Technology | The Guardian

Sneakers, Endless Wordplay, myHealthPal, Attack the Light, DomiNations, Boss Monster, Riff, Marvel Mighty Heroes and more Continue reading...

Habbo, Riff, Office Lens, Attack the Light, DomiNations, Marvel Mighty Heroes, Spell With Pip, Infinit and more Continue reading...

The latest Nintendo console may have fallen behind the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but here’s why it’s no slouchIt’s fair to say that the Wii U has not performed quite as well as Nintendo probably expected when the new machine was revealed with great ceremony in June 2011. Consumers were immediately confused about what it actually was. Is it a Wii add-on? Is it a tablet? Why does it look like a miniature Fisher Price television set? Three years later, the console is floundering on around 10m sales while generational rivals PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have shot past with nary a backward glance.Despite it all, Wii U has enjoyed a constant stream (okay, maybe a constant trickle) of truly excellent and individual gaming experiences – it is still a Nintendo machine after all. Now priced at around £180, well over £100 cheaper than its rivals, it remains a great little games machine that deserves to be appreciated for its own idiosyncratic charms. Here are 16 reasons why. Continue reading...

The place to recover from eating your body weight in Creme Eggs.It’s Easter Monday; why not intersperse eating Cadbury’s Mini Eggs with talking about video games? Continue reading...

PS3, PS4, PSVita, PC; Devolver Digital, cert:18 Continue reading...

PS4, Final Form Games, cert: 7 Continue reading...

3DS, Level 5, cert: 12

Some hints on road practice for this year’s recruits to the ranks of motorists Continue reading...

Surrealist painter was born in Lancashire but spent most of her life in Mexico

With blogging on the wane, a few enterprising sorts have gone back to the humble inbox as a new place for self-publishing to thrive Continue reading...

Arab-American advocacy groups hope site will raise awareness as US says it has ‘no current plans’ to evacuate American citizens Continue reading...

Radio 4 took us from the attractions of an imaginary world to the evils of this one Continue reading...

Twitter’s new technology lets users share instant video, from family fun to global news events Continue reading...

San Diego man, Kevin Bollaert, charged victims to remove nude images from website that he created Continue reading...

Apple CEO has set himself apart from Steve Jobs in his work for social justice and his push for philanthropy. But his talent for innovation remains to be seen Continue reading...

PS4, Xbox One, Square Enix, £32.99-£49.99 Continue reading...

Pay unfairly, spoil your best workers, and choose a job that makes you happier... ten ways to make your workplace the best in the world, by Laszlo Bock, head of people operations at Google

Every year, 2 million people worldwide apply for a job at Google – and head of people operations Laszlo Bock decides who gets in. So what’s the secret? Tom Lamont drops in on the company’s California HQ

After years of ignoring calls to stop chasing customers who have incurred huge bills after their phones were stolen, there has been a breakthrough Continue reading...

‘It could drive all day; the cabin is ergonomic enough that I could, too’ Continue reading...

Figure represents a rise of 55% on same period last year, but it will have to improve sales further if it is to hit its 2015 target of 55,000 cars Continue reading...

We can’t get enough of Twitter’s new live broadcasting function. But what will it take to push it out to a wider world?Periscope is so hot right now. The Twitter-owned live video streaming app that lets viewers comment on what they’re seeing and the Scopers (is that a word yet?) respond in real time may only be 10 days old but it’s already causing ripples as it rises above the competition. And that’s despite it still lacking some basic functionality that would make it much better - presumably due to it being pushed out early to block the growth of rival Meerkat, which it has very succesfully.Currently a sea of: a) people looking a bit confused as they test it for the first time; b) people filming out of car windows as they drive around; c) people walking around cities; d) people doing “ask me any thing”s, and; e) people showing the contents of their fridge (yes, this is already a meme), it’s not yet clear what the USP of Periscope will be.Death by #Periscope notifications Continue reading...

Okay everyone, you’ve had over a year to sort out your current-gen console game collections, but here’s what you should definitely haveVideo games, like every other form of entertainment, are a subjective experience. While your best friend may adore elaborate cinematic blockbusters that require very little in the way of actual user interaction, you may prefer hardcore Japanese brawlers that demand 100 hours of concerted effort just to get past the first mini-boss.Nevertheless, 18 months after the launch of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we now have a modest smattering of “must-buy” titles – the games you really need to see, even if you don’t think they’re your sort of thing. Continue reading...

It was 3 April 2010 when Apple launched its iPad, hoping to do to tablets what the iPhone had done to smartphones. Five years on, as phones have grown in size and power and tablet sales have slowed, how do you use yours? Continue reading...

While many huge multiplayer games are hives of abuse and recrimination, Monster Hunter maintains a supportive and fun community. How?Like many gamers, I’ve recently become utterly engrossed in the role-playing adventure, Monster Hunter 4. It’s a challenging and demanding title that encourages shared experiences via its excellent co-op mode where people hunt monsters together in small groups.What I have most enjoyed – and been pleasantly surprised by – is how friendly and helpful the community is. As an online moderator, I’ve spent years dealing with abusive, disruptive and aggressive individuals. I’ve noticed, however, that some games seem largely free of the griefing, anger and intolerance that sometimes feels ubiquitous. I started to wonder why that was. What makes certain games more likely to attract friendlier communities?Related: Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate review – RPG rewards patience Continue reading...

With its curvaceous, concave screen, self-healing coating and snappy handling, the G Flex 2 is certainly a conversation starter – but is it anything more than that?LG’s second generation curved phone, the G Flex 2 is shaped like a banana – which makes it an attractive curio and it’s interesting to use, but should people actually buy it?The idea behind the concave screen is that it is a more natural shape for a device designed to fit against the body, be that the face or the backside.Pros: fast processor, microSD card slot, two-day battery, interesting curve, self-healing backCons: gets quite hot in use, plastic shell doesn’t feel premium, battery not removable, no wireless charging Continue reading...

Plus Tidal, Deezer, Rhapsody, Beats Music, Google Play and other digital services, as Information Is Beautiful updates its 2010 infographicIn 2010, data journalist and information designer David McCandless published an infographic on his Information is Beautiful website showing how much musicians earned online from sales and streams of their music.It caused quite a stir within the music industry, which even then was debating what the emergence of streaming services like Spotify would mean for artists. In 2015, that debate is still going on, and it's even more heated. Continue reading...

Bruce Daisley becomes vice president of direct sales for Europe while Stephen McIntyre becomes vice president of online and reseller sales for EuropeTwitter is reorganising its European management team following the return of its advertising boss Ali Jafari to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco in June 2015.Bruce Daisley will become vice president of direct sales for Europe and remains managing director for the UK for the time being. Continue reading...

Crystal Maze-style games in tourist destinations all over the world are now so popular they need their own TripAdvisor category Continue reading...

Many Iranians bypass state’s filtering system to post positive messages after the announcement of a framework for a nuclear deal in Lausanne Continue reading...

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Research reveals average speeds in Britain have fallen between the start and end of 2014, and that home broadband is now fasterBritain’s newly built superfast 4G networks appear to be slowing down as more subscribers sign up for top-flight mobile internet and traffic increases over the fledgling service.The average speed at which a mobile phone can download content – such as apps or video files – fell between last spring and last winter, according to a study published on Thursday by Ofcom. Continue reading...

The country offers Airbnb a unique opportunity with its many hosts who have long rented out homes and rooms to visitors from abroadThe home-rental company Airbnb has opened for business in Havana, bringing the sharing economy born in capitalism to communist Cuba as relations thaw with the United States.Following President Obama’s move to relax cold war-era travel restrictions in January, the company sent teams to meet with Cuba’s many hosts who have long rented out homes and rooms – known as casas particulares – to visitors from abroad.Related: Cuba's 'offline internet': no access, no power, no problem Continue reading...

Broadcaster follows Radiohead’s Thom Yorke in testing legal file-sharing distribution with 10-episode bundleDoctor Who is on BitTorrent. But this time, it’s the BBC that has put it there.The broadcaster’s BBC Worldwide division is releasing an official digital box-set of 10 episodes from its popular sci-fi show’s modern incarnation.Related: What are BitTorrent bundles and how can I download Thom Yorke's album?Related: Doctor Who's new web game aims to teach children programming skills Continue reading...

File-sharing firm’s Matt Mason says he wants to combat piracy: ‘Content has value, it should be legally licensed and distributed...’ Continue reading...

Social network brings its current total of photography and video apps up to six in battle with Twitter’s Vine and PeriscopeFacebook has launched another video camera app. Riff for the iPhone and Android allows collaborative looping video creation – a bit like Twitter’s Vine on steroids.The free app allows one user to record a short clip similar to a Vine or Instagram video and publish it within the app or Facebook. Other users can then find and add to that clip with their own short clip, building a longer video that loops through.Related: Periscope review: does Twitter's live-streaming service beat Meerkat? Continue reading...

Apple CEO Tim Cook set off an unprecedented backlash against ‘religious freedom’ laws this week, and showed why Republicans can no longer stay silent on civil rights Continue reading...

It’s got cats, it’s got crime, and a mystery involving a fried egg: everything you could want and moreCan we just take a minute to appreciate the Isles of Scilly police force’s Facebook page?

Jane’s job requires rapid typing for long periods, and she can’t do that on today’s Chiclet-style laptop keyboardsI work as a specialist electronic note-taker for deaf people, which means I type a comprehensive précis of all that is said in the room, using a laptop linked to a separate monitor for them to read in real time. Qualified electronic note-takers type at very high speeds, with no breaks, for up to an hour at a time (sometimes longer in settings where people clearly don’t consider us to be sentient beings). We are at real risk of RSI.Like many fast touch-typists, I just cannot work well on the new Chiclet keyboards. Continue reading...

From hidden programmer credits to movie references and macabre jokes, developers have been stuffing their games with secrets for 30 yearsLegend has it that the 1979 Atari 2600 game, Adventure, was the first to include a hidden in-joke buried away in an obscure corner of the code. If players directed a grey dot into a hidden room they got to see the message “Created by Warren Robinett”, a self-referential protest by the game’s programmer who was annoyed at Atari for not crediting its staff.Since then, it’s been discovered that the Fairchild Channel F console, launched in 1976, boasted several such messages. The demo cartridge that originally came with the machine had one, as did the 1978 title Video Whizball, a Pong derivative that would post the coder’s name on the screen (Bradley Reid-Selth) if you carried out a complex sequence of moves at the close of the game. Continue reading...

Move by search engine means warning display could deter Chrome browser users from visiting sites approved by Chinese authority

Stephen Lavelle’s website offers over 200 strange and thrilling games – yet one of the artform’s most unusual talents asks for little in returnStephen Lavelle develops short games, little games, but they make me more aware that I am alive than just about anything else. He just gives these games away for free on his website, like throwing breadcrumbs to pigeons.

Shares in company best known for its controversial Super Bowl ads soar by 30% on New York stock exchange flotation Continue reading...

Executive order creates sanctions that could potentially penalize companies in China and Russia that benefit from hacks in attempt to curtail rising threatPresident Obama on Wednesday created the first-ever sanctions program to penalize overseas hackers who engage in cyber-spying and companies that knowingly benefit from the fruits of that espionage, potentially including state-owned corporations in Russia and China.“Cyber threats pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to the United States,” Obama said in a statement after signing an executive order creating the sanctions. Continue reading...

Turn the world’s most famous thoroughfares – or even the street where you live – into mazes and wolf down the dots Continue reading...

Research shows 64% of Americans own a smartphone but 23% run into money problems and 15% run out of mobile dataIn the last three years the number of Americans owning a smartphone has jumped from 35% to almost two-thirds but affordability has meant many have had difficulties paying for them, according to the latest Pew study.

After 70m downloads on iOS and Android, casual hit courts gamers in the UK and Ireland with local heroes – plus a pair of recent web memesPopular mobile game Crossy Road has released a “UK & Ireland” update featuring 17 new characters based on familiar figures from the British Isles.They include a busby-wearing Queen’s guard, a policeman, a Scottish piper, a chimney sweep and a “fancy lady”, as well as a packet of fish’n’chips. They join existing characters like the dragon, gravedigger, giddy goat and emo goose in the game.Related: Mobile game Crossy Road has made $10m in three months since launch Continue reading...

Online star teams up with Endemol Beyond for new lifestyle network, which will also be available on other video services and social networksYouTube star Michelle Phan is launching her own online video network, Icon, which will cover beauty, fashion, food and other lifestyle topics – but not just on YouTube.The network is a partnership with television firm Endemol, and will distribute its videos through a range of partners online and on TV, as well as through its own mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.Related: Little Baby Bum: how UK couple built world's fifth-biggest YouTube channel Continue reading...

Ofcom report also finds that almost three quarters of adults have used services such as YouTube or on-demand TV Continue reading...