Six years ago complaint from Berkshire-based shopping comparison site started battle with EU that has since widened to multiple frontsIt began in the English home counties, not far from Windsor Castle, when a small shopping comparison website decided to launch a complaint against Google with the European commission.Berkshire-based Foundem formally accused Google in November 2009, claiming the Silicon Valley company abused its monopoly position by deliberately and systematically lowering rivals’ sites in its search engine results. Continue reading...

Unknown petitioner gains injunction blocking Facebook’s popular messaging service used daily by 93 million users in the countryBrazil has blocked Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging app, preventing users in the country from connecting to service or sending messages.A Brazilian court ordered mobile phone providers to block all access to the internet-based messaging service on Wednesday for a total of 48 hours, starting at midnight on Thursday, according to Brazilian phone company association Sinditelebrasil . Continue reading...

We’re into the top ten of our video game countdown, and it’s good news for the Wii U console – as well as rocket powered football cars

The whens and hows of upgrading Microsoft Windows 7 to Windows 10, or going back to Windows 7I’m thinking of upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. I’m told the free upgrade is only for one year, and after that you have to pay £80 for it. Is that the case? Robert Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Thursday. Look at the book I found in Oxfam! Continue reading...

All point-to-point rides, including Uber and cabs, could face a $1 per trip levy to fund a compensation scheme for taxi licenseesUber is officially legal in New South Wales, following a decision by the cabinet to regulate the ride-sharing service.The cabinet of the premier, Mike Baird, agreed to legalise the service on Thursday after considering the recommendations from an independent taskforce into the taxi industry and transport providers such as Uber. Continue reading...

Telecoms firm says it is aware of incidents in which devices have overheated and customers should stop using themEE has issued a recall for all its Power Bar portable chargers because of a fault that can cause overheating and a fire safety risk.The move by the telecoms firm comes just four months after an initial recall of one batch of the portable chargers amid reports they could overheat and explode. The company has now said that in order to make sure all customers remain safe, all Power Bars should be returned to an EE store. Continue reading...

Ever wanted to wield a lightsaber through your browser, interact with droids via Cardboard VR or explore a map with a stormtrooper? Help you Google canGoogle has continued to roll out easter eggs inspired by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, including a way to fight stormtroopers on your computer, as fans prepare to head to movie theaters for midnight showings.There’s also the Google Search text crawl – search for the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” (no quotes) to check it out. Lightsaber Escape, which debuted on Wednesday, is an old-fashioned “rail shooter”-style app you can play through Google’s Chrome browser, provided you have a fast enough internet connection. Modern media companies have suitable internet connections for this purpose, the Guardian has found. Continue reading...

The draft regulations, issued almost a year late, will allow manufacturers to operate or lease – but not sell – self-driving cars to the publicCalifornia finally issued draft regulations for the public operation of self-driving cars on Wednesday, almost a year after it was supposed to. If they are adopted, manufacturers will be able to operate or lease – but not sell – self-driving cars to the general public for the first time in the US.The draft regulations require all vehicles to have a human operator ready to take immediate control of the car if anything goes wrong. This would rule out completely driverless cars such as those being developed by Google. Continue reading...

Food-delivery firm and crowdfunding site among 15 companies inducted into government-backed Future Fifty scheme for fast-growing start-upsDeliveroo, the upmarket food-delivery group, and the Crowdcube crowdfunding site are among 15 firms tipped as potential stars of the UK’s digital economy by Tech City UK, a government-backed organisation.The companies have been inducted into the Future Fifty programme, which aims to support fast-growing tech firms and help them to the next stage. Continue reading...

The Guardian tech team nominate 2015’s winners and losers in techFrom the highs of Fallout 4 to the lows of the Talk Talk hack, from the troubled birth of the Apple Watch to the apparent death of Google Glass, it’s been a year of ups and downs for tech.So what were the biggest news stories? Who were the technology winners and losers? What were the best gadgets? The most irritating memes? Continue reading...

As the most anticipated film of the year begins its global rollout, fans and industry unite in praise of The Force AwakensRelated: The Force Awakens reviews roundup: verdicts arrive on JJ Abrams' Star Wars epicAs global anticipation builds for what is undoubtedly the cinematic event of the year, if not the decade, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had its world premiere in Los Angeles in advance of its worldwide release.

Guardian investigation reveals illegal weapons including stun guns, pepper spray pistols and knuckledusters are routinely sold on UK website

New rules will strengthen European citizens’ privacy protections, while a controversial proposal to raise ‘age of digital consent’ to 16 was devolved to member statesEurope has taken a big step towards stronger, pan-European data privacy laws, after agreeing the text of new reforms.

Andrew House talks PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR and PlayStation Now, and even praises his counterpart at MicrosoftTwo years ago, industry pundits were declaring the inevitable death of the specialist games console. Before the launch of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it looked like consumers had moved on from expensive specialist games hardware, toward smartphones, tablets and other formats.But Andrew House, who as president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment is the ultimate boss of Sony’s PlayStation division, always had faith. And now he has the sale figures too. In November, PlayStation 4 passed the 30m global sales milestone, two months earlier in its lifecycle than the PlayStation 2, which ended up selling more than 155m units, making it officially the best-selling console in history.

It’s part three of our rundown of the year’s best games – and we’ve arrived at the apocalypse already

As the first reviews of the much-anticipated blockbuster roll in, UK critics laud Star Wars with five star reviews, and in the US reviews are admiring but with qualificationsThe embargo is over, the first reviews are in... and the reaction in general has been thoroughly positive. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens hasn’t blown everyone away entirely.Related: Star Wars: The Force Awakens review – 'what a Christmas present' Continue reading...

Transgender people and victims of domestic violence who use aliases to hide from their abusers had criticized the social network’s policyFacebook unveiled changes to its controversial “real name” policy on Tuesday after criticism from transgender people and victims of domestic abuse.The social network bans anonymity and has insisted people use their birth names on their accounts. The policy has caused problems for people who used different names from the one they were born with, including transgender people and victims of domestic violence who use aliases to hide from their abusers. Continue reading...

UK engineering software maker had agreed in July for French company to take a 53.5% stake to reduce its exposure to oil price fallsShares in the engineering software maker Aveva have fallen by more than a third after it scrapped a complex tie-up with France’s Schneider Electric that would have reduced the UK company’s exposure to troubled oil and gas markets.The companies agreed a deal in July in which Schneider was to buy £550m of new Aveva shares for a 53.5% stake and combine Aveva’s business with Schneider’s software division. Continue reading...

New European data protection rules would see companies require parental consent to handle data of those under 16, effectively blocking them from social mediaThe European Parliament is set to vote on Tuesday on new rules that could see teenagers banned from internet services such as Facebook, social media, messaging services or anything that processes their data, without explicit consent from their parent or guardian.

21-year-old arrested as part of a cybercrime investigation into computer hacking at children’s electronic toymaker VTechA 21-year-old man has been arrested as part of a cybercrime investigation into computer hacking at children’s electronic toymaker VTech. The suspect was detained in Bracknell, Berkshire, on Tuesday morning, the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (Serocu) said in a statement.He was held on suspicion of “unauthorised access to computer to facilitate the commission of an offence” and of “causing a computer to perform a function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program/data”. A number of electronic items were seized by investigators. Continue reading...

Our countdown of the year’s finest gaming moments continues with old-school shooting, apocalyptic adventure and turn-based infiltrationIt’s part two of our romp through the best games of 2015, and after yesterday’s concentration of offbeat indie hits, here are ... well, a few more. We did warn you this was a highly subjective list. Continue reading...

All this week we’ll be counting down our favourite games of the year, beginning with indie sci-fi horror, platforming fungi and LegoWell, it’s almost Christmas, that wonderful time when all entertainment writers turn their thoughts, not to family and friends, but to end-of-year list features. Here then, is our traditional rundown of the year’s 25 best video games, collated by our team of experienced games writers – just before they all disappear into a fug of eggnog and carol singing.As ever, these are the titles we personally enjoyed this year, not the ones we felt were the most groundbreaking or that attracted the widest critical acclaim. It’s not objective or scientific – or fair or reasonable. Continue reading...

Concerns over exploding batteries leads retailer to remove self-balancing scooters, demanding proof from manufacturers that products meet safety standardsAmazon has begun to pull some hoverboards from sale after fears about fires caused by the self-balancing scooters.A number of hoverboards that had been sold on Amazon have now disappeared, including all five models once reviewed by consumer affairs site BestReviews. That site now warns would-be buyers that “for the time being, we are not recommending any hoverboards until they are proven to be safe”. Continue reading...

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

One third of women in science, technology, engineering and maths professions say lack of career opportunities mean they are considering leavingAlmost one third of women in Australia employed in science, technology, engineering and maths – known as Stem fields – expect to leave their job within the next five years, a survey has found.The finding comes from a Professionals Australia survey of 432 women working in Stem professions which asked them about their pay, career opportunities, work-life balance and retirement savings.

Can’t find a partner? Don’t worry, the ‘sexbot’, programmed to meet all your desires, is on its way. Eva Wiseman explores the troubling world of sex robotsThe world is ending. The sports fields are empty, the science labs closed. No babies have been born for years. Cut to a split screen of human and robots kissing passionately. “They’re trapped!” says the narrator, voice like gravel. “Trapped in a soft, vice-like grip of robot lips.” Words slam against the screen, a warning. “Don’t. Date. Robots.”Except Futurama’s 2001 episode “I Dated a Robot”, with its post-apocalyptic world of silvers and blues, wildly overestimated how long it would take before this fear became flesh. It’s November 2015, and in Malaysia, where humidity is at 89% and it is almost certainly still raining, David Levy, a founder of the second annual Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, is free to talk on the phone – he is less busy than planned. “I never expected to end up here,” he says. I hear a shrug. Continue reading...

Richard Napier, 48, is an American engineer living in Fukuoka, Japan. He spent four years and £22,500 building his own working R2 unit, called R2-J1.Miranda Sawyer on what Richard’s droid says about him Continue reading...

Mozilla has killed off its Firefox OS, leaving the mobile OS market dominated by Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Will technology always follow the same pattern?What do operating systems, browsers and search engines all have in common? It seems to be a ratio of 90:9:1 between the key players. One player dominates; then others get a minimal share.Take mobile OSs: This week the Mozilla Foundation pulled the plug on Firefox OS – the mobile OS which could have replaced native apps with HTML-based apps – a final death throe in the mobile OS wars. There are now three main platforms – Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone – for which worldwide shipments are currently running in a ratio of about 85:14:1 respectively. Continue reading...

New car-pooling service allows passengers to save 25% on standard fare by sharing trip with up to two others

If I didn’t have children and I did a lot of exciting driving, this is the car I would get

Federal judge rules against officers claiming millions in overtime for responding to work-related calls and emailsA US federal judge has ruled against a group of Chicago police officers who argue they are owed millions of dollars in overtime for responding to work-related calls and emails on their smartphones while off-duty.

Exclusive: Documents reveal donor-funded US startup embedded in Republican’s campaign paid UK university academics to collect psychological profiles on potential votersTed Cruz’s presidential campaign is using psychological data based on research spanning tens of millions of Facebook users, harvested largely without their permission, to boost his surging White House run and gain an edge over Donald Trump and other Republican rivals, the Guardian can reveal.A little-known data company, now embedded within Cruz’s campaign and indirectly financed by his primary billionaire benefactor, paid researchers at Cambridge University to gather detailed psychological profiles about the US electorate using a massive pool of mainly unwitting US Facebook users built with an online survey.

Pilots’ run-ins with amateurs flying drones near sensitive sites or manned aircraft has become a serious problem in recent years, according to Bard reportClose encounters of the drone kind are becoming more frequent according to a Bard College study that uncovered some 90 “incidents” with commercial jets in the last two years alone, and hundreds more with other manned aircraft.Amateurs flying drones near sensitive sites or manned aircraft has become a serious problem in recent years – Bard’s Center for the Study of the Drone said pilots had often come within 50ft of the offending flyers, and had sometimes had to bank to avoid running into them. Continue reading...

Come and see games editor Keith Stuart discuss the best titles of the year with writers, developers and special guestsIt’s that time in the gaming year when we all look back on the myriad of entertainment treasures that the industry has provided and ask, why am I still playing Destiny?With this is mind, the Guardian is holding a “games of the year” event on 17 December, where games editor Keith Stuart will be discussing the most interesting releases of 2015 with journalists Simon Parkin and Jordan Erica Webber as well as author and narrative designer Cara Ellison (Dishonored 2) and Mike Bithell, creator of PC and PlayStation 4 stealth game Volume. We’ll also cover some of the talking points and controversies of an intriguing year, and welcoming other guests too. Continue reading...

Directors Martin Reinhart, Thomas Tode and Manu Luksch rewind a century of footage, revealing our mania for technology is nothing new

Mayer announced the news after fielding questions about the complex deal to sell Yahoo’s core businesses on a public call with investors WednesdayMarissa Mayer has given birth to twin girls just one day after announcing a complex corporate “reverse-spin” maneuver designed to reverse the long, slow decline of the technology company.

As Victorian computing pioneer Ada Lovelace celebrates her 200th birthday, we ask why there are so few women working in tech todayFrom Ada Lovelace onwards, women’s contribution to the world of technology has been incalculable. Even as recently as 1984, 37% of computer-science graduates in the US were female. Yet today just 14% of the tech industry is made up of women. What went wrong?In this week’s show we’ll be tipping our hat to the first lady of computing, and asking why, two centuries on, there are so few women working in tech... and what can be done about it. Continue reading...

Mon uses a 10-year-old computer and a seven-year-old BlackBerry at work. Old tech is slowing her down, and she wants to upgrade to something betterI work for a charity and they do not upgrade equipment very often: I am using a 10-year-old laptop and a seven-year-old BlackBerry. I feel this old tech is slowing me down and affecting my work, so I am thinking of buying my own hardware. I own an iPhone, and I could dedicate this to work. I also have a Windows 8 laptop at home.The iPhone won’t easily upload photos to a laptop unless I buy more iCloud storage, which I am loath to do when I have ample storage on the laptop.It’s a false economy to skimp on laptops because they can easily waste far more time than they are worth. If you work 250 days per year, then a £400 computer costs 40p per day, or 5p per hour, if spread over four years. For a worker paid £10 per hour, 5p is equivalent to 18 seconds. I’m pretty sure that an hour with a stopwatch – your iPhone has one – will show that your old PC is costing your employer more than 18 seconds per hour in lost productivity. Just accessing two or three web pages could do it, without even a crash/reboot. Continue reading...

Email which could be from account once associated with Nakamoto denies his real identity is that of Australian academic and entrepreneur

Watchdog says it has received a complaint about the Corbyn campaign group’s use of data and will be making inquiriesThe information commissioner is launching preliminary inquiries into a complaint about the use of data by the campaigning group Momentum, which was established to provide grassroots support for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party.A spokesman for the information commissioner’s office said it had received a complaint and would be making inquiries. Continue reading...

Ofcom study shows 70% of British adults watch free-to-air catch-up services such as iPlayer or All4, ahead of France and Spain on 52%The UK is the most advanced TV-watching nation in the world, with more people using catch-up services and tablets to get their fix of television than in the rest of Europe, Japan, Australia or the US, according to Ofcom research.Over September and October, 70% of UK adults said they watched free-to-air catch-up services such as iPlayer or All4, well ahead of the next most enthusiastic streamers in France and Spain, where only 52% do so. Continue reading...

A new study suggests that people who finish messages with full stops are perceived as insincere. Let’s not get started on the creeps who put a nose in smiley faces

No one was harmed but many shoppers scrambled after popular gadget caught on fire at the Outlet Collection mall – ‘and not just a little fire’ a shopper saidInstead of running to store shelves to snap up one of the most-hyped Christmas gifts of the year, shoppers were sent running at a Washington mall when a hoverboard exploded.No one was harmed in the Tuesday morning incident, which sent shoppers scrambling away from a kiosk selling hoverboards, the self-balancing scooters that incidentally do not actually lift off the ground. Continue reading...

Technology has been lauded as a way to free up time for us, yet the reality of an all-consuming medium often does the reverseTechnology is unruly. New innovations bring with them a host of unintended consequences, ranging from the troubling to the downright depressing. Social media makes us lonely. Too much screen-time makes teenagers fall behind their peers. And at the more feeble end of the spectrum, many of us have walked into an obstacle while texting. Whatever glorious vision animates the moguls of Silicon Valley, it surely can’t be this.

Physical and mental health feature strongly in the 2015 Nominet Trust 100 awards, which recognise innovations in technology that are used for social goodWhen Georgina Coulson’s son was five months old, he had a violent seizure. It took paramedics over an hour to stop him shaking. John Joseph ended up in intensive care where he was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, a neurological condition causing severe seizures, often while sleeping, and a heightened risk of sudden death during epilepsy. Once discharged, Coulson bought a mattress sensor which triggered an alarm if her son moved in the night. But as babies wriggle a lot, the alarm would go off constantly. “He’d be awake from 1am until 6am,” says Coulson, a single mother. “We were exhausted.”Desperate to find a better way to monitor John Joseph, Coulson did some internet research and came across PulseGuard – a heartbeat sensor that triggers an alarm on an iPad. PulseGuard is the brainchild of Adrian and Sue Perry, whose son Tom also has Dravet syndrome. They realised that increased heart rate was often a trigger for Tom’s seizures. The monitor they developed did not miss a single seizure over two years and so the Perrys set up a family-run community-interest company, Adris Technologies, to develop PulseGuard commercially. Continue reading...

Former Yahoo and Disney executive Tom Toumazis and media agency founder Jonathan Durden to help expand the business and invest in original videoThe Lad Bible has appointed a former Yahoo and Disney executive and the founder of a leading media agency as advisers, as the rapidly growing social media site seeks to raise millions to fund an international expansion.The brand, which aims to attract the young male readers that have rejected traditional lads’ magazines such as FHM and Zoo, is looking to raise as much as £25m from the potential sale of a stake to grow its business and invest in original video content. Continue reading...

Bought in 2009, currency’s rise in value saw small investment turn into enough to buy an apartment in a wealthy area of Oslo

We asked designers to envision travel in 2065. From building-climbing autonomous pods to intimate entertainment vehicles, their sketches provide a glimpse into the future