Google Australia's managing director Mel Silva has told a Senate committee the tech giant could remove its search engine from Australia if a code forcing the companies to negotiate payments to news media companies goes ahead. The threat comes as Google and Facebook are fighting against legislation currently before the parliament that would force the digital platforms to enter into negotiations with news media companies for payment for content. Prime minister Scott Morrison says his government will not respond to threats. 'Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia,' he says. 'And that’s how things work here in Australia and people who want to work with that, in Australia, you're very welcome'

The Apology Line tells the story of a confessional service which consumed the life of its creator. Plus: do ghosts exist – and are they in south London?The Apology Line

PC, Mac; Tim Sheinman

Social media company’s action makes a dent in follower count of a number of rightwing Australian politiciansOne Nation politicians including Pauline Hanson have suffered the biggest drop in followers of all Australian politicians as Twitter purged accounts associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory.Following the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January, Twitter announced it had suspended 70,000 accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory, after many of those involved in rioting at the Capitol espoused the fraudulent theory as their motivation. Continue reading...

Social media company aims to avoid liability over Cambridge Analytica scandal by arguing it does not collect or hold data in AustraliaFacebook is claiming it does not conduct business in Australia and does not collect and hold data in the country in its effort to avoid liability over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.Last year, the privacy commissioner took Facebook to court over an alleged mass privacy breach involving the use of Australians’ Facebook data in a vote-influencing operation involving Cambridge Analytica, a company that assisted the Trump campaign and was then headed by Trump’s key adviser Steve Bannon. Continue reading...

Georgia congresswoman is banned for 12 hours after berating her state’s election officials and making baseless election fraud claimsTwitter has temporarily suspended the account of the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has gained a large following on social media, in part by posting incendiary videos and comments.Greene, a Republican businesswoman, is the first candidate who expressed support for the baseless, far-right QAnon conspiracy theory to win a US House seat. Greene in November won the race for Georgia’s 14th congressional district after her Democratic opponent had dropped out. Continue reading...

The actor’s unexpected response to a complaint about an 18-year-old film could pave the way for big-name actors to personally insult Twitter usersOne of the most surprising new avenues to have formed for celebrities over the course of the pandemic has been Cameo. For the uninitiated, Cameo is a service where celebrities can create personalised messages for their fans. For £75, Hodor from Game of Thrones will wish you a happy birthday or – if you have £750 lying around – Richard Dreyfuss will put on a Jaws shirt and struggle to pronounce your name.But maybe this isn’t enough for you. Maybe you want to find direct engagement, with a much bigger star than Cameo offers, and for free. If that’s the case, I can heartily endorse not liking a Russell Crowe movie. Because, even if it takes him a while, Crowe will do his best to respond to your criticism. And if you’re really lucky, he’ll sound like an out-of-touch bus stop crackpot in the process. Here’s what happened. Continue reading...

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In recent years, the conversation around free speech – and arguments to protect it – have been dominated by the right. Should liberals try and reclaim the value for themselves?Last week, as Twitter permanently banned Trump from its platform, critics from the right have been quick to blame a “leftist” culture within tech companies for a crackdown on free speech. That is not without its contradictions – many people have expressed concerns about the decision, including Alexei Navalny and Angela Merkel. But it does raise an uncomfortable issue: in recent years, the conversation around free speech – and arguments to protect it – have been dominated by the right.So what do experts make of it – and should liberals try and reclaim the value for themselves? We asked five defenders of free speech to weigh in.

A move by extremists to the encrypted Telegram app from Parler makes it harder to track where the next attack could come fromFar right “playbooks” teaching white nationalists how to recruit and radicalise Trump supporters have surfaced on the encrypted messaging app Telegram ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration.The documents, seen by the Observer, detail how to convert mainstream conservatives who have just joined Telegram into violent white supremacists. They were found last week by Tech Against Terrorism, an initiative launched by the UN counter terrorism executive directorate. Continue reading...

Extremism experts warned that the anti-government movement was planning attacks online. Why didn’t Facebook act?One hundred days before Dave Patrick Underwood was murdered on 29 May, a group of analysts who monitor online extremism concluded that an attack like the one that killed him was coming. Continue reading...

Democracy has been threatened by commercialising the swift spread of controversy and lies for political advantageDonald Trump’s incitement of a mob attack on the US Capitol was a watershed moment for free speech and the internet. Bans against both the US president and his prominent supporters have spread across social media as well as email and e-commerce services. Parler, a social network popular with neo-Nazis, was ditched from mobile phone app stores and then forced offline entirely. These events suggest that the most momentous year of modern democracy was not 1989 – when the Berlin wall fell – but 1991, when web servers first became publicly available.There are two related issues at stake here: the chilling power afforded to huge US corporations to limit free speech; and the vast sums they make from algorithmically privileging and amplifying deliberate disinformation. The doctrines, regulations and laws that govern the web were constructed to foster growth in an immature sector. But the industry has grown into a monster – one which threatens democracy by commercialising the swift spread of controversy and lies for political advantage. Continue reading...

The naysayers said the user-written encyclopedia would never work. Now it boasts 55m articles and 1.7bn visitors a monthTwenty years ago today, a tech startup called Nupedia launched a side project. The company had been hard at work producing a free online encyclopaedia, but it was slow going: its strict editing process, comprehensive peer review and focus on expert authors meant it finished only 21 articles in its first year.The side project would do away with all of that. Instead, anyone would be able to write and edit articles. Nupedia’s founders were split over whether the trade-off – more content with a lower barrier to entry – was worth it, but by the end of its first year, the side project had amassed articles on more than 18,000 topics. Nupedia, by the time it shut in 2003, had finished just 25. Continue reading...

A professor caused an internet storm when she asked if young people were capable of writing a formal messageThis week, Prof Brittney Cooper from Rutgers University caused a small internet storm when she asked a simple question: “Why don’t modern college kids know how to send a formal letter/email?” She added that her students frequently email her simply saying “Hello.”Why don’t modern college kids know how to send a formal letter/email? I thought everyone knew to begin Dear Prof. X or Dear Dr. X. Instead these kids stay emailing me Hello There! Or Hello (no name): Why are they like this? Continue reading...

Nikesh Shukla presents a warm and listenable new series about family. Plus: how Paris Hilton became the original influencerBrown Baby (out from 20 Jan)

Breach at reserve bank had ‘significant data implication’, Adrian Orr says, but that system is open for business againThe head of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has apologised after a recent cyberattack led to a serious data breach at the central bank, and brought in an independent investigator to review the incident.The breach was first announced on Sunday and later in the week the RBNZ said a file sharing service provided by California-based Accellion had been illegally accessed. Continue reading...

S21 Ultra with 3x and 10x dual optical zoom camera announced plus cheaper models and Galaxy Buds Pro earbudsSamsung is attempting to fully replace high-end cameras and out-zoom its smartphone competition with the new Galaxy S21 Ultra, the firm’s first to feature a large 10x optical zoom.Announced as part of the company’s Unpacked live-streamed event, the new £1,149 Android superphone has two different optical zoom lenses for switching between 3x and 10x magnification. It leads Samsung’s Galaxy S21 line for 2021 which also includes two smaller and cheaper models. Continue reading...

Although details are sparse, fans are hopeful the game being developed by Massive is just the epic narrative adventure they are looking forUbisoft is working on a new open-world Star Wars adventure, the company has revealed. Development will be handled by the French publisher’s Massive studio, previously responsible for the online shooter series, Tom Clancy’s The Division.According to a report by Wired, production of the game is still in the early stages and nothing has been revealed about the characters or setting, or how the game will fit into the Star Wars cinematic universe. The project is being built using Massive’s proprietary Snowdrop game engine, under The Division’s creative director, Julian Gerighty, who also worked on the Prince of Persia and Far Cry franchises. Continue reading...

What on earth did users of the chastity cage Cellmate think might happen when they allowed their bits to be locked up in an internet-connected smart device?There are times when technology can be a pain in the neck. And then there are times when technology can be a pain in rather more delicate regions – as some users of Cellmate, a line of internet-connected male chastity cages, reportedly discovered. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to report that malicious hackers have been taking penises hostage and demanding bitcoin for their release.Don’t worry, we’ll gently unpack this together. Without getting too graphic, Cellmate is a “smart” sex toy that allows someone, usually a trusted partner, to lock up the user’s genitals via an app. (What could possibly go wrong, eh?) The device made headlines last October when researchers said that the product had a security flaw that meant hackers could take control of the products. Which, according to a recent report by Vice’s Motherboard, is exactly what happened. The report was largely based on screenshots of conversations between the hacker and their victims that were obtained by a security researcher who goes by the name Smelly. Continue reading...

Cryptocurrency is attracting attention from investors and financial regulators alikeBitcoin is a type of digital currency that emerged after the 2008 financial crisis. It allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment methods. It has become the most prominent among thousands of so-called cryptocurrencies. Continue reading...

Kaspersky investigators uncover evidence that may support US claims Moscow was behind attack

The global video gaming industry took in an estimated $180bn in 2020 – more than sports and movies worldwideIt would be incorrect to say video games went mainstream in 2020. They’ve been mainstream for decades. But their place in pop culture feels far more central – to gamers and non-gamers alike – than ever before. In part, this is due to desperate marketers hunting for eyeballs in a Covid landscape of cancelled events. Coachella wasn’t happening, but Animal Crossing was open was for business. Politicians eager to “Rock the Vote” looked to video games to reach young voters. (See: Joe and Kamala’s virtual HQ and AOC streaming herself playing Among Us.) The time-honored tradition of older politicians trying to seem young and hip at a music venue has been replaced by older politicians trying to seem young and hip playing a video game. Yes, quarantine was part of this. But, like so many trends during the pandemic, Covid didn’t spark this particular trajectory so much as intensify it. Long before the lockdowns, video games had triumphed as the most popular form of entertainment among young people.Related: Refreshingly modern dinosaurs and a cyberpunk cat: our games picks for 2021 Continue reading...

Chant was heard in the US Capitol on Wednesday as pro-Trump mob, incited by the president, stormed the buildingTwitter stopped the phrase “Hang Mike Pence” trending on Saturday, but not before it trended on the social media platform in the aftermath of the company’s decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account.Related: Police arrest more Capitol rioters as details of violence and brutality emerge Continue reading...

The Flash-based title, now put to rest alongside Adobe’s animation tool, was much derided, but broadened the appeal of computer gamesTwo deaths you may have missed last week – for the simple reason that you have better things to do with your time than monitoring the tech industry. One was the end of FarmVille, a simplistic, time-wasting online game that consumed the attention of millions of Facebook users over the years; the other was the much-delayed execution of Flash, the animation tool that powered countless games and assorted website tricks for two decades, but which will no longer be supported by most web browsers or by its maker, Adobe.As it happens, both deaths are related, because one application used the other, but both were ubiquitous for different reasons. The FarmVille story is about human nature and the dynamics of addiction, social media and surveillance capitalism, whereas Flash is really just about tech and the evolution of the web. Continue reading...

Unprecedented moves intended to curb president’s spread of misinformation and the incitement of violenceTwitter and Facebook took unprecedented moves to address the spread of misinformation and the incitement of violence by Donald Trump on their platforms on Wednesday, after supporters of the president stormed the US Capitol.Related: The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump's election lies Continue reading...

The play Rossum’s Universal Robots clearly belongs to the 1920s but its satirical take on the meeting of humans and machines is all too relevant todayNot many plays introduce a new word to the language. One that did was Karel Čapek’s RUR: Rossum’s Universal Robots that had its premiere in Prague 100 years ago this month. Every time we use the word “robot” to denote a humanoid machine, it derives from Čapek’s play, which coined the term from the Czech “robota” meaning forced labour. But a play that was hugely popular in its time – its Broadway premiere in 1922 had a cast that included Spencer Tracy and Pat O’Brien as robots – has now fallen into neglect. Given our fascination with artificial intelligence, it’s high time we gave it another look.But what kind of play is it exactly? A dystopian drama attacking science and technology? Up to a point, but it’s much more than that. It starts almost as a Shavian comedy with a do-gooding visitor, Lady Helen Glory, turning up on an island where robots are manufactured out of synthetic matter. She is amazed to discover that a plausibly human secretary is a machine and is equally astonished when the factory’s directors turn out to be flesh and blood creatures rather than robots. With time, the play gets darker as the robots prove to be stronger and more intelligent than their creators and eventually wipe out virtually all humankind. Only a single engineer survives who, a touch improbably, shows two robots transformed by love. Continue reading...

Department declines to say how many mailboxes targeted but says hackers ‘likely Russian in origin’The US Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that its email systems had been accessed by the hackers who broke into the software company SolarWinds, another indication of the gravity of the breach that has shaken Washington.Related: Russians are 'likely' perpetrators of US government hack, official report says Continue reading...

PC, Mac, Android, iPhone; Nerial/The Dairymen

Wanting to emerge from lockdown ‘better’ versions of themselves, some people are turning to drastic measures

Researchers say big Facebook accounts still condemn vaccines while anti-vaxxers banned from Facebook have fled to InstagramConspiracy theories and misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine are still spreading on Facebook and Instagram, more than a month after Facebook pledged it would take them down.Under pressure to contain an avalanche of falsehoods, Facebook announced on 3 December that it would ban debunked claims about the safety and efficacy of vaccines now being distributed worldwide. The company said it removed more than 12m pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram between March and October, and that it worked with factcheckers to place labels on 167 million more pieces of content over the same period. Continue reading...

Site had temporarily exempted state from nationwide post-election ban ahead of Tuesday’s Senate votesFacebook has announced it will again ban political advertising targeting users in the state of Georgia, following the election there on Tuesday.The social media company said that, starting on Wednesday, Georgia users would again be subject to the US-wide political ad ban instated following the 3 November presidential vote. Facebook had temporarily lifted the ban in Georgia ahead of the runoff elections to allow political messaging to reach more voters. Continue reading...

Multi-agency report is the Trump administration’s first statement of attribution for the breaching of at least 10 federal agenciesRussia was “likely” to have been behind a string of hacks of US federal agencies identified last month, according the office of the US director of national intelligence which said the hackers breached fewer than 10 federal agencies.The office and the FBI, the National Security Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency inside the Department of Homeland Security, in a joint statement, said the hackers’ goal appeared to be collecting intelligence, rather than any destructive acts. Continue reading...

The Tesla project will put Grünheide on the map, but some say it is doing ‘irreversible’ harm to the environmentFor the past 10 months, Silas Heineken has been flying a drone over one of Germany’s biggest building sites and posting the images on YouTube.The 14-year-old self-named “Tesla Kid” has built a significant following, as tens of thousands tune in each week to see the latest developments in Elon Musk’s GigaFactory as it emerges at speed from the sandy ground of Brandenburg, south-east of Berlin. Continue reading...

Outage disrupts service in the US, Germany, India, the UK, Japan and elsewhereSlack, the messaging service used by millions of people for work and school, has suffered a global outage on Monday.The service disruption occurred on the first day back to work for many people returning from the New Year’s holiday, underscoring just how intensely millions have come to rely on such online services to work and go to school from home during the global coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

An ultra-stylish trip to Gotham, a new Hogwarts adventure and a long-awaited sequel to Psychonauts lead our preview of this year’s most anticipated releasesLast year’s ensemble Avengers game was a bit of a disappointment, so DC fans will be hoping for better from this action game set in the Batman universe. As Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin and Red Hood, you push back against the ever-encroaching criminal forces of Gotham. It looks moody and ultra-stylish.

Cryptocurrency passes $30,000 as financial institutions express growing interestBitcoin has surged to a record high amid rising interest from investors and claims that the volatile cryptocurrency is on the way to becoming a mainstream payment method.Having quadrupled in value during 2020, bitcoin began 2021 strongly by breaking through the $30,000 (£22,000) mark for the first time, less than three weeks after first trading above $20,000. Continue reading...

During these alienating times, verbal messages helped us to communicate quickly while maintaining intimacy and friendship

The manufacturer delivered 499,550 cars in 2020, thanks to an end-of-year sales bump

As Uber parks its plans for robotaxis, experts admit the autonomous vehicle challenge is bigger than anticipated

Greg Jackson, boss of Octopus Energy, says the sector was ripe for an Amazon or Uber-style disruptor, but that his version will also boost the UK’s green revolutionGreg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, wears the unassuming combination of jeans and trainers one might expect from the founder of a wildly successful startup. There’s also a vast open-plan central London office, easy camaraderie with staff, lots of plants. He has the enthusiasm and world-changing idealism too. With all these markers of a tech unicorn – a deal last month with Tokyo Gas valued it at $2bn (£1.5bn) – it’s easy to forget that Octopus is an energy company. Jackson, 49, says the distinction is increasingly irrelevant.Octopus is a new breed of energy supplier, built on cutting-edge technology and unencumbered by the creaking billing systems and fossil-fuel plants that plague the UK’s “big six”. Set up just five years ago, it has been free to view the energy market as a tech startup would: ripe for disruption. This has made Octopus Britain’s fastest-growing energy supplier, and helped it agree that Japanese deal – under which it will supply energy to homes in Japan, while Tokyo Gas takes a near-10% stake in Octopus. Continue reading...

Trump’s false claims about the election and coronavirus are taking a dangerous toll. Can the divide be healed?At the beginning of 2021, millions of Americans appear to disagree about one of the most basic facts of their democracy: that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.The consequences of Donald Trump’s repeated, baseless claims of voter fraud will come in several waves, researchers who study disinformation say, even if Trump ultimately hands over power and leaves the White House. And there is no quick or easy way to fix this crisis, they warn. Because when it comes to dealing with disinformation, simply repeating the facts doesn’t do much to change anyone’s mind. Continue reading...

Claudia Winkleman and Clara Amfo, Strictly host and contestant, continue their successful podcast series. Plus: the New York Times struggles with its mea culpaHow Did We Get Here?

In this remarkable year, our stories are at risk of being locked away on phones and floating, forgotten, in the digital etherIn the process of removing the final vestiges of my things from my parents’ house this year I find a letter from my nana – Big Nana (because she was tall), not Little Nana (who wasn’t) – written in her familiar curly script.“Last Sunday I went to D’s 80th birthday luncheon – an exciting collection of old has-beens! One old lady said how dreadful she looked these days standing in front of the bathroom mirror (naked). Nearly all of us joined in with tales of horror – including some of the men! Surprising what a few sherrys [sic] can do.” Continue reading...

Creators of US app claim it was designed to promote small gatherings rather than large parties

Settlement by Australian arm of company comes before federal court could rule whether sacked delivery rider Amita Gupta was an employee or a contractor

Descriptions of Netscape Communicator and Mozilla Mail as ‘modern’ leads to questions over whether text was copied and pastedThe EU-UK Brexit deal refers to defunct decades-old computer software such as Netscape Communicator as “modern”, raising suspicions that some of the text may have been copied and pasted in.Online commenters gleefully shared the observation that page 921 of the painfully birthed trade agreement refers to Netscape Communicator – released in June 1997 – and Mozilla Mail as being “modern e-mail software packages”. Continue reading...

British firm challenges rivals including Nvidia with chips used in artificial intelligenceGraphcore, the UK maker of chips designed for use in artificial intelligence, has raised $222m (£164m) from investors, valuing the company at $2.8bn.The Bristol-based company’s latest round of funding was led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan as well as investors including Fidelity International and Schroders. Existing Graphcore investors, including Baillie Gifford and Draper Esprit, also joined the round. Continue reading...

Under the new criteria, products will lose marks if they do not meet a certain threshold for progressWhen we first started looking at the sustainability of consumer electronics at the beginning of 2019, we soon discovered that reliable information was very hard to find. It was difficult to establish which smartphones, tablets, headphones and other items were even capable of being repaired, let alone how long they might last or whether they contained recycled materials.The status quo was very much “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Upon asking, very few manufacturers even had records of the relevant information. Fewer still made it available for public consumption. Continue reading...

Investments in 2020 are higher than in rest of Europe combined and help to create seven ‘unicorns’UK technology companies attracted a record $15bn (£11.2bn) in venture capital funding in 2020, including the creation of seven “unicorn” firms valued at more than $1bn.The firms raised more money from VC investors than the rest of Europe combined, according to research by the data provider Dealroom. The $15bn total compares with the previous record of $14.8bn in 2019. Continue reading...

My colleague Dai Edwards, who has died aged 92, was one of a small group of engineers who designed the world’s first commercially available computer. He went on to help design other high-performance computers, each the product of fruitful collaboration between academia and industry.David Beverley George Edwards, known to colleagues as Dai, was born in Tonteg, South Wales. He was the only child of Cecilia (nee George) and William Edwards, who were both teachers. Dai went to Pontypridd boys’ intermediate school, leaving in 1945 with a state scholarship to study physics at Manchester University. Upon graduation, he joined Professor FC (Freddie) Williams’ electrical engineering group in September 1948. Continue reading...