Technology | The Guardian

WikiLeaks and a network of anonymous hackers have become a major influence – but are they enhancing our democracy or undermining it?A new and disturbing factor emerged during this presidential election, and one that may change elections forever: democracies are now at the mercy of hacking and surveillance technology – and those who control it.WikiLeaks and a network of anonymous hackers have become a major influence, turning the rituals of democracy into sleaze-fests for the tabloids and the sensationalist press. And foreign governments have a hand, too – allegedly Russia, in the case of the US election. Continue reading...

The much-loved series from Bioware is back after a four year hiatus with new characters, more cinematic imagery, and a new baddie to engage withIt’s been four years since Canadian studio Bioware seemingly closed out its science fiction RPG series Mass Effect with one of the most controversial (or as some put it, “disappointing”) endings in video game history. Next March, however, the beloved series is returning, with a brand-new cast and setting, and some interesting new design features.Coming two years after the developer’s acclaimed Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s likely Andromeda will draw on a lot of the ideas and systems from that game, as well as from the Mass Effect canon. Continue reading...

Facebook’s business model relies on people clicking content regardless of veracity, and preventing any of that sharing interferes with core user behavior

That fake news and misinformation on Facebook could have influenced the outcome of the US presidential election is worrying (Opinion, 15 November), but, in reality, this is only tinkering around the edges of a major problem. The first amendment of the US constitution was designed to protect freedom of the press. However, for the most part, the supreme court has failed to use it to rule on libel cases: hence tabloids such as the National Enquirer can get away with printing pretty much anything they like.It is possible to police the publishing and broadcasting industry – if nations are willing to do it. Sufficient staff (not robots) need to be employed to fact-check before publishing or broadcasting. Facebook has the power to influence on a macro scale, so it should also come under the same regulation. It certainly can afford the cost of editorial teams to manage its publications. There’s an easy rule: if in doubt, don’t publish. The Guardian already regulates this problem with the polite words: “This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our community standards.” Wikipedia, an open source encyclopedia, successfully regulates itself. Anyone can correct misinformation published on the site and citations are required, with it being very clear when a citation (proof) is missing. Information is democratically tuned in real time.

Decision to offer free access to massively multiplayer online game is in response to changing marketEve Online is making the biggest change in its 13-year history, by going free-to-play.In its latest update, called Ascension, it is introducing an innovative new system for opening up the world to non-paying users. A new class of player, dubbed “Alpha Clones”, will be able to sign-up without paying the monthly subscription fee, currently £9.99. Continue reading...

New tools aimed at helping users avoid seeing abusive threadsAfter nine years, Twitter users will finally be able to mute specific conversations on the site, as well as filter out all tweets with a particular word or phrase from their notifications.The much requested features are being rolled out today, according to the company. Muting conversations serves two obvious purposes: users who have a tweet go viral will no longer have to deal with thousands of replies from strangers, while users stuck in an interminable conversation between people they don’t know will be able to silently drop out of the discussion. Continue reading...

Virgin Group founder has teamed with startup Boom to offer ‘affordable’ $5,000 flights between New York and London in 3.5 hoursSir Richard Branson on Tuesday heralded the rebirth of supersonic passenger flights with the unveiling of a prototype aircraft promising 3.5-hour flights from London to New York for an “affordable” $5,000 return.The billionaire Virgin Group founder said his Spaceship company would help Denver-based startup Boom build a new generation of supersonic jets and reintroduce transatlantic flight times unseen since Concorde was scrapped.

Tech companies announce plans to make it harder for money to be made out of posting fake news storiesBoth Google and Facebook have announced plans to go after the revenue of fake news sites, kicking the hoaxers off their ad networks in an attempt to prevent misleading the public from being profitable.Google moved first, announcing on Monday a policy update which restricts its adverts from being placed on fake news sites. “We will restrict ad serving on pages that misrepresent, mis-state, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose of the web property,” a spokeswoman told Reuters. Continue reading...

The Xbox brand is 15 years old today, so here are 15 of the most important titles from the original machine to the Xbox One eraIt was 15 years ago this week that Microsoft launched its first foray into the console business. Arriving in the US on 15 November 2001, the original Xbox was designed to compete directly against Sony’s all-consuming PlayStation 2. Offering a powerful graphics processor as well as a built-in hard drive and a dedicated online gaming service, it was basically a gaming PC wrestled into the chassis of games machine – thereby setting the architectural trend that would dominate the industry going forward.Next came the Xbox 360, the dominant online multiplayer console of its era, introducing the idea of achievements and a gamer score mechanic that encouraged players to get the absolute most out of every title they purchased. And now we’re in the Xbox One era, the industrial and architectural design decisions of that original machine still guiding Microsoft’s approach to console development – albeit in a much more powerful form. Continue reading...

Through apps and wearables, technology is creating a workout that’s more data-rich, smarter and convenient than ever beforeIt’s Monday lunchtime and gym-goers at Virgin Active in Moorgate, London, are grabbing a bike for their group cycle class. But this isn’t any ordinary spin class, where the teacher enthusiastically shouts instructions like “sprint” and “climb” and the backdrop is an uninspiring grey wall. This is the “Pack”, a class divided into three teams that compete in a series of interactive challenges while each rider’s bike data is tracked in real-time and projected on to a screen.“We created the Pack in response to the growing demand for cycle-based classes and technology that tracks workout progress,” says Virgin Active group chief information officer Andy Caddy. “It creates a wholly differentiated group cycle offering.” With Virgin Active rolling out RFID (radio-frequency identification) bands that track members’ workout, the gym chain is designing products with tech at the forefront.

Nintendo’s new console isn’t an innovative take on gaming tech, it’s a Greatest Hits collection of classic 8bit titles, lovingly curated and reproducedIt is not a ridiculous overstatement to suggest that the Nintendo Entertainment System saved the games industry. Back in early 1980s, when the company released its fledgling console in Japan (where it was known as the Famicom), the business was undergoing a crisis. A flood of competing consoles and an unregulated, uncontrolled publishing model meant that there were too many machines and too many mediocre games. Some pundits in the US even suggested that video games were just a fad and that the bubble had burst.Then came the Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in Japan in the summer of 1983, and in the US two years later, it was stocky, toy-like and not exactly over-powered. However, the product brilliantly combined the industrial design genius behind the Game & Watch handheld devices with the creativity of game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and the sheer consumer marketing genius of then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi. Instead of allowing a free-for-all for third-party software support, Yamauchi placed strict quality control measures on would-be game publishers, tying them into restrictive licensing agreements. The result was a console with excellent homegrown titles and very little shovel ware. It was a gigantic hit. Continue reading...

I read your story about online theft from Tesco Bank accounts (Report, 8 November) with huge interest because in Surrey we’re planning a new cyber school where the next generation of security experts will be trained to thwart computer criminals. Working with Royal Holloway, University of London and global information technology and business services company CGI, among others, the college will equip hundreds of students with the expertise to combat the escalating threats posed by data theft, malware, online scams and cyber attacks. Not only will it arm young people with the skills needed to play a part in making cyberspace safe for our growing digital economy, it will also ease immense pressure on school places in Surrey, which has left the council with a funding gap of tens of millions of pounds.

Love, who has Asperger syndrome, is accused of stealing data from agencies including Federal Reserve, Nasa and FBIThe home secretary, Amber Rudd, has signed an order for the extradition of a British man to the US, where his lawyers believe he could face up to 99 years in prison if convicted of hacking charges. Lauri Love is accused of stealing large amounts of data from US government agencies such as the Federal Reserve, the army, the Department of Defense, Nasa and the FBI in a spate of online attacks in 2012 and 2013.The 31-year-old activist, who has Asperger syndrome, lost his legal challenge to avoid extradition in September, and on Monday the Home Office said the necessary order allowing his removal had been signed after Rudd “carefully considered all relevant matters”. Continue reading...

Walking while using a phone physically changes the way your legs move. This new gait isn’t the only way handsets are making us less mobileYou know the smartphone walk: you either do it or find people who do it really annoying. Head down, eyes glued to screen, finger scrolling down feeds, applying Instagram filters to photos of autumn leaves, filling one’s overstimulated head with the never-ending forward march of bad news. All while walking down an actual street. Without falling over. Or noticing all the people giving you dirty looks.It turns out that walking while using our phones is also changing the way we move. Scientists at the University of Delaware asked volunteers to dial numbers on their mobiles while walking on a treadmill and found their gait became more exaggerated to reduce the chance of falling over. So not only is it silly to walk and use your phone at the same time, it also makes you do a silly walk. Here are some other ailments associated with intensive mobile phone usage. Note to online reader: sit down. Don’t forget to blink. And no slouching! Continue reading...

The politicians were caught flat-footed – but for a sports game developer it was a tap-in to do the permutations for the Premier LeagueAt Sports Interactive we’ve been making football management games for more than 20 years. We aim for Football Manager to be not only the best simulation of its type, but to create a world to escape into. People play the game for a long time – on average 240 hours a year. That takes them far into the future of their parallel universe. Brexit is going to affect football. So we had to have it in the game.Before the referendum, I made sure my business had a plan for all the possible outcomes. And, unlike our politicians, I was happy to go public with it. As part of this I started talking about how it could affect football. There had been a claim during the campaign that 200 players at top flight clubs in the UK wouldn’t get work permits under the current football system if we left the EU. I worked it out to be closer to 150, but it included the likes of France’s N’Golo Kante and Dimitri Payet, both of whom were among most people’s players of the year last season. It also included most of my beloved Watford’s squad. Continue reading...

Library of ‘over 40 million’ songs available with monthly or annual subscription to Amazon Music UnlimitedAmazon is launching its Spotify rival, Amazon Music Unlimited, in the UK with a headline price of £9.99 a month and access to a library of “over 40 million” songs.Those figures are comparable to competitors like Spotify and Apple Music, but where Amazon is focusing its competition is on a pair of special offers, as well as the tight integration with its own hardware ecosystem. Continue reading...

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

Facebook chief acknowledges problem but continues to argue that spread of hoax stories on the social network did not influence US election

Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, is in more than 3m US homes via the Echo speaker. Now it’s available in Britain – but what’s the attraction?The very first thing you’ll want to do with your new Amazon Echo is learn a few basic voice commands. Saying “Alexa: stop!” will immediately cancel whatever activity is going on; to make music louder or quieter, say “Alexa: volume up” or “Alexa: volume down”. You can jump to a specific volume level by saying a number from one to 10: “Alexa: volume one” will turn the audio down to a whisper, while “Alexa: mute” will silence the Echo altogether. Once you’ve got the hang of these, you can start experimenting with more adventurous commands, safe in the knowledge that you can always cancel or silence any unwanted activity. Continue reading...

The underground and overground joys of networking and a bundle of retro funiOS, Android, Dinosaur Polo Club, cert: 3

One day, cars will be able to sense our mood and take action to cheer us up. In the meantime, just eat chocolatePrice: £23,595

I can imagine the life for which this would be the best possible carI never fell for the Honda Civic Tourer and I felt bad about that, like I’d fostered a dog and could see how hard it was trying but in the end it was still a spaniel and the love never came. This is the car you would drive if you were one of only four taxi drivers in a seaside town; it doesn’t look fancy and that’s fine, because if people want glitz, they can damn well move to Canterbury.The only people it will overtake on dual carriageways are the three other taxis, but that’s fine, too; if people want to race, they can buy their own car. Passengers get stuff usually reserved for the driver, though I have to say I had several passengers and nobody thanked me for the lumbar support. Continue reading...

EyeMynd wants to create a system in which thoughts, not handsets, will control our actions in virtual reality worldsDan Cook first began exploring the commercial potential of brainwave technology 20 years ago, working with a government agency interested in developing better lie detectors and pharmaceutical companies who wanted to understand the neurological impact of their drugs.Back in 1993, virtual reality was a hobby for eccentric geeks and, thanks to the dystopian futurism of The Lawnmower Man, a Hollywood novelty. But Cook had a vision to develop animated human avatars powered directly by signals from the human brain, and left his postgraduate work in cognitive neuroscience at UC Berkeley for the commercial frontier. Continue reading...

A glitch on the social media site found people logging in to their accounts on Friday, only to find they had been prematurely ‘memorialized’Rumors of Mark Zuckerberg’s death may have been greatly exaggerated – but by his own billion-plus user website, as a glitch on Friday afternoon led Facebook to declare two million users, including Zuckerberg himself, prematurely dead.Related: Facebook’s failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected? Continue reading...

The PayPal founder’s support for Donald Trump made him an outlier in liberal Silicon Valley. What do we know about this controversial billionaire?Controversial Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel will be a member of Donald Trump’s transition team, the campaign has confirmed.Thiel’s involvement in a Trump administration has been the subject of frenzied speculation in Silicon Valley, where the businessman was the sole prominent advocate for the divisive Republican candidate.

Taxi-hailing service admits drivers in Scotland and several cities outside London will have to wait to get earningsHundreds of Uber drivers have not been paid this week and have been told they will have to wait until next week to get their earnings.The taxi-hailing service, which is already facing legal claims from drivers who believe they have been wrongly classed as self-employed, said drivers in Scotland and a number of cities outside London had been affected by what it said was a banking glitch. Continue reading...

Companies are using old-school techniques to help everyday consumers get to grips with the complexity of a new technologyAbove me is the Hillary Step, a sheer vertical face of rock about 12 metres high on the south-east ridge of Mount Everest. In a brisk breeze, snow eddies around my boots. I reach out my thickly gloved hand to connect a carabiner to a rope to pull myself up the rock wall.In reality, of course, I’m not scaling the world’s tallest mountain but strapped to a machine in a stuffy, darkened room in a Los Angeles convention centre. This is Everest VR, a virtual reality experience on HTC’s Vive which, along with Facebook’s Oculus Rift headset, is one of the top-end VR devices available. The Everest app was stitched together from more than 300,000 photographs and while linear in structure, it’s not really a game – more a showcase for the hardware – it is captivating. Continue reading...

The face-mounted camera in kooky glasses prove too tempting for eBay sellers as scarceness of Snapchat’s new gadget drives buyers wildWant a pair of Spectacles, the new camera equipped sunglasses from the company formerly known as Snapchat? That’ll be $130. Assuming you live in Los Angeles.Oh, you don’t live in LA? Then you should probably start saving. It looks like $500 will do it, if you’re quick. You could even pick up a job lot of five for the low, low price of $2,000! Continue reading...

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

Kate Bottley has found fame on the TV show, but says her 35-year hobby helps her preach a ‘gospel of normality’The Reverend Kate Bottley, possibly the most famous vicar in Britain thanks to her regular appearances on Gogglebox, seems to have a god-given gift for the 1983 arcade game Track & Field. She has just thrashed the Guardian’s games editor Keith Stuart at the classic button-bashing sports sim.She takes the 100m sprint with ease, before breaking a record in the javelin. “That’s it, I’m retiring undefeated,” she declares to the small crowd that’s gathered around her at the GameCity festival taking place at Nottingham’s National Video Arcade (NVA). Continue reading...

From city planning to burger building, here’s our pick of the independent gaming scene in Australia and beyondThe Penny Arcade Expo (Pax) is one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world, bringing together classic consoles, the latest shooters, mobile games, PCs, Macs, tabletops – and the people who love them.For the latest event in Melbourne, Pax Australia, the biggest companies in the world – including Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony – came to show off their wares, but the most interesting stuff was relegated to one corner of the exhibition hall: Pax Rising, where independent developers let you play their latest games.

ESA’s big push will bring number of Galileo satellites in orbit to 18Next week the European Space Agency begins its final push to establish an independent global satellite navigation system. Four new satellites are scheduled for launch atop a specially converted European Ariane 5 rocket at 13:06 GMT on 17 November.The launch will take place from Europe’s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. Until now, the satellites have been launched two at a time using Russian Soyuz rockets, again launched from Kourou.

Android-maker dismisses accusations that Google abuses its market dominance to hinder competitionGoogle has dismissed the European commission’s charges that it abuses the market dominance of its Android operating system to prevent rivals from competing with alternative software and services.

Headset for Android smartphones is Pixel-exclusive but kicks off firm’s play for premium, extended VR experiences with wand-style controllerGoogle’s big bet on the future of virtual reality, Daydream, is finally available to buy, but is the Daydream View headset actually worth getting?

The social network’s latest attempts to take on Snap Inc at its own game include a new app in Brazil and a new feature in WhatsAppStop me if you think you’ve heard this one before: Facebook has released a Snapchat clone. The new standalone app offers ephemeral picture and video messaging, as well as the all-important AR lenses – sorry, “masks” – and is particularly targeted at users in emerging markets.This is the 13th time Facebook has tried to take on Snapchat by cloning features, releasing direct competitors, or simply attempting to buy its rival wholesale. Continue reading...

Whatever happens at least we know that these video game depictions of widescale catastrophe are completely farfetchedWhen times are tough it’s worth remembering that at least we don’t actually live in a video game. Since the very beginning, designers have been imagining the digital demise of the human race, with classics such as Missile Command and Space Invaders pitting players against incalculable odds in seemingly futile battles for survival. But the great thing is, they’re just games, right?Here then, are some of our favourite apocalyptic scenarios from gaming history, all of them reassuringly fanciful and completely unlikely. Continue reading...

Bank announces total sum as it reassures customers that they have been refunded and that normal services have been restored

The acquisition of German engineering business Grohmann is part of a plan to cut costs, speed up production and increase qualityTesla is making a “significant investment” in expanding its European operations, its CEO, Elon Musk, told investors on Tuesday, announcing a new “gigafactory” battery production plant and an automated manufacturing research centre.The expansion follows the purchase of German firm Grohmann Engineering, which will be renamed Tesla Grohmann Automation. The company specialises in automated assembly systems serving the automotive, telecommunications, consumer electronics and biotechnology industries. Continue reading...

Electronics company says sorry in US print media for problems with its smartphones and washing machinesSamsung has taken out a full-page advert in multiple US newspapers to apologise for the faulty Note 7 phone, which has now been subject to a worldwide recall.The advert in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post, is signed by Samsung’s North America chief executive, Gregory Lee. It offers an apology for falling short on the company’s ambition to “offer best-in-class safety and quality. Continue reading...

Information Commissioner’s Office raised concerns over social network’s collection of messaging app’s data

The latest instalment in the shooter series tries out some new ideas, including zero-gravity combat, but it is held back by well-worn conventionsIn the moments that Infinite Warfare has the courage of its convictions, when its various systems sync-up sufficiently, we get a tantalising taste of its true potential.These moments usually come when the protagonist, Nick Reyes, leaves terra firma and zips about in zero-gravity, course-correcting with boosters and engaging enemy soldiers against the backdrop of gargantuan spaceships smashing into one another. In between precision shots from his Ghostbusters-like energy weapon, he grapples on to a grunt and pulls the pin on his grenade before kicking him towards two buddies, who look on helplessly as he greets them with an explosion. That taken care of, Reyes grapples to his waiting Jackal space fighter and boosts off to begin dogfighting with enemy craft. Continue reading...

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

From Tomb Raider to The Sims, games are taking over the studio made famous by the Beatles. Our writer sees a 120-strong orchestra and choir tap into its fabled atmosphere to record Final Fantasy XVSpill a glass of wine on the wooden floor at Abbey Road and the studio triggers an emergency procedure. In this, England’s most storied recording venue, change is resisted at a molecular level – and not only because, in 2010, the government listed the building as a heritage site to ward off vampiric property developers. A few years ago, decorators varnished the floor of Studio Two, whose decor is somewhere between a 1950s prep school gym and a ballroom on the Titanic. Complaints quickly followed. The room’s acoustic resonance, made famous on most of the Beatles’ albums, had changed. The varnish was promptly chipped off, at vast expense. Since the 1960s, the studio door has been repainted and the seaweed once used to stuff the drapes that hang from the ceiling swapped for a less pungent material. Everything else remains preserved, with monastic reverence.Related: Final Fantasy XV footage reveals magic, quests and chocobos Continue reading...

A charity has found the amount of time spent playing online games is one of parents’ main concerns. We’d like to hear your experiences

It has come out of nowhere to become one of 2016’s most critically acclaimed games. But this overnight success has been a long time comingMany video games with famously protracted development times have one thing in common: they turned out to be huge disappointments.

As the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre starts work, recruiters are busy identifying raw talent to counter future hazardsWith the launch of the National Cyber Security Centre, backed by £1.9bn of funding to battle online crime, the government has made a statement.Defence experts have long warned of the growing menace of cybercrime and now they have good reason to believe the threat is being given priority treatment. Continue reading...

Prices for most of Apple’s USB-C adapters have been dropped, in some cases by as much as halfApple has dropped the price on a number of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals after the launch of the new MacBook Pro, which faced a barrage of criticism for launching with no ports other than the new USB standard.Prices for most USB-C adapters Apple makes have been dropped, in some cases by as much as half. The company has also dropped the price of third-party peripherals by 25%, including the 4K and 5K LG screens the company demonstrated late last month, and a SanDisk SD card reader has received a special price cut of 40%. Continue reading...

ProtonMail says it was in effect removed from Google for almost a year, demonstrating the existence of ‘search risk’Google has been accused of hiding a competitor’s webmail service from its search results in a “suspicious” manner for almost a year, costing the service hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost traffic.The company, ProtonMail, provides encrypted email accounts for users, and has been one of the most popular services of that type since its launch in 2014, as reflected by its Google search ranking: the company says it was placed “on the first or second page of most [relevant] queries including ‘encrypted email’ and ‘secure email’”. Continue reading...

Doing your shopping by pressing buttons in your home sounds like a great labour-saving life-hack … and then you get 45 toilet rolls arrive in one goThe internet of shopping is finally here: magic-like buttons that when pressed have goods delivered to your door, without any need to log on to a website or get out your credit card. The branded Dash buttons are Amazon’s latest offering to make it easier to shop, so I bought a load of them to find out whether it’s the retail revolution we didn’t even know we were looking for.There is no Dash button for ordering Dash buttons, so I looked though the 40 or so available and found eight for things I would normally buy. They’re £5 each, so I spent £40 for this convenience, but with the promise £5 would be taken off the first purchase made with each button making them free in the long run. Continue reading...