Future fund scheme will see the Treasury co-invest with private enterprise in bid to make UK a ‘science superpower’

President says he hopes platform won’t take his earlier remark ‘personally’ and instead act to save livesJoe Biden has tempered his assessment that social media platforms are “killing people” by hosting misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines, saying Monday that he hoped they would not take it “personally” and instead would act to save lives.While companies like Facebook defend their practices and say they are helping people around the world access verified information about the shots, the White House says they haven’t done enough to stop misinformation that has helped to slow the pace of new vaccinations in the US to a trickle. It comes as the US sees a rise in virus cases and deaths among those who haven’t gotten a shot, in what officials call an emerging “pandemic of the unvaccinated”. Continue reading...

Britain has joined the US and other allies in formally accusing China of being behind the cyber-attackIn March, tens of thousands of organisations around the world discovered their private internal discussions had been cracked open and lain bare by a group of Chinese hackers.Four previously undiscovered weaknesses in Microsoft’s Exchange software, known as “zero days” because of the amount of time the company had had to fix the flaws before they were exploited, lay behind the mass hack. The vulnerabilities, which affected software released from 2012 onwards, allowed the group to take permanent control of the corporate servers, siphoning emails, calendars, and anything else they desired. Continue reading...

The iPhone maker says it is keeping pace with malware, but the Pegasus project paints a worrying pictureIt is one of the technological battles of the 21st century – in which every mobile phone user has a stake.In one corner, Apple, which has more than a billion active iPhones being used across the world. In the other, companies such as Israel’s NSO Group, developing spyware designed to defeat the most sophisticated security and privacy measures. Continue reading...

Move expands Chinese tech company’s presence in the global video games marketChina’s Tencent has agreed to buy the British video games developer Sumo Group at a valuation of more than £900m, further expanding the tech company’s presence in the global video games market.Sumo’s board has agreed to Tencent’s offer of 513p a share, valuing the London-listed company at £919m, it announced on Monday. Continue reading...

AI in games has long been geared towards improving computer-controlled opponents. Will it soon create diverse characters we can talk to instead of just shoot?In May, as part of an otherwise unremarkable corporate strategy meeting, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida made an interesting announcement. The company’s artificial intelligence research division, Sony AI, would be collaborating with PlayStation developers to create intelligent computer-controlled characters. “By leveraging reinforcement learning,” he wrote, “we are developing game AI agents that can be a player’s in-game opponent or collaboration partner.” Reinforcement learning is an area of machine learning in which an AI effectively teaches itself how to act through trial and error. In short, these characters will mimic human players. To some extent, they will think. Continue reading...

User uploads secret files to prove how tank was ‘incorrectly’ modelled in game played worldwideClassified details of the British Army’s main battle tank, Challenger 2, have been leaked online after a player in a tank battle video game disputed its accuracy.The player, who claimed to have been a real life Challenger 2 tank commander and gunnery instructor, disputed the design of the tank in the popular combat video game “War Thunder”, arguing it needed changing. He claimed game designers had failed to “model it properly”. Continue reading...

Sustainable alternatives to livestock farming are being held back by patents, a reluctance to share research and lack of government supportNot a week goes by without Elliot Swartz receiving at least one request from researchers asking him where they can find cell lines (a cell culture developed from a single cell) for use in cellular agriculture – an essential tool for creating lab-grown meat. “One of the most important things that cell lines offer is that they enable researchers to just get started in this new field,” says Swartz, who works in New York as a senior scientist at the Good Food Institute (GFI) – a nonprofit focused on advancing cellular agriculture and bringing its products to our shelves and stomachs as quickly as possible. Helping researchers is a core part of his role. In the case of cell lines, however, there’s very little he can do.Swartz’s response to the researchers is unfortunately always the same: at the moment, publicly available cell lines relevant for cellular agriculture don’t really exist. That doesn’t mean that they’re nowhere to be found. Upside Foods (previously Memphis Meats) has submitted several patents to protect cell lines it has developed, and companies such as Cell Farm Food Tech have built a business around selling cell lines for profit. Keeping discoveries behind closed doors is a pattern of behaviour found in private companies across the industry, which many believe is slowing down innovation. Continue reading...

Amol Rajan’s questioning failed to get behind the defences of Sundar Pichai’s ‘nice guy’ media imageLast weekend, in what the BBC clearly regarded as important news, the corporation announced that its media editor, Amol Rajan, had been granted an interview with Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Alphabet (which basically means Google). It was billed as “the first of a series of interviews with global figures”. If the boss of Google counts as a global figure, one wonders who else is on the list, the CEO of ExxonMobil?And the takeaway from watching this encounter? Simply this: Mr Pichai is a nice guy. He comes from a modest background in India, dropped out of Stanford in the time-honoured manner, has an MBA from Wharton and has worked for Google since 2004. He’s been CEO of Google (and Alphabet, its holding company) since 2015. Continue reading...

Joe Biden says social media platforms such as Facebook 'are killing people' for allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted.'Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people,' the US president told reporters at the White House on Friday.

Additional emojis aim to complete Unicode’s drive to offer more variety and gender-neutral optionsA pregnant man, a multiracial handshake and a face that cannot bear to watch are some of the emojis that will hit devices over the next year, according to a draft list published by the Unicode Consortium, which approves icons for use. Continue reading...

Organisations in Scotland say they have tried to contact Google about the dangers but received no replyScottish mountaineering charities have criticised Google for suggesting routes up Ben Nevis and other mountains they say are “potentially fatal” and direct people over a cliff.The John Muir Trust, which looks after the upper reaches of the UK’s highest mountain, said attempts to contact the company over the issue had been met with silence. Continue reading...

Nintendo Switch; Nintendo

Up for discussion in the first Guardian tech newsletter: can artificial intelligence enhance rather than replace us … internet age verification … plus Google’s €500m French fineHello and welcome to the debut issue of TechScape, the Guardian’s newsletter on all things tech, and sometimes things not-tech if they’re interesting enough. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have you here with me, and I hope between us we can build not just a newsletter, but a news community. Continue reading...

Social news aggregator has had to grapple with growing calls to deal with misinformation and conspiracy theories on platformThe head of social news aggregator Reddit has argued its own community and administrators are the best moderator against misinformation, as the company plans to open an office in Australia for the first time.In the past year since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, misinformation on social media platforms has been under close scrutiny. Much of the focus has been on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, while Reddit has escaped the spotlight. Continue reading...

Experts are urging the federal government to develop a mandatory reporting regime for such cyber-attacksAustralian organisations are seen as soft and lucrative targets for ransomware attacks, according to cybersecurity experts who warn the problem will get worse unless the Morrison government fills the “current policy vacuum”.A report published on Tuesday cites a raft of attacks over the past 18 months, including one that brought Nine Entertainment “to its knees” in March and left it struggling to televise news bulletins and produce newspapers. Continue reading...

After his rocket plane reached 53 miles above Earth on Sunday, the founder of Virgin Galactic is now officially an astronaut. But not everyone’s convincedName: Richard Branson.Age: 70. Continue reading...

Sealed cartridge dating from 1996 is described as one of fewer than five copies in such conditionA sealed, mint condition copy of the video game Super Mario 64 has sold at auction for more than $1.5m (£1.1m), making it the most expensive video game ever sold.The game cartridge, dating from 1996, was in high demand at US auction house Heritage Auctions for its “historical significance, rarity and condition” since there are “fewer than five copies” in such good condition. Continue reading...

Influencers including Kyle Thomas, Ehiz Ufuah and Poppy O’Toole will offer sessions on creating contentTikTok has opened its first pop-up venue in the UK, allowing fans to interact with influencers who have found success via the social media app and try to create their own mini-films.The app, which allows users to create and share short videos soundtracked with music, has partnered with the Westfield shopping centre in west London to create the first TikTok For You House. The design of the pop-up venue, which will be open until 8 August, is inspired by TikTok’s homepage, which highlights trending clips. Continue reading...

We are developing a private class of billionaire kings whose will is omnipotent and untouchable by any democratic forceThere comes a moment in every good gangster movie when all of the villains come together in a remote hideaway to make nefarious plans. If the good guys are smart, this is the moment they swoop in and arrest everyone. In real life America, though, we consistently squander these opportunities, opting instead to sit back and gawk at the villains like a bunch of dazed paparazzi. It’s never too late to change that.Related: Bernie in Trumpworld: Sanders visits ‘imperative if democracy is to survive’ Continue reading...

Subtle Asian Traits series faces the challenge of adapting an internet phenomenon and questions of cultural representationWhen the moderators of Subtle Asian Traits announced in June that the Facebook group would be spun into an American TV series, the news was met with a flurry of cynical comments by its members.The private group, with nearly 2 million members, labels itself as “a community that celebrates the similarities and differences within the subtle traits of Asian culture and sub-cultures”. Continue reading...

Determining a person’s age online seems like an intractable problem. But new technology and laws could be on the brink of solving itSuppose you pulled out your phone this morning to post a pic to your favourite social network – let’s call it Twinstabooktok – and were asked for a selfie before you could log on. The picture you submitted wouldn’t be sent anywhere, the service assured you: instead, it would use state-of-the-art machine-learning techniques to work out your age. In all likelihood, once you’ve submitted the scan, you can continue on your merry way. If the service guessed wrong, you could appeal, though that might take a bit longer.The upside of all of this? The social network would be able to know that you were an adult user and provide you with an experience largely free of parental controls and paternalist moderation, while children who tried to sign up would be given a restricted version of the same experience. Continue reading...

Message boards in train stations show cancellations though rail operator denies disruptionsWebsites of Iran’s transport and urbanisation ministry went out of service on Saturday after a “cyber-disruption” in computer systems, the official IRNA news agency reported.On Friday, Iran’s railways also appeared to come under cyber-attack, with messages about alleged train delays or cancellations posted on display boards at stations across the country. Electronic tracking of trains across Iran reportedly failed. Continue reading...

A combination of cyber attackers’ increased sophistication, the availability of cryptocurrencies and the activities of Russian security agencies has created a perfect stormI’ve just visited the Kaseya website. “We Are Kaseya,” it burbles cheerfully. “Providing you with best-in-breed technologies that allow you to efficiently manage, secure and back up IT under a single pane of glass.“Technology,” it continues, “is the backbone of all modern business. Small to mid-size businesses deserve powerful security and IT management tools that are efficient, cost-effective, and secure. Enter Kaseya. We exist to help multi-function IT professionals get the most out of their IT tool stack.” Continue reading...

Judge refuses to admit new evidence that might have helped Meng Wanzhou avoid extradition to USThe prospect of a deepening diplomatic row between the US and China has grown after a Canadian judge refused to admit new evidence that might have helped the Huawei chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, avoid extradition to the US.The arrest of Meng, the daughter of the Chinese telecommunication company’s billionaire founder, has prompted a sharp deterioration in relations between Canada, the US and China. Soon after Meng’s detention in Vancouver in December 2018, China arrested two Canadians in China: Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. Continue reading...

It’s not just jokes and emojis – the video-sharing platform can help users learn how to manage moneySea shanties and viral dance trends have helped make TikTok a hit since the start of the pandemic. In 2020, the social media app, which allows users to create and share one or more 60-second films soundtracked with music clips, surpassed 2bn global downloads.In the financial world, TikTok has a reputation for promoting volatile cryptocurrencies and activist investing – interest in Dogecoin and GameStop has been fuelled by the platform. But, beyond the jokes and rocket emojis being shared by some users, there is a wealth of practical personal finance videos that are teaching young people how to use their money better. Continue reading...

Clarita needed to put herself through nursing school; Lex wanted to boost his income as a labourer – now they are erotic influencers on the subscriber siteIn many ways, Lex Lederman, 28, is a classic American family man. He owns a farm in New Hampshire, where he lives with his wife and three children (plus a sizable company of chickens, pigs and geese). He’s teaching himself home renovation (plumbing, electrics, how to lay floors) and regularly helps out with homeless food charities, refugee relief, and the local high school football team. But this lifestyle has only become possible since he quit his construction job for a full-time career on OnlyFans – the content subscription service where he uploads erotic pictures and videos for his predominantly gay male fanbase.One of the biggest tech success stories of the last few years, OnlyFans was founded by British entrepreneur Tim Stokely in September 2016. “You could see the explosion of influencer marketing, but the influencers were getting paid via ad campaigns and product endorsements,” he explained in an interview earlier this year. “Our thinking was always, OK, what if you could build a platform where it’s similar to existing on social media, but with the key difference being the payment button?” Stokely is now worth an estimated $120m (£86m). Continue reading...

Successful flight on Virgin Galactic craft would mark the next phase of space tourism race with Jeff BezosIt does not often rain in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Nevertheless, Sir Richard Branson is likely to feel nervous as he checks the weather forecast on Sunday morning: if there are blue skies ahead then the British entrepreneur is likely to become the richest person ever to venture into space.Branson and his team – two pilots and three other “mission specialists” – will strap into the spacecraft, the VSS Unity. If all goes well Branson and co will be propelled 50 miles above the Earth’s surface, the point considered by Nasa, the US space agency, to mark the end of the Earth’s atmosphere. Continue reading...

Joe Biden’s hour-long phone call with the Russian leader suggests growing impatience over attacks disrupting US sectorsJoe Biden has increased pressure on Vladimir Putin to move against ransomware groups operating from Russia, warning the United States is prepared to respond if cyberhacks are not stopped.The two leaders held an hour-long phone call on Friday, their first since they discussed ransomware attacks at a summit in Geneva on 16 June. Biden’s message to Putin in the call was direct, suggesting a growing impatience over attacks that have disrupted key US sectors. Continue reading...

Vancouver judge denies bid by Meng Wanzhou to add over 300 HSBC documents to her legal battleA Canadian judge has denied an application by Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei chief financial officer, to add documents her legal team received from HSBC as evidence to her US extradition case, the judge announced on Friday.Meng, 49, is facing extradition from Canada to the US on charges of bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, potentially causing the bank to break US sanctions. She has been held under house arrest in Vancouver since December 2018, when she was first detained. Continue reading...

Analysis: multiple state agencies have been drafting rules to regulate China’s booming, anarchic tech sectorChina’s biggest ride-hailing company, Didi, is the latest casualty of Beijing’s effort to rein in upstart tech companies that had been left to their own devices in the absence of proper regulation.The Cyberspace Administration of China’s ban on Didi listing its app on mobile app stores in China, only days after the company floated on the New York stock exchange, prompted a sharp selloff of Didi’s shares. The debacle has angered investors after it was reported that Chinese authorities had for months cautioned Didi against rushing into a US listing owing to data security concerns. Continue reading...

Roguelike shooters, punishing platformers and brutal, sword-heavy RPGs … not all great games have to be a walk in the park

The Natural History Museum’s new podcast covers poaching, smuggling and more. Plus: To Live and Die in LA returns, and Atlas Obscura offers instant wanderlustWild Crimes

Beijing’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies has captured headlines, while behind the scenes its reserve bank set up its own digital currencyFew would dispute that China’s recent crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and mining has contributed to the recent plunge in the value of bitcoin and other cryptos.But while the argument rages about whether the volatility of cryptos is a sign of fundamental weakness or merely a bump along the road, the initiatives coming out of Beijing are being seen by experts as a sign of China’s attempts to incubate its own fledgling e-currency and reboot the international financial system. Continue reading...

Operator behind USD Coin will merge with company chaired by former Barclays chief executive Bob DiamondCircle, the company behind digital currency USD Coin, is to float in the US in a $4.5bn (£3.27bn) merger deal with a company chaired by former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond.It will merge with Concord Acquisition Corp, which is chaired by Diamond, with the combined business to be taken over by a newly formed Irish holding company that will then list on the New York Stock Exchange. Continue reading...

Legal scholars suggest former president’s complaint may bring the attention he craves but doesn’t present a serious legal argumentDonald Trump may have filed lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, claiming he and other conservatives have been censored – but legal scholars say his case is probably doomed to fail.

We ask Australian comedians to tell us where the funny stuff is online. Montaigne is not a comedian, but she does spend a lot of time on the internetHello! I’m Montaigne and I’m a singer-songwriter. I represented Australia at Eurovision this year (and, technically, last year as well). I’m currently writing songs for an indie video game and preparing to release new music, and I have just announced a tour.When I’m not doing these sorts of things, I’m on the internet. That’s right. I’m a little internet grub. More than anything, I love things that make me laugh. The internet: it makes me laugh. Here are some things that have made me bust my frickin’ guts. Continue reading...

Watchdog calls for inquiry after Guardian investigation reveals ‘Green party’ ads were placed by conservative marketing firmA campaign finance watchdog group has requested that the justice department open a criminal investigation into the figures behind a series of deceptive Facebook ads that promoted Green party candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.A Guardian investigation recently revealed that the ads were placed by a major conservative marketing firm, contradicting an inquiry by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which accepted the statement of Evan Muhlstein that he was responsible for the ads and had failed to comply with FEC reporting requirements due to “inexperience”. Continue reading...

Ministers back down after hundreds of government offices insist banishing fax would be impossibleMost bureaucrats might be expected to welcome the chance to be freed from the tyranny of the fax machine. But in Japan, government plans to send the must-have item of 1980s office equipment the way of telex have in effect been scrapped after they encountered resistance from “faxophile” officials.A cabinet body that promotes administrative reform said in June it had decided to abolish the use of fax machines “as a rule” by the end of the month and switch to emails at ministries and agencies in the Tokyo district of Kasumigaseki, Japan’s bureaucratic nerve centre. Continue reading...

The insistent low-frequency sound has been heard from Bristol to Swansea and ascribed to everything from horny fish to 5G – but the enigma itself is tellingMaybe you hear it. A low frequency hum, almost a vibration, just on the threshold of human hearing. It’s not particularly loud. In fact, you might not have even noticed it yet – but once you do, you can’t stop hearing it. It sounds like a truck, idling on the street in front your house. Or the atmospheric din of an airplane flying overhead, that never gets further away. You can hear it when you’re outside, but it seems louder indoors, and particularly at night, when you’re lying in bed. Maybe it keeps you awake. Maybe it causes you headaches, dizziness, even nosebleeds.If you do hear it, you’re among the roughly 4% of the world’s population affected by “the Hum”, a frequently reported but little understood global phenomenon. The earliest reliable reports of the Hum date from the UK in the mid-1970s, most notably from Bristol, when letters began appearing in the Bristol Evening Post about a low rumble heard by dozens of residents throughout the city. What began as an irritating if innocuous noise eventually drove many who heard it to distraction, and was said to be linked to two suicides. A prevailing theory was that the Bristol Hum originated from large industrial fans used at a warehouse in nearby Avonmouth. But according to some Bristolians the Hum persists to this day, despite the warehouse having long been decommissioned. Continue reading...

During the early 80s home computing boom, flexi discs full of data were briefly all the rage, and Frank Sidebottom, the Thompson Twins and the Stranglers made their way to the ZX SpectrumIt’s almost unthinkable now, but from the 1970s until the early 1980s, vinyl records were explored as a means of storing computer data – including video games. Some magazines of the time tucked code-packed flexi disc inserts into their pages: paper-thin plastic records that could be fed into home computers from an ordinary turntable, magically manifesting a game on screen. Long before Travis Scott was attracting 12 million players to a gig hosted in Fortnite, there was a coming together of a British game developer, a magazine and a pop act that marked the beginning of the intersection between the music and games industries.The Thompson Twins Adventure Game came cover-mounted on a 1984 issue of the beloved magazine Computer & Video Games, the first UK magazine devoted to games. Almost everyone involved in the project – a promotional item linked to the release of the single Doctor Doctor – admits the game was imperfect. It was a weird text adventure garnished with incidental visuals, in which the members of the Thompson Twins had to locate the ingredients of a potion to be made by the song’s eponymous medic. The idea was that readers could load the disc from a turntable linked directly to a Spectrum, or copy the audio on to a cassette, which could then be used to load the game on a Spectrum or Commodore. Getting the recording level right could take multiple attempts, as users experimented with audio settings, and some of the disks got damaged as they dangled exposed on the cover. Continue reading...

The breach has affected hundreds of businesses around the world, and experts fear the worst is yet to comeHackers last week infiltrated a Florida-based information technology firm and deployed a ransomware attack, seizing troves of data and demanding $70m in payment for its return.The hack of the Kaseya firm, which is already being called “the biggest ransomware attack on record”, has affected hundreds of businesses globally, including supermarkets in Sweden and schools in New Zealand. Continue reading...

Report says RNC computers were breached by Cozy Bear hackers, accused of DNC hack in 2016The US Republican National Committee has denied that Russian hackers accessed data during a breach of third-party provider last week.The hackers were part of APT29 or Cozy Bear, according to Bloomberg, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter. The group is linked with Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, and was previously accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee in 2016, as well as carrying out the historic cybersecurity breach against SolarWinds, which affected about 100 US companies and nine federal agencies. Continue reading...

Computer – the most powerful in Britain – will use AI to find new cures and deepen understanding of diseasesThe UK’s most powerful supercomputer, which its creators hope will make the process of preventing, diagnosing and treating disease better, faster and cheaper, is operational.Christened Cambridge-1, the supercomputer represents a $100m investment by US-based computing company Nvidia. The idea capitalises on artificial intelligence (AI) – which combines big data with computer science to facilitate problem-solving – in healthcare. Continue reading...

Critic and film-maker Mark Cousins offers a new instalment in his monumental Story of Film series, examining what digital technology has brought to the tableCritic and documentary film-maker Mark Cousins has returned to Cannes with another episode of his amazingly ambitious cinephile history The Story of Film, an illuminated patchwork clip-quilt, accompanied by his inimitable incantation-voiceover. It’s another example of his unique approach: Cousins is subjective almost to the point of free-associating or even sleep-talking (maybe appropriate for the dream state of the movies) but also colossally well-informed, bracingly internationalist and genuinely educational. I have never yet watched a Cousins film without learning something and being a bit sheepish about what I didn’t know.That said, Cousins’s style takes some getting used to – almost like a hyper-innocent form of criticism, wide-eyed with wonder at cinema’s brave new world, a Miranda of the movies. Occasionally Cousins’s commentary verges on the superfluous, simply describing what is on screen, although there is almost always a shrewd insight there: he has a great section on a creepy travelling shot in David Robert Mitchell’s psychological horror It Follows. Continue reading...

The upgraded OLED model will have a bigger screen and more storage for gamesNintendo has announced a new version of the Nintendo Switch, due out on 8 October this year. The Nintendo Switch OLED model will have a larger and brighter 7in screen, a wide kickstand for tabletop play, enhanced audio in handheld mode and 64GB of storage for games. Like the 2017 Nintendo Switch, it can be slotted into a dock for playing on a TV at home, or taken out and played as a handheld console. The TV dock will also have a wired LAN port, an important addition for those who like to play competitively online.An upgraded model of Nintendo’s successful console has been rumoured for the past year, and was at one point expected to be announced during E3 last June. It will be available on the same day as Metroid Dread, the most anticipated game in Nintendo’s 2021 lineup. Continue reading...

Between 800 and 1,500 businesses around the world, including supermarkets and dentists’ offices, affected by attackBetween 800 and 1,500 businesses around the world have been affected by a ransomware attack centered on the US information technology firm Kaseya, its chief executive said on Monday.Related: Republicans’ effort to deny the Capitol attack is working – and it’s dangerous Continue reading...

Asia Internet Coalition, including Twitter and Apple, sounds warning over amendments to laws that could see individuals hit with ‘severe sanctions’Tech giants including Google, Facebook, and Twitter could stop offering services to Hong Kong if the city moves forward with laws to impose penalties on users who publicly release identifying information about individual or organisations,an Asian industry group has warned.The Asia Internet Coalition, which counts the three major companies as well as Apple Inc and LinkedIn as members, wrote to Hong Kong’s Privacy Commissioner to warn that privacy laws which could see undefined “severe sanctions” against individuals for so-called doxing were “not aligned with global norms and trends”. Continue reading...

Don’t blame the medium for our inbox anxiety. The more fundamental issue is how work dominates our livesI am about to defend the seemingly indefensible: email, the inbox, all of it. And yes, I’m offering this case at a time when it might sound especially unlikely. This is the season of holiday responder messages and out-of-office replies. The back-and-forth of delayed communications makes email an especially draining project during the summer.I’m not unfamiliar with the paralysing anxiety that settles in when I see a notification that my unread messages total some ungodly number. I probably owe an email to a percentage of people reading this. (Sorry! Things are a bit busy!) And I’d love to never see the words “hope this message finds you well” again in my life. But the decentralised wonder that is email isn’t the cause of my stress; the real problem is work and too much of it, as relayed through these messages. When it comes to communications systems, email – a technology that’s 50 years old this year – is hard to beat. Continue reading...