Author: Trendici
Back in the late 1970s, we mentioned a rear-engined Skoda as having “dangerous” handling characteristics – and we weren’t exaggerating. Skoda had planned to follow its western European rivals in moving to a front-engined, front-driven format with the replacement for its 100/110 saloon, the essence of which dated back to the 1000MB of 1964. But the Czechoslovakian communist state wouldn’t allocate requisite funds, compelling Mladá Boleslav to simply dress its existing old-school chassis in a fresh body. Autocar tested the ‘new’ Estelle 120L in August 1977, concluding that it was “not entirely without merit” despite there being “many aspects that…
Image: CROCOTHERY/Adobe Stock Microsoft’s first Patch Tuesday of 2026 addressed 112 vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, Azure, Edge, SharePoint, SQL Server, and several core Windows services. When third-party Chromium fixes are included, the total climbs to 114 CVEs. The January release includes eight flaws rated Critical, with the remaining issues classified as Important, a combination that security teams say requires urgent patching. The standout issue this month is CVE-2026-20805, an information disclosure vulnerability in Windows Desktop Window Manager (DWM). The bug allows attackers with local access to leak small portions of memory, which can weaken system defenses and make other attacks…
The AI radar 2026 study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has reported that artificial intelligence (AI) investment is set to double in 2026 compared with 2025. The study, based on a survey of 2,400 business executives, of which 640 are CEOs, found that almost every chief executive polled (94%) is committed to continuing investments even if returns take time to materialise. In fact, almost all (90%) of the CEOs polled believe AI agents will deliver a measurable return on investment (ROI) by 2026. The study found that over two-thirds (72%) of CEOs now act as the primary decision-maker for…
IO Interactive raised a few eyebrows last week when it announced the minimum and recommended PC specs for 007 First Light. To run the James Bond adventure at in 1080p at 60 fps, IOI initially said you’d need to have a rig with at least 32GB of RAM and a GPU with 12GB of VRAM. The studio has now revised those numbers and other elements of the specs after “the community flagged some inconsistencies in an earlier version of the listing.”The developer blamed an “internal miscommunication” which led to it sharing an older version of the specs. One of the…
Paul KirbyEurope digital editorReutersA Danish air force transport plane arrived in Greenland as European Nato allies deployed to the capital, Nuuk, for joint exercisesA 15-strong French military contingent has arrived in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, as several European states send soldiers there as part of a so-called reconnaissance mission.The deployment, which will also include personnel from Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK, comes as US President Donald Trump continues to press his claim to the Arctic island, which is a semi-autonomous part of Denmark.French President Emmanuel Macron said the initial contingent would be reinforced soon with “land, air, and…
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has not ruled out banning British under-16-year-olds from social media, saying “all options are on the table”.He said more needed to be done to protect children from social media and that he was watching “what is happening in Australia” where a ban has been recently introduced. Privately, many Labour MPs and officials have said they expect the UK government to follow Australia’s example. Next week, the House of Lords is set to vote on proposals for a ban, which, if passed, could see pressure grow on the government to act. Last week, the Conservatives announced…
Entries are now open for Autocar’s Great Women 2026 awards, recognising the motoring industry’s most talented and influential female leaders. Run by Autocar in association with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Great Women celebrates the achievements of the most influential women across the motoring sector. At this year’s event, to be held on Thursday 16 April at the Stellantis UK headquarters, the Top 100 will be announced, chosen by Autocar and its panel of judges based on their seniority and level of influence. These outstanding individuals will cover categories including marketing, retail, vehicle development and manufacturing. There will…
Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has unveiled Falcon-H1 Arabic, a large language model that establishes itself as the world’s leading Arabic artificial intelligence (AI) system, reinforcing the UAE’s ambition to compete with global leaders in high-performance AI. Developed by TII, the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), Falcon-H1 Arabic represents a fundamental architectural shift from previous Falcon models. Rather than relying solely on traditional transformer designs, the model is built on a hybrid Mamba-Transformer architecture, enabling significantly higher accuracy and reasoning capability while operating with smaller parameter sizes. According to TII, this architectural…
You don’t need to spend a fortune to stay on top of your health goals while tracking your fitness. These days, even cheap fitness trackers come packed with features that help you monitor your heart rate, track your steps and even analyze your sleep stages. Many budget options now include GPS tracking for those outdoor runs, real-time heart rate tracking to keep you in the right zone during workouts and, thankfully, most work with both iPhone and Android devices.Some even go beyond basic metrics, providing insights on daily readiness to help you decide if you’re up for an intense workout…
Sammy Awami,BBC Africa, KampalaandWycliffe MuiaAFP via Getty ImagesMore than 21 million Ugandans have registered to voteLogistical problems have delayed voting in many parts of Uganda amid an internet shutdown.The BBC observed growing frustration among voters queuing at some polling stations in the capital, Kampala, where voting had yet to start in the general election. The delays have been blamed on failures of biometric identification kits, which some have linked to the network outage, as well as a lack of equipment in some places.The electoral agency has apologised for the “technical glitches” and said officials were working to resolve them.ReutersVoters in…