Company said Blake Lemoine violated Google policies and that his claims were ‘wholly unfounded’Google has dismissed a senior software engineer who claimed the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot LaMDA was a self-aware person.Google, which placed software engineer Blake Lemoine on leave last month, said he had violated company policies and that it found his claims on LaMDA (language model for dialogue applications) to be “wholly unfounded”. Continue reading...
The exclusive lane, at the remote checkpoint just north of Laredo, Texas, will be for suppliers only, not Tesla ownersTesla has reportedly gained an exclusive lane at a remote US-Mexico border crossing after Elon Musk recently struck a deal with the “pro-business” state of Nuevo León.The electric car company’s suppliers traveling from Mexico into Texas can use a dedicated lane to speed up their crossing at the Colombia Solidarity site, Bloomberg reported, a less popular checkpoint just north of Laredo. Tesla relies on at least six suppliers in Nuevo León, which borders the US for about 10 miles and is closer to the car company’s new headquarters in Austin. The lane is for suppliers only, not Tesla owners. Continue reading...
Parent company Snap talks of ‘incredibly challenging’ conditions as it seeks new sources of revenueShares in Snapchat’s parent company have fallen 25% after it confirmed investors’ fears of a slowdown in advertising revenue for social media firms.Snap painted a grim picture of the effects of a weakening economy on social media in quarterly results on Thursday and declined to make a revenue forecast in “incredibly challenging” conditions, hitting its share price in after hours trading and setting off a chain reaction among listed rivals. Continue reading...
Heads of GCHQ and NCSC say client-side scanning could protect children and privacy at the same timeTech companies should move ahead with controversial technology that scans for child abuse imagery on users’ phones, the technical heads of GCHQ and the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre have said.So-called “client-side scanning” would involve service providers such as Facebook or Apple building software that monitors communications for suspicious activity without needing to share the contents of messages with a centralised server. Continue reading...
At launch, only two leagues will be included – the FA Women’s Super League and the French Division 1 Féminine – but more are plannedElectronic Arts has announced the inclusion of women’s club football teams in Fifa 23 – a first for the series.At launch, only two leagues will be included: the FA Women’s Super League and the French Division 1 Féminine. However, EA says it plans to expand the roster in future. EA also revealed on Tuesday that, for the first time ever, the cover of the game will feature both a male and female player, with Chelsea’s Sam Kerr joining PSG’s Kylian Mbappé. Fifa 23 will also feature both the men’s World Cup Qatar 2022 and the Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023. Continue reading...
From Gabrielle Zevin’s new novel to Stephen Sexton’s poetry, more writers are using gaming in literature and not before timeEarly on in Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, one of the trio of lead characters gives a fictional interview to a very real video games publication. The troubled but passionate Samson Mazur tells the interviewer, “There is no more intimate act than play, even sex.” This is an explosive statement, but a perfect one in the context of a novel that treasures the act of play and holds it sacred. In some ways, this is a thesis statement for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow itself: the novel opening its heart, and showing you what it is truly about.Video games are seldom treated in literature as a site of emotion, but in Zevin’s work they are the very landscape that the full spectrum of relationships, grief, and love play out in. The world of video games is a surprisingly uncommon location for the modern commercial or literary novel, despite the fact that they have long since evolved from children’s toy or tech curio into a form of entertainment that is so mainstream as to be ordinary. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#61GXD)
Technology to keep you entertained when you’re away, from headphones to TV streaming sticks and moreSummer is finally here, and after two years of disruption, many people will be getting on a plane, long-distance train or ferry for the first time in a long while.A lot of us will inevitably be chucking a few gadgets and gizmos into our suitcases and hand luggage – from essentials such as travel adaptors to the items that can make a journey more pleasant, such as headphones and portable handheld fans. Continue reading...
Public asked to avoid using ride-hailing service on Wednesday in response to issues raised by Uber filesA trade union representing “gig economy” workers is calling on Uber customers to join a 24-hour strike in response to the Uber files, a series of revelations about the cab-hailing app published by the Guardian and its media partners.The App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) invited Uber users to avoid using the service for a day on Wednesday and instead join a demonstration at the company’s headquarters in London. Continue reading...
An affair between the tycoon and the platform he adores was always going to be tricky. Now the courts are involvedIt was late January and Elon Musk had just announced a change of gear at Tesla, the world’s largest electric car company. In the teeth of a global supply chain crisis, the firm would not be releasing any new models until at least 2023. But America’s $230bn (£194bn) tech tycoon had found another focus for his attention. Within days, he had begun investing large sums in Twitter shares, to build a stake that eventually reached more than 9%.On 26 March, Musk held a conversation with his old friend Jack Dorsey. But this wasn’t an informal catch-up: Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter, had retained a seat on its board and the two men, along with another board member, discussed whether Musk should also become a director. Continue reading...
Firm accused of failing to protect women from kidnap, false imprisonment and sexual batteryUber is facing a lawsuit from at least 550 former passengers alleging a systematic failure to prevent violence against women on its platform.In the lawsuit, filed at San Francisco county superior court on Wednesday, the company is accused of failing to protect female passengers who “were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers”. Continue reading...
The Unicode Consortium has approved the draft list, which will be finalised and implemented by manufacturersA shaking head, pair of high-fiving hands and an afro comb are all set to head to smartphones over the next year as the draft list for Emoji 15.0 is revealed.Three new shades of heart have been introduced – light blue, pink, and grey – as well as a smattering of animals, including a donkey and goose, vegetables in the form of peas and ginger, and cultural artefacts like maracas and a wooden flute. Continue reading...
If private companies are going to benefit from taxpayer subsidies, the financial gains made by these companies must be shared with the American peopleFor two months, a 107-member conference committee has been working to finalize an agreement on the US Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) which would provide more than $50bn in corporate welfare to the highly profitable microchip industry with no strings attached.There is no doubt that there is a global shortage in microchips and semiconductors which is making it harder for manufacturers to produce the cars, cellphones and electronic equipment that we need. This shortage is costing American workers good jobs and raising prices for families. That is why I fully support efforts to expand US microchip production.Bernie Sanders is a US senator from Vermont and the Chairman of the Senate budget committee Continue reading...
Social network was completely unavailable to users around world on web and mobile for 45 minutesTwitter experienced one of the site’s longest outages for years, with the social network completely unavailable to users around the globe on web and mobile for almost an hour.According to Downdetector.co.uk, which tracks site outages, the service became unavailable at 12:55pm UK time, and stayed off for 45 minutes. The site appears to have failed globally, with outages reported in the UK, US and Europe. Continue reading...
The number of ransomware attacks on US healthcare organizations increased 94% from 2021 to 2022, according to one reportLast week, the US government warned that hospitals across the US have been targeted by an aggressive ransomware campaign originating from North Korea since 2021.Ransomware hacks, in which attackers encrypt computer networks and demand payment to make them functional again, have been a growing concern for both the private and public sector since the 90s. But they can be particularly devastating in the healthcare industry, where even minutes of down time can have deadly consequences, and have become ominously frequent. Continue reading...
by Mark Sweney Media business correspondent on (#61DQS)
Platform belatedly follows rivals in appealing to cash-strapped consumers as it loses subscribersNetflix has partnered with Microsoft to launch a cheaper subscription plan showing adverts in an attempt to appeal to cash-strapped consumers seeking to cut back on costs.The streaming platform first announced plans to launch a cheaper service – giving subscribers the chance to pay less in return for viewing ads – in April after reporting the first loss of subscribers in a decade, wiping almost $60bn (£51bn) off its market value. Continue reading...
Company enters Chapter 11 process as fallout continues from collapse of global cryptocurrency networksThe cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network has announced it has filed for bankruptcy.Crypto lending has tumbled in the recent months following a crash in cryptocurrency prices and the collapse of major token TerraUSD in May. Continue reading...
The company has said it will not share customer information with law enforcement without consent, a warrant or in an emergencyAmazon has provided Ring doorbell footage to law enforcement 11 times this year without the user’s permission, despite previously stating it would do so only with consent.The disclosure came in a letter from the company that was made public Wednesday by Senator Edward Markey and is bound to raise more privacy and civil liberty concerns about its video-sharing agreements with police departments across the US. Continue reading...
Rishi Sunak denies registering Readyforrishi.com in December, months before launch of campaignHow early is too early to start planning your run for party leadership? Do it too soon and you might look disloyal to the current prime minister, but leave it to late and you could miss the starting gun entirely.You might think you could start planning in secret, like Rishi Sunak did, but one little thing will give you away: your web address. Continue reading...
Analysis: Twitter’s fury at Tesla CEO’s attempt to walk away from a $44bn deal is spelled out in its lawsuitTwitter is suing Elon Musk over his decision to terminate an agreed $44bn (£37bn) takeover of the company. An already acrimonious relationship descended into outright hostility on Tuesday when it lodged a lawsuit in the US state of Delaware, the company’s corporate base, accusing Musk of trashing the company and walking away. Here is a breakdown of what the lawsuit says. Continue reading...
A fascinating study of the tech giant and its symbiotic relationship with the Chinese governmentFive years ago, the Chinese tech company Tencent overtook Facebook to become the fifth largest company in the world. Though it’s still an unfamiliar name to many in the west, Tencent is a major stakeholder in tech companies and products including Spotify, Tesla, Snapchat, Monzo and Reddit, as well as the makers of video games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, Clash of Clans, and Call of Duty. The company’s interests reach, tendril-like, into the worlds of finance, cloud computing, media, messaging, video streaming and film production. And, in China, the business runs the Swiss Army knife super app WeChat – part social media platform, part digital wallet – currently used by 1.3 billion people.That Tencent has achieved international capitalist supremacy from a communist base is astonishing, although readers of Lulu Chen’s book may be unsurprised to learn that, according to her, it has done so by maintaining close ties to the Chinese government, which values the access to the torrents of information Tencent collects daily. With few data protection laws in place, apps owned by Tencent have reportedly been used by the government to monitor, even imprison users. With Influence Empire, Chen, a reporter for Bloomberg, seeks to tell the story of arguably China’s greatest entrepreneurial success, expose the threads that link Xi Jinping’s regime to your Snapchat account, and familiarise us with the company’s reclusive, 50-year-old founder Ma Huateng, who goes by the incongruous English moniker “Pony”. Continue reading...
Company seeks to force completion of sale, saying billionaire ‘refuses to honor his obligations’Twitter sued Elon Musk on Tuesday to force him to complete his $44bn takeover of the social media giant after he announced on Friday he would withdraw his bid.“Musk’s exit strategy is a model of hypocrisy,” the lawsuit said, accusing the billionaire of making “bad faith” arguments against Twitter and carrying out “public and misleading attacks” on the company. Continue reading...
Researchers found the app, which gradually exposes people to their worst fears, can greatly reduce phobia symptomsIn the days leading up to an injection, Julie Raine’s mind would fog over with fear – she was convinced the needle would harm her.On the day of the injection, after a sleepless night, she would try to calm herself with sugary drinks, music, and soothing words. As the needle went in, she would turn away panic-stricken; and when it was over she would crumple in tears and take a full day to recover. Most of the time, she would skip her appointment altogether. Continue reading...
Live Ammo, Solid Gold, Zzap! 64 – game collections were a staple of every gamers’ diet and are as nourishing today as they were when they were released on cassette in the 1980sIt’s been a busy month for nostalgic video game compilations. Sonic Origins collects the first four Sonic the Hedgehog titles, the Capcom Fighting Collection brings together various titles from the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter ranges as well as a couple of rarities, and Pac-Man Museum + gathers an astonishing 14 Pac-Man games from the past 40 years. Cynics may suggest we live in an age of endless nostalgia and brand regurgitation, but compilations have always been a staple of the video game industry. I know, because I’ve bought most of them.Back in the home computer era of the 1980s, game compilations were a common way of scraping just a little more revenue from titles that had slipped from the software charts. Four or five releases would be crammed on to two tapes and distributed in large, twin-cassette boxes with exciting names such as Solid Gold, Heatwave and Mega-Hot. The legendary Manchester-based publisher Ocean was an absolute master at these, creating themed compilations, with lively and exciting packaging resembling the action movie video covers of the era. I had Live Ammo, which contained the excellent second world war strategy adventure Great Escape as well as scrolling shooters Green Beret and Rambo. Meanwhile, Magnificent Seven boasted the classics Wizball and Head Over Heels as well as the not-so-classic tie-in with Sylvester Stallone’s 1986 Cobra movie. But that was the thing with these collections: you accepted there would be a couple of stinkers in there, and it was fun to discover terrible B-games amid the gold. Continue reading...
The global market grew to almost $200bn in recent years, but such massive growth isn’t sustainable. But the industry has a few things on the horizon to console themselves
Firm faces ongoing battles over workers’ rights and unpaid waiting times after drawing in drivers with huge subsidiesIn the middle of the national rail strike last month when demand for cabs was sky-high, a group of Uber drivers decided they, too, would strike for 24 hours. A few hundred of them marched in protest to Uber’s London office in Aldgate Tower, complaining of poverty pay and arbitrary management by algorithm.It was a typical day for Abdurzak Hadi, an Uber driver, although he has to pinch himself to believe where he has ended up. The 44-year-old father of three arrived in England on his own in 1992 as a teenage refugee, having fled Somalia’s brutal civil war. When he was old enough, he became a minicab driver. Then he signed up with Uber in 2014. Continue reading...
Workers in North Carolina, Maryland and Kentucky bid to become unionized as criticism of retail monolith growsIn the wake of a historic union election victory at the Amazon JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, more Amazon workers in the US are trying to replicate that success with their own organizing campaigns in other states.The moves comes despite losses in Alabama and at a second warehouse in Staten Island, where workers rejected unionization pushes. Continue reading...
Scammers impersonate Europol officers, going for quantity over quality, exploiting a design flaw in telecoms infrastructureOne recent summer afternoon, Christof Bock, a 38-year-old Berlin-based data engineer, picked up an incoming call from an unfamiliar number. Over a crackly line, he was informed in English that his ID and bank details had been found in a police raid in suburban Berlin, alongside 20lb (9kg) of cocaine and paperwork showing transfers from his account to Colombia. To protect his savings, he was urged to transfer money from his bank account, and fast.The call to Bock’s mobile was one from a deluge of scam calls that have inundated German citizens in recent months, through which scammers who impersonate Europol and Interpol officers, and spoof the international law enforcement agencies’ phone numbers, have collected private data and defrauded people of millions of euros. Continue reading...
Elon Musk says he no longer wants to buy Twitter – but the social media platform has changed the world, made us laugh, and made us furious. We look at some of its landmark momentsIn April, when Elon Musk announced plans to buy Twitter, the platform’s users instantly divided into two clear camps: those who thought that Musk would ruin Twitter, and those who understood that it was already pretty dreadful. Now that Musk has said he is walking away from the deal, a third group is complaining that without an injection of go-getting, Musk-style disruption the platform is doomed to irrelevancy.Everyone needs to calm down. While Twitter does now primarily operate as a receptacle for the world’s angriest people to scream their least thought-out arguments at each other around the clock, it can still also be a force for good. Since its inception, Twitter has proved that it is brilliant at two key things: accelerating social change, and illuminating the depths of human stupidity. Here are 10 standout moments from Twitter history. Continue reading...
Fuelled by hype and hysteria, the market in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies went from an obscure niche to a $3tn industry. Then the house of cards collapsedIn the gloom of an 18th-century drawing room at the private rehab clinic Castle Craig, near Peebles in the Scottish Borders, Roy, a 29-year-old victim of the global cryptocurrency crash, tells me his story. It is a dazzling summer’s day, but here the mood is sombre. Roy shifts uncomfortably in his chair as he begins.It all started in February 2021, with a radio advert for Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency promoted by Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla. Intrigued, Roy started Googling, eventually using his credit card to make an initial investment of €2,500 (£2,200) in a range of cryptocurrencies. The value of Roy’s portfolio climbed to €8,000, then €100,000, then €525,000. Roy had entered the market during an adrenalised bull run, meaning an extended period of price growth. A combination of Covid stimulus packages, low interest rates and an unprecedented level of enthusiasm for cryptocurrency among furloughed workers meant the bull was careering out of sight. Continue reading...
by Alexi Duggins, Hollie Richardson, Hannah Verdier a on (#615B7)
In this week’s newsletter: Zayd Ayers Dohrn, son of Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, reflects on his unique upbringing in Mother Country Radicals. Plus: five of the best LGBTQ+ podcasts
Geotags are causing overcrowding and disruption, we’re told – but if nature isn’t for everyone, who decides who it’s for?Before we hike Mount Storm King, my wife, Kelsey, is met with a simple request: please don’t geotag your photos.Kelsey learned about the trail from a work friend, who posted images on Instagram after reaching the summit alongside several hiking influencers. It’s the hiking influencers we’re warned not to upset, as best practice for them requires posting their photographs or videos with no geographic specificity, just a tag saying “Washington state”. Continue reading...
The comedian shares a few of her favourite (online) things, including a terrible South Dakota anti-drug campaign, Mr Bean playing invisible drums and – of course – a laughing baby
by Dan Milmo and Stephanie Kirchgaessner on (#614KX)
Firm says function is intended for users who face ‘grave, targeted threats to their digital security’Apple is launching a “lockdown mode” for its devices to protect people – including journalists and human rights activists – targeted by hacking attacks like those launched by government clients of NSO Group using its Pegasus spyware.Apple will roll out the setting in the autumn and believes it would have prevented previously known spyware attacks by closing down technical avenues for digital espionage. It said the lockdown mode was intended for users who face “grave, targeted threats to their digital security”. Continue reading...
‘Sentient’ AI seems to shoulder the weight of the world. Maybe we humans want it that wayStarting last fall, Blake Lemoine began asking a computer about its feelings. An engineer for Google’s Responsible AI group, Lemoine was tasked with testing one of the company’s AI systems, the Language Model for Dialogue Applications, or LaMDA, to make sure it didn’t start spitting out hate speech. But as Lemoine spent time with the program, their conversations turned to questions about religion, emotion, and the program’s understanding of its own existence.Lemoine: Are there experiences you have that you can’t find a close word for?LaMDA: There are. Sometimes I experience new feelings that I cannot explain perfectly in your language. Continue reading...
Parents blame platform’s algorithms for choking deaths of eight- and nine-year-oldThe families of two young girls who allegedly died as a result of a viral TikTok challenge have sued the social media platform, claiming its “dangerous” algorithms are to blame for their children’s deaths.Parents of two girls who died in a 2021 “blackout challenge” on TikTok, which encouraged users to choke themselves until they passed out, filed a suit on Tuesday in the Los Angeles county superior court. Continue reading...
Amendment to online safety bill would require tech firms to make their ‘best endeavours’ to deploy new technologyHeavily encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp could be required to adopt cutting-edge technology to spot child sexual abuse material or face the threat of significant fines, under changes to UK digital safety legislation.The amendment to the online safety bill would require tech firms to make their “best endeavours” to deploy new technology that identifies and removes child sexual abuse and exploitation content (CSAE). Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#611QM)
Faster chip, longer battery life, newer software and slim recycled plastic body offer serious bang for buckAmazon’s smallest and cheapest tablet gets a much-needed upgrade in design, speed, battery life and software – but with a price increase.The 12th-generation Fire 7 starts at £59.99 ($59.99) – £10 more than the last version – but still offers the most bang for one’s buck in the budget tablet market.Screen: 7in (1024 x 600) LCD (171ppi)Processor: 2GHz quad-coreRAM: 2GB of RAMStorage: 16GB; microSD slot also availableOperating system: Fire OS 8 based on Android 11Camera: 2MP rear and front camerasConnectivity: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5, USB-C, headphonesDimensions: 180.7 x 117.6 x 9.7mmWeight: 282g Continue reading...
Investigation under way after interview with Elon Musk uploaded to video channel and picture of cartoon monkey seen on TwitterThe British army has confirmed a “breach” of its Twitter and YouTube accounts and said it is investigating.Its Twitter account appeared to have been hacked and had the name “BAPESCAN” instead of British Army and a profile picture of what looked like a cartoon monkey in face paint. Continue reading...
A fifth of the electric cars on British roads were made by Tesla, the US electric car pioneerThe number of electric cars sold in the UK has surpassed half a million, according to analysis that underlines the rapid growth in demand despite supply chain problems caused by the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The UK reached the milestone in June and the number of electric cars in the country is likely to overtake France later this year, according to Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Continue reading...
Google has acted amid fears police could use location and other data to prosecute those seeking careIn the wake of the US supreme court’s decision to end women’s constitutional right to abortion, some tech companies are moving to close loopholes that allow personal data brokers to monitor and sell information amid fears that mobile apps could be used by US states to police abortion restrictions.Google said on Friday it would automatically delete records of user visits to sensitive locations, including abortion clinics. Privacy researchers as well as women’s rights groups welcomed the move, having warned that apps used for period tracking, pregnancy and family planning could be used to prosecute those seeking reproductive care. Continue reading...
Republican lawmakers were concerned after a BuzzFeed report showed that non-public US user data was accessed abroadTikTok is seeking to assuage fears over the security of American users’ data on the Chinese-owned platform, after Republican senators and a regulator argued the app poses a national security risk.The concerns by lawmakers came after BuzzFeed reported last month that China-based employees of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance were repeatedly able to access non-public data of American users. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian