Technology | The Guardian

Government’s internet safety green paper includes voluntary levy on social media firms and web giants and social media code of practiceInternet companies such as Google and Facebook are to be asked to pay for measures to combat and raise awareness about online bullying and other web dangers, under a government internet safety strategy outlined on Wednesday.The proposed voluntary levy on social media firms and other leading web players is among a series of measures in an internet safety green paper, the product of a consultation process announced in February. Continue reading...

Regional disaster coordinators fear the Coalition’s cost-cutting decision to run fibre optics to-the-node will result in people being cut off in power outageLives may be lost in mass-emergencies including flood, bushfire and cyclone events because the NBN network will be left vulnerable during significant power outages, disaster management experts have warned NBN Co.Emergency coordinators in disaster-prone regions fear the government’s decision to run fibre optics largely to-the-node instead of to-the-premises in a bid to save money and roll out the NBN faster will leave communities completely cut off in a power outage. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Cyber-attack was far more widespread than firm admits, say sources, with data from as many as 350 clients in compromised system

America’s 2 million truckers have long been mythologised in popular culture. But self-driving trucks are set to lay waste to one of the country’s most beloved jobs – and the fallout could be hugeJeff Baxter’s sunflower-yellow Kenworth truck shines as bright and almost as big as the sun. Four men clean the glistening cab in the hangar-like truck wash at Iowa 80, the world’s largest truck stop.Baxter has made a pitstop at Iowa 80 before picking up a 116ft-long wind turbine blade that he’s driving down to Texas, 900 miles away. Continue reading...

Emergency coordinators fear decision to run fibre optics to-the-node will leave communities cut off in power outageLives may be lost in mass-emergencies including flood, bushfire and cyclone events because the NBN network will be left vulnerable during significant power outages, disaster management experts have warned NBN Co.Emergency coordinators in disaster-prone Queensland regions such as the Sunshine Coast and Redland fear the government’s decision to run fibre optics largely to-the-node instead of to-the-premises in a bid to save money and roll out the NBN faster will leave communities completely cut off in a power outage. Continue reading...

The Facebook CEO’s cartoon avatar visited the hurricane-damaged island in a tone-deaf livestream that was part disaster tourism, part product promotionA cartoon version of Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, visited hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico on Monday, in a tone-deaf livestream that was part disaster tourism, part product promotion.Zuckerberg, along with Facebook’s head of social virtual reality, Rachel Franklin, appeared as avatars within the broadcast from his profile as they “teleported” to different locations using Facebook’s “social VR” tool Spaces. In reality, the two were speaking from the comfort of their offices in the company’s campus in Menlo Park, California, wearing virtual reality headsets. Continue reading...

The cryptocurrency is up 1,600% in two years – but state efforts to remove its near-anonymity will undermine its popularityIs the cryptocurrency bitcoin the biggest bubble in the world today, or a great investment bet on the cutting edge of new-age financial technology? My best guess is that in the long run, the technology will thrive, but that the price of bitcoin will collapse.If you haven’t been following the bitcoin story, its price is up 600% over the past 12 months, and 1,600% in the past 24 months. At over $4,200 (as of 5 October), a single unit of the virtual currency is now worth more than three times an ounce of gold. Some bitcoin evangelists see it going far higher in the next few years. Continue reading...

Data shows consistent performance for iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 with successive iOS updates, but that doesn’t mean the phones don’t feel slowerIt’s a perennial question asked in offices, pubs, shops and across the internet every year in the run up to the launch of a new iPhone: does Apple slow down older iPhones to make you buy new ones.

Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah becomes latest public figure to gamble on initial coin offerings to generate serious moneyForget a Gucci handbag, massive sunglasses or a teacup Chihuahua – the must-have celebrity accessory for 2017 is a cryptocurrency endorsement deal.So much money is floating around the sector that companies will pay almost anything to attract attention to their fundraising rounds – called “initial coin offerings”, in a legally questionable analogy to initial public offerings for tech startups. Continue reading...

This meticulously crafted title is more than just an ode to the golden age of animation – it’s a punishing yet moreish game that’s not for the faint-heartedYou may have heard that this game is hard. We can report, its difficulty has not been overstated – but punishment isn’t everything it has to offer. While Cuphead is decidedly painful, committed to beating you over the head with death after death in its 1930s-style animated world, it’s also meticulously crafted. It’s rich in tone, near pitch perfect in its balancing and it’s dedicated to teaching you the best way to succeed – all while you desperately sway between bashing your head against a wall and screaming in victorious elation.Bosses are the central spectacle here – ultra-paced, wonderfully designed, concentrated encounters that punctuate its run-time – but the immediate appeal is its inimitable art style. As a homage to the early days of animated cartoons, Cuphead is about as authentic as you get. The film grain crackles and its watercolour backgrounds pop with an obsessive attention to detail that never lets up. Its characters, too, are a work of art, offering up some of the most visually distinct creatures you will see in video games. That unflinching authenticity seeps into every part of Cuphead, from its menus to its music; from its character names – shout out to Porkrind the shop keeper – to their voice work. It’s fantastic across the board. Continue reading...

The latest iteration of the football gaming behemoth doesn’t disappoint, but the big hits of the season surely come in a pair of blasts from the pastEA, Xbox One/PS4/PC, cert 3

Brad Parscale tells CBS ‘Twitter is how [Trump] talked to the people’ but says staff members from other social media giant helped with targeted advertisingThe Trump presidential campaign spent most of its digital advertising budget on Facebook, testing more than 50,000 ad variations each day in an attempt to micro-target voters, Trump’s digital director, Brad Parscale, told CBS’s 60 Minutes in an interview scheduled to air on Sunday night.Related: Why Facebook is in a hole over data mining | John Naughton Continue reading...

As the venerable messaging system goes permanently AFK, one writer recalls how the platform allowed him to blossom into teenage eloquenceI was saddened this week to learn of the passing of a technological titan: the great AOL Instant Messenger. I knew it simply as Aim and I owe it a debt of gratitude, for it helped to make me the strapping, confident young man I am today, with decently fast typing skills.Related: AOL shuts down Instant Messenger after 20 years of online chat Continue reading...

Farmers’ pictures of their livestock and working day are pulling in followers from all over the worldInstagram often gets criticised for triggering Fomo or self-esteem issues, but staring at images of belted galloway calves in the Yorkshire dales could inspire an unfamiliar calm instead. Around the country, farmers are using the app to connect not only with fellow farmers but also with fans of their animals, the rural lifestyle or simply just the picturesque landscapes they capture.Neil and Leigh of Hill Top Farm in the Yorkshire dales have more than 16,000 followers as @hilltopfarmgirl, the majority of whom they believe are non-farmers. “I think they follow for a real variety of reasons,” Leigh says. It could be concern for high-welfare meat or a love of animals and the landscape. “Some people love the escape into a different world - a US follower once said he loved looking at the photos when he was at work in his office in a skyscraper in Chicago.” Continue reading...

Sync your calendars, censor your history and save great posts: top ways to streamline your social experienceWant to liven up your messages and updates? Facebook automatically converts certain character combinations into graphical emoticons: for example, if you enter “:D” it will appear as a laughing face, while “<3” gives you a heart. See emojicodes.com for a full list. Laptop users can also use keyboard shortcuts to navigate around the site quickly; on Chrome for Windows, for example, pressing alt+2 takes you directly to your timeline, while alt+3 opens your friends list. The key combinations vary depending on your browser: see this page for details. Continue reading...

Stress led the creator of Moshi Monsters to meditation and to create new app Calm, which he aims to make the biggest brand in mental fitnessHow much are you involved in Mind Candy these days? The company went through some difficult times as kids’ gaming moved from web to mobile – what did you learn from that?

For anyone with a yearning for the good old days, this new Caterham will blast you down memory lane in no timePrice: £27,995

Hi-tech features concealed throughout this 50s seaside house in East Sussex make it highly energy efficient – and make life easier for its ownersPicture a tech-savvy home and you will probably envisage a slick, white cube where the blinds whirr up at a preset hour and sensors turn on the shower. But a smart home doesn’t have to be robotic and flashy. “We wanted to use technology to make life easier,” says Gigi Sutherland of the home she and her partner, Matt Sellers, redesigned in East Sussex. With walls clad in basic building materials, the mood here is far from futuristic. The rough and ready aesthetic has hidden depths, though, from concealed speakers and motion sensors to app-controlled energy and security systems.The house dates from the 1950s and, while the building itself is not so special, it backs on to Camber Sands. “It was just a set of boxy rooms and two garages,” says Sutherland, a stylist. “We wanted to join up the spaces and integrate the garages into the house.” The pair rebuilt the interior from scratch. Walls are made from OSB, a type of chipboard, and plaster-like dark grey Artex. “It creates a tadelakt-style finish with a nice chalky texture,” says Sutherland. The flooring is grey poured concrete. Continue reading...

Faced with a choice of babysitters, which do you rely on: your instinct – or the algorithm that tells you to book the one in the green top?My first lesson in the dangers of trusting strangers came in 1983, not long after I turned five, when an unfamiliar woman entered our house. Doris, from Glasgow, was in her late 20s and starting as our nanny. My mum had found her through a posh magazine called The Lady.Doris arrived wearing a Salvation Army uniform, complete with bonnet. “I remember her thick Scottish accent,” Mum recalls. “She told me she’d worked with kids of a similar age and was a member of the Salvation Army because she enjoyed helping people. But, honestly, she had me at hello.” Continue reading...

Shakespeare had it easy. Writing an 800-word column while resisting the siren call of online gossip? That’s a literary triumphAddicts talk about hitting “rock bottom” with their vice, and given that I am definitely addicted to the internet, I know exactly when I reached mine. It wasn’t the multiple times I Googled the 1990 Bacardi advert five minutes before a deadline, purely to relive that glorious moment from my youth when alcohol advertised itself by promising it would make you so drunk you would fancy your Aunt Beryl. Nor was it the times my children tried to get my attention but I was otherwise engaged in the deeply important task of seeing how many likes a photo of them got on Instagram. (I should call social services on myself but I’m looking something up on my phone, so I can’t actually use it to make a call. Sorry, kids!) No, it came three years ago in a hotel room in Los Angeles.Now, I love Los Angeles, but instead of enjoying the palm trees and the hipsters on this trip, I spent it inside my hotel staring at my laptop. Someone back in Britain had taken deep offence at a throwaway line I’d written about – and I swear I’m not making this up – the salaries of footballers and, as is the way with such things, marshalled their online troops so that hundreds of people were screaming at me on Twitter. For two days, I tried to engage with these furious warriors, because having all these angry voices coming out of my computer made me feel like the most loathed person in the world and I was determined to fix this. On the third day, my boyfriend called and ordered me to go out, leave my phone behind and take a break. So I did. And as I sat on Santa Monica beach, I realised my relationship with the internet had to change. Continue reading...

Ashamed of your toes? Passionate about hamsters? There are others who feel just the same. All you have to do is find them…Read enough stories about the internet and you’d be forgiven for thinking its main function is teenage bullying, criminal grooming and trolling public figures. But the internet also helps us find people like us, people you can’t spot on the bus, like never before. Before finding my own tribe in 2013, I was sad and broke, having traded my life savings for an apparently useless journalism MA.Unemployment is lonely. There were a million of us at the time, but career advice distances you from people going through the same thing: you’re meant to stand out, beat the competition, get a billboard CV. Since there was no community, I decided to start one: an anonymous blog called How To Be Jobless. Continue reading...

From artificial intelligence to cheap smartphones, Google is on the frontline of technological development. But is it growing too big and moving too fast? A rare interview with Google’s boss

What is it like to be autistic? The Guardian’s latest VR film offers a glimpse of how a person on the autism spectrum copes with a stressful environment

Uber should license its software to other taxi firms and charge users £1.99 for its app, says Ken Patterson; social trading can change the world, says John BirdYour correspondents from charities supporting people with disabilities quite rightly say that “disabled people deserve to benefit from the greater choice of affordable and accessible travel that competition and innovation delivers” (Letters, 2 October). They go on to say that “Uber provides this opportunity” – er, no. Uber does no such thing, because it does not provide any vehicles. Uber makes the so-called “self-employed contractors”, who drive the vehicles, provide vehicles adapted for disabled use – at their expense, not Uber’s. As always, Uber simply provides the link and takes a hefty fee.If Uber is prevented from operating, the vehicles will still be there to provide a service to disabled people, probably working for London’s many other taxi firms. And if Uber wanted to provide a public service of any sort to anyone (disabled or otherwise) rather than indulge in monopolistic world domination, it would license the software to any taxi firm that wanted to use it and make the app available to users for £1.99. That way it might even make a profit.

Aristotle was designed to ‘soothe babies, reinforce good manners, help learn a language’ until campaigners argued it would replace caring with fake nurturingChildren’s toymaker Mattel has been forced to cancel plans to produce an AI-powered babysitter, after a raft of complaints that the product would inflict psychological damage on young children.First announced in January, the device was to be called Aristotle and was a tall cylinder, reminiscent of Amazon’s Echo smart speaker. It would have provided many similar features to smart speakers, allowing owners to purchase nappies online or verbally search for child raising help on the internet. Continue reading...

Kane Gamble, 18, pleads guilty to trying to hack into the computers of senior US government officialsA British teenager has admitted trying to hack into the computers of senior US government officials, including the director of the CIA and the deputy director of the FBI.Kane Gamble, 18, pleaded guilty on Friday to 10 charges at Leicester crown court. Besides John Brennan, the then director of the CIA, and Mark Giuliano, a former deputy director of the FBI, his targets included Avril Haines, Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, and John Holdren, his senior science and technology adviser. Continue reading...

For 13 years I’ve hung around like a tricky end-of-level boss. On my last day as the Guardian’s games editor, here’s how the industry has grown since I startedIn July 2004, Neil McIntosh, then head of blogging at the Guardian, posted a story on the newspaper’s growing website. “Welcome to Gamesblog, the videogames weblog from the Guardian,” he wrote. “Our aim here is to talk about games in an entertaining, adult way, and help you enjoy playing games on whatever gadget you own – PC, games console, handheld device or mobile phone. We hope you find things are a little different around here.”Alongside Aleks Krotoski and Greg Howson, I was one of the writers brought on to contribute daily stories, news and personal opinions to this formative gaming blog – and while my compatriots eventually moved on, I hung around like a particularly tricky end-of-level boss, obsessively documenting the changing face of the industry. Back then, we thought the medium was about to enter a period of extraordinary change. We were right. Continue reading...

Want to know where the nearest playground is or when to take a toilet break in movies? There’s an app for thatSmartphone apps can broadly be divided into the useful and the pointless curios doomed to be forgotten, such as that gender-swap image-manipulation thing that exists solely to make me look like an uncomfortably sexualised foetus. Look closely, however, and you will find a middle ground: apps that sound stupid, but are useful enough to improve your life meaningfully. Here are my eight favourites. Continue reading...

Released in 1993, Sega’s coin-op driving masterpiece should be lagging in the slipstream of other driving titles by now. Just what is the game’s secret?If you were to set foot inside the Heart of Gaming, a densely packed treasure trove of classic and modern arcade games in Croydon, there is one cabinet you’d almost certainly have to queue to play on. Featuring chunkily texture-mapped stock cars, snaking between each other on swooping circuits below an azure blue sky, Daytona USA, is one of the greatest driving games ever made.

The place we once talked about games and other things that matteredWell, that was fun. Continue reading...

Prime minister blames retailers for not buying enough NBN capacity to deliver promised service speedsMalcolm Turnbull has said he is “keenly aware” of the pain some customers are experiencing with the national broadband network NBN, but he is “absolutely on top” of the issue.The prime minister was forced to defend the NBN this week after a parliamentary committee handed down a scathing report into the project following a year-long investigation, calling for more transparency and accountability for those with complaints. Continue reading...

As social media has soared in popularity so has deals between marketers and so-called influencers who are paid to promote products and brandsThe rise of networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram has been met with a growing number of so-called “influencers” or social media stars who have huge followings online.Increasingly, they are being sought out by advertisers who want to use their reach online to help sell products. Celebrities and influencers can get tens of thousands of pounds (sometimes even more) for promoting certain fashion designers, detox teas, hair products – among other things – in a post. Continue reading...

Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks who worry the race for human attention has created a world of perpetual distraction that could ultimately end in disasterJustin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, which he compares to heroin, and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough. In August, the 34-year-old tech executive took a more radical step to restrict his use of social media and other addictive technologies.Rosenstein purchased a new iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps. Continue reading...

Paul is looking for a desktop PC to edit his photos in Adobe Lightroom. What sort of specification would be best?I saw your response to a question about a laptop for a photography student and noted the suggestion that a desktop would be a better option in terms of actual capability, not to mention the ergonomic advantages you’ve mentioned in previous articles. What specification would you recommend for someone with a mid-range DSLR using Adobe Lightroom for RAW files, but only as a hobby?Although I think I probably could build my own PC, I’m not sure I want the additional faff and the risk that some components just won’t talk to each other properly. On my last desktop, built with a friend, I had never-ending problems with the graphics card, which were only fixed once I replaced it.When I wrote about the best laptop for photo editing a month ago, several readers asked for advice on desktops. As you already know, you want the fastest processor, the most memory, and the fastest hard drives and SSDs that you can afford. The problem is balancing the different requirements.

Sadiq Khan contrasts apology from global CEO with management of Uber London, whose licence TfL has refused to renewUber’s change of tone bodes well for the future of the ride-hailing app in London, the city’s mayor has said.Sadiq Khan said the apology from Uber’s chief executive and the different tone struck was an important factor as the company attempts to keep its foothold in the UK capital. Continue reading...

AI-powered translation piped through wireless earbuds is another big step towards the removal of the language barrierAlongside the new Pixel 2 smartphones Google unveiled on Wednesday night, the company also launched a set of Bluetooth earbuds called the Pixel Buds with one standout feature: instant translation between 40 different languages using a Pixel smartphone.In a live demo on stage, the Pixel Buds were shown translating short phrases back and forth between English and Swedish using Google Translate running on a Pixel 2 smartphone. Continue reading...

Reports spanning Asia, North America and Europe show swelling batteries pushing the screens out of Apple’s big new deviceApple is looking into multiple reports of batteries swelling within new iPhone 8 Plus smartphones, which apparently broke them open as a result.At least five separate reports of the new 5.5in iPhone 8 Plus smartphones have shown deformed phones, swelled batteries and screens being detached from the aluminium bodies of the devices. Continue reading...

The latest in the racing game franchise is as confident and accomplished as its predecessors, and should appeal to aficionados as much as beginnersThere are some driving games so convincing and enthralling that, after an intense play session, you find yourself instinctively straight-lining the local mini roundabout in order to nestle into the slipstream of a septuagenarian’s Toyota Aygo during your weekend supermarket run. Forza Motorsport 7 is now one of those games.Presumably conscious that key aspects of its franchise have been lapped by rivals Gran Turismo and Project Cars, developer Turn 10 has built carefully on the well-received Forza 6: 700-plus vehicles, 32 racing locations, endless racing conditions due to the new dynamic weather system – these stats are just the start of it. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matter... for two more daysThe Blood Bowl is almost done. Continue reading...

Ubisoft has enlisted leading Egyptologists, historians and hieroglyphics-deciphering AI to create an authentic experience of the age of CleopatraIn 49 BCE Cleopatra ascended to the Egyptian throne amid enormous geopolitical upheaval and radical change. With the final war of the Roman Republic brewing, the period has proven hugely influential in fine art, theatre and film, from Shakespeare to Hollywood. But later this year it may be subject to its most rigorous investigation yet: a video game.Out at the end of October, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, follows the story of Bayek, a military officer looking to protect his people as Julius Caesar’s Roman army threatens invasion. The game is set to feature a vast open-world recreation of ancient Egypt, featuring several cities as well as stretches of wilderness and ocean. As with all titles in the series, historical events and figures are set to figure, but this time, the gargantuan project isn’t just about the game – Ubisoft has more ambitious plans for its rich simulation. Continue reading...

In direct challenge to Apple, Google’s new high-end smartphones have 64GB of storage, front-facing speakers and 12-megapixel cameras supported by machine-learning

As Silicon Valley heralds progress on self-driving cars and robot carers, much of the rest of the country is worried about machines taking control of human tasksSilicon Valley celebrates artificial intelligence and robotics as fields that have the power to improve people’s lives, through inventions like driverless cars and robot carers for the elderly.That message isn’t getting through to the rest of the country, where more than 70% of Americans express wariness or concern about a world where machines perform many of the tasks done by humans, according to Pew Research. Continue reading...

National Transport Commission argues for exemption for self-driving cars when there is ‘no possibility that a human could drive’Uber drivers could one day be spared from engaging in small talk with drunks if a National Transport Commission suggestion to allow people under the influence of alcohol to use fully automated vehicles is adopted by state road authorities.The NTC, an independent statutory body tasked with reforming Australia’s driving laws to prepare for the arrival of driverless cars, has recommended an “exemption” from drink and drug-driving laws for people who ride in fully automated vehicles. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matter... for two and a half more daysDear ChatterboxersAs you may have seen I’m leaving my position as games editor this Friday – unfortunately, this also means the end of Chatterbox as I’m the only one who maintains the regular posts. I’m really sorry that our friendly, funny and long-running forum must come to an end. Continue reading...

Commission also says it plans to take Irish government to European court of justice over failure to collect €13bn from AppleAmazon has been ordered to repay €250m (£222m) in illegal state aid to Luxembourg, as EU authorities continue their campaign against sweetheart deals that help the biggest corporations slash their tax bills.

Firm brings in advisers from academia and charity sector to ‘help technologists put ethics into practice’ in bid to help society cope with artificial intelligenceDeepmind, Google’s London-based AI research sibling, has opened a new unit focused on the ethical and societal questions raised by artificial intelligence.The new research unit will aim “to help technologists put ethics into practice, and to help society anticipate and direct the impact of AI so that it works for the benefit of all”, according to the company, which hit headlines in 2016 for building the first machine to beat a world champion at the ancient Asian board game Go. Continue reading...

Google is taking on Apple with launch of new smartphones, right down to the rumoured lack of headphone socket – here’s what we expect to be unveiledTwo new Pixel phones and a competitor to Amazon’s Echo Dot are among the products expected to be unveiled today at an event held by Google.The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones will be iterations of the first Pixel phones released a year ago, according to leaks, while the Google Home Mini smart speaker is expected to be similar to Amazon’s shrunk-down Echo Dot smart speaker, squeezing the voice-control features into a smaller package but requiring a separate speaker for high-quality music playback. Continue reading...

The company said last December that data from more than 1bn user accounts was compromised in the largest breach in history, but is now tripling that figureYahoo said on Tuesday that every one of its 3bn accounts was affected by a 2013 data theft at the tech company, tripling its earlier estimate of the largest breach in history.The company, now part of Verizon Communications, said last December that data from more than 1bn user accounts was compromised by hackers in August 2013. Continue reading...