Technology

How Uber uses psychological tricks to push its drivers' buttons

Because Uber mediates its drivers' entire work experience through an app, there are few limits to the elements it can gamify.

​Even as Uber talks up its determination to treat drivers more humanely, it is engaged in a behind-the-scenes experiment in behavioural science to manipulate them in the service of its corporate growth – an effort whose dimensions became evident in interviews with several dozen current and former Uber officials, drivers and social scientists, as well as a review of behavioural research.

Make eggplants, not explosives

An egglant, soon to be grown by robots.

Eddy, a robot measuring less than 30cm tall, could become the industry standard for commercial and amateur farmers who want to grow pesticide-free, water-efficient crops via hydraponics.

Aussie tech firm in electric aircraft race

Concept hybrid electric airliner from Airbus and EADs in competition with magniX.

With electric cars a growing reality on the ground, a small Aussie tech company has joined the global race to take the technology to the skies in electric-powered planes.

Silence on ideas boom 'is sad'

Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes says the Australian investment community "has a lot of learning to do about technology".

Policymakers should stop sticking their heads in the sand and ignore the fact that "there are going to be a massive amount of jobs destroyed" from the digital revolution, says Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Australia's most successful tech company, Atlassian.

Vicinity Centres to use robots as cleaners

Vicinity Centres recently started trialling whether robots could be used to clean shop room floors.

Vicinty Centres is considering replacing some of its cleaning contractors with robots in a bid to automate and save costs, according to one of the company's non-executive directors, Wai Tang.

Self-driving cars may be closer than they appear

Waymo is one of the key players in the self-driving car market.

Traditional automotive manufacturers, including Audi, Ford, GM, VW, Toyota & and Nissan all expect self-driving, or autonomous cars to be on the market between 2019 and 2021. What could possibly go wrong?

Optus switches on 4.5G mobile network

Optus has admitted it gave less data than what customers had paid for.

Macquarie Park in Sydney is the first suburb getting access to Optus' new 4.5G network, which is capable of 1.03Gbps maximum theoretical download speeds.

Uber eyes flying vehicles, hires NASA veteran

An artist's rendition of how Uber sees the future of on-demand urban air transportation, from last year.

Uber Technologies is speeding ahead with plans for flying cars, which could zoom among urban centers such as Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Oakland, by hiring a NASA veteran who has presented research about the possibilities.

Smart homes get smarter at CES 2017

The Hydrao smart showerhead uses an LED light system to show how much water is being used.

Home automation is slowly but surely becoming an affordable way to deliver more energy-efficient homes that offer better security, comfort and healthcare.