Technology | The Guardian

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.

Head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre says Russia is ‘seeking to undermine the international system’Russian hackers attacked British media, telecoms and energy companies over the last year, the head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has confirmed for the first time.Ciaran Martin, the founding chief executive of the NCSC, declined to provide any further details of the attacks. Continue reading...

With its build quality, excellent keyboard and improved longevity, this is one of the nicest computers you can buy – but it will cost youApple’s 13in MacBook Pro for 2017 now has battery life that matches the power of the hardware and the beauty of the design, even if it is still very expensive.When the new, redesigned MacBook Pro was launched last year it came with relatively old chips – Intel’s sixth generation Core i5 or i7 processor and integrated graphics. While performance was arguably up to par with similar machines with the newer, improved seventh generation Core i5 and i7, one thing the 13in MacBook Pro fell short on was battery life. Continue reading...

Damian Collins wants to see posts linked to British politics after Twitter gave list of suspended Russia-linked accounts to US intelligence committeeA senior British MP has called on Twitter to release examples of UK-related postings linked to a Russian “troll factory”, citing concern at possible “interference by foreign actors in the democratic process of the United Kingdom”.Damian Collins, the chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, said he wanted to see examples of posts about British politics after Twitter handed a list of 2,752 accounts to the US intelligence committee, all of which it had suspended for being linked to Russia. Continue reading...

Latest incarnation of quadruped robot has new design and eerily smooth motion in a perfect blend of Terminator robot and Pixar characterThe latest robot from former Google sibling Boston Dynamics looks like a cross between something out of a Terminator movie and a cutesy Pixar character.

Governments in Venezuela, the Philippines, Turkey and elsewhere use social media to influence elections, drive agendas and counter critics, says reportThe governments of 30 countries around the globe are using armies of so called opinion shapers to meddle in elections, advance anti-democratic agendas and repress their citizens, a new report shows.

Which? investigation finds security flaws in ‘intelligent’ toys such as CloudPets and Hasbro’s Furby ConnectA consumer group is urging major retailers to withdraw a number of “connected” or “intelligent” toys likely to be popular at Christmas, after finding security failures that it warns could put children’s safety at risk.Tests carried out by Which? with the German consumer group Stiftung Warentest, and other security research experts, found flaws in Bluetooth and wifi-enabled toys that could enable a stranger to talk to a child. Continue reading...

I’m pining for the time the iPhone was new and apps were still cool. Can the App Store’s new daily feature rekindle the magic?“There’s an App for that.” Apple’s slogan, trademarked two years after the App Store was launched in 2008, summed up a period when an unfamiliar icon on a friend’s home screen was a conversation starter, and someone with a good idea working from their bedroom really could do something radically different.Now Apple wants to bring some of that excitement back to the iPhone of 2017, rebuilding the App Store from the ground up. Continue reading...

For decades, tech companies promised to make the world better. As that dream falls apart, disillusioned insiders are trying to take back control• Read the text version hereSubscribe via Audioboom, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Acast & Sticher and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter Continue reading...

Google removes tens of thousands of videos showing sermons and lectures by radical cleric, but experts caution over ad-hoc actionYouTube has removed thousands of videos of the radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a significant step up for the site’s anti-extremism campaign.It is the first time Google’s video site has taken such concerted action against a particular individual. Continue reading...

Journalists fighting spread of fake news raise concerns over possible conflicts of interest and say site has refused to disclose needed dataJournalists working for Facebook say the social media site’s fact-checking tools have largely failed and that the company has exploited their labor for a PR campaign.Several fact checkers who work for independent news organizations and partner with Facebook told the Guardian that they feared their relationships with the technology corporation, some of which are paid, have created a conflict of interest, making it harder for the news outlets to scrutinize and criticize Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation. Continue reading...

Jackie Charley said she ‘could not stop laughing’ after harmless festive images were blocked by Facebook because of ‘adult’ natureFacebook has blocked the sale of a pack of Christmas cards featuring a robin redbreast because of its “sexual” and “adult” nature.The artist, Jackie Charley, said she “could not stop laughing” when she discovered the reason the social media company would not approve the product last month. Continue reading...

The social media platform will soon allow top creators to make money from content. Cyrene Quiamco, who has 200,000 followers, explains how to become a Snapchat starDo you live for Snapchat? Or did you download the app months ago, send a wonky selfie captioned “How does this work??!!” to a clueless friend and promptly forget all about it? If it’s the latter, let’s face it, you’re old. Snapchat has about 178 million daily users worldwide, the majority aged under 34. But the recent announcement by parent company Snap that top creators will be paid for content could be a game-changer.While details haven’t been announced, users could be incentivised to create content in a similar way to YouTubers, who can make videos in exchange for ad revenue. Take 28-year-old Cyrene Quiamco, from Little Rock, Arkansas, who left her job as a web designer two years ago to concentrate on Snapchat full-time, where she has 200,000 followers. She already makes $500,000 (£380,000) a year from sponsored snaps, speaking engagements and consulting, and has written a book on becoming a social media influencer, 11 Seconds to Success. Continue reading...

Jurassic-era values of sexism and homophobia also blight the brave new world of Silicon Valley web giants

A classic Playstation RPG gets an update, while one of the PS4’s best combat role-playing titles gets a meaty expansionPS4, Square Enix, cert: 12

Civil rights group warns that use of software to identify faces threatens the very liberty war veterans fought forPolice are to use controversial facial recognition software to scan crowds attending the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph, the Observer can reveal.The Metropolitan Police will deploy real-time biometric tracking at the event, which will be attended by about 10,000 former and current service personnel as well as dignitaries and members of the public. Prince Charles will lay the head of state’s wreath at the commemoration, which marks the 99th anniversary of the end of the first world war. Met sources said the use of the technology at the showpiece central London event is a trial, and not related to terrorism or serious crime. Continue reading...

Development Centre is filled with 400 employees dedicated to researching Amazon’s AI assistant and Prime Air deliveriesAmazon has reiterated its commitment to the UK by opening a new so-called Development Centre in the heart of Cambridge – three storeys of premium office space housing 400 employees dedicated to research for products from Amazon’s AI-assistant Alexa to the brave new field of Prime Air drone deliveries.The new development joins Amazon’s original Castle Park building in Cambridge to house an interdisciplinary team of engineers, scientists and researchers – dubbed Amazon Research Cambridge – dedicated to “pure innovation”, according to Amazon’s UK boss, Doug Gurr. Continue reading...

The sad truth is that Facebook and Google have behaved irresponsibly in the pursuit of massive profits. And this has come at a cost to our healthIn an interview this week with Axios, Facebook’s original president, Sean Parker, admitted that the company intentionally sought to addict users and expressed regret at the damage being inflicted on children.This admission, by one of the architects of Facebook, comes on the heels of last week’s hearings by Congressional committees about Russian interference in the 2016 election, where the general counsels of Facebook, Alphabet (parent of Google and YouTube), and Twitter attempted to deflect responsibility for manipulation of their platforms. Continue reading...

Cambridge Analytica executive confirms firm asked Assange to share hacked emails related to Clinton – reportedly around time it started working for TrumpThe chief executive of Cambridge Analytica has confirmed that the UK data research firm contacted Julian Assange to ask WikiLeaks to share hacked emails related to Hillary Clinton at about the time it started working for the Trump campaign in summer 2016.Related: Julian Assange: I urged Trump Jr to publish Russia emails via WikiLeaks Continue reading...

Speaking about his 30-state tour that sparked rumors of a presidential run, the Facebook CEO added: ‘We have a responsibility to remain optimistic’The “biggest surprise by far” from Mark Zuckerberg’s listening tour of America is the extent of the opioid crisis, the Facebook CEO said on Friday.“It’s really saddening to see,” he said, referencing the 64,000 people who died from drug overdoses last year. Continue reading...

Ride-hailing app had appealed against ruling that drivers were workers with minimum-wage rights and not self-employedThe ride-hailing firm Uber has lost its appeal against a ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with minimum-wage rights, in a case that could have major ramifications for labour rights in the growing gig economy.The US company, which claims that drivers are self-employed, said it would launch a further appeal against the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision, meaning the case could end up in thesupreme court next year. Continue reading...

The company’s most important smartphone in years does not disappoint, with Face ID and an all-screen design that spells the end of the home buttonThe iPhone X is Apple’s most important – and most expensive – new smartphone in four years, bringing with it a significant change to the design, dumping the home button to usher in a full-screen experience. Thankfully, Apple nailed it.

Site’s founding president, who became a billionaire thanks to the company, says: ‘God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains’Facebook’s founders knew they were creating something addictive that exploited “a vulnerability in human psychology” from the outset, according to the company’s founding president Sean Parker.Parker, whose stake in Facebook made him a billionaire, criticized the social networking giant at an Axios event in Philadelphia this week. Now the founder and chair of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Parker was there to speak about advances in cancer therapies. However, he took the time to provide some insight into the early thinking at Facebook at a time when social media companies face intense scrutiny from lawmakers over their power and influence. Continue reading...

Verification process is ‘paused’ after Jason Kessler, activist behind Charlottesville rally that sparked violence gains approvalJack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, has said its blue tick verification process is “broken” after it verified the organiser of a far-right rally.The social media company was criticised after Jason Kessler, who organised the Unite the Right rally that sparked violence in the US town of Charlottesville in August, tweeted on Wednesday to confirm he had been verified by the platform. Continue reading...

The sheer volume of data Facebook has on you is difficult to comprehend, which makes it incredibly creepy – and ripe for conspiracy theoriesLast week, Facebook issued yet another denial that the company eavesdrops on its users to target them with adverts.“Just not true,” said Rob Goldman, the company’s head of ad product, in response to an open query from podcast Reply All. Continue reading...

A truck driver is blamed for the accident, which passengers say could have been avoided if the autonomous vehicle had only reversedIt took less than two hours for Las Vegas’s brand new self-driving shuttle to end up in a crash on Wednesday – thanks to a human.The autonomous bus made its debut on public roads around the so called Innovation District in downtown Las Vegas in front of cameras and celebrities, dubbed America’s first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared toward the public. But within two hours it had already been involved in a minor crash with a lorry. No injuries were reported. Continue reading...

The new version of the Alexa-ready gadget sounds great, looks good and improves on the original, meaning nobody can touch its quality for the priceThe new Amazon Echo is cheaper, smaller and has a less imposing stature, but is it still the best smart speaker going?

Senator calls for greater scrutiny of companies such as Facebook and Amazon, warning of companies’ control over ‘so many aspects of our lives’Senator Al Franken renewed his calls for increased scrutiny of the role of major tech companies such as Facebook and Amazon on Wednesday, charging that they had “failed to take commonsense precautions to prevent the spread of propaganda, misinformation, and hate speech”.Speaking to the Open Markets Institute in Washington, the Minnesota Democrat and former comedian said: “It is incumbent upon us to ask the broader questions. How did big tech come to control so many aspects of our lives? How is it using our personal information to strengthen its reach and its bottom line? Are these companies engaging in anticompetitive behavior that restricts the free flow of information and commerce?” Continue reading...

The 40,000-strong ‘support group’ was largely populated by men who appear to hate women and in some cases advocate rapeReddit has banned a community dedicated to the “involuntarily celibate” that was largely populated by men who appear to hate women and in some cases advocate rape.The 40,000-strong community was nominally a “support group” for people who lack romantic relationships and sex. “They are involuntarily celibate or ‘incel’.” However, popular posts from the last few months include ones titled “all women are sluts”; “proof that girls are nothing but trash that use men” and “reasons why women are the embodiment of evil”. Continue reading...

The dominance of these companies requires that the government consider their role in the integrity of our democracy, writes Senator Al Franken

Computer engineer who developed ‘Baby’, the world’s first stored-program computerIn 1998 Manchester University and the City of Manchester celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of the scientific breakthroughs that define the modern era – the world’s first electronic stored-program computer. For the occasion, a team of volunteer engineers had built a working replica of that original computer. The replica was inaugurated by Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, its two surviving creators, and is now a permanent exhibit in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Tootill has died aged 95.The original developed from second world war radar work done at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) at Malvern, Worcestershire, where Tootill was involved in installing and trouble-shooting airborne radar systems. In another laboratory at TRE, a rising academic star, Frederic Calland Williams, and Kilburn, his assistant, were working on an electronic data storage system intended for use in radar. The system used a conventional cathode ray tube to store the data. Continue reading...

User mistakenly takes control of hundreds of wallets containing cryptocurrency Ether, destroying them in a panic while trying to give them backMore than $300m of cryptocurrency has been lost after a series of bugs in a popular digital wallet service led one curious developer to accidentally take control of and then lock up the funds, according to reports.Unlike most cryptocurrency hacks, however, the money wasn’t deliberately taken: it was effectively destroyed by accident. The lost money was in the form of Ether, the tradable currency that fuels the Ethereum distributed app platform, and was kept in digital multi-signature wallets built by a developer called Parity. These wallets require more than one user to enter their key before funds can be transferred. Continue reading...

Wall Street has long been the industry people love to hate. But as big tech’s reputation plummets, suddenly a job at Facebook doesn’t seem so coolWhen Danny Greg first moved to San Francisco to work at Github in 2012, he used to get high-fives in the street from strangers when he wore his company hoodie.These days, unless he’s at an investor event, he’s cautious about wearing branded clothing that might indicate he’s a techie. He’s worried about the message it sends. Continue reading...

All users now get twice as many characters per tweet, and it’s fair to say the response has been mixedTwitter has officially unleashed its 280 character count to the masses.The social media platform had originally selected only a small number of accounts to test the longer feature. However, it announced on Tuesday that it would expand the character limit from 140 characters to 280 for all of its users.

Telco’s move follows investigation by the consumer watchdog and an admission that it promised internet speeds it was not capable of deliveringTelstra has offered to refund 42,000 customers for slow national broadband network speeds, following an investigation by the consumer watchdog.The telco will offer remedies to those who purchased internet services through both Telstra and Belong brands between September 2015 and November this year after admitting it breached consumer law by promising NBN speeds that it was not capable of delivering. Continue reading...

In Australia pilot effort, company will ‘hash’ images, converting them into digital fingerprints that prevent any other attempts to upload the same picturesFacebook is asking users to send the company their nude photos in an effort to tackle revenge porn, in an attempt to give some control back to victims of this type of abuse.Individuals who have shared intimate, nude or sexual images with partners and are worried that the partner (or ex-partner) might distribute them without their consent can use Messenger to send the images to be “hashed”. This means that the company converts the image into a unique digital fingerprint that can be used to identify and block any attempts to re-upload that same image. Continue reading...

Social media has leveled the playing field between those with immense power and the rest of us. But there are upsides and downsides to public shaming

Alphabet’s self-driving car firm beats Uber to be first to offer robot taxis without humans behind the wheel to take over in an emergencyWaymo, formerly known as Google’s self-driving car, is launching a fully autonomous Uber-like ride-hailing service with no human driver behind the wheel, after testing the vehicles on public roads in Arizona.Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, said members of the public will begin riding in its fleet of modified Fiat Chrysler Pacifica minivans outfitted with self-driving technology in the next few months. Passengers will initially be accompanied in the back seat by a Waymo employee, but will eventually travel alone in the robotic car. Continue reading...

Google’s video service is filled with disturbing channels and pre-school-aimed videos such as dark Peppa Pig that ‘border on abuse’, says campaignerYouTube has been accused of “infrastructural violence” against children due to its role in the creation of vast quantities of low-quality, disturbing content aimed at pre-schoolers.James Bridle, a campaigning technology-focused artist and writer, documented the way the video platform’s algorithmic curation drives enormous amounts of viewers to content made purely to satisfy those algorithms as closely as possible. Continue reading...

Tests conclude that iPhone X screen, Face ID and glass back are vulnerable to damage if dropped, but display is ranked by experts as best ever on a smartphoneApple’s most expensive smartphone, the £999 iPhone X, is also its most fragile, according to drop and tumble testing.

General practitioner leaders say they are ‘really worried’ about list of those ineligible for virtual consultation schemeGP leaders have raised concerns about the first NHS smartphone virtual GP service.Millions of NHS patients who live or work in various locations in London can sign up to the service offering a GP consultation via a smartphone 24 hours a day. Continue reading...

Glitch in predictive text system making messages illegible for some iPhone, iPad and Mac users, while Apple Watch bug crashes when asking for the weatherA bizarre predictive text error has left some iPhone users unable to type the word “I”. Instead, every time they attempt to use the English first-person pronoun, it gets replaced by the letter A and an unprintable unicode character, typically rendered as a question mark in a box, but occasionally five horizontal bars instead.The error first surfaced almost a week ago, as scattered reports of the problem hit social media and the specialist press. It appears to affect users of iOS 10 and iOS 11, and has also been reported as happening to users of Apple’s Mac computers too. Continue reading...

Activision’s blockbuster shooter goes back to its roots, and offers a solid if unsurprising experience, but the three elements within feel like wildly different gamesCall of Duty is one of the biggest games franchises in the world and, on some levels, the funniest. The way that CoD: WWII was marketed suggests an interactive Saving Private Ryan. The reality is that my Axis coach shouts “zey haff ze ball” in multiplayer NFL-like Gridiron, as an opposition carrier runs towards our goal, before a period-appropriate hail of fire brings them down. “Gut, now drive forwardz!”If that gave you tonal whiplash, try playing the thing. CoD: WWII is three games in one. A single-player campaign that shows a unit of US soldiers winning the war; online competitive multiplayer with a dozen modes; and then Nazi Zombies. Call of Duty is a series with annual releases, with multiple development studios working on staggered schedules. As a result, it has crystallised into a certain structure. CoD: WWII covers all the bases that players expect. Continue reading...

A trailer for David Cage’s Detroit: Become Human hints at the danger of trivialising sensitive social issuesTo what extent might a semi-autonomous robot maid be able to intervene in domestic abuse cases of the future? The question underpins Detroit: Become Human, a forthcoming PlayStation game directed by the French game maker David Cage.Last week, during a press event held in Paris, Cage showed footage of the game, due for release next spring, in which Kara, an android housekeeper, bears witness to an American father’s psychological and physical abuse of his daughter. “What are you looking at?” the man demands over a fraught dinner, as the girl, Alice, winces. Continue reading...

After losing more than £3bn in 2012, Japan’s tech giant is fighting its way back to record profits under Kazuo Hirai, partly by working with Apple rather than trying to beat it. Investments in PlayStation and TV production have also helpedSix years after reporting its biggest-ever loss, Sony is no longer a conglomerate in freefall. Last week the Japanese group behind the Bravia TV set, the PlayStation, Beyoncé and the Spider-Man films said it was on track to set a new annual profit record – expecting to beat its previous corporate best of ¥526bn (£3.5bn) by 20%.It has been a long journey for the group after years of underperformance and missed targets, including most recently a £800m writedown of its Sony Pictures film division. But at last week’s quarterly results update, the company stated that the film unit was one of the company’s strongest performers and would help it beat the record profits it made in 1997-98: the year it released Men in Black, and when Steve Jobs had yet to release the Walkman-killing iPod. Continue reading...

Google’s role in university artificial intelligence courses alarms Sheila HaymanYour article (Hi-tech brain drain threatens British university research, 2 November) contains one particularly chilling revelation: that Google DeepMind now runs artificial intelligence courses at UCL and Oxford.Having met the DeepMind people in my role with the MIT Media Lab, I know that their definition of “intelligence” is so impoverished that it doesn’t extend beyond the abstract calculations that an algorithm can achieve, and completely fails to understand that human intelligence is embodied and distributed throughout our physical selves – and indeed between them, in the mirror neurons that fire in sympathy when we watch a dancer or help an injured friend. In short, it’s not just depressing, it’s bad science. Continue reading...

Digital, culture, media and sport committee wants to see lists of suspect Russian-related accountsA parliamentary committee is demanding Twitter hands over lists of Russian-related accounts that may have attempted to interfere in the UK’s democratic process.

This darling of the alt-right gained 70,000 followers and was quoted by numerous media organisations – despite being the creation of a Russia-based troll farmName: Jenna Abrams.Age: Looks about 35 in pictures online. Continue reading...

Demand for the £999 ‘future’ of the iPhone bucks the trend of recent years, with large crowds and some fans queuing for days to get their hands on oneThousands of people formed queues outside stores in London, Tokyo, Sydney and around the world on Friday as eager buyers tried to get their hands on Apple’s most expensive smartphone to date, the hotly anticipated £999 iPhone X.