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Gareth’s son wants a laptop, but he might end up spending too much time playing games. If he got a Raspberry Pi would he learn more about computing?I just read your helpful article about laptops for children from November 2015. My eight-year-old is badgering us for a laptop. He has had a tablet for a few years, plays Minecraft and Lego games, and watches YouTube videos. I am worried that getting him a laptop will just feed an obsession with games and gamers. I would like him to learn more about computers and was thinking about getting a Raspberry Pi instead. Am I being a mean parent by not getting him a laptop or PC like many of his peers? If I go down this route, do you have any laptop recommendations for this year? GarethObsessive PC gamers usually know far more about computers than professional users. In their quest for performance, they learn about multi-threading, over-clocking, pixel-shading and software optimisation techniques, as well as things like memory, disk drive, keyboard and mouse speeds. As a result, they are much more likely to build their own machines. However, this rarely applies to children as young as your son.

SMS messages revealed in corruption trial show South Korean journalists requesting favours for positive coverage, as watchdogs decry company’s powerSouth Korea’s so-called “trial of the century” has seen Samsung’s crown prince Lee Jae-yong, the company’s vice-chairman, accused of bribing ousted president Park Geun-hye – but it has also shone new light on the depths of the electronics firm’s media manipulation.The company is awaiting this Friday’s verdict on several of Samsung’s current and former top executives, for their alleged involvement in a political scandal that has rocked South Korea. Lee could face a 12-year jail term if convicted of bribing Park to push through a controversial merger in 2015. Continue reading...

James Cameron’s smash-hit sequel gains a dimension and loses none of its splendour, but questions over whether it was truly necessary remain3D isn’t finished yet: James Cameron has supervised a new version of his smash-hit 1991 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and watching in immersive 3D is a possible new way of getting excited about the technical effects that were state-of-the-art at the time.Related: Hasta la vista: why not even James Cameron can save 3D movies Continue reading...

The ‘funny little hack’ started a decade ago with #barcamp, and now 125m of them are shared daily on Twitter alone – but not without a few misfiresThe hashtag turns 10 today, and its inventor, Chris Messina – aka user no 1186 on Twitter – has explained how a small group of early Twitter users wanted to make conversations easier to follow.Related: Obama's anti-racism tweet after Charlottesville is most liked ever on Twitter Continue reading...

Softbank’s humanoid robot ‘Pepper’ dons robes to provide low-cost funerals complete with live-streaming optionIn Japan robots can serve as companions, helpers for the elderly, entertainment bots and even sexual partners, but now SoftBank’s humanoid robot Pepper has put itself up for hire as a Buddhist priest for funerals.Taking the German blessing bot’s idea and running with it, Pepper’s new code will let it chant sutras in a computerised voice while tapping a drum, providing a cheaper alternative to a human priest to see your loved ones off into the eternal sleep. Continue reading...

Company follows Waymo’s lead in pivoting from full ‘Apple car’ to manufacturing tech to automate already existing vehiclesApple is following the road taken by Waymo, the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Google-parent Alphabet, and downshifting on its still-unannounced self-driving car project, according to a report in the New York Times.The company has been working on its automotive technology under the internal code name “Project Titan” since at least 2014, and once intended to build its own vehicle from start to finish, creating a true “Apple Car”. Continue reading...

MPs have been urged to outlaw ‘catfishing’, when perpetrators steal the identity of someone else to strike up an online relationship

Personal data is to the tech world what oil is to the fossil fuel industry. That’s why companies like Amazon and Facebook plan to dig deeper than we ever imagined

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Wednesday. Continue reading...

Other measures being explored include levy on social media companies to help meet costs of online policingMinisters in the UK are considering creating an internet ombudsman to deal with complaints about hate crimes and are pressing ahead with proposals for a levy on social media companies to help pay for the policing of online offences.The ideas are being examined by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) before the release of an autumn green paper, which may be more radical than expected. Continue reading...

New software promises to extend battery life, improve notifications and speed up smartphones as Google pushes out updates to Pixel and Nexus devicesGoogle’s next version of Android is called Oreo and is coming to smartphones and tablets in the near future.

The notion has been parodied on TV, but a real company is offering transfusions of teenager’s plasma to reinvigorate older people. At $8,000, it’s a bit of a bloodsuckerWhat we now call “intergenerational fairness” has suffered a lot lately, and it’s not about to be improved by the news that the Baby Boomers are sucking the blood of the young. Although, in fairness, they are only after the plasma.In Monterey, California, a new startup has emerged, offering transfusions of human plasma: 1.5 litres a time, pumped in across two days, harvested uniquely from young adults. Continue reading...

Ride-sharing app under consideration for partnership offering service between homes and public transport hubs in areas with limited infrastructureUber is in talks with the New South Wales government to subsidise trips for Sydneysiders between their homes and public transport hubs.An Uber spokesman said the plans for a partnership to “fill the gaps” in areas with limited public transport were “probably the most positive signs we’ve seen across Australia”. Continue reading...

Early start would encourage women to become programmers and reduce gender stereotyping, argues Stephanie ShirleyChildren as young as two should be introduced to the basics of coding, according to one of Britain’s most eminent computing pioneers.Dame Stephanie Shirley, whose company was one of the first to sell software in the 1960s, said that engaging very young children – in particular girls – could ignite a passion for puzzles and problem-solving long before the “male geek” stereotype took hold. Continue reading...

Open letter signed by Tesla chief and Alphabet’s Mustafa Suleyman urges UN to block use of lethal autonomous weapons to prevent third age of warSome of the world’s leading robotics and artificial intelligence pioneers are calling on the United Nations to ban the development and use of killer robots.Tesla’s Elon Musk and Alphabet’s Mustafa Suleyman are leading a group of 116 specialists from across 26 countries who are calling for the ban on autonomous weapons. Continue reading...

London’s buoyant tech hub faces a struggle to keep attracting talent and money as the EU ‘turns off tap’ for fundingIt was earlier this summer when Justin Grierson noticed that the number of “hackathons” seemed to be trailing off around “Silicon Roundabout”, the east London area touted as Britain’s answer to the Californian valley that is home to technology giants Google and Facebook.“Last year there used to be at least two every weekend and now there might be about two a month,” said the freelance programmer who is a regular at the sprint-like design events for coders and others, which often bring him into contact with others in the sector. Continue reading...

As Google reels from the fallout over a controversial diversity memo, multiple women say they faced regular discrimination and ultimately leftQichen Zhang couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The technical specialist was in the middle of the office at Google when a white male colleague began joking with her about her hiring.“He said, ‘It must’ve been really easy for you to get your job because you’re an Asian woman and people assume you’re good at math,’” Zhang recalled in a recent interview. “It was absolutely stunning. I remember me just emotionally shutting down.” Continue reading...

It has taken a fan game to bring Sonic back to where he belongs – a two-dimensional platformer full of thrills, spills and 90s gaming nostalgiaPoor Sonic Team. After Sonic the Hedgehog and its Mega Drive sequels captured the imaginations of school kids around the world in 1991, the development studio behind the character hasn’t quite been able to find the magic formula that made the original game such a hit. After years of ill-thought out additions - werehogs, treasure hunts, royal love interests, even the third-dimension was arguably a stretch too far - it has taken an officially endorsed fan-game to recapture the essence of what made Sonic the only real challenge to Mario’s platforming crown all those years ago.If the 90s had never ended, Sonic Mania is the follow-up we would have had instead of making do playing Big the Cat fishing mini-games in Sonic Adventure. All those horrid secondary characters we’ve grown to hate over the years are nowhere to be seen, save for a couple of cameos that only hardcore Sonic fans will even recognise such as the cast of Sonic Championship. The player guides Sonic, Tails and Knuckles across two-dimensional rollercoaster levels (sorry, “zones”) made in the style of the Mega Drive originals and full of loops, springs and spike traps. It’s exhilarating. Continue reading...

After initial hack and ransom request, TV network suffers separate breach of social media accounts amid embarrassing leaks of unaired showsSeveral HBO Twitter accounts were hacked and taken over by the notorious OurMine hacking group, posting #HBOHacked messages and warnings about security.

Technology companies join together to condemn white supremacists and President Trump in aftermath Charlottesville rallyApple, LinkedIn, Spotify and Twitter have joined a growing chorus of technology companies to hit out at the far right and Donald Trump’s attempt to put white supremacists and leftwing counter-demonstrators at Saturday’s Charlottesville protest on the same moral plane.Following the lead of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google, Go Daddy and others, Apple CEO Tim Cook pledged $1m donations to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League and sent a strongly worded memo to staff, quoting Martin Luther King, about the violence in Charlottesville on Saturday. Continue reading...

Steve wants to know why public hotspots are not secure. Happily, there are ways to make your connection saferWhy are all the free wifi services offered by hotels and airports etc unsecured? I scan networks with AVG and then use TunnelBear’s VPN (virtual private network) whenever I want to use them for anything other than checking weather or news. SteveThere’s often a trade-off between security, convenience and cost. This doesn’t just apply to wireless hotspots but to houses, cars and other things.

As Nadine and Chloe take over the franchise, the Lost Legacy offers up all the thrills, spills and puzzles we’ve come to expect and is better for passing the Bechdel testYou can tell that Uncharted: The Lost Legacy started as more of an expansion than a standalone game. Rather than spanning the globe like previous Uncharted games, it all takes place in one part of India. And you get to play as a woman, who are so often relegated to DLC in these big franchises such as BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea or smaller spin-off games such as Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. Even in Naughty Dog’s own The Last of Us: Left Behind, we only got to play as Ellie after we’d met her through the eyes of generic video game man Joel.But The Lost Legacy expanded during development, and although Uncharted 4 season pass holders won’t have to pay for it, it’s now a full-length by-the-numbers Uncharted game led by two women – the Indian-Australian Chloe Frazer and the black South African Nadine Ross. Continue reading...

CEO says Facebook is ‘watching closely’ and will ‘take down threats of physical harm’, joining raft of tech companies purging white nationalists and neo-NazisMark Zuckerberg broke his silence on the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville last weekend, writing in a Facebook post on Wednesday that the social network is “watching the situation closely and will take down threats of physical harm”.The CEO’s statement was made four days after a counter-protester was killed at a “Unite the Right” rally that used a Facebook event to recruit attendees, and a day after he published a post about a new data center Facebook is building in Ohio. The social network also appears to be deleting a number of white nationalist and neo-Nazi profiles and pages. Continue reading...

Action by technology companies and hacking group Anonymous removes neo-Nazi site from open web, while social media steps up anti-hate actionsAmerican neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer has moved on to the so-called dark web in an attempt to stay operational, following cyber-attacks by hacker group Anonymous and the cancellation of the site’s original domain name.

MSPs and Holyrood staff warned hackers trying to access numerous email accounts in ongoing ‘brute force cyber-attack’Hackers have mounted a “brute force” cyber-attack on the Scottish parliament’s computer systems, weeks after a similar attack on email accounts at Westminster.MSPs and Holyrood staff were warned on Tuesday that hackers were attempting to access numerous email accounts by systematically and repeatedly trying to crack their passwords. Continue reading...

Boston Dynamics demo clip shows we are not quite living in an i, Robot future – even if the machines can skate better than you canTechnology baron Elon Musk is scared of AI, warning of visions of the robot apocalypse when Terminator-esque machines decide they no longer need humans. But judging from the progress made by arguably the most advanced humanoid robots, if Terminator does show up, it won’t even be able to stack shelves without falling over.The hilarious outtake was part of a video demonstrating the advances made by former Google-owned Boston Dynamics, featuring a series of robots including the Atlas humanoid automaton, which while impressive in many respects is far from a highly capable robotic killing machine – or job taker. Continue reading...

London startup Automata Technologies is hoping to democratise robotics by installing the technology in workplaces. Is it really nothing to worry about?The technology industry likes to talk about how automation is set to change the world. Chatbots present a new way of interacting with software, self-driving cars promise to reshape our cities, and the increasing capability of AI to handle ever more complex and “human” tasks could reshape our economy. But amid all the futurism, one thing gets lost: actual robots.London startup Automata Technologies is one of those hoping to reverse the trend. The company makes a tabletop robotic arm, which it hopes will democratise access to automation for every industry by costing a fraction of the tens of thousands of dollars a typical industrial robot costs today – under £5,000 up front, or under £500 a month for a “robotics as a service” package. One thing that’s no different from the world of software bots is that this robot has a woman’s name: Eva. Continue reading...

Telecoms company dismisses Oozi Cats after investigators found an Uzi Katz was named as fugitive defendant in US in 1990sThe chief executive of a London telecoms company has been fired after it alleged that he had been lying about his true identity for at least 17 years and was on the run from US police.Oozi Cats, 56, was dismissed on Monday by Aim-listed Telit Communications after the company’s private investigators found that he was in fact Uzi Katz, named by Boston’s district court as a “fugitive defendant” wanted in connection with an alleged 1990s property scam.

Twitter account linked to the Anonymous network of hackers says apparent hack might be a stunt initiated by neo-Nazi siteA message purportedly posted by hackers has appeared on the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, saying the site has been taken over in response to an article criticising a woman who died during violence at far-right rally in Virginia over the weekend.The post on the website’s homepage said the international hacking network Anonymous had taken control of the site, which was founded and is edited by Andrew Anglin, who endorsed Donald Trump for president. Continue reading...

Union assisting drivers in dispute over employment status dismisses changes as cynical PR moveUber will allow UK users to leave a tip and will also charge passengers for keeping cabs waiting, as it attempts to take the sting out of a long-running dispute with drivers over labour rights.The San Francisco-based firm, which has had a string of public image crises, including an alleged failure to report sex attacks, unveiled changes seemingly aimed at improving relations with drivers.

Atlas Rises introduces a big new story and tons of fresh details – but is it enough to encourage people back into this procedurally generated world?Almost a year to the day since its controversial release, No Man’s Sky is still frequently awe inspiring. There’s beauty in its hyper-saturated sunsets and navy-hued space-scapes; there’s fascination in the occasionally hilarious procedurally generated creatures, or the rush of fear as a radioactive solar storm ravages a planet’s dusty surface. There’s still a thrill in diving below the top layer of cloud to find out what kind of biome lies beneath – even if a world’s surface can often look completely different to how it appeared from the dark blueness of space.“What is No Man’s Sky?” was the question that circled, endlessly, around developer Hello Games while it worked on the game. Come its release in August 2016, it seemed that head honcho Sean Murray and his team didn’t really know the answer themselves. Part survival game, part ambient exploration, part mindless wandering simulator, part clearly unfinished experiment, it felt like a fabulous concept that had run away into something unattainably ambitious. The new Atlas Rises update is the closest the studio has come to really answering the big defining question about what its game does. Continue reading...

Tesla head warns of dangers of AI and pushes for regulation as OpenAI he backed beats best human players in online DotA 2 championshipElon Musk has warned again about the dangers of artificial intelligence, saying that it poses “vastly more risk” than the apparent nuclear capabilities of North Korea does.

HBO says it doesn’t want to feed hacker’s desire for publicity, but experts say network may eventually give in after Ballers, Barry and The Deuce also leakedHackers have leaked a trove of unaired episodes of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Insecure, Ballers, Barry and The Deuce, as they continue to in their efforts to extort the US television network.The leaks over the weekend did not include any further episodes of Game of Thrones, but did include the latest episode of Insecure, which was due to be broadcast on Sunday evening, and several episodes of the highly anticipated new series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is due to return in October. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Monday. Continue reading...

Senior officer says firm putting concerns for its reputation over public safety by not notifying police of some serious crimesUber has been accused by police of allowing a driver who sexually assaulted a passenger to strike again by not reporting the attack, along with other serious crimes.In a strongly worded letter, Insp Neil Billany of the Metropolitan police’s taxi and private hire team suggested the company was putting concerns for its reputation over public safety. Continue reading...

It’s predicted that 200m connected cars will be on the roads by 2020, but there’s a risk that more technology will lead to more hackingA threshold was quietly crossed in the first quarter of 2016. For the first time, mobile carriers reported activating more connected cars than phones.At a vehicle tech demonstration in Manhattan this month, a group of reporters stood around a custom-made, tablet-screened display console as Darrin Shewchuk, a spokesman for Harman International, explained the impending technological revolution. Continue reading...

A Norwegian startup company has created an automaton that helps children with long-term sickness be part of normal life againAs a rule of thumb, the best ideas are the simplest. That’s easy to forget in an age of rapid technological innovation, when the tendency is to be led by capability rather than need.For as Karen Dolva, co-founder of the Norwegian startup No Isolation, says: “There are a lot of engineers who don’t want to make something useful – they want to make something cool.” Continue reading...

US psychologist Jean Twenge, who has claimed that social media is having a malign affect on the young, answers critics who accuse her of crying wolfLast week, the children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, launched a campaign to help parents regulate internet and smartphone use at home. She suggested that the overconsumption of social media was a problem akin to that of junk-food diets. “None of us, as parents, would want our children to eat junk food all the time – double cheeseburger, chips, every day, every meal,” she said. “For those same reasons, we shouldn’t want our children to do the same with their online time.”Related: Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking and Watching – review Continue reading...

Nintendo gives Mario’s distant cousin another stab at success, and unveils the best 2DS yet, while it’s another round of samurai savagery on the PlayStation 43DS, Nintendo, cert: 3 Continue reading...

Recent research suggests that AI could make a valuable contribution to the judicial processIn 1963, an American attorney named Reed Lawlor published a prescient article in the journal of the American Bar Association. “In a few years,” he wrote, “lawyers will rely more and more on computers to perform many tasks for them. They will not rely on computers simply to do their bookkeeping, filing or other clerical tasks. They will also use them in their research and in the analysis and prediction of judicial decisions. In the latter tasks, they will make use of modern logic and the mathematical theory of probability, at least indirectly.”Related: Rise of the racist robots – how AI is learning all our worst impulses Continue reading...

If you’re looking for answers to life’s big philosophical questions, try playing a video game, says Jordan Erica Webber

Jonathan Evans says although encryption services have hampered terrorism fight he does not support curtailment of its useA former head of MI5 has spoken out against curtailing use of encryption in messaging apps despite warning that Islamist terrorism will remain a threat for up to another 30 years.Jonathan Evans said the terrorist threat to Britain was a “generational problem”, and suggested the Westminster Bridge attack in March may have had an energising effect on extremists.

Firing of James Damore, engineer behind controversial anti-diversity memo, sparks ire from ‘alt-right’ reminiscent of 2014 Gamergate harassment campaign

Benchmark Capital accuses Travis Kalanick of fraud to ‘increase his power over Uber for his own selfish ends’ as former CEO calls the case ‘riddles with lies’Travis Kalanick is being sued by one of Uber’s largest investors, Benchmark Capital, which accuses the former chief executive of engaging in fraud in order to “increase his power over Uber for his own selfish ends”.The Benchmark complaint exposes an ugly battle for power at the top of the nearly $70bn startup, which has been buffeted from crisis to crisis all year and is still searching for a replacement for Kalanick. Continue reading...

Broadband provider found to have put 21,000 subscribers’ data at risk by allowing ‘rogue’ staff at Indian contractor access to itTalkTalk has been fined £100,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after the telecoms giant was found to have placed personal data from 21,000 customers at risk.An ICO investigation found the company breached data protection laws after staff from an IT firm working with TalkTalk were able to access large amounts of customer data through an online company portal. Continue reading...

Leaked correspondence with Nevada vehicle regulator reveal Elon Musk’s plans for fully autonomous electric freightTesla is working on electric, self-driving trucks that can travel in “platoons” or road trains capable of following a lead vehicle, according to leaked correspondence with regulators.The electric truck, which is due to be unveiled in September by Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, is close to prototype on-road testing, with both Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and California officials in talks to permit trials on public roads, according to documents seen by Reuters. Continue reading...

AI-powered program allowed users to edit selfies to fit into ‘Caucasian, Asian, Indian or Black’ categories causing outrage and immediate U-turnPopular AI-powered selfie program FaceApp was forced to pull new filters that allowed users to modify their pictures to look like different races, just hours after it launched it.The app, which initially became famous for its features that let users edit images to look older or younger, or add a smile, launched the new filters around midday on Wednesday. They allowed a user to edit their image to fit one of four categories: Caucasian, Asian, Indian or Black. Continue reading...

From the second world war to the 1960s, women were a critical part of the computing sector. Would tech culture today be less sexist if they hadn’t been sidelined?Sadie the typist and Susie her computer: sophisticated but cheap. That’s how the duo are billed when they appear in 1960s adverts to promote a now defunct UK computer company. Using young, attractive women to advertise computers was a common ploy in Britain at the time, when male managers, uninitiated in the complexities of this new technology, viewed the machines as intimidating and opaque.

James Damore, the engineer fired this week for his criticism of diversity, spoke with two YouTube personalities who have espoused anti-feminist viewsJames Damore went from an unknown software engineer at Google to widespread internet notoriety when the technology company fired him for writing a memo criticizing diversity initiatives.But as mainstream journalists across the globe reached out to him for interviews this week, Damore largely ignored the queries and instead selected two rightwing YouTube personalities to make his first, expansive comments on the international firestorm he has ignited. Continue reading...

Pundits identify with James Damore, who wrote a 10-page manifesto suggesting gender inequality in Silicon Valley was naturalGoogle’s decision to fire an engineer who sent out a screed on diversity to his colleagues is the stuff of conservative culture war dreams.For a start, a lot of conservative pundits can identify with James Damore, the now unemployed author of the 10-page manifesto. Damore seems overbearing, writes at punishing length about why inequality is natural, and addresses himself to a modern world that finds his thoughts irrelevant and even offensive. That’s pretty much the profile of the average writer at National Review. Continue reading...