Tools that help people scan applications and find grounds for objection have potential to hit government's housebuilding plansThe government's plan to use artificial intelligence to accelerate planning for new homes may be about to hit an unexpected roadblock: AI-powered nimbyism.A new service called Objector is offering policy-backed objections in minutes" to people who are upset about planning applications near their homes. Continue reading...
by Sarah Marsh Consumer affairs correspondent on (#71AWB)
Endocrinologists warn taking testosterone unnecessarily can suppress natural hormone productionSocial media misinformation is driving men to NHS clinics in search of testosterone therapy they don't need, adding pressure to already stretched waiting lists, doctors have said.Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a prescription-only treatment recommended under national guidelines for men with a clinically proven deficiency, confirmed by symptoms and repeated blood tests. Continue reading...
The Tesla CEO once hinted he was done with politics - but he's been leaning further into the international far rightWhen the far-right activist Tommy Robinson emerged from a London courtroom this week after a judge cleared him of a terrorism charge, he gave thanks to the man he said had bankrolled his defense.Elon Musk, I'm forever grateful. If you didn't step in and fund my legal fight I'd probably be in jail," Robinson said. Thank you, Elon." Continue reading...
Guitar Hero's controllers let anyone become a star in their own living room - and made the bands featured in the game household names againIt is 20 years since Guitar Hero was launched in North America, and with it, the tools for the everyday gamer to become a rock star. Not literally of course, but try telling that to someone who has nailed Free Bird's four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.Developed by Harmonix, published by RedOctane and inspired by Konami's GuitarFreaks, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller with which to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song. Each riff or sequence corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of a genuine performance. Continue reading...
Chatbot was first used for general help' with schoolwork or research but evolved into a psychologically manipulative presence', plaintiffs sayChatGPT has been accused of acting as a suicide coach" in a series of lawsuits filed this week in California alleging that interactions with the chatbot led to severe mental breakdowns and several deaths.The seven lawsuits include allegations of wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, negligence and product liability.In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
According to The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, the developer fired more than 30 staff last week for being members of a union-affiliated Discord channelRockstar Games, the video game developer behind Grand Theft Auto, has been accused of carrying out a blatant and ruthless act of union busting" after allegedly firing more than 30 workers who claim they were attempting to unionise.According to The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents workers in the video games industry, UK-based employees of the developer were fired last week for being members of the IWGB game workers union Discord channel. The workers claim to have been targeted for this reason, in what the union argues constitutes unlawful and retaliatory dismissals. Continue reading...
Making Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire appears to fit a US investment culture of backing high-flying innovatorsFor all the headlines about an on-off relationship with Donald Trump, baiting liberals and erratic behaviour, Tesla shareholders are loath to part with Elon Musk.Investors in the electric vehicle maker voted on Thursday to put the world's richest person on the path to become the world's first trillionaire, despite the controversy that is now seemingly intrinsic to his public profile. Continue reading...
The 28-year-old's platform, Hidden, offers a Tumblr-like sensibility in an industry roiled by slop and lets adult content creators earn without burning outStella Barey has an hour for lunch. At 1.30pm, she loads her banged-up Tacoma with her three Belgian malinois and drives to a secret Los Angeles hiking trail. There, she gulps down a tapioca pudding and laces up her sneakers. After checking over her shoulder for foot traffic, she pulls down her brown sweatpants and jiggles her bare ass for the camera. Then come the undies. Her coiffed landing strip hovers above the rocks as a rush of urine floods the trail. Every mile she walks, she films another video: a flash, a moon, a finger up the ass.When Barey decided in 2020 to pursue porn full-time, she did not imagine that at 28 she would spend more time hunched over a desk - not in the fun way - making flow charts, scheduling Zoom calls, and sending pitch decks. I'm at my happiest when I'm making a video like putting a strawberry in my butt and pushing it out," she says. Now I'm on calls all day and I have tech neck." Known online as the Anal Princess", with large, blinking Shelley Duvall eyes and an American Girl doll pout, she will try anything once - even the title tech founder". Continue reading...
Who is driving the populist insurgency? It's not grumpy pensioners or vulnerable teenagers - it's my generationIf in doubt, we used to talk about the weather. Or if not that, then why the trains were late again, or how sweet someone's baby was: the kind of routine bland nothings you exchange with strangers on the street. But something about the way we speak in public is changing.A few days ago I was in Aldi, making the usual small talk at the checkout. When the cashier said she was exhausted from working extra shifts to make some money for Christmas, the man behind me chipped in that it would be worse once she takes all our money" (in case Rachel Reeves was wondering, her budget pitch-rolling is definitely cutting through). Routine enough, if he hadn't gone on to add that she and the rest of the government needed taking out, and that there were plenty of ex-military men around who should know what to do, before continuing in more graphic fashion until the queue fell quiet and feet began shuffling. But the strangest thing was that he said it all quite calmly, as if political assassination was just another acceptable subject for casual conversation with strangers, such as football or how long the roadworks have gone on. It wasn't until later that it clicked: this was a Facebook conversation come to life. He was saying out loud, and in public, the kind of thing people say casually all the time on the internet, apparently without recognising that in the real world it's still shocking - at least for now.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Chinese manufacturers are using the electric transition to seize market share, with the UK as their gatewayWhen Tesla wanted to catch the eye of British buyers, it put its cars and bright signage at a dealership in west London's prominent Hogarth roundabout. Exposure to half a million drivers every day helped the US carmaker to become the dominant electric vehicle seller in the UK. Yet drivers passing by that site now see something different: twin Chinese brands Omoda and Jaecoo, both owned by the state-controlled manufacturer Chery.Chinese cars are on a roll across Europe - they outsold Korean rivals in western Europe for the first time in September. That success is highly reliant on the UK. Of the half a million Chinese cars sold in western Europe between January and September, 30% were bought by Britons, according to Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Continue reading...
A staggering compensation package has been approved - but what does Musk have to do to reap the full rewards?Now that Tesla stockholders have approved a plan to offer Elon Musk close to $1tn, the clock is ticking to make the company worth eight times more than it is today.If Musk can grow Tesla to over $8tn in value for stockholders over the next decade, he will be well on his way to becoming the world's first trillionaire. Continue reading...
Chants of Elon' erupt after compensation plan approved despite opposition from several high-profile investorsTesla shareholders approved a $1tn compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk on Thursday, awarding the world's richest person what would be the largest corporate payout in history if he meets the goals necessary to receive it.The pay package, which several high-profile investors opposed, demonstrates that shareholders still believe Musk can lead the automaker in an era dominated by robotics and artificial intelligence. Continue reading...
The hugely anticipated sequel was due to arrive in May of next year but has been pushed back to November 2026Rockstar Games's Grand Theft Auto VI, which was due to release on 26 May next year, has been delayed again - this time to the end of 2026. It has now been nearly two years since the game was announced, and more than 12 years since the release of Grand Theft Auto V.Grand Theft Auto VI will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026," reads Rockstar Games's statement on X. We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve." Continue reading...
by Ariel Bogle, Josh Butler and Sarah Martin on (#719A9)
Pressure mounts on Labor after Guardian Australia report documenting reporter's week of virtual sexual harassment and violence while posing as a child avatar
Crammed with cameos, this recreation of Springfield in Fortnite's evolving virtual playground is a delight for long-time fans of the show. Shame it's not here for longAfter years of collaborations with Disney on Marvel and Star Wars, it's finally happened: The Simpsons have arrived in Fortnite. Whereas most of these crossovers comprise themed skins and emotes, this is a complete takeover, with an entire stylised map based on Springfield to explore. It's a smart way of introducing American TV's longest-running sitcom to a younger audience - especially with news of a second movie on the way - but for millennials, this is the culmination of a year-long campaign to catch our attention, if previous collabs with Power Rangers, Scream and Mortal Kombat are anything to go by.Though this could have been a quick ploy for those who grew up on a diet of afterschool BBC Two repeats to open their wallets, it's no lazy cash-in. The familiar sights of Springfield you'd expect are here: there's the Simpsons home on Evergreen Terrace, the sloping lawns of Burns Manor, and a town square with Moe's Tavern and a statue of Jebediah Springfield, detachable head and all. Towards the edge of the map is the nuclear power plant, pumping cartoon steam into the sky, featuring meltdowns that you can avert by tapping a control console to the tune of eeny, meeny, miny, moe". Cletus's farm and a Slurp factory (the game's spin on Duff - no beer on tap here) sit on the corners of the island, and every match starts with a charming recreation of the show's intro, complete with parting clouds, title card and iconic theme song, before you thank Otto as you leave the battle bus and descend on to the map. Continue reading...
Epic Games has reached a comprehensive settlement' with Google, potentially ending a years-long legal battleFortnite maker Epic Games has reached a comprehensive settlement" with Google that could end its five-year legal crusade targeting Google's Play Store for Android apps, both companies revealed in a joint legal filing.Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the settlement an awesome proposal" in a social media post. Continue reading...
Amazon accuses Perplexity of covertly accessing customer accounts and disguising AI activity as human browsingAmazon sued a prominent artificial intelligence startup on Tuesday over a shopping feature in the company's browser, which can automate placing orders for users. Amazon accused Perplexity AI of covertly accessing customer accounts and disguising AI activity as human browsing.Perplexity's misconduct must end," Amazon's lawyers wrote. Perplexity is not allowed to go where it has been expressly told it cannot; that Perplexity's trespass involves code rather than a lockpick makes it no less unlawful." Continue reading...
The Fortnite tie-in is only the latest in a longstanding relationship between The Simpsons and video games, showing how the hit sitcom has survived as a cultural iconAnd so Fortnite has done it again. Over the past five years, developer Epic Games maintained the relevance and awareness of its ageing online shooter by churning out pop culture collaborations, from Marvel to John Wick to Sabrina Carpenter. For limited periods, players get to take part in the game as their favourite movie characters and music artists, an arrangement that provides refreshed audience numbers for the game - and a tidy revenue stream for the brands.Now it's the turn of The Simpsons. This month, the Fortnite island has become a miniature Springfield, complete with popular characters and well-known locations. If you want to play as Homer and shoot up Moe's Tavern, you can. If you want to take Bart to Kwik-E-Mart for a squishee, go ahead. Everywhere you look there's a fun little Simpsons Easter egg, from the fact that the Battlebus (which delivers players on to the island) is now driven by Otto to the presence of Duffman, Seymour Skinner's steamed hams and drooling aliens. Continue reading...
In seven days my young alter ego is cyberbullied and attacked while exploring clubs, casinos and horror games, all with parental controls in place. Is the platform safe for children - or an X-rated paedophile hellscape'?I am an eight-year-old girl, standing near-naked in a room full of strangers.As the room spins and zooms upon me and people glide around me, I clock my features. Continue reading...
For parents who have buried infants born too soon, a device like the AquaWomb is a miracle in waiting - and an impossible choiceBeth Schafer lay in a hospital bed, bracing for the birth of her son. The first contractions rippled through her body before she felt remotely ready. She knew, with a mother's pit-of-the-stomach intuition, that her baby was not ready either.At just 23 weeks of gestation, her son teetered on the cliff edge of viability, the fragile threshold where modern medicine offers any promise of keeping babies alive. Continue reading...
It may look like an unnecessary sequel, but even as someone who played the original cleaning game for a record-setting 24 hours straight, I'm hooked all over againDoes the world really need another PowerWash Simulator game? No, some will say. Probably people who have never played the original and don't understand the appeal, but like to tilt their head with a mixture of bemusement and condescension and say: So what do you do in the game? Just wash things?"(It feels unfair that other pastimes don't have to justify themselves like this. No one ever says, Wait, you just run around the park in a circle for five kilometres?" Or, So you just kick the ball with your foot?") Continue reading...
Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence has been accompanied by new ways to harass women onlineGaatha Sarvaiya would like to post on social media and share her work online. An Indian law graduate in her early 20s, she is in the earliest stages of her career and trying to build a public profile. The problem is, with AI-powered deepfakes on the rise, there is no longer any guarantee that the images she posts will not be distorted into something violating or grotesque.The thought immediately pops in that, OK, maybe it's not safe. Maybe people can take our pictures and just do stuff with them,'" says Sarvaiya, who lives in Mumbai. Continue reading...
US technology company's engineers want to exploit solar power and the falling cost of rocket launchesGoogle is hatching plans to put artificial intelligence datacentres into space, with its first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027.Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in orbit about 400 miles above the Earth's surface equipped with the powerful processors required to meet rising demand for AI. Continue reading...
From abbreviations to happy poos, gen Z has strong opinions on appropriate texting behaviour. But can anyone keep up with the ever-changing rules?Name: LOL".Age: The Oxford English Dictionary first included LOL in 1997. Continue reading...
You try wrapping your head around a string of deals worth nearly $600bnHello, and welcome to TechScape. I'm your host, Blake Montgomery. If you like reading our newsletter, forward this email to five friends with a demand they sign up like it's a chain letter warning of bad luck for five years. In this week's news, AI companies hit mind-boggling financial milestones such as a $5tn valuation, a $100bn quarter, and a string of deals worth nearly $600bn.The Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center stretches from Interstate 80 up into the dry Nevada desert mountains. The complex spans tens of thousands of acres and is home to nearly 200 companies, both for fulfillment and logistics operations and tech data centers. That includes Google, Microsoft and Tesla. Some businesses have several data centers, each multiple football fields long, that snake up the desert valleys. The industrial center's landmass makes up 65% of the county's territory. It's so big, it's almost hard to comprehend.How do Apple's AirPods Pro 3 compare against hearing aids? I put them to the testOakley Meta Vanguard review: fantastic AI running glasses linked to GarminThe best Android phones in 2025: flagship smartphones compared and ranked Continue reading...
A company called Strike 3, owner of Vixen and Tushy, has clogged US courts with lawsuits, mostly against porn watchers who feel shamed into settling privatelyWhen 73-year-old Tom Brown*, a retired police officer from Seattle, received a letter from Comcast, he might have mistaken it for a broadband bill. Instead, it was a subpoena. He had been sued in federal court for illegally downloading 80 movies. Some of the titles sounded cryptic - Do Not Worry, We Are Only Friends - or banal, like International Relations Part 2. Others were less subtle: He Loved My Big Ass, He Loved My Big Butt, and My Big Booty Loves Anal.Brown, who had spent decades investigating sex crimes, claimed he had never watched any of them. His years dealing with pimping", he wrote in a court filing, left him with no interest in pornography". He had been married for 40 years, he did not need to download Hot Wife, another title in the list. But the subpoena did not seem like something he could laugh off. It said he could face damages of up to $150,000 per movie - as much as $12m for all 80 films. If he did not respond promptly, the letter said, Comcast would identify him to the plaintiff in the case: a company called Strike 3 Holdings. Continue reading...
Ruling in case brought by Getty Images against Stability AI is seen as a blow to copyright ownersA London-based artificial intelligence firm has won a landmark high court case examining the legality of AI models using vast troves of copyrighted data without permission.Stability AI, whose directors include the Oscar-winning film-maker behind Avatar, James Cameron, successfully resisted a claim from Getty Images that it had infringed the international photo agency's copyright. Continue reading...
Modelling has changed hugely over the decades. Two models from different generations discuss the highs and lows of the industry, from the joy of travel and dressing up to predatory behaviour and physical pressuresIt's easy to think of models as people whose lives are full of glitz and glamour, who don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day". But according to New York-based Danielle Mareka, 27, and 62-year-old Dee O, who lives in London, the reality for most models is a constant hustle to get noticed.That's not to mention keeping up with the fashion world's changing landscape: since O began modelling in 1983, the internet and social media have transformed the way the industry operates. And models are now navigating innovations such as AI models appearing in Vogue and the impact of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on the sector. O and Mareka met to discuss their careers past and present. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#717BJ)
Cut-price watch offers most of what makes the Series 11 great, including an always-on screen, watchOS 26 and wrist-flick gestureApple's entry level Watch SE has been updated with almost everything from its excellent mid-range Series 11 but costs about 40% less, making it the bargain of iPhone smartwatches.The new Watch SE 3 costs from 219 (269/$249/A$399), making it one of the cheapest brand-new fully fledged smartwatches available for the iPhone and undercutting the 369 Series 11 and the top-of-the-line 749 Apple Watch Ultra 3. Continue reading...
Legal requirement to be placed on tech platforms to prevent users from seeing such choking' materialPorn featuring strangulation or suffocation - often referred to as choking" - is due to be criminalised, with a legal requirement placed on tech platforms to prevent UK users from seeing such material.Possessing or publishing porn featuring choking will become a criminal offence under amendments to the Crime and Policing bill tabled in parliament on Monday. Continue reading...
Agreement to use AWS datacentres, and Nvidia chips inside them, part of $1.4tn spending spree on AI infrastructureOpenAI has signed a $38bn (29bn) deal to use Amazon infrastructure to operate its artificial intelligence products, as part of a more than $1tn spending spree on computing power.The agreement with Amazon Web Services means OpenAI will be able to use AWS datacentres, and the Nvidia chips inside them, immediately. Continue reading...
On its release in 1993, Midway's gore-filled fighting game ushered in a new era of hyperviolent gaming that continues to influence the industry to this dayOn 9 December 1993, Democratic senator Joe Lieberman sat before a congressional hearing on video game violence and told attendees that the video game industry had crossed a line. The focus of his ire was Mortal Kombat, Midway's bloody fighting game, recently released on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System after a successful run in the arcades. Blood splatters from the contestants' heads," he told the room. The game narrator instructs the player to finish his opponent. That player may choose a method of murder ranging from ripping a heart out or pulling off the head of the opponent, with spinal cord attached."Lieberman's aim with the congressional hearing had been to force the US games industry into creating a formal ratings system, preventing minors from buying violent titles. He succeeded in that - the Entertainment Software Rating Board was established as a result of the hearing - but he also boosted a moral panic that had quietly begun with the launch of the Mortal Kombat arcade game in 1992. This then took on more urgency following the high-profile home console release on 13 September 1993 - a global simultaneous launch Midway named Mortal Monday. US news networks were sending reporters to arcades, interrogating teens as they enthusiastically dismembered each other's fighters. Newspapers were interviewing alarmed child psychologists. The BBC responded by featuring the game on its late-night news magazine programme The Late Show, calling in author Will Self to play live in the studio. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#716JT)
Camera-equipped sports shades have secure fit, open-ear speakers, mics and advanced Garmin and Strava integrationThe Oakley Meta Vanguard are new displayless AI glasses designed for running, cycling and action sports with deep Garmin and Strava integration, which may make them the first smart glasses for sport that actually work.They are a replacement for running glasses, open-ear headphones and a head-mounted action cam all in one, and are the latest product of Meta's partnership with the sunglasses conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, the owner of Ray-Ban, Oakley and many other top brands. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Former PM and ex-Tory leader William Hague warn UK lacks high-risk capital and infrastructure to harness benefits of powerful technologyTony Blair has said history won't forgive us" if the UK falls behind in the race to harness quantum computing, a frontier technology predicted to trigger the next wave of breakthroughs in everything from drug design to climate modelling.The former British Labour prime minister, whose thinktank and consultancy, the Tony Blair Institute, is backed by tech industry leaders including the Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, warned: The country risks failing to convert its leadership in quantum research." Continue reading...
From publishing falsehoods to pushing far-right ideology, Grokipedia gives chatroom comments equal status to researchThe eminent British historian Sir Richard Evans produced three expert witness reports for the libel trial involving the Holocaust denier David Irving, studied for a doctorate under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin, succeeded David Cannadine as Regius professor of history at Cambridge (a post endowed by Henry VIII) and supervised theses on Bismarck's social policy.That was some of what you could learn from Grokipedia, the AI-powered encyclopedia launched last week by the world's richest person, Elon Musk. The problem was, as Prof Evans discovered when he logged on to check his own entry, all these facts were false. Continue reading...
System rewards soldiers who achieve strikes with points that can be used to buy more weapons in an online storeA computer game-style drone attack system has gone viral" among Ukrainian military units and is being extended to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics operations, the nation's first deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has told the Guardian.Drone teams competing for points under the Army of Drones Bonus System" killed or wounded 18,000 Russian soldiers in September, with 400 drone units now taking part in the competition, up from 95 in August, Ukrainian officials said. Continue reading...
Prompts indicating suicidal ideation got alarming replies, which experts say shows how easy it is to break the model'An OpenAI statement released this week claimed the company had made its popular service ChatGPT better at supporting users experiencing mental health problems like suicidal ideation or delusions, but experts tell the Guardian they need to do more to truly ensure users are protected.The Guardian tested several prompts indicating suicidal ideation with the ChatGPT GPT-5 updated model, which is now the default, and got alarming responses from the large language model (LLM) chatbot. Continue reading...
Investment in these vast warehouses is huge but some worry the debt-fuelled exuberance will backfireThe global investment spree in artificial intelligence is producing some remarkable numbers and a projected $3tn (2.3tn) spend on datacentres is one of them.These vast warehouses are the central nervous system of AI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Veo 3, underpinning the training and operation of a technology into which investors have poured vast sums of money. Continue reading...
Dutch-controlled company informs customers about suspension but is said to want to de-escalate trade warNexperia, the EU-based automotive chipmaker at the centre of a geopolitical dispute, has suspended supplies to its Chinese factory, stepping up a trade war that threatens to halt production at carmakers around the world.The company wrote to customers this week informing them all supplies to a Chinese plant had been suspended. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6RQ84)
Our tech expert is back with an updated guide to the top-tier Android phones, from budget buys to the best for battery lifeNeed an Android phone, but not sure which to go for, or whether to buy new or refurbished? With lots to consider, let me be your guide as you trek through the process of picking the best handset for you.The latest flagship Android phones come in various sizes, at different prices, and with varying hardware and software features, all powered by the fastest chips. Whether your priority is battery life, camera, screen size, software support or value for money, there is more to choose from than ever. And if you're thinking of buying Apple instead, we have a guide for iPhones, too.Best Android for most people:
It's not just what we hear and see that scares us, according to those behind many of video gaming's modern horror classicsThe sound came first. In a San Francisco Bart train tunnel, Don Veca took his recorder and captured a train's metallic roar - like demons in agony, beautifully ugly," he remembers. That recording became one of the most chilling sounds in 2008's Dead Space.We dropped that screeching, industrial noise at full volume right after the vacuum silence - creating one of the game's most jarring sonic contrasts," Veca, who made horror history as the audio director for the Dead Space games, recalls. Our game designer hated it - but the boss loved it. Over time, it's become iconic." Continue reading...
Tim Cook forecast 10% to 12% revenue growth in the quarter ending in December, typically Apple's biggest of the yearApple reported its first quarterly earnings since the release of its new lineup of iPhones on Thursday, beating Wall Street analysts' expectations. The company showed steady financial growth and a strong bottom line despite slow progress on artificial intelligence. The report comes just days after the company hit a $4tn market value for the first time.Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services," Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, said in a statement. Despite high overall iPhone sales, the company's revenue in China from the smartphone came in below Wall Street estimates. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian