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

Will 140-characters rule be axed as new CEO aims to make Twitter fly?I am not sure what a low-key billionaire is supposed to look like, but I’m certain that’s the look Jack Dorsey was aiming for when he opened Twitter’s developer conference last month. He was wearing one of the first Twitter T-shirts (slightly creased, with the slogan: “Wearing my Twitter shirt”), jeans, trainers and an unidentifiable smartwatch, having ditched the beard shortly before the CEO job looked permanent. That’s a shame, because however post-beard San Francisco likes to think it is, it’s still a pleasingly jarring thing to have some facial fur among all the achingly dull preppy blue shirts and dark jeans of the Valley.As Dorsey came on stage, I was only slightly distracted by remembering that his net worth is $2.3bn. That’s so much money as to be almost abstract. Would he notice if he lost any of that? I mean, if he carelessly lost most of it down the back of the Tesla, wouldn’t $100m still be more than enough to buy a nice home, travel a bit, give some away and still never work again? Anyway, I have no privileged knowledge of Dorsey planning to leave anything on any of the buses he used to say he took to work in San Francisco. In the meantime, he’s probably focused on pulling Twitter out of its fog of despondency. It was for this reason that Twitter decided to name its developer conference Flight, in the hope it might give it wings. Continue reading...

Leslie Miley says reappointing Dorsey is a step toward fixing issues at a company that in 2014 had only 49 African American employees out of 2,910Just months after it was reported that Twitter employed only 49 African Americans out of a 2,910-member staff, Leslie Miley, an African American engineer who left the social networking company last week, has penned a Medium post highlighting the struggles Twitter faces as it attempts to become more diverse.According to Miley, there is hope in the form of Jack Dorsey, the company’s co-founder and newly appointed CEO, who returned to Twitter in August after seven years. Continue reading...

Home secretary tries to sweeten snooper’s charter by stating that police will need judicial approval to access internet connection recordsTheresa May is to propose a major extension of the surveillance state when she publishes legislation requiring internet companies to store details of every website visited by customers over the previousyear.The home secretary will try to sweeten the pill of her revived snooper’s charter on Wednesday by announcing that the police will need to get judicial authorisation before they can access the internet connection records of an individual – something that is currently banned in the US and every European country, including Britain. Continue reading...

“We believe that a universe only driven by profit maximisation can be poisonous, to culture especially.”In a single sentence during his appearance at the Web Summit conference, Kickstarter chief executive Yancey Strickler set out the principle behind the crowdfunding company’s recent decision to turn itself into a public benefit corporation (PBC). Continue reading...

All eyes may be on next year’s contest, but today brings key decisions across the US with votes on housing in San Francisco and discrimination in HoustonA year after the midterm congressional elections and still a year away from the 2016 presidential decision, election year 2015 is something of a sleeper. But decisions made by voters in several cities and states could be an important bellwether of sentiment ahead of next year’s presidential elections. Here’s a look at the major decisions playing out in polling stations across the country on Tuesday:Governor’s races in Kentucky and Mississippi

US-based firm claims TfL idea of short wait before start of journey will leave each driver almost £1,000 out of pocket a yearUber has claimed the proposed introduction of a five-minute delay to the start of minicab journeys in London would be “a huge mistake” for the capital’s economy.The US-based company claimed the Transport for London (TfL) idea, part of a public consultation, would leave each Uber driver in London almost £1,000 out of pocket a year. Continue reading...

Social network changes star shaped ‘favourite’ button to heart shaped ‘like’ button. But how have people reacted online?Favourites – we use them for a myriad of reasons. Favouriting a tweet could mean “I like this tweet”, or “good point”, or “this is fun, but not enough to retweet”, or “I acknowledge your communication, but can’t be bothered to reply”, or “the conversation is ending now, but on a positive note!” Also, the favourite is a great bookmarking tool.Now, however, Twitter has cruelly stripped away all of the above nuances of communication by replacing the favourite function with a “like” button. Unlike. How, now, is one supposed to bookmark an article on the refugee crisis without ‘liking’ it? I’m not ready to inaccurately look – ironically – heartless on social media. Continue reading...

Emily O’Reilly wants to improve regulation on private companies poaching experts from EU political bodies

North Rhine-Westphalia pays €5m for information on tax avoidance and illegal deals, according to Der SpiegelTax authorities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have purchased a USB stick reported to hold evidence of tax avoidance and illegal deals worth more than €600m (£427m).Investigators are believed to have paid more than €5m for the data, the highest amount handed over for such information, according to Der Spiegel. Continue reading...

Facebook and Instagram like to be thought of as progressive. But when it comes to nudity policies, a campaign started by a trans woman is finding confusion and prejudice remainNipples. We’re all born with them, but only half of the population can show them off on a warm summer’s day without people tutting, objecting, being offended or outraged. Male nipples, it’s OK for the world to see. Female nipples, not so.The same is true online in social media circles. The social network Facebook and picture-sharing service Instagram, which it owns, have a community-standards policy on nudity which permits male nipples but not female ones. It states: “We remove photographs of people displaying genitals … we also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple.” Continue reading...

Deal to buy King Digital is biggest takeover of a UK tech company in four years and will give World of Warcraft maker a foothold in the mobile games marketKing Digital, the British creator of Candy Crush, has been bought for $5.9bn (£3.8bn) in the biggest takeover of a UK tech company in four years.King is being acquired by US video game maker Activision Blizzard, the business behind World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The US group will pay $18 in cash for each King share – 16% more than King’s closing price on Monday – in a deal that is the biggest in the British tech sector since Hewlett Packard bought Autonomy in an ill-fated £7bn deal in August 2011. Continue reading...

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

User agreements are written for regulators and lawyers but new database intends to help consumers make more informed choices to ensure data is protected

Head of company’s Project Wing says guidelines being developed with FAA on identifying, tracking and co-ordinating unmanned craft flying at low altitudesGoogle has said it expects to begin delivering packages to consumers via drones in 2017.David Vos, the leader for Google’s Project Wing, said his company was in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration and other stakeholders about setting up an air traffic control system for drones that would use cellular and internet technology to co-ordinate unmanned aerial vehicle flights at altitudes under 500ft (152m). Continue reading...

Activists in San Francisco showed support for Proposition F, which would restrict short term property rentals and faces a key local vote on 3 NovemberAirbnb’s San Francisco headquarters has been occupied by protesters as the debate over affordability of the city’s housing reached fever pitch ahead of a crucial local vote on 3 November.Protesters were campaigning in support of Proposition F, which proposes tighter restrictions on short term rental properties, and gathered outside the office of vacation rental company Airbnb, which has been a flashpoint for the Prop F debate. Continue reading...

Legislation will enshrine security services’ licence to hack, bug and burgle their way across the web – with judicial oversight still to be determined

Knowledge Point to shut after 26 years, with rising rents and low unemployment blamed more than UberA combination of gentrification, low unemployment and Uber has forced London’s largest school for cabbies to slam on the brakes.Knowledge Point will shut in December after having trained black-cab drivers for 26 years in Islington, north London. Continue reading...

Discovering information via Google unfortunately appears to give us an over-inflated sense of our own intelligenceHow intelligent are you? It’s a question that is often best left unasked – particularly on a Monday morning.Luckily, it turns out that feeling smart without necessarily being so is simple – all you need is an internet connection. Because, apparently, Googling things can make us feel more intelligent. Continue reading...

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

Online retailer continues to be biggest seller of CDs, games and DVDs with 20.4% of market despite first slip in at least four years, figures suggestAmazon has lost market share in non-digital films, video games and music for the first time in at least four years as the high street fights back.

Immersive digital exhibition at Somerset House marks 50 years of saving the shores“This is where the coast opens, fanning like the primaries of a predator’s wing,” murmurs poet Owen Sheers, as the wind whispers in the ears and waves roll rhythmically on to the shore below. The tang of salt and seaweed in the air seems almost palpable – but that’s just an illusion, because this isn’t a day out on the headland; it’s the latest immersive digital experience.This one has been dreamed up by the National Trust. Part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for what is now the Neptune Coastline Campaign – the trust’s ambitious mission to buy swaths of the British coastline to save it from development – One and All launches on 4 November at nationaltrust.org.uk/oneandall, alongside a physical installation at Somerset House in London. “We’ve got over 775 miles of coastline under the care of the National Trust,” says Tom Freshwater, the trust’s contemporary arts programme manager. “What we are looking to do now is very much about managed access to the coast, people’s enjoyment of it and the wildlife potential that it has.” Continue reading...

20-year-old man arrested in Staffordshire in connection with attack on telecoms firm, following arrest of two teenagersA 20-year-old man arrested in connection with the cyber-attack on telecoms firm TalkTalk has been released on bail. Scotland Yard said he will attend a police station in early March pending further inquiries. He had been held on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act.The man, who was detained at an address in Staffordshire on Saturday, is the third person to be held in relation to the alleged data theft. Two teenagers were previously arrested over the cyber-attack. A 16-year-old boy, from Feltham in west London, was held on suspicion of computer misuse after a search of his home on Thursday. The teenager has been bailed to a date yet to be confirmed. And a 15-year-old boy from County Antrim in Northern Ireland was arrested on Monday and was bailed until a date in November.

An app that turns your friends into digital chaperones (via GPS tracking) aims to reassure those travelling alone late at night. We put it to the testDreading the long, late-night walk home alone before you’ve even set off on a night out? There’s an app for that. Companion is the brainchild of five Michigan students concerned about safety on campus. It allows friends to monitor your return journey via GPS, whilst also providing a means of quickly raising the alarm should you run into danger.An inbox full of £5 Uber invoices is proof that I never walk home alone after dark, even if it’s just the 12-minute dash from the station, but a free app that “allows you to reach out to friends” sounds like a good idea. For the sake of my safety and my bank balance, I arm myself with a newly downloaded Companion as I walk back from my friends’ house at 11.30pm on a Saturday night. Continue reading...

Former shadow home secretary David Davis says investigatory powers bill will have to let judges’ authorise warrantsPlans to grant police and intelligence officers new powers to monitor suspects online will not get through parliament without a requirement for judges to sign off on spying warrants, the former Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis has said.The backbench MP was speaking before the publication of a draft of the investigatory powers bill, due on Wednesday, with the Home Office so far refusing to indicate whether the proposed legislation will include judicial approval of applications made by the security services to intercept communications. Continue reading...

Co-star of new Steve Jobs film says she is worried by the addictive qualities of devices Apple has createdParents are “losing control” of their children to social media, award-winning British actor Kate Winslet has said, adding the she has banned her own from using such sites over fears their self-esteem is being damaged.In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Revolutionary Road star, 40, said parents should confiscate technology from their offspring – who she said may turn to social media for validation from strangers. Continue reading...

Vauxhall’s new Viva is fun, full of life and aimed at first-time motorists. But is it just too good for them?Price: £7,995

Ministers rule out ban on encryption but civil rights group Liberty says climbdown is ‘just spin’Highly controversial plans to allow the police and security services full access to everyone’s internet browsing history have been abandoned by ministers in what is being presented as a dramatic climbdown over online surveillance.Amid fears in government that it would be unable to force new laws through parliament because of concerns over civil liberties, the Home Office said it had dropped several contentious proposals from the investigatory powers bill, which will be published in draft form on Wednesday. Continue reading...

A 20-year-old man has been detained at an address in Staffordshire, police have said, following arrest of two teenagers

Hackers may have stolen the personal details of up to 2,000 mobile phone customers, Vodafone admits days after TalkTalk scandalHackers may have accessed the bank details of nearly 2,000 Vodafone customers, the company has said.The mobile phone provider said 1,827 accounts were accessed, potentially providing criminals with customers’ names, mobile numbers, bank sort codes and the last four digits of their bank accounts. Continue reading...

House of Lords emboldened by tax credits vote and sets sights on government’s draft investigatory powers billPeers could derail plans to give police powers to potentially access the internet browsing history of any computer user in Britain in the latest show of defiance by the House of Lords.The upper chamber has been emboldened after peers voted this week to delay proposed cuts to tax credits even though legislation had been passed by the House of Commons. Continue reading...

Einstein’s relativity, optical atomic clocks, and November’s Perimeter Institute public lecture from David Wineland. With some added geek nostalgiaA while ago the Independent asked me, and others, to share some science books that have excited us. My choice was “Science and the Universe” from the Mitchell-Beazley Joy of Knowledge library. In a pre-wikipedia (and for me pre-O level) age, this book opened up a whole landscape of amazing ideas - ideas backed by facts.The page I remember best is the one on the “Idea of Relativity”¹, which amongst other things shows cosmic muons lasting longer than usual because of the time-dilation effects of their high speeds. I think that must have been the first time I came across muons, or cosmic rays. But the illustration that stuck in my mind most strongly was that of a light clock, in which a ray of light is reflected between two mirrors. Continue reading...

Bacteria-fighting plastic could be the future of dentistryThe latest 3D printing innovation could change the way you think about your visit to the dentist. That’s because Dutch researchers at the University of Groningen are working on the creation of a 3D-printed tooth made of an antimicrobial plastic that kills the bacteria responsible for tooth decay on contact.Related: Smile! Meet the 3D printer churning out teeth, nerves and gums for dentists Continue reading...

This week’s tabloid headlines about the teenager who allegedly broke into TalkTalk’s website invoked the usual formula: reclusive, antisocial, young, male. But hackers are more complicated than that – and the people pursuing them say the stereotype is a problemThe portrait of the hacker as an antisocial, lonesome deviant is pervasive and seemingly indelible. This week, for example, the British tabloids rounded on a child who has been arrested in connection with the hacking of telecommunications provider TalkTalk’s porous servers in order to access customers’ personal data. The Daily Mail’s front page referred to him as “a baby-faced loner who rarely leaves his bedroom”. The Sun described the boy, who lives on a council estate with his single mother in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and who suffers from learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as “reclusive”. He is, they continued, an avid player of video games, as if such a detail distinguishes this particular teenager from any other. The Mirror quoted a neighbour who described the boy as “quiet and shy”. He was often seen, she added, with a skateboard, although there was no mention whether or not his baseball cap was worn in the style of Bart Simpson: anarchically askew.Related: TalkTalk hack: boy arrested over alleged cyber-attack is bailed Continue reading...

For four days every year, Essen’s Spiel exhibition is the centre of the board game world. Owen Duffy looks at the games that make it that wayOn a drizzly Thursday morning in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region, I seemed to have unwittingly walked in on a seance.I found myself in a dimly gaslit room with grubby, wood-panelled walls and heavily cobwebbed corners that could have been lifted straight from the pages of a Victorian ghost story. The figures hunched around the table at the centre of the scene were concentrating intently on a collection of strangely-painted cards laid out before them. Continue reading...

We’re at GameCity for one last breakfast show, starring Keith Stuart, Jordan Erica Webber and Molly Carroll from Chucklefish Games!We’re back for one last ‘Wake up with the Guardian’ broadcast from the GameCity festival in Nottingham.All this week games editor Keith Stuart and writer Jordan Erica Webber have been broadcasting chat shows from the National Videogame Archive, interviewing developers and industry veterans and generally getting up too early. Continue reading...

Lobbying by police ahead of investigatory powers bill suggests ISPs will be required to keep data for 12 monthsPowers to view the web browsing history of criminal suspects or missing people are likely to feature in the government’s surveillance legislation published next week.The investigatory powers bill is expected to reintroduce a requirement that telecommunication firms retain records of sites accessed by their users, known as weblogs, for a 12-month period – a key element of the “snooper’s charter” that was blocked by Liberal Democrats in the last parliament.

Stuck for what to wear this Halloween? How about dressing up as your favourite internet meme?It's that time of year again: ghosts and ghouls, parties and pumpkins, llamas and left sharks.Yes, in this week's instalment of Updog – our podcast dedicated to internet memes and all things digitally viral – Alex and Elena decide on what internet meme they're going to dress up as for Halloween. Will it be Pizza Rat, Left Shark, or that perennial favourite Doge? Continue reading...

Meme was started by a celebrity Philippines couple, Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza, on television – but has left its origins far behindThe pabebe, a delicate hand wave from the Philippines, is taking the internet by storm. Millions of people all over the world are taking photos of themselves doing it. Continue reading...

Telecoms company confirms scale of cyber-attack was far smaller than feared as second teenager is bailed following data breachA second teenager has been arrested in relation to the alleged theft of data during a cyber-attack on the Telecoms giant Talk Talk.The 16-year-old boy was arrested in Feltham, west London, Metropolitan police said on Friday. He was released on bail until a date yet to be confirmed. Continue reading...

What this online update adds after Konami’s superb Phantom Pain is negligible, leaving you with a multiplayer that lacks depthInside big-budget games development, multiplayer is one of the first and most important decisions. Activision’s all-conquering Call of Duty series looms large over the landscape, and competitors for the top spot offer similarly comprehensive multiplayer modes – most of which will be supported for regular content releases and updates. For a primarily singleplayer game like Metal Gear Solid, an online mode is an enormous creative and financial gamble in 2015.Metal Gear Online’s biggest problem might be this context, because it has resulted in tunnel vision: this is the series’ third attempt at crossing over to online, across three generations of hardware, and the narrowest yet. Available as a download for all owners of MGSV: The Phantom Pain, MGO’s first impression is that it’s a bit of a penny-pincher. There are only three modes, for example, alongside a simple hub level and five maps.

Chrome OS and Android head says company is committed to the browser-based operating system despite greater integration with smartphone sofwareGoogle has denied the veracity of a report that states the company will fold its Chrome OS for laptops and desktop computers into its Android mobile operating.

Service providers send list of principles to MPs amid fears over impact of new legislation on civil libertiesInternet service providers have warned that any new powers introduced by the government to allow broader surveillance of web browsing behaviour must come with adequate oversight to protect civil liberties.The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) has sent a checklist of five key principles to MPs that it believes any new legislation must adhere to.

Publisher News UK set to make U-turn and offer its content for free from 30 November in bid to compete with rivals such as Mail Online

Police confirm 16-year-old from west London held over alleged theft of thousands of TalkTalk customer’s dataPolice have made a second arrest in relation to the investigation into alleged data theft from TalkTalk.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer also revealed that a forthcoming band reunion was unlikely while she focused on raising her first childKaren O has teamed up with Lara Croft by writing a song for the latest Tomb Raider game.I Shall Rise will feature in Rise of the Tomb Raider, and according to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer, it was a perfect collaboration. Continue reading...

Latest round smartwatch from Motorola comes in more sizes and colours, lasts a good day with the screen on and takes standard watch strapsMotorola’s second generation smartwatch is what the Moto 360 should have been last year.

Andrew Barr says he has used the app-based taxi service, which now operates in almost 60 countries, numerous timesThe ACT chief minister has officially launched Uber in Canberra, calling it “a real step forward for on-demand transport” in the city.The ACT is the first jurisdiction in Australia to have passed legislation regulating app-based taxi services, allowing the likes of Uber, OnTap and GoCatch to operate under strict conditions and government oversight. Continue reading...

The ‘hacktivist’ collective wrote that the identities of white supremacist group members will be revealed next month on anniversary of their anti-Klan operationThe “hacktivist” collective Anonymous have vowed to release the names of “about 1,000” Ku Klux Klan members as part of an ongoing operation against the white supremacist group in the US.The names were obtained after Anonymous gained access to a Klan twitter account, according to a tweet from the Operation KKK, as Anonymous have named the anti-Klan operation.

Owner Mind Candy admits communication breakdown with ASA over pushing subscriptions to kids and resolves issuesMoshi Monsters has been removed from an advertising “blacklist” after admitting a “communication breakdown” with the UK regulator over a failure to comply with an order to stop pushing kids to get paid subscriptions to the hugely popular children’s website.Earlier this week the Advertising Standards Authority took the unusual step of launching a “name and shame” campaign against Moshi Monsters after the company failed to abide by a ruling published in August that its marketing practices broke the UK code on social responsibility, as well as direct exhortation and undermining parental authority. Continue reading...