We spent two weeks with a 5G phone to find out if it really lives up to the hypeThe future of mobile phones is finally here. You can go out and buy a 5G phone, and if you happen to be in one of the six cities across the UK in which EE’s 5G network is up and running, you can get the blistering mobile broadband speeds we’ve been promised will revolutionise our mobile lives, again. But should you?I’ve spent the past two weeks equipped with the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G on first-out-of-the-gate EE’s 5G network. I streamed 2K HDR movies, downloaded whole albums in seconds and generally used it like I would on my extremely fast 350Mbps home wifi – data caps be damned. Continue reading...
The Big Apple has long had an infatuation with flying over the city, but there’s a risk in choosing the air over driving congested streetsWhile those taking a taxi from Manhattan to John F Kennedy airport this summer can expect a 90-minute-plus crawl at rush hour, more elite New Yorkers will have access to a new eight-minute ride – with a familiar brand attached.Scheduled to launch on 9 July, UberCopter – yes, that Uber, will offer a helicopter service between a heliport adjacent to Wall Street and JFK, from $200 per person each way. Continue reading...
With Mars in the 12th house at the time of the announcement, the new cryptocurrency should ultimately succeedWhen Facebook announced its cryptocurrency Libra, which shares its title with an astrological sign for people born approximately between 23 September and 23 October, people had a lot of questions.Will this upend the traditional banking system? Is Facebook going to sell my financial data to advertisers? And most importantly, what does an astrology-adjacent cryptocurrency name mean for us all? Continue reading...
San Francisco-based company sold shares in direct listing, following Spotify’s method, potentially ushering in new era of stock market salesWorkplace messaging service Slack became the latest hot technology company to sell its shares to the public on Thursday, soaring 50% higher than expected on its debut.The San Francisco-based company’s shares started trading on the New York stock exchange at $38.50 – well above the $26 guide price – and closed at $38.62 valuing the company at over $24bn, making a billionaire of co-founder Stewart Butterfield and potentially ushering in a new era of stock market sales. Continue reading...
Actions such as shares and likes down nearly 20%, though user numbers still growingFacebook usage has plummeted over the last year, according to data seen by the Guardian, though the company says usage by other measures continues to grow.Since April 2018, the first full month after news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in the Observer, actions on Facebook such as likes, shares and posts have dropped by almost 20%, according to the business analytics firm Mixpanel. Continue reading...
Everything you need to know about the next big augmented-reality game before its 21 June release dateHarry Potter: Wizards Unite will bring a little magic into the world tomorrow, as fans will be able to step into the world of the Boy Who Lived thanks to the augmented-reality smartphone game.Players use their phones to tackle something called the Calamity, which has tossed all sorts of dangerous magic – Confoundables – into the everyday world of muggles. Exploring the real world around them, they’ll run into familiar forms for fans of the Potterverse, such as pixies guarding screaming Howler letters or Hogwarts students trapped by vines. Casting spells on them by tracing lines on the phone’s screen will send them back where they belong, adding to the player’s collection of magical objects fished from the streets. Continue reading...
Cities say short-term holiday lettings market is contributing to soaring long-term rentsTen European cities have demanded more help from the EU in their battle against Airbnb and other holiday rental websites, which they argue are locking locals out of housing and changing the face of neighbourhoods.In a joint letter, Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Krakow, Munich, Paris, Valencia and Vienna said the “explosive growth†of global short-stay lettings platforms must be on the agenda of the next set of European commissioners. Continue reading...
Reeling from a Dropbox price hike, Kate wants somewhere cheaper to store her 500GB of photos and filesI’ve just received notification that my Dropbox account is going up in price to more than £90 a year. I like Dropbox’s interface and ease of use from the mobile app, but £90 seems steep for what I require. What cheaper options do I have for securely storing about 500GB of photos and files? KateMost of us just evolve the way we do things by making convenient short-term decisions. A price jolt should prompt you to rethink how you are storing your data, where you are storing it, and why. Different people have different devices and different needs, so I can’t pick the best strategy for you or anybody else. However, I can give you a few things the think about. Continue reading...
After ordering and checking my credit rating several times, I can’t reverse the damage to my ratingI ordered two new smartphone contracts for myself and my wife. My wife decided to go for a different handset, so I cancelled her contract and reapplied.On the delivery day, I called to find out when it was coming, only to be told the order had been cancelled. No one could tell me why. Continue reading...
Board rejects all 13 shareholder proposals to address a range of issues even as workers protest outside eventAlphabet, the parent company of Google, failed to pass several proposals to address sexual harassment, antitrust issues and diversity policies at its annual shareholder meeting, despite hundreds of employees protesting outside the event.The annual meeting comes as Alphabet faces growing pressure from shareholders and employees, including over its handling of sexual harassment allegations, ethical concerns surrounding its artificial intelligence systems, its widespread reliance on and treatment of contract workers and its operations in China. Continue reading...
Epic bosses admit ignoring data protection rules and claim not to know how long users play forA Commons committee was left baffled as video game executives appeared to deny making money from their own games, admit to ignoring regulations governing data protection and age restrictions, and claim ignorance over how much time their own users were spending on games.Representatives from Epic Games, makers of Fortnite: Battle Royale, and EA Games, the publisher of the Fifa series of football games, appeared as witnesses in front of the Commons Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee as part of its inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies. Continue reading...
Human rights committee launches inquiry into right to privacy and digital revolutionWidespread data collection practices lead to self-censorship and discrimination even though most users are not fully aware of how much their privacy is being infringed, a parliamentary committee has been warned.On Wednesday, the human rights committee, beginning its inquiry into the right to privacy and the digital revolution, published evidence from privacy and data protection organisations including the Information Commissioner’s Office, Liberty and Privacy International. Continue reading...
Cybersecurity team ordered to access journalists’ email accounts, document suggestsThe report from Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur, sets out in forensic detail concerns about the behaviour of Saudi Arabia, both before and after the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.It also details the potential threats posed to journalists and academics by the kingdom’s use of intrusive spyware. Continue reading...
by Alex Hern, Keith Stuart and Keza MacDonald on (#4HG0H)
After a full week of glitzy announcements and hundreds of game teasers, the Guardian’s E3 correspondents pick their best of the show Continue reading...
Guardian investigation finds drivers who have experienced range of safety issues say companies offer little to no supportOne month into driving for Lyft around Atlanta, Alicia Dukes was sexually assaulted by a passenger on 21 April after she drove him to a gas station and back to his apartment.“He first asked me if I had any change because he wanted to leave a tip. He ended up finding a $5 bill in his pocket and gave it to me. He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to come into his house and drink with him. I said no, I’m working right now, can you please leave,†Dukes told the Guardian. Continue reading...
According to a Guardian survey through Blind, employees are already facing negative consequences or predict problemsTechnology workers of Chinese descent say that they are experiencing backlash due to the US-China trade war and fears over Huawei, according to a survey commissioned by the Guardian through Blind, an app allowing anonymous workplace communication.“With the trade war against China and especially the Huawei case I feel like a target more and more every day,†an anonymous Amazon employee wrote in a comment on the app, which is popular among technology employees and verifies employment through work emails. “I can’t even feel comfortable about being Chinese because so many Americans see China as a threat now.†Continue reading...
Funds to support development of 20,000 new homes as San Francisco Bay Area grapples with homelessnessGoogle will invest $1bn in housing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, a region plagued by a housing and homelessness crisis that has in part been fueled by the tech industry.The announcement comes as the tech giant prepares to expand beyond its headquarters in Mountain View and its offices in San Francisco to new campuses in San Jose and Sunnyvale. The $1bn would go toward supporting the development of 20,000 new homes over the course of 10 years, or roughly 68% of the number of units the Bay Area needs to build each year in order to meet population growth. Continue reading...
Facebook claims it wants to reach people without access to a bank account, and that Libra is the best wayOn Tuesday, Facebook announced a digital currency called Libra that will roll out for use in 2020 and allow the platform’s billions of users across the globe to make financial transactions online.The new technology threatens to change the landscape of banking and is already the subject of scrutiny, as Facebook faces increasing calls for regulation and antitrust measures. Continue reading...
Digital currency will let billions of users make transactions, but is already facing opposition from US lawmakers amid privacy concerns•Facebook’s Libra launch will extend its global domination•All you need to know about Facebook’s new cryptocurrencyFacebook has announced a digital currency called Libra that will allow its billions of users to make financial transactions across the globe, in a move that could potentially shake up the world’s banking system.Libra is being touted as a means to connect people who do not have access to traditional banking platforms. With close to 2.4 billion people using Facebook each month, Libra could be a financial game changer, but will face close scrutiny as Facebook continues to reel from a series of privacy scandals. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency could wipe out many businesses and further concentrate corporate powerEvery week, dozens of people walk into the Sunshine convenience store in Charlottesville, Virginia, to send money to relatives in other countries. They use a service called MoneyGram, one of the two largest firms (the other being Western Union) that facilitate the conversion of US dollars into the currency of the receiving person, charging between $9.99 and $49.99 (£7.97 and £39.89) for each transaction.Many of the patrons of Sunshine alert their relatives of these transactions through WhatsApp, the encrypted messaging service owned by Facebook and used by more than 1.5 billion people around the world. Continue reading...
Smallest, cheapest Samsung flagship has most of what makes the S10 line good, but with a flat screen and one camera fewerThe Galaxy S10e is Samsung’s attempt to offer a flagship smartphone experience in a smaller body and at a lower cost, which mostly works.The formula is simple: take the same processor, reduce the memory a little and squeeze it into a smaller, less complicated body. Continue reading...
by Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent on (#4HAWT)
Rights group argues powers of MI5 and GCHQ to obtain and store data breach human rights“Bulk hacking†powers exploited by the intelligence services to access electronic devices represent an illegal intrusion into the private lives of millions of people, the high court has been told.In its latest challenge to the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), the civil rights organisation Liberty has argued that government surveillance practices breach human rights law. Continue reading...
When Radiohead were held to ransom by hackers, they shrugged and put 18 hours of unheard material online for free. But for other artists, having music leaked can be devastatingIn 1997, Radiohead imagined a future in which technological dependency and out-of-control consumerism had merged to form a dark, digital void. OK Computer, the band’s third album, painted prescient pictures of riot police at political rallies and anxious lives lived in suburbs surrounded by endless motorways. The digital advances promising to bring us together, it seemed to warn, would instead corrode and cause chaos.Last week’s big Radiohead news wouldn’t have sounded out of place on that album’s technosceptic vision of tomorrow. The band had been hacked, guitarist Jonny Greenwood revealed on Tuesday, and 18 hours of unreleased music from their OK Computer sessions stolen. Pay $150,000, they were warned, or this archive would be uploaded to the internet for free. The only thing more frustrating to frontman Thom Yorke than the situation, fans joked, was the fact he hadn’t thought to mention sinister cybercriminals holding people to ransom on OK Computer in the first place. Continue reading...
The social network is likely to release details of its cryptocurrency this week: and it won’t be much like BitcoinFirst it had your friends, then it had your pictures, then it had your diary. Now, in the latest effort to entwine its systems still further into the everyday lives of its users, Facebook wants to get into your wallet.On Tuesday, the social media behemoth is expected to reveal its own cryptocurrency, which has variously been called Libra and GlobalCoin. However, unlike other cryptocurrencies, the new creation will not have been founded in the spirit of libertarianism, outside the backing of established, conventional authorities. Instead, it appears to have the endorsement of more than 12 corporations, from Uber to PayPal, Visa and Mastercard. Continue reading...
The tech founders said they were not like the evil capitalists of old. We should have known betterRemember the time when tech companies were cool? So do I. Once upon a time, Silicon Valley was the jewel in the American crown, a magnet for high IQ – and predominately male – talent from all over the world. Palo Alto was the centre of what its more delusional inhabitants regarded as the Florence of Renaissance 2.0. Parents swelled with pride when their offspring landed a job with the Googles, Facebooks and Apples of that world, where they stood a sporting chance of becoming as rich as they might have done if they had joined Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers, but without the moral odium attendant on investment backing. I mean to say, where else could you be employed by a company to which every president, prime minister and aspirant politician craved an invitation? Where else could you be part of inventing the future?But that was then and this is now. It’s taken an unconscionable length of time, but the tide of approbation has turned. Tech has suddenly lost its halo. Everywhere one looks, we find groups sharpening knives for a critique or an attack on big tech. In an interesting essay in the Atlantic, for example, the commentator Alexis Madrigal identifies no fewer than 15 different groups preparing ambushes. They include angry conservatives and progressive politicians, disillusioned tech luminaries, competition lawyers, privacy advocates, European regulators, mainstream media, scholarly critics, other corporations (telecoms firms, for example, plus Oracle and other business-software companies, for example), consumer-protection organisations and, last but not least, Chinese internet companies. With enemies like these, the US tech companies are suddenly discovering that they really need some friends. Continue reading...
One of E3’s surprise standouts puts you at the centre of a Groundhog Day mysteryOne of the surprise standouts at E3 this year was the indie time-looping point-and-click adventure 12 Minutes. In this stylish thriller, players are cast as a nameless everyman. Sitting down with his wife at the beginning of the game he gets some big news: they’re having a baby. But minutes later, a cop bursts through the door with an arrest warrant for her, and the startling accusation that she murdered her own father years earlier.Related: Keanu, comebacks and a new console: the 10 biggest stories of E3 2019 Continue reading...
Keanu Reeves lent Hollywood glamour to Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII wowed everyone and Microsoft revealed (limited) details about Xbox One successor Project ScarlettNext to some of the games console announcements of E3s past – such as Sony’s $599 PlayStation 3, or the Wii U’s confusing reveal, which left attendees wondering whether it actually was a new console – Microsoft’s Project Scarlett announcement went pretty well. It’s coming late next year, it’s a new Xbox with four times the power of the current one, and it’ll launch with Halo Infinite. But the absence of a name for the thing, or a fancy box to look at, felt strange. Instead, we got a lot of tech specs and a video of the product team talking up the machine’s capabilities. It’s good to know a new console is coming, but what we really want to know is how much it will cost and what it can do. Continue reading...
Wary of being tracked and targeted like activists inside China, protesters are keeping a low profile onlineIn early June, Ivan Ip, 22, joined a public chat group on Telegram called “Parade 69â€, named for a mass demonstration planned in central Hong Kong to protest a bill allowing for the transfer of suspects from the city to China. According to Ip, an administrator of the group of more than 30,000 people, they discussed things like bringing sunscreen, water, and umbrellas to block the sun or rain.Two days after the protest, which saw as many as one million Hong Kong residents march against the proposed extradition law, authorities arrived at Ip’s apartment in the evening. Banging on the door, they yelled: “Police! Open up the door!†Continue reading...
Chrystia Freeland said move would set a dangerous precedent while Meng Wanzhou will challenge extradition requestCanada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, has dismissed a suggestion that Ottawa block the extradition of a top executive from China’s Huawei to the US, saying it would set a dangerous precedent.Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested on US fraud charges in Vancouver last December, will challenge Washington’s extradition request at hearings that are set to begin next January. Continue reading...
Hacker accessed passwords and list of purported clients, including Australian government agencies – but company says these were only demonstration accountsThe American cybersecurity giant Symantec has downplayed a data breach that allowed a hacker to access passwords and a purported list of its clients, including large Australian companies and government agencies.The list extracted in the February incident, seen by Guardian Australia, suggests that all major federal government departments were among the targets of a hacker who also claimed to be responsible for Medicare data being available for sale on the dark web. Continue reading...
Rightwing academic enlists failed Ukip MEP candidate Carl Benjamin to test subscription-only platformJordan Peterson, the controversial academic, has launched a new anti-censorship website that will only take down offensive content if specifically ordered to by a US court.The psychology professor from Toronto said that Carl Benjamin, the failed Ukip MEP candidate who speculated about raping the Labour MP Jess Phillips, had agreed to test the subscription-only site, named Thinkspot. Continue reading...
The end of consoles, the dawn of streaming subscriptions and a lack of clarity. E3 might not be changing but the way we play isDespite the absence of Sony PlayStation, this year’s annual Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles delivered the usual whirlwind of new game announcements, trailers, marketing bluster and performative fandom. For years the entire thing has been streamed on YouTube, Twitch and half the world’s gaming websites, everything from showy press conferences to long demonstrations, transforming the event from a games industry conference to a kind of mid-year Christmas for both game marketers and enthused players watching at home (or paying around $1,000 to attend in person).So far, so expected. This is what E3 is now, and though the sense of mystery and anticipation has dimmed significantly in this age of instant streaming, Twitter hot-takes, online leaks and teaser trailers for teaser trailers, there’s still a thrill to it. Continue reading...
FlintyMcQwerty asked for tips to fix or avoid problems with the operating systemPlease share all your favourite tips, tricks and techniques for harnessing the power, panache and pulchritude of Windows 10. (Apologies, Jack, for my ineluctable tendency to alliterate.) FlintyMcQwertyLast week’s answer provoked a lot of discussion about Windows 10. I can’t do anything about the more hysterical complaints but many issues can be resolved by spending a few minutes in the settings app. I’m therefore accepting FlintyMcQwerty’s invitation to explain a few of them. Continue reading...
Firm has uncovered emails that appear to show chief executive’s connection to potentially problematic practices, WSJ reportsFacebook has uncovered emails that appear to show Mark Zuckerberg’s connection to potentially damaging privacy practices at the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.The emails were uncovered as part of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation that began after the Guardian reported that the personal data of 50 million Facebook users had been improperly harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked on Donald Trump’s election team and the winning Brexit campaign. Continue reading...
Green party peer Jenny Jones on the shocking lack of regulation around the technologyThe Guardian is right to oppose automated facial recognition (Editorial, 10 June), but in spite of concerns from MPs and peers, parliament has hardly discussed the issue. As the person who organised the only debate on the subject in the House of Lords, I have started legal action against the police for failing to have a regulatory framework for its use. It’s shocking that we are allowing the police and companies to set the rules as we abolish privacy in public spaces, because ministers are failing to act.The difference between ourselves and the likes of China and Russia is that we have a fairly open democracy, but this is no defence against state oppression and commercial exploitation if politicians fail to recognise that when our face becomes an identity card, all the rules change.
As day three of the E3 video game conference begins, here are the biggest stories from Xbox, Bethesda, Ubisoft, Square Enix and NintendoWe are in a transitional period for video games: new console technology is right around the corner, but most of the industry’s big players aren’t quite ready to show their cards. Sony has removed itself and the PlayStation from this year’s E3 conference, leaving Microsoft to take centre stage on the first day of this year’s event.Microsoft announced the next Xbox console, Project Scarlett, albeit with maddeningly few details beyond rather abstract technical specifications. It will be on sale towards the end of 2020, and forms one half of Microsoft’s video game strategy – the other half being a cloud-powered service that lets you play Xbox games anywhere, on any screen. Halo Infinite will be a Project Scarlett launch game – but will also be playable on Xbox One. Continue reading...
New app comes months after Apple cracked down on Facebook for similar apps that paid users for extensive data on phone usageA new Facebook app will allow users to sell the company data on how they use competitors’ apps.Facebook announced on Tuesday that it is recruiting participants to download its new app Study from the Google Play store. Once it is downloaded, it will transmit data with Facebook on what other apps the users have, what features they use, and how much time is spent on them. Continue reading...
Ridesharing company says test flights of Uber Air’s helicopter-like ‘flying car’ will begin next yearMelbourne will be the first city outside the US to host trials of Uber Air, a service the company describes as “aerial ridesharing†that will shuttle people from rooftop to rooftop for the price of an UberX.The company has flagged test flights will begin next year, with commercial operations to start in 2023. Continue reading...
Residents ‘in disbelief’ at alleged lack of consultation over installation of facial recognition technology in East Perth camerasPerth City council is pressing ahead with a trial of facial recognition technology to be installed in cameras across East Perth, despite concerns from privacy experts and local residents.The network of 30 cameras is set to go live within weeks, amid complaints there has been no proper local consultation since the plans were revealed last year. Continue reading...
The Japanese video game giant leans heavily on its established hits for the Nintendo Switch’s 2019-20 lineupIn a Nintendo Direct broadcast today, the Japanese video game giant laid out the lineup for its Switch console for the rest of 2019 and early 2020. Introduced by newly installed Nintendo of America executive Doug Bowser – no, not that Bowser – it was light on surprises, but the highlights were a new Animal Crossing game, New Horizons, and a teaser for the sequel to the phenomenally accomplished The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Related: E3 2019: all the video game news so far, from Final Fantasy VII to Watch Dogs Legion Continue reading...
Foxconn senior executive says company has more than enough capacity to make all iPhones bound for the US outside of ChinaApple’s iPhone could escape Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China.Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest suppliers, has moved to reassure consumers and investors that prices and supplies of the Apple’s iPhone will not be affected by the ongoing US-China tariff war. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian