Tim Sanders says socialising with people is more beneficial, while Anne Cowper recommends crosswords for a real challengeA Wordle habit probably wouldn’t protect Emma Brockes from dementia (My five-letter reaction to the New York Times taking over Wordle? I quit, 17 February). There is a myth about puzzles and brain health. The human brain is large because we are social beings. Meeting our fellow creatures is more likely to keep us well. The Lancet’s review, published in 2020, is useful for those interested in what makes a difference – eg exercise, eating well, voting for clean-air policies and embracing education. If your family tells you that your hearing is getting worse, get it checked. Gather with others in whatever way you can. If you like peace, quiet and indeed word puzzles, enjoy them in moderation.
Artificial intelligence has been identified as one of the top three emerging technologies in conservation, helping protect species around the worldThere’s a strand of thinking, from sci-fi films to Stephen Hawking, that suggests artificial intelligence (AI) could spell doom for humans. But conservationists are increasingly turning to AI as an innovative tech solution to tackle the biodiversity crisis and mitigate climate change.A recent report by Wildlabs.net found that AI was one of the top three emerging technologies in conservation. From camera trap and satellite images to audio recordings, the report notes: “AI can learn how to identify which photos out of thousands contain rare species; or pinpoint an animal call out of hours of field recordings – hugely reducing the manual labour required to collect vital conservation data.” Continue reading...
A reader has a poor mobile signal in a rural area and had every excuse in the book for the delayI live in rural Derbyshire and have been trying to get broadband installed since July last year. Since placing the order, I have received every excuse in the book from BT as to why my installation cannot go ahead.My near neighbour has a broadband service, but it appears that there is a problem with the pole in the road and it must be replaced. I took another call yesterday to learn that BT has just delayed installation by a further six weeks to March. That will be almost nine months since I placed the order – if it goes ahead. I have a very poor mobile signal which makes doing any work at home very difficult. Continue reading...
What does it feel like to be ‘12% machine’? An ex-soldier who lost both legs in Afghanistan examines the implications of advances in medical technology with intelligence and humanityIt is now 13 years since Harry Parker stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, creating a blast that would result in the loss of both legs. Alongside the physical pain of the subsequent weeks, months and years, he also had to cope with a profound change in his sense of self. He compares the experience to that of Gregor Samsa, the subject of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis – “the strangeness of not being who you used to be, turned into something that sets you apart from those around you”.Equipped with two hi-tech prosthetic limbs, Parker can now walk holding hands with his wife and carry his children on his shoulders. From the outside, it would be easy to conclude that he has adapted extraordinarily well to the event – and he says that “being an amputee feels normal”. But he still considers himself to be a different person – a “new body with a new identity” who is “12% machine”. Continue reading...
Some accounts claiming to support the Canada trucker protests are run by con artists abroadWhen Facebook removed dozens of groups dedicated to Canada’s anti-government “Freedom Convoy” protests earlier this month, it didn’t do so because of extremism or conspiracies rife within the protests. It was because the groups were being run by scam artists.Networks of spammers and profiteers, some based as far afield as Vietnam or Romania, had set up the groups using fake or hacked Facebook accounts in an attempt to make money off of the political turmoil. Continue reading...
by Jasper Jackson, Lucy Kassa and Mark Townsend on (#5WAXC)
Social media giant accused of inaction after users post ‘horrifying and hateful content’Facebook is under renewed scrutiny this weekend, accused of continuing to allow activists to incite ethnic massacres in Ethiopia’s escalating war.Analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Observer found Facebook is still letting users post content inciting violence through hate and misinformation. This is despite being aware it helps directly fuel tensions, prompting claims of inaction and indifference against the social media giant. Continue reading...
The Norwegian photographer on capturing his youngest daughter’s lockdown frustrationIt was April 2020, the sixth week of home schooling, and eight-year-old Lara was fed up. Her father, photographer Helge Skodvin, along with his wife and two elder daughters, was stuck inside with Lara at home in Norway. The first wave of Covid had closed schools across the country, so at 9am every day, each of Skodvin’s daughters took a room in the house to join online classes; his youngest was supposed to be in the kitchen. Instead, Skodvin found Lara hiding under her bed, refusing to go back to her screen, table and lesson. He is pretty sure it was maths she ran away from.“I was walking past her bedroom and spotted her legs sticking out. I had my phone in my hand, so I just snapped the scene,” Skodvin says. “I loved the colours, the chaos, the authenticity, and there was beautiful spring light coming in through the window. There was no need for my work camera, or even any edits.” Continue reading...
Gallery at site of uprising against colonial rule accuses US museum of stonewalling request for artefactA statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during an uprising in Congo in 1931 is at the centre of a tug of war between a US museum and a Congolese gallery at the site of the rebellion.The statue of Maximilien Balot, a colonial administrator, has travelled to Europe but the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is accused of stonewalling requests for a loan to the White Cube gallery in Lusanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Continue reading...
The company has been hit with several discrimination lawsuits but this from a government agency may have wider implicationsFor Black employees at Tesla’s flagship California plant, coming into work could mean being harassed, bullied by a supervisor or finding racist graffiti sprayed on factory walls.That’s according to a new lawsuit filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), which alleges that Black workers in the company’s Fremont factory experienced “rampant racism” that the company left “unchecked for years”. Continue reading...
The Tech Bro has become Hollywood’s go-to villain. Now, TV is finally grappling with Silicon Valley’s complex female entrepreneursIn the jaw-dropping saga of disgraced health-tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, there was one aspect that attracted most of the public’s attention: her voice.Despite lying about her “revolutionary” pin-prick blood test technology that failed to work, then duping her patients with false diagnoses (she was convicted of four counts of defrauding investors earlier this year) it was her appearance – the Steve Jobs-esque black turtleneck jumpers and signature red lipstick – and her deep baritone, masculine-affected voice that people really zoned in on. So when The Dropout, the TV adaptation of Holmes’s life story – based on Rebecca Jarvis’s 2019 podcast of the same name – was first announced with Amanda Seyfried in the lead role, the internet was abuzz. Would Seyfried do “the voice”? Continue reading...
Critics say the enormous electricity consumption needed to sustain cryptocurrency is fueling the climate crisis and now threatens a partial resurrection of coal in the USEnvironmentalists in Montana called it the “death watch”. Following years of financial losses one of the handful of remaining coal-fired power plants in the state appeared doomed, its likely fate offering a small but noteworthy victory in the effort to avoid disastrous climate change. But then a bitcoin mining company stepped in to resurrect it.The Hardin generating station, a 115-megawatt coal plant located a dozen miles from the historic site of the famous battle of Little Big Horn in southern Montana, was slated for closure in 2018 due to a lack of customers only to somehow limp on, operating on just 46 days in 2020. “We were just waiting for this thing to die,” said Anne Hedges, co-director of the Montana Environmental Information Center. “They were struggling and looking to close. It was on the brink. And then this cryptocurrency company came along.” Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5W8ZF)
Second-gen speaker lamp pairs improved sound with larger choice of colours, shades and designsThe second generation of Ikea’s novel Sonos-powered wifi speaker lamp looks a little sleeker than the first, sounds a bit better and comes in new shapes, materials and colour combinations.The idea is the same as for the rest of the Symfonisk range: hide a speaker in a piece of stylish furniture. In true Ikea fashion, the £179 ($169) lamp comes flat-packed, although thankfully only in three parts: the base, the plug and the shade. Continue reading...
by Hannah Verdier and Hollie Richardson on (#5W8YC)
The pop star defies expectations of the usual celebrity podcast. Plus: Paris Hilton opens up about her troubled experience at a behavioural centre and Nic Stone has something for Black Panther fans.Dua Lipa: At Your Service
The platform has been described as having a striking resemblance to Twitter, which was one of several sites that banned the former presidentDetails about Donald Trump’s new social media app “Truth Social” are trickling out as about 500 beta testers have begun using an early version of the platform.The former president announced his plans for the new social media platform in October, promising to rival the tech companies that banned him from their platforms after the Capitol insurrection. Continue reading...
Auschwitz museum says using photo of dictator is exploitative and ‘disrespects memory of all victims’Elon Musk has been criticised by the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum for comparing the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to Adolf Hitler.The chief executive of Tesla tweeted a meme that showed a photo of Hitler with the words “Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau” above the image and “I had a budget” below. The tweet was later deleted. Continue reading...
Shareholders urged to vote against deal for Cook, 61, whose pay last year was 1,447 times that of the average Apple employeeA powerful investors’ advisory group has called for shareholders to vote against the $99m (£73m) pay package awarded to Apple boss Tim Cook last year.In a letter to shareholders, the advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) wrote there were “significant concerns regarding the design and magnitude of the equity award” made to Cook in 2021, adding that half of the award “lacks performance criteria”. Continue reading...
Eye-popping motorcycle rides, wildlife rescue missions, turn-based battling and Wordle alternatives – the greatest games on the subscription serviceA little girl visits her grandparents on an idyllic Spanish island and spends a glorious summer rescuing wildlife. That’s pretty much all you need to know about this beautiful exploration game, designed to recall carefree childhood adventures and a treat to share with your own kids. Continue reading...
Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are pouring huge sums into startups aiming to keep us all young – or even cheat death. And the science isn’t as far-fetched as you might thinkIn the summer of 2019, months before the word “coronavirus” entered the daily discourse, Diljeet Gill was double-checking data from his latest experiment. He was investigating what happens when old human skin cells are “reprogrammed” – a process used in labs around the world to turn adult cells (heart, brain, muscle and the like) – into stem cells, the body’s equivalent of a blank slate.Gill, a PhD student at the Babraham Institute near Cambridge, had stopped the reprogramming process midway to see how the cells responded. Sure of his findings, he took them to his supervisor, Wolf Reik, a leading authority in epigenetics. What Gill’s work showed was remarkable: the aged skin had become more youthful – and by no small margin. Tests found that the cells behaved as if they were 25 years younger. “That was the real wow moment for me,” says Reik. “I fell off my chair three times.” Continue reading...
The comedian and writer on Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell shares some of his favourite online findsWe first got “the Internet” on our family computer in 1996. I recall staring at the thick CRT monitor for about 15 minutes as images on the Thomas the Tank Engine homepage appeared line by line and thinking this was pretty tedious.Skip forward to 1999 when a friend and I realised we could use our modem to make prank phone calls. The recipient – typically a classmate we didn’t like or, more often, their parent – would pick up the phone and hear something akin to a fax machine trying to establish a connection. We, on the other end, would hear confused voices coming out of the modem’s internal speaker. Continue reading...
by Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor on (#5W71Q)
Wang Yam sent committee warnings about Britain’s involvement with telecommunications firmA Chinese informant for MI6, now serving a life sentence for murder in a British jail, has given information about the telecommunications company Huawei to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC), the Guardian has learned.He has been thanked by the chair of the committee, the senior Conservative backbencher Dr Julian Lewis, and told that he had raised “several important areas of concern” and that the committee’s findings may be “of interest” to him. Continue reading...
FCA says it has limited powers to object to Paysafe deal despite concerns about cryptocurrency platformThe City watchdog has raised concerns about a deal to give the cryptocurrency platform Binance access to the UK payments network just months after it ordered the company to stop all regulated activities in Britain.The Financial Conduct Authority said it had limited powers to object to the arrangement with Paysafe, a London-based payments provider, despite its concerns about Binance offering complex and high-risk investments to consumers. Continue reading...
Activists have argued that the tools in use – drones and towers equipped with night vision and radar – make the region dangerous to migrantsWhen the United States’ Department of Homeland Security announced in early February it was training quadruped “robot dogs” to help secure the US-Mexico border, the department’s spokesperson described the nearly 2,000-mile region as “an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there”.But, of course, people do live, work, and try to eke out a living in this “inhospitable” desert space – leaving one to question what, exactly, the robot dog is meant to excel at? Continue reading...
Exclusive: leak shows more than half of donations to convoy protest through GiveSendGo came from USA hacker who leaked the names and locations of more than 90,000 people who donated money to the Canadian trucker convoy protest has said it exposed how money from abroad had funded “extremism” in the country.In an exclusive interview, the hacker told the Guardian that Canada was “not safe from foreign political manipulation”. “You see a huge amount of money that isn’t even coming from Canada – that’s plain as day,” said the hacker, who belongs to the hacktivist group Anonymous. Continue reading...
Move is part of an investigation into suspected VAT fraud scheme involving 250 fake companiesThe UK tax department has seized three non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as part of an investigation into a suspected VAT fraud scheme involving 250 fake companies.HM Revenue and Customs said on Monday it had seized the NFTs and arrested three people on suspicion of attempting to defraud it out of £1.4m. It is the first time a UK law enforcement agency has seized an NFT. Continue reading...
by Jessica Kiang, Brian Logan, Keza MacDonald , Skye on (#5W46N)
From a mind-scrambling breakup drama to a tender video game, our critics suggest popular culture inspired by matters of the heartYes, it all takes place after Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) have bitterly broken up, but Michel Gondry’s inventive, mind-scrambling sci-fi Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is actually perfectly romantic. On the pretext of annihilating the painful memories of his ex, Joel relives them, learning not just how much this elective amnesia will cost him, but also how much happiness is locked in the permafrost of the past, waiting to be thawed out. Inasmuch as any film this entertaining can be, it’s really an exhortation to listen to what your future self is screaming at you from another dimension right now: to turn off your TV, wrap your lover in your arms and notice this present, perfect moment as it’s happening. Jessica Kiang Continue reading...
PlayStation 4; PlayStation 5; Guerrilla Games/SonyFor a big-budget blockbuster game, Horizon Forbidden West is extremely weird. It is a detailed science-fiction story about a red-haired outcast warrior, the tribes that inhabit a post-apocalyptic Earth a thousand years in the future, and a bunch of robot dinosaurs. It’s a tangle of different ideas and complicated systems that only reluctantly interact with each other. It’s also a damn good time, and especially on PlayStation 5, a stunning example of just how good video games can look in 2022. You kind of get used to its beauty while you’re playing, but I found that whenever I returned to the game after making a cup of tea I was newly struck by whatever awesome scene was frozen on the pause screen: Aloy mid-roll away from a murderous mechanical hippo, or standing in the foreground in her war paint with an extraordinary view of mountains and snow behind.It’s when I was out in this world, following whatever trails I found, that Horizon made me happiest. I lost hours out there, retrieving random artefacts from old train stations or crashed planes, collecting SO MANY plants and materials to stuff into Aloy’s magic backpack, and scrapping with the intimidating mechanical creatures that stalk the place. Getting into fights with these things is the absolute highlight of the game. They are aggressive, impressive and varied in both appearance and behaviour; they respond to you intelligently, and the combination of bows, traps and elemental weapons that you hunt them with can make each encounter feel like a battle of wits. It just feels incredible. I could play around all day in this place, trying to shoot the tail off a screeching flying metal monster so I can upgrade my bow. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent on (#5W3ZS)
Changes coming in this week will see all online traffic pass through a gateway to preserve ‘social order’A China-style internet gateway scheduled to be imposed in Cambodia this week would grant the government far greater powers to conduct mass surveillance, censor and control the country’s internet, rights groups have warned.Human rights experts and media advocates fear the gateway could be a step towards the kind of censorship enforced through China’s Great Firewall – though some question what technical capacity Cambodia’s systems currently have, and say the process has lacked transparency. Continue reading...
Platform hopes personal verification will prevent near-£100m lost to scammers on dating apps last yearA new British dating app is promising to eradicate Tinder Swindler-style romance fraud, which cost duped daters almost £100m last year, by ensuring that all members complete biometric ID verification before they digitally mingle.Fluttr, which claims to be the first UK online dating app to use such technology to improve user safety, is launching on Valentine’s Day in the hope of getting a boost from singletons looking to change their relationship status. Continue reading...
Conspiracy theory songs claiming Covid-19 is fake and calling vaccine ‘poison’ are being actively promoted in Spotify playlistsSongs that claim Covid-19 is fake and describe the vaccines as “poison” are being actively promoted to Spotify users in playlists generated by its content recommendation engine.Tracks found on the world’s largest music streaming service explicitly encourage people not to get vaccinated and say those who do are “slaves”, “sheep”, and victims of Satan. Others call for an uprising, urging listeners to “fight for your life”. Continue reading...
The CEO has changed the world – but he faces regulatory, technological and branding troubles in his push to do it againIt would hardly be hyperbole to say that since its founding in 2004, Facebook has taken over the world – counting more than 50% of the global population as its user base. But after years of domination built on advertising revenue, the company has nearly overnight tried to knock down that empire and build anew.In October 2021, more than 15 years and 2.8 billion users after the then student Mark Zuckerberg launched the social media platform from his college dorm, Facebook announced it had become “Meta” and was refocusing on the company’s virtual reality endeavors. Continue reading...
Metaverse gamers crashing into furniture behind increase in home contents claims, says insurer AvivaA man landing an upper-cut on the ceiling fan, a woman slamming into furniture, a guy smashing through a lighting fixture: gamers are learning, virtual reality headsets can often cause havoc at home.The trend of crashing into furniture while in the metaverse provoked a 31% jump in home contents claims involving VR headsets last year, insurer Aviva said, marking a 68% overall increase since 2016. Continue reading...
On holiday in North Yorkshire, the photographer spotted a perfect surfer shot off Saltburn PierWith a newborn in a sling and a polystyrene tray of fish and chips in his hands, Fred MacGregor came across this scene at the end of North Yorkshire’s Saltburn Pier. The photographer was on holiday with his wife and children, so had “neither the space in the bag, nor the headspace” for his usual DSLR.“The photographer Chase Jarvis once said, ‘The best camera is the one you have with you’ and it was an iPhone 7 I had with me that day,” MacGregor says. “Sometimes shooting on a phone can have its limitations, but on this occasion it performed just fine. I only needed a few minor edits, like a bit of brightening, to really bring out the central line of the wave.” Continue reading...
Anthony Welch and partner try to woo cryptocurrency investors to regulation-free island on Vanuatu archipelagoFor the past 12 years Anthony Welch and his partner Theresa have been living a Robinson Crusoe life alone on a South Pacific island mostly untouched by humanity.Welch, a retired British property investor, hopes the tranquility will soon be shattered by 21,000 cryptocurrency investors he is trying to convince to move to his island and form a regulation-free “crypto utopia”. Continue reading...
In an internal survey, employees asked company to find ‘ways to connect’ which the 75-acre Trailblazer ranch will provide plenty ofSalesforce employees will soon be able to hold meetings in California’s redwood forests after the company announced plans to open its own luxury ranch to help staff “connect” after two years of remote working.The 75-acre property known as Trailblazer Ranch is located near Santa Cruz, California, and boasts an outdoor amphitheater, a communal kitchen, fitness and learning centers and conference rooms. The property also features sleeping pods and suites equipped with fireplaces and employees will be able to partake in guided nature walks, yoga sessions, garden tours, group cooking classes, art journaling and meditation. Continue reading...
Holland gives his all as rogueish treasure hunter Nathan Drake in a by-the-numbers PlayStation adaptation that’s heavy on spectacle but light on heartWith laser-guided precision, with the exactitude of a Nobel-winning rocket scientist or a world-class neurosurgeon, this film measures right up to what you’d expect from a movie based on a PlayStation video game. It’s a huge greenscreen action-adventure with a reasonable bang-buck ratio, but a box office algorithm where its heart is supposed to be. It’s all about a couple of ripped guys on the trail of some lost 16th-century gold belonging to legendary explorer Ferdinand Magellan; the film cheerfully rips off Indiana Jones, the National Treasure films with Nicolas Cage, and there’s a touch of The Goonies in there somewhere.Tom Holland has been doing some serious work with his personal trainer for his role as Nathan Drake, a tough kid with serious abs and a talent for parkour that looks like it is only partly faked with a stunt double. He is now making a few bucks as a cocktail waiter but he’s also a pickpocket, ripping off rich people in the bar – and dreaming of finding Magellan’s loot, which his adored older brother once told him about before mysteriously going missing. Continue reading...
by Alexi Duggins, Hannah Verdier and Hollie Richardso on (#5W1A3)
S-Town’s Brian Reed unpicks The Trojan Horse Affair, which saw Midlands schools accused of Islamic extremism. Plus: Shaun Keaveny speaks with pals such as Vic Reeves and Nina Conti in his warming, nostalgic seriesThe Trojan Horse Affair
The new safety feature comes after reports of women discovering the devices in their personal belongingsApple will warn AirTag users when they are setting up the device that it is illegal to use it to track people, as the tech firm responds to concerns that the product is used by stalkers.AirTags can be attached to personal items such as car keys or backpacks so that people can find them when they are lost, via Apple’s Find My app. However, it has been reported that women have been tracked by the devices after they were placed, unbeknownst to them, in their coat or bag. Continue reading...
App says generation Z users want to sample what dating was like in pre-smartphone eraFrom low-rise jeans to reruns of the sitcom Friends, generation Z has a seemingly endless appetite for 90s and early 00s nostalgia.Now that extends to their romantic lives, as Tinder has introduced a blind date feature to boost its popularity among young people – by enabling them to meet partners in a way that resembles the pre-smartphone era.
Deal comes less than two years after Binance sued business publisher for defamationBinance, the cryptocurrency exchange, is making a $200m (£147m) investment in Forbes less than two years after it sued the business publisher for defamation.A Binance spokesperson said Forbes’s editorial independence would remain “sacrosanct” after the deal. Continue reading...
Programme about ‘self-made crypto-millionaire’ dropped amid questions over central claimsThe BBC has pulled a documentary about a cryptocurrency entrepreneur from television schedules at the last minute after the Guardian raised questions about some of its central claims.The programme, called The Crypto-Millionaire and due to be broadcast at 7.30pm on Wednesday night, was to tell the story of Hanad Hassan, a 20-year-old from Birmingham who said he had become incredibly wealthy by trading cryptocurrencies. The programme claimed he had turned a $50 (£37) investment at the start of 2021 into $8m (£5.9m) by the end of the year – suggesting he had made an astonishing investment return of almost 16,000,000% in just nine months. Continue reading...
The comedian is also a nightly radio presenter, which means he knows all about pointless countdowns. This one includes grape ladies, fake news and a literal high school musical
‘GT Sophy’ honed tactics and technique to beat 95% of human players of Playstation game after two daysHaving thrashed mortal champions at poker, chess, Go, and Starcraft, an artificial intelligence program has delivered another humiliation, leaving the world’s best video game racing drivers in the dust.Researchers at Sony trained an AI called GT Sophy to play the PlayStation game Gran Turismo and found that it could outrace 95% of human players after two days and continued to shave tenths of a second off its lap times over the following week. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5VZ09)
Ultra leads top-end phone line with S22 and Plus models, part-made from recycled plastic and fishing netsSamsung’s latest Android combines its Galaxy S and Note into one stylus-equipped superphone, which leads a new line of top-end S22 smartphones part-made from recycled plastic and fishing nets.Announced on Wednesday as part of its Unpacked livestreaming event, the Galaxy S22 Ultra combines the superzoom camera of last year’s top S21 with the body, form and features of Samsung’s popular Note phablet series, which has not been updated since 2020. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5VYY2)
Britain, the US and Australia point to growth in ‘sophisticated, high-impact ransomware incidents’There have been further increases in “sophisticated, high-impact ransomware incidents” coming from Russia and other former Soviet states during 2021, Britain, the US and Australia said in a joint review of cyber-extortion trends.Universities and schools were one of the top sectors targeted in the UK last year, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said, as well as businesses, charities, law firms, councils and the NHS. Hackers are increasingly offering services or exploits “for hire”. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian