When you can’t afford broadband at home, everything – from school work to Ucas or benefit applications – is more difficultA lot of the discussion about Labour’s promise to provide free fibreoptic broadband for all has revolved around economics, speculative polling and even “communism”. But it has not addressed what life without easy internet access is actually like for people across the country.I’m 26 now, and we didn’t have the internet at home when I was a teenager. Internet access is generally bad in rural communities, but I lived in Belfast: it was just one utility bill too many. In fact, it’s still fairly common for people not to have it because of the cost – according to 2017 figures from Ofcom, only 47% of those on low incomes have broadband internet at home. So when I saw the policy announcement, my first thought was how much easier free internet would have made my school work and university applications. Continue reading...

Dominic Raab defends rebranding account during debate and adds: ‘no one gives a toss’

Lobbyists worked for 29 current members of Congress, including Democratic party leaders, helping promote company’s interestsAs tech giant Facebook grapples with congressional hearings over its policy allowing politicians to sponsor untruthful ads and its role in proliferating hate speech, dozens of its lobbyists have connections to members of Congress, likely giving them special access that helps them promote the company’s interests. Continue reading...

The deeply corny film Last Christmas was maligned for its main character’s ‘look up’ philosophy. But perhaps it’s the philosophy we need right nowIn Paul Feig’s romantic comedy Last Christmas, jaded Londoner Kate (Emilia Clarke) notices a handsome stranger, Tom (Henry Golding), outside the Christmas-themed shop where she works. “Look up,” he tells her.She follows Tom’s gaze … and spots a peregrine falcon on a high ledge. However, she immediately cops an eyeful of bird shit – just as she later stumbles into a pile of rubbish while looking up at a delightful old shop sign. So far, so screwball. Continue reading...

Errors affect Tories and Labour, with heavy spending on search words not always recordedGoogle is underreporting spending on UK political adverts, in one case by a factor of a thousand, the company has admitted.Like many technology companies, Google voluntarily publishes a weekly transparency report, providing updates on how much money has been spent by political parties and other organisations on adverts. Continue reading...

Leave.EU co-founder accuses platform of leaving his personal data online for 24 hoursArron Banks’s Twitter account has been hacked and the entire private message history of the Leave.EU founder uploaded to the internet, in what appears to be a targeted attack that has been reported to the police.The founder of the pro-Brexit campaign group, who has been the subject of questions about the source of his group’s funding and rule breaches during the EU referendum, confirmed the hack and accused Twitter of leaving his personal data available for anyone to access for almost 24 hours. Continue reading...

Rental company hit by clampdown in Canada and unrest in FranceAirbnb has come under fresh pressure on both sides of the Atlantic, with Toronto winning a major victory against the proliferation of “ghost hotels” and Paris denouncing a “risky” deal between the Olympic committee and the short-term rental company.After nearly two years of appeals, a tribunal in Ontario has ruled in favour of bylaws passed by Toronto, Canada’s largest city, aimed at reining in short-term rentals. Continue reading...

Labour’s £15,000 spend has bought almost 13m video views

Labor’s innovation spokeswoman to say on Tuesday that politicians are failing to properly deal with technological disruption and a policy overhaul is neededThe Australian parliament has failed to engage in sustained policy work about the impact of technological change, with critical issues such as encryption and the use of metadata considered on the run by MPs who aren’t across the detail, according to Labor’s innovation spokeswoman, Clare O’Neil.O’Neil will use a speech to the tech industry on Tuesday to call for a significant policy reset, arguing the current regulatory framework is deficient and legislators “don’t have forever” to strike an effective balance between data and privacy. Continue reading...

IOC president says athletes directly benefit from Airbnb’s sponsorship of next five GamesThe International Olympic Committee is encouraging current and former Olympic athletes to sell personal experiences and access to their training regimes to fans via Airbnb.At a press conference in London to announce Airbnb’s $500m (£380m) sponsorship of the next five Olympics, the IOC president, Thomas Bach said: “From this partnership there will also be direct benefit for athletes.” Continue reading...

The challenge of providing high-quality video game streaming has been met – but the launch lineup of games is disappointingThe Stadia is nothing short of revolutionary. Its core technology delivers on a promise decades in the making: console-quality gaming, without the console. But revolutions have unpredictable outcomes, leave a trail of destruction in their wake, and have a tendency to destroy those who start them. Will Google be able to see this through? Continue reading...

Jordan Erica Webber looks at the pros and cons of mental health appsJordan is joined by Ammar Kalia, Sarah Niblock, Prof Paul Stallard and Daniel Mansson. Continue reading...

Transport workers’ union launches appeal against a Fair Work Commission decision that upheld the sacking of the Adelaide-based driverThe case of an Uber Eats driver who was allegedly sacked for delivering food 10 minutes late has been likened to modern-day slavery by the Transport Workers’ Union.The union on Monday launched a bid to appeal a previous Fair Work Commission decision that upheld the sacking of Adelaide-based driver Amita Gupta. Continue reading...

The British proposal’s critics point to Australia’s national broadband network as demonstrating why governments should not get involved in broadbandUK Labour’s proposed full-fibre broadband policy is drawing a lot of comparisons to Australia’s national broadband network, but the differences are important and will decide whether the policy is viable.Last week, Labour announced a policy to give full-fibre broadband across 29m homes in the UK by 2030 at a cost of £20bn. Continue reading...

Hugh Chignell compares it with radio, Eunice Hinds says it will improve the lives of millions, and David Robson ridicules the criticism of Labour’s plan as ‘communist’When Jeremy Corbyn argues that free broadband is “an essential utility” (Business backlash over Labour broadband plan, 16 November) he harks back to the early years of radio, almost a hundred years ago. John Reith, the first director general of the BBC, would surely have agreed with Corbyn.The early pioneers of the BBC realised that radio could reach into every home and would provide a universal service for the public good. Radio would be entertaining, enriching and educational, and would inform every citizen in an energised democracy. Continue reading...

Only 8% of homes can get ‘gold standard of broadband’ – but those few see it as a necessityLabour’s plan to provide free full-fibre broadband to every home and business is an eye-catching offer to potential voters. But while the scheme has been labelled “fantasy economics” by critics, people who already enjoy ultra-fast broadband view it as invaluable.Like the roll-out of 5G for mobile phones, full-fibre broadband is the much-hyped next big thing for internet connectivity. It will mean speeds of more than one gigabit per second, letting users download an HD movie in under 50 seconds. Continue reading...

With Google’s Chrome dominating the market, not-for-profit rival Mozilla is staking a comeback on its dedication to privacyWhy do you choose the browser you use? Maybe you think it loads pages more quickly. Maybe it’s made by the same firm as your device and you think it’s more compatible in some way. You prefer the graphics, perhaps, or it just happened to be pre-installed on your machine. Maybe you’re not even aware that there’s a choice.In reality, two-thirds of us have been funnelled into using Google’s Chrome, but browser choice also hides a contest about the openness of the web and how data is collected about users. One organisation that has always put such issues to the forefront is Mozilla. Continue reading...

Technical advances are a boon, but VAR proves they rely on the people using themEven if you can’t tell your offside from your elbow (in the face), you’ve probably heard of VAR. The video assistant referee has been introduced into top-level football to cut out errors by referees. At every Premier League game, a VAR referee watches TV feeds of the game to check potentially contentious decisions.Moaning at referees has long been the staple of football fans. “That was never a penalty!” “Ref, do you need glasses? It was offside by a mile.” Continue reading...

Governments in Australia have come up with some creative reasons to sell the public on the use of facial recognition technologyIt started with passports. Then it was your phone. Now governments in Australia want you to use facial verification to access government services, take public transport and even for your private viewing.Last month the joint standing committee on intelligence and security told the government it needed to rethink its plans for a national facial verification database built off people’s passport and driver’s licence photos. It said there weren’t strong enough safeguards for citizens’ privacy and security built into the legislation. Continue reading...

Impact X, set up to support businesses run by or for minorities and women, is on its way to raising £100mBola Adegbulu’s idea came to him by accident – literally. Narrowly avoiding a car crash inspired the Londoner’s idea for smart navigation software that could predict the safest route for drivers and prevent some of the 1.3 million deaths due to road accidents globally each year. With more than 90% of those fatalities taking place in developing nations, including Adegbulu’s native Nigeria, the concept hit home.The 30-year-old spent two years working on the pilot for his company, Predina, with co-founder Meha Nelson, before clinching funding from Impact X Capital Partners: a new black-owned-and-run venture capital firm in London aiming to reverse the lack of funding for startups led by, or serving, women and people of colour. Continue reading...

The environmental impact of such technological advances can be hugeThere is, alas, no such thing as a free lunch. This simple and obvious truth is invariably forgotten whenever irrational exuberance teams up with digital technology in the latest quest to “change the world”. A case in point was the bitcoin frenzy, where one could apparently become insanely rich by “mining” for the elusive coins. All you needed was to get a computer to solve a complicated mathematical puzzle and – lo! – you could earn one bitcoin, which at the height of the frenzy was worth $19,783.06. All you had to do was buy a mining kit (or three) from Amazon, plug it in and become part of the crypto future.The only problem was that mining became progressively more difficult the closer we got to the maximum number of bitcoins set by the scheme and so more and more computing power was required. Which meant that increasing amounts of electrical power were needed to drive the kit. Exactly how much is difficult to calculate, but one estimate published in July by the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge suggested that the global bitcoin network was then consuming more than seven gigwatts of electricity. Over a year, that’s equal to around 64 terawatt-hours (TWh), which is 8 TWh more than Switzerland uses annually. So each of those magical virtual coins turns out to have a heavy environmental footprint. Continue reading...

For the latest in keyboards, monitors and headsets, our jargon-free accessories guide will raise your game however you play itWhether you’re a PC, console or smartphone gamer, there’s a wealth of accessories that promise to improve your experience – and your score. But from mechanical keyboards to high dynamic range monitors the choices and jargon can be confusing. Here is our selection of the best gaming peripherals, whatever you play on. Continue reading...

For Corbyn the proposal would create a ‘treasured institution’, but Johnson calls it ‘crazed’

Ban will come with restrictions on ‘cause-based’ ads, as Facebook faces backlash over policiesTwitter’s rules for political advertising will include new restrictions on micro-targeting, a move that will increase pressure on Facebook, the company announced on Friday.The policy rollout follows Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s surprise announcement on 30 October that the company would ban all political advertising due to a belief that “political message reach should be earned, not bought”. The new rules will go into effect on 22 November. Continue reading...

Fed up with slow internet, Michaelston-y-Fedw residents took matters into their own hands

As the experiment expands to US accounts, some influencers are worried they will lose followers or incomeInstagram has begun to hide the number of users who have “liked” a photo for some accounts in the US in an ongoing effort to create a less stressful experience.The shift had influencers, artists, celebrities and everyday users up in arms – Nicki Minaj even said she’d stop posting on the platform – with many worrying the transition will lose them followers and ultimately income. Continue reading...

PC, PS4 (version tested), Xbox One; Electronic Arts

Everwild, Grounded and more than 50 new titles for the xCloud streaming service topped the line-up at Microsoft’s Xbox fan eventMicrosoft revealed a host of new Xbox and PC titles at its X019 fan event in London on Thursday night, including projects from Rare and Obsidian. The company also announced it would expand its xCloud game streaming service and its Xbox Game Pass subscription platform.The major game revelation was Everwild, a title from veteran studio Rare. With development being led by Louise O’Connor, known for her work on the cult favourite Conker’s Bad Fur Day, the project looks to be a mystical, woodland-set action adventure game, with a muted painterly art style reminiscent of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Continue reading...

Tell Me Why, the latest narrative adventure from French studio Dontnod, stars a trans man – a decision the team says it didn’t take lightlyAt Microsoft’s X019 event in London on Thursday, the company revealed a range of major new titles for the Xbox and PC. But in an industry which has often struggled with representation and diversity of lead characters, one announcement stood out.The latest narrative adventure game from the acclaimed French studio Dontnod will have a transgender man as its lead character – a first for a major game release. Continue reading...

Company is listed as a ‘gold circle’ sponsor for rightwing group Federalist Society dinner where justice will be keynote speakerFacebook is facing criticism for sponsoring the annual gala dinner of the Federalist Society, the powerful rightwing legal group behind the nomination of the conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.Related: Nancy Pelosi accuses Trump of bribery after first public impeachment hearing – live Continue reading...

Google’s reputation has remained relatively unscathed despite behaviors similar to Facebook’s. This could be the tipping pointFew things are certain in the American healthcare system – except for the paperwork. The tedious ritual of signing forms authorizing new providers to access our medical history is the result of a rarity for Americans: thanks to the first amendment, we have few rights and little expectation of privacy, except when it comes to our medical records. Even doctors who have our best interests at heart must get permission to access our data under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Hipaa).So it was truly shocking to learn this week that a business partnership between Google and Ascension, a major hospital chain and health insurer, has resulted in the transfer of 50 million Americans’ most intimate medical records to the Silicon Valley company, without the knowledge or consent of those 50 million patients. Even more alarming, the records are not de-identified, and a whistleblower disclosed to the Guardian serious concerns about the program, including that individual staffers have downloaded patient records. Continue reading...

App-centric box is like a smart TV combined with a video recorder, with access to almost everythingVirgin Media is Sky’s long-time rival in the pay-TV space, delivering TV coverage through its own cable network to its latest V6 box. Positioned as the king of the aggregators where you can get everyone’s channels for cheaper, does Virgin deliver?First things first, Virgin TV only works if you happen to live in a cable area, which immediately makes its availability smaller than Sky, BT or the others. Virgin currently covers over 50% of UK households with a target to reach 53% by the end of 2020. Continue reading...

Angela is a light internet user and is wondering if she could make do with an older, slower ADSL serviceI signed up for fibre broadband a couple of years ago but am now wondering whether it is worth the cost. The only devices I use in my home are a six-year-old Toshiba Satellite L870 laptop and a Samsung tablet. I use them for email, web browsing and watching BBC iPlayer, but not much else. The laptop runs Windows 10 and works well enough so I don’t have any immediate plans to replace it.If I revert to ordinary broadband, will I notice a reduction in performance in either device? AngelaYou should notice a difference, because your “fibre” connection is probably about five times faster than you will get from ADSL2. However, for your purposes, the difference may not matter. Continue reading...

Study finds Robert F Kennedy Jr’s World Mercury Project and Larry Cook’s Stop Mandatory Vaccinations bought 54% of adsThe majority of Facebook ads spreading misinformation about vaccines are funded by two organizations run by well-known anti-vaccination activists, a new study in the journal Vaccine has found.The World Mercury Project chaired by Robert F Kennedy Jr, and Stop Mandatory Vaccinations, a project of campaigner Larry Cook, bought 54% of the anti-vaccine ads shown on the platform during the study period. Continue reading...

Karatbars used former football stars Lothar Matthäus, Roberto Carlos and Patrick Kluivert to promote productsA German cryptocurrency company that used the former football stars Lothar Matthäus, Roberto Carlos and Patrick Kluivert to promote its products has been ordered by a German watchdog to wind up its blockchain-based business after allegations it was luring customers into a pyramid scheme.Karatbars, founded by a Stuttgart-born former vacuum cleaner salesman, Harald Seiz, in 2011, has promised to revolutionise the world’s financial system through its internet-based currency. Continue reading...

News of service called Cache comes day after whistleblower sounded alarm over secret transfer of personal medical dataGoogle is preparing to launch a personal checking account service, a move that comes as its big tech rivals are increasingly focused on consumer finance.The project, in partnership with Citigroup and code-named Cache, is expected to launch next year. Continue reading...

A group of Facebook workers say they are treated as if they ‘do not belong’ at the companyOne year after a former Facebook manager accused the company of having “a black people problem” – failing its black employees by allowing the proliferation of a hostile workplace culture — an anonymous group of tech workers at the social media giant have penned a letter in which they argue that the problem has only metastasized.“Racism, discrimination, bias, and aggression do not come from the big moments,” they write. “It’s in the small actions that mount up over time and build into a culture where we are only meant to be seen as quotas, but never heard, never acknowledged, never recognized, and never accepted.” Continue reading...

US electric carmaker will build battery factory in Berlin, says boss Elon MuskThe Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, has said Brexit uncertainty played a role in the firm’s decision to build its first European factory in Germany rather than the UK.The billionaire entrepreneur revealed that the firm’s European battery plant would be built on the outskirts of Berlin. Continue reading...

Fears about overtourism have prompted the new holiday rental website to ban properties owned by businesses and donate 50% of commission to community projectsEthical holiday rental website Fairbnb.coop has launched its reservations system offering travellers a chance to book in at city apartments that support community projects. The site aims to be a marketplace for “authentic, fair and conscious tourism” and promises to donate 50% of its commission to social projects selected by local residents.“In Amsterdam the money will go to a community gardening project in the north and an urban agriculture project for migrant women in the south-east – both poorer parts of the city,” said Fairbnb.coop’s Spanish founder, Sito Veracruz. Continue reading...

Legislation that reverses onus of proof described as ‘a dangerous precedent’New South Wales courts could be flooded with tens of thousands of cases every year if the NSW government moves ahead with plans to roll out cameras that use artificial intelligence to detect drivers using their mobile phones, a parliamentary committee has warned.The state parliament is considering legislation that would allow mobile phone detection cameras to be placed around NSW to capture drivers using their mobile phones while behind the wheel. The government estimates that there were at least 158 casualties on NSW roads between 2012 and 2018 involving mobile phones. Continue reading...

Company has confirmed system bug in the latest version of iOS app, and said it is submitting a fix to AppleA system bug has been allowing Facebook to access iPhone cameras as users scroll through their feed, the company confirmed on Tuesday.Twitter user Joshua Maddux tweeted a screen recording this weekend that showed his iPhone camera would open as he scrolled through his social media feed. Other users had also noticed the glitch earlier in the month, one calling it “a little worrying”. Continue reading...

Speakers at event in Oxford say ‘junk news’ tools pioneered by Russians now originate in UKMisinformation techniques first deployed by Russian agents are now more commonly used in Britain by the far right, as well as by politicians to convince their own voters, an audience in Oxford has been told.At an event hosted by Oxford University’s Internet Institute, which has been studying the effects of “computational propaganda” in elections around the world, speakers said the evidence of foreign interference in Britain’s election was slim, but that strategies first deployed by foreign actors were still going strong. The event was held under the Chatham House rule, meaning speakers can be quoted but not named. Continue reading...

Whistleblower tells Guardian of growing alarm over secret transfer of medical history data, which can be accessed by Google staffA whistleblower who works in Project Nightingale, the secret transfer of the personal medical data of up to 50 million Americans from one of the largest healthcare providers in the US to Google, has expressed anger to the Guardian that patients are being kept in the dark about the massive deal.Related: Mick Mulvaney drops impeachment lawsuit but will not comply with House subpoena – live Continue reading...

The pop star, who shunned mobile phones before the iPhone era, joins Elton John and Werner Herzog in his abstinenceDespite being one of the UK’s most successful pop stars, with millions of social media followers to keep updated, Robbie Williams has revealed he hasn’t owned a phone since 2006.Speaking on football talk show Back of the Net, Williams said: “I haven’t owned a phone since 2006. I’m always on my computer, I’ve always got Wi-Fi … I got rid of [my phone] because I just don’t like them.” Continue reading...

After the 2016 US election, some fear online interference could create political chaos in the UK. The truth is more complexWe’re now well into the “phoney war” period of the election – where on the surface all seems calm. Parliament has been prorogued, there have been a few early jabs, and a consensus is already beginning to emerge about how everything will play out online.Related: Ex-Johnson aide behind banned Facebook ad worked on fake grassroots campaign Continue reading...

The id Software founder talks about secret rooms, the value of guns and what the controversial genre has lost since the 1990s“Give us more guns!” is a common battle-cry among players of first-person shooters, the videogame industry’s bloodiest genre. Doom co-creator John Romero has a rather different opinion.“I would rather have fewer things with more meaning, than a million things you don’t identify with,” he says, sitting in a Berlin bar mocked up to resemble a 1920s Chicago speakeasy. “I would rather spend more time with a gun and make sure the gun’s design is really deep – that there’s a lot of cool stuff you learn about it.” Continue reading...

Adding a screen for the time transforms the Echo Dot into the best bedroom smart speakerAmazon has a new twist on its popular cut-price Echo Dot smart speaker, now setting its sights squarely on your beleaguered bedside alarm clock with a new LED display embedded in the side.The Echo Dot with Clock is one of those true Ronseal products - it says what it does on the tin. It is literally the same as the excellent third-generation Echo Dot, but is only available in white and has a white LED display showing the time peeking through the fabric side. Continue reading...

Calculating the patterns and cycles of the past could lead us to a better understanding of history. Could it also help us prevent a looming crisis? By Laura SpinneyIn its first issue of 2010, the scientific journal Nature looked forward to a dazzling decade of progress. By 2020, experimental devices connected to the internet would deduce our search queries by directly monitoring our brain signals. Crops would exist that doubled their biomass in three hours. Humanity would be well on the way to ending its dependency on fossil fuels.A few weeks later, a letter in the same journal cast a shadow over this bright future. It warned that all these advances could be derailed by mounting political instability, which was due to peak in the US and western Europe around 2020. Human societies go through predictable periods of growth, the letter explained, during which the population increases and prosperity rises. Then come equally predictable periods of decline. These “secular cycles” last two or three centuries and culminate in widespread unrest – from worker uprisings to revolution. Continue reading...

Company reportedly gets access to health records across 21 US states via alliance with Ascension, a leading providerGoogle’s announcement of a partnership with a major healthcare provider raises fresh privacy concerns as the tech company expands its footprint into the healthcare industry.Monday’s announcement comes after the Wall Street Journal revealed Google had won access to health-related information of millions of Americans across 21 states through the partnership with Ascension – the second-largest healthcare system in the US. Continue reading...

Dara Khosrowshahi scrambles after saying Saudi Arabia’s murder of dissident was a ‘mistake’ similar to self-driving car accidentDara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Uber, has attempted to limit the damage after calling the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi “a mistake” similar to a fatal accident that occurred during tests of his company’s self-driving car.Related: The Killing in the Consulate by Jonathan Rugman review – a dark fable of unaccountable power Continue reading...