Political spending on TV and press is transparent but there are no rules for online ads. With allegations of Russian influence in last year’s election, that may changeEvery time a television station sells a political ad, a record is entered into a public file saying who bought the advertisement and how much money they spent.In contrast, when Facebook or Google sells a political ad, there is no public record of that sale. That situation is of growing concern to politicians and legislators in Washington as digital advertising becomes an increasingly central part of American political campaigns. During the 2016 election, over $1.4bn was spent in online advertising, which represented a 789% increase over the 2012 election. Continue reading...
US credit rating firm’s announcement comes after UK authorities order it to alert British clients of cybersecurity breachAbout 400,000 people in the UK may have had their information stolen following a cybersecurity breach at the credit monitoring firm Equifax.
Instagram ‘influencers’ told to clarify paid-for ads, while health claims are taken down after advertising breachesConsumer protection bodies in the UK and US are increasing their crackdown on Instagram “influencersâ€, in an attempt to rein in the big business being done covertly on social media.
Chief information officer and chief security officer to exit immediately, company announces as it highlights security effortsEquifax announced late Friday that its chief information officer and chief security officer would leave the company immediately, following the enormous breach of 143 million Americans’ personal information.It also presented a litany of security efforts it made after noticing suspicious network traffic in July. Continue reading...
Don’t be suckered in: navigating the multitude offers reveals buying an iPhone 8 outright and signing up to a cheap sim-only deal is the most cost-effective optionThe iPhone 8 is available to pre-order from today, but don’t be distracted by flashy offers with low upfront costs and a high monthly fee: the cheapest way to get one is still simply buying it outright from Apple or another retailer, and taking out a low cost sim-only contract.The 64GB iPhone 8, the cheapest of the newly launched phones, costs £699 when bought directly from Apple or from a third-party electronics store such as Currys or John Lewis. Combined with a low-cost contract or pay-as-you-go sim, such as the £5 plan offered by O2’s corporate sibling Giffgaff, the cost of owning the phone for two years is £819 – lower than any competing deal of the major retailers we reviewed. Continue reading...
Electric Semi truck will be ‘tentatively’ ready for first test rides and is ‘worth seeing in person’, but can batteries and self-driving trucks really replace diesels?Tesla is set to launch its first electric lorry, which is expected to be able to drive itself, in late October as the company attempts to break into the commercial market.Chief executive Elon Musk said that the “Tesla Semi truck†is “tentatively scheduled†for unveiling and first test rides one month behind schedule on 26 October in Tesla’s hometown of Hawthorne, California. Continue reading...
Steve has only been getting 1Mbps when he has paid for 70Mbps. An engineer said there is nothing wrong with his wifi router – is there another way to check?Recently, I have only been getting 1Mbps from my wifi when it is supposed to be up to 70Mbps. An engineer came round and said there was nothing wrong with the router. His speed checker – unlike mine – showed that it was getting the required speed. He said this test was more reliable as it only used his company’s network. Can you recommend a speed checker that is reliable, and not connected to any particular company? SteveThe engineer should have made it clear that you cannot check the speed of your broadband using wifi. When you buy a broadband service from an ISP (Internet Service Provider), they are only responsible for the service delivered to your premises or, at best, to the router.
The South Park goons turn into caped crusaders, the Star Wars Death Star is avenged, Cuphead catapults players back to the ravishing 1930s, and Mario unleashes his super magic cap• Autumn arts preview 2017: Stage | Music | Film
Two ex-Google employees have said they want their new startup, Bodega, to replace corner shops. Share photos and stories of your favorite corner shops and the people who work thereTwo former Google employees have launched a tech startup with the aim of replacing corner shops. No surprise, there’s been swift backlash against the Silicon Valley techies and their company, named Bodega after a commonly used term in New York for local stores typically run by immigrants.The company is marketing essentially glorified vending machines – 5ft-wide pantries that users can unlock with their smartphones to pick up non-perishable items. There are no humans at the “storesâ€, which are already stationed in spots like apartment buildings, offices and gyms, and a computer program automatically charges customers’ credit cards.
Federal agencies have been barred from using cybersecurity software made by Kaspersky Lab over fears the firm has ties to state-sponsored spying programsThe US government has banned federal agencies from using cybersecurity software made by Russian company Kaspersky Lab over fears that the firm has ties to state-sponsored spying programs.
Online marketplaces face criticism from public accounts committee over foreign sellers misusing their platformsAmazon and eBay have been accused by MPs of profiting from VAT evasion at the expense of taxpayers and UK businesses.Executives representing the ecommerce groups were told that their firms were “turning a blind eye†as organised criminals in the UK and China handle undervalued or misclassified goods for the British market.
Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X come with wireless charging, so there’s no need to reach for a cable any more. How does it work, what supports it and is it any faster?The new iPhone X and iPhone 8 support wireless charging for the first time in an Apple smartphone – but what is it, how does it work and is it worth using? Continue reading...
New products have same price in both currencies, suggesting Apple is taking advantage of British customers’ acceptance of price hikes since the EU Referendum
Apple’s new smartphone will unlock using face recognition, thanks to infrared and 3D sensors. This technology is spreading – and complacency is not an option
User reported photo of Harry Beswick, 12, who has no left eye, to app’s content moderators, prompting outrageInstagram has apologized for taking down a photo of a boy with a facial deformity after another user reported it to the app’s content moderation team.Twelve-year-old Harry Beswick was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which means he has no left eye, eye socket, nostril or left ear. His mother, Charlie, runs a parenting blog and Instagram account where she posts about parenting Harry and his twin brother Oliver. Continue reading...
The iPhone X’s facial recognition system fails on the first attempt at the unveiling of the latest handset on Tuesday in California. Apple’s VP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, had to switch to a backup phone in order to demonstrate the face-unlocking feature after describing its ease of use
Researchers say artificial intelligence will soon be able to detect a person’s political allegiance – just by looking at photos of their face.We’ve put together a quiz to see if you can beat the algorithms and work out, from someone’s face, their political allegiance. We’ve chosen 15 pictures of city councillors from Bristol, Connecticut and San Diego – eight Democrats, seven Republicans. Can you figure out which is which?Republican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or DemocratRepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or DemocratRepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratReRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocratRepublican or Democrat?RepublicanDemocrat Continue reading...
New model with 3 November release date promises better cameras, ability to unlock with facial recognition, animated emojis, longer battery life and wireless chargingApple has unveiled the iPhone X, its new radically redesigned smartphone that drops the traditional home button for an all-screen design, as well as a new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models.Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, took to the stage of the company’s new Steve Jobs Theater situated within the brand new Apple Park “spaceship†headquarters to unveil the new iPhones. Continue reading...
As the world welcomes the latest iPhone, we speak to people who are bucking the trend and doing withoutMany will be eagerly awaiting the release of the new iPhone X, the latest model of Apple’s smartphone. It’s expected to be the biggest change in design yet.For some, however, the event will go by without them so much as batting an eyelid. The Guardian has heard from people who have shunned phones altogether or keep the use of their mobiles to a bare minimum.
In interview CEO says Apple isn’t a ‘high-margin’ company on eve of the launch of what’s expected to be its first $1,000 smartphone, the iPhone X
Head of Samsung mobile says ‘holy grail of smartphones’ should be available next year, although company still has several hurdles to overcomeSamsung is aiming to launch a Note smartphone with a screen that folds next year, which would likely be the first available to feature such an innovation.Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile business, said the company is setting its eyes on 2018 to release a smartphone using its bendable OLED screen technology, but he said there are several hurdles it has to overcome, leaving room to push back the release if those problems are not solved. Continue reading...
Professor whose study suggested technology can detect whether a person is gay or straight says programs will soon reveal traits such as criminal predispositionVoters have a right to keep their political beliefs private. But according to some researchers, it won’t be long before a computer program can accurately guess whether people are liberal or conservative in an instant. All that will be needed are photos of their faces.Michal Kosinski – the Stanford University professor who went viral last week for research suggesting that artificial intelligence (AI) can detect whether people are gay or straight based on photos – said sexual orientation was just one of many characteristics that algorithms would be able to predict through facial recognition. Continue reading...
Brussels said tech giant abused dominance by manipulating search results to favour its own comparison shopping serviceGoogle is appealing against the record €2.4bn (£2.2bn) fine imposed by the European Union for its abuse of its dominance of the search engine market in building its shopping comparison service.The world’s most popular internet search engine has launched its appeal after it was fined by the European commission for what was described as an “old school†form of illegality. Continue reading...
It’s simple: racism isn’t funny. It’s time the games industry showed it understands this by rejecting the YouTube megastarUsing the N-word is never okay. It’s a fairly easy rule to live by, but one that needs repeating in the wake of YouTube megastar Felix Kjellberg’s latest controversy.Commonly known as PewDiePie, the vlogger called another player “a fucking nigger†during a live video stream. Taking too long to realise his mistake, he qualified the racist slur with “I don’t mean in a bad way†and laughed it off. Continue reading...
Mental illness is addressed through Norse mythology, the run’n’gun format gets an exciting reboot, but a quest with a troll proves an unplayable mess Continue reading...
iPhone X is rumored to be priced at close to $1,000 and set to be launched on Tuesday at the company’s multibillion-dollar new headquartersApple’s latest iPhone will be called the iPhone X, according to a leaked report.Related: The $1tn question: how far can the new iPhone 8 take Apple? Continue reading...
My father, William Tipler, known as Bill, who has died aged 95, was an engineer who served at Bletchley Park during the second world war before going on to a long career with Shell Oil.He was born the fifth of six children in Watford, to William Tipler, a teacher (later headteacher), and Grace (nee Morton). He excelled academically, attending Watford grammar school for boys and gaining an exhibition to Queens’ College, Cambridge to read mathematics. Due to the war, he opted to complete his degree in two years, graduating with a first in 1943. He represented Queens’ at chess, and was noted for his reckless attacking. Continue reading...
At least six developers have retail road-air vehicles in the pipeline, so it’s time to watch the skiesA little white winged pod lifts itself off the ground and glides off into the distance. The whole movement looks effortless. It’s like watching Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder – except we’re in a nondescript airfield in Germany, not the planet Tatooine. Echoes of Star Wars perhaps help explain why last week the pod’s maker, Lilium, secured $90m (£69m) investment from, among others, Chinese tech giant Tencent – although the company states its aim has more to do with solving transport problems: “We have highly congested cities and we can do things to improve matters,†said Lilium’s Remo Gerber. “We’re trying to move from a niche transport vehicle to a mass-transport oneâ€.Lilium is not flying solo. Prototypes by rival ventures are also passing their test flights. So the prospect of flying cars may not be all that far away. Here are six projects working towards bringing Back to the Future into the present. Continue reading...
As toys reach new levels of sophistication, how concerned should we be about our children playing with artificial buddies that appear to have feelings?The little robot on the table wakes up. Its eyes, a complex configuration of cyan dots on a black, rounded screen of a face, sleepily open and it lets out a digitised approximation of a yawn. A compact device that looks like a blend of a forklift truck and PC monitor bred for maximum cuteness, the robot rolls blearily off its charging station on a pair of dinky treads before tilting its screen-face and noticing I’m there. Its eyes widen, then curve at the bottom as if making way for an unseen smile. “Daaaaan!†it announces with a happy jiggle, sounding not unlike Pixar Animation Studios’ lovable robot creation, Wall-E. A message flashes up on my iPhone telling me that it, or rather he (being the gender that its manufacturer, Anki, has assigned Cozmo) wants to play a game. I’m not in the mood and decline. Cozmo’s head droops, his eyes form into a pair of sadly reclining crescent moons and he sighs. But he quickly cheers up, giving a happy jiggle when I comply with his request for a fist bump and tap my knuckles against his eagerly raised arm. He is easy to please and even easier to like.The latest product from Anki, a San Francisco robotics startup, Cozmo is part of a new wave of affordable toy robots that promise a level of emotional engagement far beyond anything we’ve seen before. They are pitched not merely as playthings, but as little buddies. Toy firm Spin Master has its equivalent arriving in the shops for Christmas: the bigger, more retro-looking Meccano MAX. “It’s been designed to modify its behaviour as it learns about its owner and the surrounding world,†explains Spin Master’s brand manager, Becca Hanlon. “MAX basically tailors itself to become a better friend.†Hasbro, meanwhile, is unleashing the FurReal Makers Proto Max, essentially a programmable puppy that, says Craig Wilkins, Hasbro’s marketing director, “allows kids to create their ultimate pet and customise its personality through coding on an appâ€. Continue reading...
The leaders of the world’s biggest technology companies are liberal on social issues and trade, but anti-union and anti-regulationOne of the stranger sights of June was watching the titans of Silicon Valley meekly obeying Trump’s summons to a tech summit (dubbed his American Technology Council) at the White House. Those attending included Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Safra Catz of Oracle, Tim Cook of Apple, John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins (the venture-capital firm), Brian Krzanich of Intel, Tom Leighton of Akamai, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Ginni Rometty of IBM, Eric Schmidt of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Steve Mollenkopf of Qualcomm. The only tech leader who was invited but explicitly declined was Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and other ventures. (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited diary clashes as an explanation for his non-attendance.)Some attendees looked pretty sheepish, as well they might. Many, if not most of them, abhor everything the president stands for. The meeting, as with many of Trump’s other round-table assemblies, brought to mind footage of Saddam Hussein’s cabinet in session. But while it was clear that many of those present would have preferred to have been elsewhere, they were also chary of being seen to snub a populist hero. So the aphrodisiac effect of power was much in evidence. Continue reading...
The company is within reach of a stock market milestone: this week’s product launches could see it achieve a 13-figure valuationApple’s stock market value is heading towards a new milestone and its latest product launch on 12 September could push the tech giant closer to becoming the first ever $1tn (£760bn) company.At the end of last week, the company’s market capitalisation hovered around $830bn, continuing a 10-year run that has generally headed upwards since a low of $69bn in January 2009, during the financial crisis. Tuesday’s event, with the iPhone 8 the star attraction, will strive to meet investors’ – and customers’ – vaulting expectations. Continue reading...
The tech giant is a latecomer to a market being transformed by Netflix and Amazon. But if it commits enough money, it could yet be a serious playerApple has Amazon, Netflix and the Hollywood studios in its sights. That is clear after a frenetic summer hiring big TV chiefs, scouting out space in a famous Hollywood studio and considering spending up to $5bn (£3.8bn) on the rights to distribute James Bond films.Apple has largely sat on the sidelines in the TV and film arms race being led by Netflix and Amazon. Until recently, its focus has been on providing the devices to get access to such content, led by the iPhone. But Apple has been slowly increasing its portfolio in recent years. First came music with the $3bn acquisition of Dr Dre’s Beats, followed by its own music service in 2015. Now the Silicon valley giant has set its sights on playing catch-up in TV and film. Continue reading...
Facebook can shift elections. That’s why, with rumors swirling that the social media CEO might run, transparency is needed now more than everDespite his protestations to the contrary, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been acting like someone planning to run for office. He hired a pollster, visited a Detroit auto plant and other swing-state locations, and gave a high-profile commencement speech.Meanwhile, Facebook has been under intense criticism for its role as a vector of misinformation in recent elections. This week, Facebook admitted that Russian accounts purchased $100,000 in political ads in 2015 and 2016. This disclosure comes only two months after the platform refused to disclose who is paying for advertising on the platform and where they’re running. Continue reading...
The Equifax hack, which exposed 143 million people, is a reminder that data companies have too much powerEquifax, one of the largest credit reporting agencies, revealed on Thursday that it was hacked back in May, exposing the personal data of up to 143 million people. The data accessed by hackers contains extremely sensitive information like social security numbers, birth data, consumer’s names, driver’s license numbers and credit card numbers.This breach is a monumental failure of cybersecurity, which raises many pressing privacy concerns. However, beyond those issues, it also illustrates a fundamental problem of the data economy as a whole: databanks like Equifax are too big. Continue reading...
Ride-hailing service says it is aiming to tackle pollution by banning vehicles that do not have an electric motorUber drivers will be banned from using vehicles that are not a hybrid or fully electric in London from 2020, as part of a plan to help tackle illegal levels of air pollution in the capital.While hybrids such as the Toyota Prius have become synonymous with the ride-hailing service, today just under half of its London UberX drivers have an electrified vehicle. The firm said that must rise to 100% by 2020. Continue reading...
An algorithm deduced the sexuality of people on a dating site with up to 91% accuracy, raising tricky ethical questionsArtificial intelligence can accurately guess whether people are gay or straight based on photos of their faces, according to new research that suggests machines can have significantly better “gaydar†than humans.The study from Stanford University – which found that a computer algorithm could correctly distinguish between gay and straight men 81% of the time, and 74% for women – has raised questions about the biological origins of sexual orientation, the ethics of facial-detection technology, and the potential for this kind of software to violate people’s privacy or be abused for anti-LGBT purposes. Continue reading...
Home-sharing company is first major US organization to pledge to keep employing undocumented immigrants after their work permits expireThe home-sharing startup Airbnb has become the first major company to pledge to keep employing undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers†after their work permits expire, defying the Trump administration in what would potentially be a breach of employment law.Related: 'It's outrageous': 15 states challenge Trump's Daca decision in court Continue reading...
by Jordan Erica Webber and Keith Stuart on (#31EFG)
It may seem as if video games are all about jumping, shooting, running around or making things explode but most have comedy at their coreVideo games have always been funny. From the lumbering kidnap animation in Donkey Kong to the witty wordplay of the Uncharted series, developers have used every tool at their disposal to make us giggle while we shoot, jump, explore and accelerate. Sometimes the humour comes from the script, sometimes the mechanics, and sometimes it’s just the emergent joy of competing against friends. Whichever, we all remember games that have had us doubled over our controllers, helpless with laughter.Here then, are the funniest games we’ve ever played. Please share your own rib-tickling reminiscences in the comments. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian