Artificial intelligence, virtual reality and chatbots – Facebook 2016 developer event revealed ambitious plans for expanding its social empireFacebook’s (mostly) annual developer event in San Francisco has been running since 2007. Over that time it has morphed from an insider code-builder’s event to a high-profile launch event, and though the developers are still there Facebook’s message is now rather more well honed when it comes to translating their mission to the masses.This year, chatbots and virtual reality grabbed the most attention, but there were many smaller but significant announcements too. Here’s everything you need to know from this year’s event.

Blood-testing startup accused of not resolving issues found during inspection earlier this year that created ‘immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety’Troubled blood-testing startup Theranos could be banned from practicing for two years for failing to resolve major problems at its main laboratory in California, federal health regulators have warned.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which monitors clinical lab standards among other things, wrote to Theranos management on 18 March notifying the company that it had 10 days to respond or would have its license revoked and its owners banned from running any lab. Continue reading...

Google answers plea from users with update to open source tool that adds ability to operate on multiple devices – it’s like using many brain cells instead of oneThe battle for the future of computing is a battle to bring artificial intelligence to the mainstream – and Google is quietly overhauling a machine learning tool used to improve some of its most popular services including Google Translate and Google Photos.TensorFlow can be used to help teach computers how to process data in ways similar to how the human brain handles information. It is also open source, meaning Google has published and shared the code online so that external developers can use and improve it. Continue reading...

It turns out cult card game Cards Against Humanity is the ideal accompaniment to the government’s EU leaflets. Who knew?Even if you are yet to receive the government’s pro-EU leaflet, you’ve probably heard about it. But have you noticed how well it fits with the popular board game Cards Against Humanity?The EU and a game known for its political incorrectness don’t seem like the most likely bedfellows – yet the minute a leaflet arrived at software engineer Jenny Owen’s home, the partnership seemed perfect. Continue reading...

Russian and transgender players of Rust are unhappy, but the decision to randomise race and gender is all about better gameplay, not imposing ideologyI am the lead developer on a multiplayer survival game named Rust. Last week, we made a change to the game that upset a lot of people: we made half of our players, picked at random, play as women. We also made some of them black. The response has been extreme.Rust is not a game about identity. The objective in Rust is to survive. This is made difficult by things such as starvation, dehydration, radiation, exposure and bear attacks. The biggest threat in the game comes from other players who are trying to survive in the same conditions. You will survive better if you’re a part of a group, but this takes a lot of mutual trust. If you kill someone you’ll be able to loot their corpse and take all their food, medicine and weapons. This makes the game very interesting socially, since players struggle with trust and slowly build up relationships with one another. Continue reading...

With the world only half paying attention to online threats, women are rising up to help each other, from strategy to supportFor two years, Michelle Ferrier was the target of a campaign of intimidation and harassment. The only black, female reporter on Florida’s Daytona Beach News-Journal, from 2007 Ferrier was targeted with a stream of abusive letters threatening lynchings and a “race war”, all in the same handwriting and from the same potentially dangerous person.But without a specific threat, police said, there was no chance of a criminal investigation. Afraid for her family, Ferrier left the paper and moved away. Continue reading...

Company’s thinnest, lightest and most expensive e-reader yet has a new design with 9-week reading battery, ergonomic grip and page-turn buttonsAmazon has just released the next step in the evolution of e-readers, a wafer thin screen bolted to a small grip containing the battery and electronics, the Kindle Oasis.The new high-end Kindle Oasis is Amazon’s biggest step yet towards its goal of making e-readers just like paper, having committed to shrinking each iteration of Kindle by 20% at a time. Continue reading...

The startup disrupting the taxi industry via one simple ride-hailing app has been batting away lawsuits since 2009 – here’s a comprehensive roundupUber – which at its latest valuation of $62.5bn is the world’s most valuable private startup – has paid huge sums of money in legal settlements across the world since the taxi-hailing company was founded in 2009.

Hackers reportedly supply zero-day exploit to allow US law enforcement entry to device, which may put older iPhones at risk of cyber criminalsThe FBI reportedly bought a previously unknown security bug from a group of professional hackers to gain entry to the San Bernardino iPhone 5C, according to the Washington Post.The report suggests hackers supplied at least one so-called zero-day flaw in the iPhone 5C’s security that allowed the FBI to circumvent the lockscreen and automatic wipe feature that kicks in after 10 wrong passcode entries. Continue reading...

Parliament’s equalities chair warns against internet providers being allowed to hide behind free speech argumentBritain needs better internet laws to stop online abuse that may be creating a nightmare for society in future, Maria Miller, the Conservative former culture secretary and equalities minister, has said.The senior Tory MP, who now chairs the Commons women and equalities committee, said the government needed to wake up to some of the problems the internet was creating, from vile abuse on social media to easy sharing of violent explicit images among young people. Continue reading...

UK-based Rebellion is reviving the arcade hit as its first virtual reality game. But the company is playing by new rulesIn some ways, 1980s arcade hit Battlezone can lay claim to being the first “virtual reality” game to hit the market.Its rudimentary vector-based graphics presented a 3D view of head-to-head tank combat, viewed by the player through a periscope-style screen. A far cry from what’s offered by the Oculus Rifts of today’s world. Continue reading...

Company claims producer Leslie Benzies exhibited ‘conduct and performance’ issues before his departure from GTA development studio, Rockstar NorthRockstar Games, the publisher behind the multimillion-selling Grand Theft Auto series has issued a response to the $150m (£105m) lawsuit launched against it by former employee, Leslie Benzies.In the brief statement, the company dismisses the allegations made in the 70-page suit, launched by Benzies through US law firm, Locke Lord. Benzies claims to have been encouraged to take a sabbatical in 2014, only to discover that Sam and Dan Houser, the founders of Rockstar, were conspiring to have him removed from the company. He claims that the duo sought to renege on a 2009 royalties deal which would ensure Benzies retained financial parity with the brothers. Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar has since launched a counteraction against Benzies. Continue reading...

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

The Facebook CEO criticized Trump’s ‘fearful’ anti-immigration rhetoric at the annual F8 developer event: ‘Instead of building walls we can help build bridges’When Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004, he pitched it as a way to get a date.Opening his company’s annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Zuckerberg illustrated just how ambitious he’s become in 14 years. Facebook, he says, will now bring the world online, pioneer artificial intelligence and perfect virtual reality (VR).

Free speech online can be revolutionary. But it can also poison the very bloodstream of democracyIt was a pretty standard far-right account: anonymous (check); misappropriating St George (check); dripping with venom towards “Muslim-loving” lefties (check). But this one had a twist. They had found my address and had taken screen shots of where I lived from Google’s Street View function. “Here’s his bedroom,” they wrote, with an arrow pointing at the window; “here’s the door he comes out at the morning”, with an arrow pointing at the entrance to my block of flats. In the time it took Twitter to shut down the account, they had already tweeted many other far-right accounts with the details.Related: The dark side of Guardian comments Continue reading...

Taking the guts of the iPhone 6S and squeezing them into the frame of the iPhone 5S is great, but only those who really want a 4in phone should buy oneWith the iPhone SE everything that is old is now new again, but is that a good thing and is a small, 4in smartphone really up to scratch in 2016?

‘Love bombs’ deployed in bid to encourage a ‘Remain’ vote in EU referendumA German woman living in London has deployed a secret weapon to keep Britain in the European Union: hugs.Katrin Lock has launched the “Hug a Brit” social media campaign, which calls on members of EU states to shower Britons with love in an attempt to convince them to vote “Remain” in the looming Brexit referendum. Continue reading...

The program offering free, limited internet service to the developing world has faced setbacks and criticism but now has 500 apps available in 37 countriesFacebook’s efforts to connect the developing world to a range of free, selective internet service has had its setbacks in the past few months, including a major government vote to block the service in India and criticism that the service is a form of “digital colonialism”.Related: Facebook Free Basics service put on ice by India's telecoms regulator Continue reading...

Yahoo’s potential new owners will inherent the third most read website in the US, but one that’s bleeding money. Here’s what bidders stand to gain, and lose

The digital media company is ‘very comfortable’, it told the Financial Times, despite a report that internal financial targets were missed by over $80mBuzzFeed missed internal financial targets in 2015 and had to substantially cut its projected revenue by about half according to a report published by the Financial Times on Tuesday.According to the FT, the company has been forced to cut its 2016 revenue target from $500m to $250m after missing its 2015 target by more than $80m. The company reportedly projected revenues of $250m in 2015 but generated less than $170m. Continue reading...

Lawsuit claims Les Benzies was ‘enticed’ into taking a sabbatical in September 2014, a year after the release of the popular video gameThe producer behind the multimillion-selling Grand Theft Auto video games is suing the publisher of the series, Take-Two Interactive, for $150m.Les Benzies, previously president of Rockstar North, the studio that developed the hit franchise from Grand Theft Auto III onwards, claims that he was “enticed” into taking a sabbatical in September 2014, a year after the release of Grand Theft Auto V. He then returned to the office six months later to find that his access to the building had been revoked. Continue reading...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke out against Donald Trump’s anti-immigration comments during an annual developer conference on Tuesday. Zuckerberg said he was alarmed by a shift in many countries towards people looking inwards, saying he heard ‘fearful voices calling for building walls’ and halting immigration. ‘It takes courage to choose hope over fear,’ Zuckerberg told the crowd Continue reading...

The companies promise to ‘handle in a timely way terror-related harmful, illegal information, create a clear internet space and maintain social stability’Twenty-five Chinese technology companies have signed a pledge to counter images and information online that promote terrorism, the internet regulator said on Tuesday, months after China passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law.The Cyberspace Administration of China said the companies had promised to “handle in a timely way terror-related harmful, illegal information, create a clear internet space and maintain social stability”. Continue reading...

Bill would give police permission to use instrument that can search any portable device at car crash scene to determine if it was used at time of accidentAnyone involved in a car crash in New York may soon have to submit not just blood-alcohol content but a cellphone to police at the scene, or else risk losing his or her license.A new law proposed by state senator Terrence Murphy and assemblyman Felix Ortiz would give police permission to search any phone or portable device at the scene of an accident. Cellebrite, an Israeli company that helps law enforcement crack smartphones, is marketing a device it’s calling a “textalyzer” that would analyze a driver’s phone. Continue reading...

Media group’s interest in buying part of the ailing internet giant may seem perplexing, but the right deal could send its US growth soaring

The ride-hailing app says data of more than 11 million customers has been collected by agencies, often without any explanation of why it is neededUber has claimed that transport regulators collect too much data on its passengers and drivers, marking the latest chapter in the ride-hailing giant’s fraught relationship with authorities.In a report released on Tuesday, Uber showed that state and local agencies – such as public utility and taxi commissions – requested data affecting more than 11m user accounts and half a million drivers between July and December 2015. Continue reading...

Tim Arnold has been collecting and repairing rare pinball machines for decades. Now he’s looking for a protege to take the reins – otherwise it’s game overTim Arnold prizes his pinball machines. Customers, not so much.He bought his first one at age 15 and soon began taking the contraptions apart to reveal their secrets. Later, in college, he discovered he could make more fixing pinball machines than he could ever hope to make in any respectable job. Continue reading...

Taiwanese manufacturer hopes latest flagship Android smartphone will solve user problems, and reignite competition with Samsung and AppleHTC, the manufacturer of the very first Android phone, is betting on speed, battery life and the world’s first optically stabilised selfie camera with its new flagship HTC 10 phone it hopes will relaunch the company.

David Davis says data retention laws turn ‘entire nation into suspects’, but UK lawyers say they are vital to terrorism cases

Silicon Valley is an engine for creativity and ‘obviously ridiculous amounts of wealth’, the host said – the kind of wealth that Sanders supporters plan to protestRelated: George Clooney interview: ‘Donald Trump is a xenophobic fascist’The Silicon Valley investor hosting George and Amal Clooney at his home this week for a Hillary Clinton fundraiser said he’s unfazed by a protest planned by as many as 1,500 Bernie Sanders supporters with pots and pans at his gate. Continue reading...

As part of a series on the rising global phenomenon of online harassment, the Guardian commissioned research into the 70m comments left on its site since 2006 and discovered that of the 10 most abused writers eight are women, and the two men are black. Hear from three of those writers, explore the data and help us host better conversations onlineComments allow readers to respond to an article instantly, asking questions, pointing out errors, giving new leads. At their best, comment threads are thoughtful, enlightening, funny: online communities where readers interact with journalists and others in ways that enrich the Guardian’s journalism.But at their worst, they are something else entirely. Continue reading...

Mahana Mansfield explains the methodology used in the researchThe Guardian wants to understand more about the types of below-the-line comments we receive from readers on the site with a view to fostering the best discussion possible and limiting abuse.This analysis, which looks at the patterns of moderation on articles by different authors and on different topics, is a first dive into the data. Continue reading...

Tesla CEO announces Mario Kart Rainbow Road-inspired fun within the Model S moments before news of a 2,700 Model X recall breaksTesla owners: Good news! Your car has a secret Mario-Kart-style mode that enables flashing lights and loud music, announced by none other than Tesla chief executive Elon Musk himself. Now, if you could just stare at the “psychedelic cowbell road” on the dash and not pay attention to the news of a mass product recall that broke (more quietly) just two hours later, that would be great.Yes, Musk is a crafty one. Stirring up fanboy nostalgia, the new “psychedelic cowbell road” trick allows Model S drivers to engage what looks like Rainbow Road straight out of Nintendo’s Mario Kart on the car’s in-dash display of the road ahead. Continue reading...

The Life of Pablo is the first album to hit No 1 in America without majority physical and download sales, with 74% of units shifted via streamThe fragmented launch of Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo has paid off: the rapper’s seventh album has made music history in the US by becoming the first album to reach No 1 in the charts primarily through streaming, two months after its initial release.The Life of Pablo was initially launched in February at New York’s Madison Square Garden to coincide with the launch of his new Yeezy fashion season. It was then available to stream exclusively through Tidal before being made available on 1 April via iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify and other major services. Continue reading...

Game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki no longer has novelty on his side, but the genius behind the Souls series still has plenty of tricks to surprise us withWhen Dark Souls emerged, so brooding and so strange, in 2011, it had that most treasured of all video game attributes: novelty. Dark fantasy action games are a staple of a medium that rarely ventures from the agreed confines of genre. But only players of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s little-known game, Demon’s Souls, were familiar with the director’s talent for arranging castles, knights, swords and dragons in such a beguiling manner.As a child, Miyazaki would borrow western fantasy books from the library, then, unable to read them, would imagine stories to accompany the illustrations. Through his games he has revealed an understanding of the power of enigma. Where most designers gingerly lead the player while explaining every rule and backstory nugget in wearying detail, Miyazaki constantly withholds information, thereby provoking a much keener interest – which is then compounded by the fact that every enemy encounter is a life or death battle. Continue reading...

Nations worldwide are struggling to address issues such as harassment, defamation or revenge pornographyOnline abuse is rife on social media and other sites across the globe but countries are attempting to deal with it in very different ways. As part the Guardian’s Web we want series investigating the dark side of the internet - and the efforts people are making to clean it up - we look at what different legislatures are doing. Continue reading...

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

Chris Bishop fears concern over Terminator-style scenarios could deprive humanity of one of the most powerful technologies ever createdThe promise of artificial intelligence could be lost to humanity because people fear Terminator-style robots and other doomsday scenarios, an expert has warned.Hyperbole about the risks of artificial intelligence threaten to scupper developments that could assist humanity, from driverless cars that could cut down road accidents to medical systems that could revolutionise healthcare, said Chris Bishop, director of Microsoft Research in Cambridge. Continue reading...

Dock workers carry out rolling 48-hour strikes across Australia in face of lockout threat, sparking comparisons with 1998 waterfront disputeAs wharfies prepare to go on a 48-hour strike at Patrick Stevedores’ Port Botany site, memories of the historic 1998 waterfront dispute are fresh.Related: Crew forced off Alcoa cargo ship after two-month industrial dispute Continue reading...

Issue has been raised that foreign firms do not pay same rate as Israeli ones; affected companies expected to include Google , Facebook, Amazon and eBayIsrael is to start collecting value added tax (VAT) and income taxes from foreign companies that do substantial business over the internet in Israel.

Napster founder, backed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, is pushing Screening Room: a plan to release films in theatres and at home on the same day – for a priceA gathering this week of Hollywood stars, studio bosses and cinema owners will climax with “big screen achievement awards”, but the focus will probably not be on achievements or awards – or even the big screen.Most of the attention at CinemaCon, an annual film industry jamboree, will instead be on a controversial plan to enhance the small screen by beaming new film releases into homes on the same day they open in cinemas. Continue reading...

First rolled out to customers in September 2015, Tesla has had to recall Model X made before 26 March owing to a fault with second and third row seatsTesla Motors will recall 2,700 Model X sport utility vehicles in the United States due to a faulty locking hinge in the third-row seats that increases the risk the seats could fall forward in a crash, the electric car maker said on Monday.

The freedoms of the internet are too often abused. Tech companies need to face up to the problem, and so – in close consultation with their readers – do publishers, including the GuardianIn the beginning was the web. A playful, creative and open space, where anyone could connect, and every assumption, every hierarchy, could be challenged. Instead of textbooks and newspapers handing down fact and opinion from on high, there was a blossoming of online communities, sparky self-starting blogs, and Wikipedia to set the wisdom of crowds to work.Somewhere along the way, however, as the internet moved from the computer on your desk to the phone in your pocket, it ceased to be a quirky corner of life, and instead became the environment in which much human life was lived – for better, and for worse. The engagement continued, of course, but along with online camaraderie, the vituperative modes of interaction took hold: bullying, shaming and intimidation. Worse, instead of upending old assumptions, much of this new online abuse works to reinforce ancient prejudices. For women it frequently assumes a particularly violent and sexualised form, sometimes extending to public rape threats; for ethnic minorities it is often racist. Continue reading...

Here are some of the treasures we found at the annual celebration of PC and indie games, from burly sailors to cyberpunk assassinsOver the weekend, the annual Rezzed festival filled London’s Tobacco Dock venue with hundreds of forthcoming PC and console titles. As ever, the emphasis was on offbeat and independent titles, making it a fascinating place to pick up on the stars of tomorrow.Despite such an embarrassment of riches, we managed to pick out our 12 favourite experiences. Continue reading...

They face harassment including death threats and racist abuse. Why are social media sites and police unable or unwilling to tackle the problem?For the past 16 months, Suzanne Fernandes has been targeted online with racial abuse, pornography and death threats. The two individuals she believes are responsible share many similarities: an interest in far-right politics, an ability to create multiple anonymous fake social media accounts, and past convictions for extreme internet harassment.Related: Top tech firms urged to step up online abuse fightback Continue reading...

Facebook, Google and Twitter are working with women’s groups to challenge hate speech – but critics attack secrecy over scale of problemTop tech companies are talking to grassroots organisations across the globe to organise a fightback on their platforms against online abuse, hate speech, misogyny and stalking. Continue reading...

Almost 55 million Filipinos are at risk of cybercrime after a database was stolen from Comelec, the country’s electoral commissionThe personal information of more than 50 million Filipinos has been exposed in a breach of the Philippine electoral commission.According to security researchers at Trend Micro, the hack contains a huge amount of very sensitive personal data, including the fingerprints of 15.8 million individuals and passport numbers and expiry dates of 1.3 million overseas voters. Continue reading...

Latest robot from Alphabet-owned University of Tokyo spin-out Schaft can traverse uneven terrain and stairs, and carry up to 6okgGoogle’s Alphabet has a new walking robot that wouldn’t look out of place in Interstellar or science-fiction homes of the future.

Narrative designer Cara Ellison looks at Brothers, Full Throttle, Journey and Half-Life and asks, how exactly do they do this games writing thing so well?Video game writing is still something of a misunderstood art form. Can’t you just pluck someone out of whatever breeding pool Michael Bay incubates his screen writers in? Surely telling a story is the same in any medium – you just call up some scruffy, caffeine-crazed underfed, and watch them work their dark art on your sprawling epic, right?Hold your dismissive rhetorical tone, I’d say to me. It’s not quite that simple.