Chris Vallance

London

Senior Broadcast Journalist at BBC

Reporter. Words for work elsewhere - a disordered miscellany I may regret later in life here. Inveterate doodler.

Articles

Discord's face scanning age checks 'start of a bigger shift'

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Imran Rahman-Jones |Chris Vallance

Discord is testing face scanning to verify some users' ages in the UK and Australia. The social platform, which says it has over 200 million monthly users around the world, was initially used by gamers but now has communities on a wide range of topics including pornography. The UK's online safety laws mean platforms with adult content will need have "robust" age verification in place by July.
Thousands report Spotify problems around the world

1 week ago | bbc.com | Tom Gerken |Chris Vallance

Tom Gerken & Chris VallanceTechnology reportersTens of thousands of Spotify users around the world have reported they were unable to stream music on the app. Downdetector, which tracks platforms, showed more than 20,000 people reported Spotify was not functioning on Wednesday afternoon from 13:30 GMT. Thousands more reported issues in the US and parts of Europe. Spotify told the BBC "the issue with Search has been addressed" it was rolling out the update to its users.
Amazon joins quantum race with 'cat qubit' powered chip

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Chris Vallance

3 hours agoHere's what happened when AI took a Rorschach testThere are so many interesting things happening in the world of AI right now.
Historic visual effects studio Technicolor collapses in UK

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Chris Vallance |Tom Gerken

Technicolor, the visual effects (VFX) group which has worked on films ranging from Disney's 1940 classic Pinocchio to 2024 blockbuster Mufasa The Lion King, has collapsed into administration in the UK. The group owned several leading visual effects studios including MPC, Mikros Animation and The Mill, with operations in the US, UK, Canada and India. Technicolor's directors had been looking to sell the business, but were not able to find a buyer.
Lion King visual effects firm Technicolor on brink of collapse

1 month ago | bbc.com | Chris Vallance

Lion King visual effects studio on brink of collapseChris VallanceSenior Technology ReporterGetty ImagesTechnicolor owned studio MPC's projects included Mufasa The Lion KingThe visual effects group behind Disney's Mufasa The Lion King and its upcoming Snow White remake, is on the brink of failure.
Powerful quantum computers in years not decades, says Microsoft

2 months ago | bbc.com | Chris Vallance

Powerful quantum computers in years not decades, says MicrosoftChris VallanceSenior Technology ReporterMicrosoftMicrosoft has unveiled a new chip called Majorana 1 that it says will enable the creation of quantum computers able to solve "meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades". It is the latest development in quantum computing - tech which uses principles of particle physics to create a new type of computer able to solve problems ordinary computers cannot.
Powerful quantum computers in years not decades, says Microsoft

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Chris Vallance

3 hours agoiPhone 16e looks great, but ... In partnership with There’s one feature missing from the new iPhone 16e that makes it a big “no” for me, dog. Looking over the specs of the iPhone 16e — the brand-new budget iPhone introduced by Apple this morning — it mostly looks pretty great.
Google ending AI arms ban incredibly concerning, campaigners say

2 months ago | bbc.com | Lucy Hooker |Chris Vallance

Concern over Google ending ban on AI weaponsLucy Hooker & Chris VallanceBusiness & technology reportersGetty ImagesExperts say AI-assisted weapons have been used in the Ukraine warGoogle's parent company lifting a longstanding ban on artificial intelligence (AI) being used for developing weapons and surveillance tools is "incredibly concerning", a leading human rights group has said.
Meta is ditching fact checkers for X-style community notes. Will they work?

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Chris Vallance

As flames tore through large parts of Los Angeles this month, so did fake news. Social media posts touted wild conspiracies about the fire, with users sharing misleading videos and misidentifying innocent people as looters. It brought into sharp focus a question that has plagued the social media age: what is the best way to contain and correct potentially incendiary sparks of misinformation? It is a debate that Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, has been at the centre of.
O chip quântico do Google que resolve em 5 minutos problema que levaria 10 quatrilhões de anos

Dec 10, 2024 | terra.com.br | Chris Vallance

O chip Willow é o mais recente avanço da computação quântica, que busca usar os princípios da física de partículas para criar um novo tipo de computador incrivelmente poderoso O Google apresentou um novo chip que, segundo a empresa, leva cinco minutos para resolver um problema que atualmente os supercomputadores mais rápidos do mundo levariam dez quatrilhões (ou 10.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000) de anos para completar.