Life

World’s first ATM turns into gold on 50th birthday

(Reuters) — Five decades since it heralded a transformation in the way people obtained and used cash, the world’s first automated teller machine was turned into gold for celebrations of its fiftieth anniversary. The brainchild of Scottish inventor Shepherd-Barron, the first ATM was opened on June 27, 1967 at a branch of Barclays bank in Enfield, north London, the first of six cash dispensers commissioned by the bank. English actor Reg Varney, who starred in […]

Jinkee Pacquiao and walking on the streets of Australia in style

(Eagle News) — She walked down the streets like she was a model. While the Filipino boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao was busy preparing for his upcoming bout against Jeff Horn on July 2, his wife Jinkee appeared to have already nailed a modeling competition as she walked down the streets of Australia  in high fashion and style. Jinkee Pacquiao’s OOTD (outfits of the day) posted on her Instagram account instantly became blockbusters as netizens showered […]

Race is on to turn flying car into reality

by Tangi Quemener Agence France-Presse LE BOURGET, France (AFP) – Aeronautics giants are treating the idea of a flying car with caution, as such a project raises more questions than it answers, experts say — it’s a child’s dream, a millionaire’s toy. But is it really the next big thing in transport? At this year’s Paris Air Show, you had to search hard to find an aircraft that looked anything like an automobile: but one […]

China facing largest diabetes epidemic in the world: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — China is facing the largest diabetes epidemic in the world with around 11 percent of its population suffering from the metabolic illness, while nearly 36 percent are prediabetic, according to a United States study published Tuesday. The survey, which included 170,287 participants and was conducted in 2013, was analyzed with the assistance of Linhong Wang from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and was published in the Journal […]

Multinationals hit by global wave of cyberattacks

by By Oleksandr Savochenko with Maria Antonova in Moscow and AFP bureaus Agence France Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — A global wave of cyberattacks that began in Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday wrought havoc on government and corporate computer systems as it spread to Western Europe and across the Atlantic. Several multinational companies said they were targeted, including United States pharmaceutical giant Merck, Russian state oil giant Rosneft, British advertising giant WPP and the French […]

Google hit with record 2.4-billion euro EU fine

by Alex Pigman Agence France Presse The European Union hit Google with a record 2.4-billion-euro fine Tuesday for illegally favoring its shopping service in search results, in a fresh assault on United States firms that risks the wrath of President Donald Trump. Hard-charging European Commission competition chief Margrethe Vestager said the tech giant “abused its market dominance” as the world’s most popular search engine to give an advantage to its Google Shopping service. “What Google has […]

J. K. Rowling marks ‘wonderful’ Harry Potter 20th anniversary

by Mark McLaughlin with Rosie Scammell in London Agence France Presse EDINBURGH, United Kingdom (AFP) — Author J. K. Rowling on Monday marked the “wonderful” two decades since her Harry Potter creation first hit the shelves, starting a global literary phenomenon which has inspired a generation. “20 years ago today a world that I had lived in alone was suddenly open to others. It’s been wonderful. Thank you,” she wrote on Twitter. A pair of […]

Facebook to produce own TV series, games

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Facebook is starting production on high-quality television series and gaming shows to be broadcast on its platform, one of the social media giant’s executives said on Monday. The online platform, which has around two billion monthly users worldwide, is working on the project with a small group of partners and hopes to start putting out episodes of its forthcoming series by the end of the summer, Nick Grudin, the […]

Robotic ‘suit’ helps Japan’s older employees lift heavy loads

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — A distribution and storage management company in Japan, where the population is ageing faster than any other country in the world, has introduced a robotic harness called a Power Assist Suit to support their older employees. Over half of the nearly 100 employees working at Ueda Group’s distribution center in the country’s biggest industrial region, Kawasaki, are in their 40s and 50s, the company said, and their jobs require them to […]

VR tool lets you step inside your design

ZURICH, Switzerland (Reuters) — Designing a new building can be a laborious and costly task, and getting a clear idea of how the interior spaces will look can be tricky. Swiss-based researchers founded the company Inspacion to remove this uncertainty with a virtual reality (VR) platform that allows users to step inside the design before it has been built. They say it could be particularly useful when the layout of a room is vital to […]

Hi-tech bracelet could replace safety alarms, says designer

VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) — A young industrial designer says her newly designed bracelet, which is activated by a unique ‘panic grip,’ could replace unwieldy panic buttons used by the elderly in their homes. Hanne Pålsson developed the bracelet as her Master’s thesis project at Lund University in southern Sweden. The bracelet includes a built-in mobile phone and GPS system and doesn’t require a base station. The user can program it with up to seven phone […]

Boom’s supersonic prototype prepares for 2018 test flight

Reuters — Colorado-based start-up Boom Supersonic is hoping to compete with the major airline companies by developing a new supersonic passenger jet. If successful, their supersonic airliner will fly 2.6 times faster than any other aircraft on the market today. Hitting speeds up to 1,451 miles per hour, the planes could reduce typical New York to London flight times of seven hours to little more than three hours. Boom is aiming to test their XB-1 […]