Technology | The Guardian

Five alternatives to a pricey smartphone, from the Alcatel OneTouch to the Nokia 225 and the Samsung E1270“I felt far more alive,” said Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne of his brief but exhilarating love affair with a dumbphone. The dalliance lasted a few days, before he went crawling back, tail between legs, to the distracting and intrusive bosom of his iPhone. But the instinct that led him to stray is one shared by millions: smartphones are expensive, technologically perishable, physically delicate, thin on battery life, and cumbersome. Worse than that, they’re a bottomless time-sink, aggressively attention-consuming at all hours of the day or night, and they make the world your workplace.It isn’t just reactionary sentiment that could lead someone to turn back to a simpler piece of hardware. The smartphone market is plateauing and, according to Ofcom, 30% of the UK’s mobile phone users don’t own one; a figure that doesn’t include the many people who own a smartphone but keep a dumbphone in reserve for holidays, festivals and the many inevitable intervals during which their smartphones are out of action. There’s a national thirst for a phone that answers the call of duty, but goes no further, and the following is a cross-section of candidates from five brands. Could you do what Eddie couldn’t, and abandon your smartphone for good? Continue reading...

Team Legacy has moved in together to train for the Oceanic Pro League – but convincing parents that gaming is a viable career is often the greatest challengeBehind the façade of a pleasantly nondescript house in Sydney’s west, there’s a sporting revolution taking place.Six young men aged from their late teens to early 20s have been brought together to live in a two-storey suburban home for a year, in the hopes of becoming a world-beating team. Continue reading...

After several ‘excruciating’ financial months that included $67m in unplanned costs, the electric car maker says it will start making money this yearElon Musk, chief executive of electric luxury car maker Tesla Motors, promised investors on Wednesday that the company will start making money this year, sending its shares up sharply despite a wider fourth-quarter loss.Tesla shares rose more than 10% in after-hours trading after the company forecast a 60-80% increase in vehicle sales this year, and promised it would turn a profit on an adjusted basis. It will start generating positive cash flow in March. Continue reading...

Report finds average advertised pay for digital roles is about £50,000, as industry’s combined annual turnover hits £161bnEmployees in the UK’s growing digital technology sector can expect to earn better salaries than in the rest of the economy, according to the latest government-backed analysis of the industry.According to the Tech Nation 2016 report, the average advertised salary in digital roles is just under £50,000, 36% higher than the national average. The advertised pay for such jobs grew by 13% between 2012 and 2015. Continue reading...

Marc Andreessen, an influential investor, posted a tweet that appeared to back colonialism following India’s decision to ban Facebook’s free mobile internetA member of Facebook’s board and influential Silicon Valley investor was forced into a groveling apology on Wednesday after acknowledging that remarks appearing to support British colonialism in India were “ill-informed and ill-advised”.In a series of apologetic tweets, Marc Andreessen, who is accustomed to ranting on Twitter to nearly half a million devoted followers, apologized “without reservation” for an earlier, now deleted tweet. Continue reading...

Following much criticised £130m settlement, company’s representatives and HMRC chief can expect tough time before public accounts committeeGoogle’s tax affairs will be scrutinised by MPs on Thursday as the internet search engine company answers questions about its £130m settlement with HM Revenue & Customs. The California-based company will be represented by the head of its European operations, Matt Brittin, and its head of international tax, Tom Hutchinson.

Organisers say about 8,000 drivers took part to highlight threat to their trade from TfL’s licensing of taxi-hailing appTaxi drivers brought central London to a standstill to highlight the threats to their trade from Uber and changing regulation.

Toymaker has been hacked once, but if it gets hacked again, it wants you to know that it warned you in advanceHacked internet-connected toy maker VTech has finally relaunched its online app store more than two months after attackers broke into its site and stole the personal details of almost 5 million customers.The new store comes with much-needed upgrades to the site’s security, with which the company is attempting to quell the concerns of customers. But it also comes with another surprise for parents, buried the site’s terms of service. Continue reading...

Help! You’ll need somebody to send this series of animations to, as the former Beatle records ‘unique musical compositions’ for communications appThe ultimate Valentine’s Day gift for that special Beatles fan in your life? No, not a box-set, a T-shirt or a Yellow Submarine salt and pepper set. How about pinging them on Skype with a branded animation voiced by Sir Paul McCartney?Well, it’s the thought that counts. And the thought that McCartney and Skype have had is that in 2016, the world is finally ready for “love-inspired Mojis” featuring the musician. Continue reading...

Voice recognition tools such as Apple’s Siri still struggle to understand regional quirks and accents, and users are adapting the way they speak to compensateIt was a simple enough question, at least in this part of the world.“How can we mosey on down to the rodeo?” my friend Ben Crook drawled, sat in a rocking chair on his front porch, a can of Lone Star beer in his left hand on a humid night in Houston. Continue reading...

As part of its attempts to counter online radicalisation, the agency has come up with Slippery Slope – a sort of anti-extremist Flappy BirdI’m a susceptible goat speeding down the path to Islamic extremism, but first I must negotiate the green-and-grey blocks of infidel propaganda. No, wait; I’m a radicalised goat, hell-bent on jihad, but my extremist beliefs are threatened by green-and-grey blocks of debate. Or could it be that I’m trying to master the FBI’s virtually unplayable – it’s almost as infuriating as Flappy Bird – new online anti-extremism game, which involves manoeuvring a wayward goat through a sub-Minecraft-style obstacle course whose metaphorical intent is all but unfathomable?The game, entitled Slippery Slope, is supposed to educate impressionable kids on “the distorted logic of blame that can lead a person into violent extremism”, but it’s also indicative of how clueless governments can be when it comes to reaching out to the kids. Slippery Slope is part of an online initiative launched by the FBI called Don’t Be a Puppet: Pull Back the Curtain on Violent Extremism, which uses games and quizzes to inform young people about radicalisation. Continue reading...

You can’t do it yet, but here’s how to disable Twitter’s latest feature once it hits your accountTwitter has finally lifted the curtain on its long-teased rejig of the timeline.A new feature, dubbed “show me the best Tweets first”, will mix-up the Twitter timeline for the first time ever, putting the “most important” tweets from people you follow at the top of the timeline. Continue reading...

Twitter hopes a small change to its timeline will make a big difference to its future – so get ready for algorithmic tweets at the top of your timeline

The Art Institute of Chicago has teamed up with Airbnb to enable guests to stay in its latest installation, a recreation of Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles paintingAs an impoverished artist, Vincent van Gogh would probably have made good use of Airbnb in his time, to supplement his meagre income (and pay back his brother Theo …) or even to find a place to stay when hopping around European cities.Now, more than a century after his death, the Dutch master has been reimagined as exactly that, an Airbnb host, by the Art Institute of Chicago, which has created a 3D replica of his Bedroom in Arles painting and posted it on the holiday rentals site. Continue reading...

As our homes get ‘smart’, the US intelligence chief has said the data involved could be used for surveillance. Here’s how that could affect us allCan your smart TV spy on you? Absolutely, says the US director of national intelligence. The ever-widening array of “smart” web-enabled devices pundits have dubbed the internet of things [IoT] is a welcome gift to intelligence officials and law enforcement, according to director James Clapper.“In the future, intelligence services might use the [internet of things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials,” Clapper told the Senate in public testimony on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Another nail is hammered into Flash’s coffin, meaning 2016 will be the last year of abundant display-marketing based on the maligned pluginGoogle has announced that it will stop accepting ads made with Adobe’s much maligned Flash in June this year and ban them entirely from 2 January 2017.

Regulator under scrutiny after employee allegedly used credentials to track down nurse’s home address and phone numberAustralia’s health practitioner regulator has notified the health privacy watchdog of allegations an employee of the agency assaulted a nurse after he used his credentials to track down her home address and home number.On Tuesday Guardian Australia revealed the incident, along with several others, which raise serious concerns medical practitioners could be at risk of further assaults, fraud and unauthorised access to their personal data. Continue reading...

Apple chief executive turns crummy smartphone snap into Twitter sensation after trying to hide his iPhone’s less-than-perfect photoApple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, has deleted a tweet containing a blurry on-the-field photo from the Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.The photo was shot from the 30-yard line in San Francisco’s Levi’s stadium as the gold confetti rained down on the celebrating team, supporters and Broncos staff. Continue reading...

The west is losing its advantage in weapons technology as defence spending in Asia and other regions soars, survey saysThe west’s decades-long advantage in military technology is being eroded as defence spending in the rest of the world, notably Asia, soars, an authoritative report says.The latest annual Military Balance by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) shows that advances in weapons-related technology once the preserve of the west – including cruise missiles, unmanned drones and electronic warfare – are becoming increasingly accessible to more and more countries. Continue reading...

Move by taxi-hailing firm to let rivals use its app for nothing for 12 months dismissed as publicity stuntLondon black-cab drivers have rejected an apparent olive branch from Uber as a “PR stunt” after the taxi-hailing app company said it would extend its service free to the traditional trade.Uber has modified its app to allow black-cab drivers in London to be available as a choice for its customers, with zero commission, for the next 12 months. Continue reading...

Proposed bill sharply criticised by MPs on intelligence and security committee appointed by prime minister

Taking advantage of Washington’s lack of autonomous car regulation to make Google’s cameras and sensors perform better in rain and on hilly terrainGoogle’s self-driving cars are about to get their toughest test to date: a rainy spring in the hilly Pacific north-west. On 3 February, Google’s holding company Alphabet announced that its self-driving cars would take to public roads in Kirkland, Washington, a small city close to Seattle.

In an arguably long-overdue move, the Obama administration will appoint someone to ‘focus on coordinating cybersecurity across federal agencies’The Kellogg cereal company, the state of Colorado and Cook County, Illinois, all have someone in charge of keeping the hackers out.In 2016, the US government will too. Continue reading...

The web giant’s digitisation of millions of books – many in copyright – faces a fresh legal challenge, backed by authors including Margaret Atwood, Peter Carey, Ursula Le Guin and Malcolm GladwellJM Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, Malcolm Gladwell and Peter Carey are some of the major writers throwing their weight behind the US Authors Guild’s attempt to hold Google to account for its digitisation of millions of in-copyright works.The case dates back to 2005, when Google first began to digitise books without permission. In 2013, US circuit judge Denny Chin dismissed an authors’ lawsuit against Google, saying its scanning of the books, and the “snippets” of text it makes available to users, constituted fair use. “In my view, Google Books provide significant public benefits,” wrote Chin at the time. “Indeed, all society benefits.” Continue reading...

Lawyers ponder class action suit against tech giant over ‘reckless policy’ of permanently disabling iPhone 6 handsets after software upgradesApple has come under pressure to scrap its controversial policy of permanently disabling repaired iPhone 6s when software is upgraded, following a global consumer backlash and claims the company could be acting illegally.At least one firm of US lawyers said it hopes to bring a class action against the technology giant on behalf of victims whose £500 phones have been rendered worthless by an Apple software upgrade. Continue reading...

A new timeline isn’t coming ‘next week’, says the Twitter executive. As for the week after, though, anything could happenTwitter users, don’t worry: the site’s co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey has hit back at rumours suggesting the company will introduce an algorithmic timeline. He unambiguously stated that the company “never planned to reorder timelines”.Or, to put his statement in its full context: “We never planned to reorder timelines next week.” Which, as denials go, provides quite a lot of wiggle room. Continue reading...

Indian regulator outlaws differential pricing for data packages, blocking Facebook service that offered a restricted internet free to some mobile usersIndia’s telecom regulator has blocked Facebook’s controversial Free Basics internet service by ruling in favour of “net neutrality” by outlawing differential pricing for data packages.

Is your fitbit looking broken? It may be time to book a prenatal classIs your fitness tracker playing up, constantly misreporting your heart rate and claiming you’re burning wild amounts of fat? Bad news: it’s probably broken. Or, good news: It might be working fine, and you’re pregnant.That is good news, yes? Continue reading...

Testing reveals Facebook iOS app drains battery life, even when it isn’t being used, and that using Safari instead will make an iPhone last longerFacebook is one of the most downloaded apps on iOS but it has long been cited as a cause of fast-draining iPhone batteries. Last year it was accused of using background tricks to stay active even when it wasn’t being used. Facebook admitted bugs existed, and fixed them, but questions of the app’s impact on battery life remained.Similar concerns about Facebook’s Android app led to the discovery that deleting the app saves up to 20% of a phone’s battery. After that revelation, I set about seeing if the same was true for iPhone users. I discovered that uninstalling Facebook’s iOS app and switching to Safari can save up to 15% of iPhone battery life. Continue reading...

Theories about sweetheart deals over tax only help Google avoid answering the real questions about when and why it edits its search engineConspiracy theories stem from a desire for a world which operates through consistent, logical motives, rather than random chance. But they often have at their core something really worth examining.

Hoping to be the one-stop-shop for open IoT control, it joins up various new and existing connected devices in a user-friendly and powerful systemThe Internet of Things – where seemingly ordinary devices connect to each other and the internet to make them more than the sum of their parts (think fridges that know when you’re out of milk and then order more for you) – is still more a concept than a reality for many.That is steadily changing as more and more devices arrive on the market but, like the spokes on a bicycle wheel need a hub to connect them, those devices need to be linked up to be useful. Samsung’s SmartThings hub hopes to be that central pin that connects them all. Continue reading...

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

Digital currency ‘miner’ has another setback, telling investors ASX has requested additional informationThe Bitcoin Group has delayed its public listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in order to provide further information about the currency to the exchange.The company has been seeking to become the second listed bitcoin entity in Australia. But the crypto currency operators have faced a series of setbacks and have now reportedly had six delays to the listing. Continue reading...

Organisers want people to line road from the airport to the centre of the capital, holding phones aloft creating a ‘wall of light and prayer’Worshipers will line the roadside holding up their mobile telephones to light the way for Pope Francis when he arrives on his visit to Mexico next week.

Average wage of £72,000 compares with London staff average salary of £160,000 – despite booking £5bn sales from UK advertisers in 2015Workers at Google Ireland, the search group’s European sales hub, earn less than half the £160,000 average wage of colleagues in London despite the British sales team only providing a supporting role to their Irish counterparts.

Solve a murder mystery, grow a tree, spend the day as a sailor, be a spider… mobile developers are rethinking everythingInnovation is an overused and abused word in the technology industry but if you strip it down to the basic principle of “new ideas”, it’s clear that there’s a lot of it going on in mobile games. When you gather some of the best examples together, you realise how many new ideas are out there. For example, there have been some creative experiments with the idea of interactive fiction, from the round-the-world thrills of 80 Days to the beat-the-censors story of Blackbar.There are games that play with sound in new and interesting ways: Papa Sangre II is played entirely by listening rather than looking, while Dark Echo visualises your sounds on the screen. Both are – and this may not be a coincidence – among the creepiest mobile games available. Continue reading...

Google’s big man in northern Europe speaks in glowing terms of London as a base – which might make things awkward at his select committee hearingHere’s Matt Brittin, Google’s boss in northern Europe, speaking in 2012: “Google set up in London 11 years ago now and it was a natural choice. It is such a cosmopolitan international city and there is a huge array of talent you can access – and that’s the most important thing for Google when building its teams outside the US.“Also, the UK is the No 1 internet economy in the world. We spend more money buying things online in this country than anywhere else on a per head basis. So actually it has been a great place for us. We’ve been so successful in the UK that we want to try to give something back." Continue reading...

Take a deep breath and relax. In Audi’s revamped award-winning A4 saloon you are in the best possible companyPrice: £25,900

A change to the statue of Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of the world’s fastest steam locomotive, sparks storm on Facebook and TwitterIt seemed such a good idea at the time – a dignified event to mark the life of one of Britain’s greatest engineers, designer of a much-loved transport icon. But now the event is threatening to unleash an undignified battle involving superglue and rubber ducks.A statue of Sir Nigel Gresley is due to be unveiled in April, marking the 75th anniversary of the death of the designer of the Mallard steam engine. But there is a risk that his achievements will be eclipsed by an arcane dispute that started in the letters pages of local and national newspapers and quickly escalated on social media. Continue reading...

Testimony poised to conclude on Monday – with decision expected in following days – as murder case made famous by podcast returns to courtHe was convicted 16 years ago, sentenced to life for a murder that made few headlines at the time, but his unusual hearing in a Baltimore court over the last three days has held millions of Americans in suspense ahead of the court’s decision. This is not just any murder case, of course: this is Serial.

For all its billionaires and enviable lifestyles, the west coast’s tech elite have never embraced the art world, artists say – until nowSilicon Valley got its first major contemporary art gallery this week because Laura Arrillaga Andreessen – prolific art collector and heir to local real estate baron John Arrillaga – decided it was a little weird to have art sales in her house.“I didn’t come and say I’m going to make Silicon Valley like art. It just happened,” said Marc Glimcher, who runs the influential Pace Gallery and was in town to fete the opening of his new Menlo Park location. Continue reading...

Building confidence in its anti-terror policies, the social media company is expanding its specialist teams in the US and Ireland to monitor extremist contentTwitter has deleted more than 125,000 accounts linked to terrorists since mid-2015, the company announced, offering some of the most detailed insight yet of how Silicon Valley is collaborating with western governments in its fight against Islamic State.The social media company is relying on a mix of human judgment and technology, developing teams of specialists in the US and Ireland that comb through thousands of suspect accounts. Continue reading...

A brilliant concept coupled with smart design choices results in a hugely rewarding game that over-delivers in almost every areaAmong XCOM’s distinctions is that it is a difficult game, so the sequel’s concept is quite brilliant: the first time around, you lost. Firaxis’ 2012 strategy title was a remake of a 1994 original, UFO: Enemy Unknown, which cast you as the commander charged with responding to an alien invasion of Earth – building up the eponymous organisation, responding to attacks across the globe, and hunting down alien operating bases. Chances are if you played it, you also failed to save humanity. And this is where XCOM 2 kicks off.Twenty years have passed since the original game’s events, with Earth now ruled by an alien-human dictatorship known as Advent. It’s a clean and organised dystopia, with people efficiently marched through weapons scanners and dispatched for any infractions real or perceived by Advent’s troopers. This staple enemy type, though humanoid in appearance, is an unholy genetic hybrid – and just the tip of the iceberg you’ll eventually uncover. Continue reading...

The Californian has drafted the strictest proposal yet that would require police forces to get explicit permission for new surveillance techOne of the broadest pushes to reel in America’s surveillance state isn’t in Congress, the White House or a courtroom; arguably it’s in Joe Simitian’s office in California’s Santa Clara County government building.Simitian – 63 and bespectacled - is a supervisor on the county board here. This winter he drafted a proposal for regulation that would require local law enforcement to justify each time they use any piece of surveillance technology – fake cellphone towers, computer hacks, license plate readers, GPS trackers, or anything else that helps cops track civilians. Continue reading...

Tracking children with GPS-enabled devices is becoming practical and affordable, but child rights and privacy campaigners are worriedLosing track of a child is a terrifying prospect. The recent emergence of GPS devices that can report on youngsters’ whereabouts, coupled with the falling prices of gadgets, seem to offer parents a tech solution.Swedish firm Trax, for example, has designed a GPS tracker, on sale for $249 (£170), that issues alerts when children step outside of pre-set “geo-fences” and allows parents to follow their children from their smartphone or computer in real time. French company Weenect has also created a GPS tracker for children, and for €99 it includes an SOS button that allows distressed kids to call their parents. The device can send notifications when children reach a set destination and allows parents to review where their child has been throughout the day. Continue reading...

Elon Musk lashes out over Tesla criticism, YouTube creators react badly to the Fine Bros, Alphabet overtakes Apple and moreThe sight of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk tangling with a blogger might sound like a sulky Goliath throwing his toys out of his pram at a plucky David – although less so when the David role is filled by venture capitalist Stewart Alsop rather than a youthful tech blogger. Continue reading...

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

It’s the message that spells doom and will render your handset worthless if it’s been repaired by a third party. But there’s no warning and no fixThousands of iPhone 6 users claim they have been left holding almost worthless phones because Apple’s latest operating system permanently disables the handset if it detects that a repair has been carried out by a non-Apple technician.Relatively few people outside the tech world are aware of the so-called “error 53” problem, but if it happens to you you’ll know about it. And according to one specialist journalist, it “will kill your iPhone”. Continue reading...

Online rental website hands over first instalment after striking agreement with city authorities to collect levy on each night’s stayThe accommodation rental web platform Airbnb – which last year agreed to start charging users in Paris a tourist tax – handed over nearly €1.2m (£900,000 ) to city authorities in the last quarter of 2015, the municipality said.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has seized on findings that Rice and Powell were sent sensitive national security information to nongovernment email addressesHillary Clinton’s campaign claimed vindication in the long-running emails saga on Thursday when it emerged that two Republican secretaries of state had also received information later deemed classified on personal accounts.The state department watchdog found that both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, America’s top diplomats under president George W Bush, were sent sensitive national security information to nongovernment email addresses. Continue reading...