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Booking sites urged to step in after Observer research reveals many doors are open for half-term breaks

Facebook says collecting user data across the internet makes for ‘better experiences’. Apple – and privacy groups – are pushing backFacebook is taking lessons from its debacle over WhatsApp privacy changes in a bid to prevent millions of its users opting out of allowing the company to track their interests across the internet.WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, was forced to delay an update to its privacy policy last month when an in-app notification informed users that some data from the communications app would be shared with Facebook. It raised concerns about the privacy of chat messages and profile data, and led users to shift in droves to other encrypted messaging apps such as Signal. Continue reading...

The pandemic has shown that other ways of teaching and learning are possibleThe thing about pandemics, observed the historian Yuval Noah Harari, is that they tend to accelerate history. A couple of years ago, appalled by the environmental, financial and working-time costs of running research conferences, I wondered aloud how long it would take for many of these events to be conducted online – and gloomily predicted that it would take another decade. And then in early 2020 along comes the coronavirus and – bang! – suddenly everything is on Zoom. Even, as every sentient being on the planet must know by now, meetings of the planning and environment committee of Handforth parish council. What’s come to mind a lot in watching these transformations is Ernest Hemingway’s celebrated explanation of how people go bankrupt: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”Way back in 1995, the Columbia University scholar Eli Noam published a remarkable article in the prestigious journal Science. Its title – Electronics and the Dim Future of the University – should have given the game away. Noam was writing about the likely impact of the internet on higher education. The new communications technology, he said, would indeed link the information resources of the globe. But while new technologies were likely to strengthen research, “they will also weaken the traditional major institutions of learning, the universities. Instead of prospering with the new tools, many of the traditional functions of universities will be superseded, their financial base eroded, their technology replaced and their role in intellectual inquiry reduced. This is not a cheerful scenario for higher education.” Continue reading...

Bo Harris says he was not only looking for an organ donation, he wanted to put a face to his largely invisible kidney diseaseBo Harris was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 2015. In the five years since, he has gone to countless doctor appointments, spent weeks in bed with symptoms of the illness such as severe fatigue and body aches, and even battled and beat lung cancer. But the most difficult part of the journey by far, he says, was pushing the publish button on his first Instagram post searching for a life-saving kidney donation.“It’s very out of my nature to have to ask people for anything, and for this, you have to essentially ask, ‘Can you donate an organ so I can continue living?’” he said. “It’s unimaginably difficult.” Continue reading...

My father-in-law, Wolfgang Marc Schatzberger, who has died aged 94, was evacuated as a child from Austria to the UK through the Kindertransport programme, which rescued thousands of children from across Europe as the second world war approached.He was born in Vienna into an assimilated middle-class Polish/Jewish family. Following the Anschluss in March 1938 and Kristallnacht that October, his parents hurriedly secured for him a place on a train to London Liverpool Street: by May 1939 they were waving him goodbye with a white handkerchief (an old family tradition), as he departed the Westbahnhof in Vienna. Continue reading...

Younger generation mock the style popular since 2000s, saying it has had its day and is not flatteringA generation war has been playing out on TikTok for some time, though anyone older than 24 might be oblivious to the millions of “millennial v Gen Z” videos that have appeared on the social media site in the past year. But now the kids have turned their sights on something that millennials apparently hold close to their hearts: skinny jeans.In scenes reminiscent of the “OK boomer” meme that divided the generations in 2019, the videos have shone a light on how Generation Z – broadly defined as anyone born between the mid-90s and 2010 – identify themselves in contrast with the generation that came before them. Continue reading...

The exclusive invitation-only social networking app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...

Jim Moir and Jools Holland talk memorable trips with celebrity guests on their Joyride podcast. Plus: seeing the world differently in SidewaysJools and Jim’s Joyride

Available online

The exclusive invitation-only social networking app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...

Moves comes as platforms attempt to crack down on misinformation and conspiracy theories about Covid vaccinesThe prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr has been booted from Instagram for repeatedly sharing false claims about Covid-19 and the safety of vaccines. Continue reading...

Libya, Palestine and Syria near top in online searches for bitcoin and other digital forms of money, analysis findsPeople in the world’s major conflict zones are turning to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as soaring values and the backing of super-rich investors make them more attractive.Online searches for bitcoin, ethereum and dogecoin have increased in Libya, Syria and Palestine, pushing aside the usual focus of interest in stock markets and safe-haven investments in gold and property. Continue reading...

Since Spotlight’s launch, the app has been giving ordinary users a share of $1m daily for popular contentPet influencers are nothing new on social media. From Marnie the shih tzu (RIP) to Grumpy Cat (also RIP), there’s a long history of animals becoming famous on the internet – and their owners making a quick buck off them in turn.But Crusha, a nine-year-old black-and-white moggy from Norfolk, is not a typical social media star. For one thing, she’s only featured in one video, and it’s not exactly glamorous: a misstep as she scampers across a conservatory roof leaves her slowly sliding down plastic sheeting before she catches herself just at the last minute and scurries back up with an indignant mew. Continue reading...

Listing is result of firm’s takeover by British music tech startup MelodyVRNapster is to make its debut on the London stock market later this month, marking the first time the music streaming pioneer has had its own public listing in a chequered 22-year history.Napster, which will start trading on the Alternative Investment Market from 26 February, is listing in London as a result of the company’s $70m (£53m) reverse takeover by a British music tech startup last summer. Continue reading...

They’re not quite as good as new but the phones are cheaper, more sustainable and now available at the supermarket in AustraliaBuying new smartphones gets worse for the wallet every year. Back in 2008, the first generation iPhone cost about $700. The tenth generation started at $1,549. Today, the top-shelf iPhone 12 Pro Max with more than 500gb of storage is an uncomfortable $2,369 – about a third more than the cheapest Apple laptop.On top of that, e-waste is the world’s fastest-growing solid-waste stream, increasing at a rate three times faster than general waste in Australia. Continue reading...

Elon Musk has helped to drive popularity of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and dogecoin

Improved performance and battery life let down by weak vibrations, app and sustainability nigglesGoogle’s TicWatch Pro 3 is the first Wear OS watch to use a newer, faster chip designed to breathe new life into the stagnant smartwatch line – but doesn’t do enough to manage the uphill task.Made by the Chinese tech firm Mobvoi, the new watch costs £289.99 and competes directly with Fossil’s Gen 5, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy watches on Android. It’s a big watch that manages to avoid being chunky, looking fairly nondescript with a black plastic body and silicone strap. It is quite light but designed for fairly large wrists – I had the strap pulled to its second-tightest position. Continue reading...

Gen Sir Patrick Sanders says rivals are using cyberspace to fuel conspiracy theories and sow divisionBritain’s enemies are attempting to use social media to tear the “fabric of society apart”, one of the country’s top generals has warned.In a candid interview about cyberwarfare, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders said the threat was not like that seen in films where power plants are targeted. Continue reading...

After investors caused havoc on the markets last week in a battle over the shares of a video-game chain, we explore the promise and pitfalls of the apps they usedA year ago shares in struggling US video game store GameStop were worth just $3.25 a pop, yet at the end of last month they had reached $482. This stupendous surge was created by thousands of armchair traders, organising themselves on internet forums such as Reddit, who were attempting to outwit hedge funds who had placed massive bets on the chain’s decline in a process known as short-selling.This has resulted in billion-dollar losses for some hedge funds, and big profits for traders who cashed out before the stock fell back to less than $100. Many of these speculators were using a new generation of share-trading apps, such as eToro, Robinhood and Trading 212. Have these services tipped the scales of financial power in favour of the little guy? Here we answer some key questions … Continue reading...

Technological advances mean taking humans to play among the stars is just one of the aims of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and a host of eager investorsLater this year Jeff Bezos, the first person to have led a business from nothing to a trillion-dollar valuation, will step down from his job as head of Amazon. But as you’d expect from a tech multibillionaire, his eyes are on a potentially bigger prize: outer space. Bezos will be dedicating more time to a space race between entrepreneur rivals that hopes to push the frontiers of society – and commerce – beyond planet Earth.Having completed its 14th mission last month – successfully carrying a dummy, “Mannequin Skywalker”, into space – Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, believes relatively cheap travel for humans is not far off. That would finally deliver a return on the $1bn (£730m) of Amazon stock Bezos has to sell annually to fund it. Blue Origin was one of four projects flagged by the Amazon boss as likely recipients of his attention now, alongside the Washington Post newspaper, his Day One charitable fund and the environmental Earth Fund. Continue reading...

Experts say pandemic could provide watershed moment for technology, potentially leading to more sustainable tourismWith globe-trotting banned in the pandemic, increasing numbers of people are turning to virtual reality to relieve pent-up demand for travel.Escapism from the sofa through a growing range of VR travel experiences is whetting appetites for post-pandemic holidays and could be a watershed moment for the technology in tourism, say analysts. Continue reading...

The Covid crisis has turbo-charged profits and share prices. But are the big six now too powerful for regulators to ignore?The coronavirus pandemic has wrought economic disruption on a global scale, but one sector has marched on throughout the chaos: big tech.Further evidence of the industry’s relentless progress has come in recent weeks with the news that Apple and Amazon both raked in sales of $100bn (£72bn) over the past three months – 25% more than Tesco brings in over a full year. Continue reading...

National Labor Relations Board denies Amazon bid to delay election and says vote can be conducted by mailAmazon warehouse workers in Alabama will be allowed to conduct a union election by mail, the US’s top labor relations agency said on Friday, in a major blow to the online retail giant’s intense anti-union efforts.Related: ‘A managerial Mephistopheles’: inside the mind of Jeff Bezos Continue reading...

There is a chance that if you’re on Twitter you are not pure evil, but the way people speak to each other on it is unacceptableI decided to quit Twitter last month. I haven’t been engaging properly with it for a while, only tweeting to point out a podcast or a show I was doing. But still, I’d had enough and tweeted to say as much (yes, I did a leaving tweet, which I admit is a little embarrassing).I was tired of the incessant comments about me getting work only because of diversity quotas and political correctness, from people who ignore the fact I couldn’t care less whether it’s talent or initiatives that get me the work: I’m still taking the money. Continue reading...

Jacob Hawley hosts On Love, a follow-up to his series On Drugs. Plus: politics meets rock music, and Reply All investigate the unrest at food website Bon AppétitJacob Hawley On Love

Nine, Sydney Morning Herald and the Age reject tech giant’s offer to pay publishers to host content

Exclusive app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...

Timnit Gebru, an eminent Black scientist, says she was fired last year in clash over research on marginalized groupsTwo Google engineers have quit over the treatment of Timnit Gebru, a prominent Black artificial intelligence researcher whose exit from the company sparked widespread outrage in the tech industry.

Users watching videos will see a banner near the top of the feed if the content has not been validatedTikTok is to feature banner warnings on suspect content in a bid to dissuade users from sharing videos featuring misinformation.Its new tool, which will launch in the UK on 22 February, is one of the first from a major social platform to target not just content that has been shown to be false, but also that has not, or cannot, be conclusively proved to be true. Continue reading...

The gigantically tall character in a wide-brimmed hat has become the latest meme to light up social media with speculation, fan art and barely concealed lustWhen Capcom launched a new trailer and demo for its forthcoming horror sequel Resident Evil Village at the end of January, the company probably didn’t realise it was about to have a global internet meme on its hands. But, as players downloaded and explored the short interactive trailer for the game, thousands were left equally terrified and spellbound by the figure who bursts in at the climax: a gigantically tall woman in a wide-brimmed hat and cleavage-hugging pleated dress, who then comes at the player with a Freddy Krueger-style knife glove.Who was this giant woman? Why was she so alluring? Gaming Twitter lit up with speculation, screenshots, fan art and very quickly, barely concealed lust. Continue reading...

In A Glitch in the Matrix, film-maker Rodney Ascher speaks to people who are convinced that the world we’re living in isn’t realRodney Ascher’s new documentary A Glitch in the Matrix opens, as so many nonfiction films do, with an interview subject getting settled in their camera set-up. In this instance, a guy named Paul Gude is Skyping in from a setting familiar to anyone who’s spent the last year trapped in video-chats. He’s sitting in what appears to be a bedroom made to double as an office, the fisheyed webcam lens catching some dirty laundry, a shelf full of books and decorative toys, some homemade-looking art on the walls. But the eye is instantly drawn to Gude himself, a hyperreal computer-generated creature with shiny copper skin, warrior armor, a scar stretching from his forehead to his cheek, and a mane of shifting polygons in jewel-tone ruby red making his head look like a 20-sided die. He could be a distant cousin of Lion-O from the Thundercats, and he’s here to tell us that everything we know may be a lie.Related: A Glitch in the Matrix review – deep-dive into simulation theory Continue reading...

Platform popular with US far right has faced an uncertain future after being essentially forced offlineParler, the social media platform favored by the US far right, has dismissed its CEO John Matze. Continue reading...

Lockdown helped company make £19.4bn but it has not stated how much tax it paid in the UK last year

Analysis: Running the online retailer should be a dream job, but where and how to grow will challenge Andy JassyA pain-free departure of a visionary founder is a difficult trick to pull off for any business. The stakes are even higher for a company the size of Amazon, as Jeff Bezos steps back from his day-to-day management role.The decision by Bezos, 57, to quit as chief executive later this year took analysts by surprise, but the first step has already gone smoothly, with Andy Jassy appointed as his successor without any public power struggle. Continue reading...

The internet might not be as funny as real life but it is funny. We ask comedians to tell us how funnyYears ago an electrician came around to replace the light fittings at my ex-girlfriend’s all-female sharehouse. He walked in, announced he’d forgotten his toolbox, asked to use the bathroom and proceeded to take the largest, smelliest poo I have ever smelt or witnessed (no doubt the build-up of years of morning starts fuelled by ice coffees and servo meat pies).He left the bathroom, excused himself before mumbling “someone else will come around to finish the job”, leaving what can only be described as a warzone in the girls’ bathroom. Continue reading...

Paying $14.99 a month for workout videos when you can find them free on YouTube might seem pricey, but Josh Taylor finds some advantagesI abandoned my paltry selection of panic-bought fitness equipment and the hastily cobbled-together workout videos from my local gym fairly quickly over the course of Melbourne’s 2020 lockdowns. But there was one thing that kept me moving: closing my rings.With the launch of Apple Fitness+, a streaming workout video service that costs A$14.99 a month, Apple is definitely targeting those iPhone users who have been stuck at home during the ongoing lockdowns across the globe. Continue reading...

From lonely birds to legal eagles, our critics share their favourite digital diversions to combat the boredom and uncertainty of the Covid eraI’m not sure why I keep going back to Cloudpunk (PS4, Xbox, PC, Switch). The sprawling, dystopian city of Nivalis is every bit the future imagined by the cyberpunk fiction of the 1980s, a technocracy full of staggering inequality and endless skyscrapers rising into the clouds, embroidered with neon. I finished the game, in which you play a driver delivering packages in a flying car, months ago. And yet I keep returning to race aimlessly across its gleaming airborne highways and luxe high-rises, soothed by the hum of my engine. Continue reading...

Movement to unionize workers in Alabama faces tough opposition as the retail giant launches aggressive anti-union driveA push to unionize workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama is running into tough opposition as the retail giant, whose profits have boomed during the coronavirus pandemic despite concerns over worker safety, has launched an aggressive anti-union drive.Related: Jeff Bezos to resign as chief executive of Amazon Continue reading...

As Jeff Bezos steps down, Jassy’s promotion suggests web services are central to the company’s future

Bezos, who founded the company in 1994, will step down after company recorded $100bn in sales for last three months of 2020Jeff Bezos, billionaire founder of Amazon, will step down as chief executive, the company announced on Tuesday.Related: Biden pledges to 'undo moral shame' of Trump era with new orders on immigration – live Continue reading...

Acquisition of Drizly, which will be integrated into Uber’s Eats platform but maintain separate app, pushes share price up 6.5%Uber is acquiring on-demand alcohol platform Drizly for about $1.1bn as the ride-share company looks to expand delivery services that have flourished during the pandemic.Related: Trump impeachment defense team recycles lies about election fraud – live Continue reading...

Lack of exclusive content for streaming gaming service hits plan to compete with Nintendo and SonyGoogle has shuttered its internet game development studio, the company has announced, and is all but abandoning the idea that Stadia, its groundbreaking streaming service, could be a top-tier competitor to traditional games consoles.In a blogpost from Phil Harrison, the former Microsoft and Sony exec who was hired to mastermind Google’s push into console gaming, the Stadia general manager confirmed it was scaling back its ambitions, but insisted that the company’s core vision, of “having games streamed to any screen”, was still achievable. Continue reading...

Cryptocurrency rises above $38,000 after Tesla boss changes his biography on Twitter to ‘#bitcoin’The price of bitcoin rose on Monday after Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla chief executive, said he was a “supporter” of the cryptocurrency.“Bitcoin is a good thing,” Musk said in comments broadcast on social audio app Clubhouse on Monday. Musk said he was “late to the party” in backing bitcoin. Continue reading...

Paul Fletcher plays down Google threat and says government will not back down on news media codeMicrosoft’s Bing is ready to swoop if Google makes good on its threat to remove search from Australia when the mandatory news code becomes law, the government has revealed.The communications minister, Paul Fletcher, said Google dominated in Australia with a market share of 93% but there were other players, including Microsoft and DuckDuckGo, that were talking to the government about replacing it. Continue reading...

It just won’t believe that I did not buy £437-worth of earphonesI am at my wits’ end. Last July my Amazon account was hacked and two purchases made – for £8 vape coils and four sets of Huawei wireless earphones costing £437.I spotted the Amazon Marketplace purchases within 12 hours but was told, when I called to complain, that because the delivery address was my father’s house – a stored Amazon contact – I should wait for them to arrive and then return them. Continue reading...

Treasurer says Facebook founder had not managed to convince federal government to back downFacebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg has lobbied senior federal ministers about the proposed code forcing the digital giants to pay media companies, and the prime minister has engaged with Microsoft amid threats from Google about removing its search engine from Australia.With a lobbying offensive in overdrive with Labor expected to endorse the Morrison government’s code after a shadow cabinet meeting this week, and with a Senate inquiry continuing to hear from stakeholders – the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, confirmed the conversation with Zuckerberg on Sunday. Continue reading...

Jeff Bezos’s company is set for sales topping $100bn last quarter, and while rivals are nibbling, its position looks secureThe earliest references to the “one-stop shop” emerged during the first decades of 20th century as the fast-growing US economy spurred rapid retail innovation. A single location for various products provides obvious benefits: removing the hassle of travelling around town to visit different stores.Jeff Bezos redefined that logic for the internet age, making Amazon a dominant (and perhaps ambivalent) force first in selling books, and then in pretty much everything else. Before 2020 Amazon was a phenomenon, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it all but ubiquitous. Continue reading...

Social network allowing dangerous Covid theories to be shared, says Bureau of Investigative Journalism

The Reddit forum is at the center of a war between Wall Street and an army of small investors over the store – and Jaime Rogozinski is still getting to grips with itJaime Rogozinski always knew WallStreetBets, the Reddit forum he founded, was part of something big – but even he wasn’t prepared for quite how big.Related: GameStop: how Reddit amateurs took aim at Wall Street’s short-sellers Continue reading...

New smart TV gadget is step up from basic Chromecast with new interface, apps and voice remoteGoogle’s latest Chromecast streaming media dongle is a bit different. Instead of just streaming or “casting” content from your mobile or computer like its predecessors, the new device acts more like a modern smart TV.With a full interface and a remote, the new Chromecast with Google TV costs £59.99 and sits above the basic £30 Chromecast. You can still Google Cast to the new device, but the new flat plastic dongle is more than just a simple receiver, running the full Android TV software similar to the Nvidia Shield or smart TVs from Sony and others. Continue reading...