Technology | The Guardian

Prodrone, a Japanese company, has unveiled its rather frightening PD6B-AW-ARM model with custom-developed robotic arms for completing ‘hands-on’ operations. In the wake of the launch, tech journalists and social media users have been speculating about the drone’s applications for good and, more pressingly, evil. See here for the full demonstration of the drone Continue reading...

The ban against Shaun King, which was revoked as a ‘mistake’ hours later, is the latest incident of site censoring users following Vietnam war photo removalFacebook temporarily banned a well-known Black Lives Matter activist and writer who posted a racist message he received, raising fresh questions about the way the social media site censors journalists.Shaun King – a senior justice writer for the New York Daily News, who frequently writes viral stories about police brutality – posted on his Facebook page a screenshot of an email that twice called him the N-word, saying “FUCK YOU N*****!” The technology corporation said it was blocking him from posting for 24 hours, saying he had violated its “community standards”. Continue reading...

The traditional car manufacturer is working to develop in-car connectivity, ride-sharing and autonomous technologiesNot every self-driving car company is a hi-tech unicorn eager to disrupt the status quo. The latest firm to invite journalists to experience its autonomous technology is the epitome of traditional car manufacturing: Ford.On its sprawling campus in Dearborn, Michigan, the century-old company is trying its hardest to look and act like a new startup. In March, Ford launched a subsidiary called Ford Smart Mobility (FSM) to develop in-car connectivity, ride-sharing and autonomous technologies. FSM is designed to compete like a startup, with the aim of translating Ford’s decade of work in autonomous systems into real products. Continue reading...

Sandberg says the company will learn from its mistake after controversy over deleting famous Vietnam war photo of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attackFacebook will learn from a mistake it made by deleting a historic Vietnam war photo of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack, said Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer.The photograph was removed from several accounts on Friday, including that of the Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, on the grounds that it violated Facebook’s restrictions on nudity. It was reinstated after Solberg accused Facebook of censorship and of editing history. Continue reading...

Officers unveil ‘low-tech solution to high-tech problem’ after birds of prey prove ace interceptors in testsDutch police are adopting a centuries-old pursuit to resolve the modern-day problem of increasing numbers of drones in the skies, becoming the world’s first force to employ eagles as winged warriors.“It’s a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem,” police spokesman Dennis Janus said as officers and their feathered friends gave their first public demonstration of the birds’ prowess. Continue reading...

Sony’s (very) long awaited adventure title will now arrive in December, not October – seven years after its original announcementThe much-anticipated PlayStation 4 title, The Last Guardian, has been delayed again. In a statement on the console’s official blog site, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, gave the new date of 6 December. The date had previously been given as 25 October.The five-week postponement is the latest in a troubled development cycle that began almost a decade ago. Originally announced in 2009, The Last Guardian was to be a PlayStation 3 follow-up to the designer Fumito Ueda’s critically acclaimed PS2 titles Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. A winter 2011 release was first announced, then cancelled owing to “technical difficulties”. In 2013 Ueda left Sony and development seemed to go into limbo until Sony announced the PS4 version at the E3 2015 event – to a rapturous reception. Ueda would now be developing the game with his new studio in conjunction with Sony Japan. Continue reading...

Facebook delegation is in Israel as the government pushes legislative steps to force social networks to rein in content that officials say incites violenceThe Israeli government and Facebook have agreed to work together to determine how to tackle incitement on the social media network, a senior Israeli cabinet minister said on Monday.The announcement came after two government ministers met top Facebook officials to discuss the matter. The Facebook delegation is in Israel as the government pushes ahead with legislative steps meant to force social networks to rein in content that Israel says incites violence. Continue reading...

Update prepares for Pokémon Go Plus pedometer accessory and adds another way to earn candy – but stops just short of being a virtual petEver wanted to take a walk with your favourite Charmander, Jigglypuff or Pikachu? Pokémon Go’s latest update will allow trainers to take their virtual pets out on the road as they play.

The hype for Bioware’s sci-fi sequel Mass Effect: Andromeda has focused on planet discovery – but it’s a very different kind of exploration that many players are interested inGod, I love romance. That tingle up your spine when someone laces their fingers between yours for the first time. The rush of blood blossoming across your cheeks when their eyes meet yours and you gaze through those pools of colour into their very soul. The shortness of breath, the butterflies, the scary, exhilarating feeling of falling with no safety net. Ah. Isn’t it wonderful?There have only been a handful of games that have connected with that side of me – the hopeless romantic, too free with my emotions, too easy to hurt. One of those was Cibele – the heartbreaking, semi-autobiographical tale of the developer Nina Freeman’s online romance and subsequent rejection. Oh, Nina. I’ve been there, and still it keeps happening. I hope you’ve learned. I hope I will. Continue reading...

Recall of 2.5m units wipes £11bn off South Korean firm’s worth amid warning that battery issue could set new phone alightSamsung has had £11bn wiped off its shares after the world’s biggest mobile phone maker warned customers not to use its Note 7 model because of the risk of it catching fire.The South Korean company suspended sales of the phone, which it launched in late August to rave reviews, on 2 September. It said there were 35 cases of it catching alight or exploding out of 2.5m units sold, and blamed a battery cell problem. Continue reading...

Vessel aiming to be the ‘Solar Impulse of the seas’ will be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen during its six-year voyageDubbed the “Solar Impulse of the seas”, the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.

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

Attorney general proposes expanding ‘white-collar crime’ laws to include money laundering and false accounting by employeesThe government is pushing for new laws that could result in senior corporate executives being prosecuted for offences including fraud and money laundering carried out by staff, under an expansion of laws targeting white-collar crime first proposed by David Cameron.The attorney general, Jeremy Wright, said the government was continuing the plan to consult on expanding “failure to prevent” offences – which currently cover only bribery and tax evasion – to a wider range of economic crimes committed by employees, including money laundering and false accounting. Continue reading...

Reaching for your phone to help with stress and sleep might feel counterintuitive, but there are now hundreds of apps out there to help us find inner peace. With even the NHS on-board, there must something in itTo the smartphone-addled among us, advising the use of apps to fix mental health problems might seem like telling someone who needs to get fit to live on jam and fags. But it’s happening all the same. While gadget and social media addiction are lampooned for increasing teenage depression, and complaints abound that the constant compulsion to check apps and message conduits leaves us frazzled and scatterbrained, purveyors of wearable tech, app designers and even the NHS really want us to use our phones for soul-soothing.The idea of treating mental health digitally is not new. A PC-based online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) treatment for depression has been in clinical use for seven years now – rolling out newer such services via smartphone apps will make this kind of treatment even more accessible. Meanwhile, there are more than 500 mindfulness apps, offering meditation soundtracks, relaxation techniques and pearls of wisdom, not to mention the many fitness/self-optimisation apps making forays into mood tracking. Everyone’s at it, from Apple Watch’s Breathe, to the guy who invented the online monster adoption game, Moshi Monsters, Michael Acton Smith. Scrolling through his mindfulness app, Calm’s, sensory front page options – rain falling on foliage, a mountain lake – is blissful, but can increasing reliance on phones really help us find peace? Continue reading...

RSC combines with Intel and Imaginarium Studios to bring performance-capture technology to live theatreThe head of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) may be more versed in the language of the Bard than computer chips, but a corporate technology video inspired him to see the potential of digital science, fibre optics and sensors for live theatre.

Artificial intelligence is thwarted by puzzles, an 80s gamebook is beautifully revived and an anime adaption lacks the crossover appeal of its sourceXbox One, PC; Square Enix; cert: 16

CEO Elon Musk says new system, which makes greater use of radar, would probably have prevented death of Model S driverTesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk said on Sunday the carmaker was updating its semi-autonomous driving system Autopilot with new limits on hands-off driving that probably would have prevented a fatality in May.

This usable and well-made city bike from Cath Kidston will knock the spots off its competitorsSometimes it seems that if an object stops moving for long enough, it will only be a matter of time before Cath Kidston covers it in her trademark rose blooms and polka dots. Just look what’s happened to this bicycle – spots everywhere. The bike is being sold by online boutique Cyclechic, which launched in 2008 with the aim of taking the testosterone out of riding and encouraging more women on to two wheels. It stocks everything from helmets to gilets, but this is the first actual, whole bike to get its seal of approval.Solid and well-made, the Cath Kidston has been designed to be practical rather than speedy. The saddle is nicely sprung; there’s a chain guard so you don’t shred your skirt and the wheels are puncture resistant. Next stop? How about that coffee shop? (cyclechic.co.uk) Continue reading...

With programming lessons now part of the school day, can parents help their offspring get top marks? Fear not – toys, gadgets and apps are all available to make coding a fun part of growing upCoding kids aren’t a new trend. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Usborne Publishing was releasing books to teach children computer programming, with a range of other books, computer clubs and software following in their wake.Now there’s a renewed wave of interest in the topic, thanks partly to programming being part of England’s national curriculum for children as young as five. This being 2016, there are inevitably apps for that, but also some inventive hardware. For children wanting to get in some extracurricular practice, these gadgets, programs and books could be just the thing. Continue reading...

Today we have cybercafes and cyberwars, but cybernetics – the term that launched a dozen prefixes – has been lost. In a new book, Thomas Rid aims to reconnect ‘cyber’ to its original idea of man-machine symbiosisWhere did the “cyber” in “cyberspace” come from? Most people, when asked, will probably credit William Gibson, who famously introduced the term in his celebrated 1984 novel, Neuromancer. It came to him while watching some kids play early video games. Searching for a name for the virtual space in which they seemed immersed, he wrote “cyberspace” in his notepad. “As I stared at it in red Sharpie on a yellow legal pad,” he later recalled, “my whole delight was that it meant absolutely nothing.”How wrong can you be? Cyberspace turned out to be the space that somehow morphed into the networked world we now inhabit, and which might ultimately prove our undoing by making us totally dependent on a system that is both unfathomably complex and fundamentally insecure. But the cyber- prefix actually goes back a long way before Gibson – to the late 1940s and Norbert Wiener’s book, Cybernetics, Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, which was published in 1948. Continue reading...

The epic, widely celebrated Sapiens gets the sequel it demanded: a breathless, compulsive inquiry into humanity’s apocalyptic, tech-driven futureYuval Noah Harari began his academic career as a researcher of medieval warfare. His early publications had titles like “Inter-frontal Cooperation in the Fourteenth Century and Edward III’s 1346 Campaign” or “The Military Role of the Frankish Turcopoles”. Then, the story goes, having won tenure at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he embarked on a crusade of his own. He was invited to teach a course that no one else in the faculty fancied – a broad-brush introduction to the whole of human activity on the planet. That course became a widely celebrated book, Sapiens, championed by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Barack Obama, and translated into 40 languages. It satisfied perfectly an urgent desire for grand narrative in our fragmenting Buzz-fed world. The rest is macro-history.Related: Yuval Noah Harari: The age of the cyborg has begun – and the consequences cannot be known Continue reading...

Anyone who decides to run or pull a difficult story from their website, like the Vietnamese girl fleeing napalm, is not just a technologist: he’s a publisherMasters of the world can wobble wildly when prodded hard from below – when, for example, a brushfire of derision and anger makes Facebook cancel its last announcement.See the sudden swirl of events. Facebook bans a famous war picture of a naked Vietnamese girl fleeing US napalm attack from its pages. The Norwegian writer of the news feature related to it protests and gets dumped from the site for his pains. Norway’s prime minister is similarly treated. But the battling editor of Aftenposten, writing a “Dear Mark” front-page letter, finally wins a full Zuckerberg retreat in a mumble of words about “adjusting our review mechanisms”. Continue reading...

Seat’s seriously quick Leon Cupra can do 155mph on the road, so what’s it doing in a muddy field in Wiltshire?Price: £28,380

State proposes a two-year jail term for cyber-stalking or posting explicit images of a partner or former partner and introduces new retraining order

Controversy over a censored Vietnam war photo highlights concerns over the social network’s vital – if reluctant – role as users’ primary news sourceTensions between Facebook and the news industry boiled over this week when the social media corporation censored a Pulitzer-winning Vietnam war photo, because it featured a naked child and violated site “community standards”.The dispute over the “napalm girl” image, which a Norwegian writer published in a post about historic warfare photography, ended Friday when Facebook reversed its decision, acknowledging the “global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time”. Continue reading...

The social network’s latest results have left its investors more eager than ever for a takeover – but no suitors are visible on the horizonWhy doesn’t anyone want to buy Twitter? After the company’s board met on Thursday, it told CNBC that there were “no bids on the table” and that instead it was exploring cost cuts – an announcement that drove another sell-off in the stock and pushed it down 6%, as shareholders who had hoped to see a September swoop from a tech or media company were disappointed. On Friday the shares were changing hands at around $18 – 20% down this year and well short of their float price of $26 three years ago.That doesn’t mean, however, that Twitter is not a target. It can boast 313 million monthly active users, of whom 66 million, or 21%, are in the US. But unlike that other social network Facebook, its growth has stalled (user numbers were up just 1% year-on-year in the quarter to the end of June), and it is far from profit, losing $107m on revenues of $602m – although the latter, at least, were up an encouraging 20%. Continue reading...

British surgeons hail successful procedure to remove membrane 100th of a millimetre thick from retinaBritish surgeons have successfully performed the world’s first robotic operation inside the eye, potentially revolutionising the way such conditions are treated.The procedure was carried out at John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, where surgeons welcomed its success. Continue reading...

After a week of public silence, Musk says the company is investigating the accident, its second in 15 monthsSpaceX chief executive Elon Musk is calling last week’s launch pad accident the “most difficult and complex failure” in the company’s 14-year history.After a week of public silence, Musk said via Twitter the company is still investigating the accident, its second in just 15 months. Continue reading...

US product safety agency says owners of the smartphone should stop using their device, and that it’s working on an official recall just weeks after launchThe US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says owners of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones should turn them off and stop using them because of the risk that their batteries can explode.The agency said Friday that it’s working with Samsung on an official recall of the phones “as soon as possible” and that it’s trying to figure out if the company’s replacement Note 7s are an “acceptable remedy”. Continue reading...

In a new column, we find the bogus stories, clickbait and disinformation framed as legitimate ‘trending’ news by one of the most powerful companies on EarthIn the weeks since Facebook fired the humans who curated its “trending” news feed, its algorithmic floodgates opened up for fake stories, conspiracy theories and internet bile. This week, the company insisted it is a “neutral” platform that needs no editors, even while it censored art, spread false news and deleted a post by Norway’s prime minister because it included a Pulitzer-winning photo from the Vietnam war. The leader had called for Facebook to “review its editing policy”, and the company eventually restored the post.In a semi-regular column, we’ll highlight what Facebook doesn’t want to: the bogus stories, clickbait and disinformation being framed as legitimate news by one of the most powerful tech companies on Earth. Continue reading...

Espen Egil Hansen, editor-in-chief of Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, reads out an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, criticising him for Facebook deleting Nick Ut’s iconic photograph of the ‘napalm girl’. Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg says Facebook has to change its photo censorship policy and take responsibility over its emerging dominance in news dissemination. Photograph: AP Photo/Nick Ut

Company U-turns on its decision to remove the iconic Vietnam war photo featuring a naked girl after global outcry and accusations of ‘abusing power’Facebook has decided to allow users to share an iconic Vietnam war photo featuring a naked girl after CEO Mark Zuckerberg was accused of abusing his power when the social media company censored the image.Norway’s largest newspaper published a front-page open letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, slamming Facebook’s decision to censor the historic photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phúc running away from a napalm attack and calling on the CEO to live up to his role as “the world’s most powerful editor”. Continue reading...

Death, meet the 21st century. Here’s an inside look at how you can have your social media profile managed after you die with Facebook’s memorialisation serviceWe do everything on social media these days. We live tweet the Oscars, we Instagram our pets, we secretly block our friends for posting far too many baby photos. And now, with the help of Facebook, we can keep up our social media presence after we die.In this episode, we take a look at Facebook’s memorialisation platform, and ask the question, “What happens to our Facebook accounts when we die?” To explore, we speak to Jasmine Probst and Vanessa Callison-Burch from Facebook’s memorialisation team, and Karen Marcus, a woman who used Facebook’s service to memorialise her late husband’s account. Continue reading...

Weak pound against the dollar hits UK technology buyers after Brexit decision as Apple ups the price of the iPhone, iPad and accessoriesApple’s iPhone 7 has gone on pre-order around the world, but customers in the UK have woken up to a very real-world impact of the Brexit referendum: the iPhone 7 as well as the iPad line is more expensive than ever.

The company has announced that the iPhone 7’s AirPods won’t have leads – but why stop there? The world needs a wireless declutterAfter banishing billions of earphones to the dustbin of history with its new AirPods, Apple finds itself at a crossroads. Clearly, the corporation hates cables. But which cables should it destroy next? Here are some suggestions. Continue reading...

Social network’s deletion of Pulitzer-prize winning Vietnam photograph is just latest in a long list of controversies

Erna Solberg shared photo that had resulted in writer and newspaper falling foul of social media giant’s rulesFacebook has deleted a post by the Norwegian prime minister in an escalating row over the website’s decision to remove content featuring the Pulitzer-prize winning “napalm girl” photograph from the Vietnam war.Erna Solberg, the Conservative prime minister, called on Facebook to “review its editing policy” after it deleted her post voicing support for a Norwegian newspaper that had fallen foul of the social media giant’s guidelines. Continue reading...

Charging while listening to music now requires an adapter – and things get really complicated if you want to plug into power while using old 3.5mm headphonesApple’s removal of the headphone socket on its latest iPhone 7 has had several knock-on effects, but one thing most people might not realise is that if you’re using wired headphones with it, you can’t charge it at the same time. Unless you buy a £35 adapter. Or a £49 dock.

I interviewed my grandmother to get a century of perspective on technology, from the cellphone she uses ‘only for emergencies’ to Twitter and SnapchatAbout 20 years ago, a woman named Rose Wong moved to a small town in the heart of Silicon Valley and purchased her first computer.“I had no idea how to use it. I taught myself,” she recalled this week. Continue reading...

Material stolen from Open Society Foundations in a cyber-attack is being used to embarrass and discredit us. These Watergate-style tactics can’t be allowed to succeedHackers are stepping up their cyber-attacks on American democratic institutions. The Open Society Foundations, the global philanthropy I lead, is among many to have been targeted. DC Leaks has posted over 2,500 documents reflecting our grant-making strategies over the last decade, prompting a flurry of press reports from far-right news sites in the US and around the world.

Danny Lucas is given deadline to confirm he will rename LitterGram because it could undermine brand owned by FacebookLawyers for Facebook and Instagram have given the British owner of an anti-litter app a deadline to confirm that he plans to change its name, he has said.

Norway’s largest newspaper published a front-page letter to the Facebook CEO lambasting the company’s decision to censor a photograph of the Vietnam warNorway’s largest newspaper has published a front-page open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, lambasting the company’s decision to censor a historic photograph of the Vietnam war and calling on Zuckerberg to recognize and live up to his role as “the world’s most powerful editor”.Espen Egil Hansen, the editor-in-chief and CEO of Aftenposten, accused Zuckerberg of thoughtlessly “abusing your power” over the social media site that has become a lynchpin of the distribution of news and information around the world, writing, “I am upset, disappointed – well, in fact even afraid – of what you are about to do to a mainstay of our democratic society.” Continue reading...

EA’s seminal franchise is back with new guides for newbies, trickier special teams, glitzy graphics and a fantasy-football cash-in that’s safely ignoredMadden 17 begins with the usual glitzy opening sequence throwing the player straight into the action, whetting the appetite while showcasing the latest bells and whistles. Fortunately for EA, the off-season move of the Rams to Los Angeles gave them the perfect scenario.We find ourselves at the LA Memorial Coliseum with the Washington Redskins poised to break the hearts of all in the City of Angels by knocking the Rams out of the play-offs. In true Hollywood fashion, Washington’s game-winning field goal is blocked and we are tasked with leading Jeff Fisher’s team to glory. Continue reading...

Phones are known to catch fire and should be kept switched off, Federal Aviation Administration advises, as manufacturer carries out global recallAirline passengers should not turn on or charge their Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones during flights or stow them in checked baggage due to concerns over the phone’s fire-prone batteries, the US Federal Aviation Administration has said.

The first international beauty contest decided by an algorithm has sparked controversy after the results revealed one glaring factor linking the winnersThe first international beauty contest judged by “machines” was supposed to use objective factors such as facial symmetry and wrinkles to identify the most attractive contestants. After Beauty.AI launched this year, roughly 6,000 people from more than 100 countries submitted photos in the hopes that artificial intelligence, supported by complex algorithms, would determine that their faces most closely resembled “human beauty”.But when the results came in, the creators were dismayed to see that there was a glaring factor linking the winners: the robots did not like people with dark skin. Continue reading...

Retailers report surge in wireless headphones sales but analysts say Apple has taken a ‘misstep’ with some critics calling it ‘user-hostile’ and wastefulApple faces a battle to convince consumers to switch to wireless headphones after controversially scrapping the headphone jack on the new iPhone 7, analysts have warned.Electrical shops are enjoying an increase in wireless headphone sales after Apple’s announcement on Wednesday, but the market has been dogged by concerns about the sound quality, price and durability of products. Continue reading...

22-year old engineering student Will Broadway explains how his portable cooling device works to improve vaccine transportation in developing countries. Broadway was announced UK winner of the 2016 James Dyson Award on Thursday. The video was posted on Loughborough University’s YouTube channel in July. Photograph: Martin Godwin Continue reading...

Rental service has faced widespread criticism over hosts refusing to rent to black guests but some say reforms will allow for continued racial prejudicesAirbnb is planning a number of product and policy changes aimed at fighting discrimination on the short-term rental platform, but some critics say the reforms don’t go far enough and will allow for continued racial prejudices.Airbnb – which has faced widespread backlash over hosts refusing to rent to black guests – released a 30-page report on Thursday outlining new nondiscrimination policies and systems designed to address user complaints. Continue reading...

Will your device survive trip down the toilet? What does ‘IP67’ actually mean, and how do smartphones fare against waterproof watches?Apple launched the iPhone 7 on Wednesday, the first of its waterproof devices, which joins a collection of similar water resistant smartphones from Samsung’s Galaxy S7 to Sony’s Xperia XZ. But just how waterproof is “waterproof”?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is calling for the labelling of products encumbered with digital rights management – an increasingly important issue as we trust technology with our livesDigital products are weird: they are inert without software to animate them, and software is so technologically and legally weird that it can be very hard to know exactly what you’re buying.But there just might be some clarity on the horizon, thanks to documents I recently filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), signed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), several publishers and public interest groups and 20 EFF supporters with important (and alarming!) stories to tell. Continue reading...