Technology | The Guardian

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 services”. 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 “Teslaquila”.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 invalid”. 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...

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC; IO Interactive/Warner Bros

The live-action film trailer has become an overnight sensation – thanks to a mix of unsettlement, nostalgia and Ryan ReynoldsThis week, Warner Bros released the first trailer for Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, a live-action Pokémon film due for release in May. At the time of writing, the trailer has been viewed 10m times on the official YouTube channel alone, and tens of millions more via Facebook and Twitter. Vice declared the trailer “extremely cursed”. It’s been a top trend on all night, with hundreds of tweets a minute. So what is it about this trailer that has provoked such an intense reaction?Pokémon is a pretty sacred source of childhood nostalgia for most millennials – a lot of us think about it the same way that 45-year-old men think about Star Wars. Anything that taps into (or messes with) childhood memories has a tendency to reduce grown adults to filling comment boxes with emotionally charged reactions to the size of a fictional creature’s paws. 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...

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...

The best fun and educational software that won’t bombard impressionable brains with aggressive adverts or adult content

Parents’ unwillingness to stump up cash for children’s apps is exposing their offspring to adult ad-sales techniques

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...

The baby of the Benz family is smarter, more comfortable and more technologically savvy than many of its bigger siblingsMercedes-Benz A-Class

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 “violence”.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.

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...

Steven wants to know why people buy mini PCs when they seem ridiculously underpoweredWhat on earth do people do with those mini PC things like the Beelink and ACEPC T8 Fanless? They seem ridiculously underpowered and often have just 2GB of RAM. But according to an article I saw in a business magazine in the dentist’s waiting room, it seems there are big sales and a lot of competition in that market. StevenMini PCs are a great illustration of a topic I wrote about in Computer Guardian 30 years or so ago: speciation. When the market for computers was very small, there were not many models. As the market expanded, it could support many different types designed to meet specific needs. Continue reading...

Industry titans had traded blows over the hot-button ballot measure, which passed on Tuesday with 60% support

The Korean company pins hopes on the pocket-sized device that gives users a tablet-sized screenSamsung has unveiled its much-anticipated foldable phone and urged Android developers to start writing apps for the new device.The South Korean tech company needs to perfect the foldable phone to reverse steep declines in profit for its mobile division and restore some of the cachet its brand has lost to Apple. Continue reading...

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Australia, Argentina and Ireland join UK and Canada in urging Facebook CEO to give evidence to parliamentsParliamentary committees from five countries have called for Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, to appear in front of a joint hearing on online disinformation.Committee chairs from Australia, Argentina and Ireland joined the call on Wednesday, following last week’s joint request from the UK and Canadian governments. Between them, the five countries have an estimated 170 million Facebook users. Continue reading...

Users of the much-anticipated game have posted videos of avatars beating and killing a female characterThe makers of the most anticipated video game of the year, Red Dead Redemption 2, have been criticised after players recorded videos of themselves beating, abusing and killing a suffragette character.After its release in late October, the game – in which players can choose whether to speak to, rob, abuse or kill characters they interact with – was praised for its extraordinary attention to detail. Continue reading...

From the latest fun-filled escapades of Mario, Donkey Kong and Link to complex, literary titles such as Octopath Traveller, here are the games that get the best out of Nintendo’s consoleA novel and lively take on the shooter genre that has you splattering urban arenas with bright ink, switching between human and squid forms to swim around in the resultant sea of colour. The funky 90s street-style aesthetic perfectly complements the fun, frenetic play, and it’s had so many updates since its release that you are constantly getting more for your money.

Report finds platform was used to spread hate and cause harm, and that posts have been linked to offline violenceFacebook has admitted it did not do enough to prevent the incitement of violence and hate speech in Myanmar, after a report it commissioned concluded that it had become a platform for harmful and racially-inflammatory content.The report by San Francisco-based nonprofit Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) found that, in Myanmar, “Facebook has become a means for those seeking to spread hate and cause harm, and posts have been linked to offline violence.” Continue reading...

US startup stymied by ban on powered vehicles using public roads and footpathsThe electric scooter revolution is coming to London, as the US-based startup Bird launches the UK’s first legal scooter-hire service.The company, which has already launched in France, Israel, Belgium, Austria and the US, is starting out small, however: its scooters are only allowed to travel on one path running through the Olympic Park in east London. Continue reading...

A ‘Magna Carta for the web’ will protect people’s rights online from threats such as fake news, prejudice and hate, says founder of the world wide webTim Berners-Lee has launched a global campaign to save the web from the destructive effects of abuse and discrimination, political manipulation, and other threats that plague the online world.In a talk at the opening of the Web Summit in Lisbon on Monday, the inventor of the web called on governments, companies and individuals to back a new “Contract for the Web” that aims to protect people’s rights and freedoms on the internet. Continue reading...

The UK team beat the US to take fourth place as China and Canada won silver and bronze respectivelyOverwatch World Cup favourites South Korea emerged victorious on Sunday for the third time in a row, despite a round of upsets, including a particularly valiant run from the UK. At Blizzard Entertainment’s Blizzcon convention in Anaheim, California, last weekend, the victors of the group stages battled it out to take the trophy in front of thousands of fans.The team-based shooter game Overwatch matches make for exciting viewing, with two teams of six players battling to attack and defend objectives as a varied cast of characters, each with their own powerful abilities. No two matches are the same, as players choose different strategies in an attempt to get an advantage over their opponents. This variety was especially well showcased this year, leading to nail-biting matches and some surprising outcomes. Turret-building, molten-lava-pouring Swedish hero Torbjörn – previously seldom seen in competitive play – made surprise appearances in several teams’ lineups. Continue reading...

Scientists are investigating canines’ extraordinary sense of smell, hoping that it will prove a more reliable predictor of illnesses than conventional testingLast week, researchers presented evidence that dogs could tell from sniffing someone’s socks whether they had malaria. After several months of training, a labrador and a labrador-retriever could tell if a child had the disease even if they were not showing symptoms. Continue reading...

The latest hydrogen fuel cell electric car from Hyundai is so clean it actually vacuums the air as you travelHyundai Nexo

Company is considering area known as Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, just south of WashingtonAmazon is in “advanced talks” to open its second headquarters in the Washington DC metropolitan area, the Washington Post, a paper owned by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, reported on Saturday.Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle, is seriously considering an area known as Crystal City, a large residential and office complex in Arlington, Virginia, just south of Washington, the Post reported, citing unidentified sources. Continue reading...

The corporation’s new do-it-all audio app for younger listeners is smart but needs more contentBBC Sounds

Big tech faces a test as San Francisco weighs a ballot measure that would tax companies to help the homelessFor years, a Google search for “tech” and “homelessness” in San Francisco would invariably be populated by various rants and open letters from startup founders and other entrepreneurs decrying the “riff-raff” and “degenerates” they were forced to encounter on their streets on their way to work.These tone-deaf tech bros came to define the tenor of San Francisco’s second dotcom boom, fueling frosty relations between an influx of wealth and a city left ravaged by economic disparities. The common narrative was of Versailles on the eve of the revolution – anti-gentrification protests against tech buses, pointed flyers accusing tech workers of ignoring the suffering around them, sidewalk graffiti declaring that “Queers hate techies”. Continue reading...

‘Woozy Face’ is one of 158 emojis just released for the iPhone and iPad. But no one can agree on quite what it symbolisesName: Woozy Face.AKA: Face With Uneven Eyes and Wavy Mouth. Continue reading...

Investors take fright at slowing forecasts and withholding of number of handsets soldThe stock market value of Apple has dipped below $1tn (£770bn) after the decision to stop revealing how many handsets it sells stoked concerns among investors that iPhone sales have peaked.The tech company’s shares fell sharply on Friday as investors digested a slowing sales picture coupled with reduced financial transparency, after management said that from now on it would withhold the key sales measure from analysts. Continue reading...