Jeremy Corbyn is set to propose a tax on tech giants including Facebook, Google and Netflix to subsidise the BBC licence fee.
In a speech at the Edinburgh TV festival on Thursday, the Labour leader is expected to call for radical reform of the media landscape and propose a “digital licence fee” to help fund the BBC.
He will argue that tech giants should pay for extracting “huge wealth from our shared digital space”.
“In the digital age, we should consider whether a digital licence fee could be a fairer and more effective way to fund the BBC,” he is set to tell the audience.
Corbyn will say that the digital licence fee could allow “a democratized and more plural BBC to compete far more effectively” with multinational digital giants like Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and Google.
MIT finds way for submarines and planes to communicate
Researchers at MIT have reportedly developed a way for submarines to communicate with planes.
The new technology will allow communication from underwater to the air, a feat not previously possible as planes are currently unable to pick up underwater sonar signals.
The researchers found an extremely high-frequency radar which could detect tiny ripples in water, created by an ordinary underwater speaker.
This could let lost flight recorders and submarines communicate with planes.
Talk to the Face(book)
Voice is increasingly becoming a big deal in the tech world – and this latest update could well cement its place in the status quo. Code found in Facebook’s platform and Messenger apps hint at an ‘Aloha Voice’ function in the works that could let users chat to their account as if it were an Alexa or Cortana.
Being able to dictate posts to the platform or use it to cyber stalk your arch-nemesis could well be on the horizon, although it’s not been confirmed by the team – and considering that most of us spend way too much time on Facebook anyway, that may be no bad thing.
A social media platform connected to a black hole
Newly launched ‘social medial’ platform Brizzly lets you type out a social media post, just as you would with Twitter or Facebook.
What’s different about this platform is that after you hit send the content doesn’t post on your feed, or anywhere. It just disappears.
The purpose of the app is to curb your social media habit by giving you all the endorphins of a new post, without the responsibility.
Virtually – and literally – a circus
The circus has been getting something of a revival recently with the release of the Greatest Showman and its epic soundtrack. Now, instead of looking back at the origins of the Big Top, one company is bringing us its future.
Two Bit Circus is launching a VR circus in LA as it prepares to delight and amaze a whole new generation with offerings that include an updated arcade with a robot bartender, VR-enhanced escape room-style experiences and a space for developers to test games in front of live audiences.
With $21m backing and plans to expand around the world it sounds like the immersive experience could definitely give PT Barnum a run for his money.
Mind-bending mobile game to hit the big screen
Mobile game hit Monument Valley is set to be turned into a film.
The game, which was released by London-based developers UsTwo in 2014, is a double BAFTA Games Award nominee and challenges players to solve optical illusion puzzles.
UsTwo plan to work in partnership with Paramount Pictures and Weed Road Pictures to develop a live action and computer generated hybrid film based on the game.
This is not the first mobile game to be developed into a movie, as the Angry Birds mobile game inspired a film in 2016 with a sequel set for next year.