“It’s not a deal if you weren’t going to buy it in the first place.”

Although a communique, in preparation for months, will be produced, its focus on issues such as digital transformation, post-Covid recovery and food security is unlikely to stretch beyond the non-committal platitudes that normally fill such statements. Indonesia has tried to keep Ukraine off the agenda by saying the G20 is primarily an economic forum, not a geopolitical security forum.

Multinational tech giant Amazon recently released a household robot named Astro. The robot, currently available by invitation only, puts Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, onto a dog-sized body with wheels that roams around your living space.

Astro’s primary function is home monitoring and security.

If an alien were to look at Earth, many human technologies, from cell towers to fluorescent light bulbs, could be a beacon signifying the presence of life.

A technosignature (technomarker) is any measurable property or effect that provides scientific evidence of past or present technology. Technosignatures are analogous to biosignatures, which signal the presence of life, whether intelligent or not.

While scanning the sky for a TV broadcast of some extraterrestrial Olympics may sound straightforward, searching for signs of distant, advanced civilisations is a much more nuanced and difficult task than it might seem.

Unlike airplanes and helicopters, eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicles offer quick point-to-point personal travel, at least in principle.

The pilot-less vehicles could one day ferry passengers across town high above congested roadways. But the sector still faces major challenges, including battery life, air traffic control and safety, and infrastructure issues.

2020 Florida Amendment 2 was an amendment to the Constitution of Florida that passed on November 3, 2020, via a statewide referendum concurrent with other elections. The amendment sets to increase the state's hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2026.

Effective September 30th, 2021, Florida’s will raise minimum wage to $10.00 per hour. Each September 30th thereafter, minimum wage shall increase by $1.00 per hour until the minimum wage reaches $15.00 per hour on September 30th, 2026. From that point forward, future minimum wage increases shall revert to being adjusted annually for inflation starting September 30th, 2027.

Apple has in the past warned that the proposal would hurt innovation and create waste.

The change had been discussed for years and was prompted by complaints from iPhone and Android users about having to switch to different chargers for their devices.

The vote confirms an earlier agreement among EU institutions and will make USB-C connectors used by Android-based devices the EU standard, forcing Apple to change its charging port for its devices.

A number of Chinese firms, government research labs and other entities are expected to face restrictions similar to Huawei, according to two people with knowledge of the plans.

In effect, any firm that uses American-made technologies would be blocked from selling to the Chinese entities that are targeted by the administration. It’s not yet clear which Chinese firms and labs would be affected.

Social robots have been proposed as a solution for social isolation, and to address the challenges associated with ageing. There are several challenges in producing robots that can realistically mimic the behaviour of humans, so researchers are turning to dogs to check if robots can develop similar bonds with humans.