Google partially rolls back feature that removes loud and unwanted videos after complaints from users and developersGoogle has partially rolled back Chrome’s blocking of autoplaying video with sound after it was found to break a large collection of web apps and games.
Social network categorises users based on inferred interests such as Islam or homosexualityFacebook allows advertisers to target users it thinks are interested in subjects such as homosexuality, Islam or liberalism, despite religion, sexuality and political beliefs explicitly being marked out as sensitive information under new data protection laws.The social network gathers information about users based on their actions on Facebook and on the wider web, and uses that data to predict on their interests. These can be mundane – football, Manhattan or dogs, for instance – or more esoteric. Continue reading...
by Sam Levin in San Francisco and agencies on (#3Q8BT)
Ride-hailing service previously forced those making allegations to go to private arbitrationUber will stop forcing women who say they were sexually assaulted by drivers to resolve claims in secret outside of court, ending a controversial practice that critics said silenced victims.Under a new policy announced on Tuesday, Uber said it would allow US riders and drivers to file allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment in courts and mediation instead of being locked into arbitration, a private process that often results in confidentiality agreements. Continue reading...
Warning issued after council votes for corporate wealth tax to help tackle city’s housing crisisAmazon has threatened to move jobs out of its hometown of Seattle after the city council introduced a new tax to try to address the homelessness crisis.
Can Jurassic World Evolution break the curse of the terrible licensed movie-game?The perennial failure of video-game movies to capture the magic of their source material has been a hot topic this year – though as well as the boring new cinematic outing for Tomb Raider, 2018 has given us two qualified successes in the form of Ready Player One and Rampage, which suggests some improvement might be on the cards.Historically, video games based on movies have also been disappointingly rubbish. When developers known for their work-for-hire efficiency rather than their specialised talents are given mere months to piece together a game to tie in with a theatrical release, it’s perhaps unreasonable to expect much. Continue reading...
It’s not as if the tech hasn’t shown promise, but jet propulsion has never become part of our daily lives. Here’s whyThose of a certain age may remember the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. As Rafer Johnson lit the eternal flame, a man strapped into a rocket-propelled backpack launched himself across the arena above the ticker tape and balloons, landing gracefully on the track before a TV audience of 2.5 billion.It was a moment of triumph seeming to herald a new age in which, finally, teased for decades by Buck Rogers’ “degravity belt†and King of the Rocketmen, we’d all soon be fizzing off to work with our own personal jetpacks. Even Isaac Asimov confidently predicted that by the turn of the century, they would be “as common as a bicycleâ€.
Driver of Model S, which failed to stop at a red light and collided with a firetruck in Utah, told investigators she was using the semi-autonomous systemThe driver of a Tesla car that failed to stop at a red light and collided with a firetruck told investigators that the vehicle was operating on “autopilot†mode when it crashed, police said.A Tesla Model S was traveling at 60mph when it collided with the emergency vehicle in South Jordan, Utah, on Friday, causing minor injuries to both drivers, officials said Monday. The Tesla driver’s claim that the car was using the autopilot technology has raised fresh questions about the electric car company’s semi-autonomous system, which is supposed to assist drivers in navigating the road. Continue reading...
Most live-streamed footage is of affluent young white girls in their own homes, says IWFChildren are being coerced and blackmailed into live-streaming their own sexual abuse from their own homes, researchers have found.The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which carried out the study, says that large numbers of victims are white girls apparently from relatively affluent backgrounds, often streaming from their bedroom. Their profile contrasts markedly with that of typical offline abuse victims who are often homeless or poor, it points out. Continue reading...
After Cambridge Analytica fallout, the company is investigating apps that had access to large amounts of data before 2014Facebook said it had suspended roughly 200 apps as part of its investigation into the potential misuse of personal data on the social network, the latest fallout from the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.In an announcement on Monday, the company also said that it had investigated thousands of apps two months after reporting by the Observer and the Guardian revealed that millions of Americans’ personal data was harvested from Facebook and improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy. Continue reading...
In five years, online membership service Patreon has attracted two million patrons supporting 100,000 ‘creators’ to the tune of $350m – including nearly $1m a year for rightwing psychologist Jordan Peterson. So what’s the secret of its success?
Former Google robotics outfit Boston Dynamics announces 30kg quadruped will be available to buy for an as yet unknown priceFormer Google robotics outfit Boston Dynamics, famed for its advanced humanoid and canine automatons, has announced that it will begin sale of its headless robotic SpotMini next year.At a robotics conference in California, the company’s founder Marc Raibert announced that the slightly creepy SpotMini was currently in pre-production and scheduled for large-scale production and general availability from middle of 2019. Continue reading...
Plaintiffs complain of frustration at design that has left keys prone to becoming stuck, leaving laptops unusableApple is facing a class action lawsuit over the design of its MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards which, consumers complain, has keys that are prone to becoming stuck.The lawsuit follows a litany of complaints across user forums, specialist media and a petition with over 21,000 signatures urging Apple to recall the Mac laptops released since late 2016. Continue reading...
Australians are reportedly paying their telco providers for the data harvested by tech giantThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will investigate reports Google harvests huge amounts of data from Android phones, including detailed location information, after the software company Oracle revealed Google could be harvesting a gigabyte of data from devices each month.Not only does data transfer raise new privacy concerns for the 10 million Android users in Australia but they are also reportedly paying their telco providers to send the data. If it is in the vicinity of the gigabyte a month Oracle estimates, it is likely costing millions. Continue reading...
William Blake | Art and the CIA | Grenfell inquiry | Neanderthal brains | Predictive textI am as appalled as the other artists and arts lovers and activists who have expressed their concern about the philistine taboo on arts and creative subjects in the new English baccalaureate for secondary school children (Letters, 10 May). As William Blake pointed out, “Nations are destroy’d or flourish, in proportion as their Poetry, Painting, and Music are destroy’d or flourish.â€
MPs’ frustrations grow as new evidence in America reopens the issue of Kremlin influenceMike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, was the second executive Facebook offered up to answer questions from parliament’s select committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).He took his place in the hot seat in the wake of the first attendee, Simon Milner, Facebook’s (now ex-) head of policy for Europe, who answered a series of questions about Cambridge Analytica’s non-use of Facebook data that came back to haunt the company in the furore that followed the Observer and New York Times revelations from Christopher Wylie. Continue reading...
Georgina Chapman | In the Night Garden | Smart Compose | Philip K Dick | SuguruNo criticism of Georgina Chapman (‘I was so humiliated and so broken’, 11 May), but of the Guardian. Again you show an unhealthy interest in fashonista celebrity and weight loss – “the British fashion designer describes how she lost 10lbs in five daysâ€, with an accompanying “Photograph: Annie Liebovitz for Vogueâ€. British or American? I’m sure your readers are desperate to know; and will you do an article on trauma weight loss?
by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and produced by D on (#3PZNA)
US investigators recently tracked down the suspect of a 40-year-old murder case after uploading DNA to a genealogy website. Jordan Erica Webber weighs up the pros of finding ancestors with the cons of selling privacySubscribe and review: Acast, Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud. Join the discussion on Facebook, Twitter or email us at chipspodcast@theguardian.com.A former police officer called Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested in April in connection with a series of murders, rapes and burglaries attributed to an unknown assailant known as the Golden State Killer. Continue reading...
The app that analysed and scored users’ online followings has closed after 10 years – to make way for a tool that may cheapen social media even furtherName: Klout.Age: 10. Continue reading...
It’s taken three years for Boston Dynamics’ robot to be able to jog unaided outside, but now it can run across grass and leap over logsWith their advanced sensors, hiding from robots has never been an option, but running from their often plodding frames has been, until now. Atlas can now run after you.Three years ago former Google robotics outfit Boston Dynamics demonstrated its Terminator-like humanoid Atlas robot running through a forest tethered to a machine. Now that same hauntingly human robot can now run across and navigate uneven terrain unaided, bounding over the trickiest of obstacles … such as a log. Continue reading...
Plaintiffs claim social network’s ‘scraping’ of information including call recipients and duration violates privacy and competition lawFacebook is facing a class action lawsuit over the revelations that it logged text messages and phone calls via its smartphone apps.In the lawsuit filed in Facebook’s home of the northern district of California, the primary plaintiff, John Condelles III, states that the social network’s actions “presents several wrongs, including a consumer bait-and-switch, an invasion of privacy, wrongful monitoring of minors and potential attacks on privileged communications†such as those between doctor and patient. Continue reading...
The US firm Boston Dynamics has created a robot that can run autonomously and jump over obstacles, in this case a log. Other robots built by the company have been able to open doors and go down stairs Continue reading...
A fake Isis attack in an Iranian mall is the latest example of extreme YouTube pranks, a trend driven by American teensIt sounds like another terrifying story of insurgent terrorism in the Middle East: on Tuesday, men dressed in the black garb of the Islamic State stormed through a mall in Iran, brandishing swords and guns, shouting “Allahu Akbarâ€. Shoppers reportedly fled the scene in fear.It was reminiscent of the 2017 Tehran Isis attacks in which 17 people were killed. Except that the mall “attack†was actually a Punk’d style prank. The weapons were fake, and the presumed terrorists were actually actors. The whole incident was a piece of viral marketing for a film called Damascus Time about an Iranian father and son who are kidnapped by Isis. Some shoppers worked out what was going in and filmed the stunt on camera phones, but others can be heard screaming in terror. Continue reading...
Decision described as ‘hammer blow’ to west Ireland and comes before supreme court hearingApple is scrapping plans for an €850m (£743m) data centre in Ireland after three years of planning approval delays, the company has said.Plans for the European data centre were announced in February 2015, to be built in Athenry, County Galway, where green energy sources were available. The project was stalled by a series of planning appeals by conservationists seeking to preserve a forest. Continue reading...
Rikki says her son is too young for a smartphone, but wonders if a stylish ‘dumb’ device will withstand peer pressureMy son is nine and beginning to hang out with his pals, some of whom sport smartphones. Despite his pleas, we have made it clear there is no way he’s getting one. Aside from delaying his unbridled internet access, our argument is that if he can look after a dumb phone for a year or two, we might consider getting him a smartphone when he starts secondary school.I don’t want him to feel left out, and I’d like to get him a phone that – even though it lacks internet access – has a certain cachet, and perhaps some built-in games. But all the non-smartphones in the shops seem to be black and decidedly functional. RikkiDumb phones have very little cachet with children, unless you’re the first to have one, and it’s already too late for that. Your son may be happier if you involve him in buying a new phone, rather than giving him a hand-me-down, which is the usual parental solution. But unless he actually needs a phone, it might be simpler just to promise him a smartphone when he turns 11.
Ten pilot projects given greenlight for uses ranging from mapping and aircraft inspection to mosquito tracking and food deliveryApple, Intel, Microsoft and Uber will soon start flying drones for a range of tasks including food and package delivery, digital mapping and conducting surveillance as part of 10 pilot programmes approved Wednesday by the US government.The drone-testing projects have been given waivers for regulations that currently ban their use in the US and will be used to help the Federal Aviation Authority draw up suitable laws to govern the use of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for myriad tasks. Continue reading...
Google’s AI beat humans at a game that involved racing around an unfamiliar virtual environmentNotch up another win for the robots: the latest program from Google’s artificial intelligence group, DeepMind, has trounced experts at a maze game after it learned to find its way around like a human.Scientists noticed that when they trained the AI to move through a landscape, it spontaneously developed electrical activity akin to that seen in the specialised brain cells that underpin human navigational skills. So-called ‘grid cells’ were only identified in animals in 2005 in work that earned researchers a Nobel prize. Continue reading...
California conference agrees a guide to help tech companies moderate online contentSocial networks should publish the number of posts they remove, provide detailed information for users whose content is deleted about why, and offer the chance to appeal against enforcement efforts, according to a groundbreaking effort to provide a set of principles for large-scale moderation of online content.The Santa Clarita Principles, agreed at a conference in the Californian town this week, were proposed by a group of academics and non-profit organisations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ACLU, and the Center for Democracy and Technology. Continue reading...
Google is trying to free people from the burden of email using AI to type out the whole thing for you taking smart replies to their logical conclusionThe days of having to think about and physically type out emails is over, at least if Google’s new “Smart Compose†feature for Gmail has anything to say about it.
Can a robot fold towels? Could your toaster turn against you? And will Amazon know when you’re hungry and drone-deliver a Chinese takeaway directly to your mouth? Find out as we step into the home of the futureIf the invention of the ship was also the invention of the shipwreck, as the French philosopher Paul Virilio suggested, then what does that make the invention of the Nest learning thermostat? As our homes fill up with more connected devices, funnelling every aspect of our lives into the great cloud of big data, the answer could be something much more alarming than just a few more faulty appliances cluttering up our cupboards.This is one of the unsettling questions at the heart of The Future Starts Here, an exhibition about to open at the V&A in London. It promises to be less of a showcase of Tomorrow’s World-type gadgetry than a thought-provoking probe into where exactly this new generation of smart technology is taking us. “People seem scared of the future at the moment,†says Rory Hyde who, with co-curator Mariana Pestana, has spent the last two years trawling university laboratories and touring Silicon Valley to gather 100 hot-out-of-the-factory innovations, from a low-cost satellite to a solar-powered shirt that can charge a smartphone. Continue reading...
Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, introduces a new robotic assistant in his keynote address to Google's 2018 conference in California on Tuesday. The virtual assistant, powered by Google Duplex, uses a very natural speech pattern that includes interjections such as 'er' and 'mmm-hmm' so that it sounds eerily lifelike.
As firms face scrutiny over habit-forming technologies, Google unveils system to show users how much time they spend on their devicesGoogle has unveiled a range of tools focused on “digital wellbeingâ€, designed to help people disconnect from their phones.“Our team has heard so many stories from people trying to find the right balance with technology,†said Sameer Samat, vice-president, product management, adding that although people find their devices useful, they would prefer to spend some of the time spent staring at a screen “on better thingsâ€. Continue reading...
Google Duplex contacts hair salon and restaurant in demo, adding ‘er’ and ‘mmm-hmm’ so listeners think it’s humanGoogle’s virtual assistant can now make phone calls on your behalf to schedule appointments, make reservations in restaurants and get holiday hours.The robotic assistant uses a very natural speech pattern that includes hesitations and affirmations such as “er†and “mmm-hmm†so that it is extremely difficult to distinguish from an actual human phone call. Continue reading...
Selfie Kiss | Finding companionship | Al Capone and Donald Trump | Predictive text | Double entendresThe Belvedere Gallery in Vienna is to be congratulated on its “Selfie Kiss†(Museums gear up for the selfie generation, 3 May). When I visited several years ago, Klimt’s painting was difficult to appreciate among the throng of visitors. Last year, a sign pointed to the Selfie Kiss room, where dozens of visitors took turns to take selfies against a copy, leaving the real thing to be admired by a significantly smaller number.
Tuning of car’s software to avoid false positives blamed, as US National Transportation Safety Board investigation continuesAn Uber self-driving test car which killed a woman crossing the street detected her but decided not to react immediately, a report has said.The car was travelling at 40mph (64km/h) in self-driving mode when it collided with 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg at about 10pm on 18 March. Herzberg was pushing a bicycle across the road outside of a crossing. She later died from her injuries. Continue reading...
Debbie Bestwick will sell up to half her shares when Yorkshire-based video games firm floatsThe founder of the Yorkshire-based video games company behind hits such as Worms is set for a £50m windfall from a stockmarket listing valuing the business at up to £230m.Debbie Bestwick, 48, founded Team17 in 1990 and her stake will be worth approximately £100m when the company floats on Aim this month. Bestwick, who received an MBE in 2016 for services to the video games industry, intends to sell up to 50% of her shareholding in the flotation. Continue reading...
Methods activate ‘same brain mechanisms as cocaine’ and leads to users experiencing ‘phantom’ notification buzzing, experts warnSocial media platforms are using the same techniques as gambling firms to create psychological dependencies and ingrain their products in the lives of their users, experts warn.These methods are so effective they can activate similar mechanisms as cocaine in the brain, create psychological cravings and even invoke “phantom calls and notifications†where users sense the buzz of a smartphone, even when it isn’t really there. Continue reading...
A crowd of 18,000 filled a Sydney arena at the weekend to watch groups of young men play video games for huge cash prizesWhenever an artist scheduled to play Qudos Bank Arena at Sydney Olympic Park doesn’t sell enough tickets, the venue tactfully drapes black cloth over the empty seats in the theatre’s uppermost section. Filling more than 18,000 seats is quite an ask, which is why only top-flight acts like Pink, Katy Perry, Shania Twain and Kendrick Lamar are attempting it in coming months.The black cloth is not needed today. Sydney gaming enthusiasts have filled the venue almost to capacity for the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), a three-day professional video game tournament that rivals anything Qudos has hosted in terms of scale and spectacle.
I’m far from alone in my fear of people leaving me messages – and phone, email, text, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook are no better. So I’ve come up with a cake-based solutionI’m a millennial and I hate voicemails. They are up there with my most millennial of phobias; meeting a real-life Ross Geller; going to a restaurant that doesn’t give you the option of adding halloumi to a breakfast.I hate the little tape cassette icon that won’t go away, haunting you even after you have listened to the voicemail, as if Edgar Allan Poe designed app notifications. I hate the opacity of the message, with no information about the contents unless you listen to it, making it an ominous lucky dip of opportunity or disaster. Continue reading...
Trio who wrote climate paper had no idea they were referenced more than 2.8 million timesAn academic paper on global climate zones written by three Australians more than a decade ago has been named the most cited source on Wikipedia, having being referenced more than 2.8m times.But the authors of the paper, who are still good friends, had no idea about the wider impact of their work until recently. Continue reading...
Forget the awards and acclaim – nothing says you’ve hit the big time like having a creature named after youA new species of water beetle, discovered by scientists in Borneo, has been named after the Oscar-winning star of The Revenant. With its partially retractable head and slightly protruding eyes, Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi was not named for its resemblance to the 43-year-old actor and environmentalist but because the scientists “wanted to highlight that even the smallest creature is importantâ€. Continue reading...
Dedicated virtual reality installations offer an experience you can’t recreate at home – like in the early days of video gamingThe rise of the gaming console has left its mark on living rooms and bedrooms around Britain – but it has also hit the high street. There were around 1,000 amusement arcades in the UK in the 1980s, but that number had halved by 2011, according to the amusements industry trade body, Bacta.Now, the next generation of gaming – virtual reality – is once again making the arcade the prime venue for playing cutting-edge games. Continue reading...
Guardian Australia heads to the picturesque foreshores of Sydney Harbour to discuss the art of time-lapse photography with Matthew Vandeputte, a Belgian-born photographer who has made a name for himself pushing the technique to its limits.Using the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as subjects, Vandeputte talks through the process, saying it reveals a ‘hidden dimension that we’re living in, but not aware of’ Continue reading...
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