by Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco and agencies on (#5B87R)
More than 1,500 researchers also sign letter after Black expert on ethics says Google tried to suppress her research on biasMore than 1,200 Google employees and more than 1,500 academic researchers are speaking out in protest after a prominent Black scientist studying the ethics of artificial intelligence said she was fired by Google after the company attempted to suppress her research and she criticized its diversity efforts.Timnit Gebru, who was the technical co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that she had been fired after sending an email to an internal group for women and allies working in the company’s AI unit. Continue reading...
The 15-year-old scientist has used technology to address contaminated drinking water, opioid addiction and cyberbullyingA 15-year-old scientist and inventor has been named as Time magazine’s first “kid of the year”.Gitanjali Rao, from Denver, Colorado, has invented new technologies across a range of fields, including a device that can identify lead in drinking water, and an app and Chrome extension that uses artificial intelligence to detect cyberbullying. Continue reading...
Sites such as Facebook will have to publicly disclose identity of people and entities funding such advertisingThe “dirty methods” of the Brexit referendum have been cited as a reason for new EU laws aimed at tackling disinformation and forcing online platforms including Facebook to publicly disclose the identity of people and entities funding political adverts.Věra Jourová, a vice president of the European commission, said the EU rule-book needed to be updated to deal with on-line political campaigning, as she unveiled draft legislation at a press conference in Brussels. Continue reading...
National Labor Relations Board files complaint over surveillance and termination after year-long inquiryGoogle violated US labor laws when it surveilled and terminated workers who organized employee protests, according to a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).The complaint was filed on Wednesday following a year-long investigation launched by terminated employees who filed a petition with the board in 2019, after hundreds of Google employees carried out internal protests and public demonstrations against Google’s work with US Customs and Border Protection. This came after a huge walkout in 2018 over the company’s handling of sexual harassment allegations. The Communications Workers of America union helped author the workers’ charges. Continue reading...
Sixteen years after its launch, World of Warcraft is finally introducing diverse skin tones, facial features and hairstyles. Game director Ion Hazzikostas explains why nowRecently, I’ve spent quite a lot of time pondering what an orc would look like with an afro. This, naturally, led to contemplation of an axe-afro-comb combo, and whether such a contraption would fall under blacksmithing or engineering.That’s because I’ve been playing Shadowlands, the eighth expansion to World of Warcraft. For Warcraft fans, there’s a lot to be excited about: the new game allows players to explore the afterlife – reviving classic characters such as Kael’thas Sunstrider – and introduces a new style of play in Torghast, a deliciously punishing dungeon that changes each time you visit. Continue reading...
You’ve got your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X – but what else do you need to experience the future of gaming? Here are the TVs and headsets we recommendThis month we welcomed a new video game generation with the thrilling (if rather limited) arrival of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 machines. Whether you’ve already received your shiny new console (and not a bag of cat food), or you’re hoping a plucky relative has managed to secure you one for Christmas, you might be wondering: what extra gadgets will I need to get the most out of this coming era?The good news is, your current flatscreen TV and gaming headset will almost certainly work fine with the new machines – you don’t have to rush out and buy anything else. But if you’re seeing this as an opportunity to update your whole gaming set-up, here are a few accessories we’ve tested and recommend. Continue reading...
It’s 130 years since Father Christmas first appeared in a department store. But this year is the strangest one yet – with virtual calls taking the place of shopping centre visits. Is it enough to keep the ho ho hos flowing?Five bearded men, dressed head to toe as Santa, wearing fur-trimmed face masks, file into an office building in London and sit behind wooden desks – laptops and webcams in front of them. The room has been made magical with the addition of a red and gold curtain, a snow-flecked Christmas tree and a stuffed penguin perched on top of some lockers. In years gone by these off-duty actors and former children’s TV presenters would have sat in department store grottos and worn out their knees taking the weight of Britain’s children. But they are here today to brush up their tech skills and learn how the in-store Santa can adapt and survive in the middle of a pandemic.The seminar is led by James Lovell, a honey-voiced compere who straddles the line between practical teaching and keeping up the illusion of snow and elves. He leads the five Santas through exercises and practical advice on how to handle the intricacies of online video calls. The Santas pepper Lovell and a tech expert with questions about how they will see the children in their virtual grottos. Continue reading...
Program solves scientific problem in ‘stunning advance’ for understanding machinery of lifeHaving risen to fame on its superhuman performance at playing games, the artificial intelligence group DeepMind has cracked a serious scientific problem that has stumped researchers for half a century.With its latest AI program, AlphaFold, the company and research laboratory showed it can predict how proteins fold into 3D shapes, a fiendishly complex process that is fundamental to understanding the biological machinery of life. Continue reading...
Digital secretary says he is setting ‘clear path for complete removal of high risk vendors’ from 5G networksTelecoms providers must stop installing Huawei equipment in the UK’s 5G networks from next September, the government has said.The digital secretary, Oliver Dowden, set out a roadmap to remove high-risk vendors ahead of the telecommunications (security) bill coming before parliament. Continue reading...
A new hunger for social contact during lockdown has boosted participation in online multiplayer gamesIf “sus” and “vent” mean nothing to you, then you’ve somehow missed out on the smash-hit multiplayer game Among Us. But with numbers playing the online game heading towards 100 million, maybe you’ll find out before Christmas how good you are at being an “impostor” .For the uninitiated, Among Us is the sleeper game hit of 2020. The premise is simple: it’s Cluedo or Wink Murder on a spaceship with four to 10 players of crewmates and impostors. The crewmates perform simple tasks for take-off, while impostors sabotage operations and kill other players. Impostors are the only players who can travel through vents – hence the significance of vent in Among Us. Gamers hold meetings to pick a suspect – which is where the word sus comes in – to jettison. The aim is to catch the impostors. Continue reading...
I thought I’d tried everything for my insomnia, but then I found Tamara LevittYou all know how much I love 80s movies, and the one rule of 80s movies is that there is always a sequel. So consider this a sequel column. It might not be up there with The Empire Strikes Back, but I reckon it equals the emotional drama of Ghostbusters II.Back in March, I wrote about my lack of sleep, due to my sleep-resistant baby. Well, funny how that story turned out! The baby is now sleep-trained, but I have managed to un-sleep-train myself. “Is there greater hell than this?” I’d wonder, soothing a bawling baby at 4.13am, but if there’s one thing 2020 has taught us, it’s that the answer to that question is always yes. What’s worse than being kept awake by your baby? Being kept awake by your own fritzed-out brain, while that treacherous little baby sleeps peacefully. I’ve considered demanding she now soothe me – a bit of quid pro quo here, baby – but I’m not sure she can sling me over her shoulder. Continue reading...
Alok Sharma says dominance of a few big companies hurts innovation and curtails customer choiceA new tech regulator will work to limit the power of Google, Facebook and other tech platforms, the government has announced, in an effort to ensure a level playing field for smaller competitors and a fair market for consumers.Under the plans, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will gain a dedicated Digital Markets Unit, empowered to write and enforce a new code of practice on technology companies which will set out the limits of acceptable behaviour. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5AWBT)
Giant iPhone has two-day battery, better camera, massive screen and much-improved ergonomicsThe iPhone 12 Pro Max is the biggest, heaviest and most expensive version of Apple’s smartphone for 2020, a beast in every dimension.The top-of-the-range iPhone costs from £1,099 and sits above the 12 Pro (£999), the 12 (£799) and 12 mini (£699). Continue reading...
Global retailers should help collect, recycle and repair tech products, say MPsGlobal giants such as Amazon and Apple should be made responsible for helping to collect, recycle and repair their products to cut the 155,000 tonnes of electronic waste being thrown away each year in the UK, MPs say.An investigation by the environmental audit committee found the UK is lagging behind other countries and failing to create a circular economy in electronic waste. The UK creates the second highest levels of electronic waste in the world, after Norway. But MPs said the UK was not collecting and treating much of this waste properly. Continue reading...
Thomas Moyer allegedly attempted to obtain concealed firearms licences for company employeesApple’s global head of security has been accused of trying to bribe police with hundreds of free iPads in order to obtain concealed firearms licences for company employees.Prosecutors in California allege that two officers were involved in a scam where they denied licences to carry concealed weapons (CCW) to applicants unless they offered something in return. Continue reading...
World’s biggest cryptocurrency has become more attractive to investors in Covid crisisThe price of bitcoin has broken through $19,000 for the first time in almost three years, taking the world’s biggest cryptocurrency close to its all-time high of just under $20,000.Bitcoin has surged by almost 40% in November and is up about 160% this year. It reached a peak of just under $20,000 in December 2017, before crashing spectacularly, losing a quarter of its value in a single day. Continue reading...
It spanned the River Eamont for over 250 years, then Storm Desmond swept it away. Now Pooley Bridge has been rebuilt – and a local delicacy must be updatedWhen Pooley Bridge lost its namesake crossing to the torrential floods of Storm Desmond in 2015, the picturesque Lake District village was robbed of more than just a route over the water. “It was like losing a well-loved relative,” says Miles MacInnes, chairman of the parish council. “Our community was split in two.” It was the symbol of the place, the essence of the community’s identity. As one local resident said: “We’ll have to call ourselves Pooley No Bridge now!”At Granny Dowbekin’s Tearooms, which had overlooked the historic bridge for generations, there was another dilemma. What would become of their trademark hand-baked delicacy, the Pooley Gingerbridge biscuit? “We’ll have to sell it in bits,” said baker Sarah Fowler. Continue reading...
… but a ‘seismic’ shift in Covid shopping habits will mean a cold Christmas for the actual high streetCoronavirus may be doing its best to cancel Christmas but, for the time being anyway, shoppers are carrying on regardless, with this week’s Black Friday online sales expected to reach new heights.In previous years, store chiefs have agonised about the impact on their high street chains of the US-inspired discount event, which arrived on British shores with a bang in 2013. But come this (Black) Friday, selling online will – for anything other than essentials – be the only game in town for retailers, whose shops may by then be closed in three of the four home nations. Continue reading...
You want to look so visually enticing that your boss won’t notice you’ve been saying the same thing, in different ways, for the last seven minutesWell, here we are. Week 2,057 of working from home. How’s it going? Is your posture resembling a crumbling question mark yet? Have you become depressed because the biggest dilemma of your day will be which flavour crisp you’ll go for? Are you a millisecond from Googling “quickie divorces”?One person who is loving this strange era must be Mr Zoom. Despite many of us wanting to silently scream at every new invitation link, video conferences and meetings remain inescapable. And the platforms proliferate. There’s your Google Meet, your BlueJeans and there is Zoom – the one where the etiquette still confuses me. Am I allowed to change my background to a wall-sized photo of the young Drew Barrymore at Studio 54, or is that considered rude? Continue reading...
by Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Danielle Steph on (#5AME1)
Louder Than A Riot from NPR considers a majority-black musical genre – through the lens of the justice system. Plus: the dark side of orgasmic meditationLouder Than A Riot
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5AJTZ)
Mini phone crams most of iPhone 12 into small body but screen may be too small for manyApple’s latest smartphone range has a surprise entry in the form of the iPhone 12 mini, which is a genuinely smaller phone with very few compromises.The phone costs from £699 and is the cheapest of Apple’s new smartphone line sitting below the £799 iPhone 12, the £999 12 Pro and the £1,099 12 Pro Max. Continue reading...
From the tomb of Tutankhamun to Raphael’s Sistine masterpieces, Adam Lowe makes perfect copies for governments and galleries the world over. But he’s not a forger – he’s a liberatorThe grandest spaces in the whole of the mighty Victoria and Albert Museum are the Cast Courts, built high enough to hold a full-scale replica of Trajan’s Column in Rome, which is colossal even in two pieces. No less imposing are the London museum’s 19th-century copies of Michelangelo’s David, not to mention its duplicates of Viking carvings and even the entire front of a Spanish cathedral. All these casts, which were recently cleaned, are a curious spectacle. Why did the Victorians create such a comprehensive “virtual art” collection? To make a clever point about a copy being just as good as the real thing – or simply to bring great work to the people?But there’s one exhibit here that brings the world of the fake, and all the questions the subject provokes, up to date: an eerily precise 3D print of a nude statue of Pauline Bonaparte, sister of French military leader Napoleon, by the neo-classical artist Canova. This lovely replica is the work of British-born, Madrid-based artist and tech pioneer Adam Lowe. By placing it here, the V&A is recognising that Lowe is reinventing the much misunderstood practice of copying. Indeed, Lowe takes the fine art remake to such heights of accuracy, sensitivity and detail that even experts are fooled. Far from being derided as cynical forgeries, though, his copies are hailed by this and other museums as opening up new ways of understanding and enjoying masterpieces. Continue reading...
Growing up on a farm in Virginia during segregation, West knew education would be her means of escape. But she didn’t know her quiet work on a naval base would change lives around the worldGladys West knew from a young age that she didn’t want to be a farmer. But the mathematician, born in 1930 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, still had to help harvest crops on her family’s small farm. The hard work started before daybreak and lasted well into the blistering heat of the afternoon. She hated the dirt but, while she worked, she kept her mind on the building behind the trees at the end of the farm. It was her school, and even then she knew it would be her ticket to freedom.“I was gonna get an education and I was going to get out of there. I wasn’t going to be stuck there all my life,” West, 89, says firmly, on Zoom in her home in Virginia. Continue reading...
Workers are calling for hazard pay for moderators required to return to offices, plus better healthcare and mental health supportMore than 200 Facebook workers have signed a letter demanding better treatment for content moderators after some said they were required to return to the office even as the coronavirus crisis deepens. Continue reading...
We asked Australian comedians what they find funny online. Benjamin Law reckons he isn’t a comedian, but still sent us this hilarious, sweary listFirst up, I need to come clean: unlike all the fine people who’ve contributed to this series so far, I’m not technically a comedian. Also, I acknowledge that constantly being mistaken for one represents a stain on the Australian comedy industry and I apologise for that – I’m always learning, I’m committed to listening and will try to do better, etc.But as a writer and broadcaster who spends way too much time online, I delight in all the delightful, surreal and absolutely rank stuff I’ve reaped from the internet over the roughly 12,000 years I’ve been online, and I’m happy to share some of my bountiful harvest now. Continue reading...
The tech giant says it will halve its commission to 15% for smaller developers from January 2021Apple has announced it will reduce the cut it takes from every in-app purchase by half for developers that make up to US$1m (A$1.37m) per year, as the company faces a new lawsuit from the makers of Fortnite over the practice.Apple currently takes a 30% commission on paid apps and for sales made within apps running on iOS on iPhones and iPads. Continue reading...
Four-fold rise since March edges towards all-time record as cryptocurrency gains greater acceptanceBitcoin, the world’s best known cryptocurrency, jumped above $17,000 to a three-year high on Tuesday as a growing number of investors backed it as an alternative to other assets.The currency climbed more than 4% to $17,492, its highest level since December 2017 and more than four times higher than the price in March when heavy selling sent its value below $4,000. Continue reading...
Users can disable features such as Smart Reply that use personal data to improve experienceGmail users will finally be able to easily opt out of “smart” features that use their personal data to improve the experience, the company has announced, as it seeks to reassure regulators around the world that it offers genuine user choice around how it processes data.Once it launches, a single setting on Gmail will ask users to decide whether to “turn off smart features” for their email accounts, disabling the personalisation that powers features including Smart Compose and Smart Reply. A second setting will also enable users to opt out of sharing their Gmail data with other Google services such as Maps and Assistant. Continue reading...
Tool that lets advertisers track users created without consent, says activist Max SchremsThe consumer rights activist Max Schrems has filed a formal privacy case against Apple, arguing that an ID generated by iPhones that lets advertisers track users violates privacy regulations.Schrems, whose lawsuit against Facebook led to a landmark ruling restricting data transfers from the EU to the US, has made the case through his privacy rights non-profit Noyb, which has filed formal complaints in Spain and Berlin against Apple. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5AFJF)
Tried and tested neckband wireless earbuds have more cable than AirPods but at less than half the priceThe Beats Flex are Apple’s latest neckband Bluetooth earbuds, and bring many of the fancy features of its AirPods to headphones costing just one third of the price.The new Beats cost £49.99 and replace the £129 Beats X as the firm’s cheapest wireless earbuds, sitting below the £129.95 Powerbeats, and Apple’s £129 AirPods. Continue reading...
Nationals MP Anne Webster, her husband and not-for-profit group targeted by ‘disgraceful and inexplicable’ postsFacebook has apologised to Nationals MP Anne Webster over months-long delays in responding to reports of abuse she received from an online conspiracy theorist that led to an $875,000 defamation payout order.In September, federal court justice Jacqueline Gleeson ordered the payout to the first-term Mildura MP over Facebook posts in April by Australian conspiracy theorist Karen Brewer. The posts were shared hundreds of times and falsely accused Webster of being “a member of a secretive paedophile network” who had been “parachuted into parliament to protect a past generation of paedophiles”. Continue reading...
It’s a question that has raged since the 90s, with conflicting claims about the species of one of Nintendo’s best-loved charactersIn the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been burning to know the answer to – and settle it, once and for allOver the course of almost three decades playing video games and 15 years writing about them, I have seen a few recurrent questions that just refuse to die. Are video games art? (Yes, when they want to be.) Is Sonic better than Mario? (Obviously not: Sonic has only starred in about three good games since 1991.) Does playing games turn you into a sociopathic murderer? (No, but having to answer that question 4,000 times has certainly given me thoughts of mild violence.) But none has ever bothered me as much as this: is that Toad from Super Mario’s actual head, or is he wearing a mushroom hat? Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5AE2Y)
From Apple to Samsung, Amazon to Microsoft, there’s lots of options, starting from less than £100As the UK heads towards the holiday season, being able to easily entertain ourselves, read the news, play games and – more importantly than ever – video call our loved ones means having the right tablet can make a real difference.Unlike most laptops, tablets have fairly good video cameras, support apps and make it simple to fire up that Zoom call. Here are the best available across a range of budgets. Continue reading...
Research based on playing time data showed gamers reported greater wellbeingPlaying video games can be good for your mental health, a study from Oxford University has suggested, following a breakthrough collaboration in which academics at the university worked with actual gameplay data for the first time.The study, which focused on players of Nintendo’s springtime craze Animal Crossing, as well as EA’s shooter Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, found that people who played more games tended to report greater “wellbeing”, casting further doubt on reports that video gaming can harm mental health. Continue reading...
Winner of international prize, which had a record number of entries this year, to be announced on ThursdayFrom a well-timed recyclable PPE glove to a wheel-based device to cut “invisible” pollution from tyres, 20 groundbreaking designs by students across the world are in the running to be named on Thursday as the international winner of the annual James Dyson award.The prestigious accolade brings with it a £30,000 cash prize – and gives winners a chance to turn their innovation into a commercial product with real-world impact. One in five previous winners have gone on to commercialise a wide range of exotic inventions, including bionic arms, origami-style clothing and bio-reactive food labels. Continue reading...
Adult clubs such as NSFW and Killing Kittens are reporting booming interest in video hook-ups. Remember when virtual get-togethers were about meetings or cocktail parties?The Zoom honeymoon is over. So are Houseparty dinners where you plan to eat the same thing at the same time, then flake and eat some Doritos, then realise that you don’t especially want to chew on screen. No more online cocktail parties, where conversation mysteriously cannot flow and everyone takes it in turns to tell an inconsequential anecdote that is short, but never quite short enough. No more FaceTime quizzes, where you lackadaisically Google the answers on your phone, because the goodwill entailed in joining the call in the first place was about all you had in you.The only thing that has survived, apparently, is the virtual sex party. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Union survey finds 17% of drivers for Uber and other services sexually harassed or assaulted by passengersUber and other rideshare drivers are earning an average of $12 an hour during the Covid-19 pandemic, and 17% have been sexually harassed or assaulted by passengers, according to a new survey of the gig economy.A survey of 230 workers – 93% of whom work for Uber – has revealed a range of violent assaults, threats, racism and sexual harassment experienced by drivers. Continue reading...
Given the problems involved in regulating the tech giants, the EU commission’s targeted investigation seems the smartest way to achieve resultsThe European commission has opened an antitrust investigation of Amazon, on the grounds that the company has breached EU antitrust rules against distorting competition in online retail markets. Amazon, says the commission, has been using its privileged access to non-public data of independent sellers who sell on its marketplace to benefit the parts of its own retail business that directly compete with those third-party sellers. The commission has also opened a second investigation into the possible preferential treatment of Amazon’s own retail offers compared with those of marketplace sellers that use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services.The good news about this is not so much that the EU is taking action as that it is doing so in an intelligently targeted manner. Too much of the discourse about tech companies in the last two years has been about “breaking them up”. But “break ’em up” is a slogan, not a policy, and it has a kind of Trumpian ring to it. The commission is avoiding that. Continue reading...
Having won in California, they will seek devastating victories elsewhereOne of the darker outcomes of 21st-century work life has been the predatory gig economy. Divorced from healthcare benefits and regular pay, millions of workers are told they are supposed to be lucky to drive passengers around in a car for ever-diminishing returns.Last week, there was hope that Proposition 22, a ballot measure that allows gig economy companies to continue treating drivers as independent contractors, would be defeated in California, an increasingly progressive state. But voters passed the measure overwhelmingly, thanks to obscene amounts of spending by Uber, Lyft, Seamless and DoorDash. Unleashing more than $200m – 10 times the amount of the proposition’s opponents, like labor unions – the coalition of tech giants easily drowned out those fighting for the rights of workers. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5AARR)
Apple’s big update adds colour, iPhone-like icons, settings and apps, ready for new and old Macs alikeApple has just released Big Sur as a free update, marking the biggest redesign for macOS in years. The core system of every Mac computer is now equal parts traditional desktop computer and features many will be used to seeing from the iPad and iPhone.Big Sur marks the end of an era for the Mac’s software in more ways than one. For years Apple has been slowly blending the design and operation of its desktop and mobile software, bringing features from the iPhone or iPad to the Mac and vice versa. With Big Sur comes a significant step toward the goal of merging the two. Continue reading...
by Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Charlie Philli on (#5AAQ9)
Journalists Simran Hans and Tara Joshi offer smart analysis as well as nostalgia in Twenty Twenty. Plus: more ‘badman language’ and general larks with the Kurupt FM crewThe Art of Asking Everything
Technology | The Guardian