Technology | The Guardian

The 2016 presidential race was fought online in a swamp of disinformation, conspiracy theories and fake news. Now a Guardian investigation has uncovered evidence suggesting YouTube’s recommendation algorithm was disproportionately prompting users to watch pro-Trump and anti-Clinton videos

Demand for new phones appears to be waning with collapse in China market and Apple shipping 5m fewer devicesThe global smartphone market fell 9% in a year this quarter, the biggest fall in smartphone history, with even Apple’s iPhone sales down 1% as users hang on to their phones longer.For Apple, which is shipping 5m fewer smartphones than a year ago, the decline is offset by an increase in the average sale price of its iPhone, thanks to the popularity of its £1,000 iPhone X. Continue reading...

US investigation into boom stokes fears of impending bust as cryptocurrency records steepest monthly slide in its historyBitcoin plummeted in value by more than $44bn (£30.9bn) in January, marking the steepest monthly fall in its short history.The slide extended further on Thursday after the Indian government said it would ban all cryptocurrency trading and Facebook announced a ban on digital currency adverts. Bitcoin fell by more than 10%, dropping below $9,000, marking a sharp reverse from its peak of almost $20,000 just before Christmas. Continue reading...

The revered game of clashing cultures gets a slick, strategic board-game adaptation – and we look at two family-friendly new releases.

Amazon’s share price soared over 4%, while Apple shares wobbled despite quarterly revenues, and Alphabet announced a lossJeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, added another couple of billion to his fortune on Thursday as Amazon, the company he founded, announced it had made close to $2bn in profits in the three months running up to Christmas.Related: Amazon fulfillment centers don't boost employment, analysis finds Continue reading...

Teacher says his account was shut down because he posted a Gustave Courbet painting of a woman’s genitalsA long-running dispute over allegations of censorship by Facebook has come to a head in a French court, where the social network denied it had deleted a user’s account because he posted a picture of a 19th-century painting of a woman’s genitals.L’Origine du Monde (The Origin of the World), an 1866 oil painting by the realist painter Gustave Courbet, hangs on the walls of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Continue reading...

After analyzing data for counties in 25 states containing the centers, analysis found no increase in overall employment in the countiesStates and cities have fallen over themselves to offer huge tax breaks to Amazon in the hope of securing one of the tech giant’s order fulfillment centers. But an analysis of the impact of the centers released on Thursday found the facilities do not boost overall employment in the counties where they open.The cities shortlisted for Amazon's proposed second headquarters Continue reading...

Major video game industry event reverses its decision to honour Bushnell following claims of improper conductA major video game industry event has cancelled its decision to honour Atari founder Nolan Bushnell after attention was drawn to well-documented examples of a sexist culture at the company he oversaw in the 1970s.Bushnell was due to receive the Pioneer award at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March, recognising his 40 years of involvement in the industry. Together with Ted Dabney, he set up Atari in 1972, developing the seminal arcade machine Pong, before manufacturing the Atari 2600, one of the first home video game consoles. Continue reading...

After spending most of her life bouncing off video games, Jessica Furseth finally discovers the joy and practical benefits of play‘Luke, how do I get this power moon? Luke!” I’m playing Super Mario Odyssey while my partner, Luke, is trying to work. “You’ll figure it out,” he says patiently. Luke has been playing video games since he was a child, but this is my first ever game, and he’s thrilled that I’m invested in Mario’s quest to save Princess Peach.Considering it’s a $100bn (£70bn) industry, gaming is a surprisingly “love it, or just don’t get it” kind of activity. I’ve tried video games a few times over the years, as people seemed to be having so much fun with them. But I never got into it. I kept dying, so I gave up. Last year, though, my curiosity was piqued again as I watched Luke play the newest Mario game with his children. One slow Sunday, I picked up the Nintendo Switch. No one was more surprised than me when I kept coming back to the game, and eventually beat Bowser. Continue reading...

Having more screen space makes people more productive, but it’s not necessarily best distributed over multiple monitorsWill I be able to do more work with three monitors? JeanResearch shows that people can get more work done if they have more screen area available, and using multiple monitors is a simple way to double or triple your workspace. However, that doesn’t mean having three screens is the best option for you or anyone else. The final decision depends on the way you work, the programs you run, the amount of desk space you have available, and how much you are willing to spend.

Stunt generates $10m for billionaire’s personal hobby despite warnings from Home Office and US politiciansElon Musk’s fire sale of his Boring Company “flamethrowers” raised $10m, selling out all 20,000 units, despite warnings from the Home Office and US politicians.

Illumination and Nintendo to co-finance an animated Mario film, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris MeledandriNintendo has announced that a new film featuring its iconic character Mario has entered into development. The Japanese video game giant is partnering with Illumination Entertainment, the American film and animation studio behind Despicable Me.Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario series of video games, will produce the film with Illumination’s CEO Chris Meledandri. It will be distributed by Universal Pictures. Continue reading...

Culture secretary’s social network for his constituents and him faces teething problemsMatt Hancock, the culture secretary, has built a social network called Matt Hancock MP.The app, available from Thursday on Android and iOS, is intended to allow the West Suffolk MP to communicate with members of his constituency, as well as update national followers with news related to his cabinet post and party-political messages. Continue reading...

This smart doorbell connects to your phone – but you might want to disable notifications when at workThe Ring Video Doorbell 2 adds the convenience of a front-door intercom to pretty much any home, and with minimal DIY skills required, meaning it’s never been easier to get rid of doorsteppers.There have long been wifi-connected doorbells, for those envious of flat-dwelling friends with video intercoms adding that extra barrier between them and the outside world, but most of them require some sort of wiring to install. Continue reading...

Data has become the world’s most important resource. Now Silicon Valley giants want to keep government from standing in the way of profitsOne hundred and sixty years ago, the first transatlantic telegram traveled from Britain to the United States along a rickety undersea wire. It consisted of twenty-one words – and took seventeen hours to arrive.Today, the same trip takes as little as 60 milliseconds. A dense mesh of fiber-optic cables girdles the world, pumping vast quantities of information across the planet. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that 543 terabits of data are flowing across borders every second. That’s the equivalent of roughly 13 million copies of the complete works of Shakespeare. Continue reading...

Around the world, a handful of visionaries are plotting an alternative ​online ​future​.​ ​Is it really possible to remake the internet in a way that’s egalitarian, decentralised and free of snooping​?​The office planner on the wall features two reminders: “Technosocialism” and “Indienet institute”. A huge husky named Oskar lies near the door, while the two people who live and work here – a plain apartment block on the west side of Malmö, Sweden – go about their daily business.Aral Balkan and Laura Kalbag moved here from Brighton in 2015. Balkan has Turkish and French citizenship, and says their decision was sparked by two things: increasing concerns about the possibility of Britain leaving the EU, and the Conservative government’s Investigatory Powers Act, otherwise known as the snoopers’ charter, some of which was declared unlawful this week by the court of appeal. The legislation cut straight to the heart of what now defines the couple’s public lives: the mesh of corporate and government surveillance surrounding the internet, and how to do something about it. Continue reading...

Bracelet, which can vibrate to point an employee’s hand in the right direction, would further increase surveillance of work environmentAmazon has patented designs for a wristband that can precisely track where warehouse employees are placing their hands and use vibrations to nudge them in a different direction.The concept, which aims to streamline the fulfilment of orders, adds another layer of surveillance to an already challenging working environment. Continue reading...

Paper co-written by former company exec recommends switching news feed back to chronological listingAnother former Facebook executive has spoken out against the company’s current business practices, arguing that they directly enable electoral interference.Dipayan Ghosh, once a privacy and public policy advisor for the social network, argues now that disinformation of the sort used to interfere in the US election and the EU referendum is strongly linked to the nature of Facebook as an advertising platform. Continue reading...

Hybrid console transforms firm’s fortunes, with operating profit forecast raised by a thirdNintendo has reported its most profitable quarter in almost a decade as global sales of its new Switch console soared in the runup to Christmas.Nintendo has raised its operating profit forecast for the year to the end of March by a third, from ¥120bn to ¥160bn (£780m to £1bn), after phenomenal Switch sales fuelled the company’s most profitable quarter since 2009. Continue reading...

Social network blocks initial coin offering ads as they are ‘frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices’Facebook has banned all advertising for cryptocurrencies because they are “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices”.The company added the rule to its advertising policies on Tuesday, in an update to its list of “prohibited content”. Continue reading...

Buying a new computer for gaming can be a confusing endeavour. We asked a group of experts what you’ll need for a slick experienceBuying a new games machine is a major investment in these financially tricky times. A capable PC that will cope with the latest releases for at least 18 months will start at £600, but, whatever you pay, your quest will involve a series of challenging decisions and compromises.So, if you’re thinking about splashing out this year, we’ve pulled together tips and recommendations from a group of highly experienced PC builders. James Hannett is a coder at Frozen Synapse developer Mode7; Nick Tannahill is marketing director at Firefly Studios, creator of the Stronghold series; Byron Atkinson-Jones runs Xiotex Studios; and Guardian reader Simon Beck has built dozens of PCs over the last 10 years. Continue reading...

The tax will apply from Thursday and go towards $250m taxi industry compensationUber has urged users in New South Wales to complain to the state’s transport minister about the introduction of a $1 tax on the company which comes into force on Thursday and is likely to be passed on to customers.Related: Tech's terrible year: how the world turned on Silicon Valley in 2017 Continue reading...

The space race pacesetter and general trailblazer has been flogging $500 flamethrowers on his website – but guns that shoot fire may not be as legal as he seems to thinkName: Flamethrowers.Age: Brand new! New cool thing! Cool! New! Continue reading...

After users of fitness tracker Strava accidentally revealed the whereabouts of US military bases, we round up five tools and apps that have the ability to log your locationFitness tracker Strava has come under fire for publishing the heatmaps (paths its users have logged when running or cycling) of military personnel. As well as showing clear outlines of US military bases in countries such as Syria and Iraq, in some instances the locations of people inside bases were also visible, as was the frequency with which certain routes were taken. As the company pointed out, though, none of this breached its privacy policy, since participants had not opted to keep their stats hidden. Here are five more ways in which you may have agreed to be tracked. Continue reading...

First it was ‘Boring’ baseball caps, now Tesla founder is selling flamethrowers – ‘to liven up a party’Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire founder of electric car company Tesla and tunnelling company Boring, has sold $3.5m (£2.5m) worth of “boring” flamethrowers in less than 24 hours.The maverick businessman, who last week secured a pay deal that could see him collect $55bn, had pledged that if The Boring Company sold 50,000 baseball caps at $20 each he would start selling flamethrowers. Continue reading...

Two of world’s largest cash machine makers and US Secret Service warn of attacks that empty ATMs at rate of 40 notes per 20 secondsCybercriminals are hacking cash machines to force them to give out money in what is known as “jackpotting”, according to two of the world’s largest ATM makers and the US Secret Service.Diebold Nixdorf and NCR sent out an alert to their customers over the weekend, but did not identify victims or specify how much money had been stolen. The US Secret Service started warning financial institutions that jackpotting was now a risk in the US last week, having started in Mexico last year, according to a confidental alert seen by Krebs on Security. Continue reading...

Fitness-tracking company suggests secret army base locations were made public by users, while militaries around world weigh up banFitness-tracking company Strava has defended its publication of heatmaps that accidentally reveal sensitive military positions, arguing that the information was already made public by the users who uploaded it.Following the revelations, militaries around the world are contemplating bans on fitness trackers to prevent future breaches. As well as the location of military bases, the identities of individual service members can also be uncovered, if they are using the service with the default privacy settings. Continue reading...

Money was deducted from my PayPal account – and I couldn’t get my cash backIn September my Uber account was hacked and three trips were taken by the fraudsters in Russia, which resulted in my account being charged 16,000 roubles.Although I was demonstrably nowhere near Moscow at the time, £229 was taken from my PayPal account, details of which I had given to Uber to pay for trips. Continue reading...

Workers in Wakefield and Mansfield worst affected as tech advances risk widening north-south divideWorkers in Mansfield, Sunderland and Wakefield are at the highest risk of having their jobs taken by machines, according to a report warning that automation stands to further widen the north-south divide.Outside of the south of England, one in four jobs are at risk of being replaced by advances in technology – much higher than the 18% average for wealthier locations closer to London. Struggling towns and cities in the north and the Midlands are most exposed. A total of 3.6m UK jobs could be replaced by machines. Continue reading...

Digital currencies such as bitcoin have caused a financial frenzy. Alex Hern explains what they are – and whether this is the end of ‘real’ moneyWhat is a cryptocurrency? Is it like bitcoin?

Videos will coach users to how to manage data as the company admits ‘not everyone wants to share everything with everyone’Facebook has published its privacy principles for the first time and will roll out educational videos to help users control who has access to their information.As the company prepares for the impact of new European Union data protection laws, it announced on Monday that users will be shown how to manage the data that Facebook uses to show them ads, how to delete old posts, and what happens to the data when they delete their account. Continue reading...

Data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers can be used to pinpoint overseas facilities

Coincheck will reimburse 260,000 customers who lost holdings of NEM currencyA Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange will refund to customers about $400m (£282m) stolen by hackers two days ago in one of the biggest thefts of digital funds.

From voting to healthcare, music to energy production, blockchain may just change the way we run our livesA blockchain allows the authentication of transactions without them needing to be administered or guaranteed by a central authority. Ballot boxes and current online voting platforms are vulnerable to manipulation; now a startup called Follow My Vote is developing a blockchain-based system to ensure security, transparency and mathematically accurate election results. Continue reading...

The big new seven-seat SUV from Peugeot looks the part, but underneath the flair it’s still every bit a practical people carrierPeugeot 5008

Internet users have fed firms their personal data – which in turn is feeding the rapid growth of AI. Has the industry consumed all it needs from the web?

Move to prosecute 1,000 people who shared explicit footage three years ago sparks online debateThe two teenagers at the centre of the Facebook sex video case dividing Denmark are deeply unhappy at a police decision to revisit the offence, their lawyer has said.A video shot without permission of the teenagers engaging in sexual acts at a party three years ago, when both were 15, was shared by Danish teenagers on social media in 2015 and early 2016 before gradually falling out of circulation. Continue reading...

With more than half of young adults admitting to excessive use of smartphones, we look at the apps designed to break the habitAs a tech writer who has written regularly about apps, I’m well aware of the addictive nature of smartphones. It was during a 2am panic attack after waking up, reaching for my smartphone and reading a tweetstorm about the latest Donald Trump controversy that I realised I may have a problem. That, and the fact that even my 10-year-old son had started telling me to put my phone down when he caught me not paying attention.I’m not alone. When Deloitte surveyed 4,150 British adults in 2017 about their mobile habits, 38% said they thought they were using their smartphone too much. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, that rose to more than half. Habits such as checking apps in the hour before we go to sleep (79% of us do this, according to the study) or within 15 minutes of waking up (55%) may be taking their toll on our mental health. Continue reading...

Some say the firm is already overvalued at $60bn. But its founder’s vision is now truly ambitiousRacy valuations for loss-making businesses are nothing new to hard-nosed Wall Street types. The dotcom boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s made a fortune for the brave souls who backed a plethora of small start-ups that are now giants of the stock market, such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Plenty also lost their shirts with punts on the “next big thing”.Elon Musk knows more than most about this tricky game of risk and reward. The entrepreneur founded and sold software company Zip2 for $305m to Compaq; he also established online payment giant PayPal, which was sold to eBay for $1.5bn. Continue reading...

Jordan Erica Webber looks at how our data is being used to push political ideologiesSubscribe and review on iTunes, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast or on your favourite podcasting app and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterIs the internet broken? Has the utopian 1990s net been replaced by digital feudalism, where a few powerful entities wield control over all of us digital serfs? In this series, Jordan Erica Webber looks at internet-enabled dystopia, and how even the technology designed to do good can end up causing harm. Continue reading...

New settings will allow users to hide reminder ads on a case-by-case basis, giving more control over muted adverts across devicesGoogle is rolling out a new tool that will stop so-called reminder ads from following you around the internet, typically used to try to get users to come back after virtual window shopping.The new settings will allow users to “mute” these reminder ads , but only on a case-by-case basis, not as a setting to stop them in their entirety. Continue reading...

PlayStation 4’s prequel to horror adventure Until Dawn is a bleak tale of psychological stress that quickly becomes a haunted house fairground ridePlayStation 4, Supermassive Games/Sony (PS VR headset required)It is a familiar horror movie setup: someone wakes to find themselves trapped in an asylum, with no memory of their past and a creepy doctor looming over them. But no matter how many times you’ve seen this on the big screen, it is very different when you’re the one strapped in the chair. Continue reading...

A chatty unravelling of surprising stories behind our built environment by the engineer and campaigner for women in engineeringYou might think that cement is cement, whether it’s used to hold together the bricks in your house or mixed into the concrete of the great columns that support the Shard. So it could come as a surprise to learn that the Chinese added sticky rice to the mortar of the Great Wall, to give it extra flexibility and avoid cracking; or that the Romans added animal blood to their recipe, believing it made it more resistant to frost; or that the dome of the Taj Mahal is held together with a kitchen-cabinet mixture that included shells, gum, sugar, fruit juice and egg white.Observations from Agrawal's childhood in Mumbai are mixed with her teenage years wowed by skyscrapers in New York Continue reading...

Images of Emma Watson, Daisy Ridley, Scarlett Johansson and others used to create fake adult films using advanced machine learningAdvanced machine learning technology is being used to create fake pornography featuring real actors and pop stars, pasting their faces over existing performers in explicit movies.The resulting clips, made without consent from the women whose faces are used, are often indistinguishable from a real film, with only subtly uncanny differences suggesting something is amiss. Continue reading...

Focus shifts to smaller platforms that can ‘quickly become home to criminals and terrorists’Theresa May has signalled her desire to crack down on encrypted messaging apps, arguing that the services provide a safe haven for terrorists and extremists and hinting that the government may take more concrete action if developers do not act themselves.Sound familiar? The prime minister has had her favourite dead horse shipped out to Davos, ready for another flogging. Continue reading...

Fund allocated to Google’s Creators for Change programme with aim to push positive messages in face of popular hate videosYouTube is to spend more than $5m funding creators on the video-sharing website who “counter hate and promote tolerance”, as Google faces continued political pressure to do more to tackle extremism.The money will be allocated to the company’s Creators for Change programme, a collective of more than 100 YouTubers that was created “to encourage empathy and understanding around the world”. Continue reading...

First such deal by a major sporting team will see club promoting CashBet at the EmiratesArsenal has signed a sponsorship deal with the US cryptocurrency CashBet, which will see the Premier League club promote the firm’s initial coin offering (ICO) at the 60,000-seat Emirates stadium.The deal, the value of which was undisclosed, is the first time a major global sporting team has officially partnered with a cryptocurrency firm. It comes as an increasing number of regulators and business leaders express concern about the dangers of consumers risking their savings in unregulated virtual currencies.

US chipmaker paid billions of dollars to monopolise iPhones and iPads and shut out rivals such as Intel, investigators sayUS chipmaker Qualcomm has been fined €997m (£872m) by EU antitrust regulators for paying Apple to use only its chips in the iPhone, locking out rivals such as Intel.The European commission launched an investigation in July 2015, covering the period from 2011 to 2016, looking at Qualcomm’s dominance within the market for modems and chips required to connect handsets to 4G mobile phone networks. It issued a charge sheet five months later. Continue reading...