Neowin®

The United Kingdom government has begun to draft a set of regulations that aim to govern the most powerful language models such as those behind OpenAI's ChatGPT which aims to limit potential harm.

EE has announced a simpler price increase model that will come into force next year. It said that customers would be told of price increases in pounds and pence, and they wouldn't be inflation-linked.

The US DOJ has unsealed indictments against seven Chinese hackers involved with the APT31 hacking group. The group has targeted US and UK politicians as well as businesses and critics of China.

A total of 47 million mobile and broadband customers are going to be hit with price rises in April. The comparison website Uswitch has provided some tips on how customers can avoid the hikes.

Apple Sports is now available to download from the App Store on iPhone if you're in the US, UK, or Canada. You can see scores, upcoming games, play-by-play information, team stats, and more.

An international task force has nabbed two actors involved with the LockBit ransomware that has been causing a major headache for companies around the world since 2019. Infrastructure was seized too.

The UK-based consumer rights group, Which?, has exposed the scale of scam ads across major online platforms such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook. It called on companies to do more.

The UK Space Agency has announced £7.4 million in funding for several global space projects. This funding will help the UK play a part in upcoming space exploration while keeping costs quite low.

The UK government has invested a total of £22 million in two research hubs to turn research into business realities. The government hopes that this investment will put the UK ahead in semiconductors.

Vodafone is joining hands with Microsoft to harness the power of AI, Cloud and other digital services in an attempt to "transform the customer experience" across Europe, the UK, and Africa.

All of the UK's mobile network providers will close down their 3G services in 2024 and 2025. Vodafone is being most aggressive as it will conduct the final shutdown phase this month and next.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a new interview that UK regulators were "tough and fair" when they initially blocked the company's deal to buy Activision Blizzard in April 2023.

Shell Energy was fined £1.4 million by the regulator Ofcom for not properly informing customers that they were out of contract or that their contract was coming to an end. The issue is now resolved.

Apple has introduced a new feature for Apple Pay users that displays relevant information and account details in the Wallet app to them when they link their credit and debit card accounts in Wallet.

Under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission is strengthening controls on online platforms to ensure the safety of users, especially, children regarding content shared online.

CMA, the UK watchdog, is closing its investigations against Meta and Amazon about the use of ad data after securing two commitments from the tech giants. These ensure user and seller protection.

The consumer group Which? has warned that the Vodafone and Three merger in the UK could lead to higher prices and worse service in the short term. Longer term, it said that customers could benefit.

The London tribunal may be looking to reopen old wounds for Apple with the judge ruling against it in a mass lawsuit brought forward by a consumer champion regarding the company's batterygate scandal.

Which? has warned that it's relatively easy to get ChatGPT and Bard to craft text for scam emails and text messages. Its warning comes just days before the UK is set to host a summit on AI safety.

The UK has finally passed the Online Safety Bill. It's a wide-reaching piece of legislation that aims to improve child safety online. It threatens tech bosses who don't comply with fines and jail.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces the plans for establishing the world's first AI Safety Institute. This announcement comes ahead of the upcoming AI Safety Summit next week in UK.

Vodafone and Three have said that their merger in the UK could create 12,000 new jobs. The Unite union has warned that similar mergers have actually led to job cuts and says up to 1,600 jobs could go.

The NVIDIA GeForce Now PC cloud gaming service is raising prices for all of its subscription plans in Canada and Europe starting on November 1. Prices will remain the same in the US.

More organisations have signed Ofcom's pledge to bring more women into senior tech roles. The pledge was originally signed by telecom companies from the UK in June but more have just signed.

The UK government has announced that Edinburgh will be home to a new exascale supercomputer. The computer will be 50 times more powerful than the UK's best supercomputer, the ARCHER2.

Which? has called on the broadband regulator, Ofcom, to put a ban in place on mid-contract price rises. It said consumers will face steep price increases in 2024 just as they have in 2023.

The UK government has asked artificial intelligence companies to share more details of how their large language models work. It's in preparation for a global AI summit in the UK in November.

The UK's competition regulator has launched an investigation into Qualcomm's acquisition of Autotalks. It wants to find out if the deal will hurt competition in the United Kingdom.

EE, which operates one of the biggest mobile networks in the UK, has announced several new AI-based security measures to fight spammers and scammers. The features will be deployed soon.

According to Ofcom, the UK broadband situation has improved over the last year. It said download and upload speeds had improved and that peak-time usage was having a bit less impact on speeds.

Meta announced that it will shut down Facebook News in the UK, France and Germany later this year, as News currently makes up less than 3% of the global content users see in their Facebook feeds.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has ended its investigation into Broadcom's $69 billion acquisition of VMware and published a final report. It has said the acquisition can go ahead.

Virgin Media O2 has announced upgrades to its network in several staycation locations around the UK including Kent, Cornwall, East Sussex, Yorkshire, the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides.

Apple could pull iMessage and FaceTime from the UK if the government passes new measures. Under changes to law, Apple would be forced to disable security features without telling users.

A new amendment to the Online Safety Bill will require a report to be submitted by an expert before Ofcom can decrypt people's messages. It's designed to add balance to the safety bill.

The UK's CMA has provisionally cleared Broadcom's acquisition of VMware. It will hear feedback from interested parties and give its final decision on the matter by the middle of September.

Apple has launched Tap to Pay in the UK. It's currently available to merchants through Revolut and Tyl by NatWest but it will be coming to lost more in the near future. It requires an iPhone Xs.

Mastercard has developed a new AI tool called Consumer Fraud Risk which helps banks to stop people from sending money to scammers. It could help prevent the loss of £100 million every year.

Ofcom has outlined how the upper 6 GHz spectrum band could be used by both Wi-Fi and mobile traffic. It calls the approach 'hybrid sharing' and outlined several ways that it could be implemented.

The consumer rights organization, Which?, has castigated broadband companies in the UK for putting prices up but only delivering mediocre services. Its survey found many customers had issues.