(Image: Jochen Tack / Alamy)
We cover potholes, too
So long, bumpy roads! Google has patented a system, built into a car, to detect jolts from potholes. It relays the potholes’ GPS location back to Google, allowing it to build a database of road quality and route cars away from bad roads. Some cities already have similar projects that rely on smartphone apps, but Google, which may soon have fleets of self-driving cars, may do a better job.
1 billion
The number of people who used Facebook on 24 August. With one-seventh of the world logging in, according to founder Mark Zuckerberg, it marked a new milestone for the social network.
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M, find me a tapas bar
Facebook’s AI can now book you a restaurant table or buy flowers for your mum. Last week the social network launched a trial version of M, a personal assistant which works through the company’s messaging system. Users can chat to M to get it to complete tasks for them. Human workers will supervise and handle difficult questions for M, and their answers will be used to train and improve the AI.
