Technology | The Guardian

Toymakers fear flood of cheap copycat cubes after European court rules that bestselling game’s trademark is invalidIt’s the familiar multicoloured 3D brainteaser that has challenged puzzle enthusiasts for more than 40 years and is still the world’s bestselling toy of all time.But on Thursday – after a 10-year legal tussle – Rubik’s Cube lost a key trademark battle after the European court of justice (ECJ) said its shape was not sufficient to grant it protection from copycat versions. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterOops, sorry, I’m at the Yorkshire Games Festival and forgot to set this up! Continue reading...

Diana wants a tower PC to handle multiple Excel spreadsheets, which are freezing her old laptopI’m looking to purchase a tower PC for working from home, ideally for less than £500. It must have a processor fast enough to manage my work across multiple Excel spreadsheets, as well as running Microsoft Word and Google Chrome at the same time. At the moment, I am using an old laptop with two external monitors. When I try to process my spreadsheets, things slow down to the point of freezing, or it crashes. DianaYou are right in thinking that a tower PC will generally run faster than a similarly priced laptop. Towers provide plenty of space for chips to run hotter and therefore faster than they can in laptops, without throttling performance to avoid overheating problems. Continue reading...

From Oculus Rift to Google Daydream, VR is getting plenty of hype. Which system should you go for, what do you need to buy, and what should you play?Until recently, virtual reality had been something of a fantasy for storytellers and technologists. As long ago as 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum described something like virtual reality in a short story called Pygmalion’s Spectacles.“But listen – a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?” Continue reading...

Welcome to the Guardian’s home for virtual reality. You will find all of our pieces here along with information on how to watch Continue reading...

Sony responds to the acclaimed Xbox One S with a more powerful PlayStation 4 – and while it’s no looker, it opens new visual horizons for developersIn August, Microsoft kickstarted the second wave of this current console generation, releasing its acclaimed Xbox One S to a largely receptive audience. Now, Sony is returning fire with the PlayStation 4 Pro, an updated version of the standard PS4, which – like Microsoft’s machine – is designed to get the most out of the coming era of 4K televisions. Here’s how the new instalment stacks up. Continue reading...

Hyperloop co-founder said he would fund ‘Calexit’ campaign for Democratic state to become its own nation as tech industry has been at odds with Trump

First Samsung’s phones started blowing up. Now its washing machines are doing the same. But they aren’t the only deadly home-appliances out there …First it was Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones catching fire and exploding, now it is the company’s washing machines blowing up. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled 2.8m Samsung washing machines after the South Korean manufacturer received 733 reports of “excessive vibration or the top detaching from the washing machine chassis”. On Good Morning America, Elliot Kaye, the chairman of the CPSC, described “a very serious hazard of the top of these washing machines completely blowing off”.Nine injuries have been reported, including a broken jaw, an injured shoulder, and other fall-related injuries. One woman reported a washer top flying off and hitting her in the back, causing her to “collide into a cabinet”. All of which conjures up a domestic nightmare of marauding washing machines blowing their lids and attacking their owners. Continue reading...

Delaying repairs to save money and dehumanising your tenants ... Adam Forrest becomes a virtual landlord and learns some interesting – and depressing – lessonsBuilding my first high-rise tower wasn’t too difficult. I threw up some studio apartments, hooked them up with power and phone lines, arranged for a rubbish collection, and welcomed my first tenants. I packed the people in, stacked the units, and the profits soon began to pile up nicely.

Brands and businesses can send ‘sponsored messages’ to anyone who has previously chatted to them or a chatbot on Facebook MessengerFacebook has begun allowing businesses to send users adverts on Messenger, but only if those users have previously made contact with the brand.

Film version of wildly popular and notoriously addictive ‘kitty collector’ app will star Japanese actor Atsushi ItoA popular mobile phone game about collecting cats is being made into a live-action movie, to be released in 2017, in what has to be one of the most 21st-century article introductions ever written.The Japanese game Neko Atsume, which means “kitty collector”, created by Hit-Point, is being turned into a film starring the popular Japanese television and film actor Atsushi Ito. Continue reading...

Chancellor says Germany having to deal with cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns on daily basisAngela Merkel has said Russia could try to influence Germany’s general elections next year through cyber-attacks or disinformation campaigns, after Washington accused the Kremlin of similar meddling in the US vote.“We are already, even now, having to deal with information out of Russia or with internet attacks that are of Russian origin or with news which sows false information,” the German chancellor said at a press conference alongside the Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, on Tuesday. Dealing with that was already “a daily task”, she told reporters in Berlin. “So it may be that this could also play a role during the election campaign.” Continue reading...

As fans gather for San Francisco’s first Emojicon, a researcher explains how your phone’s keyboard reveals ‘baked-in’ values beyond poop and eggplantsWhen Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge sent his fiancee to the wrong side of London for dinner, he sent an apologetic text message. He received an emoji-less reply: “It’s fine.”

Parody goes viral, suggesting when you need to increase profits, what could be better than forcing people to buy a bag full of dongles at $25 a pop?What is the real reason for Apple ditching everything but the USB-C ports on the new MacBook Pros? According to a Spanish “Apple engineer”: more dongles means more profit.Yes, El Risitas – the parody meme that first came to wide attention when lampooning the new MacBook last year – is back and this time it is explaining the reasoning behind the long-awaited MacBook Pro’s lack of ports. Continue reading...

Suspicious transactions spotted on around 40,000 accounts have seen online payments frozen. So what next?Current account customers at Tesco Bank have had online payments frozen after tens of thousands of accounts were attacked by fraudsters. Continue reading...

Developer of the bestselling video game defends lengthy production schedule for the expected live-action adaptationThe Minecraft film, based on the massively popular video game franchise, will be released on 24 May 2019, according to the game’s developer, Mojang.The lengthy wait has been defended by Mojang as “the right amount of time to make it completely awesome”. Continue reading...

The adaptation of the iconic videogame, first announced in 2014, is becoming a trilogy – but not for financial reasons, says producer Larry KasanoffTetris, the 1980s video game about stacking blocks, is being made into not one, but three films, according to Empire.Producer Larry Kasanoff is lining up a trilogy about the GameBoy favourite, which featured the simple but addictive formula of shuffling falling shapes into corresponding gaps. Continue reading...

From scribbling robots to music-making devices, tech giant’s initiative hopes to spark a new wave of ‘tangible programming’ toys and kits for children“How many robots can I control with this? In theory, up to 255 at one time. That really is a robot army.”I’m in a room at Google’s London headquarters listening to creative technologist Zebedee Pedersen show off the company’s latest research project. Despite how it sounds, world domination isn’t on the agenda. Continue reading...

Free service DoNotPay helps appeal over $4m in parking fines in just 21 months, but is just the tip of the legal AI iceberg for its 19-year-old creatorAn artificial-intelligence lawyer chatbot has successfully contested 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York for free, showing that chatbots can actually be useful.

If deep learning will be as big as the internet, it’s time for everyone to start looking closely at itThe world is quietly being reshaped by machine learning. We no longer need to teach computers how to perform complex tasks like image recognition or text translation: instead, we build systems that let them learn how to do it themselves.“It’s not magic,” says Greg Corrado, a senior research scientist at Google. “It’s just a tool. But it’s a really important tool.” Continue reading...

British bike builder Filament promises custom-made comfort for riders of every shape and size• Chapeau! Stylish cycling gear for the roadVisitors to the Bespoked Handmade UK Bicycle Show in Bristol earlier this year would have noted how bike building in the UK is undergoing a renaissance. On a floor of 100 exhibitors, dominated by custom steel and titanium bikes, one builder stood out because of his choice of material: carbon fibre.While the majority of road bikes are carbon fibre these days, custom frames built from the lightweight material are rare because of the technical challenges involved. However, from his workshop in Worcestershire, Richard Craddock is overcoming these barriers. Continue reading...

As more people consider career switches and opportunities in tech, three of the newest Guardian developers chart their own unorthodox routes into the industry.Inspired by the upcoming digital networking event, the latest cohort of the Guardian Digital Fellowship reflect on how they became developers. Continue reading...

With Battlefield currently winning the propaganda war CoD developer, Infinity Ward, wants to convince gamers that its latest title isn’t just about spaceIn 2015, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson gave an interview in which he argued that the world’s first trillionaire will be somebody who successfully mines asteroids. These celestial rocks are loaded with the sort of rare metals essential for the manufacturing of computers and smartphones – metals that are becoming increasingly scarce on Earth. There are already companies such as Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries developing technologies to facilitate the industry. It’s going to happen.And its this prospect that provides the background to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, 2016’s instalment in the long-running shooter series. It’s the near future and humankind has expanded out into space, operating mining colonies throughout the solar system. To keep these in check, a new agency, UNSA, has been formed, uniting the armed forces of all the major countries involved. However, a fanatical organisation known as the Settlement Defence Front (SetDef) has formed out in space, looking to place a stranglehold on resources by taking over outposts throughout the system. “Wherever there is war over resources,” says Call of Duty design director, Jacob Minkoff, “there is extremism”. Continue reading...

Tech companies are vulnerable to modern slavery in their supply chains. A new benchmarking report says many must do more to address itSome of the world’s largest ICT companies including Hitachi, Canon and Samsung must step up their efforts to address the risk of forced labour in global supply chains, according to a new report.KnowTheChain, a US supply chain accountability initiative, benchmarked 20 global ICT companies on their efforts to ensure there is no forced labour, a form of modern slavery, from their supply chain. The average score for companies scrutinised on a number of areas including auditing processes, recruitment practices and worker rights was 39 out of a possible 100.

He may rule Twitter, but there is no evidence that the presumptive GOP nominee is building the digital fundraising and volunteer network he needs to winJudging by the headlines, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is in meltdown. He sacked his campaign manager, raised a historically low amount of cash, and is tanking in opinion polls in key swing states.

The photo-sharing platform, which has more than doubled in size over the past two years, now has more than 500 million monthly active users worldwideThe revolution will be #filtered: Instagram’s explosive growth is showing no signs of slowing, with close to one hundred million photos and videos now being shared on the platform every day.New figures show the photo-sharing platform’s monthly active user base has more than doubled in size over the past two years, with 500 million people a month worldwide now using Instagram. Continue reading...

A decade in the making, Fumito Ueda’s ethereal adventure is almost in our hands. But does it live up to the hype?It begins with a flashback – or at least that’s what it seems. While children are heard laughing and playing in the background, the camera approaches some sort of golden artefact half buried in the sand. Then, after a credits sequence illustrated with 16th century etchings of mythological monsters, we see a scene familiar to anyone who has been watching the slow development of Fumito Ueda’s third game for Sony: a small boy, lying asleep next to a vast dog-like beast.To be sat in a small demo room hidden away from the hurly burly of the E3 show floor, playing – actually playing – The Last Guardian, seems almost unreal. First previewed at E3 in 2009 and certainly in development for at least two years before that, the game has been a fixture on most wanted lists ever since. Partly it was the heritage of Ueda and his team, previously responsible for the ethereal delights of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus; but partly it was that first trailer, showing a little boy and the huge doe-eyed monster with whom he appeared to have built a symbiotic relationship. Little else was known – and, after a long, troubled development cycle, little else still is. Continue reading...

Game inviting players to stop mass shootings with thoughts and prayers alone highlights the ‘complete ridiculousness’ of political inaction, say developersIn the wake of the Orlando mass shooting, dozens of politicians have made public statements offering their thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, as they did after San Bernardino, Charleston, Sandy Hook and the long and depressing back-catalogue of mass shootings in the US.But, a trio of game developers want to point out that thoughts and prayers are no match for assault rifles like the AR-15, which critics have called the weapon of choice for terrorists and mass murderers. Continue reading...

The social network says the London startup’s technology would be used to enhance live and video offeringsTwitter has bought London-based AI startup Magic Pony Technology for a reported $150m (£102m) as the company moves to strengthen its position in image-sharing, video and live video.Founded in 2014, Magic Pony uses machine learning to build improved systems for visual processing. The company said it was excited to be joining forces with Twitter “to improve the visual experiences that are delivered across their apps”. Continue reading...

Zane Alchin, 25, admits to using a carriage service to menace Paloma Brierley Newton, who reported him to the policeA Sydney man who has pleaded guilty to making explicit rape threats on Facebook told police the comments did not reflect who he was, and that he was not aware that “internet trolling” was a crime.Zane Alchin, 25, from Caringbah, pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace at the Downing Centre local court in Sydney on Monday.

Estelle is about to start working from home for a lawyer who uses a MacBook Pro. She was thinking of buying a Windows laptop, but would a Mac be a better choice?I retired from office life some years ago, but I am about to start working from home, for a lawyer. I have an iPhone and an iPad, but need to purchase a laptop to carry out several tasks. These include: adding to a database which has been set up using Excel; booking flights and hotel accommodation; sending and receiving emails; producing invoices and flyers, and using Skype.The lawyer has an Apple MacBook Pro 13.I recommend buying a desktop PC, rather than a laptop, for working from home. Desktop PCs are much better for your health. They let you to use a better keyboard, a bigger screen, and a mouse. Also, they usually give you more power for your money, they are easier to repair and upgrade, and they last longer. Continue reading...

ITV is also expected to invest in Ginx eSports TV, which will air tournaments including Turner’s ELeagueThe UK is set to get its first 24-hour eSports TV channel as the world of competitive computer game playing takes its next step towards mainstream popularity.The new channel, Ginx eSports TV, will get a major boost at launch with Sky and ITV expected to take minority stakes in the business. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Thursday! Continue reading...

The Guardian scoured the Democratic National Committee’s 200-page research document on Donald Trump so that you don’t have to – here’s what we foundAn opposition research file about Donald Trump, compiled by the Democratic National Committee last year, has been leaked to the websites The Smoking Gun and Gawker. The file, which was stolen from DNC servers in a hack allegedly connected to Russian intelligence, contained a lot that will be familiar to those who have closely followed the candidacy of the presumptive Republican nominee.Related: Donald Trump claims DNC itself, not Russians, masterminded hack Continue reading...

The adult video-sharing site now has a ‘described video’ category, in which professional voice actors explain what’s happening in the sceneFor the around 285 million people worldwide who are visually impaired, pornography can seem like an acoustic blur of heavy breathing, squelches, slaps and Maria Sharapova-esque grunts.Related: Most boys think online pornography is realistic, finds study Continue reading...

Apple’s newest encryption tool better secures files on all its devices, just the latest in a move to widespread encryption in the tech industryApple revealed a slew of new software features for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and desktop computers on Monday – yet omitted an important new technology that will better protect customers’ private data stored on Apple devices.Apple File System, or APFS, is a new version of the technology Apple’s products use to save and retrieve information, and improves the way information is organized and protected to make it faster and more secure. Continue reading...

Opposition leader Bill Shorten addressed reporters at a press conference in Perth and answered questions on the ongoing controversy surrounding an opinion piece by NBN chairman Ziggy Switowski, which was deemed by the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson, to have been a breach of the caretaker code. The code precludes public servants from taking part in public discussions during an election campaign, with Shorten branding the breach ‘a very disappointing sign ... of what the government will do to cover up their own failure of policy’ Continue reading...

They’re easy to mock until you use them, but they’re a staple of millennial identity with a power to express tone – and proof of why representation mattersWhen Apple announced a banquet of upgraded emoji features at its annual developer event on Monday, even its own software boss groaned. “The children of tomorrow will have no understanding of the English language,” he quipped, veering only slightly off course from Apple’s upbeat corporate spiel.Apple’s emojification will be welcomed with by a certain demographic, but greeted with a by another. Continue reading...

You can remove almost all apps that come pre-installed on iPhone and iPad, set a wake alarm and change your file system (if you’re so inclined)Monday’s keynote at Apple’s worldwide developers conference was fairly packed. The company’s various executives spoke for two hours about the watchOS, iOS, tvOS and the newly-monikered macOS, but while we were all wowed by the changes to Messages, the facial recognition introduced in Photos, and, er, Swift Playgrounds, Apple left almost as many interesting things unsaid as they announced onstage. So here are our picks for what would lead the Keynote That Never Was. Continue reading...

Apple has overhauled Photos, Music and Messages on iOS and unveiled macOS Sierra at its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote

Due for Christmas 2017, Project Scorpio will support both virtual reality and 4K HD, as Microsoft positions itself to better rival Sony’s PlaystationMicrosoft has announced two new versions of its Xbox One console in an ambitious plan to ensure the lifespan of its latest machine.A new, more compact version called Xbox One S is launching in August, while Christmas 2017 will see the arrival of Xbox One Project Scorpio, a significantly more powerful update, that will support high definition virtual reality as well as games designed to exploit new 4K Ultra HD technology. Continue reading...

Kratos returns in a visually impressive demo, while Spidey battles through New York and a new Resi teaser drops – plus Fumito Ueda’s Last Guardian gets 2016 release dateWhile Microsoft placed the emphasis of its E3 press conference on new hardware and services, Sony went with games, games and more games. A new start for the bloody God of War series, a fresh Spider-Man adventure and a creepy-looking Resident Evil 7 were all well received by the large crown at LA’s Shrine Auditorium, as was the announcement of Hideo Kojima’s next project, Death Stranding.God of War provided the opening shot of the evening, featuring a new, older Kratos, who has now been transported from Greek to Norse mythology (though he still seems to bear his old Spartan scars). In a play-through shown onstage we see the bald slaughterer sporting not only a beard, but a young son, who he’s trying to teach how to hunt deer. The boy makes several mistakes though, and is then attacked by strange demon-like warriors, who Kratos attacks with an axe and a deadly range of melee moves. The sequence ends with a boss fight with a giant troll in which the son accidentally shoots his father with an arrow. Continue reading...

Xbox chief Phil Spencer announces Microsoft’s latest console: the Xbox One S, which is due to launch in August. Speaking at a press conference on Monday in Los Angeles, Spencer also announces the Xbox One Project Scorpio, a more powerful version of the current console. The E3 games event begins on Tuesday in LA

Rapper and fashion designer’s late mother ascends to heaven in first official trailer, which debuted at a Sony press conference in Los AngelesThose who paid witness to the Kanye West’s extravagant New York album and fashion launch in February would have been struck by a surreal intermission: when the rapper unveiled a preview of his own console game. Its trailer, which pays homage to his late mother, has now appeared.The Only One video, after his song of the same name, debuted at Sony’s E3 2016 press event in Los Angeles on Monday. It features an animation of the Chicago rapper’s late mother Donda West, who rides on the back of a winged white horse that is galloping through the clouds towards heaven. Continue reading...

Creator of the Metal Gear series is back with a new title starring Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus – and a disappearing babyHideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, wandered onto the stage halfway through Sony’s E3 press conference, said “I’m back”, then lapped up the long and warm applause. After his mysterious removal from Konami, the famed game director set up his own studio and later revealed a partnership with Sony – but it wasn’t until Monday night in Los Angeles that fans knew the result of the deal.And to be honest, they know little more now, apart from the fact that the first title from the post-Metal Gear Kojima Productions will be called Death Stranding and stars Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus (who previously worked with Kojima on an abandoned Silent Hill sequel). The oblique teaser for the game has the Reedus character waking naked on a beach, clutching a baby, which then seems to disappear, replaced by a black tar-like substance – which then appears as a child’s hand prints in the sand. All around the human characters are dead sea animals. Continue reading...

Business networking site launched in 2003, attracting $53m investment and eventually gaining 433 million membersIt took just 14 years for LinkedIn to grow from a brainwave in a tech entrepreneur’s living room to a $26.2bn (£18.5bn) takeover target.Reid Hoffman, 48, hatched the idea for LinkedIn from his apartment in December 2002 – shortly after eBay bought online payment service PayPal, where he was CEO. Continue reading...

Business-oriented social network site hails deal as ‘a chance to change how the world works’Microsoft is buying the business-focused social network LinkedIn for $26.2bn (£18.5bn) in cash, its biggest ever purchase, the two companies announced on Monday.The agreed deal – at $196 per LinkedIn share – was announced by both companies before the market opened on Wall Street. LinkedIn’s shares soared 49% on the news while Microsoft’s dipped close to 3%. Continue reading...

Ahead of E3, the studio has shown off the remake of its classic 90s game Quake with expanded professional leagues to come later this summerIn a video which handed a huge chunk of red meat to retro gaming fans, Bethesda, flush from the critical success of their recent Doom reboot, teased a remake of the 90s video game classic Quake at a press conference at E3.The trailer was entirely rendered so there’s little inkling of what the game will look like, but Id studio director Tim Willets – co-designer of the original game – said that the new “Quake Champions” iteration will be a high-speed multiplayer-focused game – with unlocked framerates – capitalizing on the already-extant Quake e-sports market. Continue reading...

Electronic Arts has thought big with its latest football sim, transferring to the Frostbite engine and taking story-telling lessons from BiowareThis, of course, happens every year. The producers at EA Sports in Vancouver have to travel the world evangelising the latest Fifa title to journalists who are used to being told that this is the most exciting, innovative instalment the series has ever seen. And then we’re shown a new heading mechanic.But this year, there are two genuinely game-changing additions, and a whole host of supplemental tweaks, updates and evolutions. Of course, marketing and sponsorship remain a big part of the pre-release hype, so we know that Fifa 17 will have four ambassadors to help with its authenticity: James Rodriguez, Eden Hazard, Anthony Martial and Marco Reus. Apparently they’re not just faces on the box – they’ve been consulted about new additions to the game. We’ll see. Continue reading...

Get started with VR on your iPhone or Android phone with these 100 apps, spanning films, games, news and 360-degree photo-sharingYou don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headset to give virtual reality a try.The Android or iPhone handset in your pocket is a VR device in its own right too, especially when paired with a sub-£20 Google Cardboard headset that uses your phone as its screen and works with both Android and iOS. Continue reading...