Technology | The Guardian

The retailer reported a pre-tax loss of €493m despite sales rising by 11.6% to €28bnAmazon received €241m in tax credits last year that it can deduct from future bills for its European business, despite efforts by authorities in Brussels to ensure the company pays more tax.Amazon Europe, which is based in Luxembourg and aggregates the billions of pounds of sales the retailer makes from individual countries across the continent, received the credits after reporting a pre-tax loss of €493m in 2018. Sales rose 11.6% to €28bn. Continue reading...

From ultra-violent alien hunts to a honking, flapping goose simulator, here are our video game highlights for the seasonThe third title in the comic book-inspired sci-fi looter-shooter series takes its familiar cast of antiheroes on another hyperactive, ultra-violent alien hunt across a range of post-apocalyptic planetscapes. The more complex progression system and an incredible arsenal of weapons will thrill fans and newcomers alike. Out 13 September Continue reading...

This week Jordan Erica Webber is joined by Alex Hern, as they look at the scandal that rocked the voice assistant world, and ask whether or not we can trust that voice assistants aren’t eavesdropping on our most private moments Continue reading...

E-safety commissioner given power to monitor sites and order offending websites to be blockedAustralian internet service providers have been ordered to block eight websites hosting video of the Christchurch terrorist attacks.In March, shortly after the Christchurch massacre, Australian telecommunications companies and internet providers began proactively blocking websites hosting the video of the Christchurch shooter murdering more than 50 people or the shooter’s manifesto. Continue reading...

Forget Apple’s much-vaunted iOS safeguards – attackers have been quietly breaking and entering for yearsWhenever there’s something that some people value, there will be a marketplace for it. A few years ago, I spent a fascinating hour with a detective exploring the online marketplaces that exist in the so-called “dark web” (shorthand for the parts of the web you can only get to with a Tor browser and some useful addresses). The marketplaces we were interested in were ones in which stolen credit card details and other confidential data are traded.What struck me most was the apparent normality of it all. It’s basically eBay for crooks. There are sellers offering goods (ranges of stolen card details, Facebook, Gmail and other logins etc) and punters interested in purchasing same. Different categories of these stolen goods are more or less expensive. (The most expensive logins, as I remember it, were for PayPal). But the funniest thing of all was that some of the marketplaces operated a “reputation” system, just like eBay’s. Some vendors had 90%-plus ratings for reliability etc. Some purchasers likewise. Others were less highly regarded. So, one reflected, there really is honour among thieves. Continue reading...

The Galaxy deserves to be so much more than an airport cab – it’s a star in its own rightFord Galaxy

State attorneys general are opening the latest inquiries into the companies’ practices as government scrutiny growsAttorneys general in a number of US states are opening antitrust investigations into Facebook, New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, announced on Friday. A separate inquiry into Google is expected to be announced Monday.The new investigations mark yet another blow to the major tech players, which have faced increasing scrutiny from the government – most prominently an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice. Continue reading...

New York state attorney general said bipartisan coalition investigating if Facebook stifled competition and put users at riskDozens of US states are set to launch antitrust and privacy investigations into Facebook and Google as scrutiny of the big tech firms increases in the US.The investigation into Alphabet’s Google unit will examine the search giant’s effect on the digital advertising market and its impact on consumers. In a separate but overlapping investigation the states’ leading law enforcers will investigate Facebook’s privacy record and its advertising model. Continue reading...

Exclusive: voice assistant’s responses were rewritten so it never says word ‘feminism’An internal project to rewrite how Apple’s Siri voice assistant handles “sensitive topics” such as feminism and the #MeToo movement advised developers to respond in one of three ways: “don’t engage”, “deflect” and finally “inform”.The project saw Siri’s responses explicitly rewritten to ensure that the service would say it was in favour of “equality”, but never say the word feminism – even when asked direct questions about the topic. Continue reading...

Drake exec-produces the east London gang drama, while Sacha Baron Cohen gets serious for a real-life Syrian espionage sagaSad lad rapper Drake saved writer Ronan Bennett’s east London drama from cancellation with this Netflix revival. With the move from Channel 4 comes a host of new stars to add to Ashley Walters’s titular drug-dealing role, including MCs Dave and Little Simz. The acting is muted and the story is brutal, engaging and, just sometimes, hopeful.

They were weird and obscure and no one else remembers them – here are the old computer games that still give us the chillsIt was Caverns of Khafka for me. Discovered one rainy afternoon in a Debenhams bargain bin, this weird Commodore 64 dungeon exploration game totally freaked me out with its funeral dirge soundtrack and horrific screeching bats. When I tried to tell my friends about it, they looked confused and concerned – no one else had ever heard of it. I started to think I was the only person in the world who had explored this disorientating adventure – it took on a sinister air.In the pre-internet era of gaming, it was common to stumble upon these hidden oddities. The industry was more disorganised with smaller publishers distributing games that were often programmed by eccentric loners, and there was only a handful of specialist magazines to call them out. Games were snuck onto the shelves of newsagents and video rental shops, or into car boot sales and computer fairs, and you often had no idea what they were until you bought them and loaded them up. And by then it was far too late. Continue reading...

PC; Xbox One

The company has touted its new privacy and security features but critics are skeptical given Facebook’s track record on user dataFacebook announced on Thursday it is rolling out its newest service across the US, a platform for dating. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out.The new service, Facebook Dating, can be accessed in the Facebook app but requires users to create a separate dating-specific profile. It then links users with potential matches based on location, indicated preferences, events attended, groups and other factors. Facebook Dating will integrate with Instagram and offer a feature called Secret Crush, which allows users to compile a list of friends they have an interest in, to be matched with if the crush lists them as well. Continue reading...

New made-for-smartphone series Content gets a major publicity boost with thousands of shares on social mediaA new ABC made-for-smartphone series has gone viral after a clip of a fictional car crash during a Facebook live stream was mistaken by many as a real accident.Don’t stream and drive, thot pic.twitter.com/AUSEJ273u7 Continue reading...

Sales of electric vehicles overall have doubled in the past yearThe Tesla Model 3 has rapidly become the UK’s third most popular new car as sales of electric vehicles overall doubled in the past year.New owners registered 2,082 Tesla Model 3 cars in August, according to data published on Thursday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Continue reading...

PC, PlayStation 4; Foam Sword/Double Fine Productions

Being a YouTuber is now the most popular aspiration for children today, according to a recent survey. In 2018, the site’s highest earner was a seven-year-old American toy reviewer. But the video platform has been mired in controversy over its failure to protect children. Richard Sprenger meets some of the children plying their trade on YouTube, viral sensation Rebecca Black, and visits a Los Angeles summer camp where kids as young as six learn the tricks of the trade Continue reading...

Windows Update tells Frank that Windows 10 is up to date, but he still needs to install a new versionWhy does my HP Pavilion laptop tell me that Windows 10 is up to date, but at the same time tells me I’m running a version that’s nearing the end of support, and recommends that I update to the most recent version? FrankFirst, some background. Microsoft used to provide new versions of Windows every three or more years, and support them for 10 years. Examples included Windows XP and Windows 7. They didn’t change unless Microsoft released a service pack update, such as Windows 7 SP1. Continue reading...

The information was stored in an online server that was not password protected, according to a report from TechCrunchHundreds of millions of Facebook users’ phone numbers were exposed in an open online database, the company confirmed Wednesday, in the latest example of Facebook’s past privacy lapses coming back to haunt its users.More than 419m Facebook IDs and phone numbers were stored in an online server that was not password protected, the technology website TechCrunch reported. The dataset included about 133m records for users in the US, 18m records for users in the UK and 50m records for users in Vietnam. Continue reading...

Ruling comes as London mayor acknowledges Met police role in its deployment in King’s Cross developmentPolice use of automatic facial recognition technology to search for people in crowds is lawful, the high court in Cardiff has ruled.Although the mass surveillance system interferes with the privacy rights of those scanned by security cameras, two judges have concluded, it is not illegal. Continue reading...

King’s Cross Central | HS2 | River Thames | Van slogansI was pleased that the developer of the King’s Cross area will stop using facial recognition equipment (Report, 3 September). Of course, if Camden council had paid heed to the local objectors in 2004 and 2005, it would have adopted all the roads and public footpaths on the site and could have prevented the installation of this surveillance. By the way, the development is called King’s Cross Central, not King’s Cross, which is an area of London in two boroughs with a large and diverse population. It was a bit of a shock to read in your report that “King’s Cross is owned by a consortium…”

Facebook moves to stem spread of misinformation online about side-effects of immunisationsFacebook is to take a stand against vaccine denial by directing people searching for information or using vaccine hashtags to web pages set up by public health bodies.People who access Facebook and Instagram pages and groups that discuss vaccines, as well as those searching or using relevant hashtags, will see an educational module about vaccine safety. Links will take them to a page provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States and to the World Health Organization elsewhere in the world. Continue reading...

FTC has fined Google $136m and company will pay an additional $34m to New York state to resolve similar allegationsGoogle’s video site YouTube has been fined $170m to settle allegations it collected children’s personal data without their parents’ consent.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Google $136m and the company will pay an additional $34m to New York state to resolve similar allegations. Continue reading...

Big update adds gestures, dark theme, smart replies, emoji, privacy and parental controlsGoogle has released its big new update to Android 10, and for the first time it is available for more than just a couple of Google-made smartphones.Announced in May, Android Q – known as Android 10 – ditches the pudding-based names that have been used for versions of Google’s software for the past 10 years including Marshmallow, Nougat, Oreo and Pie. Continue reading...

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater appeared on PlayStation 20 years ago this week – and transformed sports sims for ever. Hawk and the game’s developers assess the impact of the 100m-selling seriesWhen Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was released 20 years ago this week, initial projections for the game were modest. Although Sega’s Top Skater had been a hit in the arcades two years before, and there had been a couple of early hits such as 720 and Skate or Die, the idea of an in-depth skating sim was untested. Activision aimed to ship 250,000 copies and developer Neversoft just hoped there would be an opportunity to make a sequel. The game went on to sell more than 5m copies across PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 and its success spawned one of the most popular franchises in video game history, generating more than $1.4bn in sales.Within days of release, it was clear players were forming a deeper relationship with the sim than either the developer or publisher had ever expected. People who’d never skated before were sharing button combinations for their favourite moves, discussing routes and arguing over which professional skateboarders were the best. Each freestyle area was designed to allow easy exploration and experimentation, and players could discover moves simply by hitting and combining buttons and seeing what happened. Continue reading...

New technology is rolling out across the country, despite concerns over privacyChina’s shoppers are increasingly purchasing goods with just a turn of their heads as the country embraces facial payment technology.In a country where mobile payment is already one of the most advanced in the world, customers can make a purchase simply by posing in front of point-of-sale (POS) machines equipped with cameras, after linking an image of their face to a digital payment system or bank account. Continue reading...

Firm attacked even though it says its contribution has nearly tripled since 2017Amazon has been accused of continuing to underpay corporation tax in the UK despite nearly tripling the payment from a key British division to £14m.Amazon UK Services, the company’s warehouse and logistics operation that employs more than two-thirds of its 27,500-plus UK workforce, said its corporation tax contribution had risen by nearly £10m in the year to December 2018 from the £4.7m paid in 2017. Continue reading...

Critics say face-swap app could spread misinformation on a massive scaleA Chinese app that lets users convincingly swap their faces with film or TV characters has rapidly become one of the country’s most downloaded apps, triggering a privacy row.Related: The rise of the deepfake and the threat to democracy Continue reading...

Kashmiris have not had access to the internet for nearly a month. The blackout, from the start of August, is the 77th of the year so far in India. Jordan Erica Webber looks at the personal, legal and societal fallout of government-ordered shutdowns around the world Continue reading...

You may want sexy, but when it comes to everyday life you’ll find dependable is far better in the long runVauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer

Should you splash out £1,000 on a MacBook, or can you get away with a £229 Chromebook? Do you really need a top-end smartphone or will a budget alternative do? The right tools can make everything easier – from note taking to dissertation writing. So here’s a quick guide to what might help you get the most out of the academic yeariPad mini – £399

Mate 30 won’t have licensed access to any Google apps, thanks to ongoing dispute between US and the Chinese smartphone makerHuawei, the number two smartphone maker in the world, will launch its next flagship device without licensed access to the top smartphone operating system in the world – Google’s Android – or any of Google’s ubiquitous apps.The 5G-capable Mate 30 will be revealed at a 19 September event in Munich, CNBC reported on Friday. But the launch by a company that saw its share of the European smartphone market soar by 55.7% in 2018 is approaching under a cloud of uncertainty, thanks to the actions of the US government. Continue reading...

Tweets sent from account included racial slurs, profanity and a reference to ‘a bomb at Twitter HQ’ and were quickly deletedThe Twitter account of Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive officer, was hacked and briefly hijacked on Friday.At 12.44pm Pacific time, the account @jack began publishing a series of tweets from the hackers. The rapid stream of tweets included racial slurs, profanity, praise for Adolf Hitler and a reference to “a bomb at Twitter HQ”. The hackers appear to refer to themselves as the “Chuckling Squad”. Continue reading...

Life’s about how you see it. Petra Leary sees the world fromabove, seeking startling heights to create stunning art, allwhile trying to make sense of the complex and challengingworld around her. Having pushed back against traditionaleducation and now an ADHD NZ ambassador, Petra sets outwith her skateboard, drone and dog Kodak to defy the oddsand create her own artistic legacy

Catherine Croft reflects on past campaigns to save telephone boxes, while Christopher Bornett shares his favouriteThe Twentieth Century Society welcomes BT’s plans to update the iconic Sir Giles Gilbert Scott red telephone boxes to digital use (G2, 28 August) and trust that this will be carried out in a sympathetic manner. In 1984 BT announced plans to remove all telephone boxes designed by Gilbert Scott from across Britain. This prompted Gavin Stamp, founder and Chairman of the Thirties Society (which later became the Twentieth Century Society), to start its longest and most vigorous campaign to date to save these much-loved objects. The Department for Environment had previously declined to make a small change to conservation legislation to encompass street furniture so the only solution to safeguard the boxes was for the society to press for the statutory listing of kiosks as “miniature buildings”, which was achieved in 1986 with the listing of a rare example of a K3 box at London Zoo. Many more listings followed. The C20 Society also campaigned to save Bruce Martin’s K8 telephone boxes. It is thought only 60 of these still survive and many are listed. It is hoped that BT will also look at updating these for digital use too. The fact that many of these boxes have been repurposed as libraries, coffee shops and workshops, once again fulfilling an important role in the community, demonstrates the importance and longevity of good design.

Visiting hacked sites was enough for server to gather users’ images and contactsAn unprecedented iPhone hacking operation, which attacked “thousands of users a week” until it was disrupted in January, has been revealed by researchers at Google’s external security team.The operation, which lasted two and a half years, used a small collection of hacked websites to deliver malware on to the iPhones of visitors. Users were compromised simply by visiting the sites: no interaction was necessary, and some of the methods used by the hackers affected even fully up-to-date phones. Continue reading...

Assembly Bill 5 would enact protections for workers, requiring them to meet three standards to be considered a contractorA bill that would fundamentally change the way tech giants – such as Lyft and Uber – engage with workers has passed a major hurdle in the California legislature.Assembly Bill 5 would change the way businesses classify employees and dramatically expand protections for gig workers. If it becomes law, it would represent a big win for labor advocates across the state. Continue reading...

Ring shapes communications of police agencies it works with. Critics fear it’s building up a for-profit private surveillance networkRing, Amazon’s camera-connected smart doorbell company, has cameras watching hundreds of thousands of doorsteps across the US. It’s also keeping an eye on what local police say online.Records obtained through an information request show how Ring uses corporate partnerships to shape the communications of police departments it collaborates with, directing the departments’ press releases, social media posts and comments on public posts. Continue reading...

US trade ban means Mate 30 will be launched without Google Maps and YouTubeHuawei’s new flagship smartphone will not be able to use Google apps and services because of a US trade ban.Huawei is expected to launch its 5G-capable Mate 30 line of smartphones next month, the first major phone release by the company since US trade restrictions against it were instituted. The Chinese telecoms firm has previously used Google’s Android operating system in its smartphones. Continue reading...

Company commissions series on science, philosophy and history in part to refresh imageYouTube has stepped on the BBC’s toes by commissioning a series of educational programmes aimed at British audiences, partly in an attempt to improve the site’s image following a run of negative press.YouTube Originals has ordered programmes on the fall of the Berlin Wall, a science series fronted by the former T4 presenter Rick Edwards and a philosophy series from a business founded by Alain de Botton, as the company increasingly blurs the lines between an online platform and a traditional broadcaster. Continue reading...

Contractors graded accidental activations including recordings of users having sexApple has apologised for allowing contractors to listen to voice recordings of Siri users in order to grade them.The company made the announcement after it completed a review of the grading programme, which had been triggered by a Guardian report revealing its existence. Continue reading...

Nintendo Switch; PC; PS4

Trigger-happy chaos in Apex Legends, thoughtful exploration in Sunless Skies and witty adventures in Shakespearean London are part of a bumper year for PC, console and mobile games

Johnny’s 13-year-old daughter needs a new PC for Adobe’s Premiere Pro costing about £1,000. What are the options?My 13-year-old daughter is showing a real interest in, and talent for, video editing. We got her a student subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud so she could learn and use After Effects and Premiere Pro. Our three-year-old laptop is just about coping with the demands of the software, but as she becomes more proficient, I know it will struggle or give up entirely.What would be the best solution – either laptop or desktop – that will also last a good few years? Our budget is around £1,000. I was considering building a PC to suit, but not sure if this would be a step too far. JohnnyThere is a growing interest in video editing, possibly because video is becoming ubiquitous, and cheap. You no longer need to buy a video camera, a projector, a screen and a cement splicer, which is how we edited home movies in the old days. Continue reading...

Spiralling work pressures make us sick. A debate about shorter hours is the answer, not gong baths or ‘mindful minutes’The latest wellness trend to assail us? “Gong baths.” For those unfamiliar with the term, a gong bath aims to provide spiritual nourishment via long, calming notes played on a large metallic percussive instrument. Yes, it is just a gong – from an orchestra, maybe, or that excessively styled Cotswolds B&B you stayed at – and people are reportedly chilling out like crazy by lying down next to one while it’s being bonged.The sonorous resonance is said to induce a state of mental escape that you would normally attain only when breaking for kombucha after a full set of ashtanga salutations with Gwyneth. And you will not be surprised to learn that large corporations have rushed to embrace gong baths. Some top firms are reportedly booking sessions with gong masters in their endless pursuit of workplace wellness. Continue reading...

At least 300 contractors in Europe sent home after ‘grading’ project suspendedHundreds of Apple workers across Europe who were employed to check Siri recordings for errors have lost their jobs after the company announced it was suspending the programme earlier this month.More than 300 employees have had their contracts ended in the company’s Cork facility alone, according to former employees, with more sent home from other sites across Europe. Continue reading...

The ‘vertical’ TV show from Australia unfolds entirely from the perspective of a wannabe influencer’s smartphoneAny snooty film critic worth their weight in pretentious non-fiction books has, at some point, uttered a variation of the following line: “Put your phone down and watch the damn movie!”While television is a different beast – particularly with the rise of contemporary habits such as second-screening – it remains virtually unheard of for someone to say: “Pick up your phone to watch this, because it’s been designed especially for it.” Continue reading...

Soon more than 1,000 schools nationwide will be using Yondr, a pouch that students lock their phones in during classPut your cellphone away. Stop texting. Stop using the camera as a mirror. Stop looking at Instagram. They’re the familiar commands of teachers and educators in the age of the smartphone.Most teenagers today have grown up never knowing a world without smartphones, with the Pew Research Center reporting that 95% of all teens currently have access or own a smartphone, and 45% are online almost constantly. That leaves educators the daunting challenge of teaching those whose attentions are – at least partially – attached to the devices in their pockets. Continue reading...

Anthony Levandowski worked on autonomous vehicles at Google for nearly a decade before going to work for UberFederal prosecutors charged Anthony Levandowski, the pioneering self-driving car engineer, with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets from Google on Tuesday.The criminal indictment is the latest twist in a years-long dispute over intellectual property between Google, where Levandowski worked on autonomous vehicles for nearly a decade, and Uber, which purchased a self-driving startup from Levandowski for a reported $680m in August 2016. Continue reading...

Views via recommendations of such ‘borderline’ videos were halved in similar US trialYouTube is experimenting with an algorithm change to reduce the spread of what it calls “borderline content” in the UK, after a similar trial in the US resulted in a substantial drop in views.According to the video sharing site’s chief executive, Susan Wojcicki, the move is intended to give quality content “more of a chance to shine” and has the effect of reducing views from recommendations by 50%. Continue reading...