Google denies claim as US official describes ‘chilling effect’, saying employees have expressed fear company’s strict policy prevents them from speaking outThe US Department of Labor has raised concerns that Google’s strict confidentiality agreements have discouraged employees from speaking to the government about discrimination as part of a high-profile wage inequality investigation.Following a judge’s ruling that Google must hand over salary records and employee contact information to federal regulators investigating possible systemic pay disparities, a labor department official said the agency was worried that the technology corporation’s restrictive employee communication policies could impede the next phase of the inquiry. Continue reading...
In Beauty and the Books, we chat to those who love both books and beauty products. Here, game developer Ally McLean reveals her fondness for green-tea scrub and Douglas AdamsShe’s the creator of Eve Beauregard, her cosplay alter ego with more than 300,000 Facebook followers and the basis for the character of Yennefer of Vengerberg character in Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. Ally McLean is also the project lead at independent gaming studio Robot House and is launching a mentor program with the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association(IGEA) for women who want to work in the gaming industry. Here, she discusses the delights of indulgent skincare and why a copy of Amy Poehler’s book Yes Please is always nearby. Continue reading...
Whetstone, who left Uber following corporate scandals and has worked for leading Conservative politicians in the UK, will become communications VPRachel Whetstone, the former top public relations executive at Uber, is joining Facebook as vice-president of communications for Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.Whetstone, a British public relations guru who worked for some of the UK’s most powerful Conservative politicians, stepped down as head of public policy and communications at Uber in April following a string of corporate scandals. Before Uber, Whetstone worked at Google as the head of communications and public policy. Continue reading...
Playstation, Xbox and the rest have a vital role in helping under-represented people form a sense of themselves. But is the industry doing enough?When Katie Stone Perez’s daughter first tried to ride a two-wheel bicycle, the little girl took her Super Mario plush toy and put him in the basket on the front of the handle bars. Intrigued, Katie asked why it was important that Nintendo’s iconic plumber accompanied her on the ride. “Because he taught me to never give up,†her daughter said.Perez knows a thing or two about the power of video games as a reflective, empowering and emotional influence in the lives of players. While working as the senior program manager for Microsoft’s ID@Xbox program, which seeks to support independent development on the console, she worked closely with Kenny Roy, creator of forthcoming puzzle platformer I, Hope. Aimed at children affected by cancer, it’s the story of a girl who must help defend her island home against a mysterious sickness. Perez also supported the launch of We Love Chicago, a narrative game about multiracial communities living in the city’s urban areas, and right now, she’s helping out at the Xbox-sponsored Girls Make Games, a three-week summer camp dedicated to teaching young women how to code and create video games. “Diversity within the games industry is incredibly important to me,†she says. “I think we need to back away from this focus on one type of consumer or one type of developer - some of my favourite gaming experiences come from really diverse creators.†Continue reading...
Machine built to keep humans in check defeated by stairs and fountain in incident where ‘no one was harmed’The machine uprising has been dealt a serious blow after a robot cop was found face down in a fountain.Built to autonomously patrol offices and shopping malls, the Knightscope K5 security robot is meant to be able to navigate environments and keep unruly humans in check. Instead, after being deployed to a Washington DC office block, it was found drowned in a watery grave. Much like a Dalek, it appears to have been defeated by stairs. Continue reading...
John Nussey and wife, Avril O’Neill, were inspired to create smart doorbell Ding after working on prototypes for other entrepreneursThere are few things more infuriating than arriving home to a “Sorry we missed youâ€card after waiting hours for a delivery. A report last year from IMRG estimated that failed deliveries are costing retailers up to £780m, not to mention the frustration and inconvenience for customers who happen to be in the shower or out when the doorbell rings.It’s a problem that the co-founder of Ding, John Nussey, was inspired to do something about. He and his wife, Avril O’Neill, have run their own business for 10 years, making product prototypes for other entrepreneurs, and began to develop their own list of ideas: “Simple, everyday things that had been forgotten about,†Nussey says. The doorbell was at the top of that list. The idea was to “make products that don’t forget the job they’re supposed to do [but] that use technology to be betterâ€. Continue reading...
Sites could reportedly be blocked for failing to follow government rules forcing users to provide credit card details as verificationPrivacy and free speech campaigners have criticised the government’s plans to force pornography websites to use age checks or face being blocked.Websites flouting the new rules, which are part of the Digital Economy Act, could reportedly find that a regulator has told internet service providers to prevent access to them. Those who provide payment and other services to such sites could also be asked to impose restrictions. Continue reading...
by Will Freeman, Rich Flower, Andy Robertson on (#2WN0T)
An old-school shooter offers demanding delights, a cycling game is a bit flat, while a retro racer can’t recapture the magicPC, PS4, Housemarque, cert: 12
Judge rules tech giant must give US federal department snapshot of its 2014 pay records as part of pay discrimination caseA judge has ordered Google to hand over salary records to the government in an ongoing investigation by the US Department of Labor, which has accused the technology corporation of systematically discriminating against women.Google must provide the federal government with a 2014 snapshot of the data, along with contact information for thousands of employees for possible interviews, according to a ruling made public on Sunday. Continue reading...
Mercedes-Benz is having its best ever year – and leading the charge is the imperious new E-ClassKevin Ashton didn’t take the usual route into computing. The man who coined the term “the internet of things†actually studied Scandinavian literature at the University of London. He now lives in Austin, Texas, and is one of the foremost thinkers on exactly where the internet is taking us and how it will impact on our everyday lives. In a recent interview he envisioned that in “25 years we’ll be able to live in Edinburgh and commute in our self-driving cars to London via a trunk road designed especially for the purpose, at speeds of up to 250mph.†Well, maybe… but one thing is for sure: I’ll still be stopping for a bowl of delicious home-made soup at Tebay services in the Lakes.If Kevin’s vision comes true, chances are that Mercedes will be making many of the cars we’ll be driving, I mean, that we’ll be driven in. In terms of sales, the maker has just had its most successful ever first half year (1,144,274 units sold) and most successful ever June (209,309 cars delivered). Sales are up 35% in China and 47% in South Korea. The German builder uses terms like “private retreat†and “digital living space†to describe today’s cars and its prototype luxury sedans. Continue reading...
It is one of the fastest-growing social networks, but are you making the most of its photo and video features? Get some handy hintsWhen Instagram was launched in October 2010, it was an app for applying stylish “filters†to your photos and sharing them with friends. Six and a half years (and a $1bn acquisition by Facebook) on, it has 700m active users and a host of advanced features.It’s still simple to share a photo – or a video now – with a few taps. However, if you talk to some of the people who have tens or even hundreds of thousands of followers on the service, you’ll realise there’s a lot to learn about mastering it. Continue reading...
Turning down a $3bn offer made Snapchat famous for its bold vision. But now Facebook is catching up, leading some to predict a ‘long and painful death’
Solar-powered vehicles are here – but are they really the answer?Our solar panels occupy only a third of our roof area. Even so, on a summer day they produce about the same power our Volkswagen electric car draws as it charges from a plug in the garage.So, to the extent that we top up during the day, we are literally driving on sunshine: nil use of resources, nil pollution, and, in the context of your article (Battery cars may eat up more than Hinkley Point’s capacity by 2030, 13 July), nil load on national power generation infrastructure. Going for a drive in serene, effortless near-silence, knowing that it hasn’t cost anybody anything, is quite simply wonderful. Continue reading...
Leaning back into a pedestal to try to get the perfect angle took out a whole row of sculptures at an LA gallery – at least that’s the way it looksA woman in Los Angeles has apparently demonstrated just how damaging selfies can be by destroying whole row of pieces of art while trying to get that perfect image.The moment, captured on video at the 14th Factory exhibition space in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles shows a woman apparently bending down to try to get the perfect angle for a selfie shot down a row of the Hypercaine exhibition by Hong Kong-based artist Simon Birch and a series of international collaborators. Continue reading...
After years of fiddling, I finally cracked it. This is how you should organise your home screen – and it’s advice that could be handy for Android users tooIn the 10 years since the iPhone launched, I’ve never really settled on a way to arrange my home screen that I actually like. Folders seem clunky but no folders leaves me with too many things multiple swipes away. Organising by what I use most leaves me with the rarely but rapidly needed apps buried, while organising by speed of access leaves me tapping through multiple times a day.And then there’s aesthetics. Some apps simply don’t deserve to be on my first home screen no matter how much I use them. Mostly games. Game designers can’t make an attractive icon for the life of them, it seems. Continue reading...
Under government plan, internet companies would be obliged to give law enforcement agencies warranted accessThe Australian government has proposed a new cybersecurity law to force global technology companies such as Facebook and Google to give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted messages sent by suspected extremists and criminals.Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday the law would be modelled on Britain’s Investigatory Powers Act, passed in November, which gave intelligence agencies some of the most extensive surveillance powers in the western world. Continue reading...
Many readers are still using Vista despite it no longer receiving security patches, but it should still possible for them to upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows 10My Windows Vista PC works perfectly well, and I have Kaspersky Internet Security. I have been told that I will need a new PC as I could get viruses now that Microsoft no longer supports Vista. A new PC to replace the one I have would cost about £1,200 and it seems a shame when I have no problems with it, but I am concerned that it could be hacked. ksallatt Continue reading...
From celebrities to exes, we’ve always obsessed over people that intrigue us. Social media just makes that easier – but there’s still a line you can crossI follow my ex-boyfriend across four different platforms and know the name of his new girlfriend’s sister. Is this stalking?You ask a version of the two primary questions pertaining to behavior online: am I being gross? Or, more commonly, is someone being gross to me? The answer in both cases is usually yes, since the internet, if it has done anything, has liberated our grossest instincts, and I salute your attempt to police yours. Continue reading...
A tremendously intelligent and stylish book on the ‘colonisation of everyday life by information processing’ calls for resistance to rule by the tech elite
Stroud high school for girls says tech gadgets and social media exacerbate pressures leading to low self-esteemA girls’ school is banning wearable activity trackers and smartwatches because of concerns that pupils are skipping lunch if they fail to meet their calorie and exercise targets.Teachers at Stroud high school in Gloucestershire fear the gadgets are exacerbating some girls’ worries about their body image. Continue reading...
After forcing users to switch to separate Messenger app to continue chatting, Facebook will now push adverts on them in expanded trialAfter forcing Facebook users to switch to a separate Messenger app to continue chatting, the social network is about to start pushing adverts on those using the function.Facebook said on Tuesday that it was testing advertising on its Messenger app globally as the world’s largest social media company looks to further monetise its popular chat service, which has 1.2 billion monthly users. Continue reading...
Amazon, Facebook and Netflix among companies demonstrating on behalf of net neutrality, in what supporters say will be biggest online protest in historyAmazon, Facebook, Netflix and a host of other tech giants will join with online activists, librarians, minority rights and free speech groups today in a day of protest against the Trump administration’s plans to roll back rules in what critics charge is a “war on the open internetâ€.The “day of action†– which supporters claim will be the largest online protest in history – comes as the new head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the US telecoms and media watchdog, prepares to defang tough rules protecting internet access in the US following pressure from cable companies and other internet service providers (ISPs).
Lower-cost electric car begins delivery with first model to company chief executive as first 30 customers to get vehicles at 28 July partyThe first of Tesla’s highly anticipated lower-cost electric cars, the Model 3, has rolled off the production line to its new owner, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.The one-man marketing machine, who also took on a large, high-profile battery project in Australia and a runs a privateer space company Space X, shared a couple of photos of the Model 3. Continue reading...
Streaming music company rejects accusations that it is padding out popular playlists such as Sleep and Ambient Chill with fake artistsSpotify has denied filling its most popular playlists with “fake artistsâ€, after it was accused of creating songs to bulk out its most popular ambient playlists at low cost to itself.The allegation, first made by industry website Music Business Worldwide and brought to wider attention by culture publication Vulture, is that some playlists on Spotify are full of bands with no public profile, few songs, but millions of song plays – all as a result of their position on the service. Continue reading...
The tech giant aims to build 1,500 apartments at Menlo Park after being criticised for helping to deepen the Silicon Valley housing crisisFacebook is to build its own “village†of 1,500 homes for workers struggling to pay soaring rents as the housing crisis in Silicon Valley deepens.Related: 'We will be torn apart': the battle to save Silicon Valley's oldest trailer park Continue reading...
Risk-takers are cashing in millions with launches of new cryptocurrencies that make traditional initial public offerings look practically prehistoricAfter the boom and bust and boom of bitcoin, where some lost millions on discarded drives and others found forgotten wallets with enough to buy a flats in Oslo, the next big thing in the cryptocurrency is here to generate millions of pounds for the lucky few brave enough to invest: the initial coin offering (ICO).If you hang out in cryptocurrency circles, you’re used to hearing conventional wisdom being questioned. After all, the sector was born out of the idea that orthodox economics is bunk. From there, there’s nowhere to go but up. Continue reading...
Consumer watchdog finds 60% of consumers have had issues with service in past six months and more than 75% of NBN customers have had problemsAustralia is plagued by internet disconnections, drop-outs and slow download speeds, a survey has found.
Jayme’s father wants a mobile phone to take photos of things when he is out and about. But would a smartphone or a compact camera be the best solution?My dad wants a mobile phone with a camera so that he can take photos of things when he is out and about. Trouble is, he is technophobic. Giving him a smartphone would, I think, be an expensive waste as the camera functions seem to be buried deep within various apps and finger swipes. Is there is a simple point-and-shoot camera that can also function as a mobile phone? So far, I have come up with the Kodak Ektra, but I haven’t held one to see how accessible the camera function is. JaymeThe simplest way to take photos when you are out and about is to use a point-and-shoot camera. Smartphones can do lots of things, but they are not as good for taking pictures as cameras designed for the job. Continue reading...
The gaming phenomenon that baffles parents took over a cultural icon last weekend: a symbolic meeting of high and low art that the game itself revels inIf ever there was an event specifically designed to send the regular Sydney Opera House clientele into a near-fatal frenzy of monocle popping, it was this one: a video game festival hosted at Australia’s most famous cultural icon.But whatever misgivings one may have about Minecraft at the Opera House, when I arrive the mood is buoyant. Continue reading...
From men who struggle with intimacy to women trafficked into sex work, all sorts of people stand to benefit. But, really, these are simulations of women to be bought by menWhen I was young, the ideal woman was said to be a deaf and mute nymphomaniac who lived above a pub. These days, I have a grudging fondness for this cliche: at least this imaginary woman is a creature of desire. And human. “Nympho†is so of its time and used to be said of any woman who was not a virgin.Apparently, though, we are in the midst of another sexual revolution, in which the new ideal woman will be a robot; lifelike dolls that feel real and communicate their “needsâ€. I am not sure whether revolution is the right word but that is the one being used. The authors of a report from the Foundation for Responsible Robotics suggest that sex robots could provide help for people who find it hard to have intimate relationships: people in care homes, people with dementia, people with disabilities. This might be a noble idea were we to accept that everyone must be enabled to have sex as a human right; that this is all somehow therapeutic. The reality is more basic. Those in the business of manufacturing sex robots for “people†are actually making simulations of women to be bought by men. Continue reading...
A female engineer who came forward with claims of harassment says she was fired in retaliation. But now other women have voiced similar concernsThe theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was “be bold for change†in the fight for a “more gender inclusive world†– but some at Tesla had a different plan for the day.It was an opportunity for women to discover essential oils. A “health and wellness group†at the electric car company invited female staff members to an 8 March “lunch ‘n learn†about oils and how they can help improve people’s “health and happinessâ€, according to emails seen by the Guardian, which reveal that the proposed event was quickly met with vocal criticism. It was particularly offensive to some given that a week earlier, AJ Vandermeyden, a female engineer, had publicly accused Elon Musk’s company of sexual harassment and discrimination. Continue reading...
Ministers should seek reparations from the US government and Microsoft, and invest to protect civilian infrastructure, says J Robin HughesAmong HMS Queen Elizabeth’s vital statistics, Ian Jack mentions the use of Windows XP (Britain’s new aircraft carrier may be a vast folly – but it still provokes awe, 1 July). The Ministry of Defence denied in December 2015 that it would be used once the vessel is operational, but appears not to have informed defence secretary Michael Fallon, who during his 27 June interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme seemed unable to confirm or deny its use. He also asserted – wrongly – that the system is not vulnerable, and then blamed NHS staff for enabling the WannaCry attack in May this year through “the sloppy use of passwordsâ€.This obscures the fact that, apart from the criminals, others bear heavy responsibility. The US National Security Agency concealed the security problem for years, and only warned Microsoft months after it was stolen. Microsoft held back the fix for non-paying Windows XP users until after the attack. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt cancelled the support contract which could have protected the NHS. Ministers should seek reparations from the US government and Microsoft, and invest to protect civilian infrastructure.
It’s hoped first Breath of the Wild DLC will tide fans over until The Champion’s Ballad is released in December – but it might not sate them for longThe first downloadable content for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a neat extension to the game for those who’ve exhausted its considerable pleasures, but ultimately just an appetiser to tide you over until the real meat – The Champion’s Ballad – lands this Christmas.At the heart of the expansion is the Trial of the Sword, a multi-tiered test of your combat ability with more than a passing resemblance to one of the standout segments of the main game, Eventide Island. That locale stripped players of their items, weapons and armour, and tasked them with rebuilding their capacity from scratch: desperately foraging for food to heal hearts, stalking weak enemies to kill and steal weapons from, and ultimately taking out a Hirox, the one-eyed giants more generally seen as a world boss roaming around Hyrule. Continue reading...
Video game consumers often deride industry changes as ‘money-grubbing’ actions – but is that fair? We spoke to developers and publishers to find outVideo games have changed immeasurably since the days of tape loading and cover-mounted floppy discs. Today, we get lifelike 3D virtual worlds where the player can seamlessly connect with companions and opponents from every corner of the globe. An online triple-A title will now offer literally hundreds of hours of fun spread across years of play. Yet, inflation aside, the price we pay at the till remains the same now as it was 25 years ago.
South Korean firm wants to expand lead in global memory chip amid booming demand for storage productsSamsung Electronics will invest nearly $18bn in its chip business, the South Korean firm said Tuesday, as it seeks to expand its lead in the global memory chip and smartphone markets.
If malware outbreak was state sponsored it could count as violation of sovereignty and open possibility of countermeasures, says Tomáš MinárikThe NotPetya malware that wiped computers at organisations including Maersk, Merck and the Ukrainian government in June “could count as a violation of sovereigntyâ€, according to a legal researcher at Nato’s cybersecurity division.If the malware outbreak was state-sponsored, the Nato researcher says, it could open the possiblity of “countermeasuresâ€. Those could come through retaliatory cyber--attacks, or more conventional means such as sanctions, but they must fall short of a military use of force. Continue reading...
An emerging genre of games based on people’s real-life experiences is proving provocative and compellingIn my myriad careers as a video game player, I have waited tables in Diner Dash, manned trebuchets in Total War, driven cabs in Crazy Taxi, delivered newspapers as Paperboy and tilled fields in Farming Simulator. Play is work’s twin, and video games are characterised by their capacity to allow us to inhabit the vocations and occupations of others. In general, however, the people whose lives we dip into, playfully, are anonymous, or at least fictional. Literature has biography. Film has biopic. But the interactive biography (the biogame?) has been mostly absent from video games.The closest the medium has come is perhaps in the realm of sports, where for more than three decades we have been able to assume the likeness and talents of superstar athletes, from 1984’s Daley Thompson’s Decathlon to any one of the thousands of footballers who populate each year’s Fifa. This is more aspirational role play than earnest biographical study, however. Tiger Woods was for years the cover star of EA’s flagship golfing series of video games, which in the manner of professional endorsements exclusively focused on his triumphs at the tee. The more sinewy fodder of Woods’s off-green breakdown was not only overlooked in games, but actively shunned: in 2013 the golfer’s lucrative contract with EA was not renewed. Continue reading...
Apple’s smartphone changed the way we function – for better and worseOn Tuesday 9 January 2007, in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the late Steve Jobs, dressed in his standard black turtleneck and jeans, announced that Apple had built a mobile phone. “The phone is rectangular,†reported CNN “and the entire front surface is a touchscreen. All of its functions are activated by touch, but when you bring your iPhone to your face, a proximity sensor will turn off the touchscreen so you don’t accidentally face-dial. The phone, which runs the Mac OS X, will be able to download and play both music and movies. It will come in two models – a $499 version with 4 gigabytes of memory and a $599 one with 8 gigabytes.â€Apple fans were predictably ecstatic – as they always were when His Steveness addressed them – but the rest of the world yawned. After all, the mobile phone business was a boring, mature global industry, dominated by Nokia. Apple knew nothing about the business, and Jobs had been able to negotiate a deal with only one mobile network company – Cingular, a branch of AT&T. Sure, the new gizmo had a web browser that worked – which Jobs said was “a real revolution†– and it could do email. But hadn’t he also said that “the killer app is making callsâ€? And the iPhone came with a battery that you couldn’t change! How dumb was that? Accordingly, Nokia executives slept easily in their beds – though their counterparts at RIM, which made BlackBerrys and had an unbreakable lock on mobile email, stirred uneasily in theirs, having noticed an $11 drop in their share price on the day. Continue reading...
I was prepared to upend my life for this carI realised on about day three, when it transpired that I could talk to the BMW 7 Series, talk to it as if it really understood me, that I was prepared to upend my life for this car. I would move to somewhere with off-street parking to protect it from envy. I would install an outdoor plug in respect of its hybridity. I would make my peace with looking like a bizarrely scruffy chauffeur. I would do whatever it took. Unfortunately, the main thing it would have taken was that I go back in time, embark on a different and more remunerative career, spend 20 years being good at it, whatever that even involves, and then arrive in some other 2017 with £80,000 to spend on a car.The drive is so beautiful, it made my eyes prick with nostalgia for a nonexistent past when I owned a BMW i8 and everybody stared. It has none of those fancy-pants touches, no gull-wing doors, and looks very much like a regular car, but it has borrowed from the bodyshell of the i8 and is incredibly light, strong and agile, like a businessman taking off his suit to reveal that he’s actually Daniel Craig. Is that wrong? Am I allowed to sexualise a car? Will Craig feel objectified? Don’t worry, I haven’t turned into a petrol-head. But I am a madly enthusiastic petrol-cum-electricity-head. Continue reading...
Renwick Haddow created ‘trendy’ companies and duped investors into thinking they were big successes, authorities in New York allegeUS authorities on Friday charged a British businessman with securities fraud, accusing him of deceiving investors over what turned out to be a fake trading platform for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Microsoft’s Xbox One X is a high-end native 4K machine – but who is it intended for and what are the true benefits? We ask the execs who brought it to lifeSeveral years ago, Xbox chief Phil Spencer, went to Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and CFO, Amy Hood, with a somewhat unorthodox plan for the company’s latest console. It is not unheard of for a games machine to receive a hardware update at some point in the middle of its lifecycle – but Spencer didn’t want one new iteration. He wanted two.The plan emerging from the R&D labs went like this. Xbox One S would add 4K video playback and HDR capabilities, but another more powerful machine, built with a refreshed processor, and using some of the high-end manufacturing technologies previously only found in advanced server systems, could fully support 4K resolutions. It was a risk and it was going to be expensive. “Our pitch had to be more than just kind of a refinement of what was there,†says Spencer. “The idea that we would come up with the most powerful console, with a higher resolution and a higher capability, as part of the Xbox One family. This was something new.†Continue reading...
Andy wants to know how to invest a few hundred pounds in bitcoin. It’s not hard to buy bitcoins, but whether they are an investment or a gamble is another matter ...How can I invest in bitcoin? I’d like to invest a few hundred pounds. AndyThere are at least three ways, though only one of them looks rational today. First, you could mine your own bitcoins. Second, you could buy some from an exchange. Third, you could buy shares in a fund that has invested in bitcoins. Continue reading...
Extremist content is spreading online and law enforcement can’t keep up. The result is a private workforce that’s secretive, inaccurate and unaccountable
Technology | The Guardian