The first wave of VR headsets flopped, but soon the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR will go on sale – and they’re going to be much, much betterVirtual reality is coming. 2016 will see the release of the first serious consumer VR headsets for 20 years.In the first quarter of the year, VR pioneers Oculus (a subsidiary of Facebook, since a $2bn (£1.3bn) buyout in March 2014) will launch the consumer version of their Rift headset to the world. In April, Taiwan’s HTC will launch the Vive, another PC peripheral developed in conjunction with gaming firm Valve. And at some point in the year – likely to be the first half – Sony will launch its PlayStation VR, an add-on for the Playstation 4, which will bring VR into the living room. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Monday! How was your Christmas? Continue reading...

It’s been a year of quality sequels, indie class acts and some incredible immersive journeys, from the zombie apocalypse to a rural Shropshire one…The year has been dominated by a series of open-world games that were both impressive and exhausting. Batman: Arkham Knight gave us a glittering gothic maze; Mad Max and Fallout 4 traded visions of the apocalypse; Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain erected a grand stage for the apparently final exit of Snake; and Just Cause 3 built another just to blow it up as inventively as possible. These games are odysseys of side quests and collectibles, and their relentless ambition has become the dominant mode of this generation of consoles, if only because they leave little time to play anything else. Continue reading...

Google’s Project Tango allows mobile devices to gain awareness of the space around us. Could the technology be as game-changing as the iPhone was, or is it just another shot at the moon?In early 2014, Google made an interesting announcement. The company had a new product in the pipeline, one that could change the way we interact with computers. Google showed a prototype of the technology built into a Nexus phone. Dubbed Project Tango, it allowed the device to gain awareness of the space it was in, and to do so far more precisely than anything seen previously.Google pre-announced the technology, it seems, because it didn’t really know what to do with it. Continue reading...

Hamburg conference hears that Red Star intranet allows Pyongyang to control citizens’ access to websitesNorth Korea’s homegrown computer operating system mirrors its political one – marked by a high degree of paranoia and invasive snooping on users, according to two German researchers.Their investigation, the deepest yet into the country’s Red Star OS, illustrates the challenges Pyongyang faces in trying to embrace the benefits of computing and the internet while keeping a tight grip on ideas and culture. Continue reading...

Smartphones are increasingly becoming the devices on which we access the web at home as well as on the move, meaning more power for Google and AppleThe Christmas holidays are the time of year when different generations of the family gather around the dinner table. So it’s a perfect opportunity for a spot of tech anthropology. Here’s how to do it.At some point, insert into the conversation a contemporary topic about which most people have strong opinions but know relatively little. Jeremy Clarkson, say. There will come a moment when someone decides that the only thing to be done to resolve the ensuing factual disputes is to “Google it”. Watch what happens next. The younger members of the group will pull out their smartphones and key in the search terms. Most of the older members will do nothing – other than make a mental note to look it up when they’re next at their PCs and wait for the smartphone owners to report what they have found. Continue reading...

It may be the ne plus ultra of automotive sophistication, but a long weekend in this Roller will put you into a head spinPrice: £367,632

A quality off-roader for kids that means they’ll be able to keep up with youSpecialized, founded in 1974 in California, is one of the world’s largest bike builders. So you know that when they put their mind to remodelling the MTB for juniors they’ll have considered all the angles. The main goal for the new Riprock was an affordable children’s trail bike that performed like an adult’s, so your kids could join you on the toughest tracks. It’s been built to safely flatter and foster their handling skills. It has plus-sized 2.8in Big Roller tyres for great traction and a geometry with a low standover, which makes it easy to hop on and off, and gives a broader range of fit across the years. It also has suspension forks and disc brakes to improve stopping power and allow small hands to yank on the brakes faster. And it’s mercifully light for little legs (evanscycles.com).Price: £350

Getaways that force stressed Britons to detach from digital media in relaxing surroundings are enjoying a boomOverworked, stressed-out Britons are driving a surge in demand for digital-free new year getaways, where guests are forced to ditch their smart devices as they check in.The trend for “digital detox” has been around in the America for some time, but the urge to go “off grid” is taking hold here too, along with a mini-boom in specialist companies looking to cash in. Continue reading...

Christmas can be stressful, cooped up in a house with a number of your closest family members. These gadget ideas can help you take that crucial break to retain your sanityChristmas is meant to be a time of sharing, caring and food, but it can be quite fraught and stressful a couple of days in. Technology can help you take a break so you don’t end up hating your lovely family. Continue reading...

From Periscope, Google Photos and Dubsmash to Apple Music, YouTube Gaming and Ninja Jamm, the 25 best new Android apps of the yearLet’s be blunt: the vast majority of apps used by the vast majority of smartphone owners were not released for the first time in 2015.Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, Skype, Uber ... all well-established before Big Ben struck midnight on 31 December 2014. As the years go by, the number of brand new apps that make a massive, global impact seems to narrow. Continue reading...

From Periscope and Enlight to Apple Music, Google Photos, YouTube Gaming and Pacemaker: the best new iOS apps of the yearAccording to analyst firm Forrester Research, smartphone owners spend 85% of their time on those devices using apps, but 84% of that time is spent using just five apps that weren’t already preloaded on their devices.That’s why it’s so tough for new apps to become WhatsApp or Candy Crush-sized hits: even if their developers can persuade people to download them, getting them to use them regularly is another challenge entirely. Continue reading...

From privacy to backups and the best apps – here’s a guide to get you started with that new smartphoneIf the holiday season has been kind enough to bestow upon thee a shiny new smartphone, here’s what to do to get the best out of the first few hours and set it up right. Continue reading...

Got a new Mac for Christmas? Ideal. Time to invest in a cover before you scratch it to bits. Here are 10 covers that don’t look like covers Continue reading...

This hunk of tech will only be as good as the apps you put on it and as secure as you make itIf the holiday season has been kind enough to bestow upon thee a shiny new tablet, here’s what to do to get the best out of the first few hours and set it up right. Continue reading...

Announcement follows similar move by Facebook, as internet companies respond to attacks that can be ‘more advanced and dangerous’Yahoo has become the latest technology company to promise to alert its users if it thinks their accounts have been attacked by “state-sponsored actors” – hackers working on behalf of governments.“Yahoo will now notify you if we strongly suspect that your account may have been targeted by a state-sponsored actor,” said Bob Lord, Yahoo’s chief information security officer, in a blog post announcing the change. Continue reading...

Mobile operator Reliance Communications ordered to stop offering social network’s suite of free services on net neutrality groundsIndia’s telecoms regulator has ordered mobile operator Reliance Communications to stop offering Facebook’s “Free Basics” service to its customers, due to concerns over net neutrality.Free Basics is a suite of basic internet tools including news, travel, job listings and health services, offered to people in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America through partnership with operators that remove data charges. Continue reading...

Crytek’s new project for the Oculus Rift shows us exactly where VR gaming is going – towards heady and experiential gameplayAbove you, the craggy face of the cliff seems to stretch up endlessly toward the sky, offering perilously few footholds. In the far distance there’s a small village by a beach, bathed in orange sunshine – an exotic idyll. But below you there is ... nothing. Nothing but a long deadly drop into the crashing sea far below. Your only option is to keep climbing.Crytek has always been interested in pushing graphics technology. In the mid-2000s, the Frankfurt-based developer and publisher achieved wide acclaim for its visually spectacular first-person shooters Far Cry and Crysis; although several years old, both are still widely used as a benchmark for near photo-realism in games, especially in terms of environmental detail. With its steamy tropical rain forests, Far Cry presented a lush counterpoint to the genre’s obsession with steel grey interiors. Continue reading...

From Vainglory and Prune to Lara Croft Go, Alphabear and Minecraft: Story Mode, the 25 best games for Android of the yearOnce upon a time, Android often played second fiddle to iOS when it came to the latest and greatest games. That’s long gone though: 2014 was an exceptional year for Android gaming, but 2015 was just as good.From platformers and puzzle games to shoot ‘em ups and even hardcore MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) titles, Android owners had plenty to choose from. Here’s our roundup of the 25 best titles, with more to be recommended in the comments section. Continue reading...

Engineering and robotics design company Boston Dynamics dresses up robots as reindeer. A female Santa Claus is pulled by three robot reindeer, wishing everyone ‘happy holidays’. Funding for the majority of the most advanced robots made by Google-owned Boston Dynamics comes from US military sources Continue reading...

Entrepreneur may be facing extradition to the US, but in 2016, labels will be more focused on navigating the changing economics of streamingYou might expect champagne corks to be popping within major music labels at the news that a New Zealand court has ruled Kim Dotcom can be extradited to the US to face charges of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering.In his heyday at cloud storage service Megaupload, Dotcom became a cartoon villain for music rightsholders – and their compatriots in the film, games and software industries – as they saw the company as a haven for illegal filesharing. Yet that heyday is ancient history for a music industry that has been going through an intense period of digital disruption in recent years. Dotcom was arrested and his site shut down nearly four years ago, in January 2012. Continue reading...

Flywheel claims to be the world’s first and only regulator-approved, GPS-based taxi meter – and is stepping up competition against rivals Uber and LyftCalifornia’s state regulators have approved TaxiOS, an app for hailing traditional taxis – making it the first and only GPS-based taxi meter in the world approved for use by state regulators.Customers can view a real-time display of their current ride price, though drivers can lower their rates during off times so the cost can be split between friends or a carpool group, similar to the Uber Pool and Lyft Line options offered by its ride-sharing competitors. Continue reading...

He has millions of followers and likes on Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. He uses YouTube and Periscope. His polling numbers remain high. Could Trump’s social media strategy really win him the biggest job of all?In sentences I never thought I’d write: Donald Trump is still riding high in the polls as part of his bid to be the next President of the United States. Late last month, the Republican nomination hopeful dropped a massive 12 percentage points in a single week following comments on creating a Muslim Database, but it speaks to his unfathomable popularity that even with such a vertiginous fall he was still hitting 31%, and since then, his ratings have climbed ever higher.If there’s anything that goes some way to explaining Trump’s popularity in the midst of his quasi-fascistic views that reached a nadir with his call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, it is his social media prowess. Trump has more than 5.5 million Twitter followers and 4.5 million Facebook fans. He has a presence across YouTube, Vine, Instagram and Periscope. Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s highly-regarded former digital and social media guru, has said Trump is “way better at the internet than anyone else in the GOP which is partly why he is winning.” Continue reading...

Gamers failed to buy enough games for new consoles to make up for a steep fall in demand for older formatsGame Digital shares have dived nearly 40% as the retailer warned that profit would fall sharply after worse than expected sales of games in the run-up to Christmas.The seller of video games and consoles said UK sales for the 21 weeks to 19 December fell 11.4% to £353.4m as gamers failed to buy enough games for new consoles to make up for a steep fall in demand for older formats. Continue reading...

Kimoji is already the most popular paid iPhone app in the US and UK, but Apple denies its popularity ‘broke’ its App StoreKim Kardashian’s bottom may have broken the internet earlier in 2015, but her new emoji iPhone app hasn’t yet had the same effect on Apple’s App Store.Kimoji was released earlier in the week, with celebrity-news site TMZ claiming that “9,000 download requests per millisecond” crashed the App Store until “the Apple tech team swooped in and shored it up”. Kardashian apologised via tweet: Continue reading...

The tech team review the best games and biggest trends of 2015, and gaze into their gaming crystal balls for the year ahead2015 has witnessed the extraordinary success of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as the unlikely birth of the Steam Machine and smartwatch gaming. It’s been the year of not just epic blockbusting adventures like Metal Gear Solid V, Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, but also indie hits like Her Story and Undertale. So what will 2016 bring?Keith and Jordan are joined by journalist Simon Parkin, author of Death By Videogame; and Dishonored 2 narrative designer Cara Ellison, to look back at the biggest games and trends of 2015, and what to look forward to in 2016.

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

Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload, reacts to a New Zealand court’s ruling that he can be extradited to the United States to face charges of copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering. The decision, which can be appealed, comes almost four years after New Zealand police first raided Dotcom’s mansion west of Auckland at the behest of the FBI.

If you’ve just bought a new PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Wii U for your kids this Christmas, here are the things you need to know before handing it overSo it’s Christmas and you’ve bought your kids a video game console – for a few sweet hours you’re going to be the greatest parent on the face of the planet. Congratulations.But, to be honest, your work has only just begun. Like any new technology, you can’t just let them get on with it – even if the mere sight of a games controller sends shivers of terror (or boredom) down your spine. You need to step up and take an active part in this. Giving a console is like giving a pet: it’s a long term commitment and it can be tricky and demanding. But at least a console won’t pee on your carpet when it gets over-excited. Continue reading...

Police allege the 27 November post by a Swan Hill woman, 38, would encourage others to commit harm to MuslimsA Victorian woman has been charged with serious religious vilification after posting comments about Islam on Facebook.Related: Man charged over Facebook messages to MP Continue reading...

UK Treasury looking at ‘all possible options’ after claim that big online marketplaces collaborate with vendors over tax evasion on popular goodsTop tax officials are exploring whether Amazon and eBay can be forced to foot the bill for ballooning VAT fraud associated with an army of small overseas sellers who are rapidly coming to dominate sales of many popular items on Britain’s leading shopping websites.A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of high-value gifts including Apple watches, iPads, Fitbits and Panasonic cameras are being sold on Amazon’s UK website without VAT being charged.

Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, delivered communications satellites to orbit before its main-stage booster returned to a landing padThe high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has hailed a “revolutionary moment” for reusable space hardware after his SpaceX programme successively launched and returned a rocket to earth, landing it in an upright position.In its first mission since a cargo ship was destroyed in an accident in June, SpaceX sent a Falcon rocket into orbit on Monday night with 11 satellites on board. Continue reading...

The twentysomething multimillionaire heirs documenting their jetset lives are a real inspiration to their followers – I might give it a go myselfSo, I haven’t really got to grips with Instagram yet. Eager not to be left behind, I’m hoping that The Rich Kids of Instagram (Channel 4) can help steer me in the right direction. I want to be rich, I want to be a kid, I want to be on Instagram; this sounds like a show that’s been tailor-made for me. (If you think this is all too much about me, then you’re probably just a sad jealous hater troll; and you know what? I don’t care.)Right, this Lana – @LanaScolaro – seems like a lovely girl and a really great role model and guide, to help me build Brand Me on Instagram. Lana, 20, a multimillionaire heiress, spends her time jetting and helicoptering between London, Ibiza, New York and Monaco. She’s also known for not being Robin Thicke’s wife but still having his hand up her skirt. No wonder she’s got 23,000 followers. Continue reading...

Tech company makes rare foray into British politics in a submission to the committee on the investigatory powers billApple has called for changes to the UK government’s investigatory powers bill, over fears it would weaken the security of “personal data of millions of law-abiding citizens”.In a submission to the bill committee, released on Monday, the Californian technology firm expressed major concerns and called for wholesale changes before the bill is passed. Continue reading...

Social network and its 8bn daily video views join YouTube in switching to HTML5, which could be the critical cut that finally starts Flash’s demiseHas Facebook finally struck the fatal blow in the long, slow demise of Flash by switching to HMTL5 video by default?

12 months in which the video game industry finally started to represent women both in-game and in developmentTo say the video game industry hasn’t always been a model of inclusion and diversity is a bit like noticing that the sea’s wet or that Jeremy Hunt needs to be lowered quietly into a septic tank; it’s so blindingly obvious it’s hardly worthy of comment. However, unlike the sea and the Conservative health secretary, gaming has begun to change, and not for the worse. There’s been a dramatic rise in the number of women making games, and some inspiring success stories among small, independent developers. That said, it’s still a blockbuster-driven industry that employs disproportionate numbers of men, but hey.According to a poll conducted at the end of last year, 52% of British gamers are female. A survey of the industry taken around the same time found that just 22% of game developers were women; that’s double the number in 2009 thanks to more open recruitment practices, but still tragically low. That’s a real disparity but some recognition of the medium’s shifting audience is emerging. One simple but important change is that it’s now standard to be given a choice between playing a male or a female character. Even in traditional boys-y bastions such as Rainbow Six Siege, there are female special forces operators every bit as effective at blowing holes in walls, floors and terrorists as their male counterparts. In Fallout 4, one of the year’s highest-profile titles, the sole survivor of the nuclear apocalypse can not only be a man or a woman, but also gay, straight, or robo-sexual (for those interested in stretching diversity in new and potentially painful directions). Continue reading...

Apple, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Spotify and Instagram’s year-end recaps had plenty to teach us, but there was a lot they left outYou probably wouldn’t bang on about your galloping gout or your teenager’s arrest for grand larceny in a round-robin letter at Christmas. So why should technology firms be any different?Most end-of-year reviews from technology companies emphasise the positive, from the biggest videos on YouTube or the top apps on Apple’s App Store through to the most popular hashtags on Twitter and the most-streamed artists on Spotify. Continue reading...

Why shouldn’t a Muslim American block a Facebook friend for bringing Islamophobia into their personal space?I once read that a Facebook account is like a living room. My front door is unlocked, and anyone can come sit for a spell, have a conversation or just listen to the dialogue already going on. If, however, someone comes in and starts hurling epithets or insulting my other guests, I can ask them to leave. Immediately.I thought of this metaphor upon reading Caitlin Dewey’s recent Washington Post piece, in which she argues (with substantial statistical evidence) that unfriending Donald Trump supporters (or in conservatives’ case, unfriending feminists) is unwise and only serves to further polarize an increasingly partisan America, keeping us from any meaningful progress. I’ve certainly unfriended a handful of people over the past few years. When it’s happened, it’s usually because the person has said something rude and intolerant in my living room, and when asked to stop, they’ve refused. (Most of those people just happen to also like Trump’s fan page.) Continue reading...

Struggling smartphone maker announces a 12% rise in revenue and finds success with phone powered by Google’s Android mobile operating systemBlackberry is not dead. The struggling smartphone maker announced a 12% rise in revenue for its latest financial quarter, the first time in two years it has reported back to back rises in revenue.Related: BlackBerry boss John Chen: security focus heralds return 'from edge of death' Continue reading...

Web monitoring experts say traffic was down 5.5% in the UK and 10.9% in France during the 24 hours following the first screenings of JJ Abrams’ filmRelated: Discuss Star Wars: The Force Awakens (with spoilers)Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken the web - or at least, temporarily tangled it. According to internet monitoring experts, traffic in nations where JJ Abrams’ space opera reboot has arrived in cinemas dropped significantly in the wake of the first screenings – potentially as a result of fans choosing to avoid spoilers by staying offline. Continue reading...

Card game maker bestows surprise present upon its factory employees as part of its ‘eight sensible gifts for Hanukah’In the run-up to the holiday season, the makers of popular (if controversial) party game Cards Against Humanity offered a special promotion: eight small, mystery presents delivered over the month of December.The company has a history of offering unexpected items for sale: in 2014, to celebrate Black Friday, it gave customers the chance to purchase a literal box of bullshit. So the 150,000 fans who paid up for the mystery gifts genuinely didn’t know what to expect, except for the fact that they were branded as “eight sensible gifts for Hanukah”. Continue reading...

British company says it plans to continue developing its technology for barring touts from ticketing pre-salesThe British company that helped to prevent 18,000 touts from buying tickets for Adele’s 2016 tour has raised $10m of funding to continue developing its technology.Songkick raised its latest funding round from Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, the investor that owns Warner Music Group and has a significant stake in music streaming service Deezer. Continue reading...

Santa Claus is coming to town – and he’s got a shotgun, a stash of nuclear warheads and an army of zombie elvesChristmas, that traditional time when families come together to sit around looking at their iPhones. So what better way to get in the spirit for that solitary sofa time than by downloading some Christmas-themed apps?The festive phone-staring tradition has spawned an entire industry of yuletide apps, from 101 Christmas Cake Ideas (which seems to be a slideshow of different ways to disguise the leaden mass no one actually wants to eat) to Christmas Countdown and Sleeps to Christmas, which are basically calendars with clip-art tinsel stuck on. Continue reading...

Blood, sand and chaos – our five favourite video games of the year

Technology company’s offer has raised concerns over accelerated ‘gentrification’ of Silicon ValleyFacebook is offering employees at its Silicon Valley headquarters at least $10,000 to move closer to the office.The move is a reflection of the challenges many tech companies face in the increasingly expensive and congested San Francisco Bay area of California.

Car crashes could be a thing of the past if car makers deliver on their promise to roll out autonomous cars over the next five years. But researchers are still questioning what this accident-free future might look likeCompanies like Google and Tesla have held up autonomous vehicles as a panacea for road accidents, which claim over 32,000 American lives each year. This month, Obama put stock in that idea, signing a $305bn transportation bill that includes grants for self driving vehicles. That backs up 10 years of US Department of Transportation work on technical studies and policies surrounding autonomous cars.But will all this investment and research actually result in a future free of car accidents? Continue reading...

Messaging service used by millions of Brazilians was meant to be blocked for 48 hours to pressure app’s owner Facebook to cooperate in criminal investigationMillions of Brazilian WhatsApp users had their service disrupted for hours on Thursday as judges flipped back and forth on how to punish the company for failing to cooperate with a criminal investigation.Related: WhatsApp blocked in Brazil for 48 hours by court Continue reading...

Revised scheme will focus incentives on zero-emissions vehicles and no longer subsidise most expensive hybridsGrants to subsidise the purchase of electric and other low-emission cars are to be extended by at least two years, to encourage more than 100,000 UK motorists to buy greener vehicles.The plug-in car grant, which gives buyers up to £4,500 towards the cleanest new cars, will now run until March 2018, the Department for Transport announced on Thursday. Continue reading...

Konami’s golden boy has gone indie – and his new studio’s first game is a partnership with Sony. How did he get here, and what’s next?For decades, the conspiracy-mad Metal Gear Solid games thrilled players with their labyrinthine plots, filled with casual betrayals – so perhaps it is fitting that, the auteur-like creator of the series, Hideo Kohima, left in murkily acrimonious circumstances. The gaming soap opera of 2015 began in March, when rumours first circulated that Kojima would be forced off the project by the series’ publisher Konami after September’s release of MGSV: The Phantom Pain. The speculation ended on Wednesday when Sony announced it had signed up the first game from his new independent studio. How did Kojima end up here? Why did it go wrong with Konami? And what’s next?