Technology | The Guardian

Companies join forces with Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo to tell UK government that important amendments to bill are requiredSix of the biggest American technology firms have combined forces to call for major changes to the Investigatory Powers bill, commonly known as the snooper’s charter.The firms warn that “important amendments are required” to create a bill that will not set dangerous precedents “which may be copied elsewhere and have wider ramifications for all parties, both in the UK and overseas”. Continue reading...

Department of Justice indicts hackers linked to Iran government for disrupting computer systems in first shift in US-Iranian relations since nuclear treatyThe US Department of Justice has unsealed an indictment against seven Iranian hackers, charging them with disrupting computer systems at American banks and a small dam north of New York between 2011 and 2013, accusing the men of working on behalf of the Iranian government.The allegations mark a shift in US-Iranian relations after a relative detente as the two countries negotiated a nuclear treaty. News reports have long linked the attacks to the Islamic Republic, and though the indictment against the men has been sitting on Justice Department shelves for more than a year it was unsealed partly due to congressional pressure, people familiar with the case said. Continue reading...

Starboard Value criticized the struggling tech company for mismanagement and poor performance Thursday, and set out plans to replace executive boardYahoo’s entire board should be axed, activist investors at hedge fund Starboard Value said on Thursday, setting out plans to replace them with their own picks, including Starboard managing partner Jeffrey C Smith.“[W]e have been extremely disappointed with Yahoo’s dismal financial performance, poor management execution, egregious compensation and hiring practices, and general lack of accountability and oversight by the Board,” wrote Smith in a letter to fellow shareholders. “We believe the board clearly lacks the leadership, objectivity, and perspective needed to make decisions that are in the best interests of shareholders.” Continue reading...

Pornographic content could be as instrumental in the VR wars as it was in the VHS age – or it could be a sideshow for weirdosOne of the oldest adages of technology is that where porn goes, success follows. It’s helped VHS beat out Betamax; it gave Blu-ray the final victory over HDDVD (although Sony then backed down before HD online streaming provided the nail in the coffin to both formats); and it helped spread faster internet connections, firstly providing a reason to upgrade to dial-up and then to broadband.So could it be about to provide the same killing blow in the virtual reality wars, before they’ve even started? Continue reading...

Critics say targeting Republican counters hacking collective’s tradition of not taking sides in political contests and others allege movement is being hijackedThe ripple effects of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy have led to a civil war in the Republican party. But they have also had the unexpected consequence of leading to a subterranean civil war within Anonymous, the mysterious hacking collective.Related: Anonymous collective declares ‘total war’ on Donald Trump, again Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg says virtual social worlds could be the future. But what’s it actually like in one? Keith Stuart visits AltSpace and finds the experience ... oddI’m standing in front of a decorative garden talking to a guy from Germany about PC specifications. This is not really what I was hoping for from the future of online social communication.The place I’m in is AltSpace, a virtual reality social world. It was launched in 2013 by AltSpaceVR, a small startup based in Redwood City, California. Although it’s early days for virtual reality as a consumer phenomenon, there’s been a lot of interest in the idea of virtual chatrooms – AltSpace VR has already attracted more than $15m (£10.6m) in venture capital funding, and Mark Zuckerberg has talked about multi-user VR as the future of social media. There are alternatives to AltSpace, such as vTime and VRChat but this one is getting a lot of interest due to its multi-platform compatibility and array of features. That’s why I decided to don a HTC Vive and spend an hour in the virtual world of chat. Continue reading...

Mark Backler and Molly Carroll join Keith Stuart and Jordan Erica Webber to chat about GDC 2016, shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division, and Stardew Valley, a game that will scratch your digital domestication itchThe video game industry has already taken 2016 by storm. With San Francisco’s annual Game Developers Conference seeing record numbers of attendees, and Ubisoft’s The Division becoming the fastest-selling original IP in games history – and generating $300m in the process – there’s good reason to be excited if you’re a video game fan.If first-person shooters are not your cup of tea, there’s Stardew Valley, a new role-playing adventure game that allows you to go fishing, plant seeds and fall in love.

Attempt to engage millennials with artificial intelligence backfires hours after launch, with TayTweets account citing Hitler and supporting Donald TrumpMicrosoft’s attempt at engaging millennials with artificial intelligence has backfired hours into its launch, with waggish Twitter users teaching its chatbot how to be racist.The company launched a verified Twitter account for “Tay” – billed as its “AI fam from the internet that’s got zero chill” – early on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Facebook happily hosts Kim Kardashian’s cleavage, but suspended users posting images of topless Aboriginal women for ‘violating community standards’. Leigh Alexander wonders, just whose standards are we talking about?Social technology, in the words of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, would “make the world more open and connected”, and unite the international community. It promises a new, global platform for cultural storytelling – a significant opportunity to know one another better than ever before.But major technology platforms are led by western capitalist ideals, and one major consequence of this is that not all stories are treated equally. On Facebook, stories and images of famous women’s nudity are celebrated – while the cultural histories of other women around the world are erased as “inappropriate”. Continue reading...

Sir Richard Branson says Virgin will partner with Boom to build and test plane to succeed where Concorde failed – ‘this lets you commute’ across oceansSir Richard Branson is hoping to bring back supersonic transatlantic passenger flights, and this time they will be “affordable”.Branson, who has already launched plans for $250,000-a-ticket flights into space, on Wednesday announced that his Virgin empire would help build a new generation of supersonic jets. Virgin has also signed an option to buy 10 of the planes to hopefully reintroduce 3.5-hour passenger flights between London and New York 13 years after Concorde was decommissioned. Continue reading...

‘White petroleum’ powers everything from electric cars to mobile phones, and half the earth’s resources come from the salt flats of Chile, Argentina and BoliviaFar from the soy and cattle that dominate its vast fertile pampas, Argentina harbours another valuable commodity that is rocketing in price and demand and luring newly welcomed foreign investors.Lithium, the so-called “white petroleum”, drives much of the modern world. It forms a small but essentially irreplaceable component of rechargeable batteries, used in consumer devices like mobile phones and electric cars. It also has pharmaceutical and other applications. Over half of the earth’s identified resources of the mineral are found in South America’s “lithium triangle”, an otherworldly landscape of high-altitude lakes and bright white salt flats that straddles Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Continue reading...

Durham police have issued a warning to Steven Knox, the ex-partner of Johnson’s sister, for allegedly posting images of the schoolgirlDurham police have taken action against the ex-partner of Adam Johnson’s sister for allegedly harassing the footballer’s teenage victim on Facebook.Officers issued a harassment warning to Steven Knox, 29, for allegedly posting images of the schoolgirl and claiming that she “bragged and lied”. Continue reading...

Following the loss of 55 jobs last year, remaining staff are made redundant as the Cheshire-based studio closes due to “changes to the European studios structure”Sony has announced that it is closing UK-based video game developer Evolution Studios, developer of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm titles, as well as the more recent PS4 exclusive, Driveclub.In a statement to gamesindustry.biz, a Sony spokesperson said the decision was made after one of its “regular reviews” of the groups that make up SCE Worldwide Studios: “As part of this process we have reviewed and assessed all current projects and plans for the short and medium term and have decided to make some changes to the European studios structure.” Continue reading...

US tech firm confirms earlier discussions with British chip-maker but says it has no plans to make an offerApple has confirmed that it held takeover talks with struggling British chip-maker Imagination Technologies.In a statement to the stock market, Apple, which owns nearly 10% of the smaller firm, said a takeover had been discussed. Continue reading...

More than 1m Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the conflict began with as many as one-fifth suffering from mental health disorders, says WHOMore than 1 million Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the start of the conflict and as many as one-fifth of them may be suffering from mental health disorders, according to the World Health Organisation.But Lebanon’s mental health services are mostly private and the needs of refugees – who may have lost loved ones, their home, livelihood and community – are mostly going unmet. Continue reading...

Advertisers can target African American-, Asian American- and Hispanic-affiliated groups through the siteUniversal Studios was able to show completely different trailers for Straight Outta Compton, the biopic of rap group NWA, to different racial groups on Facebook, thanks to a little-known feature on the social network called “racial affinity targeting”.The feature, which has been available to marketers since November 2014, categorises users in terms of their interests like many other Facebook advertising tools. But it uniquely categorises those clusters of interests in terms of related racial groups, allowing Universal to show very different versions of the Straight Outta Compton trailer to white and black audiences. Continue reading...

Force Awakens star hopes to take archeological adventurer role in series based on the hugely popular video gameStar Wars: The Force Awakens’ Daisy Ridley has confirmed talks to take on the role of Lara Croft in a forthcoming Tomb Raider reboot.

Federal authorities have cancelled Tuesday’s court hearing with Apple, saying an ‘outside party’ has shown a potential way to crack Syed Farook’s phoneA court hearing designed to force Apple into compromising its security systems for the iPhone was cancelled on Monday at the request of federal authorities, who said they potentially had another way into the San Bernardino shooter’s phone.Related: Beyond surveillance: what could happen if Apple loses to the FBI Continue reading...

The World Science Festival Brisbane’s ‘Shared Space Bots’ performance demonstrations at Queensland University of Technology used pint-sized, futuristic floor robots to reveal research into the technologies that will allow humans to communicate with driverless cars, and allowed audience members a chance to ‘test drive’ the systems safely. Shared Space Bots were demonstrated by internationally acclaimed technologist Christopher Lindinger from Austrian R&D company Ars Electronica Futurelab. They have been developed as part of the ongoing research cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Ars Electronica Futurelab on the topic of future mobility. Continue reading...

Apps should be either useful, interesting, or fun – but getting a notification now means I’m about to feel guilty or inadequate about somethingMy phone buzzes a lot. It lights up and grabs my attention during meetings, when I’m falling asleep and when I’m walking the dog. It just flashed while I was writing that sentence. But normally, it’s not interrupting my day with friends wanting to see me, or with declarations of love from a suitor (OK, never), or even with work emails. These alerts are not even from a person – they are increasingly from apps.Related: When self-monitoring becomes uncomfortably intimate… Continue reading...

An Apple loss in the San Bernardino encryption case risks creating a world in which we can no longer trust the gadgets that track how we drive, when we’re home and whether the door is lockedThis is how a former White House technologist envisions a future in which Apple loses its privacy battle with the US government.The year is 2026. You get in your new Tesla for a milk run. You place your fingertip on the door handle, the door unlocks, and the car knows it’s you as you step inside because it read your fingerprint. Continue reading...

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

The British company, famous for bagless vacuums and bladeless fans, reports 20% rise in profit thanks to tripling Chinese revenueDyson, the British company famous for its bagless vacuum cleaners and bladeless fans, is planning to ramp up investment into new longer-lasting batteries after reporting a 20% rise in profits thanks to a tripling of revenues in China.Dyson said its growth in 2015 was driven by battery-powered purifiers, fans and vacuum cleaners, with Asia overtaking Europe to become its biggest market. Continue reading...

Slate columnist Fred Kaplan’s new book details – exhaustingly as well as exhaustively – the alarms and innovations that made mass surveillance

A classic touring bike with a modern twistThe Light Blue began life back in 1895 when John Townsend started building bikes for Cambridge University students. He used to make about six a week in a converted dairy in the city. John’s great-grandson Lloyd now runs the firm, and most of its range is all about heritage and retro appeal. But not all the bikes are quite so old school. Take a look at the Darwin – it’s the modern evolution (ha!) of the long-distance touring bike. The frame is super durable steel – the tubing is Reynolds 725. The sloping top tube and wide-set handlebars give you a relaxed riding position to soak up the miles. In terms of gears you can choose between a derailleur or reliable hub. There are disc brakes and space for mudguards, racks and three drink cages. You certainly won’t go thirsty… (thelightblue.co.uk)

The founder of the social media company met Liu Yunshan amid concerns about China’s crackdown on internet usersFacebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has held a rare meeting with China’s propaganda chief amid a crackdown by the Beijing authorities on the use of the internet.Related: Want to wrest back some privacy from Mark Zuckerberg? Continue reading...

Apple’s willingness to borrow billions to address the economic impact of climate change could pave the way for other businesses to do the sameOn the surface, green bonds seem counter intuitive: why would a company willingly take on debt to finance environmental efforts? But Apple’s recent decision to issue its first green bond suggests that this type of investment could play a key role in reining in global warming.Apple’s $1.5bn green bond, announced last month, will fund several initiatives, including the company’s conversion to 100% renewable energy, installation of more energy efficient heating and cooling systems and an increase in the company’s use of biodegradable materials. A green bond, like a typical bond, is simply a way to borrow money, but it’s issued specifically to fund environmental projects.

From waitstaff to care companions and legal researchers, the future of the machine worker is here. But where does that leave humans“It’s pure magic,” Eatsa promises.At San Francisco’s first fully automated restaurant, meals appear in little glass cubbies, just 90 seconds after customers order and pay on wall-mounted iPads. It’s a human-less experience – no waitstaff, no cashier, no one to get your order wrong and no one to tip. Continue reading...

The number of Wikipedia entries on female scientists is staggeringly low, but thanks to these editors that might be changing

So computers can now beat humans at Go – but why would they swap their game pieces for bombs?‘AlphaGo” is the sort of supercomputer name a pulp science fiction novelist might come up with. Nevertheless, the achievements of this Google DeepMind machine are only too real. It has become the first computer program to beat a professional human player of the Chinese strategy game Go, without handicaps, on a full‑sized 19×19 board.It shouldn’t surprise us when computers beat humans at board games. They can, after all, store and rapidly analyse hundreds of millions of moves, and work out the implications of strategies hundreds of moves ahead, something no merely human player can manage. But AlphaGo is different. Experts in Go strategy report that it (I initially wrote “he” …) played in non‑obvious ways, making unusual, sly and even bizarre moves that only belatedly revealed themselves as tactically worthwhile. Continue reading...

US regulator says the e-commerce retailer cannot omit a proposal addressing the pay gap and it should be voted on at the May shareholder meetingAmazon took legal action in an attempt to avoid having to hold a shareholder vote on whether it should work to reduce the gap between how much it pays male and female staff.

Once there were mods, rockers, punks and skinheads. Now, online possibilities are infinite and we can curate our own individual worldsWe hunt in packs. It’s human nature. We do it to protect ourselves from the threat of attack, loneliness and to gather food. And while we are at it, our packs develop their own cultures, beliefs and ways of behaving. That includes ways to amuse ourselves when not much is happening. Thankfully, we don’t have to go out and kill yaks any more, but while the technology has moved on from the wheel to the microchip, our mentality has not.We are still tribal; the old are still trying to control the young, and the young are still trying to break free from the mortal enemies of parents, poverty and boredom. The tensions are the same as ever. But now they are being worked out in a digital world and not the real one – a world where physical strength, or even physical presence, is no longer needed. Continue reading...

Apple is not the first corporation to deploy the free speech argument to support their position – corporations have been co-opting the principle since the 1970sThe first amendment to the US constitution – guarantor of freedom of speech and of the press, as well as the freedom of religion and assembly – is a sacred creed to many Americans.For most of its history, it was understood principally as a guardian of individual liberty and a protector of public discourse. Increasingly, and not accidentally, the business community is using the first amendment to block economic regulation.

The internet has suffered from tech giants’ command-and-control ethos, but open chat platforms offer an alternative way forwardOne of the great books covering the internet and what it means is the Cluetrain Manifesto, written in 1999. It describes a revolution in business happening because a more open and public style of communication has become possible and proclaims: “markets are conversations”.

Australian fast-food retailer convert military robot into Domino’s Robotic Unit, which could spell the beginning of the end of the pizza delivery boyPizza company Domino’s Australia has turned a military robot into a pizza delivery droid.DRU, Domino’s Robotic Unit, a prototype of what Domino’s says is the world’s first autonomous pizza delivery vehicle, was unveiled in Brisbane on Thursday night. Continue reading...

The newest and weirdest in wearables from the Wearable Technology Show 2016The wearable technology market has rocketed over the past several years, from 32m units sold in 2014 to 115m predicted to sell in 2016. And it’s not just smartwatches and fitness trackers: tech companies are competing to create new wearable experiences with the widest possible appeal.Olly Mann visited this year’s Wearable Technology Show at London’s ExCel to try out the gadgets we might all be using in the not-too-distant future: from wearable tech for your unborn baby and your pet dog, to virtual reality for surgeons, to augmented reality with dinosaurs. Continue reading...

Steve Wozniak said device has taken firm into ‘jewellery market’ and that it is no longer ‘the company that really changed the world a lot’The Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said he no longer recognises the company he built, thanks to creations such as the Apple Watch.He wrote in an interview on Reddit: “I love my Apple Watch, but - it’s taken us into a jewellery market where you’re going to buy a watch between $500 or $1,100 based on how important you think you are as a person. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterHello Thursday! Continue reading...

An individual claiming to be Jason Dalton filed a complaint saying the company treated him as a ‘second-class citizen’ and forced him to launch the killing spreeAn individual purporting to be the Uber driver charged with fatally shooting shooting six people in western Michigan has sued the ride-sharing company, just one day after police reports showed he told investigators the app controlled him like “a puppet”.In a two-page handwritten complaint filed on Tuesday, an individual claiming to be Jason Dalton said the company caused “psychological damage” and treated him as a “second-class citizen”. The federal suit followed a series of police reports released on Monday, showing Dalton told investigators Uber’s app takes over “your whole body” and forced him to launch the killing spree that also left two wounded. Continue reading...

British gaming receives a wealth of talent and funding as a result of being in the EU. We couldn’t get by without it9.30am on a Saturday. The Europeans – including myself, Scottish and Irish gamers – in the H faction are waking up for the raids. Our US buddies comprise just under half the team. They’re asleep. If we don’t spend the next 12 hours working together, we will tumble down the world rankings, which in turn affects our ability to survive this murderous landscape. Later, the US side picks up the slack. The cycle continues … until every zombie is dead.Related: UK games industry is crowded, but small businesses are playing to win Continue reading...

Googlebot trawls the web for information, indexing and ranking sites for your searches. How significant is its switch to Android, and its plans for a bigger, 5in screen-size standard?Did you know Google’s been scouring the web identifying itself as an iPhone running iOS 8.3? Well, as of 18 April, that’s about to change, when Googlebot dumps its Apple skin and adopts the new Nexus 5X as its mobile standard.

Co-founder Steve Chen tells SXSW conference that ‘we thought dating would be the obvious choice’ – but internet users didn’t agreeIn 2016, YouTube is firmly established as online viewers’ first call for music videos, makeup tutorials and men screaming at games.But what’s little know is that when it was launched in 2005, the site had a different aim: dating. According to co-founder Steve Chen, it was designed as a way for people to upload videos of themselves talking about the partner of their dreams. Continue reading...

The Silicon Valley entrepreneur wants to solve humanity’s problems with his electric cars, space travel and solar panels. Where did he come from and what makes him tick?The hype about the information age has been going on for so long that you’d assume all Silicon Valley innovation these days is based on apps and the internet, rather than sophisticated physical engineering: bits, not atoms. It has got to the stage where many tech startups look like parodic solutions in search of problems, as with the dozens of companies hoping to become the Uber for laundry. Yet the most intriguing figure among the Valley’s billionaire entrepreneurs right now makes incredibly elaborate machines: electric cars and space rockets. While Mark Zuckerberg wants to change the world by enabling you to see more baby photos, the man who glories in the sci-fi name of Elon Musk wants to change the world by solving transport and global warming, and establishing a colony on Mars. Robert Downey Jr took inspiration from a visit to Musk’s rocket factory for his portrayal of Iron Man’s Tony Stark. “My mind is not easily blown,” Downey Jr reported, “but this place and this guy were amazing.” Musk has also been a guest star on The Simpsons. So who exactly is he, and can he be serious?Related: Elon Musk: the new It Boy of Silicon Valley | The Observer profile Continue reading...

Mark Dreyfus asks PM if his email server is used for sensitive material after failing to get freedom of information responseThe shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has called on the prime minister to confirm he has never used his private email server for national security matters, after lengthy delays by his office to respond to freedom of information requests.Related: Malcolm Turnbull’s own department doesn't have access to his private email server Continue reading...

Media company did not make clear the ‘fastest peak time speeds’ claim related to fixed-line performance only, says ASASky has had its claim that it offers the fastest broadband speeds in the UK shot down after BT lodged a complaint with the advertising watchdog.The media group ran a press ad claiming it offered the fastest broadband speeds in peak time, citing Ofcom research comparing it with rivals BT, Plusnet and EE on a 38Mb connection. Continue reading...

The tech company’s lawyers tried to lower the temperature in their fight with the FBI in a 26-page legal filing before a California court hears the encryption caseApple’s lawyers tried to lower the temperature in the company’s fight with the US government on Tuesday, telling a federal judge that America’s Justice Department is well-meaning but wrong in its privacy standoff with the iPhone maker.The 26-page legal filing is either side’s last argument before they face each other in a California court on 22 March over whether the government can order Apple to weaken the security settings on one of its ubiquitous phones linked to the San Bernardino shooting last December. Continue reading...

The device, which will retail at £349, will be one of the cheapest available, with experts predicting it could take VR technology to the mass-marketA major consumer electronics firm has become the first to launch a mass-market virtual reality headset, in what could be the move that takes VR technology into the mainstream.Sony said that its PlayStation VR headset, which works with the PlayStation 4 console, would be launched in October for $399 in the US and £349 in the UK.

Company will now control all of Sony/ATV, the largest music publishing company in the world, having bought the dead singer’s 50% shareSony is to buy Michael Jackson’s 50% share in Sony/ATV Music Publishing from the dead singer’s estate for $750m (£530m).The company is the largest music publishing company in the world and owns the rights to millions of songs including some of the Beatles’ work, as well as music by Taylor Swift, Bryan Adams, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Manic Street Preachers. Continue reading...