Technology | The Guardian

Amid a recruitment struggle, branches are using huge hits like Fortnite as marketing tools. Some veterans see the practice as unethical - especially given the age of the gaming audienceIn a small room tucked into a US navy facility outside Memphis, Tennessee, uniformed personnel sit hunched over monitors, their eyes focused on screens as they speak into headsets with clipped efficiency. Computer towers and glowing red keyboards crowd their desks. This is top-of-the-line gear, used for executing combat missions and coordinating strategy - but not with fleets stationed across the world. These sailors are playing video games. On the other end of their headsets and screens are young gamers they hope to inspire.In 2019, we did a big look at where we were spending our money, looking at where the next generation is," says Lt Aaron Jones, captain of the navy's esports team, as we sit in his office after touring the facility. A naval press officer hovers a few feet away. This is where they are," Jones continues. Whether it's Twitch or YouTube or Facebook Gaming, this is what they love." Continue reading...

After a year in invite-only beta mode, anyone can sign up for the new social network. Whether they will want to stay is another matter Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereLast week, Bluesky opened up its doors. After a year in an invite-only closed beta, anyone who wants it can now sign up for an account with only an email address.Even if the value of an invitation had lessened somewhat in recent months (I have five sitting unused, and not for want of trying), there was clearly some pent-up demand. In just two days, the service has seen more than a million new signups. For comparison, it took Bluesky more than three months from the release of its iOS app last February until it hit 70,000 users.We weren't using invites to try to be exclusive. We were using them to manage growth while we built out what is essentially a foundation, the rails for this new kind of distributed network.We had to build the app protocol beneath Bluesky, the AT Protocol, that lets different developers, companies, or people come in and modify their experiences. Some of it is going to be rolling out soon.The silent majority of every successful text-based social media site is lurkers. These are sane, normal people with sane, normal lives ... The influencer is building a business. They are making #content ... The commenter is trying to have a conversation with another human being. They are hoping, however misguidedly, to have a meaningful interaction online ... The reply guy can be thought of as the most important subclass of commenter; they are specific. They are usually interacting with or on behalf of a favored internet user ... Finally, we have the poster, sometimes referred to as a poaster. The poster is required for every social network to function.If you want to read the complete version of the newsletter please subscribe to receive TechScape in your inbox every Tuesday. Continue reading...

The creative director of noughties online role playing game Free Realms was a passionate advocate of principles over personalityNoted game designer Laralyn McWilliams, 58, died as the result of complications from heart surgery on 5 February in Seattle, Washington. She was creative director of Free Realms, Sony Computer Entertainment's family-friendly online world, lead designer on 2004's Full Spectrum Warrior, and the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement award at the Game Developers Choice awards.McWilliams was born in Vicenza Italy in 1965, into an American military family, and moved frequently throughout her youth. She found her home in the games she played, and Myst was particularly significant to her, a world to which she returned again and again. She earned a BA in psychology from Vassar College, and a JD from St Louis University of Law. While she worked hard for those accolades, she never forgot the joy that games brought, and she wanted to return to those worlds and bring that same joy to others. She taught herself game design and became a master of her trade, creating games for Disney, Dreamworks and many others. She was a rare all-rounder, having worked on everything from first-person shooters to casual games. Continue reading...

In part six of our series exploring myths surrounding EVs, we weigh up what will be the power of the future

FBI director has publicly identified the risk posed by a Chinese cyber operation that is believed to have compromised thousands of internet-connected devicesRelations between the US and China - particularly over Beijing's threats to annex Taiwan - have plummeted in recent years, prompting growing concern about the potential for hostilities or all-out conflict. So recent revelations that a Chinese hacking network known as Volt Typhoon had been lying dormant inside US critical infrastructure for as long as five years have sparked considerable alarm.The network exploited US technological and security weaknesses. But rather than stealing secrets, US and allied intelligence services said it was focused on pre-positioning" itself for future acts of sabotage. Continue reading...

Biden's presidential election campaign says it will continue meeting voters where they are, including on social mediaThe chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, a senior Democrat, said he is concerned about the decision by the campaign of president Joe Biden to join TikTok.On Sunday, Biden's reelection campaign used the Super Bowl to kick off its new TikTok account in an effort to reach young voters ahead of the presidential election in November. Continue reading...

Network operating in western Europe is paving way for new wave of online manipulation' in crucial election year, French agency saysFrench military and cybersecurity experts say they have identified a Moscow-based network spreading propaganda and disinformation in western Europe.France's Viginum agency, which was set up in 2021 to detect digital interference from foreign entities aimed at influencing public opinion, says Russia is paving the way for a new wave of online manipulation in the run-up to the European elections and other crucial votes this year. Continue reading...

Network had different problems over the weekend and Monday but service now said to be recoveringMobile operator Three has apologised as more than 10,000 customers experienced outages after problems with its service over the last few days.The company, which has more than 10 million UK customers, issued apologies in posts on X on Saturday, Sunday and Monday regarding a string of problems affecting voice calls and the ability to use mobile data. Continue reading...

BYD is increasingly dominating the world market and now wants to persuade UK motorists to snap up its vehiclesIt is the car brand that has become the biggest seller of electric vehicles (EVs) in the world - yet many people will struggle to recognise the name. Now Chinese company BYD (it stands for build your dreams") is on a mission to get more UK consumers to snap up its affordable" vehicles.It is one of the latest Chinese companies to hit the UK car market, claiming its prices are competitive and launching three vehicles since it arrived here last year. Continue reading...

Super-premium phone-tablet is the thinnest and lightest folder' yet - but compromises on cameraHonor's Magic V2 is the best designed folding phone-tablet yet. It feels just like a regular phone when closed but then opens up like a book to reveal a large, plush screen.Launched in China last year, the Magic V2 has now made it to Europe but not at a price that could be considered affordable. At 1,700 (2,000), it is placed between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus's slightly cheaper Open.Main screen: 7.92in (402ppi) 120Hz OLED flexible displayCover screen: 6.43in (404ppi) 120Hz OLEDProcessor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2RAM: 16GBStorage: 512GBOperating system: MagicOS 7.2 (Android 13)Camera: 50MP + 50MP ultrawide + 20MP 2.5x tele; 2x 16MP selfieConnectivity: 5G, dual sim + esim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, GNSSWater resistance: noneDimensions folded: 156.7 x 74 x 10.1mmDimensions unfolded: 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.8mmWeight: 237g Continue reading...

Kate Jackson's cosy, creative existence in rural Northumberland has spawned a YouTube channel, two websites, an online shop - and financial independenceOne sunny day in 2017, Kate Jackson, then 61, took a wooden wool-spinning wheel into her garden. She propped her iPad against a brick, pressed record and started talking as she spun - about crafts, the countryside, her menagerie of animals (cats, chickens, bees and Eileen the goose). Jackson enjoyed watching videos about gardening and quilting on YouTube, so one day she thought: how hard can it be? I made a resolve to upload once a week."She called her channel The Last Homely House, which is a place to feel comfortable, secure and welcomed. That's what I wanted my channel to be." It now has 123,000 subscribers. Last May, Jackson - who lives in rural Northumberland - set up a sister channel, called The Last Homely Garden. She has an online shop, nearly 40,000 Instagram followers, and even a fan-run Facebook group. She has become the linchpin of a thriving online community. Continue reading...

US regulator sued in October to compel Musk to testify as part of an investigation into his $44bn purchase of what is now known as XElon Musk has been ordered to testify again as part of an investigation by US regulators into his 2022 purchase of the social media platform Twitter, later renamed X.A California federal court ruling released on Saturday gave the Tesla and SpaceX chief a week to agree with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on a date and place for the interview after Musk refused to attend a previous sit-down in September. Continue reading...

Pamplona-based Cocuus is on a loud and disruptive quest to fuse science, technology and nutritionCocuus, a cutting-edge tech startup headquartered in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Pamplona, embraces the cliches of its sector every bit as willingly as the drunken tourists who blithely entrust themselves to fate, horns and hooves during the Spanish city's bull-running festival each July.Table football? Check. Lager and IPA on tap? Check. Inspirational messaging - preferably an Alice in Wonderland homage that reads, I believe in six impossible things before breakfast"? Check. What about some sci-fi memorabilia, perhaps a Tintin moon rocket and an Alien xenomorph head? Check. Obviously. Continue reading...

Marc Warner, CEO of London-based Faculty AI, sees new body as an international standard setterThe UK should concentrate on setting global standards for artificial intelligence testing instead of trying to carry out all the vetting itself, according to a company assisting the government's AI Safety Institute.Marc Warner, the chief executive of Faculty AI, said the newly established institute could end up on the hook" for scrutinising an array of AI models - the technology that underpins chatbots like ChatGPT - owing to the government's world-leading work in AI safety. Continue reading...

Digital rights advocates warn little is known about how collected data is used - and that privacy laws are playing catch-up

Midjourney's CEO David Holz says company close to hammering' images of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and others for next 12 months'The groundbreaking artificial intelligence image-generating company Midjourney is considering banning people from using its software to make political images of Joe Biden and Donald Trump as part of an effort to avoid being used to distract from or misinform about the 2024 US presidential election.I don't know how much I care about political speech for the next year for our platform," Midjourney's CEO, David Holz, said last week, adding that the company is close to hammering" - or banning - political images, including those of the leading presidential candidates, for the next 12 months". Continue reading...

The London-based food photographer created an image that makes you want to dive in and eat itWhere do we start ... all ice-cream is mashed potato?" asks Georgia Glynn-Smith, food photographer and creator of the London School of Food & Film online masterclasses. When it comes to the industry secrets on photographing food - something she has done for cookbooks by the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Mary Berry, and Tesco and M&S TV adverts, she knows it all.Anyone can photograph food, but one of the things you need to figure out is what is it that makes you hungry? Is it the melting cheese, the flutter of icing sugar, the drizzle of chocolate, the falling slice of perfectly cooked beef, the crunch of the roast potato? Focus here will make your audience want to dive in and eat it." Continue reading...

Seine-Port is introducing restrictions on phone use in streets, shops and parks - but young people say there's little else to doA picture of a smartphone with a red line through it serves as a warning in the window of a hairdresser's shop in a French village that has voted to ban people scrolling on their phones in public. Everyone is struggling with too much screen time," said Ludivine, a cardiology nurse, as she had her hair cut into a bob, leaving her phone out of sight in her bag. I voted in favour, this could be a solution."Seine-Port, in the Seine-et-Marne area south of Paris, with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, last weekend voted yes in a referendum to restrict smartphone use in public, banning adults and children from scrolling on their devices while walking down the street, while sitting with others on a park bench, while in shops, cafes or eating in restaurants and while parents wait for their children in front of the school gates. Those who might check their phone's map when lost are instead being encouraged to ask for directions. Continue reading...

Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian organizations expressed alarm about company's policy on Zionist' in meetingMeta is considering expanding and revisiting" its hate speech policy around the term Zionist", the Guardian has confirmed. The company reached out to and met with more than 10 Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian organizations on Friday to discuss the company's plans to review the policy to ensure the term Zionist" is not being used as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people, according to an email the Guardian reviewed.The policy as it exists allows Zionist" to be used in political discourse but removed when it's used explicitly as a proxy for Jews or Israelis in a dehumanizing or violent way", according to an email a Meta representative sent to the organizations inviting them to the Friday meeting. The email further stated the company was considering reviewing it in light of posts users and stakeholders" have recently reported, the Meta representative wrote. The Intercept first reported the potential change in policy. Continue reading...

Researchers find large language models, which power chatbots, can deceive human users and help spread disinformationThe UK's new artificial intelligence safety body has found that the technology can deceive human users, produce biased outcomes and has inadequate safeguards against giving out harmful information.The AI Safety Institute published initial findings from its research into advanced AI systems known as large language models (LLMs), which underpin tools such as chatbots and image generators, and found a number of concerns. Continue reading...

A group known as Volt Typhoon, geared toward sabotage, quietly burrowed into critical US infrastructure networksAn advanced group of Chinese hackers taking aim at critical US infrastructure has been active for as long as half a decade, American and allied intelligence agencies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.The US National Security Agency, US cyber watchdog CISA, the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration said that the group known as Volt Typhoon had quietly burrowed into the networks of aviation, rail, mass transit, highway, maritime, pipeline, water and sewage organizations. Continue reading...

Ahead of London fashion week, optimists believe new tools can open up an industry that can be elitist - and costly to enterThe impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries is a subject that has prompted widespread anxiety about job losses and the death of imagination, and the world of fashion is no exception.But this month's London fashion week, marking the event's 40th anniversary, will showcase a host of AI-generated outfits and industry insiders have expressed a growing optimism about what the technology can do for the sector - from improving diversity to shortening the path from design desk to shop floor. Continue reading...

It seems like something from the far-off future, but this threat is already here,' says chair of Federal Communications CommissionThe US government on Thursday outlawed robocalls that use voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won't be tolerated.The unanimous ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) targets robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law restricting junk calls that use artificial and prerecorded voice messages. Continue reading...

Microsoft analysts cite reports saying disruption by group known as Cotton Sandstorm also reached audiences in UK and CanadaIranian state-backed hackers interrupted TV streaming services in the United Arab Emirates to broadcast a deepfake newsreader delivering a report on the war in Gaza, according to analysts at Microsoft.The tech company said a hacking operation run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a key branch of the Iranian armed forces, had disrupted streaming platforms in the UAE with an AI-generated news broadcast branded For Humanity". Continue reading...

Claim comes as GMB union prepares for three days of strike action at tech company's Coventry warehouse

In this week's newsletter: Jeff Garlin and Susie Essman break down every episode of the epic sitcom in The History of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Plus: five of the best climate crisis podcasts Don't get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereLate Fragments

Despite healthy sales, publishers such as Epic Games and Activision Blizzard are making hundreds of employees redundant - which may radically reshape the industryIt is widely agreed that 2023 was a stellar year for video games. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 ... barely a week passed without some blockbuster hit or independent gem.But beneath these accolades there is a sadder, more worrying story: it was also a year of widespread industry redundancies, and the trend is continuing into the opening weeks of 2024. Microsoft laid off 1,900 staff after its $69bn purchase of Activision Blizzard. Publisher Embracer Group let at least 900 staff go across its many studios, as well as closing veteran UK developer Free Radical Design. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, one of the most successful titles of the decade, laid off 830 employees; Electronic Arts shed 6% of its workforce, amounting to approximately 780 jobs. There have been similar grim stories from Ubisoft, Naughty Dog, Sega and Unity; major publishers and smaller studios alike are being affected. Continue reading...

Report is said to show that attacks on cryptocurrency-related companies helped development of dictatorship's weapons programmeUN sanctions monitors are investigating dozens of suspected cyber-attacks by North Korea that raked in $3bn to help it further develop its nuclear weapons programme, according to excerpts of an unpublished UN report reviewed by the Reuters news agency.The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) continued to flout security council sanctions," a panel of independent sanctions monitors reported to a security council committee, using North Korea's formal name. Continue reading...

US taxi app firm turns $1.8bn loss into $1.1bn profit after years of spending billions of investors' cash to expandUber has reported its first ever annual operating profit as a limited company, in a landmark moment for a business that spent billions of dollars of investors' money in an aggressive and often controversial expansion around the world.The US taxi app company said it made $1.1bn (870m) in 2023, compared with a loss of $1.8bn the year before. Continue reading...

A number of people have been spotted using Apple's VR headset in public including while driving. Some appear to have been using the gadget as a stunt. Others may just have been just learning how to use the headset while out and about.The new technology has prompted safety concerns, with the US transportation secretary reminding drivers they must pay attention at all times. The reminder was issued after one Vision Pro owner was filmed using the headset as he drove a car with assisted driving features Continue reading...

Ransomware gangs targeted hospitals, schools and bodies such as BA and the BBC, Chainalysis findsRansomware gangs staged a major comeback" last year, according to research, with victims of hacking attacks paying out a record $1.1bn to assailants.Cyber criminals stepped up their global operations in 2023 after a lull in 2022, with victims including hospitals, schools and major corporations. Continue reading...

Catherina De Solieux is one of several Australians taking legal action against banks who oversaw money transfers to the HyperVerse scheme

The self-described stupid gay clown' provides a who's who of queer comedians - including one he would like to ask out. Matt Rogers, if you're reading this ...

Rocksteady/Warner Bros; PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC

Snapchat owner's earnings fall short of predictions as it turns focus to user growth in monetizable' markets like North America and EuropeThe owner of Snapchat narrowly missed Wall Street's expectations as it continues to grapple with a slowdown in digital advertising. Shares in the social media company tumbled by nearly a third.While Snap said it was encouraged by the progress we are making", it cited factors including the conflict in the Middle East, which knocked its business. Continue reading...

Global executive Nick Clegg says users want to know where the boundary lies' amid rise in AI-generated contentMeta is working to detect and label AI-generated images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads as the company pushes to call out people and organisations that actively want to deceive people".Photorealistic images created using Meta's AI imaging tool are already labelled as AI, but the company's president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, announced in a blog post on Tuesday that the company would work to begin labelling AI-generated images developed on rival services. Continue reading...

The future of cybercrime resembles an arms race between an industry of hackers-for-hire and the UK's weak defencesIt is not quite accurate to say that the cyber-attack against the British Library took place on 28 October 2023. Most probably, Rhysida, the hacker gang that orchestrated the attack and is thought to be Russian, had already been creeping undetected through the digital territories of the British Library for months, Enrico Mariconti, a lecturer in security and crime science at UCL, told me.Once it broke through to the library's virtual private network (VPN) - the remote connection that allows employees to access its network from any location - it could in theory start making its way through locked door after locked door of the library's many online systems, trawling until it discovered emails and documents containing details such as employees' passport scans and work contracts. It hoped these documents might tempt a single bidder to pay 20 bitcoins (about 600,000) for privileged access to all that personal information.Lamorna Ash is the author of Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town Continue reading...

Britain has announced 10m for regulators but has done very little to mitigate the risks linked with artificial intelligence. Plus, Facebook's deep-fake Biden conundrum Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereBritain wants to lead the world in AI regulation. But AI regulation is a rapidly evolving, contested policy space in which there's little agreement over what a good outcome would look like, let alone the best methods to get there. And being the third most important hub of AI research in the world doesn't give you an awful lot of power when the first two are the US and China.How to slice through this Gordian knot? Simple: move swiftly and decisively to do ... absolutely nothing.The government will acknowledge on Tuesday that binding measures for overseeing cutting-edge AI development are needed at some point - but not immediately. Instead, ministers will set out initial thinking for future binding requirements" for advanced systems and discuss them with technical, legal and civil society experts.The government will also give 10m to regulators to help them tackle AI risks, as well as requiring them to set out their approach to the technology by 30 April.The Intellectual Property Office, the UK government's agency overseeing copyright laws, has been consulting with AI companies and rights holders to produce guidance on text and data mining, where AI models are trained on existing materials such as books and music.However, the group of industry executives convened by the IPO that oversees the work has been unable to agree on a voluntary code of practice, meaning that it has returned the responsibility back to officials at the Department for Science Innovation and Technology.Meta's oversight board has found that a Facebook video wrongfully suggesting that the US president, Joe Biden, is a paedophile does not violate the company's current rules while deeming those rules incoherent" and too narrowly focused on AI-generated content.The board, which is funded by Meta - Facebook's parent company - but run independently, took on the Biden video case in October in response to a user complaint about an altered seven-second video of the president. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: As the mother of Brianna Ghey calls for social media blocks and smartphone age limits, we look at what protections exist - and whether they are enough Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. Before the newsletter, an update on the news that broke last night that King Charles has been diagnosed with cancer. Buckingham Palace says that Charles is already undergoing treatment; it did not specify the type of the disease, other than to say it's not prostate cancer. You can read Rajeev Syal's analysis of the impact of the news on how the king carries out his role, and Andrew Gregory's cancer explainer.Today, we're covering online safety for children, starting with a grimly familiar feature of the age: a devastated parent, granted a platform they never wanted, and using it to demand greater guardrails on smartphones to protect others from the fate that befell their child. At the weekend, Brianna Ghey's mother Esther gave an interview to the BBC in which she called for social media apps to be banned on smartphones for under-16s. Esther Ghey said her daughter might have been saved if the searches being made by her eventual killers had been flagged to their parents.Crime | Detectives hunting the Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi have said they believe he is either being harboured from capture or is dead, with no trace of him for days despite a massive manhunt. Police said that a 22-year-old man arrested early on Monday for assisting an offender had been released on bail.Middle East | At least six US-backed Kurdish fighters have been killed in a drone strike on a US base in eastern Syria. The attack, the latest indicator of how conflict has spread across the Middle East since the beginning of the war in Gaza, was claimed by an Iranian-backed militia that on Friday was the target of US airstrikes.Child sexual abuse | Survivors and campaigners have criticised the failure to introduce mandatory reporting for child sexual abuse in England more than 15 months after it was one of the key recommendations by a public inquiry. None of the recommendations of the seven-year independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) has yet been implemented by the UK government.Labour | Labour has much work to do to retain support among Muslim voters, a senior party figure has said, as a poll suggested the party had lost a portion of its Muslim voter base over its handling of the Israel-Gaza war. Only 60% of British Muslims who backed Labour in 2019 are willing to do so again at the next general election, the survey finds.Restaurants | London restaurant the Ledbury has been awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland, becoming the sixth in the capital to be given the accolade. London's Gymkhana and Birmingham's Opheem become the first two Indian restaurants in the UK to receive two stars, while Crieff's Glenturret Lalique has become the second two-star restaurant in Scotland. Continue reading...

Transportation head says drivers must pay attention at all times after clips emerge of some using what looks like Apple's Vision ProUS transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said human drivers must pay attention at all times after videos emerged of people wearing what appeared to be Apple's recently released Vision Pro headset while driving Teslas.Buttigieg responded on Twitter/X to a video that had more than 24m views of a Tesla driver who appeared to be gesturing with his hands to manipulate a virtual reality field. Continue reading...

Crypto Open Patent Alliance seeking ruling in London that computer scientist is not pseudonymous author Satoshi NakamotoAn Australian computer scientist's claim to be the author of the founding text of bitcoin is a brazen lie", the high court has heard.Craig Wright's assertion that he is the pseudonymous author Satoshi Nakamoto was at the centre of a trial that began on Monday, where the 53-year-old is being sued by a group of cryptocurrency exchanges and developers. Continue reading...

Oversight committee attacks Meta's incoherent' policy on misleadingly manipulated videos as too focused on AIMeta's oversight board has found that a Facebook video wrongfully suggesting that the US president, Joe Biden, is a paedophile does not violate the company's current rules while deeming those rules incoherent" and too narrowly focused on AI-generated content.The board, which is funded by Meta - Facebook's parent company - but run independently, took on the Biden video case in October in response to a user complaint about an altered seven-second video of the president. Continue reading...

Two months after Rhik Samadder ended his phone detox, he realises some of its lessons actually stuck with him Sign up to our free coaching newsletter to help you spend less time on your phoneIn the final update in Rhik's journey to break his phone addiction, he manages a breakthrough. And a big one.Do you want to be my girlfriend?" I ask Almond one day. Continue reading...

Titanium superphone has serious speed, battery life and unrivalled camera zoom but is ultra-pricedSamsung's latest smartphone packs a plethora of the latest flashy AI tools in an attempt to improve text, images, video and search - with both hits and misses.The new Galaxy S24 Ultra comes equipped with a combination of Samsung and Google's latest AI layered on top of one of the most capable phones on the market, filled to the brim with competition-beating specs. Continue reading...

Matthew Butler-Hart's film lurches from social-media comedy to shaky-cam bloodletting, but never comes near the primeval emotions of the Blair Witch Project it so often referencesAt one point in this found-footage paganistic slasher from British director Matthew Butler-Hart, Thea (Ellie Duckles), one of a pair of stereotypically annoying YouTubers, ironically performs the I'm so sorry" monologue from the Blair Witch Project to camera. Dagr also comes prefaced with a Blair Witch-style opening statement that it has been cobbled together from their final footage. But Butler-Hart's film doesn't get anywhere near Blair Witch levels of primeval emotions - partly because of an ambitious and perhaps over-fussy structure, and partly because its digital-age perma-snark tone cancels out fear for much of it.Thea and her running buddy Louise (Riz Moritz) pride themselves on being online Robin Hoods - filming heists" of swag from the rich with their faces plastered over with giant emoticons, and then selling off the proceeds to give to those in need. But really they're massive narcissists. Their latest target is a commercial shoot in a remote country mansion being run by Tori (Tori Butler-Hart), where they plan to pose as caterers and then make off with high-end clothes and camera equipment. Bantering in the car on the way, they stop at a farm shop for directions; Louise picks up a creepy feathered mask and a local legend about a cult. But they're too busy mugging for their feed to pay much attention. Continue reading...

Party plans to replace voluntary agreement with statutory regime so we can see where this is taking us'Labour plans to force artificial intelligence firms to share the results of road tests of their technology after warning that regulators and politicians had failed to rein in social media platforms.The party would replace a voluntary testing agreement between tech companies and the government with a statutory regime, under which AI businesses would be compelled to share test data with officials. Continue reading...

Moody's warning over hacking's effect on debts may bolster water utilities' plans to hike bills to cover needed investmentsThe credit rating agency Moody's has warned that water companies face an elevated" risk from cyber attackers targeting drinking water, as suppliers wait on permission from the industry regulator to ramp up spending on digital security.Moody's said, in a report to investors, that hackers are increasingly zeroing in on infrastructure companies, including water and wastewater treatment companies, and the use of AI (artificial intelligence) could accelerate this trend. Continue reading...

As experts worry over privacy issues, ineffectiveness and even harm, the UK is looking at whether the plethora of digital mental health tools need regulatingWhat if I told you one of the strongest choices you could make was the choice to ask for help?" says a young, twentysomething woman in a red sweater, before recommending that viewers seek out counselling. This advert, promoted on Instagram and other social media platforms, is just one of many campaigns created by the California-based company BetterHelp, which offers to connect users with online therapists.The need for sophisticated digital alternatives to conventional face-to-face therapy has been well established in recent years. If we go by the latest data for NHS talking therapy services, 1.76 million people were referred for treatment in 2022-23, while 1.22 million actually started working with a therapist in person. Continue reading...

The Facebook boss faced the parents of victims in Senate hearings, but until legislators finally stand up to social media giants, nothing will changeI don't generally approve of blood sports but I'm happy to make an exception for the hunting and baiting of Silicon Valley executives in a congressional committee room. But then I like expensive, pointless spectacles. And waterboarding tech CEOs in Congress is right up there with firework displays, a brief, thrillingly meaningless sensation on the retina and then darkness.Last week's grilling of Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Silicon Valley Ubermenschen was a classic of the genre: front pages, headlines, and a genuinely stand-out moment of awkwardness in which he was forced to facevictims for the first time ever and apologise: stricken parents holding the photographs of their dead children lost to cyberbullying and sexual exploitation onhis platform. Continue reading...

They promise more energy and a vastly improved range for EV drivers. But can they deliver on the hype?