Technology | The Guardian

Alternatives to glitter | Driverless cars | Insects and birdsI am pleased that nurseries are considering the impact of materials they use in creative activities (A green guide to glitter alternatives, G2, 20 November). The staff of the nursery school where I was headteacher for 10 years would be appalled at the suggestion that edible material such as cereals or pulses could be used as an alternative. We thought that allowing children to play with food that would be lifesaving for children suffering from malnutrition was a reinforcement of the superior attitudes that prevail in much of society.

Case to determine whether taxi app drivers get improved rights such as guaranteed minimum wage and holiday pay

Global brands suspend YouTube and Google advertising after it was placed alongside videos paedophiles exploitedBig brands are pulling advertising from YouTube and Google after their ads were found to be displayed against content being exploited by paedophiles.Despite YouTube promising to take an “even more aggressive stance” against predatory behaviour, the confectionery giants Mars and Cadbury, the supermarket Lidl, Deutsche Bank and Adidas have led a wave of brands removing advertising from YouTube. Continue reading...

Parents urged to turn off cameras and geo-location settings in children’s smart toys to protect against hackersParents should consider turning off cameras and geolocation settings in Christmas presents to protect their children from hackers, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned.Smart toys and wearable devices are among the most desirable children’s toys this Christmas, but the regulator has warned their internet connectivity presents safety risks from hackers. Continue reading...

Digital minister Matt Hancock says government still trying to gauge number of people affected in the UKThere is no evidence that Uber customers who had their personal details stolen are at risk of direct financial crime, a minister has insisted, despite hundreds of users complaining that their accounts have been hacked from Russia.The digital minister, Matt Hancock, told the House of Commons that the government was still trying to gauge the number of people in the UK affected by the global breach of the personal information of 57 million customers and drivers in October last year, which the company initially concealed. Continue reading...

Shot mostly on camera phones, this British drama about a group of insufferable twentysomethings has little going for it besides zeitgeist bragging rightsAfter found footage and phone footage films, here, with the inevitability of a man in belted jeans launching a new iPhone model to a crowd of saucer-eyed disciples, is the first ever selfie movie – a naive and self-indulgent piece with very little going for it other than zeitgeist bragging rights.Shot mostly on camera phones by the actors, #Starvecrow is a tiny-budget British drama about a group of insufferably privileged twentysomething mates. Ben Willens is Ben, a controlling narcissist who creepily films everything on his phone. When his on-off girlfriend (Ashlie Walker) walks out for good, he steals her friends’ mobiles – giving the film its footage of attention-seeking drunken antics and nastier behaviour never intended for Snapchat. Ben, like one of the lads from Made in Chelsea after inadvertently catching an episode of The Moral Maze on Radio 4, tells his psychotherapist that he wants to see “between the cracks” of people’s lives. Continue reading...

Tired of reaching for the remote whenever something explodes in a film? The compact Soundbox might be your saviour – but it’s pricey if you don’t have SkySky has partnered with French audio-firm Devialet to create the Soundbox, an all-in-one TV speaker that promises to squeeze full-range, powerful sound into a small box that, in theory, won’t annoy the neighbours. Continue reading...

Social network says tool will let users see if they have liked or followed accounts created by organisation that carries out misinformation operationsFacebook has promised to tell users whether they liked or followed a member of Russia’s notorious “troll army”, accused of trying to influence elections in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Taxi-hailing firm warned it may face higher fines as inquiry continues into whether UK customers’ details were compromisedUK authorities were unaware of a mass data breach at Uber that potentially put British customers’ personal details into the hands of cyber criminals.

Company confirms it receives mobile phone mast tracking data even with sim removed and privacy features active, but says it will cease to by end of NovemberGoogle has confirmed it has been able to track the location of Android users via the addresses of local mobile phone masts, even when location services were turned off and the sim cards removed to protect privacy.

The latest revelation about the ride-hailing app concealing a huge hack of personal data confirms that London mayor Sadiq Khan is right to take it onUber is one of those companies that seems to take pride in upsetting the status quo. Its cheerleaders claim the minicab app is a shining example of “disruptive innovation” – where entrepreneurs change entire industries by thinking outside the box. Critics contend that Uber’s business model is actually pretty traditional. The only major difference is scale, and the use of a high-tech booking system.And while the app booking system is certainly convenient, it’s far from unique to Uber. There are now numerous firms using similar technology. None, though, have the same sort of global coverage Uber does. What really sets the company apart is its aggressive growth strategy, enabled by billions of dollars of investments. It has been accused of attempting to become “too big to ban” by undercutting on price – even if this means losing money – in order to drive competitors out of business and capture markets. The idea is that if Uber is able to dominate the minicab industry in a given city, politicians will struggle to ban it while keeping voters on side. This makes regulating the company difficult, as the threat of prohibition is the most powerful weapon in regulators’ arsenal. Continue reading...

YouTube, social media and even Bitcoin are allowing musicians to reject major labels and go it alone – but the industry is fighting back. Can artists use technology to stay truly independent?In the 20th century, the vast majority of music you heard and bought was controlled by a small number of companies: record labels, radio stations and other dominators of the media. Artists needed them to reach the public and the public’s choice was prescribed by what these gatekeepers believed could best turn a profit. You liked it or lumped it. Now, however, a networked world is giving artists and audiences the tools to reject those companies for ever. Continue reading...

Shoppers will benefit from lower prices as the online giant starts trading this week, in a major challenge to established storesIt looks as though Black Friday will be the day when the US online behemoth Amazon opens its Australian site, sparking what is likely to be a major price war in the retail market.Amazon said 10 days ago its launch in Australia was “very close”. This week it reportedly sent emails to suppliers indicating it would have a soft launch on Thursday and formally begin trading on Friday. This coincides with the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree Black Friday, the biggest single day in the US retail calendar.

Residents of Winlock, Washington can barely stream Spotify and Netflix. Changes to Obama’s net neutrality rules are going to make things even worse

Manufacturing partner Foxconn had student interns working 11-hour days to make £999 iPhoneApple has been accused of relying on students working illegal overtime to build the iPhone X, through its contractor Foxconn, which manufactures the devices in Zhengzhou, China.According to the Financial Times, students working at the Foxconn plant, as part of a three month “work experience” placement, were routinely working 11-hour days assembling the newest phone, breaking Chinese overtime laws in the process. Continue reading...

Patent reveals system designed to stimulate self-driving car passengers to eliminate motion sickness so they can read, work or play in transitUber is working on a system to prevent travel sickness in cars, which it sees as a barrier to the adoption of self-driving vehicles, stopping people from doing other things as they are ferried to their destination.According to a patent, which describes a “sensory stimulation system for autonomous vehicles”, Uber plans to use vibrating and moving seats, the flow of air targeting the face or other part of the body, and light bars and screens to prevent passengers from feeling travel sick. Continue reading...

As video gaming tightens its grip on mainstream culture, the games and their themes are becoming broader and bolderGadgets are only as good as their content, and though 2017 has been a difficult year for the world, it’s been a great one for video games. As gaming elbows its way to the centre stage of mainstream culture, the titles and their themes are increasingly reflecting the wide variety of players and their concerns. Here are the best games and consoles, and the most exciting trends of 2017. Continue reading...

OnePlus has done it again, producing a smartphone with almost its rivals’ high-end features, including 36-hour battery life, at an affordable priceThe OnePlus 5T propels the Chinese company into the brave new era of full-screen smartphones, with a new 6in minimal bezel display squeezed into the body of a 5.5in device.

Smartphones offer an opportunity to get information into the hands of those who need it most; complaining from the sidelines is futileThe launch of the GP at Hand app-based primary care service in London has been met with accusations that it is damaging the NHS.The service is being run by a practice in Fulham, but people across central London are able to move their GP registration there. It offers video consultations 24/7 and face to face appointments at five clinics so far. It uses technology provided by Babylon Health, which bills itself as “the world’s first AI-driven healthcare service”. Continue reading...

There’s more worth discovering on the Alola islands, not to mention in soothing hard toil and a subversive teen adventure3DS, The Pokémon Company, cert: 7

Local bookshops are agents of culture not just commerce. They bring a sense of belonging to our suburbs and a passion for community Amazon can’tWhat makes the place you live in your neighbourhood your home?I’ve lived in inner-north Melbourne for most of my life. It’s home to a thriving arts scene: grass-roots theatre companies like La Mama, independent publishers like Scribe Publications and Black Inc., cultural institutions like Melbourne Museum. Continue reading...

Staunch leaver James Dyson has said Britain should walk away from talks with the EU. Here’s where other dust busters stand on the issue

A podcast has deep thoughts on the paranormal, while the BBC’s foray into interactive storytelling does a little too much askingHaunted | iTunes

From smart-speakers and virtual bikes to robot vacuums and indestructible cables, here is the year’s most covetable technologyYou can assemble one of three robots with this Lego-like kit, each fully mobile and equipped with an infra-red sensor to help it detect and interact with its environment. Best of all, it can then be programmed using the child-friendly block-programming app, opening limitless opportunities. Continue reading...

In 2017 voice recognition has gone mainstream, with the Echo, Google Home and other smart speakers all competing for space in your lifeThe most futuristic thing I have ever bought used to be a Sonos music player. I’d have people over just to show it off. “Name a song,” I’d say. “Go on, any version of any song by any act that ever lived. I dare you.” So they would, and I’d pull out my phone and – hey presto – seconds later, that song would boom out across my living room like magic. No ungainly wires. No battery-draining Bluetooth connection. When friends moved house, I’d see their stupid boxes of old CDs and laugh. “You antiquated morons,” I’d gloat. “When I move house, I’ll be able to fit every song ever recorded into a shoebox. I live in the distant future and you are a bone-throwing ape, and it’s all thanks to my Sonos.”I hate my Sonos player now. Continue reading...

It was already the world’s best hatchback. Now VW has gone and made the Golf GTI even betterPrice: £28,345

The internet giant will have a real store in London for Black Friday. In this topsy-turvy retail world, innovation is now a necessityOn London’s Oxford Street a row of glittering snowflakes guides shoppers along the golden mile of fashion and department stores. The 750,000 lights floating above Selfridges, John Lewis and Debenhams are a decades-old tradition but events like Black Friday have changed Christmas shopping for ever.The UK high street has just experienced something of a watershed, what some have called its “Tesla moment”. Online fashion website Asos overtook Marks & Spencer in market value terms for the first time despite not having a single store to its name. The comparison with the automotive industry comes because electric carmaker Tesla moved ahead of the 114-year-old Ford Motor Company in market value earlier this year. Continue reading...

The Xbox One X is sleek and significant upgrade that should edge Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro down the wishlistIts creators claim it is one of the most powerful gaming consoles on Earth, now the newly launched Xbox One X from Microsoft is after a new accolade - to beat its rival Sony to dominate Christmas wishlists and the hearts of video game players.Microsoft’s new console, a substantial upgrade to the original Xbox One released in 2013, comes almost exactly a year after Sony delivered a similar performance boost with its PlayStation 4 Pro. Continue reading...

The algorithms Facebook and other tech companies use to boost engagement – and increase profits – have led to spectacular failures of sensitivity and worse. How can we fight back?Earlier this month, Facebook announced a new pilot programme in Australia aimed at stopping “revenge porn” – the non-consensual sharing of nude or otherwise explicit photos – on its platform. Their answer? Just send Facebook your nudes. Continue reading...

Telecoms regulator urges parents to destroy the devices, which have been used to listen in on classroom lessonsGermany’s telecoms regulator has banned ​the sale of “smart watches” that can be used by parents to check on their children, saying the devices violated Germany’s strict surveillance laws.The Federal Network Agency said it had already taken action against several firms that sell the watches online but did not name them. Continue reading...

The impressive Xbox One X hopes to beat Sony in the battle for Christmas salesIts creators claim it is one of the most powerful gaming consoles on Earth. Now the newly launched Xbox One X from Microsoft is after a new accolade – to beat its rival Sony to dominate Christmas wishlists and the hearts of video game players.Microsoft’s console, a substantial upgrade of the original Xbox One released in 2013, arrives almost exactly one year after Sony delivered a similar performance boost with its PlayStation 4 Pro. Continue reading...

New electric supercar will break records according to Elon Musk, with blistering acceleration and 630-mile range. Here’s everything we knowTesla announced a new version of its very first car, the Roadster, turning it into an electric supercar described as a “hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars” by company founder Elon Musk.The new sports car was unveiled alongside Tesla’s new electric truck, and promises to wow drivers with some extraordinary statistics that make it look like a Top Trumps card turned into an electrified reality. Continue reading...

Not content with simply walking or carrying objects, Atlas, made by the robotics firm Boston Dynamics, can now jump across gaps, jump and spin 180°, and – most impressive of all – it can backflip, even using its arms to balance after landing just like a real gymnast Continue reading...

Using diesel trucks now ‘economic suicide’, says Musk – but questions persist over company’s capacity to meet demandElon Musk unveiled Tesla’s first electric semi-truck on Thursday evening at an event in Los Angeles that also included the surprise reveal of a new Tesla sports car.The new Roadster, which has the same name as the first electric vehicle produced by Tesla from 2008 to 2012, emerged from the back of one of the trucks at the end of a presentation that focused largely on the economic and performance needs of truck drivers. Continue reading...

He was fired from Google for arguing that men may be more suited to working in tech than women. Now James Damore opens up about his regrets – and how autism may have shaped his experience of the worldJames Damore conforms to the stereotype. He’s happy to admit he fits the mould of an awkward computer nerd and the moment we meet in a Silicon Valley coffee shop, he knocks a display stand of metal flasks that fall clattering to the floor. The commotion draws curious glances at the 6ft 3in software engineer, but Damore is used to strangers identifying him; he’s the guy who was fired by Google this summer after he argued that men are more psychologically suited to working in technology than women.

17 November 1938 We may yet be driven to consider the fitting to vehicles of a device which would indicate when they are exceeding their permitted speedsThe Commons debate on road accidents yesterday produced the familiar crop of remedies, from the twenty-five-mile limit in built-up areas suggested by Mr. Watkins to the complete segregation of different sorts of traffic advocated by Mr. Macquisten.

‘I spoke to Bill Shorten last night and we are satisfied … he has taken action to deal with it,’ Anthony Albanese saysLabor has changed its tune on an inquiry into the hacking of the defence industry minister’s personal Twitter account, with the Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese declaring the issue is now over.On Thursday the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, supported “some investigation” into the hacking of Christopher Pyne’s Twitter account, but this position was contradicted on Friday morning byAlbanese. Continue reading...

Social network is urged to reveal what it knows as expert says it is unlikely Russian professional trolls only used TwitterFacebook is under pressure from academics and parliamentarians to reveal what it knows about Russian attempts to manipulate British politics, as research efforts flounder against the company’s locked-down social network.“Facebook has been very silent on this,” said the Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake. He said representatives of all major social media companies should be called before MPs “to explain what research they have undertaken into possible Russian manipulation of their sites”. Continue reading...

Chinese company’s latest smartphone is hoping to attract users with 6in-screen complete with facial recognitionThe latest Android smartphone from Chinese upstart OnePlus hopes to tempt users looking for the new all-screen experience, but at less than half the price of an iPhone X.The 5T is a revamped version of the 5 launched in June and marks the second time the company has updated its smartphone line more than once in a year. According to co-founder Carl Pei, this is because “when we’ve got new technology ready to go we don’t want to leave our users with older devices”. Continue reading...

The modus operandi for many tech entrepreneurs lacking ideas appears to be: just find an existing service, privatize it, and claim to have ‘reinvented it’Have you heard of this cool new trend called co-living? It’s a bit like co-working, except instead of sharing an office with a bunch of randoms you share a home with a bunch of randoms. Oh, you might be thinking, is it like ye olde concept of “roommates”? Why, yes. Yes it is.

Dave and his partner need a new 10in tablet now that their old Samsung Tab 2 10.1 is slow. What is the best Android option – or should they try an iPad?We want a new tablet to replace our old Samsung Tab 2 10.1, which has become very slow when we are browsing the shopping sites that my other half uses. We want a 10in screen and good enough performance that it will last several years.

Technology firm alleges he leaked company secrets and used company resources for his own benefitTechnology firm Dyson is to sue its former chief executive for allegedly leaking its closely guarded secrets, in a claim his lawyers say is a “naked attempt” to distract from a wrongful dismissal suit against the company.The extraordinary row emerged after the company, founded by inventor Sir James Dyson, filed a high court claim against Max Conze, who led the company from 2011 to 2017. Continue reading...

Foundation launched by Facebook founder and his wife says it had nothing to do with evictions near planned private school for low-income students

Company announces new rules for blue-checkmarked verified accounts following criticism over status of Charlottesville rally organizer Jason KesslerTwitter announced new guidelines for verified accounts on Wednesday, one week after the company was harshly criticized for granting the coveted blue checkmark to Jason Kessler, the organizer of the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August.“We are conducting an initial review of verified accounts and will remove verification from accounts whose behavior does not fall within these new guidelines,” the company wrote on Twitter. Continue reading...

Twitter and Russia | Men of letters | Swaths blasted | Evolving words | Robert Mugabe backwardsTwitter ruthlessly rooted out the duplicate accounts of a friend who was using one for himself and one for the hillwalking group whose Facebook page he moderates, and has banned him from returning. So I don’t see why the Russians can get away with destabilising the entire western world (Russia backed Brexit in fake Twitter posts, 15 November). Our group only wanted Twitter for last-minute meet-ups and weather-related cancellations – we had no intention of recruiting the hillwalking community for nefarious purposes, even if that were possible.

The BBC was left red-faced after quoting a parody account in its Zimbabwe coverage, exposing the danger of journalists relying on social mediaThe trouble that the BBC got itself into on Wednesday morning, when both online and on air it referred to tweets from a parody Zanu PF account, illustrate the complexities of using social media as a reporting resource. This can be especially true in fast-moving news situations, where news organisations may have few reporters directly on the ground.While many parody accounts on social media are used simply for humour, they can frequently be utilised for deliberate mischief.