Streaming service reports first quarterly profits as it reveals plans to broaden beyond musicSpotify has bought two podcast firms and plans to spend up to $500m (£385m) on further acquisitions in an attempt to move beyond its music streaming roots for new growth.The Swedish company has acquired Gimlet, the firm behind a string of popular podcasts including Homecoming, which was adapted into an Amazon TV series starring Julia Roberts. Continue reading...
App launches paper on ‘stopping abuse’ in India, home to more than 200m of its usersWhatsApp says it is deleting 2m accounts per month as part of an effort to blunt the use of the world’s most popular messaging app to spread fake news and misinformation.The Facebook-owned service published the data as part of a white paper on “stopping abuse†that was launched on Wednesday in India, the biggest market for the company with more than 200m users. Continue reading...
Version of feature that Mark Zuckerberg was caught using is now available to allFacebook is launching an “unsend†feature in Messenger more than 10 months after it promised to do so after it was discovered surreptitiously removing messages sent by Mark Zuckerberg from their recipients’ inboxes.The company stopped using the secret feature, which it said it had built “to protect our executives’ communicationsâ€, when it was discovered in April 2018, and promised not to delete messages again until it could make “a broader delete message feature availableâ€. Continue reading...
Tokimeki Unfollow is a browser plug-in that claims to clean away all those people whose tweets you don’t like. And then it tells them you’ve unfollowed them …Age: Brand new.Appearance: Marie Kondo, but for Twitter. Continue reading...
Ex-Burberry boss steps down after five years leading firm’s shops and online divisionAngela Ahrendts, the head of Apple’s retail division, will leave the company in April, five years after joining from Burberry.Apple has given no reason for her departure. The company has had a tumultuous year, becoming the first in the world to secure a trillion-dollar valuation in August before plunging in the markets at the beginning of 2019 when it revealed that iPhone sales were significantly lower than it had initially forecast. Continue reading...
Worries are growing about the destructive effects of algorithms on the youngSocial networks are facing a new legislative crackdown as worries about child safety online mount.While all sides agree that protecting children online is of paramount importance, the calls have led to a tense conflict between larger social networks, who argue that they cannot be held to an expectation of perfection, and the government, which is increasingly threatening to redefine the roles of internet companies if they won’t act voluntarily. Continue reading...
European commission says Enox Safe-Kid-One can easily be hacked and poses risk to childrenA children’s wristwatch that allows the wearer to be easily contacted and located has been recalled by Brussels over safety fears.The European commission said the Enox Safe-Kid-One, which comes fitted with a global positioning system (GPS), a microphone and speaker, posed a serious risk to children. Continue reading...
US tech firm has not disclosed sum but French magazine says figure is close to €500mApple has agreed to pay 10 years of back taxes to France, marking the latest victory for European governments pushing tech multinationals to pay their fair share in local markets.The iPhone and iPad maker reportedly shelled out close to €500m (£440m) after reaching a confidential settlement with French authorities in December, according to the French news magazine L’Express. Continue reading...
Twitter’s Jack Dorsey is thinking about creating a revise button to fix typos – but in the face of screen grabs, this feels futile“What’s the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create?†asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2016. The top answer? An edit button. Kim Kardashian West (59.5 million followers), in particular, is obsessed with the idea of one and has reportedly petitioned Dorsey via email and face-to-face. Donald Trump would probably also appreciate the function, given his propensity to tweet things such as “covfefeâ€.Now, Dorsey has spoken (in an interview with the US podcast host Joe Rogan) about how an edit button might work. If Twitter were to implement the feature, Dorsey says the platform would most likely allow a “5- to 30-second delay†for a tweet to send in order for the edit to be made, so as not to lose the “real-time nature†of tweeting. Continue reading...
A new battle royale game from the creators of mech shooter Titanfall offers squad-based play in a ruined sci-fi world – but is it enough to take on Fortnite?It was only a matter of time before another world-class game developer entered the lucrative battle royale genre. The new type of multiplayer online shooting game, which drops up to 100 competitors on to an island and requires them to fight until only one remains, is dominated by PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and the cultural phenomenon that is Fortnite, currently earning $300m a month. Last October, Activision joined the fray with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode, and now Beverly Hills-based Respawn Entertainment, creator of the respected sci-fi blaster series Titanfall, has thrown its explosive hat into the ring.Simultaneously announced and launched on Monday, Apex: Legends is located in the Titanfall universe, taking place 30 years after the events of Titanfall 2. Set in a remote area of the galaxy named the Outlands, the game is essentially a cross between Fortnite and Blizzard’s popular hero-based shooter, Overwatch. Players are left in a ruined planetscape, in squads of three (you can’t play solo or in a duo), and must gather weapons and items while fighting 19 other teams to the death. Before the action starts, each player must choose one of eight characters, all of which have their own special skills and offensive abilities. Gibraltar, for example, is the brute strength option, capable of calling in an air strike to take out an entire side, while Wraith is able to create a wormhole from one point of the map to another, allowing her team to either escape a tricky shootout or warp straight into one. Continue reading...
QuadrigaCX, Canada’s largest exchange, was unable to access password or recovery key after Gerald Cotten died last DecemberAbout $190m in cryptocurrency has been locked away in a online black hole after the founder of a currency exchange died, apparently taking his encrypted access to their money with him.Related: Bitcoin: after 10 wild years, what next for cryptocurrencies? Continue reading...
Facebook-owned app promises changes to better shield users from self-harm imagesInstagram will introduce “sensitivity screens†to hide images of self-harm in an attempt to protect young people who use the site, the app’s head has announced.Adam Mosseri, who took over Instagram after the app’s founders departed suddenly in 2018, has promised a series of changes following the death of the British teenager Molly Russell, whose parents believe she took her own life after being exposed to graphic images of self-harm and suicide on Instagram and Pinterest. Continue reading...
Data-collecting devices can never be trusted, as the FaceTime bug has shown. From phones to doorbells, it’s the start of a civil-liberties nightmareIt has been a terrible week for Apple. Not only did the tech company report its first decline in revenues and profits in more than a decade, but it was embroiled in an embarrassing privacy scandal. A much-discussed bug in its FaceTime app meant that, in certain circumstances, you could turn someone’s iPhone into an all-seeing, all-hearing spying device. The glitch was a blow to Apple’s reputation for security, and a reminder that our smartphones are essentially surveillance tools. Even if your apps aren’t riddled with bugs or malware, your phone is probably transmitting more of your private information than you realise.It’s not just your phone you should be wary of. We live in an age of surveillance; data-collecting devices are everywhere. Internet-connected video doorbells, for example, which alert your phone when someone is at the door, and send a live video feed of the visitor, have been rocketing in popularity. Ring, one of the best-known connected-doorbell companies, was bought by Amazon last year; the e-commerce company has filed a patent that would combine doorbell cameras with facial recognition technology, alerting homeowners and police to “suspicious†visitors. Considering the biases found in facial recognition, this sounds like it has the potential to be a racial profiling, and civil-liberties, nightmare. Continue reading...
The picture-sharing site and its ilk are full of celebs peddling products and not being open about what they get in return. Will regulation help?The sun-drenched beaches of Exuma gleamed as brightly as the skin of the world-famous supermodels stretched out on yachts or dancing around flickering fires in the promotional video for Fyre, the glamorous music festival turned shambles turned scam that became the subject of the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.The likes of Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, all of whom have significant followings on Instagram and other social networks, were co-opted by the festival organiser Billy McFarland – now serving six years in prison for fraud – into posting plain orange squares to Instagram in a campaign to build anticipation for the festival, which it was promised would be held in the Bahamas in 2017. Continue reading...
While the UK woos China’s telecoms giant, fears grow over the risks it poses to national securityIf, according to an ancient Chinese proverb, “a crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous windâ€, then Huawei is barrelling in on a storm force 12. Where the hurricane takes it, though, may be out of the telecoms giant’s control.A slew of bombshell allegations have raised troubling questions about the telecoms company’s probity and revived long-held concerns about its relationship with China’s intelligence services. The UK, in need of friends as Brexit looms, is struggling to negotiate the fallout. To ignore the mounting brouhaha risks alienating its closest ally, the United States, currently locked in a bitter trade war with China which has become synonymous with Huawei. But the UK needs Chinese technology to keep pace with the 21st century. Continue reading...
Rise with the lark and you can expect a happier, more productive life, researchers suggest. And if you’re a woman you seem less likely to suffer from breast cancerA large-scale genetics study recently conducted by Exeter University revealed that people who are “early birds†have greater levels of happiness and are at a lower risk of depression compared to those who are “night owlsâ€. The authors speculated that this was because the “night owl†body clock conflicts with work patterns and school timetables, and this could have negative outcomes. Continue reading...
He started posting YouTube videos when he was 15. Ten years and 11 million subscribers later, the vlogging superstar and his girlfriend Zoella are looking to diversifyWho is Alfie Deyes? “That’s a tricky one,†he – Deyes – says. Not because he doesn’t know who he is, but because I’ve told him I’m asking on behalf of my mum, who’s never heard of him: how would he explain his job to her? “I think I’ll just say: ‘I’m a 25-year-old content creator who loves making things happen, whether that’s things that people expect, or things people don’t expect.’â€I say I’m asking for my mum, but if I’m honest I wasn’t 100% sure who he was myself; and if you’re over 35, chances are you don’t know, either. It’s not hard to get up to speed with his work, though, and by the time we meet I feel I know Deyes pretty well. I’ve shared some of the lovely life he has with his lovely girlfriend Zoe, also a content creator. I’ve met some of their lovely friends, their dog Nala, a black pug (no lovely for you, Nala, I’m afraid), and the lovely orange Aga in the kitchen of their lovely home. I know that Alfie won’t be working out until the summer this year, just doing a bit of bouldering at the local climbing centre. I know he used to have a special place under the mattress where he stuffed his bogeys, and that he wees sitting down. Continue reading...
News site says it wants to ensure its efforts are a ‘net positive’ for community, as some journalists doubt program’s effectivenessFacebook’s controversial factchecking program has lost one of its major US partners. The news website Snopes.com announced on Friday it was cutting ties with the social network.The departure of Snopes, which has collaborated with Facebook for two years to debunk misinformation on the platform, doesn’t come as a surprise. Numerous journalists working for Facebook’s factchecking initiative have said the partnership was failing to have an impact. Continue reading...
Tech giant said it will build facility after speaking with president – but no mention of job creationTaiwanese tech giant Foxconn Technology said Friday it would build a heavily subsidized $10bn factory in Wisconsin days after the company appeared to be backing away from those plans.Related: 'It's a huge subsidy': the $4.8bn gamble to lure Foxconn to America Continue reading...
New study from Stanford and NYU finds logging off causes ‘small but significant improvements in wellbeing’Despite all the scandals of the past year, here we are, still on Facebook, a couple of billion of us spending about an hour a day in its iron grip. Now a new study suggests it’s making us feel bad.That’s in part because we may be addicted. Want to feel better? Delete Facebook. As some experts have said, the system of rewards set up by Facebook and other social media platforms is akin to gambling or substance abuse cravings. Sean Parker, an early Facebook executive, explained that the thought process behind driving user engagement is akin to delivering “a little dopamine hitâ€. Continue reading...
Social network’s demise has confused many Google users. We answer the key questionsGoogle is finally closing the social network it set up in an ill-fated attempt to take on Facebook, the company has confirmed. Google+ will be shut down for good on 2 April, with all profiles and pages to be deleted on that day.Related: Google to shut down Google+ after failing to disclose user data leak Continue reading...
by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and produced by D on (#487Z9)
We look at what to expect when 5G is rolled out in 2020 and how it could both help and hinder our livesLast month in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show showcased some of what we can expect from the tech world in 2019. This year’s CES was memorable for several reasons, from an intelligent toilet to banned sex toys. But one term kept popping up throughout the four days of the exhibition: 5G.Most of us will have to wait until 2020 to see what 5G can do, but after 10 years in a 4G world, we’re still not totally prepared for the potential consequences of this next generation of wireless communication. Continue reading...
A big screen with a hole-punch notch, a cracking 48MP camera, great performance and batteryThe Honor View 20 made by Huawei, the Chinese manufacturer at the centre of a political storm, offers a top-notch experience including a great camera for £500 – less than half the price of an iPhone XS.The company is at the centre of allegations of violating sanctions and theft of trade secrets, but it’s undeniable that it has produced some excellent phones at affordable prices over the last year. The View 20 is Honor’s attempt to show that is has the beans to step out from the shadow of just being Huawei’s cheaper sub-brand with a top-flight phone of its own. Continue reading...
South-east Asia has three countries in the top five, while Japan comes in lastSouth-east Asia is one of the most internet-addicted regions on the planet, with the Philippines topping the global list with an average 10 hours and 2 minutes of screen time every day.The country was joined in the top five by Thailand and Indonesia, according to findings in a new report on online habits released by HootSuite and We Are Social. Continue reading...
Company had profit of $3.03bn, up from $1.86bn the previous year, as Bezos says Alexa devices helped performanceAmazon, the world’s largest company by market capitalisation, reported improved earnings and profits late on Thursday.Related: From books to bullets: inside Amazon's push to 'defend' America Continue reading...
Move comes after Facebook exploited loophole to harvest data about apps installed on people’s iPhonesApple has left Facebook’s campus in disarray after the company revoked the social network’s permission to build or run employee-only applications, according to reports. Employees were reportedly left unable to read cafeteria menus, call for inter-office transport or use versions of the social network’s own apps.The move came on Wednesday, the day after it was revealed that Facebook had allegedly exploited a loophole in Apple’s approval system to bypass rules that banned the harvesting of data about what apps are installed on a user’s phone. Facebook Research, an app the company paid users as young as 13 to install that routed their iPhone traffic through the company’s own servers, had been built using an enterprise developer certificate (EDC) issued by Apple to companies that need to build applications for internal use. Continue reading...
Tay’s mobile was taken and his password changed. How can he get back into his inbox?Somebody stole my phone and changed my email password. I’ve tried to recover it, but I don’t have the phone number linked to my account because my phone was stolen. What should I do? TayFirst, recover your phone number, which is much more important than the phone. Continue reading...
This horror thriller shocked the games industry with its tense world of terror – and its monstrous vision is as fearsome as everA father and daughter are driving through a remote area of America when a ghostly figure steps into the road, forcing the car to swerve wildly. As the man regains consciousness, he realises the car is a wreck and his daughter is missing. Shocked and confused, he staggers into the nearby town of Silent Hill, where his nightmare truly begins.Loaded with dread, this scene could be the opening of a nasty horror movie. In fact, it’s the setup to the classic video game Silent Hill, launched on this day 20 years ago by the Japanese gaming company Konami. Alongside Capcom’s Resident Evil, the title helped popularise the survival horror genre of action thrillers, which are characterised by tense exploration, expressionistic camera angles, fiendish environmental puzzles and limited access to weaponry, making every encounter with a monster a mortal challenge. Continue reading...
In 2004, the social network site was set up to connect people. But now, with lives increasingly played out online, have we forgotten how to be alone?‘Thefacebook is an online directory that connects people through social networks at colleges. We have opened up Thefacebook for popular consumption at Harvard University. You can use Thefacebook to: search for people at your school; find out who are [sic] in your classes; look up your friends’ friends; see a visualization of your social network.â€On 4 February 2004, this rather clunky announcement launched an invention conceived in the dorm room of a Harvard student called Mark Zuckerberg, and intended to be an improvement on the so-called face books that US universities traditionally used to collect photos and basic information about their students. From the vantage point of 2019, Thefacebook – as it was then known – looks familiar, but also strange. Pages were coloured that now familiar shade of blue, and “friends†were obviously a central element of what was displayed. However, there was little on show from the wider world: the only photos were people’s profile pictures, and there was no ever-changing news feed. Continue reading...
Fourth-quarter results beat expectations for earnings and revenue as profit hits $6.88bn, up from $4.27bn a year beforeFacebook closed the book on its scandal-plagued year on Wednesday, with strong fourth-quarter financial results that beat analyst expectations for earnings and revenue.The results highlighted how divorced Facebook’s business success is from its public reputation, which suffered another blow on Wednesday when Apple punished the app maker for violating its rules with a program that paid users as young as 13 to install an app that surveilled them. Continue reading...
Program that enrolled users as young as 13 prompts Apple to ban Facebook from publishing some appsFacebook paid users as young as 13 to install an app that gave the company access to everything their phone sent or received over the internet. In response, Apple has revoked Facebook’s ability to publish certain apps, in a move that could have far-reaching implications for both companies.Facebook has been accused of exploiting a loophole in Apple’s privacy regulations to publish the iPhone app, which provided it with data it used to keep ahead of youth trends. Continue reading...
Electric car firm slashed 7% of workforce this month and ex-employees say more experienced staff were targetedAlan Ochoa worked at Tesla’s Fremont plant in California for four years. He was laid off recently along with his entire department in quality control, many of whom were also long-time employees. “I have no idea how they expect to run without us,†said Ochoa.The electric car company releases its latest financial results on Wednesday and analysts are not expecting good news. On 18 January, founder Elon Musk sent out a mass email to employees announcing 7% of the company’s workforce were being laid off, in addition to cuts to temporary and contracted employees, and warning of a “very difficult†road ahead. Continue reading...
Extradition case in Canada drags on as Donald Trump prepares to meet Beijing’s top trade envoy in WashingtonThe chief financial officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, has made her first appearance in a Canadian court in more than a month, part of a high-stakes dispute that threatens to cast a pall over this week’s US-China trade talks.Meng, the daughter of the Chinese telecoms company’s founder, attended the hearing in British Columbia supreme court on Tuesday, just two days before Donald Trump and Chinese vice premier Liu He are scheduled to meet in Washington. Continue reading...
Company blames iPhone sales and a downturn in China for reduced revenue, a day after it scrambled to fix FaceTime glitchApple reported its first decline in revenues and profits in over a decade on Tuesday.Weak iPhone sales and a downturn in China reduced the tech company’s revenue by 4.5% to $84.3bn in the three months ending 29 December compared with the same period last year. Profits fell slightly to $19.97bn. Continue reading...
Indictments packed with emails and transactions allegedly showing how technology giant carried out criminal conspiraciesThe twin criminal indictments against Huawei unveiled by US authorities on Monday are packed with emails and financial transactions allegedly showing how the Chinese technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies.But the finer points of the 23 charges are less important than the overall shot they deliver across China’s bows. The US considers Huawei to be an arm of the Chinese state – and their devices to be potential spying equipment for Beijing. Continue reading...
In the wake of Apple’s FaceTime privacy bug, we should learn from the superstar who predicted such breachesIt’s hard to convince people to take data safety seriously. Installing updates, changing passwords, refusing permissions: it can be exhausting, and it’s hard to stay motivated when the work seems endless. That’s why Taylor Swift is the information security icon the world needs.The superstar has long spoken out about her desire to stay secure. More than a typical celebrity’s fondness for the sort of privacy that involves massive propertes to defeat the long paparazzi lenses, Swift has frequently shown a keen understanding of why – and how – digital security is important to her. In a Rolling Stone interview in 2014, she revealed that she kept the only full version of her forthcoming album, 1989, on her iPhone – and would only play it on headphones, for fear of wiretaps. “Don’t even get me started on wiretaps. It’s not a good thing for me to talk about socially. I freak out … I have to stop myself from thinking about how many aspects of technology I don’t understand.†The article continues: “‘Like speakers,’ she says. ‘Speakers put sound out … so can’t they take sound in? Or’ – she holds up her cellphone – ‘they can turn this on, right? I’m just saying. We don’t even know.’†Continue reading...
EU commissioner warns internet firms in clampdown ahead of European electionsFacebook and its new head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, stand accused by Brussels of taking a “patchy, opaque, and self-selecting†approach to tackling disinformation.The description was said to apply to a number of internet companies by the EU commissioner, Sir Julian King, at the publication of a progress report on the attempt to clamp down on fake news before May’s European elections. Continue reading...
by Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco and Alex Hern on (#47ZGS)
Firm disables Group FaceTime over serious glitch which can also turn on video without people’s knowledgeApple has made the group functionality on its FaceTime application temporarily unavailable as it rushes to fix a glitch that allowed users to listen in on the people they were calling when they did not pick up the call. Under certain circumstances, the glitch also allowed callers to see video of the person they were calling before they picked up.The Guardian confirmed the existence of the bug, which was first reported by 9to5Mac. It turned the phone of the recipient of a FaceTime call into a microphone while the call was still ringing. If the recipient of the call pressed the power button on the side of the iPhone – an action typically used to silence or ignore an incoming call – their phone would begin broadcasting video to the initial caller. Continue reading...
Telecom says it won’t invest further in network that can’t be upgraded to 5GTPG Telecom’s $2bn plan to build Australia’s newest mobile network looks to be in tatters because of the federal government’s ban on using equipment from China’s Huawei.TPG, which in 2017 paid $1.26bn for mobile spectrum and has already spent $100m of the $600m construction cost, said on Tuesday it had opted to use Huawei equipment before the government banned its inclusion in 5G networks on security concerns. Continue reading...
Irish commission that regulates site requests urgent briefing on platforms mergerFacebook’s plan to merge WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger could raise significant data protection concerns, according to the Irish commission that regulates the social network in the EU.The Data Protection Commission has asked for an urgent briefing with Facebook Ireland so it can assess the proposals, it said in a statement. “The Irish DPC will be very closely scrutinising Facebook’s plans as they develop, particularly insofar as they involve the sharing and merging of personal data between different Facebook companies. Continue reading...
Dublin operations centre to target political misinformation ahead of EU elections in MayFacebook will tackle political misinformation in the run-up to the EU elections this May with a new “war room†based in Dublin, the company’s incoming communications chief, Nick Clegg, has announced.In his first speech as Facebook’s top public face, Clegg said the company would be setting up an “operations centre focused on elections integrity, based in Dublin, this springâ€. The centre will build on the company’s previous experience running an “elections war room†in its US office, where it coordinated efforts to police the platform during the US midterm and Brazilian presidential elections. Continue reading...
In 2013, Steam players were first offered the option to pay for unfinished games. We uncover the fate of that first wave of titles – some of which were never released
Social media network says the change was part of crackdown on third party plug-insFacebook has restricted the ability of external political transparency campaigners to monitor adverts placed on the social network, in a move described as an “appalling look†by one of the organisations affected.WhoTargetsMe, a British group dedicated to scrutinising adverts on the social network, has said its activities have been severely restricted by recent changes made by the social network. The change has also hit a similar programme by the US investigative journalism site ProPublica, affecting both groups’ ability to collect data on why users are being targeted by political campaigners. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian