Two giants slugging it out. That’s the image that comes to mind with thepending suitsbetweenAppleandSamsungover patent issues. But if reports from the Internet are to be believed, then this whole thing might be on the verge of fizzling away into nothing in the near future. If you’ve not been keeping up with the news, Apple has sued Samsung for infringement on a rather crazy amount of patents relating to theiPhoneand Samsung’s Galaxy S models in particular....

WhatsApp — one of the most used chat apps across the world — is now testing the most sought-out feature on its app: multi-device support. Currently, you can use the app on only one device, and that’s mostly your phone. You can use the web clientor the desktop app to chat with your friends and family, but your phone has to be connected to the internet. Last month, the company confirmed that it’s working on a feature that willlet you link four devices to one account....

Comparing devices that rely on fundamentally different ecosystems isn’t always productive. For the user that is entrenched in the iOS system, with hundreds of apps to their name, there is little chance that they are going to be switching over to an Android device any time soon. And for those that have all of their data wrapped up in Google’s services, extracting it and switching may feel like it just isn’t worth it....

A psychologist’s guide to changing the minds of anti-maskers How to encourage mask wearing Just as psychology can help explain why people may reject masks, it can also offer guidance on how to get people to accept them. Avariety of techniquesfrom social psychology can be used to persuade people to comply with health advice such as mask wearing, social distancing, and self-isolating. One key persuasion method isportraying consensus. When you show people that an attitude is shared (or not) by others, they are more likely to adopt it....

The reports of humanity’s imminent demise at the hands of sentient killer robots have been greatly exaggerated. Based on the current state of artificial intelligence – that is, it’s really good at sifting through data and it can usually tell the difference between a dog and a cat – we don’t have to worry about “conscious” AI anytime soon. I put “conscious” in quotes because, as every article you’re likely to read on the subject will point out,we don’t really understand consciousness....