The place to talk about games and other things that matter... for two more daysThe Blood Bowl is almost done. Continue reading...

Ubisoft has enlisted leading Egyptologists, historians and hieroglyphics-deciphering AI to create an authentic experience of the age of CleopatraIn 49 BCE Cleopatra ascended to the Egyptian throne amid enormous geopolitical upheaval and radical change. With the final war of the Roman Republic brewing, the period has proven hugely influential in fine art, theatre and film, from Shakespeare to Hollywood. But later this year it may be subject to its most rigorous investigation yet: a video game.Out at the end of October, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, follows the story of Bayek, a military officer looking to protect his people as Julius Caesar’s Roman army threatens invasion. The game is set to feature a vast open-world recreation of ancient Egypt, featuring several cities as well as stretches of wilderness and ocean. As with all titles in the series, historical events and figures are set to figure, but this time, the gargantuan project isn’t just about the game – Ubisoft has more ambitious plans for its rich simulation. Continue reading...

In direct challenge to Apple, Google’s new high-end smartphones have 64GB of storage, front-facing speakers and 12-megapixel cameras supported by machine-learning

As Silicon Valley heralds progress on self-driving cars and robot carers, much of the rest of the country is worried about machines taking control of human tasksSilicon Valley celebrates artificial intelligence and robotics as fields that have the power to improve people’s lives, through inventions like driverless cars and robot carers for the elderly.That message isn’t getting through to the rest of the country, where more than 70% of Americans express wariness or concern about a world where machines perform many of the tasks done by humans, according to Pew Research. Continue reading...

National Transport Commission argues for exemption for self-driving cars when there is ‘no possibility that a human could drive’Uber drivers could one day be spared from engaging in small talk with drunks if a National Transport Commission suggestion to allow people under the influence of alcohol to use fully automated vehicles is adopted by state road authorities.The NTC, an independent statutory body tasked with reforming Australia’s driving laws to prepare for the arrival of driverless cars, has recommended an “exemption” from drink and drug-driving laws for people who ride in fully automated vehicles. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matter... for two and a half more daysDear ChatterboxersAs you may have seen I’m leaving my position as games editor this Friday – unfortunately, this also means the end of Chatterbox as I’m the only one who maintains the regular posts. I’m really sorry that our friendly, funny and long-running forum must come to an end. Continue reading...

Commission also says it plans to take Irish government to European court of justice over failure to collect €13bn from AppleAmazon has been ordered to repay €250m (£222m) in illegal state aid to Luxembourg, as EU authorities continue their campaign against sweetheart deals that help the biggest corporations slash their tax bills.

Firm brings in advisers from academia and charity sector to ‘help technologists put ethics into practice’ in bid to help society cope with artificial intelligenceDeepmind, Google’s London-based AI research sibling, has opened a new unit focused on the ethical and societal questions raised by artificial intelligence.The new research unit will aim “to help technologists put ethics into practice, and to help society anticipate and direct the impact of AI so that it works for the benefit of all”, according to the company, which hit headlines in 2016 for building the first machine to beat a world champion at the ancient Asian board game Go. Continue reading...

Google is taking on Apple with launch of new smartphones, right down to the rumoured lack of headphone socket – here’s what we expect to be unveiledTwo new Pixel phones and a competitor to Amazon’s Echo Dot are among the products expected to be unveiled today at an event held by Google.The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones will be iterations of the first Pixel phones released a year ago, according to leaks, while the Google Home Mini smart speaker is expected to be similar to Amazon’s shrunk-down Echo Dot smart speaker, squeezing the voice-control features into a smaller package but requiring a separate speaker for high-quality music playback. Continue reading...

The company said last December that data from more than 1bn user accounts was compromised in the largest breach in history, but is now tripling that figureYahoo said on Tuesday that every one of its 3bn accounts was affected by a 2013 data theft at the tech company, tripling its earlier estimate of the largest breach in history.The company, now part of Verizon Communications, said last December that data from more than 1bn user accounts was compromised by hackers in August 2013. Continue reading...

Ride-hailing firm says it is ‘determined to make things right’ in London as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi leads bid to regain licenceUber and Transport for London are to hold further peace talks after failing to reach an agreement at a summit where the ride-hailing app’s chief executive launched an attempt to win back its licence.

Richard Smith offered apologies in testimony before House and Senate panels reviewing data breach that affected an estimated 145 million AmericansEquifax’s “lax attitude” to protecting consumers’ data came in for sharp criticism on Tuesday as Congress grilled the credit agency’s former chairman and CEO over the company’s failures in the wake of a massive data breach.Related: Equifax chief Richard Smith steps down in wake of massive data breach Continue reading...

Company could become big player in smartphone-making with acquisition of part of HTC and forthcoming Pixel 2 launch – but it’s still got a long way to goWith the Pixel 2 smartphones expected to launch on Wednesday, Google buying up a chunk of smartphone manufacturer HTC and claiming to be “betting big on hardware”, what does the Android-maker really need to do to beat Apple?

WhatsApp’s 1.2bn users given iOS-style emojis that differ from those on Facebook and Messenger, adding to general air of cross-platform confusionWhatsApp has created its own range of emoji for its more than 1.2 billion users, shunning those created by Apple, Google and Samsung.The new icons, visible for the first time in a beta version of its Android app, are nearly identical to those created by Apple, which WhatsApp had previously used not only in its iOS app, but also in its Android and Windows versions. Only a few small differences give away the update: for instance, the water pistol has turned orange, the ghost emoji no longer has lopsided eyes and the frying egg is now double-yolked. Continue reading...

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

New study exposes persistent racial prejudice in tech, suggesting people of color are widely marginalized and denied career opportunitiesBlack and Latino representation has declined in Silicon Valley, and although Asians are the most likely to be hired, they are the least likely to be promoted, according to a new study exposing persistent racial prejudice in the tech industry.The research from not-for-profit organization Ascend Foundation, which examined official employment data from 2007 to 2015, suggests that people of color are widely marginalized and denied career opportunities in tech – and that the millennial generation is unlikely to crack the glass ceiling for minorities. Continue reading...

Ads during election and afterward focused on ‘divisive social and political messages’, says VP after company provided material to CongressFacebook on Monday estimated that as many as 10 million people saw the political advertisements that were purchased by a shadowy Russian internet agency and ran on its platform.The company made the announcement after turning over 3,000 ads to congressional investigators examining Russian interference in the US election. Continue reading...

Panellists discuss ethical complexities and huge changes that will be brought by technology, AI and automationShould a driverless car swerve to miss a child, knowing it will kill its passenger? Or should it maintain its path and end a younger life?It’s deeply troubling ethical dilemmas like these that Sandra Peter believes will hinder the mass uptake of driverless cars, possibly beyond our lifetimes. Continue reading...

Jo Bertram announces departure as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi arrives to meet Transport for London over licence lossThe Uber executive responsible for the UK has quit, as the company’s worldwide boss prepares to meet the head of the London transport authority in an attempt to get the firm’s licence reinstated.Uber said the resignation of Jo Bertram, the head of the company in northern Europe, was not related to the decision last month by Transport for London to strip it of its licence to operate in the city.

These titles bridge the gap between anime and game culture, from Ghost in the Shell and Dragon Ball to lesser known names Ah! My Goddess and Initial DJapan’s pop culture is dominated by two inextricably linked industries – video games and animation. The twin forces even form part of the country’s Cool Japan ambassadorial project, pushing Japanese creativity to a global market. Yet in the west, although anime fandom has grown significantly, we still tend to see the fields as separate, aficionados of one medium only occasionally crossing over to the other.Anime is a powerful storytelling platform in its own right though, and with increased home video releases and a cavalcade of titles available on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Crunchyroll, it’s never been easier for players to explore a medium that has inspired thousands of video games over the last 40 years. Continue reading...

How technology is making our minds redundant

‘We almost have a person full-time on mobile phone and NBN issues in our electoral office – which is ridiculous’The only government MP not to put his name to a dissenting report rejecting a federal parliamentary paper criticising the NBN has said he believes some of the complaints about its rollout have merit.The Victorian Nationals MP Andrew Broad said he had not signed a report criticising the findings of a cross-parliamentary committee on the rollout of the national broadband network as he thought it would be “disingenuous”, because other work had prevented him from taking part in much of the committee’s “listening tour” in which it heard customer complaints. Continue reading...

Apple’s chunky phablet stands out like a sore thumb against its ever-more sleek rivals, and not even its decent camera and battery life can save it

US company to replace policy forcing news outlets to offer three free articles a day in exchange for visibility on its search engineGoogle is to abandon its controversial policy of forcing news providers to offer free articles in order to appear on its search engine as part of a collection of measures designed to support the growth of digital subscriptions.The US company will replace its so-called “first click free” policy, which requires publishers to offer three free articles a day before readers come across a pay wall. Continue reading...

Ibrat Ali doubts many driving jobs would be lost, but Srin Madipalli and others fear problems for those with access problemsMy company, Embassy Direct, which is based in Hanwell, west London, has been trading for 50 years in the private hire transport sector. It has been said that banning Uber (Report, 30 September) would put “40,000 people out of work”. But all this would do is give us, the independent private hire operators, our drivers back. Many companies’ doors have closed and those that are left have struggled just to stay afloat in this industry. I think there will be no drivers out of work; they would just go back to private hire operators.It would also make customers’ safety better monitored, as was the case pre-Uber. All companies have had their own checks and procedures for many years, and that has worked. So why, after a few years of trading, can Uber say sorry, we were doing it a bit wrong and we will do it the correct way now that TfL wants to close us down. Private hire operators do not have the funds to take TfL to court as Uber has threatened. It’s just not fair.

Developers can’t copyright a game’s mechanics, as the team behind the phenomenally successful PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have learned to their costPart of the elemental appeal of zombie fiction is the permission it provides to imagine which household item, when pressed, you might use to stove in the face of a lunging, undead version of Mrs Brown from No 37. In the glare of such an apocalypse, familiar domestic items such as tea towels, cafetieres and loo brushes must be reappraised, their value now dependent on their ability to cause brain damage rather than efficiently dry a plate, deliver coffee, or clean the glum residue from a toilet bowl. Do you reach for the bread knife (rasping, noble), or the biro (intimate, cruel)?The 17-year-old film Battle Royale further elevated the premise. In the film a busload of high school students are gassed and delivered to a remote island. There, they’re provided with a map, a pocketful of rations and a single weapon each, which range in efficiency from crossbows to paper fans. The class teacher, played by Takeshi Kitano, informs the class that they must, during the next three days, fight to the death till only one student remains. The structure is similar to that of a zombie film except your friends and colleagues are no longer the lumbering, insentient undead, but scheming, very much mortal enemies. Continue reading...

Legal mechanism may help academic expose how Big Data firms like Cambridge Analytica and Facebook get their informationA US professor is trying to reclaim his personal data from the controversial analytics firm that helped Donald Trump to power. In what legal experts say may be a “watershed” case, a US citizen is using British laws to try to discover how he was profiled and potentially targeted by the Trump campaign.David Carroll, an associate professor at Parsons School of Design in New York, has discovered a transatlantic legal mechanism that he hopes will give him access to information being sought by both the FBI and the Senate intelligence committee. In recent weeks, investigators looking at how people acting on behalf of Russia targeted American voters have focused on Trump’s data operation. But although the FBI obtained a court order against Facebook to make it disclose evidence, the exact way in which US citizens were profiled and targeted remains largely unknown. Continue reading...

The popular ‘Blacktivist’ account claimed to be a force for community organizing. Now it looks to have been part of Russia’s effort to influence politics

From Europe to north America, the ride-hailing company has run into trouble with authorities over falling foul of rulesClaiming to be a communications platform rather than a taxi service, Uber has expanded by ignoring existing rules. This has prompted protests against the ride-hailing company by drivers, run-ins with national authorities, and new laws designed to curb its activities. The decision by Transport for London to strip Uber of its licence last week was the latest in a long line of clashes between the US firm and the establishment.In some cities around the world where it operates, Uber is on a collision course with regulators, while in others it remains firmly outlawed. In several places, however, the $70bn (£52bn) firm is actively negotiating its return – or already back up and running. Continue reading...

Our hardwired tendency toward laziness means once we’ve been persuaded to adopt certain pseudo-conveniences, we won’t want to give them upThe new iPhone 8, as you probably couldn’t help learning a few weeks back, boasts “wireless charging that’s truly effortless”, meaning that instead of having to plug it into the wall, you simply place it on a special pad. Which you then plug into the wall. If you’re struggling to imagine the kind of person who finds the act of plugging a cable into their phone unacceptably inconvenient – especially since you’ll still have to leave your phone in one place while it charges – well, that makes two of us.But I’m sure wireless charging will catch on anyway, because Apple understands something profound about the psychology of convenience: half the time, it isn’t really about eliminating annoying or effortful chores. It’s about introducing features you “didn’t know you needed” – a fancy way of saying you didn’t need them – safe in the knowledge that once lots of other people have them, you’ll want them; and once you’ve got them, you won’t want to lose them. “I guess it’s one of those things you don’t really care about until you use it,” wrote one owner of another device with wireless charging, trying to explain the appeal. Which is also true of heroin, but never mind that for now. Continue reading...

Insiders say building an EV from scratch by 2020 is a huge ask in industry saddled with vast engineering, manufacturing and regulatory hurdlesDyson became the latest manufacturer to hop aboard the battery-powered bandwagon this week, revealing a £2.5bn investment plan to produce an electric vehicle by 2020.In doing so, British inventor Sir James Dyson and his vacuum cleaner-making firm, raised eyebrows across the auto industry. Dyson is attempting to crash the party at a time when traditional carmakers are embroiled in an electric vehicle (EV) arms race. Continue reading...

Ride-hailing app’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to hold talks with London’s transport commissioner on TuesdayUber’s chief executive will meet London’s transport commissioner next week, as the global ride-hailing app tries to win back its licence to operate in the UK capital.Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over the in the role a month ago, will meet the Transport for London boss, Mike Brown, on Tuesday, 10 days after the regulator said it would not renew Uber’s private-hire licence. Continue reading...

The sequel to the much-loved western adventure is actually a prequel, offers an even bigger world than the last game and now contains crocodilesAfter years of speculation, guesswork and vague landscape shots masquerading as teasers, we finally have our first proper look at the sequel to history’s greatest video game. A proper Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer moseyed on to the internet on Thursday evening, offering more information about the game than ever before.So what do we know for sure about Red Dead Redemption 2? Here’s what we extracted from the new material. Continue reading...

Musk says project codenamed BFR would also allow commercial travel to anywhere on Earth in under an hourElon Musk has unveiled plans for a new spacecraft that he says would allow his company SpaceX to colonise Mars, build a base on the moon, and allow commercial travel to anywhere on Earth in under an hour.

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

Transformation from loss-making smartphone maker to software firm continues as quarterly profits rise and yearly outlook is ‘robust’The transformation of BlackBerry from a bombed-out, loss-making smartphone maker to a new-look software firm appears to be working: the Canadian business has reported better-than-expected quarterly profits, boosting its shares by more than 12%.The company, which was famous for its tiny keyboard phones and in 2010 had more than a third of the US smartphone market, was almost driven to extinction by the iPhone. By 2016 it had less than 1% of the US market. Thousands of workers were laid off as losses mounted and the business eventually gave up making phone handsets and decided to reinvent itself as a software and services specialist selling to large corporations. Continue reading...

Prime minister accuses London mayor of ‘damaging lives’ of users, but acknowledges ride-hailing firm must address safety issuesTheresa May has said the decision not to renew Uber’s London licence is disproportionate, and accused the mayor, Sadiq Khan, of putting thousands of jobs at risk.The ride-hailing company to appeal against the decision by Transport for London not to renew its licence to operate in the capital for reasons of public safety. Continue reading...

The Mini SNES will allow original fans to share the beauty, joy and creative brilliance of Mario, Yoshi, Zelda and more with families and friendsOver the last decade we have become used to seeing Nintendo written off, then returning to the fray with an astonishing piece of hardware. The chunky Game Cube failed in the PlayStation era and everyone thought that was it – until the Wii came out and revitalised casual gaming.The Wii U was a sales disaster, its Toy Town tablet controller failing to entice developers or consumers – but now the Switch is killing it with a much better implementation of the same concept. This boom and bust model goes back further, though – it began with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Continue reading...

Facebook founder, who called it ‘crazy’ to suggest misinformation on site affected voters, describes change of heart as company provides ad content to CongressMark Zuckerberg said he regretted dismissing concerns about the Facebook’s role in influencing the US presidential race, his latest acknowledgement that misinformation on the platform has affected elections.

‘Kids today will grow up never knowing a day when they couldn’t talk to their houses,’ says executive in charge of Echo devices at launchAmazon, hoping to replicate the success of its Echo device, is poised to extend its eyes and ears into every part of your life with the launch of new voice-controlled and camera-equipped Alexa devices designed for bedrooms, living rooms and even your car.Related: The giant is coming: the true cost of Amazon to retailers and workers Continue reading...

Senator Mark Warren has considered examining site, says spokesman, as researcher reports that it was home to ‘coordinated information campaigns’Reddit could join Facebook and Twitter as a target for federal investigators exploring Russian influence over the 2016 presidential election, according to a spokesperson for Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.Warner’s staff indicated to the Guardian that, while nothing was imminent, the senator has considered examining the site as the question of 2016 election interference lingers on in parallel congressional and FBI investigations. Continue reading...

United Nations opens new centre in Netherlands to monitor artificial intelligence and predict possible threatsThe UN has warned that robots could destabilise the world ahead of the opening of a headquarters in The Hague to monitor developments in artificial intelligence.

Facial recognition system is 20 times more secure than Touch ID, but struggles with young users and siblingsThe iPhone X might be the future of Apple’s smartphone design, but its lauded Face ID facial recognition system has an issue with people under 13: it’s much more difficult to tell them apart.In a security guide published Wednesday, Apple recommends that children under the age of 13 do not use Face ID due to the probability of a false match being significantly higher for young children. The company said this was because “their distinct facial features may not have fully developed”. Continue reading...

Pirate Bay and Showtime turned to forcing unknowing visitors to mine cryptocurrency, using computers rather than eyeballs on ads to generate moneyWith the continuing collapse in online advertising revenues, websites are turning to other methods to pay their hosting bills – including using visitors’ computers and phones to mine cryptocurrency.It’s a controversial practice, with some likening it to running malware on visitor’s computers, but it is a potentially lucrative endeavour for websites. The downside is that at best it slows down visitors’ machines, and at worst it can also drain their batteries or send their electricity bills soaring. Continue reading...

This year’s footy behemoth offers improved tackling, tactics and goalkeeping intelligence as well as a new story. Is it enough to see off PES?The long-running video game rivalry between Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer is every bit as partisan as Arsenal v Spurs or City v United. At least 90 per cent of football sim fans make their respective buying decisions long before either game hits the shelves: PES season ticket holders decry the opposition as all-style, no-substance, while Fifa disciples mock their foe’s licensing issues and off-key presentation. There’s little reasoning with either side.The 2017-18 editions of the big two reveal those preconceptions to be built upon half-truths. PES 2018 does suffer from publisher Konami’s lack of riches comparative to EA’s, with Man Blue, Man Red and North East London duking it out for top-flight honours. Yet its on-field action is a touch more substantive, the smoothest passing system seen in a video game especially worthy of praise. Continue reading...

US ride-hailing company aims to repair its reputation after Transport for London ruled it was not a ‘fit and proper’ operator

If you’re not a journalist or a privacy advocate, convincing big tech to release your data is almost impossible. But hope is coming with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation

Exclusive: Multiple women fighting Uber in US sexual assault cases say the company turned its back on them, as judge calls its record with police ‘horrific’

Twitter’s 140-character limit forces its users to be funnier. It can’t compete with Facebook and shouldn’t tryOn Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s favourite social network for conducting diplomacy and insulting NFL players announced a major change.Twitter is currently testing an increase in the character limit, allowing some users to type in up to 280 characters instead of the usual 140. And that was enough to inspire Twitter’s ever-vocal users to vent, 140 characters at a time – or, for the few lucky testers, 280. Continue reading...