If you want to understand the future of humanity – where we're headed, who'll be in charge, and exactly how worried you should be about that – you could do worse than begin with two unremarkable buildings, on opposite coasts of the US. The more famous one, half a mile from Google's main campus in Mountain View, California, is home to Google X, the search giant's purportedly secret research lab.

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 Apps are becoming an increasingly important way to communicate and access the internet through our phones, tablets and TVs. We use them to play games, send messages, check the news and weather and use maps and navigation services. Increasingly we are also using them to do our

banking.

While apps provide a simple and easy means of accessing great content and services, it's important to be aware of how to use them safely and securely.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your smart device and apps and how to use them with confidence. This guide has been produced by Ofcom in association with the Information Commissioner's Office, the Competition and

Markets Authority, PhonepayPlus and the Financial Conduct Authority.

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The ICO has developed a useful and comprehensive series of resources and guidance for young people to help protect their personal information. Access the resources here.

A thought provoking article by Graham Brown-Martin - keynote speaker at upcoming digitallyconfidentconference.org

When viewed through the prism of "network capitalism" Facebook's recent acquisition of WhatsApp for $19bn looks like good value.

The consensus is that Facebook acquired the company because it was fearful of losing its grip on the youth market, who favoured mobile communications, to a system that apparently their parents didn't use. And, as a theory has it, with the world shifting to mobile internet it only makes sense for Facebook to demonstrate its chops in the mobile world. This might also account for why it acquired Instagram...

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A bleak dystopian view of life in the future when we really have The Internet of Things.

'I wake up at four to some old-timey dubstep spewing from my pillows. The lights are flashing. My alarm clock is blasting Skrillex or Deadmau5 or something, I don't know. I never listened to dubstep, and in fact the entire genre is on my banned list. You see, my house has a virus again.'

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If you think your messages to your Facebook friends are private, think again. The social network announced that it has plans to look at your personal conversations as a way to make more profits from targeted advertising.

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