‘People with disabilities deserve a choice,’ disability awareness worker tells hearing, saying Uber changed his world ‘forever’Uber should be given government subsidies to make it more accessible to people with disabilities, a Victorian inquiry has been told.The company’s Victorian general manager, Matthew Denman, and the director of the disability awareness business Centre for Access, Thomas Banks, gave evidence to the inquiry into ride-sourcing services on Thursday. Continue reading...
In a victory for Uber, a federal court says drivers for the most part must resolve claims against the company individually, meaning they’ll have less leverageIn a victory for Uber, a federal appeals court says drivers for the most part have to resolve claims against the company individually and not through a class-action lawsuit.The ruling by the ninth US circuit court of appeals on Wednesday came in a lawsuit by Uber drivers over the company’s background checks. Continue reading...
Apple unveiled the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on Wednesday. The biggest change in the new model was the decision to remove the audio jack in favor of wireless AirPods. The phone is also water resistant and dust-proof and has a dual-camera system with 2x optical zoom. The iPhone 7 will be available in four colors starting 16 September Continue reading...
The journey to Wednesday’s Apple event raises important questions: was the OneRepublic song really about Steve Jobs? And why Sweet Home Alabama?The Apple event that saw the unveiling of the iPhone 7 and AirPods opened with a short film of CEO Tim Cook in a Carpool Karaoke session with Late Late Show host James Corden. It was just about as awkward as it sounds.The video of Corden escorting Cook to the event in San Francisco, opens with the pair belting OneRepublic’s I Lived, which includes the lyric: “Hope when the crowd screams out, they’re screaming your name.†Continue reading...
Apple CEO Tim Cook sang Sweet Home Alabama during a ride with James Corden on his way to the launch of the iPhone 7, and Pharrell joined the special edition of Corden’s popular Carpool Karaoke. Apple recently announced that it has acquired the streaming rights to Carpool Karaoke, a spinoff segment from Corden’s The Late Late Show Continue reading...
According to our readers, there will be dual cameras and colours for the iPhone, a new iPad and the Apple Watch will gain GPS – but you can forget about seeing an Apple car anytime soon iPhone 7 launch: key points from Apple’s event There will be a new iPhone without a headphone jack launched on stage in San Francisco Wednesday, as well as an Apple Watch with GPS and at least one speed bump to the iPad – if the collective wisdom of over 1,800 Guardian readers is to be trusted.
by Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs correspondent on (#1SYDS)
Limited edition version of sports car maker’s all-electric EV3 costs £52,500 and aims to promote British craftmanshipThe world’s first zero-emissions, all-electric three-wheel car will go on sale in November – in the unlikely setting of a London department store, where it will jostle for shoppers’ attention alongside Louis Vuitton handbags and Tiffany jewellery.Hand-built by Morgan, the British bespoke sports carmaker, the two-seater will cost £52,500 and is the result of a collaboration with retailer Selfridges that aims to promote craftsmanship within British manufacturing and sustainability. Continue reading...
From a hurricane to Brock Turner’s release, a lot happened last week. But Facebook calculated that a celebrity losing some weight was more importantLast week, I decided to spend an entire day getting my news solely from Facebook’s trending topics. Surely the wisdom, culture and intellectual curiosity of the people of the world – the great global public – will be reflected in this collection of their favorite diverse and engaging news stories?Here’s what greeted me at 8.15 that morning: the world, as defined by Facebook’s trending news stories: Continue reading...
Demand for wearable gadgets hasn’t lived up to the hype, and a report suggests things are only getting worse ahead of the company’s expected Watch rebootThe Apple Watch looks set to get a reboot on Wednesday, but is it already too late? Even before its announcement in 2014, the Apple Watch was seen as the device that would ignite a boom for wearable technology the way the iPhone had for smartphones and the iPad for tablets. It would, in effect, create a new consumer tech category by itself.Two years later, the anticipated craze for wearable devices – from smartwatches to fitness bands to smart eyewear and clothing – has yet to materialize. Not only has demand not lived up to the hype, but consumer excitement around wearables appears to be waning.
Broughton, Byrne, Leslie and Unsworth head up autumn media eventsWith autumn comes a round of media events hosted by the London Press Club, the Media Society and Polis, the LSE’s media think-tank. Continue reading...
South Korean firm launches top-end smartphone looking to capitalise on rival Samsung’s trouble with exploding Galaxy Note 7sLG has unveiled the first new smartphone, the V20, to come with Google’s latest version of Android 7 Nougat.The South Korean firm, which was responsible for manufacturing last year’s Nexus 5X for Google and the recent modular G5, hopes that shipping with Nougat onboard will be enough to tempt buyers away from Samsung’s high-profile Galaxy Note 7. The Samsung phablet runs last year’s Android 6 Marshmallow and recalls have been prompted by exploding batteries. Continue reading...
Shadow treasurer says automation and technology to blame for job losses and slow wage growth, not open economyThe shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, has warned against erecting barriers to trade and immigration when automation and technology are more to blame for job losses and slow wage growth.In a speech defending an open economy at the Crescent Institute on Wednesday, Bowen called for policies to combat inequality, which he said would help policymakers defend globalisation and its benefits. Continue reading...
Swipe left and right to guide your kingdom to victory or die trying, in a simple, charming but sometimes infuriating mobile gameThe best mobile game in the world is Tinder. It has a blissfully intuitive control scheme and, if you win, you make an actual emotional connection with a real-life human being, and maybe find happiness for the rest of your life. That’s a pretty strong deal.Aside from the chance of emotional (or maybe purely physical) satisfaction, that simple swiping control scheme is perfect for one-handed mobile operation. It reduces the entirety of the app to a series of simple binary choices on single screens of information. It’s surprising that so few actual games have taken inspiration from it. Continue reading...
The NHS.uk website is intended to be ready by the end of next year and will allow patients to compare their NHS trust’s performance with that of othersA one-stop NHS website where patients book appointments, order prescriptions and access medical advice is being developed, health officials have announced.Related: Abandoned NHS IT system has cost £10bn so far Continue reading...
JK Scheinberg, who masterminded major innovation during his 21 years at company, was snubbed for in-store tech support roleAn engineer credited with changing the way in which Apple computers work was turned down for a job at one of the company’s Genius Bars.JK Scheinberg left Apple in 2008 after 21 years, having masterminded the top secret Marklar project to run Apple’s operating system on Intel chips. Continue reading...
Two comedians and a bit of star power have brought the gaming show back to British television, hoping to draw in gamers and non-gamers alikeVideo games don’t work on television. That’s the nugget of unquestionable wisdom that’s been passed down from producer to producer over the last 30 years as gaming noisily became one of the world’s most popular pastimes.Sure, there have been exceptions, people will grudgingly concede. In the early 90s, Games Master bought all the chaotic fun and competition of teenage Mega Drive fanaticism to children’s TV for several glorious series. The late 90s and early 2000s saw Bits and Thumb Bandits, both starring one-time Guardian games columnist Aleks Krotoski. Continue reading...
Intense rumours surround Apple’s event on Wednesday, but nothing will be confirmed until the day. Complete our quick survey and we’ll post the results before the launchApple’s executives are expected to unveil the iPhone 7 on Wednesday, along with whatever else the tech company has planned.Like most major Apple launches, the event is preceded by intense (and increasingly accurate) rumours, though nothing will be confirmed until the day. Where does the gossip end and the new tech begin? We’ll post the results on Wednesday, shortly before Apple’s event. Continue reading...
Psyonix’s combination of football, motor racing and combat has attracted 20m players. Yet the online sports game’s surprise achievement is built on years of hard work“What a Save!†The words echo long after the desperate lunge that sent a wide shot into the top corner of the stadium. Rocket League: light of so many lives, killer of free time. This beautiful video game seems, like everything that appears perfect, to have arrived fully-formed.While some things take time to appreciate, Rocket League hits you like a boosted dumper truck. Developed by San Diego-based studio Psyonix, it is a game that hooks within seconds and, hundreds of hours later, keeps getting better. Imagine football played by blisteringly fast, flight-capable cars and you’re pretty much there. Since release, the game has attracted over 20 million players, and has just seen its first world cup tournament – over 20,000 people took part. But behind the overnight success lie several false starts and, to channel Alan Hansen, a decade of grit and determination. Continue reading...
From Lolcats to keyboard cat, have the grumpy, complicated and just plain weird felines lost ground to their cute, friendly canine sworn enemies?Somewhere in the history of the internet, cats became its rulers.Simultaneously aloof, amusing and a bit weird, cats seemed the natural choice as the web’s unofficial mascot. From Lolcats to keyboard cat, our feline friends were quickly everywhere. But as the internet has aged and changed, another animal has gained ground. Could the cat finally be dethroned, and at the paws of its sworn enemy no less? Is the dawn of the dog upon us? Continue reading...
Disguised as a calculator on smartphone screens, I Protect alerts contacts and a local human rights group if the user is arrestedFor Egyptians, the risk of being snatched from the street and forcibly disappeared by the country’s security forces has never been greater.In the first eight months of 2015, 1,250 people disappeared, according to a report by the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF). Continue reading...
Samsung tells owners to return smartphones after reports of batteries catching fire or explodingSamsung has told Australian Galaxy Note 7 owners to turn off their phones and return them to stores after reports the phone’s batteries caught fire or exploded while charging.About 51,000 phones were voluntarily recalled in Australia on Monday by Samsung Electronics Australia, following similar moves overseas, citing “isolated battery cell issuesâ€. Continue reading...
Men cite being harassed about religion, sexual orientation and disabilities, whereas women report abuse and threats based on genderMore Australian men than women report experiencing online abuse or harassment, a new study shows – though some are significantly more likely to be targeted than others.The digital security firm Norton released the results of an online survey of just over 1,000 Australian men on Tuesday, which showed that 54% of respondents had experienced some form of abuse or harassment online. Among men under 30, the reported incidence was 78%. Continue reading...
The singer opens up over the tragic death of his 15-year-old son, airing his raw grief in this unconventionally directed documentary“I think I’m losing my voice,†says Nick Cave, early on in this documentary, directed by Andrew Dominik of The Assassination of Jesse James renown. Cave certainly sounds a little croaky at the time, but the metaphorical ramifications are not in the slightest bit lost on the spindly, silk-shirted poet of ruination and loss.And so begins the transformation of this film from a hagiographic, but essentially standard-issue, promotional film for Cave’s upcoming album, into an undeniably moving contemplation of shattering loss and – as Cave repeatedly terms it – “traumaâ€. For hovering in the background of this film – and the album it documents – is the death of Cave’s 15-year-old son Arthur, midway through recording, in July 2015. Continue reading...
Consumer Reports calls for firm to initiate full-scale recall involving US consumer safety commission, to stop resale of dangerous phones after some explodedUS product safety and testing non-profit organisation Consumer Reports has called for Samsung to initiate an official recall of all of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, following a halt in sales caused by some phablets exploding while charging.Samsung suspended sales of its new flagship smartphone on Friday, the day of its official launch in the UK, after 35 confirmed explosions led to a fault being identified within batteries supplied by one of a few companies used in the Note 7. Continue reading...
Rumour is Apple will announce the end of its analogue audio connector at the iPhone 7 launch, in favour of either Lightning or USB-C. But is it a good idea?When you want to hook your headphones up to your smartphone you could soon find yourself searching for a non-existent socket if certain manufacturers – including possibly even Apple – get their way.The sad thing is, the headphone jack – that 3.5mm analogue three or four pole plug – is a very good connector. It’s a universal connector: it can plug into your smartphone, your tablet and computer, your TV, hi-fi, radio, Game Boy or console. And it has been used widely for decades, more or less replacing the larger 1/4-inch jacks (which dated from the 1870s) since the 1960s for all but specialist applications, such as electric guitars and some more powerful amps. Continue reading...
The outraged and disappointed have dominated the conversation about the space exploration game. But could it ever really have met their expectations?In the near-olden days, when entertainment media were bought in shops rather than beamed on to the constellation of screens that light up our homes, the walk home was always the sweetest. Clutched in a crinkly bag we held the perfect product. Reality cannot compete with the imagined novel, film, album or video game. Our imaginations, worked to frenzy by marketing magicians, summon the best possible version of the work. In the idealised fantasy, dull chapters are trimmed away, duff performances are wiped. Our imaginations free the creators of financial or technical restraints too. There is no special effects budget. No expense is spared. As such, that walk home from the shop, when the box was tangible but the portal to its cloistered reality untraversed, was often the most potent moment in the journey.Video game-makers struggle in unique ways when it comes to raising audiences’ expectations and then matching them in reality. A novelist can promise anything because it costs nothing to conjure a dinosaur, a spaceship, a toppling Eiffel Tower or a galaxy of bees on to the page. Film directors must speak more carefully: their visions come with a price tag. And game-makers, for whom the simplest features can prove inordinately challenging, face the greatest risks. The reputation of Peter Molyneux, a veteran British video game designer, toppled after he habitually promised alluring features (knock an acorn off a tree and over the course of the game you’ll be able to watch it grow, he once claimed of Fable) that never surfaced in his games. Continue reading...
Brett Smitheram, from east London, beat fellow Briton Mark Nyman in the 2016 final held in Lille, FranceThe new world Scrabble champion has described his elation after a word for a type of wasp secured victory in an all-British showdown.
Electronic wristbands among measures to keep expected 2 million pilgrims safe from crowd crushes and extremist threatA year after the worst hajj disaster in a generation, Saudi Arabia is issuing pilgrims with electronic bracelets and using more surveillance cameras to avoid a repeat of the crush that killed hundreds of people and damaged already strained ties with Iran.The Muslim pilgrimage, which starts on Friday and will bring 2 million people to Islam’s most sacred sites in Mecca, will also be a focus of concerns about militant violence after a suicide bomber killed four soldiers in early July in the nearby city of Medina, Islam’s second holiest. Continue reading...
Fashion journalist Derek Blasberg is a professional friend to the stars. Gareth McLean discovers the man behind the glittering feedBlasberg beams as he greets this woman who apologises for missing his birthday. (It’s 22 April which is also World Earth Day, a coincidence, Blasberg jokes, because “I’m so grounded.â€) The woman tried to send flowers but she’s so unsure of where he is these days that she wasn’t certain of the best address to send them to. Blasberg demurs: that doesn’t matter. It’s a lovely surprise to see her here, given there are no wedding dresses on show anywhere, he teases, impishly. But he’s forgetting himself; he introduces me to the woman. And this, he says, is Vera.And that’s how I met Vera Wang. As we head off – after Blasberg’s invited Wang to a party later at his friend Lauren Santo Domingo’s house, naturally – I tell him I’m impressed: not everyone gets called Honeybear by Vera Wang. Self-deprecating as ever, Blasberg shrugs. Maybe Vera calls everyone that. Maybe she’s forgotten his name. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips in Beijing and agencies on (#1SMW4)
Jean-Claude Juncker says EU decision to hit Apple with €13bn tax bill was not unfair attempt to single out US firmsClaims that an EU decision to present Apple with a €13bn (£11bn) tax bill was designed as an attack on the US have been rejected by the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.Last week’s ruling that the American tech giant must settle the massive tax bill with Ireland has gone down badly in Washington, with the US Treasury warning that the move risked damaging “the important spirit of economic partnership between the US and the EUâ€. Continue reading...
This week’s launch of Apple’s latest smartphone comes in an unfamilar period for the company – one of falling sales and declining revenuesWireless-only headphones? Dual rear cameras? Pressure-sensitive sensors? This year, as every year, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco will be crammed to the rafters with press and Apple well-wishers waiting for the pomp, circumstance and technical revelations of another iPhone launch. But this one, on Wednesday, is more important for Apple than it has been for a while.After the huge success of 2014’s iPhone 6 – which introduced a completely new design with larger screen sizes, attracting more people switching from rival Android phones than ever before – 2015’s iPhone 6S has been a bit of a damp squib in terms of consumer buzz. And encroaching competition from China means Apple faces arguably the most competitive market conditions it has ever seen. Continue reading...
US journalist Dan Lyons found fame with his spoof blog of Apple boss Steve Jobs – but disaster struck when he joined the Silicon Valley circus himselfDan Lyons is the former Forbes magazine senior editor who found online fame as the writer behind the parodic Fake Steve Jobs blog. When he lost his job at Newsweek in 2013, he decided to join New York tech startup HubSpot as a “marketing fellowâ€.It didn’t end well, and Lyons has now written a book about the experience called Disrupted: Ludicrous Misadventures in the Tech Start-Up Bubble. He has also been a writer on satirical sitcom Silicon Valley. Continue reading...
Lip-synching app Musical.ly has gone from web gimmick to internet smash, hosting souped-up video clips for 95 million (mostly) teens. What’s its secret?Essex-based 17-year-old Amelia Gething was on holiday with her family in Barbados this summer when a stranger approached with a question: “Are you on Musical.ly? My daughters recognised you but they’re too shy to say hello.†Continue reading...
With yet another iPhone in the pipeline, could it be time to make the change to Google’s operating system? These questions and answers may help you decideApple is about to unveil its latest smartphone, likely to be called the iPhone 7. Plenty of owners of older iPhones will be eager to upgrade, but what if you’re losing faith in Apple’s flagship device?According to research firm Gartner, Android accounts for 86.2% of new smartphone sales, with impressive handsets from Samsung, Motorola and Google tempting people away from iOS. Continue reading...
Memphis resident Frances Berry describes herself as a picture-maker: she creates images with “whatever happens to be within reachâ€. In her series Lines We Live By, she manipulates old family photos and vintage postcards. Although she remains coy about her methods, the series was created primarily using her phone, which she says “seems appropriate for this day and age, considering we are all glued to them. I love being able to use this contemporary tool to manipulate historical imagery.†Berry stretches out the background around the central figure, which stands alone in the middle of the image. She adds: “Our minds distort our memories and the visual distortion here is a representation of that.†Continue reading...
One of the UK’s biggest tech companies may be staying in the UK for now – but it still thinks Brexit is a disasterTransferWise, the foreign exchange startup founded in 2011 by Estonian duo Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, is expanding.In a cafe just outside the company’s new offices, near the top of the Tea Building in Shoreditch, London, I meet Hinrikus, fresh from climbing the Matterhorn in Switzerland. TransferWise had outgrown its digs, up the road near Old Street’s Silicon Roundabout, and needs room to expand.
What’s the right handset for someone going to high school, what controls should be put in place – and will teachers even allow it? Here’s the lowdownBuying a mobile phone for someone starting secondary school is a minefield – and not just financially. Some parents will argue that no child of 11 needs a phone; others that it is essential. And with the vast choice of handsets and deals on offer – from pay as you go to contracts and sim-only – the choice is bewildering, with the cost of getting it wrong surprisingly high.Below we list what we think are the best deals – with a word of warning before you get your wallet out. If you are planning to send your son or daughter to school with one of the latest smartphones, think again. Of the thousands of mobiles stolen every month, as many as two-thirds are taken from children aged 13-16. Buy your child the latest iPhone and the chances are they will no longer have it at the end of the first week. Continue reading...
Up to 1m devices across 10 markets, including the US and Australia, will be affected, analysts estimateSamsung has recalled its new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 countries after reports that some batteries exploded or caught fire.Koh Dong-jin, head of the South Korean company’s smartphone business, expressed regret over the recall of an estimated 1m devices, which will affect markets including South Korea, the United States and Australia. Continue reading...
Leading YouTubers accuse platform of censorship for disabling adverts on content not considered to be ‘advertiser-friendly’YouTube video makers are up in arms after finding out that many of their videos are being stripped of advertising by Google because of “inappropriate†content.A number have publicly complained they are being censored after they began receiving messages informing them that some videos were not “advertiser-friendlyâ€. Continue reading...
by Presented by Olly Mann and produced by Matt Shore on (#1SG5J)
They steal, they blog, they repeat. Welcome to Liftblr, the quasi-anarchist portion of Tumblr. Chips with Everything talks to journalist Tasbeeh Herwees, who has reported on Liftblr, and Dr Elizabeth Yardley, a criminologist who focuses on social media connectionsIn this week’s edition of Chips with Everything, we dive head-first into Liftblr, a community of anonymous Tumblr users that supposedly shoplift from major retailers and post their hauls of stolen goods to the social network.To investigate, we speak to reporter Tasbeeh Herwees who wrote an extensive piece about Liftblr for GOOD Magazine, and Dr Elizabeth Yardley, a criminologist who studies how crime and social media are connected. Continue reading...
Motion to be presented before parliament on Wednesday seeking an endorsement of cabinet decisionThe Irish government has decided to appeal against the European commission’s ruling that Apple was given a sweetheart tax deal and should hand Dublin €13bn (£11bn) in fiscal payments.Related: Apple tax: European commissioner defends €13bn ruling Continue reading...
Vestager says special tax treatment for a specific company is as much a benefit as handing the firm a bundle of cash and amounts to illegal state aidEurope’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, has defended her €13bn (£11bn) ruling against Apple’s Irish tax affairs, hitting back at claims made by a predecessor that EU state aid laws should not be used to fight sweetheart tax deals.Vestager made clear the rationale for the Apple ruling following comments by Neelie Kroes, who said on Thursday that EU member states have a sovereign right to determine their own tax laws. Kroes served as competition commissioner between 2004 and 2010. Continue reading...
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