Technology | The Guardian

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...

Voice assistant enlisted to aid elderly and blind patients who cannot easily search for adviceThe NHS has teamed up with Amazon to allow elderly people, blind people and other patients who cannot easily search for health advice on the internet to access the information through the AI-powered voice assistant Alexa.The health service hopes patients asking Alexa for health advice will ease pressure on the NHS, with Amazon’s algorithm using information from the NHS website to provide answers to questions such as: “Alexa, how do I treat a migraine?”; ‘Alexa, what are the symptoms of flu?’; and “Alexa what are the symptoms of chickenpox?” Continue reading...

Negative comments and low star ratings can make or break a company. But as Google finds itself embroiled in legal action, it warns defamation law could suppress consumer rightsMark Fletcher says he never paid much attention to Google reviews left by customers for his Victorian-based software business Tower Systems – until five months ago.He was told he had lost a sale due to a negative review from a person called Ashley T. Continue reading...

Instagram said early tests found it encourages users to ‘share something less hurtful once they have had a chance to reflect’Instagram is inviting users to think again before posting unkind comments with a new tool designed to curb bullying on the social media platform.The company is rolling out a new feature that uses AI to identify negative comments before they are published and asks “are you sure you want to post this?” before it is shared on another person’s post. Continue reading...

Current and former workers also claim point-system attendance policy penalizes employees for use of paid time offIn February 2018, Devon Beccera started working at the Tesla Giga factory in Sparks, Nevada. A few months into her employment she was promoted to supervisor , making about $25 an hour. She found out in July that year that she was pregnant, and informed management she planned on taking maternity leave in February, 2019, once she became eligible.Instead, on 14 December 2018, Beccera was fired. Continue reading...

Online, you can be anyone. So why are millennials choosing to roleplay as baby boomers?You know it when you see it: a couple of extra commas following a thought, a private message or search entry accidentally made public, a comment on a friend’s new profile picture telling them to “say hi to Joe and the kids for me,,, love! You”.This is a baby boomer posting to Facebook. It could be your parent, an uncle, a family friend, a grandparent; if you were born between 1946 and 1964, it could be you. Continue reading...

In film and video games, we’ve already seen what’s possible with ‘digital humans’. Are we on the brink of the world’s first totally virtual acting star?When you’re watching a modern blockbuster such as The Avengers, it’s hard to escape the feeling that what you’re seeing is almost entirely computer-generated imagery, from the effects to the sets to fantastical creatures. But if there’s one thing you can rely on to be 100% real, it’s the actors. We might have virtual pop stars like Hatsune Miku, but there has never been a world-famous virtual film star.Even that link with corporeal reality, though, is no longer absolute. You may have already seen examples of what’s possible: Peter Cushing (or his image) appearing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story more than 20 years after his death, or Tupac Shakur performing from beyond the grave at Coachella in 2012. We’ve seen the terrifying potential of deepfakes – manipulated footage that could play a dangerous role in the fake news phenomenon. Jordan Peele’s remarkable fake Obama video is a key example. Could technology soon make professional actors redundant? Continue reading...

Music without earbuds looks and sounds surprisingly good, making these smart glasses the antithesis of Google GlassThe Bose Frames are the answer to the question: what if your sunglasses were also a set of smart, hidden headphones with no earbuds or no bone-conduction system, just a set of personal speakers?As a wearer of true wireless earbuds, that’s not a question I ever thought I would ask. But the Bose Frames are delightful and leaving your ears free of buds or headphones has a clear and obvious case. Continue reading...

With the launch of the Facebook cryptocurrency Libra, Jordan Erica Webber revisits an old Chips episode looking at how artists are using blockchain to answer the big questions, like ‘what is the value of a human life?’ Continue reading...

A teenager’s gripping coming-of-age adventure takes you back to the bygone era of the amusement arcadeWhen I was a child in the late 1980s, my brother and I would watch every Saturday morning as a crescent of teenagers gathered around an arcade machine in our local sports club. Even if we had been allowed to spend our pocket money on something as transient as an arcade game, there was no barging in here. All we could do was watch as the older boys jeered and cheered each other on, making it a little further each week as their skills improved and muscle memory set in.Diversion became ritual and, soon enough, a crowd stopped by to watch their weekly quest. I remember wishing that today – perhaps today! – would be the day they conquered the dragon and made it to the final credits. I remember the elation in the room when it finally happened, the backslaps and lingering grins. Within a pastime outsiders considered to be almost debauchedly flippant, we had witnessed something quietly meaningful, perhaps something like our parents felt the first time they saw Dylan play live, or similar to that our own children would experience years later when they first saw the music video to Single Ladies. Continue reading...

Hotel systems are so leaky it’s worth investing in your own virtual private networkYou’ve just arrived at the hotel after a delayed flight and a half-hour wrangle with the car-hire firm. And then you remember that you’ve forgotten to pay last month’s credit card bill, and there’ll be an interest charge if you wait until you’re back at base. But – hey! – you can do it online and help is at hand. The receptionist is welcoming and helpful. They have wifi and it’s free. Relieved, you ask for the password. “Oh, you don’t need one,” he replies. “Just type in your room number and click the box.”Phew! Problem solved. Er, not necessarily. At this point the human race divides into two groups. Call them sheep and goats. Sheep are sweet, trusting folks who like to think well of their fellow humans. Surely that helpful receptionist would not knowingly offer a dangerous service. Also, they find digital technology baffling and intimidating. And they cannot imagine why anything they do online might be of interest to anyone. Continue reading...

Time to phase out old vans with their engines idling, churning out foul emissions for kids to breathe inNissan e-NV200

Firms pushing ahead with Chinese tech giant to set up new networkHuawei is helping develop 5G networks for all four of the UK’s major mobile phone operators – even though the government has yet to confirm whether the controversial Chinese technology company will be permitted to build the next generation of wireless infrastructure.The revelation threatens to exacerbate tensions between the UK and the US, which has taken a firm line against the company amid claims, strongly denied, that it is controlled by the Chinese government and that its equipment could be used to spy on other countries and companies. Continue reading...