Technology | The Guardian

Ever yearned to chisel a sculpture, compose a symphony or design a gigantic neon metropolis? A riveting game from the makers of LittleBigPlanet unleashes your suppressed artistMost homes hide abandoned easels, guitars and origami kits, all bought with good intentions to express the latent creativity that grownup life can easily stifle. You might want to unlock it, but the effort is too intimidating.Media Molecule, a game developer based in Guildford, believes that video games can help. A studio populated by artists, musicians and creatives of all stripes, it is best known for the successful LittleBigPlanet games – cheerful adventures with a hand-crafted look and a novel “play, create, share” philosophy, letting players remix the levels and make their own. Taking this idea further, Media Molecule has spent the past five years working on Dreams, a PlayStation 4 game that lets players create and share little worlds. Due for release later this year, the game offers a potential for creativity beyond what any other video game has attempted. Continue reading...

BIS head says cryptocurrency is a ‘Ponzi scheme’ that poses a threat to financial stability

University of Oxford project finds Trump supporters consume largest volume of ‘junk news’ on Facebook and TwitterLow-quality, extremist, sensationalist and conspiratorial news published in the US was overwhelmingly consumed and shared by rightwing social network users, according to a new study from the University of Oxford.The study, from the university’s “computational propaganda project”, looked at the most significant sources of “junk news” shared in the three months leading up to Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address this January, and tried to find out who was sharing them and why. Continue reading...

Sony Japan Studio/Bluepoint; PlayStation 4

South Australia’s big gamble on grid-scale battery storage may pay for itself in just a year if it continues to prevent massive price spikes• Giles Parkinson is editor of RenewEconomy On Sunday 14 January something very unusual happened.The Australian Energy Market Operator called – as it often does – for generators in South Australia to provide a modest amount of network services known as FCAS, or frequency control and ancillary services. Continue reading...

Campaign to highlights potential harm of digital platforms and social media on young people, alongside a call to regulate tech companies

Assessments after WannaCry attack reveal vulnerabilities across whole of health systemEvery NHS trust assessed for cyber security vulnerabilities has failed to meet the standard required, civil servants have said for the first time.In a parliamentary hearing on the WannaCry attack which disrupted parts of the NHS last year, Department of Health (DoH) officials said all 200 trusts had failed, despite increases in security provision. Continue reading...

Rights groups and lawyers for 33-year-old welcome landmark judgment against extradition to USA high court ruling blocking extradition to the US of Lauri Love, a student accused of breaking into US government websites, has been welcomed by lawyers and human rights groups as a precedent for trying hacking suspects in the UK in future.The decision delivered by the lord chief justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, is highly critical of the conditions Love would have endured in US jails, warning of the risk of suicide. Continue reading...

Lauri Love will not face extradition to the US, the high court has ruled. The British student is accused of hacking into US government websites. Speaking outside court Love said he was thankful for the support he received ‘without which I’m not sure I would have made it this far’

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia warns of ‘optimising for outrageous, salacious, and often fraudulent content’ amid 2016 election concernsThe top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee has warned that YouTube’s powerful recommendation algorithm may be “optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content” or susceptible to “manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities”.

The firm’s latest Alexa-powered addition to its Echo range adds a clock and touchscreen interface to the mixAmazon’s new Echo Spot is one of the most novel takes on a smart speaker yet, and while it is certainly more than just a smart clock, that’s what it’s best at – an attractive voice-assisted smart desk or bedside-table accessory.

An initial flurry of real calls and more time to read turned into losing contacts, missing out on groups and upsetting my wifeAt the end of 2016, I sent a message to all my contacts: “After 31 December, I will not use WhatsApp any more. Instead, I will use Threema and Signal.”On New Year’s Eve, I closed my WhatsApp account and deleted the app from my phone. A few clicks later, I’d left all my family, friend and work groups, the school groups of my children and all my individual contacts. Continue reading...

The latest in a visceral series, this breakout hit shoves humans back down the food chain to a land where dinos roamIn 1864, when Jules Verne published Journey to the Centre of the Earth and, almost five decades later Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published The Lost World, there still existed in readers a lingering notion that, just maybe, in some unmapped nook of the planet, the dinosaurs had prevailed. Not just the soaring raptors and skittering lizards, but the lumbering mastodon and megalosaurus too – vanished monsters whose form, animation and complexion we’d no longer have to extrapolate from bony jigsaws, but could observe right there, plodding through foreign grass. No more. Google’s prying satellites have mapped every furlong of the planet, while sonar long extinguished any hope of some subterranean Mesozoic outpost.The compulsion to rediscover a lost world remains, however. In this, the Crichton period, we have turned to the uncharted plains of test-tube science in the hope of resurrecting real-life dinosaurs. Monster Hunter: World rejects this approach and returns to the romance of the Victorian stories: it sends you off to a forgotten continent, one filled with wild and unclassified megafauna to investigate, spot, capture or kill. It is also, indisputably, the most vivid and profound opportunity we have yet seen to come face-to-claw with our planet’s old monsters. Continue reading...

A perceptive account of the challenges India faces in dealing with the aspirations of its growing young populationIn 2014, in the 16th general election since winning independence from Britain in 1947, India voted for a new leader. The choice was a relatively simple one. The election pitted the centre-left Congress party, whose de facto candidate for prime minister was Rahul Gandhi, the lacklustre scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, against the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi, a polarising but charismatic rightwing activist turned politician from a poor provincial family.Covering the election for the Observer, I travelled from Delhi, the Indian capital and my base as South Asia correspondent, to Meerut, a small city an hour or so north, to attend a Modi rally. The meeting was vast, with tens of thousands hanging on the BJP leader’s every word. He promised a national regeneration, an India that stood up to its neighbours, was proud of its Hindu heritage, and which offered a hand-up to those who worked hard but had little sympathy with anyone who expected a hand-out. Continue reading...

Advances in AI and robotics are leading to high street models becoming increasingly useful in our day-to-day livesNamed after the Greek god of the wind, this bot’s abilities are more prosaic yet nevertheless useful. Its big boast is that it can fetch you a beer from the fridge, but this household helper can also vacuum, pick up toys and find your lost glasses. The price tag will probably be five figures and the manufactures are hoping it will breeze into shops later this year. Continue reading...

From getaway cars to wonderfully restored racing machines, the third annual London Classic Car Show is the perfect antidote to autonomous drivingLondon Classic Car Show

In the fourth and final episode of this mini-series, Jordan Erica Webber explores what ordinary citizens can do to take back control and how newly released technology might help us along the waySubscribe and review on iTunes, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast or on your favourite podcasting app and join the discussion on Facebook and TwitterThe common thread of this mini-series has been rich and powerful people, companies, and governments harvesting our information, and using opaque algorithms to make decisions about us, predict our behaviour, and micro-target us with adverts. Only one question remains: how can we fight back? Continue reading...

Whether it was at home with family or in a public space with friends we’d like to hear your experiences from Cuba or anywhere else

Nouriel Roubini calls cryptocurrency the ‘mother of all bubbles’ as it falls below $8,000The economist credited with predicting the 2008 global financial crisis said a 12% fall in the value of bitcoin on Friday was the latest proof that the cryptocurrency was the biggest bubble in history and destined for a crash.Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University, said bitcoin was “the mother of all bubbles” favoured by “charlatans and swindlers” as it fell below $8,000 (£5,600) early on Friday, marking a 30% drop since the beginning of the week as investors became increasingly twitchy about a clampdown on cryptocurrencies by regulators. Later it rallied, climbing back over $8,600 by 3pm (GMT). Continue reading...

An ex-YouTube insider reveals how its recommendation algorithm promotes divisive clips and conspiracy videos. Did they harm Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency?

The methodology Guillaume Chaslot used to detect videos YouTube was recommending during the election – and how the Guardian analysed the data

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...