computers-and-technology

iPhone X and 8: What we know about Apple's new phone

Apple gets international headlines for whatever its latest new (or removed) feature is.

They were among the first to scrap CD drives and they forced everyone to buy new cables and accessories when they suddenly changed the charging port on their iPods, iPhones and iPads.

Their latest MacBook Pros are nicknamed 'donglebooks' because Apple scrapped all of its conventional USB-A ports for more modern USB-C ports.

The problem is you need a stack of dongles to connect all but the most modern devices.

Airborne virus that spreads via bluetooth could infect billions of phones

The so-called 'BlueBorne vulnerability' allows malicious virus attacks to spread from device to device over bluetooth without the owner's knowledge.

Ty Miller, managing director of international cyber security firm Threat Intelligence, said this could be one of the most dangerous security flaws that has come out to date.

How emojis can help children learn and communicate

For young children, emoji can aid inclusion in aspects of society previously closed to them, such as active participation in increasing knowledge of childhood well-being, and being heard in educational and care settings.

Emoji can also support children's learning in areas of health, well-being, safety and diversity.

These are key aspects of supporting children in becoming knowledgeable, confident and informed citizens, essential aspects of high-quality education.

Kids turn their hands to making 3D-printed prosthetics

Ivanhoe Grammar School has partnered with e-NABLE, a community of online 3D designers, so students can learn how to make and produce prosthetics.

Steve Brophy, the school's director of information and communication technology and eLearning, said the school had used 3D printers for years but was looking for more meaningful projects.

"We wanted to move past the kids just printing knick-knacks and thinking that things like bobble heads and little toy cars were good enough.

Virtual Reality addiction threat prompts cautious approach as VR nears 'smartphone-like' take-off

Virtual Reality, or VR, has finally become commercially accessible — a full-immersion kit with motion controllers is less than $1,000 — putting hardware and software tools in the hands of gamers and independent game developers for the first time.

But it is the appeal of this technology across the broader population rather than just the gaming community that has people like Microsoft multimedia and interaction researcher Mar Gonzalez Franco excited.

"We [the general public] will buy VR devices in shopping malls the way we buy smartphones today," she said.