From energy-saving bulbs to leak detectors, smart tech offers many benefits at the touch of a buttonAlmost everything in your home, from lights and thermostats to door locks and security cameras, can now be connected to the internet. With a few taps on an app or a voice command you can turn down your heating, let visitors into your home or check for leaks.But while many of these gadgets appear to be simply a way to impress visitors (“Hey Google, dim the lights and play some romantic music”), others can save you money. And at a time when many of us are working from home and running up bills during the day, this is likely to be their biggest selling point. Continue reading...
House lawmakers said they could subpoena CEO to testify in antitrust investigation if he doesn’t appear voluntarilyA bipartisan group of House lawmakers investigating Amazon for possible antitrust violations have demanded that Jeff Bezos testify before Congress to address statements by the company that “appear to be misleading, and possibly criminally false or perjurious”.“Although we expect that you will testify on a voluntary basis, we reserve the right to resort to compulsory process if necessary,” seven leaders of the House judiciary committee, including the chair Jerry Nadler, wrote in a letter to the Amazon CEO on Friday. Continue reading...
The Tesla CEO is welcome to argue for reopening America. But he is relying on bad science to make his caseWhat has happened to Elon Musk?A highlight reel of the billionaire Tesla CEO’s activities since early March includes his pooh-poohing the coronavirus “panic” as “dumb”; keeping his northern California factory open in defiance of local public health orders; falsely asserting that children are “essentially immune” from the virus; providing a giant platform to promoters of an unproven and potentially dangerous treatment; predicting (inaccurately) that the US would have no new cases of Covid-19 by the end of April; attempting to re-open the factory before the end of the local shelter-in-place order; and calling shelter-in-place orders “fascist”. (Let’s not even get into the drama over whether the BiPap machines he donated to some hospitals count as ventilators.) Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#52X4M)
Top performance, good camera, long support and manageable size make cheaper iPhone a bargainApple’s latest iPhone SE is a surprise cut-price marvel that revives a classic iPhone design and trounces every other mid-range phone in the process.The £419 iPhone SE takes the important bits of the iPhone 11 – the processor and software – and shoehorns them into the body of an iPhone 8 from 2017. You get a phone design largely unchanged from the iPhone 6 of 2014, with traditional home button, but the performance and longevity of a brand new Apple phone for £310 less than an iPhone 11. Continue reading...
Company reports $58.3bn in sales as CEO says China sales ‘headed in the right direction’ despite coronavirusApple reported sales and profits that beat Wall Street expectations on Thursday despite fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, with Tim Cook saying China sales were “headed in the right direction” as that country reopens.But the CEO said it was impossible to forecast overall results for the current quarter because of uncertainty created by the virus. Continue reading...
Sitcom veteran Greg Daniels stumbles with an overstuffed new sitcom about what happens when we die and how much it costs to be happy thereTV has reached its maximum capacity of quirky afterlifes. The Good Place set this recent wave in motion on NBC with its vision of Hell as a metaphysical bureaucracy plastering a cheery expression over its endless labyrinth of paperwork and intra-departmental conflicts. TBS’s Miracle Workers cranked the whimsy up a notch for the romcom angle, as two low-level angels invisibly nudged a pair of shy mortals together. Amazon’s Forever went the existential route, confronting a married couple stuck in a rut with the horror of continuing all their daily drudgeries after death in a suburb identical to their own. In each case, the series generated comedy by offering a banal solution to the grand mystery of what happens after we shuffle off this mortal coil. Who knew heaven would be so devastatingly similar to a place on earth.Related: Never Have I Ever review – Netflix teen series slowly finds its voice Continue reading...
Pay-monthly service sees huge surge in players and gaming time due to Coronavirus lockdownMicrosoft has announced that its Xbox Game Pass subscription service has passed 10 million members. The initiative, which adopts a similar model to Netflix and other streaming platforms, gives subscribers unlimited access to more than 100 Xbox and PC games for a monthly fee.Commenting on the figure, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that use of Game Pass, as well as the company’s online multiplayer gaming service Xbox Live, had increased substantially in recent weeks due to Covid-19. “Since March, Xbox Game Pass members have added over 23 million friends on Xbox Live, which is a 70% growth in friendship rate,” he said. “Game Pass members are also playing twice as much and engaging in more multiplayer gaming, which has increased by 130%.” Continue reading...
Dr Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus taskforce coordinator, has become an internet star thanks to her selection of scarves for Covid-19 press briefings. Birx, whose reaction to Donald Trump's suggestion of injecting disinfectant to treat the disease went viral, has attracted an online following thanks to her sartorial choices
by Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco and agencies on (#52VKY)
Company earns $4.9bn as it faces slowdown in digital advertising market amid coronavirusFacebook reported its slowest quarterly growth as a public company, pressured by a global slowdown in the digital advertising market due to the coronavirus pandemic.Like other tech companies, the social network is feeling the squeeze from the global pandemic, but its results still beat analyst expectations. Revenue rose 18% to $17.74bn, sending stocks surging more than 7% in after-hours trading. Continue reading...
Cameras to check workers’ temperatures amid coronavirus come from Dahua, which allegedly helped Beijing detain MuslimsAmazon has bought cameras to take the temperatures of workers during the coronavirus pandemic from a firm the US previously blacklisted over allegations it helped China detain and monitor the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.China’s Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd shipped 1,500 cameras to Amazon this month in a deal valued close to $10m, one of the people said. At least 500 Dahua systems are for Amazon’s use in the US, another person said. Continue reading...
Alphabet first-quarter earnings offer a glimpse of how the digital ad market has fared amid stay-at-home ordersGoogle reported its weakest revenue growth in nearly five years in the first quarter as the pandemic-driven recession began to shrivel its advertising sales.“It was the tale of two quarters,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, told investors on a conference call on Tuesday. Typically – strong revenue growth in January and February was undercut by a “significant and sudden slowdown in advertising” in March, he said. “When I last spoke with you, no one could have imagined how much the world would change – and how quickly.” Continue reading...
Many of us are finding it hard to concentrate on books during lockdown – so here are some games that do fascinating things with words and storiesIt has been one of the many cruel ironies of lockdown: we all have time to read more, but the constant uncertainty and worry, together with the endlessly transmogrifying news narrative, have made it difficult to concentrate on novels.A few keen readers have turned to essay collections, short stories or diaries, which are less demanding on the memory and attention, but video games may also offer a way back into reading during these difficult times. Here are 12 interesting puzzle and adventure games that play with words, text and narratives in innovative ways, which may well guide you back into a reading frame of mind. Continue reading...
Epic makes its blockbuster game available in store, an embarrassing climbdownFortnite for Android is available through the Google Play store for the first time, almost 18 months after owners Epic Games tried to use the game’s popularity to break the app store duopoly.The release is an embarrassing climbdown for Epic, which has sunk significant resources into building its own independent games service, and is sure to reignite accusations of anti-competitive behaviour on the parts of both Apple and Google. Continue reading...
This Supershoppers special takes two Amazon-devoted families on an eye-opening tour of the retailers’ tactics – with mixed resultsI forget how much of an unbearable metropolitan elitist I am sometimes. When I see a programme called The Truth About Amazon, I automatically think it’s going to be an excoriating investigation into some of the alleged abuses of its workers. These are so many that, taken together, they would amount to something remarkably close to servitude, even before the new claims of failures to protect its people (or provide such things as hazard pay) started since the pandemic began. Or its viciously anti-union stance, or how a company making £11bn a year pays less tax than a pet hamster, or whether the invisible hand of the market is really enough to keep western capitalism from ultimately destroying us all ...You get, I’m sure, the idea. In fact, last night’s The Truth About Amazon on Channel 4, presented by Sabrina Grant and Helen Skelton, was a Supershoppers special, attacking it from that programme’s usual consumer rights perspective. This will probably do at least as much to problematise punters’ immediate relationship with the retail giant-of-giants as would another handwringing article about its tentacular reach into more and more aspects of our lives. Not to mention Jeff Bezos’s likely ultimate plan to strangle us all in our beds as we sleep and turn our bodies into fuel for his behemoth once it gains sentience. Continue reading...
Company says it made a loss last year due to investment and the competitive marketAmazon received €294m (£258m) in tax credits last year that it can deduct from future bills for its European business, as revenues at the online retailer rose significantly to €32bn.The company said it received the tax credits because it made a loss last year due to its investment programme and the highly competitive retail environment across Europe and the UK. Continue reading...
Professional Minecraft modeller Adam Clarke suggests eight great builds for Guardian readers – send us your best screenshotsWith lockdown entering its fifth week, Minecraft is proving a useful venue for friends and families to meet up, play together and work on collaborative projects. The game is widely used in schools throughout the world to teach everything from sustainable farming to the history of art, and Microsoft recently made the many lessons and exercises in its Minecraft Education programme available to everyone with an Office 365 account.If you have the game at home and are looking for new projects to attempt – maybe as part of your home schooling timetable – here are eight ideas that will test and expand your modelling skills. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#52CHE)
Large 90Hz screen, slick software, speed and strong battery life at a price that undercuts top rivalsOnePlus is back for 2020 with a revamped, lower-cost flagship phone with a slightly smaller 90Hz screen and 5G as standard.The £599 OnePlus 8 slides in under the £799 8 Pro, offering most of what you get on the firm’s top phone but in a smaller, more manageable package. Continue reading...
Federal government pushes ahead with plans despite similar schemes having limited success overseasFacebook has said it is “disappointed†in the Australian government’s attempt to extract millions of dollars from tech giants to pay for media content shared through search and social media.But on Monday the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, vowed the Australian government “won’t bow to … threats†from big tech companies not to show local content, describing the coming stoush with Google and Facebook as a “battle worth fightingâ€. Continue reading...
Criminals seek rich pickings as viewers stuck at home flock to TV streaming sitesMore than 700 fake websites mimicking Netflix and Disney+ signup pages have been created seeking to harvest personal information from consumers during the coronavirus lockdown streaming boom.Netflix, which is expected to smash its forecast of 7 million new global subscribers when it reports first-quarter results on Tuesday, is the main target as millions of new potential customers seek entertainment while confined to their homes. Continue reading...
The retailer’s quarterly figures will have received a huge boost from lockdown salesAmazon will tell the world soon just how much money it has made from the “unprecedented demand shift†to its site from millions of people under lockdown conditions around the world.The retailer, which is run by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, will release its sales and profit figures for the first three months of the year (including the first few weeks of the lockdown in the UK and much of Europe and the US) on 30 April. Continue reading...
From online GPs and home working to smartphone tracking, the speed at which we are embracing technology is unprecedented – but can we trust it?Pandemics – as the historian Yuval Noah Harari has observed – press the fast-forward button on history. Suddenly, changes that would in pre-corona times have generated years of debate, dissent, hesitation, opposition and delay turn out to be possible overnight.Exhibit A in this context is the way in which hundreds of thousands of white-collar workers are suddenly able – indeed, required – to work from home. Continue reading...
Escape the lockdown by losing yourself in the stunning virtual landscapes of walking simulator gamesWith the pandemic keeping everyone inside just as spring brings good weather and longer days, many of us are missing simply wandering outdoors. Fortunately, there are video games offering beautiful landscapes where you can lose yourself in (virtual) nature. You’re in good company if you do – as film and media professor Alenda Chang points out in her book, Playing Nature: “For many people, the hours spent in game environments vastly outnumber those spent in wilderness areasâ€, even without a public health crisis.Replaying favourite games for comfort is a trend now, and some are revisiting recent open-world adventures, such as Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, and even Far Cry 5 with the guns put away. But these blockbuster action games tend to feature enemies —not ideal if all you want is a peaceful ramble around a beautiful place. Continue reading...
by Presented by Rachel Humphreys with Julia Carrie Wo on (#52782)
The drug has been used to treat a number of diseases in the past half-century but after a French study claimed it was effective against coronavirus it has been hailed by the US president as a cure. But there is scant evidence it is effective – and it could actually be harmfulAt one of his recent daily press briefings, Donald Trump told his global television audience he was hearing great things about the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for treating coronavirus. “I think it could be, based on what I see, it could be a game changer,†he said.But despite big claims for the drug in a small study in France, the evidence for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 is scant – and certainly far from reliable enough to put into widespread use. So how did Trump come to recommend it to the extent that he declared: “What do you have to lose?†Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5268K)
Second-generation iPhone SE resembles older models, with prices starting at £419Apple has launched a cheaper version of its iPhone SE as it attempts to continue normal business despite the coronavirus pandemic.The second-generation SE resembles Apple’s previous design used for its smartphones between 2014 and 2017, complete with the traditional touch ID home button instead of face recognition. It costs from £419 in the UK and $399 in the US. Continue reading...
The writer-director’s comedies – from Office Space to Silicon Valley – always sum up the spirit of their times. So why has he made an LSD-soaked cartoon about George Clinton and Bootsy Collins?Few writer-directors have been as consistent and ruthless at capturing the moment as Mike Judge, although he never actually intends to do so. “It’s always a shock when something comes out and it feels so relevant,†he says, in his laconic surfer-dude tone, talking to me by phone from his home in Los Angeles. “But I tend to look at stuff that feels as if it’s everywhere, but nobody’s talking about.â€Judge, 57, is so beady at spotting what’s everywhere, his shows themselves end up becoming ubiquitous, the thing everybody’s talking about. It is impossible to imagine 90s TV without his seminal hits, Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, the former satirising the worst of youth culture, the latter fondly depicting gentle American conservatism acclimatising itself to the Bill Clinton era. Continue reading...
Good sound, battery and noise cancelling, with attractive design and Apple’s H1 chip with Siri and cross-device connectivityApple-owned Beats is moving into the on-ear noise-cancelling world with the Solo Pro, using the same chips that make the PowerBeats Pro and AirPods so good.The £269.95 Beats Solo Pro blends the design of the firm’s existing Solo with the wired EP headphones for an attractive, modern and fairly sleek design. Continue reading...
Unrepairable phones and laptops are one of the scandals of our throwaway society. But the pushback is building – and the coronavirus crisis has added more pressure for change‘Imagine you showed someone a smartphone 20 years ago. You said: ‘Here’s this thing, it’s going to be awesome, and it’ll cost $1,000. But the manufacturers are going to glue the battery in, and you’re supposed to get rid of it when the battery wears out.’ You would have thought that notion was completely bananas.â€Nathan Proctor is talking via Google Hangouts from Boston, Massachusetts, about an allegedly central feature of modern manufacturing known as planned obsolescence. This is the idea that some of the world’s biggest companies have been selling us products either knowing full well that they will only last a couple of years, or having deliberately built a short lifespan into the itemor its software. Continue reading...
