Three usual causes of a slow computer, and how to spot each
Microsoft blames low storage, startup apps and ageing hardware, and Apple adds short memory. These checks show which one is slowing yours.
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Technology.
A closer look at the tools changing our lives, and the choices behind them.
Claude will join Gemini in watermarking text, and users object
Gemini already hides a pattern in its word choices that only a secret key shows, and Claude will follow. Users fear it cannot tell editing from writing.
GPS: a timing race between your phone and four satellites
Your phone never talks to a GPS satellite. It times radio signals from four of them, and the FAA says that fixes you to within about 7 metres.
IBM rebuilt Deep Blue's chess chip before beating Kasparov
After losing to Garry Kasparov in 1996, IBM doubled Deep Blue's speed and taught it to bide its time before opening a file. In May 1997 it won.
Flock cameras in the US: what they record and who can search
Flock plate cameras feed a shared police network. A Kentucky officer used it to track his ex-girlfriend, and a Texas detective to hunt a woman over abortion.
Best AI: a different winner for every task
There is no single best AI. Testers who compare notetakers, chatbots, or raw models each crown a different winner, and the field moves too fast to settle.
Mark Zuckerberg blocked Facebook's Like button for two years
Facebook's engineers had a working Like button ready by late 2007, but Mark Zuckerberg blocked it for two years while a smaller rival shipped one first.
A warehouse robot's job is carrying, not picking
A warehouse robot spends its shift moving pallets, totes, and shelves under a routing system, while a person still handles most single items.
A surgeon still controls the surgical robots used on patients
A surgeon drives the surgical robots used on patients today, from an NHS console to the labs training robots to work with less help.
In a California lab, a wooden block became the mouse
Douglas Engelbart's team at Stanford Research Institute tested a cannonball trackball, a joystick and a light panel. A wooden box on wheels beat them all.
Why humanoid robots still struggle with balance and hands
A humanoid must balance on two legs, match a human hand and learn from demonstration. Figure and Tesla are trying, and Rodney Brooks sees a bubble.
Instagram's Restrict cuts someone off without telling them
On Instagram, Restrict hides a person's comments from others and moves their messages to requests. They stop seeing when you are online and are never told.
Your IP address gives away your provider, not your street
An IP address identifies your device to every site you visit, and reveals your provider and a rough location, never an exact one.
Cables, rug edges and corners: why a robot vacuum gets stuck
Robot vacuums tend to stall on the same few things: loose cables, raised rug edges, thick carpet and dirty sensors. Better navigation helps, but only so far.
Will AI replace lawyers? Trainees are the first to feel it
A Harvard Law School centre reports AI cutting junior legal roles, yet the US Bureau of Labor Statistics still forecasts 4% growth in lawyer jobs.
ZDNET picks Bitdefender as the best antivirus for 2026
ZDNET names Bitdefender its top antivirus pick for 2026, but Microsoft advises against running a second antivirus alongside Windows Defender.
Pirate radio stations keep coming back after raids
Pirate radio stations split the studio from the transmitter and hide aerials on rooftops. Raids and seizures have not always kept them off the air.
Apple unveils the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and first foldable
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max go on sale September 18. The foldable iPhone Duo follows on October 23, at new chief John Ternus's first launch.
Alan Turing swapped 'Can machines think?' for a game
Alan Turing's 1950 imitation game asks a judge to tell human from machine by typed questions. His own sample machine got a sum wrong.
How to clear your cache in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge
Clearing a cache slows one page load, but clearing cookies signs you out everywhere. Steps for four browsers, an iPhone, and one misbehaving app.
Employers are retraining staff instead of hiring AI engineers
Job postings for generative AI skills rose 1,848% in 2023, and companies short of engineers to hire are retraining the staff they already have.
Bell Labs built the first practical solar cell in 1954
Three Bell Labs scientists turned silicon into a 6% efficient solar cell in 1954, more than a century after the photovoltaic effect was first observed.
Half the mining power lets one party rewrite a blockchain
A miner with more than half a blockchain's computing power can build a longer chain, undo its own payments, and spend the same coins twice.
Fei-Fei Li built ImageNet while her field doubted data
Colleagues told Fei-Fei Li her plan to label 14 million images went too far. Three years after its release, it helped set off the deep learning boom.