New York and Connecticut attorney generals examining whether music labels colluded over new streaming service or were pressured into favouring itJust days after announcing its streaming music service, Apple is being investigated for signs of potential anti-competitive action over its negotiations with the music industry.The investigation, by the New York attorney general’s office and its counterpart in Connecticut, is looking at whether music labels colluded over the tech group’s new streaming service, Apple Music, which was announced on Monday, or were pressured into favouring it. Continue reading...
Free services usually mean we pay in data and privacy. Is there a better business model for connected homes?As more connected products come to market, from smart thermostats on our walls to connected wearables on our wrists, how will we pay for it?Will we sign contracts as we do with mobile phones, getting hardware for “free†and paying for services? Or will we get discounts or free devices by handing over our personal data, as we do with Google and Facebook? Continue reading...
The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Wednesday everybody. Today’s screenshot comes from adventure game Broken Sword 5, which was successfully Kickstarted in 2012 for smartphone release and is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this summer. Continue reading...
by Alison Heap, Tim Horlock and Jane Spencer on (#AS1Z)
Our father, John Horlock, who has died aged 87, was a highly respected man of great intellect, whose main academic interests were in aerodynamics, fluid dynamics and energy. He loved all kinds of music, cricket, football (Spurs) and the radio. He was a kind and generous man who, along with our mother, Sheila, was always there to discreetly support us (and indeed many other people along the way).Born in Edmonton, north London, John grew up in Winchmore Hill with his much-loved parents, Harold and Olive, and older sister, Beryl. He attended Latymer school, where he first met Sheila Stutely, a talented singer who later became a music teacher and a JP. They married in 1953. Continue reading...
Michael Haneke’s next film will no longer be his previously announced project about disparate online characters brought togetherWhen Flashmob was announced, it seemed like an eccentric idea for Michael Haneke to take on. A drama about a group of online characters brought together by a flashmob wasn’t what you’d expect from the director of The White Ribbon and Amour.Related: Not coming soon: the films still stuck in purgatory Continue reading...
Open letter sent to Obama from groups representing Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft as report suggests fear of surveillance costs economy $35bn a yearUS tech industry groups have urged Barack Obama not to pursue policies which might weaken encryption as a new report suggests that fear of government surveillance costs the economy by more than $35bn in revenue each year.Related: If the FBI has a 'backdoor' to Facebook or Apple encryption we are less safe | Trevor Timm Continue reading...
Does your bank support Apple Pay? Where can you use it? Your questions, answeredApple Pay is coming to Britain in July in its first expansion outside of North America, Apple confirmed at its annual worldwide developer conference.Sometime in July, users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as well as Apple Watch owners, will be able to start making payments in shops around the country using their mobile phones. Continue reading...
It took three years for Google to match Apple’s security permissions for personal data within apps, Hiroshi Lockheimer tells the GuardianNew privacy features available in Google’s forthcoming Android M software update will give users of Android mobile phones and tablets more control over how their personal data is used.
Our expert offers shortcuts and tips to getting the most out of Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and the rest – and saving you money at the same timeRun to the beat Continue reading...
by Patrick Greenfield in London and Reuters in Washin on (#AQ5R)
The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility, posting: ‘Your commanders admit they are training the people they have sent you to die fighting’The US Army said on Monday it temporarily took down its website after a group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army hacked into the site and posted messages.
‘World’s first’ 4G action cam is like a GoPro that can live stream to the internet without needing a smartphone or computerMobile network EE is taking on GoPro and Periscope with a new action camera capable of streaming up to 10 minutes of live video over 4G without a smartphone or computer.
Twitter exchange suggests Harry Potter author will also draw on Native American traditions for the ‘magizoology’ script she is working onJK Rowling has confirmed on Twitter that the existence of a long-mooted American school of witchcraft and wizardry could be revealed in new Harry Potter spin-off movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.During an ad-hoc question and answer session with fans on the social network, the British author was asked to name the institution which US students of magic might attend in the Potter universe. While she refused to do so, Rowling did reveal a series of titbits regarding the hitherto-unidentified school. Continue reading...
Down from 33% in 2002, the number of women in the digital sector is expected to rise back to 30% by 2022Just 27% of those employed in Britain’s digital industries are women, according to a new report from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), a public body which aims to advise the government and others on those issues. The proportion is down from an already low figure of 33% in 2002, and well below the UK average of 47% for female employees.The research highlights the continuing failure of the sector to train and retain female employees, particularly given the fact that Britain is expected to need 1.2 million new digital workers by 2022. More than 800,000 of those new workers will be needed to replace workers leaving the sector, while the rest will be needed to support expected growth. Continue reading...
Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue train their sights on Spotify, YouTube and other rivals: ‘Most of these other companies see themselves as utilities’Apple isn’t just gunning for Spotify with its new Apple Music streaming service. It’s gunning for radio broadcasters.Its combination of live radio station Beats 1 and a range of non-live stations programmed by DJs aims to seduce listeners away from traditional radio, and then sell some of them a $9.99-a-month streaming subscription. Continue reading...
Billed as the first Australian event of its kind, it’s a shame the games didn’t reflect the energetic culture showcased by Game On’s speakers and sessionsThe games I enjoy most are the ones that allow you to make of them what you will, rather than be dictated to by a linear progression. The Witcher 3 has just come out and I already know I’ll be shunning the main story and bountiful shagging in favour of days spent in the wilderness picking flowers and bathing under waterfalls. Once hooked, I won’t be getting any work done in the real world, nor in the Witcher’s virtual Northern Kingdoms, effectively creating Inception for sloths by procrastinating twice.For the same reason, Vivid Sydney’s Game On interactive event was an engrossing experience with a similar “sandbox†appeal: there was just enough variety and freedom in the expansive Australian Technology Park to allow most people to go along and carve out their own experience among all the consoles, pinball machines and people pottering around in an Iron Man costume. Continue reading...
by Manjinder Toor and Hannah Jane Parkinson on (#AQ11)
Under Tim Cook’s diversity campaign, Apple pushed its female executives into the limelight at WWDC, with Pay vice-president Jennifer Bailey first on stageForget the streaming music service and the software update. Forget Drake’s walk-on appearance and The Weeknd’s closing performance. Apple has women! Jennifer Bailey and Susan Prescott presented on stage at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference conference on Monday – the first time Apple’s own female executives have presented publicly since the event was first held 1976.
While humanoid robots fumbled through basic tasks and obstacle courses, these slow and steady machines will surely win the race – for your jobsIt is very difficult to read the words “Defense Department†and “robots†and not immediately come up with the phrase “robot armyâ€, but if this weekend’s contestants at the Darpa Robotics Challenge in Pomona, California invaded your town, the damage would be about what a gang of arthritic 90-year-olds could do, if those 90-year-olds also kept forgetting where they were and what they were trying to accomplish.These robots stumbled, they broke, they stood motionless for half an hour, they couldn’t get out of the car. And this was the exciting version - the 2013 trials in this competition were “like watching paint dryâ€, according to one Darpa worker. Continue reading...
Service includes on-demand music, a 24-hour radio station headed by Zane Lowe, and a forum for artists to engage with fans called ConnectApple unveiled its long-awaited streaming music service on Monday, entering a crowded market for online music that already includes Spotify, Amazon and Google, as the company seeks to re-exert its dominance in digital music.The launch at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco was introduced by the rapper Drake. “This is something that simplifies everything for the modern musician like myself, and the modern consumer like you,†he said. Continue reading...
WWDC launch for new software development kit that will let developers build apps without need for paired iPhoneApple opened its new watch up further to developers on Monday in a bid to improve the smartwatch experience for customers, separating it from the iPhone and allow more customisation.The latest version of its new smartwatch operating system – WatchOS 2 – will let app developers run apps directly on the watch, rather than powered by the connected iPhone, similar to other smartwatches from Google, Pebble and Samsung. Continue reading...
New ‘low power’ mode makes iPhones last longer as Apple focuses on speed, reliability and a smarter Siri with new updateThe next update to Apple’s iOS iPhone and iPad operating system was unveiled on Monday and introduced a new intelligent search assistant, greater speed and security.Related: El Capitan: Apple unveils next version of OS X software Continue reading...
Site’s arbitration committee looks certain to strip Richard Symonds of right to unearth users’ IP addressesWikipedia’s “high court†looks likely to reprimand one of its senior administrators over the way he investigated claims that the former Conservative party co-chairman Grant Shapps used an account to edit his own page and those of rival Tories.
Apple’s contactlesss system that allows payment with an iPhone or Apple Watch to be available in the UK from next monthApple Pay will come to the UK in July, Apple confirmed at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday.It will be available at more than 250,000 locations - more than the number of merchants it had in the US for last year’s launch. Continue reading...
New version of Mac desktop operating system will concentrate on speed, reliability and battery life with intelligent searchApple announced the latest update to its OS X desktop software on Monday, which the company says will make it faster and easier to use.OS X 10.11 El Capitan, named after a mountain within Yosemite national park, will be available as a free update in the autumn. Continue reading...
Media organisations including Guardian, ESPN, New York Times, Conde Nast and Hearst will produce content specifically designed for new serviceApple revamped its news service on Monday, making a play to take on Facebook as the two tech giants court readers and publishers to be the top platform for news.Media organisations including the Guardian, ESPN, the New York Times, Conde Nast and Hearst will produce content specifically designed for the new service, which will replace Newstand, Apple’s current news app.
Is bathroom item’s 12-figure price tag an administrative error – or evidence of ‘the best towel ever made’?Ever thought that stepping out of the shower and drying yourself on $100 dollar bills might be just a little too ostentatious? Ever wanted to bathe in liquid gold but didn’t want to be judged in times of global austerity?Well, never fear, for Amazon is selling a $800bn towel set, or $796bn, to be fair (£521bn). We’re guessing that stockists Portlight have made a fat-fingers keyboard mistake, or someone at the company has a very, um, dry sense of humour. Continue reading...
What started as an April Fools’ Day prank, before gaining unexpected momentum in recent weeks, went out with a whimperAfter two months, and more than a million clicks, the weirdest social experiment on the internet is over: Reddit’s Button has hit zero.And it ended, not with a bang, but a whimper: hiding behind the end of the countdown was nothing more than a simple message reading: “The experiment is over.†Even that was underwhelming, having been accidentally revealed multiple times owing to server crashes. Continue reading...
But a growing number of developers are thinking hard about how they present gender, race and socio-economic differencesA growing number of children’s app makers are upping their efforts to ensure their products do a better job of reflecting the diversity of their young audiences.This was the verdict of a discussion at Tech With Kids’ Developing Apps for Kids conference in San Francisco, where moderator Raul Gutierrez of developer Tinybop admitted that his industry has more work to do on diversity. Continue reading...
Tech reporter Sam Thielman visited the Darpa Robotics Challenge in Pomona, California, to watch 25 robotics teams compete for $2m in prize money and the distinction of having scored highest in a challenging obstacle course designed to mimic the conditions of a nuclear meltdown. Some participating robotics teams are small and feisty, others are well-funded and robust, but all have a true love of technology. And the robots seem to have even more personality than their masters (even when walking a bit like grannies). Continue reading...
US traffic safety agency developing technology to disable cars if excess blood alcohol levels detected in driversSmart cars of the near future could refuse to start if the driver exceeds the drink-drive limit.
Students have been caught using wireless equipment to communicate but now authorities are flying six-propeller craft over testing centres to detect signalsAuthorities in China are employing surveillance drones in an effort to stamp out cheating in college entrance exams.Related: Nine-hour tests and lots of pressure: welcome to the Chinese school system Continue reading...
Ahead of Apple Pay’s Europe launch at WWDC, survey finds cost and lack of customer demand and access to data has stalled retailer interest in USAs Apple prepares to expand Apple Pay to Europe at WWDC, anecdotal evidence suggests that the company’s forecast for US adoption may be too optimistic and that many retailers remain skeptical about the payment system.Chief executive Tim Cook made the confident prediction in January that 2015 would be “the year of Apple Payâ€. Since then, Apple has aggressively courted retailers – and claimed significant success. A spokesman said “about half†of the top 100 US merchants will accept Apple Pay this year, with more to follow in 2016. Continue reading...
(iOS, Insomnia Games, £2.29)With Jurassic World about to hit cinemas, the toothy reptiles are sure to regain some of the popularity they may have lost in the years since Steven Spielberg’s original dinosaur romp. Hence, then, Bad Dinos, an attempt to put a novel spin on the creaking tower-defence genre – with some success.The usual formula of placing weapons around a curling course to destroy herds of roaming raptors/T rex/insert your carnivore of choice, before they can escape is present and correct, as are the special powers to help you when the cold-blooded menace is too much to handle. The twist is the ability to ensnare some of the beasties, train them and then target them back on their scaly friends. It adds a tactical nuance to a style of game that can often become terribly repetitive. Rather than just blasting at whatever comes on to the screen, now there’s a decision about which type of creature to spare, catch and brainwash and when to release them to maximum effect. Continue reading...
(PS4, PC, Paradox Interactive, cert: 16)Magicka 2 starts out cheerily – all the wizards are dead. Given the chaos the magically inclined caused in the first game, that’s not so bad. Then the twist: enter a great evil that just happens to need some colour-coded mages to stop it. Like its predecessor, Magicka 2’s greatest strength is its anarchic tendencies, its in-depth spellcasting system often rewarding you for trying unlikely magic combos. Each spell requires tapping in “codesâ€, one element at a time from a selection of 10. The results are far-reaching: “fire + shield†can make you immune to fire damage, or weapons can be elementally charged for greater effect.Experimentation is half the fun, even when you go wrong. The flipside is that it gets complex, fast. In battle, you need to be incredibly quick-witted (and fleet of finger) to hammer out spells, which soon frustrates. It’s also repetitive when played solo, though Magicka 2’s flaws are somewhat alleviated when played co-op with friends. Continue reading...
(PC, Mac , Linux, Monogon Games, cert: n/a; out now)The real-time strategy is a rich genre, but one that many shy away from. Defined by gameplay where players enact strategies simultaneously rather than by taking turns, RTSs are inclined to be intense, are often deeply complex, and adopt stern military themes, none of which represents an enticing entrance to the form. Which is where elegant indie game Interloper steps in. The team at Monogon have distilled the contemporary RTS, and rebuilt it as something straightforward and quick to play. Interloper presents an engrossing minimalist RTS, tackled in five-minute bursts, that does not sacrifice depth for its simplicity and short-form play sessions.Players have to claim territory in diminutive 2D maps by marking each level with colour, left like a trail by otherworldly mouse-controlled sea creatures. Daub enough of the map with your colour, and victory is claimed. But as you secure turf, so does your rival. Be they human or computer-controlled, they will constantly reduce your share, as you consume theirs. Bolstered by additional basic unit control, combat mechanics, the game is an easily learned, rewarding little gem. It may lack the longevity or intricacy of the most demanding in the genre, but Interloper is every bit a true RTS, and an unusually inviting one at that. Continue reading...
by Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent on (#AMHF)
Digital technology developed to help human rights activists document and store photographs and films that can be shown in courtA mobile phone app that enables eyewitnesses to download evidence of alleged atrocities from anywhere in the world so it can be verified and used to prosecute perpetrators is being launched on Monday.The London-based International Bar Association (IBA) has developed digital technology that will help human rights activists document and store photographs and films that can be shown in court. Continue reading...
More than one in 10 respondents say they bought drugs via conventional sites and ‘darknet’ sites last year despite closure of most famous Silk Road in 2013More people started buying drugs online in 2014 than ever before, despite the closure of the Silk Road website the previous year, according to new research.
If computers and search engines could understand metaphor and symbolism, would it make them more human? A new project tests the theoryIn 1989, American author Norman Cousins wrote that poetry was the key to preventing computers from dehumanising us: “The company of poets may enable the men who tend the machines to see a larger panorama of possibilities than technology alone may inspire. Poets remind men of their uniqueness.â€Twenty-six years later, researchers in the US are testing that idea, starting with search engines and image databases. Any nuance or metaphor gets lost on an engine such as Google: search “sorrowâ€, for example, and you’ll get pictures of people crying, whereas a human might associate a more varied range of images, such as a foggy seascape or an empty forest. This is because computers use metadata (the data search engines associate with the millions of digital objects out there, from YouTube videos to Instagram pictures) in a completely different way to the human brain. Our human “metadata†tends to be far more symbolic and less literal. But what if an image bank was populated by poems? Can robots learn from our view of the world? Continue reading...
Patrick Cryne, whose firm was supplier of software to NHS, was at centre of fraud scandal, but criminal charges were dropped by the Financial Conduct Authority
Mike McCaul calls attack ‘most significant breach of federal networks in US history’, amounting to espionage – but the White House has not assigned blameRelated: US threatens sanctions against culprit in hacking of federal employees' dataMike McCaul, the chairman of the House of Representatives homeland security committee, on Sunday said he believed China was responsible for the recent hacking of personal data of 4 million federal employees. Continue reading...
Our expert offers shortcuts and tips to getting the most out of Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and the rest – and saving you money at the same time Continue reading...
Powerful tech firms are altering not just the way we buy things, but could sweep away an entire economic modelHardly a day goes by without some tech company proclaiming that it wants to reinvent itself as a platform. Back in March, when South Korea banned Uber, the company promised to let local taxi drivers use its platform – along with its matching services.Facebook pulled a similar trick in early May: having run into trouble with its pseudo-humanitarian effort to provide free internet access via a project called internet.org, it, too, promised to turn it into a platform. Now, internet.org users, most of them in the developing world, could also enjoy free access to apps other than those developed by Facebook. Continue reading...
The music streaming pioneer has come under fire from critics such as Taylor Swift for giving away songs. Now he faces a new challenge from AppleThe chief executive of Spotify, Daniel Ek, has predicted that the free online music service will help the industry grow to as much as 10 times its current size, in a future where old distinctions between providers break down.Having paid out $3bn to music rights holders so far, Spotify is pitching itself as a competitor to traditional broadcasting, having recently added news, weather, podcasts and videos to its service. “The old-world paradigms we used to have are no longer true. When I think about music in the future, I don’t make a distinction between what’s radio, what used to be the music library, and so on,†Ek told the Observer in a rare interview. “It’s only going to be listening – and, as that goes forward, this old notion of these different industries or different competitors will collapse and merge together.†Continue reading...
The ripples from the revelations of NSA surveillance can be felt around the world – but intelligence and law-enforcement agencies will carry on regardlessFor anyone still in doubt about the impact of Edward Snowden’s revelations, it might be instructive to review what has been going on in the US Congress over the last few months, with legislators grappling with bills aimed at curbing the surveillance capabilities of the NSA and other federal agencies. In the end, in a classic congressional farce, there was a brief intermission in the NSA’s data-gathering capabilities, after which the Senate passed a bill to end the agency’s bulk collection of the phone records of millions of Americans.At one level it’s a significant moment: one in which – as a Guardian leader writer put it – “an outlaw rewrites the lawâ€. And in a few other countries, notably Germany, Snowden’s revelations do seem to be having a demonstrable impact – as witnessed, for example, by the Bundestag’s inquiry into NSA surveillance within the Federal Republic. Continue reading...
At an event that combines the feel of a trade fair with a Mythbusters episode, robots compete in navigating simulation of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plantRobots are terrible drivers.The one that had just navigated a smooth stretch of road a few hundred feet long had taken 15 minutes to do so, and it didn’t really fit behind the wheel of the little red chrome four-wheeler, a sort of all-terrain golf cart called a Polaris Ranger. Instead, the robot had wedged itself across two seats and had to be winched out of the car with a chain hanging from a pulley system at the top of a big rolling frame. It had also had a hard time with the turns. Continue reading...
