UK watchdog opens inquiry over claims US firm is imposing ‘anti-competitive’ terms on app developersBritain’s competition regulator has opened an investigation into Apple over claims the company is using its control over the App Store to impose “unfair and anti-competitive” terms on app developers.The Competition and Markets Authority announced the investigation on Thursday morning. It says it decided to investigate based on its own work in the digital sector, “as well as several developers reporting that Apple’s terms and conditions are unfair and could break competition law”. Continue reading...

Tori Dunlap, a self-proclaimed personal finance expert, and Shaunna Burns, a former debt collector, tell people how to gain control of debt in 15-60 seconds

Is smartphone tracking a less intrusive reward for good behaviour or just a way to enrich the incarceration industry?

Store in Ealing, west London, is available to app users who must scan in phone code to enterAmazon has opened its first “just walk out” grocery store in the UK where shoppers can pick up their goods and leave without having to visit a till.The Amazon Fresh store in Ealing, west London, is a “contactless” shop available to anyone signed up to Amazon and with the app on their phone. Customers must scan in a code on their phone to gain entry. Continue reading...

Companies such as Google and Facebook appear to be aiding and abetting a vicious government campaign against Indian environmental campaigners

Xi Jinping wants ‘positive energy’ but critics say the surveillance tools’ racial bias and monitoring for anger or sadness should be banned“Ordinary people here in China aren’t happy about this technology but they have no choice. If the police say there have to be cameras in a community, people will just have to live with it. There’s always that demand and we’re here to fulfil it.”So says Chen Wei at Taigusys, a company specialising in emotion recognition technology, the latest evolution in the broader world of surveillance systems that play a part in nearly every aspect of Chinese society. Continue reading...

Former Guardian editor, who is on board, says it intends to broaden its remit and examine network’s AIFacebook’s Oversight Board is trying to gain access to the social network’s curation algorithm to understand how it works, according to Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian and a member of the quasi-independent body.Rusbridger, who is one of 20 founding members of the Oversight Board, said the body intended to broaden its remit beyond simply assessing Facebook’s decisions to remove or retain content. Continue reading...

Clerk who hosted explosive parish council meeting makes point about diversity in music trackJackie Weaver might have no authority, but she’s got the grooves.The 62-year-old parish council clerk who became an internet sensation after a car crash Zoom meeting has now cut her first dance track, to help raise awareness of the lack of diversity and representation at local government level. Continue reading...

Mughal palaces, Egyptian tombs and modernist masterpieces can be experienced in VR tours that depart from your sofaWhile our lives have mostly shrunk to our own four walls – besides the sneak peek of others’ homes glimpsed via Zoom – we can still step into other worlds virtually. Stately homes and fortresses, from Blenheim Palace to Bran Castle (of Dracula fame) have opened digital portals allowing anyone with a laptop the chance to snoop around, without getting off the sofa. Here are 10 of my favourite colourful buildings from the vast eclectic trove online. Continue reading...

Research finds students who showed signs of addiction were also highly likely to suffer from poor sleepAlmost four in 10 university students are addicted to their smartphones, and their habit plays havoc with their sleep, research has found.A study of 1,043 students aged 18-30 at King’s College London found that 406 (38.9%) displayed symptoms of smartphone addiction, as defined by a clinical tool devised to diagnose the problem. Continue reading...

Company expands efforts against coronavirus falsehoods amid fears over spread of anti-vax material onlineTwitter is expanding its use of warning labels on tweets that contain misleading details about coronavirus vaccines.Related: CDC chief warns of 'potential fourth surge' and urges US to keep Covid rules Continue reading...

Company announces revenues of $2.6bn with little sign of slowing, but vaccines could change pictureA year of working from home may have driven many of us to the brink but it’s been great news for Zoom, the video conferencing business.On Monday, the company announced its revenues had soared 326% year-over-year to $2.6bn and there was little sign of slowing at the end of the year. Sales soared 369% in the last quarter to $882.5m. Continue reading...

Teenagers on TikTok are giving themselves makeovers based on their Republican or Democratic alter egosIf you’re on TikTok, you’ll know Gen Z can tell if you’re a millennial from a side part and skinny jeans. Now, a new TikTok trend suggests teenagers on the app know someone’s political standing from the way they use eyeliner.Dubbed the “Republican-sona” makeover, Gen Z is creating their “conservative alter egos” to the ironic soundtrack of “God Made Girls” by RaeLynn. Continue reading...

President does not mention retail giant by name but sends backing to ‘workers in Alabama’ currently voting on unionizationJoe Biden has offered tentative support to Amazon warehouse workers in the middle of a closely fought vote to unionize. If successful, the union would be the first for US warehouse workers of the online shopping behemoth.While Biden did not reference Amazon by name, in a video message released late Sunday he sent his support to “workers in Alabama”, where 5,800 employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer have until 29 March to vote on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Continue reading...

In a drama written by artificial intelligence, the computer’s imagination touches on themes of love and loneliness – but is mostly obsessed with sexKazuo Ishiguro, whose new novel Klara and the Sun is about artificial intelligence, has said he is worried about a time when an AI programme is able to write fiction “that can make me cry, that can show human emotions … that can have the capacity for empathy”.The first drama to be written by artificial intelligence shows we are a long way from that future. Ninety per cent of its “autobiographical” material has been generated from its depths while the remaining – human – touches are administered by a team of computer scientists, theatre-makers and academics. A partnership between the Czech Centre in London and Prague’s Švanda theatre, it is performed in Czech with English subtitles. Continue reading...

Service from MyHeritage uses deep learning technique to automatically animate faces

Michael Slaby calls Facebook and Google ‘two gorillas’ crushing the creativity needed to combat online conspiracy theoriesA former digital strategist for Barack Obama has demanded an end to big tech’s profit-driven optimization of outrage and called for regulators to curb online disinformation and division. Continue reading...

Tablet PC screen that folds like book or as dual-screen laptop is incredible piece of technology but not ready for mass marketLenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold is an entirely new form – a tablet PC that closes like a book with a foldable screen. It may just be the future of the computer.The £2,500-plus X1 Fold joins a rarefied group of cutting edge folding-screen devices that include the reinvention of the flip phone and a mobile tablet that folds in half to fit in your pocket. Continue reading...

Department of Justice said to have asked WhatsApp for details of alleged targeting of clients in 2019NSO Group appears to be facing renewed scrutiny by the US Department of Justice months after leading technology companies said the spyware maker was “powerful and dangerous” and should be held liable to the country’s anti-hacking laws.DoJ lawyers recently approached the messaging app WhatsApp with technical questions about the alleged targeting of 1,400 of its users by NSO Group’s government clients in 2019, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Continue reading...

Canberra’s parliamentary triangle springs to life after dark with majestic projections and illuminations as part of the 11th annual Enlighten festival, which lights up the grounds and walkways and reimagines the buildings as giant canvases Continue reading...

Unions say questions are designed to help get sympathetic changes in employment lawUber has been accused of using “loaded questions” in a consultation with drivers, after a landmark court ruling handed workers rights to improved conditions.The firm may have to pay out over £100m in compensation to 10,000 drivers, after the UK supreme court ruled last week they are entitled to holiday pay, a company pension and the national minimum wage. Uber has previously argued that its 60,000 UK drivers are self-employed independent contractors with limited employment rights. Continue reading...

Whether it’s the CIA or Facebook, lawyer and activist Cori Crider is never one to shy away from a fightIn July 2019, Cori Crider, a lawyer, investigator and activist, was introduced to a former Facebook employee whose work monitoring graphic content on the world’s largest social media platform had left deep psychological scars. As the moderator described the fallout of spending each day watching gruesome footage, Crider was first struck by the depth of their pain, and then by a creeping sense of recognition.After a 15-year career defending detainees of Guantanamo Bay, Crider had learned the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder. But unlike Crider’s previous clients, the moderator had not been tortured, extradited or detained. They had simply watched videos to decide if they were appropriate for public consumption. Continue reading...

Constantly being confronted with an image of yourself while video conferencing can be exhausting, says expert

The company’s clash with Australia’s government has left clues as to how US legislation might rein in its vast influenceFacebook’s dramatic decision last week to block news from being shared to its users in Australia is already seeing global legislative aftershocks and may present new challenges for the company in the US.Facebook in mid-February banned Australian news organizations from posting content on the platform and barred users based in Australia from linking to news articles from Australian and international outlets. The move came in response to proposed legislation in the country that would require platforms to pay publishers if news content was posted on their sites. Continue reading...

Bitcoin mining – the process in which a bitcoin is awarded to a computer that solves a complex series of algorithm – is a deeply energy intensive processIt’s not just the value of bitcoin that has soared in the last year – so has the huge amount of energy it consumes.The cryptocurrency’s value has dipped recently after passing a high of $50,000 but the energy used to create it has continued to soar during its epic rise, climbing to the equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of Argentina, according to Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a tool from researchers at Cambridge University that measures the currency’s energy use. Continue reading...

Oliver Dowden hints at further regulation of tech firms after meeting with Facebook’s Nick CleggThe UK culture secretary has said Facebook’s recent decision to ban Australian users from accessing news on its platform was concerning, and said the firm was “putting its bottom line above the public interest”.Oliver Dowden suggested he was minded to pursue tougher regulation after a meeting on Thursday night with Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister who is now Facebook’s vice-president for communications. Continue reading...

‘Non-fungible tokens’ are unique images, clips or poems traded online for increasingly large sumsPudding Daintytot is a pink cat, with hearts sprinkled over its chest, a rainbow cresting behind it, draconic horns, wings and a tail.“Born” in January 2019, Pudding is a “cryptokitty”: an example of what is known as a “non-fungible token”, the latest cryptocurrency craze – unique images, film clips, animations and even poems, which are bought and sold online for increasingly large sums. Continue reading...

Welcome to Your Fantasy unearths the intrigue and murder lurking within the world of the male dance troupe. Plus: 80s love stories, and Reply All exits The Test KitchenWelcome to Your Fantasy

Social media network also announces ‘Spaces’, a Clubhouse competitor that lets users participate in audio chatsTwitter has announced it will launch a “super follow” feature, which lets users charge followers for access to exclusive content, later this year.The move comes as Twitter is branching out from advertising to find more ways to make money — both for itself and for its most prolific users. Continue reading...

Select committee to investigate rise in annual deaths, claiming public confidence is falteringSmart motorways are to come under further scrutiny as MPs launch a fresh inquiry into their benefits and dangers, just weeks after a coroner referred Highways England to prosecutors for possible corporate manslaughter after the death of a motorist on the M1.The Commons transport select committee is to investigate the roads after a further rise in annual deaths, claiming public confidence is faltering. Continue reading...

Independent publishers Schwartz Media, Private Media and Solstice Media sign deals with the tech giantFacebook has returned news to Australian users after an eight day blackout and standoff with the federal government.Last week, the social media giant stripped all news from its platform for more than 13 million users and inadvertently blocked information and government pages, including health and emergency services. Continue reading...

It was meant to provide theatres with a lifeline during Covid. But livestreaming is now giving them extraordinary reach. Can it be sustained – and could it turn out to be a new existential threat?As Christmas season dawned at the end of last year, two American critics had a crash course in that most British of theatre traditions, pantomime, dropping in remotely to eight shows for the New York Times. “I felt like an ethnographer studying a foreign culture’s strange ceremonies,” wrote one, while the other enjoyed the peppering of Covid-related jokes, including the insertion of “fiiiiiive toilet rolls” into The 12 Days of Christmas.The song featured in Oh Yes We Are!, Perth theatre’s four-scene mini-panto intended for small groups in a promenade performance, after the first lockdown made its Cinderella, on a conventional stage, impossible. But just as rehearsals were due to begin, new restrictions forced it online. Continue reading...

Jeremy Fleming’s comments come as agency endeavours to placate critics of bulk surveillance activitiesGCHQ’s director has said artificial intelligence software could have a profound impact on the way it operates, from spotting otherwise missed clues to thwart terror plots to better identifying the sources of fake news and computer viruses.Jeremy Fleming’s remarks came as the spy agency prepared to publish a rare paper on Thursday defending its use of machine-learning technology to placate critics concerned about its bulk surveillance activities. Continue reading...

Communications chief defends reversed ban, saying it is unfair to force tech firms to pay for news contentFacebook “erred on the side of over-enforcement” in removing links to hundreds of non-media organisations in Australia, Nick Clegg has admitted, in a blogpost defending the social media company’s short-lived news ban there.The former UK deputy prime minister, now Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs and communications, said the tech firm had been “forced into [the] position” of blocking content designated as news after the Australian government refused to back down over plans to require it to negotiate with news publishers for payment for content. Continue reading...

True scope of the breach, which affected 100 companies and several federal agencies, is still unknownTech executives revealed that a historic cybersecurity breach that affected about 100 US companies and nine federal agencies was larger and more sophisticated than previously known.The revelations came during a hearing of the US Senate’s select committee on intelligence on Tuesday on last year’s hack of SolarWinds, a Texas-based software company. Using SolarWinds and Microsoft programs, hackers believed to be working for Russia were able to infiltrate the companies and government agencies. Servers run by Amazon were also used in the cyber-attack, but that company declined to send representatives to the hearing. Continue reading...

The video game giant renews its commitment to VR and says launch date will be some time after 2021Sony has announced a next-generation VR headset for its PlayStation 5 console, launching some time after 2021. The original PlayStation VR headset was released for the PlayStation 4 in October 2016. Though less powerful than the PC-powered Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets that arrived the same year, it was easier to use and proved popular with players, selling 5m by the end of 2020.Sony supported the technology with a quirky selection of games from its studios, including Moss, an adventure game about a tiny mouse, and AstroBot Rescue Mission, a cute and innovative platformer featuring the tiny white robots that have become PlayStation mascots. Tetris Effect, a critically acclaimed, psychedelic VR version of the classic block-stacking puzzle game, also debuted on PSVR. Continue reading...

The developer’s BlizzCon virtual convention announced the return of classic games including World of Warcraft – and looked ahead to future releasesIn a normal year, Blizzard’s annual fan convention would have involved tens of thousands of cosplayers, esports pros, players and developers meeting and mingling in Anaheim, California. But, thanks to Covid, the video game developer was forced to postpone 2020’s convention and instead celebrate its 30th year with a virtual convention last weekend.Given this significant anniversary, it makes sense that many of the announcements were targeted at nostalgic fans. Three of Blizzard’s older titles (Lost Vikings, Rock & Roll Racing and Blackthorne) have been bundled together in the Blizzard Arcade Collection. World of Warcraft Classic, which takes players back to the venerable MMO’s earliest days, will get a recreation of its first expansion, Burning Crusade. And 2000’s beloved dungeon crawler Diablo II will be getting an HD remaster, releasing this year on to consoles, PC and Nintendo Switch as Diablo II Resurrected. Continue reading...

Workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are pushing for a union – and experts say if they triumph, it could pave the way to organizing fulfillment centers in other statesDarryl Richardson was delighted when he landed a job as a “picker” at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m going to work for Amazon, work for the richest man around,” he said. “I thought it would be a nice facility that would treat you right.” Continue reading...

Lawyers acting for claimants say firm’s statement after last week’s supreme court ruling is misleadingUber has been accused of trying to deter drivers from seeking compensation for missed holiday and minimum wage payments after a landmark court ruling.The taxi-hailing app may have to pay out more than £100m to more than 10,000 drivers involved in cases linked to a UK supreme court ruling on Friday that they must be classified as workers. Uber has previously argued that its 60,000 UK drivers are self-employed independent contractors with no right to holiday pay, a company pension or the national minimum wage. Continue reading...

Describing cancer | Fatberg weight | Word wheel | Lockdown sceptics | ZoomWith many years’ experience as a specialist oncology nurse, I have always felt strongly that it is not appropriate to describe a cancer experience with words associated with war (combat, battle, fight). Who has a choice with cancer? But what words should we use instead? Grace Dent described it well for me (British grief centres mainly around the making of sandwiches, 19 February). “Covid monster” and “ghoulish cousin, cancer” seems much more fitting – thank you.

Firm sets 15 May deadline to agree to new terms but will let notifications continue for short time afterwardsAfter an abortive attempt to change its privacy policy led to millions of users signing up for competing services, WhatsApp has said it will try for a second time to roll out the update in mid-May.In an effort to smooth the transition, WhatsApp will for the first time allow limited access to its services for users who do not agree to the new terms of service. From 15 May, those users will no longer be able to send or read messages but will continue to be able to receive calls and notifications for a “short time”. Continue reading...

Oliver Dowden expected to meet US firm as Downing Street says UK will ‘defend free speech and journalism’The UK government is “obviously concerned” at the repercussions of Facebook’s shutdown of large numbers of news and public information resources in Australia, Downing Street has said, confirming that the culture secretary will meet the US company this week.Oliver Dowden is “expecting to meet Facebook this week”, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said, adding that the date had yet to be confirmed. Continue reading...

A tongue-in-cheek game called Electric Zine Maker saved me from pandemic burnout – and gave me a new communityWhen I sit down to play games, I am always more drawn to peaceful, low-pressure environments than high-pace adventure. I like those where I get to make a difference but not necessarily through violence. I spend time on my lush island in Animal Crossing and am rewarded for the aesthetically appealing organisation of my furniture. In the stylised windows of Super Mario Maker, I own the very tools that composed some of the defining games of all time and can do whatever I want with them. The play is in the making.Creation games aren’t new; they go way back to the original SimCity and beyond. But in autumn 2019, during a period of intense, life-altering burnout, I came across Nathalie Lawhead’s Electric Zine Maker and it redefined what I thought I knew about play, creation and the art that can emerge from video game interfaces. Zine Maker is a clever, accessible tool in the disguise of a joyful toy. I had become sick from overwork and had resigned myself to transitioning careers, leaving writing fiction entirely to move into a more practical realm. I was convinced that the connection between the part of my brain that makes art and the part that produces joy was fried forever. But this game sparked it again. Continue reading...

Free app allowing access to 30,000 stations proves hit for audiences stuck at homeEver fancied listening to some pop music from Prague? Rock from Russia, or talk from Taiwan? With the pandemic limiting travel abroad, an online app has ignited the imagination of millions, allowing them to experience new sounds and travel the globe by radio.The free app, Radio Garden, which carries tens of thousands of radio stations broadcasting live 24 hours a day, has seen a huge spike in popularity during the Covid crisis. Its founders say in the past 30 days they had 15 million users, a 750% increase on the visitors they normally get in a month. Continue reading...

House of Lords has embraced Covid-safe representation more than Commons, but many MPs support changeWhen the House of Lords began holding virtual proceedings during the first lockdown last spring, there was a spate of videos popular on social media showing peers struggling with mute buttons or interrupted by computerised voices. But, 10 months on, it could be the upper house that has the last laugh.While the Commons and the Lords now hold so-called hybrid sittings, where members can participate in the chamber or by video link, it is the Lords – with an average age of 70 – that has seemingly embraced the modern era more thoroughly. Continue reading...

Technology that speeded the development of Covid vaccines has potential to transform the pharmaceutical industryThe hunt for new medicines has often been more like a game of roulette than high-end science. But now the pharmaceutical sector is on the cusp of a transformation, as it delves into cutting-edge technology to come up with new treatments for diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer’s.Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to improve the industry’s success rates and speed up drug discovery, potentially saving it billions of dollars, a recent survey by the analytics firm GlobalData has found. AI topped a list of technologies seen as having the greatest impact on the sector this year. Almost 100 partnerships have been struck between AI specialists and large pharma companies for drug discovery since 2015. Continue reading...

Multi-year agreement is one of more than 50 the tech giant has made with Australian media companiesGuardian Australia is the latest media company to strike a deal with Google to feature its journalism in the News Showcase product just days out from the Senate debating the federal government’s news media code.The multi-year commercial agreement was finalised after weeks of negotiation between Google and the Guardian’s leadership in Australia, as well as editorial and commercial staff in London. Continue reading...

Executive Simon Milner apologised after Facebook banned access to health accounts before coronavirus vaccine rollout

News remains blocked as satirical websites are reinstated and Qanon and anti-vaxxers continue to be unaffectedFacebook may wait up to a week before unblocking some of the pages of hundreds of non-media organisations caught up in its news ban, while anti-vaccination content and misinformation continues to run rampant on the social media platform.Content designated as news was blocked on Facebook in Australia on Thursday morning in response to the federal government’s news media code, which would require the tech giant to negotiate with news publishers for payment for content. Continue reading...

Politicians and news providers in UK and US condemn site after blocking access to media contentPoliticians, news providers and civil society groups in the UK and US have rounded on Facebook and said the company’s decision to block all media content on its platform in Australia should hasten moves to bring its powers under control.In a step condemned as “an attempt to bully a democracy” and “threatening to bring an entire country to its knees”, Facebook stopped its 18 million Australian users from viewing or sharing news stories overnight in an escalating row over whether it should have to pay media companies for its content. It said the new rules “ignore the realities” of its relationship with news publishers. Continue reading...