Why it's about to take twice as long to mine the digital currency.

The US space agency will fund extensions to long-lived projects, including Mars rovers and orbiters, New Horizons in the Kuiper Belt and the Dawn spacecraft orbiting Ceres.

Our weekly news round-up: New Sino-Russian space alliance; Massive coral bleaching prompts scientists' plea; Silicon nano particles for non-stick plastic; VW offers Aussie diesel customers software update; Google Buys Webpass and merges it with Google Fiber; US Customs wants access to social media profiles at border crossings; Elon Musk to develop a domestic cleaning AI robot; Coinbase offers an online secure way to buy bitcoin; Netflix will allow video downloads for mobile users; MS claims its Edge browser uses less battery life than others; ATO scam tricks people into paying unpaid tax to bogus accounts.

Within 4 years, EVs will be made by most major car companies. We offer a run down of how they are embracing electric vehicle technology and what they have in store for us.

Sales of hybrids and EVs plummet as the US, enjoying cheap fuel prices, rekindles its love affair with gas guzzlers.

Within 4 years, EVs will be made by most major car companies. We offer a run down of how they are embracing electric vehicle technology and what they have in store for us.

If it survives the gas giant's lethal radiation, NASA's orbiter could tell us much about the origins of our solar system. Eight instruments, including a microwave radiometer, magnetometer, spectrograph and infrared mapper and gravity science experiment will study the planet in unprecedented detail.

Our weekly news round-up: New Sino-Russian space alliance; Massive coral bleaching prompts scientists' plea; Silicon nano particles for non-stick plastic; VW offers Aussie diesel customers software update; Google Buys Webpass and merges it with Google Fiber; US Customs wants access to social media profiles at border crossings; Elon Musk to develop a domestic cleaning AI robot; Coinbase offers an online secure way to buy bitcoin; Netflix will allow video downloads for mobile users; MS claims its Edge browser uses less battery life than others; ATO scam tricks people into paying unpaid tax to bogus accounts.

The Worldwide Developers Conference serves up the usual super-slick marketing blitz to the faithful ahead of hardware launches.

We speak to David Brim, CEO and co-founder of the Melbourne maker of rugged off-roaders. He outlines the origins and advantages of the Tomcar design, battles with bureaucracy and red tape, business expansion and plans to build only electric vehicles in the near future.