Technology | The Guardian

Chinese firm’s super-sized flagship is great, with fun camera, excellent selfies, snappy performance and solid battery life - it’s just a shame about the customised AndroidThe Huawei P9 Plus is a bigger version of the Chinese smartphone manufacturer’s first excellent offering. It claims to be “plus in every way” – and it doesn’t disappoint.

Pioneering programme is teaching refugees coding so they can become developers and is helping them integrate in societyProblem one: Finland’s otherwise flourishing startup scene has a chronic shortage of developers.Problem two: the 32,000-plus asylum seekers who arrived in the Nordic country last year – many young, highly educated and computer literate – face waiting for years before they land a job. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterTuesday! Continue reading...

Say farewell to chronological ordering of posts – users are now seeing their feed as organised by Instagram’s own formula, and they’re not happyIs your Instagram feed still ordered oldest-to-newest? Then treasure your straightforward user experience because it is not going to last.Controversial changes to the photo-sharing platform that were met with widespread outcry when they were first flagged in March are taking effect, with users around the world reporting a new algorithm-driven feed. Continue reading...

Unicef presses governments to better protect young people as international survey finds most 18-year-olds say friends take risks onlineEight out of 10 18-year-olds worldwide believe young people are in danger of being sexually abused or taken advantage of online, a Unicef study suggests.The poll on unwanted sexual comments, harassment and bullying online was run by Ipsos, which interviewed more than 10,000 teenagers from 25 countries. More than half of respondents said their friends participated in risky behaviour while using the internet. Continue reading...

Mitsubishi urged to recall at least 100,000 cars after hackers remotely turned off the alarm system, controlled the lights and drained the batteryA team of security researchers are calling on Mitsubishi to recall at least 100,000 Outlander hybrid cars after exposing a security breach that allowed the hackers to remotely turn off the car’s alarm system, control the lights and drain the battery.Ken Munro, the security expert who led the investigation, was tipped off about the vulnerability when his friend’s Outlander showed up as a wifi access point on his phone. Curious, he bought one of the cars himself and set about hacking it. Continue reading...

The Guns N’ Roses frontman is trying to get Google to remove images that he says violate copyright – and they just happen to be a little unflatteringGuns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has long battled the trappings of internet-era celebrity. When his band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, the singer wrote a 1,000--word open letter refusing his own part in the induction and imploring the organization not to include him in absentia. The hall of fame politely yet swiftly declined his request.Undeterred, Rose is now taking on the definitive hall of fame – waging war against Skynet itself, no less – by demanding that Google removes the now infamous photos of his sweaty, rounder-than-usual face from a 2010 concert now associated with the “fat Axl Rose” meme from their search engines. Continue reading...

Prominent figure in online privacy circles resigns from post at Tor after a series of anonymous accusations of repeated sexual and emotional abuseA prominent digital privacy researcher has denied a series of anonymous online accusations that he sexually harassed and assaulted colleagues over a period of several years.It’s a bizarre twist for Jacob Appelbaum, who has spent his career making it easier for people act anonymously online. Appelbaum, 33, is closely linked to both Edward Snowden and the Tor Project, the not-for-profit organization behind the anonymous web browser. Over the weekend, anonymous accusers created a website that alleges Appelbaum emotionally and sexually abused others in the community repeatedly. Continue reading...

A Minneapolis woman, who later became a ‘super host’, denied TV producer Shadi Petosky’s request because of fears of having a trans guest around her sonAirbnb is under fire after a transgender guest was denied a stay by a host who felt “uncomfortable”.When the guest complained privately to Airbnb in 2015, the company did not remove the host, but in fact later promoted her to “super host” status, which rewards more experienced hosts with multiple five-star reviews from their guests. Continue reading...

It was good to see your extensive coverage of the new 35-mile Gotthard Base tunnel (Five miles longer than the Channel tunnel, Switzerland’s transalpine record breaker, 1 June). A useful reminder of the contribution large civil infrastructure projects make to economic development. It’s a pity you did not mention the nine workers who are reported to have died in accidents during the construction and are commemorated by a plaque close to the northern portal. There is much contemporary complaint about excessive health and safety legislation from the EU and our own government. Think on: there’s a reason it’s still needed.

Faith is restored to a visually striking world she deserves in the return of the first-person parkour title – but, as with the original, niggles stop it achieving greatnessMirror’s Edge has always been a passion project for Dice, the Stockholm-based developer better known for its bombastic and hugely successful Battlefield series. The original Mirror’s Edge, released in 2007, was a first-person parkour game with a striking visual style, which to this day it divides opinion – some consider it a masterpiece, while others found it trammelled and frustrating. The game was too modest a success to earn a sequel but, just under a decade later, Dice has another chance to get Faith – and her city – running again.Much of hero Faith’s moveset is functionally unchanged from the original game, though it now looks better than ever, and Catalyst’s appeal is in how the first-person perspective embodies her. Run forwards and you’ll catch glimpses of her hands moving up and down; catch a railing and her arms catch the railing; roll forwards and your view moves through 360 degrees with glimpses of her hunched knees; stand on top of the highest building in the city, look down, and you’ll see her feet. It’s not just the good stuff either – the way her arms flail during a nasty tumble, how she reels back from punches, or the panicked gasping when you’ve misjudged a leap and sent her tumbling into oblivion have all been improved. Continue reading...

A summer update to Xbox One will bring a variety of new features, including closer ties with Windows 10 PCsMicrosoft has announced a new summer update for the Xbox One console, which will include support for the company’s digital personal assistant, Cortana, and will more closely align the console with Windows 10 PCs. A more unified online store will offer both PC and console titles, and Xbox One will also be able to support some Windows apps.Microsoft is calling the Xbox One version of Cortana a “personal gaming assistant”. As on PC and smartphone, she is able to learn your current whereabouts and where your key locations are, so you’ll be able to ask it, while you’re playing a game at home, how long it’ll take you to get to work. Any information you request from Cortana will be displayed in a panel at the side of the main game screen.

Stickers and slides serve to ease concerns that spooks could be watching our every move, as even the FBI director says he puts tape on his cameraFor the past half decade, the technology industry has been racing to build better cameras into the hardware we use every day.Yet the surveillance age has inspired an odd cottage industry battling against this trend: a glut of cheap stickers and branded plastic slides designed to cover up the front-facing cameras on phones, laptops and even televisions. Continue reading...

Soon Facebook’s smartphone users will have to install its separate app to chat, as social network phases out mobile web version. But what’s in it for Zuckerberg and co?Facebook is forcing users of its mobile site to install its separate Messenger app if they want use chat, just as it has already done for users of its Android and iOS app.

New technology aims to stop pedestrians wandering blindly into the road while texting – but they should put down those gizmos and pick up the Highway CodeThe city of Sydney, Australia, is planning to trial traffic lights down on the pavements to stop twerps glued to their smartphones from striding blindly into traffic and injuring or killing themselves.Why pander to these creatures? Why save them from their silly selves and encourage them to glare downwards? How will they ever learn to look where they’re going? Continue reading...

La Petite Mort offers a ‘one of a kind digital erotic experience’ and aims to normalise discussion of female pleasure, but has not been warmly embraced by allI’m watching a musician, with whom I’ve been intimate, play an intimate musical game on his smartphone. As he lightly circles his finger and the music swells, the screen reddens and so do I. This is perhaps the first time I’ve been turned on by a video game – and I’m not even playing it.This is La Petite Mort, a touch-based game described as a “one of a kind digital erotic experience” by its creator, a small Danish studio named Lovable Hat Cult. The concept arose after a discussion at the Copenhagen Game Collective. This is a network of experimental developers responsible for the annual romance and sex-themed Lyst Summit and other boundary-pushing projects such as an adult colouring game. The hope is that La Petite Mort will be the first in a budding genre: female stimulation simulation. I am totally onboard. Continue reading...

Robots and automated systems are getting faster, better and cheaper by the day. A study of US jobs has found that 47% are threatened by automation in the next 20 years. So what can robots already do? What jobs are safe? And what will we do all day if we don’t have any work to do? Continue reading...

Facebook founder apparent victim of 2012 LinkedIn password dumpMark Zuckerberg is having a bad Monday.The Facebook founder briefly lost control of both his Twitter and Pinterest accounts this morning, after a hacker broke in to both, defacing the pages. Continue reading...

While the gender gap in higher education is growing, it’s facile to say playing Minecraft and its ilk are the causeOnline video games are to blame for a decline in young men entering higher education. This is the neat claim made in a recent op-ed published by the Times under the subheading “The gender imbalance in higher education may not be as complicated as it looks”. Emboldened by a recent report from the Higher Education Policy Institute, which found that boys were 10 times as likely to play collaborative online games than girls, the author repeats its assertion that “the gender gap in video gaming translates into a performance advantage for girls”. Not correlation, then, but grim causation: play video games, drop grades.This medium, in its glorious marriage of art and science, has the capacity to teach skills both dextrous and cerebral Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterMonday! Continue reading...

Netflix-style system will allow passengers to watch films and TV programmes using their own devicesVirgin Trains has launched a Netflix-style entertainment system allowing passengers to watch films and TV programmes on demand using their own devices. Travellers can stream a library of around 200 hours of content to their mobiles and tablets.Related: Streaming for joy: how to master internet TV Continue reading...

Privacy International releases letters that it says show ‘cosy’ relationship between watchdog and intelligence operationsThe watchdog that monitors interception of emails and phone calls by the intelligence services allowed MI5 to escape regular scrutiny of its bulk collection of communications data, according to newly released confidential correspondence.A highly revealing exchange of letters from 2004 has been published by Privacy International (PI) before Monday’s parliamentary debate on the investigatory powers bill, sometimes called the snooper’s charter.

More than 80% of the world’s smartphones run Google’s operating system. Here we rate the handsets vying to outdo the iPhone£449 Continue reading...

Powerful, off-message and bright orange… Nissan’s new pick-up is the Donald Trump of the motoring worldPrice: £22,040

Poll by Liberty finds widespread ignorance of move to strengthen surveillance powers that is heading for Commons battleBritons could be sleepwalking into a new era of state surveillance powers, judging by a new poll conducted by the civil rights organisation Liberty.Before a Commons battle over the investigatory powers bill this week, the poll found that 92% of respondents who were aware of the proposals – described as a “snooper’s charter” by critics – disapproved of them. But 72% of respondents said that they knew nothing about it. Continue reading...

The tech giant has employed scores of government advisers, while former employees found jobs with European governmentsNew concerns have been raised about the political influence of Google after research found at least 80 “revolving door” moves in the past decade – instances where the online giant took on government employees and European governments employed Google staff.The research was carried out by the Google Transparency Project, an initiative run by the Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a US organisation that scrutinises corporations and politicians. The CfA has suggested that the moves are a result of Google seeking to boost its influence in Europe as the company seeks to head off antitrust action and moves to tighten up on online privacy. Continue reading...

Being so low-slung on the road makes you feel cunning and felineI don’t know how you can tell that a car has got lighter, I imagine in the same way that you can tell down the phone that a relative has put on a few pounds. The Mazda MX-5 has dropped 100kg on its previous incarnation, and treads the roads like the only size zero at a party. It is dead cute. The shape is classic and unfussy, with the edges rounded to smooth out what would otherwise be an aggressive amount of cool. Things I hate about sports cars (the manufactured and unnecessary growling, the awkward getting in and out), I loved in this sports car – and not only because it is small. It has a dynamism that you ought to expect from its two-litre engine – a huge amount of horsepower for its size – but still surprises.It’s a two-seater, of course, and the driving posture is absurdly racy, a practically Formula One curve to the seat, so that it holds you like a baseball glove. If your driving persona is pretty diffident – I would just as soon be on a bus, staring out of a window – you may be horrified to discover how much you enjoy yourself. Economies of space have necessitated some odd positioning: the CD player is behind you. (While we’re here, who listens to CDs these days?) But all that, plus the fact that you can’t fit both your children in the car and they have to follow you in an Uber like dalmatians, is petty detail. The rest of the controls are intuitive and simple. Continue reading...

Global firms are investing in startups threatening to shake up motoring because they know self-driving cars are the futureThe global automotive industry and the oil majors are not known for meekly rolling over when a competitor comes along – from General Motors’ involvement in killing public transport in Los Angeles in the 1940s to Shell lobbying to undermine EU renewables targets in more recent years.But recently, the world has started to see a new side to the sector: “If you can’t beat them, join them; and if you can’t join them, buy them out.” Continue reading...

Launch of UberEATS, which will compete with Deliveroo, comes as the firm prepares a major British advertising campaignUber is recruiting an army of delivery drivers as it prepares to go to war with Deliveroo for a slice of the UK’s takeaway food market.The taxi-hailing app confirmed it was finalising plans to roll out its UberEATS service in the UK as it looks for ways to build on the success of its fast-growing service. Continue reading...

Why a vandalised Vote Leave sign is making a lot of people on the internet laughWelsh politics and the EU referendum doesn’t sound like the most fun thing to be talking about on a Friday afternoon.Yet a vandalised Vote Leave sign in mid-Wales is doing the rounds this week, leading to an unlikely mock-campaign for a third candidate in the EU referendum. Continue reading...

EA’s popular life simulation game bins binary male and female categories for bodies, hair and clothes, in line with progressive stance on same-sex relationshipsThe Sims, EA’s popular lifestyle simulation game, has removed binary gender categories for clothes, hairstyles, accessories and physical characteristics – such as voice pitch – in its customisation options for characters.A blogpost from Maxis, the EA subsidiary that makes the game, announced the changes and focused on the game’s history of LGBT support and the freedom it wanted to offer players. Continue reading...

Smart home heating aid learns your schedule, turns off when you leave the house and increases energy efficiency with upgraded screen and workingsThe new Nest learning thermostat is the third-generation heating control system from Google owner Alphabet’s subsidiary. It is the second version to be released in the UK, and now comes with a bigger, clearer screen and more advanced components that not only work better, but also protect your boiler. Continue reading...

Tribunal had ruled in favour of the occupants but owner takes case to court, arguing that a five-day stay amounts to sub-lettingA landlord who attempted to evict tenants for listing their rental property on Airbnb has taken the case to court, arguing that a five-day stay in the apartment in Melbourne amounted to sub-letting.Barbara Uecker and Michael Greaves signed a 12-month lease for the two-bedroom apartment in the bayside suburb of St Kilda in August 2015 and later listed it on Airbnb in two advertisements: one offering just the spare room, and one the whole flat.

Sky, BT and other companies can advertise high-speed broadband claims even if they are only available to 10% of their customersConsumers’ group Which? has called on the advertising watchdog to ban companies such as Sky and BT from advertising super-fast broadband promises when more than 15m households don’t get anywhere near the speeds they pay for.Under the UK advertising code, which is administered by the Advertising Standards Authority, companies are allowed to advertise their top speeds even if they are only actually available to just 10% of customers.

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

The 72 new characters – including ‘avocado’ and ‘face palm’ – will be available from 21 June, but greater representation of women is still a work in progressIf you’ve ever been too hungover to type “bacon” in full, or felt the “face with tears of joy” had lost its impact as an expression of amusement, rejoice – your digital vocabulary is about to expand with the approval of more than 70 new emoji characters.Seventy-two new emojis are to be made available with the release of Unicode 9. Among them is a “person doing cartwheel”, avocado, doner kebab, pregnant woman, tumbler glass, boxing glove, and first, second and third place medals. Continue reading...

Impossible Foods is on a mission to make a burger so similar to beef that even the most ardent meat lovers can’t tell the difference. Have they succeeded?Raj Aggarwal took a bite of the burger and paused, looked straight ahead as he chewed, and shrugged his shoulders.“It tastes like a burger, very tasty,” said Aggarwal, the founder of a startup called Localytics. “Not quite bloody though.” Continue reading...

The Tesla CEO has proclaimed that autonomous driving is a ‘solved problem’ but tech and executives in recent years have tempered their expectationsDepending on whom you ask, your car will be driving you in less than two years – or more than 15.The Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, who is never shy about beating his chest, on Wednesday declared it to be just two years away . In doing so, he made one of the most confident predictions to date about how soon consumers can stop worrying about passing their driver’s tests. Continue reading...

European commission warns against cracking down on businesses that help ordinary people offer services to the publicThe European commission has thrown its weight behind the so-called sharing economy typified by firms such as Uber and Airbnb, saying countries should only ban them as a last resort.The growth of the sharing economy – defined as businesses that help ordinary people offer services to the public – has caused tension in several European countries over claims that existing industries are being damaged. Continue reading...

A PlayStation game opened up a liberating world of play, interaction and co-operation for Keith Stuart and his young son. It continues to be a cornerstone of their relationship – and a place to have fun together as equalsMy son was seven when a paediatrician diagnosed him on the autism scale – but really, we had known for years. There was his limited vocabulary – a handful of words by the time he was three, and a habit of mixing up letters or relying on stock sentences. He found it hard to get on with other children at his nursery, and later, when he went to a much bigger school, it was obvious the experience was terrifyingly loud, hectic and incomprehensible to him. Meanwhile, if there was something he was interested in, whether it was Peppa Pig or Superman, he would fixate on it to the detriment of absolutely anything else. We knew where all the signs were pointing.

Libel lawyer says US tech firms basing international operations in the country will see ‘flurry of activity’ in coming monthsTech companies including Twitter, Google and Facebook are facing a wave of legal actions in Ireland because of their decision to base their international operations in the country, a leading libel lawyer has said.Paul Tweed told the Guardian his firm Johnsons had seen a “steady, if not dramatic, increase in claims against Facebook, Google and Twitter” as well as other social networks. He said there were several new claims a week on issues including privacy, libel and harassment. Continue reading...

@DarthPutinKGB reinstated following suspension alongside several other accounts satirising Russian officialsTwitter has unblocked a popular account parodying the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, after widespread condemnation and accusations of censorship.@DarthPutinKGB celebrated his return to Twitter following a two-day suspension with typical tweets: Continue reading...

David Cameron to be one of those facing questioning by public on 10 June

Billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla, SpaceX, PayPal and Hyperloop discusses Mars, driverless cars and going into orbitElon Musk wears many hats. He’s the co-founder of online payments behemoth PayPal, the founder of private space flight pioneers SpaceX, the chief executive of electronic car manufacturers Tesla, and the original doodler of utopian transport concept Hyperloop. He’s also outspoken about the dangers of AI research, the need for blue-sky thinking in technology, and his desire to colonise another planet.So it’s no surprise that over the course of an interview at California’s Code conference, Musk revealed a number of things we didn’t know before. Here’s some of them. Continue reading...

Actor will also produce big-screen version of record-breaking third-person shooter, his second gaming tie-in after 2010 flop Prince of PersiaJake Gyllenhaal is set to star in a big-screen adaptation of record-breaking video game Tom Clancy’s The Division.Gyllenhaal will also act as producer on the project, according to Variety. The video game, a third-person shooter, is gaming giant Ubisoft’s fastest-selling product, making $330m (£229m) within five days of its release in March. Continue reading...

Broadcaster invests in production business that has made programming including Bear Grylls: Man vs Everest

Anti-UAV Defence System to be one of three systems trialled by Federal Aviation Authority in attempt to combat incursionsAn anti-drone system developed by a trio of UK companies is to receive its first public test by America’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), in an effort to protect airports from the risks of hobbyist unmanned aerial vehicles.The system, called the Anti-UAV Defence System (Auds), looks like a mounted turret but instead of shooting drones out of the sky with bullets, it fires nothing more menacing than radio waves. Continue reading...

From soups and stews to roasts, vegetarian and vegan meals – here are some of the most helpful apps to get you cookingThe recent rumpus about the BBC’s plans for its recipes websites showed how many of us are turning to digital sources rather than traditional books when cooking. Inevitably, there are apps for that. Lots of them.Here are 10 of the best cookery apps for Android and iOS, covering various cuisines, themes and age groups/abilities. Prices are correct at the time of writing, and “IAP” refers to in-app purchases – usually for extra bundles of recipes in this case. Continue reading...

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

Yasir Al Rumayya, managing director of the Saudi public investment fund, will join Uber’s board, giving the government a voice in one of the hottest tech firmsThe Saudi Arabian royal government’s investment arm announced Wednesday that it is investing $3.5bn in Uber, one of the largest investments in a private technology company ever.It’s an ironic investment for Uber, given that the country is the only one in the world to ban women from driving. Continue reading...