Technology | The Guardian

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

Abbott concedes access to journalists’ metadata to help uncover a confidential source needs court approval, but baulks at permitting them to argue against it Continue reading...

Brent Callinicos is the latest CFO to announce his retirement from a senior position in Silicon Valley, following executives at Apple, Google and AmazonA week after Google’s chief financial officer resigned to spend more time with his family, his counterpart at Uber has followed suit, announcing on Monday that his ride “is coming to and end”.Brent Callinicos’s stated reasons for leaving Uber are not that much different than Google’s Patrick Pichette, who announced that he was leaving his post to spend more time with his wife and to backpack around the world.Related: Google CFO to leave job for a 'midlife crisis full of bliss and beauty' on the road Continue reading...

The tweet advised followers to ‘pinch people who aren’t #UpForWhatever’ but was removed two hours later after a flurry of negative responses Continue reading...

ABC, CBS, 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney among broadcasters available for $30-$40 a month from autumn in challenge to cable companiesApple is preparing to launch an online TV service in a “seismic” move that is set to further shake up the already-rattled television landscape.The technology giant has long had ambitions to break into TV and recently announced an exclusive deal with HBO, home of Game of Thrones. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is aiming to offer US consumers a package of 25 channels for $30-$40 a month. The service should be available by autumn.Related: Map: How much are Americans paying for cable? Continue reading...

Maps, cards, masks and an approach to storytelling that will make children look up from their screens and start making up their own adventuresAre screens bad for children’s creativity? Minecraft is one obvious rebuttal to such a theory, but there are also a growing number of apps and websites aiming to spark children’s imaginations rather than merely treat them as passive consumers.Even so, as kids spend more time with digital forms of entertainment, many parents are looking for ways to complement that with physical, creative play. Story is the latest potential option.Related: 'Great big poo balls!' What it's like making a Kano computer with your kids Continue reading...

Kate Burns, who was Google’s first international hire outside Europe, will work on expansion Continue reading...

Nintendo has said no ports of classic games will be made, but which characters would make for the best smartphone and tablet games? Continue reading...

Tech company also confirms it has been reviewing apps before they are published to ‘catch policy offenders earlier in the process’Google is introducing a new age-rating system for Android apps and games on its Google Play store, while also revealing a new policy of reviewing apps before they are published on the store.The new age-rating system will see Android developers completing a questionnaire about their app or game’s content before it is published, rather than simply choosing a rating.Related: Android has 1bn active users and grand ambitions for cars, wearables and TVRelated: The best Android apps of 2014 Continue reading...

The creator of the Super Mario series is finally getting into the smartphone gaming sector. But how will it fit in with the company’s rigorous tradition? Continue reading...

Creator of Wii reveals it has new machine in production, but gamers shouldn’t expect more details for another yearNintendo has officially confirmed that it is working on a brand new dedicated games platform, under the development codename “NX”. The company has not stated whether this is a home console or handheld gaming device.The announcement was made during a hastily convened press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. The main purpose of the event was to explain Nintendo’s decision to enter the smartphone gaming market, via a partnership with smartphone games specialist DeNA. Continue reading...

Six months after Amazon bought out the video-game streaming site for a reported $970m, Emmett Shear says little has changed for fans Continue reading...

The Japanese million-selling hunting game series has never cracked the western market, but the latest instalment will take your breath away

IBM’s Jeopardy-winning computer, Watson, has a new calling – as a chefWhen IBM’s Watson computer won a special episode of US game show Jeopardy, many hailed the event as a threshold of a new era of computing: the end, as IBM’s Florian Pinel puts it, of “the era of programmable computers, where you had to write code to get a computer to do what you wanted. Now, we have cognitive computers, which can learn what you want”.But Watson’s Jeopardy victory was only ever intended as a proof of concept, designed to get the artificially intelligent computer system in the mind of the public. Continue reading...

Expect new smartphone and tablet games based on Nintendo’s famous characters, but no ports of Wii U or 3DS titles for now Continue reading...

Likely to be trotting the streets of Shoreditch before Christmas, the serious side to this Kickstarter-funded garment is helping lost dogs get foundYou wouldn’t take your dog to a disco if you’ve got any concern for their welfare, but how about bringing the disco to your dog?That’s the goal of the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Disco Dog, a “smartphone-controlled LED dog vest” created by design agency Party, which is seeking $15k of funding to develop the product. Continue reading...

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

Phablets such as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 and Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus are increasingly popular. But which one should you buy?Smartphones are getting bigger, much bigger. Almost all flagship smartphones have screens larger than 5in, while the even bigger phablets are more popular than ever, with good reason.With screens measuring 5.5in and up, phablets have plenty of space to make the most of the screen in your pocket. From watching movies and browsing sites, to editing text and manipulating photos, almost everything is better on a big screen. Continue reading...

Selection of channels would be made available across devices such as iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, according to Wall Street JournalApple is in talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Greens' Adam Bandt has slammed the Labor party for caving in on the government's plans for retaining metadata. Bandt says the proposal to increase the reach of internet surveillance is a 'massive affront' to citizens' rights. Labor's Mark Dreyfus says Labor welcomes the prime minister's acceptance of the need for an amendment on the need for warrants when attempting to obtain the metadata of journalists Continue reading...

Artist Eamonn O’Neill designs animation to mark national day celebrating Ireland’s patron saint Continue reading...

Britain’s second-biggest force to undergo radical changes such as move to ‘digital policing’, owing to budget cuts and rise in domestic and online crime Continue reading...

The report, titled Americans’ privacy strategies post-Snowden, shows that US citizens are more aware of potential government spying into their lives Continue reading...

Live streaming apps’ founder, Ben Rubin, says he has no hard feelings towards the social network despite it blocking access to its social graphDespite being blocked by Twitter from accessing its social graph, the founder of live-streaming service Meerkat, Ben Rubin, says he has no hard feelings towards the social network, and plans to forge ahead with or without them, calling the lockdown “just a speed bump”.Meerkat integrates closely with Twitter, automatically announcing that a users’ stream is beginning by sending a tweet. It also streamlines account creation by letting new users sign in with the social network. But on Friday, the network blocked Meerkat’s access to its social graph, the data which shows who follows who on Twitter. Continue reading...

US firm acquires fellow fan-funding startup Subbable and reveals it has nearly 250,000 ‘patrons’ supporting its creators Continue reading...

Company rolls out new ‘on-demand’ phone-integrated password service at SXSW festival, and nods to future encryption servicePasswords: easily forgotten, but also easily guessed. It’s a bitter irony that minutes can be spent racking brains trying to remember whether a required security question answer is a pet’s name, first school or place of birth – meanwhile a cyber-criminal is merrily typing in a person’s favourite colour and relieving bank accounts of hard-earned wages.Well, now Yahoo might have made the process easier – at least when it comes to accessing email.1) Sign in to your Yahoo.com account.2) Click on your name at the top right corner to go to your account information page. Continue reading...

Film showing Apple co-founder as modern-day Citizen Kane causes unusual outburst from company’s upper ranks

Culture ministry says those posting selfies featuring partially-exposed breasts could face up to five years in jail Continue reading...

Out of the hundreds of brilliant, idiosyncratic games shown off at this year’s festival, here are the ones we couldn’t leave aloneThis year’s Rezzed festival presented a vast cornucopia of PC, Xbox and smartphone titles over a packed weekend at London’s Tobacco Dock venue. Hundreds of interesting, offbeat indie titles vied for attention, but here are the treasures that really held our gaze.Convoy (Convoy Games) Continue reading...

Hyperactivity disorders are now the second most diagnosed childhood conditions in the US behind asthma, with 20% of college students suffferingThe internet might make you feel hyperactive, but do you really have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?Michael Pietrus PsyD, coordinator of the ADHD assessment protocol at the University of Chicago, explains how the internet encourages behaviour that at least mimics ADHD, and can exacerbate the condition in people who have it already. Continue reading...

With more than 4.7m players, all-ages games creation community is focused on growth: ‘Our developers range from eight to 80...’“Some of our top developers are starting to get about a quarter of a million dollars a year. They’re treating it literally as a career, and starting to hire their friends…”David Baszucki is the chief executive of Roblox, the all-ages gaming community whose rise has been lower-profile than that of Minecraft, but just as interesting. Continue reading...

Patrick Walker, boss of multi-platform network Rightster, sees potential on Facebook, Vessel, Snapchat and other platforms – if creators are careful Continue reading...

China’s 115 million upper middle class women are driving ecommerce and social media in China, outspending their US equivalents by double on the biggest shopping days of the year Continue reading...

Meet DAR-1. He might not look like much, but robots like him are showing startling new ways that humans can interact with machinesIn still pictures, DAR–1 (pronounced ‘Darwin’) doesn’t look like the kind of robot that might encourage empathy.The machine’s six spindly legs lend it an uncanny arachnoid appearance, and with no case for modesty’s sake, the exposed circuitry doesn’t hide its electrical heart. Continue reading...

App-users at the SXSW festival in Austin have been unwittingly mimicking the plot of Alex Garland’s new film, by finding themselves quizzed by a gorgeous robot-in-disguise Continue reading...

Social network’s updated guidelines also cover self-harm, bullying and harassment, violence and graphic contentFacebook has updated its community standards guidelines to provide “more detail and clarity” on the content it allows or bans on its service.The social network stressed in a blog post that its policies are not changing, but that “we have heard from people that it would be helpful to provide more clarity and examples”.“When this is the case, we expect people to clearly indicate their purpose, which helps us better understand why they shared that content.We allow humour, satire or social commentary related to these topics, but we may ask Page owners to associate their name and Profile with any content that is insensitive, even if that content does not violate our policies.”“We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks. We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures and other art that depicts nude figures.”“We also remove content that expresses support for groups that are involved in the violent, criminal or hateful behaviour mentioned above. Supporting or praising leaders of those same organisations, or condoning their violent activities, is not allowed.” Continue reading...

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

PS4, Xbox One, 2K Games, cert: 16 Continue reading...

Xbox One, Xbox 360, Frontier, cert: 12

Over the past 20 years, data analysis has become one of the primary factors for success in sport. We look at ten of the greatest sporting triumphs to date, made possible through the use of data analysis

Over the past 20 years, data analysis has become one of the primary factors for success in sport. We look at ten of the greatest sporting triumphs to date, made possible through the use of data analysis

Wii U, Nintendo, Cert: 3 Continue reading...

The American architect’s pioneering design principles are influencing a new generation of digital designers are reinterpreting his work for the mobile era Continue reading...

David Chang, the founder of the Momofuku chain, lays the blame for worldwide gastronomical monoculture squarely at the internet’s feetThere’s many things the internet can be blamed for, from revenge porn to Grumpy Cat, but celebrity chef David Chang has added a new item to the list.“Everything tastes the same,” he says, “and it’s the internet’s fault.” Continue reading...

The author’s manifesto for creator-owned comics shook up that industry, and now he has set his sights on TV Continue reading...