US lecturer receives more than 50,000 tweets a year meant for the British retailerEvery year the frenzy around John Lewis’s Christmas ad results in the chain’s namesake, an American lecturer, being mistakenly inundated with thousands of tweets. This year he stars in his own Christmas ad.Twitter UK has paid for the “real†John Lewis, who receives more than 50,000 tweets a year meant for the British retail chain, to appear in a tongue-in-cheek ad playing on the case of mistaken identity. Continue reading...
For harassed loved ones everywhere, we compare the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo SwitchA games console is the perfect Christmas present – it’s exciting, it’s cool and everyone can join in on the day (as long as you’ve had the foresight to sneak it out of its packaging on Christmas Eve to download the inevitable six hours of system updates). But selecting which machine to opt for is complicated and confusing, and if you get it wrong you may end up with yet another unloved gadget crammed in the cupboard where you keep the air fryer and mini candyfloss machine.Here are some tips for harassed parents or partners who have found the words “games console†on a loved one’s Christmas list and are experiencing technophobic panic. Continue reading...
Ministers not taking growing threat to national infrastructure seriously, says committeeMinisters are failing to act with “a meaningful sense of purpose or urgency†in the face of a growing cyber threat to the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI), a parliamentary committee has warned.The joint committee on national security strategy said at a time when states such as Russia were expanding their capability to mount disruptive cyber-attacks, the UK’s level of ministerial oversight was “wholly inadequateâ€. Continue reading...
Hillary J Shaw harks back to the events in Denmark in September 1943Whenever anyone suggests that, for example, microchips implanted under our skin are only a minor extension of already-existing monitoring, or that “the innocent have nothing to fear†from increased surveillance and tracking (Report, 12 November), I mentally rerun the events in Denmark in September 1943 but with this latest technology. September 1943 was when the Danes, having been tipped off that Germany was about to round up and exterminate the Jewish population there, suddenly admitted these people to hospital or hid them in their homes under “Danish†names such as Jensen. Thousands were saved. Now how would all this have played out if there had been chip implants or electronic ID cards then?
Search engine is lobbying hard to stop proposed tax, aimed at compensating news publishersGoogle’s top news executive has refused to rule out shutting down Google News in EU countries, as the search engine faces a battle with Brussels over plans to charge a “link tax†for using news stories.Richard Gingras, the search engine’s vice-president of news, said while “it’s not desirable to shut down services†the company was deeply concerned about the current proposals, which are designed to compensate struggling news publishers if snippets of their articles appear in search results. Continue reading...
Machines are supposed to be tools that serve human ends, but the relationship is slowly shifting - and not in our favourThe other day I had to log in to a service I hadn’t used before. Since I was a new user, the website decided that it needed to check that I wasn’t a robot and so set me a Captcha (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart). This is a challenge-response test to enable a computer to determine whether the user is a person rather than a machine.I was presented with an image of a roadside scene over which was overlaid a grid. My “challenge†was to click on each cell in the grid that contained a traffic sign, or part thereof. I did so, fuming a bit. Then I was presented with another image and another grid – also with a request to identify road signs. Like a lamb, I complied, after which the website deigned to accept my input. Continue reading...
Stories of human resilience, enlightenment, love and death provide a much-needed escape from the bluster of BrexitWhat Nobody Tells You About Rape | The Modern Mann
Automated ‘voices’ that were supposed to do mundane tasks online also now spread hate speech and polarise opinion. Are they a boon or a threat?Alan Turing’s famous test of whether machines could fool us into believing they were human – “the imitation game†– has become a mundane, daily question for all of us. We are surrounded by machine voices, and think nothing of conversing with them – though each time I hear my car tell me where to turn left I am reminded of my grandmother, who having installed a telephone late in life used to routinely say goodnight to the speaking clock.We find ourselves locked into interminable text chats with breezy automated bank tellers and offer our mother’s maiden name to a variety of robotic speakers that sound plausibly alive. I’ve resisted the domestic spies of Apple and Amazon, but one or two friends jokingly describe the rapport they and their kids have built up with Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Home Hub – and they are right about that: the more you tell your virtual valet, the more you disclose of wants and desires, the more speedily it can learn and commit to memory those last few fragments of your inner life you had kept to yourself. Continue reading...
Just when you thought the classic Defender was no more, along comes a firm determined to keep the 4x4 as relevant and desirable as everTwisted Land Rovers
Guardian readers respond to David Edmond’s article about the moral arguments surrounding driverless carsI was disappointed that David Edmonds (Driverless Cars still need a moral compass. But what kind?, Opinion, 15 November) failed to credit one of our most brilliant British moral philosophers who developed the “trolley problem†as a way to abstract the reasoning behind ethical decision-making. Philippa Foot is rarely given her due even though these thought experiments are regularly cited in modern philosophy. Her inventiveness has helped inspire the next generation of philosophers to engage with the practical challenges of artificial intelligence. And we wonder why philosophy is dominated by men.
Tech giant’s founder made surprise warning in staff meeting when addressing question about Sears, according to a recordingAmazon is going to fail, Jeff Bezos, the tech company’s founder, told staff recently.Related: What cities offered Amazon: helipads, zoo tickets, and a street named Alexa Continue reading...
Open Society Foundations hits out after reports firm tried to discredit critics as agents of philanthropistOpen Society Foundations has hit out at Facebook as “reprehensible†after a PR agency hired by the social networking site reportedly tried to discredit critics by claiming they were agents of George Soros.Patrick Gaspard, the president of OSF, said Facebook’s methods “threaten the very values underpinning our democracy†in a letter addressed to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer and the executive responsible for the company’s political operations over last few years. OSF was founded by Soros in 1993 to fund civil rights groups around the world. Continue reading...
Growth in bookings continues to slow as pressure builds to improve financial performanceUber has posted a loss of more than $1bn (£780m) in its latest quarter as growth in bookings continued to slow in the run-up to its stock market flotation next year.The San Francisco-based ride-sharing firm, valued at $76bn, is under pressure to improve its financial performance before the IPO. It lost $1.07bn in the three months to September, a 20% increase from $891m in the previous quarter. Continue reading...
Mary needs to replace her 2009 MacBook Pro but is overwhelmed by the options. Which is the best choice?I have soldiered on with a 2009 MacBook Pro, which I use for internet access, social media, photos, and my research. But in order to access the university library remotely, I have to use an up-to-date operating system, and my Mac is so old I can no longer update it.So, I need to buy a new MacBook, but I am overwhelmed by the options. Do I need a Touch Bar? How much memory and SSD do I need? MaryFollowing the product refresh on 30 October, Apple has four MacBooks that do much the same job. The good news is that, if you can survive on a 2009 MacBook Pro, any of them would be fine for your purposes. The bad news is that they all have features that would put me off buying them, though, with luck, they won’t necessarily put you off. Continue reading...
Blizzard’s wildly popular shooter has built up a fan base thanks to its progressive cast of characters. Here’s how they’re createdThere’s a buzz in the air at Blizzard Entertainment’s Irvine offices. It’s just a few days before BlizzCon, the annual celebration that sees thousands of fans of the company’s games pack into the Anaheim Convention Centre for announcements, panels and entertainment. Overwatch’s game director, Jeff Kaplan, bounces in his chair as he tells me it “feels like Christmas.†But there are no elves at work here, just hundreds of developers collaborating to make a new character to introduce to Overwatch’s players.At BlizzCon’s opening ceremony, fans will see a meticulous animated short that focuses on beloved cowboy character McCree, and introduces a new face, with red eyes framed dramatically by white hair and a wide brimmed hat. Her name is Ashe, and she’s a no-nonsense gunslinger who commands a gang of outlaws, including her own robot butler, Bob. Continue reading...
DeepMasterPrints created by a machine learning technique have error rate of only one in fiveResearchers have used a neural network to generate artificial fingerprints that work as a “master key†for biometric identification systems and prove fake fingerprints can be created.According to a paper presented at a security conference in Los Angeles, the artificially generated fingerprints, dubbed “DeepMasterPrints†by the researchers from New York University, were able to imitate more than one in five fingerprints in a biometric system that should only have an error rate of one in a thousand. Continue reading...
Prosthetics have made amazing advances in recent years – and are slowly changing people’s attitudes to disability. By Patrick KaneI was born with the usual set of limbs. When I was nine months old, I contracted meningococcal septicaemia, a dangerous infection of the blood, which very nearly killed me. I survived, but because I had sustained major tissue damage, it became necessary to amputate my right leg below the knee, all of the fingers on my left hand and the second and third digits on my right hand. I learned to walk on a prosthetic leg at the age of 14 months, and have gone through my life wearing a succession of artificial limbs.As time has passed and technology has advanced, so too have my limbs. Like our mobile phones, prostheses have become lighter, faster and more efficient. When I was nine, I was fitted with a lifeless silicone hand, a useless thing that was purely cosmetic, and so clumsy that I refused to wear it after the first day. Now, at 21, and a student in my third year at Edinburgh University, I wear a bionic arm with nimble fingers that move independently, which I operate using controlled muscle movements in my forearm, as well as an app on my phone. As a child I wore a stiff artificial leg attached with straps that frequently fell off; earlier this summer, I took delivery of a new dynamic right leg with shock absorption and carbon fibre blades. Continue reading...
Facing a string of crises, Facebook hired a PR firm to push conspiracy theories about the billionaire, the New York Times reportsFacebook hired a PR firm that attempted to discredit the company’s critics by claiming they were agents of the billionaire George Soros, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.Soros is a Jewish philanthropist who is the frequent subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories. At the same time, the social media company urged the Anti-Defamation League to object to a cartoon used by anti-Facebook protesters over its resemblance to antisemitic tropes. Continue reading...
From the meaning of life to whether we are good in bed, we expect the search engine to be omnipotentWhat question do you wish Google were able to answer? If the survey commissioned by the TV channel Dave is to be believed, chances are your burning questions are what tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers will be, do aliens exist and what will happen to you when you die.The top 25 questions mostly fall into four categories: conspiracies (Who shot JFK? Did Donald Trump rig the election?); desires for worldly success (Will I ever be rich? What will tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers be?); anxieties (Do people like me? Am I good in bed?); and curiosity about the ultimate questions (What is the meaning of life? Is there a God?). Continue reading...
When children spend their parents’ cash on Fifa players, it’s easy to believe games are ruthlessly engineered to extract money. But that’s not the whole story
Moving healthcare subsidiary into main company breaks pledge that ‘data will not be connected to Google accounts’Google has been accused of breaking promises to patients, after the company announced it would be moving a healthcare-focused subsidiary, DeepMind Health, into the main arm of the organisation.The restructure, critics argue, breaks a pledge DeepMind made when it started working with the NHS that “data will never be connected to Google accounts or servicesâ€. The change has also resulted in the dismantling of an independent review board, created to oversee the company’s work with the healthcare sector, with Google arguing that the board was too focused on Britain to provide effective oversight for a newly global body. Continue reading...
Three of the greatest family games from the original PlayStation era have been updated and improved for modern kids – and nostalgic children of the 90sBefore he was a member of the Skylanders universe, Spyro the Dragon was one of Sony’s leading lights, the plucky protagonist of a trilogy of PlayStation-exclusive platformers developed by Insomniac Games (now perhaps better known for Ratchet & Clank and Marvel’s Spider-Man). Nostalgic fans have remained fond of those old adventures, and so two decades since the first game, Skylanders creator Toys for Bob has released this collection of remasters.I was eight years old when the first Spyro game came out, and my siblings and I played all three over and over again. When I loaded up the first of these remasters it felt so familiar – in the layout of the levels and the precise placement of items within, in the music and sounds and voice acting (despite the fact that Spyro here is voiced throughout by Tom Kenny, who originally only starred in the second and third games) – that my brain was tricked into believing that this was how Spyro had looked all along. Continue reading...
Tesla CEO tweeted in October that the spirit would be ‘coming soon’ but the regulatory council says tequila is a protected wordTesla Inc co-founder Elon Musk and Mexico’s tequila producers could be headed for a collision after the agave-based drink’s industry group opposed the flamboyant billionaire’s efforts to trademark an alcoholic drink dubbed “Teslaquilaâ€.One of the world’s richest people and chief executive of Tesla, Musk is known for ambitious and cutting-edge projects ranging from auto electrification and rocket-building to high-speed transit tunnels. Continue reading...
Google’s plan to expand their campus into a new city has echoes of Amazon’s secretive year-long second headquarters processOfficials in San Jose, California, negotiating with Google over the tech company’s plan to build a massive new campus, are improperly withholding documents, a lawsuit alleged on Tuesday.The suit argues that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) signed by San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo and as many as 18 city staffers at the request of Google were “illegal and invalidâ€. It seeks to force the city to turn over documents requested under California’s public records law. Continue reading...
Almost two-thirds of boards in technology have no female representation at allBritain’s technology sector has a “worrying†lack of diversity among its senior leadership, according to a report that shows the sector lags far behind the FTSE 100 and the wider economy on measures including gender, race and class representation.Just 8.5% of senior leaders in technology are from a minority background, according to the report from agency Inclusive Boards, while women make up only 12.6% of board members in the sector – compared to the 30% female representation now achieved by FTSE 100 businesses. Continue reading...
Residents wonder if company will be ‘good corporate citizen’ as governor hails decision to put headquarters in Long Island CityMore than 200 cities across North America spent a year competing for Amazon’s affections, lavishing tax breaks and other goodies for the chance to host the tech giant’s HQ2.Now, New York has won at least part of the prize – with Amazon splitting its second headquarters in two, and putting one of the new offices in Long Island City, Queens. Continue reading...
Firm to add hub in Nashville but critics attack lack of transparency in process and tax breaks for world’s richest manAmazon has announced it will open new offices in New York City and Arlington, Virginia, capping a year-long contest to host the tech giant’s new headquarters that drew bids from hundreds of US cities.Related: 'It's good and bad': New York torn on rolling out welcome mat for Amazon Continue reading...
The Kremlin’s target is not the outcome of specific votes, such as for Brexit or the US presidency, but to divide the westTo understand the current political frenzy on both sides of the Atlantic, it helps to know Tortuous Convolvulus. Unfamiliar with his work? Convolvulus was a spy, operating around 50BC, a specialist in psychological warfare. He was deployed by Julius Caesar against a stubborn Gallic rebellion, and his methods were not so different to those of Russian cyber-saboteurs against western democracies.On a recent trip to the US I was struck by how engaged officials were with the question of a Kremlin-sponsored Brexit Continue reading...
Hindu nationalism and cheap mobile data driving spread of disinformation, BBC study saysHindu nationalism and the plummeting cost of mobile phone data services are driving the explosive growth of fake news in India, according to a study that suggests WhatsApp is struggling to limit the spread of online disinformation on its service.The research by the BBC World Service sheds light on the conundrum surrounding online disinformation and fake news in the world’s biggest democracy, where the explosive popularity of the group-messaging app has been linked to a string of murders and growing anti-Muslim sentiment. The research was conducted as part of the BBC’s Beyond Fake News series. Continue reading...
Technology can make it look as if anyone has said or done anything. Is it the next wave of (mis)information warfare?In May, a video appeared on the internet of Donald Trump offering advice to the people of Belgium on the issue of climate change. “As you know, I had the balls to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement,†he said, looking directly into the camera, “and so should you.â€The video was created by a Belgian political party, Socialistische Partij Anders, or sp.a, and posted on sp.a’s Twitter and Facebook. It provoked hundreds of comments, many expressing outrage that the American president would dare weigh in on Belgium’s climate policy. Continue reading...
Jon Tannahill was born 17 years after Space Invaders was released. He set his mind to be the bestTomohiro Nishikado’s video game Space Invaders remains the first and last concept for all other “shoot ’em up†video games; the core concept being a single person fighting off a multitude of artificially intelligent enemies. Created in no less than a year, its exquisite attention to imagery and sound, as well as easily understood game play, has offered timeless appeal. What was an amusement of lazy pleasure has since been deemed a work of art, joining the permanent collections of both MoMA and The Smithsonian.As it celebrates its 40th anniversary, Jon Tannahill of Brisbane – born 17 years after the game was released – holds the Space Invaders world record. Continue reading...
Trades Union Congress concerned over tech being used to control and micromanageBritain’s biggest employer organisation and main trade union body have sounded the alarm over the prospect of British companies implanting staff with microchips to improve security.UK firm BioTeq, which offers the implants to businesses and individuals, has already fitted 150 implants in the UK. Continue reading...
Big tech companies are transforming societies – but their pitiful contributions aren’t enough to help governments adaptAlongside the results of last week’s US midterms came the passing of San Francisco’s Proposition C, a measure that will tax firms with an annual turnover of more than $50m (£44m) to raise an estimated $300m extra a year to help address homelessness. Last Tuesday, 60% of voters backed it: though the proposal is now snarled up in a constitutional dispute, its approval marks a big moment for a city whose housing crisis has become a matter of urgency.Given the huge concentration of technology giants in San Francisco, the debate quickly became a drama about big tech and its social responsibilities. The most high-profile supporters of the plan included Marc Benioff, the founder and CEO of the software company Salesforce, the single largest employer in the city, who donated $8m to get it on the statute book. He and his fellow campaigners were opposed by a gaggle of high-ups from such companies as Twitter, the ride-hailing giant Lyft, and the online payments service Stripe: wealthy people apparently doing their bit to resist a modest boost in help for the most vulnerable, in a place whose homelessness problem is at least partly traceable to the vast increases in property values caused by big tech’s local dominance. Continue reading...
Things must really be getting tricky for the tech giants if they have to resort to terminating their staffLook, I know these are volatile times for the tech giants of Silicon Valley. There are the ongoing travails at Facebook and the worldwide demand that Mark Zuckerberg faces the music on his company’s perceived unhealthy influence.Share prices yo-yo wildly. In the space of just a few hours, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google lost a collective $172bn in value. Google employees have also turned militant, with staff walking out at 50 locations in protest against harassment and discrimination within the company. Continue reading...
Ro Khanna tells Guardian multi-billion dollar bill to put tech institutions in middle America is inspired by Morrill Act of 1862A Silicon Valley lawmaker has a plan to bring big tech jobs to middle America – an idea he traces to Abraham Lincoln and believes may help his party defeat Donald Trump in 2020.Related: Why Silicon Valley is worried about US plan to curb Chinese funds Continue reading...
Xbox Fanfest broadcast reveals acquisition of InXile Entertainment and Obsidian EntertainmentIn a broadcast from its Xbox Fanfest event this weekend, Microsoft announced the acquisition of two new video game studios: inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment.Both studios are headquartered in California, and both specialise in role-playing games. Both studios also have their roots in the 1990s “golden age†of computer RPGs, staffed by veteran developers from beloved 90s studio Black Isle. inXile is famous for nostalgic, strategic RPGs, such as Wasteland 2, which raised nearly $3m (£2.3m) on Kickstarter in 2012. Obsidian Entertainment is responsible for acclaimed modern RPGs Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Pillars of Eternity, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. Continue reading...
Facebook, Google and Amazon are eager to get their new devices under your tree. But will they give away your privacy?If you’ve so far withstood the temptation to install a smart speaker in your home, worried about the potential privacy pitfalls and a bit embarrassed about the notion of chatting aimlessly to an inanimate object, brace yourselves. This Christmas, the world’s biggest tech giants, including Amazon, Google and Facebook, are making another bid for your living room, announcing a range of new devices that resemble tablets you can talk to.Facebook’s is called Portal, Google’s the Home Hub, and Amazon has unveiled the second version of its Echo Show. You can still speak to the digital assistants embedded in these devices, but their screens enable hands-free video calling (apart from the Google one), can act as a control pad for various smart devices you may have around your home, such as thermostats or security cameras and (this feature is on heavy rotation in all the promotional material) you can use them to prompt you through a recipe without resorting to smearing your buttery fingers over your phone or laptop. And they’re on sale just in time for the festive season. Continue reading...
A new pilot is intended to halt China’s predatory investment strategies, but many fear it could cool the tech marketAmid growing concerns that China is creeping closer to becoming competitive with the US tech industry, a new pilot program will grant the government increased ability to intervene into lucrative foreign investments in Silicon Valley.While it’s unclear how drastically they will be applied, the new rules are causing concerns among industry insiders. They fear that it could cool a US tech market fueled by foreign investment, and that the president will use them as political leverage in his ongoing trade war. Continue reading...
Crackdown draws ire from leftwing organizers who say the firm is pandering to white nationalists and extremistsPayPal is canceling the accounts of the far right group, the Proud Boys, and also banning anti-fascists from the platform, saying it prohibits people who “promote hate†or “violenceâ€.The online payment company’s decision to associate anti-fascist activists with a rightwing “hate group†has sparked intense backlash from leftwing organizers, who say the Silicon Valley firm is pandering to far-right groups linked to white supremacist beliefs and extremist violence. Continue reading...
Rockstar’s latest game in series outsells projected lifetime sales of the originalRed Dead Redemption 2 has racked up more global sales in its first eight days than its predecessor managed in eight years, according to the game’s maker.
by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and produced by D on (#42KHR)
Jordan Erica Webber talks to two Mozilla Festival speakers who are trying different ways to teach individuals how to take back the internet and make it a trustworthy space again
China’s Xinhua state news agency has introduced the newest members of its newsroom: AI anchors who will report 'tirelessly' all day, every day, from anywhere in the country
Spate of data breaches in financial sector prompts voluntary exercise to test resilienceThe Bank of England (BoE) is staging a day-long war gaming exercise on Friday designed to test the resilience of the financial system in the event of a major cyber-attack.Up to 40 firms are taking part in the voluntary exercise, alongside the BoE, the Treasury, City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority and UK Finance, the industry trade body. Continue reading...
Company faced historic staff backlash following revelation it paid out $90m to an executive accused of sexual misconductThe CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, said the company would overhaul its sexual harassment policies, meeting some of the demands of employees who organized historic walkouts across the globe.In an email to staff on Thursday, Pichai said Google would end forced arbitration for sexual misconduct claims, revamp its investigations process, share data on harassment claims and outcomes, and provide new support systems for people who come forward. The announcement is a notable achievement for employees who organized roughly 20,000 workers to walk out of the corporation’s offices across 50 cities last week. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian