Technology | The Guardian

US chipmaker responds to backlash after telling its suppliers to avoid region at centre of human rights abuse allegationsThe US chipmaker Intel has apologised for telling its suppliers not to source products or labour from Xinjiang, a province that human rights groups and governments including the US allege uses forced labour, after facing a backlash across China.Intel, which derives more than a quarter of its $80bn (£60bn) in annual revenues from the Chinese market, apologised to the people of China and its local partners on Thursday for telling suppliers to avoid the region in accordance with restrictions imposed by “multiple governments”. Continue reading...

Prototype uses carousel of canisters to create flavour samples on hygienic film over flatscreen TVA Japanese professor has developed a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavours, another step towards creating a multisensory viewing experience.The device, called Taste the TV (TTTV), uses a carousel of 10 flavour canisters that spray in combination to create the taste of a particular food. The flavour sample then rolls on hygienic film over a flat TV screen for the viewer to try. Continue reading...

Accidental deaths soar among young people amid a proliferation of fentanyl-filled pharmaceuticals sold on platforms such as Snapchat and InstagramFourteen-year-old Alondra Salinas had set out her new white sneakers and packed her backpack the night before the first day of in-person high school when police say she responded to an offer on Snapchat for blue pills, which turned out to be deadly fentanyl. Her mother couldn’t wake her the next morning.Seventeen-year-old Zachary Didier was waiting to hear back on his college applications when a fake Percocet killed him. Sammy Berman Chapman, a 16-year-old straight-A student, died in his bedroom after taking what he thought was a single Xanax. Continue reading...

A pleasant little daily brainteaser, Wordle is a simple, shareable word guessing game that is gaining popularity on Twitter

Chinese social media users call for boycott of US chip maker after it issues directive to suppliers over human rights concernsIntel, the US computer chip maker, is facing a backlash from China after telling its suppliers not to source products or labour from the region of Xinjiang.Intel said it had been “required to ensure that its supply chain does not use any labour or source goods or services” from Xinjiang in accordance with restrictions imposed by “multiple governments”. Continue reading...

‘Passenger play’ feature has been available since December 2020 – before that, games could only be played in ‘park’ modeThe US has opened a formal investigation into a report that Tesla vehicles allow people to play video games on a center touch screen while they are driving.The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers about 580,000 electric cars and SUVs from model years 2017 through 2022. Continue reading...

Up for discussion in this week’s newsletter: Years after shuttering a similarly controversial scheme, the LAPD wants to use tech to profile potential felons

Xbox One, Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, PC; Strange Scaffold

Jeff T Green rebuked church over LGBTQ rights, saying the church is ‘actively doing harm in the world’An advertising-technology billionaire has resigned his membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and rebuked the faith over social issues and LGBTQ rights in an unusual public move.Jeff T Green has pledged to donate 90% of his estimated $5bn (£3.77bn) fortune, starting with a $600,000 donation to the LGBTQ-rights group Equality Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Continue reading...

Plane manufacturers say they are evaluating whether 5G signals could affect flight safety equipmentThe aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing on Tuesday warned that the US aviation industry had “concerns” about the potential interference of 5G networks with vital flight safety equipment.The intervention increases pressure on US regulators in a dispute between airlines and mobile operators over the introduction of the high-speed mobile broadband technology in the US. Continue reading...

There are plenty of ways to make a remote Christmas more fun, from video calls to multiplayer gamesWith Omicron spreading in the UK the potential for disruptions to Christmas plans are high, whether you’re limiting your contacts or have been forced to isolate. But the fact you can’t meet in person doesn’t mean all the festivities have to stop.It will not be quite the same but you can still join your family and friends and have a good time virtually. Here are some ideas to help keep you connected over the festive period – whether it’s checking in for a chat or sharing entertainment. Continue reading...

In the second edition of our gaming newsletter: the vastly popular kids’ game has a more troubling way than usual of making money from its 200m players

I turned to documentary film-making to stay sane when Austin was ravaged by skyrocketing rents and breakneck changeAustin, Texas, is in the grip of the kind of gentrification that destroyed San Francisco, and it feels like my duty as a film-maker to document it. I think you have to be a thick-skulled, opinionated, cranky bugger to make films. As a failed comedian who needed to find another way to process everyday life, film-making and photography have maintained my sanity, and our latest film tackles the changes I’m seeing to my local community.I lived in San Francisco in the 90s as big tech was incubating, and there was a belief that the coming democratization of technology was going to unite us and better the world. There was an incredible sense of anticipation. What we, as 20-year-old punks enjoying the SF Mission district, did not see happening was the complete overrunning of affordable neighborhoods by tech workers and real-estate developers. Housing had become an act of gladiator combat where the most powerful weapon was cash. Continue reading...

Lual Mayen turned his family’s escape from civil war in South Sudan into a powerful gaming experience – that will have real-life benefits for refugeesIt was while fleeing the civil war in South Sudan that Lual Mayen’s mother gave birth to him 28 years ago. She had four children in tow and was near to the border with Uganda, in a town called Aswa. The journey was difficult; Mayen’s two sisters died on the way and he became sick. No one thought he would survive.“I can’t imagine what she had to go through. There was no food, no water, nothing,” says Mayen. “I remember she said she was not the only woman who gave birth on the way. Other women abandoned their children because they didn’t want them to suffer. But my mother thought: “He is a gift for me, I have to keep him.”’ Continue reading...

By connecting China’s garment factories with western gen-Z customers, Shein ushered in a new era of ‘ultra-fast’ shoppingLast year, Julia King, a 20-year-old art student and influencer from Texas, noticed that a particular kind of sweater vest was taking over the internet. Celebrities including Bella Hadid had been photographed wearing shrunken, argyle-patterned styles, channelling classic 1990s movies like Clueless during a wave of millennium-era nostalgia. Soon, King found the perfect example in a secondhand shop: a child-sized pink-and-red knitted vest that fit tightly and cropped on an adult. Using herself as a model, King paired it with jeans and a Dior bag, snapped a picture, and listed it for $22 on Depop, an eBay-like resellers’ app favoured by gen Z.The vest sold instantly, and she quickly forgot about it. But a month or so later, King received a message from one of her Instagram followers. They alerted her to the fact that an obscure, now defunct Chinese shopping site called Preguy was using her photo to sell its own cheap reproduction of the thrift-store vest. “Seeing the pictures of me up on some random fast-fashion website I’d never heard of before made me really upset,” King said. Continue reading...

The largest and most powerful rocket ship ever is fully recyclable and may be the first vehicle to land humans on MarsIt’s been an eventful month for Elon Musk. The world’s richest man and founder of Tesla and SpaceX was, controversially, named Time’s person of the year; became embroiled in a Twitter spat over his taxes with a politician he branded “Senator Karen” and got a bizarre new haircut after splitting with his girlfriend, the pop singer Grimes.Next month, however, or perhaps a few weeks beyond if the attendant gremlins of spaceflight choose to play with the launch schedule, could come an achievement to surpass anything Musk has done before. Continue reading...

Research finds number of UK unicorns, or startups worth more than $1bn (£750m), grew to 116 in 2021The UK technology sector drew a record £29.4bn in investment this year, according to research, with Cambridge declared the country’s leading regional tech city.The bumper injection of funding from venture capitalists, who invest in new companies by taking stakes in them, is more than double last year’s total of £11.5bn. Continue reading...

Global slowdown in production of popular tech leaves shoppers at the mercy of ‘scalpers’Some of the most popular Christmas presents are being sold online with mark-ups of more than 70% after selling out in major high street stores because of the global shortage of microchips.Supply-chain bottlenecks and the computer-chip shortages are affecting availability of some of the most sought-after gifts, from games consoles to Dyson products. Shoppers were warned last week of a delay of at least one month for some of the most popular iPad models. Continue reading...

Yiran Sherry’s waters broke while the family was stuck in traffic, leading to what is believed to be the world’s first ‘Tesla baby’A Philadelphia mother has given birth to what is believed to be the world’s first Tesla baby: an infant delivered in the front seat of an electric smart car while it was driving on autopilot.The remarkable delivery, reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, took place in September while Yiran Sherry, 33, and her husband Keating Sherry, 34, were taking their three-year-old son Rafa to pre-school. Continue reading...

Retail was in crisis even before Covid. Now the virus has created so much turmoil that the future is becoming hard to readAfter nearly two years of disruption, Covid-19 has changed how we shop for ever. It has altered not only what we buy, but how we buy it. Big purchases involve clicks, not shopping trips, and remote working has turned the home interiors market into the new fast fashion.It has also signalled the end of overwhelming choice for consumers, analysts say, as gaps on shelves and long delivery times for items such as cars and sofas become a frustrating fact of life. Continue reading...

As a journalist, I have stood in pre-dawn lines and contested with ‘Holmies’ and true-crime fanatics for a courthouse spotThe trial of Elizabeth Holmes has seen plenty of courtroom drama, but outside the courthouse in San Jose, California, a spectacle of another sort has unfolded week after week.On landmark days – such as opening arguments, testimony from star witnesses and when Holmes made the risky decision to take the stand herself – journalists, true crime fans and other spectators have turned out early to battle for limited seats inside the courthouse. Continue reading...

The London-born photographer on his image of Gambian football fansThere’s a strong Premier League following in the Gambia: just like Brunel Johnson, 14-year-old Musa is an Arsenal fan. The London-born photographer was on his way to lunch when he noticed the teen, in his favourite football shirt, huddled with friends. They were on the grounds of Spot Academy, watching game highlights on one of the older kids’ phones.Brunel had been living alongside the boys for two weeks, documenting the work of the charity, which serves as a community school while providing boarding places for orphans. He’d left his digital camera in his room and knew the moment would pass if he went back for it. So he reached for his iPhone. The photograph’s angle was a spur-of-the-moment decision, chosen simply to fit as many faces in as possible; he added the black and white “Noir” filter later. Continue reading...

Former CEO faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on nine counts of fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraudAfter months of criminal proceedings that have gripped Silicon Valley, the fate of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes now rests in the hands of 12 jurors.A group of eight men and four women will consider whether to convict or exonerate Holmes, 37, on nine counts of fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. Deliberations are expected to begin on Monday. Continue reading...

Educators assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible as campuses increased police presence ‘out of caution’Educators announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday as officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible.The social media threats had many educators on edge as they circulated in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Michigan, which has been followed by numerous copycat threats to schools elsewhere. Continue reading...

Officials issue product alert and say ‘quantum pendants’ could damage DNA with prolonged usePeople who wear “anti-5G” pendants to “protect” themselves from radio frequencies emitted by phone masts have been told by the Dutch nuclear authority that their necklaces are dangerously radioactive.Owners of “quantum pendants” and other “negative ion” jewellery have been advised to store them away, as they have been found to continuously emit ionising radiation. Continue reading...

Several women have been interviewed with questions on alleged harassment and discriminationCalifornia’s civil rights regulator is investigating Google’s treatment of Black female workers following alleged incidents of harassment and discrimination, according to two people familiar with the matter and emails from the agency seen by Reuters.Attorneys and analysts at the California department of fair employment and housing (DFEH) have repeatedly interviewed several Black women who have worked at the Alphabet Inc company about their experiences there, according to the documents and the sources. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing the work. Continue reading...

He just wanted a catchy website name. Now, Bob Innes hands people over to the police for trying to have their enemies killedIn October 2005, Bob Innes bought the website domain name “rentahitman.com.” It was the dotcom era and he was a business school student in North Carolina trying to advertise website traffic analysis services: the “hit” was a nod to clicks coming in on a client’s website.“It was simply a play on words,” he says now, when contacted via email for an interview. Continue reading...

The old fashioned way has never been more popular so come away from the screens and settle down to play how we used toThe last decade has seen an explosion in the popularity of board and card games that aren’t just the traditional Christmas assortment. Families seeking interesting, actually fun alternatives to Monopoly and Trivial Pursuits have embraced the German-designed classics Catan and Carcassonne, as well as a growing range of exuberant, highly social card games exemplified by the irrepressible Exploding Kittens and the frighteningly timely Pandemic.And now, with successful, critically acclaimed video games such as Slay the Spire and Wildermyth drawing key design principles from board games, it’s the perfect time to tempt the most stubborn console and PC owners away from their screens. Continue reading...

More refined design, bigger screen and Thunderbolt ports add to winning formula for convertible PCMicrosoft’s category-defining Windows 11 tablet finally gets the design and feature upgrade Surface Pro fans have been clamouring for, but it comes with the sting of price hike.The Surface Pro 8 starts at £999 ($999/A$1,649), without the essential £160 ($160/A$260) keyboard, which is £100 more for the tablet and £35 more for the keyboard than last year’s equivalent models.Screen: 13in LCD 2880x1920 (267 PPI) 120HzProcessor: Intel Core i5 or i7 (11th generation)RAM: 8, 16 or 32GBStorage: 128, 256, 512GB or 1TBGraphics: Intel Iris XeOperating system: Windows 11 HomeCamera: 10MP rear, 5MP front with Windows HelloConnectivity: Wifi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, 2x Thunderbolt 4/USB-4, headphones, Surface ConnectDimensions: 287 x 208x 9.3 mmWeight: 891g (without keyboard) Continue reading...

There’s a beautiful performance from the End of the F***ing World star in a drama that sees her waking up in a new and scary world. Plus: John Bercow collaborates with The Guilty Feminist team in his new podcast series.SteelHeads

Company will also send warnings to 48,000 people believed to be targeted by malicious activity after investigationFacebook has banned seven “surveillance-for-hire” companies from its platforms and will send warning notices to 48,000 people who the company believes were targeted by malicious activity, following a months-long investigation into the “cyber mercenary” industry.The social media company said on Thursday that its investigation had revealed new details about the way the surveillance companies enable their clients to “indiscriminately” target people across the internet to collect intelligence about them, manipulate them – and ultimately compromise their devices.Black Cube, an Israeli company that gained notoriety after it emerged that the disgraced media mogul and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein had hired them to target women who had accused him of abuse. Black Cube rejected Facebook’s claims about its activities.Cobwebs, another Israeli company that Facebook said enabled its clients to use public websites and dark web sites to trick targets into revealing personal information. The company also reportedly works for US clients, including a local police department in Hartford, Connecticut.Cytrox, a North Macedonian company that Facebook said enabled its clients to infect targets with malware following phishing campaigns. Continue reading...

Fallen Silicon Valley star faces up to 20 years in prison for 11 charges of defrauding investors and consumersProsecutors laid out their closing arguments in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes on Thursday, painting the picture of a founder who chose “fraud over failure” and calling the story of Theranos a “tragedy”.Prosecutors wrapped their closing arguments and the defense made it through several hours of their own before court broke for the day. The face-off caps dramatic proceedings that has stretched over 15 weeks. Continue reading...

The former first lady’s promotional materials note that ‘a portion’ of the proceeds will help children aging out for foster careShe is married to former US president Donald Trump but now you, too, can stare into the “cobalt blue eyes” of Melania Trump at the touch of a button and with your very own piece of trendy, digital art.The former first lady has jumped into the latest internet craze by launching a non-fungible token (NFT) just in time for Christmas. It puts Melania right in the middle of a fashion frenzy in hi-tech art circles – though critics may regard it as the latest attempt by the Trump family to cash in on political success. Continue reading...

Washington Post alleges marketing slides reveal firm had a role in developing technology for ChinaHuawei has helped Chinese authorities create surveillance technology that targets the country’s Uyghur minority population, an investigation has alleged.A series of marketing presentation slides reviewed by the Washington Post found Huawei had a role in developing surveillance projects created in a partnership with other Chinese companies. Continue reading...

Donations through the online retailer’s charitable program come as it faces criticism for its role in health misinformationAmazon’s charitable program is paying tens of thousands of dollars to anti-vaccine groups in a move experts say is “shocking” as millions of Americans remain unvaccinated in the face of another Covid-19 wave.AmazonSmile reportedly donated more than $40,000 to leading sources of vaccine misinformation in 2020, according to separate analyses by Popular Information and the Washington Post. Continue reading...

Block building sim is the most watched video game ever on the platform, with 35,000 active creator channels based in 150 different countriesIt has been purchased more than 200m times and after 10 years it’s still one of the most played video games in the world – now the block building sim Minecraft has passed another milestone: YouTube videos of the game have passed one trillion views, making it the most watched game on the platform.Originally released in 2009, Minecraft has always been popular on the video sharing site, thanks to its open and highly creative nature. Players can build whatever they like in the blocky landscape, and talented modellers have flooded YouTube to show off their most impressive creations, from scale models of Hogwarts and the Starship Enterprise to working computers. Continue reading...

This high-end reproduction console makes original Game Boy titles (and more) look and play better than everFor the past 10 years Seattle-based tech company Analogue has been making high-end retro video game hardware, with a steely focus on accurate, authentic reproduction rather than emulation. Its Mega Sg and Super Nt consoles were highly acclaimed modernisations of the Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, allowing users to play all their old 16-bit game carts on modern machines with a variety of display and audio options. Now the company has finally launched its Analogue Pocket, a handheld console that will play Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance (GBA) cartridges on a beautiful 3.5in LCD display in crisp 1600×1440 resolution.As with the other consoles in its range, there’s no software emulation of the old systems going on here. The company uses a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit to replicate the original tech specs, which means it can pretty much run any Game Boy game from the thousands available, with few of the glitches, instabilities or compatibility problems often associated with software-based emulators.The gaming equivalent of buying a fancy new turntable to play your old recordsThe Analogue Pocket is available for pre-order now; $219.99 Continue reading...

Those who fail to comply without valid exemption will initially be placed on leave and could later be sacked

Hit noughties US teen shows – and UK ones like Skins – were irresistible to their wide-eyed, hormone-fuelled viewers. Now their casts are reuniting in podcasts to discuss the good – and the bad – of adolescent stardomThere is nothing new about a nostalgic TV reunion. In the last year we’ve seen televisual specials reunite actors from Friends, New Girl and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for emotional chats and table reads of episodes past. There are cast-led rewatch podcasts like Fake Doctors, Real Friends – hosted by the Scrubs stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison – or West Wing Weekly and Office Ladies (about the US Office). But, often, they are bathed in a cosy glow. They fail to lift the lid on the shows’ darker side. They avoid raising problematic issues that call into question the ethics of the industry they work in.This is not true when it comes to the wave of podcasts that have brought together the casts of 00s teen shows. Years spent portraying the breakups, makeups, hedonistic parties and burgeoning sex lives of teenagers – in hits such as The OC and 90210 – have made way for audio series in which their casts discuss the good and the bad of adolescent stardom. Continue reading...

Tesla denies any technical problem with car as authorities investigate crash that killed one person and injured 20The biggest taxi firm in Paris has said it is suspending the use of Model 3 Teslas in its fleet after a fatal crash in the French capital at the weekend.A driver lost control of his Tesla on Saturday night in the south-eastern 13th district of Paris, killing one person and injuring 20, leaving three people in intensive care. Continue reading...

Thea-Mai Baumann reflects on making art in the web 3.0 world and digital disappearing actsThea-Mai Baumann’s Instagram profile is an eclectic mix of pink-lipped selfies, David Bowie memes, colorful recordings of her hologram artwork, shots of skyscrapers in Shanghai and portraits of friends tinted in Valencia, Amaro and Toaster, all filters from Instagram’s early days.Baumann’s account, which operates under the handle @metaverse, features 10 years of her life and work. All that became inaccessible to her when she suddenly found herself disabled from her account on 2 November, days after Facebook, which owns Instagram, changed its umbrella corporate name to Meta. Continue reading...

Ministers and spy chiefs warn Britain must improve capabilities and wider digital skills to meet ‘evolving’ challengesBritain and the west are becoming embroiled in a “clash of values” with Russia and China over the rules governing the internet, ministers and spy chiefs have warned in the UK’s first national cyber review published since 2016.Threats to the UK in cyberspace are “evolving and diversifying” they added, and argued that Britain has to improve its offensive cyber capabilities – and its wider digital skills base – to meet the challenge. Continue reading...

In his quest to discover why these ads are everywhere, Alex McKinnon ended up downloading too many of them – and investing too muchIn a glamorous penthouse apartment, rain drumming against the floor-length windows, a chiselled man wearing nothing but a bath towel slowly undresses a beautiful young woman – only to stop when he notices a distinctive red mark on her chest. She has a birthmark – just like the baby he abandoned one rainy night many years ago.“Are you Rachel? Born in 2003 in Bonneville?” he asks urgently. “I’m your father.” Continue reading...

Competition watchdog says proposed new ‘big tech’ regulator should investigate effects of duopolyApple and Google have a “vice-like grip” over people’s mobile phones and their duopoly over the market should be investigated by the proposed new “big tech” regulator, the UK’s competition watchdog has said.The two companies effectively control users’ mobile phone experience in the UK, with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems installed on 99.45% of all phones in use in the country. Continue reading...

In the first edition of our gaming newsletter: why games, like all art, have the power to connect, entertain and cause change

Nuclear Biscuit, a simulated experience, allows US officials to wargame a missile attack and see the devastating consequences of their choices.Players experience what the president would have to do in the event of a nuclear crisis: make a decision that would end many millions of lives – and quite possibly civilisation on the planet – with incomplete information and in less than 15 minutes. Here's a snippet of the game as completed by Julian Borger, our world affairs editor

Federal authorities investigate disaster in Edwardsville, Illinois, where six people diedQuestions over worker safety at Amazon are intensifying once again after a tornado struck an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, on Friday, leaving six people dead and another hospitalized.On Monday, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) said it had opened a workplace safety investigation into the warehouse collapse. Meanwhile, workers and activists are calling for more action. Continue reading...

Committee’s report says sweeping changes needed to tackle an industry that has become the ‘land of the lawless’Britain’s online safety bill needs a sweeping overhaul to prevent children from accessing pornography, vulnerable people from being encouraged to commit self-harm and negligent tech chiefs from failing to protect users, according to a committee of MPs and peers.A wide-ranging series of proposals to amend the pioneering legislation also includes creating a new criminal offence for cyberflashing, punishing tech platforms for hosting fraudulent adverts, and exempting news organisations from content takedowns.Creating a digital ombudsman to deal with complaints by individuals against platformsIntroducing codes of conduct that tackle “rabbit hole” algorithmsRequiring tech companies to implement mechanisms to deal with harmful anonymous accountsSocial media companies having to reveal how many underage users are on their platforms. Continue reading...

The year ahead for the social media giants, podcasts and games – and will there be yet another hyped return for virtual reality?Twitter has an unfortunate reputation as the punchbag of social media. It has failed to deliver the huge returns of bigger rivals such as Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram, it hasn’t been the cool new network for more than a decade and even its own most dedicated users love to drag it to oblivion. Continue reading...

Stress tips, oysters and buying your own star… Back in the 80s they had big plans for what the humble telephone was going to do for us all‘Some thoughts on the phone,’ the Observer Magazine cover of 2 November 1986, with its nod to Rodin’s The Thinker, was not, in fact, a philosophical treatise on the nature of human communication but a guide to the many goods and services one could then buy over the phone.The introduction began with one eye clearly on BT’s recent privatisation in 1984 – ‘Dial P for Privatisation, a nasty new phone book and commercially sponsored pips.’ It was also the beginning of BT’s speaking clock sponsored by Accurist, beloved of pranksters who would call its premium-rate line at friends’ homes and leave it to rack up costs. I’m saying nothing. Continue reading...