Technology secretary Peter Kyle expresses fear of app being propaganda vehicle' but says it can deliver exhilaration' to usersTikTok's power to deliver exhilaration" and the UK's relationship with China are shaping the UK government's acceptance of the short video app despite genuine concerns" about how the data of millions of Britons may be used, the technology secretary has said.After the US courts upheld a law that could lead to the platform being banned or sold in the US, Peter Kyle told the Guardian: I am genuinely concerned about the ownership model of TikTok. I'm genuinely concerned about their use of data, linked to the ownership model." Continue reading...
After unveiling of Stargate, Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Satya Nadella of Tesla, OpenAI and Microsoft trade barbsMajor tech moguls had their claws out for each other on Wednesday, hissing at their rivals over enormous pledges to invest in AI that had been announced by Donald Trump the day before.Trump announced Stargate, a $500bn project to be funded jointly by OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, on Tuesday. During the announcement, the president was flanked by the leaders of those companies: Sam Altman, Larry Ellison and Masayoshi Son, respectively. Son is slated to be the chair of the project. All three are multibillionaires. Absent from the photo op was a representative from MGX, Abu Dhabi's state AI fund, another principal investor. Continue reading...
Trump's choice shows how his friends and their business interests benefit from policy positions in his administrationWhat deeply interests me is the interests of America."Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of the Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and Donald Trump's nominee to become the next secretary of commerce, was speaking to an audience of cryptocurrency enthusiasts last April. Continue reading...
Business minister denies government in pocket of big tech' after hiring Doug Gurr to chair CMAThe appointment of a former Amazon boss to lead the UK's competition watchdog as it begins investigations into technology firms has been called a slap in the face to workers" by trade unions and Trumpian by consumer activists.The business minister Justin Madders was forced on Wednesday to deny the government was in the pocket of big tech" after it hired Doug Gurr, a former country manager of Amazon UK and president of Amazon China, to chair the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Continue reading...
The newly announced console enters a crowded market making some wonder that without a radical rehaul will loyal customers feel the need to get the new one?Well, it happened: Nintendo announced the Switch 2 the day after last week's newsletter went out. And a strange announcement it was.The short trailer (which you can watch here) tells you everything we know at this point: everything about the machine except for its appearance remains a mystery. Nintendo has scheduled a reveal event for April that will presumably be more fulsome. This was likely Nintendo's plan all along, and the trailer was released early following a flood of leaked information about the console. They provided no release date, no details - and no games. Continue reading...
Video posted by top gamer shows what he says is X conversation in which billionaire admits account boosting'Elon Musk admitted he cheated at video games to get high scores, a transcript of a private online conversation he had shows, seemingly concluding a fiery scandal over the billionaire's outlandish claims to be a globally-ranked player.Musk has regularly bragged about his gaming rankings. He told the podcaster Joe Rogan last year that he was in the top 20 players in the world for the fiendishly difficult action role-playing game Diablo IV. Continue reading...
Joint venture aims to construct data centers and infrastructure needed to power AI developmentDonald Trump has unveiled what he called the largest AI infrastructure project in history" - a $500bn joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that aims to build a network of data centres across the US.The new partnership, dubbed Stargate, aims to construct essential data centers and computing infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence development and, according to Trump, create more than 100,000 American jobs almost immediately". Continue reading...
by Robert Booth UK technology correspondent on (#6TQHF)
The app announced by Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for technology, will launch in June with driving licences and veteran cards the first available IDsUK citizens could soon be able to carry their passports in a digital wallet on their phones along with their driving licence, universal credit account and marriage and birth certificates.The plan was announced by Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, as part of a new smartphone app to simplify interactions with government services. He said it meant the overflowing drawer rammed with letters from the government and hours spent on hold to get a basic appointment will soon be consigned to history". Continue reading...
From electronic shelf labels to more self-service checkouts, automation is coming to your local supermarketElectronic shelf labels, returns machines, robot bag packers and yet more self-service tills - just some of the many technologies that UK retailers are embracing as they try to solve the problem of rising labour costs.Investment in automation was a constant drumbeat amid the flurry of festive trading updates from big retailers in the past few weeks, as they face higher staffing bills from April after the rise in the national minimum wage and employers' national insurance contributions (NICs). Continue reading...
Parlex is one of several artificial intelligence systems being developed within the governmentA new artificial intelligence tool can warn ministers whether policies are likely to be very unpopular with their party's MPs, using a search described as a parliamentary vibe check".Parlex is one of a suite of AI tools- called Humphrey, after the Yes Minister character - being developed for ministers and civil servants which allow them to predict which topics might cause them difficulty with their own backbenchers, and pinpoint specific MPs who feel passionately about a given subject. Continue reading...
Tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared to give a fascist-style salute during the celebration of Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. The major Trump donor, who is the richest man in the world, thanked Trump supporters for 'making it happen' at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC
Musk desperately wants to appropriate gamer credibility, but he may be faking it - and doing exactly what toxic nerds have been accusing women of doing for decadesLast year on Joe Rogan's podcast, Elon Musk claimed to be one of the world's best Diablo IV players - and surprisingly, the leaderboards backed him up. For those that haven't had the pleasure, Diablo is one of the most mercilessly time-intensive video games out there; you build a character and carve through armies of demons, spending hundreds of hours refining skills and equipment for maximum hellspawn-cleansing efficiency. I played it for maybe five hours last year and immediately quit, for fear that it would consume my life. Most of the people who play it are young, often male, and have plenty of time to themselves to spend on the internet and playing games - so, the exact demographic of many Musk stans.It suited these hardcore gamer guys to believe that someone who tweets all day and runs several businesses was also an elite player who poured hundreds of hours into Diablo. This made him relatable. It fed into his preferred image of being the hardest-working man alive. But then Elon made the mistake of actually playing a game live on X, and it became clear very quickly that something was amiss. It seems Elon Musk might be a fake gamer.
Takaya Imamura worked at Nintendo for 32 years before leaving to create his own game, Omega Six. He shares anecdotes from those pivotal years at the creative giantIn 1889 in Kyoto, craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded a hanafuda playing card company. He called it Nintendo - a phrase whose meaning is lost to time according to Nintendo's own historians, but which can be translated as leave luck up to heaven". In the 1970s, Nintendo eventually transitioned from paper games to electronic ones, making its own luck in the process. It has been a permanent fixture in living rooms across the world ever since.For budding artist Takaya Imamura, an art student who had been captivated by Metroid and Super Mario Bros 3 in the 1980s, working at Nintendo was a dream. Back in 1985 when Super Mario came out in Japan, everybody was playing it," he recalls. I was at an art university, studying design at the time. Back then, game design wasn't a thing ... people didn't even know what game creators were." Continue reading...
by Michael Sainato in New York and Dan Milmo on (#6TP2H)
President-elect says order would give company extra 90 days to find buyer and suggests that US take a 50% stakeTikTok said on Sunday that it was restoring services in the US after Donald Trump pledged earlier in the day to give the video app a reprieve on its US ban.Trump wrote on Truth Social that after taking office on Monday he would sign an executive order allowing the Chinese-owned video app additional time to find a buyer before facing a total shutdown, and proposing that the US or an American firm take a 50% ownership stake. Continue reading...
Claiming a threat from a foreign adversary', the US has yet to prove China shared propaganda or collected US user dataThe United States of America deleted TikTok early on the morning of 19 January. A government formed by the people, for the people", in the words of Abraham Lincoln, has made scant evidence available to those people as to why. As those in power at the 11th hour realize how unpopular such a paternalistic move might be, each is doing their best to lay blame with the others.Why did the US ban an app used and beloved by some 170 million Americans? For fear of China's propaganda and data collection. It's a far-reaching, unprecedented move. The text of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed in April and signed by Joe Biden, reads: This bill prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (eg, TikTok)." Both a federal appeals court and the US supreme court have affirmed that rationale as sufficient. Continue reading...
Our writer explores the possibilities, with surprising results...My friend walks into the village hall, scene of my son's third birthday party, a mixture of panic and incredulity creeping across his face. I didn't realise we were dressing up," he says, taking in my outfit. I feel myself blush. I'm wearing a mint-green tulle midi dress with sheer sleeves that balloon precociously and a tiered skirt that puffs out in such a way as to give me the appearance of either a Quality Street or a three-year-old at her own birthday party. It's not, if I'm entirely honest, the most practical of outfits for serving chocolate cake to 18 sticky-handed toddlers but, as I blurt out to my friend, keen to dispel any confusion, the avant-garde look wasn't actually my choice: it was AI's.I love quirky clothes. Different cuts, unusual fabrics, bold colours, exciting textures. My wardrobe is my identity, my refuge, my hobby, my happy place. Or, at least, it was. Recently - since having my second baby - I've struggled to get dressed. Paralysed by choice, I am beset by decision fatigue every time I approach my (admittedly groaning) closet. With a three-year-old and a six-month-old to wrangle into clobber, too, the overwhelm has joined forces with lack of time. This morning I was hurling clothes at my body while the youngest screamed for his nap. The steady spoliation of my personal style continues apace, now stained with breast milk and squashed banana. Continue reading...
As US users mourn their Chinese spy' being taken away, my algorithm is busy serving me queer chickens and pastry contentAs the US TikTok ban looms, users of the app there have been posting farewell messages for their Chinese spy", satirising the security concerns behind the ban as they offer up heartfelt appreciations of the ultra-targeted content on their For You pages.There is a lot, they claim, to be grateful for: their Chinese spies" have soothed and amused them, steered them towards splitting with unsuitable partners and toxic workplaces, helped them recover from divorce, changed their political perspectives and sometimes their entire lives. My Chinese spy' was brave enough to tell me I'm an autistic lesbian and I should leave my husband. And I don't know if anyone will care about me that much ever again," reads a typical post, over dramatic footage of the grieving author. A commenter below claims the algorithm knew they were gay four years before they knew themselves; another says the app accurately diagnosed them with a skin condition that two dermatologists missed. Other people are just grateful for pizza recipes and hotel room hacks. Continue reading...
Amazon's Beast Games reflects the greed, narcissism and worship of aggro-capitalism that has brought us our second helping of TrumpThe YouTube superstar Jimmy MrBeast" Donaldson vowed to make his Amazon TV series Beast Games the biggest reality competition show ever", and by most metrics, he succeeded.A little over halfway through its run, Beast Games has hit No 1 on Amazon in over 80 countries and is now the streamer's No 1 unscripted show ever, with over 50 million viewers in just 25 days on the platform. Continue reading...
Observer analysis finds unregulated products being promoted as contraception despite concerns about their accuracyApps promising to help women take control" of their sex lives by predicting the days when they are fertile are putting users at risk of unplanned pregnancy by making misleadingclaims.Millions of women in the UK - including 69% of 18-24-year-olds - have used smartphone apps that track their periods. Many also tell them their fertile window": the days when they are most and least likely to get pregnant. Continue reading...
To realise his dream for economic growth, Keir Starmer must seize the reins of technological powerSir Keir Starmer doesn't do visions. But last Monday he broke the habit of a lifetime in a speech delivered at University College London. It was about AI, which he sees as the defining opportunity of our generation". The UK, he declared is the nation of Babbage, Lovelace and Turing", not to mention the country that gave birth to the modern computer and the world wide web. So mark my words - Britain will be one of the great AI superpowers."Stirring stuff, eh. Within days of taking office, the PM had invited Matt Clifford, a smart tech bro from central casting, to think about how we seize the opportunities of AI". Clifford came up with a 50-point AI Opportunities Action Plan that Starmer accepted in its entirety, saying that he would put the full weight of the British state" behind it. He also appointed Clifford as his AI Opportunities Adviser to oversee implementation of the plan and report directly to him. It's only a matter of time before the Sun dubs him the UK's AI tsar". Continue reading...
Russian-born UK citizen and Tory party activist Sergei Cristo fought to make MI5 sit up and take notice of the Russian political interference operation now threatening democracy in Britain - and around the worldIn the dark days of the spring in 2022, as Russian troops terrorised Bucha and every day brought shocking new scenes of Ukrainians fleeing for their lives, I rang an old acquaintance, Sergei Cristo. Cristo is a Russian-born British citizen and I prepared for what I suspected might be a long conversation: he is a talker. He was born in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, but he moved to Britain when he was 19 and it's fair to say we're not the most obvious of allies. He loves the royal family and is a passionate Conservative party activist. He used to be on the committee of a donor club for young Conservatives, and then I became vice-chairman, I knew the cabinet, I knew the leader, everybody".He's not kidding. He has photos of himself with everyone from Margaret Thatcher to Boris Johnson, and his favourite place to hang out used to be the Carlton Club, the grand Conservative private members' club in central London. Continue reading...
App no longer available on US Apple and Google stores after supreme court upholds lawmakers' banTikTok stopped working in the US late on Saturday, shortly before a federal ban on the Chinese-owned short-video app was due to take effect.The app was no longer available on Apple's iOS App Store or Google's Play Store. The US Congress passed a law in April mandating that parent company ByteDance either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner or face a total shutdown. It chose the latter. Continue reading...
President-elect said he'd probably give the company an extension from US ban the supreme court recently upheldDonald Trump has said he will most likely" give the Chinese-owned TikTok app a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban in the US after he takes office on Monday morning.The incoming president said on Saturday, in an interview with NBC News, that he was considering the extension on a Sunday deadline laid down for the parent company of the wildly popular app to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese-buyer or face a ban under US law. Continue reading...
Labels and artists forced to rethink marketing strategies as viral hit-making app faces possible US shutdown on SundayOn a recent Monday morning, Olivia Shalhoup opened her laptop and steeled herself for a day of meetings. Around 40% of her work as the founder of Amethyst, a marketing and PR agency, focuses on helping musicians navigate TikTok. On this particular day, the fate of the app in the US hung in the balance, with a supreme court ruling looming, and her clients were tense. The big thing we were talking about in every single call is: What are we going to do?'" Shalhoup said. To say that TikTok is crucial to artist campaigns right now is an understatement. No one is immune from this."Since its debut in 2017, TikTok has become a star-making machine, as short-form video content has eclipsed traditional forms of music promotion such as TV and radio. The app has the power to make rising artists into A-listers, propel their ascent to the top of the charts, and turn Magic FM staples like Running Up That Hill into gen alpha hits. With the help of TikTok, Lil Nas X turned the $30 beat of Old Town Road into a career-making smash, while dance challenges drove Doja Cat's Say So and Megan Thee Stallion's Savage to No 1 in the US. More recently, songs like Djo's End of Beginning and Artemas's I Like the Way You Kiss Me became global smashes after going viral on the app. The ability to track a song's stickiness, engagement and reach is something like a label executive's dream, offering what the author John Seabrook has called real-time global callout data", which in turn helps bigwigs make smart deals. Continue reading...
As the platform bows out in the US, here is my carefully curated list of the best things it's taught meThe average TikTok user spends almost one hour each day on the app. However, the screen time of American users is about to be rapidly reduced, as the app is set to be banned in the US.On Friday the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal against a law that would see the social media platform banned over national security concerns. TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance had challenged the law, arguing that it violates free speech protections for more than 170 million users. Continue reading...
by Zoe Williams, Gynelle Leon and Tim Dowling on (#6TNCV)
Would six-year-old Malakhi be strict? Could the grownups give up their phones? Three writers let their children set the rulesZoe Williams Continue reading...
App used by 170m people in US will become unavailable unless outgoing president directs DoJ not to enforce law, company saysTikTok says it will be forced to go dark on January 19" in the United States unless the Biden administration assures service providers that it will not enforce a law banning the Chinese-owned social media app that was upheld by the US supreme court on Friday.The nine justices voted unanimously in a decision that sides with the majority of the US Congress and the US Department of Justice that the hugely popular social media app is a threat to US national security. Continue reading...
by Bertin Huynh, Helen Davidson and Amy Hawkins on (#6TN7S)
Americans fleeing the looming TikTok ban have been warmly welcomed to app Xiaohongshu - or RedNote - despite China's tight restrictions on what can be postedIt is the coolest thing," says Huang Ziyan, a longtime user of Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, describing the experience as a 21st-century Tower of Babel".Huang is referring to the influx of US TikTok refugees" fleeing the impending ban and the resulting cross-cultural exchange that has seen Americans warmly welcomed - and sometimes given a few helpful tips. Continue reading...
Musk's company has been accused of manipulating systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibilityThe European Commission has asked X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether Elon Musk's social media platform has breached EU rules on content moderation.The EU's executive branch told the company it wanted to see internal documentation about its recommender system", which makes content suggestions to users, and any recent changes made to it, by 15 February. Continue reading...
How long does it take to change a habit? It varies, but one paper suggests the average is 66 days. We asked writers to change one thing in their lives within that timeframe ... and tell us if it works
As the app is on the brink of being expelled, the president-elect has been working to make good on his pledge to save itIn the run-up to the election, Donald Trump made a plea to his followers. FOR ALL THOSE THAT WANT TO SAVE TIK TOK IN AMERICA, VOTE TRUMP!" he posted to his Truth Social account in September. Since then, he's been working to make good on that pledge.He hosted TikTok's CEO, Shou Chew, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in December, implored the US supreme court to delay a TikTok ban and he's now reportedly considering an executive order to postpone the app's disappearance. Chew is slated to join Trump at his inauguration in what appears to be a show of solidarity with the embattled executive. Continue reading...
FSB-linked Star Blizzard attempts to lure email recipients to click on QR code that gives attackers access to accountRussian state-linked hackers have targeted the WhatsApp accounts of government ministers and officials around the world with emails inviting them to join user groups on the messaging app.The WhatsApp tactic marks a new approach by a hacking unit called Star Blizzard. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has linked Star Blizzard to Russia's domestic spy agency, the FSB, and has accused it of seeking to undermine trust in politics in the UK and likeminded states". Continue reading...
Chile's president invited me to the palace and asked to see some of my cardsI started playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) around 10 years ago, when Iwas seven. My older brother, Marco, had already been playing with my dad for years. At first, the three of us just played at home. For me, Pokemon TCG is a family activity - it keeps us close. Ithink that's important, especially nowadays when everyone is on their phone.I'm from Iquique, a city in the north of Chile. We have a strong Pokemon community here, and several local shops host tournaments. The game is two-player, and involves each person preparing a deck of 60 cards - each card represents one Pokemon, with different abilities and powers. You then battle your opponent with your cards; whoever has the more powerful combination of cards is the winner. Continue reading...
Inaccurate notices branded with broadcaster's logo sent to iPhone users but tech firm works on improvementsApple is suspending an artificial intelligence feature that made inaccurate summaries of news headlines.The tech company received a complaint from the BBC after the AI-generated service issued a news alert branded with the corporation's logo falsely telling some iPhone users that Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson, had shot himself. Continue reading...
British content creators, who may lose a big chunk of their audiences, say they see the app as a gateway to AmericansIf TikTok disappears from the US, it won't just be its 170 million American users who will lose out.British TikTokers and business owners have told the Guardian they will also lose a sizeable chunk of their audiences after a ban. The video app has become a key gateway to Americans for the UK's online video creators, who make a living from accruing views and making sponsored content deals. With the ban scheduled to take effect on Sunday, a US-sized hole will appear in the global userbase. Continue reading...
As natural disasters make need to cut CO emissions clearer than ever, energy demand of AI systems is about to soarViolent weather events have been top of the news agenda for weeks, with scientists and fact-based news organisations attributing their increased severity to climate breakdown. The scientists consulted have all emphasised the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions.At the same time there are predictions about artificial intelligence and datacentres urgently needing vast amounts of new electricity sources to keep them running. Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) have been touted as the green solution. The reports suggest that SMRs are just around the corner and will be up and running in the 2030s. Google first ordered seven, followed by Amazon, Microsoft and Meta each ordering more. Continue reading...
Union says Facebook-owner's policy changes will affect ability to retain talent and thrive as an inclusive business'UK staff at Facebook owner Meta feel concerned" and let down" about the company's decision to scrap factcheckers and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, the trade union representing UK tech workers has warned the firm.The Prospect union, which represents a growing number of UK Meta employees, has written to Meta to express staff concern about the impact of the controversial decisions by chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg. Continue reading...
Telecoms company hoped to convert roadside cabinets into charge points but will now shut down its sole installationBT has scrapped a plan to turn roadside green cabinets into electric car chargers, after only managing to install one.The British telecoms company had spied a chance to use the existing electricity connections to the cabinets, which usually house telephone and broadband internet equipment, to quickly install chargers. However, it will now shut down its sole charge point, in East Lothian, Scotland, according to the Fast Charge, a charging newsletter. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian