Technology | The Guardian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ride-hailing firm says it is ‘determined to make things right’ in London as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi leads bid to regain licenceUber and Transport for London are to hold further peace talks after failing to reach an agreement at a summit where the ride-hailing app’s chief executive launched an attempt to win back its licence.

Richard Smith offered apologies in testimony before House and Senate panels reviewing data breach that affected an estimated 145 million AmericansEquifax’s “lax attitude” to protecting consumers’ data came in for sharp criticism on Tuesday as Congress grilled the credit agency’s former chairman and CEO over the company’s failures in the wake of a massive data breach.Related: Equifax chief Richard Smith steps down in wake of massive data breach Continue reading...

Company could become big player in smartphone-making with acquisition of part of HTC and forthcoming Pixel 2 launch – but it’s still got a long way to goWith the Pixel 2 smartphones expected to launch on Wednesday, Google buying up a chunk of smartphone manufacturer HTC and claiming to be “betting big on hardware”, what does the Android-maker really need to do to beat Apple?

WhatsApp’s 1.2bn users given iOS-style emojis that differ from those on Facebook and Messenger, adding to general air of cross-platform confusionWhatsApp has created its own range of emoji for its more than 1.2 billion users, shunning those created by Apple, Google and Samsung.The new icons, visible for the first time in a beta version of its Android app, are nearly identical to those created by Apple, which WhatsApp had previously used not only in its iOS app, but also in its Android and Windows versions. Only a few small differences give away the update: for instance, the water pistol has turned orange, the ghost emoji no longer has lopsided eyes and the frying egg is now double-yolked. Continue reading...

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

New study exposes persistent racial prejudice in tech, suggesting people of color are widely marginalized and denied career opportunitiesBlack and Latino representation has declined in Silicon Valley, and although Asians are the most likely to be hired, they are the least likely to be promoted, according to a new study exposing persistent racial prejudice in the tech industry.The research from not-for-profit organization Ascend Foundation, which examined official employment data from 2007 to 2015, suggests that people of color are widely marginalized and denied career opportunities in tech – and that the millennial generation is unlikely to crack the glass ceiling for minorities. Continue reading...

Ads during election and afterward focused on ‘divisive social and political messages’, says VP after company provided material to CongressFacebook on Monday estimated that as many as 10 million people saw the political advertisements that were purchased by a shadowy Russian internet agency and ran on its platform.The company made the announcement after turning over 3,000 ads to congressional investigators examining Russian interference in the US election. Continue reading...

Panellists discuss ethical complexities and huge changes that will be brought by technology, AI and automationShould a driverless car swerve to miss a child, knowing it will kill its passenger? Or should it maintain its path and end a younger life?It’s deeply troubling ethical dilemmas like these that Sandra Peter believes will hinder the mass uptake of driverless cars, possibly beyond our lifetimes. Continue reading...

Jo Bertram announces departure as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi arrives to meet Transport for London over licence lossThe Uber executive responsible for the UK has quit, as the company’s worldwide boss prepares to meet the head of the London transport authority in an attempt to get the firm’s licence reinstated.Uber said the resignation of Jo Bertram, the head of the company in northern Europe, was not related to the decision last month by Transport for London to strip it of its licence to operate in the city.

These titles bridge the gap between anime and game culture, from Ghost in the Shell and Dragon Ball to lesser known names Ah! My Goddess and Initial DJapan’s pop culture is dominated by two inextricably linked industries – video games and animation. The twin forces even form part of the country’s Cool Japan ambassadorial project, pushing Japanese creativity to a global market. Yet in the west, although anime fandom has grown significantly, we still tend to see the fields as separate, aficionados of one medium only occasionally crossing over to the other.Anime is a powerful storytelling platform in its own right though, and with increased home video releases and a cavalcade of titles available on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Crunchyroll, it’s never been easier for players to explore a medium that has inspired thousands of video games over the last 40 years. Continue reading...

How technology is making our minds redundant

‘We almost have a person full-time on mobile phone and NBN issues in our electoral office – which is ridiculous’The only government MP not to put his name to a dissenting report rejecting a federal parliamentary paper criticising the NBN has said he believes some of the complaints about its rollout have merit.The Victorian Nationals MP Andrew Broad said he had not signed a report criticising the findings of a cross-parliamentary committee on the rollout of the national broadband network as he thought it would be “disingenuous”, because other work had prevented him from taking part in much of the committee’s “listening tour” in which it heard customer complaints. Continue reading...

Apple’s chunky phablet stands out like a sore thumb against its ever-more sleek rivals, and not even its decent camera and battery life can save it

US company to replace policy forcing news outlets to offer three free articles a day in exchange for visibility on its search engineGoogle is to abandon its controversial policy of forcing news providers to offer free articles in order to appear on its search engine as part of a collection of measures designed to support the growth of digital subscriptions.The US company will replace its so-called “first click free” policy, which requires publishers to offer three free articles a day before readers come across a pay wall. Continue reading...

Ibrat Ali doubts many driving jobs would be lost, but Srin Madipalli and others fear problems for those with access problemsMy company, Embassy Direct, which is based in Hanwell, west London, has been trading for 50 years in the private hire transport sector. It has been said that banning Uber (Report, 30 September) would put “40,000 people out of work”. But all this would do is give us, the independent private hire operators, our drivers back. Many companies’ doors have closed and those that are left have struggled just to stay afloat in this industry. I think there will be no drivers out of work; they would just go back to private hire operators.It would also make customers’ safety better monitored, as was the case pre-Uber. All companies have had their own checks and procedures for many years, and that has worked. So why, after a few years of trading, can Uber say sorry, we were doing it a bit wrong and we will do it the correct way now that TfL wants to close us down. Private hire operators do not have the funds to take TfL to court as Uber has threatened. It’s just not fair.

Developers can’t copyright a game’s mechanics, as the team behind the phenomenally successful PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have learned to their costPart of the elemental appeal of zombie fiction is the permission it provides to imagine which household item, when pressed, you might use to stove in the face of a lunging, undead version of Mrs Brown from No 37. In the glare of such an apocalypse, familiar domestic items such as tea towels, cafetieres and loo brushes must be reappraised, their value now dependent on their ability to cause brain damage rather than efficiently dry a plate, deliver coffee, or clean the glum residue from a toilet bowl. Do you reach for the bread knife (rasping, noble), or the biro (intimate, cruel)?The 17-year-old film Battle Royale further elevated the premise. In the film a busload of high school students are gassed and delivered to a remote island. There, they’re provided with a map, a pocketful of rations and a single weapon each, which range in efficiency from crossbows to paper fans. The class teacher, played by Takeshi Kitano, informs the class that they must, during the next three days, fight to the death till only one student remains. The structure is similar to that of a zombie film except your friends and colleagues are no longer the lumbering, insentient undead, but scheming, very much mortal enemies. Continue reading...

Legal mechanism may help academic expose how Big Data firms like Cambridge Analytica and Facebook get their informationA US professor is trying to reclaim his personal data from the controversial analytics firm that helped Donald Trump to power. In what legal experts say may be a “watershed” case, a US citizen is using British laws to try to discover how he was profiled and potentially targeted by the Trump campaign.David Carroll, an associate professor at Parsons School of Design in New York, has discovered a transatlantic legal mechanism that he hopes will give him access to information being sought by both the FBI and the Senate intelligence committee. In recent weeks, investigators looking at how people acting on behalf of Russia targeted American voters have focused on Trump’s data operation. But although the FBI obtained a court order against Facebook to make it disclose evidence, the exact way in which US citizens were profiled and targeted remains largely unknown. Continue reading...

The popular ‘Blacktivist’ account claimed to be a force for community organizing. Now it looks to have been part of Russia’s effort to influence politics

From Europe to north America, the ride-hailing company has run into trouble with authorities over falling foul of rulesClaiming to be a communications platform rather than a taxi service, Uber has expanded by ignoring existing rules. This has prompted protests against the ride-hailing company by drivers, run-ins with national authorities, and new laws designed to curb its activities. The decision by Transport for London to strip Uber of its licence last week was the latest in a long line of clashes between the US firm and the establishment.In some cities around the world where it operates, Uber is on a collision course with regulators, while in others it remains firmly outlawed. In several places, however, the $70bn (£52bn) firm is actively negotiating its return – or already back up and running. Continue reading...

Our hardwired tendency toward laziness means once we’ve been persuaded to adopt certain pseudo-conveniences, we won’t want to give them upThe new iPhone 8, as you probably couldn’t help learning a few weeks back, boasts “wireless charging that’s truly effortless”, meaning that instead of having to plug it into the wall, you simply place it on a special pad. Which you then plug into the wall. If you’re struggling to imagine the kind of person who finds the act of plugging a cable into their phone unacceptably inconvenient – especially since you’ll still have to leave your phone in one place while it charges – well, that makes two of us.But I’m sure wireless charging will catch on anyway, because Apple understands something profound about the psychology of convenience: half the time, it isn’t really about eliminating annoying or effortful chores. It’s about introducing features you “didn’t know you needed” – a fancy way of saying you didn’t need them – safe in the knowledge that once lots of other people have them, you’ll want them; and once you’ve got them, you won’t want to lose them. “I guess it’s one of those things you don’t really care about until you use it,” wrote one owner of another device with wireless charging, trying to explain the appeal. Which is also true of heroin, but never mind that for now. Continue reading...

Insiders say building an EV from scratch by 2020 is a huge ask in industry saddled with vast engineering, manufacturing and regulatory hurdlesDyson became the latest manufacturer to hop aboard the battery-powered bandwagon this week, revealing a £2.5bn investment plan to produce an electric vehicle by 2020.In doing so, British inventor Sir James Dyson and his vacuum cleaner-making firm, raised eyebrows across the auto industry. Dyson is attempting to crash the party at a time when traditional carmakers are embroiled in an electric vehicle (EV) arms race. Continue reading...