COMPUTING & GAMING

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, the Ugandan government will tax the use of instant messaging and social media platforms, Coca-Cola's claims of giving back the water it uses don't add up, DeepMind's AI learned to beat complex video games by watching YouTube videos and more. 1. Uganda has imposed a daily tax on social media users The Ugandan government has passed a law imposing a 200 shilling (£0.04) daily tax on anyone using social media and instant messaging platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and Twitter ( BBC News ). The charge is part of a tax package intended to tackle the country's national debt and which, most controversially, also applies a 1 per cent charge on mobile money transactions, used by many Ugandans who lack access to traditional banking services. President Yoweri Museveni, a frequent critic of "lies" spread on social media, has said that the move will reduce harmful gossip. Opponents have highlighted not only a ri...

Excerpts: New gaming laptops haven't solved the battery life problem Asus, Digital Storm, and Gigabyte hexacore laptops get tested Continue reading… ...

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, Google executives have promised a set of principles to guide the company's future military AI work, UK emergency services may drop their planned switch to 4G, most animals don't share humans' visual acuity and more. 1. Google is writing new guidelines for its development of military AI Google workers have told The New York Times that the company is developing a set of principles to guide its future work on artificial intelligence systems for military use, to be announced in the coming weeks. Google's involvement in drone vision projects for the US Department of Defense caused both internal and external controversy, but co-founder Sergey Brin has reportedly said that he feels it will be better for peace if global militaries work with international organisations such as Google, rather than with nationalistic defence contractors. Whatever guidance the new principles set out, it's likely to be a hard sell to some of t...

Excerpts: Another Pokémon game is still coming in 2019 Pokémon developer Game Freak has been busy with new titles for the Switch. In addition to Pokémon Quest , announ...

Excerpts: Huawei's new MateBook X Pro is the best laptop right now You won't find another laptop with more bang for your buck Continue reading… Re...

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, China and the UN are inviting applications to conduct experiments on the forthcoming China Space Station, a sonic attack through ordinary speakers can crash hard disks, Amazon companies are threatening to ban customers for inconvenient returns and more. 1. China wants the world to join its space station China has formally invited the world to join it on the orbital China Space Station (CSS), due to begin operations in 2022 following a 2019 launch ( Space.com ). China's Ambassador to UN, Shi Zhongjun,  said that "CSS belongs not only to China, but also to the world. All countries, regardless of their size and level of development, can participate in the cooperation on an equal footing." Applications to conduct experiments on the station are now open to both public and private organisations until August 31. 2. A sonic attack through ordinary speakers can crash hard disks A new acoustic interference attack can disrupt ...