Technology | The Guardian

Subcontracted workers were told to persuade subjects to agree to face scans, mischaracterizing them as a ‘selfie game’ or ‘survey’Facial recognition technology’s failures when it comes to accurately identifying people of color have been well documented and much criticized. But an attempt by Google to improve its facial recognition algorithms by collecting data from people with dark skin is raising further concerns about the ethics of the data harvesting.Google has been using subcontracted workers to collect face scans from members of the public in exchange for $5 gift cards, according to a report from the New York Daily News. The face scan collection project had been previously reported, but anonymous sources described unethical and deceptive practices to the Daily News. Continue reading...

ECJ says member states can order platform to remove defamatory material globallyFacebook will be subject to tougher controls over online content after the EU’s highest court ruled the social media company can be ordered by member states to remove defamatory material worldwide.The judgment from the European court of justice in Luxembourg was condemned by free speech organisations for imposing restrictions on online comments. It effectively edges internet service providers further down the road towards becoming traditional publishers. Continue reading...

Anthony wants to replace his mother’s old Windows 7 laptop. Would a mini-PC hooked up to her 32in TV work well enough?My retired mother happily uses her iPhone and iPad for the majority of her digital needs, but she uses an old, low-spec Windows 7 laptop for Microsoft Office documents for various committees she sits on, for her music library and digital photos, some web browsing and other tasks that cannot be easily done on a small device.I have a Mac Mini running through a 42in TV set, and we are interested in the feasibility of using a mini PC hooked up to her 32in TV. Target budget is £300 for PC, keyboard and any adaptors.Mini or micro PCs are terrific at what they do, as long as you don’t expect them to do too much. They are also potential space-savers because they can be attached to the back of any monitor or TV set that has a standard VESA mount. Anyone unfamiliar with the form factor can read an answer from November 2018, What is the point of mini PCs? Continue reading...

Experimental game designer Nina Freeman returns with a set of funny, thoughtful vignettes about the awkwardness of new relationshipsPC/Mac, Star Maid GamesFor the last five years, the independent game designer Nina Freeman, working with small teams of collaborators, has been exploring the boundaries and connections between video games, art and autobiography. Her witty, ethereal projects often involve her own experiences with family and lovers, and tease relatable truths from the most subtle interactions: a girl learning about sex while playing with dolls; a young woman’s online relationship explored through the folders on her PC desktop. As a “player”, your role is often subtle, flitting between embodiment, friendship and voyeurism.We Met in May is a set of four vignette games about the early moments in a romantic relationship, ostensibly between Nina herself and the game’s co-creator and artist, Jake Jefferies. In Nothing to Hide, Nina has invited Jake back to her flat for the first time and, bashful about its untidiness and her collection of anime plushies and posters, considers hiding things from him – it’s up to the player to decide what she conceals. In Beach Date, Nina and Jake lounge at the seaside and, controlling her arm with the cursor, you can pile sand or suncream on to him, or try to pour wine into his mouth. The inexactness of the control mechanic makes her arm flail awkwardly, like a sort of dating version of Surgeon Simulator. Continue reading...

Product bonanza includes bigger Surface Laptop 3, Surface Earbuds and updated Surface Pro 7Microsoft has launched the Surface Pro X, a redesigned thin and light two-in-one Windows 10 PC running on custom ARM chips rather than traditional Intel processors, plus the Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3, and previewed a folding phone and dual-screen tablet.The products were unveiled at an event in New York on Wednesday, where Microsoft sought to grab attention from rivals including Apple and Samsung. Continue reading...

Once merely a symbol for a fruit, then a bum, the singer and rapper Lizzo has used the peach emoji to call for Trump’s impeachment – proof that emojis never stop evolvingName: Peach emoji.Age: Up to 6,000 years old. Continue reading...

Four large companies – including Sony and Sega – have claimed close to half of all relief from a culture-focused tax policyA UK tax policy intended to boost the domestic video games industry has been used by some of the world’s largest entertainment companies to avoid paying tens of millions of pounds in corporation tax, a Guardian investigation has found.WarnerMedia, which owns the British game development companies that make the Lego and Batman: Arkham series, has claimed up to £60m in corporation tax relief, according to company filings. Continue reading...

As the augmented-reality spinoff from the block-building game arrives this month, players will be taking their creations to the streetsSix of us are huddled together in Cavendish Square Gardens in central London, fighting a horde of warrior skeletons. To passersby, however, we must look like a bunch of adults pointing our smartphones at nothing while shouting about incoming monsters. This isn’t a bizarre new workplace therapy. What we’re doing is playing a beta version of Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality (AR) spinoff from the multimillion-selling block-building game – and very soon, parks all over the world will be filled with people just like us.This month, Minecraft is launching an early-access version of the game in a select few territories around the world, ahead of a global roll-out. Microsoft has yet to reveal exactly when and where, but soon thousands of fans used to playing on their console, PC or tablet, are going to be taking their creations to the streets. Continue reading...

Vehicle is to be shipped to South Africa – where goal is to reach speed of 1,000mphA sleek machine that looks like a mash-up between a grandprix car, a fighter plane and a spaceship has undergone a final, ear-splitting test in the UK before being shipped to a desert in South Africa where it may eventually reach a speed of 1,000mph.Over the past six months the Bloodhound LSR has taken shape in a workshop on a college campus in Gloucestershire and on Monday a “dry crank test” was carried out in which the car was powered up to confirm that the engine and systems had been correctly installed. Continue reading...

Prof Rose Luckin, Anthony Seldon and Priya Lakhani say artificial intelligence is not to be feared and point out how it can help studentsThe Guardian is right to express legitimate concerns about the opacity of machine learning systems and attempts to replicate what humans do best (Editorial, 23 September), and we welcome this. However, as founders of the Institute for Ethical AI in Education (IEAIED) we believe these problems must be overcome in order to ensure people are able to benefit from artificial intelligence, not just fear it.There are highly beneficial applications of machine learning. In education, for example, this innovation will enable personalised learning for all and is already enabling individualised learning support for increasing numbers of students. Well-designed AI can be used to identify learners’ particular needs so that everyone – especially the most vulnerable – can receive targeted support. Given the magnitude of what people have to gain from machine learning tools, we feel an obligation to mitigate and counteract the inherent risks so that the best possible outcomes can be realised. Continue reading...

Phoebe Waller-Bridge | Fairphone 3 | Supporting Huddersfield Town | Dinner v teaCongratulations to Phoebe Waller-Bridge on her well-deserved Emmy awards. It is just a pity she has decided to take her success to a minority channel, leaving the majority of her fans behind (Waller-Bridge has Amazon deal in the bag, 25 September). It’s that much more galling given that the public who supported her through the licence fee will have to shell out (if they can) to an organisation that doesn’t even pay its fair share of tax in the UK.

Jordan Erica Webber chats to New York Times reporter Mike Isaac about Super Pumped, his new book on the rise and fall of Travis Kalanick Continue reading...

Identity fraud is justification for collecting photos from drivers’ licences and passports but critics say plan too invasiveIf you’ve had a driver’s licence photo or passport photo taken in Australia in the past few years, it’s likely your face will end up in a massive new national network the federal government is trying to create.Victoria and Tasmania have already begun to upload driver’s licence details to state databases that will eventually be linked to a future national one. Continue reading...

You can get great phones at almost any price – here’s a guide to some of the best aroundWhen it comes to buying a new phone some enthusiasts reckon you need to spend £1,000-plus to buy a good one. But the truth is that you can get great phones at almost any price.With so many different brands, models and capabilities to choose from it can be difficult to know which to buy. So here’s a guide to some of the best phones at different price points, so you don’t end up buying a dud. Continue reading...

Social media giant said the move was backed by anti-bullying and mental health groupsSome Facebook users will soon no longer see the number of likes, reactions and video views on other’s posts in a world-first trial aimed at boosting users’ wellbeing.Instead, likes will be private and only visible to the post’s author in a change that follows a similar test on Instagram which started in July in Australia. The new Facebook trial, which begins on Friday, will also kick off in Australia. Continue reading...

Company to offer information on public transport and other travel options in quest to build ‘operating system for everyday life’Uber has announced a slew of updates to its app – including consolidating its food delivery and ride-hailing services, and a new feature highlighting local public transportation options – in a bid to create “an operating system for everyday life”.Uber announced the more than 25 changes to its platform at a launch event in San Francisco on Thursday. Among the tech company’s most significant moves will be merging its ride-hailing app and food-delivery app Uber Eats, and offering users alternative travel information including bikes, scooters, public transportation, and even helicopters in some locations. Continue reading...

Kait Diaz is a success as the protagonist in Gears 5, but the process of getting her there went back years and involved cultural change for the game’s developerZöe Curnoe, a senior producer at video game developer The Coalition, lets out a long sigh. We’ve just reminded her about a tweet from Cliff Bleszinski, the former lead designer on the Gears of War franchise, which she has worked on for several years. Gears 5, the latest title in the Gears of War series, has a female protagonist for the first time.Related: Gears 5 review – thrills, kills and belly laughs in a refreshing reboot Continue reading...

Echo Frames, Loop and Buds launched along with series of updates to previous productsAmazon wants its Alexa voice assistant to leave the home and be with you everywhere you go, and is turning to wearable technology to achieve this.Unveiled at an event in Seattle on Wednesday, Amazon’s new Echo Frames smart glasses, Echo Loop ring and Echo Buds aim to put Alexa on your face, your hand or in your ears. Continue reading...

Robert is looking for a laptop that has a keyboard like an old MacBook AirMy son has grown up using a MacBook Air for Minecraft. He swears by the keyboard layout, and having witnessed the blazing speed with which he does things in the game, I understand his reluctance to use his Alienware laptop. (I know, first-world problems, and all that …)Both machines are almost six years old and due a refresh, so I’m looking for a Windows laptop that is powerful enough to run games like Civilization 6 (with mods) but with a keyboard layout that is sufficiently similar to a MacBook that he can continue to use the muscle memory he has built up over the years. Does such a beast exist?Take your son to an Apple store or a good computer shop where he can try a MacBook Pro, ideally running Minecraft. In this case, my normal advice – stick with what you know – runs into the problem that what you know no longer exists, unless you buy a second-hand laptop. Continue reading...

PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One; Electronic Arts

PM uses his General Assembly speech on the challenges of technology to paint a dystopian view before returning to political crisis at home

Leak spells out how social media app advances China’s foreign policy aimsTikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social network, instructs its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong, according to leaked documents detailing the site’s moderation guidelines.The documents, revealed by the Guardian for the first time, lay out how ByteDance, the Beijing-headquartered technology company that owns TikTok, is advancing Chinese foreign policy aims abroad through the app. Continue reading...

The tech employees, who have complained of low pay and stingy time off, will join with the United Steel WorkersA group of Google contract workers in Pittsburgh voted to unionize on Tuesday, a historic development within the labor movement and a remarkable return to the city’s industrial roots.

Europe’s top court says firm does not have to take sensitive information off global searchThe “right to be forgotten” online does not extend beyond the borders of the European Union, the bloc’s highest court has ruled in a major victory for Google.The right, enshrined in a 2014 legal ruling, required search engines to delete embarrassing or out-of-date information, when requested by the individuals concerned but in a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the European court of justice said search engine operators faced no obligation to remove information outside the 28-country zone. Continue reading...

Transport for London again rejects ride-hailing firm’s application for a full licenceUber’s application to renew its private hire operating licence in London has been rebuffed again by regulators.Transport for London has instead given the ride-hailing firm only a two-month extension to its licence, which is due to expire on Wednesday night. Continue reading...

Critics say DoH privacy technology could enable easier spread of child abuse imagesThe maker of the Firefox web browser has told the government it has no plans to turn a controversial web privacy tool on by default in the UK, despite launching it in the US later in September.Mozilla has announced it will make the tool, called DNS-over-HTTPS, or DoH, the default for all users in the US. Continue reading...

Proposal for government to hold details amid complaints of council homes used for holiday letsAirbnb hosts could have their identities included on a register for the first time to prevent illegal short-term rents and the use of scarce council housing as holiday accommodation.The San Francisco-based property rental platform will this week begin a consultation on proposals for a register of hosts. It will ultimately present a white paper to politicians and community leaders across the UK, who have complained they are powerless to act when whole blocks are sometimes overrun by short-term rentals. Any register would be held by governmental bodies rather than the provider itself and would apply across homeshare sites. Continue reading...

Plan for register follows complaints in UK of council homes used for holiday letsAirbnb hosts could have their identities shared for the first time to prevent illegal short-term rents and the use of scarce council housing as holiday accommodation.The San Francisco-based property rental platform will this week begin drawing up plans for a register of hosts after pressure from politicians and community leaders across the UK who have complained they are powerless to act when whole blocks are sometimes overrun by short-term rentals. Continue reading...

The return of the Modern Warfare series ends its beta test on a high, with the chaotic Ground War mode and other fresh tweaks giving the reboot a different feelA couple of hours and several dozen respawns into the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta test and you gradually start to appreciate the changes. The latest title in the multimillion-selling shooter series is being sold as a return to the principles of its near-namesake, 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Developer Infinity Ward is promising gritty, contemporary combat on claustrophobic maps with authentic weapons and skills – and absolutely none of the laser guns or wall-running super powers that have blighted later episodes. The beta tests, held over the last two weekends, have been the first chance to experience this premise on public servers. And it has not been disappointing.In many ways, the new title does feel very similar to the original Modern Warfare trilogy. We get familiar weapons with familiar effects, such as the super versatile M4A1 assault rifle and the strange-looking AUG with its blisteringly rapid fire rate. There is also a return for killstreaks, where players are specifically rewarded for shooting enemies rather than meeting mission objectives, recalling Modern Warfare’s ultra-aggressive roots. Map locations also have a nostalgically grungy and bomb-blasted look. Azhir Cave is a mass of snaking desert tunnels and crumbling villages, while Hackney Yard is all rusted shipping containers, abandoned offices and burned-out police cars. Continue reading...

Jordan Erica Webber looks into the rise of identity politics in online dating. In this episode we hear from the journalist Rainesford Stauffer, dating expert Dr Jess Carbino and Tinder’s election bot creator, Yara Rodrigues Fowler Continue reading...

An attempt by contract workers to unionize has brought the city’s industrial past crashing into the 21st centuryThe first time Nabisco tried to close its Pittsburgh factory in 1982, a coalition of labor unions and politicians successfully fought back, preserving hundreds of jobs and the smell of baking cookies in the city’s East Liberty neighborhood. Sixteen years, three free-market presidents and numerous international trade deals later, Nabisco successfully shuttered the plant for good, laying off about 350 workers and leaving behind a hulking brick monument to the Pennsylvania city’s storied industrial past.Today, the old factory building has been transformed into a shiny testament to Pittsburgh’s future: the luxuriously renovated Bakery Square is home to hundreds of Google employees, assembly lines and industrial ovens replaced with cubicles, meeting rooms and an indoor bamboo garden, the only hint of the manufacturing past in a few tasteful design flourishes. Continue reading...

Ideas for emoji include vine of leaves on heart and people clasping handsTo err is human, it is said, to forgive divine. And soon that noblest of human qualities will be available in emoji form, following a global effort to find the most appropriate icon.A coalition of charitable and peace-building organisations in Finland are leading the quest to crowdsource an emoji to be added to the thousands available to smartphone users. Continue reading...

Tanya Gold published a piece about a plus-size mannequin one Sunday. By Monday morning the internet had gone mad and was out for her bloodIt was my fault. Sometimes I write glibly. I make an argument for myself and forget that people read it. It still surprises me, after 20 years of writing, to think that I have readers: that my internal monologue is out and about in the world. I do not think about them. If I did, I couldn’t write anything.In June, I wrote a piece about Nike’s obese mannequin, which was displayed at the London flagship shop to publicise Nike’s new willingness to sell clothes to overweight women. It makes me laugh now to think I insulted a mannequin – how, on that day in 2019, we came to discuss human rights for mannequins. I said it was a cynical doll from a cynical company that is no friend to women. I said that the normalisation of obesity frightens me, because I can see the outcome of addiction to sugar in myself. I said that the “fat acceptance” movement is an abyss of denial. I said the mannequin was “gargantuan” and “heaving with fat”. I said it might get diabetes – if it had flesh. I said that if it ran, it would ruin its inhuman knees. Continue reading...

Refunds to buyers rely on Royal Mail tracking using postcodes rather than signatures, and it’s helping thievesAnastasios Siampos was suspicious after selling an iPhone for £275 on eBay. The buyer claimed it was defective and, though Siampos contested this, eBay instructed the buyer to return it using Royal Mail’s 48-hour tracked delivery service. Two days later eBay refunded the buyer, insisting that Royal Mail’s tracker showed the parcel had been successfully returned. Siampos, however, had received nothing. When he contacted Royal Mail he found the parcel had indeed been delivered, but not to his address. Extraordinarily, the tracking update only confirms an item has been delivered to the postcode without specifying the property. There are 53 properties in Siampos’s postcode.Online selling platforms, such as eBay, rely on tracker information as proof an item has been returned and the sender can be refunded. Nowhere on Royal Mail’s website does it clarify that items are only tracked to the postcode – a loophole that has been exploited by fraudsters to steal goods. Continue reading...

Seat’s new flagship SUV is big in all respects: comfort, seats and everyday luxuries. Just be careful who you let share the driving…Seat Tarraco

Removals are part of inquiry into how developers use data, which the company started after the Cambridge Analytica scandalFacebook has suspended tens of thousands of apps from the platform for privacy reasons, it announced in a blogpost on Friday.The removals come as part of an ongoing investigation into how developers use data, which the company started after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March 2018. The news also reveals that the platform is home to more problematic apps than previously thought. Continue reading...

Tech giant’s push for greener energy prompts biggest renewable energy deal in corporate historyGoogle’s chief executive has revealed plans for the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history.Sundar Pichai said the clean energy deal will include 18 separate agreements to supply Google with electricity from wind and solar projects across the world. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Brad Smith says firms must help define and live by standards before they are forced on themTech companies should stop behaving as though everything that is not illegal is acceptable, says Microsoft’s second-in-command. Instead, they should focus on defining – and living by – the standards that they would like to see in regulation, before it gets forced on them anyway.For some of the most potentially dangerous new technologies, such as facial recognition, that could mean voluntarily refusing to sell them to certain countries, for certain uses, or even agreeing to a moratorium altogether, said Brad Smith, the president and chief legal officer of the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company. Continue reading...

Great fit and sound, long battery, attractive design and pocketable case make for an excellent set of budsLibratone has given us the better fitting AirPods that Apple wouldn’t, with great sound and noise cancelling.The Danish audio firm’s Track Air+ are a set of true wireless earbuds, priced at £179, that follow the familiar design of earbud with stalk but no cable. Continue reading...

If you spend hours a day staring at your phone screen for social media, games and reading, a new no-frills device could help nudge you back to the real worldFor years, I have had a screensaver on my iPhone that says READ A BOOK INSTEAD. It hasn’t worked.I used my phone for an average of 4 hours and 2 minutes a day last week, picking it up 103 times a day. That’s about once every 10 minutes while I am awake. And for what? Pokémon Go (yes, I am addicted), social networking and reading – in that order. And when I’m not on my phone, I am on my laptop. Continue reading...

Rental service, which has about 150 million users in more than 65,000 cities, was last valued at $31bn in September 2017Airbnb, the home-sharing rental business, is to go public “during 2020”, the company said in a brief statement on Thursday.The service, which claims 7m Airbnb listings in over 100,000 cities and 8.2 million guest arrivals in the year to July, was last valued at $31bn in September 2017. Continue reading...

New Android smartphone falls foul of trade war and Trump’s blacklisting of Chinese firm

A pair of aluminium legs that you strap to your bum could be the solution for people who find there are not enough chairs in the world. As long as they don’t mind looking ridiculousOn Wednesday night, the Tech Insider Twitter account made a simple statement: “This wearable chair could change how we work and travel.” The text was accompanied by a short video advertising the LEX bionic chair, a pair of £200 foldable aluminium legs that you strap to your bum and lean against whenever your legs get a bit tired. In the video, a man uses the LEX while sitting at a desk, waiting for a bus, and taking photos. It really does it all.This wearable chair could change how we work and travel pic.twitter.com/KO8QoUcrut Continue reading...

Perfectly modelled and smoothly animated, the 42 built-in games are lovingly reproduced, with modern gaming benefits. It’s a delightful surpriseIt’s been almost three years since Nintendo launched its diminutive NES Mini console and discovered a vast audience for stylish retro hardware. Since then, it has re-released the NES Classic Mini and launched an SNES sequel, while Sony has clambered artlessly on to the bandwagon with an uncharacteristically mediocre offering, the PlayStation Classic. Now Sega has joined the fray, its official Mega Drive Mini set to banish memories of the fairly awful Mega Drive retro consoles produced by third-party manufacturer At Games.The result is a wonderfully cute and detailed reproduction of the original Mega Drive model, sensibly priced at £70. Although it’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, it packs in accurate cosmetic features such as a volume switch, side grille and extension port, closely mimicking the ghetto blaster form of the 1988 machine. It is kind of a shame that the volume control is non-functional – a headphone port would have been a lovely extra, but doubtless prohibitively expensive to include. Continue reading...

The ‘gig economy’ is terrible for workers. We must tackle the problem head-on

Ed wonders if you need a computer to make YouTube videos, as he doesn’t own oneI’m a newbie. When people shoot YouTube videos, do they need a computer or laptop to do so? I don’t have either. EdPeople shoot videos with all kinds of equipment, from simple smartphones to professional movie cameras. Prices range from £50 to more than £40,000. As always, it depends on the job. Some people are taking selfies for Facebook while others are shooting blockbusters for cinemas. Continue reading...

According to a recent survey, 39% of us aren’t against machines capable of destroying humanity. Surely there are some things we can all agree onLaura Nolan is a modern hero. A former Google software engineer, Nolan resigned from her job last year after being asked to dramatically enhance the artificial intelligence used in US military drones. She is now calling for a ban on all forms of autonomous weapons on the basis that they might accidentally initiate a catastrophic global war. She said this as part of her role as a member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.Now, listen, sometimes I’m able to kid myself about the goodness of people. I might not agree with them all the time, but at least I can understand our differences. I get why they might vote for a certain political party, or why they wanted Brexit to happen. After all, aren’t we all just people muddling through the muck together? And then I realise that there is a group called Stop Killer Robots, and it actually has to convince people to stop killer robots. Killer bloody robots, for crying out loud. Its only goal is to stop robots from destroying all of humanity as we know it, and it needs to exist because it turns out that some people aren’t automatically horrified by the idea. Continue reading...

Want to build worlds, become a crime kingpin, get lost in space, or enter the afterlife? Then our countdown of the 50 best games of the era has something for you

A web developer asked men to send her pictures of their genitals in order to build a filter that ‘recognises’ a penis and blurs it. Which raises the question: why haven’t tech companies taken this on yet?Earlier this month, after waking up to find an unwelcome dick pic in her Twitter account’s DMs, web developer Kelsey Bressler, 28, co-created an AI filter she claims is capable of preventing over 95% of sexually explicit images from reaching her inbox.To test the filter, Bressler solicited pictures of male genitalia en masse, receiving hundreds to the trial account @ShowYoDiq, “for science”. Continue reading...

Platform responds to concerns about impact of content on mental health of young peopleInstagram has announced that tighter restrictions are to be imposed on some posts related to diet products and cosmetic surgery.The social media platform said that from Wednesday on both Instagram and Facebook, age restrictions would be applied to some such posts while others would be removed. Continue reading...