Technology | The Guardian

The place to talk about games and other things that matterTuesday! Continue reading...

Soundbars are an increasingly popular way of providing cinematic sound quality for your television and music collection. We test them out100w power output (4 x 25w drivers), £800 Continue reading...

Activists urge bar on weapons that launch attacks without human intervention as UN discusses future of autonomous weapons Continue reading...

Some 957,000 preorders placed on Friday and will begin shipping in April, but number puts the wearable far short of some estimates for 2015 sales Continue reading...

Have you pushed The Button yet? Who knows how long it will be an option … and why it’s spawning cults and cliques on RedditOver the last two weeks, social news site Reddit has slowly split apart into warring factions. The Followers of the Shade have their hearts torn in two by the Bluetherhood and the Emerald Council on a regular basis, but their true enemies are the Knights of the Button. All that anyone really agrees on is that no matter what name the purples call themselves – be it the Purple Conclave, Purple Struggle, or Purple Lounge – they’re to be pitied.Let me back up.I submit myself to the Order of the Red,Long shall be our days and nights ahead, Continue reading...

Everyone envisions that virtual reality will be about isolating yourself from the real world, but that’s not exactly what Sony has in mindTwo years after the successful Kickstarter fund that projected Oculus Rift into the mass consciousness and launched the new era of consumer virtual reality, there are still a lot of questions to answer.What will VR apps actually look like? How will they work? Will they resemble the games we play on current consoles, or will they work more like virtual tourist attractions, giving us access to extraordinary environments and just letting us explore them? Continue reading...

Winston Marshall attacks celebrities endorsing streaming service while Marcus Mumford speaks out on behalf of smaller artists Continue reading...

British internet users download most illegal copies of leaked episodes of new season, with nearly one in 10 IP addresses sharing them based in the UK Continue reading...

Comedy producer loves social media really, and also relishes the fact that new online TV platforms mean he has more places to sell his shows than everSocial media is providing fans with a direct line to TV comedy producer Ash Atalla for their views on his shows, although he admits that this can be a “double-edged sword” when they are being critical.“I now get personal feedback from every bastard in the whole world who can contact me directly with their thoughts on our show!” he joked, during an appearance at the MIPTV conference in Cannes.Related: ‘History, yes. Science, sure. Sharks, yes’ – what millennials want from factual TVRelated: TV industry faces its ‘ketchup’ moment: ‘Mobile is now the first screen’ Continue reading...

Researchers identify new tool in Chinese internet censorship, first used in late March against free-speech activists GreatFire.orgThe “Great Cannon” has entered the cyberwar lexicon alongside the “Great Firewall of China” after a new tool for censorship in the nation was named and described by researchers from the University of Toronto.The first use of the Great Cannon came in late March, when the coding site GitHub was flooded by traffic leaving it intermittently unresponsive for multiple days. The attack, using a method called “distributed denial of service” or DDoS, appeared to be targeting two specific users of the site: the New York Times’ Chinese mirror, and anti-censorship organisation GreatFire.org. Continue reading...

Shopping on smartphones and tablets fuels home delivery market and drives up purchases of new commercial vehicles by 22% Continue reading...

British production firm PurpleGeko on breaking into broadcast with its romcom: ‘It’s got a predominantly ethnic cast, but there’s no stereotypes in the show’There’s been a vigorous debate about the opportunities – or the lack of them – for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) producers, writers and actors on British TV.In 2014, actor and comedian Lenny Henry called for new legislation to reverse a trend that has seen the number of BAME people working in the British television industry fall by 30.9% between 2006 and 2012.Related: Why black British drama is going online, not on TV Continue reading...

British startup launching in more than 100 countries, and says it’s relishing the competition from Netflix and YouTube KidsBritish children’s TV startup Hopster is expanding globally, launching its video-on-demand app in more than 100 countries at the end of April.The app, which has been installed more than 265,000 times since its launch in the UK in late 2013, is a Netflix-style subscription service, with parents paying £3.99 a month for its catalogue of shows and learning games.Related: Pre-school app Hopster TV takes on Netflix with The Gruffalo in its cornerRelated: YouTube Kids ads row: how should we pay for children's entertainment?Related: TV industry faces its ‘ketchup’ moment: ‘Mobile is now the first screen’ Continue reading...

Digital natives have new viewing habits but may warm to old subjects – but only if programme makers can grab their attention quickly Continue reading...

The rise of smartphones has hit sales of top of the range cameras, but Sony is looking at the bigger pictureTimes are hard in Japan, and particularly so for the makers of single lens reflex (SLR) cameras – those one you see professionals touting,especially their digital (DSLR) variant. Combined worldwide sales of DSLRs and their sibling, mirrorless digital cameras are slumping year after year, according to data from Japan’s Camera and Imaging Products Association.Shipments of film cameras essentially died in 2006; DSLRs, which had been rising since 2000, quickly took over, ramping up until they reached a peak in 2008. The financial crisis in 2009 depressed sales badly but, after recovering in 2010 to a high of 120 million, they have gone down to a forecast of just over 30 million this year. Mirrorless cameras, which are more compact than SLR styles, have seen some growth, but they can’t make up for the overall indifference of the market to Cipa’s members’ offerings. Cipa isn’t the whole of the world’s camera industry, but it represents the vast majority of the high end – and so the money. And those numbers show that the money is pouring out of their business. Continue reading...

(PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One/PC; Bethesda Softworks, cert: 18) Continue reading...

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

(Nintendo 3DS; Nintendo, cert: 3) Continue reading...

France Télévisions’ director of future media Eric Scherer on the trends providing headaches and huge opportunities alike for television firms“The TV industry will have to work on a mobile-first strategy. Not a digital-first strategy, but a mobile-first strategy, because mobile is now the first screen, and it’s taking time away from the TV.”Eric Scherer is director of future media at French broadcaster France Télévisions, so understanding – surprise! – the future of media is a key part of his job. In a speech at the MIPFormats conference in Cannes this weekend, he outlined the digital trends that he thinks are presenting traditional TV firms with headaches, but also huge opportunities.Related: YouTube is 10 years old, but what will it look like in 2025?Related: From YouTube to Vice – 10 trends that are changing how we watch TV Continue reading...

It seems the perfect solution to all of us weary of passwords, but is it secure? Our expert panel argue the case for and against biometrics Continue reading...

A toothbrush that rewards you for using the correct technique and scolds you when you don’t and is more clever than a space rocket… Continue reading...

Criminal gangs conned travelling public out of £2.2m in 2014 say anti-fraud police, as online shoppers are urged to be cautious Continue reading...

Launching later this spring, Rook provides location-based free access to ebooks with an option to buy. But some publishers might fear a great ebook giveaway Continue reading...

The YouTube star on the appeal of the internet over TV channels, why a blog is sometimes better than a vlog, and how a pseudonym can become wearing Continue reading...

Tinder has changed the way we meet, but is increasingly proving a turn-off for female users sick of the misogyny it attracts. Now a new generation of app developers is fighting back Continue reading...

The journey from playing to designing and making games can be a short one, and brings rich educational rewards for children Continue reading...

Sydney Padua’s new graphic novel, set in Victorian London, tells the story of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage’s attempts to invent the first computer, with cameos from George Eliot, Charles Dickens and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Sydney Padua’s graphic novel tells the story of Babbage and Lovelace with a twist – they actually build their Analytical Engine.To see a selection of extracts from the book, click here.

With just 25 days to go until the election, all is yet to be decided. But in the age of social media, another power struggle is on – the fight for command a strange virtual world: the Twittersphere. Tracking our party leaders’ influence at home and abroad, we’ve looked at who follows whom on the world’s political stage Continue reading...

Fuelled only by the sun – lithium batteries store energy for use after dark – Solar Impulse 2 is about a quarter of the way through its circumnavigation of the globe, a four-month endeavour that is scheduled to touch down in Abu Dhabi in July. If successful, it will be the first solar-powered plane to complete the trip, an engineering triumph and inspiration for carbon-neutral travel.

Amid reports focused on increased diversity of smartphone icons, company tweeted ‘where’s the bleach?’ – but post did not refer to race, Clorox says Continue reading...

As the expansion of ebook sales slow down, enthusiasm for both paperbacks and hardcovers remains strong Continue reading...

By remaining a family business, the manufacturing giant is not held back by the concerns of City investors Continue reading...

PS4, Xbox One; 2K Games; £37.99-£44.99 Continue reading...

‘The combination of width and blunt steering meant it had none of the nippy mischief that makes the compromises of a small car worthwhile’ Continue reading...

Editor-in-chief Ben Smith apologises to staff for ‘acting without respect to our standards or process’ after critics say news site acted in commercial interests

Nick Clegg would introduce a bill to ensure civil and human rights online if the Lib Dems entered parliament as part of a coalition after the general election Continue reading...

Embrace of cryptocurrency meshes with his criticism of surveillance state and squares his libertarian views with such sympathies in Silicon Valley Continue reading...

A short run-down of what to do in case of trouble on the slopes

The biggest company in the world has launched its newest device, but the reception has been muted compared to previous launches – deliberately soThe Apple Watch was made available to order on Friday, with the company’s attempt to discourage customers from camping outside Apple Stores proving largely successful.At 8:01 on Friday morning, London’s major Apple stores in Regent Street and Covent Garden had bare pavement outside – a far cry from the bustling scenes greeting the company’s last major device launches, the iPhones 6 and 6 Plus. Continue reading...

Care minister and Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk calls campaign group ‘vicious and cynical’ as it highlights impact of budget cuts on services Continue reading...

After suffering a hack that took the TV station offline, live interview with reporter displays usernames and passwords written on sticky notesFollowing the hacking by a pro-Isis group that took a French television station offline, a live interview with a TV5Monde reporter has unwittingly exposed the usernames and passwords used for a variety of company accounts and services.

The two companies have been linked at least three times, with the search giant envious of Twitter’s thriving, engaged user base Continue reading...

Shoppers in Sydney, Tokyo and Beijing flock to stores on Friday to get a first glimpse of the highly-anticipated Apple Watch. Enthusiastic fans try on the watch which will go on sale on 24 April. Apple is expecting a high demand for its wearable gadget, which allows users to check email, make phone calls and also monitor their health Continue reading...

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

Thom Yorke as King Cnut, Madonna’s ‘ridiculous’ Meerkat debut, potential playlist payola, Spotify, SoundCloud and more from AIM Music ConnectedIndependent music labels are increasingly willing to speak out about digital music and what it means for their artists and businesses.From complaining about YouTube’s contracts to giving their views on streaming services like Spotify, indies are ensuring that their views are heard in the main music industry debates. Continue reading...