Technology | The Guardian

Who’s Down app for Android and iPhone acts as virtual notice board for friends to signal when they’re free for an impromptu meet up, activity or gaming sessionIs talking to people to tell them that you’re available to socialise too much effort for you? There’s an app for that.

The annual GameCity festival brought a cavalcade of weird, offbeat and beautiful games to Nottingham last week. Here are some of our favouritesIn an ornate office, on the first floor of Nottingham’s city hall, a woman is cautiously crawling across a vast rug, insensible to the room’s other occupants.It looks weird, but as far as she’s concerned, she’s a spy infiltrating the secret base of a dangerous enemy. She’s wearing a HTC Vive virtual-reality headset and playing a game named Unseen Diplomacy. This is the sort of thing you stumble across at the annual GameCity festival. Continue reading...

Former reviewer of terrorism legislation says it would be glib to require judicial oversight of applications by security services to intercept communicationsIt would be glib for the government to require judges to approve warrants to intercept communications, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has said, as he called for an end to the “demonisation” of the security services.Alex Carlile QC, a Liberal Democrat peer and former MP, was speaking ahead of the publication of a draft of the investigatory powers bill, due on Wednesday, amid a political debate about whether politicians should be stripped of the power to sign off intercept warrants. Continue reading...

There’s no question that Apple has had a legendary run and often exceeds Wall Street expectations. A company, however, is more than its numbers. Here’s whyLike clockwork Apple announced their quarterly results on Tuesday and Tim Cook spun out his narrative of Apple’s ever-increasing, ever-impressive numbers. And as usual the market responded by largely agreeing that the skies are bright in Apple’s land. Analysts have declared that the high-flying stock is still undervalued, making it feel like there’s an indefinite upside ahead.

Smart, beautiful and as relatively pricey as a certain lager, Apple products make the company huge profits. It was just a case of cracking the desirability codeApple lives on cream – the very top of the market. Researcher IDC says its larger-screened iPhone has pushed Samsung aside to hold a majority of the more expensive end of the market – devices costing more than $650. But it’s not just the phone cream that it has grabbed. After 30 years in the personal computer market, Apple has just recorded a historic sales high of 5.7 million Macs in a quarter. Like Stella Artois, Apple positions itself as reassuringly expensive; it is a top-end brand in markets that have mainly been commoditised, with profits drained from all but a few. Apple intends to remain one of the few.Apple does not break out profits from phones, tablets or laptops, but industry estimates suggest operating margins of at least 28% for the iPhone, on its average price of $670. South Korea’s Samsung, the only other phone maker generating substantial profit, has just announced operating margins in its mobile division of 9%. Apple makes more than three times as much profit from iPhones as Samsung does from its mobiles. And the two companies account for all the profit there is in smartphones – LG, Sony, HTC, Microsoft and BlackBerry are all losing money on handsets. (China’s fast-growing Huawei, the third-biggest maker, has not announced any results.) Continue reading...

Halo 5 is a superb connected experience, Rock Band 4 plays it safe, and Minecraft’s spinoff Story Mode turns up the emotionXbox One, Microsoft, cert: 16

Light, strong and durable, the Luath is a set of wheels your kids will loveLearning to ride should be the start of a love affair with bicycles. Yet our first set of wheels is usually heavy and unwieldy with binary brakes that knock our heads backwards and gears with teeth that shred the skin from our shins. But then along came Isla Rowntree. The former competitive cyclist set up her company in 2005 in Shropshire with the aim of making decent bikes for kids. Starting with balance bikes for two-year-olds and going through the range to this Luath, which is for age 13+, Islabikes are light, strong and so durable they’re usually handed down through families, before going on to cousins, neighbours and more. Thoughtful details, like the Luath’s short-reach brakes for little hands, make them brilliantly usable. They are expensive, but your children will appreciate the outlay.Price: £549.99

Miles Brignall talks to the people who lost thousands of pounds in an earlier data breach. They are furious that the telecoms company says it’s not to blameVictims of the first TalkTalk security breach last November are still fighting for compensation after losing thousands of pounds – and they say they are appalled that hackers have again been able to steal customer details from the telecoms giant.Graeme Smith lost £2,815 after being rung by fraudsters pretending to be TalkTalk staff. Dave Westwood suffered the same fate, losing £3,900. Last week a retired teacher, who declined to be named, said she was targeted by hackers and lost £2,800 made as a Swift payment converted to Hong Kong dollars. In each case TalkTalk has refused to accept responsibility or offer compensation. Continue reading...

‘It’s like the car version of a ginormous ant’Picture a summer’s day, when some ants have stayed their regular size, but a few ants are ginormous, and it makes your senses shimmer as you struggle to figure out which is the normative ant. The Fiat 500X is the car version of that: in SUV terms, very tidy and compact but, compared with a regular Fiat 500, freakishly large, its features bulbous and cartoonish, which makes it bouncy and near-comical when you have it in bright red.The cabin is lacquered to such a high, primary-coloured sheen that you can practically see your own face in the glove compartment. This is useful if you’ve ever wondered what you’d look like reflected in a pool of blood; less so when you’re trying to concentrate on the road. Otherwise, it’s surprisingly roomy, though this is only a surprise if you were expecting a regular Fiat. My worry is that the ubiquity of the 500 makes it hard to adjust to the larger version. Even though it looked classy – a more integrated, intuitive design than SUVs at a similar price point (I’m looking malignantly at the Nissan Duke, again) and a not insignificant engine – it doesn’t score any status points. Continue reading...

Guardian finds batch of 100 stolen cards on sale for £98 on ‘dark web’ amid heightened fears about identity theft in wake of TalkTalk hackUK credit card details are on sale for as little £1 each online, the Guardian has learned, as fears rise over the security of personal data in the wake of the TalkTalk cyber-attack.More than 600,000 individuals had their personal details stolen from UK companies in 2014, according to the Financial Times, underlining the scale of online crime in this country. It is likely that some of that data will have ended up on a website used by criminals wanting to buy high-end UK credit card data. Continue reading...

Company to make Windows 10 a ‘recommended update’ next year, meaning those running updates will have it downloaded and will be prompted to installMicrosoft’s efforts to entice users to upgrade to Windows 10 will soon see it automatically downloaded on to users computers without their knowledge.

Apps impress – from games to shopping – but inconsistent Siri functionality shows revamped set-top box has more development aheadApple TV was a “hobby” for the company for a long time, but after selling more than 25m units, Apple is getting serious about its set-top box in 2015.The new version of the device runs new software – tvOS – and can download apps and games, all accessed using a new Siri-enabled controller. But is the hype – “the future of TV is apps” – correct, or will Apple TV struggle against cheaper rivals like Amazon’s Fire TV and Google’s Chromecast? Continue reading...

Our penultimate Twitch broadcast from GameCity in Nottingham, featuring Jack de Quidt writer of the latest game from Stanley Parable co-creator William PughOnce again Guardian games editor Keith Stuart and games writer Jordan Erica Webber are broadcasting ‘Wake up with the Guardian’ live from GameCity in Nottingham.From 9am, we’ll be talking to game writer and designer Jack de Quidt about his mysterious project with Stanley Parable co-creator William Pugh. We’ll also cover how to get into the games industry. Continue reading...

From vampires and witches to ghosts, zombies and monsters, here is our collection of Halloween-themed apps for mobile devicesIt’s that time of year when things go bump in the night. Spooky things, obviously, rather than just your partner/neighbour/cat thumping the wall in anger when they fail at a Candy Crush Saga level, which is a year-round thing.Yes, Halloween is here with its army of ghosts, witches, werewolves, zombies, vampires and monsters – all knocking on your door demanding chocolate with their parents hovering apologetically in the background. Continue reading...

The search engine company fell out with Beijing over censorship in 2010 but founder Sergei Brin says the new corporate structure opens doors againGoogle parent Alphabet may do business in China following the reorganisation of the technology giant, co-founder Sergey Brin has said.

Senior officers seek to revive measures seen in ‘snooper’s charter’ ahead of forthcoming legislation regulating surveillance powersPolice have lobbied the government for the power to view the internet browsing history of every computer user in Britain ahead of the publication of legislation on regulating surveillance powers.

Following TalkTalk's latest hack attack, Tech Weekly asks how safe is your data and who are the hackers?Not a day goes by without another cyber attack being reported: in December Sony Pictures was hacked; in August hackers released the personal information of 37 million users of infidelity site Ashley Madison; and Chinese hacking was top of the agenda during President Xi Jinping's visit to the US last month.Now TalkTalk has landed themselves in hot water, having been targeted by hackers for the third time in the past eight months. Continue reading...

Naughty Dog sticks with the basics of the multiplayer experience, but includes some interesting additions from Last of Us and Nathan Drake’s own historyWhile Sony was understandably keen to talk up Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End during Paris Games Week, we’re going to have to wait a while longer for information on the main story campaign. For now, the focus of attention is firmly on the game’s five-on-five multiplayer mode.

BMW taps into golfing superstitions, Domino’s effects a funny angle, Breast Cancer Now’s astonishing effort and Acura makes customer care claimsThis Acura advert from the US will have extra resonance for anyone who enjoyed Channel 4’s series Humans as it taps into the same uncanny sense of otherness we get when we see near perfect replicas of our species. It isn’t clear at first why the engineer is strapping these “people” into the car but when the penny drops, it delivers a clever claim about Acura’s customer care.

Our latest instalment of new advertising work from around the world starts and ends with extraordinarily touching pieces of work … with very different aims. A US advert for Acura demonstrates how much the car’s engineers care about the people who buy their vehicles, while a UK film for charity Breast Cancer Now uses astonishing frankness to draw attention to the disease’s victims. In between, Domino’s Pizza has us questioning our own memories in a quirky nostalgia-based advert; Halo 5 begins its big Christmas push with a bombastic piece of communication; and BMW claims superstition goes out of the window when you have a chance to drive one of their cars Continue reading...

First title in collaboration with mobile firm DeNA will launch later than expected, to be followed by non-freemium games later in the yearNintendo has revealed that its first mobile game will be called Miitomo, and that it will be a “freemium” title using in-app purchases. However, its launch has been delayed until March 2016.Miitomo is the first game from Nintendo’s deal with mobile firm DeNA, which was announced in March 2015. The first fruits of the partnership had been expected to debut before the end of the year. Continue reading...

Gabriele is sceptical about Windows 10 and still misses XP. With a new version due in a few days, is it worth taking the free upgrade, and when?I know you can’t answer, but what do you really think about Windows 10?I was sceptical from the start. When I started reading about how a lot of people in business are going to stick with Windows 7 until it’s ended, I thought: Get another machine now while they’re still affordable, and did so. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterSorry! I am too busy pretending to be a radio presenter! Continue reading...

Email addresses and passwords leaked to Pastebin did not come from within the company, firm saysBritish Gas has emailed more than 2,000 of its customers to warn them that their email addresses and passwords to their British Gas accounts were posted online.In the email, the company told customers that its systems were secure, and that the data had not come from British Gas. It did not explain where the information did come from. Continue reading...

Android-maker’s new smartphone runs the latest Android, has a great camera, fingerprint sensor and screen – and costs significantly less than the competitionThe Nexus 6P is Google’s flagship phablet and the best phone it has ever made.

After the success of the iPhone, Apple may struggle to come up with new innovations that will dominate markets in quite the same wayJust over 14 years ago, Steve Jobs unveiled a cigarette pack-sized product that didn’t impress many onlookers. The iPod looked like just another music player – not a product that could transform Apple’s fortunes, then a computer maker struggling with generating profit.On Tuesday Apple announced the largest-ever annual profit in corporate history – $53.3bn (£34.7bn) over the previous 12 months. In the July-September period, sales of iPhones grew almost a quarter compared to the same period in 2014, even as rivals such as Samsung and LG saw slower sales. The transformation looks complete.

Bosch and Siemens manufacturer threatens legal action after James Dyson claims companies have misled consumers in move ‘akin to VW scandal’A German vacuum cleaner maker is threatening to sue Dyson over allegations that it manipulated energy-efficiency tests.BSH Hausgeräte, which makes household appliances under the Bosch and Siemens brands, said it was taking steps to sue Dyson in the UK over what it said were false allegations made by billionaire founder Sir James Dyson. It did not specify what form the legal action would take. Continue reading...

Anonymous person calling themselves ‘The Clarifier’ ordered to pay several thousand euros to Dijon eaterieAn amateur French restaurant reviewer has been fined several thousand euros after writing a scathing take on a local eatery which had not even opened yet.The review said the Loiseau Des Ducs restaurant in Dijon was “overrated, it was all show with very little actually on the plate, and the only thing well-stocked was the plate which carried the bill”. Continue reading...

In a quiet, introvert corner of the tech world, Portland’s XOXO festival and Makerbase are encouraging creatives to reclaim their part in creating tech historyBack in early September, in a hot, dusty dog park on the east side of Portland, a few hundred people gathered around a modest stage to listen to two men called Andy.Both of them, the co-founders Andy Baio and Andy McMillan, had spent months arranging a small gathering of handpicked, independent designers, developers and – in the true, non-advertising sense of the word – creatives. Some were sitting cross-legged on coloured mats nursing strong locally roasted coffees, others lurking at the back looking shy and keeping out of the sun.

Detroit sci-fi thriller and GT Sport were highlights at Paris Games Week, but there was more to excite PS4 owners – including a date for No Man’s SkySony used its presentation at Paris Games Week on Tuesday night to announce a number of new PlayStation 4 titles, release dates and updates on existing games.

Speaking at a question and answer session in India, Facebook founder says he will find a solution to the problem of annoying game notificationsIt’s up there as one of the most irritating things about Facebook – along with the fact your entire extended family just joined. A few years ago, FarmVille invitation notifications were the scourge of the social network (I don’t want to play with virtual sheep, but thank you) – now it is invites to play the puzzle game Candy Crush Saga.But there is hope. Mark Zuckerberg has announced at a question-and-answer session that his team of developers are working on a solution. Continue reading...

Spotify and Apple Music rival blames ‘market conditions’ and says it will seek other fundraising options, as streaming stakes continue to riseMusic streaming service Deezer has abandoned its plans to raise €300m (£216.7m) by going public, citing tough market conditions as the cause.The French company announced plans in September for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Paris stock exchange by the end of 2015. Continue reading...

Festival has offered to reinstate one of the panels it cancelled after threats of violence and is reportedly considering an all-day event on the topicAustin’s South-by-Southwest (SXSW) festival is “considering an all-day event that focuses primarily on combatting online harassment”, in an attempt to quell the anger over the festival’s withdrawal of two gaming-related panels due to “threats of violence”.The removal of the panels has prompted threats to pull out of the festival entirely from media organisations BuzzFeed and Vox, as well as widespread condemnation, particularly since one of the panels was explicitly about overcoming harassment in games. Continue reading...

This sprawling sci-fi series once set the agenda for console shooters, but now far behind and playing catch up, it has much to proveMaster Chief was first introduced to the world, not by Microsoft, but by Apple. In 1999, Steve Jobs paced the Macworld Conference stage proclaiming that the video-game footage he was about to show was the “coolest” he’d seen. The lights dimmed and Halo’s melancholic choral refrain sounded in the background. Chief padded on to the screen behind Jobs, a symbol of Apple’s nascent gaming ambitions.

Senate votes in favor of bill critics including Edward Snowden say will allow the government to collect sensitive personal data uncheckedRelated: The Senate, ignorant on cybersecurity, just passed a bill about it anyway | Trevor TimmThe US Senate overwhelmingly passed a controversial cybersecurity bill critics say will allow the government to collect sensitive personal data unchecked, over the objections of civil liberties groups and many of the biggest names in the tech sector. Continue reading...

It does not surprise me that Dido Harding was clueless about TalkTalk’s IT system failure (TalkTalk boss receives ‘ransom demand’ after sustained cyber-attack, 24 October). It is quite normal for managers to claim to be in control of IT systems until such time as they are exposed by events to not be in control at all. They typically delude themselves with assurances that “best practices” have been adopted. The problem with these best practices for managing IT services is that they over-rely on process and undervalue the importance of individual IT technicians. At times of critical incidents like this (and to prevent them from happening), what is needed are technicians who have over time gained an intimate knowledge of the system.Unfortunately, best practices espouse neoliberal managerial techniques, notably the rationalisation of technicians as system assets to be used for the fulfilment of short-term objectives. It is an inconvenient truth that a complex IT system needs expert technicians who know that system inside out because they have been present as it has evolved over time. The fact that the system was so easily attacked, and Harding was left so clueless about what had gone wrong, suggests there was a lack of such expertise at TalkTalk.

ICO had sent enforcement notice, which company ignored, after nearly 7,000 complaints about unsolicited messages regarding PPI claims and bank refunds

New rules requiring internet traffic to be treated equally are voted through by MEPs but amendments aimed at closing a series of exemptions are defeatedSupporters of net neutrality have accused the European Union of undermining its own net neutrality laws after MEPs voted down amendments aimed at closing loopholes.Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should treat all online content equally without blocking or slowing down specific websites on purpose or allowing companies to pay for preferential treatment. Continue reading...

Following threats of on-site violence, ‘marketplace of ideas is inevitably compromised’, says Interactive conference director

Top retailer seeks to conduct drone research outdoors, joining Amazon, Google and other companies in anticipation of US regulators’ rules on commercial useWalmart Stores Inc applied Monday to US regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories, a sign it plans to go head-to-head with Amazon in using drones to fill and deliver online orders.

Google faces renewed probes into Android, shopping, advertising and more as competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager sets out plansEurope’s antitrust chief has set her sights on a series of investigations into Google that will see the US internet firm face intense scrutiny.

The place to talk about games and other things that matterOops sorry - I’m a bit distracted at GameCity! Continue reading...

At GameCity festival, GoldenEye game director Martin Hollis revealed Nintendo’s unease with the James Bond game’s goreGoldenEye 007 was one of the greatest games of the 90s, and revolutionised the idea of the first-person shooter on consoles – but Nintendo was hugely concerned about its depiction of violence, game director Martin Hollis has revealed.

Company faces lawsuit alleging $5m damages for feature which uses mobile data when Wi-Fi is underperformingApple is facing a $5m lawsuit over a feature in the new version of iOS which uses mobile data when Wi-Fi connectivity is weak.The feature, named “Wi-Fi assist”, senses when there are problems with the wireless network the phone is connected to, and instead routes the device over mobile data. Continue reading...

Rising demand for air conditioning and refrigeration threatens to make planet hotter and undermine pledges to rein in emissions

Today we chat to Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell and developer Katie Goode about the future and potential of virtual reality gamingIt’s day three of the GameCity festival in Nottingham and once again, Guardian games editor Keith Stuart and games writer Jordan Erica Webber are presenting a live audio chat show from the venue’s Toast Bar.Broadcasting via Twitch from 9am, this morning we’re speaking to Mike Bithell, creator of Thomas Was Alone and Volume, and Katie Goode of Triangular Pixels, an experienced virtual reality developer. Continue reading...

The fretwork of Guitar Hero is as fresh as ever and Nathan Drake has been polished up for current consoles, but Zelda’s adventures in fashion don’t captivate★★★★ Continue reading...

He helped develop the iPod and iPhone, and now the Nest Labs founder has brought a similar charm to something far less sexy – thermostats and smoke alarmsTony Fadell’s eyes dart around the room and his face wrinkles in cartoonish dismay. He looks, for a second, like he might actually be physically unwell. We are in a library-style room in a private members’ club in central London: you or I might consider the decor to be plush, even fancy. But for Fadell, the 46-year-old American founder of Nest Labs home products and one of the original driving forces behind Apple’s iPod and iPhone, all he sees are the “warts”. The clunky wall unit that controls the air conditioning, the glaring white smoke detector on the ceiling that is completely mismatched with the paint on the walls, the huge television screen that draws your attention to it even, as now, when it is switched off.These blemishes really do irk Fadell. At the home he designed and built in Tahoe, California, he presses a button and the television rises out of the floor, so that his views of the lake and the Sierra Nevada mountains are not disrupted. Such solutions – and problems – might not be relevant to most people, but Fadell zealously believes there is a place for intelligent, affordable, technology-led design in most homes. Nest, which launched in 2010, has focused on improving – both aesthetically and in function – “unloved, utilitarian” household products: first up was a thermostat and then, unveiled in 2013, a smoke alarm. Continue reading...

The Lohner is a stylish electric bicycle that’s perfect for the city. But what sets it apart is that it’s made for two…Price: £2,900

Former Spotify boss heads team hoping to attract reality TV fans to formatAs listeners look forward to the return of hit US true-crime podcast Serial, audio producers are hoping to recreate its success with a new wave of podcasts aimed at the reality TV generation.An audio diary by teenage cancer survivors and subjects as diverse as life in an inner-city gang and on a remote farm are among the projects planned by Acast, a Swedish podcast platform that received investment of £3.2m in May to develop internationally. Continue reading...