Technology | The Guardian

Scientist behind study urges platform to tweak algorithms to ‘prioritise factual information’The majority of YouTube videos about the climate crisis oppose the scientific consensus and “hijack” technical terms to make them appear credible, a new study has found. Researchers have warned that users searching the video site to learn about climate science may be exposed to content that goes against mainstream scientific belief.Dr Joachim Allgaier of RWTH Aachen University in Germany analysed 200 YouTube videos to see if they adhered to or challenged the scientific consensus. To do so, he chose 10 search terms: Continue reading...

Penalty by US government reflects scale of breach, first reported by the ObserverFacebook will pay a record $5bn (£4bn) penalty in the US for “deceiving” users about their ability to keep personal information private, after a year-long investigation into the Cambridge Analytica data breach.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US consumer regulator, also announced a lawsuit against Cambridge Analytica and proposed settlements with the data analysis firm’s former chief executive Alexander Nix and its app developer Aleksandr Kogan. Continue reading...

Action may finally be taken over claims Facebook, Google Apple and Amazon have monopolised chosen fieldsThe US Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced a wide-ranging antitrust review of “market-leading online platforms”, suggesting that long-awaited action may finally be taken against some of the world’s largest companies.But the confirmation of the investigation is sparse on detail, revealing only that the review “will consider the widespread concerns that consumers, businesses and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online”. Continue reading...

Forces had warned that Russian ageing app was not bound by EU privacy legislationPolice forces in the Netherlands have backtracked on calls for users to delete the popular age-filtering FaceApp, over which some critics have voiced privacy fears.In a series of posts on Facebook, it was erroneously claimed by forces across the country that the Russian app, which predicts how people will look as they get older, was not safe as it would not be bound by European privacy legislation. Continue reading...

An unexpected revamp of Microsoft’s classic flying simulator could usher in a new era of cloud function for gamesFlight Simulator was once one of the jewels in Microsoft’s crown, as close to synonymous with PC gaming as it’s possible to get. The series debuted a staggering 37 years ago, pre-dating even Windows as an operating system, and demanded exacting attention from players as they guided increasingly detailed planes safely through the skies. Over the course of a dozen iterations spanning nearly four decades, the flying experience evolved from blocky cockpit views to full aerial tours with a hangar’s worth of realistically modelled aircraft to get to grips with. It’s been running so long that even Microsoft does not know its sales figures, but Flight Simulator has certainly been played by millions.Yet as PC gaming blossomed, becoming home to everything from competitive shooters to arthouse narrative games, Flight Simulator’s star began to wane. The last major release was 2006’s Microsoft Flight Simulator X (eventually revamped and repackaged for Steam in 2014), while 2012’s simplified spin-off, Microsoft Flight, had an aborted take off, cancelled a mere five months after launch. The golden age of flight (simulators) has long been over. Continue reading...

Camera shutter, tap gesture, better speakers and 5.5in screen make for an appealing smart alarm clockAmazon’s latest Echo Show 5 Alexa smart display is smaller, cheaper and has improved privacy, but is a £79.99 5.5in screen with a camera ready to replace your alarm clock in the bedroom?The Show 5 isn’t the first Alexa smart display aimed at being your bedside clock. The Echo Spot, with its pleasingly round screen and ball-like shape, was released in 2018 and is still available for £120. Continue reading...

Shares climb as Snap Inc announces 48% increase in revenue to $388mSnapchat announced an exceptionally strong second quarter on Tuesday, sending shares surging in after hours trading.New augmented reality tools, a redesign of its Android application, and expansion into new markets brought the company major growth in the second quarter of 2019. The number of Snapchat users has increased 8% since this time last year to 203 million, the company said. Continue reading...

Video game music played by an orchestra is not new, but 8-Bit Symphony, a celebration of music from pioneering C64 composers, took many years of work

Records and ID documents accessed and fake invoices sent in ‘malicious’ hackStudent data has been stolen in a “sophisticated and malicious” cyber-attack on a university.Records and ID documents of some Lancaster University students were accessed in the phishing attack and fraudulent invoices were sent to undergraduate applicants, a spokesman for the university said. Continue reading...

Our updated list of the top iOS and Android mobile phones – at the best prices right nowNeed a new smartphone but don’t know which one is the very best? Here’s a guide comparing the current top-end smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus and others to help you pick the best handset for you.There has never been a better time to buy a new flagship smartphone with many quality handsets available at a wider range of prices than ever before. Whether your priority is two-day battery life, fantastic camera performance or a spectacular screen, there’s plenty to choose from. Continue reading...

Tech firm settles class-action lawsuit but denies it is unfair to older applicantsGoogle has settled a lawsuit alleging age discrimination in its hiring practices, paying $11m to more than 200 jobseekers who were over 40 when they applied to join the company.Although it has settled the case, Google denies the allegations that it was unfairly dismissive of older applicants. Continue reading...

Chinese firm was blacklisted by Donald Trump over national security concernsHuawei Technologies, the Chinese company put on a US blacklist because of national security concerns, secretly helped North Korea build and maintain its commercial wireless network, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing sources and internal documents.The Chinese telecommunications company partnered with a state-owned Chinese firm, Panda International Information Technology, on a number of projects in North Korea over at least eight years, the Post reported. Continue reading...

Jordan Erica Webber talks to Laura Hudson, who wrote about video game producers making games that present players with situations where a character might choose to have an abortion. She also chats to Mary Flanagan of Tiltfactor about the potential impact games can have on changing opinions Continue reading...

Eating plastic waste, cleaning up oil spills and detecting tumours… how these micro-organisms can help change the worldScientists have discovered a way of using bacteria to produce graphene – a nanomaterial composed of a single layer of carbon atoms with extraordinary properties. Graphene is strong, flexible and conductive with the potential to revolutionise electronics, but using it has remained difficult. “For real applications, you need large amounts,” says Prof Anne S Meyer, of the University of Rochester, New York. Her team have used a bacterium called Shewenella to produce large quantities of thinner, more stable graphene. Continue reading...

You don’t have to spend a fortune on headphones to get noise cancellation, decent bass and fine detail at high volumeWhile you can pay hundreds of pounds for a pair of audiophile or status headphones, if you’re mainly going to be wearing them in the gym, listening to a podcast or leaving them on the bus then you’re probably wasting your money. Moreover, the price of technologies like Bluetooth and noise cancellation is falling and you can pick up a pair featuring both of these useful features for mid-range prices. Here’s our review of some popular models… Continue reading...

A Dutch solar-electric prototype with a range of up to 450 miles could be a ray of hope in the darkLightyear One

PC, PlayStation 4; Monstars/Resonair/Enhance

4G mobile technology will launch on Jubilee line and will be extended to other linesLondon Underground passengers will be able to use their phones in tunnels between stations from early next year, removing one of the last major public places in Britain without phone reception and creating new challenges to commuter etiquette.Transport for London confirmed to the Guardian that 4G mobile phone technology would go live in tunnels on most of the Jubilee line from March 2020 and on other lines in the coming years. Continue reading...

Information Commissioner’s Office says people should check how apps use their dataThe Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is considering allegations that FaceApp, the face-ageing photo app that has gone viral, is misusing personal data.“We are aware of stories raising concerns about FaceApp and will be considering them,” a spokesperson for the information watchdog said on Thursday. “We would advise people signing up to any app to check what will happen to their personal information and not to provide any personal details until they are clear about how they will be used.” Continue reading...

Some of the earliest video games were influenced by the space race and created using the same computers as NasaOn 20 July 1969, before an estimated television audience of 650 million, a lunar module named Eagle touched down on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility. The tension of the landing and the images of astronauts in futuristic spacesuits striding over the moon’s barren surface, Earth reflected in their oversized visors, would prove wildly influential to artists, writers and film-makers.Also watching were the soon-to-be proponents of another technological field populated by brilliant young geeks: computer games. It is perhaps no coincidence that during the early 1960s, when Nasa was working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Instrumentation Lab to develop the guidance and control systems for Apollo spacecraft, elsewhere on campus a programmer named Steve Russell was working with a small team to create one of the first true video game experiences. Continue reading...

As artificial intelligence is increasingly introduced into business, an expert panel – hosted by the Guardian – forecast how it will change our working livesWorkplaces should use automation technologies to enhance employees’ jobs rather than to replace humans, according to speakers at an event held by the Guardian on 11 July. However, they saw problems in the introduction of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, the latter including software as well as physical machines. Continue reading...

Mihika Sharma’s smart stick, which helps blind people cross the road, is one of the winning entries in this year’s Tech4Good awardsNine months since the government unveiled its social prescribing strategy to tackle loneliness, progress is still patchy. One in 20 adults in England feel lonely often or always, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. And two-thirds of disabled people report feeling lonely. Part of the problem is that efforts are being hampered by austerity: figures out this month showed that £7.7bn has been cut from adult social care budgets in England, and the number of daycare centres has fallen by more than 40% from 2010 levels.Technology is already at the forefront of efforts to reduce loneliness, but the winners of this year’s Tech4Good awards, announced on Wednesday, show how innovative use of technology can improve access to cultural and leisure activities, which are an excellent way to bring people together. Continue reading...

Peter wants a mini-laptop to go with his old BlackBerry phone. What are his options?I’m old-school now at 71, but I’m still designing and working as a consultant. I had nothing but BlackBerry smartphones for years. Then it all went wrong. My boring Samsung J-something does most things but I miss my BlackBerry. I found an old one in a drawer, and it fits nicely in my pocket when off out. However, when I’m in a coffee place or relaxing, I’d like a big screen for YouTube, WhatsApp links, and writing reports. I’m thinking of rebooting my nice small BlackBerry and putting a smallish mini-laptop in my bag. Any thoughts? PeterBlackBerry lost its premier position in the market – when its phones were used by everyone from Paris Hilton to then US president Barack Obama – but you can still buy BlackBerry phones. The company licensed its name and technology to China’s TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited (TCT), which sells phones under the TCL, BlackBerry Mobile and Alcatel brand names. It also makes TV sets, soundbars, headphones, air conditioners and dehumidifiers. (The BlackBerry name has also been used by Optiemus Infracom, selling phones as BlackBerry Mobile India, and BB Merah Putih, which briefly served the Indonesian market.) Continue reading...

Following the panic over this viral app, the moral of the story is: don’t worry too much about ‘the Russians’. You should worry about everythingOver the last few days the #faceappchallenge has taken over social media. This “challenge” involves downloading a selfie-editing tool called FaceApp and using one of its filters to digitally age your face. You then post the photo of your wizened old self on the internet and everyone laughs uproariously. You get a small surge of dopamine from gathering a few online likes before existential ennui sets in once again. Challenge completed.On Monday, as the #faceappchallenge went viral, Joshua Nozzi, a software developer, warned people to “BE CAREFUL WITH FACEAPP….it immediately uploads your photos without asking, whether you chose one or not”. Some media outlets picked this claim up and privacy concerns about the app began to mount. Continue reading...

Amazon’s basic Kindle lights up with a better screen to close the gap with the PaperwhiteAmazon’s cheapest, most basic Kindle now has a light and a better screen, which makes it very nearly the new default ebook reader. The new Kindle 9 – which is, confusingly, one of the new 10th generation of Kindles alongside the fourth-generation Paperwhite and third-generation Oasis – looks very similar to the previous version.The sides of the reader feel as though they have been softened slightly. It has been made 2mm narrower and 0.4mm thinner but 13g heavier than the previous version. The Kindle 9 is easy to hold for extended periods and feels fairly robust. Continue reading...

Social media giant says the trial, which rolls out Thursday, will ‘reduce pressure’ on users of the platformInstagram users in Australia will no longer be able to see how many likes a post has a received under trial changes to “remove pressure” on the digital platform’s users.Instagram will on Thursday begin rolling out the trial update removing the total number of likes on photos and viewings of videos on user feeds and profiles, and permalink pages. Continue reading...

Investigation into possible anti-competitive behaviour is likely to spark US anger

The pastel-hued Nintendo Switch Lite, out in September, is far from the only beautiful console in video game history. These 10 were much more than unattractive slabs Continue reading...

A little less ‘Pro’ means the regular OnePlus 7 is smaller and lighter, offering a top experience for £500The OnePlus 7 is basically the OnePlus 6T with the guts of the OnePlus 7 Pro, which sounds like a bad thing, but for £500 it is arguably the best bang for your buck going.There was nothing wrong with the design of the 6T, so there isn’t with the 7. The 6.41in AMOLED display is bright and crisp, filling most of the front of the phone with a small chin at the bottom and a teardrop notch in the top for the selfie camera. Continue reading...

Banking committee questions Facebook on its Libra project, while the House will later take aim at Google, Apple and Amazon

Social media firm to investigate users’ complaints and take down violating postsFresh efforts to tackle scam adverts across Facebook are being introduced in the UK following action taken by the consumer champion Martin Lewis.The social media company is releasing a scam ads reporting tool, with a specially trained team investigating alerts raised by users, reviewing reports and taking down violating posts to clamp down on potentially misleading adverts. Continue reading...

Immigrants and workers say e-commerce giant should cut ties with federal deportation agencies and improve working conditionsActivists, immigrants and Amazon employees demonstrated against the e-commerce giant on its annual Prime Day, protesting against its labor practices and its involvement with US authorities’ deportation efforts.The protests on Monday began in seven US cities, coinciding with the yearly sale that made the company more than $4bn in 2018. Continue reading...

Motorists sent up the garden path as controversial M4 East tunnel from Homebush to Haberfield fails to displayGoogle Maps is working to resolve an issue where Sydney’s newly opened WestConnex M4 East motorway – part of Australia’s largest transport infrastructure project – does not display on its map.The 5.5km tunnel, from Homebush to Haberfield, opened on Saturday after controversy over its impact on health, traffic and the mandatory acquisition of homes. Continue reading...

Jordan Erica Webber teams up with Science Weekly host Ian Sample to find out more about how companies use various techniques to trick us into buying something we may never have needed, or wanted Continue reading...

MoD, DExEU and DHSC lodged complaints requesting removal of fake accounts pretending to be associated with governmentTwitter accounts masquerading as official outlets for Dominic Raab and Liam Fox were revealed as among those the UK government succeeded in shutting down after complaining to the social media company.Details of complaints to Twitter by various departments about suspected fake accounts posing as original have been revealed by freedom of information requests from the Guardian, showing it has not always gone in favour of the UK government. Continue reading...

TV’s Stranger Things and Game of Thrones have brought millions of new players to the classic fantasy gameFor the past few days the ancient walls of Northumberland’s Langley Castle have resounded to the clang of clashing broadswords and the battle cries of angry goblins.A band of mercenaries emancipated a caravan of slaves, a princess captured a corrupt warlock, and then there was that unfortunate business with the insane dark elf sorcerer. Continue reading...

Jack Poulson’s non-profit group Tech Inquiry aims to make it easier for coders to speak outEmployees of tech companies should have the right to know when they are working on projects they may find ethically unacceptable, a former Google whistleblower has said.In 2018, Jack Poulson hit headlines after he resigned from his job at Google over the company’s (now-scrapped) plan to build a censorship AI for the Chinese search market. Now, he wants to make sure that other tech workers can fight for what’s right without having to put their livelihood on the line. Continue reading...

The $5bn fine would be the largest ever levied by the Federal Trade Commission against a technology companyThe Federal Trade Commission has reportedly voted to approve fining Facebook roughly $5bn to settle an investigation into the company’s privacy violations that was launched following the Cambridge Analytica revelations.The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, both citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported Friday afternoon that the settlement was approved by a 3-2 vote that broke along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The justice department is expected make a final approval of the fine. Continue reading...

The firm paid $6m into an affordable housing fund but critics say it must do more to help solve Silicon Valley’s social issuesApple’s donut-shaped headquarters in Cupertino, California has been valued at $4.17bn, according to a new assessment this week – making it one of the most expensive buildings in the world.David Ginsborg, deputy assessor of Santa Clara county, where Cupertino is located, said that the unconventional 2.8m sq ft property was a challenge to evaluate. Continue reading...

Bitpoint suspends services after apparent theft of virtual monies including bitcoinA cryptocurrency exchange in Tokyo has halted services after it lost $32m (£25m) in the latest apparent hack on volatile virtual monies.Remixpoint, which runs the Bitpoint Japan exchange, discovered that about ¥3.5bn in various digital currencies had gone missing from under its management. Continue reading...

The Silicon Valley firm makes bold claims for its slick technology that aims to rid people of torrents of unread emailsIn many ways, Superhuman is your archetypal Silicon Valley darling. It was founded by a brilliant Cambridge graduate who sold his first company to LinkedIn in 2012 then quit to start another one. It has attracted a cult following among early users, whose lives it promises to revolutionise (and who often insist it really has done so). And now it has scored a $33m investment from Andreessen Horowitz, the influential venture capital outfit that was an early backer of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and almost every other major startup going since it was formed in 2009.But, in other ways, Superhuman is nothing like its peers. For one thing, it charges for what it makes: an eye-watering $30 a month. For another, it’s taking the opposite route to the growth-at-all-costs mindset of so many startups: the Guardian first tried to sign up in 2016, and sat on the waiting list for almost three years before giving up and pulling strings to get VIP access. Oh, and it isn’t building an AI blockchain for using augmented reality to run your biotech, or anything trendy like that. No, it makes an email client. Continue reading...

Delphine, 19, a social media star with an enormous global following, was mocked for the sale – but it sold out quicklyBelle Delphine, the social media star and so-called “gamer girl”, made headlines this week for selling her used bath water online.Delphine, 19, who has a global following (4.2 million on Instagram), announced she would be selling $30 bottles of “bath water for all you thirsty gamer boys” in an Instagram post that garnered more than 500,000 likes. Continue reading...

Company admitted that contractors can access recordings made by Assistant, after some of its recordings were leakedGoogle acknowledged its contractors are able to listen to recordings of what people say to the company’s artificial-intelligence system, Google Assistant.The company admitted on Thursday that humans can access recordings made by the Assistant, after some of its Dutch language recordings were leaked. Google is investigating the breach. Continue reading...

Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4; Square Enix

Don’s laptop is infected with malware and he’d like a clean machine, what’s the best way?What’s the cheapest way to get my Windows laptop swept and cleaned out of malware etc? DonThere are two obvious ways to clean a Windows laptop, and both of them are free. The first is to run a number of anti-malware programs to find and remove the bad stuff. The second is to reset it to factory condition. Continue reading...

The NBN says Netflix has put pressure on its fixed wireless service, but the growth in streaming has been anticipated for yearsPoliticians, tech experts and even the NBN itself talked up the arrival of Netflix and other streaming video services years before the government-owned company blamed it for speed issues on the wireless network. But just how responsible is Netflix?On ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night, NBN’s head of stakeholder relations, Sam Dimarco, attributed people not being able to get fast download speeds on the 4G fixed wireless network, a part of the NBN, to the “Netflix effect”. Continue reading...

Firm shows commitment to UK with shop, which features a gaming lounge and AR devicesMicrosoft is opening its first European store on Oxford Street, in London, featuring a McLaren Senna car customised as an Xbox driving simulator, a gaming lounge and a community education centre where children can learn to code.The 22,000 sq ft shop is a block away from the Regent Street Apple store, which, when it opened 15 years ago, set the bar for tech retailing. Continue reading...

The new model of the handheld console – which is cheaper, lighter and smaller than the original – will be released in SeptemberNintendo has announced a new model of its successful Switch console: the Switch Lite. It is cheaper, lighter and smaller than the original model, and will be available on 20 September.However, the Switch Lite lacks a headline feature of the original Nintendo Switch: it can only be played as a handheld and can’t be docked to play on a TV. The Joy-Con controllers are also built into the console, and can’t be detached. This means some Switch games – such as launch title 1-2 Switch and the innovative Nintendo Labo – will be incompatible with the Lite model. Continue reading...

The business networking site has grown to 610 million members, but now a Twitter feed is calling out some of its most shameless self-promotersName: LinkedIn Legends.Occupation: Imagineers. Continue reading...

Top performance and a good camera make the £400 Honor 20 tempting. But will the US-China trade war hit software updates?The Honor 20 is the first smartphone launched and put on sale by Huawei since Trump’s blacklisting of the company in May.In effect this is one of the phones Trump tried to ban, but as it happened the Honor 20 had already passed through the Android certification process before Google was forced to stop working with Huawei. Continue reading...