Technology | The Guardian

Demi Skipper began her journey in May 2020, offering a bobby pin for trade on Craigslist. This month, she was offered a house in TennesseeAfter a year and a half of pouring blood, sweat and tears, Demi Skipper has successfully taken one single hair pin and traded it up all the way to a house.In May this year, the Guardian spoke to her after she’d traded three tractors for one of only a few Chipotle celebrity cards in the world, worth about $20,000. She had been inspired by Kyle MacDonald, who in 2006 traded a red paperclip all the way to a house, and hoped to reach her goal by summer’s end. Continue reading...

The richest person in the world often attracts headlines for the wrong reasons. But his upending of traditional car-production methods should not be forgottenAs I write, Tesla, the manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs), has a market capitalisation of $1.051tn, which makes it the world’s sixth most valuable company by market cap. Tesla shares are trading at $1,047, which is 64% higher than at this time last year. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the company, currently has a net worth estimated at $300bn, which makes him the richest person in the world.Enormous wealth, like power, acts as an aphrodisiac that warps people’s perceptions of those who possess it: it’s as if they’re surrounded by a reality distortion field. Similar force fields have enveloped Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in their time and now it’s Musk’s turn. Because he’s uncommonly voluble on social media, especially on Twitter, where he has 65.7 million followers, his every utterance is assiduously parsed by besotted fans (all of whom call him “Elon”, as if he were a buddy of theirs). This gives him an influence way beyond that of any other corporate executive, influence that, on some occasions, even affects global financial markets through what the normally sober Financial Times calls the “Tesla-financial complex”. A closer examination of his Twitter feed, though, yields an impression of a really complex individual: a baffling combination of formidable intelligence and ungovernability – part visionary, part genius, part fruitcake and part exploiter of tax loopholes and public subsidies. And it raises the question: what (or where) is the real Elon Musk? Continue reading...

Despite the abuse and anger, the comedian spent hours a day online. But then his daughter Dolly became dangerously drawn in. Was it time for a rethink?Over the past 30 years, I have read and heard David Baddiel’s thoughts on many subjects, including sex, masturbation, religion, antisemitism, football fandom, football hooliganism, his mother’s sex life and his father’s dementia. “I am quite unfiltered,” he agrees, “mainly because I am almost psychotically comfortable in my own skin.” But today I have found the one subject that makes him squirm.How much time does he spend on social media a day? “Oh, um, too much,” he says, his usual candour suddenly gone. What’s his daily screen time according to his phone? “It says four hours, which is a bit frightening.” Continue reading...

In the early 2000s, the Discworld author frequented a forum dedicated to the Thief series of stealth games. His posts provide a fascinating insight into his fondness for gamingIn November 2001, Terry Pratchett was in Chester, famed for its Roman ruins and well-preserved medieval architecture. Staying at a hotel in the city centre, Pratchett opened the window of his room, and looked across the historic skyline. “I realised I could drop down on to a roof,” he wrote later. “And from then on there was a vista of roofs, leads and ledges leading all the way to the end of the street and beyond; there were even little doors and inviting attic windows …There is a line break, and then he adds. “I’m going to have to stop playing this game.” Continue reading...

A grocery revolution is underway, with individual items available at your door in next to no time. What does it mean for supermarkets, our wallets, working conditions and the planet?In a warehouse by Farringdon station, in central London, I am watching people burn through millions of pounds of investment in real time. Great big stacks of cash, all bet on the assumption that the future of grocery shopping will be app-enabled and delivered to our homes in less time than it takes to brew a cup of tea. Here, at the ultrafast grocery delivery startup Gorillas, workers push trolleys around a so-called micro-fulfilment centre, selecting food and toiletries and alcohol to be delivered by e-bicycling couriers in 10 minutes flat.I am being shown around by the commercial director, Matthew Nobbs. “Imagine you go to a standard supermarket for breakfast,” says Nobbs, over the pounding dance music. “I’m going to have to go all the way to the bakery aisle for my croissants, and now I need some jam, so I have to go to the store cupboard aisle, and now I need some bacon, so I have to go back to the chiller. Or, I can just go on an app, and order what I need.” We pass the fresh produce. “Look at that for an apple!” says Nobbs, palming a Pink Lady with an evangelical flicker in his eye. (In fairness, its skin is so glossy it could be lacquered.) Continue reading...

Adam Mosseri defends platform and calls for creation of body to determine best practices to help keep young people safe onlineThe head of Instagram faced a grilling from US lawmakers on Wednesday over how the platform protects its youngest users, an appearance that comes amid intensifying criticism of Instagram’s impact on children and young adults.In opening statements, Senator Richard Blumenthal promised to be “ruthless” in the hearing, saying “the time for self-policing and self-regulation is over”. Continue reading...

Case follows earlier legal victory over energy efficiency stickers on vacuum cleaners that firm said misled buyersDyson, the vacuum cleaner firm, has said it will appeal against a ruling by an EU court that it is not entitled to £150m in damages over flawed energy efficiency regulation.Sir James Dyson, the company’s billionaire owner, is an outspoken critic of the EU and was one of the most prominent supporters of the campaign to leave the EU. Continue reading...

The policy meant to tackle doxxing on the platform was weaponized by the far-right, leaving many anti-fascist activists locked out of their accountsTwitter is reviewing a controversial policy that penalizes users who share images of other users without their consent.In a statement, Twitter said on Wednesday that the company was conducting “an internal review” of the policy after making several errors in enforcement. Continue reading...

Critics suggest the multibillionaire is annoyed that Tesla’s nonunion-made cars wouldn’t qualify for the subsidyElon Musk criticized new incentives and infrastructure for electric vehicles in a huge spending bill backed by Joe Biden, saying he would “delete” the measures and even ditch the entire legislation if he had the power.Musk, the multibillionaire founder of the electric car company Tesla, said that if he were in charge of the federal government “I would just can this whole bill. That’s my recommendation.” The entrepreneur, speaking at a Wall Street Journal summit on Monday, added: “It might be better if the bill doesn’t pass because we’ve spent so much money, you know, it’s like the federal budget deficit is insane.” Continue reading...

Annual list reveals most searched-for terms globally related to sports, investing, Covid and skinny jeansSquid Game, Bernie Sanders’ mittens and how to wear skinny jeans were among the most searched for subjects on Google around the world this year, and in the UK the Euros dominated web queries.The annual search trends list released by Google showed that Squid Game, the bloody South Korean smash hit on Netflix, was the most searched-for TV show, while the knitted gloves worn by Sanders, a former US presidential candidate, at Joe Biden’s inauguration ensured that searches for mittens reached a global high in January. Continue reading...

Up for discussion in this week’s newsletter: a mix of state support and entrepreneurial zeal means China is poised to win the next tech revolution – just as a former Google exec predicted

Users in North America and Europe report patchy service after cloud computing goes downSeveral Amazon services – including its website, Prime Video and applications that use Amazon Web Services (AWS) – went down for thousands of users on Tuesday.Amazon said the outage was probably due to problems related to application programming interface (API), which is a set of protocols for building and integrating application software, Reuters reported. Continue reading...

The Information reports Apple CEO’s agreement will placate threats that would have hobbled its devices and services in the countryTim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, signed an agreement with Chinese officials, estimated to be worth about $275bn, to placate threats that would have hobbled its devices and services in the country, The Information reported on Tuesday.Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Continue reading...

Cybersecurity experts confirm that Bluetooth signals can in fact be intercepted. And old-school earbuds have a level of retro coolAirPods are bad, people. I’ve said it for years. In 2016, when Apple first debuted the overpriced accessories, I wrote that wireless headphones were like tampons without strings – missing the crucial feature that helps you find them when you need to.As the years have gone by, I’ve clung steadfastly to my wired headphone sets. (I say headphone sets, plural, because I need two pairs, one to plug into the headphone jack in my laptop and one to plug into the non-headphone jack in my iPhone. I frequently think that the people I can’t hear on Zoom calls are on mute when I actually just have the wrong pair of earbuds in my ears. I don’t care; I won’t change.) Continue reading...

Founder of blood testing company says she did not think she said her devices were actively being used on military helicoptersElizabeth Holmes continued testimony in her own defense on Tuesday, in her sixth day on the stand in a widely followed trial centering on her now-defunct blood testing company, Theranos.Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison over charges that she defrauded investors and patients, lying about the capabilities of the firm’s core blood-testing technology. She has pleaded not guilty. Continue reading...

Long before Auto-Tune and deepfake compositions, university professor Lejaren Hiller premiered a concert recital composed by a computer and became an overnight celebrityOn the evening of 9 August 1956, a couple of hundred people squeezed into a student union lounge for a concert recital at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, about 130 miles outside Chicago. Student performances didn’t usually attract so many people, but this was an exceptional case, the debut of the Illiac Suite: String Quartet No 4, that a member of the chemistry faculty, Lejaren Hiller Jr, had devised with the school’s one and only computer, the Illiac I.Decades before today’s artificial intelligence pop stars, Auto-Tune and deepfake compositions was Hiller’s piece, described by the New York Times in his 1994 obituary as “the first substantial piece of music composed on a computer” – and indeed by a computer. Continue reading...

Florida jury finds Wright, who claims to have invented the cryptocurrency, did not owe half of 1.1m bitcoins worth $50bn to another family

Replacement routers put speedy wifi in every corner of the home for reliable work, video calls and filmsWith wifi more important than ever for keeping your home working and your online entertainment up and running, it may be time to banish those irritating “not-spots” and make your broadband work everywhere in your home with a router upgrade.Now that most new devices, from laptops and phones to TVs and streaming boxes, support wifi 6, I put several of the latest mid-range “mesh” routers to the test to see which ones deliver. Continue reading...

Drivers get protection but prices may rise as minicab firms in city told to contract directly with customersUber will be forced to change its business model in London to contract directly with passengers who book, after a high court ruling that will affect all private hire operators in the capital.The judgment was hailed by unions for giving both drivers and passengers more protection, by underscoring previous legal rulings that drivers are workers with rights, and making firms responsible once bookings are accepted. Continue reading...

Whistleblower’s complaint led to disclosure of the review of charges the company failed to inform shareholders of defectsThe US securities regulator has opened an investigation into Tesla over a whistleblower complaint that the company failed to properly notify its shareholders and the public of fire risks associated with solar panel system defects over several years, according to a letter from the agency.The inquiry raises regulatory pressure on the world’s most valuable automaker, which already faces a federal safety investigation into accidents involving its driver assistant systems. Concerns about fires from Tesla solar systems have been published previously, but this is the first report of investigation by the securities regulator. Continue reading...

Victims in US and UK legal action accuse social media firm of failing to prevent incitement of violenceFacebook’s negligence facilitated the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar after the social media network’s algorithms amplified hate speech and the platform failed to take down inflammatory posts, according to legal action launched in the US and the UK.The platform faces compensation claims worth more than £150bn under the coordinated move on both sides of the Atlantic. Continue reading...

Cryptocurrency settles to just below $50,000 after record-high last month, in continuation of recent volatilityThe value of bitcoin has suffered a “thumping”, losing more than one-fifth of its value at at one point over the weekend before settling below $50,000 (£37,720), only a month after reaching a record high.The value of the cryptocurrency rose above $68,000 in November and had been predicted to move even higher by the end of the year, amid concern about the value of traditional assets such as gold and government debt. Continue reading...

I can’t have Octopus Energy’s Go tariff because the meter would interfere with air force systemsA few months ago I decided to switch energy supplier and moved to Octopus Energy’s Go tariff, principally because it offers cheap electric car charging overnight at a rate of 5p/kWh.I applied to have the required smart meter installed. But after being given a date, I was later declined on the basis that smart meters cannot work at my address because they interfere with the missile early warning system at RAF Fylingdales. Continue reading...

At a new exhibition at the reopening of the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, technology and designs for a better future are on displayIf America has stood for anything, it’s surely forward-looking optimism. In New York, Chicago, Detroit and other shining cities, its soaring skyscrapers pointed to the future. But has the bubble burst in the 21st century?“We don’t see ourselves striding toward a better tomorrow,” columnist Frank Bruni wrote in the New York Times last month, citing research that found 71% of Americans believe that this country is on the wrong track. “We see ourselves tiptoeing around catastrophe. That was true even before Covid. That was true even before Trump.” Continue reading...

Study finds over half of teenagers sent non-consensual sexual images via social media apps reported itSchools and parents should do more to support students who are being sexually harassed through platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram, while the tech companies need to clamp down on non-consensual sexual images being sent to young people, according to new research released on Monday.The study by academics at University College London and the University of Kent found that just over 50% of teenagers who had been sent unsolicited sexually explicit images via social media apps say they have not reported the offences to either their parents, authorities or the companies involved. Continue reading...

Vodka, jet fuel, protein… according to a new clutch of carbon-to-value startups, these are just some of the things that can be manufactured from thin airIn a warehouse laboratory in Berkeley, California, Nicholas Flanders stands in front of a shiny metal box about the size of a washing machine. Inside is a stack of metal plates that resemble a club sandwich – only the filling is a black polymer membrane coated with proprietary metal catalyst. “We call the membrane the black leaf,” he says.Flanders is the co-founder and CEO of Twelve, a startup founded in 2015, which received a $57m funding boost in July. It aims to take air – or, to be more precise, the carbon dioxide (CO) in it – and transform it into something useful, as plants also do, eliminating damaging emissions in the process. Taking the unwanted gas wreaking havoc on our climate and using only water and renewable electricity, Twelve’s metal box houses a new kind of electrolyser that transforms the CO into synthesis gas (syngas), a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen that can be made into a range of familiar products usually made from fossil fuels. Oxygen is the only by-product. This August, the pilot scale equipment made the syngas that went into what Flanders claims is the world’s first carbon neutral, fossil-free jet fuel produced by electrolysing CO. “This is a new way of moving carbon through our economy without pulling it out of the ground,” he says. Continue reading...

‘The ibex couldn’t care less about me. He was just there, magnificent, on his stage’As so often, says Eric Bouvet, the stage was set, the actors ready. “You get this amazing orchestra,” he says, “and you’re the conductor. You decide your point of view, your frame, you hit the button. A second either way, it wouldn’t have worked.”A five-time World Press Photo winner, Bouvet has covered conflicts from Afghanistan to Sudan, Iraq to Somalia, Chechnya to Lebanon. His Fujis have recorded the fall of the Wall, the release of Mandela, Tiananmen Square, for Time, Life, Paris Match. Continue reading...

Every year Grattan Institute compiles a list of essential reads for the PM. Here’s what it has recommended this timeAs 2020 drew to a close, Scott Morrison may have looked towards 2021 with a sense of optimism. But Covid-19 had other ideas, and Australia’s attention was soon fixed upon combating the deadly new Delta strain. This year has been marked by multi-state lockdowns, border closures and a fraught vaccination rollout, leaving the population exhausted. But as Australia nervously enters a new phase of normalcy (Omicron-permitting), there remain policy issues on the other side of the roadmap that demand attention.Boosting educational standards, reconciling our history with our First Nations people and our unhealthy reliance on a small handful of big tech firms areon the government’s priority list. Other issues, including conserving Australia’s environment, and addressing poverty and entrenched economic inequality, are worthy of any vision to “build back better”. Continue reading...

Revelation comes just weeks after the Biden administration placed NSO on a US blacklistThe iPhones of at least nine US state department officials were recently hacked by a government using NSO Group spyware, according to a new report that raised serious questions about the use of Israeli surveillance tools against US government officials around the world.The claim, which was reported by Reuters, comes just weeks after the Biden administration placed NSO on a US blacklist and said the surveillance company acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”. Continue reading...

Firm has hired 2,000 staff in a matter of months in Wiltshire town, with ripple effect on other businessesOn an industrial estate outside Swindon, it’s the busiest time of year at Amazon’s newest warehouse in Britain. Black boxes rattle along miles of conveyor belt, carrying everything from toys to painkillers amid a cacophony of alarms and the faint hum of Christmas songs.“I’m looking around here at anything that might not be right, but it’s actually running very smoothly,” says David Tindal, the general manager of the Swindon fulfilment centre. “The team has been fantastic. We spend the whole year preparing for this peak time, like a good football club preparing for the cup final.” Continue reading...

Councils are planning to deploy version of Finnish online tool that helps people monitor carbon footprintFor those who want to be part of a zero carbon future but find the prospect of giving up flying, ditching the car and turning vegan daunting, help may be at hand. A Finnish-made online tool that promises to give users the key to their own “sustainable good life” by taking control of their carbon footprint is set to be launched in the UK.London Councils, the body that represents all London boroughs, is looking at developing a version of the tool, which aims to be helpful rather than hectoring, letting people create their own tailor-made path to reducing their CO2 output rather than giving out blanket prescriptions such as stopping flying or eating meat. Continue reading...

I didn’t expect to be making my competitive gaming debut at 30 – but over lockdown, my flatmates and I became hooked on Nintendo’s beloved brawlerThirty is definitely not the best age to kick off an esports career. In that world I am aged, with lower-back pain and reflexes about as sharp as a wooden spoon. But nonetheless, earlier this year, I found myself standing in a dimly lit east-London bar, huddled among the city’s greatest players of Super Smash Bros, Nintendo’s beloved fighting game. As the throng of competitors reminisced over previous tournaments and shared high-level techniques, I stared apprehensively at my name on the tournament ladder, hoping that nobody would find out that I only started playing Smash last year.At the risk of sounding like the narrator of a 90s teen film, let’s rewind. My Smash obsession began during the joyous era of lockdown one. As Covid-19 exploded devastatingly and invisibly, the humble Bow flat I shared slowly morphed from fun-loving party pad into cramped, claustrophobic prison. We did our best to keep things light with bike rides, poorly measured portions of weed brownies and increasingly ridiculous themed nights – but Super Smash Bros Ultimate was what really got me through the mind-numbing ordeal that was 2020. Continue reading...

Harsh Reality considers how TV has changed, as it celebrates Miriam Rivera’s life rather than mocking her. Plus: how a group of American students ended up at ‘Fake Oxford’Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera

Content was often ‘embarrassingly’ produced and pumped out via repurposed accounts, analysts sayTwitter has shut down thousands of state-linked accounts in China that seek to counter evidence of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, as part of what experts called an “embarrassingly” produced propaganda operation.The operations used photos and images, shell and potentially automated accounts, and fake Uyghur profiles, to disseminate state propaganda and fake testimonials about their happy lives in the region, seeking to dispel evidence of a years-long campaign of oppression, with mass internments, re-education programs, and allegations of forced labour and sterilisation. Continue reading...

Letter signed by 86 organisations asks for sanctions against Israeli firm, alleging governments used its software to abuse rightsDozens of human rights organisations have called on the European Union to impose global sanctions on NSO Group and take “every action” to prohibit the sale, transfer, export and import of the Israeli company’s surveillance technology.The letter, signed by 86 organisations including Access Now, Amnesty International and the Digital Rights Foundation, said the EU’s sanctions regime gave it the power to target entities that were responsible for “violations or abuses that are of serious concern as regards to the objectives of the common foreign and security policy, including violations or abuses of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, or of freedom of opinion and expression”. Continue reading...

Chair of committee points out unpreparedness for Covid shows better anticipation of future threats is neededAssessment and planning by the government relating to risks facing the UK are deficient and “veiled in secrecy”, a report has found.The 129-page report, entitled Preparing for Extreme Risks: Building a Resilient Society, was produced by the House of Lords select committee on risk assessment and risk planning – a group appointed in October 2020.The establishment of an Office for Preparedness and Resilience by the government, headed by a newly created post of government chief risk officer.A presumption of publication by the government, and the publication of the content of the Official-Sensitive National Security Risk Assessment except where there is a direct national security risk.The publication, every two years, by the government of a brochure on risk preparedness to inform the public on topics including what to do in an emergency. Continue reading...

US regulators move to block ‘the largest semiconductor chip merger in history’The $75bn takeover of Cambridge-based chip designer Arm by its rival Nvidia is in jeopardy after US regulators followed the UK and Europe in moving to block “the largest semiconductor chip merger in history”.The Federal Trade Commission has sued to stop the takeover of Arm, which has ballooned in value from $40bn to $75bn since the offer was made last September due to a stock market surge in the chip sector, as seemingly almost insurmountable opposition now mounts after regulator action in Europe and the UK. Continue reading...

Regulator says safety of hundreds of individuals was jeopardised after their addresses were posted onlineThe Cabinet Office has been fined £500,000 by the UK’s data watchdog after the postal addresses of the 2020 New Year honours recipients were disclosed online.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found officials failed to put in place “appropriate technical and organisational measures” to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of personal information in breach of data protection law. Continue reading...

Listing properties on land owned by XPCC, which has been linked to human rights abuses, risks breaching US regulationsAirbnb has reportedly listed more than a dozen properties on land owned by the Xinjiang paramilitary corporation, which has been sanctioned by the US over its alleged involvement in mass human rights abuses against Uyghurs by the Chinese government.The American media outlet Axios reported on Wednesday that the short-term rental company was at risk of exposure to US regulations preventing business dealings with sanctioned entities. Airbnb, which is a major sponsor of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, said it was not required to vet the “underlying landowner” of properties it lists. Continue reading...

In the bizarre world of the influencer, set out here in engaging style, the line between leisure and labour is increasingly blurredFor people like me, sitting here quaintly typing into a Word document for some half-forgotten old thing called a newspaper, it’s easy to be dismissive of influencers. But, as I’ve learned from Olivia Yallop’s book, not only is that limiting my understanding of where we are as a society (and where we’re heading), my ignorance is partly the fault of the very industry in which I work. “Journalists and publications are very reluctant to promote the influencer industry,” complains one of Yallop’s interviewees, a makeup and style Instagrammer. “If you scroll down the Daily Mail’s sidebar of shame … it’s like influencers don’t exist,” she says. “This silence around influencers – the same silence that may have you wondering why you’ve never heard of many of those mentioned in this book, despite their millions of followers – speaks volumes,” writes Yallop.Indeed, this is a book packed with unfamiliar names and dizzying numbers. “Top kidfluencers include brothers Vlad and Nikita, aged six and four, whose shared YouTube channel has brought in an estimated $64 million.” YouTuber PewDiePie “has 106 million followers and is estimated to earn around $8 million per month”. And how about this: “In 2018, financial analysts shook their heads in disbelief as Kardashian sister Kylie Jenner wiped $1.3bn (£1bn) off Snapchat’s market value in a single day after tweeting, ‘Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore?’”. Yallop contextualises these ludicrous stats with an engaging analysis of online culture that also takes in world-changing events from the Capitol insurrection to the pandemic. Continue reading...

Niels Juul hopes to raise up to $10m and says he wants to ‘democratise’ antiquated funding systemThe executive producer behind blockbusters including Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is to make Hollywood’s first feature film funded entirely by non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with a promise that those who invest will get a share of any profits and meet the stars of the production.Niels Juul, who has set up the production company NFT Studios to fund a series of films, hopes to raise between $8m and $10m (£6m and £7.5m) through the sale of 10,000 NFTs to the public and institutional investors. Continue reading...

Productivity Commission’s ‘right to repair’ report recommends a pilot scheme be adopted to advise consumers of durability of devices

The assistant US attorney also questioned Holmes on the nature of her romantic relationship to business partner Sunny BalwaniTheranos founder Elizabeth Holmes wept in court on Tuesday as a federal prosecutor grilled her over the nature of her relationship with Sunny Balwani, her former business and romantic partner, and her knowledge of problems at the company.Holmes, who faces 11 counts of fraud and up to 20 years in prison over charges that she lied about the company’s core blood-testing technology, had previously testified that she was emotionally and physically abused by Balwani. In Monday’s testimony, she said Balwani closely controlled how she ran the business, who she spent time with, and even what she ate. Balwani, who faces his own fraud trial in 2022, has strongly denied these accusations. Continue reading...

Move by Competition and Markets Authority is a welcome step against the power of big techBig tech has two faces. One face presents a new form of company: inclusive, socially liberal, very much with the zeitgeist, supporting the Democrats rather than the Republicans, and different from anything that has gone before.Strip away the makeup and a different face appears: the face of a monopoly seeking to protect itself from rivals. Over the years, the giants of Silicon Valley have used their financial clout to buy up smaller companies that might pose a threat to their market power. Continue reading...

Tech company fired three workers who raised concerns about potential sale of cloud technology to US immigration authoritiesA group of former Google employees have sued the company, alleging that it breached their employment contracts by not honoring its famous motto “don’t be evil”.In the lawsuit filed in California state court, former Google employees Rebecca Rivers, Sophie Waldman and Paul Duke alleged that they were fired two years ago for fulfilling their contractual obligation to speak up if they saw Google violating its “don’t be evil” pledge. Continue reading...

Holmes said in her fourth day of testimony that Sunny Balwani berated and controlled her to make her more disciplined and focusedElizabeth Holmes has testified that she was emotionally and physically abused by her former lover and business partner, Sunny Balwani, part of her attempt to refute accusations that she lied about Theranos’ core blood-testing technology.Monday marked Holmes’ fourth day on the stand as the continued to testify in her own defense in a fraud case that has gripped Silicon Valley. Continue reading...

The relatively unknown chief technology officer faces a political minefield in one of Silicon Valley’s top jobsJack Dorsey has stepped down as CEO of Twitter and passed the baton to the relatively unknown executive Parag Agrawal.Agrawal, who has been with the company for 10 years – most recently as chief technology officer – has emerged from behind the scenes to take over one of Silicon Valley’s highest-profile and politically volatile jobs. But who is he, and what can we expect for Twitter under his leadership? Continue reading...

New boss Richard Moore to say adversaries are ‘pouring money’ into technology and the agency needs outside funding to keep upMI6 will have to become “more open to stay secret” and work with tech companies to counter threats posed by China and Russia who seek to gain advantage by mastering artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.In his first speech as the foreign spy agency’s head on Tuesday, Richard Moore is expected to admit that “unlike Q in the Bond movies”, MI6 cannot develop the tools it needs in-house to counter hybrid physical and virtual threats. Continue reading...

The 45-year-old who dreamed of being a dressmaker steps down as social media industry becomes ever more competitive

Sunderland plant to play key role as carmaker says it will introduce 23 ‘electrified’ models by 2030Nissan is to invest almost 2tn yen (£13.2bn) into vehicle electrification over the next five years, including a key role for its plant in Sunderland, in its battle with rival traditional carmakers and specialists such as Tesla.The Japanese car manufacturer, which launched one of the world’s first mass market electric vehicles (EVs) with its Leaf model a decade ago, said it would introduce 23 “electrified” vehicle models by 2030, with 15 of them fully electric. The remainder would be hybrids. Continue reading...