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Senator wants the federal government to investigate the extent to which the short-term lodging market actually consists of commercial rental firmsSenator Elizabeth Warren has urged the federal government to investigate Airbnb and other short-term rental companies in a move that experts say marks an unprecedented step in US lawmakers’ formal scrutiny of the “sharing economy”.The progressive senator from Massachusetts, who has taken on a high-profile role in the presidential race, co-signed a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday, requesting that the agency “study and quantify” the extent to which the short-term lodging market consists of “persons or firms acting in a commercial manner by renting out entire residences or multiple residences simultaneously”. Continue reading...

Engrossing and high-grossing, this game is a further sign of the commercialisation of our imaginationsThe streets are suddenly full of people ignoring obvious obstacles and dangers because they are playing a collective game on their smartphones. Pokémon Go requires players to walk around looking through their smartphone cameras, waiting for them to show an image of a Pokémon superimposed onto the real-world scene. The aim is to capture them with a phone gesture: there are 150 different varieties, some more common than others. The game has been a sensation in a sensational world (the games market worldwide grossed $6bn in May), putting 25% on the value of Nintendo, the company that owns Pokémon, and downloaded so often in its first week that it is now on more smartphones than the dating app Tinder and has as many active users as Twitter. Yet, technically, it is unremarkable: what’s interesting is what it tells us about ourselves, and about the economy that we work and play within.To overlay reality with an imagined meaning, to blur the boundary between real and virtual worlds, is something we have always done. The technology has changed, but in London, for example, there is usually a queue at King’s Cross station for the sign marking “Platform 9¾”, from where the Hogwarts Express is supposed to leave – a collective fantasy almost entirely driven by print. Augmented reality has long been imagined in science fiction, written about and filmed. The smartphone gives it another technological expression but it can hardly be said to give it a new reality. What is novel about Pokémon Go is that it has taken an existing game framework and plugged into a story, or a game, that many of the players have been familiar with since their childhood: the young adults playing on their smartphones now are those who played Pokémon with cards and game consoles in their schooldays. Continue reading...

Developer Niantic rolls out improved version of app to first non-English language country, as rest of Europe waits with bated breathSmash-hit augmented reality game Pokémon Go has launched in Germany, making its first move into Europe and outside of the US, Australia and New Zealand.

I can’t put a billboard on your house without your permission, but I can put a Pokéstop there. As real and virtual worlds collide, that is causing problemsWhen a virtual space overlaps a real-world space, then whose space is it, and who controls what is created as a result? The success of augmented-reality game Pokémon Go has forced this question into focus. Since its launch less than a week ago, groups worldwide have struggled with the game’s unforeseen ramifications. Continue reading...

Body launches public consultation on laws that need updating including online abuse legislation, which predates digital ageLegislation criminalising indecent or grossly offensive communications should be clarified to help tackle abuse and “trolling” on the internet, the Law Commission has suggested.Launching a public consultation on laws that may need reform, the body that identifies legal flaws also proposed reviewing ineffective or outdated parliamentary acts governing weddings, surrogacy, the “Maxwellisation” process – in which individuals facing criticism are given an opportunity to respond during public inquiries – codification of the law in Wales and confiscation of the proceeds of crime. Continue reading...

Fans of hit smartphone game trek to ‘only Pokémon Go holy land on peninsula’ following restrictions on Google Maps, leaving behind jobs and familiesSouth Korean Pokémon Go players have been forced to leave their home towns and flock to a remote city close to the North Korean border in order to play because of the country’s mapping restrictions.

Tech giant’s first original production will feature developers trying to create ‘the next great app’Apple is seeking participants for its new reality TV show Planet of the Apps.The casting call issued on Tuesday by co-producers Propagate seeks app developers aged over 18 who are planning on making apps for Apple devices. Continue reading...

Burning airships, rocket guns, fighting on horseback – what did playing the closed alpha version of EA’s eagerly anticipated epic tell us about the future of a battered genre?“Preparing all-out war,” says the starting screen as Battlefield 1 loads up. It’s not kidding. When Electronic Arts launched the trailer for its first world war shooter, fans were delighted to see the series, not only returning to its historical roots, but heading even further back than the original start point: 1942. This heavily viewed slab of cacophonous action promised an epic war story of destruction and gritty combat; and judging by the closed alpha test – an early version of the St Quentin’s Scar map available only to a select few players – the game will deliver.After several days on the mostly stable 64-player servers, here’s what we’ve learned about the Battlefield 1 experience so far. Continue reading...

Dominant smartphone operating system maker given extra time to respond to European commission charges over market abuse of Android and Google Search and Chrome appsGoogle has been given a six-week extension until early September to respond to EU antitrust charges filed against its mobile operating system Android.In April the European commission said Google’s requirement that mobile phone manufacturers pre-install Google Search and the Google’s Chrome browser in order to get access to other Google apps including the Google Play Store, the largest source of Android apps with more than 2m available, may harm consumers and competition. Continue reading...

Britain’s biggest carmaker plans to deploy self-driving vehicles on motorways and roads near its Coventry HQ later this yearJaguar Land Rover has said it will create a fleet of more than 100 research vehicles over the next four years to test autonomous and connected technology, with the first hitting the streets later this year.

Phenomenal success of Nintendo’s mobile game has led to renewed interest in the Japanese franchise with Legendary Pictures reported to be close to a dealThe worldwide success of Nintendo’s mobile game Pokémon Go has led to renewed talks over a live-action movie.Related: The joys of Pokémon Go: exercise, the outdoors and 'full-on escapism' Continue reading...

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

Memorial to victims of Nazis is designated as a ‘Pokéstop’ but officials point out that playing game on the grounds is ‘extremely inappropriate’The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery have requested that smartphone users refrain from “catching” Pokémon when they visit.Like many other landmarks, the museum and the military cemetery are featured in the popular new Pokémon Go game. Continue reading...

Architects and planners brought up on SimCity are using the principles of gaming to encourage sustainabilityMany children of the 1990s would have fond memories of the smash-hit computer game SimCity. The open-ended simulation that allowed players to plan entire cities while balancing public service, environmental and budgetary pressures smashed preconceptions of what a video game could be.At the time of SimCity’s emergence in 1989, a video game with no end and no set target was considered absurd. But the sheer detail (down to crime and traffic levels on each street), the ease of learning, constant feedback to player decisions (citizens moving into suburbs or buildings becoming derelict) and the ability to “play god” lifted this title from mere simulation to a global sensation. Continue reading...

Did you hear the one about the Wyoming girl who stumbled across a dead body while catching Pokémon by a river?Catching cheating boyfriends, stumbling across dead bodies and advertising one’s services as a professional Pokémon Go trainer – less than a week since the launch of the virtual-meets-real-world app Pokémon Go and the stories it has sparked are kookier than the names of the critters its fans are trying to catch. Continue reading...

Tesla said data suggested the driver’s hands were not on the wheel in a recent accident in Montana in which a Model X veered off the road and hit a postAnother accident involving Tesla’s autopilot system has been reported, this time in Montana when a Model X veered off the road and hit a post.Early on Sunday morning on a highway near Whitehall, a Tesla veered off to the right into a wooden guardrail, according to the Detroit Free Press, stopping the car before it left the road. The driver told a highway patrol officer that the car’s driver assist feature had been engaged. Continue reading...

Currency behind social media website Steemit, in which users are rewarded or paid based number of ‘thumbs up’, has rocketed to more than $150m in valueSteem, the digital currency behind the new social media website Steemit, soared more than 1,000% in value on Tuesday to more than $150m, two weeks after it first paid people who posted on its website, according to coinmarketcap.com.

By signing up to the retail giant’s affiliate network, Amazon Associates, publishers can earn commissions from linking to products on Amazon.comIn July 2015, Amazon declared its own annual holiday: Amazon Prime Day. The retail giant promised deals on a wide range of products for customers signed up to its membership program, Amazon Prime.This is the second Amazon Prime Day, and it’s pretty hard to miss. At the time of writing, the #PrimeDay hashtag was one of Twitter’s top 10 worldwide trends. Media outlets including the Daily Mail, USA Today, the Telegraph, PC World and CNet are publishing numerous stories about the discounts on offer, and urging readers to sign up for an Amazon Prime trial. Continue reading...

Brogan BamBrogan brings harassment and nepotism lawsuit against the supersonic transport company, claiming he feared for his physical safetySenior executives at Hyperloop One, the much-hyped technology company developing a high-speed transportation system, are being accused of nepotism and physically threatening and harassing employees in a lawsuit filed by the startup’s co-founder and three former employees.Brogan BamBrogan, a co-founder who recently resigned as chief technology officer, alleges that one executive left a “hangman’s noose” on his chair in one of the most explosive claims, which is bolstered by photos included in the complaint. Continue reading...

Internapalooza provides an inside look at the peculiar cultural initiation to the tech industry: coding, entrepreneurship and a certain amount of privilegeThere were piles of free stuff at Internapalooza, the annual gathering of thousands of tech industry summer interns. In the club level at the San Francisco Giants’ stadium on Monday evening, name-tag-sporting millennials travelled in packs of three and four as they scooped up branded T-shirts, tote bags, water bottles, Moleskin notebooks, sunglasses, argyle socks from Zillow, mobile device charge pads from eBay, winter caps from Google, flip flops from Andreessen Horowitz, and – the overall favorite – selfie sticks and throw pillows from YouTube.Almost everything was free. Everything except the popcorn. Continue reading...

Nintendo’s share price soars but there have been safety fears over players visiting secluded locations late at nightAn app that began as an April Fools joke has become a worldwide phenomenon, taking gamers out of the living room and on to the streets as they compete to capture, train and battle Pokémon characters using their mobile phones.In just seven days since the game was released in the US, Australia and New Zealand, Pokémon Go has now almost certainly exceeded Twitter’s 65 million American users, and the game’s servers have repeatedly crashed under the strain of its popularity. Continue reading...

US Fish and Wildlife Service to target diseased prairie dogs, food for the ferrets, via specially designed drones that shoot the candies in three directions at onceThe US government is set to unleash drones that fire vaccine-covered M&Ms in a bid to save the endangered black-footed ferret, a species that is facing a plague epidemic across America’s great plains.

Investigatory powers bill could lead to video shot by reporters being accessed remotely by police or their phone microphones used as a bug, peers sayPeers have issued a serious warning that the government’s proposed “snooper’s charter” law could endanger journalists and their sources.The House of Lords heard a strong cross-party plea that greater protection for journalists’ sources was needed in Theresa May’s investigatory powers bill, which seeks to extend the powers of state surveillance. Continue reading...

Fans from San Francisco to New York extol the benefits of the monster-catching craze – while trying to avoid walking into poles“There’s a really rare Pokémon really close by,” confides Deann Rossi.

The augmented-reality game Pokémon Go has become hugely popular. It might be fun, but is it also benefiting players’ mental and physical health? Many fans of the game in the US and Australia – the only locations where the game has been officially released – seem to think so

Reverence for the original brand inspired two San Francisco-based Brits to bring back the magic with a modern twist: 3D moving imagesBefore everyone had a digital camera tucked inside their mobile phone, before the duck-faced selfies and sepia-toned filters of Instagram, before Flickr and Periscope and Snapchat, there was Polaroid.From 1948 to the early 2000s, that name was synonymous with “instant visual gratification”. Wait 60 seconds, and the photo you just snapped would appear magically before your eyes. Continue reading...

Gears of War 4 developer will be owned by a company which, until 2015, exclusively dealt in chicken meatLondon-based games developer Splash Damage has been bought by Chinese chicken supplier Leyou.Best known for its involvement in the Wolfenstein, Quake and Gears of War franchises, as well as its own multiplayer shooter Brink, Splash Damage will be the second games developer owned by Leyou, whose Reuters profile describes the company as “engaged in supplying chicken meat products in the Fujian province”. Continue reading...

The latest video-game-to-movie adaptation will update an obscure Sega Mega Drive title from 1992 about a young superhero for hireAn obscure Sega Mega Drive title about a slacker who becomes a superhero for hire is the latest video game to become a candidate for a big-screen adaptation, according to Deadline.Rent-a-Hero, first released in 1992, has a backstory in which a small-town Japanese kid orders a pizza and instead receives a suit of power armour. Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink (who also co-wrote Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity) is on board to direct, and will write the script with Jeff Morris (The True Memoirs of an International Assassin). Continue reading...

In 2015, the story of a stolen iPhone went viral and led to a friendship forged on China’s Twitter. Now, the Finding Dory star is working on a film about itEllen DeGeneres and BuzzFeed are working together on a film inspired by a series of articles about a stolen mobile phone, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Continue reading...

From calendar to email, here’s what to replace the iOS defaults with to work better, harder and hopefully lessFace it: the best thing about iOS is the App Store. The iPhone has come a long way since version one, but the ability to add to the fifteen built-in apps has been the biggest improvement.These days, Apple’s default apps are showing their age. What’s more, they suffer from being too simple for power users and too complex for new users. Ask anyone who needs to get serious work done with their iPhone and they’ll tell you that the first step to a more productive life is to ditch the defaults and replace them with apps built from the ground-up for power. Continue reading...

Where can I find rare Pokémon? How can I make it easier to capture them, what should I do with stardust and candy, and how do I make my battery last?Pokémon Go has caught the world by storm, sent Nintendo’s stock price rocketing, atheists into churches and Australians into police stations.But it can be confusing and a lot of legwork, literally, if you screw something up – so here are a few tips to get you started. Continue reading...

Investment surge adds £7bn to firm’s worth as Pokémon Go transforms Japanese company from reluctant mobile gamer to augmented reality trailblazerInvestors are still trying to catch some of the runaway success of Pokémon Go, extending the gain for Nintendo shares to more than 50% in three trading days since the game was launched.Nintendo’s shares rose 12.8% to ¥22,860 in Tokyo on Tuesday, taking total gains in the past three days to 53%. The rise has added £7bn to the company’s market value since the latest version of its 21-year-old game was made available on 7 July. Continue reading...

Over two years, eight videos from Melbourne’s the Woolshed Company were viewed more than 205m times, partly thanks to $100,000 in taxpayer fundingThe Australian producers who were behind eight fake viral videos which made news around the world were part of a Screen Australia-funded project to explore the impact of a short film narrative.Over two years, eight disparate videos from Melbourne’s the Woolshed Company were viewed in 180 countries, more than 205m times. On YouTube alone they were watched for the equivalent of 164 years; they accrued 500,000 comments and 1.6m likes. Continue reading...

Users who signed up to play the game’s iOS app were scared to find it had been granted ‘full access’ to Google - but the company says that sounds worse than it isGamers who have downloaded the Pokémon Go augmented reality game were given a scare on Monday, after noticing that the app had apparently been granted “full access” to their Google accounts.Taken at face value, the permissions would have represented a major security vulnerability, albeit one that only appeared to affect players who signed up to play the game using their Google account on Apple devices. Continue reading...

Police have issued a warning to players of the popular new smartphone game after the hunt for the virtual creatures led some users off the beaten trackNew Zealand devotees of the new smartphone game Pokémon Go have been warned by police to use their common sense after being led to the gate of a Hells Angels headquarters.Since being released last week the Pokémon Go game has taken off in New Zealand and worldwide. Continue reading...

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

From its animist origins to its relationship with tech and capitalism, the game has more in common with religion than you might expectOver the past week, tens of thousands of people have taken to roaming the streets, interacting with invisible beings that now inhabit our cities.

Some are blaming players in the UK, where Pokémon Go is not released, for bypassing their local servers to access the game in AustraliaAustralian Pokémon Go users are having problems logging into the reality mobile game due to high demand.The game has only been released in the US, Australia and New Zealand, and now some players are accusing UK residents of trying to bypass their local servers to access the game in Australia, resulting in server overloads and outages.

The SEC is scrutinizing whether Tesla should have disclosed the self-driving car crash in a formal regulatory filing, according to the Wall Street JournalThe US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Tesla failed to disclose to investors a lethal crash involving its autopilot technology.According to the Wall Street Journal, the SEC is scrutinizing whether the incident was “material” information that Tesla should have disclosed in a formal regulatory filing, though one source reportedly said the investigation may not lead to any kind of enforcement by the agency. Continue reading...

Nintendo’s shares went up 24% on Monday thanks to the US release of Pokémon Go last week. The application for smartphones that allows users to move around and ‘catch’ various characters is an augmented reality game, and it added $7.5bn to the company’s market value in two days

Five years after the US government took down the site accusing it of piracy, tech entrepreneur tweets about plans and hints new website will use bitcoinFlamboyant German tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom is planning to relaunch file-sharing website Megaupload in January 2017, five years after the US government took down the site accusing it of piracy.

Government seeking steer from drivers on everything from collision liablity and car insurance to remote parkingA planned shake-up of motor insurance rules and changes to the highway code have been unveiled by the government in preparation for the arrival of driverless cars on UK roads.

From armed robberies to space invaders, the launch of the Nintendo game has had more than a few unexpected outcomes

We asked fans to give their verdicts on the new Pokémon game for smartphones. Here’s what you saidThe classic creature capture game has taken the world by storm with people in the UK refusing to let the lack of an official launch date deter them. It’s the first time the digital monsters have made it on to smartphones – so what do you make of this new venture?We asked fans to review the latest Pokémon Go – does it live up to the hype? Are you getting more fresh air/exercise than you expected? Here’s what you told us. Continue reading...

Producers of content from toy-unboxing videos to Minecraft gamers and vloggers target growing children’s marketAt the Children’s Media Conference in London last week, one big structural shift in how the young watch TV loomed large amidst conversations about diversity and the impact of Brexit.YouTube was still the hottest of topics, with its ever-growing popularity among children making it impossible to ignore. In May 2016, 35 of the top 100 YouTube channels (by video views) were aimed at children, generating 8.6bn views collectively. Continue reading...

Hundreds of centers across the US are using virtual reality to train officers to shoot more accurately – and also help them to decide whether to shoot at allWhen I arrived, two women sitting in a hot tub asked me what I was doing in their backyard. I wasn’t quite sure myself. “I’m just here because I heard it was a little loud and I’m seeing if you could keep it down.”In the corner of my eye, a tall man lumbered toward me from inside the house, swinging a bottle. I asked him once, then twice, to put down the threatening object. Continue reading...

Disappearing messages launched alongside new encryption feature, ‘secret conversations’For the fourth time, Facebook is trialling a Snapchat-style ephemeral messaging system.This time, however, the company is introducing the new feature alongside a much wider change: the first chance to use end-to-end encryption to secure conversations on Facebook Messenger. Continue reading...

Location-based creature capture game takes US and Australia by storm, but isn’t available in the UK yet. What if you can’t wait?Pokémon Go is finally rolling out to Android and iOS smartphones, but while it’s available in Australia and the US, it has yet to be pushed out to the UK. Luckily, players don’t have to wait.Related: 'I've never walked my dog so much': readers review Pokémon Go Continue reading...

Popularity of new Android and iPhone augmented reality game overwhelms developer’s servers putting brakes on rollout beyond Australia and the US