For a growing number of users and mental health experts, the positivity of Instagram is precisely the problem, with its relentless emphasis on promoting ‘perfect’ lifestyles. Should everyone just stop scrolling?When 24-year-old fashion blogger Scarlett Dixon posted a picture of herself having breakfast, the internet turned nasty. “The best of days start with a smile and positive thoughts. And pancakes. And strawberries. And bottomless tea,” Dixon wrote on her scarlettlondon Instagram feed, under an image of her looking flawless on a freshly made bed flanked by heart-shaped helium balloons.The sponsored post – for Listerine mouthwash, a bottle of which is visible on the side of the shot – was swiftly reposted on Twitter. “Fuck off this is anybody’s normal morning,” wrote Nathan from Cardiff. “Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory made to make us all feel inadequate.” His post, which has garnered more than 111,000 likes (22 times as many as Dixon’s original) and almost 25,000 retweets, prompted a wave of criticism, with the more printable comments ranging from “Fakelife!” and “Bunny-boiler” to “Let’s pop her balloons” and “Who keeps Listerine on their bedside table? Serial killers, that’s who.” Continue reading...

In an age where our every action can be harvested as data and used against us, Jamie Susskind’s book makes crucial readingNothing is as remote as yesterday’s utopias. From the 1990s until the end of the last decade, the explosion in computing power was seen by wide-eyed optimists as a force for liberation that would lay low unaccountable authority. Their eyes have narrowed now. Democracy, justice, our very ability to earn a living, feel precarious. “All that is solid melts into air,” said Marx of 19th-century capitalism. In our times, not only do economic systems feel unstable, but basic assumptions on how humans live together.Now, and ever more so in the future, how we perceive the world will be determined by what is revealed and concealed by social media and search services, affective computing and virtual reality platforms. The distinction between cyberspace and real space is becoming redundant. The two are merging, and as they come together, companies and states will have the power to control our perceptions. The fragmentation social media promotes has been discussed to death. But it is worth stressing that automated systems are placing us in silos. It is their choice not ours to create a world where the people who most need to hear opposing views are the least likely to hear them. Meanwhile, the scandal of the Brexit campaign is setting the pattern for all campaigns; showing how politcians and their agents can harvest data and target propaganda, tailored to meet its recipients’ prejudices, without any public authority regulating it or even knowing about it. Continue reading...

The ever-expanding index of images has elevated the way we communicate. But, behind the heart eyes and dancing ladies, it takes a lot to bring them to lifeIn recent years, sending each other a preponderance of peaches and an avalanche of aubergines – plus a smattering of smiley faces, hearts and pizza slices along the way – has become one of the key ways we converse. Emojis have become ingrained in our lives, exploding from a quirky set of 176 pictures on Japanese mobile phones back in the 1990s to one of the main methods of communication today, peppering our missives on WhatsApp, Twitter and via text messages. Andy Murray summed up the stresses and joys of his wedding day solely in emojis in 2015, while the European commission has deployed emojis when surveying users about the future of Europe.☔❤ Continue reading...

From making biofuels to eating up harmful plastics, fungi could help us build a greener planetFungi could not just help rid the planet of plastic by degrading it, but by making it obsolete it, too. Research in the Kew report suggests that naturally made materials using fungal mycelia are being used increasingly often instead of more harmful materials such as polystyrene and leather. Continue reading...

The manufacturer famous for its machine gun has turned its attention to making electric cars. Will it go with a bang?Kalashnikov CV-1 electric car

Jordan Erica Webber looks at why people are using the medium of video games to depict the real life terrors of modern warDisclaimer: This episode of Chips with Everything covers topics that some listeners might find upsetting.We’re used to the idea of playing video games as a form of escapism, a way to feel some kind of mastery, overcoming obstacles, solving problems, maybe saving the world – being a hero. Continue reading...

Broadcasters wary of Google’s platform as TV viewing grows 45% year on year in EuropeAfter dominating video viewing on mobile phones, tablets and computers, YouTube is now setting its sights on the big – or, bigger – screen: the one in the living room.TV screens are the fastest-growing area for YouTube, according to the company’s chief product officer Neal Mohan. “Mobile phones aren’t even the fastest growing device these days. It’s actually screens like … the living-room screen or television sets, where people turn on the TV and open up the YouTube app when they come home from work, sitting on the couch or what have you. Continue reading...

Amazon CEO will launch $2bn fund to help homeless families and low-income communitiesAmazon chief Jeff Bezos is launching a $2bn fund to help homeless families and build a network of preschools, saying the “child will be the customer” in his philanthropy announcement.The tech founder and the world’s richest man unveiled the Bezos Day One Fund on Thursday. He said he would fund existing organizations that aid homeless people and pledged to build new not-for-profit schools to serve low-income communities. Continue reading...

Legal & General takes over responsibilities for 22,000 pensioners as airline tries to protect itself from higher costs in futureBritish Airways has offloaded £4.4bn in pension liabilities to an insurance company in a bid to cap its pension responsibilities.Legal & General will effectively take over the liabilities for 22,000 British Airways pensioners in the largest deal of its kind in the UK. Continue reading...

Bernadette is a writer, photographer who can’t afford a new Apple laptop. Is there a lightweight and affordable replacement out there?I need a new lightweight laptop, as I travel a bit, but cannot afford a Mac at this time. I already own an iPad (and an iPhone) but the screen is too small for hosting group meetings. Also, I am a writer and photographer. What would be your suggestion for a lightweight, value-for-money laptop that won’t take me too far from the facilities of an Apple product that I’ve been accustomed to using for many years. BernadetteIf you’re a happy long-term Mac user then I recommend you stick with Apple. There’s not a huge amount of difference between MacOS and Windows 10, but you will have built up years of experience and “motor memory” reactions that you will lose if you change operating systems. Also, while Windows 10 does a reasonable job of working with smartphones, you will lose the integration that Apple provides between iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and iCloud. Continue reading...

Video, in which the company’s top brass seek to reassure employees, was characterized by Breitbart as evidence of biasA video of Google’s first all-staff meeting following the 2016 election has been published by Breitbart, revealing the candid reactions of company executives to Donald Trump’s unexpected victory.In an hour-long conversation, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, chief executive Sundar Pichai, and executives Kent Walker, Ruth Porat and Eileen Noughton offered their reflections on the election, sought to reassure employees about issues such as immigration status and benefits for same-sex partners, and answered questions on topics ranging from filter bubbles and political polarization to encryption and net neutrality. Continue reading...

Company also announces a cheaper alternative, the iPhone XR, at California event

Company’s new smartwatch will launch with improved health-tracking abilities and updated operating system, watchOS 5

Legislation opposed by firms like Facebook and Google and groups warning of detrimental consequences for the internetMusic companies, film-makers and media publishers could be in line for billions in payouts after EU lawmakers voted to accept controversial changes to copyright rules that aim to make tech companies including Facebook and Google share more of their revenue.The proposed legislation, that surfaced two years ago with the aim to update copyright for the digital age, has unleashed a ferocious lobbying war pitting the likes of Paul McCartney, Placido Domingo, Adele and film-makers including Mike Leigh, against the Silicon Valley giants and their respective supporters, including internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. Continue reading...

Company expected to launch new ‘iPhone XS’ smartphone, Apple Watch and iPad Pro this week, according to reports

Consumers hit with delayed connections to the NBN will get rebates of up to $25NBN Co will have to pay internet providers a $25 rebate for every late connection, fault repair or missed appointment under a new requirement by the consumer watchdog.The national broadband network owner has agreed to the penalties as part of an ongoing Australian Competition and Consumer Commission review of NBN Co’s service standards. Continue reading...

Kirstie Allsopp has revealed the dramatic remedy she used with her gaming-obsessed sons, but are there other strategies to prise your children from their computers?Kirstie Allsopp admitted this week to smashing her sons’ iPads when they continued to flout the Allsopp house rules for playing Fortnite. “Not in a violent way,” she told Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine. She “banged” the devices “on a table leg” while her sons, aged 12 and 10, watched. There has been a backlash to her comments online, and she has since left Twitter. I can, however, sympathise with the level of despair behind this act.“It’s passing a terrible message to children,” says Suzie Hayman, an agony aunt and the author of Parents and Digital Technology. “It’s saying: ‘This is how you solve arguments – you smash something.’ Any violence is bad,” she says, even a gentle bang of a tablet on a table leg. Continue reading...

Norwich Theatre Royal

New cryptocurrencies such as Tether may be pegged to the dollar, but they have big flawsWhile the mania for cryptocurrencies may have peaked, new units continue to be announced, seemingly by the day. Prominent among the new arrivals are so-called “stable coins.” Bearing names such as Tether, Basis, and Saga, their value is rigidly tied to the dollar, the euro, or a basket of national currencies.It’s easy to see the appeal of these units. Viable monies provide a reliable means of payment, unit of account, and store of value. But conventional cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, trade at wildly fluctuating prices, which means that their purchasing power – their command over goods and services – is highly unstable. Hence they are unattractive as units of account. Continue reading...

Elon Musk has said he is ‘neutral’ about a union but former employees blame their firing on their efforts to organize while current workers say a ‘culture of fear’ persistsFor two years Dezzimond Vaughn was a well-regarded worker at the Tesla factory in Lathrop, California. Then he became involved in trying to organize a union and suddenly his job was on the line.“They started changing rules without any remorse,” Vaughn, a 31-year-old former Tesla computer-numeric-controlled (CNC) heavy machinery operator, told the Guardian. He cited a strict attendance policy Tesla implemented and backdated that deducted points from employees every time they clocked in late or were absent. “We started talking about forming a union, because they wouldn’t be able to do the things they’re doing, and they somehow found out I was having meetings at my house.” Continue reading...

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC; Eidos Montréal/Square-Enix

Closed forums on Facebook allow hateful views to spread unchallenged among terrifyingly large groups. My bill would change thatYou may wonder what could bring Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry, David Lammy, Jacob Rees-Mogg and other senior MPs from across parliament together at the moment. Yet they are all sponsoring a bill I’m proposing that will tackle online hate, fake news and radicalisation. It’s because, day-in day-out, whatever side of an argument we are on, we see the pervasive impact of abuse and hate online – and increasingly offline, too.Social media has given extremists a new tool with which to recruit and radicalise. It is something we are frighteningly unequipped to deal with. Continue reading...

ECJ hears France’s data regulator wants to extend 2014 ruling to apply universallyThe “right to be forgotten” online is in danger of being transformed into a tool of global censorship through a test case at the European court of justice (ECJ) this week, free speech organisations are warning.An application by the French data regulator for greater powers to remove out of date or embarrassing content from internet domains around the world will enable authoritarian regimes to exert control over publicly available information, according to a British-led alliance of NGOs. Continue reading...

Brussels to vote on directive, supported by artists and news agencies, that opponents say could ‘destroy the internet’It is an argument that has drawn in Paul McCartney, Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo and the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as pioneers of the internet from Tim Berners-Lee to the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales.Fought with hashtags, mailshots, open letters and celebrity endorsements, the battle over the European Union’s draft directive on copyright heads for a showdown this week. Continue reading...

Its don’t-mind-me styling won’t win many awards, but this big Seat is road goldSeat Alhambra

The decentralised web, or DWeb, could be a chance to take control of our data back from the big tech firms. So how does it work and when will it be here?The story that broke early last month that Google would again cooperate with Chinese authorities to run a censored version of its search engine, something the tech giant has neither confirmed nor denied, had ironic timing. The same day, a group of 800 web builders and others – among them Tim Berners-Lee, who created the world wide web – were meeting in San Francisco to discuss a grand idea to circumvent internet gatekeepers like Google and Facebook. The event they had gathered for was the Decentralised Web Summit, held from 31 July to 2 August, and hosted by the Internet Archive. The proponents of the so-called decentralised web – or DWeb – want a new, better web where the entire planet’s population can communicate without having to rely on big companies that amass our data for profit and make it easier for governments to conduct surveillance. And its proponents have got projects and apps that are beginning to function, funding that is flowing and social momentum behind them. In light of the Snowden revelations and Cambridge Analytica scandal, public concerns around spying and privacy have grown. And more people have heard about the DWeb thanks to the television comedy Silicon Valley, whose main character recently pivoted his startup to try and build this “new internet”.What is the decentralised web?

Why are so many YouTubers finding themselves stressed, lonely and exhausted?When Matt Lees became a full-time YouTuber, he felt as if he had won the lottery. As a young, ambitious writer, director and presenter, he was able to create low-budget, high-impact films that could reach a worldwide audience, in a way that would have been impossible without the blessing of television’s gatekeepers just a few years earlier. In February 2013, he had his first viral hit, an abridged version of Sony’s announcement of its PlayStation 4 video game console, dubbed with a cheerily acerbic commentary. Within days the video had been watched millions of times. “It hardly seems viral at all, by today’s standards,” Lees says, yet it was one of the most viewed videos on YouTube that month. The boost to Lees’ ego was nothing compared with the effect it had on his career. When YouTube’s algorithm notices this sort of success, it starts directing viewers to the uploader’s other videos, earning the channel more subscribers and, via the snippety advertisements that play before each one, higher income. Overnight, Lees had what seemed like the first shoots of a sustainable career.Excitement soon gave way to anxiety. Even in 2013, Lees was aware that his success depended not so much on smash hits as on day-by-day reliability. “It’s not enough to simply create great things,” he says. “The audience expect consistency. They expect frequency. Without these, it’s incredibly easy to slip off the radar and lose favour with the algorithm that gave you your wings.” By the end of the year Lees had grown his channel from 1,000 subscribers to 90,000, and caught the attention of one of his influences, Charlie Brooker, who invited Lees to collaborate on writing a Channel 4 special. For a month Lees worked 20-hour days, dividing his time between the TV script work and, ever conscious that missing a day’s upload could cause his videos to tumble down the search rankings, his YouTube channel. Continue reading...

The technology could vastly improve lives, the economist says – but only if the tech titans that control it are properly regulated. ‘What we have now is totally inadequate’It must be hard for Joseph Stiglitz to remain an optimist in the face of the grim future he fears may be coming. The Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank has thought carefully about how artificial intelligence will affect our lives. On the back of the technology, we could build ourselves a richer society and perhaps enjoy a shorter working week, he says. But there are countless pitfalls to avoid on the way. The ones Stiglitz has in mind are hardly trivial. He worries about hamfisted moves that lead to routine exploitation in our daily lives, that leave society more divided than ever and threaten the fundamentals of democracy.“Artificial intelligence and robotisation have the potential to increase the productivity of the economy and, in principle, that could make everybody better off,” he says. “But only if they are well managed.” Continue reading...

The credit card details of 380,000 British Airways customers could already be on sale on the dark web after the airline suffered a ‘malicious’ data breach

Hacked data – including CVV codes – worth about £20m on dark web, cybersecurity experts sayThe credit card details of 380,000 British Airways customers could already be on sale on the internet after the airline suffered a “malicious” data breach, experts have warned.Customers were scrambling to change their credit card details on Friday, after BA said it was investigating the theft of passengers’ financial data from its website and app over a two-week period between 21 August and 5 September. The airline said it would compensate passengers for any losses, signalling the potential for large payouts, given the number of customers affected. Continue reading...

Musk calls the Guardian the world’s ‘most insufferable newspaper’, as two senior executives quit Tesla as market value falls 6%Tesla shares crashed 6% on Friday as two of its senior executives quit, just hours after the electric carmaker’s chief executive Elon Musk sparked concern by smoking marijuana on a live web show.The company’s head of accounting, Dave Morton, and head of human resources, Gaby Toledano, said they were leaving the company, which has been placed at the centre of a string of controversies by its maverick CEO. Continue reading...

Airline says only information entered within a two-week period was taken

Jordan Erica Webber looks at the battle to regulate 3D printing, a technology that can print untraceable guns and build homesIn July 2018, a US district judge issued a temporary restraining order against a company called Defense Distributed, run by crypto-anarchist Cody Wilson, to prevent them from releasing the blueprints for a 3D-printed gun.These blueprints would enable anyone with access to the right tools and materials to print a firearm that would be untraceable, with no background checks needed. To get around this injunction, which stopped him from making the plans public for free, Wilson started selling them online and distributing them via email and USB in August. Continue reading...

Álex Cruz apologises for ‘sophisticated’ theft affecting 380,000 payment cards

From which payments have been compromised to future bookings and compensation

Airline urges customers to contact banks after 380,000 payment cards affectedBritish Airways is investigating the theft of customer data from its website and app over a two-week period and has urged customers affected to contact their banks or credit card providers.The airline said around 380,000 payment cards had been compromised and it had notified the police. Continue reading...

Park Jin Hyok, 34, charged by US officials over 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack that affected more than 150 countriesThe US justice department has charged an alleged North Korean spy for helping to perpetrate cyber-attacks against the National Health Service that saw operations cancelled, ambulances diverted and patient records made unavailable following a worldwide hack in 2017 which affected computers in more than 150 countries.Park Jin Hyok, 34, was also involved in an attack against the Sony Corporation in 2014 and an $81m theft from the Bank of Bangladesh in 2016, a criminal complaint released on Thursday claimed. Continue reading...

Trevor Jones ponders whether the drive of some male design geniuses might also be the thing that makes them such dysfunctional fathersWith reference to Lisa Brennan-Jobs talking about her father, Steve Jobs (Family, 1 September); typing on my beautiful Apple Macbook, by the side of my beautiful fan leg table (by Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto), I’ve got a moral dilemma. Both these much-loved products were designed by men of vision, talent and firmness of purpose who, according to their daughters, had been not-there-fathers. If they had been more-there-fathers, would these iconic products have seen the light of day? It is probably the wrong question to ask, as creativity is rarely governed by moral philosophy. I suspect that “dysfunctional” fathers Jobs and Aalto could not help themselves, being forever under the spell of some idea and the need to realise that idea in some form. However, both men were altruistic in their own way. Jobs wanted to “put a ding in the universe” and for Aalto: “Even the smallest daily chore can be humanised with the harmony of culture.”

Company updates popular £80 tablet, improving camera and giving it new Alexa smart assistant capabilitiesAmazon is updating its popular £80 media tablet with an improved camera and new Alexa capabilities that turn it into an Echo device with a screen.The new Fire HD 8 looks almost identical on the outside to the previous version, with a robust plastic body available in a collection of colours. Inside is a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, a choice of 16 or 32GB of storage, an 8in 720p screen and stereo speakers, an improved front-facing camera, and 10 hours of battery life. Continue reading...

Firefox no longer works on Angela’s machine and she has been forced to use Microsoft Edge. How can she fix it?I cannot access various websites in Firefox. Some, like BBC News, will open but don’t display correctly. More worryingly, I cannot sign in to my bank account or my credit card account on Firefox. I am forced to use Edge! I have run various scans with Kaspersky and Malwarebytes and don’t know where to look next.I have a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 laptop running Windows 10 Home, Firefox 61.0.2 and Kaspersky Internet Security. AngelaAll software is corruptible and browsers, being complex, tend to suffer more than most applications. Problems may be due to corrupted user profiles, caches, or badly behaved extensions rather than the browser code, but for the user, the result is the same. Continue reading...

It’s fine to watch films on but this tablet transforms into a gutsy work laptop when paired with the Type Cover keyboardThe Surface Go is Microsoft’s new, lower-cost detachable Windows 10 tablet that looks to reinvent what a budget PC can be.The brief was pretty straightforward: make a smaller and lighter machine that has all the premium feel and experience of Microsoft’s category-defining Surface Pro, but at about half the cost. Continue reading...

Facebook chief Sheryl Sandberg among those called to testify, and Alex Jones makes an appearance – but Google bosses stay home

Theranos was unable to find a buyer and aims to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash of $5m, Wall Street Journal reportsThe once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos is shutting down, according to a media report.Theranos was unable to sell itself and is now looking to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash of about $5m in the coming months, according to an email the Wall Street Journal obtained that the CEO, David Taylor, sent to shareholders. Continue reading...

Facebook and Twitter executives are testifying in attempt to assure lawmakers they will protect midterm elections from foreign interferenceExecutives from Facebook and Twitter testified before Congress on Wednesday in their latest attempt to assure lawmakers that they are capable of protecting November’s midterm elections from foreign interference – but the loudest message may have come from Google, which was represented by an empty chair.“The era of the wild west in social media is coming to an end,” warned Senator Mark Warner, the vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, in his opening remarks on Wednesday morning. “Where we go from here now is an open question.” Continue reading...

Tesla CEO, who previously called Vernon Unsworth a ‘pedo’, has faced widespread backlash over his commentsElon Musk has escalated his baseless attacks against a British diver, claiming without evidence that the man who helped rescue children from a cave in Thailand was a “child rapist” in an email to a reporter.The embattled Tesla CEO faced widespread backlash in July when he first called the diver Vernon Unsworth a “pedo” in a tweet – an unfounded claim against a man who was part of the international team that freed 12 young footballers and their coach from the Tham Luang cave complex. Musk, who had unsuccessfully attempted to assist the rescue mission, eventually apologized to Unsworth. Continue reading...

Trump claimed that Google and Facebook suppress conservative content. The reason why is simple: we see what they think we want to, because it’s in their business interestIn a head-turning move that has pitted him squarely against Silicon Valley’s most revered companies, Donald Trump proclaimed last week that algorithms developed by the likes of Google and Facebook fail to offer consumers politically-balanced news about American politics and his presidency itself.The underlying insinuation was that firms like Google, in designing features like search engine results pages and the algorithms that power them, perpetuate a kind of bias against conservative media in the US. His message, in all its brashness, was very clear: that there is an insidious suppression of certain kinds of US news outlets, and that should the internet platform companies fail to address it, the president himself will do so throhesiugh the power vested in him – including, potentially, by levying heavy-handed regulation. Continue reading...

Huawei’s latest comes with a svelte metal body, a good screen and top-end performanceHuawei’s Honor sub-brand has been firing out great phones at a rate of knots, with the Honor Play the latest in its line of lower-cost top-spec phones.The Play doesn’t deviate from the winning formula used by the last few top-end Honor smartphones: a flagship processor, plenty of memory and storage, a big screen and battery life reaching well into the second day. Continue reading...

Squid fights, sex dolls and nods to modern masters … the V&A’s superb video games show kicks off in the noughties, which was just when they got interestingVideo games are a unique and sometimes messy mixture of everything from visual arts to music, coding and animation, typically experienced at home over the course of 10 hours or more. This makes them a fascinating subject for design critics and curators, but it also means that they do not adapt well to a museum setting. The soul of games – the thing that gives them their power – is interactivity, the chance to be a participant, rather than an observer. This is the very thing that’s taken away when they are placed in a museum, where they can be seen and read about – but not played.Places like Berlin’s Computerspielemuseum and exhibitions like the Barbican’s Game On have focused on video games’ history as a technology: arcade cabinets and old computers give way to sleek-looking modern consoles, as the displayed works progress from lines and dots to pixel sprites to polygonal 3D models to realistic characters in beautifully-rendered worlds. Continue reading...

Following fan criticism that the game was limiting how much they could play it each week, the newest expansion has reversed course – with more to do than ever beforeWith all the focus on the economics and communities of Destiny – and other all-consuming “hobby” games ranging from Fifa to Battlefield – it can be easy to overlook that they’re supposed to be fun. But based on a day sitting down with a near-final version of the game in Bungie’s studios just outside Seattle, Washington, it’s clearly been as much on the minds of the team as any of the financial and fan pressure facing the developer.