Your WIRED.co.uk daily briefing. Today, Three will be trialling a network-level ad-blocking feature in June, Google has threatened to publish figures showing which mobile phone providers are failing to send out Android updates promptly, Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory staff with robots and more.
Get WIRED Awake sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning by 8am. Click here to sign up to the WIRED Awake newsletter.
Next month, Three will begin trials of a new feature to block all online ads before they reach the user (Ars Technica UK). Set to take place during a 24-hour period at some point between June 13 and June 20, the trial will use Shine's ad-blocking technology to block all adverts from both mobile websites and apps. Three users will be contacted to see if they wish to be part of the trial.
Google is putting pressure on Android phone manufacturers and on phone carrier services to distribute operating system updates to their users more rapidly (Bloomberg). The Alphabet company has reportedly threatened to publish internal figures that show which companies are quickly getting updates to users and which aren't bothering. Delayed Android updates present a security risk, recently highlighted by software exploits such as Stagefright. While mobile phone companies' own custom-branded and network-locked devices are often the worst offenders when it comes to late or non-existent updates, major manufacturers such as Samsung and HTC have also been criticised for failing to properly support Android devices with regular updates.
A Chinese government official has told the South China Morning Post that hardware and component maker Foxconn has at one factory in the Kushan region "reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots" (BBC). However, a representative of the company, which is perhaps best known as the contract manufacturer of the iPhone, has denied that long-term job losses have resulted from the move, telling the BBC that "we are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees, and through training, also enable our employees to focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process, such as research and development, process control and quality control."
Papers published in the journals Nature and Science show that, contrary to widely held current scientific opinion, clouds are likely to have formed just as readily in the pre-industrial age as they do today (Nature). This has important implications for models of climate change and global warming, as it was previously thought that modern high levels of sulphuric acid, which forms as a result of environmental reactions with sulphur dioxide emissions, were the key means by which clouds form, meaning that our skies were once less cloudy. However, the new findings indicate that, in the past, an organic carbon released by coniferous plants served as the main particle around which clouds condensed. This means that climate models can no longer assume that the skies of the past were clearer and that that modern climate change figures shouldn't assume that higher level levels of post-industrial cloud cover are preventing what would otherwise be higher levels of warming. However, CERN's Jasper Kirkby, who led one of the experiments, says that even factoring in the new data, current best estimates of future climate change remain the same, with only a few extreme outlier scenarios ruled out.
Later this morning, at 5:30 EDT (10:30 BST), the crew of the International Space Station will deploy the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a trial version of an inflatable space habitat that could in future drastically reduce the weight of the materials that need to be sent to space in order to create living and working environments on space stations (Space.com). Once the experimental habitat has been inflated, it'll remain in place on the ISS over the next two years. While it won't see regular use, ISS crewmembers will enter BEAM several times a year to measure and monitor its performance in the face of space junk, solar radiation and extreme temperatures. After inflation, Nasa astronauts will enter the module for the first time on June 2.
PayPal has announced that as of June 30, its mobile app will only be available to Android and iOS users (The Verge). It's discontinuing support for Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Amazon's Fire OS, and recommends that users of those devices switch to the mobile web interface. However, peer-to-peer payments will still be supported by the BBM app for Blackberry and an add-in for Outlook.com users on Windows phones.
Scientists have found evidence that, 176,000 years ago, Neanderthals ventured underground to build semi-circular structures in a cave complex in southwest France (Nature). The structures in Bruniquel Cave were first found in the early 90s, with radio carbon dating of animal bones showing only that the remains were more than 50,000 years old. However, the new team as analysed the broken-off stalagmites used to form the structures, which appear to have been stacked to create simple walls and show signs of burning. Analysis of calcite accretions on the stones shows that the structures were built between 174,400 to 178,600 years ago – long before other hominins reached Europe. However, the purpose of the underground structures remains mysterious.
Kotaku reports that Microsoft has at least two new Xbox devices planned for release over the next two years, including a version with a more powerful graphics processor, set for release in 2017. Codenamed Scorpio, anonymous sources indicate that the device will be capable of supporting the Oculus Rift VR headset and say that Microsoft is hoping to partner with Oculus in the future. There are also plans for a compact version of the Xbox One, due to be announced at E3 next month.
Bethesda Softworks and Titan Comics and Books have announced that they're to publish a series of books that fill in the gap between the end of Dishonored and the beginning of Dishonored 2, which is due for release in November (Polygon). The first publication will be a four-part comic series starting on August 3, which will follow Corvo Attano's search for a successor. A novel, Dishonored – The Corroded Man is due out in September, and will cover the years between the games in greater detail.
Kirstie Bowers of Johannesburg captured extraordinary footage of male black mambas engaging in 'plaiting combat' while on safari in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park (Motherboard). The fascinating footage, says Kenneth Krysko of the Florida Museum of Natural History, "shows two males in a classic combat behaviour, with each trying to make the other one submit" in order to win the right to mate with a female.
Sure, streaming video offering endless entertainment on demand right into your living room is all right, but it's not a patch on the time-tested tradition of going down to the video rental store, is it? OK, that's a lie. Physical movie rentals died out as a result of being an objectively worse consumer experience than instant access. Curiously, despite ushering in the modern streaming era, Netflix seems nostalgic for the days of browsing your local Blockbuster - so it's recreated the experience in virtual reality. As part of Netflix's latest hack day, its designers have created a VR showroom that users can stroll around thanks to HTC Vive's room-scale VR.
WIRED charts the rise of mission-driven businesses proving that purpose can be synonymous with profit. From Kickstarter to Kiva, Littlebits to Cosmethics, for-profit companies are building successful, high-revenue businesses by addressing education, nutrition and healthcare in creative new ways. Out now in print, iPad and iPhone.
WIRED Money showcases the innovative thinkers who are re-imagining the financial sector. Following fantastic events in 2013, 2014 and 2015, this one-day event returns on June 23, 2016.
Get social. Follow @WiredUK on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
