New guidance from UK regulator aims to combat misogynist abuse and revenge porn'Social media platforms are being urged to limit internet pile-ons" under new guidelines to protect women and girls online.The guidance from Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, to combat misogynist abuse, coercive control and the sharing of intimate images without consent comes into force on Tuesday and includes recommendations to prevent women being harried online. Continue reading...
Trades, machine operations and administrative roles are most at-risk, says leading educational research charityUp to 3m low-skilled jobs could disappear in the UK by 2035 because of automation and AI, according to a report by a leading educational research charity.The jobs most at risk are those in occupations such as trades, machine operations and administrative roles, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) said. Continue reading...
by Luke Barratt, Atika Rehman and Sushmita on (#71Q90)
As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacenters, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India's largest cities must keep its major coal plantsEach day, Kiran Kasbe drives a rickshaw taxi through his home neighbourhood of Mahul on Mumbai's eastern seafront, down streets lined with stalls selling tomatoes, bottle gourds and aubergines-and, frequently, through thick smog.Earlier this year, doctors found three tumours in his 54-year-old mother's brain. It's not clear exactly what caused her cancer. But people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop the illness, studies show, and the residents of Mahul live a few hundred metres down the road from one. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Senior economics correspondent on (#71PN1)
Hugely influential traders will be hanging on the chancellor's every word when she announces her budgetAt just after 12.30pm on Wednesday, the machine will be listening, the trading algorithms ready, and billions of pounds of buy-and-sell orders stacked up awaiting Rachel Reeves's budget.For the first time on the London trading floor of Deutsche Bank, a custom-built artificial intelligence tool will tune in to the chancellor's speech. It will transcribe her words, spot shifts in tone and spit out alerts when the numbers deviate from expectations. Continue reading...
We've cut through the noise to find genuinely good early Black Friday 2025 discounts on Filter-recommended products across home, tech, beauty and toys Big savings - or big regrets? How to shop smart this Black Friday
Amy Redford thanks fans for love and support' but takes issue with AI versions of funerals, tributes and quotes from members of my family that are fabrications'Robert Redford's daughter Amy Redford has criticised the proliferation of artificial intelligence tributes to her father, who died in September, calling them fabrications".Redford posted a statement on social media in which she thanked fans for their overwhelming love and support", adding: It's clear that he meant so much to so many, and I know that my family is humbled by the outpouring of stories and tributes from all corners of the globe." Continue reading...
Senior UK police officer says AI is accelerating violence against women and girls and that technology companies are complicitOne in four people think there is nothing wrong with creating and sharing sexual deepfakes, or they feel neutral about it, even when the person depicted has not consented, according to a police-commissioned survey.The findings prompted a senior police officer to warn that the use of AI is accelerating an epidemic in violence against women and girls (VAWG), and that technology companies are complicit in this abuse. Continue reading...
Researchers say results underline large language models' poor grasp of humour, empathy and cultural nuanceComedians who rely on clever wordplay and writers of witty headlines can rest a little easier, for the moment at least, research on AI suggests.Experts from universities in the UK and Italy have been investigating whether large language models (LLMs) understand puns - and found them wanting. Continue reading...
Campaigners including Good Law Project describe ICO collapse in enforcement activity' after Afghan data breachDozens of civil liberties campaigners and legal professionals are calling for an inquiry into the UK's data protection watchdog, after what they describe as a collapse in enforcement activity" after the scandal of the Afghan data breach.A total of 73 academics, senior lawyers, data protection experts and organisations including Statewatch and the Good Law Project, have written a letter to Chi Onwurah, the chair of the cross-party Commons science, innovation and technology committee, coordinated by Open Rights Group, calling for an inquiry to be held into the office of the information commissioner, John Edwards. Continue reading...
by Presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Cory Doctorow; pro on (#71PD7)
Tech critic Cory Doctorow explains why for so many the internet - from Amazon to Google to Instagram - seems to be getting worseDo you ever get the feeling that the internet isn't what it used to be?Well, tech critic Cory Doctorow thinks you're right - and he has a term to describe it too: enshittification'. Continue reading...
The UK could've been a true tech leader - but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dearTwo and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament's imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the antics of a vainglorious king. Today, the tables have turned: it is Great Britain that finds itself at the mercy of major US tech firms - so huge and dominant that they constitute monopolies in their fields - as well as the whims of an erratic president. Yet, to the outside observer, Britain seems curiously at ease with this arrangement - at times even eager to subsidise its own economic dependence. Britain is hardly alone insubmitting to the power of American firms, but it offersa clear case study in why nations need to developacoordinated response to the rise of these hegemonic companies.The current age of American tech monopoly began in the 2000s, when the UK, like many other countries, became almost entirely dependent on a small number of US platforms - Google, Facebook, Amazon and a handful of others. It was a time of optimism about the internet as a democratising force, characterised by the belief that these platforms would make everyone rich. The dream of the 1990s - naive but appealing - was that anyone with a hobby or talent could go online and make a living from it. Continue reading...
Collective experiment found switching profile to male' and bro-coding' text led to big increase in reach, though site denies favouring posts by menDo your LinkedIn followers consider you a thought leader"? Do hordes of commenters applaud your tips on how to scale" your startup? Do recruiters slide into your DMs to explore potential synergies"?If not, it could be because you're not a man. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#71NB6)
Need for new road taxes is clear - but there are concerns that pricing plan could stall transition away from petrolThree pence: a small charge per mile for an electric vehicle, but a giant conceptual leap for Britain.Chancellors of the exchequer have long resisted any form of road pricing as politically toxic. That may be about to change next week: Rachel Reeves, perhaps inured to being pilloried for any money-raising proposal, is expected to introduce a charge explicitly linked to how far EVs drive. Continue reading...
Air fryers have taken over our kitchens, but which wins the crown for the crispiest cooking? Our expert peeled 7kg of potatoes to find out The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and testedAir fryers inspire the sort of feelings that microwaves did in the 1980s. I vividly remember those new-fangled boxes being spoken about often, either dismissively or with delight. A rash of cookbooks followed, and dinner changed across the land. Fast-forward a few decades, and air fryers have become the same kind of kitchen disruptors", offering time-saving convenience and healthier cooking, but with the added allure of easily achieved, mouth-watering crispiness.Since launching with a single-drawer design, air fryers have evolved. Sizes range from compact to XL, while drawer configurations can be double, split or stacked. Alongside air frying, many will grill, roast and bake, and some will dip to lower temperatures for dehydrating, fermenting and proving dough. One we tested features steam cooking, allowing you to whip up dim sum as easily as a roast dinner, while another included racks for cooking on four levels.Best air fryer overall:
Technology secretary fears digital frontier may be outpacing regulator, with AI chatbots a particular concernThe UK's internet regulator, Ofcom, is at risk of losing public trust if it fails to use its powers to tackle online harms, the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, has said.Kendall last week told Ofcom's chief executive, Melanie Dawes, she was deeply disappointed at the pace of the regulator's enforcement of parts of the Online Safety Act, which is intended to protect the public from harms caused by a wide range of online platforms, from social media to pornography websites. Continue reading...
by Darien Graham-Smith with additional deals reportin on (#71M4T)
Here's how to spot a genuinely good laptop deal, plus the best discounts we've seen so far on everything from MacBooks to gaming laptops Do you really need to buy a new laptop?
by Steve May with additional deals reporting by Reece on (#71KV8)
We've rounded up the best early Black Friday TV deals, from 50in OLEDs and small smart TVs to big-name brands like Samsung and LG Do you really need to buy a new TV?
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accentStudents at the University of Staffordshire have said they feel robbed of knowledge and enjoyment" after a course they hoped would launch their digital careers turned out to be taught in large part by AI.James and Owen were among 41 students who took a coding module at Staffordshire last year, hoping to change careers through a government-funded apprenticeship programme designed to help them become cybersecurity experts or software engineers. Continue reading...
Jensen Huang opens earnings call with attempt to dispel concerns after his $5tn firm beat Wall Street expectationsGlobal share markets rose after Nvidia posted third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates, assuaging for now concerns about whether the high-flying valuations of AI firms had peaked.On Wednesday, all eyes were on Nvidia, the bellwether for the AI industry and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, with analysts and investors hoping the chipmaker's third-quarter earnings would dampen fears that a bubble was forming in the sector. Continue reading...
Amid a blackout of data due to the government shutdown, the $5tn chipmaker's report took on wider significanceMarkets expectations around Wednesday's quarterly earnings report by the most valuable publicly traded company in the world had risen to a fever pitch. Anxiety over billions in investment in artificial intelligence pervaded, in part because the US has been starved of reliable economic data by the recent government shutdown.Investors hoped that both questions would be in part answered by Nvidia's earnings and by a jobs report due on Thursday morning. Continue reading...
The use of AI in the surprise game-of-the-year contender has sparked a heated cultural and ethical debate, and raised existential questions for artists, writers and voice actors Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereArc Raiders is, by all accounts, a late game-of-the-year contender. Dropped into a multiplayer world overrun with hostile drones and military robots, every human player is at the mercy of the machines - and each other. Can you trust the other raider you've spotted on your way back to humanity's safe haven underground, or will they shoot you and take everything you've just scavenged? Perhaps surprisingly, humanity is (mostly) choosing to band together, according to most people I've talked to about this game.In a review for Gamespot, Mark Delaney paints a beguiling picture of Arc Raiders's potential for generating war stories, and highlights its surprisingly hopeful tone as the thing that elevates it above similar multiplayer extraction shooters: We can all kill each other in Arc Raiders. The fact that most of us are choosing instead to lend a helping hand, if not a sign that humanity will be all right in the real world, at the very least makes for one of the best multiplayer games I've ever played." Continue reading...
From turning down thermostats to make savings to installing reflectors to push warmth back into your homeWhen it comes to staying warm and saving energy, small changes can make a big difference," says Sarah Pennells, a consumer finance specialist at the investment company Royal London. Continue reading...
Don't splash out just yet! From a system update to better room lighting, a little fine-tuning could save you hundreds Do you really need to buy a new laptop?Do you really need to buy a new TV? While the latest specs and outrageous screen sizes may well be a temptation, perhaps you can save money (and the environment) by holding off a little longer. With some simple tips and tricks, you can level up your TV experience.Of course, the Fomo is real. Back in the day, the only reason to buy a new TV was when the old one fizzled and died. One telly was much the same as another, and features rarely changed. Continue reading...
From Away, Calpak and REI, here are budget-friendly reasons to upgrade your suitcase, replace your headphones and finally invest in a set of packing cubes
Forty years ago, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the markets in Japan and the US. But in Europe, a technologically superior rival was making it look like an ancient relicThere's an old maxim that history is written by the victors, and that's as true in video games as it is anywhere else. Nowadays you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Nintendo Entertainment System was the only console available in the mid-to-late 1980s. If you were brought up in Nintendo's target markets of Japan and North America, this chunky contraption essentially was the only game in town - the company had Mario after all, and its vice-like hold on third-party developers created a monopoly for major titles of the era. But in Europe, where home computers ruled the era, the NES was beaten by a technologically superior rival.The Sega Master System was originally released in Japan in the autumn of 1985 as the Sega Mark III. Based around the famed Z80 CPU (used in home computers such as the Spectrum, Amstrad and TRS-80) and a powerful Sega-designed video display processor, it boasted 8kb of RAM, a 64-colour palette and the ability to generate 32 sprites on screen at one time - making the NES (based on the older 6502 processor) look like an ancient relic. Continue reading...
His company is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool, and Karp has recently been on a striking political and philosophical journey. His biographer reveals what makes him tickIn a recent interview, Alex Karp said that his company Palantir was the most important software company in America and therefore in the world". He may well be right. To some, Palantir is also the scariest company in the world, what with its involvement in the Trump administration's authoritarian agenda. The potential end point of Palantir's tech is an all-powerful government system amalgamating citizens' tax records, biometric data and other personal information - the ultimate state surveillance tool. No wonder Palantir has been likened to George Orwell's Big Brother, or Skynet from the Terminator movies.Does this make Karp the scariest CEO in the world? There is some competition from Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Palantir's co-founder Peter Thiel. But 58-year-old Karp could give them all a run for their money in terms of influence, self-belief, ambition and - even in this gallery of oddballs - sheer eccentricity. In his increasingly frequent media appearances, Karp is a striking presence, with his cloud of unkempt grey hair, his 1.25x speed diction, and his mix of combative conviction and almost childish mannerisms. On CNBC's Squawk Box, he shook both fists simultaneously as he railed against short sellers betting against Palantir, whose share price has climbed nearly 600% in the past year: It's super triggering," he complained. Why do they have to go after us?" Continue reading...
The offensive listing seemed more than a mistake - it was a failure of corporate responsibility, says readerI found a baby outfit (sizes from newborn to five years) on Amazon bearing the phrase Santa's favourite ho".This isn't just a tasteless mistake - it's a failure of corporate responsibility and consumer protection. A corporation this large should have systems that prevent sexualised or exploitative language being associated with items for children. Continue reading...
Which? study of ChatGPT, Copilot and others uncovers incorrect and misleading tips on investments, tax and insuranceArtificial intelligence chatbots are giving inaccurate money tips, offering British consumers misleading tax advice and suggesting they buy unnecessary travel insurance, research has revealed.Tests on the most popular chatbots found Microsoft's Copilot and ChatGPT advised breaking HMRC investment limits on Isas; ChatGPT wrongly said it was mandatory to have travel insurance to visit most EU countries; and Meta's AI gave incorrect information about how to claim compensation for delayed flights. Continue reading...
As GenAI becomes the primary way to find information, local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we're missing
Former Amazon CEO to co-head Project Prometheus with tech executive Vik Bajaj, according to the New York TimesAfter stepping down as Amazon's CEO four years ago, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder and former chief executive of the online shopping company, is going to be a CEO again. This time, Bezos has appointed himself co-CEO of an AI startup called Project Prometheus, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources.The startup, which will focus on developing AI for engineering and manufacturing in various fields, has already received $6.2bn in funding - more than many companies are able to raise in their lifetimes. Leading the company alongside Bezos is his co-founder and co-CEO Vik Bajaj, a celebrity tech executive in his own right. Bajaj is a physicist and chemist best known for his work at Google's moonshot factory, X, where he founded the health startup Verily. Continue reading...
World's richest person wanted to purge' propaganda from Wikipedia, so he created a compendium of racist disinformationEntries in Elon Musk's new online encyclopedia variously promote white nationalist talking points, praise neo-Nazis and other far-right figures, promote racist ideologies and white supremacist regimes, and attempt to revive concepts and approaches historically associated with scientific racism, a Guardian analysis has found.The tech billionaire and Donald Trump ally recently launched xAI's AI-generated Grokipedia with a promise that it would purge out the propaganda" he claims infests Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that Musk has often attacked but that has long been a key feature of the internet. Continue reading...
Former Beatle and artists including Sam Fender, Kate Bush and Hans Zimmer record silent LP Is This What We WantAt two minutes 45 seconds it's about the same length as With a Little Help From My Friends. But Paul McCartney's first new recording in five years lacks the sing-along tune and jaunty guitar chops because there's barely anything there.The former Beatle, arguably Britain's greatest living songwriter, is releasing a track of an almost completely silent recording studio as part of a music industry protest against copyright theft by artificial intelligence companies. Continue reading...
This story of emancipated young women escaping draconian social strictures brims with enthusiasm and features a cameo from Phoebe Waller-BridgeBased on a true story, Bill Guttentag's rousing drama attests to the resilience of women who dare to dream despite draconian social strictures. The film follows Roya Mahboob (Nikohl Boosheri), a trailblazing coach and businesswoman in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) who assembles a robotics team of Afghan girls for international competitions. The young dreamers hail from different walks of life but they all share the same zest for engineering. They face the same dangers too; in a country where women are not encouraged or even allowed to pursue higher levels of education, their quest for medals sees opposition from their own families as well as public scorn from conservatives.Rule Breakers is at its most thrilling during the competition sequences, which splice together real-life documentary footage of the events with fictional re-enactments. (There's even an appearance from Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a host.) A breathless enthusiasm thrums through the film, as the camera swirls around the young competitors, all energised by their love for science. These spaces are portrayed as a haven that encourages camaraderie rather than competitiveness, and in a world divided by military conflicts and war, they offer a utopiian vision of international collaboration and solidarity. Continue reading...
Less expensive and time consuming' model helps with fast and accurate predictions, possibly saving lives and propertyWhen then Tropical Storm Melissa was churning south of Haiti, Philippe Papin, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) meteorologist, had confidence it was about to grow into a monster hurricane.As the lead forecaster on duty, he predicted that in just 24 hours the storm would become a category 4 hurricane and begin a turn towards the coast of Jamaica. No NHC forecaster had ever issued such a bold forecast for rapid strengthening. Continue reading...
Sweatpants are in, you can't go wrong with Jellycats, and Legos never get old. It turns out tweens are not shy about sharing the holiday gifts they want
Ian Russell says watchdog lacks urgency' and is not willing to use its powers to the extent required'The father of Molly Russell, a British teenager who killed herself after viewing harmful online content, has called for a change in leadership at the UK's communications watchdog after losing faith in its ability to make the internet safer for children.Ian Russell, whose 14 year-old daughter took her own life in 2017, said Ofcom had repeatedly" demonstrated that it does not grasp the urgency of keeping under-18s safe online and was failing to implement new digital laws forcefully. Continue reading...
Feeling overwhelmed by divisive opinions, endless rows and unreliable facts? Here's how to weather the data stormWe all live in history. A lot of the problems that face us, and the opportunities that present themselves, are defined not by our own choices or even the specific place or government we're living under, but by the particular epoch of human events that our lives happen to coincide with.The Industrial Revolution, for example, presented opportunities for certain kinds of business success - it made some people very rich while others were exploited. If you'd known that was the name of your era, it would have given you a clue about what kinds of events to prepare for. So I'm suggesting a name for the era we're living through: the Information Crisis. Continue reading...
Sensitive information relates to more than 100 individuals and their refereesPersonal details submitted by applicants for a job at Tate art galleries have been leaked online, exposing their addresses, salaries and the phone numbers of their referees, the Guardian has learned.The records, running to hundreds of pages, appeared on a website unrelated to the government-sponsored organisation, which operates the Tate Modern and Tate Britain galleries in London, Tate St Ives in Cornwall and Tate Liverpool. Continue reading...
Anthropic says financial firms and government agencies were attacked largely without human intervention'A leading artificial intelligence company claims to have stopped a China-backed cyber espionage" campaign that was able to infiltrate financial firms and government agencies with almost no human oversight.The US-based Anthropic said its coding tool, Claude Code, was manipulated" by a Chinese state-sponsored group to attack 30 entities around the world in September, achieving a handful of successful intrusions". Continue reading...
Quizmasters are banning smart devices, using dedicated apps and finding plain old honesty can combat trivial offencesWho is older, Gary Numan or Gary Oldman? If you know the answer to this question (see below), you are probably one of hundreds of thousands of Brits who attend a pub quiz every week.As a nation of committed trivia buffs, it was unsurprising that news of a quizmaster in Manchester outing a team for cheating was leapt on. Just where, we asked, is the special place in hell reserved for those quizzers who take a sneaky look at their phones under the table? Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian