The Invisible world of video game AI

It’s commonly believed that video game AI has barely improved since the 1990s, but is this true? Rick Lane investigates

The years between 1997 and 2001 are often considered a golden age of video game AI, encompassing a spate of fascinating games that appeared to make giant leaps forwards in how players could interact with non-player agents and vice versa.

Gigantic gadgets

I now look back with nostalgia on the days when we used to joke that if mobile phones got any smaller we wouldn’t be able to find them in our pocket. These days the damn things are only getting bigger. The same thing is happening to our tablets and even to our monitor screens. It seems we like our technology super-sized, as if bigger automatically means better. I’m not so sure.

Microsoft Excel Fast Fixes

Recover corrupted spreadsheets, fix performance problems and cure printing headaches

Fon Gramofon

Music all around

Described as a ‘modern cloud jukebox’, this beautifully made little cuboid has a simple purpose: it gets music from the internet and plays it in your house. There’s no screen or buttons to press because everything is controlled from your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet.

Google Picking Apples

Mark Pickavance looks at the latest announcements from Google, and how some mistakes the company previously made are being addressed now

It is the season for announcements. Like autumnal leaves falling, we’ve had Apple’s latest hardware, we’ll soon see Microsoft’s, and coming in the middle it’s Google’s turn to shed some foliage.