Technology | The Guardian

The game has built its success on a largely single-player experience – but to really leave a mark on players, developers should focus on the interpersonal angleA location game overlaying the city, with players able to hunt monsters, capture stations, battle each other, build guilds. A virtual imagined world connected to the physical one by a database of locations and human “check-ins”.It’s not Pokémon Go. It’s Chromaroma, from the UK games company Mudlark. And it’s not from this year. It was released in 2010. Continue reading...

A cyberpsychologist is worryingly persuasive about the potential damage to children of a life onlineNote the doctorate after the author’s name; and the subtitle: A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behaviour Changes Online; and the potted bio, informing us that “Dr Mary Aiken is the world’s foremost forensic cyberpsychologist” – all clues indicating that this is a book targeted at the US market, another addition to that sprawling genre of books by folks with professional qualifications using pop science to frighten the hoi polloi.This is a pity, because The Cyber Effect is really rather good and doesn’t need its prevailing tone of relentless self-promotion to achieve its desired effect, which is to make one think about what digital technology is doing to us. At this stage, there can’t be many people who haven’t, at one time or another, fretted about this question. After all, the technology has invaded every aspect of our lives; it is changing social and private behaviour, having a disproportionate impact on our children and facilitating types of criminal and antisocial behaviour that are repulsive and sometimes terrifying. And it is now also changing democratic politics: the most interesting thing about Donald Trump is how his narcissistic personality has found its perfect expression in Twitter – which is how we come to have an internet troll running for president. Continue reading...

US federal court rules the German tech entrepreneur could not recover his assets because he is ‘a fugitive’ – but he vows to fight onGerman tech entrepreneur and alleged internet pirate Kim Dotcom will seek a review of a federal court decision which rejected his bid to keep hold of millions of dollars in assets held in Hong Kong and New Zealand, his lawyer said.A three-judge panel of the 4th circuit US court of appeals ruled two to one on Friday that Dotcom could not recover his assets because by remaining outside the US, he was a fugitive, which disentitled him from using the resources to fight his case. Continue reading...

Now viewers around the world can join in the fun as summer events are streamed liveBack in the days when a live televised football match was a rarity, it was widely believed that the more football was shown live on TV, the fewer people would bother to go to a match. The opposite turned out to be true. Live coverage boomed and so did match attendances. Now a similar phenomenon seems to be happening with another British institution, the summer music festival.Related: Wilderness – the festival that mixes music and Momentum Continue reading...

House minority leader calls on colleagues to change cellphone numbers after contact information for House members was posted onlineNancy Pelosi warned fellow Democrats on Saturday to change their cellphone numbers and not let family members read their text messages after personal and official information of Democratic House members and congressional staff was posted online.The House minority leader told Democratic lawmakers that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democratic party entities were the target of “an electronic Watergate break-in”. Continue reading...

As student numbers fall and fears over Brexit grow, universities are adopting new digital tactics to recruit studentsIn the past, a school pupil thinking of going to university would make a decision after attending an open day or two and a chat with a careers adviser.Today, though, a generation that uses smartphones to hook up is equally reliant on technology to connect with academia. Rather than the quality of its pastoral care, canteens and libraries, a student’s perception of a university is largely framed by how well it uses social media. Continue reading...

It has a lot of SUV styling, a beefy, bullish exterior, but is in fact quite underpoweredThe Peugeot 2008 is like a sleek-looking person dressed in a cashmere polo neck. A smidge unusual, with a trace of charisma; you don’t know whether you want to hug it or smell it.It has a very open view, thanks to the wide windscreen and the determined addition of windows where you didn’t expect them (little triangular ones in front of the wing mirror, a panoramic sunroof). I inferred a pure, unadulterated pride in the French countryside. It turned out the visibility was poor – too many struts between panes of glass – and the panoramic roof was a booby trap. (It looked as though it should open, but was, in fact, only decorative; in the course of pushing every button to find that out, I accidentally called Peugeot’s roadside emergency unit. This is an additional feature costing £250, when surely any normal person would pay £250 not to have it.) Continue reading...

It’s not ‘just’ a game unless you think chess is ‘just’ a game, amazing, I can’t believe it – a Voltorb!Wait – got it, just a basic Pidgey, do you want to see, now I can evolve it into a Pidgeotto, fantastic – though that probably doesn’t mean much to you, does it? Don’t you want to interrogate the boundaries of augmented reality? I’ll show you, it won’t take a second, but first I need more candy, let me explain. Actually it’s much simpler if you try it, I promise you’ll be hooked, mind if we stop at the church? I need more eggs and there’s a PokéStop in the nave. So I can incubate more Pokémon – course I need to, if I want to understand the sociology of ambulatory gaming, that’s the whole point. To collect more Pokémon for my Pokédex.It’s not why do I want to, but why would anyone not want to be part of a massive cultural shift, what would that say about you as a person? Continue reading...

Phone firm’s travel bolt-on plan is catching out unsuspecting travellers, charging them £1.99 a day even if they only send one textO2 mobile users heading abroad should check if the travel bolt-on package, automatically charged to phones on arrival overseas, is suitable for them, after several people found they were being charged excessive amounts for sending the odd text message while on holiday.Thousands of the firm’s customers heading to Europe are automatically paying £1.99 each day they use their phone on holiday, unless they’ve opted out of the travel bolt-on option. Many will want it, but the company has admitted to Guardian Money that any pay-monthly user who has previously signed up for the O2 travel service has automatically been opted in to pay the daily charge while away, even though in many cases they may be better off without it. Continue reading...

The files were posted to a blog used by Guccifer 2.0, which at least one cybersecurity firm has labeled an operation of Russian security servicesThe hacker Guccifer 2.0 posted phone numbers, email addresses and passwords for nearly 200 sitting and former Democratic lawmakers on Friday, including current members of intelligence and armed services committees.The files were posted to a blog used by the hacker, which at least one cybersecurity firm has labeled an operation of Russian security services. Intelligence officials, other firms and Democrats have also accused operatives supported by the Russian government of hacking the Democratic National Committee this year. Continue reading...

The new frontier of digital culture is about self-respect, hard work and healthy relationships – but does it go against the spirit of the internet?The internet can be a cold, dark place.It’s survival of the snarkiest – or the most favourited, with the culture falling between that of an angry mob and a popularity contest. Continue reading...

Most analysts are confident that the radical democrats – in favour of legalising drugs and offering asylum to Edward Snowden – will win 18-20 MPs in OctoberOne of Europe’s most radical political parties is expected to gain its first taste of power after Iceland’s ruling coalition and opposition agreed to hold early elections caused by the Panama Papers scandal in October.Related: Iceland PM steps aside after protests over Panama Papers revelations Continue reading...

Defense officials restrict playtime to outside the building, citing the risks of spies tracking facilities and information via the appThe Pentagon has a message for its staff: Pokémon stop.Anyone working at the Arlington, Virginia, headquarters of the US Department of Defense searching for Squirtles and Snorlaxes on the Pokémon Go app has been told to do it outside the building, according to a memo obtained by the Washington Times. Continue reading...

Instagram is challenging Snapchat with Stories, but … can we spice it up a bit? Videos of lunches and office carpets are as boring as they soundI don’t hate Instagram Stories, but Instagram Stories hates me.I also don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such brilliant friends in life, but, equally, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve their banal videos of facial cleansing routines or them making a peace sign on a busy road as a lorry roars by or a macro shot of a bug they found in the bathroom. Continue reading...

From sky gardens over Rio to sprawling slums in Blackpool, artists at the game development studio Eidos-Montréal have reimagined global cities as part of their Deus Ex universe Continue reading...

The reaction to Planet of the Apps, in which app developers compete for investment under the guidance of Paltrow and Will.i.am, has been lukewarmWhen you hear the name Gwyneth Paltrow, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps it’s her Oscar-winning acting, her neurotic eating habits as documented on her lifestyle blog Goop, or her praise for steam-cleaning one’s vagina (not recommended by doctors). You might also think of her appearance in Glee, her “conscious uncoupling” from Coldplay singer Chris Martin or her pint-sized fitness guru Tracy Anderson.What probably won’t immediately come to mind is app development. So it comes as quite the surprise that she’s been selected as a mentor on Apple’s new reality TV show about apps and their creators, called Planet of the Apps. Continue reading...

Hello Games has created a gorgeously realised, constantly regenerating universe for players to get lost in, where the incredible journey trumps the destinationNowadays it seems difficult to consider a game separately from the months or years of expectation that preceded its release. Just as science fiction is built on speculation, so too was the conversation surrounding this science-fiction video game. Two-and-a-half years ago, the team at Hello Games presented their concept for a practically infinite procedurally generated galaxy, and since then they’ve been suffering the consequences of that pitch’s success, faced with the task of creating a real game that would somehow measure up to thousands of different imagined ones. Continue reading...

Cars that use Volkswagen’s remote keyless entry system are vulnerable to theft using equipment costing £30, researchers claimTens of millions of cars are made vulnerable to theft by their keyless entry systems, according to a report by computer security experts.The paper claims many of the 100m Volkswagen vehicles sold over the past 20 years are vulnerable and can be hacked using cheap tools. Audi, Seat and Skoda models sold since 1995 are also said to be affected as they share Volkswagen’s remote keyless entry system. Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, and Peugeot models are also at risk from a similar exploit, the researchers claim. Continue reading...

When a meme goes mainstream it usually means it isn’t funny any more and it’s over. So how has the Harambe gorilla meme endured so long?When it comes to memes, there’s a rule: it is dead as soon as the thinkpieces come out.The thinkpieces happened months ago with Harambe, so why can’t the internet let him rest in peace? Continue reading...

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

Facebook thought it had thwarted ad-blockers on its network. Facebook was wrong

Takeaway delivery service would like to do away with paying its workers an hourly rate, paying instead by number of orders deliveredDeliveroo is embroiled in a pay row with its couriers after more than 100 riders staged a protest outside the company’s London offices in a dispute over a new wage structure.Related: Deliveroo riders protest in London against changes to pay structure Continue reading...

Dr Miguel Nicolelis explains the findings of the Walk Again Project, the collaborative project aimed at helping paraplegic people regain control of their lives using robotics. The project published its findings after ten months’ research into the use of virtual reality and exoskeleton technology with paraplegic people. However, it was found that the pairing of technologies lead to unexpected positive results for patients, all of whom reported increased movement on command and greater sensation after 2000 hours of training with the systems

The tech-savvy administration added a private message feature to the White House Facebook page to allow users to write to the president through a chatbotGetting a message to Barack Obama just got easier. Just hit him up on Facebook.The White House unveiled a new feature on Wednesday that allows Facebook users to contact him via Messenger – just like they would any of their other friends on the site – using a chatbot. Continue reading...

Szuhsiung Ho of China General Nuclear Power Company becomes latest case to fan US fears that Chinese firms will do anything for a hi-tech leg-upSzuhsiung Ho is not the first person of Chinese origin to be arrested in the US over industrial spying.A string of cases have fuelled suspicions in the US and beyond that some Chinese firms will resort to any measures to obtain valuable intellectual property that could give them a technological leg-up.

The House minority leader stated at a press conference on Thursday, ‘It is the Russians,’ referring to the security breach affecting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that led to the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Continue reading...

You don’t need a record company or a promo campaign to reach the huge audience of the Nigerian diaspora – just a WhatsApp account

My friend and colleague John Hearle, who has died aged 90, was emeritus professor of textiles and former dean of technology at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (Umist). Until recent months he was still making important contributions to understanding how fibres behave.When he left Cambridge University in the 1940s with a first in physics, little was known about the structure of fibres. Through hundreds of peer-reviewed papers, and many books and articles, John was successful in promoting an “engineering design culture”. Continue reading...

Horror and confusion descended on users as the rumour spread, but there is no need to #savetwitter – the site is definitely not shutting downAn internet hoax has sent some Twitter users into meltdown, as rumours spread that the site would be closing in 2017.In case there were any doubt: it’s not. Everyone seems to be panicking for no good reason. Continue reading...

Hello Games’ title is one of the most visually interesting games of the past decade. But where does its approach to sci-fi come from?From the very beginning, No Man’s Sky has looked unlike any other modern science-fiction video game. With its bizarre creatures, hallucinogenic skylines and polychrome environments, it eschews the gritty, steel-grey aesthetics of Mass Effect, Halo and Gears of War.The themes of the game, too, hark back to a different form of sci-fi literature, less interested in galactic wars and more concerned with the philosophical and psychology elements of space exploration. Continue reading...

Peta has launched a game approved by the Smiths frontman, complete with a bleepy rendition of Meat Is Murder – but is it any good?Can anyone remember magician Paul Daniels’seminal retro computer game Rabbits? Maybe, on the grounds that it was one of the worst computer games ever set to code, you can’t. But I do. I do because I spent minutes that turned into hours that turned into days trying to complete it.I was reminded of that precious lost time – time I could have spent reading À la recherche du temps perdu in its original French, or learning to salsa dance, or basically doing anything that wasn’t trying to make a crudely drawn rabbit collect “magic items” for no discernible reason – when I was asked to test-run Morrissey’s new vegetarian computer game, This Beautiful Creature Must Die. Continue reading...

Just as there is no single, standardised world map, our digital maps take various forms – and it matters who is drawing them and how they’re drawnImagine if it would have more of an impact for Palestine to be recognised as a sovereign country by Google than by the UN. It’s a suggestion that’s caught fire – a five-month-old online petition demanding Palestine be labeled and bordered in Google Maps has gained more than 250,000 signatures just over the past few days.The issue is far more nuanced than the instantaneous outrage about Google “wiping Palestine from the map” would suggest. Google has never actually labeled the country, which isn’t officially recognised by the US or much of the west. The swiftness of the backlash, though, is not just about the wish for justice on behalf of an occupied people, but about the belief – now punctured – that our technology is neutral, that it presents an unbiased, infallible version of the world.

Creator of DoNotPay, which overturned 160,000 tickets in London and New York, expands service to assist those dealing with housing problems in the UKThe chatbot lawyer that overturned hundreds and thousands of parking tickets is now tackling another problem: homelessness.London-born Stanford student Joshua Browder created DoNotPay initially to help people appeal against fines for unpaid parking tickets. Dubbed “the world’s first robot lawyer”, Browder later programmed it to deal with a wider range of legal issues, such as claiming for delayed flights and trains and payment protection insurance (PPI). Continue reading...

If you work for Uber as a driver we’d like to hear from you. Share your experiences with us

Even the lawyer and her software engineer husband can’t buy a home in the area due to the intensifying housing crunch that the tech boom has exacerbated

Police are investigating reports of a drone flying close to a passenger plane with 62 people onboardPolice are investigating reports of a near-miss between a drone and a passenger plane in Cornwall.The incident took place shortly before 3pm on Wednesday as the Flybe flight with 62 people onboard was going in to land at Newquay airport. Continue reading...

Microsoft’s ‘simple’ naming system has created a lot of confusion about Windows Live Mail, but not much is actually changing Continue reading...

Yellow Cabs boss Neill Ford claims taxi industry campaign against Roy responsible for loss in Queensland seat of LongmanAn influential taxi company boss has invoked the fate of the former federal MP Wyatt Roy as a measure of the political risk of backing Uber, after the Queensland government moved to legalise it.Neill Ford, the managing director of Queensland’s largest taxi company, Yellow Cabs, claimed an industry campaign against Roy over his public support of Uber was the key factor in his upset loss in the seat of Longman in the July election. Continue reading...

When Microsoft first floated the two-in-one hybrid idea, many balked at the suggestion. But after years of improvements, they’re worth serious considerationThe PC and tablet industry is currently going through a bit of a revolution. At one stage tablets were the new hotness – the device to replace the PC as your default computing platform. But now Windows PCs are having a resurgence, this time in a new, 21st-century skin: the two-in-one.

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

Annastacia Palaszczuk announces $100m taxi industry assistance package including $4m of waived fees over the next yearUber drivers will be allowed to operate legally in Queensland from September.The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said on Facebook her government would legalise the service from 5 September, with “sweeping reforms” that would create a level playing field. Continue reading...

Jails in England and Wales can seek orders requiring mobile network operators to blacklist handsets and disconnect sim cardsNew powers to cut off illicit mobile phones used by prisoners to run criminal operations have been introduced in jails across England and Wales.

The family of two men shot and killed in Jordan claimed Twitter contributed to their deaths by allowing Isis to sign up for and use Twitter accountsA federal judge in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Twitter of supporting the Islamic State group.The family of two men shot and killed in Jordan claimed that Twitter had contributed to their deaths by allowing the group to sign up for and use Twitter accounts. Continue reading...

App introduced and took down a filter that turned selfies into Asian caricatures, prompting accusations that the feature was an example of ‘yellowface’

Company has become the latest tech firm to sever ties with the rightwing lobby group with a history of fighting against progressive causesExpedia, the world’s largest online travel company, has become the latest tech firm to sever ties with Alec, the rightwing lobby group with a history of fighting against climate change legislation and other progressive causes.The company had previously been a sponsor of Alec (American Legislative Exchange Council), a lobby group that promotes conservative legislation at state level across the US. But in an email to advocacy group Common Cause this week the travel firm, which also owns Hotels.com, Hotwire.com and trivago among others, confirmed it had severed ties.

Director of Tuol Sleng museum bans game after players pursued characters around the former Khmer Rouge torture centrePokémon Go has caused distress in Cambodia, where some players have been chasing its virtual characters around a genocide museum that was a torture centre in the 1970s.The director of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, Chhay Visoth, said on Wednesday that he had put up signs at the site’s entrance and inside banning the game, which made its Cambodian debut last weekend. He has also asked his staff to watch out for anyone playing it. Continue reading...

Greek woman added to list of Interpol’s most-wanted criminals as she faces charges of uploading Hollywood films to NinjaVideo, a relatively small siteThe US government has asked Interpol to help coordinate a fresh crackdown on foreign nationals engaged in movie piracy, adding their names to the list of the world’s most wanted criminals.

Want to relive the days of Ceefax? All you need is a Raspberry Pi computer, an analogue TV and a computing degree ...

Outrage has followed the (misleading) news that Google had removed label for Palestine from its map service – but borders are rarely as simple as cartographers might likeStick, say, “Wales” into Google Maps: a solid red outline shows the country’s borders, the interior is given a red tint and the word “Wales” shows up in bold red letters. Wales is Wales is Wales.Now search for “Palestine” to get a sense of how fraught cartography has become in the digital age. This time we get a dotted grey line, no red tinting and no “Palestine”. Continue reading...

In part three of four of our series, we look at the threats to an open and democratic webOn 1 July the United Nations resolved that access to the internet is to be considered a basic human right. While this decision may seem straightforward, with the complex nature of human rights law considered, the resolution is far from simple.In the face of the UN’s resolution, in part three of our series, we flip the coin and look at the the threats to net neutrality and unrestricted internet access. For this deep dive, we consult with the CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, Anne Jellema and director of strategy for Free Press, Tim Karr. Continue reading...