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Scots turn to streaming services as traditional TV viewing declines

Who needs traditional broadcast TV when you can binge three seasons on #Netflix? 🤷 https://t.co/jC6HnrWTfd

— DIGIT (@digitfyi) August 8, 2019

More than half of Scotland’s households (56%) now have some form of connected television, according to statistics published in Ofcom’s Media Nations report.

The report, which examines how Brits consume television and entertainment services, has revealed major shifts in the nation’s viewing habits.

Half of all adults surveyed in Scotland claimed to use various types of on-demand services in 2019 – spanning both paid-for and free services.

Among these, Netflix and BBC iPlayer had the most claimed usage among respondents in Scotland, standing at 32% and 28% respectively – these were followed closely by Amazon Prime Video, with 22% of respondents using the video streaming service.

Amazon Prime Video is the only service where usage has increased since 2018, marking an 11% rise in Scotland.

Across the UK, the number of households signed up to the most popular streaming platforms increased from 11.2 million in 2018 to around 13.3 million this year. Many homes also use more than one streaming service now, which brought the total number of UK subscriptions up from 15.6 million to 19.1 million in 2018.

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Prime Minister pledges £250m funding for NHS AI lab

Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged up to £250 million in funding for an NHS AI laboratory yesterday.

Find out how this could revolutionise medical research in the UK. https://t.co/pAlzMYNj3e pic.twitter.com/GraWN8JU6V

— DIGIT (@digitfyi) August 9, 2019

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced £250 million in funding to establish an NHS artificial intelligence lab – marking his third funding pledge to the health service in as many days.

NHS England will receive the multi-million-pound funding, which Johnson says could help revolutionise patient care and medical research.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock praised the potential of deploying AI in the NHS, saying it had “enormous power” to enhance care, save lives and to allow doctors to spend more time with patients.

Due to the NHS’ less than stellar record with technology, health experts have warned that any new system will require “robust evaluation” to avoid it having a negative impact on the healthcare system. If implemented without high safety standards and training, they say it could cause more harm than good.

In addition to these concerns, they have also raised the question of where the money for this will be coming from, with some worrying it may come from cuts in other areas and services that are already feeling the pinch from lack of cash. 

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Barclays’ second Eagle Lab to open in Aberdeen

Barclays has announced it will open its second Scotland-based Eagle Lab in #Aberdeen next month – providing a crucial boost for entrepreneurs in the north-east. https://t.co/5HL3QhDI1x pic.twitter.com/9qP2AUEBfn

— DIGIT (@digitfyi) August 9, 2019

Barclays has announced it will open its second Eagle Lab in Scotland to support entrepreneurs in the north-east of the country and drive innovation in the region.

Based in Aberdeen’s ONE Tech Hub, the city’s new home of digital and entrepreneurship, the Eagle Lab will be open for business in September this year.

Barclays said the Aberdeen space will be one of its flagship Labs for Industry 4.0 and will help entrepreneurs in the North East to capitalise on the region’s “natural strength in oil and gas” as well as unlock the potential of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics.

The Barclays Eagle Lab network is one of the largest co-working and incubator networks for startups and scaleups in the UK – boasting 25 locations across the country.

Stuart Brown, head of SME Scotland at Barclays, commented: “Aberdeen has a wealth of businesses and entrepreneurs with ambitions, ideas and deep technical expertise who need access to the right resources and advice to help them start-up and scale-up.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing how and where we all work and the skills we need. Eagle Labs is committed to supporting the development of skills in entrepreneurship, innovation and in new and emerging technologies such as AS, data exchange, connected devices, advanced manufacturing and much more.”

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Glasgow scientists build ‘artificial tongue’ to detect fake whiskies

Find out how this ‘artificial tongue’ can tell the difference between certain drams of whisky 🥃 https://t.co/BJsHBo4yfv

— DIGIT (@digitfyi) August 7, 2019

Researchers at the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering have created an artificial tongue, which they say is so sophisticated it can tell the difference between different drams of whisky.

The team behind the tongue says it has an accuracy rate of more than 99% and could be used as a tool to crack down on fake alcohol – thought to cost the UK roughly £1 billion a year.

The device uses the properties in gold and aluminium to test differences between spirits. The tech is so sensitive that it can discern the differences between the same brand of whisky that has been aged in different barrels, according to the researchers. It can apparently also identify differences between whiskies aged for 12, 15 and 18 years.

Alasdair Clark, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering, said: “We call this an artificial tongue because it acts similarly to a human tongue – like us, it can’t identify the individual chemicals which make coffee taste different to apple juice but it can easily tell the difference between these complex chemical mixtures.”

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UN report reveals Scottish firm sold technology to Myanmar military

A UN report alleges that a Scottish company sold tech to the Myanmar military, which has been committing atrocities against the Rohingya population. https://t.co/EpSRGcDBvl

— DIGIT (@digitfyi) August 8, 2019

Aberdeen-based firm Veripos, which develops navigation technology for the oil and gas sector, is alleged to have sold more than £70,000 worth of equipment to the Myanmar Army, known as the Tatmadaw.

Veripos, part of Hexagon’s Positioning Intelligence division, is one of 59 private companies identified by the UN following a six-month investigation, with other named organisations based in Belgium, France, Canada and Norway.

In addition, state-owned companies from Russia, India, Israel and China are also believed to have agreed deals with the military worth billions of pounds. Weapons and equipment, ranging from vehicles and small arms weaponry to fighter jets and ballistic missile systems, have been supplied to the Myanmar military through these companies.

In its report, the UN called for a crackdown on companies known to do business with the military, recommending that assets be frozen.

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Instagram removes ad company after ‘data grab’

US marketing company Hyp3r has been removed from Instagram following claims that it grabbed users’ data.

Hyp3r has been accused of scraping user profiles, copying photos and ‘siphoning off’ data that was meant to be deleted after 24 hours, according to an investigation conducted by Business Insider.

In a statement, the social media firm said Hyp3r had violated the platform’s policies and demanded the company stop collecting data from the site. Hyp3r insisted it had complied with Instagram’s terms of service, along with the terms for other social networks it had targeted.

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Police investigate YouTuber over alleged animal abuse

Police in the US are investigating allegations that a popular YouTube personality abused her pet dog in a video that was accidentally posted to the website.

Brooke Houts, a YouTuber based in Los Angeles, appears to smack and spit on her dog in a video that has drawn international condemnation. Houts rebutted claims of animal abuse and said she is “not a dog abuser”.

While the video in question has now been deleted, Houts’ alleged abuse of her pet Doberman, named Sphinx, went viral on social media. The Doberman is seen jumping up at the YouTuber while she filmed a video for her channel.

Want to find out more? Check out the original article here.