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Updated 2024-05-18 11:30
Elections in UK and US at risk from AI-driven disinformation, say experts
False news stories, images, video and audio could be tailored to audiences and created at scale by next springNext year’s elections in Britain and the US could be marked by a wave of AI-powered disinformation, experts have warned, as generated images, text and deepfake videos go viral at the behest of swarms of AI-powered propaganda bots.Sam Altman, CEO of the ChatGPT creator, OpenAI, told a congressional hearing in Washington this week that the models behind the latest generation of AI technology could manipulate users. Continue reading...
‘I liked how her expressiveness matches her bold hair’: Lucía Mara’s best phone picture
The Argentinian photographer was drawn to capture a stranger’s self-expression on a trip to New YorkSeconds before this was taken, Lucía Mara had chased the woman down New York’s Third Avenue. It was the Argentinian photographer’s last day in the city and she was running late to a meeting before her flight home to Buenos Aires.It was a sunny October day, bright after a night of rain, and the early afternoon light had illuminated the woman’s violet hair just as Mara, who studied photography and film at the University of California, passed by. She abandoned thoughts of her meeting and took off in pursuit, then, breathless, requested permission to take a photo. The woman, she says, was “ecstatic”. Continue reading...
Labour should pledge £11bn to build ‘BritGPT’ AI, thinktank says
Labour for the Long Term says UK risks falling even further into dependence on US tech firmsKeir Starmer should pledge £11bn towards building “BritGPT” and a national artificial intelligence (AI) cloud in the next Labour manifesto or risk the UK falling ever further into dependence on American tech companies, an affiliated thinktank has said.Labour for the Long Term, which campaigns within the party for it to adopt “long-termist” policies that mitigate dangers such as pandemics, climate breakdown, and AI extinction, argues in a report that the £1bn pledged by the government in the 2023 budget is not enough to protect Britain’s future independence. Continue reading...
‘We’re going all in’: how France raced ahead of UK on electric car batteries
State subsidies and industry backing pull in foreign investment as country creates ‘Battery Valley’Forty miles from the coast of Britain, where the government was again told this week that without urgent action it risks losing the electric vehicle race, “Battery Valley” is taking shape in northern France.Emmanuel Macron’s announcement last week that the Taiwanese battery maker ProLogium had chosen Dunkirk for its first foreign facility brings to four the number of gigafactories planned in a corridor stretching about 60 miles inland from the port. Continue reading...
Is The Creator the first (or last) in a new wave of sci-fi movies about AI?
The trailer for Gareth Edwards’ new film shows humanity being outsmarted by AI – and is released just as our overlords-to-be are rearing their terrifying headsIt’s been a while since we had a truly great movie about devious, dystopian AIs priming themselves to take over the world, in which the key choices made by mere humans will decide whether we end up as just an organic footnote in histories written by our machine conquerors. Alex Garland’s Ex-Machina (2014) springs to mind, while 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron was a fun comic book romp, if lacking the spiky gravitas and sly intellectual thrust of Garland’s debut. Grant Sputore’s I Am Mother explored similar territory in 2019 with a rather more claustrophobic, yet devastatingly incisive touch. Now there’s Gareth Edwards’ The Creator, the first trailer for which debuted this week, arriving just as very real concerns about the ability of artificial intelligence to really muck things up for us humans are rearing their terrifying digital heads.At first glance, it looks as if Edwards has thrown in all our favourite sci-fi tropes. The basic scenario – tooled up military man fails in mission to wipe out robot child because she is just too cute – reminds us of kind-hearted Din Djarin’s inability to bounty hunt Grogu in early episodes of The Mandalorian. Continue reading...
Fraudster jailed for running multimillion-pound website iSpoof
Tejay Fletcher’s site offered tools allowing criminals to make phone calls that appeared to be from trusted companiesThe mastermind behind an online fraud shop used to con victims out of more than £100m has been jailed for more than 13 years.Tejay Fletcher, 35, bought a £230,000 Lamborghini, two Range Rovers worth £110,000 and an £11,000 Rolex after making about £2m from the iSpoof.cc website. He was the founder and leading administrator of the site, which was brought down last year in the UK’s biggest fraud sting. Continue reading...
Spain hopes domestic tasks app will ensure men pull their weight
Free app designed to shed light on ‘mental load’ overwhelmingly carried by women when it comes to choresThe Spanish government is hoping to encourage men to do more at home by developing a free app that will log how much time each household or family member spends on domestic chores.Announcing the measure in Geneva earlier this week, Spain’s secretary of state for equality, Ángela Rodríguez, said the aim was to shed light on the invisible “mental load” overwhelmingly carried by women when it comes to domestic tasks. Continue reading...
Montana TikTok users denounce ban: ‘We have terrible roads but they’re banning an app’
Young users question whether law tied to national security concerns will take effect in January as plannedOn Wednesday, a 30-year-old influencer named Kylie Nelson signed a deal with TikTok to promote the app on her page. A few hours later, she learned that the state of Montana had passed a law banning TikTok.“Now I’m wondering: what do we do here?” said Nelson, who lives in Billings and is a full-time content creator. “About 60% to 70% of my brand collaborations are with TikTok. So, yeah, I’m pretty bummed out by the news.” Continue reading...
My students are using AI to cheat. Here’s why it’s a teachable moment
Ignoring ChatGPT and its cousins won’t get us anywhere. In fact, these systems reveal issues we too often missIn my spring lecture course of 120 students, my teaching assistants caught four examples of students using artificial-intelligence-driven language programs like ChatGPT to complete short essays. In each case, the students confessed to using such systems and agreed to rewrite the assignments themselves.With all the panic about how students might use these systems to get around the burden of actually learning, we often forget that as of 2023, the systems don’t work well at all. It was easy to spot these fraudulent essays. They contained spectacular errors. They used text that did not respond to the prompt we had issued to students. Or they just sounded unlike what a human would write. Continue reading...
US supreme court reinforces immunity for Google and Twitter in win for tech behemoths
Justices avoid weighing in on law which shields internet companies from lawsuits over content posted by their usersThe US supreme court issued two decisions on Thursday that reinforced existing protections for internet platforms against being held liable for content, marking a victory for tech behemoths including Twitter and Google.The cases had been closely watched for their impact on a federal law known as section 230, which protects internet companies from lawsuits over content posted by their users, a law that – if successfully challenged – could have upended the rules of the internet. Continue reading...
TikTok creators sue to block Montana’s ban on the platform
The state governor had on Wednesday signed into law the first US state-level ban on the appA group of TikTok creators have sued to block Montana’s ban of the platform, arguing that the new law violates their first amendment rights.Greg Gianforte, Montana’s governor, on Wednesday signed into law the first US state-level ban of the increasingly embattled social media app, effective 1 January 2024. The governor argued the move was “to protect Montanans’ personal and private data from being harvested by the Chinese Communist party”. Continue reading...
Montana’s TikTok ban: why has it happened and will it work?
All you need to know about the US state becoming the first to prohibit the social video app for consumer usersTikTok has been banned in Montana. The first US state-level ban of the increasingly embattled social video app is already proving controversial, although it will not take effect until 2024. Continue reading...
UK’s £1bn strategy for semiconductor industry lacks ambition, say critics
While the US and EU announce bigger programmes, one British startup says the government’s investment figure is less than the cost of one basic plantThe UK government has announced an investment of up to £1bn in the domestic semiconductor industry, but has been criticised for declining to join the spending race that has seen the US and EU announce significantly bigger programmes.Labour accused the government of lacking ambition in its announcement, while one UK startup said the £1bn figure was less than the cost of one basic semiconductor plant. Continue reading...
Delivery apps could help fight obesity by boosting low-calorie options, says study
Possible interventions include default smaller portions and prominently displaying low-calorie foodsFood delivery apps could help tackle the obesity crisis by making lower-calorie options more prominent on their sites, research suggests.A study, presented at the European Congress of Obesity in Dublin, involved creating a simulated food delivery app and conducting three randomised controlled trials involving 23,783 adult participants. Continue reading...
Lego 2K Drive review – a wonderful first racing game
PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Visual Concepts/2K Games
Pushing Buttons: The secret to Tears of the Kingdom’s success? It’s the genuine escape we all need
In this week’s newsletter: The Zelda sequel’s all-encompassing approval says something about how important games have become in our cultural lives
‘Everyone encounters some kind of abuse’: Stephen ‘Jorbs’ Flavall speaks out on the dark side of Twitch streaming
In his new memoir, Before We Go Live, the Twitch and YouTube star pulls back the curtain on the world of pro game streaming – and details some of the toxic behaviour he says he has witnessedStephen Flavall – or Jorbs as he is known on YouTube and Twitch, where he has more than 100,000 followers – rose to fame streaming strategy games such as XCOM and Slay the Spire, a game in which he has achieved several world records. He’s considered a high-ranking Twitch streamer, with a soothing monotone voice and an infectious laugh. He’s very consistent. When you watch Flavall’s Twitch channel, you know exactly what to expect: funny and cerebral anecdotes, informative strategy tips and a supportive community.But his new memoir, Before We Go Live, does something unexpected: it pulls back the curtain on the back end of professional game streaming – which, as anyone who follows online gaming culture knows, is rife with rampant toxicity, abuse and harassment. It’s a chilling wakeup call for the industry, from the top down. Continue reading...
How one woman raised $100,000 for cancer treatment she never needed
In this week’s newsletter: Why did Amanda Riley con the blogosphere into paying for her fake illness? Find out in Scamanda. Plus: five of the best podcasts to mend a broken heart
‘We are losing money’: companies in Apple’s repair program say they can’t compete with tech giant
Exclusive: Slow response times and high cost of parts make program unviable, third-party repairers say
YouTube found to push content about guns to children watching games videos
Video site recommended videos related to weapons, shooting and murderers to accounts for boys aged nine and 14, report saysYouTube’s recommendation algorithm continues to direct young video game fans down dark paths of violent and dangerous content, a report has found, years after critics first raised concerns about the system.A report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a Washington DC-based nonprofit, observed the effects of the video sharing site’s recommendation algorithms on a spread of accounts identified as those of boys aged nine and 14. Continue reading...
WhatsApp now lets you hide your messages from prying eyes. But is Chat Lock a cheaters’ charter?
You can now hand your phone to your partner without any danger of them reading your chats. But what’s the big secret?Name: Chat Lock.Age: The Chat Lock feature on WhatsApp is new. Cheating, by contrast, has been going on since Venus was carrying on with Mars behind Vulcan’s back, and probably long before that. Continue reading...
Police to use live facial recognition in Cardiff during Beyoncé concert
Technology be to deployed in city centre to identify wanted individuals, leading to concerns over normalisation of surveillancePolice will use live facial recognition technology in Cardiff during the Beyoncé concert on Wednesday, despite concerns about racial bias and human rights.The technology will be used in Cardiff city centre, but not at the stadium, to “support” the artist’s concert at the Principality stadium by identifying wanted individuals and ensuring safeguarding, South Wales police said, as the artist kicks off the UK leg of her first solo headline tour in seven years. Continue reading...
Elon Musk: I will tweet what I want even if it loses me money
Twitter owner and Tesla chief defends tweet about George Soros after being accused of antisemitismElon Musk has said he will continue sending controversial tweets even it loses him money, as he defended himself against accusations of antisemitism over tweets about George Soros.The Twitter owner and Tesla chief executive said he is “allowed to say what I want to”, as he defended a tweet posted on Tuesday saying the billionaire financier “reminds me of Magneto” – the Jewish villain in the X-Men series. Continue reading...
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker at 20 – this under-appreciated Zelda game is also one of the best
Derided at first, in the 20 years since its launch this cartoonish high-seas adventure has claimed its rightful place as one of the best Zelda gamesWhen people ask what my favourite video game of all time is and I tell them, they inevitably wrinkle their nose and say: “What, the one with all the sailing?” To many, that’s all The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is: a 20-year-old GameCube release in which toon Link endlessly sails the vast sea on his trusty talking boat. In 2013, when the game was re-released on Wii U a decade after its debut, Nintendo took the criticisms on board (the talking boat) and added a “swift sail”, allowing players to bypass hours of sluggish seafaring. For shame. The seafaring was the point.It has now been two decades since the original Wind Waker was released in Europe in May 2003 and it’s time that landlubber critics accepted they were wrong. The game’s expansive ocean was not only soundtracked stunningly, but filled with endless side quests and mini-games, emphasising exploration in a way not seen again in a Zelda game until 2017’s Breath of the Wild. As an 11-year-old girl clicking the little gold disc into place inside her (sister’s) first GameCube, I realised just how engrossing video game worlds can be. Continue reading...
Framework Laptop 13 review: cracking modular PC gets all-round upgrade
Thin and light performance machine continues to set standard for fixable, upgradeable laptopsThe fixable and upgradeable premium Framework Laptop 13 has been improved all round for 2023 and is packed with small changes that are backwards compatible with older models, making a great laptop even better.The original Framework broke new ground last year as a laptop designed to be taken apart and upgraded, and with a modular selection of ports, too. Crucially, the company followed through on promises to provide parts and upgrades for existing machines – first with 12th-gen Intel chips and now new 13th-gen Intel processors, with AMD Ryzen 7040 series chip options coming later this year. Continue reading...
Court rules Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must go to prison while she appeals sentence
Holmes, who was charged with defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up, hoped to stay out of jail while she appealed her convictionTheranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must begin serving her prison sentence while she appeals against her conviction on charges of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing startup and must jointly pay $452m in restitution to the victims of her crimes, a court in San Francisco has ruled.Holmes, who rose to fame after claiming Theranos’ small machines could run an array of diagnostic tests with just a few drops of blood, was convicted at trial in San Jose, California, in 2022 and sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency trading in UK should be regulated as form of gambling, say MPs
Report says people betting on prices of such assets ‘should be aware that all their money could be lost’UK authorities should regulate cryptocurrency trading as a form of gambling rather than a financial service, parliament’s Treasury committee has said after a fresh inquiry into the industry.The government must avoid wasting more taxpayer funds promoting tech innovations such as digital tokens, without demonstrating the clear benefits to the public, MPs said in a report published on Wednesday. Continue reading...
US charges ex-Apple engineer with stealing trade secrets, then fleeing to China
Justice department announces charges involving company’s self-driving car technologyThe US has charged a former Apple engineer accused of stealing the company’s technology on autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China.The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced charges in that case and several others involving the alleged theft of trade secrets and efforts to steal technology to benefit China, Russia and Iran. Continue reading...
OpenAI CEO calls for laws to mitigate ‘risks of increasingly powerful’ AI
Sam Altman says before Senate judiciary committee that he supports guardrails for technology to minimize harmsThe CEO of OpenAI, the company responsible for creating artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT and image generator Dall-E 2, said “regulation of AI is essential” as he testified in his first appearance in front of the US Congress.Speaking to the Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday, Sam Altman said he supported regulatory guardrails for the technology that would enable the benefits of artificial intelligence while minimizing the harms. Continue reading...
Ministers looking at body-worn facial recognition technology for police
Government’s intentions revealed in document produced for surveillance camera commissionerMinisters are calling for facial recognition technology to be “embedded” in everyday policing, including potentially linking it to the body-worn cameras officers use as they patrol streets.Until now, police use of live facial recognition in England and Wales has been limited to special operations such as football matches or the coronation. Continue reading...
TechScape: Can Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky really take over from Twitter?
The spinoff app is trying to do what Mastodon couldn’t and take a piece of Elon Musk’s pie. Plus: the race to save 1bn NSFW images on Imgur
Lemmings meets Koyaanisqatsi: Humanity, the dream-like puzzle game that inspires delight and unease
A collaboration between famed designer Yugo Nakamura and gaming auteur Tetsuya Mizuguchi has yielded one of the strangest, most compelling puzzle games of recent yearsHumanity was inspired by a throng of bodies. Specifically, the mass of people queueing for Comiket, the longstanding comic and pop culture convention in Tokyo. As its director Yugo Nakamura explains over a video call from the city, he was intrigued by the “orderly manner” in which these people were milling about. “We have our soul and mind,” he says, “but it was almost like they were moving without thinking.” The challenge the designer set himself and his colleagues at the award-winning Japanese studio tha ltd. was to simulate this gently surging crowd, the ebb and flow of the collective.The resulting puzzle game does something unusual for the genre. Yes, it stretches your grey matter in ways that will make you feel like an idiot and then a genius, but its hundreds, sometimes thousands of people moving in unison are capable of stirring up surprising emotions: delight, awe, even fear. The setup is simple: direct an endlessly spawning mass of people towards the light in a series of self-contained levels. The execution is anything but: a luminous shiba inu dog is the pack’s leader, scampering about brutalist architecture suspended high in the clouds. You are given the ability to manipulate the group in different ways with commands such as turn, jump, and branch, which siphons the roving mob into two. When it goes right, Humanity is the stuff of dreams; one wrong instruction, however, and the game turns into a Freudian nightmare, its mass of figures tumbling into an infinite abyss. Continue reading...
‘Beowulf is lit AF’ – could ChatGPT really write good book blurbs?
Some in the book industry have already begun exploring automation of its pitches to readers. We took this functionality for a test drive“Blurb writing is a mini art form,” Iris Murdoch once wrote in a letter to former Penguin blurb writer Elizabeth Buchan. And like many other art forms, companies have been experimenting with the idea that it could be created without an artist.A German company that provides digital book distribution and marketing services to publishers has announced it will integrate ChatGPT, a chatbot that answers questions by drawing on publicly available internet data, into its software.Middlemarch is the ultimate “Real Housewives” of 19th century England. Follow the lives of wealthy aristocrats as they navigate love, lust, and gossip in a society that’s more cutthroat than the latest reality TV show. With scandalous affairs, juicy secrets, and plenty of backstabbing, this book has more drama than a season of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” So grab your popcorn and get ready for a wild ride!Yo, have you checked out Beowulf? This dude’s a total savage, taking down monsters left and right like it’s NBD [no big deal]. His skills are on point and he’s got a fearless attitude that’s straight-up inspiring. Plus, his adventures are full of epic battles and drama that’ll have you shook. And you know what’s even better? Beowulf’s got plenty of admirers, so the romance is totally on point too. Trust me, this story is the lit AF, and you won’t wanna miss it.The ultimate guide to life, love, and eternal salvation! With enough drama and plot twists to rival Game of Thrones, it’s sure to keep you entertained for thousands of years to come. Laugh, cry, and gasp in awe at the epic stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, and Jesus and his miracles. Don’t miss out on this divine masterpiece!OH MY GOSH, have you read Ulysses yet?! It’s the most mind-blowing, soul-stirring, literary masterpiece I’ve ever laid my eyes on! James Joyce is an absolute genius and this book will take you on a journey that will leave you breathless! Trust me, you don’t wanna miss out! #Ulysses #JamesJoyce #MindBlowing #LiteraryGenius #LifeChangingOh, wondrous and magnificent Beloved, whose words doth pierce through the heart like a thousand arrows of truth, leaving one awestruck and enraptured in its devastatingly beautiful tale of love, loss, and redemption.If you’re looking for a book that will make you ugly-cry in public, It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is your golden ticket – just make sure to pack plenty of tissues and a disguise.Reading One Hundred Years of Solitude is like investing in a cultural masterpiece that will appreciate in value with every page turned. Continue reading...
Elon Musk subpoenaed over JPMorgan’s role in Jeffrey Epstein’s activities
US Virgin Islands is suing the bank over sex trafficking by Epstein, saying he ‘may have referred or attempted to refer’ Musk as a clientThe US Virgin islands subpoenaed billionaire the cars-to-rockets entrepreneur Elon Musk on Monday to obtain documents in its litigation into the role played by JPMorgan Chase bank in the activity of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was a customer, according to a court filing.The Virgin Islands government is suing the bank over sex trafficking by Epstein. The Virgin Islands has been trying to serve Musk with a subpoena, the filing noted, adding that Epstein “may have referred or attempted to refer” Musk to JPMorgan as a client. Continue reading...
Elon Musk wants Tesla hires cleared by him as he shifts focus away from Twitter
Staff at the car-making company told to ‘think carefully’ about anything being proposed days after new Twitter CEO announcedDays after announcing a new CEO at Twitter, Elon Musk has turned his eye to Tesla, ordering managers to clear all hires at the electric car maker through him.Musk communicated the decision in a memo to Tesla staff on Monday, according to documents obtained by The Information. Continue reading...
EU approves Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard
But UK regulator the CMA, which blocked the deal, hits back over European decision on acquisition of Call of Duty makerThe EU has approved Microsoft’s $69bn (£55bn) acquisition of the Call of Duty creator Activision Blizzard, in a move that drew immediate pushback from its UK counterpart, which has already blocked the gaming mega-deal.The EU accepted Microsoft’s concessions on cloud gaming, the same problem that led the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to block the transaction last month. Continue reading...
‘The Velvet Hammer’: who is Twitter’s new CEO and can she fix its problems?
Linda Yaccarino is praised for understanding of advertisers – but Elon Musk must cede enough control“I see I have some new followers,” said Linda Yaccarino, adding side-eyes and waving hand emojis to a tongue-in-cheek post responding to the social media explosion that followed her unveiling as Twitter’s new chief executive on Friday.Still weeks away from taking up the role, Yaccarino, a respected media veteran known in advertising circles as the “Velvet Hammer” for her silky but tough negotiating style, has already had a taste of the shambolic corporate environment that has swept the platform since billionaire Elon Musk bought it for $44bn last October. Continue reading...
‘Is this really going to work?’: the makers of mega-hit video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
For three decades, the search for Princess Zelda has been thrilling fans and smashing records. As its latest incarnation grips players in their millions, Nintendo’s Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma reveal how they took Hyrule to new heightsThe release of a new Zelda game is always a major event worldwide. Ever since 1986, when famed Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto first attempted to capture in code some of the wonder he experienced exploring the Kyoto countryside as a child, Zelda games have been pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in virtual worlds. Look at any best-games-of-all-time list and you’ll see Zelda in the Top 10, often more than once.But 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was particularly special. Launching alongside the Nintendo Switch console, which has since sold more than 125m units, it was perhaps the best realisation yet of the promise of boundless freedom and adventure that video games have been dangling in front of players’ noses for decades. It got rave reviews and sales hit 30m, many millions of those buyers new to the fantasy world of Hyrule. Pretty much everyone loved it. Soon, indie-pop star St Vincent was confessing to putting 300 hours into it. Continue reading...
Philadelphia Inquirer severely disrupted by cyber-attack
Attack has caused worst disruption in decades to city’s paper of record and it is unclear when normal editorial services will resumeThe Philadelphia Inquirer is scrambling to restore its systems and resume normal operations after it became the latest major media organization to be targeted in a cyber-attack.With no regular Sunday newspaper and online stories also facing some delays, the cyber-attack has triggered the worst disruption to the Inquirer in decades. Continue reading...
Google Pixel 7a review: the best mid-range phone gets even better
Fast, slick screen, excellent camera and great software makes for a hard to beat combinationGoogle’s latest mid-range phone brings high-end features down to a reasonable price, including the firm’s top chip and class-leading camera.The Pixel 7a costs £449 (€509/$449) – £50 more than the initial price of last year’s 6a but £150 cheaper than the Pixel 7 – while offering almost the same features.Screen: 6.1in 90Hz FHD+ OLED (429ppi)Processor: Google Tensor G2RAM: 8GBStorage: 128GBOperating system: Android 13Camera: 64MP + 13MP ultrawide, 13MP selfieConnectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSSWater resistance: IP67 (1m for 30 minutes)Dimensions: 152.4 x 72.9 x 9mmWeight: 193g Continue reading...
‘Design me a chair made from petals!’: The artists pushing the boundaries of AI
From restoring artefacts destroyed by Isis to training robot vacuum cleaners, architects, artists and game developers are discovering the potential – and pitfalls – of the virtual worldA shower of pink petals rains down in slow motion against an ethereal backdrop of minimalist white arches, bathed in the soft focus of a cosmetics advert. The camera pulls back to reveal the petals have clustered together to form a delicate puffy armchair, standing in the centre of a temple-like space, surrounded by a dreamy landscape of fluffy pink trees. It looks like a luxury zen retreat, as conceived by Glossier.
Tell us: how do you feel about your smartphone use?
We would like to hear from readers around the world about their screen time and what changes – if any – they’d like to makeTwo hours a day, three, even five: the time we spend on our screens is gradually ticking up.According to Nielsen, Americans now spend almost half of their days gazing into their various devices, while in the UK a study found that screen time has surged since pandemic lockdowns, with 50% of respondents clocking up 11 hours or more a day. Continue reading...
Apple launches satellite emergency SOS service in Australia and New Zealand
The feature, rolled out to users in the US and UK last year, can send details including location without phone reception to trained specialists
What lies beneath: meet the real life metal detectorists
Tales of rare finds, Instagram stories and, of course, that hit TV comedy means metal detecting is buzzing. Today’s detectorists reveal what they love about itSet up Roman Found on Instagram Continue reading...
AI voice synthesising is being hailed as the future of video games – but at what cost?
Tech advances that make it easier to recreate human voices also raise ethical questions about the rights of actors and musicians
A moment’s silence, please, for the death of the Metaverse
Meta sank tens of billions into its CEO’s virtual reality dream, but what will he do next?Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember the metaverse, which was quietly laid to rest a few weeks ago by its grieving adoptive parent, one Mark Zuckerberg. Those of you with long memories will remember how, in October 2021, Zuck (as he is known to his friends) excitedly announced the arrival of his new adoptee, to which he had playfully assigned the nickname “The Future”.So delighted was he that he had even renamed his family home in her honour. Henceforth, what was formerly called “Facebook” would be known as “Meta”. In a presentation at the company’s annual conference, Zuckerberg announced the name change and detailed how his child would grow up to be a new version of cyberspace. She “will be the successor to the mobile internet”, he told a stunned audience of credulous hacks and cynical Wall Street analysts. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.” And no expense would be spared in ensuring that his child would fulfil her destiny. Continue reading...
Ministers not doing enough to control AI, says UK professor
Stuart Russell, former government adviser, says ChatGPT could become part of super-intelligent machine that can’t be constrainedOne of the professors at the forefront of artificial intelligence has said ministers are not doing enough to protect against the dangers of super-intelligent machines in the future.In the latest contribution to the debate about the safety of the ever-quickening development of AI, Prof Stuart Russell told the Times that the government was reluctant to regulate the industry despite the concerns that the technology could get out of control and threaten the future of humanity. Continue reading...
‘I probably jumped down from a chair more than 50 times’: Leo Huang’s best phone picture
Worried about trampling his camera, the photographer, who has been skipping on his rooftop in Taiwan since Covid began, turned to his mobile …“There is a saying in photography,” Leo Huang says. “The single most important component of a camera is the 12 inches behind it. The camera you use is important, yes, but your brain, ideas and imagination are what really matter.”Huang began skipping at the start of the Covid outbreak, using the rooftop above his home in Taiwan’s Yilan City. “There is enough open space up there, and it meant I didn’t have to go to the gym, which was closed anyway. I liked that skipping didn’t need complicated or costly equipment and has so many benefits. People think it’s a simple aerobic exercise, but it can help with depression, cardiopulmonary function and reducing fat.” Continue reading...
Labour planning ‘right to switch off’ for workers if it wins general election
Policy would restrict bosses from contacting workers outside of hours by phone or emailLabour is planning a “right to switch off” for workers if the party wins power at the next general election, according to reports.The scheme, spearheaded by Angela Rayner, the deputy party leader, would mean that bosses would be restricted from contacting workers outside of hours by phone or email. Continue reading...
From dealing with Musk to fixing Twitter Blue: what’s in the next CEO’s in-tray?
Elon Musk has announced he will step down as chief executive and has appointed Linda YaccarinoElon Musk has described it as a “painful” job that anyone would be “foolish” to accept. But Twitter’s current chief executive has found a willing person to take his place.Musk announced on Friday that he had appointed the chairman of of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, Linda Yaccarino, as CEO. Here are the most pressing items awaiting her when she takes up the post: Continue reading...
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