The US cybersecurity agency said it was investigating the attack after an incident at the Miami-based IT firm KaseyaHundreds of American businesses have been hit by a ransomware attack ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to the cybersecurity company Huntress Labs.Huntress Labs said on Friday that 200 American businesses were hit after an incident at the Miami-based IT firm Kaseya, potentially marking the latest in a line of hacks destabilizing US companies. Continue reading...
Study website made claims including warmer temperatures ‘could lead to healthier outdoor lifestyles’The BBC has removed an educational page laying out the “benefits” of climate change after a furious online reaction.BBC Bitesize, its website for schoolchildren, claimed warmer temperatures “could lead to healthier outdoor lifestyles” and that a benefit of climate change could mean easier access to oil in Alaska and Siberia. Continue reading...
Advertisements promoting diets or slimming products and that idealise certain body types will be removed from the platformPinterest is banning all advertisements with weight loss language and imagery, including ads that idealise or denigrate certain body types, the social media company says.The popular, picture-led social network, which allows users to create and share mood boards, said it would also not allow ads with testimonials about weight loss or weight loss products, or ads referencing body mass index (BMI) or similar indexes. Continue reading...
Trading platform has grown to more than $80bn in customer assets, Robinhood revealed as it prepares to go publicThe trading platform Robinhood, which has gained notoriety for allowing amateur stock investors to play the market, has grown rapidly to more than $80bn in customer assets, it revealed as it prepares to go public, even as it faces dozens of lawsuits and a historic fine over its business practices.The app that has sent a newly empowered generation of investors to Wall Street saw its revenue soar 309% at the start of the year as a frenzy over so-called meme stocks shook the market. Continue reading...
Crypto asset represents ownership of various digital items from when Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989An NFT of the original source code for the world wide web, written by its inventor Tim Berners-Lee, has sold for $5.4m at Sotheby’s in an online auction, the auction house said on Wednesday.A non-fungible token (NFT) is a kind of crypto asset that records ownership of digital items, and has recently become a major asset in the creative world, with NFTs of artwork, music and internet memes selling for millions of dollars. Continue reading...
The tech giant’s move to combat fraud and dodgy ads has taken too long. The online safety bill must change“We are committed to leading the necessary changes to help fight online scammers,” trumpeted Google’s UK managing director, Ronan Harris, this week, as if the tech giant were somehow a pioneer of a crackdown on online financial fraud and adverts offering “bonds” with implausibly high rates of interest.The reality is that Google’s harder approach has taken an age to appear. It was 18 months ago that the frustration of Andrew Bailey, then the chief executive of the FCA, boiled over. He called for “more assistance from the big internet service companies, particularly Google” on taking down obviously dodgy adverts quickly. If a bank or a regulated financial institution had received such a public shaming, immediate action would be expected. Continue reading...
Portugal footballer can command as much as $1.6m to endorse a product on social mediaCristiano Ronaldo has shot to the top of Instagram’s annual rich list of celebrities who can charge the most for a sponsored post, with the footballer able to command as much as $1.6m (£1.2m) to endorse a product on social media.The Portugal captain, who rattled the Euro 2020 sponsor Coca-Cola by removing its drinks from view at a post-match press conference, has been crowned king of the influencers in a list that includes the wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and the singer Ariana Grande. Continue reading...
Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of taking pictures of the moonWhen a full moon rises, many people will pull out their mobile phones to try and get an Instagram-worthy photograph, but unfortunately it’s really challenging to take a great picture of the moon.Two reasons: it is very far away and unless you have a telephoto lens (which makes the moon appear closer than it is) it will always appear as a very small glowing dot in the frame. Continue reading...
Michael Cole says urban air mobility could free up congestion and help with emissions in citiesFlying cars will be a reality in cities around the globe by the end of this decade, according to a leading car manufacturer, and will help to reduce congestion and cut vehicle emissions.Michael Cole, the chief executive of the European operations of South Korean carmarker Hyundai, said the firm had made some “very significant investments” in urban air mobility, adding: “We believe it really is part of the future”. Continue reading...
During the pandemic many workers have felt more under siege than ever from work emails that arrive at all hours. Could the legal right to disconnect help?For 10 years, Jonathan has been available on email. He receives messages as early as 6am and as late as midnight, and steadily for a 12-hour stretch every day. And right from when he first became a lawyer, the clear expectation was that he would do his best to read them as soon as they came in.“When you get these emails on your phone, as we all do now, the pressure externally and internally to do something is huge,” Jonathan, 41, from north-west England, says. Continue reading...
Telco says 75% of population now able to access new technology and most regional communities welcome extra coverageCovid-19 conspiracy theories and protests did not prevent Telstra from ramping up its 5G network construction over the past year, with 75% of the population now able to access the new technology.In the past year, despite lockdowns and restrictions, Telstra was able to keep up construction of its new 5G network. The telecommunications company now has 5G in more than 200 cities and towns, and at least 50% coverage in more than 2,700 suburbs. Continue reading...
It was more than seven months ago, but it still can’t say when I’ll get my moneyCan you please ask Hackney council to pay the £1,071 in council tax it owes me? It claims it can’t because it faced a big cyber-attack more than seven months ago.I moved out of the borough in August 2020 and filled in the required form to let it know that I would no longer be paying council tax. I received an email receipt and assumed my direct debits would be cancelled. However, in early May, I discovered it was still taking £119 from my account each month. Continue reading...
Faced with so much new music, major labels are using algorithms to hunt down tomorrow’s hits. Is this great news for rising stars – or the recipe for a bland new future?One lunchtime about three years ago, Hazel Savage and Aron Pettersson set a new piece of software running on a laptop then went to a nearby mall for a sandwich. They hoped, on their return, to have the answer to a question that would change the music industry: can a computer pick a hit record?The pair had just founded their firm, Musiio, in Singapore’s Boat Quay district. Pettersson, who is Swedish, was a specialist in artificial intelligence (AI) with a background in neuroscience; Savage, a British music industry professional with tech pedigree, had worked for Shazam and the Pandora streaming service. They let their software loose on the Free Music Archive, one of the world’s largest collections of copyright-free songs. These are written by little-known artists and commonly used for soundtracks and podcasts. They asked their computer to pick 20 songs from the archive, based on their similarity to a tune Savage liked: I Wanted Everything by the US indie star Kurt Vile. Back in the office, they listened. “Every song was great,” says Savage, “and every song was of a similar genre.” Continue reading...
FCA steps up oversight amid warning to consumers about platformBritain’s financial regulator has ordered Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, to stop all regulated activity and issued a warning to consumers about the platform, which is coming under growing scrutiny globally.In a notice dated 25 June, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Binance Markets Ltd, Binance’s UK entity, “must not, without the prior written consent of the FCA, carry out any regulated activities … with immediate effect”. Continue reading...
Forget schools or a nice pub nearby. A good internet connection is a top priority. But not all properties are equalIt used to be that demand for homes centred on the proximity to good schools, or how close they were to a nice restaurant or pub. Now, before they sign on the dotted line, homebuyers want to ensure they can download a film quickly, or check their work emails without interruption.Access to reliable and fast broadband is one of the key priorities as working from home looks set to become a more permanent arrangement for many. And a surge of interest in people wanting to move to the country has been coupled with demand for good internet in areas that might otherwise have weak connections. Continue reading...
Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of taking pictures of the moonWhen a full moon rises, many people will pull out their mobile phones to try and get an Instagram-worthy photograph, but unfortunately it’s really challenging to take a great picture of the moon.Two reasons: it is very far away and unless you have a telephoto lens (which makes the moon appear closer than it is) it will always appear as a very small glowing dot in the frame. Continue reading...
Change affecting all firms apart from game developers will increase pressure on Apple and GoogleMicrosoft will no longer force companies to pay it a cut of their revenue if they want a place on the Windows app store, the company has announced, in a move calculated to increase the regulatory pressure on Apple and Google’s mobile duopoly.As part of the shift to Windows 11, unveiled on Thursday, the company will allow developers to use their own payment systems on apps they sell through the Windows store. Those who do will not have to pay a penny to Microsoft. Continue reading...
At this stage, being a parent is more about negotiation and trust, says Annalisa Barbieri. Sit down as a family and talk about it – make rules togetherI have two children, aged nine and 11. We’ve always limited their tech but just before the pandemic, we bought them tablets to give them access to education, entertainment and their friends. Then I became concerned about their increasing use and placed more limits on screen time.Full disclosure: I am a phone addict. So I introduced a rule where we all put our devices in a box when we aren’t using them (I break this rule most). During the last lockdown, we got my older child a phone. She had already asked for TikTok – her friends all had it, but I refused because it has all sorts of age-inappropriate stuff. However, that was how her friends communicated, so I allowed it as long as it was a private account on my device, so I could monitor it and her messages. She agreed to this reluctantly. I know I need to step back, but how do I do that without neglecting my duties as a parent? Continue reading...
Starting 13 July, a weekly newsletter from our UK tech editor, that will offer a unique insight into the goings on in Silicon Valley and beyond Continue reading...
Young TikTok users are sharing their passion for books with millions – bringing titles they love to life online and reshaping the publishing world, all in under a minuteIn August 2020, Kate Wilson, a 16-year-old from Shrewsbury, posted on the social media video platform TikTok a series of quotes from books she had read, “that say I love you, without actually saying I love you”. Set to a melancholy soundtrack, the short video plays out as Wilson, an A-level student, holds up copies of the books with the quotes superimposed over them. “You have been the last dream of my soul,” from A Tale of Two Cities. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” from Wuthering Heights. “Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own,” from Jane Eyre. It has been viewed more than 1.2m times.Wilson’s TikTok handle, @kateslibrary, is among the increasingly popular accounts posting on #BookTok, a corner of TikTok devoted to reading, which has clocked up 9.6bn views and counting, and has been described as the last wholesome place on the internet. Here, users – predominantly young women – post short videos inspired by the books they love. Those that do best are fun, snappy takes on literature and the experience of reading. “Books where the main character was sent to kill someone but they end up falling in love,” from @kateslibrary. “Things that bookworms do,” from @abbysbooks. “When you were 12 and your parents caught you crying over a book,” from @emilymiahreads. Continue reading...
Some refuse to choreograph Megan Thee Stallion song, highlighting how white users get credit for Black creativityA number of Black creators on TikTok are on indefinite “strike”, refusing to choreograph dances on the app to protest against the appropriation of their content by white users.The action has been focused on Megan Thee Stallion’s new song Thot Shit, which was released last week. There are 168,000 videos on TikTok using the song as of Thursday afternoon, but unlike WAP – Stallion and Cardi B’s last viral song – there is not a single trending dance to it. And that is deliberate, some creators say. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5KG25)
New version of PC software unveiled with fresh design, faster performance, longer battery life and more open storeMicrosoft has unveiled Windows 11 as it seeks to modernise the world’s most popular desktop software, add Android apps and improve gaming without alienating users.Announced during a livestream that had some technical issues, Windows 11 will replace Windows 10 and marks the biggest change to the 35-year-old operating system since 2015. Continue reading...
Michael Parsons was the best boss a young engineer could have. When asked for help on a complex problem, he would say, “Let’s go back to first principles,” and break the problem down into parts that could be analysed simply.With typical self-deprecation, he later said that he took this approach because he had a poor memory for more complex solutions. However, it ensured that advanced computer calculations for his cutting-edge bridge designs were always carefully “sense checked”, with the practicalities of construction taken into account. Continue reading...
Why have some brilliant innovations – from rolling luggage to electric cars – taken so long to come to market? Macho culture has a lot to answer forIn 1972 an American luggage executive unscrewed four castors from a wardrobe and fixed them to a suitcase. Then he put a strap on his contraption and trotted it gleefully around his house.This was how Bernard Sadow invented the world’s first rolling suitcase. It happened roughly 5,000 years after the invention of the wheel and barely one year after Nasa managed to put two men on the surface of the moon using the largest rocket ever built. We had driven an electric rover with wheels on a foreign heavenly body and even invented the hamster wheel. So why did it take us so long to put wheels on suitcases? This has become something of a classic mystery of innovation. Continue reading...
Firm should set example by using its videoconferencing tools to reduce flying, campaigners sayMicrosoft is being urged to limit its corporate travel to 2020 levels for good, to set an example that others can follow by using its videoconferencing tools to limit its impact on the environment.The Just Use Teams campaign, launched by a group of climate activists and Microsoft customers, says the company has spoken about the urgent need to tackle climate change but remains among the top 10 corporate flyers globally, despite being the only one to own and operate a videoconferencing platform. Continue reading...
We ask connoisseurs of comedy to provide a tasting plate from the smorgasbord of laughs. Greta Lee Jackson serves up this oneHello! I’m Greta Lee Jackson. You might know me from being in my activewear or having a massive go at celebrities during the pandemic. I’m a comedy content maker, meaning I try to make funny clips for TV and the internet. Having said that, I’m fairly confident that nothing I make will ever come close to the level of comedy that the following pieces of content achieve. I will forever be in awe of them, hauling them out whenever times get tough and I need cheering up, or I need inspiration, or just fancy feeling like an abject failure at my chosen profession.Related: Alex Gallagher: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet) Continue reading...
Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of shooting June’s super moonWith another full supermoon rising – this time the June ‘strawberry moon’ on Thursday night across the world – many people will pull out their mobile phones to try and get an Instagram-worthy photograph, but unfortunately it’s really challenging to take a great picture of the moon.Two reasons: it is very far away and unless you have a telephoto lens (which makes the moon appear closer than it is) it will always appear as a very small glowing dot in the frame. Continue reading...
Magnus von Horn’s contrived Polish drama about a fitness guru promises more in shock and character than it deliversIn theory, it should be possible to create a drama about a social media influencer and motivational fitness celebrity that isn’t all about the hidden loneliness and shame of her shallow existence. It should be possible to show such a person being a huge hit in public and perfectly content in private. But this movie from Polish director Magnus von Horn pretty much goes for route one, and despite some interesting touches, it promises much more in terms of shock and character insight than it ever really delivers, with some contrived and unconvincing plot transitions.Sylwia (Magdalena Koleśnik) has 600,000 followers for the Instagram account on which she obsessively posts, detailing every aspect of her day as a successful single woman, running colossally popular fitness events with her beefcake male assistant Klaudiusz (Julian Świeżewski). He clearly has a major thing for her, though at one crucial moment he shows a very implausible kind of restraint. She is living in a sleek apartment with her adorable dog, Jackson; there’s a new fitness DVD out and everything seems to be going well. Continue reading...
ITV News investigation prompts demand from politicians for meeting with UK manager to explain ‘wanton waste’Amazon is facing fresh political scrutiny after an undercover investigation showed thousands of unsold products, including laptops, TVs, headphones and books – in some cases still in their packaging – being destroyed by the company.The furore caused by the ITV News report led three Labour MPs, including the chairs of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) on digital skills and data poverty, to demand a meeting with John Boumphrey, the country manager UK at Amazon. Continue reading...
by Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Noah Payne-Fra on (#5K7F9)
Meet the man trying to pick up the pieces after being brutally fired by Hanks. Plus: an extraordinary investigation into sinister goings on at the British military training campMotherhacker
Auto regulators have opened probes into crashes involving 10 deaths where the company’s Autopilot system was in useUS safety regulators have opened 30 investigations into Tesla crashes involving 10 deaths since 2016 where an advanced driver assistance system was suspected to have been in use.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a list offering details about crashes under review by its special crash investigations programs. Continue reading...
FCA says the digital assets appear to have become more normalised and viewed less as a gambleThe number of UK adults who hold cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin has risen to an estimated 2.3 million, despite warnings from regulators and the head of the Bank of England that people should be prepared to lose all their money.Research by the Financial Conduct Authority also revealed that almost 20% of buyers said they were driven by a fear of missing out, while one in seven were going into the red to finance their cryptocurrency purchases. Continue reading...
With workers outside the ‘castle walls’ of their companies, criminals have it easier – and cryptocurrency hasn’t helpedRansomware has roared into the headlines in recent weeks after criminal hacking networks, tentatively linked to Russia, launched attacks on the major US meat packing plant JBS and the nation’s largest fuel pipeline.Joe Biden and his administration are scrambling to address the growing threat, pressing Vladimir Putin in a highly anticipated meeting on Wednesday to take action against the rise of ransomware attacks. Biden said he gave Putin a list of 16 areas – mostly in critical infrastructure - that are “off limits” for cyber-attacks. Continue reading...
Analysis of 20,000 mobile apps that ask for sensitive information shows that some track users across different platformsNine out of 10 mobile health apps collect and track user data, according to a new global study.The research published in the British Medical Journal conducted in-depth analysis of more than 20,000 mobile health apps on the Google Play Store, some of which require users to disclose sensitive health information, including step and calorie counters, apps that manage health conditions, symptom checkers and menstruation trackers. Continue reading...
Airbnb taskforce that ‘cleans up only after disaster strikes’ intervened after alleged attack, reports Bloomberg BusinessweekAn Australian woman who was allegedly raped at knifepoint in an Airbnb apartment in New York received a secret settlement of $7m which included restrictions on what she could say about the incident, according to a media investigation into the vacation listings giant’s “guest safety” policies .The 29-year-old was attacked in a property near the tourist magnet and central Manhattan crossroads of Times Square early on New Year’s Day in 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek reported, prompting the swift intervention of a dedicated Airbnb crisis management “taskforce”. Continue reading...
We asked citizens of the internet to send us the funniest things in their extremely online neighbourhood. Here’s what Alex Gallagher suppliedThere’s no way of dressing it up or making it out to be a more noble, onerous pursuit than it is: I am deeply online.In the decade and a half that I’ve been plugged into the mainframe I’ve increasingly developed a concerning Pavlovian response to the internet, wherein joy is analogous to whatever cursed content my cyber-spelunking has managed to unearth that day. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5K4E9)
Premium PC with new choice of faster chips, eight-hour battery, great keyboard and face recognitionMicrosoft’s sleek and stylish Surface Laptop is back for its fourth generation with faster performance and a greater variety of chips.The Surface Laptop 4 is available with either a 13.5in or a 15in screen and starts at £999 in the UK, $999 in the US or $1,599 in Australia sitting above the Surface Laptop Go as Microsoft’s mainstream premium notebook, competing with the similarly priced Dell XPS 13 and Apple MacBook Air, among others. Continue reading...
Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of photographing the moonWhen a full moon rises, many people will pull out their mobile phones to try and get an Instagram-worthy photograph, but unfortunately the moon is really challenging to get a great photo of.Two reasons: it is very far away and unless you have a telephoto lens (which makes the moon appear closer than it is) it will always appear as a very small glowing dot in the frame. Continue reading...
Will Cathcart likens governments’ stance to insisting a 1984 telescreen be installed in every living roomGovernment attacks on WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption are akin to demands that an Orwellian telescreen be installed in every living room, the app’s head has said as it launches a major advertising campaign in defence of privacy.Will Cathcart told the Guardian in an interview that the abstract nature of digital communications can obscure huge violations of personal freedom. Continue reading...
by Dominic Rushe in New York and Julian Borger in Was on (#5K1DN)
The ransomware attack that caused long lines for fuel on the east coast was just part of a dramatic change in the scale and nature of foreign-based threatsIt’s been 40 years since Lisa Donnan has queued for gas. But last month the cybersecurity expert found herself joining the long lines of cars across the east coast of the US looking for fuel after the latest in a series of cyber-attacks had shut down the pipeline that provides fuel to 45% of the region.“The last time I did that was in the Iran crisis,” she said. “My dad had to wait with me.” Continue reading...
Yorkshire-based plant-burger and vegan sausage maker launches £5m crowdfunding drivePlant-based burger and sausage maker Meatless Farm is giving its customers the chance to put their money where their mouth is and invest in the fast-growing company, which hopes to follow in the footsteps of runaway “alt-food” successes such as Oatly.The £5m crowdfunding programme is the first time the Yorkshire-based company has offered retail investors the chance to invest with a starting stake of just £10. It comes at a time when eating meat-free meals a couple of times a week is no longer niche, according to its founder, Morten Toft Bech. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5K16C)
GCHQ cybersecurity boss sounds alarm over extortion by hackers who are mostly based in former Soviet statesRansomware represents the biggest threat to online security for most people and businesses in the UK, the head of GCHQ’s cybersecurity arm is to warn.Lindy Cameron, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, will say in a speech that the phenomenon, where hackers encrypt data and demand payment for it to be restored, is escalating and becoming increasingly professionalised. Continue reading...
The neuroscientist, broadcaster and author on the evolution of the brain, the mystery of consciousnesss, and why the next generation will be much smarter than usDavid Eagleman, 50, is an American neuroscientist, bestselling author and presenter of the BBC series The Brain, as well as co-founder and chief executive officer of Neosensory, which develops devices for sensory substitution. His area of speciality is brain plasticity, and that is the subject of his new book, Livewired, which examines how experience refashions the brain, and shows that it is a much more adaptable organ than previously thought.For the past half-century or more the brain has been spoken of in terms of a computer. What are the biggest flaws with that particular model?
The social media giant’s offer of free internet access ensures that mobile users stay where it can keep an eye on themThe security guru Bruce Schneier once famously observed that “surveillance is the business model of the internet”. Like all striking generalisations it was slightly too general: it was strictly true only if by “the internet” you meant the services of a certain number of giant tech companies, notably those of Facebook (including WhatsApp and Instagram), Google (including YouTube), Twitter and Amazon.The trouble is (and this is what gave Schneier’s aphorism its force) that for a large chunk of networked humanity, especially inhabitants of poorer countries, these walled gardens are indeed what people regard as “the internet”. And that’s no accident. Although Chinese smartphones are pretty cheap everywhere, mobile data tends to be prohibitively expensive in poor countries. So the deal offered by western tech companies is that data charges are low or zero if you access the internet via their apps, but expensive if you venture outside their walled gardens. Continue reading...
Companies are springing up all over the UK promising to deliver whatever you want in as little as 10 minutes. But what could we lose by never popping out for milk again?One Friday afternoon in May, Glenn Cobane, 40, who lives with his wife and two cats in Salford, did some grocery shopping: a loaf of bread, bananas, an avocado, cat food, chocolate brownies and some cans of beer. Rather than going to a nearby corner shop or walking a mile to the large Tesco Extra, he bought the food and drink from a new app called Weezy. He placed the order at 2.19pm. “I just sent the order, typed an email and then it arrived.” he says. It is now 2.27pm, and I’m standing on his doorstep beside the courier.“This is the third or fourth time I’ve used them in the past fortnight,” Cobane says. The Weezy delivery rider might have shaved a few minutes off the mile-long journey from the warehouse to Cobane’s house on his e-bike if he hadn’t had to wait for me to keep up. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#5JYFT)
Flotation values company at $2.2bn despite the fact its eVTOL aircraft is still to make its first test flightA UK startup that makes flying taxis is to float on the New York stock exchange as Virgin Atlantic and American Airlines placed orders for as many as 1,000 of its prototype electric aircraft.Vertical Aerospace, which is based in Bristol, said its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) could be in service by 2024, once safety regulators certify it. Developers believe eVTOLs will transform urban transport, offering on-demand flights in and between cities more quietly, cheaply and safely than helicopters. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian