Features such as loot boxes need tighter regulation, says deputy Labour leaderGambling-style features in computer games, which encourage players to pay for items such as loot boxes that may be worth very little, warrant stricter oversight by the Gambling Commission to prevent them becoming a “gateway†to betting addiction, Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, said.Speaking as he proposed much tighter controls on online gambling, including caps on the amount that consumers can gamble, Watson said not enough was being done to deal with gambling through games. Continue reading...
Organisation to give support to and encourage greater representation of people of colour in UK game developmentA group of games industry insiders has launched a new initiative to tackle the problem of poor diversity in the UK video game development sector.POC in Play is described by the group as a racial equity and inclusion movement with an aim to improve representation and to provide events and initiatives for people of colour either working in the industry or thinking of joining. Continue reading...
App to set up ‘age-appropiate’ rules for under-13s to comply with US data protection lawsTikTok, the popular video-sharing app formerly known as Musical.ly, has agreed to a record $5.7m (£4.2m) fine with the US Federal Trade Commission after being accused of illegally collecting personal information from children under 13.The app, which is owned by the Chinese giant Bytedance, a private startup with a $75bn valuation, admitted to improper data collection in a statement following the settlement and said that it would begin keeping younger users in “age-appropriate TikTok environmentsâ€, where those under 13 would be pushed into a more passive role, able to watch videos, but not post or comment on the platform. Continue reading...
Radical map changes and fun pirate-themed skins give a fresh look to counter strong competition from Apex LegendsThe latest season of Fortnite is now live, introducing a major new volcano area, as well as a host of pirate-themed locations and features.Season 8 kicked off early on Thursday morning with the arrival of a gigantic volcano in the north east of the island, spewing lava along various large channels. This fiery liquid dishes out damage to players who step in it (and makes them bounce), providing a new environmental hazard. Continue reading...
Robin wants to find a way to create a site that doesn’t require coding experienceAs chair of our local allotment association, I’m wondering about setting up a website to provide information and news to new and existing allotmenteers. Can this be done with basic tech knowledge and zero experience of web design or coding? There’s a bewildering number of services offering to host websites, sell domain names, provide easy-to-use templates and so on at a range of prices. What are the catches with the free or cheap services on offer?We have a Facebook group but nobody in the association is very keen to keep this active. RobinIt’s a pity you don’t like the idea of using Facebook because this is generally the quickest and easiest way for a small group to get online. In fact, if an organisation has a physical manifestation – a school, park or church, allotments, a restaurant or so on – then it may already have a Facebook page. If so, you can apply to take it over. If that fails, you can start your own page and compete with it. Continue reading...
From the ‘one-size-fits-men’ approach to smartphone design to the medical trials that are putting women’s lives at risk … this book uses data like a laserThe problem with feminism is that it’s just too familiar. The attention of a jaded public and neophiliac media may have been aroused by #MeToo, with its connotations of youth, sex and celebrity, but for the most part it has drifted recently towards other forms of prejudice, such as transphobia. Unfortunately for women, though, the hoary old problems of discrimination, violence and unpaid labour are still very much with us. We mistake our fatigue about feminism for the exhaustion of patriarchy. A recent large survey revealed that more than two thirds of men in Britain believe that women now enjoy equal opportunities. When the writer and activist Caroline Criado Perez campaigned to have a female historical figure on the back of sterling banknotes, one man responded: “But women are everywhere now!â€It’s a smart strategy, therefore, to invite readers to view this timeworn topic through the revealing lens of data, bringing to light the hidden places where inequality still resides. Criado Perez has assembled a cornucopia of statistics – from how blind auditions have increased the proportion of female players hired by orchestras to nearly 50%, to the good reasons why women take up to 2.3 times as long as men to use the toilet. This is a man’s world, we learn, because those who built it didn’t take gender differences into account. Most offices, we learn, are five degrees too cold for women, because the formula to determine their temperature was developed in the 1960s based on the metabolic resting rate of a 40-year-old, 70kg man; women’s metabolisms are slower. Women in Britain are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed following a heart attack: heart failure trials generally use male participants. Cars are designed around the body of “Reference Manâ€, so although men are more likely to crash, women involved in collisions are nearly 50% more likely to be seriously hurt. Continue reading...
Groups say no evidence yet of self-harm from craze, but resulting hysteria poses a riskIt is the most talked about viral scare story of the year so far, blamed for child suicides and violent attacks – but experts and charities have warned that the “Momo challenge†is nothing but a “moral panic†spread by adults.Warnings about the supposed Momo challenge suggest that children are being encouraged to kill themselves or commit violent acts after receiving messages on messaging service WhatsApp from users with a profile picture of a distorted image of woman with bulging eyes. Continue reading...
Commissioners demand hard numbers from firm ahead of European parliament electionsFacebook has repeatedly withheld key data on its alleged efforts to clamp down on disinformation ahead of the European elections, the EU’s executive has said.Related: Anti-vaxx propaganda has gone viral on Facebook. Pinterest has a cure Continue reading...
Mentions of game including hidden message comparing Xi Jinping to Winnie-the-Pooh also scrubbed from social media site WeiboTaiwanese horror game Devotion has been removed from sale globally, following a backlash after a hidden message referencing Chinese president Xi Jinping and Winnie-the-Pooh was discovered in-game.Devotion, by the Taiwanese indie developer Red Candle Games, was released on 19 February and was initially popular among horror enthusiasts. However, the discovery of a number of hidden jokes – allegedly critical of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – has ignited a firestorm of online criticism. Continue reading...
‘China’s Apple’ finally lands in the UK with cut-price top-spec phone with a slide-out selfie cameraAfter several years of threatening Xiaomi has finally entered the UK with a series of good-value smartphones starting from £99 including the range-topping Mi Mix 3. But has “China’s Apple†delivered something new, or just another forgettable Chinese smartphone?At first glance the £499 Mi Mix 3 looks fairly boring. The front has a giant display, just like the rest. The back appears shiny glass, just like the rest. It’s got polished metal sides, just like most. But pick up the phone and you realise it’s hiding more than one secret. Continue reading...
Our hard drives are full of all kinds of clutter, but you can’t hold those files in your hands to see if they spark joyLeaving a long-term relationship, you find yourself standing on the precipice of a life yet unlived; all of a sudden the accumulated trinkets and tchotchkes of​ your life together exist only to mock you in your unspoken grief. There’s no better time to get into getting rid of stuff.After she emptied our house of all ​that she wanted, I emptied it a second time, of everything that we had grown to want together. I embraced the spartan wisdom of Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – the self-help manual de rigueur for people who want to want less. Like a barren arctic island basking in my daily hour of sunlight, I proudly embraced an aesthetic of Scandinavian noir-chic, telling anyone within earshot that the drab palette and multiple timber-veneer Arkelstorp side tables were the trappings of a new and more mature me, a me that was as comfortable owning six oversized beige floor lamps and playing at underwear origami as I was being alone. Continue reading...
SEC asks judge to act after car boss allegedly breached deal to pre-approve his messagesThe US financial regulator has asked a judge to hold Tesla’s billionaire boss, Elon Musk, in contempt of court for tweeting misleading information in breach of a deal that saw him fined $20m (£15.2m) for inaccurate tweets last year.The Securities and Exchange Commission said Musk had “once again published inaccurate and material information about Tesla to his over 24 million Twitter followersâ€, according to court papers filed on Monday night. Continue reading...
Device has eight-inch flexible screen that folds all the way round the outside of the phoneThe Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has followed Samsung’s lead by unveiling a super-luxury 5G phone with a folding screen called the Mate X with a price tag of €2,299 (£1,995).Introduced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Sunday, the Mate X has a flexible OLED display that covers both the front and back of the device, and which unfolds outwards to become an eight-inch (20cm) tablet screen. Continue reading...
Sensitive data sent to social media giant from ‘at least 11’ platformsFacebook is battling fresh controversy on both sides of the Atlantic amid claims that it has been receiving highly personal data from third-party apps.The swirl of bad news around the company comes after its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was criticised for meeting the culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, having refused to appear before an influential parliamentary committee in Westminster. Continue reading...
Fortnite, PUBG, Call of Duty … look closely and these games’ virtual battlefields have much in common. The people who created them explain whyA group of people drop on to a large island. For the next 20 minutes they must search buildings for useful weapons and equipment, before fighting to the death. As the match progresses, the playable area contracts, forcing the competitors closer together. The last person standing wins.This is of course battle royale, a new type of online shooting game currently being enjoyed by over 200 million people across the globe. The current craze started with Day Z: Battle Royale, a modification of the zombie survival game DayZ developed by lone designer Brendan Greene, later updated as PlayerUnknown’s Battle Royale. Its popularity caught the attention of Korean developer Bluehole, who employed Greene to oversee development of a full game. PUBG was launched as a beta in early 2017 and by December, it had 30 million players. Continue reading...
Funded by elites, researchers believe they’re closer than ever to tweaking the human body so we can live forever (or quite a bit longer)China’s first emperor ordered his subjects to search for the elixir of life in a quest for immortality. In 16th century France, nobles would drink gold in a bid to extend their lifespans. Gilgamesh, the Sumerian king at the heart of humanity’s earliest epic poem, found a magic herb, but a snake ate it. In 2015, a woman on the MTV series True Life: I’m Obsessed With Staying Young bathed in pig blood.In 2019, the quest for everlasting life is, largely, though not always, more scientific. Funded by Silicon Valley elites, researchers believe they are closer than ever to tweaking the human body so that we can finally live forever (or quite a bit longer), even as some worry about pseudoscience in the sector. Continue reading...
Order follows report that Facebook may access highly personal information including weight, blood pressure and ovulation statusNew York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has ordered two state agencies to investigate a media report that Facebook may be accessing far more personal information than previously known from smartphone users, including health and other sensitive data.The directive to New York’s department of state and department of financial services (DFS) came after the Wall Street Journal said testing showed that Facebook collected personal information from other apps on users’ smartphones within seconds of them entering it. Continue reading...
Communications between senior figures, including Mark Zuckerberg, shed new light on data useDocuments posted online Friday appear to be confidential internal Facebook communications that reveal new details of the company’s treatment of user data.About 60 pages of un-redacted exhibits from a lawsuit between Facebook and Six4Three, an app developer, were posted anonymously on GitHub on Friday. They include emails between various Facebook executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and a “highly confidential†2012 memo detailing various policy matters. Continue reading...
Workers say augmented reality headsets provided to US army risk ‘turning warfare into a simulated video game’Microsoft workers are calling on their employer to cancel a $480m contract to provide the US army with augmented reality (AR) headsets, saying they “do not want to become war profiteersâ€.“We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used,†reads a petition being circulated inside the company, a copy of which was published on Twitter on Friday afternoon. More than 50 employees had signed the letter as of Friday afternoon, according to an employee. Continue reading...
Epic Games will host the year’s biggest video gaming event when the battle royale phenomenon’s top players go head to headThe details of the first Fortnite World Cup have been announced by developer Epic Games.After 10 online qualifiers, the finals will be held in New York from 26-28 July, where the top 100 solo players and the top 50 two-person teams from around the world will compete for a prize pool of more than $30m (£23m). The top solo player at the end of a weekend of battle will earn $3m. Continue reading...
Authors say outdated laws fail to protect vulnerable users from smartphone gamblingSmartphone gambling apps are more dangerous than fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) for people with addiction problems because opportunities to lose money are “just a tap awayâ€, a study suggests.Gambling games on smartphones have surged in popularity in recent years, allowing high-stakes betting within the palm of its users’ hands, with video game-style play making them appear “harmless†and introductory offers providing incentives to sign up. Continue reading...
As pressure mounts on Facebook to explain its role in promoting anti-vaccine misinformation, Pinterest tries different approachOn Wednesday morning, Adam Schiff, the powerful chair of the House intelligence committee, joined journalists around the world in a nascent Twitter meme: he searched “vaccine†on Facebook and posted a screenshot of the results.Schiff’s search results were indeed alarming: autofill suggestions for phrases such as “vaccination re-education discussion forumâ€, a group called “Parents Against Vaccinationâ€, and the page for the National Vaccine Information Center, an official-sounding organization that promotes anti-vaccine propaganda. And while search results on Facebook are personalized to each user, a recent Guardian report found similarly biased results for a brand new account. Continue reading...
Head of sales and marketing Doug Bowser to become COO after popular leader retiresNintendo of America’s president and COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, who has led the company for the past 13 years and become a well-known and liked figure among Nintendo’s fans in the US, is to retire in April, the company has announced. He will be replaced by Doug Bowser, who is currently senior vice-president of sales and marketing.Unlike most video game company executives, who remain at a distance from the actual business of game creation and marketing, Fils-Aime has regularly appeared at events and in Nintendo’s own broadcasts to talk directly to fans. His endearing personality, willingness to engage in goofy stunts and odd turns of phrase have made him a cult figure with Nintendo’s fans: at 2004’s E3 video game conference, he introduced himself on stage with the now-infamous words “My name is Reggie, I’m about kickin’ ass, I’m about takin’ names, and we’re about makin’ games.†Continue reading...
Folding tablet hybrid shows Asia, not US or Europe, is leading the way in innovationSamsung has placed its stake in the ground with its Galaxy Fold smartphone-tablet folding phone that is spectacular in every way, even in price, and pitches itself years ahead of its arch-rival, Apple.Nearly a decade in the making, everything about the Galaxy Fold shouts next generation. It has a standard 4.6in phone screen on the front, but open it up like a book and you reveal a single large 7.3in screen that literally folds in half. No lines, no wrinkles, no visible crinkles. It’s a level of luxury and innovation not seen before, and it comes with a truly eye-watering price tag of $2,000. But no one said breaking boundaries was cheap. Continue reading...
Publisher of the Haynes workshop manuals that fuelled a boom in DIY car repairsJohn Haynes, who has died aged 80, created a publishing empire out of the enormous success of the car workshop manuals that bore his name. In all, 200m have been sold since 1966, covering the maintenance and repair of more than 1,000 different models.His formula was simple: dismantle and rebuild a car, illustrate with clear black and white pictures and diagrams, then describe the process in detail, in a language that the lay person can understand. With the familiar yellow and red logo, impressive cut-away drawings, fault diagnosis and step-by-step approach to every possible task – be it changing a bulb or dismantling and rebuilding a complete engine – the Haynes manuals captured the DIY ethos of the 1960s, 70s and 80s: a more self-reliant time, when maintaining the family saloon was still a bastion of male pride and the vehicles most people drove were simple, logical and analogue. Continue reading...
The obsession with fasting overlaps with a trend for what is often termed ‘biohacking’ – the idea that your body is a system that can be quantified and optimized
Steve doesn’t watch TV and wants to stop paying the UK licence fee, but now it applies to smartphones, consoles and the BBC iPlayer app on all devicesI have a TV set for streaming videos from my NAS, but I have given up on the BBC, and I never watch ITV, Channel 4 and certainly not 5. What exactly do I need to do to stop paying a TV Licence fee? Is unplugging my aerial enough? SteveIn the old world of analogue broadcasting, this was an easy question. “Watching TV†just meant feeding a broadcast signal to a box containing a TV tuner and a cathode ray tube. If you did that in the UK then you needed a TV licence. In today’s digital world, however, you may need a TV licence if your only device is a smartphone. Continue reading...
Federal agencies investigating breach, reported to be a ransom demandHackers have “scrambled†patient files at a Melbourne heart specialist clinic in what was reportedly a ransom attempt.The Australian Cyber Security Centre has confirmed it’s providing advice and assistance to the Melbourne Heart Group, which leases practice space from the Cabrini hospital in Malvern. Continue reading...
by Sam Levin and Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco on (#49HZ4)
As site grapples with flood of fake news, former Snopes editor says CEO’s crowdsourcing comments show he has ‘learned nothing’Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he is considering crowdsourcing as a new model for Facebook’s third-party factchecking partnerships.In the first of a series of public conversations, Zuckerberg praised the efforts of factcheckers who partnered with Facebook following the 2016 presidential election as a bulwark against the flood of misinformation and fake news that was overtaking the site’s News Feed. Continue reading...
Smartphone-tablet hybrid has standard 4.6in phone on the outside and a 7.3in screen that unfolds on the insideSamsung has unveiled the final design and name for its cutting-edge Galaxy Fold phone that has a screen that folds in half and costs $1,980.The new device will be released on 26 April in the US and 3 May in Europe, after nearly a decade in the making. The Galaxy Fold literally folds in half like a book to use as a phone with a 4.6in screen on the outside, and unfolds to reveal a large 7.3in screen to use as a tablet on the inside. Continue reading...
The all-screen Galaxy S10 and S10+ are joined by the cheaper S10e, with the S10 5G launching later in the yearThe world’s biggest smartphone maker, Samsung, on Wednesday launches its new Galaxy S10 range, with triple-cameras, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors and becoming the first mainstream phone to have one-terabyte of storage – enough to hold 300,000 selfies.The Galaxy S10 unveiling is the South Korean firm’s most important this year, as it fights intense competition from China’s Huawei and arch-rival Apple. The S10 comes in three versions initially priced at £669 for the entry level S10e and £899 for the top-end S10+, which compares with the £899 Huawei is charging for its similar Mate 20 Pro, and £1,099 for the top-end Apple iPhone XS Max. Continue reading...
When Max Benwell found out someone was using his photos to approach women online, he decided to track down the trickster – setting up a fake Instagram account and changing his gender on Tinder along the way Continue reading...
Zhejiang issues draft regulation to combat soaring rates of nearsightednessA Chinese province plans to ban teachers from assigning homework to be completed on mobile phone apps as part of efforts to preserve students’ eyesight.Zhejiang, in the east of the country, issued a draft regulation last week and sought public comment. It is one of several provinces considering such measures. Continue reading...
Ren Zhengfei hits back at criminal indictments he calls politically motivatedThe US cannot crush Huawei, the company’s founder has insisted, as he hit back against criminal indictments levelled at the firm and allegations that it poses a security threat.Washington has warned allies off using Huawei products in recent weeks. But Ren Zhengfei, whose daughter Meng Wanzhou – a fellow senior Huawei executive – is among those charged by US prosecutors, told the BBC on Monday that the firm would survive the pressure. Continue reading...
Foreign ministry spokesman says speculation and sanctions will only ‘poison the atmosphere for cooperation’China has hit back at suggestions it was behind a sophisticated cyber attack on Australia’s political parties, warning “irresponsible†and “baseless†speculation will heighten tensions.The prime minister, Scott Morrison, revealed on Monday cyber experts believe a state actor was responsible for the attack, which also targeted the networks of federal parliament, but didn’t say which country. Continue reading...
A Commons report lays bare horrifying abuses. But the UK is no closer to regulating the far-too-powerful tech industryDeath threats, bullying, mental torture, privacy invasion, election rigging, fake news, monopoly abuse: as was said of a medieval pope, this is merely to suppress more serious charges. It is hard to recall the social media of 15 years ago and its offer of universal love, democracy and global peace. Britain’s parliament has finally caught up, and today’s Commons report is at least unequivocal. A menace stalks the land, and must be curbed.Some of the report’s accusations are astonishing. Facebook “purposefully obstructed†the committee. Its boss, Mark Zuckerberg, who “continues to choose profit over data security,†held parliament in contempt. His rambling empire is portrayed as lying, thieving “digital gangsterismâ€. Yet British electoral law is puny. It is “unfit for purpose,†leaving elections “vulnerable to foreign influence, disinformation and voter manipulationâ€. Not a week passes without evidence that cybersecurity is inadequate and public services have been left vulnerable to hacking. Continue reading...
Damian Collins warns of ‘deepfake films’ showing doctored footage of politiciansOnline disinformation is only going to get more sophisticated, the chair of the committee investigating disinformation and fake news, Damian Collins, has warned.Related: Facebook labelled 'digital gangsters' by report on fake news Continue reading...
by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and produced by D on (#49BHF)
As Facebook turns 15, Jordan Erica Webber explores how the social media giant has transformed over the yearsThe Guardian’s UK technology editor, Alex Hern, joins Jordan Erica Webber to provide a history lesson on Facebook through the lens of one of its first investors. They speak to Roger McNamee, who suggests the social network and its creator have lost their way from the original dream.Webber then meets Victoria Nash, the deputy director of the Oxford Internet Institute, to examine the safety of the apps frequently used by the generation of teenagers who have grown up alongside Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Continue reading...
Broadcasters tell ACCC that Facebook and Google algorithms should be regulated and they should pay fair rate of ad revenueFacebook should be compelled to identify trusted sources of Australian news and be more transparent about what it chooses to appear in its news feed, TV broadcasters have told the competition watchdog’s inquiry into digital platforms.The free-to-air TV industry has also asked for tax breaks for Australian news producers – a “news production tax offset†– and a new regime to ensure Facebook and Google are accountable for paying local content producers a fair rate of advertising revenue. Continue reading...
Scott Morrison says Liberals, Labor and Nationals affected by ‘malicious’ cyber activityAustralia’s major political parties have been targeted by a “sophisticated state actorâ€, according to Scott Morrison, as part of a breach of the Parliament House computer network.The head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Alastair MacGibbon, says agencies were unsure what material had been taken in the incident because the rapid remediation efforts had removed some of the forensic evidence. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian