Raider gains voting rights over digital currency and uses them to transfer contents of treasuryThe Beanstalk cryptocurrency has been stripped of reserves valued at more than $180m (£138m) in seconds, after an attacker used borrowed money to snap up enough voting rights to transfer the money away.The lightning hostile takeover raises fresh questions about the unregulated nature of digital currencies and the lack of protections for investors. Continue reading...
by Phil Harrison, Sam Jordison, Danny Leigh, Keza Mac on (#5YAD4)
Whether it’s cake pretending to be other things or Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, our critics recommend some feeling-peaky blindersFor days of gratuitous slobbery, the last thing you want is anything remotely nourishing. Netflix’s Is It Cake? isn’t that, in any sense of the word; it’s a hilariously pointless viral video stretched out into a series, in which bakers compete to make cakes that look like they aren’t cakes. In fact, they can look like anything from full English breakfasts to grubby old trainers. Each episode ends with host Mikey Day, wielding his massive knife with a deranged relish that would make Mary Berry shudder, as he cuts and reveals the answer to the show’s one and only question. It’s magnificently bizarre, disarmingly foolish and as moreish as a Victoria sponge. Phil Harrison Continue reading...
As company pursues growth on continent, it stands accused of not putting enough money into moderating contentFacebook has been accused of failing to invest sufficiently to combat misinformation as it pursues rapid growth in Africa, where the Covid pandemic has highlighted the outsize role played by social media in online discourse.Traditional media and governments have an increasingly limited ability to control information flows on the continent, as social media platforms including Facebook seek to expand rapidly, though largely without fanfare. Continue reading...
The Italian photographer on an inspiring trip to a nudist resortThe young Italian man was playing on a basketball court with two friends when professional photographer Stefano Morelli approached him and asked to take his photograph. All four were entirely naked, aside from Giacomo, who had thrown on his orange shirt to play. It was 2014, and all were holidaying in Cap d’Agde in the south of France, within the resort’s naturist village, considered the largest in Europe.“Inside there are supermarkets, shops, a post office, bars, discos and, of course, the beach,” says Morelli, also from Italy. The fenced perimeter is controlled 24/7 by private security; there is only one entrance and you must present identification and agree to the rules, the main one being: no clothes allowed. Given the resort’s strict policy against cameras, Morelli’s photograph was taken furtively, with his iPhone 4s. Aside from some colour optimisation, it is otherwise unedited. “I describe myself as a visual anthropologist, and I love to learn about alternative lifestyles,” Morelli says. “When I first arrived in my clothes, I felt all eyes on me; as soon as I was undressed, no one considered me any more.” Continue reading...
Tesla chief mocks Meta CEO with comparison to King Louis XIV and promises different share ownership structureThe Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has derided the Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, for owning vast media platforms as Musk himself attempts to buy the vast media platform Twitter.Talking at a Ted conference in Vancouver, Musk accused Zuckerberg of having too much control over public debate given his ownership of Meta, which is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media sites. Continue reading...
Got something to ask the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist? Send it our way and we’ll put it to himIn a 2015 Ted talk, Bill Gates claimed: “If anything kills over 10 million people over the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes.” With deaths from Covid-19 surpassing 6 million, it turns out the grisly prediction from the Silicon Valley billionaire and philanthropist might be correct. His and other experts’ warnings were widely ignored – the US, for instance, slashed funding from the relevant response agencies. Gates feels that, despite the world experiencing a pandemic, lessons still won’t be learned, and in May he is publishing a manifesto, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.Next month, the Observer New Review will publish a “You Ask the Questions”-style interview with Bill Gates. Here is your chance to put a question to Gates about pandemics, or indeed, any of the other topics he is an expert on: from disease eradication and Silicon Valley to philanthropy and global heating. What’s it like to be named in a conspiracy theory? Can vaccines eradicate Covid-19 entirely? Why should I bin my Mac and buy a Windows computer? Continue reading...
by Rupert Neate Wealth correspondent and Kari Paul in on (#5Y5TA)
Tech entrepreneur makes offer of $54.20 a share in cash to ‘unlock potential’ of social media site• How ‘free speech absolutist’ Elon Musk would transform TwitterElon Musk has launched an audacious bid to buy Twitter for $43.4bn (£33bn), saying he wants to release its “extraordinary potential” to boost free speech and democracy across the world.The Tesla chief executive and world’s richest person revealed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that he had launched a hostile takeover of Twitter. He further confirmed the move in a public appearance at the TED conference in Vancouver later that day. Continue reading...
‘This is the Mona Lisa of the digital world’, says crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi who bought the NFT in March 2021Crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi made headlines in March 2021 when he paid $2.9m for an NFT of Twitter boss Jack Dorsey’s first tweet. But his efforts to resell it have run aground, with a top bid of just $6,800 as of Thursday.The initial purchase was at the time among the most expensive sales of a non-fungible token, or NFT, and came amid a flurry of interest in the niche crypto assets. Continue reading...
Andy Jassy says company created top 100 ‘employee experience pain points’, while also defending workers’ wages and benefitsIn his first letter to Amazon shareholders, CEO Andy Jassy offered a defense of the wages and benefits the company gives its warehouse workers while also vowing to improve injury rates inside the facilities.Jassy, who took over from Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, as CEO last July, wrote the company has researched and created a list of the top 100 “employee experience pain points” and is working to solve them. Continue reading...
Cybersecurity officials said the evidence suggests Russia is behind the tools – configured to target North American energy concernsMultiple US government agencies issued a joint alert Wednesday warning of the discovery of malicious cyber tools created by unnamed advanced threat actors that they said were capable of gaining “full system access” to multiple industrial control systems.The public alert from the Energy and Homeland Security departments, the FBI and National Security Agency did not name the actors or offer details on the find. But their private sector cybersecurity partners said the evidence suggests Russia is behind the tools – and that they were configured to initially target North American energy concerns. Continue reading...
Pygmy marmosets, tiger cubs and African grey parrots among endangered species for sale, investigation by Avaaz revealsFacebook remains a thriving marketplace for online wildlife trafficking despite the tech giant’s pledge to help combat the illegal trade, according to a new investigation.Tiger cubs, leopards, ocelots, African grey parrots and the world’s smallest monkey, the pygmy marmoset, were among the endangered animals that researchers from the global campaign group Avaaz found on Facebook pages and public groups. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: from the environmental impact of servers and plastic packaging down to the energy our PCs and consoles consume, the sector can no longer afford to play around
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5Y4A4)
Novel, thin and light machine bucks trend by being simple to take apart, with good performance and looksThe Framework Laptop is a modular, repairable and upgradeable notebook PC that aims to spark change in the world of computers and prove things can look good, work well and still be fixable at home.Launched by US firm Framework Computer, this new laptop has a similar feel to the excellent Fairphone, providing customisation options and the ability to upgrade parts rather than having to replace the entire device. It even ships with the only screwdriver you will need to take it apart. Continue reading...
This miniature Amiga 500 comes with 25 games from a fertile period in video game historyBack when the console industry was still young, and the PC was an expensive business machine for grownups, the Commodore Amiga was one of the most vibrant and diverse gaming platforms available. Originally launched as the Amiga 1000 in 1985, its 16-bit 68000 CPU and array of graphics acceleration coprocessors promised a new era of visually and sonically advanced gaming – a prospect realised by the 1987 launch of the more affordable Amiga 500. Supported by an array of small, talented studios, and inspiring a vast community of demo coders, it was the home computer for a generation of players and creators. Now, following the success of retro consoles such as the SNES Mini and Mega Drive Mini the Amiga is back in the form of the A500 Mini, a teeny replica of the original Amiga 500 with 25 built-in games.As with other machines in this growing category, the A500 is designed to be plugged into a modern LCD TV via an HDMI cable. Users can opt to run games in 50hz or 60hz depending on their display; they can also scale the image to fit, and there’s a decent CRT mode, which simulates the scan lines you’d see on an old cathode ray TV or monitor. However you set things up, what you’re getting is Amiga code running via an emulator rather than on the original hardware or an FPGA like the Analogue Mega Sg. However, the emulation is excellent and every one of the built-in games plays perfectly well, with no weird glitches or controller issues. The system also supports later iterations of the Amiga system, namely the Enhanced Chip Set and the Advanced Graphics Architecture of the Amiga 1200. Continue reading...
Parag Agrawal says tech entrepreneur has declined offer, adding: ‘I believe this is for the best’Elon Musk has performed a U-turn on joining Twitter’s board a week after it emerged he had taken a surprise 9.2% stake in the social media company.The world’s richest man was due to become a board member on Saturday but Twitter’s chief executive, Parag Agrawal, said on Monday morning that Musk had declined the offer. Musk, who is worth $260bn (£200bn), emerged as a large Twitter investor last week and was invited to join its board. Continue reading...
by Jessica Kiang, Christine Ochefu, Keza MacDonald, B on (#5Y26C)
From Dalí’s eerie streetscape to the fearful little crewmates in Among Us, our critics recommend culture for the irrationally threatenedThe world may be celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Godfather right now, but for paranoia aficionados, the biggest Francis Ford Coppola semi-centennial is still two years off. The Conversation came between the first two instalments of his operatic mafia trilogy but is stunningly different in mood. Starring an extraordinary Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who fixates on a fragment of dialogue he has recorded, it culminates in Hackman tearing up his apartment as if he’s tearing at his own skin, all because of the tectonic shift in meaning that can come from a minute change of inflection. A lonely, desperate, guilt-ridden masterpiece. Jessica Kiang Continue reading...
Companies including Microsoft and Apple are attempting to build ‘Netflix for games’Video game developers are champing at the bit ahead of an influx of money from some of the biggest technology companies in the world as they compete to build a “Netflix for games”.At the centre of the contest are Microsoft and Sony, followed by less gaming-centric companies such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix who have all launched subscription services in an attempt to entice gamers on to their platforms. Continue reading...
Diaspora families typically travel to the region each year for wedding shopping. But the pandemic has changed everythingOnce a year, between December and February, brides-to-be and their families from all over the the US and Europe flock to India and Pakistan to escape the cold, wintry weather, visit family and, perhaps most importantly, shop for wedding outfits.Designers and retailers prepare for the influx of non-residential Indians, or NRIs, by setting up sales, pop-up events or previews of their upcoming lines of lehenga cholis, anarkali and saris. Continue reading...
Husbands, wives and children: there was something for everyone at the Earl’s Court Motor Show that year‘Probably the safest place to drive a car in Britain now is in the middle of a Scottish loch,’ is the arresting beginning of the Observer Magazine of 16 October 1966, a special issue to coincide with the Motor Show at Earl’s Court, London (‘Living with your car’).This state of affairs was ‘a sad reflection on the crowded state of our roads, with their jams and their queues, their narrowness and their parking meters’ – newly arrived horrors clearly. Continue reading...
Chinese-owned video platform is set to overtake the advertising scale of Twitter and Snapchat combined• TikTok: five of the UK’s favourite videosTikTok is on track to overtake the global advertising scale of Twitter and Snapchat combined this year, and to match mighty YouTube within two years, as trendsetting teens and young adults make it the hottest social app of the moment – and Facebook is worried.The Chinese-owned video-sharing platform is forecast to catch up with YouTube by 2024 when both are predicted to take $23.6bn (£18.2bn) in ad revenue, despite TikTok being launched globally 12 years after its Google-owned rival. Continue reading...
The New York-based photographer and his wife adopted an injured bird, which gets annoyed when they leave it home aloneJeffery Jones had a parakeet as a kid but never considered himself a bird fanatic. Yet when he and his wife settled into an apartment block in New York’s East Village, the pair began noticing the local pigeons. “We began to see how interesting they were – preening, doing funny little dances.” he says.Around the same time, Jones began volunteering for the Wild Bird Fund, which takes in injured birds in the city. It was far removed from his usual work as a fine art and fashion photographer. “When I joined, they had this resident pigeon, named Ghob after the person who rescued her. She had arrived as a baby: a tiny, yellow, prickly thing, and had refused to leave. We did a trial fostering period with her, but when I took her back to the sanctuary, she was so angry with me she wouldn’t interact with me any more. Then she fell sick and became depressed. My wife and I realised we’d have to adopt her permanently if she was going to survive.” Continue reading...
As Twitter prepares to roll out its new edit function, a look back at the tweets that could have done with oneAfter years of public pestering, Twitter has finally begun work on an edit button, the company announced this week.The ability to alter existing tweets has long been the platform’s most-requested feature, according to a vice-president, Jay Sullivan. But the company has expressed concerns that an edit button could be “misused to alter the record of the public conversation”. “Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work,” Sullivan wrote. Continue reading...
by Michael Sainato in Staten Island, New York on (#5Y08C)
A suburban two-bedroom apartment was the HQ from which Amazon’s multimillion-dollar anti-union effort was defeatedThe living room of the small two-bedroom apartment in Staten Island – sometimes called New York City’s “forgotten borough” – is overflowing with office supplies, mail, red union stickers, and flyers with information about unions.It seems almost unbelievable that amid this chaos, and armed with just $120,000 that they raised on GoFundMe, its occupants, Amazon workers Brett Daniels and Connor Spence, helped successfully unionize workers at the nearby gargantuan 855,000-square-foot Amazon warehouse – the first of the company’s warehouses in the US to vote for a union. Continue reading...
The Artful Escape is among the indie games to beat big-budget rivals on a night that recognised a tough period for the industryThe Bafta games awards took place at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on Thursday night, honouring 2021’s creative achievements in video gaming. It was the first time the ceremony had been held in person since the pandemic and brought together the international video games industry to celebrate a range of titles – some with multimillion-dollar budgets, others made by teams of fewer than 10.The biggest winner of the night was the PlayStation 5 sci-fi shooter Returnal, which won accolades for audio achievement and music alongside the prestigious best game award. The lead actor in the game, Jane Perry, also won the award for performer in a leading role for her portrayal of steely space scout Selene. Performer in a supporting role was won by Kimberly Brooks, who played Hollis Forsythe in the psychedelic action game Psychonauts 2. Continue reading...
Peter Thiel, the libertarian tech investor, says figures such as Warren Buffett are hindering cryptocurrencyPeter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and a Donald Trump ally, has accused a “finance gerontocracy” including Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon of hindering bitcoin’s progress.The outspoken libertarian tech investor described multibillionaire Buffett, the world’s richest investor, as the “sociopathic grandpa from Omaha” in a keynote address at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday. Continue reading...
First came self-care. Now it’s all about relationship maintenance. But can texts, prompts and emojis really bring you and your partner closer?A few weeks ago, while scrolling Instagram and passing silent judgement on a stranger’s interior decoration choices, I was served an ad for Paired. The app promised “10 minutes a day to a better relationship” via quizzes designed by therapists and academics to spark more meaningful conversations. Had Alexa been eavesdropping on that row we had about the recycling? Either way, an algorithm had staged an intervention.At no other point in our history have we scrutinised our relationships so closely. Two years of semi-confinement in homes that doubled as co-working spaces or classrooms will do that. Across the cultural spectrum, via the BBC’s fly-on-the wall Couples Therapy, or Gwyneth and her wolverine claw in Netflix’s Sex, Love & Goop, we are hooked on psychoanalysing other people’s relationships. What Paired, Relish, Coupleness, Love Nudge (if you can look beyond the name) and a growing number of other couples’ apps are doing is turning that fascination inward. It’s relationship maintenance for the time-poor, self-care curious – and business is booming. Continue reading...
Facebook owner Meta removes network from social media in move which could damage President Jair BolsonaroFacebook owner Meta Platforms has removed a network of social media accounts with ties to the Brazilian military that posed as fake non-profits to play down the dangers of deforestation.The comments by Meta, published in a quarterly report, pose a reputational risk to Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right former army captain is a longtime sceptic of environmentalism. Continue reading...
Mark Zuckerberg hopes payment tokens will reduce platforms’ reliance on adverts as popularity wanesMark Zuckerberg is looking to develop virtual coins, nicknamed “Zuck bucks” by staff, for users of Facebook and Instagram as part of a suite of products designed to reduce his platforms’ dependence on advertising in the future metaverse.Facebook’s parent group, Meta, is looking to develop a range of virtual products – including digital tokens and “creator coins” – to diversify income and revitalise its user base, which is increasingly turning to newer rivals such as TikTok. Continue reading...
Magazine found sellers misusing ‘review merging’ to raise star rating of items from chargers to nose stripsAmazon sellers have been artificially boosting their products’ influential customer ratings by co-opting positive reviews of unrelated items, a leading consumer magazine has reported.Which? said nine of the 10 highest-rated headphones on Amazon were carrying glowing reviews that were actually for products such as cuddly toys, jigsaw puzzles and umbrellas. They included two that carried the “Amazon’s choice” mark of approval. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: the world’s richest man just bought 9.2% of the social media site promising “significant improvements” – here’s what that could mean
As food prices soar, Zimbabwe’s diaspora are opting for delivery services rather than money transfers to help hard-hit relativesWith the click of a button and a few phone calls from Wolverhampton, in England’s West Midlands, Sharonrose Manhiri ensures her grandmother in Zimbabwe’s Honde valley receives her groceries every month.Manhiri is one of an increasing number of Zimbabweans who have settled overseas taking advantage of a range of food-delivery apps and websites that have sprung up in Zimbabwe to help their families survive the country’s deep economic crisis. Continue reading...
Social media company says it has been working on edit button since 2021 and will be tested on people signed up for Twitter BlueTwitter has confirmed it has working on an edit button, but denied the idea came after the company’s new largest shareholder, Elon Musk, held a poll on it.For years, editing a tweet already published has been a sought after feature on the site, to correct typos or embarrassing mistakes. Currently people work around it by deleting and reposting the tweet. Continue reading...
Planned social media app would also prevent workers from using terms such as ‘fire’, ‘slave labor’, ‘diversity’ and ‘injustice’Amazon reportedly discussed plans to block the word “union” and other related keywords from an internal messaging app the company is developing for workers, according to company documents seen by the Intercept.The list of banned words includes “union”, “fire”, “compensation”, “plantation”, “slave labor”, “diversity”, “robots”, “grievance” and “injustice”, among others, the Intercept reported. The news came days after Amazon workers in New York made history by voting to form a union, the first successful US organizing effort in the company’s history. Continue reading...
Tech giant will launch 3,236 satellites over five years to compete with SpaceX and UK’s OneWebAmazon will compete directly with SpaceX and the UK government-owned OneWeb to set up a constellation of broadband-providing satellites, the company has announced.The plan, Project Kuiper, will involve Amazon buying the largest batch of commercial launches in history, securing space on 83 rockets over the next five years to launch 3,236 satellites. Continue reading...
The departures come after the troubled launch of the company’s iPhone app on 20 February, with many still stuck on a waiting listTwo senior executives at Donald Trump’s tech start-up Truth Social have resigned, adding to considerable problems faced by the former president’s attempted takeover of conservative social media.Josh Adams and Billy Boozer – Truth Social’s chiefs of technology and product development – joined the venture last year and quickly became central players in its effort to build a social media empire to counter what many conservatives deride as “cancel culture” censorship from the left. Continue reading...
Young locals live in tiny cabins while rich tourists flaunt their Range Rovers. Yet there’s more to the picture in a county at the vanguard of new technologiesIt’s the last day of free parking at Porthtowan beach on Cornwall’s wild Atlantic coast before the summer charging season begins. Plenty of people are making the most of the sunny but cold day. The steep hills surrounding the cove are bright yellow with gorse in full bloom, framing the brilliant turquoise sea against the cobalt sky.The wind is up, and white-peaked waves roar on to the sand and cliffs. There are some holidaymakers around, with children bundled up in hats and gloves along with buckets and spades – but most are locals enjoying this quieter time before the tourist season kicks off once again. Continue reading...
Europe’s new Digital Markets Act aims to make larger messaging platforms ‘interoperable’ with smaller ones. No wonder the tech titans are running scaredThe passage of GDPR (general data protection regulation) might seem like ancient history – as does everything before 2020 – but in legislative terms it was a mere blink of an eye ago and now the European Union has moved on to the next big thing. Prepare to start hearing a lot about the Digital Markets Act (DMA).It’s one of two bills currently going through the EU’s institutions, alongside the confusingly similar Digital Services Act (DSA). As a rough split, the DSA is about the things that platforms host: it covers issues such as child sexual abuse imagery, content moderation and algorithmic curation. Continue reading...
A surreal image taken in MoscowWhen Arthur Bondar came out of the metro station near Moscow’s Bolshoi theatre, he was heading to a book fair. Besides his work as a photographer, he collects second world war negatives, and there was a catalogue of work by the war photographer Olga Ignatovich he was excited to see. It was early afternoon in Moscow, a relatively mild December day of around -5 or -10C.“I was approaching Nikolskaya Street, which is usually packed with tourists, locals and street performers – that day there was a bunny and an angel. I was passing through a pedestrian crossroads. There had once been a monastery here, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, which closed in 1923 and was demolished in 1935. I’d never noticed the icon on the left before.” Continue reading...
Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien says the e-commerce company has ‘total disrespect’ for its workersThe Teamsters’ new president has pledged his powerful union will step up the pressure on Amazon and mount its own efforts to unionize the company after workers in New York voted to form the company’s first US union.In an interview with the Guardian Sean O’Brien said it was vital to organize Amazon, asserting that the e-commerce company has “total disrespect” for its workers and was putting downward pressure on standards for unionized warehouse workers and truck drivers across the US. Continue reading...
‘Historic victory’ as Staten Island workers vote 2,654 to 2,131 in favor, in first successful US organizing effort in Amazon’s historyAmazon workers in New York have voted to form a union in what labor leaders are calling a “historic victory” against the US’s second largest employer.In Staten Island, New York, 2,654 warehouse workers voted yes to forming a union, while 2,131 voted no, according to a tally by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Continue reading...