Technology | The Guardian

‘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...

Ride-hailing app’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to hold talks with London’s transport commissioner on TuesdayUber’s chief executive will meet London’s transport commissioner next week, as the global ride-hailing app tries to win back its licence to operate in the UK capital.Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over the in the role a month ago, will meet the Transport for London boss, Mike Brown, on Tuesday, 10 days after the regulator said it would not renew Uber’s private-hire licence. Continue reading...

The sequel to the much-loved western adventure is actually a prequel, offers an even bigger world than the last game and now contains crocodilesAfter years of speculation, guesswork and vague landscape shots masquerading as teasers, we finally have our first proper look at the sequel to history’s greatest video game. A proper Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer moseyed on to the internet on Thursday evening, offering more information about the game than ever before.So what do we know for sure about Red Dead Redemption 2? Here’s what we extracted from the new material. Continue reading...

Musk says project codenamed BFR would also allow commercial travel to anywhere on Earth in under an hourElon Musk has unveiled plans for a new spacecraft that he says would allow his company SpaceX to colonise Mars, build a base on the moon, and allow commercial travel to anywhere on Earth in under an hour.

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

Transformation from loss-making smartphone maker to software firm continues as quarterly profits rise and yearly outlook is ‘robust’The transformation of BlackBerry from a bombed-out, loss-making smartphone maker to a new-look software firm appears to be working: the Canadian business has reported better-than-expected quarterly profits, boosting its shares by more than 12%.The company, which was famous for its tiny keyboard phones and in 2010 had more than a third of the US smartphone market, was almost driven to extinction by the iPhone. By 2016 it had less than 1% of the US market. Thousands of workers were laid off as losses mounted and the business eventually gave up making phone handsets and decided to reinvent itself as a software and services specialist selling to large corporations. Continue reading...

Prime minister accuses London mayor of ‘damaging lives’ of users, but acknowledges ride-hailing firm must address safety issuesTheresa May has said the decision not to renew Uber’s London licence is disproportionate, and accused the mayor, Sadiq Khan, of putting thousands of jobs at risk.The ride-hailing company to appeal against the decision by Transport for London not to renew its licence to operate in the capital for reasons of public safety. Continue reading...

The Mini SNES will allow original fans to share the beauty, joy and creative brilliance of Mario, Yoshi, Zelda and more with families and friendsOver the last decade we have become used to seeing Nintendo written off, then returning to the fray with an astonishing piece of hardware. The chunky Game Cube failed in the PlayStation era and everyone thought that was it – until the Wii came out and revitalised casual gaming.The Wii U was a sales disaster, its Toy Town tablet controller failing to entice developers or consumers – but now the Switch is killing it with a much better implementation of the same concept. This boom and bust model goes back further, though – it began with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Continue reading...

Facebook founder, who called it ‘crazy’ to suggest misinformation on site affected voters, describes change of heart as company provides ad content to CongressMark Zuckerberg said he regretted dismissing concerns about the Facebook’s role in influencing the US presidential race, his latest acknowledgement that misinformation on the platform has affected elections.

‘Kids today will grow up never knowing a day when they couldn’t talk to their houses,’ says executive in charge of Echo devices at launchAmazon, hoping to replicate the success of its Echo device, is poised to extend its eyes and ears into every part of your life with the launch of new voice-controlled and camera-equipped Alexa devices designed for bedrooms, living rooms and even your car.Related: The giant is coming: the true cost of Amazon to retailers and workers Continue reading...

Senator Mark Warren has considered examining site, says spokesman, as researcher reports that it was home to ‘coordinated information campaigns’Reddit could join Facebook and Twitter as a target for federal investigators exploring Russian influence over the 2016 presidential election, according to a spokesperson for Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.Warner’s staff indicated to the Guardian that, while nothing was imminent, the senator has considered examining the site as the question of 2016 election interference lingers on in parallel congressional and FBI investigations. Continue reading...

United Nations opens new centre in Netherlands to monitor artificial intelligence and predict possible threatsThe UN has warned that robots could destabilise the world ahead of the opening of a headquarters in The Hague to monitor developments in artificial intelligence.

Facial recognition system is 20 times more secure than Touch ID, but struggles with young users and siblingsThe iPhone X might be the future of Apple’s smartphone design, but its lauded Face ID facial recognition system has an issue with people under 13: it’s much more difficult to tell them apart.In a security guide published Wednesday, Apple recommends that children under the age of 13 do not use Face ID due to the probability of a false match being significantly higher for young children. The company said this was because “their distinct facial features may not have fully developed”. Continue reading...

Pirate Bay and Showtime turned to forcing unknowing visitors to mine cryptocurrency, using computers rather than eyeballs on ads to generate moneyWith the continuing collapse in online advertising revenues, websites are turning to other methods to pay their hosting bills – including using visitors’ computers and phones to mine cryptocurrency.It’s a controversial practice, with some likening it to running malware on visitor’s computers, but it is a potentially lucrative endeavour for websites. The downside is that at best it slows down visitors’ machines, and at worst it can also drain their batteries or send their electricity bills soaring. Continue reading...

This year’s footy behemoth offers improved tackling, tactics and goalkeeping intelligence as well as a new story. Is it enough to see off PES?The long-running video game rivalry between Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer is every bit as partisan as Arsenal v Spurs or City v United. At least 90 per cent of football sim fans make their respective buying decisions long before either game hits the shelves: PES season ticket holders decry the opposition as all-style, no-substance, while Fifa disciples mock their foe’s licensing issues and off-key presentation. There’s little reasoning with either side.The 2017-18 editions of the big two reveal those preconceptions to be built upon half-truths. PES 2018 does suffer from publisher Konami’s lack of riches comparative to EA’s, with Man Blue, Man Red and North East London duking it out for top-flight honours. Yet its on-field action is a touch more substantive, the smoothest passing system seen in a video game especially worthy of praise. Continue reading...

US ride-hailing company aims to repair its reputation after Transport for London ruled it was not a ‘fit and proper’ operator

If you’re not a journalist or a privacy advocate, convincing big tech to release your data is almost impossible. But hope is coming with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation

Exclusive: Multiple women fighting Uber in US sexual assault cases say the company turned its back on them, as judge calls its record with police ‘horrific’

Twitter’s 140-character limit forces its users to be funnier. It can’t compete with Facebook and shouldn’t tryOn Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s favourite social network for conducting diplomacy and insulting NFL players announced a major change.Twitter is currently testing an increase in the character limit, allowing some users to type in up to 280 characters instead of the usual 140. And that was enough to inspire Twitter’s ever-vocal users to vent, 140 characters at a time – or, for the few lucky testers, 280. Continue reading...

Information commissioner shuts down Amazing Rentals website in wake of leak of tens of thousands of personal recordsA rental appliance company has suffered a massive data breach that has leaked tens of thousands of Australian private customers’ records online, including identification documents, Centrelink records and financial information.The leak has prompted consumer advocates to call for urgency in a planned crackdown on rogue appliance rental companies as the information commissioner took action to shut the website down. Continue reading...

The US president’s favorite social media platform has increased the allowable character limit from 140 to 280 after research found frustration among usersTwitter has doubled the character limit on tweets to allow its users to convey more meaning or emotion – or, in the case of Donald Trump, more elaborate war threats to North Korea.“This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160-character SMS limit,” said chief executive Jack Dorsey, announcing the update on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Social media and screen time have a relentless impact on their students, says Shannon TurnerOne of the best actions to protect young people’s mental health (Editorial, 22 September) is to ban mobile phones in schools. Progressive schools have already done so, recognising the relentless impact that social media and screen time have on the emotional and mental health of their students. Their position is that it gives children six hours of screen-free, and social media-free time, which is desperately needed in an over-saturated digital world. The reason why this is not much more widespread is because such devices help schools control their students. As we have all known since the age of television, electronic devices make great babysitters. 2,000 pupils staring at their phones in lunch breaks are much easier to control than 2,000 who are not. But schools need to wake up to the impact they are having on children, and if not, it needs to be taken up by the Department for Education as a crisis in our schools.

From mystery boxes to smashing tanks, here are the epic multiplayer games and offbeat indie titles that held our attentionThe UK’s biggest video game event, EGX, took place this weekend, attracting around 75,000 people to the Birmingham NEC. As ever, the show floor saw both blockbuster mega-hits and offbeat independent titles jostling for space and attention, providing a varied and enjoyable browsing experience.Here are our favourite titles, excluding the games we’ve already highlighted from this year’s E3 and Gamescom shows. If you went along, add your own highlights in the comments section. Continue reading...

Company rejects complaints that US president’s tweet was in violation of its terms of service

In an effort uniting such disparate figures as Steve Bannon and Elizabeth Warren, leaders are calling for a clampdown on what some see as unchecked powerAs political polarization continues to plague Washington, a rare consensus is emerging between the left and the right that America’s largest technology companies must be subject to greater scrutiny.US lawmakers are escalating their rhetoric against Silicon Valley, an industry that has long trafficked in its reputation as a leading source of innovation but is now under fire for what critics see as vast, unchecked power. Continue reading...

Cyclists don’t just want the fastest route they want the safest or quietest – and information on bike parking would be a bonusWe all have different ways to navigate when lost – whether asking a stranger for help, consulting an old-school map or simply following our nose.But on a bike, the stakes are higher. One wrong turn and you’re in gridlocked traffic, with two lanes between your bike and the nearest pavement. In this moment, cyclists can be divided into two types: the few who stay calm and embrace getting lost, and the rest of us, who turn to a navigation app. Continue reading...

The dating app knows me better than I do, but these reams of intimate information are just the tip of the iceberg. What if my data is hacked – or sold?At 9.24pm (and one second) on the night of Wednesday 18 December 2013, from the second arrondissement of Paris, I wrote “Hello!” to my first ever Tinder match. Since that day I’ve fired up the app 920 times and matched with 870 different people. I recall a few of them very well: the ones who either became lovers, friends or terrible first dates. I’ve forgotten all the others. But Tinder has not.The dating app has 800 pages of information on me, and probably on you too if you are also one of its 50 million users. In March I asked Tinder to grant me access to my personal data. Every European citizen is allowed to do so under EU data protection law, yet very few actually do, according to Tinder. Continue reading...

Shares in Imagination Technologies climb 40% after sale to private equity firm Canyon BridgeShares in Imagination Technologies have jumped more than 40% after the UK chipmaker announced a takeover by a China-backed private equity firm that was blocked by Donald Trump from buying a US rival over national security concerns.Imagination has agreed to a 182p-a-share takeover by Canyon Bridge, which is based in Palo Alto in California and backed by state-owned Chinese fund Yitai Capital. The deal values the Hertfordshire-based company at £550m; at its peak in 2012, Imagination had a stock market value of nearly £2bn. Continue reading...

The ride-hailing service has offered a vague ‘apology’ now its London licence is under threat, but it has failed to address the issuesDara Khosrowshahi became chief executive of Uber because his predecessor, Travis Kalanick, had become a liability. Uber’s private equity backers knew there was little hope of getting the taxi service firm’s shares listed on a stock market while Kalanick was at the helm, annoying regulators and inflaming every dispute that crossed his desk. Khosrowshahi, fresh out of Expedia, would be the antidote to the co-founder’s aggression.It should be no surprise, then, that the new man has adopted a gentler tone in response to Transport for London’s decision last week not to renew Uber’s licence. “On behalf of everyone at Uber globally,” declared Khosrowshahi on Monday, “I apologise for the mistakes we’ve made.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: hackers may have accessed usernames, passwords and personal details of top accountancy firm’s blue-chip clientsOne of the world’s “big four” accountancy firms has been targeted by a sophisticated hack that compromised the confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients, the Guardian can reveal.Deloitte, which is registered in London and has its global headquarters in New York, was the victim of a cybersecurity attack that went unnoticed for months. Continue reading...

Apple’s ‘most durable glass ever in a smartphone’ claim likely to be put to the test with first iPhone 8 accidents, but repairs won’t be cheap, reports sayThe iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have glass backs that, if smashed, cost more to replace than the screen.

Tech is all-powerful and all-pervasive. The gaming industry reflects (and lampoons) this better than any other medium, and politicians should take noteDigital technologies have transformed everyday life. They’ve profoundly altered how we interact, express ourselves and frame our identities – and that’s just for starters. While in many cases these changes have been for the better, in others, Silicon Valley’s sleek aesthetics and fancy buzzwords have turned out to mask new forms of profiteering, surveillance and control. If we want digital technologies to be a force for good, it’s crucial to understand what’s at stake – not least for regulators, politicians and policymakers. Fortunately, we already have a fictional form that can help us do just that: the humble videogame.Related: Don’t lock up young offenders – send them to top boarding schools instead | Afua Hirsch Continue reading...

Facebook founder and rumoured aspirant presidential candidate traveled to Philly for ‘the best cheesesteak in the land’ – and posted about it eight timesMark Zuckerberg wants you to know he is a normal human being who loves cheesesteak cheesesteak cheesesteak cheesesteak cheesesteak cheesesteak cheesesteak cheesesteak.He wants you to know he loves cheesesteak so much so that he posted a picture of his visit to The Original Pat’s King of Steaks, with the caption “Traveled all the way to Philadelphia for the best cheesesteak in the land.”

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

The hyper-accelerated tag team brawling series returns with a beginner-friendly riot of mega combos – but the first casualty is nuanceOver the course of two decades, the Marvel vs Capcom franchise has mutated into a sprawling crazy quilt of exuberant brawling. Look for a unifying theme and it seems to be loopy excess, with overflowing character rosters, screen-filling hyper combos and a fondness for mob-handed tag-team battles. “Gonna take you for a ride!” declared Marvel vs Capcom 2’s jazzy selection screen ear-worm, and if the shield-chucking, hellfire-hosing action could occasionally be chaotic to the point of confusion, it was certainly never dull.Six years on from Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom (a buffed-up version of the third instalment that boosted its warrior headcount to an impressive 48) and here comes a new challenger. In Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite, the conflict implied in the title has become inextricable. A diabolical team-up by Marvel’s tetchy AI zealot Ultron and Mega Man’s lantern-jawed nemesis Sigma has forcibly fused the two corporate universes together, creating an uncanny hybrid dimension. Continue reading...

A cutting-edge VR workout, a platformer with hidden depths and an old favourite spruced up for the present dayPSVR, CCP Games, cert: 3

In the same way we wouldn’t expect a woman to prevent street harassment by never leaving her house, in her new book, Quinn argues we cannot advise people to prevent online threats by just staying offlineWhen I speak to Zoe Quinn, she’s worried.The game developer is in Los Angeles for the west coast leg of her book tour, but she’s just had a serious threat made against her, directed at her next tour stop. She has to decide what to do. This comes on the heels of an appearance at New York’s historic bookstore the Strand, where Quinn gamely handled a man who jeered at her from the audience. Continue reading...

Pioneers of virtual reality are enabling us to experience everything from childbirth to sexism. But for the ‘hyperempathetic’ there’s nothing you can teach us about each other’s feelingsThis weekend an art show in support of End Violence Against Women (EVAW), a charity dedicated to doing what it says on the tin, is providing a virtual reality (VR) experience: stepping into the shoes of women experiencing sexism and street harassment. The idea is to “give men and women a visceral understanding of what it is really like to be attacked in the street or on public transport just because you are a woman”. Having only used VR once, but being suitably psyched by the intensity that I was left squealing like a child, I’m imagining it’s going to be pretty powerful. But the really interesting thing about EVAW’s VR, in my opinion, is that it feels emblematic of the millennial generation.I wholeheartedly refute the “special snowflake” label – daubed on us by miserable, greying baby boomers and sometimes, ironically, the alt-right. But I do believe certain sections of our generation, myself included, are hyperempathetic. We want everyone to acknowledge other people’s different struggles and work on ways to make their lives easier. And in some ways, I do wonder if VR of this kind is almost unnecessary for some of my peers, given how empathetic they are already? Continue reading...

Strong support for ride-sharing firm whose boss vows to show it is a ‘great company meaningfully contributing to society’More than half a million people have signed a petition calling for Transport for London to reverse its decision to strip Uber of its licence to operate in the capital, making it the fastest growing petition in the UK this year.The campaign Save Your Uber in London was set up by the ride-sharing firm on the Change.org website after it was announced on Friday that it would not have its licence renewed when it expires on 30 September. Continue reading...

Apple’s star might be shining a little less brightly with the iPhone 8, which is overshadowed by impending release of the £999 iPhone XAs the iPhone 8 goes on sale, questions remain over the demand for Apple’s latest offering following smaller crowds outside stores and a muted customer reaction.The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, two of the three new iPhones in Apple’s 2017 lineup, went on sale around the world, starting in Australia where hundreds of people have usually gathered outside Apple’s Sydney city store for previous launches. But instead of queues winding down the street there were fewer than 30 people lining up before the store opened on Friday. Continue reading...