air quality on Twitter.

Reinventing the wheel: The most inventive cycling innovations

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Back in the day – in 1890, say – you could buy a bicycle made of steel with a chain, brakes and two wheels fitted with pneumatic tyres. It looked like a bicycle and rode like a bicycle, and it set the standard. Today's models may be lighter, slicker and come with better paint jobs but the safety bicycle, as it was known, was a design of such ingenuity that it has remained essentially unchanged in the 120 years since its wheels first rolled.

Mr Right is not online

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

I started internet dating a few years ago. I found that I rarely met single men in my day-to-day life. I work in book publishing, which is made up of about 80 per cent women, and most of my friends are married so my social life consists of going out to dinner with other couples. Internet dating seemed like a good idea; there's a huge cross- section of people out there and I had at least three friends who have married men they found on the internet, which was all quite encouraging.

The 10 Best personal finance apps

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. UK Salary Calculator

The 10 best personal finance apps

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. UK Salary Calculator

How do I: Set up my pay TV in another room?

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

With most homes in the UK already set up with digital television, it's unlikely that the end of analogue has affected your main telly in the front room. But, for many, it's the old set in the bedroom or the den that's been rendered useless. Especially if it's one not connected to the house's main aerial and has been relying on a plug-in analogue aerial booster.

Cyber culture: Don't want your data to be mined by the web giants? Time to talk like an Egyptian

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

One of my earliest internet memories is of geeks enthusiastically using PGP keys, an almost military-grade encryption tool that ensured messages could only be read by the person who sent them and the person who received them.

Divorce in the internet age: It’s complicated

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

A year ago, as my first novel was being published and I was starting a new career, I was also dealing with one of the hardest stretches of my life due to an unexpected divorce. The divorce particulars won't break new ground in the genre and I don't pretend my experience is any more or less painful than what others have gone through.

Divorce in the internet age

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Trending: Why we're cool for cats

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

In this month's New Humanist magazine, the venerable gonzo illustrator Ralph Steadman describes cats – quite accurately and rather wonderfully – as "purring sycophants with an agenda". Steadman's Book of Cats – out tomorrow – features a selection of Steadman's scabrous portraits of a species he claims to dislike, but clearly, reading the New Humanist piece, admires (he had a cat called Tishy).

Taking a mobile and a wallet to the shops?

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Making payments on the move and at the touch of a button isn't the future of banking; it's already here. Mobile phone providers have been quick to focus on finding new ways for customers to access financial services and products from their phones.

Spy in the sky: Is it only a matter of time before drone technology is used in civil society?

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The world's first glimpse of a killer drone in action was over the English Channel: a Royal Navy patrol boat reported "a bright horizontal flame" in the sky. The device emitting the flame had stubby wings and was shaped like a rocket, and was travelling from the French coast at more than 200mph. Too small and too fast to be intercepted, it arrived in England's Home Counties without warning; as it plunged earthwards the low drone of the motor cut out and there were three seconds of silence before the massive explosion. Where it exploded, the human beings at the epicentre simply disappeared, vaporised.

Paul Saffo: 'We have willingly made ourselves like tagged bears'

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Paul Saffo is a renowned forecaster who has been consulting with companies and governments about how to respond to large-scale, long-term technological change for more than two decades. He is managing director of Foresight at Discern Analytics and teaches on the future of engineering and the impact of technological change at Stanford University in California.

The 10 Best budget laptops

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. Packard Bell Dot S

The 10 best budget laptops

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. Packard Bell Dot S

Insight: Paul Saffo, Futurologist

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:00:01 GMT