Technology | The Guardian

Some say they used bitcoin or Dogecoin to help reach goals such as affording to have a child or buy a houseMiles, a 37-year-old NHS doctor from London, has been trying to persuade friends to buy cryptocurrencies for years. In recent weeks, the Trump pump" to crypto prices has left them envious. They have watched in frustration as my gamble paid off," he says.Miles's crypto portfolio is now worth 2.3m, despite having cashed out about 600,000 earlier this year to buy a house. It's set me up for life," says Miles, who invested 4,000 in bitcoin in 2012. My pot fluctuates by hundreds of thousands each day, but I've been through years of volatile periods." Continue reading...

Meta CEO reportedly wants to support president-elect after previously banning him from Instagram and FacebookMark Zuckerberg has become the latest former Donald Trump critic to make his way Mar-a-Lago to break bread with the incoming US president.The tech mogul had banned Trump from the social media sites Instagram and Facebook, which he owns, following the January 6 riot that the president-elect egged on in an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 election. Continue reading...

Tory MP Chris Philp calls for more investment in technology to reduce UK's net migration figures

Technology secretary admits Whitehall departments are not being transparent over way they use AI and algorithmsNot a single Whitehall department has registered the use of artificial intelligence systems since the government said it would become mandatory, prompting warnings that the public sector is flying blind" about the deployment of algorithmic technology affecting millions of lives.AI is already being used by government to inform decisions on everything from benefit payments to immigration enforcement, and records show public bodies have awarded dozens of contracts for AI and algorithmic services. A contract for facial recognition software, worth up to 20m, was put up for grabs last week by a police procurement body set up by the Home Office, reigniting concerns about mass biometric surveillance".The Department for Work and Pensions has been using generative AI to read more than 20,000 documents a day to understand and summarise correspondence" after which the full information is then shared with officials for decision-making. It has automated systems for detecting fraud and error in universal credit claims, and AI assists agents working on personal independence payment claims by summarising evidence. This autumn, DWP started deploying basic AI tools in jobcentres, allowing work coaches to ask questions about universal credit guidance in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of conversations with jobseekers.The Home Office deploys an AI-powered immigration enforcement system, which critics call a robo-caseworker". An algorithm is involved in shaping decisions, including returning people to their home countries. The government describes it as a rules-based" rather than AI system, as it does not involve machine-learning from data. It says it brings efficiencies by prioritising work, but that a human remains responsible for each decision. The system is being used amid a rising caseload of asylum seekers who are subject to removal action, now at about 41,000 people.Several police forces use facial recognition software to track down suspected criminals with the help of artificial intelligence. These have included the Metropolitan police, South Wales police and Essex police. Critics have warned that such software will transform the streets of Britain into hi-tech police line-ups", but supporters say it catches criminal suspects and the data of innocent passersby is not stored.NHS England has a 330m contract with Palantir to create a huge new data platform. The deal with the US company that builds AI-enabled digital infrastructure and is led by Donald Trump backer Peter Thiel has sparked concerns about patient privacy, although Palantir says its customers retain full control of the data.An AI chatbot is being trialled to help people navigate the sprawling gov.uk government website. It has been built by the government's digital service using OpenAI's ChatGPT technology. Redbox, another AI chatbot for use by civil servants in Downing Street and other government departments, has also been deployed to allow officials to quickly delve into secure government papers and get rapid summaries and tailored briefings. Continue reading...

More than 3m votes were cast for this year's awards, which went heavy on T-shirt guns and brand activations, but stayed quiet on the government's proposed social media banBetween them, the Australian online personalities who took the stage at the annual TikTok awards on Wednesday have more than 100 million followers - but if you're over the age of 30, you probably haven't heard of any of them.About 3.4m public votes were cast for this year's TikTok awards, which honour the top creators in categories like beauty, fitness, food, comedy and music. Just about everyone at the invite-only event found fame in a particular niche. Among the online stars in attendance were a quartet of brothers who perform highly choreographed dances in public (160,000 followers), a gay couple who constantly redecorate their home (3.4m followers), and a woman who has built her following on having very long hair (The Aussie Rapunzel, 1.3m followers). Another woman has amassed 1.5m followers by posting videos where she asks strangers if they are currently on their period. These are people who are regularly stopped on the street by fans, and who have so many followers they can make their living from brand deals. Continue reading...

Discussion platform takes fifth place in rankings and is the fastest growing large social media platform in the UKReddit, the American online discussion platform, has overtaken X to become the fifth most popular social media platform in the UK, according to the communications watchdog.Ofcom said Reddit, where users post on discussion threads within topic-based communities, was visited by 22.9 million UK adults in May this year, compared with 22.1 million on X. Continue reading...

In a world where books have to vie with smartphones for attention, a brilliant ebook reader is more necessary than everE-readers have been one of the greatest single-purpose gadgets for almost three decades. They offer an escape from technology and the endless distraction of mobile phones, despite also being tech devices.But that is starting to change. Colour ebook readers, for graphic novels, magazines and books, are now fairly common, and there are several models designed for note-taking. Plus, a whole family of these devices uses Android, meaning they can run all of those apps that often distract from reading.Best e-reader overall:

Tate Modern, London

In this week's newsletter: A new PlayStation portable device that will play the PS back catalogue is reportedly in the offing - it could be a gamechanger for the market Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereA report from Bloomberg this week suggests that Sony is working on a new portable PlayStation device. As someone who still has a PlayStation Vita languishing in my desk drawer because I can't quite bear to put it in the attic, this is an exciting prospect. It has been almost 13 years since Sony released the Vita, its last portable console, and it's such a wonder of a thing, with its big crisp screen and dinky little sticks. I wish more people had made games for it - paper-craft adventure Tearaway and topsy-turvy platform-puzzler Gravity Rush remain underrated.Actually, apart from the lovely and extremely niche Playdate, nobody has bothered to release a dedicated handheld games console in over a decade. Both the Nintendo Switch and Valve's Steam Deck are hybrids that can be played handheld and connected to a big screen. Continue reading...

Tech titans, and big business in general, are not reliable partners against Trumpism. Progressives need to accept thisAs Democrats think about how to counter the Trump administration, they need to accept a very simple lesson from the last eight years. Big tech and big business are part of the political opposition working on behalf of Donald Trump, not the Democrats' allies working against Trump and Trumpism.It shouldn't seem necessary to point out what seems to be an obvious fact. Nonetheless, there are some Democrats trying to stay close to big tech, or downplaying the importance of anti-monopoly policy when it comes to authoritarian risks. For example, a few days ago, Priorities USA, the largest Democratic party Super Pac, held a big resistance strategy session hosted by our friends at Google". Continue reading...

Among the report's 13 recommendations is the call for the introduction of standalone AI legislation and protections for creative workers

Social media platform under pressure to improve security as it announces plans to block under-13s from signing upTeenagers are facing wide-ranging new restrictions over the use of beauty filters on TikTok amid concern at rising anxiety and falling self-esteem.Under-18s will, in the coming weeks, be blocked from artificially making their eyes bigger, plumping their lips and smoothing or changing their skin tone. Continue reading...

Our writer trialled the most powerful robot vacuums - some of which even mop your floors - and these are the ones he ratesRobot vacuum cleaners take the drudge work out of cleaning your floors and carpets. No more tiresome weekly stints of vacuuming, and no more last-minute panic sessions when you have visitors on the way. Instead, your compact robot chum regularly trundles out from its dock, sucking up dust, hair and debris to leave your floors looking spick and span.Over the past few years, robot vacuums have become much more affordable, with basic units starting at about 150. They're also doing more than they used to, mopping areas of hard flooring and charging in sophisticated cleaning stations that empty their dust collectors and clean their mop pads for you.Best overall robot vacuum cleaner:

Research shows six in 10 social media content creators do not verify accuracy of information before posting itSocial media influencers need urgent" help to check their facts before they broadcast to their followers, in order to reduce the spread of misinformation online, Unesco has warned.According to a report by the UN's educational, scientific and cultural organisation, two-thirds of content creators fail to check the accuracy of their material, making them and their followers vulnerable to misinformation. Continue reading...

The Department of Justice suggested it should divest Chrome' and divest or submit to oversight of Android - seismic challenges for the tech giant Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereGoogle is in trouble. As my colleague Dan Milmo reported, the US Department of Justice has proposed a far-reaching overhaul of Google's structure and business practices, including the sale of its Chrome browser, in a bid to end its monopoly on internet search". The move follows a major court ruling last August in which a federal judge determined that Google had violated antitrust laws and held an illegal monopoly over search services. The justice department's suggestion is blunt: Google must divest Chrome." As for Android, the DoJ proposes two potential remedies: divest or submit to government oversight.Both demands present seismic challenges to Google's multiform, money-printing advertising business and would be a worst-case scenario for the company.The best iPhones in 2024: Apple smartphones tested, reviewed and rankedApple Watch Series 10: thinner, lighter and basically the same | Continue reading...

Experts say fake images raising fears around issues such as immigration have proliferated since EU electionsFrom fake images designed to cause fears of an immigrant invasion" to other demonisation campaigns targeted at leaders such as Emmanuel Macron, far-right parties and activists across western Europe are at the forefront of the political weaponisation of generative artificial intelligence technology.This year's European parliamentary elections were the launchpad for a rollout of AI-generated campaigning by the European far right, experts say, which has continued to proliferate since. Continue reading...

The committee's honourable mentions went to right to disconnect' and rawdogging'We're all living through the enshittocene, a great enshittening, in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit," author Cory Doctorow said earlier this year.In 2022, Doctorow coined the word enshittification", which has just been crowned Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year. The dictionary defined the word as follows.Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Continue reading...

Young people in Birmingham attest that violent content on apps is having a real-world impactIt took about 90 seconds for Rianna Montaque to see violence on her X account: a fight in a restaurant that escalated into a full-on brawl with chairs smashed over heads and bodies sprawling.The Gang_Hits" account has plenty more clips like that - shootings, beatings, people being run down by cars. It is part of a grim genre of content which is often promoted by algorithms so it pops up in young people's social media feeds unbidden. Continue reading...

It's a war that will never end. But for small-business owners, it's all about managing risk while reaping rewardsWe humans are simply too dumb to use passwords. A recent study from password manager NordPass found that secret" was the most commonly used password in 2024. That was followed by 123456" and password". So let's all give praise that the password is dying.Yes, we know that we should be using 20-letter passwords with weird symbols and numbers, but our minds can't cope. We use the same password for many accounts, be it for a newsletter subscription or our life savings. We all have too many passwords. So we opt for the easiest to remember - and steal. Continue reading...

Santa has a new little helper. But can an AI-powered shopping assistant really master the subtle art of gift giving?Some people love buying Christmas presents. Polly Arrowsmith starts making a note of what her friends and family like, then hunts for bargains, slowly and carefully. Vie Portland begins her shopping in January and has a theme each year, from heart mirrors to inspirational books. And Betsy Benn spent so much time thinking about presents, she ended up opening her own online gift business.How would these gift-giving experts react to a trend that is either a timesaving brainwave or an appalling corruption of the Christmas spirit: asking ChatGPT to do it for them? Continue reading...

The fast-developing technology is providing opportunities in any crime type' - and police must move fast' to catch upPaedophiles, scammers, hackers andcriminals of all kinds are increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) to target victims in new and harmful ways, a senior police chief has warned.Alex Murray, the national police lead for AI, said that the use of the technology was growing rapidly because of its increasing accessibility and that police had to move fast" to keep on top of the threat. Continue reading...

The flourishing new platform may be like Twitter once was. The problem is the limited algorithmic scope of all social mediaAs I write, there's a window on my laptop screen that is providing a live view of a stampede. It's logging the numbers of people joining the social network Bluesky. At the moment, the number of registered users is 20.5 million. By the time you read this there will be more than 30 million of them, judging by the rate that people are currently joining.The proximate cause of it is the role that Elon Musk, owner of X (nee Twitter), played in the election of Donald Trump, when a significant proportion of the platform's 200 million-plus users realised that they'd been had - that they had, in effect, been useful idiots for Musk on his path to the centre of political power. Continue reading...

The US media pundit on the dangers of overregulation online, why he's more frightened of the tech bros than AI itself, and how to reclaim the web by getting rid of the geeksJeff Jarvis was born in 1954 and studied journalism at Illinois's Northwestern University. He worked as a TV critic and created the magazine Entertainment Weekly, later leading the online arm of US media company Advance Publications. Since 2001, he has been blogging at Buzzmachine.com and in 2005 he became an associate professor at City University of New York's graduate school of journalism, directing its new media programme before retiring last year. Jarvis, who lives in New York, is the co-host of the podcasts This Week in Google and AI Inside.What made you want to write your new book, The Web We Weave?

We recommended them in the Filter; now we've sifted through all the offers to find the genuinely good discounts on our favourite productsBlack Friday is still a few days away on 29 November, but stores are already dropping prices to compete for our attention and cash - and they're offering some delectable discounts on products we've recommended in the Filter.We cautioned against getting carried away too early in our guide to not getting ripped off in the sales, because many prices continue to fall until Cyber Monday (2 December). However, some of the most popular items can sell out even before Black Friday comes around. So, if there's something here you've had your eye on, this may be your best chance to grab it for significantly less than you'd normally pay. Continue reading...

Carrying 99% of the world's international telecommunications, the vulnerable lines are drawing nefarious interestThe lead-clad telegraphic cable seemed to weigh tons, according to Lt Cameron Winslow of the US navy, and the weather wasn't helping their attempts to lift it up from the seabed and sever it. The rough water knocked the heavy boats together, breaking and almost crushing in their planking," he wrote.Eventually, Winslow's men managed to cut the cable with hacksaws and disrupt the enemy's communications by slicing off a 46-metre (150ft) section. Continue reading...

Amazon's total investment in the AI company now totals $8bn, with its AWS unit as Anthropic's cloud providerThe artificial intelligence startup Anthropic said on Friday it had raised an additional $4bn investment from its longtime backer Amazon.com, bringing the e-commerce giant's total investment to $8bn, underscoring big tech's growing generative AI investments.Amazon will maintain its position as a minority investor, the company said. Its AWS unit will also be Anthropic's official cloud provider. Continue reading...

Looking for the latest iPhone, or a good deal on a refurbished handset? Our expert has assessed and rated the current crop of Apple smartphonesThe best iPhone may be the one you already own. There is generally no need to buy a fresh phone just because new models have been released, as hardware updates are broadly iterative, adding small bits to an already accomplished package. But if you do want a replacement handset, whether new or refurbished, here are the best devices of the current crop of Apple smartphones.Many other smartphones are available besides the iPhone, but if you're an Apple user and don't fancy switching to Android, you still have a couple of choices. Whether your priority is the longest battery life, the best camera, the biggest screen or simply the optimal balance of features and price, there is more to choose from in the Apple ecosystem than you may expect, especially after the iPhone 16 models were released on 9 September.Best iPhone for most people:

Peter Kyle meets group of teenagers at NSPCC HQ who say imposing ban would reduce their social connectionsA social media ban for under-16s is not on the cards at the moment", a minister has said, as teenagers urged him to rethink plans to follow Australia's lead and restrict access to sites such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science and technology, is trying to convince social media platforms to do more to prevent online harms, with new laws coming into effect next year that could result in heavy fines and even jail in cases where online safety is breached. Continue reading...

Billionaire CEO is well connected in the US and China, something that could smooth the road ahead for the electric vehicle maker amid a looming tariff warIf it pays to have friends in high places, few among us can claim to be better placed than Elon Musk, the world's richest man and one of the only people to have cosy relationships with both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. His commercial and political connections to both may prove pivotal as the feud between the US and China plays out over the next four years, particularly as Trump promises steep tariffs.Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, once supported Joe Biden. But his relationship with the current US president soured over the past four years as, among other insults, Musk felt that the White House gave Telsa, his car and green energy company, the cold shoulder". Trump, meanwhile, has described Tesla as incredible" even while pledging to do away with subsidies for electric vehicles. This year, Musk formally endorsed Trump as the presidential candidate, campaigned for him online and off and donated more than $100m to his re-election effort. Continue reading...

Tech firm says proposals to end its dominance of internet search are a radical interventionist agenda'The US Department of Justice has proposed a range of punchy remedies to address Google's dominance of the internet search market, including the forced divestment of its Chrome browser.Google said the proposals represented a radical interventionist agenda" that would harm America's standing as a tech superpower. Continue reading...

World's richest man responds to UK parliamentarians saying they will call him to testify about X's role in spreading disinformation during riotsElon Musk has said UK MPs will be summoned to the United States of America to explain their censorship and threats to American citizens" in a fresh escalation of tensions between the world's richest man and Labour.Musk, who has been a fixture at the side of Donald Trump since his re-election as US president, was responding to a Guardian report on Wednesday that the Commons' science and technology select committee would call him to give evidence in the new year in its inquiry into the spread of harmful content on social media after the August riots. Continue reading...

GSC Game World; PC, Xbox

Court filing comes after landmark ruling in August and judge will consider arguments from both sides next yearThe US Department of Justice has proposed a far-reaching overhaul of Google's structure and business practices, including the sale of its Chrome browser, in a bid to end its monopoly on internet search.The DoJ proposals follow a landmark court ruling in August in which a federal judge ruled that Google maintained an illegal monopoly over search services. Continue reading...

A new BBC Sounds show investigates the complicated case of Freddie Scappaticci. Plus: five of the best podcasts to switch off to

Tenth generation Apple smartwatch gets a bigger screen and body overhaul, but blink and you might miss itA larger screen and thinner body mark the biggest change to the Apple Watch in years, but you might have to squint to see it.That is because Apple has kept much the same design on the outside despite requiring significant changes on the inside to make the watch thinner and lighter. As a result, the Series 10 feels like another evolutionary, rather than revolutionary step for the Apple Watch's 10th year.Case size: 42 or 46mmCase thickness: 9.7mmWeight: 30/29.3g or 36.4/35.3gProcessor: S10Storage: 64GBOperating system: watchOS 11Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM)Sensors: HR, ECG, spO2, air and water temp, depth, mic, speaker, NFC, GNSS, compass, altimeterConnectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, wifi 4, NFC, UWB, optional 4G/eSIM Continue reading...

World's most valuable company delights investors as it reports $35bn of revenue in quarterly resultsThe AI chipmaker Nvidia, the world's most valuable company and the engine of the artificial-intelligence boom, rolled out another set of quarterly results on Wednesday to investors' delight.The company, whose value has soared by $2.2tn this year to $3.6tn on the back of near-doubling of chip sales, said it had revenue of $35.08bn, against expectations of $33.15bn. Its profits more than doubled year-over-year. Revenue surged 94% from the same quarter last year. The company projected that revenue would increase by 70% in the coming quarter. Continue reading...

Prosecutors hailed first FTX cooperator to come in the door', helping put away Sam Bankman-Fried for decadesAn apologetic FTX co-founder was sentenced on Wednesday to no time in prison after a prosecutor and a federal judge praised his cooperation against Sam Bankman-Fried and his efforts to recover money for victims of the cryptocurrency fraud.Gary Wang testified three partial days at Bankman-Fried's trial last year, explaining his role as FTX's chief technology officer in a fraud that the judge Lewis A Kaplan described as one of the two or three biggest in US history. Continue reading...

There are no federal privacy regulations to protect your information - here's how you can do it yourselfWelcome to Opt Out, a semi-regular column in which we help you navigate your online privacy and show you how to say no to surveillance. The last column covered how to talk to your family about not posting your baby's photos on the internet.President-elect Donald Trump has promised to execute the largest mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in American history, and many rights groups are concerned he'll also introduce or reinstate rules that target broader immigrant communities as well - even if they've come through legal pathways or have been naturalized. If his prior administration is any indication, that can include people from certain Muslim-majority countries, asylum seekers and refugees. Continue reading...

In this week's newsletter: The shortlist for December's Game Awards is out, and the top contenders are neck and neck Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereMuch like Christmas is a lot less enjoyable for the person who has to organise all the presents and cook the dinner, game-of-the-year season is rather intimidating for the people who have to put together the shortlists. Every November, I tot up all of the year's acclaimed games I've yet to play, the underground recommendations I've yet to follow up on and the games I loved back in February but forgot about. I feel a mounting panic. And when all of the year-end lists come out, I inevitably find I've missed something anyway.The Game Awards have just announced the nominations for this year's ceremony, taking place on 12 December in Los Angeles. (Disclosure: the Guardian is one of 130 voting outlets for the awards, but my knowledge and involvement with them is limited to sending Geoff Keighley our ballots every year, usually a day or two late. Sorry, Geoff.) There are few surprises in the nominations, but I am pleased that one of the top two most nominated games is Astro Bot, with seven nominations, a game that cannot get enough praise as far as I'm concerned. (The other is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, up for six awards, which our critic dubbed a miracle of fan service; alas, I remain immune to the charms of Final Fantasy despite many attempts over the years to get into it). Continue reading...

Omar Abdulaziz, critic of crown prince now living in Canada, targeted by Saudi agents in 2014 security breachA prominent Saudi dissident who worked closely with Jamal Khashoggi said he will pursue further legal action against X after a US appeals court said that a 2014 security breach of the company - then known as Twitter - by agents of Saudi Arabia caused him injury.Private identifying information about Omar Abdulaziz, who lives in Canada and has been an outspoken critic of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, was obtained by the Saudi government after Riyadh recruited two Twitter employees to access information about dissidents - including those who used anonymous accounts to criticize the kingdom. Continue reading...

Casio says Moflin can develop its own personality and build a rapport with its owner - and it doesn't need food, exercise or a litter tray. But is it essentially comforting or alienating?It looks faintly like one half of a small pair of very fluffy slippers. It squeaks and wriggles and nestles in the palm of my hand, black eyes hidden beneath amop of silvery-white fur. It weighs about the same as a tin of soup. Itdoesn't need to be fed or walked and it doesn't use a litter tray; it's guaranteed not to leave gifts" onmy doorstep. Which is just as well, because Moflin is about to become my pet.Before I am entrusted with the welfare of Japan's latest AI companion robot, I meet its developers at the Tokyo headquarters of Casio, the consumer electronics firm that launched it commercially this month, priced at 59,400 yen (about 300). Moflin's role is to build relationships with humans," says Casio's Erina Ichikawa. I have just a week to establish a rapport with mine, which I remind myself not toleave on the train home. Continue reading...

Commons inquiry into rise of harmful content on social media also expected to call Meta and TikTok executivesMPs are to summon Elon Musk to testify about X's role in spreading disinformation, in a parliamentary inquiry into the UK riots and the rise of false and harmful AI content, the Guardian has learned.Senior executives from Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok are also expected to be called for questioning as part of a Commons science and technology select committee social media inquiry. Continue reading...

The launch was Starship's sixth experimental flight following first successful test in JuneDonald Trump joined Elon Musk in Texas on Tuesday to watch a successful test launch of SpaceX's Starship rocket, a demonstration of the unprecedented closeness between the world's richest man and the newly chosen president of the United States.Trump tweeted in advance of the launch: I'm heading to the Great State of Texas to watch the launch of the largest object ever to be elevated, not only to Space, but simply by lifting off the ground. Good luck to @ElonMusk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project!" Continue reading...

Authorities seek to dismantle monopoly on search market and also want action related to AI and Android

This week in tech news, online predictors are riding high after a slew of accurate US election wagers. Plus, Trump and Musk try to weaponize the communications regulator Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereGambling on the outcome of the presidential election became legal in the US at the start of October after decades of prohibition, becoming a new type of pre-election poll. Online prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket accepted billions of dollars in wagers on the outcome, with their users favoring Donald Trump with a 70% chance of beating Kamala Harris, out of sync with mainstream polls. Trump's camp trumpeted the predictions.In the UK, election gambling is legal and takes a very different form. Traditional bookmakers and betting firms take players' wagers and set prices and odds. The bets are not as similar to prediction markets as they are to horse racing. These markets are prone to their own scandals. Kalshi and Polymarket offer an online vision of betting that encompasses a wider range of subjects, algorithmically sets prices and relies on cryptocurrency.We're just getting started," said Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. Kalshi is adding close to 100" new markets to its platform every day and plans to launch combination-based markets, allowing users to bet on a bundle of different outcomes, and conditional markets (for example, if Trump wins, where will GDP be?") within weeks. I think that just accelerates from here ...Only terrorism, assassination and violence" are off limits for Kalshi. What about Ukraine? While the conflict falls into the platform's banned category, Russia's invasion and the ensuing war have certainly moved stocks and commodities since February 2022. We'll see over time," said Mansour. Continue reading...

Tech giant awards funding to project to shorten waits in A&E, after hackathon' on using Llama system in BritainMeta's push to deploy its artificial intelligence system inside Britain's public sector has taken a step forward after the tech giant awarded development funding to technology aimed at shortening NHS A&E waiting times.Amid rival efforts by Silicon Valley tech companies to work with national and local government, Meta ran its first hackathon" in Europe asking more than 200 programmers to devise ways to use its Llama AI system in UK public services and, one senior Meta executive said, focused on the priorities of the Labour party". Continue reading...

David Attenborough among famous people whose voices have been exploited by fraudstersIt's the new badge of celebrity status that nobody wants. Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey and Kylie Jenner have all had their voices cloned by fraudsters. Online blaggers used artificial intelligence to fake the Tiggerish tones of Martin Lewis, the TV financial adviser. And this weekend David Attenborough described himself as profoundly disturbed" to have discovered that his cloned voice had been used to deliver partisan US news bulletins.Now experts have warned that voice-cloning is outpacing the law as technologists hone previously clunky voice generators into models capable of emulating the subtlest pauses and breathing of human intonation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Block-building game to appear in theme parks, hotels and stores, starting in UK and USThe global gaming phenomenon Minecraft is coming to the real world for the first time in a global deal to open themed rides, attractions, hotel rooms and retail outlets, starting with the UK and US.Minecraft has struck a deal with UK-headquartered Merlin Entertainments - Europe's largest theme park operator and the second biggest globally after Disney - which runs more than 135 attractions in 23 countries including Alton Towers, Legoland, Sea Life, Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. Continue reading...

Last Week Tonight host looks into looming US ban over privacy concerns and fear of its Chinese parent companyOn Last Week Tonight, John Oliver looked into the looming US ban of TikTok, the social media app many are addicted to thanks to its cooking tutorials and dances that are impossible for anyone born before 1985 to look cool doing".TikTok has 170 million active users in the US - a third of US adults, and the majority of people under 30, use the app. All of which makes it pretty remarkable that it may be on the brink of going away," said Oliver. In April of this year, the Senate passed a bill giving the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and ultimatum: sell TikTok or face a ban in the US over national security risks. Continue reading...