It's all set to be the next big TV phenomenon, and Westworld's futuristic theme-park setting is the perfect showcase for next generation technology and the repercussions we might begin to arrive at.

From book-like tablets right through to the headline 'hosts' - robots that look, sound and even begin to think like humans - Westworld's rich universe is the real star of the show, and its future-gazing technology underpins everything.

TechRadar has seen the first four episodes of Westworld, and the series has all the hallmarks of a genuinely thrilling peek into the future.

Michael Crichton's original film - made in 1973 - was an archetypal look from the author into how humanity's relationship with technology is complex - and that hubris and failure to understand the repercussions of our actions can lead to our undoing.

Just like in Jurassic Park, however, as we look on at the humans running before they can walk in a world they created but do not truly understand, there is huge joy in the conceit of the experience.

Westworld is a theme park where humans can act out on their Wild West fantasies - where they can choose to be the white hat good guy or a despicable villain and enact their fantasies with robots. And, on the face of it, with no repercussions.

But the robot hosts who play the roles around them and are the central technology are beginning to learn and think for themselves.

The hosts

The robot hosts are incredibly complex creations - essentially 3D printed from an unspecified material they apparently feel and look exactly like human beings, which means they can be sexbots, targets for the humans in gunfights or simply companions or antagonists on the adventures.

Even this is far beyond our current ability in robotics - although 3D printing has come a long way and the burgeoning realism of prosthetics suggests that we are taking strides in creating more lifelike looking and feeling artificial bodies.

The 3D printing of the robots is fascinating. We see the various stages of a horse being constructed very early in our journey through Westworld and then we see proto-hosts of the human variety being put together strapped to a circle which has featured heavily throughout the show's advertising campaign and is a call-out to Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

It's not a spoiler to say that as the series progresses we do get some interesting glimpses into the creation and development of these robots some 30 years before by Anthony Hopkins' character Dr Ford. They start out as rubber-coated skeletons, pretty much exactly what you would start with if you were trying to build a human-alike robot right now.

In the pilot we also meet an older host, sharing a drink with Dr Ford and acting in a far more robotic manner than the current hosts, which are clearly hugely more sophisticated.

For those that like the original film - where the robots' big failing was hands that looked utterly wrong - there's a nice touch when Ford talks about the old versions giving themselves away with a simple handshake.

Hurt a fly

The Westworld hosts, when working as they are supposed to, act in narrative loops - acting out storylines by rote and never realising that they have done all this before. Uninterrupted by human contact they will continue endlessly on the same loop, but the butterfly effect of a human in the park subtly alters their behaviour.

This is obviously some way on from our current ability to fool humans into believing that they are interacting with a human. The well known Turing test of intelligence - essentially seeing if a human can be convinced they are talking to another human and not something machine coded - has been beaten, but only by cheating the system and only on a limited level. We are some way from good quality mimicry, let alone self awareness.

Governed by the desire to play out their loop, but also to enact the fantasies of the humans, the Hosts ostensibly (and according to their programming) literally cannot kill a fly. We do find out that they can shoot a human, but it just gives them a bit of a bruise rather than doing any serious damage.

Most fascinatingly is the Hosts' brains, which seem to be in their heads (that might seem an odd statement, but given how often a gunfight ends in a headshot perhaps it should be revisited!). The Hosts have to react 'realistically' to the humans in their loops or the theme park simply wouldn't feel authentic and to do that they are given programming behaviours.

They can also be controlled with voice instructions (keep an eye out for 'deep and dreamless sleep) or via the Park staff's tablet/phones.

But Hopkins' Ford is clearly still meddling in the behaviours of his creations; the malfunctions we see in the pilot are blamed on his addition of 'reveries' - realistic behavioural ticks. Whether or not they are really to blame is to be seen.

This capacity to learn is, obviously, one of the key matters that Westworld will deal with; if the hosts are capable of learning and glimmers of self-awareness then this is the birth of a whole new species. And asserting some of the horrors on a new species that we see as the humans are unleashed is ethically, well shall we say, a bit questionable.

Although we're not given a timeframe for when Westworld happens, it's clearly set in the near future rather than far flung times.

But the devices that we see being used deep in the park's bowels, the control centre and basements beneath the park itself, are definitely a progression on what we have.

We don't want to delve too deeply into the world of spoilers, but it's not revealing anything to say that the phones - which transcribe voice messages into on-screen text and have no bezels and the foldable tablets used by Ford are progressions on modern day designs.

The latter is fascinating and rooted in reality; foldable booklike tablets are an old concept and various companies have attempted to find the right way to do this. Microsoft - with its Courier - went some way along the road to mass-market production on a book tablet but got cold feet and, ahem, folded the project.

And then there's the central monitoring room for the park, which appears to be a holographic rendering of the entire area with the users able to zoom directly in to watch the narrative taking place on a more microscopic level.

That's not the end of it, of course; keep an eye out for Ford's version of Spotify (having his own robotic piano player), and also a roboticist's drinking buddy, and goodness knows what else.

Our early glimpse at Westworld has been terrifically enjoyable - where the tech, and the story, goes from here will be a pleasure to discover.

Apple has scored a huge victory in a New York case involving a locked iPhone, one day before it's due to testify before Congress on the matter of encryption.

A magistrate judge in the case, which revolves around drug trafficking and is different from the California battle between Apple and the FBI, ruled that the government can't force Apple to help it unlock an iPhone under the All Writs Act (AWA).

This is the same law the FBI is invoking in demanding Apple build a special software to access a locked iPhone 5C used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

In his ruling today, Magistrate Judge James Orenstein essentially calls the government's interpretation of the AWA too broad - so much so that if it were applied in the way the government sought it be, it'd be unconstitutional. He also makes a compelling case for why Congress should make a decision on just how far the AWA can go.

Orenstein's ruling concludes that the New York case is much bigger than one iPhone, which Apple and security experts, including a mobile security expert interviewed by techradar, have said in respect to the San Bernardino case.

"Ultimately, the question to be answered in this matter, and others like it across the country, is not whether the government should be able to force Apple to help it unlock a specific device; it is instead whether the All Writs Act resolves that issue and many others like it yet to come," Orenstein writes.

What's next in Apple vs FBI

The New York ruling doesn't set a binding legal precedent, TechCrunch notes, but it could very well influence the judge in the California case as well as be used by Apple in an appeal if it loses to the FBI.

In a motion filed last week, Apple calls the AWA a limited law and says questions of whether companies should be required to build a backdoor into their devices is a matter for Congress to decide after public debate, not the courts. These two points line up with Orenstein in his ruling.

As for what's next in the case that's captured international attention, the Cupertino firm and the feds will face off over a motion seeking to compel it to build the special iPhone-cracking software on March 22.

But before then, Apple will testify before the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee tomorrow, as will the FBI.

The company's lead counsel issued his opening remarks a today. In it he lays out three questions:

• Do we want to put a limit on the technology that protects our data, and therefore our privacy and our safety, in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks?
• Should the FBI be allowed to stop Apple, or any company, from offering the American people the safest and most secure product it can make?
• Should the FBI have the right to compel a company to produce a product it doesn't already make, to the FBI's exact specifications and for the FBI's use?

Some lawmakers have stepped forward with a proposal to establish a commission that would look at digital security, one that would include members of the tech community. When asked if this is the type of commission CEO Tim Cook had called for in a letter to employees, an Apple spokesperson referred us to the letter as well as a Q&A on Apple's website.

The humble wallet is in danger of heading to the big pocket in the sky. Systems like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are in the process of making physical money obsolete, and now NSW licences are set to go digital, too.

Making good on its 2015 election promise to introduce digital licences, the NSW government is scheduled to deliver the first downloadable batch mid 2016.

According to the SMH, NSW Minister of Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet will announce the move on Wednesday during his keynote speech at the GovInnovate forum in Canberra.

Queue-free since 2016

The initiative will enable NSW citizens to apply, display, update and renew their licenses directly from their smartphone – no more queueing up for hours at government agencies.

The first licences to get this digital treatment will be for recreational fishing, responsible service of alcohol, and responsible conduct of gambling.

The digital licences will have security safeguards in place to protect them from online threats, although exactly what those safeguards will be has not yet been revealed. And physical licences will still be available for anyone prone to online paranoia.

• Hands on: Samsung Pay review

Introduction and LTE Direct

Mobile phone networks are getting faster, with 4G now maturing and 5G on its way, but there's a lot more going on than merely increased data transfer speeds. 4K video is about to cause bottlenecks on networks, but the answer could be an odd one; offload it completely and let phones do the donkey work. Cue device to device communications (D2D), which promises to change not only how we communicate with each other, but how the connected car communicates, too.

What is device-to-device (D2D) communications?

It already exists, and has done for years. "D2D is a communication between two devices in proximity," says Malik Saadi, VP and GM, Strategic Technology, ABI Research in London. "Bluetooth pairing is D2D, for sharing data or images, but more recently you have Wi-Fi Direct, and Intel's WiDi wireless display technology."

Devices already using one or more of these D2D wireless technologies include smart TVs and laptops, while Bluetooth Smart is making a play for connecting devices in the smart home, with smartwatches and wearables, and with beacons.

Now it's time for something better, with hugely bigger data transfer rates and a far longer range.

What is LTE Direct?

Think supercharged Bluetooth on a chip that smartphone manufacturers will soon start fitting in devices. Created by Qualcomm in 2012 and expected to become part of its Snapdragon processor for phones, LTE Direct allows a phone to communicate – and send data – to other phones within a staggering 500m. No network required … well, almost.

"It creates a proximal communication paradigm away from the local area network – the devices initiate the communication at the network level, but the traffic is at the device level," says Saadi. This is potentially powerful stuff, with LTE Direct-compatible handsets capable of downloading at a speed of 362.4Mb/s.

However, some doubt its potential. "I suspect that 500m is a stretch, with more likely distances to be about 200-300m," says Dr Kevin Curran, Technical Expert at the IEEE, who thinks that WiGig – which can reach speeds up to 7Gbp/s – is more useful if, say, you want to stream 4K video. "Qualcomm's Snapdragon mobile processor can already support WiGig," he notes.

How will it change social networking?

LTE Direct is being talked-up as an 'always-on' discovery technology, which enables the continuous discovery of thousands of devices while maintaining both anonymity and battery efficiency. "You could share files and images with a community around you," says Saadi. "For instance, if you are touring London and you want to share your video to a group of people."

"Now we have location services where you need to opt-in and be concerned about battery life, but those limitations are removed with LTE Direct because it doesn't really use any overheads, and it doesn't allow location-tracking, so privacy is enhanced," says Steffen Sorrell, Senior Analyst, Juniper Research. "'The discovery aspect helps you find your friends in the vicinity very easily."

Off-grid apps

Mind you, LTE Direct is not the first technology to allow direct device-to-device communication. "The popular FireChat app allows devices to send messages to one another even without a Wi-Fi or cell connection," says Curran. FireChat uses Bluetooth to connect to nearby phones that also have the app installed, thus creating a distributed, decentralised network.

"It first gained popularity when over 500,000 people downloaded the app during the Hong Kong demonstrations a few years ago," he says, adding that it's often used by people fearing that the government will switch off cell or Wi-Fi access – such as in war-torn Iraq, or when Facebook blocked a page promoting a protest in Russia.

However, LTE Direct's promise of 'proximity social media' most resembles FireChat's use during the last SXSW event in Austin, Texas. "The idea was to promote event details, DJ sightings and live discussions of what to do and where to go," says Curran. "FireChat even created 'chat-tags' to create or join a live discussion based on topics."

Security and connected cars

Can you make phone calls on LTE Direct for free?

Sadly not. "You still need the presence of a cell tower because for security reasons you need to synchronise, identify and authenticate the devices communicating on the network," says Sorell. "So you won't be able to get free phone calls."

However, the call itself won't be hosted on the network, going direct from one phone to another if they're within 500m of each other. "Free calls might be something that comes in the future," notes Sorrell, who says that direct point-to-point communications not involving a basestation are only possible for use by emergency services. The US, UK and South Korea should have such a public safety LTE network by 2017.

While LTE Direct will be largely invisible to users, it could mean better quality of calls. "You'll potentially reduce latency and because it's a peer-to-peer connection there's the potential for higher bandwidth, too," says Sorrell.

Does this mean a future without cell phone towers?

No. Relaying messages from phone to phone might sound like an off-grid future where our phones are nodes on a network, but that's unlikely. "Mesh networking decentralises communications," says Philip Williams, Principal Architect, Rackspace, adding that external networks will continue to exist even if only as a point of entrance or exit to a meshed network.

"For example, when making an international phone call, a meshed network may exist within a metro-area, but in order to get hold of someone on another landmass, the device will have to interact with another centralised network in order to communicate over thousands of miles," says Williams.

Is there a security risk?

Qualcomm states that the 'technology allows for the anonymous discovery of other devices and doesn't track location or device data'.

"Any technology that has the ability to track users does have inherent security and privacy risks," says Curran, who doubts that LTE Direct's device-level transmitting and monitoring will interest network operators. "I strongly suspect that mobile operators will operate a centralised proximal device discovery database, and that can certainly be a target for hackers," he says, adding that since it's a proprietary technology external experts have not yet audited it to ascertain the level of risk.

How will the connected car benefit?

This is perhaps the killer app – and it's getting the automotive industry excited. "Two vehicles with LTE Direct could communicate, with one telling the other that there is a traffic bottleneck ahead, and that message could be transferred to other vehicles using mesh paradigms," says Saadi. "And when the two vehicles are in close proximity it could warn one car that he's getting too close." Vehicle-to-vehicle communications is an underlying technology for autonomous, self-driving cars, so LTE Direct could have a massive future.

When will be see LTE Direct in phones?

The specification of LTE Direct was finished in March this year, and there have already been trials in Germany and South Korea, with further trials planned for the US, Europe and South Korea – and with both Yahoo and Facebook – but there could be a wait. "I wouldn't expect to see any devices until at least next year, and the use of the tech would be in 2017," says Sorrell.

The catalyst for mass adoption of LTE Direct could be the burgeoning Internet of Things. Offloading 4K video to avoid bottlenecks in built-up urban areas is one thing, but the spectre of 50 billion connected devices by 2020 is something else. "Anything that can take traffic away from the network will be beneficial," says Sorell. LTE Direct may never be headline news, but it's destined to be part of a suite of D2D technologies that allow the IoT to become something more than an ambition.

• 10 next-gen tech trends you should know about

A security researcher from the Georgia Institute of Technology has invented an encryption system called "Open Book" that 'vaguifies' emails by removing specifics from them.

"It's kind of like when mom and dad are talking about potential vacation spots while the kids are nearby," said Eric Gilbert, who developed the software. "They can't say or spell 'Disney,' or the children will get too excited. So they use other words and the meaning is implied. Instead of 'Disney,' they could say 'have you bought tickets to the place yet.'"

He's built a Gmail plugin which works the same way - it pulls out specific words and replaces them with vague terms instead. The recipient should be able to work out what you're talking about from context, but anyone eavesdropping on the communications would fail to get the full message.

Typical Email Conversations

"As people react more with each other, they don't have to say as much to understand what is being said," said Gilbert. "Open Book uses the same technique. Even though the messages resemble typical email conversations, they're lost in the background noise of the Internet."

During small-scale tests, the recipients were able to correctly work out the missing words and phrases 95% of the time, while only 2% of strangers were able to do the same thing.

While you can't download it and have a go yet, you can go read the paper that Gilbert presented to the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in South Korea earlier this year.

• Artificial pancreas could change the lives of diabetics

German researchers have hacked together a fiber-optic sensor that uses a smartphone's flash and camera to perform a variety of biomolecular tests, including pregnancy diagnosis.

It works using a phenomenon called 'surface plasmon resonance', which is when light jiggles around the electrons on the surface of a thin metallic film in contact with a fluid. From the way the electrons jiggle, it's possible to work out the composition of that fluid, or the presence of particular molecules or gases.

Normally the process needs bulky lab equipment, but the team from the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies managed to slim it down to something that'd fit on the rear side of a smartphone.

The flash provides the light through a fiber-optic cable, and the reflection is then carried to the camera through a diffraction grating that splits it into its component colours. From the way the brightness of the colours differs, it's possible to tell what's in the liquid.

Ubiquitous

Tests showed that the device's sensitivity is comparable to the aforementioned bulky lab equipment, despite the tiny device coming in at a fraction of the cost.

As well as letting researchers perform more complex analysis in the field, it could eventually allow smartphone owners to diagnose pregnancy or monitor diabetes - though we're still some way away from that point.

"We have the potential to develop small and robust lab-on-a-chip devices for smartphones," said Kort Bremer, who invented the technique. "So, surface plasmon resonance sensors could become ubiquitous now."

The device was detailed in a paper in Optics Express.

• Computers are getting better at recognising music genres

Update: Google has announced that it is beginning its limited trial of Hands Free payments in San Francisco. Here's to hoping that it goes well so that it spreads to more locations.

They say that money talks, but soon you'll be able to literally speak to pay for things, thanks to Google's upcoming hands-free payment technology.

Later this year, Google will be testing a smartphone app that allows users to make purchases at specific stores by simply standing in front of a compatible cash register, and letting the cashier know that they want to pay with Google.

A Bluetooth sensor will then detect the app on the user's phone, automatically billing them and sending them a receipt of the transaction in the process.

The technology sounds quite similar to PayPal Beacon, which was announced in 2013 and also allows customers to pay for items without taking out their phones or wallets.

Cashing out

Google plans to test this experimental payment method in the San Francisco Bay Area at McDonald's and Papa John restaurants, though we'll have to wait a while until the app is available to the general public.

As this is an experiment, details are sketchy on how it will all work in practice, such as what would happen with several hands-free payment users in the vicinity of a register, or whether any further identification will be required to make purchases.

Watch Google's hilarious announcement video below, which plays like a ridiculous late '90s infomercial, complete with frustrated customers struggling to open their own wallets.

• Get all the latest news out of Google IO 2015

If you're looking for some conversation fodder for the dinner table tonight, consider the question: "Hey, you're not on Tinder, right?"

In a recent report from Global Web Index, the firm found that out of the 47,000 Tinder users it polled, around 42% answered that they were either married or in a relationship already, while 3% said they were either widowed or divorced.

What does that leave? Only 54% of the group identified themselves as "single."

The company found that men were more likely than women to use the app (around 62% of the people surveyed were men), but it's unclear whether more men or women were likely to use the app for polyamorous purposes.

Before we jump to conclusions, though, we should probably have a bit more info. Are these people active users? Are the ones in a relationship - or worse, married - sending messages to potential dates? How many of these users also have an Ashley Madison account?

For the time being all we have is the hard data, posted for your convenience below.