RBS will employ an AI chat bot to handle online banking queries

In response to recent moves by rivals to incorporate more technology in their customer operations, RBS has announced it’s to deploy a new online virtual assistant to help deal with enquiries quicker. The bank says the AI, named “Luvo,” was first tested among its 1,200 staff but will soon be used to help address common customer issues like lost debit and credit cards, locked PINs and how to order in a new card reader.

While RBS appears intent on reducing the amount of human interaction its customers have with staff, the company insists that Luvo’s can trawl a vast database of information “in a split second” and respond with the right answer. If it can’t, it’ll forward the request to a real person who is more qualified to help.

“Luvo is unique in that a ‘human’ like personality has been created for it,” RBS says in a statement. “Its unique psychological profile means it has a warmth to its personality, is approachable, creative and uses a combination of intuition and reasoning when answering questions.” Although Luvo initially needs to be trained to understand subjects, RBS insists it will earn its AI stripes by “learning from its mistakes,” which will make it “more accurate over time.”

In the coming months, the bank will slowly introduce the chat bot to customers, but only via “small, voluntary, customer pilots.” It’s hoped Luvo will reduce the amount of time it takes to speak to an advisor by answering the easy questions and letting its human counterparts handle the more complex enquiries.

Source: RBS

Facebook changes how it pays tax in the UK

Facebook has announced that starting this April, it’ll radically simplify its business arrangements in the UK. Boor-ing, right? Except this means that the social network’s tax dealings will now be much more transparent. It’s a big deal because, until now, the company has been accused of avoiding paying its fair share. After all, in 2014 it paid less than $7,000 despite the UK being its biggest overseas market. It somehow managed to pay a rate of just four percent on its operations, despite the going rate for businesses being 20 percent, so you can see why people were angry.

“On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook’s operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognizes the value our UK organization adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team.”

Previously, Facebook would record all of its business dealings through Ireland, where the tax situation is, ahem, more favorable. After the change, any deals that are made in the UK, with big UK firms, will be recorded as being made in the UK and therefore subject to UK tax. The rule does not, however, apply to programmatic advertising where companies buy billboard space online without a face-to-face meeting. It’s not clear how much money is made in the latter category but it’s easy to assume it’s a decent chunk.

As much as Facebook deserves praise for improving its dealings in the light of public criticism, it’s not getting any medals just yet. For a start, Britain is preparing a higher tax rate on profits that are diverted out of the country. Secondly, Ireland, which is home to a number of loopholes that enable US firms to get discounted tax rates, has been pushed to clean up its act. Thirdly, Europe has been gearing up for a fresh assault on corporate tax avoidance, with Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and others targeted.

In its defense, Facebook’s representatives here in the UK have said that this plan has been in the works for some time. They also said that the firm has invested heavily in both the UK and Ireland and employs 850 people in London. In addition, it has a facility in Somerset where it’s working on solar drones that will help connect remote communities to the internet.

There’s an amusing twist to all of this, which is that America’s international tax chief went to bat for Facebook in Europe last month. Robert Stack told officials that US tech companies were being unfairly targeted in the Union’s crackdown on tax avoidance. With this announcement, however, Facebook is kinda sorta coughing under its breath that Stack might have wasted a flight.

Via: BBC News

ICYMI: Poop fuel, magnet-attached spherical tires and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: UCLA’s biofuels lab is doing interesting work with manure protein, to see if supply of a better kind of alternative fuel can be produced on an industrial scale. Goodyear is out with crazy futuristic prototype tires that would connect to a car with magnets, be 3D printed, totally beach-ball round, include foam sponges inside the grooves to help with traction on water, and more. A Swedish musician spent a year constructing a marble music machine that is absolutely stunning to see in action.

And even though this video has made the rounds before, the Japanese company that created it is still riding high so we wanted to include it. It’s a tomato-headed, 18-pound robot backpack that automatically feeds you tomatoes while you run. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

BlackBerry’s Priv Android phone comes to Verizon

For power Android users who need a physical keyboard, one of the few devices left is the BlackBerry Priv. Until now, it could only be found on AT&T and T-Mobile, but it’s now available on Verizon, the biggest network in the US — for a price. While it costs as little as $700 or so unlocked, Big Red is selling it for $720 sans contract, or a hefty $30 per month over two years. However, it means that BlackBerry’s first and only Android device (so far) is now available to over 80 percent of US subscribers, with just Sprint missing from the big four.

We liked the Priv overall, but its appeal is limited to BlackBerry fans. For the same sum, you could get a brand new Galaxy S7, a device that will handily outperform it. Plus, we were actually disappointed with the keyboard itself, if you compare it to those on previous BlackBerry models. Now that it’s broadly available, it will be interesting to see if enough people really want a keyboard and the extra security in the Priv. If not, it could spell the end of BlackBerry handsets, which first arrived in 2003 as the original smartphones. CEO John Chen said he may kill all devices if they don’t turn a profit this year.

Source: Verizon

Apple Won’t Bid on Streaming Rights to NFL’s ‘Thursday Night Football’

Apple has decided it won’t bid on the digital rights to stream the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package next season, according to Re/code.

The streaming rights to the NFL’s Thursday evening games could have helped set the Apple TV apart from competing streaming boxes, but Apple reportedly felt the package “isn’t enough to pull that off.”

Amazon, Facebook, Verizon, and Yahoo remain candidates in the bidding war to stream the Thursday evening games online, the report claims.

Yahoo could be a frontrunner to secure the digital rights, after paying an estimated $15 million to exclusively live stream a 2015 regular season game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars at London’s Wembley Stadium.

The NFL currently offers a live streaming service called Game Pass, but the app does not include “Thursday Night Football,” and its selection of games is limited compared to rival platforms MLB At Bat, NBA League Pass, and NHL GameCenter.

In February, the NFL announced that “Thursday Night Football” will air on CBS, NBC, and NFL Network in 2016 and 2017. CBS and NFL Network will televise the first half of the schedule, with NBC and NFL Network televising the second half.

Tags: NFL, Thursday Night Football
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Amazon removes device encryption from Fire OS 5 update

As the Apple/FBI encryption story continues to rage on, Amazon finds itself in a spotlight of its own.

The latest updates to Fire OS 5 which is pushing out to previous generation products is greeting Fire device owners with an unwelcome message that device encryption is being removed.

What?

Amazon is but one of the company’s that has joined an amicus brief alongside Apple, yet removing encryption from its own devices.

While Apple fights the good fight, @Amazon removes encryption as option from FireOS 5 | @csoghoian @normative @eff pic.twitter.com/nggBdtFG7j

— David Scovetta (@davidscovetta) March 3, 2016

Amazon’s latest generation products already shipped with Fire OS 5, which would mean, presumably, they’re already in this position. In an attempt to dampen down the uproar, Amazon issued a statement to Engadget

“In the fall when we released Fire OS 5, we removed some enterprise features that we found customers weren’t using. All Fire tablets’ communication with Amazon’s cloud meet our high standards for privacy and security including appropriate use of encryption.”

So, you’re left with the choice to either accept the update and go down this path, or stay behind on Fire OS 4. It’s not a good headline for Amazon, though, regardless of its reasons for doing it.

More: Amazon Support Forums

OnePlus 2 update to OxygenOS 2.2.1 gives RAW support to its camera

The OnePlus 2 is getting a new software update that among other things adds RAW support to its camera. The OxygenOS 2.2.1 update is rolling out now, so owners should start to see it on their phones any time now.

It’s still a relatively small update, here’s the full list of whats new:

• RAW support in OnePlus Camera
• Bluetooth compatibility improvement
• Ultra SIM compatibility improvement
• GMS 3.0 upgrade
• Improvement for roaming issues
• Fix for occasional image corruption issue in OnePlus Camera
• Security patch update
• Romanian language support

Importantly this update also seems to include the February security patch from Google. So for now, at least, it’s up to date on that front. If you don’t see it right away, sit tight. These things usually take a few days to reach everyone. If you’ve already snagged it, let us know how you’re finding it in the comments below.

Source: OnePlus

The Honor 5X can be had for £150 at Clove for a limited time

If you’re in the UK and looking for a new phone for not a lot of money, the latest Honor 5X deal is worth checking out. If you head on over to online retailer, Clove, you’ll find a voucher code for £40 off the usual price, bringing it down to just £149.99.

Enter offer code “MAR5X16” at checkout to get your discount. The Honor 5X is the latest in Huawei’s sub-brand, that offers a lot of hardware inside a metal body for not a lot of money. And with this latest discount it’s even more of a steal. EMUI is still an acquired taste, but at this price it’s a crazy good deal. Hit the link below to grab one, they’re only this cheap until Sunday, March 6.

See at Clove

Honor 5X

• Current OS version: Android 5.1
• Current security: January 2016 (More info)
• Honor 5X review
• Honor 5X specs
• 7 things to know about the Honor 5X
• Join our Honor 5X forums

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Best Samsung Galaxy S7 edge deals

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge will hit shelves on 11 March, with prices starting from £639 for the 32GB model. Pre-orders are already open across the networks though, with some offering incentives like a free Gear VR. 

If you can afford to buy the new dual-edge device outright and then pick a SIM-only plan, that’s probably going to be your cheapest option. Some places are offering a free Gear VR here too, like Samsung itself so pick wisely if you’re going to splash the cash. You might as well get a bit more for your money if you can.

Want to know the cheapest way to get your hands on a 32GB Galaxy S7 edge, or some of the best deals for data? Read on.

EE

The cheapest plan on EE is an upfront cost of £99.99 followed by monthly payments of £44.99. Over the two-year contract, you’ll pay a total of £1179.95 and you’ll get 2GB of data, 1000 minutes and unlimited texts a month.

Upping monthly payments to £49.99 but dropping the upfront cost to £49.99 for a total payment of £1249.75 across the two years will give you 10GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts a month.

You could also pay an extra £20 upfront, stick to the £49.99 monthly payments but end up with 20GB data and unlimited minutes and texts for a total of £1269.75 across the two years. There are other deals surrounding these three, but none come with any freebies.

Click here to see the other pay monthly Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on EE

Vodafone

The cheapest plan on Vodafone requires an upfront cost of £199 with monthly payments of £32. Over the 24-month contract, you’ll pay a total of £967 but you’ll only get 500MB of data with 500 minutes and unlimited texts.

Paying an upfront cost of £99 with monthly payments of £45 will give you 6GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts. This costs a total of £1179 across the two-year period and if you pre-order, you get a free Gear VR with this plan too.

For even more data, you can opt for the £29 upfront cost, followed by £50 monthly payments meaning a total of £1229 for 20GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts. This plan also comes with a free Gear VR when you pre-order.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on Vodafone

O2

The cheapest plan on O2 will cost you £79.99 upfront, followed by monthly payments of £38.50. This will equate to a total of £1003.99 across the two-year contract for which you will get 500MB data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts.

A £59.99 upfront cost with £46 monthly payments will take you to a total of £1163.99 over the 24 months but you’ll get 3GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts. This plan also comes with a free Jabra headset worth £149.99.

If you want more data, there is a 20GB plan with unlimited minutes and texts, as well as the free Jabra headset. This will cost you £39.99 upfront, followed by monthly payments of £54 for a total of £1335.99 across the 24-months.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on O2

Three

The cheapest plan from Three involves a £99 upfront cost with monthly payments of £41. It will cost a total of £1083 over the 24-month period and it offers 1GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts.

For 4GB of data, you’ll pay an upfront cost of £49 with monthly payments of £50, meaning a total of £1249.

Three also offers all-you-can-eat data for an upfront cost of £49, followed by monthly payments of £62. This plan would cost you a total of £1537 over two years. There are no freebies offered with the Three plans.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on Three

Carphone Warehouse

Carphone Warehouse offers plenty of plans for the Galaxy S7 edge but one if the cheapest involves an upfront cost of £199 with monthly payments of £29, costing you a total of £895. This plan is with Vodafone and it provides 1GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts.

A slightly lower upfront cost of £129.99, but higher monthly payments of £36 with O2 will provide you with 3GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts. This plan works out to be a total of £993.99 over the two-year contract.

One of the best deals with more data comes from Vodafone however, with an upfront cost of £149.99, followed by monthly payments of £36. You’ll get 11GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts for a total of £1013.99 across the 24 months.

Pre-order through Carphone Warehouse and you will also get a free Gear VR too.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on Carphone Warehouse

Tesco

Tesco doesn’t charge an upfront cost on any of its Samsung Galaxy S7 edge plans. The cheapest monthly payment plan is £41, meaning a total of £984 across the 24 months. You get 2GB of data, 2000 minutes and 5000 texts for that.

Step the monthly payment up to £50 a month, meaning a total of £1080 and you’ll get 6GB of data with 5000 texts and 5000 minutes.

You pay quite a bit more for more data however, with monthly payments creeping up to £60.50 for 20GB, 5000 messages and 5000 minutes. Across the two-year contract, this plan would cost you a total of £1452. There are no freebies with any of the Tesco plans.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on Tesco

Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers the same tariffs whether you have TV or broadband with the company or not. The only difference is Virgin customers will get free unlimited calls to other Virgin Mobiles.

Like Tesco, there is no upfront costs. The cheapest monthly plan is £43 for 1GB of data, 2500 minutes and unlimited texts. This costs a total of £1032 across the two-year contract.

For £48 a month, a total of £1152, you will get 4GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts. Jump the monthly payments up to £56 and you’ll get double the data at 8GB. This is the most amount of data available on a plan and it will cost you a total of £1344 across the two-years.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on Virgin Media

Giff Gaff

Giff Gaff hasn’t revealed its pay monthly plans yet, but we have worked out how much you would pay across two years with its SIM-only deals if you bought the smartphone outright.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge starts at £639. For 1GB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts, it will cost you £10 a month with Giff Gaff, for a combined total of £879.

For 6GB of data, 2000 minutes and unlimited texts, it will cost you £18 a month meaning a total of £1071. Giff Gaff also offers an “always on” data plan with unlimited minutes and texts for £20 a month, which with the phone cost would be a total of £1119 over the 24-months.

Click here to see the other Samsung Galaxy S7 edge tariffs on Giff Gaff

Best Samsung Galaxy S7 edge deals summary

If you want to pay nothing upfront, your options fall to Carphone Warehouse, Tesco and Virgin Media.

If you’re happy to pay a bulk upfront, the cheapest monthly plan across the board that isn’t SIM-only is offered by Carphone Warehouse at £29 a month for 24 months.

The cheapest way to get a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge overall with the combination of the upfront costs and monthly payments is also offered by Carphone Warehouse. Unless you can afford to buy the device outright, in which case a SIM-only contract should be cheaper overall.

If you want a free Gear VR when you pre-order, you’ll need to head to Vodafone or Carphone Warehouse. Vodafone is only offering the headset with its Red and Red Value plans however.

It is also worth noting that some networks offer special features, like EE and its Wi-Fi Calling, so be sure to check you will still get these if you don’t buy directly through the network for example.

Apple iPhone SE/5SE: What’s the story so far?

The Apple iPhone 5C was announced in September of 2013 as a cheaper, colourful and plastic iPhone option. It arrived alongside the iPhone 5S, but while the 5S has been succeeded with newer handsets, the iPhone 5C hasn’t been.

Apple stopped selling the iPhone 5C when it introduced the iPhone 6S in September this year, making the iPhone 5S the new cheap alternative. You can still get your hands on the iPhone 5C through other channels, but it’s now an old handset that is very much in need of an update.

That update has been rumoured for months now firstly in the form of the iPhone 6C, then the iPhone 5SE and more recently shifting names to iPhone SE, and that’s what this feature is all about. As usual it will be updated as new rumours appear but for now, here is everything we have heard so far about the iPhone SE, 5SE or 6C.

Apple iPhone SE: Release date

The iPhone 5C was announced in September 2013, which by all accounts is a pretty long time ago. Apple tends to stick to September for smartphone launches but we suspect that trend will be broken for the iPhone SE.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple’s next press event will occur on Tuesday 15 March. The publication claims the event will see the introduction of the iPhone SE as well as a second-generation Apple Watch and iPad Air 3. More recently however, AppleInsider claimed 21 March is the date to put in your diary. There have also been rumours of 22 March but either way, it looks like the third week of March is more likely than the middle.

Apple usually releases new iPhone models about two weeks after they’ve been unveiled and given an online pre-order period, though the iPad Pro took a whopping two months before it released. 9to5Mac said manufacturing of the new iPhone was ramped up in January. If that’s true, Apple likely has a healthy enough stock to begin selling the handset straightaway.

MyDrivers.com claims the iPhone SE will start at 4,000 yuan ($617/£416), meaning it will cost more than the iPhone 5S. It also supports the idea of a March event.

One More Thing

Apple iPhone SE: Design

The Apple iPhone SE is likely to remain at the smaller 4-inch size like the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. Newer smartphones have all increased in size over the last couple of years, including the latest iPhones and while many of us love the big displays, they aren’t to everyone’s fancy. Analyst Kuo estimates a new 4-inch model will account for 20 million units next year.

We can’t see Apple increasing the size of the iPhone SE to the same as the iPhone 6S so we would bank on a 4-inch screen but a slimmer build is likely. It is expected to come with curved edges like the iPhone 6. That said, serial leaker, OnLeaks, posted a couple images of some alleged iPhone SE cases which suggest a similar shape to the iPhone 5S. OnLeaks claims his sources say it will be 7.6mm, which is the same as the iPhone 5S.

Apple posted a picture of what looked like the iPhone 5C with Touch ID a few months back, which sparked rumours of an iPhone 6C (as it was then called) with the same plastic build as its predecessor. Future Supplier also posted what it claimed was the rear housing of the iPhone SE, also suggesting a plastic build with a very similar appearance to the iPhone 5C. The only notable differences were the camera flash hole and the speaker holes at the bottom.

Other rumours have suggested Apple will ditch the plastic build for a metal build however, which we prefer the sound of and we also think is more likely. Kuo predicts there will be two to three colours available and more recently, we’ve seen more rumours that the iPhone 5SE would offer the same metal design and colours as the iPhone 6S, but in the smaller size – including a photo that suggests as much and a report from 9to5Mac. If this is the case, we can expect the iPhone SE to come in silver, space grey, gold and rose gold.

The metal build is supported by a video apparently leaked from Apple’s Foxconn manufacturing plant.

MyDrivers.com claimed the iPhone SE will pack a slightly curved “2.5D” glass, similar to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S, but that the device itself should look largely like the iPhone 5S. It was believed that it would be called the iPhone 5SE because it’s an evolution of the 5S, although with yet another name change, that’s made that theory questionable.

Apple iPhone SE: Display

Apple’s smartphones have never had the sharpest displays according to the spec sheets, even if in reality, their resolutions do the job. In a nutshell however, don’t expect a Quad HD resolution or even Full HD resolution on the iPhone SE. The iPhone 5S has a 1136 x 640 pixel resolution across its 4-inch display so we would expect similar for the iPhone SE.

Both the new iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus arrived with pressure sensitive displays sporting a technology that Apple calls 3D Touch. Rumour has it the iPhone SE won’t be getting this new technology though.

Nowhereelse.fr recently republished a couple of shots of images of what is claimed to be the iPhone SE’s display next to the iPhone 6S’s display. The site marked where the 3D Touch sensors are on the iPhone 6S and where they are missing on the new 4-inch display, suggesting the idea of no 3D Touch is accurate, which makes perfect sense. If it is going to be the budget iPhone, Apple won’t be putting in the latest tech.

MyDrivers.com has claimed the iPhone SE will feature the same screen size found on the iPhone 5S and that’s been backed-up by 9to5Mac reports.

Apple iPhone SE: Camera

Just like the iPhone SE isn’t likely to come with 3D Touch, it also isn’t likely to come with the latest camera so you can expect the same as the iPhone 6 rather than the 12-megapixel number of the iPhone 6S.

This means the iPhone SE is probably going to come with an 8-megapixel rear snapper and a 1.2-megapixel front camera. The True Tone flash will be on board if this is the case, along with the rest of the features such as auto HDR, auto image stablisation and face detection.

MyDrivers.com also claimed the iPhone 6C will feature an 8-megapixel camera.

Apple iPhone SE: Hardware

The Apple iPhone SE, if it arrives, will more than likely sport the same hardware as the iPhone 6. This means the A8 chip and M8 motion coprocessor, which in turn will mean NFC and therefore support for Apple Pay. Kuo suggests the A9 chip, as does 9to5Mac and Bloomberg. 

MyDrivers.com also claimed the iPhone SE will feature several internal upgrades, including more RAM. It could debut with 2GB of RAM, just like the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, as well as an A9 processor to make it as speedy as the iPhone 6S. It’s even speculated to sport a 1642mAh battery, which is 72mAh more than what the iPhone 5S offers.

Apple doesn’t do microSD expansion so don’t expect it to appear on the iPhone SE either, but we would expect the storage models to be 16GB and 32GB rather than the 16GB and 64GB of the iPhone 6.

Apple iPhone SE: Software

The Apple iPhone SE will come with iOS 9. Features like Live Photos as seen on the iPhone 6S probably won’t appear however as this is something that comes with the latest camera but you will be able to view Live Photos if someone sends you one.

Other than that and the shortcuts offered by the 3D Touch display, you can expect the same user experience as you would find on the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S.

Apple iPhone SE: Conclusion

Whether or not the iPhone SE will actually appear at all is questionable but there is a valid argument for Apple to update the smaller handset and the rumours have been flying around for a while now. As it’s also being talked about as the iPhone 6C and the iPhone 5SE, we’re not immediately clear on what the name will be if it does appear.

We would like to see a colourful metal build with the same specs as the iPhone 6 but who knows whether Apple will move away from the plastic casing that the iPhone 5C is recognised for. The leaked video suggests it will, but we’re taking everything with a pinch of salt right now.

Should the device appear, you can expect it to be the cheapest iPhone available, run on iOS 9 and feature Touch ID with support for Apple Pay. Anything else is currently just speculation.