Technology | The Guardian

The first incarnation of Apple’s Music service missed some key features. After bust ups with beats staff and even criticism from Taylor Swift, can it do better?When Apple debuted its Music subscription service at its June 2015 worldwide developers conference, it did so in grand style with appearances by music impresario Jimmy Iovine and a performance by Drake.

Security firm announces it has persuaded fraudster to give up database of email addresses along with passwords users use to log in to websitesThe internet on Wednesday gave you another reminder that everyone has been hacked.Hold Security, a Wisconsin-based security firm famous for obtaining troves of stolen data from the hacking underworld, announced that it had persuaded a fraudster to give them a database of 272m unique email addresses along with the passwords consumers use to log in to websites. The escapade was detailed in a Reuters article. Continue reading...

Prime minister’s office, in letter to Labor’s Mark Dreyfus refusing freedom of information request, says too many emails would need to be examinedPotentially “hundreds of emails” that relate to national security matters could have been communicated over Malcolm Turnbull’s private email server in what could amount to a “major security risk”, according to the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus.

For the first time in the election cycle, community-generated memes have played a significant role in political discourse – similar to the classic printed cartoonWhen Ted Cruz dropped out of the Republican presidential race after losing in Indiana, he said there was no “viable path to victory”. But, really, anybody who isn’t a Republican would probably tell you something different: it was the handshake. And probably also that Ted Cruz is the Zodiac killer.This Vine of Cruz fumbling toward a “triumphant” hand clasp with running mate Carly Fiorina has been viewed more than 3.5m times (even though we assume most people viewed it more than once). It’s been edited from the original video to highlight the strangeness: tendril fingers slithering and grasping awkwardly for each other, like Cthulhu hand puppets. It takes an unbearably long time for the pair to get their fists into the air. Continue reading...

Proof of identity may not be enough to win round high-profile backer Gavin Andresen, who has now questioned Wright’s claim of being Satoshi NakamotoCraig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who claims to have created the cryptocurrency bitcoin in 2008 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, has promised to provide fresh evidence to back up his claim.In a blogpost on his website, Wright says “over the coming days, I will be hosting a series of pieces that will lay the foundations for this extraordinary claim”, including transferring bitcoin from “an early block” and posting “independently verifiable documents”. Continue reading...

The revelation that 1.6 million patients’ records are being used by the company’s artificial intelligence arm rings alarm bellsWhen it was revealed that Google’s London-based company DeepMind would be able to access the NHS records of 1.6 million patients who use three London hospitals run by the Royal Free NHS trust – Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free – it rang alarm bells.Not just because the British fiercely guard their intimate medical histories. Not just because Google, a sprawling octopus of a company with tentacles in all our lives, wishes to “organise the world’s information”. Not just because patients are unlikely to have consented to Google having this information. Continue reading...

Forcing a gaming PC to update mid-game during a livestream to up to 130,000 followers isn’t best advert for the softwarePerhaps there’s nothing more annoying than going in for the kill to suddenly be “pooped on” by a Windows 10 automatic installation taking out your computer mid-stream to your 130,000 or so followers.

Call of Duty, one of the biggest franchises in gaming, is bundling its new title with a remastered version of an old one. What does it say about the state of the genre?Earlier this week, Activision announced the latest title in its multi-gazillion-selling Call of Duty series. Subtitled Infinite Warfare – a level of titular hyperbole only previously explored by Marvel films and pay-per-view wrestling events – it takes the action into the far future, and more importantly, into space. The teaser trailer is a bewildering opera of explosions, zero-G dogfights and sociopathic astronaut melee combat – so it should have dominated online discussion among shooter fans for at least a few hours.But Activision did something unexpected. It announced that an intricately remastered version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare would be shipping with special editions of the game. While all subsequent Call of Duty titles have longingly harked back to this absolutely seminal FPS title, none so far have more-or-less relied on it for a publicity push. The problem is, Modern Warfare seemed to attract more excitement and discussion than Infinite Warfare. In that moment, it’s arguable the first-person shooter, as a big budget, mainstream concern, crossed over into the nostalgia industry. Continue reading...

Bernie Sanders manages a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton in Indiana primary, while Detroit teachers’ ‘sickout’ continues Continue reading...

Smartphone-maker loses appeal over use of ‘iphone’ branding on leather goods in China allowing handbags, phone cases and wallets to continue to be soldA Chinese court has ruled against Apple in a case over the use of its iPhone trademark, permitting a small maker of ‘iphone’-branded leather handbags to continue selling goods, state media reports.

Latest handheld vacuum with full suite of attachments, powered heads and 40-minute runtime is capable of cleaning the whole house as well as a corded modelDyson believes that cordless vacuums are the future, whether handheld or robotic, but battery technology has been the big sticking point. The latest V8 cordless claims to last twice as long and to be able to completely replace a corded vacuum.

With new technologies and the advance of the internet, playtime in 2016 is very different to 1960 Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence firm DeepMind provided with patient information as part of agreement with Royal Free NHS trustA company owned by Google has been given access to the healthcare data of up to 1.6 million patients from three hospitals run by a major London NHS trust.DeepMind, the tech giant’s London-based company most famous for its innovative use of artificial intelligence, is being provided with the patient information as part of an agreement with the Royal Free NHS trust, which runs the Barnet, Chase Farm and Royal Free hospitals. Continue reading...

The tech giant and car manufacturer announced merger of engineering teams in Michigan to integrate autonomous vehicle technology into hybrid minivanIn a move that marks a major step in the inexorable march towards making self-driving cars a reality, Google have announced what it is calling a “first of its kind” partnership with car manufacturer Fiat Chrysler.The partnership, which was announced Tuesday, will see Google’s self-driving technology integrated into a Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan, a move which will more than double the testing fleet of self-driving vehicles that Google operates. Continue reading...

A Finnish boy is the youngest person to get payout for finding bug that allowed comments to be deleted – and says he’ll use the money to buy a football and bike

A Silicon Valley CEO who sparked outrage for threatening to harass low-income fruit vendors in his neighborhood has issued an apology. Sort ofA Silicon Valley tech CEO who sparked outrage for threatening to aggressively harass low-income fruit vendors and “make their life miserable” now says he is “terribly sorry” – with an apology that continues to defend his position.Mark Woodward, CEO of software company Invoca, published – and eventually deleted – a post on a public Facebook page saying that if fruit sellers were stationed outside his home in a suburb of San Jose, he would “do whatever it took to make them leave” even if “that meant destroying some of their produce, or standing out there with signs to chase everyone away”. Continue reading...

Security researchers cast doubt on the announcement that the Australian is the true identity behind cryptocurrency’s creator, Satoshi NakamotoThe Australian computer scientist Craig Wright’s claim to be the bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been called into doubt by the discovery of a discrepancy in a central piece of his evidence.The digital signature used to back up Wright’s claim was first uploaded to the internet seven years ago, something security researchers say means it cannot be used to prove his identity. Continue reading...

Republican candidate heckled by 12-year-old on eve of primary as England witnesses a sporting tale for the ages after Leicester City claim titleDonald Trump is on the verge of a win in Indiana tonight that would leave him the likely Republican nominee. One recent public poll had the real estate mogul up 15 points over rival Ted Cruz, who was heckled by a 12-year-old and quizzed about his birthplace while his wife faced questions over whether he was a serial killer yesterday. Oh, and he seemed to ignore his running mate Carly Fiorina falling off the stage. These indignities and others came on the last day of campaigning in a state he desperately needs to win in order to continue his strategy of denying Donald Trump the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. Here’s where the delegate count stands for both parties. On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton is a few points ahead of Bernie Sanders in the polls. Results are expected some time after 6pm ET and we’ll have live coverage throughout the evening. Continue reading...

Share price surges 8% after online takeaway food service expects annual revenues to rise £8m to a forecast £358mAn increase in fees charged to UK restaurants has delivered extra profit for Just Eat, the online takeaway food service.Just Eat, which lets diners order food from 27,000 UK restaurants, increased its commission rate by a percentage point to 13% for existing customers at the start of April. It said restaurants reacted positively to the changes, which also included paying them weekly instead of twice a month. Continue reading...

Two of the digital industry’s biggest bugbears unite to launch Flattr Plus, which aims to get 10 million people paying $5 a month

The studio that began the Call of Duty story is now taking it into space. We talk to the narrative and design directors about this giant leap for the first-person shooter seriesSpace. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Call of Duty. Its 14-year mission: to boldly blow up more stuff than any game has blown up before. Now the series, which began in world war two, is finally braking its bonds with Earth. The solar system awaits and it is heavily armed.In a live Twitch session, held on Monday evening, the Infinity Ward narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki, and the design director, Jacob Minkoff, revealed some fresh information about the latest game in this billion-dollar series. The action takes place in a future where Earth’s natural resources are depleted, and new outposts spread throughout the solar system must now provide all the essentials. However, a fascist collective known as the Settlement Defence Front has arisen, determined to capture all those vital space settlements, strangling supply routes. Continue reading...

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

Streaming firm hopes to persuade some of its 175m listeners to start paying £9.99 a month by being ‘less spreadsheet, more Snapchat’Music-streaming service SoundCloud is launching its £9.99-a-month SoundCloud Go subscription tier in the UK and Ireland.The company hopes that features including track downloads for offline listening, and a bigger music catalogue courtesy of label licensing deals, will persuade some of its free listeners to start paying. Continue reading...

Twitter campaign calls on producers to use Frozen 2 to reveal that blockbuster’s heroine is a lesbianTwitter users are calling for Disney to give its Frozen heroine Elsa a girlfriend in the blockbuster’s keenly anticipated sequel.The record-breaking and critically acclaimed 2013 animated film tells of Princess Elsa’s struggle to master her magical powers to reconnect with her sister Anna. Continue reading...

The comments mark the latest example of a male tech CEO making aggressive, insensitive and tone-deaf remarks about people less fortunate than themA Silicon Valley tech CEO has sparked backlash for comments slamming local fruit vendors, saying he would “make their life miserable” and “destroy” their produce if they were stationed near his house – making him the latest wealthy Californian entrepreneur to publicly rail against low-income people.Mark Woodward, CEO of software company Invoca, published – and later deleted – a Facebook post saying that he would have no qualms about aggressively harassing unauthorized fruit sellers in his neighborhood if they got near his home. Continue reading...

Despite assertion by an Australian entrepreneur that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, critics demand technical proofFor years the identity of the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of bitcoin, the world’s leading digital currency, has eluded even the best cryptographers.So when Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur, outed himself on Monday as the inventor of the cryptocurrency it seemed to be the end of a mystery that began with the first bitcoin in 2009. Continue reading...

Two bitter rivals have agreed to drop mutual antitrust cases across the globe. Why? To fend off the greater regulatory threat of democratic oversightMicrosoft and Google, two of the world’s greatest monopolies, have been bitter rivals for nearly 20 years. But suddenly, in late April, they announced a startling accord. The companies have withdrawn all regulatory complaints against one another, globally. Rather than fighting their battles in public courts and commissions, they have agreed to privately negotiate.This is a gentleman’s agreement. The specifics are secret, but the message on both sides is that the deal reflects a change in management philosophy. Microsoft’s new chief, Satya Nadella, is eager to push the vision of a dynamic, collaborative Microsoft, partnering with everyone from Apple to Salesforce. Continue reading...

Internet giants say removing diesel particulate filters which reduce toxic emissions is not illegal, although driving without them isGoogle, Gumtree and eBay have refused to ban adverts for a service which removes crucial pollution filters from the exhausts of diesel cars, sending toxic emissions soaring.Over a thousand diesel car owners have already been caught after removing the filter, though experts warn the problem may be far more widespread.

Local providers forced to secure more rights if circumventing geoblocking was legal, peak body claimsThe peak body for internet users has thrown its weight behind calls to end geoblocking, as increasing use of legal video-on-demand services is revealed by new figures.The Productivity Commission’s recommendation that the federal government oppose the restriction of online content by territory in an effort to rebalance Australia’s intellectual property system was met with widespread support on Friday. Continue reading...

Owners can no longer rent whole properties to tourists, as officals blame

Hulu, Vice and other new media services are preparing to gather in New York for this year’s NewFronts, as Facebook and Google watch ad dollars pour inTelevision executives have cause to be scared: though they’ve survived at least eight years of predicted doom, billions in ad money has disappeared, ratings have dwindled and new power players have emerged from unexpected corners. While the old guard has struggled on, Facebook and Google have risen. Continue reading...

Gunplay is a vital part of video games, but how will it work in virtual reality?I was 11 years old when Jonathan Cott first brought a gun to school. It was bright red, or maybe dark blue – colours tend to fade first in the memory – and the paint was chipped at the corners. Cotty, as we called him, was always in deluxe kinds of trouble. Once, while we sat at our desks awaiting the arrival of a long-suffering English teacher, Cotty balanced a large cardboard box on the frame of the classroom door. When the teacher entered, the box fell over his head, trapping his arms in such a way that it took a good 15 seconds for the man to unsheathe himself by bobbing his head back and forth, fellatially.Cotty’s gun fired potatoes, or, to be more precise, tiny chunks of potato. To reload the gun he’d simply plunge the barrel into a King Edward that he carried in his left hand, before squeezing off a shot. Potato fired from a spud gun hurts a lot more than you’d think – especially if it manages to find its way toward a budding bollock. At 11 years old I witnessed the mysterious power of the gun, and the way in which it transfers that power, instantly and sometimes irresistibly, to its holder. Continue reading...

The new list of Britain’s 50 most influential foodies features plenty of tech-savvy newcomers but supermarket bosses and familiar names are still very much in evidenceThe UK food scene is increasingly dominated by social media stars, healthy-eating advocates and tech-savvy startups devising innovative ways of delivering to our doors, according to a new list of 50 influential foodies released last week.The list, featured in the Grocer magazine, suggests that those seeking power and influence in today’s food world would greatly benefit from being fresh-faced, Instagram-literate and more interested in the nutritional benefits of food than as an opportunity for indulgence. Continue reading...

The volatile market in China, the urgency for a new product, and slumping phone sales are combining to create serious problems for the tech companySelf-made billionaire investor Carl Icahn is known for his very vocal endorsements and criticisms of the world’s biggest public companies, including Apple. Yet when he appeared on CNBC on Thursday, he wasn’t there to demand the company give shareholders dividends, as he’d been doing for years.Instead, he said he was out. Icahn said he’d dumped every share he held in Apple, claiming he made a $2bn profit and was done with the company, citing concerns about how the Chinese government could block the company from that market. “You worry a little bit, and maybe more than a little, about China’s attitude,” Icahn said, warning of a “tsunami” of trouble. Continue reading...

This made me immediately like it, and I didn’t stopThere’s something about the exterior of the Skoda Superb estate, the curve of its nose and the shape of its grill, that makes it look like a cartoon character with a friendly moustache – maybe the Lorax. This made me immediately like it, and I didn’t stop, all the way from the parking space I could never fit into to the motorway I was pleasantly tooled up for. Even though it makes the most sense on a long journey, the fact of its comfort made up for the fact that it’s too big, really, for nipping about. The cabin is spacious and actively pleasing to sit in, more like a train. Passengers feel as though they’re miles away.Cars this size divide into “family-ish” and “executive-ey”, and even though in real life almost all families are preferable to all executives, in car world the opposite is true. This feels like business; it is soundless, even at high speeds, and really smooth. All road surfaces are the same in this car: the A303 could be an autobahn built in 2013, for all the challenge it poses. It’s not particularly exciting. You’re neither high on the road, nor low to it. It corners like a 62-year-old man at a tea dance, unhurried and deliberate. I was in the two-litre turbo-diesel, and I mused for about a seventh of every day on how much turbo technology has improved since my early driving years, when to have a diesel meant that nobody would ever believe you were in a hurry. This moved readily through the gears, it had no trouble overtaking anything, and I do believe I even saw a “Huh, I didn’t know Skodas were that powerful” look in the eyes of the people I left eating my dust, although I can’t vouch for that. Continue reading...

Intelligence committee senator said he plans to introduce bill to block expansion to ‘rule 41’ on warrants for suspects who hide their location, set for December

Justin Smith says social network makes far more money from ads in its news feed than news organisations do from linked traffic

A dystopian future of family communication through headsets, or an inventive way to bring remote parents together with their kids – and dinosaurs?Disrupting children’s bedtimes? Most children are more than capable of doing that themselves, whether it’s noisy pillow fights, demands for a fourth snack / poo of the night, or 467 more questions about death.They don’t need an app for it. Samsung has other ideas, however, having unveiled “the future of children’s bedtime” in the form of an app called Bedtime VR Stories that “combines the latest innovations in virtual reality with the power and importance of traditional storytelling”. Continue reading...

The future of apps is chatbots, and it’s going to be terribleHave you heard? Apps are dead: chatbots are the new apps. And they will soon be doing everything, from taking your pizza orders to scheduling your meetings. This is the future and it’s going to be terrible.The rise of the chatbot has been foretold for some time but only in the past few weeks with Facebook’s Messenger bots, chat app Kik’s bot store and the rise of subversive artbots have they really hit the public consciousness. Continue reading...

Sam Barlow wanted to make a new kind of police procedural mystery. So he quit his job, read interrogation manuals and created one of the most interesting games of the last five yearsThere are no spoilers for Her Story in this article.When Sam Barlow was working at Climax Studios in Portsmouth, helping to design the survival horror sequel, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, he would get home at night and tinker with a couple of screenplay projects. They were just an exercise, a way to write about things that he couldn’t in his day job. But then one night, he realised something: both scripts were about a man just ambling along, seemingly quite happy in life, until a cataclysmic event changes everything. “I was like, ‘Oh right, this is me sending a message to myself’,” he says. “I realised I needed the impetus to leave the company and go indie. I was writing this stuff to tell that to myself.”

Top new Android apps of April 2016 include iPlayer Kids, Giphy and Airtime, while the best games include Disney Crossy Road and Exploding KittensApril was an excellent month for new Android apps and games: the Google Play store may be stuffed with apps already, but many of the latest releases are genuinely worth a slot on your device.As ever, prices are correct at the time of writing, and if you see “IAP” that means the app uses in-app purchases. Looking for iPhone and iPad apps instead? There’s a separate monthly roundup for them which will follow shortly. Continue reading...

Videogames speak culture with ever increasing fluency, but cultural policy doesn’t speak much videogame (yet)A year ago, we opened the National Videogame Arcade (NVA). We made a statement, creating a centre of gravity for the interpretation of games for everyone by opening five floors of permanent space dedicated to them. It’s a home for videogames.

US law enforcement agency in possession of mechanism for unlocking iPhone 5Cs or older – but identity of hackers closely guarded secretThe FBI doesn’t know how the hack used to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone 5C works, and yet it paid in the region of $1m for the mechanism, which can used again to unlock any other iPhone 5C running iOS 9, according to reports.Several US government sources told Reuters that the amount paid for the hack, bought from professional hackers, was substantially less than previous reports indicating a value over $1.3m. The technique can also be used as many times as needed without further payments. Continue reading...