Technology | The Guardian

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...

The significant flaw in touchscreens can be triggered when devices are dropped multiple times, Apple claimedApple has acknowledged a significant flaw that causes touchscreens to fail in some iPhone 6 Plus smartphones, claiming the problem can be triggered when devices are dropped multiple times.Announcing the “Multi-Touch Repair Program for iPhone 6 Plus” on Thursday, Apple said some devices may “exhibit display flickering or Multi-Touch issues after being dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device”. Continue reading...

Three men arrested for alleged fraudulent use of company’s phone upgrade system in attempt to steal handsetsCustomer information from more than 130,000 users of the Three mobile network has been compromised in a cyber security breach, the mobile operator has said.

The president-elect has been verbally sparring with Bezos for months. Now things could get a lot tougher for AmazonAmazon will almost certainly enjoy its biggest ever day on Black Friday next week.The discount shopping event will help the American online retailer to continue its run of 22 years of unbroken and dramatic sales growth since it was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. It is now valued at more than $375bn (£304bn), making it one of the biggest companies in the world. Continue reading...

From 3D printed organs to the world’s first full-body transplant, we explore the future of tech in medicine with TV presenter and GP Dr Hilary Jones

The company has reviewed banned users’ appeals and re-enabled their accountsGoogle has reversed its decision to disable the accounts of customers who resold the company’s new Pixel phone, after a chorus of complaints over the company’s imposition of a “digital death penalty” for a minor infraction.The company emailed users who had been banned, noting that it had reviewed their appeals and re-enabled their accounts. Users had been shut down after they were accused of taking advantage of tax loopholes to earn a profit reselling the phone. Continue reading...

Final Fantasy XV is finally due to be released this month. Its development has lasted a good chunk of my childhood and my entire adult lifeIn May 2006, at the E3 games conference in Los Angeles, Square Enix revealed a new game for the PlayStation 3: Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In May 2006, in south-west London, I was taking my GCSEs.In November 2016, the game, now known as Final Fantasy XV, is finally due to be released. Its development has lasted a good chunk of my childhood and my entire adult life. It has outlived every relationship I have ever had, lain back-to-back. I have watched it every step of the way, with feelings that ranged through excitement, trepidation, boredom, mild anxiety and a lot of impatience. Continue reading...

Mozilla is back with a second try at mobile browsing with a new browser, which hopes to be the go-to for iPhone usersMozilla’s Firefox browser didn’t quite make the leap from desktop to mobile, particularly on iOS, but it’s back for a second try with Firefox Focus, a new browser which hopes to be iPhone users’ go-to tool for private web surfing.It’s an innovative approach from an organisation that has often struggled against the forces of inertia. Rather than try to beat the might of Apple’s ability to dictate the default browser on iOS, as well as the company’s requirement that any other browser still use Safari’s rendering engine as its core technology, Mozilla has taken a different tack: create the category of “second browser”, and own that. Continue reading...

Airbnb is taking on the tourism industry with an ambitious expansion and a star-studded launch – but it comes at a delicate time for the companyAirbnb is taking on the tourism industry by offering travellers excursions and experiences hosted by locals, an ambitious expansion which will allow people to plan entire trips through the home-sharing site.Related: Airbnb blocked discrimination researcher over multiple accounts Continue reading...

New service – called Trips – offers travellers chance to create itineraries that afford a more authentic local experienceAirbnb has launched a new programme called Trips, with the aim of transforming itself into a travel company.The move marks the most significant expansion since the company was founded eight years ago as a peer-to-peer property rental service.

SpaceX requests permission from US government to operate network of 4,425 satellites to provide high-speed, global internet coverageThe Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is planning to put more than 4,000 satellites in orbit in order to blanket the Earth with internet access.SpaceX, the privateer space company led by Musk, is requesting permission from the US government to operate a massive network of 4,425 satellites - plus “in-orbit spares” - to provide high-speed, global internet coverage. Continue reading...

Harvard professor temporarily banned for having several test accounts while investigating how white and black users are treated differently on the siteAirbnb blocked a Harvard professor from using its service after he uncovered evidence of racial discrimination, prompting accusations that the startup’s policies stifle critical research.Related: The Airbnb bias row shows prejudice matters – and not just to its victims | Claire Hynes Continue reading...

Social network’s decision comes as privacy watchdogs express serious concerns over its use of messaging app’s dataFollowing its pausing of the use of WhatsApp data in the UK, Facebook has stopped using data taken from its messaging service for advertising across Europe.

Users lose access to mail, photos, documents and anything else linked to their Google identityGoogle has suspended the accounts of hundreds of people who took advantage of a loophole in US sales tax to make a small profit on Pixel phones.The Google customers had all bought the phones from the company’s Project Fi mobile carrier, and had them shipped directly to a reseller in New Hampshire, a US state with no sales tax. In return, the reseller split the profit with the customers. Continue reading...

Patrick says Macs are now out of his price range so he’s looking for a Windows laptop to replace his old machineNow that Apple Macs have gone up rather steeply in price, they are finally out of my price range. I would like to replace my MacBook Pro with a PC that matches it as closely as possible: well-built, robust, reliable, fast, and with a good, sharp screen. I use my Mac for all the usual surfing, watching videos, listening to music and so on. I also use Adobe Photoshop pretty heavily and video-editing software more lightly. I’m open to either a laptop or a desktop. PatrickAs the old saying has it: “Good, cheap, fast – pick any two.” This is particularly true for Windows laptops, where dozens of companies are competing mainly on price. Continue reading...

Airports and pilots want tighter regulations after incidents involving jets near Shard in London and at Liverpool airportPilots have reported four near misses in a month between drones and passenger aircraft, including one flying near the Shard in London and another at Liverpool airport, prompting aviation experts to warn that increasingly popular and sophisticated models available to hobbyists are posing a serious risk.

Developers make too many assumptions about players. They should learn from the more intuitive structures of modern TVEarlier this month, game designer and programmer Brie Code wrote an interesting opinion piece for GamesIndustry.Biz. Entitled “video games are boring”, the article questioned pretty much all our assumptions about what games are, how they work and what they can do. Her argument was that a huge number of people are locked out of playing games because of age-old conventions, mechanics and assumptions. If you look at the major output of the big publishers, it’s all first-person shooters, action adventures, sports sims and 100-hour role-playing epics, filled with complex controls, assumed knowledge, violence and dextrous challenge. Many millions of potential players aren’t into all that.But even if we accept those genres and conventions as a given, games could do a lot more to be approachable and intuitive to a wider audience. In many ways, game designers could learn a lot from the way narrative television has evolved over the past few golden years. Here are five examples. Continue reading...

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

Even the Barenaked Ladies had the sense to call their best-of ‘Disc One’Conventional wisdom has it that when a band releases a greatest hits album, it’s a tacit admission that their best days are behind them. There may be a second wind in the future, once the guitarist has gone off to a commune and found religion, the singer’s recorded a weird side-project with an experimental artist, and the third drummer’s died in a freak llama accident, but for now, don’t expect a return to those dizzying heights.On an unrelated note, Apple has released a $300 book full of pictures of all its great products. Continue reading...

The move comes as the social network cracks down on hate speech on the site with new tools and featuresTwitter has suspended the accounts of a number of American “alt-right” activists hours after announcing a renewed push to crack down on hate speech.Among the accounts removed were those of the self-described white-nationalist National Policy Institute, its magazine, Radix, and its head Richard Spencer, as well as other prominent alt-right figures including Pax Dickinson and Paul Town. Continue reading...

WikiLeaks and a network of anonymous hackers have become a major influence – but are they enhancing our democracy or undermining it?A new and disturbing factor emerged during this presidential election, and one that may change elections forever: democracies are now at the mercy of hacking and surveillance technology – and those who control it.WikiLeaks and a network of anonymous hackers have become a major influence, turning the rituals of democracy into sleaze-fests for the tabloids and the sensationalist press. And foreign governments have a hand, too – allegedly Russia, in the case of the US election. Continue reading...

The much-loved series from Bioware is back after a four year hiatus with new characters, more cinematic imagery, and a new baddie to engage withIt’s been four years since Canadian studio Bioware seemingly closed out its science fiction RPG series Mass Effect with one of the most controversial (or as some put it, “disappointing”) endings in video game history. Next March, however, the beloved series is returning, with a brand-new cast and setting, and some interesting new design features.Coming two years after the developer’s acclaimed Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s likely Andromeda will draw on a lot of the ideas and systems from that game, as well as from the Mass Effect canon. Continue reading...

Facebook’s business model relies on people clicking content regardless of veracity, and preventing any of that sharing interferes with core user behavior

That fake news and misinformation on Facebook could have influenced the outcome of the US presidential election is worrying (Opinion, 15 November), but, in reality, this is only tinkering around the edges of a major problem. The first amendment of the US constitution was designed to protect freedom of the press. However, for the most part, the supreme court has failed to use it to rule on libel cases: hence tabloids such as the National Enquirer can get away with printing pretty much anything they like.It is possible to police the publishing and broadcasting industry – if nations are willing to do it. Sufficient staff (not robots) need to be employed to fact-check before publishing or broadcasting. Facebook has the power to influence on a macro scale, so it should also come under the same regulation. It certainly can afford the cost of editorial teams to manage its publications. There’s an easy rule: if in doubt, don’t publish. The Guardian already regulates this problem with the polite words: “This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our community standards.” Wikipedia, an open source encyclopedia, successfully regulates itself. Anyone can correct misinformation published on the site and citations are required, with it being very clear when a citation (proof) is missing. Information is democratically tuned in real time.

Decision to offer free access to massively multiplayer online game is in response to changing marketEve Online is making the biggest change in its 13-year history, by going free-to-play.In its latest update, called Ascension, it is introducing an innovative new system for opening up the world to non-paying users. A new class of player, dubbed “Alpha Clones”, will be able to sign-up without paying the monthly subscription fee, currently £9.99. Continue reading...

New tools aimed at helping users avoid seeing abusive threadsAfter nine years, Twitter users will finally be able to mute specific conversations on the site, as well as filter out all tweets with a particular word or phrase from their notifications.The much requested features are being rolled out today, according to the company. Muting conversations serves two obvious purposes: users who have a tweet go viral will no longer have to deal with thousands of replies from strangers, while users stuck in an interminable conversation between people they don’t know will be able to silently drop out of the discussion. Continue reading...

Virgin Group founder has teamed with startup Boom to offer ‘affordable’ $5,000 flights between New York and London in 3.5 hoursSir Richard Branson on Tuesday heralded the rebirth of supersonic passenger flights with the unveiling of a prototype aircraft promising 3.5-hour flights from London to New York for an “affordable” $5,000 return.The billionaire Virgin Group founder said his Spaceship company would help Denver-based startup Boom build a new generation of supersonic jets and reintroduce transatlantic flight times unseen since Concorde was scrapped.

Tech companies announce plans to make it harder for money to be made out of posting fake news storiesBoth Google and Facebook have announced plans to go after the revenue of fake news sites, kicking the hoaxers off their ad networks in an attempt to prevent misleading the public from being profitable.Google moved first, announcing on Monday a policy update which restricts its adverts from being placed on fake news sites. “We will restrict ad serving on pages that misrepresent, mis-state, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose of the web property,” a spokeswoman told Reuters. Continue reading...

The Xbox brand is 15 years old today, so here are 15 of the most important titles from the original machine to the Xbox One eraIt was 15 years ago this week that Microsoft launched its first foray into the console business. Arriving in the US on 15 November 2001, the original Xbox was designed to compete directly against Sony’s all-consuming PlayStation 2. Offering a powerful graphics processor as well as a built-in hard drive and a dedicated online gaming service, it was basically a gaming PC wrestled into the chassis of games machine – thereby setting the architectural trend that would dominate the industry going forward.Next came the Xbox 360, the dominant online multiplayer console of its era, introducing the idea of achievements and a gamer score mechanic that encouraged players to get the absolute most out of every title they purchased. And now we’re in the Xbox One era, the industrial and architectural design decisions of that original machine still guiding Microsoft’s approach to console development – albeit in a much more powerful form. Continue reading...

Through apps and wearables, technology is creating a workout that’s more data-rich, smarter and convenient than ever beforeIt’s Monday lunchtime and gym-goers at Virgin Active in Moorgate, London, are grabbing a bike for their group cycle class. But this isn’t any ordinary spin class, where the teacher enthusiastically shouts instructions like “sprint” and “climb” and the backdrop is an uninspiring grey wall. This is the “Pack”, a class divided into three teams that compete in a series of interactive challenges while each rider’s bike data is tracked in real-time and projected on to a screen.“We created the Pack in response to the growing demand for cycle-based classes and technology that tracks workout progress,” says Virgin Active group chief information officer Andy Caddy. “It creates a wholly differentiated group cycle offering.” With Virgin Active rolling out RFID (radio-frequency identification) bands that track members’ workout, the gym chain is designing products with tech at the forefront.

Nintendo’s new console isn’t an innovative take on gaming tech, it’s a Greatest Hits collection of classic 8bit titles, lovingly curated and reproducedIt is not a ridiculous overstatement to suggest that the Nintendo Entertainment System saved the games industry. Back in early 1980s, when the company released its fledgling console in Japan (where it was known as the Famicom), the business was undergoing a crisis. A flood of competing consoles and an unregulated, uncontrolled publishing model meant that there were too many machines and too many mediocre games. Some pundits in the US even suggested that video games were just a fad and that the bubble had burst.Then came the Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in Japan in the summer of 1983, and in the US two years later, it was stocky, toy-like and not exactly over-powered. However, the product brilliantly combined the industrial design genius behind the Game & Watch handheld devices with the creativity of game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and the sheer consumer marketing genius of then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi. Instead of allowing a free-for-all for third-party software support, Yamauchi placed strict quality control measures on would-be game publishers, tying them into restrictive licensing agreements. The result was a console with excellent homegrown titles and very little shovel ware. It was a gigantic hit. Continue reading...