by Kalyeena Makortoff and Robert Booth on (#6TCQW)
One alert claimed BBC story said Luigi Mangione, alleged murderer of US healthcare CEO, had killed himselfApple has said it will update an artificial intelligence feature that has issued inaccurate news alerts on its latest iPhones, including that a man accused of killing a US insurance boss had shot himself and that the tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.The tech company said it was developing a software update that would further clarify" when news notifications were actually summaries generated by the company's Apple Intelligence system. It said the update would be rolled out in the coming weeks. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Concerns raised over role of Faculty AI, which has worked with NHS and government safety bodyA company that has worked closely with the UK government on artificial intelligence safety, the NHS and education is also developing AI for military drones.The consultancy Faculty AI has experience developing and deploying AI models on to UAVs", or unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a defence industry partner company. Continue reading...
Lightwood, Derbyshire: Shine it on a simple green plant like moss or saxifrage and they become glittering, baroque jewelsI'm blaming my fellow diarist KateBlincoe. Recently, she extolled the joys of a UV torch, on the strength of which I bought one, have become addicted and now see the world entirely anew.Ultraviolet is a shortwave, high-energy light normally undetectable to the human eye, but it is also damaging to many life forms. In the late Proterozoic ,most life flourished only under the sea, until the protective UV shield - the ozone layer - formed, 15km to 30km aboveour heads. Continue reading...
LA tech entrepreneur Mike Johns nearly missed his flight after he became trapped in a malfunctioning self-driving car. 'I got my seat belt on. I can't get out of the car. Has this been hacked? What's going on?' Johns can be heard saying. The issue was resolved after a few minutes, Waymo said in a statement. Johns ultimately managed to catch his flight from Arizona to southern California, which he said was delayed
Mike Johns' self-driving car started circling a parking lot, but he recognizes there are glitches that need stitches'A tech entrepreneur based in Los Angeles became trapped in a malfunctioning self-driving car for several minutes last month, causing him to nearly miss a flight, he said.Mike Johns was riding in an autonomous Waymo car on his way to Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix when the vehicle began driving around a parking lot repeatedly, circling eight times as he was on the phone seeking help from the company. Continue reading...
French president accuses world's richest man of intervening directly in continent's democratic processesEmmanuel Macron has added his voice to a growing chorus of European criticism of Elon Musk, accusing the world's richest man of intervening directly in the continent's democratic processes, including Germany's snap federal elections next month.The French president joined the Norwegian and British prime ministers and a German government spokesperson on Monday in responding to a barrage of hostile posts by Musk backing far-right political parties and attacking leftwing politicians in Europe. Continue reading...
The Earth is dying and the only hope is a distant planet in a game that is a playable blend of Alien and The ThingSupermassive's games have always been cinematic, from the persuasive performances of slasher-horror Until Dawn to the chillier atmosphere of interactive ghost story Man of Medan. This time around, with sci-fi horror Directive 8020, the studio wears its Hollywood influences even more brazenly on its sleeve.The Earth is dying, and humanity's last hope is a planet called Tau Ceti F. Yet as the crew of colony ship Cassiopeia survey the promising planet, they soon discover that they aren't alone. Stalked by a horrifying alien organism that can chillingly mimic its prey, the crew of the Cassiopeia must outwit these predators and return home, with each former friend and crewmate now a potential threat. In other words, it's a playable blend of Alien and The Thing. Continue reading...
Sim-swap' fraud has affected three readers - and dealing with their mobile phone company hasn't been easyWhat some O2 customers may have wanted for Christmas was a phone number, since long-cherished ones have had a habit of going astray. Whether they got lucky is another matter, as O2's customer services can be as hard to pin down as LordLucan.JD's number was taken from her when fraudsters, pretending be her, tricked O2 into transferring it to a sim they'd acquired from another provider. Continue reading...
Proposed space launches within next two years could ultimately deliver mobile phone signal even to most remote areasAmazon is hoping to offer a satellite broadband service in the UK within the next two years as it prepares to launch a constellation of spacecraft that could ultimately deliver a mobile signal even to the most remote areas.The tech company, founded by Jeff Bezos, said it would seek access to British radio frequencies over the next one to two years" as it prepares to offer satellite internet, according to a regulatory filing first reported by the Sunday Telegraph. Continue reading...
Watch Duty - which began in California and has expanded across 14 states - alerted the public to more than 9,000 wildfires in 2024Cristy Thomas began to panic as she called 911 for the second time on a warm October day but couldn't get through. She anxiously watched the plume of black smoke pouring over her rural community in central California get larger.Then she heard a familiar ping. Continue reading...
World's richest man has been voicing support for Germany's far-right AfD party while insulting its current leadersWhen the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was asked in an interview about the barrage of insults being directed at him and other German leaders by Elon Musk, the world's richest man, his reply was: Don't feed the troll."Speaking to the German weekly Stern, Scholz described the criticisms as nothing new. You have to stay cool," he said in the interview. As Social Democrats, we have long been used to the fact that there are rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics - and do not hide their opinions." Continue reading...
The SpaceX chief's powerful new system is set to slash the cost of missions, leaving Nasa in the dustIt was one of the most striking technological events of the year. On 13 October, Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, blasted into space from a launchpad in Texas. Its main booster reached an altitude of more than 65km before it began to hurtle back to Earth at a velocity greater than the speed of sound.A crash was averted when the rocket - built by Elon Musk's SpaceX company - reignited its engines and slowed down until it hovered tantilisingly over the tower from which it had been fired aloft only seven minutes earlier. Pincer claws grasped the giant launcher and held it firmly in their grip, ready forrefurbishment and relaunch. Continue reading...
Nisha Desai is part of growing conservative push to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in corporate USPayPal has been sued by an Asian American businesswoman who accused the digital payments company of racial bias for restricting part of a $535m investment program to Black and Hispanic applicants, costing her millions of dollars.Thursday's complaint by Nisha Desai and her New York-based venture capital firm Andav Capital is part of a growing push among some conservatives to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in corporate America. Continue reading...
State-backed cyberspies are exploiting ageing infrastructure to penetrate every corner of the US government, it seems - even its phone-tapping systemsYou know the drill. You're logging into your bank or another service (Gmail, to name just one) that you use regularly. You enter your username and password and then the service says that it will send you an SMS message with a code in it which you can use to confirm that it is indeed you who's logged in. It's called two factor authentication" (2FA) and it passes for best practice in our networked world, given that passwords and login details can easily be cracked.Sadly, our world is wicked as well as networked, and that SMS message can be redirected to someone else's phone - that of the criminal who has logged in using your phished personal details - and who is now busily emptying your current account. Continue reading...
Company's own inquiry found money laundering and children performing sexualized acts for digital currencyTikTok has long been aware that its video livestream feature has been misused to harm children, according to newly revealed details in a lawsuit brought against the social media company by the state of Utah. Those harms include child sexual exploitation and what Utah calls an open-door policy allowing predators and criminals to exploit users".The state's attorney general says TikTok conducted an internal investigation in which it discovered adults paid teens to strip, pose, and dance provocatively" using its livestream feature, known as TikTok Live. Another internal investigation showed TikTok Live was used to launder money, sell drugs and fund terrorist groups, according to the lawsuit. Continue reading...
Musk has now used X as a platform to make aggressive interventions in US politics - and in those of other countriesAs a business proposition, Elon Musk's ownership of X, formerly known as Twitter, has so far been a disaster: since he acquired it in late 2022, the social media company, according to one estimate, has lost nearly 80% of its value.As a political proposition, however, Musk's purchase may turn out to be one of the shrewdest investments of all time. Every week, the platform seems to supercharge a news issue that comes to dominate conservative discourse - and often mainstream discourse, as well - with real political repercussions. Continue reading...
The tech scene is booming in the US's largest Black-majority city, with foreign investment and a recent population boostWhen the Book Cadillac hotel opened in Detroit a century ago this month, it crowned the Motor City as one of the most dominant metropolitan powers on the planet.The tallest hotel in the world at the time, it boasted more than 1,100 rooms set across 31 stories. Back then, Detroit was a place where all and sundry wanted to see or be seen as the city's dominant industry - automobiles - fueled the dawn of mass mobility for the wider world. Continue reading...
Technologists claim managers could wish for specific player attributes and AI would suggest perfect youth prospectFootball coaches desperate to boost their team's performance could soon find an answer in an artificial intelligence system aimed at conjuring the next superstar.A kind of sporting Aladdin's lamp is within reach, technologists claim, which could allow managers to simply wish for a new player with the aggression of Erling Haaland or the poise of Jude Bellingham and for an AI to suggest the perfect prospect. Continue reading...
Former UK deputy prime minister, who still has about $21m worth, is leaving role as president of global affairsNick Clegg made almost $19m from the sale of shares in Meta during his six-year term at the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, filings show.The former British deputy prime minister had sold $18.4m (14.8m) worth of shares in the group before announcing on Thursday that he was leaving his role as its president of global affairs and communications. Continue reading...
Unprompted outbursts on X suggest the Tesla boss is hellbent on making life awkward for Keir StarmerWhile Keir Starmer was trying to enjoy a family holiday in Madeira over the new year, Elon Musk was trying to spoil it. The world's richest man has been using X to lob insults and slurs in the direction of the prime minister, while teasing the prospect of donating tens of millions of dollars to the Reform UK party.This potentially gamechanging money has meant his comments - which have been compared to those of a pub bore" by some users on his own social media platform - have provoked (arguably unmerited) political reaction and media debate. So what issues have been enraging Musk? Continue reading...
As the temperature drops, we've rounded up our top winter warmers to help you brave the coldAfter a mostly mild, overcast December, winter has finally arrived. To help you keep warm, especially if you're reluctant to crank up the thermostat too much, we've rounded up some of our best-loved, tried-and-tested products.From slippers to coats, toasty PJs to the best electric heaters and blankets, these should all help you beat the chill, and even stay stylish while doing so. Continue reading...
The online world is forcing children to grow up before they are ready, and parents need government's help to combat its harmsSmartphone use among children has reached a critical moment. Many of us in the UK are increasingly aware of the dangers associated with them - and as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I am more worried than most. I am witnessing at first hand the sheer devastation that smartphone use is wreaking on our young people's mental health. The majority of children over 10 I see at my NHS clinic now have a smartphone. An increasingly large proportion of patients have difficulties that are related to, or exacerbated by, their use of technology.We are seeing profound mental illness stemming from excessive social media use, online bullying, screen addiction, or falling prey to online child sexual exploitation. We are seeing children who are disappearing into online worlds, who are unable to sleep, who are increasingly inattentive and impulsive, emotionally dysregulated and aggressive. Children crippled by anxiety or a fear of missing out. Who spend hours alone, cut off from those who love them, who spend hour upon hour speaking to strangers.Dr Emily Sehmer is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist in the NHS (and mother of two children)In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.orgDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The 2.4bn sector is thriving, says a new report, as online demand grows for authentic cultural content created outside the global north - but there are still challengesVlogs by the Nigerian content creator Tayo Aina, on anything from Nigeria's japa (emigration) wave and voodoo festivals in Benin, to time with the Afrobeats star Davido or the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Tanzania, can garner millions of views on YouTube.Aina, 31, who started his channel in 2017 while working as an Uber driver, says it helped him to see parts of Nigeria he had never had the chance to visit before. Using his iPhone, he began to make mini-adventures of his work trips, taking breaks to document the places he visited, and telling stories not covered by mainstream media. Continue reading...
With firms such as Makani and Boycat, founders answer a growing demand: help their users support PalestiniansAmany Killawi made a breakup playlist every time she was dumped, three in all. The playlists, which feature songs such as Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know and Apologize by OneRepublic, would make good soundtracks to romantic splits, but that's not what they were. The playlists came together after Killawi was told by three different banks and payment processors they would no longer work with LaunchGood, the crowdfunding platform for the Muslim community she co-founded.Stripe said its banking partner instructed the company to cut ties with LaunchGood after five years of working with the crowdfunding platform. Stripe also told the company it couldn't be associated with any international humanitarian work in sanctioned jurisdictions like Syria - a prerequisite for a crowdfunding platform that caters to the Muslim community. Another bank told the company there were too many Muslim and Arabic names and figuring out if those names belonged to sanctioned individuals was difficult. Continue reading...
Clegg was the tech giant's chief public policy architect when it was facing scrutiny over Cambridge Analytica scandalNick Clegg, Britain's former deputy prime minister and Meta's current president of global affairs, is leaving the company after six years.It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!" Clegg said in a post on Facebook. I am proud of the work I have been able to do leading and supporting teams across the company to ensure innovation can go hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability, and with new forms of governance." Continue reading...
An endearingly weird game about dating household appliances, with every potential lover - from an unhinged microwave to a fratboy fireplace - brought to life by a different voice actorLike many great things, Date Everything! started off as a joke. Envisioning a game where a lonely remote worker starts chatting up their furniture, Final Fantasy voice actors Ray Chase and Robbie Daymond soon became obsessed with the concept. What if there really was a game where you could date literally everything?Now boasting more than 70,000 lines of dialogue and 100 dateable inanimate objects, their weird game about hitting on household appliances has become a reality. Partnering with Team 17 and fellow voice actor and producer Amanda Hufford, they have brought their silly concept to life, a game that they describe as wholesome, flirty and fun. Continue reading...
First building to open at Huddersfield's National Health Innovation Centre is named after NHS's first black matronIn a full-scale model of a house, a 50,000 mannequin that can breathe, blink and cough waits for the replica of an ambulance.Eerily lifelike technology, some created by model makers who have made bodies" for the BBC's Silent Witness, is being used to tackle the scarcity of placement hours for healthcare students by combining real-world training with simulated settings, including virtual reality. Continue reading...
A Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks and gas canisters exploded outside president-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel on Wednesday, with officials saying they were investigating potential motives for the incident. Las Vegas police said that one person died inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck, while seven people nearby suffered minor injuries.
by Daniel Boffey in the Alhambra, Granada on (#6T914)
World's most expensive artist, who is exhibiting at the Alhambra in Granada, sees his work as embedded in biologyHis hands-off approach to the production of his famous balloon dogs and stainless steel rabbits has been criticised in the past but Jeff Koons, the world's most expensive artist, has drawn a red-line: I wouldn't - for my own base work - be looking at AI to be developing my work."The potential and the risks of artificial intelligence is perhaps the hottest topic in the artistic world, with deep-learning models now able to replicate styles and produce unique compositions on request. Continue reading...
Today, we're looking at a few themes that will influence the online and offline worlds in 2025Last week, we looked back at how 2024 made Elon Musk the world's most powerful man. Today, we're looking at a few other important themes that will influence the online and offline worlds in 2025. Continue reading...
As I compulsively check my new device, ping-ponging between real and virtual spaces, I can feel my adolescent self eye-rolling at me across the decades
Claims a Chinese state-sponsored actor was behind breach this month are groundless', says foreign ministryBeijing has hit back at accusations that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach at the US treasury department, calling the claims groundless".The breach was orchestrated via a third-party cybersecurity service provider. Hackers were able to gain access to a key used by the vendor to override certain parts of the system, according to a letter the treasury department sent to lawmakers on Monday. Continue reading...
Computer system errors led to huge costs for countries as they prepared for potential disasterOn New Year's Eve 25 years ago, sane people worried that the modern world was about to melt down.The millennium bug seemed to be threatening to crash the world's computer systems, as technology struggled to distinguish between the years 1900 and 2000. The public, faced with daily predictions of potentially terrible outcomes, braced themselves nervously. Continue reading...
Analysts argue 2024 is minor blip and that lobbying for relaxation of rules could harm industry in long termAffordable new electric family cars - particularly those that are EU-made - have been tough to come by in Europe for the past few years. There were no launches of homegrown electric models for less than 25,000 (20,740) across the EU during 2022 and 2023, according to the campaign group Transport & Environment.Yet in the past few months that has changed, with a rush of new cars ranging from the Fiat Grande Panda to the Citroen e-C3, the Hyundai Inster to the latest Dacia Spring and the Renault 5. Suddenly, buyers have options. Continue reading...
As soon as people decide that crypto is valueless, it will be - but in the next few years, exposure of traditional institutions will likely run into the hundreds of billionsAs a principal adviser to the then treasurer Wayne Swan, Jim Chalmers had a ringside seat to observe the impact of the global financial crisis on the Australian economy and financial system. We were spared the initial impact of the GFC largely because, still bearing the scars of financial disasters in the 1980s and early 1990s, Australian financial institutions had been slow to embrace the exotic derivatives that brought down their counterparts in the US and UK. That delay allowed time for vigorous fiscal stimulus (here and in China, our main export market) to stave off the long and deep recessions seen elsewhere.But a few days ago, Jim Chalmers made comments suggesting that Australia's financial system will not be insulated from a crisis that seems all too likely to emerge in the next few years. When Donald Trump assumes his role as the US president, it will bring an end to policies that have maintained a wall of separation between the traditional financial system and the crypto sector. Chalmers, citing Trump's moves, has suggested that Australia will follow suit.Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Continue reading...
Third-party cybersecurity provider was compromised after hackers obtained key to override certain systemsChinese state-sponsored hackers breached the US treasury department earlier this month, accessing several employee workstations and unclassified documents, according to an agency spokesperson.The breach was orchestrated via a third-party cybersecurity service provider, BeyondTrust. Hackers were able to gain access to a key used by the vendor to override certain parts of the system, according to a letter the treasury department sent to lawmakers on Monday that was reviewed by the Guardian. Continue reading...
Retailers already trialling new codes that contain sell-by dates, product instructions, allergens and ingredientsIt is the zebra-striped tag that has become ubiquitous over the last 50 years, but the barcode's days could be numbered. The global organisation overseeing their use has said a more powerful alternative will be readable by retailers everywhere within two years.New codes that contain sell-by dates, product instructions, allergens and ingredients, as well as prices, will mean we will say goodbye to the old-fashioned barcode", according to GS1, an international non-profit that maintains the global standard for barcodes. Continue reading...
Match Group's digital assistant will tailor profiles and search for dates - but critics fear genuine connections are at riskFed up with writing dating profiles? Or sick and tired of swiping? Dating apps not really doing it for you? Let a digital sidekick take the strain.While user fatigue may be setting in - reports suggest a notable decline in usage - the world's biggest online dating company is launching an artificial intelligence assistant that it claims will transform" online dating. Continue reading...
UK culture minister says government wants to open a dialogue', but will intervene if platforms do not complyThe UK culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has written to video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, urging them to promote higher quality educational content to children.Recent statistics suggest that although a decade ago children watched an average of two hours' television a day, that has since dropped by more than 70%. Instead, children were migrating to YouTube, TikTok and other streaming platforms between the ages of four and eight, Nandy said. Continue reading...
A simpler system | Waspi response | WhatsApp on holiday | Intrusive work emails | Smartphones | Eyes off the EddiesRather than chase after people who have not claimed what they are owed (Forget benefit cheats' - 23bn a year is going unclaimed. How do we get that to vulnerable people?, 23 December), the restoration of universal benefits without means tests, for all children and all pensioners, would be simpler and fairer. The better-off then pay their share through higher income tax. Thatishow a welfare state works.
Large language models have changed how big corporations function, and the arrival of AI agents' - essentially automated Moneypennys - could prove irresistibleIf 2024 was the year of large language models (LLMs), then 2025 looks like the year of AI agents". These are quasi-intelligent systems that harness LLMs to go beyond their usual tricks of generating plausible text or responding to prompts. The idea is that an agent can be given a high-level - possibly even vague - goal and break it down into a series of actionable steps. Once it understands" the goal, it can devise a plan to achieve it, much as a human would.OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, recently explained it thus to the Financial Times: It could be a researcher, a helpful assistant for everyday people, working moms like me. In 2025, we will see the first very successful agents deployed that help people in their day to day." Or it's like having a digital assistant that doesn't just respond to your instructions but is able to learn, adapt, and perhaps most importantly, take meaningful actions to solve problems on your behalf". In other words, Miss Moneypenny on steroids. Continue reading...
Biofeedback devices promised a whole new world of mental and physical harmony. They did change my life, but not in the way I'd hopedI love to run, but ask me about my running times or distances and I will have no idea. For me, running is about squeezing exercise into a busy schedule, clearing my head and being in nature. I don't need to measure it.But unfortunately I am not immune to the oh-so-pleasing dopamine injection of unboxing a new bit of wearable tech, personalising the app for hours and thinking this might just change my life - the new, calmer, fitter, stronger, smarter me dangling tantalisingly within reach. One such scenario occurred after researching the importance of human connection on mental and physical health: less stress, less inflammation, less illness. Human connection, I learned, canstimulate and be facilitated bythevagus nerve - a primitive part ofthe nervous system. Continue reading...
Planes were going to drop out of the sky, nuclear reactors would explode. But then ... nothing. What really happened with Y2K? People still disagree ...Just before midnight on New Year's Eve, 25 years ago, Queen Elizabeth II stepped off a private barge to arrive at London's Millennium Dome for its grand opening ceremony. Dressed in a pumpkin-orange coat, she entered the venue with Prince Philip, taking her place alongside Tony and Cherie Blair and 12,000 guests to celebrate the dawn of a new millennium. At the stroke of midnight, Big Ben began to chime and 40 tonnes of fireworks were launched from 16 barges lined along the river. The crowd joined hands, preparing to sing Auld Lang Syne. For a few long moments, the Queen was neglected - she flapped her arms out like a toddler wanting to be lifted up, before Blair and Philip noticed her, took a hand each, and the singing began. A new century was born.One politician who wasn't in attendance at the glitzy celebration was Paddy Tipping, a Labour MP who spent the night in the Cabinet Office. Tipping was minister for the millennium bug. After 25 years, it might be hard to recall just how big a deal the bug - now more commonly called Y2K - felt then. But for the last few years of the 90s, the idea that computers would fail catastrophically as the clock ticked over into the year 2000 was near the top of the political agenda in the UK and the US. Here was a hi-tech threat people feared might topple social order, underlining humanity's new dependence on technological systems most of us did not understand. Though there are no precise figures, it's estimated that the cost of the global effort to prevent Y2K exceeded 300bn (633bn today, accounting for inflation). Continue reading...
Court will hear arguments in case that could see app banned in US if not sold to American firm by 19 JanuaryPresident-elect Donald Trump has urged the US supreme court to pause implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to pursue a political resolution" to the issue.The court is set to hear arguments in the case on 10 January. Continue reading...
AI company, which makes ChatGPT, says in blogpost we once again need to raise more capital than we'd imagined'OpenAI has laid out a plan to revamp its corporate structure next year, saying it would create a public benefit corporation to manage its growing business and ease the restrictions imposed by its current non-profit parent.Rumors have swirled that OpenAI was in the process of shifting to a largely for-profit company, but this is the first time it has detailed the proposal publicly. Continue reading...
Feud flared up when president-elect chose Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as his AI adviserBitter in-fighting has broken out between the tech billionaire Elon Musk and Donald Trump's hardline Make America great again (Maga) base after the US president-elect chose an Indian-born entrepreneur to be his adviser on artificial intelligence.The row has pitted Musk and his fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy against diehard supporters including the far-right activist Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz, the former Congress member and abortive nominee for attorney general. The spat threatens to open up a chasm among Trump's supporters over immigration, a key issue in his election victory. Continue reading...
If you're looking to heat the human not the home - or just love snuggling under something cosy on your sofa - these are our best buysAside from hugging a fluffy hot-water bottle, sipping the Christmas whisky and ramping up the thermostat, an electric blanket or heated throw is the best way to keep out the winter chill. More than half of a typical household's fuel bills goes on heating and hot water, so finding alternative ways to keep warm - and heating the person, rather than the whole home - is always a good idea.Many of the best electric blankets and heated throws boast running costs of about 1p to 3p an hour, so it's hard to ignore their potential energy- and money-saving benefits.Best overall electric blanket:
With grown-up children scattered around the world, an inconvenient snowstorm and a vegan dinner gaffe, Christmas 2024 was looking bleak - so thank goodness for the ultimate party gameThe older my kids get, the harder it is to keep them part of Christmas and the old traditions. Our youngest daughter is off travelling, which involves text message photos from Bangkok nightclubs with comments like, Check out the size of THIS spliff, dude!" Middle son flies off to his girlfriend's on Boxing Day. Oldest has added a festive shift of dog-sitting to her duties in the animal hospital and so she is around for just a few hours on Christmas Day. We'd also had a bit of a row on the 23rd and were not really speaking.It was going to be tough to make Christmas '24 a memorable one. But I had a plan. And that plan was Just Dance 2025. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian