Technology | The Guardian

Chinese company’s latest smartphone features dual-sim, decent processor, screen and camera, but modified Android software isn’t the bestThe brief for Huawei’s Honor 7 is straightforward: make a solid smartphone that don’t break the bank.It doesn’t pretend to be a “flagship killer”, and isn’t, but in a market that is full of good offerings for under £250, including the new OnePlus 2 and third-generation Moto G, can the, arguably, fastest fingerprint scanner in the business make it stand out? Continue reading...

Developer behind Repix and Relook photography apps turns its attention to stressed-out smartphone and tablet usersThe theory behind colouring books for adults is that they relieve the stress and anger of our daily lives, even if their very existence makes some critics purple-faced with rage.These books are a bona fide publishing industry trend, though: boosting business for retailer WHSmith in the UK, fuelling a rise in non-fiction sales for US publishers, and helping Amazon chill out some of its customers in south London. Continue reading...

From restaurant bookings to dog-friendly beach recommendations, social network’s new technology blends AI with human helpersFacebook is launching a virtual assistant that combines artificial intelligence (AI) technology with a team of human helpers, to compete with services such as Apple’s Siri, Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana.Facebook M will sit within the social network’s Facebook Messenger app, with people interacting with it using messages as if it were one of their friends. Continue reading...

The company’s latest phablet is a supersized version of its S6 Edge and is one of the narrowest big-screen phones going, but it has a monster price tagThe Galaxy S6 Edge+ is Samsung’s latest phablet. It comes with the same curved screen edges that its little cousin, the S6 Edge, debuted as well as an eye-watering price tag.With the S6 Edge+ Samsung is really posing a simple question: is a 5.7in screen better than a 5.1in one? Almost everything else about the larger smartphone is the same as the S6 Edge, making the screen the big differentiator. Continue reading...

I was interested to read Stuart Dredge’s discussion of whether tablet computers are harming children’s ability to read (Are tablet computers harming our children’s ability to read?, 24 August). It’s an important subject, but it might be useful to note that there has never been a new technology of communications that wasn’t presumed to have negative effects, particularly on the young. Sometimes, however, one is reminded that there are perhaps other ways of thinking about how technology affects children. I’ve been doing a lot of background research for an essay examining the possible social, cultural and, crucially, neurological effects of smart technology on children – it’s all still a bit vague (worth remembering that these smart technologies are new, the iPad only coming on to the market in 2010, so research is playing catch-up). Then a new perspective emerged from a surprising source. I was talking to a childcare worker, who said that she had been doing an exercise with a young girl using a booklet called You’re One of a Kind, in which the child responds to questions such as “your favourite colour/animal?” or “how tall/old are you?”. One question was: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The child replied: “I want to be a phone so that my parents will pay more attention to me.” A four-year-old’s brutal judgment on adult absorption with technology.

Symbol of decades of US interventions to be replaced with vehicle more suited to urban warfare environment the US has faced in Iraq and AfghanistanIt became the symbol of half a dozen US military interventions – a vehicle instantly recognisable across the globe, and as popular with the US military (if not with the actual soldiers) as with Islamic State, who stole 2,300 of them in Iraq during the fall of Mosul in 2014.

Some 23% of Americans think it’s not OK to use your phone while walking down the street, but that’s nothing compared to how they feel about the cinema or churchDo you think it is OK to use your phone while eating? How about to make call in a restaurant? Or to take a photo at a family meal?A new study has revealed quite how rude some people think these activities are, and it suggests that the Americans asked still have a strong feeling that it’s often inappropriate to whip out our smartphones in company. Continue reading...

Search engine honours 70th edition of food fight festival in Spanish town of Buñol, which does not actually grow tomatoes

Danny Cohen says BBC cannot compete with £160m deal for Jeremy Clarkson show and was rebuffed when it asked to co-produce £50m royal epic The CrownOne of the BBC’s most senior executives has warned of the threat posed by its US on-demand rivals after Amazon spent £160m signing up Jeremy Clarkson and Netflix rebuffed the corporation’s approach to co-produce its £50m royal epic The Crown.Danny Cohen, the BBC’s director of television, said Netflix’s The Crown, written by Peter Morgan and based on the writer’s acclaimed stage play The Audience, starring Helen Mirren, was a “classic BBC subject”. Continue reading...

Paul Mahoney, 30 and partially blind, put the movie industry at risk of losing £120 million, a court has heardA social recluse who ran an internet piracy scam from his bedroom put the movie industry at risk of losing £120m, a court has heard.Paul Mahoney, 30, made almost £300,000 through advertising revenue generated from illegal sites offering access to the latest films and TV shows – many before general release, a judge at a pre-sentence hearing was told. Continue reading...

Development kit includes motion-tracking camera that gives tablet ability to ‘see’ in 3D

Japanese joint venture, called Aerosense, with robotics startup ZMP shows off new prototype for aerial surveillance and reconnaissance for businessesSony has unveiled its latest camera drone prototype which is capable of taking off vertically and flying like an aeroplane.

Extramarital dating site’s CTO claimed to have accessed Nerve.com user base, according to emails released as part of massive data leak

The new version of the e-paper smartwatch has a premium look and feel – and gets the basics done right, supporting Android and iPhoneThe Pebble Time Steel is an all-metal version of the crowdfunded iPhone and Android compatible smartwatch – and it lasts for an astounding 150 hours per charge.

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, says communication minister ‘hasn’t been doing his day job properly’ as negative polls hint at Coalition leadership changeLabor has fired up the negative rhetoric about the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, after yet another poor Newspoll for Tony Abbott and confirmation on Monday of a blowout in the cost of the national broadband network that may amount to as much as $15bn.

Local police in Canada say two suicides are being investigated together because of the leak of millions of customer profiles for extramarital dating serviceUnconfirmed reports suggest that two people in Toronto have killed themselves over the Ashley Madison hack, local police said in a briefing providing details about the beginning of the leak.“As of this morning, we have two unconfirmed reports of suicides that are associated because of the leak of Ashley Madison customers’ profiles,” Toronto police service staff superintendent Bryce Evans said at a press conference on Monday. Continue reading...

WeChat has quietly disabled all of the minicab app’s accounts, apparently as part of the country’s taxi warsUber has been blocked on China’s most popular messaging app WeChat, as the battle between taxi-apps in the country heats up.The blocking comes shortly after the leading Chinese minicab app, and Uber competitor, Didi Kuaidi, raised $2bn of private equity funding from a raft of investors including e-commerce websiteAlibaba and the state development corporation CDC. Continue reading...

The end of Adobe’s video carrier is nigh as Amazon marks the first of the big-name advertisers to block Flash ads, while Google’s Chrome will ‘intelligently pause’ them

Partnership with telecoms firm is part of US streaming service’s plans to complete a global rollout by the end of 2016Netflix has linked up with telecoms firm Softbank for the Japanese launch of its TV streaming service next month.The deal will allow Japanese consumers to sign up to Netflix in SoftBank’s retail stores, large electrical retailers and via the company’s website and call centres by adding the cost of the service to their Softbank bill. Continue reading...

The last few years have seen the biggest change in how young people spend their time since the invention of the television – but is it a good thing?Since the invention of the television, a box you could put a child in front of and leave them passively entertained, nothing has changed how children spend their time as much as the tablet computer.Four years ago, just 7% of 5- to 15-year-olds in the UK had access to a tablet. By last year it was 71%. Some 34% of this age group even owned the tablets themselves, as well as 11% of 3- to 4-year-olds, according to Ofcom figures. Continue reading...

Parents worrying about drug and alcohol abuse by daughters than more prevalent issues such as cyberbullying, self-harming and finding a jobParents are worrying more about drug and alcohol use by their teenage daughters than the more prevalent “mental anguish” they face every day, a survey has suggested.Young girls said mental health, cyberbullying and jobs were the biggest worries in their lives and an increasing number considered self-harm and depression as the most significant health issues facing their peers, above drug or alcohol abuse. Continue reading...

The enormously successful rock band has teamed up with Harvard Business School for Machine Shop Ventures, their newly formed investment firmAging rockers used to buy pubs in rural England or get interested in organic farming. Not Linkin Park. The band behind Hybrid Theory, 27m copies sold since its release in 2000, have their eyes on a tech-filled future.Machine Shop Ventures, their newly formed investment firm, has begun acquiring stakes in companies like ride-sharing service Lyft, Blue Bottle Coffee and the hot shipping startup Shyp. Continue reading...

Web security expert urges companies to watch out for employees who signed up to the adultery website being coerced into giving away market secrets

A small-business sales platform, Tictail is positioning itself as an open digital marketplace for entrepreneurs all over the worldModern day entrepreneurs face a unique dilemma when trying to break into the marketplace: what if their product is not artisanal enough?Thanks to Etsy, which enforces strict maker requirements about the items sold through its platform, e-commerce has seen a resurgence of handmade products. This focus on artisanal inventory leaves many small businesses at a loss when it comes to marketing their goods online. Tictail, a Swedish startup, hopes to change that by opening its e-commerce site to small business owners around the world – artisans or not. Continue reading...

You might be one of the 37 million people who have a lot of explaining to do this weekend. We’ve thought of some excuses to help dig you out of that holeMany of Ashley Madison’s 37 million registered users have a lot of explaining to do this weekend. Here are some tips that just might smooth things over.

A Canadian widower who had his personal details leaked is bringing the case because he says he never cheated and did not meet any other site membersTwo Canadian law firms have filed a $578m class-action lawsuit against the companies that run Ashley Madison after a hacker group’s data breach exposed some 39 million memberships in the adultery website earlier this week.Charney Lawyers and Sutts, Strosberg, both of Ontario, said Friday that they filed the lawsuit on behalf of Canadians who subscribed to Ashley Madison and whose personal information was disclosed to the public. The website, with its slogan “Life is short. Have an affair,” is marketed to facilitate extramarital relationships. Continue reading...

Eye-catching digital hoardings reveal search term among other queries such as Dismaland, Strictly Come Dancing and cricket scoresLarge digital billboards around London, paid for by Google, have been spotted by the public – with a surprising revelation displayed for all to see. The brightly coloured boards – which show popular search terms being used – declared boldly that the UK “is searching for revenge porn sites”.Members of the public were informed by the loud advertisement this week that among the more mundane queries on the search engine – such as looking up Dismaland, Strictly Come Dancing and the cricket scores – there was also a darker side to searching. Revenge porn, the distribution of sexually explicit content without the consent of the people involved, was a top term tapped into keyboards. Continue reading...

Even after more than 30GB of data exposing the company has been made public, there are still a few things that need clearing upThe site’s homepage touts “over 39,170,000 anonymous members”, while the figure of 37 million is regularly quoted in news stories about Ashley Madison. Yet the leaked database shows slightly under 33 m individual user accounts. Where are the other 6 million? Continue reading...

The recent claims about Amazon’s aggressive corporate culture were a cause of consternation to many – but plenty of others couldn’t see what the problem was. So is a gentler, more relaxed office culture any better for employees? And is it even what they want?Workers crying at their desks. Workers subjected to anonymous criticism. Workers put on performance reviews after a miscarriage or cancer. The office isn’t what it used to be – at Amazon, anyway. This week, the New York Times revealed extraordinary stories of management practices at the tech giant’s Seattle HQ, where the most pugnacious employees earn the nickname of “Amholes”. And yet, as extraordinary as the anecdotes were, for many people, they rang a bell.But in the storm of comment that the Amazon story unleashed, the picture was not as straightforwardly critical as you might have expected – and the public conversation about it was often heated. “Of course you’ve got conflict in teams, that’s what teams are about!” burst out radio talkshow host Nick Ferrari on Thursday morning, as he clashed with a female caller who said it was never OK to shout at colleagues. He was not alone. Meanwhile, Amazon fiercely battled the image that the story projected. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos fired off an email to employees in which he wrote that the article did not describe “the caring Amazonians I work with every day”, and suggested they read the detailed rebuttal posted on Linkedin by Nick Ciubotariu, a head of infrastructure in the company’s search department. Continue reading...

Hackers have released the details of 33 million Ashley Madison profiles. People are now trying to decide whether to search for their spousesEven if you’ve never suspected your partner of infidelity, are you still tempted to search for their name in the leaked Ashley Madison profiles list? What about an ex, or even your colleague?Some 33 million records of people apparently seeking secret extramarital affairs have had their names and identifying details released online, and inevitably people are looking up who’s there. Continue reading...

Tinder profiles and Trump’s tweets get the musical treatment, Daniel Radcliffe hopes for a monster hit, and Alan Partridge’s youth hostel dream becomes realityWe start this week with a couple of great clips which feature putting words found on social media to music. Three-time Grammy winner Kelly Clarkson takes the profiles of people using the dating app Tinder and turns them into big ballads. Meanwhile, also on the Jimmy Kimmel show, singer, songwriter and producer Josh Groban croons the tweets of US presidential hopeful Donald Trump.It’s been 18 years since comic Steve Coogan’s character Alan Partridge pitched the idea of a series to a BBC executive called Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank. Now Partridge’s dream has come true with a very funny clip featuring the former boxing champion. Continue reading...

Identity protection analyst Adam Levin says Ashley Madison members should come clean instead of waiting to be discovered or risking becoming the victim of extortion. Thousands of relationships and reputations are at risk after the release of customer data, including more than 15,000 government and military email addresses, from the infidelity website Continue reading...

Second, larger cache of data includes emails from CEO Noel Biderman and source code for the website and apps, days after initial release of user informationHackers dropped a second, even larger cache of data from extramarital dating service Ashley Madison on Thursday, apparently annoyed by a statement on Wednesday from the company’s CEO that stopped short of confirming the authenticity of the initial data release.The new data, from a group calling itself the Impact Team, appeared to be bad news for the site’s operators rather than its users: files were filled with emails from CEO Noel Biderman, as well as source code for the site and its apps. Impact Team released a terse statement signed: “Hey Noel, you can admit it’s real now.” Continue reading...

Sex offenders, a convicted murderer and a kidnapper are among the service’s drivers say prosecutors from San Francisco and Los AngelesCalifornia prosecutors have amended a complaint against popular ride-sharing service Uber to include poorly managed background checks that permitted drivers with convicted murder and sex crimes to drive for the company.

Lee, a returning student, wants to buy a new laptop and would like to know if the ZenBook UX305 is a worthwhile upgradeI will be a returning student next year, and I want to purchase a new laptop. After doing some research, I determined the best and most economical buy was the Asus ZenBook UX305. I have an HP Sleekbook 15, which I got in 2013. Is there a significant difference between the two – enough to make it worth upgrading? Lee

Fitzy and Wippa, breakfast show hosts on Australian radio station Nova FM, reveal to a woman, live on air, that her partner was registered with casual affairs website Ashley Madison. The duo enter the details into the website, and find that the lady’s significant other was a user

Good camera, good screen, USB-C and dual-sim support make the OnePlus 2 highly specced but can it beat top-end Samsung’s Galaxy S6 or LG’s G4?The latest smartphone from Chinese upstart OnePlus is a self-proclaimed “2016 flagship killer” starting at just £239 in the UK, but is it really that good?