US technologist loses dispute with Intellectual Property Office over ideas generated by programArtificial intelligence cannot be legally named as an inventor to secure patent rights, the UK supreme court has ruled.In a judgment on Wednesday, Britain's highest court concluded that an inventor must be a person" in order to apply for patents under the current law. Continue reading...
There has been a remarkable intersection between video games and musical performance this year, from villains lending vocals to their own theme tunes to interactive songsToward the end of Baldur's Gate 3, widely considered the most outstanding video game released this year, you can literally go to hell. If you do, you'll have a showdown with the game's equivalent of the devil, a charismatic yet demonic trickster who calls himself Raphael.It's one of the toughest, most dramatic encounters in the game, the culmination of 150 hours of play. Naturally, developer Larian Studios wanted it to feel monumental. So they decided that the battle should be accompanied by a song, and that Raphael should be the one singing it. The idea for a song to be performed by Raphael himself came from our director Swen Vincke about six months before the release of the game," says Borislav Slavov, Baldur's Gate 3's music director. The team instantly loved it." Continue reading...
Button letting moderators flag video content in language they do not understand has been removed, source saysTikTok moderators have struggled to assess content related to the Israel-Gaza conflict because the platform removed an internal tool for flagging videos in a foreign language, the Guardian has been told.The change has meant moderators in Europe cannot flag that they do not understand foreign-language videos, for example, in Arabic and Hebrew, which are understood to be appearing more frequently in video queues. Continue reading...
Board describes the two videos, which were reinstated, as valuable for informing the world about human suffering on both sides'Meta's oversight board said on Tuesday that the social media company erred in removing two videos depicting hostages and injured people in the Israel-Gaza war, saying the videos were valuable to understanding human suffering in the war. Meta had already reinstated the videos when the oversight board took up the case.One of the cases concerned a video posted on Instagram, which showed the aftermath of an airstrike near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, including children who appeared injured or dead. The second case involved a video on Facebook of the 7 October attack, which showed an Israeli woman begging her kidnappers not to kill her as she is taken hostage. The board described the videos as important for informing the world about human suffering on both sides". Meta's automatic moderation systems removed the content. Continue reading...
Experts on tech, politics and culture weigh in on the year the hype faded and what could come nextRemember 2022? Elon Musk had just been named Time's Person of The Year, Marvel still ruled the box office, Tucker Carlson was the most-watched host on cable news and it seemed as if all of life was going to take place on the blockchain (the Staples Center in LA had been rechristened the Crypto.com arena, and Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, was valued at $4bn).What a difference a year makes: 2023 has seen the crash of digital currency, the flatlining of NFTs, and the floundering of blockbuster franchises. Previously beloved musicians took on a more sinister edge, a celebrated social network imploded, and a TV show became the biggest faceplant" in a network's five-decade history. Below, experts from the worlds of tech, politics, and the arts give the inside track on the sacred cows that have been put out to pasture, the buzzy upstarts that faced a reckoning, and the lessons that can be learned for the future. Continue reading...
Questions for tech giant over claims underage users can remain on platform if they say parents are overseeing their accountTikTok faces questions over safeguards for child users after a Guardian investigation found that moderators were being told to allow under-13s to stay on the platform if they claimed their parents were overseeing their accounts.In one example seen by the Guardian, a user who declared themselves to be 12 in their account bio, under TikTok's minimum age of 13, was allowed to stay on the platform because their user profile stated the account was managed by their parents. Continue reading...
Low-cost, low-quality everything' stores such as Temu, Shein and Amazon make buying stuff easier than ever - but it comes at a cost Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the free newsletter hereThis year, like retirees are wont to do, my dad got extremely into a very specific hobby. In his case, it was hauling out the espresso machine from its usual hiding spot in the hard-to-reach cabinet and making lattes for the family. He lamented his inability to make a perfect swirl with the foam frequently enough that, in anticipation of Christmas, I went online to search for latte art stencils.The Google search result was like nothing I had encountered before. Instead of a list of actual shops that sold reputable, well-crafted products, I was served an overwhelming mess of online retailers I had either never heard of or had once been cautioned against. Every widget, sidebar and filter had been deployed to ostensibly aid in my search experience, but actually ended up crowding the screen with sponsored listings and images. Continue reading...
The company was accused of overcharging consumers but did not admit wrongdoingGoogle has agreed to pay US$700m and to allow for greater competition in its Play app store, according to the terms of an antitrust settlement with US states and consumers disclosed in a San Francisco federal court.Google was accused of overcharging consumers through unlawful restrictions on the distribution of apps on Android devices and unnecessary fees for in-app transactions. It did not admit wrongdoing. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Moderators in Europe encouraged to be more lenient with accounts of some high-profile figuresTikTok has given special status to certain high-profile accounts, with moderators in Europe encouraged to be more lenient with content posted by people including Russell Brand, according to internal messages seen by the Guardian.The demand to be less stringent has also been underlined in meetings with moderators, the Guardian has been told. Continue reading...
by Presented by Madeleine Finlay with Nicola Davis, s on (#6H88E)
Prof Michael Wooldridge has been an AI researcher for more than 30 years, and in the year that AI was supercharged by ChatGPT, he is giving the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures on the truth about AI. The Guardian science correspondent Nicola Davis sat down with him to find out how he sees AI evolving, what makes human intelligence unique, and what really keeps him awake at night. Madeleine Finlay hears from them both in this Science Weekly Christmas special. Continue reading...
The actor, who also starred in film and television for decades, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancerJames McCaffrey, the actor who provided the voice of the titular character of the Max Payne video games, has died aged 65.The actor died on Sunday at his home in Larchmont, New York, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, his wife, the actor Rochelle Bostrom confirmed. Continue reading...
Trevor Milton had requested probation after being found guilty of misrepresenting his company's technology to investorsTrevor Milton, the convicted founder of the electric- and hydrogen-powered truck maker Nikola, was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday after a jury last year found him guilty of lying to investors about the company's technology.Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Milton misled investors by stating that Nikola had built a pickup from the ground up", that it had developed its own batteries even though he knew it was buying them, and that it had early success creating a Nikola One" semi-truck that he knew did not work. Continue reading...
Sales of Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches affected amid dispute with Masimo over technology behind blood oxygen featureApple said on Monday it would pause sales of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches in the United States from this week, as it deals with a patent dispute over the technology that enables the blood oxygen feature on the devices.The move comes after an order in October from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) that could bar Apple from importing its Apple Watches after finding the devices violate the medical technology company Masimo's patent rights. Continue reading...
UK's CMA said deal would threaten competition in the product design, image editing and illustration marketsAdobe has abandoned its $20bn (15.8bn) takeover of its smaller rival Figma, after European and UK regulators raised concerns that it would eliminate competition in the product design software market.The Photoshop owner, which dominates the market with products including Illustrator and Acrobat Reader, said the two companies had come to a joint assessment that there was no clear path" to regulatory approval. Continue reading...
Minister's move follows reports of pensioners left unable to call for helpTelecoms providers have been forced to pause plans to impose digital phone lines on vulnerable customers after reports of pensioners left unable to call for help during power cuts.Companies including BT and Virgin Media have been forced by Michelle Donelan, the technology secretary, to sign a charter to safeguard at-risk households during the nationwide switchover from analogue to internet-based landlines. Continue reading...
EU launches proceedings against Elon Musk's social media platform under new Digital Services ActThe social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is being investigated for allegedly breaking EU law on disinformation, illegal content and transparency, the European Commission has announced.The decision to launch formal infringement proceedings against the company, owned by the US billionaire Elon Musk, comes weeks after X was asked to provide evidence of compliance with new laws designed to eliminate hate speech, racism and fake news from platforms in the EU. Continue reading...
From skateboard romances and a horror fishing simulator to the return of beloved classics and the ever-enduring appeal of Zelda, 2023 was a bumper year for gaming. Our critics pick their favourites
Workers making $17 an hour not impressed by holiday offer from company that just tripled profits to $9.9bnAmazon is asking workers experiencing hardship to write a letter to its company mascot, Peccy, this holiday season so some of their holiday wishes can come true".A flyer from the Amazon warehouse SWF1 in Rock Tavern, New York, states: Are you or someone you know facing financial hardship this holiday season? Peccy wants to help! Write a letter to Peccy. If the Peccy team selects you, some of your holiday wishes could come true!" Continue reading...
Put away that outdated edition of Trivial Pursuit and get your pads and pens at the ready ... these are the best recent word games, drawing games, bluffing games and others, to get the whole family involvedIt is a terrifying statistical fact that if you have a roomful of friends and relatives gathered at Christmas, you are only ever 20 minutes away from someone suggesting Trivial Pursuit. Don't become a victim this year - have an alternative ready. Here are my 12 board games of Christmas, some of which I've played, the rest suggested by trustworthy pals on X. They're all suitable for at least six players and there are no overly complicated rules to learn, making them perfect for slightly boozy Christmas afternoons.If your favourite isn't included, please do suggest alternatives in the comments. Continue reading...
Presenters walk the aisles of supermarkets and small shops offering what they can findThere are times when other customers browsing the malls in Gifu city, Japan, seem to wonder why Kenneth Gongon Watanabe is buying so many items, and why he is talking so energetically on his phone.But the goods in his trolleys - which can range from hoards of shoes and anime socks, to stacks of Japanese sweets and matcha latte powders - are not for him. They're actually being bought by dozens of customers in Watanabe's home country, the Philippines, who follow live on Facebook as he browses the shops. Continue reading...
The jury in the video game developer's antitrust case over Google's app store monopoly were under no illusionsThe big news last week was that a jury in San Francisco had found Google guilty on all counts of antitrust violations stemming from its dispute with Epic Games, maker of the bestselling Fortnite, which had lodged a number of complaints related to how Google runs its Play store, an Android app market with a revenue of about $48bn (38bn) a year.Why is this interesting? Isn't it just another case of two tech companies squabbling in a US court? Well, in the first place, something very rare happened - a tech giant actually lost a big case in a US court. Second, the case was decided by a jury, not (as often happens in such cases) by a judge. Third, it showed that venerable antitrust (ie anti-monopoly) laws such as the Sherman Act still work. Continue reading...
The Fortnite maker filed antitrust suits against both tech companies - while one emerged victorious, the other was found at fault on 11 claimsLate on Monday afternoon, nine jurors huddled together in a San Francisco federal court tasked with deciding the fate of Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit against Google. They emerged with a bomb likely to keep the tech world's ears ringing for years to come. After just three hours of deliberation, the jury shocked observers and legal experts by siding with the Fortnite maker, which had accused the tech giant of maintaining an illegal monopoly in the Android app market. Jurors found Google at fault for all 11 antitrust claims brought by Epic.The verdict surprised many observers because Epic had lost a very similar battle with Apple two years ago. The gaming company alleged the iPhone maker also operated an illegal monopoly via the App Store; a judge ruled against Epic in September 2021. Both cases highlighted app developers' longstanding resentment of Google and Apple's in-app purchasing fees, which can top out at 30%. Epic had tried to implement a payment system within Fortnite in 2020 that would have bypassed Google and Apple. Both companies briefly banned Fortnite from their app stores in response. Then Epic sued. Continue reading...
The photographer enjoys the sadness in this shot of her son lost in thought against the backdrop of the Golden Gate BridgeOn a family holiday with her son to San Francisco Bay in 2019, Lisa Carney was practising taking photographs in extreme lighting conditions. It's pretty amazing the tonal range you can get with smartphone cameras," she says. Here she was using an iPhone 10. I was experimenting with exposure for highlights," she explains, while still being able to bring out lots of detail in shadows."Carney shoots only on smartphones, usually editing with the Lightroom app, and says that she finds no need to use large sensor cameras. I enlarge many of my images to poster size and I'm still able to get the quality I need. I like to say, It's the wizard, not the wand.'" Continue reading...
This niche, lovingly crafted piece of hardware brings back vibrant and exciting details and memories of a much-missed consoleA few years ago I bought a Japanese copy of Snatcher, a cyberpunk video game designed by Hideo Kojima before he went on to create the legendary Metal Gear Solid series. There were just two problems with this purchase: the game is a text-heavy role-playing adventure with no English translation, and I don't own a PC Engine, a cult 16 bit machine first released in Japan in 1987, which hosted some of the finest arcade conversions of the era in then-astounding visual quality. A small number were imported into the UK, but it was never a huge hit here, so getting one on eBay is a costly and risk-laden adventure. None of this put me off. I bought Snatcher because I loved its anime aesthetic and its role in the nascent career of a games industry legend. Last week, I loaded it up for the first ever time, thanks to the Analogue Duo.Committed retro gaming fiends will be familiar with Analogue, a small, specialist maker of incredibly precise nostalgic gaming technology. It is known for building versions of the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive that don't run software emulations of old games, which can introduce lag, and will sometimes refuse to load certain titles. Instead, they're constructed around programmable circuit boards known as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), which accurately simulate the original hardware so they will load and play actual SNES and Mega Drive carts as God intended. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6H5JR)
From mobile phone cases to grips to refurbished headphones, there are plenty of optionsIf you are looking for last-minute Christmas gifts and don't know what to buy, gadgets and accessories mean you don't need to know someone's clothes size or availability for a night at the theatre.There's no need to buy the latest shiny new phone or smartwatch - there are some smaller things that will be welcome presents and help extend the life of your loved ones' existing electronics. Continue reading...
Elizabeth Warren sends terse letter to Mark Zuckerberg, citing human rights organizations and Wall Street Journal reportThe US senator Elizabeth Warren issued a letter on Thursday to Mark Zuckerberg demanding information relating to allegations of suppression of pro-Palestine content on Meta platforms.Warren cited a statement co-signed by more than 90 human rights and civil rights organizations and listed various media reports and concerns about Meta's censorship, removal and mistranslation of Palestine-related content since Hamas attacks on Israel escalated conflict there in October. Continue reading...
The tech giant's app, which launched in July 2023, first needed approval from the European Commission over privacy provisionsThreads launched in the European Union on Thursday, further expanding the Meta-owned platform's user base and dealing another blow to competitor Twitter/X.Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the launch in a post on Threads. Continue reading...
Reports suggest a ban is among potential options to protect young people from online harmRishi Sunak is considering limiting social media access for teenagers under the age of 16 to try to protect them from online harm, with reports suggesting a potential ban is on the cards.The government is considering further action despite bringing in the Online Safety Act, which requires social media platforms to shield children from harmful content or face fines of up to 10% of a company's global revenue. Continue reading...
Tax filings show Musk's charity The Foundation seeks to establish primary and secondary Stem school in AustinElon Musk has plans to open a new university in Texas, according to tax filings.Bloomberg reported the filings show Musk donated $100m to his charity, The Foundation, to establish a primary and secondary Stem school in Austin - and later to seek accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges for launching a university. Continue reading...
The retro-futuristic' mid-2000s look harks back to a time of technological optimismWhat do tropical fish, bubbles, green fields and dewdrops have in common? They are all visual markers of a mid-2000s aesthetic that is taking the TikTok generation by storm, amid a wave of nostalgia for a time when technology was seen as a path to a brighter future.Dubbed Frutiger Aero by design gurus, the trend is named after the Swiss typesetter Adrian Frutiger whose lettering featured widely in early colour computers, and Windows Aero, a visual style embraced by Microsoft's 2006 Vista software, with its screensavers depicting electric-green grass and impossibly blue skies. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6H4KV)
New folder is thinner, lighter and cheaper, with almost invisible crease, challenging Samsung and GoogleOnePlus's first foldable phone is the Open, which aims to give Samsung and Google a run for their money with a slightly different form for the tablet-phone hybrid that may just be the best shape yet.The Open costs 1,599 (1,849/$1,699.99), which makes it twice the price of the brand's regular smartphones but undercuts the Samsung and Google folders by 150. It still puts the OnePlus in the ultra-premium gadget world, although closer to the price of top standard models. Continue reading...
OpenAI to pay German media group Axel Springer to use its material, including stories behind paywallsAxel Springer, the publisher of Business Insider and Politico, said on Wednesday it was partnering with OpenAI, which will pay the German media group to allow ChatGPT to summarize current articles in responses generated by the chatbot.ChatGPT users around the world will receive summaries of selected global news content from Axel Springer's media brands," which also includes the German tabloid Bild, the two companies said in a statement. Continue reading...
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has begun process to force adoption of technology, as long as it worksUS auto-safety regulators announced Tuesday that they had begun the process that would eventually force carmakers to adopt new technology to prevent intoxicated drivers from starting vehicles.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking" to start gathering information and public comments on how to develop, legally require and deploy technology to prevent impaired people from firing up their vehicles. Continue reading...
Wouldn't it be great to have an LED sign in the back window of your car to send messages to other drivers and put an end to waving and gesturing? Well, such a device existsI know what I want for Christmas - an LED sign for the back window of my car. I've only just realised these things are readily available. I assumed otherwise because in all my years of motoring I've only ever seen one in operation. It was about six years ago on the A55 heading south towards Wrexham. I was riding my motorbike. It was a beautiful moment. A black Range Rover ahead of me was indicating a wish to move into my lane. I slowed down a little and nodded my helmet to signal my assent. And blow me down if an LED sign in the back window didn't flash up a cheery THANK YOU. So sweet. But then I felt a bit rotten because I had no way of returning this friendly fire when I overtook him. It felt impolite not to say NOT AT ALL! But it's difficult to physically communicate that, especially on a motorbike. With a random head movement and a slightly raised thumb, I did the best I could. All in all, it really was a most satisfactory exchange.You get a lot of thinking time when you're riding a motorbike, so I came to wondering what he might have flashed up if I hadn't allowed him to pull in front of me. If he'd been disappointed enough to chase me down and get past me, what might have been his message? I thought of THANKS FOR NOTHING, or perhaps a simple FUCK YOU.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The annual list of Alexa's most-asked questions reveals evidence the UK is a nation of masochists, obsessed with football - and fartingName: Alexa.Age: Born 6 November 2014. Continue reading...
Exclusive: the New Zealand regulator has warned the schemes could be a scam' but they have escaped such scrutiny in Australia and thousands have lost money
In this week's newsletter: While the gaming Oscars' are more like a three-hour long ad show these days, here's the best of what was announced Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe gaming year used to follow a predictable rhythm: we'd have a flurry of announcements in the summer, around the gaming trade event E3, then a rush of releases between September and the end of November - and then absolutely nothing would happen until March at the earliest. But now E3 is gone for good, and the Game Awards - the industry's most glamorous and also most intensely commercial awards show - takes place in early December, so we suddenly have an eye-watering number of new trailers and debuts right as we're all preparing to hibernate.I didn't watch this year's show live (it started at 12.30am UK time last Saturday morning and was over three hours long) and I'm betting that most of you didn't watch it either, so here are the headlines: Baldur's Gate 3 won nearly everything; as ever the awards felt like something that had to be squeezed in around all the trailers; there was not very much time given to developers to speak, which rankled; The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Spider-Man 2 were snubbed in several categories (Zelda won best action adventure game, Spider-Man won nothing). Continue reading...
Recall comes after safety regulator says advanced driver-assistance system open to foreseeable misuse'Tesla is recalling just over 2m vehicles in the United States fitted with its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system to install new safeguards, after a safety regulator said the system was open to foreseeable misuse".The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating the electric automaker led by the billionaire Elon Musk for more than two years over whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure that drivers pay attention when using the driver assistance system. Continue reading...
The musician and comedian (AKA Candy Moore) tells us what's calming his existential dread lately - including a classic Vine, a classic TikTok and two covers of stone-cold classics
Many items sold through online marketplaces don't meet safety regulations. Then there are the counterfeits. Why is the law so powerless - and how can you protect yourself?In a bedroom in Highgate, north London, a delivery courier plugged his ebike into a mains socket to charge it. The lithium battery began to overheat and burst into flames, setting fire to surrounding furniture. The man tried desperately to put out the fire and sustained serious burns before the firefighters arrived. The London fire brigade concluded that the blaze was caused by a charging lead bought online a few days before.Lithium battery fires are occurring in the UK at a rate of at least six a week, often as a result of faulty batteries and chargers bought online. Self-employed delivery couriers, for example, may look to speed up their delivery times by using cheap parts to convert their pedal cycles into ebikes. They unwittingly buy unsafe goods from third-party sellers on online platforms such as Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and AliExpress. But if just one cell inside a battery overheats, the high temperature can spread uncontrollably to others, causing rapid and devastating fires. These accidents happen due to a loophole in the law. According to Ian Mearns, the Labour MP for Gateshead, mainland Britain risks becoming almost a wild west, with unsafe products being peddled to unwitting consumers". The main area of concern is electrical goods. Continue reading...
Parliamentary committee says Britain is vulnerable because of poor planning and lack of investmentThe UK government is at high risk of a catastrophic ransomware attack" that could bring the country to a standstill" because of poor planning and a lack of investment, a parliamentary committee has warned.In a damning report, the joint committee on the national security strategy warned that the UK could face a crippling cyber-attack on its critical national infrastructure (CNI) at any moment. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) describes the CNI as national assets that are essential for the functioning of society, including energy supply, water supply, transportation, health and telecommunications. Continue reading...
Covid dealt the fatal blow to E3, known as video game Christmas', where gaming companies launched their splashiest titlesThe Electronic Entertainment Expo, once the largest and most prestigious trade show in video games, has been permanently cancelled.On Tuesday, the convention's website had gone nearly entirely blank but for a statement reading, After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories." Continue reading...
As a bouncer, you might not think that trying to outwit guards would be relaxing for me - but stealth games do make me think about my job a little differentlyI've worked as a guard and bouncer for nearly 20 years, first putting on the black uniform not long after 1998's Tenchu: Stealth Assassins snuck on to the original PlayStation. Like that game, my job can involve hours of watching stuff and moving alone through darkened spaces, interspersed with moments of frantically trying not to get killed (thankfully, not by a Sengoku-era arrow - though I did once have a bloke throw a temporary bus stop sign through the window of a building I was guarding).I've always been intrigued by how the intruders I chase off in my job compare to the infiltrators we love to play in stealth games, all of whom seem able to slip past guards without a hitch. If they're discovered and a scuffle breaks out, those guards will fight to the death. That puts my own tenacity to shame, especially if they're on the same 12.03 an hour that I get. Maybe they studied a different emergency procedures module to the one I remember, which reminds you that a living witness is more useful than a dead hero. Continue reading...
The Facebook and Instagram owner is miles ahead of the competition, say regulators, who suggest that could change when it rolls out default end-to-end encryption for Messenger Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThere was a rare utterance from an internet regulator last month: praise for Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta.Australia's e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, described Meta as one of the better detection performers" for reporting child sexual abuse material on its services, making around 27m reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) last year. Apple, for comparison, reported just 234. Continue reading...
Ross Levinsohn sacking was to improve the operational efficiency and revenue of the company', says board, two weeks after fake authors exposedThe Arena Group, publisher of Sports Illustrated, has fired the magazine's CEO not long after it was revealed Sports Illustrated had published articles written by fake authors with AI-generated headshots and biographies.The Arena Group's board announced on Monday that CEO Ross Levinsohn had his employment terminated, with Manoj Bhargava named as interim chief executive. The board said it followed a meeting on actions to improve the operational efficiency and revenue of the company". Continue reading...
Google says it will appeal lawsuit accusing it of moving to quash competitors and charging unfair feesEpic Games, maker of Fortnite, has prevailed in an antitrust trial over Alphabet's Google Play app marketplace, Epic's chief executive said on Monday, hours after the federal jury took up the case.Victory over Google! After 4 weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts. The Court's work on remedies will start in January," Tim Sweeney wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Continue reading...
Ageing acts that can't even get radio time are going viral - and finding themselves playing arenas or even soundtracking Ukrainian resistance. But how do you follow up a hit no one can explain?Like most musicians, Ryan Guldemond of the Canadian indie band Mother Mother had an extremely quiet 2020. Towards the end of the year, however, the frontman noticed that songs from the band's 2008 album O My Heart were suddenly spiking on streaming platforms. Day after day, the numbers continued to rise. Something strange was happening. We were able to track it to TikTok and it was like, Well, what's TikTok?'" Guldemond recalls. There was this whole alternate universe of people enjoying Mother Mother songs written long ago."In 2008, Guldemond says, Mother Mother couldn't get a song on the radio or build a significant international following: There's a thing called the Canadian curse where you can do well in Canada but you can't break out." They grew used to operating at a modest level. Now, thanks to TikTok, they have 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify - almost double that of their more lauded Canadian contemporaries Arcade Fire. Hayloft, an oddball tale of rural violence, has surpassed 400m streams - more than any song by, say, REM (bar Losing My Religion). In February, five years after they played to 350 people at London's 100 Club, Mother Mother will headline the 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena. Continue reading...
Researchers say better representation could elicit interest in lesser-known organisms and help conservation effortsWhen Stefano Mammola and Francesco Ficetola went to an ecology conference in Prague in 2021, they met a scientist with an unusual complaint. Jennifer Anderson, an expert in aquatic fungi, lamented that the subject of her research was not available in emoji form.If you are doing the important work of trying to save the , you can use graphics to help you communicate this in a very relatable way," said Anderson, a microbial ecologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. If you are working to save the aquatic fungi, you first must let people know that yes, aquatic fungi exist, then describe in words what they look like - usually not like mushrooms." Continue reading...
Pro-union workers are hopeful but realistic - and fear Musk's previous ruthlessness towards workers trying to unionizeElon Musk and a powerful US union may clash next year in what could be a defining moment for both the embattled tech titan and an American labor movement seeking to flex its muscles fresh off a dramatic victory over Detroit's car makers.The fight is shaping up as 2023 draws to a close - a great year for US unions and a complicated one for Musk. Continue reading...
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