As social network reportedly develops tools to restrict users so the Communist party will let it in, some experts say it is ‘light years’ behind rivals already in placeFacebook needs to invest in more than just censorship tools if it hopes to lift a seven-year ban in China, experts say, amid a tightening space for foreign technology companies in the world’s most populous nation.
Four friends who had to undergo extensive hospital treatment threatening legal action after incident at Brighton flatAirbnb has refused to admit liability for multiple serious injuries suffered by a group of guests who fell two storeys when the balcony of their holiday rental in Brighton collapsed beneath them.Four friends had to have hospital treatment, including one impaled on an iron railing, when what was advertised as a “balcony with sea view†sheared off, sending the guests tumbling into the basement footwell. They had rented the £217-a-night flat for a birthday celebration in July through the booming accommodation website, which is at the forefront of the fast-growing sharing economy. Continue reading...
App says it cuts pollution amid attacks over licensing and safety rules in case that could prompt stronger regulations for digital startupsUber defended its business model in Europe’s highest court on Tuesday, saying its service had made it easier for people to get around and cut pollution as it fights a case which could leave app-based startups facing tougher regulation.The ride-hailing app, which expanded into Europe five years ago, has come under attack from established taxi companies and some EU countries because it is not bound by strict local licensing and safety rules which apply to some of its competitors. Continue reading...
‘Neural karaoke’ program can take any digital photo and transform it into a computer-generated singalongIt will not, if there is any certainty left in the world, top the charts this Christmas. But what it lacks in party hit potential, it more than makes up for with its unique, if vaguely unsettling, brand of festive cheer.To be fair, humans had very little hand in penning the song. Instead, scientists fed a Christmassy photograph into a computer and let it do its thing. A program analysed the image, whipped up some relevant lyrics, and then sang them to music it had composed along the way.
Investors have called on South Korean company to set up holding and operating units as it deals with Galaxy Note 7 recall and prepares for successionSamsung Electronics has said it is considering splitting in two, to allow heir-apparent Lee Jae-yong to take over the firm from his father, Lee Kun-hee, and address governance concerns.Samsung has also come under pressure from foreign investors, including the US hedge fund Elliott Management, to improve its corporate governance through the establishment of a holding company and to increase dividends for shareholders. Continue reading...
Small gadget brings voice control to almost any smart device in the home, while playing music, answering questions and telling you the weatherThe Amazon Echo Dot is essentially all the bits of an Amazon Echo that make it interesting, but without the speaker beneath it – and so it costs just one-third of the price.
While we’re undoubtedly living through dark times, the storm we’re in now started with a rush of rapid technological changeIt’s interesting how particular years acquire historical significance: 1789 (the French Revolution); 1914 (outbreak of the first world war); 1917 (the Russian revolution); 1929 (the Wall Street crash); 1983 (switching on of the internet); 1993 (the Mosaic Web browser, which started the metamorphosis of the internet from geek sandpit to the nervous system of the planet). And of course 2016, the year of Brexit and Trump, the implications of which are, as yet, unknown.But what about 2007? That was the year when Slovenia adopted the euro, Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU, Kurt Vonnegut died, smoking in enclosed public places was banned in the UK, a student shot 32 people dead and wounded 17 others at Virginia Tech, Luciano Pavarotti died and Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Oh – and it was also the year that Steve Jobs launched the Apple iPhone. Continue reading...
The anthropologist explains why being scared about AI has more to do with our fear of each other than killer robotsGenevieve Bell is an Australian anthropologist who has been working at tech company Intel for 18 years, where she is currently head of sensing and insights. She has given numerous TED talks and in 2012 was inducted into the Women in Technology hall of fame. Between 2008 and 2010, she was also South Australia’s thinker in residence.Why does a company such as Intel need an anthropologist?
Few cars can match the performance of a McLaren on the road or the track, but from the air it’s a sitting target…The word McLaren sends a shiver of expectation down the spine of anyone who thinks life on four wheels is how God intended us to spend our most fulfilled moments. On the track it’s the most successful marque in Formula 1 history, the car in which Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and co have smashed records and set pulses racing. On the road it is sure-footed, sublime and intoxicatingly faaaaaaaaast… But no one had bothered to tell the large woodpigeon that swooped over me as I whipped the open-topped McLaren 650S along a country lane in Northamptonshire. It unloaded a colossal pile of guano which hit me square in the forehead before exploding over my face and splattering over the instrument panel and the immaculate suede lining of the doors. A real life angry bird!It’s a sign of luck, they say, but when you are at the wheel of a McLaren you don’t need anyone to tell you how fortunate you are. The road cars take their lead from 1993’s seminal McLaren F1 – a car which caused a proper hoo-ha when it was launched. Back then it was the world’s fastest production car (240mph), used real gold in the engine and cost £635,000. Only 106 were made and today each is worth at least £10m. Back then it used to take about 3,000 hours to make each carbon-fibre chassis, today it takes four hours to create the carbon MonoCell at the heart of the 650S. Continue reading...
From top-of-the range offerings from Apple and Google to more modest fare, which big-screen smartphone is the one for you?If a big screen for watching videos, playing games or simply to fit more on the screen when browsing, emailing and texting is what you’re after, these are the best phablets available right now. Continue reading...
Some say attempts by police to blame gay dating app for Port’s killings is ‘victim blaming’, while others urge caution when using such appsThe murders of four young men by Stephen Port, the serial killer sentenced to life in prison on Friday, have given rise to a debate among users of the gay dating app Grindr.Related: Serial killer Stephen Port receives whole-life prison sentence Continue reading...
When Labour’s John McDonnell stood up to respond to the autumn statement on Wednesday, half his party’s MPs started noodling on their phones behind him. Was it the height of rudeness – or all part of a modern-day MP’s duties?They filed into the House of Commons chamber to learn what Brexit means for the economy, and filed out to be shamed the next morning by newspaper picture editors armed with yellow pens. In one photograph, half of the 42 Labour MPs sitting behind John McDonnell can be seen immersed in their mobile phones while the shadow chancellor responds to the autumn statement.“Isn’t that awful?†asked Judith Woods in the Daily Telegraph, comparing the “rude†MPs to millennials unable to resist the lure of their devices during pub quizzes. “Isn’t this addiction steering dangerously close to out-and-out junkiedom?†she added, gamely offering to “restore Britain’s manners to their factory settingsâ€. Continue reading...
Now that the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 - or snooper’s charter – has become law, Charles wants to protect his privacyNow that the snooper’s charter has been passed, how can I protect myself? Should I use a VPN? CharlesThe UK has just passed the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, at the third attempt, and it will become law by the end of the year. The bill was instigated by the then home secretary, Theresa May, in 2012. It is better known as the snooper’s charter.
Peter Frase’s roaming, thoughtful work of ‘social science fiction’ sketches out a frightening future of rich v poorThe idea that computers will soon steal our jobs is an article of faith among many of the world’s most powerful people. The argument goes like this: breakthroughs in robotics and artificial intelligence will make it possible to automate various kinds of labour. Self-driving cars will replace taxi and truck drivers; software will replace lawyers and accountants. We’ll end up with a world where machines do almost all of the work.Over the last few years, a growing chorus of pundits, academics and executives have made this scenario seem inevitable – and imminent. There are many reasons to be sceptical of their claims. But even if you accept the argument that mass automation is around the corner, you might find yourself wondering what a post-work future would look like. Would it be a heaven or a hell, or somewhere in between? Continue reading...
New voluntary guidelines for Apple, Samsung and others encourage system that blocks app and text use, but allows navigation and musicUS regulators are seeking to reduce smartphone-related vehicle deaths with a new driving-safe mode that would block or modify apps to prevent them being a distraction while on the road.
Apple patents way to use an OLED screen to enable a folding iPhone that flips in half like it’s 1999 all over againIt’s time to party like it’s 1999: Apple has patented a flip-phone.Admittedly, the phone depicted in the patent, spotted by AppleInsider, is rather more advanced than 2004’s Motorola Razr. The patent envisages a phone with a flexible OLED screen on the front, designed to fold in the middle with a more conventionally hinged back, allowing the whole thing to fold in half for portability. Continue reading...
Social network’s founder and chief executive was suspended from the site due to ‘internal mistake’, losing 700,000 followers in the processIn the wake of the US elections, with the rise of the “alt-right†blamed for the easy ride the far right have had on social media, Twitter is eager to prove that it can police its own borders. Perhaps too eager.Overnight, the social network suspended its own chief executive and co-founder, Jack Dorsey. Continue reading...
Pope Francis called on Catholics to ‘build an outward-looking church’, and Xiskya Valladares is helping others do just thatPope Francis was probably not dwelling on the myriad uses and abuses of social media when he called for a “bruised, dirty and hurting†Roman Catholic church that would more closely resemble the flawed 21st-century world to which it ministers.But, as far as one technologically engaged nun is concerned, the Twitter-sphere is equally deserving of the church’s presence.
The year has become so maligned that Twitter is awash with posts listing the strange and terrible things that 2016 can be compared toFor many people 2016, which brought the planet Brexit, the Donald Trump election victory, the deaths of Prince, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen and the brief union that was Twiddleswift, has not been the greatest of years.In fact, the year has become so maligned that Twitter is now awash with scores of posts listing the strange and terrible things that the last 11 months can be compared to. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#22KJ8)
Simon Milner, network’s policy director, tells Lords committee parents are helping children aged under 13 to sign upA senior Facebook boss has accused parents in the UK of helping their children to open an account before they are 13, flouting the minimum age restriction for signing up to the social media giant.Facebook’s policy director, Simon Milner, was giving evidence on Tuesday before a parliamentary committee looking into issues surrounding children’s use of the internet. Continue reading...
Cars are much wider now than they were 50 years ago – but the standard size of a space has hardly changed. Is it time to design car parks differently?If you haven’t had a ding, you’ve probably had a job squeezing yourself out of your car, pushing limbs through the door like an octopus escaping an aquarium. At its worst, car parking can be a trial of stress and bodily contortion. What’s to blame? Fat cars.A vehicular obesity epidemic is reportedly putting a strain on the nation’s multistoreys, where accidents are on the rise. According to Accident Exchange, a courtesy-car firm, there are now almost 2,000 parking prangs a day. Continue reading...
More than 100 Uber minicabs drive at walking pace down Edgware Road and Park Lane towards Westminster in central London in an effort to put pressure on the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to insist the company pays the minimum wage. The action was organised by James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, who three weeks ago won a crucial employment tribunal verdict that Uber should treat its drivers as workers rather than as self-employed
Fault with certain smartphones made between September and October causes iPhone 6S to unexpectedly turn offApple will replace the batteries on its iPhone 6S free of charge after discovering a fault with the 2015 top-end smartphone.
Highly skilled posts required for offices in Fitzrovia will help to increase company’s British workforce by 50%Facebook will hire an extra 500 workers in the UK when it opens a new headquarters in London, increasing its British workforce by half.The US social media company will employ 1,500 people in London next year when it opens its office, which is under construction in Fitzrovia, close to the West End. Continue reading...
Kim Stoddart’s report (Living in a broadband ‘not-spot’? Try using the church spire to get a signal, 12 November) highlights a variety of local attempts to solve this problem but bemoans the fact that Ceredigion in west Wales is seventh from the bottom out of 650 UK constituencies for connectivity. Oh really? Not in our part of Ceredigion. We have a mast supplying 4G signals from all four major mobile network operators and we buy, and distribute 40Mbps broadband from a small technology company.We are currently looking at extending our service by using “whitespaceâ€, spare bandwith capacity on TV wavebands. This is a community achievement. Six years ago four of us in our seventies and eighties formed a not-for-profit company, raised £243,000 from grant sources (including European money) and the cost of our unpaid time. We had contractors build the mast on a small piece of land leased to us by a local farmer. It was not always easy: fighting bureaucracy at local, Welsh and Westminster government levels took a lot of time and energy but with help from our friends in the community, including our local MP, we did it. He tells us we have better communications here than he has in Westminster. It can be done but needs a community to commit its resources of members’ time and energy. And forget the church spires: Welsh chapels don’t have spires.
From digital assistants to ‘smart’ medicine bottles, a new wave of connected devices could help people live independently for longerSmart bottles that dispense the correct dose of medication at the correct time, digital assistants, and chairs that know how long you’ve sat in them are among the devices set to change the face of care for those living with dementia.Dementia is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales, and is thought to affect more than 850,000 people in the UK. But a new wave of connected devices, dubbed “the internet of thingsâ€, could offer new ways to help people live independently for longer. Continue reading...
The future of manufacturing in the UK will look very different by creating bespoke goods through disruptive collaborationThere is nothing new in the adage that we are no longer a making economy. It’s a theme that has been picked up and echoed in most post-industrial economies over the past decade – just look at the last US presidential campaign. In the UK barely 10% of workers are employed within orthodox manufacturing; a generation ago that figure was well over four times as high. It is folly to believe mass manufacturing in its previous form, and at anything close to its previous scale, can return. But this does not have to be the existential problem it is being framed as.Last weekend in Manchester, the world’s first industrialised city, several hundred makers met at the city’s Museum of Science and Industry. They were there to take part in Europe’s first craft and innovation conference, a forum for craft professionals, scientists, roboticists, designers and tech professionals to discuss collective innovation and making. This is the real future of manufacturing: an atomised but highly networked society of makers servicing an evolving market where consumers no longer want mass-manufactured goods but products that are bespoke and have that golden element all marketeers now crave – provenance. We are becoming a society of curators where consumers want a relationship with a product and its makers, not simply a transaction. Policymakers still see this trend as relatively peripheral – a micro “hipster†economy. This is a mistake. Continue reading...
Silicon Valley has enjoyed its relationship with Obama, but how will companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook fare under a Trump administration?America’s technology industry has enjoyed a close relationship with President Obama’s administration since he was elected in 2008 – a fact that will not be lost on president-elect Donald Trump, who pitched his own ideas about technology policy while campaigning.
The US president denounced the spate of misinformation across social media platforms, including Facebook, suggesting American politics can be affectedPresident Barack Obama has spoken out about fake news on Facebook and other media platforms, suggesting that it helped undermine the US political process.Related: Facebook staff mount secret push to tackle fake news, reports say Continue reading...
Extreme right-wing users hit back with false accounts after being kicked off Twitter, as the social network tries to crack down on hate speechWhile Facebook battles with its fake news problem, Twitter is dealing with a different problem: fake accounts set up by the alt-right.Related: Gab: alt-right's social media alternative attracts users banned from Twitter Continue reading...
The social media company has angered advertisers after admitting it made errors in the way it measures ad activityFacebook is facing calls for greater transparency and oversight after admitting widespread errors in the way it measures advertising activity, as the social media company finds itself under increased pressure to clean up its act over a number of issues including distributing “fake newsâ€.On Wednesday, Facebook, which had already angered advertisers when it admitted it made significant measurement errors around video ads in September, said that an internal inquiry found new problems with key measurement metrics. Continue reading...
A game providing data from 2.4 million players will help research into the early stages of Alzheimer’s. But the move raises questions about privacyIn tech circles, alongside words such as “scaleable†and “the gig economyâ€, you often hear the phrase “tech for good†bandied around. Sometimes it’s a fairly innocuous but ultimately toothless concept, essentially denoting the idea that technology has the potential to be a driver for positive social change but not doing very much about it. Other times it can take on a more creepily utopian tone, suggesting that should the world more closely represent the shiny libertarian enclaves of Silicon Valley, the world’s problems would be solved. And sometimes – just sometimes – it does what it says on the tin.Related: Sea Hero Quest: the mobile phone game helping fight dementia Continue reading...
A study commissioned by Mashable finds that verified accounts in the US and Australia are overwhelmingly maleYou are no one without a blue tick. Or at least, that’s how some verified Twitter users make non-verified users feel. Twitterpolitan liberal elite. Never mind that the tick is actually white on a blue background.It seems Twitter’s verification privileges may skew male. A study commissioned by tech website Mashable has found that in the US and Australia, far more men than women have been verified, likely disproportionate to the gender of users. Continue reading...
Game by cartoonist Tim Hunkin features villains such as second-home owners as players try to buy a house before they’re 80Britain’s housing crisis has been turned into a spoof arcade game where players have to dodge second-home owners and foreign investors to “buy a house or die tryingâ€.The Housing Ladder slot machine, by the Suffolk-based cartoonist and inventor Tim Hunkin, uses treadmill steps on an actual ladder to move an automated figure towards the prize of a house encrusted in fake diamonds.
Internet-related complaints to industry ombudsman hit five-year high, while gripes about NBN double between 2015 and 2016Sluggish internet speeds are driving more complaints from Australians than those about patchy mobile services.Internet-related complaints to the industry ombudsman have hit a five-year high, surging by more than a fifth between July 2015 and June 2016. Continue reading...
Game played by 2.4 million people has become largest dementia study in history, generating equivalent of 9,400 years of lab-based researchA mobile phone game that tests spatial navigation skills and has been played by 2.4 million people, has become the largest dementia study in history and raised hopes of a breakthrough in diagnosing the disease.Sea Hero Quest, a collaboration between Alzheimer’s Research UK, Deutsche Telekom, game designers Glitchers and scientists, has generated the equivalent of 9,400 years of lab-based research since its launch in May. Continue reading...
Company has U-turned on cheeky plan to censor much-loved symbol and has reinstated its defining characteristicsiPhone users, fear not: Apple is listening to your demands, assuming your demands involve a peach emoji that looks a bit like a bum. If you have other demands, those will have to wait. We’re dealing with the bum issue here.The company had previously caused dismay among users due to a small change implemented in the first beta of iOS 10.2, the next update to its operating system for iPhones and iPads. As part of a general push by Apple to replace classic emoji with new, “realistic†versions, the update contained a new version of the peach emoji. Replacing the angular, contoured peach of the past was a new, rounder fruit, with a less prominent cleft running down its middle. Continue reading...
Deliciously dark stealth adventure returns to tempt players into a trap-like city of wary guards and architectural puzzlesDunwall, the briny, whale oil-guzzling capital of the first Dishonored game was a city defined by Dickensian hardship. This suited Corvo Attano, bodyguard to the empress, for whose murder he was framed, allowing him to squeeze through society’s cracks and skulk unseen among the plague rats. For this sequel the setting has changed to the sun-bronzed (and in later stages, dust-blasted) Karnaca, an archipelago whose ports might offer an enviable holiday destination were it not for an infestation of murderous insects.You play again as Attano or alternatively, the newly monarched Emily Kaldwin, a choice that must be made in the game’s opening moments and adhered to until the final credits. Both are wrongfully accused of murder (although by the game’s end, all but the most patient players will have blood on their hands). Both must flee the charges and pursue their accusers in the dark. At least Karnaca’s high sun casts long shadows to hide in. Continue reading...
by Julia Carrie Wong, Sam Levin and Olivia Solon in S on (#21SNG)
Social media has made it easy to live in filter bubbles, sheltered from opposing viewpoints. So what happens when liberals and conservatives trade realities?
Tech giant announces it is going ahead with delayed plans to build a campus for 7,000 employees with Olympic cauldron designer Heatherwick Studio on boardGoogle has confirmed plans to build a new headquarters in London and create 3,000 jobs, in a move that will be seen as a vote of confidence in Britain’s prospects after Brexit.The project, which involves building a vast headquarters next to Google’s existing base in King’s Cross, central London, was thrown into doubt by the EU referendum and disagreement about its design. Continue reading...
Resolution Trust and Bethnal Green Ventures shared research at launch of new venture to harness digital technology to help low-paid workersJust one in 10 private sector workers may be members of a trade union by 2030 if current trends continue, according to a new analysis outlined at the launch of WorkerTech, a charity-backed project intended to harness digital technology to help low-paid workers.Related: How digital technology is transforming social care Continue reading...
Initial public offering could come as soon as March and value Snapchat at $20bn to $25bn, making it one of the biggest technology offerings in recent yearsMessaging app Snapchat has filed confidentially with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO), sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.The filing puts the Venice, California-based company one step further towards its IPO, which sources say could come as soon as March and value it at $20bn to $25bn, making it one of the biggest technology offerings in recent years. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian