by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and produced by D on (#3XVYH)
Jordan Erica Webber delves into the murky world of pirate radio, from the first black radio station to broadcast in the UK to the rise in popularity of Haitian radio in BrooklynGovernments have been shutting down pirate radio stations for as long as pirate radio stations have existed, and yet they persevere. Despite the risk of station closure and hefty fines, new stations continue to pop up all over the world.
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#3XVX2)
Parents of Olivia Burt, who died outside a Durham nightclub, complain of inactionThe parents of a student who was crushed to death outside a nightclub have criticised Facebook for letting an internet troll abuse the memory of their daughter.The father of Olivia Burt, a 20-year-old Durham University student who died in February, said dealing with the social media company had “compounded our miseryâ€. Continue reading...
Linda’s history-studying son needs a portable computer. Which model would deliver value for money on a budget?My son is off to university and needs a laptop for his history course. His needs are coursework, watching movies, listening to music and gaming. Our needs are best value for money on a budget of £600 or less. What do you think of reconditioned laptops? We are not a poor household, but we are going to have to make a few sacrifices to get him through university. LindaIt’s always a good idea to see if the university and/or department have any recommendations, discount deals or special requirements. This can be important for courses that use professional software, though I don’t expect history needs anything that won’t run on most laptops. Continue reading...
Big new Google Assistant smart speaker finally launches in the UK with best-in-class voice control aiming to be the life and soul of the partyGoogle’s big, premium Apple HomePod rival the Home Max is finally being released in the UK today, bringing Google Assistant to the high-end smart speaker market.Announced in October 2017 and on sale in the US since November, the Home Max joins Google’s smaller Home and smallest Home Mini smart speakers as the big one. Google Assistant sorts voice commands, controls and questions exactly the same as Google’s smaller smart speaker offerings, but the way it sounds couldn’t be more different. Continue reading...
The death of a woman hit by a self-driving car highlights an unfolding technological crisis, as code piled on code creates ‘a universe no one fully understands’The 18th of March 2018, was the day tech insiders had been dreading. That night, a new moon added almost no light to a poorly lit four-lane road in Tempe, Arizona, as a specially adapted Uber Volvo XC90 detected an object ahead. Part of the modern gold rush to develop self-driving vehicles, the SUV had been driving autonomously, with no input from its human backup driver, for 19 minutes. An array of radar and light-emitting lidar sensors allowed onboard algorithms to calculate that, given their host vehicle’s steady speed of 43mph, the object was six seconds away – assuming it remained stationary. But objects in roads seldom remain stationary, so more algorithms crawled a database of recognizable mechanical and biological entities, searching for a fit from which this one’s likely behavior could be inferred.At first the computer drew a blank; seconds later, it decided it was dealing with another car, expecting it to drive away and require no special action. Only at the last second was a clear identification found – a woman with a bike, shopping bags hanging confusingly from handlebars, doubtless assuming the Volvo would route around her as any ordinary vehicle would. Barred from taking evasive action on its own, the computer abruptly handed control back to its human master, but the master wasn’t paying attention. Elaine Herzberg, aged 49, was struck and killed, leaving more reflective members of the tech community with two uncomfortable questions: was this algorithmic tragedy inevitable? And how used to such incidents would we, should we, be prepared to get? Continue reading...
George Garofano, 26, one of four charged over illegal hacking of American actor and other celebritiesA hacker was sentenced to eight months in prison on Wednesday for a scheme that exposed intimate photos of the actor Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities.George Garofano, 26, was accused of illegally hacking the private Apple iCloud accounts of 240 people, including Hollywood stars as well as average internet users, allowing their nude photos and private information to be spread around the internet. Continue reading...
Twitch, where majority of broadcasters play video games for an audience, was the first to unintentionally air a shooting liveWhen two people were killed and 11 injured at a Madden football video game tournament at a bar in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday, the incident joined the list of hundreds of tragic shootings that have already taken place in the US this year. But it was the first to occur during a video game tournament, and the first to have been unintentionally broadcast live online.Related: 'No one deserves to die over a video game': survivors recall chaos of Florida shooting Continue reading...
by Michael Safi in Delhi and Edward Helmore in New Yo on (#3XPTW)
Tesla boss criticised for making unfounded allegation against Vernon Unsworth, who helped free Thai cave boysElon Musk appears to have doubled down on his claim that a British explorer who was instrumental in freeing a group of Thai boys trapped in a cave is a “pedoâ€.The chair of Tesla was widely criticised last month for making the unfounded allegation against Vernon Unsworth, who was part of an international team that freed the young footballers and their coach from the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand. Continue reading...
How the latest video game craze mixes up the fundamentals of game design and human psychology to make itself compellingAlmost every video game is designed to make you want to play it. Fortnite, though, is especially good at keeping people coming back, week after week, match after match. This “stickinessâ€, as game designers call it, is not down to some revolutionary new game design factor. Instead, Fornite has improved and repackaged ideas, creating an effective evolutionary step rather than a leap.
The UK’s advertising watchdog rules against company over its marketing of the appAn advert describing a smartphone app as a “highly accurate†method of birth control has been found to be misleading by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) in the latest blow to the much-hyped Swedish company, Natural Cycles.Related: ‘I felt colossally naive’: the backlash against the birth control app Continue reading...
As the new season hits its stride, we look at the best footie games available for 2018/19 on the PS4, Xbox, PC and phonesIt has been a rare old summer of football. England’s heroic – or at least, much better than expected – efforts in the World Cup were followed by three weeks or so of cold turkey, with nothing but the opaque machinations of the transfer window to keep us occupied. But already, the season has resumed, in all its relentless glory. If you want to join in but were born with two left feet, flex your thumbs instead with one of these games – the six best on the market right now. Video game football isn’t just about pretending to be Harry Kane or Pep Guardiola: some of these take a strikingly original approach to the beautiful game. Continue reading...
Minivan equipped with sensors makes four round-trips a day on a busy stretch of road, picking up paying passengersA self-driving taxi has successfully taken paying passengers through the busy streets of Tokyo, raising the prospect that the service will be ready in time to ferry athletes and tourists between sports venues and the city centre during the 2020 Summer Olympics.ZMP, a developer of autonomous driving technology, and the taxi company Hinomaru Kotsu, claim that the road tests, which began this week, are the first in the world to involve driverless taxis and fare-paying passengers. Continue reading...
Move may cost in short term but boost longer-term user engagement, CEO saysUber is to switch its focus from taxis to electric bikes and scooters to grow its global business, its chief executive has said.The ride-hailing app will promote different modes of transport that can work better in congested inner cities, to keep Uber users on its platform. Continue reading...
Social media giant struggles to stay relevant to a younger generationFacebook has officially lost its cool. Snapchat is set to overtake it as the digital hangout of choice for teens and twentysomethings this year, as Mark Zuckerberg’s social media site struggles to remain relevant to the youth generation.By the end of this year Snapchat, which with its disappearing messages and funky photograph filters has already won over young teens, will also become the most popular social media platform in the UK for 18- to 24-year-olds. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen South-east Asia corresponden on (#3XJM6)
Move follows UN report accusing army of genocide against minority RohingyaFacebook has removed 18 accounts and 52 pages associated with the Myanmar military, including the page of its commander-in-chief, after a UN report accused the armed forces of genocide and war crimes.In an unusually prompt move, the pages and accounts of the Mynamar military, known as the Tatmadaw, were deleted just minutes after the UN fact-finding mission released its damning report. Continue reading...
From the cliched slasher Night Trap to the hideous Superman 64, these are some of the worst-ever video gamesIt is hard to argue when a video game is truly bad, whatever its relative merits. A broken game is rife with glitches, freezing or falling to pieces when you play it. And ungainly controls or horrible graphics might make it even more unpleasant. But now and then, as in the film world, even games that are terrible can become popular. Sometimes a train-wreck of a video game can deliver something that no well-produced blockbuster can: the element of surprise. Continue reading...
The Google X founder and robotics expert on flying taxis, the possible healthcare uses for AI – and why we haven’t seen the last of Google GlassSebastian Thrun isn’t your ordinary Silicon Valley computer geek-cum-Stanford professor. The 51-year-old artificial intelligence and robotics scientist is responsible for co-developing Google Street View, pioneering self-driving cars, founding Google X – the internet giant’s secretive research lab – and revolutionising education by kickstarting massive open online courses (Moocs). His most recent project is developing flying cars.You launched your flying car company, Kitty Hawk, in 2015 backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and you have two projects in development – a personal aircraft called Flyer and an autonomous air taxi called Cora. Why do we need flying cars?
Fight between vlogging stars has been termed ‘the biggest event in internet history’After months of tweeted insults, diss tracks and internet hype, two of the world’s biggest YouTubers are set to fight each other on Saturday night.The bout between KSI and Logan Paul has been dubbed the biggest event in internet history, and is likely to be one of the UK’s biggest white-collar boxing events. Continue reading...
Shareholders persuade entrepreneur electric carmaker is better off on stock marketElon Musk has abandoned his plan to take Tesla private, and said shareholders had persuaded him against the idea.The electric carmaker’s founder shocked investors earlier this month after tweeting that he was considering taking the company, which floated in June 2010, private. Continue reading...
Twitter gave the conspiracy theorist and propagandist Alex Jones a slap on the wrist when it suspended him for a week – now he’s backEighteen long years ago, a young man named Jack traded in his youth for some magic beans. Jack planted those beans and, before long, a beanstalk would grow from the ground, pierce the clouds and stretch into the sky.Upon climbing the beanstalk, Jack found a castle laden with riches beyond his wildest dreams.It seemed too good to be true. And, as it turns out, it was. Continue reading...
by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and produced by D on (#3XDP2)
Jordan Erica Webber looks at how artists are using blockchain technology to answer some of life’s most pertinent questions.Subscribe and review on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom and Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter.“Blockchain†is one of those words that seems to just make people switch off. It turns out however, that while we were all letting our eyes pass over any headline that included the word, blockchains have become more and more popular outside of the original tech-obsessed user base. The blockchain has joined the likes of painting, sculpture and photography as a medium for artists. Continue reading...
Army of fulfillment center employees jump to company’s defense online when it faces a barrage of bad pressAnxious consumers worried about the welfare of Amazon’s thousands of warehouse employees will be relieved to discover that they do in fact get to occasionally use the toilet. They’re also allowed to drink water on the job, work in well-lit spaces with really big fans, and don’t need food stamps to make ends meet.And, for at least one of them, “Olive Garden is lifeâ€. Continue reading...
Reigns: Game of Thrones, by the award-winning developer of the Reigns series, will be released in October on Android, iPhones and PCHBO has announced a new Game of Thrones game for smartphones and PC, developed by Nerial, the award-winning studio behind the Reigns series.Reigns: Game of Thrones casts the player as a king or queen trying to avoid rebellions, disastrous wars, assassination or supernatural interference to stay on the throne as long as possible. It’s presented as a kind of card game meets Tinder, where underlings ask players to make judgement calls ranging from whom to invite to the ball to whether to suck up to the clergy, or what to do about the enormous dragon descending upon your stronghold. Decisions are taken by swiping left or right. Continue reading...
News that these devices can wildly overestimate activity makes my obsession with Apple’s Health app look pretty sadIt was not all that long ago that my ever-lovin’ wife showed me the Apple Health app on my phone: little red heart on a white background. I’d never opened it or even noticed it was there, tucked into the folder marked “Utilitiesâ€, right between PayByPhone parking and Booking.com. Unknown to me, and with no GDPR-style opt-out, this little gizmo had been recording every step I’d taken every single day.Was I horrified at this invasion of privacy? No: I was delighted. Having long shunned the ostentatious, Fitbit-wearing gym-zombies for the wallies they so obviously are, I became completely fixated. My phone, joggling up and down in my pocket as I trotted, was tracking my non-exercise exercise routine in real time! Continue reading...
After using Hotmail for 20 years, our reader’s friends say she should switch to Gmail. Is it worth it?I’ve used Hotmail from the late 90s. All my friends and family use Gmail and I feel like a dinosaur with clunky old Hotmail. Apart from looking like I’ve finally entered the 21st century, what are the benefits of switching from Hotmail to Gmail? And, given everyone I’ve ever known has my Hotmail address, and I have so many old emails in my Hotmail inbox, how on earth could I switch? TI was one of Gmail’s first public users in 2004 and spent a decade recommending Hotmail users to switch. I almost switched back in 2013, but both services have changed a lot since then. I now think you should have both services, with one acting as a backup, though you could also back up to Yahoo.
The man behind the mask: game director Yoko Taro on writing, suffering and diet cokeBereft of his signature mask – which he will not be photographed without – and perched awkwardly on a folding chair, video game director Yoko Taro has the air of a dishevelled monk. The famously camera shy developer behind cult hit games like Drakengard 3 and last year’s Nier: Automata listens attentively as questions and answers are rapidly translated.“To be honest, I think I am making normal games targeted towards normal people,†he says. “But ultimately when I release those normal games, weird people find them to be weird games and enjoy them. Which probably means there’s something wrong with me.†Continue reading...
The Silicon Valley drive for corporate efficiency – all 24/7 schedules, bulletproof coffees and five-minute meetings – has long been lauded. Now the wheels are flying offLast week, an emotional Elon Musk described how he was working so hard to keep production of the Tesla Model 3 on track that he missed his own birthday. “All night – no friends, nothing,†he told the New York Times, apparently “struggling to get the words outâ€. Musk had, he said, been working 120-hour weeks, often not leaving the factory for three or four days. When he did get home, he said, the choice was between no sleep or taking an Ambien, an insomnia drug intended for short-term use (and blamed by some of Tesla’s board members for his erratic night-time tweeting).Musk has long been celebrated by the business press for his work ethic. His extraordinary schedule – a long working day broken into five-minute increments, so that every second is accounted for (lunch is usually wolfed down in a meeting) – has been reported, approvingly, for some years now. And certainly, Musk has more on his plate than many chief executives. As well as running Tesla, the first mass-market car company to be founded in the US in decades, he is the head of SpaceX, which aims to fly people to Mars, and Neuralink, a company attempting to build a brain-computer interface. Continue reading...
A study has found teens are ‘hyperconnected’ to their phones but many of their parents have a problem with their own screen timeParents lament their teenagers’ noses being constantly buried in their phones, but they might want to take stock of their own screen habits, according to a new report.Related: How much screen time is too much for kids? It's complicated Continue reading...
Changing recorded votes would be difficult for bad actors. But at Def Con in Las Vegas, children had no trouble finding another point of entryAt the world’s largest hacking conference, there was good news and bad news for fans of free and fair elections.The good news is that hacking the US midterms – actually changing the recorded votes to steal the election for a particular candidate – may be harder than it seems, and most of the political actors who could pose a threat to the validity of an election are hesitant to escalate their attacks that far. Continue reading...
Health and beauty retailer advises online customers to change their passwordsSuperdrug has advised its online customers to change their passwords after the high street chain was targeted by hackers claiming to have stolen the personal details of thousands of people.The health and beauty retailer told customers it had been contacted by a group on Monday evening claiming to have obtained the details of 20,000 customers, including names, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers. Continue reading...
Firm announces removal of pages, groups and accounts linked to Russia and Iran, citing ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior’Facebook has removed 652 fake accounts and pages with ties to Russia and Iran attempting to exert political influence in the US, UK, Middle East and Latin America.The accounts and pages were divided between four separate campaigns, three of which originated in Iran, of “coordinated inauthentic behaviourâ€, disclosed by the social network today. Continue reading...
The success of a booming video game industry, expected to generate $137.9bn in revenue this year, is music to the ears for bands, musicians, record labels and composers“Video games have not only helped the music industry survive, but thrive on entirely new levels,†Steve Schnur tells me. As the worldwide executive and president of music at game publisher EA, his team – many of whom have been professional musicians and singer/songwriters – work with some of the biggest music acts in the world, licensing music for video game series like Fifa, Madden NFL, Need for Speed and NHL.Since the 90s, when licensed music became prevalent in games, series such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Grand Theft Auto and Wipeout have become just as well-known for their soundtracks as they are for their gameplay. For millions of people, video games have been a way to discover new favourite bands or dive into other musical genres. And because people discover this music while playing a game they love, they develop a strong emotional attachment to it. Continue reading...
The phablet’s massive, beautiful screen, excellent performance and new Bluetooth stylus will have Note fans salivatingThe king of the big, powerful phones is back for another generation, but is the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 still the phablet to beat?The Note series pioneered the big-screen smartphone in 2011 and over the last seven years it has been made larger and more feature-packed with each new version. Where the Galaxy S9 series is Samsung’s top-end phone for normal people, the Note 9 is the powerhouse for those that need the answer to the question “can I do that on my phone†always to be yes. Continue reading...
Jonathan Lane recommends a flat-rate tax on revenues, and Philip Barton seeks a fairer tax rate to rein in the tech giantsI was interested to read that the EU and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, are considering taxing some global companies based on their revenues rather than their profits (Hammond calls for ‘Amazon tax’ to save the high street, 11 August). Would it not make sense to shake up corporation tax by scrapping the current system and imposing a revenue-based tax on all UK companies?For example, if every firm paid a flat 2% on revenues, all the loopholes would disappear overnight – ensuring all companies paid taxes proportionate to the business they do in the UK. With the sweeping away of complex tax law, costly tax advisers would become redundant, and tax accounting would be simplified. Continue reading...
Natasha Aponte got her Tinder matches to meet in New York City, all thinking they’d be going on a one-on-one dateNatasha Aponte is a New York-based model who isn’t afraid of some drama on a first date. Over the past month, she’s been using Tinder to arrange for hundreds of guys to meet her at the same place, at the same time, unbeknown to each other.Related: Why women should gamble on dating apps and pick the hottest men | Nichi Hodgson Continue reading...
This year’s official Formula One game is the closest yet to the real racing driver experience. You’ll even need to brush up on your TV interview techniqueXbox One, PlayStation 4, PC; CodemastersTurning the pinnacle of the motorsports world into an annual video game used to be a thankless task: an ever-changing track roster and the need to ensure that every virtual advertising hoarding corresponded to its real-life counterpart used to mean that a given year’s Formula One game would come out only when the season was ending. But this year’s F1 game from British developer Codemasters conveniently arrives during the sport’s mid-season break. Continue reading...
Musk tweeted on 7 August that he had ‘secured’ funding to take the company private, but so far no offer has been madeInvestors betting on a fall in Tesla’s share price have made $1.09bn since 7 August, when Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted he had “secured†funding to take the troubled company private.The electric car company’s shares soared 11% to $379 after Musk’s so-called “Tesla tweet†that he had “funding secured†to buy out investors at $420 share. But that tweet – now the subject of legal action and a regulatory inquiry – so far has not led to an offer and Tesla’s stock has fallen 19% to $308 share. Continue reading...
Plunge into ingenious shifting labyrinths to battle lethal beasts, in the knowledge that every gory failure makes you strongerPlaystation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC/Mac, Xbox One; Motion Twin
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