Technology | The Guardian

Google has become part of our language and our behaviours – but we are floundering with what it means, whether it is a problem, and what to do about it Continue reading...

From avoiding trends to keeping patient when your views are in the low double-digits, Spanish vlogger’s advice: ‘The way people consume content is changing...’Luzu used to work at a TV production company, but in 2011 he launched his own YouTube channel called LuzuVlogs. Four years on, the Spanish-language vlogging channel has nearly 1.6 million subscribers, with Luzu now running two others.“I actually have a bigger audience in my channel than the TV company I used to work for,” he said in an appearance at the MIPTV conference in Cannes, in a session that aimed to provide practical advice to any creator trying to build their audience on YouTube.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’Related: ‘Traditional TV viewing for teens and tweens is dead. Not dying. Dead.’ Continue reading...

A box at the top of a search results page, with links to online retailers, is at the heart of the European commission’s statement of objection Continue reading...

European commission accuses tech firm of skewing search results to favour its own shopping service in breach of competition rules

But AwesomenessTV still wants to package shows with creators like Meg DeAngelis up for traditional channels, according to chief executive Brian RobbinsBrian Robbins, the chief executive of multi-channel network (MCN) AwesomenessTV, clearly knows the value of a punchy soundbite to wake up the audience at a television industry conference.“Everyone knows that traditional TV viewing for teens and tweens is dead. Not dying. Dead,” Robbins told the audience at the MIPTV conference in Cannes. Continue reading...

Can the reactive crowds, first-person perspective stage performances and new controller re-awaken interest in guitar games?Looking back, it’s hard to appreciate the impact Guitar Hero made on gaming a decade ago. It wasn’t the first rhythm action game, of course. Konami had already paved the way with its Beatmania and Guitar Freaks arcade titles. But with that huge licensed track list and cleverly designed guitar controller it brought the concept of music gaming into millions of homes, kickstarting a multimillion-dollar industry. Original developer Harmonix would later go on to extend the concept with Rock Band, introducing drums and a mic, but Guitar Hero plucked away for another five major releases, adding hundreds of tracks and enlivening many long nights indoors.

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

China-based Ninebot plans to use self-balancing technology to produce new transport systems as Xiaomi continues expanding beyond smartphonesAmerican self-balancing transport firm Segway has been bought by a Chinese robotics startup backed by Xiaomi.

Modern aircraft increasingly connected to internet, which could potentially lead to hackers seizing control of a plane mid-flight, says GAOHackers on commercial flights could now bring down the plane they are on by using the on board Wi-Fi, a US government watchdog has warned.The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) does not suggest it would be easy to do but it points out that as airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration attempt to modernise planes and flight tracking with internet-based technology, attackers have a new vulnerability they could exploit. Continue reading...

The Finnish telecoms company is acquiring its ailing French counterpart in a bid to become a leading global networks operatorNokia has confirmed it is acquiring the ailing French telecom company Alcatel-Lucent through a public exchange offer in France and the United States, in a bid to become a leading global networks operator.The deal has been approved by each company’s board of directors and is expected to close in 2016 subject to regulatory and other approvals, the Finnish company said. Continue reading...

President of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Ze Frank sees clips as ‘a fantastic way to build affinity with shows and characters’ before spawning movie projects Continue reading...

New fitness tracker is one of the most advanced available with all-day heart rate, GPS, skin temperature and stress sensors rolled into a chunky bandMicrosoft’s first piece of wearable technology since the Spot smartwatch is a fitness tracker packed with 10 sensors, but does it put others to shame?The company best known for Windows, Office, and PC/tablet hybrids such as the Surface, is no stranger to health and fitness. Microsoft’s HealthVault – a service for storing and maintaining health and fitness data – has been around since 2007, storing data from fitness trackers and medical devices alike and now underpins the new Health app.Pros: three-day battery life, constant heart rate, GPS and loads of other sensors, cross-platform, good appCons: a bit chunky, styling is polarising, Cortana only available with Windows Phone, not all the data collected is currently available Continue reading...

Arguably the best small heater fan available, Dyson’s newest innovation is powerful and very beautiful – but comes with a hefty price tagThe weather hasn’t made up its mind. One day it’s hot and sunny, the next windy and rainy. Welcome to April in the UK. Dyson reckons its new fan, which blows both hot and cold, is the answer – with an eye-watering price tag to match.The new Dyson AM09 is the company’s latest in its series of bladeless fans – a heater and fan combined into an oblong loop. It’s the third version of Dyson’s “Hot + Cool” fans – the first two, the AM04 and AM05, were subject to a recall last year for a fire risk found in models manufactured before April 2014.Pros: heats a room quickly, powerful small fan, easy to use remote, exact temperature controlCons: expensive, noisy enough to drown out a TV at full blast, can only push warm air around Continue reading...

Inquiry will focus on accusations that internet search and tech multinational has unfairly used its products to oust competitorsThe European Union accused Google on Wednesday of cheating competitors by distorting Internet search results in favour of its Google Shopping service and also launched an antitrust probe into its Android mobile operating system.In a statement, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the US tech giant, which dominates Internet search engines globally, had been sent a Statement of Objections - effectively a charge sheet - to which it can respond. Continue reading...

‘Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival,’ tweets Elon Musk, CEO of the private space company, minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, FloridaSpaceX has failed to land a reusable rocket booster back on to its platform barge in the Atlantic, its third failed landing in as many attempts to revolutionize rockets used for spaceflight.

Two groups headed by former FCC commissioners claim watchdog ‘usurped the role of Congress’ in passing new rules to protect an open internetTwo major lobbying groups are hitting back hard at new net neutrality rules meant to protect an open internet, both headed by former commissioners for the regulator that passed the rules.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), a wireless industry lobbying group run by former Federal Communications Commission commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the FCC seeking to overturn the regulator’s landmark net neutrality rules on the grounds that “the FCC usurped the role of Congress” in creating them. Continue reading...

Dino Maglio convicted of raping Australian teenager after allegedly using website to lure women to his home, and drugging and assaulting them Continue reading...

Subscription services such as Spotify boosted revenue by nearly 40% in 2014, but value of downloads through iTunes and other sites shrank again, says IFPI

Finnish and French telecoms equipment makers warn ‘advanced discussions’ could yet fall apart if Francois Hollande steps in to protect jobs Continue reading...

New report from Verizon suggests smartphone malware is mostly ‘adnoyance’ – real dangers are still in desktopMobile malware may be widespread, but it’s unlikely to be the source of disastrous data breaches such as the Sony hack any time soon, according to international telecoms firm Verizon.“We feel safe saying that while a major carrier is looking for and monitoring the security of mobile devices on its network, data breaches involving mobile devices should not be in any top-whatever list,” the company writes. Continue reading...

House of Wolves, the second expansion to MMOFPS Destiny, will have a three-player co-operative arena

Company’s new powerful 13in aluminium ultrabook has a better-than-retina quad HD+ screen with virtually no bezels squeezed into an 11in laptop frameDell’s latest ultrabook is squarely aimed at Apple’s MacBook Pro with a better-than-retina high resolution screen and aluminium body – a Windows MacBook killer.Since Dell turned private in 2013 it has rekindled its innovative spirit, first with a super-thin tablet with an edge-to-edge display, now with a laptop that is thin, light and practically bezel-less.Pros: excellent quad HD+ screen, solid build, powerful, good touchpad, touchscreenCons: battery life could be better, adaptive brightness can’t be turned off, memory not upgradable Continue reading...

Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has received a request to blacklist pornographic websites based on conventions signed by imperialist and Soviet governments. Meduza reports Continue reading...

Post Microsoft buyout of its smartphone division, Finnish company eyes up French smartphone and networking manufacturer Alcatel-LucentNokia has confirmed that it is in advanced talks to buy French smartphone and wireless equipment manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent.

No cats allowed on the first TV station for dogs, which wants to relieve separation anxiety: ‘People feel really guilty leaving their dogs at home...’“We had some cats, but we found out that dogs do not react well to cats. So there are no cats on DogTV any more,” says Ron Levi, midway through explaining the origin story of the world’s first TV channel for dogs.For dogs. Not about dogs – although there are plenty of canines on-screen – but a channel designed for dogs to watch, usually (but not exclusively) when their owners are out of the house.Related: ‘History, yes. Science, sure. Sharks, yes’ – what millennials want from factual TVRelated: ATM dog: Forgotten your pin? Please join the queue for the dachshundRelated: TV industry faces its ‘ketchup’ moment: ‘Mobile is now the first screen’ Continue reading...

‘Babasaheb’ was leading figure in India’s struggle for independence who drafted the new republic’s constitution and championed rights of the dalits Continue reading...

Almost 40 websites reported to Internet Watch Foundation for trading child sexual abuse content for cryptocurrency

MMO game Eve Online strips back entry requirements and simplifies play to help newcomers get started Continue reading...

Theatre, dance, TV and even restaurants are becoming ever more interactive Continue reading...

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...