Technology

All websites containing pornographic material will be forced to verify that their users are over 18 the government has confirmed in the Queen’s speech. The measure is to reduce the chances of children accessing disturbing pornographic images. But critics say that the proposal sets a “dangerous precedent” for internet access, and that porn will be the first casualty along a more widespread curb on privacy and freedom. Wired reports: The forthcoming Digital Economy Bill will argue that all sites containing any pornographic material must be hidden unless a user can prove they are over 18.

The days of waiting for a swallowed item to pass through the body may soon be gone thanks to a tiny, foldable, ingestible, origami robot. A team of researchers from the University of Sheffield, Tokyo Institute of Technology and MIT have created a tiny origami robot that can be steered inside the digestive tract to remove foreign objects or treat internal wounds. Slash Gear reports: Once in the stomach, that capsule dissolves and the robot unfolds itself and can then be steered by an external magnetic field to a specific location inside the stomach where it can treat injuries.

In a speech last month, China's president Xi Jinping had some telling comments around what technology companies can expect in the future as they try and sell into the Chinese market.

Submitted by Michaela Whitton via TheAntiMedia.org,

Belgian police are warning users not to use the Facebook Reactions feature to respond to posts if they want to protect their privacy. In February, the series of six emoticons, allowing users to express a range of emotions from anger to love, were added to the original thumbs-up option. They came in response to calls for a ‘Dislike’ button.

Twitter is about to stop counting images and URL links toward the 140-character limit. The social networking site is to announce changes to its 140-character limit in the the next two weeks, that would allow users to cramp more content into a single tweet, according to Bloomberg. Android Police reports: http://Pretty_soon.com http://this_tweet.com http://will_count.com http://as_0_letters.comhttps://t.co/bkyf0BQWS5 — Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 16, 2016 Right now, shortened links take up 23 characters. Removing this would free up several additional words per tweet.