Technology | The Guardian

Robert Yang has created a ‘dick pic simulator’ and a game about consent and BDSM. Now he’s tackling the risks surrounding gay sex in the 60sIn Mansfield, Ohio, 1962, police set up hidden cameras in a public bathroom to record consensual sexual activity between men. An artist named William E Jones, who was born in Ohio that same year, later found the footage online, edited out a voiceover that he described as “as illiterate and hateful a text as I have ever heard committed to film”, and released the result in 2007 as a “found footage” documentary called Tearoom (US slang for a public bathroom in which men meet to have anonymous sex).The footage reveals the men involved were diverse in appearance – and presumably background – but all were wary. And with good reason: many of them were later arrested. Public bathrooms have long been a battlefield where LGBT people are targeted by the law.

Perhaps the US government, like those elsewhere, struggles to afford infrastructure because of the huge lengths companies go to in order to avoid paying tax, writes Tony GreenMark Zuckerberg complains that the state has failed to build adequate infrastructure for Silicon Valley workers (Can’t afford Silicon Valley rents? I’ll build you a village, Facebook boss tells workers, 10 July). I wonder if it’s occurred to Zuckerberg that perhaps the US government, like those elsewhere, struggles to afford infrastructure because of the huge lengths companies like, er, Facebook, go to in order to avoid paying the taxes that might pay for that infrastructure? I suspect not.

US government prevents companies from revealing many user data requests – a practice which firms and civil liberties activists call unconstitutionalTech companies including Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft are fighting gag orders from US courts preventing them from talking about government surveillance of their users, arguing it has a chilling effect on free speech.Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft all have policies to notify users of government requests for account information unless they are prohibited by law from doing so in exceptional circumstances such as life-threatening emergencies, child sexual exploitation and terrorism. Continue reading...

Nintendo demonstrates a firm grasp of motion-controlled fighting, the retro boom gets tough and Sony’s racer gets a revampNintendo Switch, Nintendo, cert: 12

In an industry where money rules and male investors are treated like demigods, more and more women are speaking up. But will it work?The entrepreneur Sarah Nadav was talking to a potential investor at drinks at a major tech conference, when he leaned over and stuck his tongue into her mouth.“I was like, what the hell? I’m a fucking CEO! What are you doing?” Continue reading...

What can we learn about ourselves from the things we ask online? US data scientist Seth Stephens‑Davidowitz analysed anonymous Google search results, uncovering disturbing truths about our desires, beliefs and prejudicesEverybody lies. People lie about how many drinks they had on the way home. They lie about how often they go to the gym, how much those new shoes cost, whether they read that book. They call in sick when they’re not. They say they’ll be in touch when they won’t. They say it’s not about you when it is. They say they love you when they don’t. They say they’re happy while in the dumps. They say they like women when they really like men. People lie to friends. They lie to bosses. They lie to kids. They lie to parents. They lie to doctors. They lie to husbands. They lie to wives. They lie to themselves. And they damn sure lie to surveys. Here’s my brief survey for you:Have you ever cheated in an exam? Continue reading...

VW’s quirky coupé has been rejuvenated, and this time it’s gone right back to its roots. Just don’t expect to impress your kidsPrice: from £17,370

Previously undisclosed details on the negotiations show how Amazon got Whole Foods to accept a sale process that would not result in a bidding warAmazon threatened to cancel its $13.7bn take over of Whole Foods if the US grocer involved other bidders, a regulatory filing showed on Friday, shedding new light on the acquisition.The previously undisclosed details on the negotiations show how Amazon used its deep pockets and brand as leverage to convince Whole Foods to accept a sale process that would not result in a bidding war. Continue reading...

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

We act as if technology were neutral but it’s not. The challenge now is to highlight and remove the gender bias

News agency gets €706,000 to use AI for creation of up to 30,000 local stories a month in partnership with Urbs MediaRobots will help a national news agency to create up to 30,000 local news stories a month, with the help of human journalists and funded by a Google grant.The Press Association has won a €706,000 (£621,000) grant to run a news service with computers writing localised news stories. Continue reading...

World’s largest retailer moves from tech products to its own wine, to revive the ‘direct connection between wine-maker and customer’Amazon’s continuing quest to make and sell everything in the world has led to it branching out into a new area: overseeing the production of a new range of wines.Yes, you can now get drunk in a Jeff Bezos-approved way. Pop the corks at once. Continue reading...

Find yourself in the red every month? Can’t seem to budget responsibly? Chip could be for you – if you don’t mind it snooping around your bank accountA robot banker who can pull you out of your overdraft sounds like the premise of a – dull, admittedly – sci-fi story, but Chip promises that it’s here right now.Just finishing its first year in existence, the start-up has a compelling pitch: plug it in to your bank account, and it will analyse your spending, moving money you don’t need into a savings account, and slowly helping you hit financial security. Continue reading...

Unlicensed cab service UberPop pulled from Helsinki as company continues to battle against regulation around the globeUber is pulling its primary service out of Finland as it waits for a law that will deregulate the taxi market to be passed.The cab firm, which exclusively operates in the nation’s capital Helsinki, is suspending its UberPop service, which allows any driver to sign up and offer unlicensed taxi trips. Continue reading...

‘NotPetya’ ransomware creators move £8,000 in bitcoin, leaving observers uncertain over the attack’s motiveThe hackers behind the NotPetya ransomware, which wiped computers in more than 60 countries in late June, have moved more than £8,000 worth of bitcoins out of the account used to receive the ransoms.The transfer has added credence to messages purporting to be from the attackers offering to decrypt every single infected computer for a one-off payment of £200,000, after security researchers suggested they may be state-sponsored actors. Continue reading...

Report says NHS clinicians sending scans using photo messaging app is ‘clearly insecure, risky and non-auditable’Doctors are using Snapchat to send patient scans to each other, a panel of health and tech experts has found, concluding the “digital revolution has largely bypassed the NHS”.Clinicians use camera apps to record particular details of patient information in a convenient format, the panel said in a report, describing it as “clearly an insecure, risky, and non-auditable way of operating, and cannot continue”.

This powerful study, subtitled How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, exposes the bias in predictive modellingAs a child, mathematics was Cathy O’Neil’s passion: “math provided a neat refuge from the messiness of the real world”. After a stint in academia she began working for a hedge fund (“the smuggest of the players on Wall Street”) just before the 2008 crash. That’s when she recognised the danger posed by mathematical models or, as she neatly terms them in this fascinating book, Weapons of Math Destruction. Her main point is that predictive models are never neutral but reflect the goals and ideology of those who create them. They also tend to load the dice against poor people, reinforcing inequality in society. From calculating university rankings or credit ratings and processing job applications, to deciding what advertising you see online or what stories appear in your Facebook news feed, algorithms play an increasingly important role in our lives. Even the police use big data to help them predict where crimes may occur. The problem, as O’Neil so eloquently demonstrates, is that these algorithms are often incapable of reflecting the real world: “mathematical models should be our tools, not our masters”.• Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy is published by Penguin. To order a copy for £8.49 (RRP £9.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99. Continue reading...

What is it like to flee your home and start again in a new country? Asylum seekers live on £5 a day while they wait to hear whether they can stay in the UK. This exclusive Guardian virtual reality film allows you to experience how this period of limbo feels, waiting for a decision that will affect the rest of your life• Guardian VR - see the worldTo watch the full experience click here. Continue reading...

There are approximately 31,500 asylum seekers in the UK waiting for a decision about their asylum status. This exclusive Guardian virtual reality film allows you to experience what it is like to live in this period of limbo, waiting for a decision that will affect the rest of your life• To watch the full experience go to www.theguardian.com/vr Continue reading...

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

Trump’s attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare leaves Baby Boomers approaching retirement with nervous jitters

Huawei has achieved something quite special with its new laptop that is one of the lightest around without sacrificing power

Androids could offer valuable help to the elderly and disabled but may lead to the increased objectification of womenSex robots have the potential to provide a valuable service for people who are elderly, disabled or who find intercourse traumatic, but they also carry ethical risks, experts say.Sex robots that look like humans can already be bought or leased for parties in the US, and plans for a cafe staffed by “erotic cyborgs” in Paddington, London, have been mooted. Continue reading...

A vendor was offering Medicare details of any Australian. Could this be real, or was it just a scam? The only way to know was to request some data

Hours after investor Dave McClure resigned over inappropriate behavior, another female entrepreneur came forward with her storyA prominent Silicon Valley investor has resigned following allegations of sexual harassment, and just hours before a fresh allegation surfaced, this time of sexual assault.Dave McClure resigned as general partner of 500 Startups, the seed investment group he co-founded in 2010, on Monday after several women accused him of inappropriate behavior. He had already stepped down as chief executive of the investment group following the allegations and published a blog post apologizing for being “inappropriate”. Continue reading...

Judge dismisses lawsuit accusing Facebook of tracking users’ activity, saying responsibility was on plaintiffs to keep browsing history privateA judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Facebook of tracking users’ web browsing activity even after they logged out of the social networking site.The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook used the “like” buttons found on other websites to track which sites they visited, meaning that the Menlo Park, California-headquartered company could build up detailed records of their browsing history. The plaintiffs argued that this violated federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws. Continue reading...

What do you see when you look at an elephant? The world’s biggest land mammal – or a giant data store, sharing information in a living, breathing network?Elephants have such sad expressive faces that it is hard to imagine how anyone could harm them. They have drawn lips and sagging shoulders; a long, drooping demeanour; sad, knowing eyes capable of laying on the guilt. Yet, it would appear that guilt is not enough to save them. Eighty years ago there were perhaps 6 to 9 million African and Asian elephants. Today there are roughly half a million left. Day by day, they are getting closer to extinction.Perhaps we need some new ideas. Perhaps it is time for a different perspective on why elephants need saving. Rather than their bodies, maybe it is their shared memories and experience that we might one day come to value. This is the argument that I’d like to put forward in this piece. Continue reading...

Information Commissioner’s Office rules record transfer from London hospital to AI company failed to comply with Data Protection ActLondon’s Royal Free hospital failed to comply with the Data Protection Act when it handed over personal data of 1.6 million patients to DeepMind, a Google subsidiary, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office.The data transfer was part of the two organisation’s partnership to create the healthcare app Streams, an alert, diagnosis and detection system for acute kidney injury. The ICO’s ruling was largely based on the fact that the app continued to undergo testing after patient data was transferred. Patients, it said, were not adequately informed that their data would be used as part of the test. Continue reading...

A mission to track down exotic spices, building increasingly unstable ladders to the moon and designing glorious stained glass windows feature in our regular roundup of new board gamesIn the latest edition of our board game roundup we’re crossing deserts in search of precious spices, building unnervingly wobbly ladders to the moon and creating beautiful stained glass windows using our wits, intelligence and a big bag of dice.

Troubled smartphone that was recalled due to catching fire returns at two thirds of original asking priceThe troubled Galaxy Note 7 that caught fire causing damage to people, property and Samsung’s reputation, is returning to the market this week as the Galaxy Note Fan Edition.

Tesla’s first mass-market electric car is running ahead of schedule in wake of the delay ridden Model XThe first Tesla Model 3 will roll off the production line this week, according to tweets from Tesla Motors’ chief executive Elon Musk.“Model 3 passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule,” Musk wrote, adding that the very first car was expected to be completed by Friday. Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg’s long-term plan for the Aquila drone is to have it and others provide internet access to 4bn people around the world who are in the darkA solar-powered drone backed by Facebook that could one day provide worldwide internet access has completed a test flight in Arizona, after an earlier attempt ended with a crash landing.Related: Facebook's solar-powered drone under investigation after 'accident' Continue reading...

Fake news and Isis propaganda have raised concern about the power of the web. But with cyberspace controlled by a handful of giant firms, can governments ever hope to curb them – and is that even desirable?“Enough is enough,” said Theresa May outside 10 Downing Street after the London Bridge attack last month. “When it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.” And one of those things was the behaviour of internet firms, which should not allow extremism a place to breed. “Yet that is precisely what the internet – and the big companies that provide internet-based services – provide,” she continued.May’s speech was only the latest example of the frustration among governments with the way that the internet, and internet companies, seem to elude and ignore the rules by which everyone else has to live. From encrypted apps used by terrorists (but also by peaceful activists) to online abuse, and fake news to hacking and radicalisation, the friction between the two sides is growing. France and Germany have implemented fines for companies that allow Nazi content to remain online, while in the US the FBI demanded that Apple write software to hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers, and took the firm to court when it refused. Continue reading...

Long-term the aim is to find profitable uses for its stockpiled informationThe problem with regulating technology companies is that, faced with tough new rules, they can eventually innovate their way out, often by switching to newer, unregulated technologies. The risk of targeted regulation informed by little other than economic doctrines might even be fuelling a corporate quest for eternal disruption: instead of surrendering to the regulators, technology firms prefer to abandon their old business model.It’s through this lens that we should interpret the likely fallout from the €2.4bn fine imposed on Alphabet, Google’s parent company, by the European commission. It arrives after a lengthy, seven-year investigation into whether the company abused its dominance to promote its own online shopping service above search results. The commission’s case seems sound; the sad fate of small online retailers, unable to compete with Alphabet over the past decade, suggests as much. Continue reading...

Fine of €2.4bn levied on Google is a sign of the continued erosion of US tech firms’ domination of the internetThe whopping €2.4bn fine levied by the European commission on Google for abusing its dominance as a search engine has taken Silicon Valley aback. It has also reignited American paranoia about the motives of European regulators, whom many Valley types seem to regard as stooges of Mathias Döpfner, the chief executive of German media group Axel Springer, president of the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers and a fierce critic of Google.US paranoia is expressed in various registers. They range from President Obama’s observation in 2015 that “all the Silicon Valley companies that are doing business there [Europe] find themselves challenged, in some cases not completely sincerely. Because some of those countries have their own companies who want to displace ours”, to the furious off-the-record outbursts from senior tech executives after some EU agency or other has dared to challenge the supremacy of a US-based tech giant. Continue reading...

The digital currency can now be bought at ATMs around the countryMy journey into the dark economy starts much as expected: in front of a computer screen, late at night. It ends somewhere quite unexpected, in a humdrum setting a world away from the stereotype of modernity, equality and sticking it to the man promised by digital currencies such as Bitcoin: it ends in a used DVD store, my purchase refused.The dark economy is moving into the light. In a few scattered places, 40 or so in London, one in Manchester, another in Birmingham, Bitcoin ATM machines have appeared, issuing the cryptocurrency from an unlikely array of convenience stores, vaping outlets and barbershops. Does this mean that the virtual has become real? Can anyone join the Bitcoin challenge? Can you buy stuff with Bitcoin? And what the heck is a cryptocurrency anyway? Continue reading...

Swedish company’s animal detection system can identify and avoid deer, elk and caribou, but is yet to work against the marsupials’ movementsVolvo’s self-driving car is unable to detect kangaroos because hopping confounds its systems, the Swedish carmaker says.

Measure requires social media platforms to remove obviously illegal hate speech and other postings within 24 hours of receiving a notificationSocial media companies face fines of up to €50m (£43m) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content from their sites under a new law passed in GermanyThe German parliament on Friday approved the bill aimed at cracking down on hate speech, criminal material and fake news on social networks – but critics warn it could have drastic consequences for free speech online. Continue reading...

The move would see Twitter follow Facebook, which last year introduced a way for users to report stories they deemed false or inaccurateTwitter is considering a feature that would let users flag tweets that are false or inaccurate, in an attempt to combat the spread of disinformation on the platform.The new feature, reported by the Washington Post, would allow Twitter users to report a post as misleading, in the same way they can currently report individual tweets as spam, or abusive or harmful. Continue reading...

Binky is a spoof social media app suggesting the real reason we use our phones has less to do with keeping in touch, and more to do with compulsive behaviour

This excellent documentary covers every angle – so why did my mind wander? Plus: people and their bits in Naked AttractionI have a child who has expressed an interest in becoming a bus driver. I’m not going to encourage it. Not because I have anything against driving buses as a profession (though I’m not crazy about his chosen route, the 226 between Golders Green and Ealing Broadway – would one that passes through central London not be more glamorous, as well as being more double-decker?) No, my problem with it is that by the time he reaches bus-driving age, it probably won’t be a profession any more. He’s only three you see. It’s an issue that arises in Horizon: Dawn of the Driverless Car (BBC2) – the impact autonomous vehicles are going to have on employment. The future may be safer, and greener, but there will also be fewer jobs. Bus drivers, truck drivers, delivery drivers – all the drivers. Think of poor Jeremy Clarkson, what’s he going to do? Actually, don’t think of Jeremy Clarkson. And driverless cars obviously can’t come soon enough for Richard Hammond, the one who keeps crashing.They – that lot – get a nod, incidentally. A company called 5AI “aims to turn this reasonably priced electric car into the star of the driverless world,” says Sara Pascoe, narrating. AI refers to artificial intelligence, of course, 5 to the top level of driverless autonomy, whereby the vehicle can drive anywhere without any kind of human intervention. That’s where 5AI, and everyone else (Google, Apple, Tesla, Ford, Volvo etc) are trying to get to. Continue reading...

Thinktank warns that heavy internet use can have damaging consequences but says educating teenagers more effective than limiting online accessMore than one in three British 15-year-olds are “extreme internet users” who spend at least six hours a day online – which is more than their counterparts in all the other 34 OECD countries apart from Chile, research has found.The report, by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) thinktank, says: “Over a third (37.3%) of UK 15-year-olds can be classed as ‘extreme internet users’ (6+ hours of use a day) – markedly higher than the average of OECD countries. Continue reading...

Apple’s device, now 10 years old, has ushered in an era of unprecedented connectivity. It has also nurtured widespread, crippling addictionThe pallid blue light of my phone cut through the gloom of my bedroom. I turned over, reached for it and read an email that had just come in. Before putting my phone down again, I looked at the time. 2.03am. “What am I doing?” I asked myself as I drifted back to sleep.Related: 'My electronic Swiss army knife': readers on 10 years of the iPhone Continue reading...

The Canadian supreme court ruled that Google can be forced to pull results worldwide, not just the Canadian version of its search engineGoogle has come face to face with two of its greatest nightmares this week. The first garnered enormous attention worldwide, and will be an expensive period regardless of how it shakes out; but the second flew below the radar, despite the fact that it could eventually be far more damaging to the company’s operating model.Hitting the headlines was the European Union’s record €2.4bn fine of Google for anticompetitive practices relating to its shopping service. At the heart of the issue is the fact that the company treats its shopping search engine – Google Shopping – differently from those of competitors, placing it at the top of searches for products by default, and relegating similar services like price comparison site Kelkoo far down the results. Continue reading...

Whether you play as the killer or prey there is gruesome fun to be had, but this console transfer cuts too many cornersNote: this is a review of the console version of the game. The PC version contains different contentWatching a good slasher movie is a highly interactive experience. You cover your eyes, you jump, you lurch forward on the sofa, but mostly you yell incredulous statements at the characters such as: “No, don’t go in there!”; “Make sure he’s actually dead”, and the classic “Don’t sneak off to have sex!”. As soon as you’ve seen a few Halloween rip-offs or Scream, which made a virtue of those tropes, you know all the beats of the slasher experience – and we always think we could make a better job of surviving. Continue reading...

In the ‘highest income region of the universe’, people trying to make ends meet face a ban on vehicles from parking in the same spot for longer than 72 hours

Full of surprising details, this study delves into what society-transforming technology really signifies. Steve Jobs comes out badlyIn most areas of my life I behave well enough, but put a smartphone in my hand and I become your typical glazed-eyed imbecile, poking, swiping and typing in a sweaty frenzy. For better or worse, smartphones tap into something base in us. Most adults use their phones in the way that babies treat their pacifiers. Break one, and we turn into those australopithecines at the start of 2001: A Space Odyssey, smashing our fists into the dirt in frustrated rage; take them away, and we become Gollum without his ring.Related: The iPhone only exists because Steve Jobs 'hated this guy at Microsoft' Continue reading...

Alex Hern bought the first iPhone a decade ago. As it celebrates its 10th anniversary, he looks back on how it changed the world – and his lifeTen years ago today, the first iPhone hit stores in the US. On paper, the device was nothing special: it lacked the 3G connectivity which was becoming standard across much of the world, its battery struggled to last a day, and its camera resolution was just two megapixels. It also came with an eye-watering price tag of $499, and a mandatory two-year contract with AT&T. That was for the smallest version, with 4GB of storage.But in person, it wasn’t the iPhone that looked behind the times. It was everything else. Looking back now, and the sea change is obvious: the first iPhone, a 10-year-old device, looks like something that could reasonably be found in people’s pockets today, while its competition look like historical curiosities. Continue reading...

Personally, I wouldn’t. But the question is a much bigger one: how do we take responsibility for our role in the exploitive gig economy?Q: Given all the terrible stories that have come out about Uber, should I erase the app from my phone, even though the CEO has resigned?Let’s list the bad things. Uber, which rightly or wrongly feels like patient zero in the plague of horrible tech startups, had a bad rep even before the events that brought down CEO Travis Kalanick last week. It set the gig economy standard of classifying its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, to avoid giving them benefits. Continue reading...

While the latest CoD takes the action back to its roots, its developers drew inspiration from Journey and some other unlikely sourcesThere are certain places you’d expect the developers of a well-known military shooter to look for inspiration. Previous titles in the series, war movies, other shooters … that’s more-or-less it. What you perhaps don’t expect is for the team behind the latest Call of Duty title to count among their influences an elegiac cooperative indie game about the meaning of life. You don’t expect them to play Journey.But according to Michael Condrey, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, the San Francisco studio behind Call of Duty: WWII, that’s exactly what they did. Continue reading...