Downtime

Recent Posts

  • Phishing for beer

    Cliff Saran - Managing Editor 13 Apr 2018
  • Pishing is when you get fed plenty of booze and then start mouthing-off, reveal a few secrets, passwords and PIN

  • This is the last Downtime written by humans: the robots have won

    Alex Scroxton - Security Editor 11 Apr 2018
  • It’s the week of the 2018 London Book Fair at Olympia, and the worrying news has reached Downtime that our jobs are indeed under threat from the rise of the robots, with the publication of the ...

  • The Daley fail

    Ryan Priest 06 Apr 2018
  • HTC has been forced to apologise and remove an advert starring Olympic diver Tom Daley, which wrongly suggests its HTC U11 device can be submerged any deeper than one metre. Smartphones are ...

  • The sweet life of Cambridge Analytica

    Ryan Priest 21 Mar 2018
  • Channel 4’s hidden-camera exposé on data firm Cambridge Analytica has made familiar faces of the puppeteers of democracy who wished to remain invisible, but we’re glad to meet them. Not since the ...

  • The universe is full of idiots

    Ryan Priest 15 Mar 2018
  • In a country that, according to Michael Gove, has “had enough of experts”, you might have expected the death of Stephen Hawking to trigger a bunting rush not seen on these shores since the street ...

  • Now that’s what I call compliance

    Ryan Priest 08 Mar 2018
  • Cloud-based customer relationship management software supplier Donorfy has taken the initiative in putting data protection officers nationwide out of their misery and compiling what can only be ...

  • They think it’s all – oh, VAR...

    Ryan Priest 01 Mar 2018
  • Association football as we know it descended into farce at the hands of the use of fledgling video assistant referee (VAR) technology throughout Tottenham and Rochdale’s FA Cup replay tie at ...

  • Why doesn’t YouTube ban Logan Paul?

    Ryan Priest 15 Feb 2018
  • YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, speaking at Recode’s Code Media conference in California, has insisted its macabre problem child Logan Paul hasn’t done enough to be kicked off the platform. The ...

  • Matt Hancock: The app

    Ryan Priest 01 Feb 2018
  • News of new culture secretary Matt Hancock launching his own app sent Downtime direct to the App Store. After a tantalising few seconds waiting for Matt Hancock to download, we open it up and join ...

  • Alexa makes children rude

    Cliff Saran - Managing Editor 01 Feb 2018
  • Smart speaker devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are making children ask for things without say "please", research from Childwise has found

  • Only the hardiest need apply for freezing Finnish startup fest

    Alex Scroxton - Security Editor 25 Jan 2018
  • If you’ve ever gone through the process of getting a tech startup off the ground, you’ll be familiar with the nerve-wracking process of pitching a group of stony-faced investors with your idea to ...

  • Branson’s pickle

    Ryan Priest 18 Jan 2018
  • Richard Branson has overturned his Virgin Trains stooges’ decision to stop selling the Daily Mail, instantly pouring cold water over accusations that the billionaire who sued the NHS might be too ...

  • Sophia 2020

    Ryan Priest 10 Jan 2018
  • Time now to check in with Downtime linchpin Sophia the robot, who’s been dazzling the world once again – this time at CES 2018. No, it’s not wig-cleaning day for Ray’s wife at Disney World’s “Hall ...

  • Chocolate coins, not bitcoins

    Ryan Priest 04 Jan 2018
  • Did anyone else notice how many people ruined the festive season’s pub visits by mistaking Bitcoin for something resembling an entertaining topic of conversation? Suddenly all these bozos you grew ...

  • The Richard & Judy tangent Downtime

    Ryan Priest 23 Nov 2017
  • Did anyone else catch Richard & Judy on 1 April 2003? In case you missed it, they pranked the nation with a segment on a device they claimed could convert sampled speech into other languages in ...