Technology | The Guardian

The future of apps is chatbots, and it’s going to be terribleHave you heard? Apps are dead: chatbots are the new apps. And they will soon be doing everything, from taking your pizza orders to scheduling your meetings. This is the future and it’s going to be terrible.The rise of the chatbot has been foretold for some time but only in the past few weeks with Facebook’s Messenger bots, chat app Kik’s bot store and the rise of subversive artbots have they really hit the public consciousness. Continue reading...

Sam Barlow wanted to make a new kind of police procedural mystery. So he quit his job, read interrogation manuals and created one of the most interesting games of the last five yearsThere are no spoilers for Her Story in this article.When Sam Barlow was working at Climax Studios in Portsmouth, helping to design the survival horror sequel, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, he would get home at night and tinker with a couple of screenplay projects. They were just an exercise, a way to write about things that he couldn’t in his day job. But then one night, he realised something: both scripts were about a man just ambling along, seemingly quite happy in life, until a cataclysmic event changes everything. “I was like, ‘Oh right, this is me sending a message to myself’,” he says. “I realised I needed the impetus to leave the company and go indie. I was writing this stuff to tell that to myself.”

Top new Android apps of April 2016 include iPlayer Kids, Giphy and Airtime, while the best games include Disney Crossy Road and Exploding KittensApril was an excellent month for new Android apps and games: the Google Play store may be stuffed with apps already, but many of the latest releases are genuinely worth a slot on your device.As ever, prices are correct at the time of writing, and if you see “IAP” that means the app uses in-app purchases. Looking for iPhone and iPad apps instead? There’s a separate monthly roundup for them which will follow shortly. Continue reading...

Videogames speak culture with ever increasing fluency, but cultural policy doesn’t speak much videogame (yet)A year ago, we opened the National Videogame Arcade (NVA). We made a statement, creating a centre of gravity for the interpretation of games for everyone by opening five floors of permanent space dedicated to them. It’s a home for videogames.

US law enforcement agency in possession of mechanism for unlocking iPhone 5Cs or older – but identity of hackers closely guarded secretThe FBI doesn’t know how the hack used to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone 5C works, and yet it paid in the region of $1m for the mechanism, which can used again to unlock any other iPhone 5C running iOS 9, according to reports.Several US government sources told Reuters that the amount paid for the hack, bought from professional hackers, was substantially less than previous reports indicating a value over $1.3m. The technique can also be used as many times as needed without further payments. Continue reading...

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

Big, full and rounded sound akin to a full-sized Hi-Fi - with a price to match - but squeezed into a box that can stream almost all app-controlled music servicesThe new Play:5 is Sonos’s latest speaker – a revamp of its biggest and most powerful wireless system – and it hopes to be all the Hi-Fi you need in one powerful box.

Icahn has sold his shares in the company because of concerns over China’s influence on its stock priceCarl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who has long been one of the most prominent voices declaring the company to be undervalued, says he has sold his entire stake in the technology firm, citing the risk of China’s influence on the stock.After years of high growth, reaching triple-digit percentage points in 2015, Apple now sells more in China than it does in the whole of Europe. But sales in the country are now shrinking, with revenue dropping 26% year-on-year in the company’s latest quarterly earnings. Continue reading...

Video games pioneer Nolan Bushnell is planning to revive the ‘hardcore fundamental game design’ of arcades to make mobile titles worth playingThe video game arcade is the cathedral of the games industry. Veteran players see these increasingly endangered places as shrines to design purity, difficulty and player skill, bathed in the glow of flickering monitors. They were, after all, the places where the conventions of the medium were forged, and their gradual disappearance has only served to make them more alluring.Mobile gaming, meanwhile, receives a great deal less reverence, thanks in part to its vast popularity. Despite design masterpieces like Monument Valley, The Room and Hearthstone, smartphone titles are collectively seen as casual time-killers, lacking cultural clout. Term’s like “free-to-play” and “microtransaction” are used with derision, and viewed as evidence of capitalism muscling out creativity. Continue reading...

A fifth of the site’s top 100 channels are focused on toys, while young viewers are also driving big views for kids’ music, cartoons and vlogsLike most pre-school children, Ryan loves playing with toys – from cars, trains and Lego to Disney toys, Play-Doh and Minions. Unlike most pre-school children, he’s playing with those toys for an online audience of millions.Ryan is the young star of Ryan’s Toys Review, a YouTube channel with more than 2.5 million subscribers and 4bn video views – startling figures given that his channel only launched in March 2015. Continue reading...

Commons culture, media and sport committee confirms Elizabeth Denham in £140,000-a-year roleElizabeth Denham has been confirmed as the UK’s new information commissioner.The Commons culture, media and sport committee confirmed the appointment of the Canadian, who currently holds a similar role in British Columbia, on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Company is likely to let its co-founder and CEO push that little bit further, given that it’s making more money, from more users

Is this a new form of native advertising? What’s next, Hurricane Cortana? Tropical storm Groove? Windows 10 whiteout?And you thought it was annoying when you leave your computer to make a cup of tea, returning to find Windows 10 installing.

Electric car buyers will receive €4,000 when they choose a purely electric vehicle and €3,000 for a plug-in hybridGermany will subsidise electric car purchases to give a jolt to sluggish growth in the sector and help meet national climate goals with zero-emission mobility, the government said Wednesday.

The South Korean company brought forward the launch of its new handset after a disappointing 2015Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, has recorded better than expected first quarter profits thanks to the successful early release of its new flagship Galaxy handset.

Shares open down 7% and climb only a little throughout the day as company grapples with struggling Chinese economy, but Tim Cook voices optimismApple’s shares opened down 7% at the start of trading on Wednesday following the company’s first revenue decline in over a decade and gained back only a little as the day went on.The shares opened at $95.98 and made small gains throughout the morning; the hit initially knocked nearly $50bn off Apple’s market capitalization. Continue reading...

This week, the tech giant reported its first fall in sales for 13 years. Have we finally fallen out of love with its shiny new iPhones? Not quite – but there are some small issues ...

Tinder has introduced Tinder Social, a new feature to meet multiple Facebook friends, sparking privacy concernsTinder, the dating app notorious for translating physical attraction into the swipe of a single fingertip, has launched a group dating feature. Tinder Social has been rolled out on a trial basis in Australia, but has been met with alarm after users realised the new feature exposes Facebook friends that also use the app.In a blog post announcing the launch of Tinder Social, the company presents the function as a means to meet people on a platonic basis, promising to take “an average night out with your friends to the next level”. Continue reading...

Photo agency accuses Google of so-called scraping of images into galleries within search to maintain its dominance of the search marketPhoto agency Getty Images has filed a formal complaint with the European commission against Google over its alleged abuse of the company’s search dominance.

Doug Gurr’s appointment comes weeks after online retailer announced deal to sell fresh, chilled and frozen foodsAmazon has brought in Doug Gurr, the boss of its Chinese business, to run its UK operations in a move that could signal an acceleration of the online firm’s plans to sell groceries in Britain.Gurr was development director at Asda for nearly five years before joining Amazon in 2011. His return to the UK comes weeks after Amazon revealed a deal to sell fresh, chilled and frozen food made by Morrisons, the Bradford-based supermarket chain. Continue reading...

Media company had offered to set up an internal committee rather than recognise a union for its staff membersVice UK has been accused of an “old-fashioned union-busting ruse” by the head of the National Union of Journalists after the web-based company rejected a push for recognition from staff.The NUJ general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, also said Vice’s claims the union had shown a “concerning lack of transparency” in negotiations were untrue and vowed to continue pushing for recognition. Continue reading...

Organisations are first official partners of Internet Matters, set up two years ago to cover issues such as cyberbullyingThe BBC and Google have joined forces with internet service providers on an initiative to promote online safety for children.The two organisations have become the first official partners of Internet Matters, which was set up two years ago by BT, Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk to teach parents and children about issues such as cyberbullying and protecting privacy. Google and the BBC already run their own internet safety programmes, but Internet Matters claims their support recognises the importance of a collaborative approach. Continue reading...

Filipino presidential supporters also affected by bug, sparking anger at opponentsA bug in Facebook’s anti-spam algorithm has been accidentally suspending groups on the social network, sparking anger from the groups’ founders and conspiracy theories from some of their followers.On Monday night, six pro-Bernie Sanders groups were temporarily suspended by Facebook. A day later, five Facebook groups supporting Filipino presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, with a total membership of more than 3 million people, were also taken down for a short period. Continue reading...

From what it is to how much it costs, we answer key questions about the solitary confinement of prisonersSolitary confinement is the practice of isolating people in closed cells for 22-24 hours a day, virtually free of human contact, for periods of time ranging from days to decades. Continue reading...

Based on former prisoners’ testimonies, our virtual reality prison, 6x9, replicates the experience in disturbing detailThere’s a thin mattress on a concrete platform bed, a stainless steel washbasin and toilet, a metal door with a slot for food, and four walls rather too close for comfort. Continue reading...

Find out more about 6x9, an immersive experience of solitary confinement in US prisons which places viewers in a virtual segregation cell they can explore and interact with. It highlights the psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement for people who have experienced it first-hand around the world

KPMG report also finds that 44% of UK adults are planning to block ads within the next six monthsAlmost half of people planning to use an adblocker say a general dislike of ads is one of the main reasons for doing so, according to a new report that highlights the scale of the problems facing digital media.

The humble blow dryer is the latest product to be Dyson’d. Is it as noisy as the cult brand’s other tools? Let’s put it to the testCatherine the Great once described the wind as giving you either imagination or a headache. She hadn’t, of course, accounted for Dyson, which, for the past 20 years, has had the monopoly on harnessing blown air in its award-winning vacuum cleaners, hand-dryers and fans. These products have made Dyson, the man and the company, one of the UK’s greatest stories of innovation and profit. Last year, product sales were up almost 25%, a figure that should soon be bolstered by the next device to be Dyson’d: the hairdryer, and last bastion of air-based appliances.Although Dyson’s products are efficient and cool if you like to see “where the magic happens” (they are often transparent so you can see the moving parts), they are often very loud. Famously loud. Dirty, too, apparently, but it’s mainly the noise. The hand-dryers and vacuums are thought to reach around 80 decibels, which is the same as standing 15m from a freight train. Continue reading...

Swedish carmaker plans to run driverless vehicles on public roads starting with small number of semi-autonomous cars in 2017Volvo is set to run self-driving versions of its family 4x4s on roads around London next year as the motor industry’s trial of autonomous vehicles accelerates.While self-driving pods and shuttles were already due to operate on pavements in Greenwich and Milton Keynes this summer, the Swedish carmaker is planning to test autonomous vehicles on public roads in the capital from 2017. Continue reading...

Update aims to speed up reporting process for those suffering from online abuse and will be rolled out to users in coming weeksTwitter has improved its anti-harassment tools, adding the ability to report multiple abusive tweets at the same time.

Blockchain, the technology that underpins the bitcoin currency may be used to increase efficiency in distribution of taxpayer moneyThe UK government is exploring using the blockchain technology that underpins the bitcoin currency to increase efficiency in the distribution of taypayers’ money such as grants, a minister said on Tuesday.

Labour MP resigns as aide over ‘relocate Israel to US’ post but remains on committee reporting on antisemitismThe Bradford MP Naz Shah has stepped down as the parliamentary private secretary to the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, over antisemitic Facebook posts.In a series of social media posts, Shah said Israel should “relocate to the US” and posted an article that likened Zionism to al-Qaida. Continue reading...

The latest app will attempt to reverse a decline in personal sharing of images and videos, according to reportsFacebook is reportedly building a standalone camera app, which is its fourth such attempt.The app will make it easy for users to jump between still photography, video recording and live video streaming, all presented through a Snapchat-style camera-first view, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Continue reading...

More than 11,000 entrepreneurs, developers and investors meet at Collision for the three-day technology event. Watch interviews and panel discussions hereSports, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, food and music; Collision 2017 has a diverse mix of speakers on day one.Tuesday highlights include Andra Keay of Silicon Valley Robotics talking about the challenges of robot ethics at 9.35am CT (BST -6 hours) and Donisha Prendergast, activist and granddaughter of Bob and Rita Marley, talking about the developing legal cannabis industry (10.30am CT). Continue reading...

The always-on Amazon Echo is developing a personality among early adopters who say they aren’t worried about privacy, and welcome a listening earWhen Steven Arkonovich brought home his Amazon Echo, he knew the little machine’s basic functions: he could ask it to tell him the weather, add something to his shopping cart, or play NPR.The Echo was always on, waiting, listening for his invocation. Say “Alexa” and it lit up blue, ready to answer questions – “Where is the nearest Chinese restaurant?” – or act on orders – ‘Call me an Uber’ – responding in a calm, confident female voice. Continue reading...

Top-end e-reader is a cut above the rest, rethinking the Kindle design and experience, cutting 20% weight and costing a pretty penny in the processAmazon’s latest high-end Kindle breaks with the mould of the basic e-reading experience to become a luxury item in a class of its own.

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

From 16 May, nuisance callers will be banned from concealing their phone numbers. The government says this will spell the end for rogue operatorsAge …Age? Hello sir, and how are you today? Continue reading...

The online retailer’s members’ service is growing, with popular games and films moving behind the velvet ropeAmazon’s push to encourage the whole world to sign up to its Prime members’ service continues: the online retailer has started to make blockbuster movies and games, including Birdman and Grand Theft Auto V, exclusive to Prime members.The walled-off products are an eclectic selection: they include the Playstation 4 editions of Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (but not editions for other consoles), and the Blu-ray edition of Oscar-winning movie Birdman – but not the DVD. Continue reading...

Tired of being tired? Instead of banning electronics from the bedroom, tech can help you get to sleep faster, sleep better and wake up feeling more refreshedOf all our biological imperatives, sleep has probably suffered the most in our technology-fuelled move to an ever-faster pace of life, but it doesn’t have to. Technology can actually help you sleep better.

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

Bandai’s fantasy franchise returns with a third satisfying helping of hack-and-slash heroics, while Star Fox 64’s retro space battles still put up a good fightDark Souls 3PS4, Xbox One, PC, Bandai Namco, cert: 16 Continue reading...

A carbon road bike from one of the world’s most historic brands shows that Raleigh is back on its gameRaleigh is almost 130 years old. But a decade ago, it was on its knees. You’d never have dreamed of buying a Raleigh – unless of course you came across a vintage Chopper. But in 2012 the huge Dutch corporation Accell stepped in and gave the historic brand the breathing space and, more crucially, the funds to refind its mojo. The Raleigh race team was relaunched to spearhead R&D and the fruit of all that labour is now peddling its way to a bike shop near you. The latest generation of frames are award-winning, and this Criterium Race is a perfect example. It’s lightweight carbon and offers the best balance of stiffness and weight available at this level. It’s a super ride – and the satisfaction of being on a great British bike will last long after the burning in your thighs has eased (raleigh.co.uk).Price: £1,500

As a lawsuit against the company was settled, a lawmaker said she would suspend a push for collective bargaining among independent contractors“It is what it is,” said Douglas O’Connor, the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Uber that was settled on Thursday, dashing hopes for a very public courtroom debate over employment classification in the gig economy.

Social network went from digital directory for college kids to communications behemoth – and it’s planning for prosperity with its global takeoverIt’s late afternoon on a blustery spring day on the waterfront at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, a former military base that’s now hired out for corporate functions. Vast warehouses, once used to store army supplies, are awash with sleek signs, shimmering lights and endless snacks. Behind them is an Instagram-ready view of Alcatraz island. In front, a fleet of Uber and Lyft cars lines up in the car park, while inside one of the warehouses Scottish synthpop band Chvrches take the stage.For the first few songs there’s only a small group of hardcore vocal fans at the front of the stage, flanked by a subdued mix of backpack-wearing dad types politely bobbing their heads, drinking cocktails out of plastic cups. Continue reading...

The knowledge gap between adults and digital natives can sometimes feel huge. How much do you know about their online lives?

The legal maneuverings in two cases illustrate the challenge Washington faces as it pressures the technology industry to build wiretap-friendly productsThe US government dropped a court case that could have forced Apple to unlock one of its iPhones, the second time it has done so in as many months.The Department of Justice on Friday night told a federal judge in New York that someone had given investigators the passcode to an iPhone linked to a local drug investigation. Continue reading...

Event organizers said discussion intended for ‘male allies’ at online payment company to participate with women on gender issues in the workplacePayPal will host a panel on gender equality next Wednesday to discuss “gender equality and inclusion in the workplace”. The panel will be all male.“Please join us for a discussion with our senior male leaders … about how men and women can partner to achieve a better workplace,” reads a flyer shared online and first highlighted by NBC News. Continue reading...