Technology | The Guardian

Two of the team behind LittleBigPlanet have formed their own studio to create a co-op adventure title about childhood friendship – and pickled knights’ headsThere is so much warmth, beauty and nostalgia in video games at the moment. We’re seeing a whole generation of designers who may once have once worked on huge projects, but who have now taken leave of the mainstream industry to explore personal experiences and memories. We see it in Firewatch, influenced by the co-designer’s own knowledge of the Wyoming wilderness; we see it in Unravel, a game all about creator Martin Sahlin’s love of rural Northern Sweden; and we’ll soon see it in Knights and Bikes, a co-operative exploration game set on a fictitious Cornish island.In this case, the memories belong to hugely talented artist Rex Crowle, once of Media Molecule, where he worked on LittleBigPlanet and its follow-up Tearaway. As a child in Cornwall he grew up amid the county’s tiny fishing villages, enjoying their wonky, cluttered architecture. As he recalls: “There were little cottages with impossible perspectives, tumbling out of each other with doors in the roofs, and all kinds of details and history nailed to their exterior walls.” Continue reading...

Since Google restructured to become Alphabet it has almost doubled its total value – despite its products remaining the same as everSilicon Valley – and Wall Street – have a new king. Alphabet, the company formerly known as Google, looks set to become the world’s largest publicly traded company on Tuesday thanks to a spike in its share price, following exceptionally good results and a decision to come clean on how its makes and spends its money.Related: Google's Alphabet set to overtake Apple as world's most valuable company Continue reading...

Dutch police have joined forces with Guard From Above, a raptor-training security firm based in the Hague, to keep wayward drones from causing trouble. In a video posted to YouTube, an eagle can be seen during a training exercise snatching the drone out of the air Continue reading...

In a 2013 Tedx talk, media artist and University of NSW professor Sarah Kenderdine spoke about the threats faced by cultural heritage around the world, from politically motivated destruction to climate change and mass tourism. ‘We must find strategies not only to preserve our heritage but to let its stories be rediscovered and reinvented,’ she said. ‘This is both an artistic and technical challenge.’Kenderdine’s latest collaborative work, Look Up Mumbai, is an immersive, site-specific installation which opens at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya museum on Wednesday, and celebrates the city’s spectacular architectural heterogeneity.The public is invited to lie down in the 3D DomeLab – the highest resolution touring full dome in the world – look up and experience 65 fish-eye images of some of the finest heritage buildings in Mumbai. Continue reading...

Revenue spike sees tech firm’s parent company, Alphabet, valued at $568bn – surpassing Apple’s valuation of $535bnGoogle has become the world’s most valuable listed company after announcing that its global revenues rose 13% to $75bn (£52bn) last year, and the group’s tax rate fell to just 17%.The group took a record $1.9bn of revenues from its UK customers for the last three months of 2015, up 16% on 2014 – and all routed through its controversial tax structure in Ireland. But for the impact of the pound weakening against the dollar, UK revenues would have been up 20%. Continue reading...

Labour calls for urgent review of rules after UK Airprox Board reveals plane came within 20 metres of drone above Houses of ParliamentThe near collision of a drone and a passenger plane over the Houses of Parliament should be a wake-up call for the government to speed up its review of unmanned aerial vehicles, Labour has said.Richard Burden, a shadow transport minister, said the near-miss over central London and other recent cases should be a “spur to action” after delays in the government’s promised consultation on regulating drones. Continue reading...

The rise of mobile computing and more vulnerable internet-connected devices could actually make surveillance easier for national security officials, report saysWhen Silicon Valley closes a door for spies, it opens a window.

Spanish telecoms group aims to cut debt by asking employees with 15 years’ service not to come to work, with chance to returnThe Spanish telecoms group Telefónica has come up with a novel way of reducing its wage bill by offering employees aged over 53 the chance to stay at home on 68% of their salary.Under a new deal negotiated with trade unions, any employee over 53 with 15 years of service will continue to receive slightly more than two thirds of their salary if they do not come in to work. They will remain under contract and the company will continue to pay their social security and private health contributions until they reach 65, thus saving the state the burden of further unemployment benefits. Continue reading...

Search group’s bosses will confirm about one in every 10 dollars came from British advertisers as debate over company’s tax arrangements continuesGoogle bosses in California are expected to reveal global revenues grew by more than 11% to about $72bn (£50bn) last year – with more than £5bn believed to have come from sales to UK customers.Alphabet Inc, the search group’s parent, is expected to confirm on Monday about one in 10 dollars earned last year by Google came from UK advertisers, despite the dollar strengthening against the pound. Continue reading...

British vlogger’s videos have been watched more than 1bn times so far on Google’s online video service across her two channelsShe may be a bestselling author and makeup mogul now, but Zoe “Zoella” Sugg is still attracting new fans on her original stomping ground: YouTube.The vlogger’s main YouTube channel has just reached the milestone of 10 million subscribers, making it the fourth British channel to reach that mark after One Direction, KSI and Adele. Continue reading...

YouTubers hit back at Fine Bros’ attempt to trademark word over fears that the pair are trying to seize entire concept of the reaction video format

World’s largest smartphone manufacturer releases update to its default web browser enabling users to block advertisingThe world’s largest smartphone maker, Samsung, has introduced adblocking on its devices, potentially introducing hundreds of millions more people to barring online ads.Samsung released an update on Sunday night that allows apps to stop ads appearing in its own web browser, which is installed as a default on its smartphones. Continue reading...

Facebook’s Android app negatively impacts performance and battery life, even when it’s only running in the background, users findFacebook does not have the greatest track record with its Android app. Users have long complained about performance issues and it sucking up battery and last year Facebook’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, took the unusual step of making his staff ditch their iPhones and move to Android until they sorted out the issues.

How a small team set out to tell an intimate personal drama within the vastness of the Yellowstone National ParkThe outdoors in Firewatch isn’t like the outdoors in most games. It feels somehow bigger. This is a game set in Wyoming’s Yellowstone national park, a vast wilderness of lakes, mountains and hiking trails. When the sun began to set on my first day in the park – as the lead protagonist Henry, the volunteer fire lookout – it reminded me of rushing home at dusk while playing out as a kid, of escaping the dark as a small person in a big world.This is all very deliberate. Firewatch is a relatively small and simple game, designed to engage players emotionally with a handful of basic, believable parts. It comes from a new studio, Campo Santo, though its dozen members have worked on lots of other games at various other studios. The lead artist, Jane Ng, worked on The Cave at Double Fine, while the writer/director pair, Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, led the team behind the hugely acclaimed first season of The Walking Dead at Telltale Games. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and others things that matterUh-oh, it’s Monday. Continue reading...

Google Translate helps us overcome the language barrier. But can it help our reporter with a Scouse accent? Hannah Jane Parkinson finds outI’m a big fan of travel. Travel is great – whether it is the Trans-Siberian railway or trekking in the Amazon. And from Citymapper to TripAdvisor, technology has made travel a lot easier.But perhaps my favourite travel aide is Google Translate. Continue reading...

Business secretary Sajid Javid says he shared Britons’ sense of injustice as criticism grows of agreement with tech firmA senior government minister has admitted the tax settlement between Google and the UK government “was not a glorious moment”.The admission by the business secretary, Sajid Javid, came as a senior executive from Google claimed he could not say how much UK profit has been generated by the technology firm in the past decade, or how many meetings had been held between the company’s executives and ministers. Continue reading...

The Google affair reveals gaping holes in our tax system – from the smoke and mirrors of royalty payments, to the charade of the tech giant’s Irish questionFirst, the case for the defence. It is not true that Google pays UK corporation tax at a rate of only 3%. That is not possible. Corporation tax, currently 20%, is the same for all companies.Nor is it true that Google paid no tax at all before the settlement earlier this month with HM Revenue & Customs. Google UK’s accounts show a £20m tax payment in 2013, for example. The bill for back taxes of £130m, covering the past 10 years, arises from an audit by HMRC that was started in 2009. And, finally, the company’s statement that it “complies with the law” is 100% accurate. It now has a stamp of approval from HMRC to demonstrate as much. Continue reading...

The team behind Siri have a new idea: a voice-controlled personal assistant – linked to all your devices – that will take care of your every needSo I’ve arrived late at the office of Viv, an artificial intelligence company based in San Jose, California. I missed my train from San Francisco after dawdling leaving my apartment and then finding the taxi service app on my phone wouldn’t work. Dag Kittlaus, who I’ve kept waiting, looks on the bright side. “Your trials of getting here are a perfect illustration of how Viv will be helpful,” he says. “Wouldn’t it be nice to say ‘I need to get to San Jose, give me my options’ and Viv would know how close you are to the train station, when the next train is coming, where the nearest cars, how much it was going to cost…”Kittlaus is the co-founder and CEO of Viv, a three-year-old AI startup backed by $30m, including funds from Iconiq Capital, which helps manage the fortunes of Mark Zuckerberg and other wealthy tech executives. In a blocky office building in San Jose’s downtown, the company is working on what Kittlaus describes as a “global brain” – a new form of voice-controlled virtual personal assistant. With the odd flashes of personality, Viv will be able to perform thousands of tasks, and it won’t just be stuck in a phone but integrated into everything from fridges to cars. “Tell Viv what you want and it will orchestrate this massive network of services that will take care of it,” he says. Continue reading...

It may be named after Picasso, but what would the artistic genius have made of Citroën’s big people carrier?Price: £19,970

Microsoft co-founder chooses the Beatles track Two of Us in memory of Apple boss and talks about his charity work and how he met his wifeBill Gates speaks about his relationship with the late Apple founder Steve Jobs and chooses a song in memory of their work together shaping the technology of the modern age, in an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday.Describing Jobs, who died in 2011, as an “incredible genius”, Gates, 60, chooses as one of his allotted eight favourite tracks the Beatles’s Two of Us, for its apposite line: “You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.”. Continue reading...

Opposition figures react angrily to news that government has objected to EU’s proposed blacklisting of Bermuda as ‘unhelpful’Britain has been privately lobbying the EU to remove the tax haven through which Google funnels billions of pounds of profits from an official blacklist, the Observer can reveal.Treasury ministers have told the European commission that they are “strongly opposed” to proposed sanctions against Bermuda, a favoured shelter for Google’s profits and one of 30 tax jurisdictions in Brussels’s sights. Continue reading...

It’s the kind of car you might buy if you had a drug-dealing empire and wanted to splash some cash without getting stopped by the police

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and security researcher Ashkan Soltani says he has been denied security clearance for his new job with White HouseThe White House has denied a security clearance to a member of its technology team who previously helped report on documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

Licensed firearm retailers will still be able to advertise on the site, but updated policy will forbid individual users from coordinating peer-to-peer sales of gunsFacebook announced that it is banning the private sale of firearms on its social network, which can take place without background check.While licensed firearm retailers will still be able to advertise on the site, the updated policy will forbid individual users from coordinating peer-to-peer sales of guns. Facebook already prohibits the private sale of marijuana, pharmaceuticals, and illegal drugs.

Trials at New Mexico’s Spaceport Authority are using new millimetre wave technology to deliver data from drones – potentially 40 times faster than 4GGoogle is testing solar-powered drones at Spaceport America in New Mexico to explore ways to deliver high-speed internet from the air, the Guardian has learned.In a secretive project codenamed SkyBender, the technology giant built several prototype transceivers at the isolated spaceport last summer, and is testing them with multiple drones, according to documents obtained under public records laws. Continue reading...

As the Broncos and Panthers face off on the field, the titans of tech and the NFL compete to be the center of attention during biggest sports event of the yearSilicon Valley technologists may not be the most athletic bunch, but they do understand eyeballs.

The chancellor’s ‘huge success’ in securing £130m in back taxes from the technology company raises a number of issuesWhen Google reached a £130m settlement with the British taxman last week, George Osborne described the deal as a “major success”. But the chancellor and the search giant have been on the back foot ever since, accused of striking a “sweetheart deal” that might have short-changed taxpayers and has drawn the close attention of Brussels.Should Osborne have hailed Google’s tax deal? Did he misjudge how it would be received?

The 31-year-old also overtook the Koch brothers to become the fourth-richest in the US, as Facebook’s record fourth-quarter profits bring net worth to $47.5bnFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now the sixth-richest person on Earth and the fourth-richest person in US, his net worth surpassing that of the politically influential Koch brothers, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Facebook reported a quarter of record revenue, with sales up 52% and net income more than doubling since last year. Zuckerberg’s wealth rose by $6bn on Thursday, taking his net worth to $47.5bn. Continue reading...

British surveillance agency advises cryptography enthusiasts to join forces if they want to meet Sunday deadline

Social network has suffered from stagnating users, according to figures it publically reveals, but third-party data suggests that the real story is worse stillTwitter’s American userbase may have fallen by a third over the past two years, according to figures from third-party analytics firm 7Park Data.The figures contradict Twitter’s own numbers, which report a 25% growth over the same period. Continue reading...

The court order included the words ‘cookie’ and ‘browser’, which social network claims is against Belgian law for use of Dutch, French or GermanFacebook is objecting to the use of English words such as “cookie” and “browser” in a Belgian court order, which has demanded the site stop tracking users without their consent, saying that Belgians may not understand the words.

The bank admits its internet banking facility was made unavailable following a ‘denial of service’ attack, but says no transactions were affectedHSBC customers have been locked out of internet banking after the company was targeted by cyber criminals in a “denial of service” attack.The bank, which has 17 million personal banking and business customers in the UK, said its website had been attacked, but it had “successfully defended” its systems. It said it was working to restore services, would waive any fees incurred by customers as a direct result of the incident. Continue reading...

Kellogg’s Frosties mascot asked social media users to ‘keep things gr-r-reat’ after being inundated with lewd anthropomorphic imagesIf you think your Thursday was bad, just bear this in mind: someone woke up, went to their job where they pretend to be Kellogg’s Frosties’ mascot Tony the Tiger on the internet, and had to ask people to stop sending them anthropomorphic animal porn.I’m all for showing your stripes, feathers, etc. But let’s keep things gr-r-reat – & family-friendly if you could. Cubs could be watching Continue reading...

Whitechapel Gallery, London

Transport secretary defends deal as move in right direction but expects audit office to come under pressure to investigate

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

Tech giant’s ‘sweetheart’ deal with the UK taxman raised eyebrows on Thursday but the company’s ties with leading British politicians goes back a decadeThe furore over Google’s £130m deal with the UK taxman has triggered outrage among politicians, business figures and tax campaigners. It has also raised questions over the search engine group’s proximity to the corridors of power in Britain. An analysis of meetings between Google executives and senior politicians, as well as the regular appointments of political figures to major positions within the company’s PR machine, shows how the California-based tech company has become deeply entwined within the British political landscape. Continue reading...

Names and addresses of officers, forum posts critical of Barack Obama, and controversial contracts were posted online in the Fraternal Order of Police hackPrivate files belonging to America’s biggest police union, including the names and addresses of officers, forum posts critical of Barack Obama, and controversial contracts made with city authorities, were posted online Thursday after a hacker breached its website.The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which says it represents about 330,000 law enforcement officers across the US, said the FBI was investigating after 2.5GB of data taken from its servers was dumped online and swiftly shared on social media. The union’s national site, fop.net, remained offline on Thursday evening.

Problem of poor voice recognition of Australian accents has been addressed, as well as recognition of slang terms and difficult place namesGoogle has improved voice searches for phone and computer applications to help it understand Australian accents and slang terms such as footy and servo.It has also improved its ability to recognise difficult place names such as Tibooburra and Unanderra, and can now recognise the term “drop bear”, an Australian slang term used to describe a fictional bear-like animal that drops from trees. Continue reading...

Users in the US will be able to use the new feature on Facebook’s iPhone app in the next few weeks, part of a drive to expand video on the siteFacebook will start broadcasting live video in a dedicated space on its iPhone app, it announced on 28 January.

Social network lets campaigns match profiles with political habits and contact info, as Silicon Valley influence becomes ‘game-changer’ for targeted adsIf you lived in north-east Iowa, the evangelical stronghold where the battle for the soul of conservative American politics will play out in person on Monday, and happened to have given Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign your email address sometime in the last few months, you might find something especially appealing this weekend in your Facebook feed.You might see, amid the family photos, a menacing video of Donald Trump talking about how “my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa”. LIKE ON ABORTION, blares the sponsored ad from Cruz’s deep-pocketed, social media-savvy digital team. And you might wonder how this campaign managed, by paying Facebook, to differentiate between Trump’s “New York values” and “OURS”. Continue reading...

Former public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge says figure shows Google UK is ‘not a back office support operation’Google’s 2,300 staff in the UK earned an average wage of £160,000 each last year, despite the group’s insistence that its British operation is a modest outpost of the company’s global empire.Margaret Hodge, the former chair of the public accounts committee, said high pay among London staff was further evidence that Google’s “complex structure of companies is a sham”. Its UK employees mainly provide marketing and support services to offices in Dublin. Continue reading...

Romina, a whippet, receives a prosthetic leg, made using the latest 3D printing technology on Tuesday in Mexico. The leg is unique because it mimics an actual dog’s leg, allowing Romina to move around much as she did before. The dog is still adapting to having the new limb but her owners say she has made good progress so far Continue reading...

The achievement has been hailed as a breakthrough in artificial intelligence, but computers are much less efficient than usToday we were greeted by the front page of Nature hailing a breakthrough in artificial intelligence: computers are now outperforming even the best humans at the Chinese game of Go, long been seen as the last preserve of human game-playing mastery. The breakthrough, from a team based at Google’s DeepMind group in London, has come much earlier than many experts expected.Related: Google AI in landmark victory over Go grandmaster Continue reading...

Some plugs for iPhones, iPads and Macs used in Europe, Australia and elsewhere at risk of breaking and giving electric shocksApple is recalling some power adapters sold with Mac computers, iPhones, iPads and iPods since 2003.

How technology is being increasingly used to treat mental illnessFrom Fitbits that monitor the sleep patterns of patients with schizophrenia and apps that help you manage your mood to online therapy sessions, tech is increasingly being seen as a viable alternative to traditional health and wellbeing techniques.But is it too good to be true? What are the benefits, and what are the risks? Continue reading...

Pierre Moscovici warns ‘zero rate is not the best idea’ but Britain would have veto on any proposal to do away with exemptionsThe European Union executive is planning a review of value added tax across the bloc that might call into question Britain’s right to waive the sales duty on food, medicines and children’s clothing.