Technology | The Guardian

Conservative commentators had a wide-ranging discussion with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook’s headquarters after accusations of political biasMark Zuckerberg on Wednesday held a wide-ranging discussion with a group of conservative commentators who said afterward the Facebook CEO acknowledged the giant social network has a problem reaching conservatives.The meeting at Facebook’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters came about after a report accused the company of harboring a bias against conservative views. Continue reading...

Adhesive technology on the front of a vehicle would aim to reduce the damage caused when a pedestrian hit by a car is flung into other vehicles or objectsGoogle has patented a new “sticky” technology to protect pedestrians if – or when – they get struck by the company’s self-driving cars.The patent, which was granted on 17 May, is for a sticky adhesive layer on the front end of a vehicle, which would aim to reduce the damage caused when a pedestrian hit by a car is flung into other vehicles or scenery. Continue reading...

Audit Scotland warns mismanagement means incomplete system may run out of funds before it can meet European commission deadlineNicola Sturgeon’s government faces a penalty of up to £125m after a crisis in a major IT system left tens of thousands of farmers without their farm subsidy payments.Audit Scotland has warned that the incomplete £178m system, designed to process common agricultural policy payments of £688m a year, is now in danger of running out of money before it can meet a European commission deadline of 30 June. Continue reading...

Alphabet’s flagship company presents Google Home, a speaker-turned-personal-assistant that will allow users to turn on their lights and surf the web, among other functions. The speaker is part of Google Assistant which aims to take on Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Speaking at an event in California, Google’s vice president of product management says the speaker will be available at the end of the year

Messaging tool will have ‘incognito mode’ that offers end-to-end encryption, making it difficult for law enforcement to recover messages during investigationsGoogle on Wednesday became the latest major technology company to join a standoff with the FBI over encryption.At its developer conference, the company announced that its new messaging app, Allo, would feature an “incognito mode” that offered end-to-end encryption. Such technology can make it difficult for law enforcement to recover messages during investigations even if they have a warrant. In Washington DC, the FBI director, James Comey, has lobbied the administration to put restrictions on such technology. Continue reading...

List of user IDs and passwords, allegedly sourced from cyber-attack in 2012, put on sale for around £1,500 as site says it is taking actionA hacker claiming to have the log in details of millions of LinkedIn users is advertising the data for sale online.The extensive list of user IDs and passwords, which were allegedly sourced from a cyber attack on the networking site four years ago, is being advertised on the darknet – a sub-section of the internet not accessible through normal web browsers and often a platform for illegal activity. Continue reading...

Alphabet’s flagship company unveiled smart speaker Google Home, which it says will let people turn on their lights and surf the web, among other thingsGoogle has joined the war to be your digital butler.Speaking to a packed amphitheater of developers here, Alphabet’s flagship company on Wednesday unveiled a hot-rodded personal assistant it says will let people control their homes, book movies, search the internet, ask follow-up questions about an Italian restaurant and sort through dog pictures using voice commands. Continue reading...

US national intelligence already has ‘some indications’ that campaign networks are being spied on, as government works to tighten security against cyberattacksThe United States sees evidence that hackers, possibly working for foreign governments, are snooping on the presidential candidates, the nation’s intelligence chief said on Wednesday. Government officials are working with the campaigns to tighten security as the race for the White House intensifies.The activity follows a pattern set in the last two presidential elections. Hacking was rampant in 2008, according to US intelligence officials, and both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyber-attacks four years later. Despite that history, cyber experts say neither Donald Trump’s nor Hillary Clinton’s campaign networks are secure enough to eliminate the risk. Continue reading...

Star’s American Dream game comes from publisher that made Kim Kardashian a mobile hit, but missed the hit parade with their last pop outingIn 2015, global music sales were $15bn (£10.3bn). Yet the three biggest mobile games companies alone – Supercell, King and GungHo Online – made $5.6bn between them, out of an estimated $30.4bn for the overall mobile gaming market.Britney Spears: American Dream is the latest experiment to see if music can capitalise on a world where many people are happier to spend their disposable income on Candy Crush Saga or Clash Royale rather than on music. Continue reading...

Phone brand is back after being bought by Finnish company HMD and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn. But can it win back those nostalgic for the 3310?Soon, you’ll be able to buy a Nokia again, 18 months after Microsoft quietly killed the name, seemingly for good.Microsoft has sold the brand, which was worth $300bn at its height, in two parts for a total of just $350m. The brand name was sold to a new company called HMD, formed by former Nokia employees in Finland. Meanwhile, the manufacturing, distribution and sales arms of Nokia have been bought by iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, which has also agreed to build the new Nokia phone for HMD. Continue reading...

Google’s contactless smartphone payment system finally launches in UK 12 months after US releaseGoogle’s contactless smartphone payment system Android Pay has finally launched in the UK with support for MasterCard and Visa cards from at least eight banks.

Games lead British crowdfunding, with more than £26m pledged to projects, by people who average £53.80 per donationMore than three years after launching in the UK, Kickstarter has taken its hundred-millionth crowdfunding pound in Britain.The money has come from more than 1.2 million individual backers, spending an average of £53.80 per pledge across 20,651 individual projects, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian by the crowdsourcing company. Continue reading...

From Nathan Drake’s last hurrah and Star Fox Zero landing to Doom, Gears Of War and The Division’s multiplayer woesThe games industry has been doing its best impression of British springtime’s bewildering mix of sunshine and torrential rain with its own rapid cycles of joy and sadness. Holding up the joy end were two magnificent follies: a man managed to get stupid single-button-pressing game Flappy Bird to play on the screen of an e-cigarette, and someone else installed Windows 95 on an Apple Watch. But in that same month we also lost seminal British development studio Lionhead. It was responsible for all-time classics like giant pet-raising game Black & White, and Fable, an RPG that used the full gamut of English regional accents, as well as eccentricities such as The Movies, in which you could produce entire miniature feature films.Related: Uncharted 4 and the grief of finishing a great video game Continue reading...

Some teens are glued to social media feeds, and research suggests it’s causing anxiety and sleeplessness, but there are ways of taking back control

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In this podcast originally published in October 2012, the Aleks Krotoski and a panel of women in tech discuss why the tech industries need more women

id Software returns to the original Doom with a reboot that captures all the crazed, adrenaline-pumped purity of the originalThe original Doom was a carnival of overstatement. There’s the ludicrous premise: Martian moons invaded by demons. There’s the silent protagonist: a buzz-cut, space marine who sprints hyperactively through monotone corridors, firing shotgun rounds into the faces of occult-ish monsters. There’s the deafening, pitiless soundtrack, inspired by so many thrash metal bands of the late 80s. And then there’s the brawny name of its apex weapon: Big Fucking Gun.Gore, guns and braggadocio. This trio of male power fantasies helped to define and, arguably, tar, an entire medium. Regardless, the game, made by a group of friends who first met in a lake-house in sweltering Louisiana, was widely celebrated. Doom made millionaires of its young designers, a group that included the wunderkind programmer John Carmack, who last month was awarded a Bafta fellowship, the Academy’s highest honour. Continue reading...

Nathan Brenner appealed conviction which effectively outlawed Uber in Victoria on grounds app not covered by ‘antiquated’ legislation used to charge himA Melbourne Uber driver has won a landmark appeal which means the ride-sharing service can operate freely in Victoria.Nathan Brenner was found guilty last year by a magistrate of two counts of operating a commercial passenger vehicle without a licence, and one count of driving a commercial passenger vehicle without driver accreditation. Continue reading...

Prisons bill to be centrepiece of legislation in Queen’s speech designed to improve life chances of most disadvantaged in UKPrisoners should be able to use iPads in their cells and stay in touch with friends and family via Skype, a major study commissioned by the justice secretary, Michael Gove, is expected to conclude.The review into prison education by Dame Sally Coates advocates the increased use of “in-cell technology, such as iPads, so prisoners can learn independently”, according to extracts from a draft of the report seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Fakamalo Kihe Eiki defended himself from internet backlash, saying ‘The gift of life … is so bad to share … wow … such a world we live in … shame’A California man has defended himself from criticism after live-streaming his child’s birth on Facebook Live on Monday.Fakamalo Kihe Eiki from Carmichael, California, describes himself as a “Christian comedian” on his Facebook page. He posted the stream in the early hours of Monday morning, and it quickly gained upwards of 90,000 views. Continue reading...

Almost two in three poisonings are intentional – up 50% in past 20 years – with young women most affected, data showsGrowing numbers of teenagers are deliberately poisoning themselves with alcohol, painkillers and antidepressants, renewing fears about young people’s mental health.

Marvel’s crusading superhero reigns supreme for a third week as the animated avians perch in second placeRelated: Marvel axed female villain from Iron Man 3 after fears of poor toy sales, says director Continue reading...

From video conferencing your GP to tracking viral outbreaks of disease, a panel of experts shared insights into the changing face of healthcare

US congressional candidate Mike Webb offers supporters 2,000-word justification for video tabs visible in his Facebook postAn American congressional candidate wants you to know that the porn tabs he had open in a screenshot posted to his Facebook page are absolutely nothing to be concerned about.Mike Webb, Republican candidate for Virginia’s 8th district, posted to his Facebook page on Monday, discussing an odd phone call he had had with a staffing agency in Alexandria, Virginia (don’t ask). Accompanying the post was an even odder screenshot: Continue reading...

FindFace compares photos to profile pictures on social network Vkontakte and works out identities with 70% reliabilityIf the founders of a new face recognition app get their way, anonymity in public could soon be a thing of the past. FindFace, launched two months ago and currently taking Russia by storm, allows users to photograph people in a crowd and work out their identities, with 70% reliability.It works by comparing photographs to profile pictures on Vkontakte, a social network popular in Russia and the former Soviet Union, with more than 200 million accounts. In future, the designers imagine a world where people walking past you on the street could find your social network profile by sneaking a photograph of you, and shops, advertisers and the police could pick your face out of crowds and track you down via social networks.

Report says getting 4.1 billion more people online would lift 500 million out of poverty over five yearsBringing internet access to the 4.1 billion people in the world who do not have it would increase global economic output by $6.7 trillion (£4.6tr), raising 500 million people out of poverty, according to a study by PwC.The report, titled Connecting the world: Ten mechanisms for global inclusion, was prepared for Facebook by PwC’s strategy consultants Strategy&. Continue reading...

From mid-cycle PlayStation upgrades to episodic entertainment and virtual studios, something big is happening in the way games are bought, made and soldFor 30 years the games industry worked in a certain way. People rented offices and set up studios to create games; they employed staff to work in-house, then got those projects funded and distributed by publishers. If you wanted to opt out of that setup, you worked alone, or in a small team, as an indie developer – you operated in a totally separate stratosphere; the system neatly self-segregated. Meanwhile, in the background, the business worked to the seven-year cycles dictated by the lifespan of the major consoles. It was a machine of discreet components.

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

Facebook CEO will meet with a senior Trump adviser and several influential conservatives, but Breitbart News said it has ‘zero interest in a photo-op’Mark Zuckerberg, a critic of Donald Trump, now wants to make nice with his campaign and conservative media.The feeling isn’t entirely mutual. Continue reading...

A report alleging the electric car company exploited workers from eastern Europe to build a high-tech paint shop has prompted Musk to launch an investigationTesla relied on cheap foreign labor to build a hi-tech paint shop in California, paying workers as little as $5 an hour, according to a damning report that prompted CEO Elon Musk to launch an investigation.The electric car company used roughly 140 workers from eastern Europe, primarily Slovenia and Croatia, to build a paint shop in Fremont in northern California as part of its production of the Model 3 sedan. Continue reading...

Conglomerate buys 9.8m shares of Apple in surprise move that equates to a bet that shares will rebound after sales dropped for first time in more than a decadeWarren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has bought $1bn worth of Apple shares in a bet that the iPhone-maker will bounce back from a recent slump.

Alex Hern told us about the apps that he relies on. Now Hannah Jane Parkinson shares the apps she uses every dayThis month my colleague Alex Hern listed the apps he can’t live without. Specifically, the apps that he uses to pretend that he is “a competent adult”. I sit opposite him daily, and I am reserving judgment on that one. (Just kidding, Alex! )Like Alex, I rely on Citymapper (when I’m not taking an Uber) and I am now trying out You Need A Budget. Because guys, I really need a budget. I am a person whose bank statement, if rendered into a video game, would essentially be me as a character bouncing from one ATM to the next. Continue reading...

We still love the exploits of characters like Nathan Drake and Lara Croft, but this may change as attitudes to cultural theft hardenThere’s a question at the heart of the Uncharted games that the latest title, released to great acclaim this month, tackles most directly: is the dashing lead protagonist, Nathan Drake, a hero or a thief?The continuing success of Naughty Dog’s action-adventure series, along with the resurgent Tomb Raider games, shows that the “adventuring archaeologist” trope is a resilient one. The modern precursor of both Nathan Drake and Lara Croft is of course Indiana Jones, who retains a vice-like grip over the public imagination. Continue reading...

In a future where robots take our jobs, the tech elite see universal basic income as a fair exchange. But don’t forget – their wealth came from what we providedEvery month, nearly 20% of the country gets a Social Security check. What if that number were 100%? What if the government gave everyone an income?That’s the premise behind universal basic income (UBI), an idea with a long and surprisingly mainstream history. Its popularity last peaked in the 1970s and now, after a relatively dormant few decades, it’s making a comeback. Pilot projects have been announced in Finland, the Netherlands, and Canada. This summer, Swiss voters will vote in a referendum that could give every adult about $2,500 a month. Continue reading...

Low population density means phone and internet companies don’t upgrade services – but in the Navajo Nation vital infrastructure was never installedIt’s been two years since Sonia’s husband’s fatal heart attack. Almost anywhere else in the United States, emergency services could have helped her. But in an isolated corner of the 27,000 square miles that constitute the Navajo Nation, she, her daughter and one of her granddaughters had to manage without technology most of the rest of America takes for granted.The family were outside Tolani Lake, in part of the vast Navajo Nation’s land in north-east Arizona. “My husband had roped a bull that we were dealing with,” Sonia said. “He said he needed to catch his breath. I told him to sit down and he did.” He started to feel better, got back to work and then faltered again.

The World Esports Association will fight for players’ rights in pro-gamingEight of the world’s biggest pro-gaming teams have joined together to form the World Esports Association [WESA], fighting for player representation, tournament standardisation, and revenue-sharing among teams.The founding teams, all drawn from the ESL Pro-League for Counter-Strike, hope that WESA will provide an important counter-weight on the side of players in an industry dominated by publishers, event organisers, and the publishers of the games themselves – often all the same company. Continue reading...

Corporation in talks with potential partners including ITV and NBC Universal about new subscription service

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

Uncharted 4 takes adventure gaming to another level, Fire Emblem sticks to a winning formula, but Battleborn is a messy mishmashPS4, Sony, cert: 16

Of 14 companies valued above $1bn, five are against leaving EU, while others are neutral or have declined to commentNone of Britain’s so-called unicorns, private companies with a valuation above $1bn (£710m), will support Britain leaving the EU, the Guardian can reveal.Of the 14 companies on the list, five have come out as explicitly against Britain’s exit from the EU, while the rest either remained officially neutral or declined to comment on the matter. Continue reading...

Retailer tells shareholders ahead of refinancing vote that poor Christmas led to insurers lowering or removing protectionGame Digital has told shareholders it lost “significant” levels of credit insurance in the aftermath of a second year of poor Christmas trading.

Banks used a series of slurs targeting Muslims in a post aimed at Zayn Malik, whom she accused of copying her styleAzealia Banks has apologised for a stream of racist and Islamophobic invective against former One Direction member Zayn Malik that led Twitter to suspend her.

Tien Phong Bank says it spotted the fraud on the Swift messaging system quickly enough to prevent Bangladesh-style theft

C of E creating guidelines so 10,000 rural churches may be used to provide wireless internet access to help meet PM’s vowThe medieval church spires of rural England are to bring superfast broadband to the remotest of dwellings, with the Church of England offering their use as communication towers.

The new generation of mobile computers are powerful, sleek and able to cope with the demands of both work and play£50 Continue reading...

Fans may rejoice at their game being given a story, but it’s one that lacks laughs and eleganceFans of the computer game will probably admire the way that the film-makers managed to crowbar a narrative into the baffling silliness of this phenomenon. But if you are not a regular player, the story feels like an inelegant and pointless scramble of trampolines, catapults, eggs and anger management classes. Despite the best efforts of Jason Sudeikis, the voice of the central character, Red, who drenches every line with a thick coating of irony, this simply isn’t funny enough to charm the parents of the film’s intended audience: impressionable and not particularly discerning children. Continue reading...

Fed up with hills and hard work? The latest generation electric bike from Electra could well tempt you back into the saddleIn Holland, a country that knows a thing or two about cycling, they now sell more electric bikes than traditional city bikes. The lurking snobbery that an eBike is ‘cheating’ has gone and in the coming years many more of us will be powering up for a sweat-free pedal. One of the brands ready to take advantage of this is Electra – it’s already on to its second generation pedal-assist bike. The Townie Go! 8i has a frame-mounted Bosch mid-drive system, rather than a hub engine, which has four levels of support: Eco, Tour, Sport and Turbo with a top speed of 20mph. It takes 3.5 hours to charge and for that you have a range of 20-100 miles. It’s comfortable and relaxed and those ‘Fat Frank’ tyres really soak up the bumps. It is pricey, but maybe it’s time to turn down easy street (electrabike.com).Price: £1,999

It’s the high-pitched menace that spoils your day at the beach – unless of course it’s you riding it…Price: £4,999

Walkers and other members of the public will be asked to help create new generation of healthy plantsA £1.2m project to recruit thousands of walkers and other members of the public to help save Britain’s ash trees is to be launched on Monday.The aim of the AshTag project is to use “citizen science” to pinpoint trees that are resistant to ash dieback disease. Cuttings from these resilient trees could then be used to create a new, healthy generation of ash trees that could replace those ravaged by chalara dieback, which reached the UK in 2012 and is devastating many woods. In Denmark, the disease has killed 90% of the ash trees. Scientists hope to minimise the damage by building up details of resistant trees. Continue reading...