Welcome to this week in tech! We've rounded up some of the best stories and collated them here for you.

 

Twitter in hot water with BBC

 

Twitter has recently given the moniker of “government funded media” to the BBC’s official Twitter page, resulting in BBC objecting to it immediately.

 

“The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee,” said an official spokesperson as a response to the update.

 

Twitter has also been giving similar labels to other news outlets, leading to outcry. US broadcaster NPR was labelled as “state-affiliated media” by the social media website, which was changed to “government funded media” which the BBC has also been tagged with.

 

Elon Musk has since responded and has stated he will change the tag to say “publicly-funded” in regards to the BBC’s official Twitter account.

 

Juicy PCs?

There’s a PC for everyone these days! Now company Ironside computers has unveiled some rather cute and very juicy PC cases.

 

The cases, based on a design of a juice box, are available in various colours. Inspired by the Japanese-inspired “kawaii” (meaning cute), they certainly live up to their name. You can browse their range here.

 

 

PCs and gaming rigs have become increasingly about aesthetics as much as about the technology inside, and now gamers and PC users can fit their PCs exactly to their personality. There is almost too much to choose from these days, with endless mix and matching possibilities.

 

AI-ville

 

An experiment was conducted this week that tested an entire community of artificial intelligence powered characters were put in a simulated town after being given “motivations and memory”. Professor Ethan Mollick posted a study to his Twitter of the experiment, and the results were fascinating.

 

The AI agents were observed engaging in behaviour that was described as “rated more human than humans roleplaying” according to Professor Mollick. The agents would wake up, cook breakfast before heading to work in their day-to-day morning. They were even observed organising and throwing a Valentine’s Day party. You can read the full study here.

 

 

A Good Apple

Tech giant Apple have invested another $200 million in the “Restore Fund”, a project that invests in projects aiming to remove carbon from the atmosphere. This injection was cited as a “major expansion of its Restore Fund, doubling the company’s total commitment to advancing high-quality, nature-based carbon removal projects.”

 

The $200 million investment aims to create a new portfolio of carbon removal projects, focusing primarily on removing 1 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. It’s an ambitious project, but with incentives for investors to generate a financial return, it’s one of the more appealing and biggest green projects initiated by a company birthed in Silicon Valley.

 

Tech-diverse

 

Education platform Cognassist has received an investment of £4 million to expand its neuro-inclusive services across a plethora of sectors and markets.

 

Cognassist was founded with the intention of driving education and accessibility to people with unseen and unknown learning needs. Focused on the education market, it now aims to expand to employers with its new investment, particularly into the enterprise market.

 

Founder and CEO of Cognassist Chris Quickfall said of the investment: “The investment will facilitate a significant expansion for Cognassist into the enterprise market, where our science-backed technology will enable businesses to support neurodiverse employees and ensure they are able to reach their full potential.”

 

I, Robot

 

Why do we create robots that resemble us? From a physical perspective, we kinda suck, not to mention our attempts to recreate a realistic human face can lead to some very frightening results. However, the future seems to be one with robots that look like us.

 

1X technologies, a Norweigian company, has received funding of $23.5 million in order to develop their bipedal androids called NEO and their wheel-based android, EVE. Potential uses had been cited as providing companionship for older adults and assisting with household tasks.

 

Other companies such as Boston Dynamics have also been experimenting their lines of robots and androids, including very impressive feats or parkour and a four legged robot that can walk across almost any terrain.

 

That about rounds up this week in tech! Are there any news snippets this week that caught your eye? Let us know!