Technology | The Guardian

Game designer Jack de Quidt asks Oculus whether its VR headset – and Touch controllers – will really deliver new narrative experiencesThe very first thing I saw in virtual reality was Wevr’s theBlu demo, back in the early days of the HTC Vive headset. It’s the thing a lot of people mention when they’re asked about the most compelling VR experiences, and with good reason: the demo transports you to the helm of a sunken ship, the whole ocean above your head; it allows you to take in the beauty of the scene for a few minutes before, out of the depths, a vast blue whale slowly emerges, dwarfing you.I took the headset off and walked away across the busy floor of the game conference, but I could still feel the water around me. I told my friends. They joined the long queues. They told their friends. And that was the entire story that was told: there is a whale and it is beautiful. Since then, I’ve flown spaceships and climbed buildings and repaired robots in VR. I’ve shot a variety of floating objects. I’ve sat cross-legged in the middle of Venice’s Piazza San Marco and looked down on the people in the flooded square. Continue reading...

At company Q&A, Apple CEO argued it is important to engage with president-elect and suggested a bright future for desktopTim Cook has spoken to Apple employees in a closed Q&A about his decision to meet with US president-elect Donald Trump, arguing that it’s more important to engage than stand on the sidelines “yelling”.Cook also answered employee questions about the perception that Apple has abandoned its Mac line of desktop computers, and about what he thinks most differentiates the company from its competitors. Continue reading...

Taxi-hailing app loses $2.2bn in first nine months of the year amid setback to roll-out of self-driving carsUber lost $2.2bn (£1.77bn) in the first nine months of the year despite a surge in revenues, according to reports, adding to the taxi-hailing app’s woes as it faces a setback in plans to launch self-driving cars.The San Francisco-based firm was valued at more than $65bn in a $12.5bn fundraising effort earlier this year but has remained secretive about its financial performance. Continue reading...

Milorad Trkulja sued Google, arguing when terms such as Melbourne underworld criminals were entered, images of him showed upAn appeals court has found in favour of Google after a man claimed the search engine had defamed him by publishing photos of him linked to hardened criminals of Melbourne’s underworld.Milorad Trkulja sued Google, arguing when search terms such as Melbourne criminal underworld photos and Melbourne underworld criminals were entered, images of him showed up. Continue reading...

2016 was an unexpected year. Some in Silicon Valley soared, while others tanked. And some took a trip to Trump TowerThe year 2016 was supposed to be when the tech bubble finally burst. Instead the world blew up.Amid Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the increasingly catastrophic consequences of climate change, the dominance of a handful of technology companies over society became increasingly obvious – from Facebook’s troubling impact on democracy to Elon Musk’s plan to colonize a new planet before we destroy this one. Continue reading...

Is the Dyson’s Supersonic really worth at least twice as much as its top-end rivals? We put them to the testCan a hairdryer really be worth £300? That’s the price of Dyson’s Supersonic. It’s the most expensive consumer option on the market, and by more than a hair’s breadth. We wanted to know if the extra money is worth it, so tested it and four other top-end rivals.Our team of testers – with various different hair types, from dense, tight curls of afro-textured hair to pencil-straight east-Asian hair (type makes a big difference when it comes choosing a good dryer) – put the top brands through their paces, judging how fast they worked, how heavy they felt and most importantly how they made hair feel. Continue reading...

Engineers were working to fix programming flaw that could have deadly results for cyclists days after Uber announced it would openly defy California regulatorsUber has admitted that there is a “problem” with the way autonomous vehicles cross bike lanes, raising serious questions about the safety of cyclists days after the company announced it would openly defy California regulators over self-driving vehicles.

User-unfriendly gadgets | WH Auden’s nether regions | Nut roast denigration | Trump’s spelling error | Rebranding Buckfast | A Brexit resolutionSuzanne Moore is not alone (Gadgets are supposed to streamline life, G2, 15 December). I always ask myself two questions: is it just because we are in the midst, rather than the end, of a technological revolution that so-called labour-saving gadgets and their bits often pose problems or go wrong? And, will technology and algorithms ever find a way to give us the chance delights found in the diversity of nature or in a bookshop?

The technology multisquillionaire tweeted from a traffic jam that he is going to build some tunnel-boring machines and dig us into utopiaName: Boring.Age: John Wilkinson invented the first boring machine tool 241 years ago. Continue reading...

Dublin government argues it should be allowed to choose how much it levies on foreign companiesIreland will appeal the European Union’s order to force it to collect a record €13bn in taxes from Apple, the Irish government has said.The Irish finance department’s announcement on Monday comes nearly four months after EU competition authorities hit Apple with the back-tax bill based on its longtime reporting of European-wide profits through Ireland. The country charges the American company only for sales on its own territory at Europe-low rates that in turn have been greatly reduced by the controversial use of shell companies at home and abroad. Continue reading...

Company’s UK rental commission earnings pass through Ireland where corporate tax regime is more favourableAirbnb paid UK tax of £317,000 last year after its London company handled hundreds of millions of pounds in global rent payments which generated commissions for its Irish HQ.The UK arms of the booming home sharing website paid tax on a £1.4m profit for the 11 months ending in December 2015, their first full UK accounts reveal. One of the companies handled such a large amount of rental cash that at one point it held £430m on account. Continue reading...

Kelvin Onaghinor faces nine counts, including identity theft, in case that may have exposed personal data of more than 750,000 peopleA Nigerian national has been charged in connection with a hack of Los Angeles County emails that might have exposed personal data from more than 750,000 people who had business with county departments, officials said.Kelvin Onaghinor, 37, faces nine counts, including unauthorized computer access and identity theft, according to the office of the Los Angeles County chief executive. He has not been arrested and officials are not sure if he is on US soil. Continue reading...

The problems with introducing driverless cars are greater than you identify in your editorial (Intelligent cars raise questions that only society can answer, 16 December) and yet almost certain to be ignored.No amount of testing can prove them as safe as human drivers unless the software is frozen and never updated Continue reading...

Imagine waking up one day to find that your voice is programmed into tens of millions of mobile phones without your prior knowledge. For voiceover artist Susan Bennett, in 2011, that was her realityIn 2005, Atlanta-based voiceover artist Susan Bennett recorded hundreds of hours of audio for a text-to-speech company. Six years later, on 4 October 2011, she quickly learned that those recordings had been licensed by Apple for the iPhone 4S’s built-in personal assistant, Siri. Overnight, Susan’s voice became globally recognised, whether she liked it or not. Continue reading...

A good projector can transform a patch of plain wall in your home into your very own movie theatreThe big screen at home has become commonplace of late. TVs the size of small aquariums can be bought for such paltry sums that everyone, it seems, now owns a domestic cinema of sorts.A projector takes that to the next level, creating the illusion of living room as auditorium for a fraction of the cost of the equivalent television. You don’t even need to splash out on a dedicated projector screen; any patch of white or lightly coloured wall will suffice. Which one to choose, though? Continue reading...

The new convertible from Rolls-Royce is packed with surprises. The biggest being that not everyone hates youPrice: £265,155

Technology can harness the best in humanity, but is increasingly being deployed against the will of the peopleIn 2009, in what future generations may see as the high-water mark of the ideology known as “techno-utopianism”, which may at some point be rebranded as “techno-delusionism”, Gordon Brown stepped on to the TED stage. The Silicon Valley thinkfest had come to Britain and he was there to talk about politics, technology and what he called “the creation of a truly global society”.He had a powerful message to deliver. “The power of our moral sense, allied to the power of communications,” he said, along with “our ability to organise internationally”, would enable us “to fundamentally change the world”. This was a politician telling a tech crowd what it wanted to hear and what he wanted to believe. What we all wanted to believe. Brown’s thesis was this: people are essentially good. We have feeling for our fellow man and technology would be the enabler of more goodness. It would harness the very best of us . Continue reading...

Google and others reap profits from their searches and they should be properly controlledCarole Cadwalladr is absolutely right to highlight how Google’s autocomplete and algorithmic search results can reinforce hate speech and stereotypes (“Google is not ‘just’ a platform”, Comment).But she is less right to claim I tried to absolve Google of responsibility by tweeting: “I’m sure @google will argue they aren’t responsible for the results” in support. What I actually tweeted was that plus – “but they reap advertising revenue from the search. Is that ethical?” Continue reading...

Google ‘is unhappy’ with Holocaust denial beating the truth in its search results – but it probably makes more money that wayThe Holocaust did not happen. At least not in the world of Google, it seems. One week ago, I typed “did the hol” into a Google search box and clicked on its autocomplete suggestion, “Did the Holocaust happen?” And there, at the top of the list, was a link to Stormfront, a neo-Nazi white supremacist website and an article entitled “Top 10 reasons why the Holocaust didn’t happen”.On Monday, Google confirmed it would not remove the result: “We are saddened to see that hate organisations still exist. The fact that hate sites appear in search results does not mean that Google endorses these views.” Continue reading...

Last week’s strikes over the removal of guards highlighted concern about the way technology is making real workers obsolete, hitting lower-paid roles hardestTrains with a guard become driver-only trains, which then become driverless trains. That’s the fear underlying Aslef’s dispute with Southern railways and accounts for the rearguard action to prevent further job losses across the rail industry.It’s not the only reason for the dispute. There is also scorn for Southern’s management, which has attacked drivers’ basic terms and conditions, and there is anger at transport secretary Chris Grayling’s anti-union stance. But, at its heart, the dispute is over the status and even the very existence of the job of train driver, which has been around for nigh on 200 years. Continue reading...

Justice minister threatens sanctions such as fines on tech companies if they still fail to delete illegal posts by early next yearGermany is to consider new laws that would force social media platforms such as Facebook and search engines such as Google to take a more active role in policing illegal hate speech on their sites.Measures considered by Angela Merkel’s coalition government include forcing companies to set up clear channels for registering complaints, to publish the number of complaints they receive and to hire legally qualified ombudsmen to carry out deletions. Continue reading...

The satnav is so attentive it’s like having a butlerYou can tell a lot about a car by the people who admire it. When young men swarm it in the streets, you know it is renownedly fast and has red piping. When people at the school gates like it, you know it looks new (there is something about playgrounds – they dampen the petrolheads and amplify a love of tidiness). And when a car, much like the Lexus RX 450h, attracts the attention of men who look like advertising executives (slouchy attire, confident hair, always in their 40s) you know it’s both right-on and a status vehicle.It’s a tricky combination, being fundamentally contradictory: if you care about climate change, you forget about status, surely? Except not really: the Lexus speaks to the crazy mixed-up people we truly are. Its hybrid efficiency has to be weighed against the old-fashioned inefficiency of its two-tonne bulk. It is modern all the way from its shapely headlamp cluster to its cavernous front grille; old school in its leather interior, and the fact that a lot of its not inconsiderable bulk is given over to driver comfort. It’s an SUV in which the passengers feel like they’re in a hot hatch, and the boot could belong to a 70s saloon. Yet the driver feels like she’s in an armchair, and that’s what counts. Continue reading...

Threat from the attorney general came shortly after Uber declared it would defy state regulations, a move the company said as ‘an important issue of principle’California’s attorney general Kamala Harris on Friday threatened legal action against the ride-sharing tech company Uber unless it “immediately” removes its self-driving from the roads in San Francisco.The threat from the office of the outgoing attorney general was contained in a letter released to the public Friday shortly after Uber declared it would defy state regulations, a move the company said was “an important issue of principle”. Continue reading...

The US president held his final press conference of 2016, criticizing the media for its coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails, and discussing Russia and Syria

The Netherlands has found a solution to the problem of car doors and cyclists (Transport secretary knocks man off his bike, 16 December). Dutch motorists are trained to open the car door with their opposite hand. This forces the body to swivel, and your eyes to look backward, thus spotting a passing cyclist. Drivers must demonstrate this to pass the driving test. It is referred to sometimes as the “Dutch reach”. In the Netherlands it is simply called how you open your car door.

Regulator advising the government on improving broadband access across the UK says 1.4m homes get below-par speedsMore than a million UK homes are unable to get fast enough broadband for modern families’ needs, including watching streaming services such as Netflix and video-calling friends.Ofcom has revealed that 5% of UK homes and offices, or 1.4m properties, cannot access broadband speeds over 10 megabits per second. Continue reading...

A report this week ranked Britain’s 4G service behind Romania and Peru. It’s not quite as simple as that, but patchy signal is still a problem in plenty of the countryIs the UK’s 4G mobile phone coverage really worse than Romania, Albania and Peru, as a report suggested last week?

Everything we know so far about Moscow’s reputed involvement in the election that saw Donald Trump defeat Hillary ClintonAccording to US intelligence officials, Russian hackers made repeated attempts before this year’s election to get into major US institutions, including the White House and the state department. The tactics were simple: send out volleys of phishing emails and hope that someone clicked. Continue reading...

The listing, produced by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, was topped by the US site The InterceptThe Guardian has been listed as the second most secure news publication on the web, according to a ranking produced by the American non-profit Freedom of the Press Foundation.Points were awarded for supporting technologies which protect the privacy and security of visitors, with a focus on using HTTPS, a web protocol that allows for encrypted connections. Continue reading...

Can common-sense and our real-world intuition show us how to write secure software?It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armoured space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.Creating secure software is one of the huge challenges of the modern age. Software security is generally considered an advanced topic but I believe there are important lessons we can learn from how people secure things in the real world. By considering well-understood real-world situations and thinking about how those lessons apply to our software, we can often stumble upon security best practices. Continue reading...

Bitcoin users still represent a tiny minority, but some believe that the currency will become more popular in Venezuela as economic uncertainty escalatesAmid growing economic chaos, and the highest inflation rate in the world, some Venezuelans are swapping bolivars for bitcoins in order to buy basic necessities or pay their employeesThe digital currency is free from central bank or government controls, and users in Venezuela see it as a safe alternative in an economy where the government has enforced strict foreign exchange controls, and inflation is running at an estimated 500%. Continue reading...

Search and autocomplete algorithms prioritize sites with rightwing bias, and far-right groups trick it to boost propaganda and misinformation in search rankings

Intense fight with the state, ignited after cars were caught running red lights, exposed illegal and unethical tactics the company has used for years, critics sayUber has launched an aggressive battle with California over its controversial self-driving cars, with regulators and consumer advocates accusing the corporation of flagrantly violating the law, endangering public safety and mistreating drivers.The intense fight with the state – which ignited hours after numerous self-driving cars were caught running red lights in Uber’s home town – has exposed what critics say are the unethical and illegal tactics that the company has repeatedly used to grow its business. Continue reading...

With the release of Nintendo’s new Mario venture on iOS we’d like to hear your reviewsFans can finally get their hands on Super Mario Run now that it has been released on iOS.Unveiled at Apple’s WWDC event in June and available on 15 December, the game has been long awaited by fans of the legendary platformer.

Facebook Messenger has launched a new in-app camera for selfies with features including photo filter and stickersFacebook has, for the 15th time, tried to take on Snapchat.“Facebook Messenger built a new in-app camera for Snapchat-style selfies”, reports Recode. The messaging app has rolled out a new camera with features including photo filters (aka geofilters), masks (aka lenses) and stickers (aka ... actually, Snapchat calls them stickers too). Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Friday! Continue reading...

Disputed articles will be marked with the help of users and outside fact checkers amid widespread criticism that fake news influenced the US electionFacebook will begin flagging fake news stories with the help of users and outside fact checkers, the company announced on Thursday, responding to a torrent of criticism over fake news during the US election.Readers will be able to alert Facebook to possible fake news stories, which the social media behemoth will then send to outside fact-checking organizations to verify. Continue reading...

ACLU investigation revealed fusion centers could access monitoring tech to target activists and journalists while racially profiling people deemed ‘suspicious’Twitter has blocked federally funded “domestic spy centers” from using a powerful social media monitoring tool after public records revealed that the government had special access to users’ information for controversial surveillance efforts.The American Civil Liberties Union of California discovered that so-called fusion centers, which collect intelligence, had access to monitoring technology from Dataminr, an analytics company partially owned by Twitter. The ACLU’s records prompted the companies to announce that Dataminr had terminated access for all fusion centers and would no longer provide social media surveillance tools to any local, state or federal government entities. Continue reading...

Victims of the largest data breach in history, which took place in 2013 but was just revealed this week, include FBI, CIA, NSA and White House workers

Louise Haigh said internet troll told her he ‘would not rest until I was murdered’ after she proposed debate on far-right groupPolice are investigating after a female Labour MP received “very explicit death threats” online.Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, told parliament she was targeted after calling for a debate on the banning of Britain First, the far-right group which may have inspired the murder of her colleague Jo Cox. Continue reading...

As the likes of Elon Musk and Sheryl Sandberg flock to meet Trump, will they ditch their lofty commitments to climate change along the way?Related: Donald Trump's presidential transition is basically reality television | Richard WolffeSwamp monsters are about to take over the White House, and the consequences for the environment are terrifying. Tech millionaires are known for making lofty promises on climate. Now that they’ve jumped into the bed with Trump, they’ll be quick to say they can “disrupt” the administration from within. That’s nonsense.

Internet company embarks on £300m buying spree that will also see it acquire the Canadian service SkipTheDishesThe online takeaway food service Just Eat is to spend up to £300m on a buying spree, swallowing up its smaller rivals Hungry House and SkipTheDishes.Just Eat is paying £200m upfront to buy Hungry House, its biggest UK competitor, from the German group Delivery Hero. It has promised to hand over another £40m if the company hits performance targets. Continue reading...

After the Yahoo hack, we want to hear from people affected by password reuse. What happened and how did it impact on your life?Yahoo said on Wednesday it had discovered another major cyber attack (saying data from more than 1bn user accounts was compromised in August 2013). This is the largest such breach in history.Related: Eight things you need to do right now to protect yourself online Continue reading...

Regulators ordered Uber to take self-driving cars off roads in San Francisco and company suspends drivers after vehicles were caught running red lightsCalifornia regulators ordered Uber to remove its self-driving vehicles from the road on the same day that the company’s vehicles were caught running red lights – violations the company immediately blamed on “human error”.“It is essential that Uber takes appropriate measures to ensure safety of the public,” the California department of motor vehicles (DMV) wrote to Uber on Wednesday after it defied government officials and began piloting the cars in San Francisco without permits. “If Uber does not confirm immediately that it will stop its launch and seek a testing permit, DMV will initiate legal action.” Continue reading...

Stuart is getting his daughter a Windows laptop for Christmas, and would like some advice on setting it up. This is the first part of a two-part answer ... Continue reading...

Keeping your details safe in a database is the least a site can do, but password security is complex. Here’s what it all meansFrom Yahoo, MySpace and TalkTalk to Ashley Madison and Adult Friend Finder, personal information has been stolen by hackers from around the world.But with each hack there’s the big question of how well the site protected its users’ data. Was it open and freely available, or was it hashed, secured and practically unbreakable? Continue reading...

Taxi-app company attempts to overturn judgment that drivers are entitled to minimum wage, sick pay and paid holidayUber has launched an appeal against a landmark employment tribunal ruling that its minicab drivers should be classed as workers with access to the minimum wage, sick pay and paid holidays.The taxi-app company filed papers with the appeal tribunal on Tuesday in an attempt to overturn the October judgment that, if it stands, could affect tens of thousands of workers in the gig economy. Continue reading...