Technology | The Guardian

Pre-ordering is a dangerous game, an untried console could be a total flop. But I’ve got a good feeling about the Switch, I think I’m going to be very happy with itWhen I went to bed on Thursday night, I knew I would be pre-ordering a Nintendo Switch as soon as I woke on Friday.I had some rules for myself, of course. The price had to be right; there had to be at least one game I wanted coming on launch day, plus at least one other shortly after; and the implicit promises made in the first announcement – that it would be a truly hybrid system, as capable on-the-go as docked – had to be kept. Continue reading...

Donald Trump promised to assemble ‘some of the greatest computer minds’ to address cybersecurity. Instead, he picked the former mayor of New YorkAt Donald Trump’s now-notorious press conference on Tuesday, lost amidst his threats to news organizations and denunciations of his enemies, the president-elect claimed he would soon assemble “some of the greatest computer minds anywhere in the world” to tackle the US government’s cybersecurity problem. On Thursday, he went the opposite route instead and hired Rudy Giuliani.Giuliani, Trump election surrogate and the disgraced former mayor of New York, is apparently going to head up Trump’s efforts to coordinate “cybersecurity” issues between the federal government and the private sector, the transition team announced Tuesday. But what does Giuliani, last seen on the campaign trail claiming the president can break whatever law he likes in a time of war, know about cybersecurity? From the look and sound of it, not much. Continue reading...

Why is there a hole in its encryption, what is the Signal protocol, what does that mean for my privacy and are there any alternatives?

From old-school fantasy to family-friendly team shoot ‘em ups, classic Street Fighter titles and an all-new Super Mario adventure, here’s what to look forward toNintendo announced all the details of its Switch console on Friday morning, revealing a 3 March launch date and £280 price tag. But what about the games? Everyone was expecting a new Super Mario title and perhaps a remaster of ElderScrolls V: Skyrim – and those were certainly delivered. But what else has been confirmed?Here are the titles we’re most looking forward to.

Exclusive: Privacy campaigners criticise WhatsApp vulnerability as a ‘huge threat to freedom of speech’ and warn it could be exploited by government agenciesA security backdoor that can be used to allow Facebook and others to intercept and read encrypted messages has been found within its WhatsApp messaging service.

Japanese gaming company reveals new console, which launches with flagship title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, will cost $299.99 in US and £279.99 in UKJapanese gaming company Nintendo has unveiled its new Nintendo Switch console at a presentation in Tokyo.The device, a hybrid that can be used both handheld and with a TV when in a dock, will go on sale on 3 March priced $299.99 in the US and £279.99 in the UK. Other European prices will vary, Nintendo said. Continue reading...

Online retailer prepares to expand full-time US workforce by more than 50% over next 18 months, with hires from Florida to CaliforniaAmazon plans to create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States, from software development to warehouse work, becoming the latest company to boast a hiring spree since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November.The world’s largest online retailer announced on Thursday that it would grow its full-time US workforce by more than 50% to more than 280,000 in the next 18 months. Continue reading...

What are the origins of the 35-page intelligence dossier containing allegations about links between Donald Trump and the Kremlin – and how bad could it get?With days to go before Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, Washington has been convulsed by news of a 35-page intelligence dossier containing incendiary allegations from Russian spies about close links between the Trump camp and the Kremlin as well as salacious sexual details that could allegedly expose the next US head of state to blackmail. The allegations are wholly unsubstantiated, but were deemed serious enough for US intelligence agencies to pass a two-page summary of them last week both to Trump and the current president, Barack Obama.Related: Trump dossier: intelligence sources vouch for credibility of report's author Continue reading...

Proposed rules for robots and AI in Europe include a push for a general basic income for humans, and ‘human rights’ for robotsThe European parliament has urged the drafting of a set of regulations to govern the use and creation of robots and artificial intelligence, including a form of “electronic personhood” to ensure rights and responsibilities for the most capable AI.In a 17-2 vote, with two abstentions, the parliament’s legal affairs committee passed the report, which outlines one possible framework for regulation. Continue reading...

Company behind advanced flying camera capable of shooting video and stills while following users offers refunds as financing failsEagerly anticipated “selfie drone” the Lily Camera, which promised to be able to follow owners around and automatically photograph them, has been cancelled by its designers.The drone secured at least $34m of pre-orders since going on sale on the manufacturer’s website in June, but the costs of development continually outpaced the speed with which Lily could raise funds. Continue reading...

The new machine seeks to merge the handheld and home console experiences. Now it needs to find an audienceIn 2013, Nintendo opened a new research and development facility in its home town of Kyoto, Japan. Usually, a consumer technology manufacturer opening a new office wouldn’t be news, but this was different: the $350m building would house both the company’s handheld and console gaming R&D teams.In the past, these groups had been kept apart, producing very different hardware and games for the different markets – now they would be merged. At the time, analysts thought this was to improve functionality between the Wii U and 3DS, but now we understand this was not the end goal – the end goal was Switch. This hybrid gaming system, which works as both a portable machine and a home console, now looks to represent Nintendo’s future in the games industry. But what does that mean? Continue reading...

Project to build solar-powered drone to provide internet access in remote areas closed in favour of competing high-altitude balloon schemeGoogle owner Alphabet’s subsidiary research company, X, has shut down its project aimed at building a solar-powered drone intended to bring internet access to remote areas.The project, which stemmed from an acquisition Google made in April 2014 of New Mexico-based Titan Aerospace, was deemed by X to be less promising than a competing attempt to use lightweight weather balloons for the same purpose. Continue reading...

David Kaye warns digital economy bill’s age controls and censorship of websites could break international human rights lawThe UN’s free speech advocate has warned that British government plans to enforce age verification and some censorship of pornographic websites risk breaking international human rights law and would contribute to a “significant tightening of control over the internet”.David Kaye, the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, called on ministers to conduct a comprehensive review of the digital economy bill, which he said facilitated state surveillance and lacked judicial oversight.

Windows Vista reaches the end of its life on 11 April. John wants to buy a new PC to replace his slow 10-year-old Acer Aspire.I have a 10-year-old Acer Aspire T660 desktop with 640MB of memory and Windows Vista Premium installed. The whole system is getting slower and slower, including the instruction to print documents and/or photos to my HP printer/copier/scanner.I use the PC for email, online banking, word processing and spreadsheets (Microsoft Office), Skype and some games. Broadband here to the house is poor.You must have an enormous amount of patience to run Windows Vista in 640MB or even 2GB of memory, and your best investment would have been to add as much memory as your PC could handle – in this case, 4GB. Sadly, it’s too late for that: it’s not worth spending money on a machine that is at the end of its useful life. On the plus side, almost anything will be a huge improvement. Continue reading...

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

Two employees say company didn’t offer adequate psychological support for a job requiring them to view ‘indescribable’ sexual assaults and murdersMicrosoft workers on the “online safety team” were forced to view photos and videos of “indescribable sexual assaults”, “horrible brutality”, murder and child abuse, resulting in severe post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a lawsuit.The complaint, filed on behalf of two employees and their families, outlined the “inhumane and disgusting content” the moderators viewed on a regular basis and alleged that the psychological impact has been so extreme that the men are “triggered” by simply seeing children and can no longer use computers without breaking down. Continue reading...

Internet Australia wants review brought forward owing to ‘continuing disquiet’ as government seeks to expand accessThe peak body for internet users in Australia has formally requested that a review of the attorney general’s data retention scheme be brought forward, calling the legislation a “monumental stuff-up” as the government seeks to expand access to include civil lawsuits.

The dossier includes lurid details from Trump’s 2013 visit to Moscow and claims an ‘extensive conspiracy’ between his team and the Kremlin – is it true?

The Facebook Journalism Project comes after company accused of failing to tackle misinformation and at a time when newsrooms are cutting costsFacebook has unveiled measures to establish stronger ties between the social network and the news industry, allowing for collaboration on product development, new ways for publishers to make money, and training for newsrooms and readers.The announcement of the Facebook Journalism Project comes in the wake of heightened scrutiny of the social network’s role as a distributor of news, which saw the company accused of failing to tackle the spread of misinformation in the run-up to the US presidential election. At the same time, Facebook and Google are taking the lion’s share of online advertising revenue while newsrooms cut costs and make lay-offs. Continue reading...

Long-lost titles finally saw the light of day, and Mario ran into troubleRelated: The Last Guardian review – a joyous meditation on companionshipIn an industry fuelled by carefully managed waves of hype, developers can easily get carried away in the promotion of software that isn’t quite ready yet. Sometimes that means being loose-lipped about features that don’t make it into the final product, a crime for which the internet will punish you in the same way as if you’d been caught drowning puppies. Other times, games are talked about for so long that they start to seem less like forms of entertainment and more like musty urban myths. But, for some reason, the last few weeks have seen the emergence of a clutch of games that had themselves in video game lore as forever “coming soon”. Continue reading...

Beijing KFC is pioneering technology to try to predict and remember people’s fast food choices but there’s a trade off between convenience and privacyWalking into the KFC restaurant in Beijing’s financial district, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a fried chicken outlet like any other. It’s only if you head right to the back corner of the shop that you realise you’re actually in China’s first smart restaurant.KFC has teamed up with Baidu – the search engine company often referred to as “China’s Google” – to develop facial-recognition technology that can be used to predict customer’s orders. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary tells incoming US administration that Russia and Putin have been ‘up to all sorts of very dirty tricks’The Russian embassy in London has accused the Foreign Office of preparing to mount a witch-hunt against Moscow in the wake of allegations by the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, that Russia has been “up to all sorts of tricks”.Johnson had claimed that the Kremlin was behind the hack of the Democratic campaign headquarters computer during the US presidential race, the first time that the UK has confirmed US intelligence reports linking the hacks to Russia. Continue reading...

European ePrivacy directive revision looks to protect communication confidentiality, block nonconsensual tracking and lessen cookie warningsMessaging services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Gmail will face tough new rules on the tracking of users under a revision to the ePrivacy Directive proposed by the European Commission on Tuesday.

Targets allegedly included former prime ministers Matteo Renzi and Mario Monti and ECB chief Mario DraghiItalian police have arrested two people who allegedly tried to hack the communications of former prime minister Matteo Renzi and other senior Italian politicians and business executives as part of a cyber-espionage ring that sought sensitive financial and political information.The alleged hackers, named as Giulio Occhionero and Francesca Maria Occhionero, a brother and sister who were residents of London, also targeted the former prime minister Mario Monti; the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi; Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a member of the conclave that elected Pope Francis, and top officials in Italy’s tax police. Continue reading...

Experiential games are finding new ways to tell interactive stories, but studio Humble Grove has given the genre a new autobiographical twistTurning a space into a home is a process akin to alchemy. It’s a combination of objects (old, new, inherited, broken, and sometimes of mysterious origin) and an investment of emotional energy. Space does not become a home overnight. It’s worked and kneaded, left to rise. It is gradual, and then it is a sudden realisation that becomes magically real: this house is now mine.Hana Lee and Tom Davison, the duo behind independent studio Humble Grove, explore this cathexis of placemaking in their forthcoming game, 29, set in an isometric facsimile of the flat they lived in as students. Via soft, desaturated pastels, they’ve captured the whole feel of the place, from a clock ticking on the wall, to a cat purring, radiators popping and pipes groaning in the walls. But there are also magical elements mixed in with the kitchen sink realism. A small fern creeps up from the floor where you walk, and it dies just as quickly. Stars wink in and out of existence just behind you. It’s a familiar place – but uncertain. There are suitcases packed in the bedroom, but nowhere to go. Continue reading...

Chrome, Safari, Opera and extensions such as LastPass can be tricked into leaking private information using hidden text boxes, developer findsYour browser or password manager’s autofill might be inadvertently giving away your information to unscrupulous phishers using hidden text boxes on sites.

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

Two women recently reported their abuse on Twitter. The difference in how the company responded raises questions about the way it protects its usersOver the weekend “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli was suspended from Twitter following his interactions with Teen Vogue journalist Lauren Duca. Today, the company briefly suspended Alexandra Brodsky, a fellow at the National Women’s Law Center, after she retweeted screengrabs of antisemitic abuse she received. Her abusers’ accounts were not suspended.Related: Martin Shkreli suspended from Twitter for alleged harassment of Lauren Duca Continue reading...

Clinton email hack | Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Pope and breastfeeding | Self-publishing | Singular pluralsUS security services accuse Russia of interfering in the US election (Trump meets with intelligence leaders after calling Russia case ‘witch-hunt’, 6 January), but in view of FBI director James Comey’s bombshell only 11 days before the election – announcing that the FBI had discovered additional emails and was reviewing them to see whether they were related to its investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information – are we to assume he is also a Russian agent?

Government focus on false reporting comes amid claims that Russia is trying to influence German election later this yearGerman government officials have said they are investigating an unprecedented proliferation of fake news items amid reports of Russian efforts to influence the country’s election later this year.The BfV domestic intelligence agency confirmed that a cyber-attack last December against the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) used the same “attack infrastructure” as a 2015 hack of the German parliament attributed to Russian hacking group APT28. Continue reading...

PM says protection down to individual parties, while senior Whitehall source claims UK does not take threat seriouslyTheresa May has been urged to take stronger action against the threat of foreign powers influencing UK elections through hacking, following accusations of Russian interference in the US presidential contest. Angus Robertson, the SNP Westminster leader, questioned whether the government was doing enough to protect the UK’s democratic system against online threats, following claims that Russia orchestrated an attack against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party during the US election.May has said that it was a matter for individual political parties to protect themselves against cyber-attacks. It is understood that the major parties have their own safeguards in place, but government agencies have not approached them with offers of extra help in light of the US hacking scandal.

A leading police officer wants young offenders to be issued with tags that block the internet. All we need to do is change the law (and hide all the cables)

Vladimir Putin’s office says intelligence agencies’ accusations are unfounded and amount to a political witch-huntThe Kremlin has hit back at a US intelligence report blaming Russia for interference in the presidential election, describing the claims as part of a political witch-hunt.“These are baseless allegations substantiated with nothing, done on a rather amateurish, emotional level,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday. “We still don’t know what data is really being used by those who present such unfounded accusations.” Continue reading...

Streep delivers an emotional speech while La La Land breaks records; Standing Rock inspires other protests; 16 arrested in Kim Kardashian West robberyLa La Land continued its seemingly unstoppable Oscars charge by winning a record-breaking seven awards at the ceremony in Los Angeles Sunday. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone both took home awards for acting and Damien Chazelle won best director for the film. Moonlight took home best picture drama. One of the night’s biggest moments, though, saw Meryl Streep deliver a searing and emotional speech, in which she criticized Donald Trump for imitating a reporter with disabilities and called on the press to hold power to account. “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence invites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose,” she said. Trump responded on Twitter, calling Streep a “Hillary flunky” and “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood”, before denying he mocked the reporter. Continue reading...

Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicked it all off in 2007, but since then the iPhone has seen size, shape, capability and feature changes, from apps, Siri, retina screens, waterproofing and headphone socket removal. Here’s how the iPhone has evolved over the last 10 years. Continue reading...

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

President-elect’s incoming White House chief of staff says Trump ‘accepts the findings’ of a report on Russian interference in the electionDonald Trump no longer denies that Russia orchestrated a cyber-attack against Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her party, according to his top advisers, who also blamed Democrats for the breach and falsely characterized the testimony of an intelligence chief to Congress.Related: Barack Obama says Donald Trump may have 'enough craziness' to be president Continue reading...

If you’re taking your photography more seriously, and would like to upgrade from camera or phone, here are six top models with connectivitywith a M.Zuiko Digital 14‑42mm 1:3.5‑5.6 II R lens; 16MP; 503g; £549 Continue reading...

The influential tech thinker has charted the history of the attention industry: enterprises that harvest our attention to sell to advertisers. The internet, he argues, is the latest communications tool to have fallen under its spellTim Wu is a law professor at Columbia University. His specialities include competition, copyright and telecommunications law. So far, so conventional. But Wu is an unconventional academic. For one thing, he ran for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governorship of New York (and won 40% of the popular vote, though not the primary election). For another, he served for a time in the office of New York’s attorney general, specialising in issues involving technology, consumer protection and ensuring fair competition among online companies. “If I have a life mission,” he said once, “it is to fight bullies. I like standing up for the little guy and I think that’s what the state attorney general’s office does.”As I said, no ordinary academic. But it gets better. Wu is also the guy who coined the phrase “net neutrality”, which has turned out to be a key concept in debates about regulation of the internet. He was for a time a senior adviser to the Federal Trade Commission, America’s main consumer protection agency. And somehow, in the middle of all this activity, he writes books that make a big impact. Continue reading...

Donald Trump tweets defiance as New York Times sources say Britain ‘among first’ to raise alarm over hacking of Democratic National Committee

With Barack Obama’s presidency coming to a close, Ewen MacAskill, the Guardian’s defence and intelligence correspondent, helps us explore what mass surveillance in America might look like under Donald TrumpIn this week’s episode of Chips with Everything, we discuss the Patriot Act, the USA Freedom Act and Edward Snowden’s NSA files leak. Plus: we look at how president-elect Donald Trump’s outlook on mass surveillance might compare and contrast to that of President Barack Obama’s. Continue reading...

Resident Evil haunts the deep south, Halo Wars makes a twisted return – and Nintendo launches a its keenly awaited new console … the best of games to come

Nintendo’s new portable platform seeks to bridge home life and travel – but the maverick company will need industry rivals to jump on board to win success

A voyage through the offbeat products on show at CES 2017, the annual electronics show, foreshadows a weird and wild futureA pet collar that communicates whether a dog is happy or sad. A robot suitcase. A pair of jeans that gives directions.These are all real things that real people can supposedly really purchase one day,on show at this year’s CES, the annual electronics show in Las Vegas. Continue reading...

Digital interactivity has top billing at the Las Vegas event. But how many people really want a toothbrush that films the inside of their mouth as they clean?If this year’s CES continues to predict future tech trends, then we can soon expect to have emotional relationships with our cars, virtual reality devices so realistic you need a sick bag, and products so pricey most people won’t be able to afford them.One of the main themes this year at the premier electronics convention, which is held annually in Vegas, is that in the future everything will have a relationship with everything. Continue reading...

Unveiled at CES 2017, Tappy ‘smart rings’ connect to wearer’s bank account and can be used to make purchases through contactless pay terminals in storesIn the future, rings could become much more than statements of commitment or fashion. According to a Hong Kong-based tech company, wedding rings will continue to be symbols of everlasting love – but also a method of payment.The Tappy “smart ring”, unveiled this week at CES, the annual electronics show in Las Vegas, will enable its wearer to pay for items in any stores using contactless payment terminals, simply by placing their ring finger close to a payment machine. Continue reading...

Campbell Brown will lead efforts to improve partnerships with news organizations that depend on social media company’s content distributionFacebook has hired former CNN anchor Campbell Brown to help build better relations with news organizations in the wake of the fake news scandal.The social media giant already has a team of staff to liaise with media within the markets it operates but Brown – an Emmy-winning TV veteran who also worked at NBC – at will lead this team, reporting into Nick Grudin, vice-president of media partnerships. Continue reading...

UN aid target | Jazz and football | Passport applications | Consumer debt | Russian hacking | An audientYou fail to mention (UK among six countries to hit 0.7% UN aid spending target, 5 January) that the United Arab Emirates has met the UN commitment of spending 0.7% of gross national income since 2013. The most recent OECD report, quoted in your article, shows that the UAE contributed 1.09% of GNI towards overseas aid in 2015, making it second only to Sweden in terms of aid spending as a proportion of GNI. The UAE shares the UK’s commitment to overseas aid.