Technology | The Guardian

The internet echo chamber satiates our appetite for pleasant lies and reassuring falsehoods and has become the defining challenge of the 21st centuryThe internet age made big promises to us: a new period of hope and opportunity, connection and empathy, expression and democracy. Yet the digital medium has aged badly because we allowed it to grow chaotically and carelessly, lowering our guard against the deterioration and pollution of our infosphere.Related: How technology disrupted the truth | Katharine Viner Continue reading...

Cyber-attacks aim to delegitimise democratic process and elicit political uncertainty, says Bruno KahlThe head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service has warned that next year’s general election could be targeted by Russian hackers intent on spreading misinformation and undermining the democratic process.

The experience of fleeing communist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s has informed a fascinating survival horror driving gameOndřej Švadlena’s open-world driving game doesn’t look like any other. The cars are old and beat up, there are no timers or cheering crowds, and the California sun is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a brown murkiness hangs over the entire world, lending it an eerie and oppressive quality. This is a driving game inspired, not by long pleasure drives along some Pacific highway, but by a childhood spent living in and eventually fleeing the Soviet bloc.In 1984, at the age of six, Švadlena almost snitched on his own parents to the secret police. He had come home from kindergarten and asked his mother if she would hang out the Soviet flag for Labour Day – a “tradition” enforced by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. “When she told me she would not, I told her I would have to report that to my kindergarten educators because they asked us to,” Švadlena says. There’s no telling what would have happened to his parents if he had. Continue reading...

This War of Mine follows civilians trying to survive in a war-torn city, telling a story that’s become increasingly poignant amid the current refugee crisisIn March 2014, a few months before the release of This War of Mine, the developers at 11 Bit Studios were discussing potential endings to their video game story of civilians trying to survive in a war-torn city. Wojciech Setlak, one of the writers, suggested they have a neighbouring country intervene, sending in troops to gain control of part of the weakened nation.A month later, in the real world, militia flying Russian flags – known to the locals as “little green men” – appeared in eastern Ukraine. “It was uncanny,” says Setlak. “We had anticipated something that actually happened.” Continue reading...

Makers of party game livestream a backhoe digging a gigantic hole somewhere in the US, saying ‘as long as money keeps coming in, we’ll keep digging’Cards Against Humanity, described as “a party game for horrible people”, marked Black Friday by digging a giant hole funded by donations.“As long as money keeps coming in, we’ll keep digging,” read HolidayHole.com, a website dedicated to the hole set up by Cards Against Humanity. Viewers could watch a live feed of a backhoe digging on YouTube. Continue reading...

I am delighted to learn that the UK government is to encourage the production of electric cars (Report, 26 November). But there is only a very brief mention of the need for the adequate provision of charge points. My wife and I took delivery of our first electric car, a Nissan Leaf, six months ago. It is our only car. We live in a rural area. We can manage round trips of up to 100 miles easily, relying solely on our domestic charge point for topping up at night.For longer trips, however, we need to know that there are properly functioning charge points available to enable quick recharges to get us safely home without the anxiety of possibly being stranded on the way back. Unfortunately we regularly find charge points out of order, even in major centres such as Newcastle. On a recent trip to Durham, right on the far edge of our range, we found that the only rapid charge point at an out-of-town park-and-ride centre had been out of order for a long time. If the use of electric cars is to be seriously encouraged, the provision of a good network of readily accessible and reliable charge points has to be given absolute priority.

Party says digital economy bill due for third reading in Commons is type of clampdown one would expect from Russia or ChinaThe Liberal Democrats will oppose proposals to force adult websites to impose strict age regulation and empower a regulator to block websites that show a range of sexual acts, calling it the kind of measure one would expect of China or Russia.The digital economy bill, which will introduce new policies for Britain’s electronic communications infrastructure and services, is due for a report stage vote and third reading in the Commons on Monday afternoon.

San Francisco Municipal Transport Agency attacked by hackers who locked up computers and data with 100 bitcoin demandHackers have managed to infect and take over more than 2,000 computers used to operate San Francisco’s public transport system, forcing the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) to open the gates and allow passengers to ride for nothing.

The latest Pokémon games are the best yet, Sony’s new console is powerful, if not essential, and a 2D platformer brings simple unashamed fun3DS, Nintendo, cert: 7, out now

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

House standing committee says papers taken by Australian federal police during raid on MP’s office must be handed backDocuments seized by Australian federal police during a raid on Parliament House three months ago as part of their investigation of allegedly leaked NBN documents are subject to parliamentary privilege and should be handed back.The house standing committee of privileges and members’ interests has made that recommendation in its report published on Monday. Continue reading...

The IRS has issued a summons for data on millions of users of the bitcoin exchange Coinbase, but some are dismayed by sweeping nature of the requestA US government request to trawl through the personal data of millions of users of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase signals the start of an effort to pull digital currencies like bitcoin into the mainstream, experts have said.The “John Doe” summons, a broad order for data on all Coinbase users in 2013, 2014 and 2015, was filed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in a federal court in California on 17 November.

The internet was once a land of promise, with few fears about crime or privacy. Thirty years on, scammers, thieves and spies have created a place of chaosHere are some stories about the world we now inhabit…• In February this year, Bangladesh Bank was hit by the biggest bank robbery in history when thieves got away with $101m. The heist was accomplished not by tunnels or explosives, but by acquiring the access codes for the Swift global messaging system, which is what banks use to securely pass payment orders to one another. The criminals used Swift to instruct the US Federal Reserve to transfer money to their accounts. Then they cunningly erased their digital fingerprints by modifying the bank’s software. Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg’s social media site doesn’t have to become a censor to help tackle false stories. It can do a lot by helping its own users with contextIn the wake of the US presidential election, almost everyone agrees that misinformation is a problem. Even Mark Zuckerberg has finally said that Facebook will take it seriously. “Our goal is to connect people with the stories they find most meaningful, and we know people want accurate information,” he wrote this week.

Sequel takes place in a vibrant open world filled with wacky hactivists, which makes for a lively gaming experienceAs a proof of concept for a cyber-drama take on Assassin’s Creed, complete with all-encompassing hacking abilities, the original Watch Dogs really worked. Where it faltered was ... almost everywhere else. The chief complaint being that its protagonist, Aiden Pearce, was a bland and unlikeable guy, someone that you never sympathised with despite his dark, guilt-ridden Max Payne-esque past. Indirectly responsible for the death of his niece and the comatose state of his sister, Aiden’s resolution was to go out for revenge. A lot of people had trouble getting on board with that.In Watch Dogs 2, developer Ubisoft Montreal not only takes the foundations of the original to build a good, fun game around its core ideas, it also births a great lead character, Marcus Holloway. He’s the most likeable Ubisoft lead since Ezio Auditore of Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood and Revelations. This sequel also leaves the drab, rain-slicked streets of grey Chicago behind. In its place, we get a glorious rendition of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area; the overpriced suburbs of Palo Alto and the warm city offshoots of Oakland – it’s all beautifully replicated in one of Ubisoft’s most colourful and vibrant open worlds. Continue reading...

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

Not many phablets have bigger screens than 5.9in but Chinese smartphone makes big work with excellent battery life, camera and improved softwareHuawei’s Mate 9 is a phablet that tries to squeeze a monster screen into a not-quite-so monster body and mostly succeeds.

Recently described as the ‘tech gateway to the Middle East’, we explore the inner workings of Beirut, the world’s unlikeliest of tech hubsThree tech entrepreneurs from Beirut – Salma Jawhar, founder of Play My Way, and Ali El Ali and Georges Choueiry, co-founders of BidAffairs.com – join presenter Matt Shore to discuss the Lebanese capital’s burgeoning technology sector.

Pokémon trainers won’t be able to see the new creature on the map as it is hiding in plain sight, mimicking any other monster in the gamePokémon Go has finally given players a big reason to come back to the game: the introduction of the first new Pokemon since it launched back in July.Pokémon trainers can now catch Ditto, an amorphous blob that can transform into any other Pokemon using its signature move “mimic”. But there’s a catch. Continue reading...

War, what is it good for? Gaming, it seems. We survey three depictions of conflict. Plus Playstation 4 Pro is here

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

Sixth-form College of National Security will teach cyber skills to some of Britain’s most gifted youngsters to fight growing threatIts first operatives famously cracked coded messages encrypted by the Nazis, hastening the end of the second world war.Now Bletchley Park is planning a new school for the next generation of codebreakers in order to plug a huge skills gap in what is fast emerging as the biggest security threat to 21st-century Britain. Continue reading...

Convincing Apple to make its products in the US will be a ‘real achievement’ says Trump, but skepticism remains about whether it could ever happenDonald Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he is going to “get” the company to start manufacturing its products in the United States, the president-elect told the New York Times on Tuesday.Trump revealed that he had received a post-election phone call from Cook during which he said, “Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States.” Continue reading...

John Carr asks why the Open Rights Group is worried about requirements for people to verify their age with pornographic websites (Letters, 22 November). Open Rights Group supports the many organisations calling for compulsory sex education that discusses pornography and relationships. We also welcome efforts by British internet service providers to help parents mediate their children’s internet access and keep them safe online.However, the government’s proposals, outlined in the digital economy bill, could lead to the tracking of UK adults across the pornographic websites they visit. There are no specific privacy protections in the bill. In fact, the government wants a proliferation of age verification technologies. How will we know which are safe and which are putting us at risk of an Ashley Madison-style data leak? Some sites might ask for your credit card details. Again, how will we know if this is genuine, or in fact a scam to steal your payment details? Continue reading...

The technology giant is now using live data to let you know exactly how crowded your local cafe, restaurant or tourist attraction is. Does it work? We put it to the testOne of the creepiest – and most useful – Google inventions has been its ability to predict traffic jams by using anonymised ping-backs from mobile phones to tell how fast everyone is moving.Related: Google will now tell you whether a bar or shop is busy in real-time Continue reading...

Software developed with Mark Zuckerberg’s support will allow third parties to monitor and suppress the visibility of postsFacebook has developed censorship software in an effort to get China to lift its seven-year ban on the world’s largest social network, according to reports.The social network developed the software to suppress posts from appearing in users’ news feeds in specific geographies with the support of the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, according to the New York Times. The posts themselves will not be suppressed, only their visibility. Continue reading...

Our health secrets could be revealed by chemical traces left on our phones Continue reading...

Campaigners label bill targeted at online pornography a ‘prurient’ intervention that will take Britain’s censorship regime back to pre-internet eraWeb users in the UK will be banned from accessing websites portraying a range of non-conventional sexual acts, under a little discussed clause to a government bill currently going through parliament.The proposal, part of the digital economy bill, would force internet service providers to block sites hosting content that would not be certified for commercial DVD sale by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). Continue reading...

Appointees Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison have openly opposed legislation that assures equal access to high-performance internetLegislation that assures equal access to high-performance internet – one of the signature achievements of Obama’s administration – could be reversed under President-elect Trump after he appointed two opponents of “net neutrality” to the US communications regulator team.Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison have been vocal in their opposition to the policy of net neutrality, which prevents large internet companies from creating fast lanes for high-paying customers. They are both associated with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank based in Washington DC which has previously campaigned against net neutrality. Continue reading...

Enthusiasm for Snapchat’s pop-up sale of video-capturing sunglasses bubbled into a second day as people camped out in hats, scarves and sweatersAs temperatures dipped and high winds whistled down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Tuesday hundreds waited in line for the chance to snap up this season’s must-have tech toy – Snapchat Spectacles – and the possibility to make some extra money.This was the second day that tech company Snap Inc’s Spectacles pop-up store had opened on 59th street and enthusiasm for the video-capturing sunglasses hadn’t waned. Its doors were closed until 4.00pm but by 12.30pm, the line to purchase had already stretched around the corner to Fifth Avenue and up to 60th street. There were about 150 people waiting at that time, still with three and a half hours to go. Continue reading...

Signals directorate is supporting coalition military operations in Iraq and Syria, PM will tell parliamentThe prime minister will tell parliament on Wednesday that Australia’s cyber capability, through the Australian Signals Directorate, is being deployed offensively to support coalition military operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.Malcolm Turnbull will make a security statement at noon addressing directly the sensitive subject of Australia’s offensive cyber capabilities – while the minister assisting the prime minister on cyber security, Dan Tehan, will use a separate outing at the National Press Club to argue that, domestically, Australia needs to step up its preparedness against hacking and malicious cyber-attacks. Continue reading...

Drivers seek to put pressure on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, to insist that the US minicab company pays the minimum wageMore than a hundred Uber drivers have mounted a go-slow protest through central London to put pressure on the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to insist the US company guarantee the minimum wage.At least 100 Uber minicabs drove at walking pace down Edgware Road and Park Lane towards Westminster on Tuesday, honking their horns and blocking traffic as drivers angry at low pay for long hours stepped up direct action against the San Fransisco-based firm. Continue reading...

New live data shows how busy a store or venue is before you set off, just in time for Black Friday’s shopping crush and the festive periodGoogle’s latest feature will tell you how busy a place is in real-time before you set off.

Social network’s plan to bring 1 billion people online suffers blow as American National Transportation Safety Board examines ‘structural failure’ of Aquila droneFacebook has hit a hitch in its plans to use a solar-powered unmanned drone to provide internet access to developing nations, after it was revealed the American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into an accident on the drone’s first test flight in June.At the time, Facebook described the flight as “successful”: the drone, called Aquila, stayed aloft for 96 minutes, three times the planned duration. “We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Jay Parikh, Facebook’s head of engineering and infrastructure, wrote when Facebook revealed the test flight, in late July. “In our next tests, we will fly Aquila faster, higher and longer, eventually taking it above 60,000 feet.” Continue reading...

Closure of 17-year-old AirPort line comes after decline in sales of hardware such as routers and monitors, as Apple hones its core consumer product businessApple has closed the division responsible for designing its wireless routers, reassigning the employees within the company and putting an end to its 17-year-old AirPort product line, sources close to the company have confirmed.The iPhone-maker currently sells three router devices developed by the division: the £99 AirPort Express, a small wireless access point, the £199 AirPort Extreme, a larger wireless router, and the Time Capsule, a wireless router with an in-built hard drive for backups, which is available in two sizes for £299 and £399. But none of the devices have been updated since 2013, after years of near-annual alterations to support the latest wireless networking technologies. Continue reading...

New iPhone crash bug caused by a Vine-like Miaopai video locks up devices, rendering them useless without a forced rebootA link to a video, which when watched slows down any iPhone until it crashes, is being used as the latest iPhone crash prank.

Chancellor to say local authorities will be offered chance to bid for slice of £740m to trial superfast 5G mobile networksThe chancellor will deploy more than £1bn to boost broadband speeds for up 2m homes and businesses as part of an infrastructure plan to be outlined in the autumn statement.Related: Living in a broadband ‘not-spot’? Try using the church spire to get a signal Continue reading...

Attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions has sought to curtail H-1B visa program that allows thousands of workers and students into US annuallyThe main US visa program for technology workers could face renewed scrutiny under President-elect Donald Trump and his proposed attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, a longtime critic of the skilled-worker program.Under the H-1B visa scheme, 65,000 workers and another 20,000 graduate student workers are admitted to the US each year. The tech industry, which has lobbied to expand the program, may now have to fight a rear-guard action to protect it, immigration attorneys and lobbyists said. Continue reading...

Fantastic Beasts is not just a new outpost for the Harry Potter empire. It is a pivotal moment in the creation of The Wizarding World of JK Rowling – and it could give the gold-gobbling niffler a run for its money. We go over the booksA film franchise is like a shark: it must keep moving forward or die. Now that the goldmine of Harry Potter has been largely exhausted after eight phenomenally successful films, the baton has been picked up by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Fantastic Beasts is not simply a new outpost of the Harry Potter empire, it is a key plank in the extension of a “universe” that has given itself considerable elbow room with its retooled brand-name, The Wizarding World of JK Rowling. Encompassing films, books, videogames, websites and theme-parks, the Wizarding World is one of the most valuable brands in the entertainment industry.Conceived and written by Rowling herself (and taking its cue from the Hogwarts school textbook mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), Fantastic Beasts was quickly reconfigured as a five-film series, starring Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne as its “magizoologist” protagonist, Newt Scamander. Rowling has set the film in the US, from where the vast majority of the Wizarding World’s revenue has so far derived. Continue reading...

Technology heavyweights are investing in Britain despite political uncertainty and concerns over skills shortagesTechnology was flagged as one of the British industries that would suffer most in the wake of a Brexit vote, with almost nine out of 10 London-based tech professionals opposing an EU exit.Several months after the referendum, however, and the sector has received a significant boost. Instead of a talent and investment flight, the capital’s status as a global tech hub has been confirmed with statements over the past week from a pair of big beasts: Google and Facebook. Continue reading...

James Frazer-Mann was tracked down by FBI after paying Americans to target forum following complaints about his businessThe boss of a payday loans company hired computer hackers to try to sabotage a consumer rights website after it had carried customers’ complaints about his business.James Frazer-Mann, 35, was tracked down by the FBI after he paid American hackers to launch an attack on the Consumer Action Group (CAG) website. Continue reading...

Father of the intercontinental ballistic missileSimon Ramo, who has died aged 103, was a great of American corporate science who described himself as a “hybrid of a scientist, engineer and entrepreneur”. But it was his role, from 1953 onwards, as the father of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), that would make Ramo a key figure in the American technocratic elite, and in the shaping of the cold war.Ramo had made his mark with the Hughes Aircraft Company – but his association with the defence contractor and its maverick owner, Howard Hughes, ended one Saturday morning in the summer of 1953. A Hughes Chevrolet picked Ramo up from his home in Santa Monica, California, and drove him to a nearby beach house-cum-mansion built by the press baron William Randolph Hearst – the model for Citizen Kane – for his movie star lover Marion Davies. There, Ramo had the last of his encounters with Hughes. The multimillionaire recluse, wrote the scientist, was “eccentric, uneducated, uninformed [and] virtually out of communication with the world”. Continue reading...

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

Hit US voice-controlled speaker brings Alexa assistant to British homes with third-party app support, good sound and fantastic voice recognitionAmazon’s Echo voice-controlled smart speaker is finally available in the UK, but was the wait worth it?

Nintendo’s microconsole is a pint-sized blast from the past, Playstation VR explores a distant planet with dinosaurs, while Call of Duty explores space with gunsNintendo, cert: NA

Migrant workers making goods for the global electronics brands claim they are trapped and exploited in MalaysiaSamsung and Panasonic, two of the world’s leading electronics brands, are facing allegations that workers in their supply chains are being duped, exploited and underpaid in Malaysia.The two companies have launched investigations into allegations of abuse made by Nepalese workers after a Guardian investigation raised multiple concerns about their treatment. Continue reading...

Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court, London

After a few years in the doldrums, Renault is back on form. Its new Mégane is handsome and good value… What more do you want in a car?Price: £16,950

Mark Zuckerberg says site has been ‘working on problem for a long time’ and ‘penalizes’ misinformation on news feeds to reduce chances it will spreadFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new steps to counter fake news on the platform on Saturday, marking a departure from his skepticism that online misinformation is, as Barack Obama said this week, a threat to democratic institutions.“We take misinformation seriously,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Saturday. “We know people want accurate information. We’ve been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously.” Continue reading...