Security firm Malwarebytes surveyed 500 companies in four countries and found one-third of victims lost revenue as a result of an attackRansomware is fast becoming a ubiquitous security threat, with nearly 40% of all businesses experiencing an attack in the past year, according to research from computer security firm Malwarebytes. The figure is even worse in Britain, where 54% of surveyed businesses had been targeted with such an attackThe group surveyed IT heads at over 500 companies in four countries, and found that more than one-third of the ransomware victims lost revenue as a result of the attack. Continue reading...

Glitch causes random substitution of Pokémon types at point of capture, turning high-level rarities into common-as-muck Rattata, Pidgey and Elkans for unlucky playersThe latest bug to affect Niantic’s smash-hit Pokémon Go Android and iOS game has players swearing at their phones, as rare monsters become common beasts after capture, with Blastoises turning into Rattata and Ninetails into Elkans.The glitch appears to have appeared in the last 48 hours following an update to the game that removed distance tracking and blocked third-party Pokémon mapping services. Continue reading...

In the second biggest security breach of an exchange such as Bitfinex, 119,756 bitcoin was stolen from users’ accountsAlmost 120,000 bitcoin worth around $78m has been stolen from Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, causing a 20% drop in the value of the currency.The hack, which is the largest of its kind and limited to bitcoin wallets held by the company, forced Bitfinex to cease trading and report the theft to law enforcement, the company said in a statement on its website. Continue reading...

Google’s parent company given green light by US regulator to test autonomous delivery systems as White House pledges $35m for five years of drone researchGoogle’s parent company, Alphabet, will start testing its Project Wing delivery drones in the US, after being given permission by the White House on Tuesday.The drones will be tested in one of six designated Federal Aviation Authority areas within the US as part of the government’s initiative to promote research into unmanned flight and safety legislation. Continue reading...

Korean smartphone manufacturer bets on high-end features, curved glass and premium materials to shift latest in phablet category creatorSamsung’s latest Galaxy Note 7 phablet is one of the first smartphones to ship with an iris scanner that can read your eyes and let you into your phone in seconds.

Shopper found he had to pay a shipping cost despite apparently meeting the conditions for free deliveryAmazon has been ordered to clarify its delivery charges for individual products after the advertising watchdog found it had been misleading customers.The Advertising Standards Authority found a lack of clarity about items eligible for free delivery after a shopper complained about charges for an AmazonBasics electrical product. Continue reading...

Employers trusting in the impartiality of machines sounds like a good plan to eliminate bias, but data can be just as prejudiced as we areWe would all like to fancy ourselves as eminently capable of impartiality, able to make decisions without prejudices – especially at work. Unfortunately, the reality is that human bias, both conscious and unconscious, can’t help but come into play when it comes to who gets jobs and how much money candidates get offered.Managers often gravitate to people most like themselves, make gender-based assumptions about skills or salaries, or reject candidates who have non-white names – to name just a few examples – even if they don’t mean to. Continue reading...

Back Me Up allows users to insure up to three items on a pay-as-you-go basis by uploading photographs to the appA new Tinder-style, mobile phone-based insurance product that allows young people to buy pay-as-they-go-cover for their technology and valued goods has been launched in the UK.Back Me Up, which is offered by the long-established insurer Ageas, allows users to insure up to three key items for £15/month – by simply photographing them, and updating its app. Continue reading...

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

Plan would have imposed 1.5% payroll tax on companies such as Uber, Google and Airbnb, which generate more than $1m in revenues yearlySan Francisco has voted against a proposal known as the “tech tax” which would have forced the area’s biggest technology firms to fund initiatives to provide affordable housing and tackle the city’s homeless problem.

An Australian company may have cracked this ticking time bomb of freshness with a machine that ‘switches off’ the enzyme responsible for discolorationAs anyone who has ever bought avocados will know, the ripeness window for the fruit is around 17 minutes. Before that, it’s solid and nutty. After, brown and mushy. So-called “ripe and ready” products are a lie. Once sliced or pulped, it’s a matter of seconds before smooth, fresh green flesh becomes musty and oxidized.

Attacks have breached end-to-end encryption by intercepting SMS messages and identified phone numbers of 15 million Iranian users of the serviceIranian hackers have compromised more than a dozen accounts on the Telegram instant messaging service and identified the phone numbers of 15 million Iranian users, the largest known breach of the encrypted communications system, cyber researchers told Reuters.

NT hopes new technology and immersive filming styles will become “a pioneer of dramatic storytelling”Anyone visiting the new National Theatre studio might experience the soul-destroying misery of the Calais jungle, take part in the 1916 Easter Rising or sit on a toilet while being serenaded by a giant psychedelic cat.The theatre launched its immersive storytelling studio, a place where new work will be developed using the latest virtual reality technologies, on Tuesday. The studio is the next step in a journey that began in March last year, when the theatre’s then recently appointed director Rufus Norris, a VR enthusiast, commissioned “fabulous wonder.land”, a virtual reality film based on the Damon Albarn-scored wonder.land musical. Continue reading...

It appears that Facebook and its subsidiaries won’t stop until Snapchat is beatenThe photocopiers in Menlo Park must be overheating: for the fifth time, Facebook is trying to steal Snapchat’s thunder with a new feature that is, er, heavily reminiscent of something that started its life on the ephemeral sharing app.Today’s attempt comes not from Facebook directly, but from its subsidiary Instagram. It’s called Instagram Stories, and the best way to describe it is “like Snapchat stories, but on Instagram”. Continue reading...

After the explosion of Pokémon Go, Nintendo is keen to make sure players are reminded of its forthcoming 3DS game with the introduction of new creaturesPokémon Go may be the mobile game phenomenon of the year, but Nintendo is eager to ensure players don’t forget about its forthcoming games for the 3DS, Pokémon Sun and Moon.In its latest trailer, the publisher has revealed a new twist on the age-old formula: for the first time ever, the same species of Pokémon can exist in two completely different forms. Continue reading...

In the town of Rwinkwavu, technology is giving children access to hundreds of books and helping to empower adultsThe first children you see are scything away in the cassava fields, or filling plastic cans with water from the pump to lug home.But inside the local library in this town deep in the Rwandan hinterland, we skip forward a few centuries: e-readers, Wi-Fi, smartphones and digital books galore, everything from Dickens to Dante and Dostoevsky. Continue reading...

If being shouted at by the pottymouthed celebrity chef is the only thing missing in your life, a new mobile game is here to make your dreams a realityEver think that Gordon Ramsay’s TV persona is a bit cartoonish? You’ve seen nothing yet. Now, the potty mouth of the cordon bleu world has decided to become the main character in a cartoony smartphone game (created by a team whose previous illustrious achievements include Kim Kardashian’s official iPhone game). The idea: you’re based in a kitchen, and have to prep food while Ramsay loiters near the bins, offering advice. And occasional abuse.

Battery status indicators are being used to track devices, say researchers from Princeton University – meaning warnings of privacy exposure have come to passA little-known web standard that lets site owners tell how much battery life a mobile device has left has been found to enable tracking online, a year after privacy researchers warned that it had the potential to do just that.The battery status API was introduced in HTML5, the fifth version of the code used to lay out the majority of the web, and had already shipped in Firefox, Opera and Chrome by August 2015. It allows site owners to see the percentage of battery life left in a device, as well as the time it will take to discharge or the time it will take to charge, if connected to a power source. Continue reading...

It might be too short and a bit clunky, but Blendo Games’ newest effort finds joy in the weird and wonderful retro-future world of 1980s codingIn the cool summer air outside a glass-walled villa, a woman with blue hair and a headscarf sits hunched over a computer, typing in a string of programming commands. In three seconds, a suitcase will deploy a rifle, which will, in four seconds, fire through a window and deactivate a set of lasers. In five seconds, she will be inside the villa, and in six seconds she will have opened the safe behind the bookcase which holds her target. In seven seconds, everything will go catastrophically wrong at the hands of an errant semicolon, and mean mission failure.The code will have to be debugged, the heist simulation run again.

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

Largest update since revamped operating system began nagging its way on to computers in 2015 includes bigger role for Cortana and facial recognitionThe Windows 10 Anniversary Update – the largest update to the PC operating system since its big revamp in 2015 – began rolling out to consumers on Tuesday.

After battling its Chinese rival for driver and rider loyalty, it appears that Uber has lost – but the deal is not quite that simpleUber has sold its Chinese operations to rival Didi Chuxing, the country’s biggest ride-hailing firm, signalling the end of a fierce price war waged between the two companies over the past two years.Uber, last valued at around $68bn, lost an estimated $2bn fighting Didi Chuxing in China, giving out incentives for drivers and free rides in an attempt to compete for market share. Didi was doing the same, but had around 85% of the market share compared with Uber’s 8%. Continue reading...

Harmless toy takes place of deadly weapon amid growing concern over shootings in the USApple has replaced its hand gun emoji with a water pistol – reflecting growing despair in America and worldwide over gun crime.The change comes in the wake of continuing gun violence in the US, including the killing of two black men by police and the resulting spate of deadly attacks against officers. Continue reading...

Denton’s filing follows the news organization filing for bankruptcy in June, after Hulk Hogan was awarded $140m in damages and costs in a lawsuitGawker Media founder Nick Denton has filed for personal bankruptcy in the wake of Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel’s proxy war against the news organization and its individual journalists.Gawker itself filed for bankruptcy in June. “[I]t’s a disturbing to live in a world in which a billionaire can bully journalists because he didn’t like the coverage,” wrote Denton in a memo to staff on Monday. Continue reading...

Noise-canceling headphones can make it hard to hear when a person actually needs your attention, and Amazon wants to fix thatNoise-canceling headphones provide a peaceful haven for those trying to work or sleep in loud environments, but make it difficult to hear when someone really needs your attention.

Lawsuit filed on Monday alleges that Comcast ‘grossly misrepresented’ its consumer protection plan and charged for repairs that should have been freeWashington state has filed a $3.7bn lawsuit against the telecommunications firm Comcast alleging that the company violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act almost 2m times.

Sex therapists say virtual reality porn can support men in feeling more comfortable, empowered and confident in real-life situationsThe porn industry has been an early adopter of virtual reality, which allows the viewer to feel more like a participant in the action than a voyeur.Now one of the companies pioneering VR porn is branching out into sex therapy, creating content designed to not only titillate but to educate and improve performance in the bedroom. Continue reading...

The internet giant’s partnership with GlaxoSmithKline is the latest in a long line of projects and experiments in the medical sectorAlphabet’s partnership with GlaxoSmithKline is by no means its first foray into the world of biotechnology. Google’s parent also owns Verily Life Sciences, which works on futuristic projects that marry technology with medicine. Aimed at tackling everything from relatively minor ailments to cancer, some of its innovative products are closer to becoming a reality than others. Continue reading...

Some see Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to wire up the continent as a philanthropic gesture, others suspect a cynical marketing ployFacebook has signed up almost half the countries in Africa – a combined population of 635 million – to its free internet service in a controversial move to corner the market in one of the world’s biggest mobile data growth regions.Facebook’s co-founder and chairman, Mark Zuckerberg, has made it clear that he wants to connect the whole world to the internet, describing access as a basic human right. His Free Basics initiative, in which mobile users are able to access the site free of data charges, is available in 42 countries, more than half of them in Africa. Continue reading...

Uber is entering the mapping business, taking on Google, Apple and TomTom. And this isn’t just about taxi pickups – the future of driverless cars is at stakeUber is spending half a billion dollars to develop its own maps so that it can ditch Google, which sounds roughly as sensible as Tesco piling millions into inventing its own shelves. Other people make shelves – good shelves. Why waste money on your own shelves?Because in the latest arms race in tech, the three biggest prizes are location, location, location. And Uber, the global taxi service valued last year at more than $60bn (£45bn), has bigger plans than getting you home after a night out. Continue reading...

When real life seems so dark, it’s no wonder people welcome the chance to add a little magic. But games have been with us for thousands of years – and the crazes of different eras tell us more than you would expectIt’s Saturday night and I’m standing in a crowded bar talking to a man dressed as a Pokémon. This isn’t a Tinder date gone wrong; rather, I’m on a Pokémon Go pub crawl. These are now “a thing”, attracting hundreds, sometimes thousands, of participants. They’re just one of the many weird symptoms of Pokéfever: a mania currently afflicting large swaths of society.If you’re yet to be infected then you may be somewhat sick of the incessant Pokémon headlines and hokey Pokéjokes. You may well feel an urge to stab (or at the very least poké) yourself in the eye when you come across yet another Pokémanteau. Please don’t. Rather, I urge you to join me in an annotated-reality game called “Pokémon Go: the Quest for Sociohistorical Perspective”. Traverse paragraphs and collect points as you uncover the millennia of meaning behind the recent madness! Ready? Let’s go. Continue reading...

Musk describes the sale of SolarCity to Tesla Motors for $2.6bn as a ‘no-brainer’, as companies expect to save $150m in first year of mergerElon Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla Motors, has bought Elon Musk’s solar power company, SolarCity, in an all-stock transaction worth $2.6bn (£2bn), the companies have confirmed.The new firm sees Tesla emphasise its battery power storage technology as a natural fit to SolarCity’s solar generation. Musk called the merger a “no brainer”, saying: “Instead of making three trips to a house to put in a car charger and solar panels and battery pack, you can integrate that into a single visit. It’s an obvious thing to do.” Continue reading...

Windows 10 free upgrade offer has ended, but those who require assistive features such as screen readers can still upgrade for free – and some people are taking advantageWindows 7 and 8 users who missed Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer, are lying about their need for assistive features in order to upgrade without paying.Windows 10 introduced a collection of new features for those who need help accessing a computer, including an improved screen reader that can read faster and be tuned to be more or less verbose depending on what the user needs. As part of Microsoft’s efforts to make Windows easier to use, those who use assistive technologies can continue to upgrade to Windows 10 for free for the foreseeable future. Free upgrades for other users stopped on 29 July 2016. Continue reading...

Sites and apps that allow trainers to locate specific Pokémon have been shut down after game update removes nearby trackingPokémon Go players are up in arms after an update to the game removed a feature that helped locate nearby Pokémon and forced third-party maps of Pokémon locations to shut down.

Britain’s biggest drug company and Verily Life Sciences, a division of Alphabet, have teamed up to tackle chronic conditionsGlaxoSmithKline has teamed up with Google’s parent company Alphabet to develop miniature electronic implants for the treatment of asthma, diabetes and other chronic conditions.GSK, Britain’s biggest drug company, said it would form a joint venture with Verily Life Sciences, a division of Alphabet, to work on research into bioelectronic medicines. GSK will own 55% of Galvani Bioelectronics, and Verily will hold 45%. Continue reading...

Uber China will merge with local rival to create $35bn ride-sharing giantUber’s seemingly unceasing expansion across the world has finally had the brakes applied as the ride-sharing company plans a deal to sell its Chinese operation to local rival Didi Chuxing, according to Bloomberg News.The new company will valued at around $35bn (£19bn) – given Didi’s previous $28bn valuation, that values Uber China at $7bn – and puts an end to a year-long standoff that has led to both Uber China and Didi losing money in an effort to secure a lasting victory. Uber alone has lost more than $2bn in the fight. Continue reading...

I’d normally rather stay at home with a virtual romance, but the game allowed me to build a comfortable – and perhaps long-lasting – bond while out and aboutI can feel my shoulders freckling in the summer sun. The heat borders on oppressive and a thin line of sweat beads at my hairline, barely cooled by a passing breeze. I am standing next to a pond, atop a giant sundial where high noon betrays no shadows, and I am sending a Tentacruel – a giant poisonous jellyfish – to attack the man across from me. There are no tumbleweeds to set the scene, no spaghetti-western whistles or wide-frame cuts to layer on the tension, but my finger still twitches to the countdown of our duel.Three. Two. One. Go.

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

Shanghai-based studio Pixpil is trying to bring video games into Chinese homes – no easy feat in a country that only just lifted its ban on foreign consoles such as PlayStation and XboxThink of the word “China” and one of two ideas should come to mind: either the country, or the crockery sat in your kitchen cupboard. This synonym in the English language is testament to the reputation of China’s porcelain trade around Europe in the 16th century. China was top of the line. But when it comes to video games, China sits at the opposite end of the spectrum; Chinese games are often associated with cheap Mario clones and free-to-play RPGs that look like they’re designed by business executives. It’s not good.Shanghai-based game developer Tommo Zhou dreams of changing that stigma. He hopes one day to release a video game on a console with a global reach. The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Wii U (or the upcoming NX) are the dream. Zhou’s friend and colleague, known as Feng, goes so far as to say it would be a “great honour” to have a game on one of these consoles. It’s not necessarily the potential sales numbers and the success that might come with such a move, it’s what the principle itself represents.

New life, so to speak, for the zombie genre in a fun indie adventure, and a fine puzzling platformer from Curve Digital Continue reading...

Further automation of the retail sector raises issues far beyond the needless luxuries of choice, convenience and speed of delivery (Amazon to test drone deliveries in British skies, 27 July). I wonder if the “demand” for stuff to be delivered by robot to our door within 30 minutes of ordering really exists – is modern satisfaction really that shallow? But in an increasingly automated society, where are the wages to buy these goods going to come from?While Brexit showed that politicians were detached from the anger of the dispossessed of this country, where are they on the automation of yet more of the jobs that so many people depend on? It seems they are keen to race headlong into a very misty future. Continue reading...

Want the best apps and breaking news on the go without breaking the bank? These may be the devices you’re looking forRRP £109 Continue reading...

A revolution in politics is under way, and it is being fought 140 characters at a time. Gaby Hinsliff reports on how Twitter is fuelling a political race to the bottomWhen Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman in American history to clinch a major party’s presidential nomination, her rival responded with all his customary grace.“Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama – but nobody else does!” Donald Trump sneered on Twitter. Continue reading...

Apple’s tablet has a host of easy-to-miss tricks, many of which work on the iPhone too. We take a tour… Continue reading...

If the Russians were behind the attack on the Democrat convention – and the evidence suggests they were – this represents a major shift in Putin’s military doctrineLast month, it was discovered that the computer networks of the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) had been penetrated by two sets of intruders, who appear to have been unaware of one another’s activities. The hackers seem to have been able to do whatever they liked, including accessing the DNC’s email servers. As a result, some (perhaps most) DNC emails found their way into the public domain via a number of routes, including WikiLeaks.It’s been dubbed Watergate 2.0. And as in 1972, the key questions are: who were the burglars? What were their motives? Continue reading...

Virtual weapons won in some games can be bought for real money and used like casino chips on online gambling websitesIn what could prove a world first, an Australian politician is seeking to have games such as the hugely popular Counter-Strike series defined in law as gambling.Nick Xenophon, the independent senator for South Australia, on Sunday announced a bid to have multiplayer first-person shooter games defined as gambling in an update to the current Interactive Gambling Act of 2001. Continue reading...

Whether for taxi drivers or Hollywood stars, the world’s most famous hybrid always puts in a great performancePrice: £23,295

A radical new design brings multiple benefits to the humdrum city slickerIt seems incredible that the basic ingredients of a bicycle – frame, wheels, saddle and bars – can be almost infinitely reworked to produce dynamic bikes of endless variety. Take a look at this one. It’s the new Commuter 8.0 from Canyon. The German firm, based in Koblenz and set up in 1985, has always championed cutting-edge design. But doing away with the traditional headset to create a ‘cockpit’, in which the handlebars, stem and lights all form a single unit, seems drastic even by its standards. It gives the bike a weird ‘neckless’ look. It looks like its lines were inspired by a hyena. However, it rides brilliantly and handling is ferociously direct. It benefits from a greaseless silicon belt drive, and a low-maintenance gear hub saves you money and hassle in the long term. Internal cabling and seamless welds also help create its clean and simple look. It comes in this ‘espresso’ colour or a cool grey. A powerful dynamo supplies electricity through clever contacts in the dropout points, which means your lights will never dim. It’s bright stuff! (canyon.com)Price: £1,749

Pope tells young people ‘we didn’t come into the world to vegetate ... We came to leave a mark’Pope Francis urged “drowsy and dull kids” to swap their sofas and video games for walking boots on Saturday at an international Catholic youth festival in Poland.