Technology | The Guardian

Ad agency creation attracts 65,000 followers after 150 posts – every one of which shows 25-year-old Parisian with alcoholLouise Delage was a 25-year-old Parisian social media star, who – judging from her public Instagram profile, just about the only trace of her online – liked spending time with friends, eating at restaurants and being outdoors.Her photos had simple captions (“Chilling with friends”, “Dancing”, sometimes just an emoji), were hashtagged to the limit of legibility, and received likes in the hundreds, even though Delage joined Instagram only on 1 August. She accumulated nearly 65,000 followers in a little over a month. Continue reading...

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

The national broadband network’s second satellite has been blasted into space after being delayed by bad weather. The 6.4 tonne satellite, named Sky Muster II, will be in geostationary orbit 36,000km above Australia and provide internet services for up to 400,000 premises in remote areas. A European Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched the satellite from the spaceport in French Guiana Continue reading...

Company has replaced 60% of handsets in South Korea and US after reports of devices catching fire, but new incident may indicate a much bigger problemSamsung’s disastrous Note 7 smartphone episode took a new turn today when one of its new replacement handsets started to smolder during a flight in the US on Wednesday.The South Korean company recalled 2.5m smartphones during September after several reports of the devices catching fire during or after charging, offering replacement units to customers. Last week claimed it had replaced 60% of handsets in South Korea and in the US. Continue reading...

The quick turnaround is the clearest sign yet that CEO Jack Dorsey is pushing to provide clarity to shareholders and employees over the company’s futureTwitter has told potential acquirers it is seeking to conclude negotiations about a sale by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on 27 October, according to people familiar with the matter.The timeline is hugely ambitious in the context of most mergers and acquisitions, given that Twitter began mulling a sale only last month. It is the clearest sign yet that CEO Jack Dorsey is pushing to provide clarity to shareholders and employees over the company’s future as quickly as possible. Continue reading...

Previous high-profile hacks by the secretive group include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Pokémon Go’s serversBuzzFeed was hacked by OurMine on Wednesday in apparent retaliation for a story that claimed to unmask one of the members of the secretive group.On Tuesday, BuzzFeed posted a story claiming to have identified one of the members of the group as a Saudi teen called Ahmad Makki. In response, on Wednesday the hackers managed to breach BuzzFeed with a post, which has since been taken down, that read: Continue reading...

‘Technical issue’ leads to items appearing on site’s new Marketplace section that violate its policiesFacebook has apologised after guns, drugs and even baby hedgehogs were listed for sale on its new Marketplace section.Marketplace launched on Monday in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand, and the social network said a technical issue meant items had appeared for sale that violated its policies. Continue reading...

It’s not the first time a member of the government has been caught playing the game in the chamber, but this time it was the prime minister herselfThe Norwegian prime minister has been caught playing Pokémon Go during a debate in Norway’s parliament.Erna Solberg was pictured playing the game during a debate in the Storting on Tuesday. It’s no secret Solberg is a big fan of Pokémon Go. During an official trip in Slovakia, she took some time out to play the game, telling reporters she was keen to hatch some of her 10km eggs. Continue reading...

Internet service provider handed fine by Information Commissioner’s Office after security failings allowed customer data to be accessed ‘with ease’TalkTalk has been hit with a record £400,000 fine for the security failings that led to the company being hacked in October 2015.The Information Commissioner’s Office levied the fine saying that the attack “could have been prevented if TalkTalk had taken basic steps to protect customers’ information”. Continue reading...

Search company unveils first own-brand phone with 12 megapixel cameras and unlimited photo storage, pitting it directly against Apple

Greg Taylor quits as principal government relations officer following complaint by Labour MP John Woodcock to policeAn official from London’s City Hall has resigned after being questioned by police over alleged Twitter trolling of MPs.Greg Taylor quit his post as principal government relations officer with immediate effect after he was interviewed under caution by Lancashire police and suspended from his job. Continue reading...

From community displacement in Mexico City to tourism-triggered evictions in Lisbon and crazy rent hikes in Silicon Valley, our readers shared stories of gentrification happening in their cities – and the initiatives trying to tackle it“Here gentrification happens very quickly. Every month some ‘nice’ restaurant or shop opens. The old name of my neighbourhood (Kinkerbuurt) was changed and rebranded to ‘Hallenkwartier’. I would enjoy many of the changes if I knew others could enjoy it as well. But poor people have to leave, social housing is sold off, and rich people and tourists move in. Continue reading...

After fighting long proxy war the two tech titans are now in same arena, as Google bets big on its new phone brand transferring to a market dominated by iPhoneGoogle has just launched a new smartphone, the Pixel, and for the first time this isn’t just another Android smartphone – it’s a Google phone. The company is finally launching a direct assault on its biggest rival: Apple.

Five years after his death, the Apple co-founder’s mythology still dominates online discussion, from management listicles to attempts to cash in on his nameIt was five years ago today that Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple, died after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. His death, at 56, came a few months after stepping down from his role at the company, handing over the reins to Tim Cook, his collaborator and such a close longtime friend that he offered Jobs a portion of his liver.Since then, Apple’s value has grown from $50bn to more than $600bn, if down a little from its peak of $775bn in February 2015. Despite such enormous growth, it has been hard for Cook to step out of the shadow of the charismatic Apple co-founder. Continue reading...

With 200 pupils set to start training, the mood is high in the unlikely suburb chosen for tech giant’s latest ventureSan Giovanni a Teduccio, a downtrodden suburb of Naples, is a far cry from Silicon Valley.The crumbling apartment buildings, the walls covered in either graffiti or church death notices, and the ubiquitous clotheslines hung outside people’s windows do not leave the impression that the neighbourhood is a centre for high technology. Continue reading...

Company complied with a classified directive, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of NSA or FBI, say former employeesYahoo last year secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers’ incoming emails for specific information at the request of US intelligence officials, according to a report.The company complied with a classified US government directive, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of the National Security Agency (NSA) or FBI, two former employees and a third person who knew about the program told Reuters. Continue reading...

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

The anonymous message board represents the darkest corners of the internet, but users aren’t ready to say goodbyeThe anonymous message-board site 4chan has come to represent the darkest corners of internet subculture, rife with the misogyny, web taste and the politically incorrect humor of the alt-right.Now it appears to be in financial trouble, according to the site’s new owner, Hiroyuki Nishimura, who said on Sunday that the site can no longer afford “infrastructure costs, network fee, servers cost and CDN [servers that help distribute high-bandwidth files such as video]”. Continue reading...

Study finds group using wearable fitness tracker did show improved levels of physical activity over a year – but not enough to improve health, say researchersWearable trackers may not increase activity levels enough to significantly benefit health, researchers have said.Pedometers are “unlikely to be a panacea for rising rates of chronic disease”, experts said after a new study concluded that the devices did not appear to improve the health outcomes of wearers after one year. Continue reading...

Until Tuesday, the Tesla boss didn’t follow any women on Twitter. The heads of Apple, Google, and Microsoft aren’t much betterConfusing the real world with the slice of reality reflected by one’s social media accounts is a mistake political reporters and partisans make every day. Algorithms and selection bias have conspired to drastically narrow the world wide web for must of us.But for many of the tech industry’s moguls, the world reflected in their Twitter timelines is bizarrely similar to the bizarre societies they have created in their companies: very, very male. Continue reading...

Stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority has moved from the US government to an international group, but not everyone is happy about itAs of Saturday morning the internet – or at least the bit of it that manages the network’s “address book” – is no longer controlled by an American organization but by an international group.

As virtual reality moves into the mainstream, this is how the Guardian is using it to advance our journalism.This is the year that virtual reality (VR) is expected to move into the mainstream. New headsets backed by all the major tech players are coming to the market, encompassing everything from high end headsets with laser tracking to cardboard. Now more people than ever can have a go for themselves and experience a multitude of different worlds.The launch of Daydream, Google’s platform for high quality mobile VR, is another milestone for virtual reality. As these technologies move forward they bring with them more potential for journalism and storytelling.

Google launches iPhone rival emphasising Google Assistant as well as Daydream VR, Home smart speaker and more at live event

Search company unveils revamped voice assistant AI and launches Home, a rival to Amazon’s Echo smart speaker hub

The decision to include the 3D-printed parts in the two new devices was a purely economic one, says HPHalf the custom parts in HP’s first 3D printer in over a decade were themselves 3D printed, according to the company’s head of 3D printing, Stephen Nigro.The decision to include the 3D-printed parts in the two new devices, which will start shipping by the end of this year, helps the company highlight the quality of the printers’ output, but Nigro insists that the decision was a purely economic one. Continue reading...

Facebook wants the world to know it’s serious about hardware, but just how much is it willing to reveal?It’s an uncharacteristically gloomy day at Building 17 of Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters. From the outside, it looks like any other office; it’s unremarkable except for the free valet parking booth erected in front of the lobby, a perk that saves staff from having to walk more than a few steps from their cars.

Evidence shows reviewers awarded higher star ratings to products that were discounted in exchange for a reviewAmazon has banned “incentivised reviews” after evidence suggested writers typically awarded almost half a star extra compared with reviews where the reviewer paid for the product themselves.Incentivised reviews involved companies giving big discounts to reviewers on products, although the reviews were still meant to be impartial. Amazon operates its own incentivised reviews programme, Vine, which will continue. Continue reading...

From Witcher 3’s unicorn seduction to Heavy Rain’s polygonal sex crash, games writers Holly Nielsen and Kate Gray go on an erotic odyssey like no otherThis article contains sexual references, including but not limited to: interspecies sex, taxidermilogical sex, extraterrestrial sex and post-coital human sacrificeThere has always been sex in video games. As shocking as this revelation may be to those who have only ever played Call of Duty, Fifa or Pokémon Go, it’s the truth. Continue reading...

One week after Amazon launched Echo in the UK, the search company is also pitching for a smart home future with its own voice recognition deviceTalking to computers was once for the likes of Captain Kirk, but a new product due to be announced by Google on Tuesday demonstrates that it believes devices that can speak to humans are ready for the living room.The search engine giant is expected to launch its Google Home “personal assistant” speaker system – a squat cylinder that will be able to process search requests and other everyday tasks when instructed to by the sound of a human voice. Continue reading...

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

Palm-sized Kirobo Mini ‘wobbles a bit’, blinks and speaks with high-pitched voice in order to ‘invoke an emotional connection’A baby robot designed to “invoke an emotional connection” has been unveiled in Japan, where plummeting birth rates have left many couples without children.The Kirobo Mini was created by Toyota’s non-automotive department and is equiped with artificial intelligence and a camera so it can recognise the face of the person speaking to it and respond. Continue reading...

Marketplace lets Facebook users list items for sale, and could be an attempt to upend the crowded world of peer-to-peer sellingFacebook’s latest product launch appears to be a modest step into a classified advertising market currently fought over by eBay, Craigslist and more nascent startups such as LetGo and OfferUp – the latter recently valued at $1.2bn.Related: A tough sell: why Facebook's e-commerce dream failed to take flight Continue reading...

Twitter UK’s 163 staff get £12.5m in shares as company reports revenues of £76m last year, but analysts say figure is much higherTwitter’s British operation paid £1.24m in tax last year as staff enjoyed a £12.5m shares windfall.The US technology company, which is the subject of rumours of a potential acquisition by Google, Disney or computing company SalesForce reported a rise in UK revenues of 30.5% to £76m in 2015, well short of the £135.7m that it made in Britain, according to estimates from analysts at eMarketer. Continue reading...

Google’s own-brand phone revealed in promotional images by Carphone Warehouse before official unveiling on TuesdayGoogle’s new own-brand Pixel smartphones have been revealed a day before their official unveiling after Carphone Warehouse leaked promotional content.The new Pixel phone by Google marks a step-change for the Android-maker, putting the Google brand front and centre in an obvious direct challenge to Apple and its iPhone. Both Apple, and now Google, have the advantage of being able to develop both hardware and software simultaneously.

According to a new report, week-on-week sales of Xbox One were up 1000% at the end of September. How has the tide turned so dramatically for the console?Last week saw some interesting console news from games industry publication MCV. According to the website, UK sales of Xbox One rose by almost 1,000% in the week ending 24 September, while sales of the slimline PS4 have been comparatively slow.Data obtained from GfK, the market research company that compiles software sales charts in the UK, also showed that Microsoft’s machine had a 71% share of the hardware market for that week. The findings follow news in the US that the Xbox One has been the bestselling console for two months according to NPD Group data. Continue reading...

Broadcaster hopes big-name partnerships and star power will help drive success of virtual reality appSky has entered the world of 360-degree videos with a free new Sky VR app for Android, iOS and Oculus VR headsets, pushing content from sports, films, racing, music and news.

It makes prison officials nervous, but campaigners and tech companies argue that getting inmates digitally connected will help with rehabilitationFor most of the developed world, internet access is a given. Google, Amazon, Facebook offer a privileged world of communication, entertainment, shopping and education that many of us take for granted. Unless, that is, you happen to be incarcerated.Aside from limited connections at a handful of juvenile detention facilities, there’s no way for America’s 2.3 million inmates to access the internet. Worse, institutions may punish inmates when their families post online on their behalf. Prison authorities cite concerns that inmates will use the internet to harass victims or threaten witnesses, arrange for deliveries of contraband or commit new crimes online. Continue reading...

From apps to watches to handheld units, there are a huge number of GPS devices to help you hike safely. We test which is the right one for you and your budget Continue reading...

Apple’s newest smartphone is its biggest and most expensive ever. But with this many compromises, is it worth buying over its sleeker, cheaper rivals?The second of Apple’s newest smartphones, the iPhone 7 Plus, is bigger, more expensive, has a few more features and actually lasts a day per charge. But is it worth buying over its rivals?

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

ShakeShack founder has announced that the managers and sommeliers at his new Union Square Cafe 2.0 eatery will wear devices to take better care of dinersDanny Meyer, the keeper of the golden flame of hospitality, did the unthinkable this week. He invited even more digital screens into his dining rooms.When it was announced that all the managers and sommeliers at his Union Square Cafe 2.0 would be sporting Apple Watches when it reopened this month, there was a palpable sense of panic among both patrons and pundits that the glow of organic bonhomie would be replaced by the cool inhuman luminescence of smartphones. Continue reading...

The latest version of Apple’s operating system for mobile devices brings a host of new features – not all of them immediately obvious. Here’s our pick of the bestSeveral buttons now have “3D touch”: they respond to the force used (iPhone 6S or newer devices). A hard press on the timer icon pops up shortcuts to common timer lengths, while the torch icon lets you choose brightness and the camera icon lets you jump to video or selfie mode. Several apps have also gained new touch gestures: in Photos, you can now tap and drag to select multiple images, while the email app now lets you swipe down while composing a message to save it as a draft. To return to a saved draft, hold your finger down on the compose button. Continue reading...

The massive attack on Brian Krebs’s website presents huge problems for investigative reportersBrian Krebs is one of the unsung heroes of tech journalism. He’s a former reporter for the Washington Post who decided to focus on cybercrime after his home network was hijacked by Chinese hackers in 2001. Since then, he has become one of the world’s foremost investigators of online crime. In the process, he has become an expert on the activities of the cybercrime groups that operate in eastern Europe and which have stolen millions of dollars from small- to medium-size businesses through online banking fraud. His reporting has identified the crooks behind specific scams and even led to the arrest of some of them.Krebs runs a blog – Krebs on Security – which is a must-read for anyone interested in these matters. Sometimes, one fears for his safety, because he must have accumulated so many enemies in the dark underbelly of the net. And last Tuesday one of them struck back. Continue reading...

One of next-generation virtual reality’s first public outings saw men queuing to fondle a virtual girl at the Tokyo Game ShowIn muggy Tokyo, a man wearing a virtual reality headset crouches in front of a blank-faced mannequin and fondles her breasts. On screen, an animated cartoon version of the girl (despite her nurse-like professional attire, it is unquestionably a girl) smiles coquettishly while a skeletal depiction of the man’s hands move rhythmically, as if testing a nectarine for ripeness. According to the organisers of last month’s Tokyo Game Show, it is the year of virtual reality. For a number of exhibitors at the show, however, it seems more like the year of digital lechery. Such was the outrage on social media at the spectacle of this dummy-groping, the software’s developer was told by event staff to remove the touch sensors from the mannequin’s breasts. It was a diluted compromise. The lascivious, snaking queues remained. The only difference was that now the mannequin didn’t know when she was being felt up.For Luckey, VR is not merely a tool for immersive entertainment, but a mechanism to democratise privileged experience Continue reading...

Apps can give you a GP consultation in minutes, but at what cost to the health service?One Friday afternoon, I decided to check out a pea-sized lump on my neck that was causing me consternation. I started by calling my GP’s surgery in south London. A recorded message informed me there were no appointments that day; after a few minutes, a receptionist came on the line and said that I could have an appointment on Monday. Not too bad, I thought, until I realised she was not talking about the Monday three days hence, but the one 10 days away. Not so good. I could also try for a walk-in slot or a phone consultation from 8am to 10am on weekday mornings.At this point, I downloaded the app from Babylon Health, one of the leaders in online doctor consultations, on to my smartphone. The homepage was purple and teal, the writing welcomingly blobby. I tapped on “check a symptom” and after half-a-dozen questions, it suggested that I “book a consultation”. I was offered a choice between a GP, a specialist or a therapist. The appointment could be on the phone or a video call. Continue reading...

The elfin MX-5 is a world beater. But in Iceland they’ve sold only three. They don’t know what they’re missing…Price: £18,495

What end could be more fitting for the self-respecting modern human than death by a randomly exploding handset?If you take Benjamin Franklin at his word, death is coming. The good and the bad, the young and the old, the in-the-middle: as far as we know, none will live forever. The idea of an eventual death is something that was widely accepted as “true” long ago, but, like many things, it must be updated to suit the modern day. It’s time to accept that when death does come for us, it will be at the hand of our smartphone.And isn’t that comforting? Continue reading...

The social network has never become the online shopping emporium once predicted. Will its most ambitious strategy yet change all that?Technology has been good to 1-800-Flowers. The company has long pioneered new ways of retailing, a toll-free number, direct sales via the internet. So when, in 2009, it opened its online store on Facebook the company was expecting another tech-based success. Like many others they found Facebook was a tough sell.Related: Facebook and Google: most powerful and secretive empires we've ever known Continue reading...

It has almost no acceleration in any gear – it behaves as though it’s carrying too much luggage and an unusual family memberMy initial thought was that the Honda Jazz was nothing like jazz. Then I remembered the definition in the Magnetic Fields song: “It’s divine, it’s asinine, it’s depressing / And it’s almost entirely window dressing / But it’ll do” – and thought maybe that was the reference. Although you wouldn’t call it divine.It is small, but it has no nip. In fact, it has almost no acceleration in any gear, and a bossy LED display constantly tells you to go up a gear when you feel as though you’re almost out of puff in the one you’re in. Setting off on a journey is like driving your regular car after packing it for a holiday: it behaves as though it’s carrying too much luggage and an unusual family member. Continue reading...

Ezekiel Mutua has gained notoriety for banning music and films he feels ‘promotes homosexuality’ in Kenya, where homosexuality is illegalGoogle has invited a Kenyan government official and anti-gay activist to its Web Rangers conference in Mountain View, California, even sponsoring his visa.Ezekiel Mutua, who is the head of the Kenyan film classification board (KCFB), gained notoriety this year for banning from the country’s servers local band Art Attack’s cover of the Macklemore gay marriage anthem Same Love, saying it “promotes homosexuality” in Kenya, where homosexuality is illegal.