Technology | The Guardian

From slick filters to selfie tweaks, and simple editing tools to storing and even selling smartphone snaps, here are some tools to fuel your photo lifePoint, shoot and share: smartphones have sparked an explosion in photography. According to tech analyst Mary Meeker’s annual internet trends research, more than 500m photos were uploaded and shared every day in early 2013.That’s startling enough, but a year later, Meeker claimed the daily total had risen to 1.8bn. She did not update the figure in her 2015 report, but it’s reasonable to expect another sharp increase given the growth in both handsets, and the popularity of apps for photo sharing. Continue reading...

Using a specially designed chair brought into the courtroom in Auckland, the internet tycoon finally faced proceedings over his $175m Megaupload empireAfter more than three years of legal wrangling, two supreme court cases and 10 delays in the proceedings, the extradition hearing for internet tycoon Kim Dotcom and his co-accused has finally begun in Auckland.A sea of lawyers and reporters flooded the district court on Monday to see Dotcom, sitting in a large leather arm chair specially brought in for ergonomic reasons. Continue reading...

From lifestyle aids to productivity tools, travel planners to social media, here are the apps that should have a place on your homescreenA recent study by market research firm Nielsen claimed that the average person uses 27 apps a month, which sounds like very few considering that Apple and Google’s app stores both have more than 1m apps available. The key, of course, is that the 27 apps can be almost entirely different, depending who you ask.Some apps do have mass audiences: Facebook and Twitter in the social networking category; WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat for messaging; Google Maps for getting around; Spotify for music; YouTube for video; Kindle for reading ebooks; Instagram for photo-sharing; and so on. Continue reading...

The agreement to address attacks on power stations and telecoms networks could be unveiled when Chinese president Xi Jinping visits the US this weekThe United States and China have been engaged in urgent negotiations in recent weeks on a cybersecurity deal and may announce an agreement when the Chinese president Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Thursday, according to reports.Related: What will the privacy and security landscape look like in 2025? Continue reading...

Fast, great camera, microSD card, waterproof and the most convenient fingerprint scanner in the business make for a solid, if unremarkable smartphoneThe latest smartphone from Sony has the fastest camera available on a smartphone and promises a two-day battery, but does it deliver?

Tumblr co-founder Marco Arment said benefits of removing ads for iPhone iOS 9 users does not outweigh possible damage to content that depends on revenueThe maker of Peace, a bestselling ad blocker for iPhones, has pulled the app just days after its launch saying the app’s success “just doesn’t feel good”.Marco Arment, co-founder of Tumblr and creator of the Instapaper reading app, launched Peace on 16 September. The $2.99 app became the bestselling app in Apple’s iTunes store almost overnight. Continue reading...

Apple enabled mobile adblockers in the newest version of Safari, and they’re taking the world by stormWednesday’s launch of iOS 9 introduced fully-native mobile adblocking to millions of users for the first time, and they voted with their feet. One specific ad-blocker, Peace, a $2.99/£2.29 app developed by Instapaper creator Marco Arment, is the number one paid app in the UK, US, Australia and Canada, while two others, Crystal and Purify, are in the top-ten in a number of countries.But there’s a lot of confusion over what the blockers can and can’t do, how to enable them, and what Apple’s role is in the whole thing. Continue reading...

The hive mentality is inspiring the latest advances in technology and the US military is already experimenting with swarms of robotic boats and aircraftsArmies of robots are already here – they’re mostly just very small.As robotics advances, scientists continue to take cues from the natural world, whether it’s by building robots out of material from animals, like cloned rat muscle or jellyfish matter, or building them in imitation of dogs or cats. And now, those scientists are learning to simulate intelligence by imitating a swarm. Continue reading...

With the news that Yorkshire is to get the Google Street View trek treatment, we take a look at seven other beautiful virtual toursYou may not have heard of Roseberry Topping, Guisborough woods or Cleveland Hills – areas of Yorkshire in the UK – but very shortly it will become much, much easier to visit them. In fact, you won’t even have to step outside.

Social network provides new opt-out tool for behavioural adverts, but doesn’t stop collection of user dataFacebook has rolled out a new tool that allows users to choose whether tracking data from ‘Like’ buttons and other social elements is used to serve them ads, but privacy experts say the move does not go far enough.

When epilepsy put Mackenzie out of work, she found a new way to make ends meet: streaming herself playing games. From Street Fighter experts with no arms to quadraplegic Diablo champions, a growing number are finding an unlikely source of income – and a real sense of communityIn the summer of 2014, Mackenzie had just started working two minimum-wage jobs in Colorado when she suffered a major epileptic seizure at home, one that left her reeling and disoriented. She was home alone and, following the attack, too bewildered and drowsy to know to call in sick. The infraction was enough to earn Mackenzie, who was 22 at the time, a so-called “no call, no show” blot on her record from each employer – a restaurant, where she worked tables, and a gym. While both companies knew about Mackenzie’s history of severe seizures, this was, they said, grounds for dismissal. She was told not to return to work. “I’m in the process of fighting it,” she tells me. “But both companies have a lot of money … ”Mackenzie’s seizures are so severe – she was featured earlier this year on MTV’s True Life: I Have Epilepsy – that she is unable to drive (or climb, or swim, or wield a knife, among many other things). Neither will she take the bus to work because, if she suffers a fit on board, well-meaning members of the public inevitably call for an ambulance to take her to the hospital – a costly trip in the US. Indeed, Mackenzie’s medical debts currently total more than $30,000. Jobs that are walking distance from her home are hard to find, and harder still to hold down. Continue reading...

The meeting in California, which is developing regulations for driverless vehicles, suggest the technology giant is close to unveiling an autonomous automobileApple executives have discussed their plans for an “autonomous vehicle” with officials at California’s department of motor vehicles (DMV), the Guardian has learnt.

Court of appeals states lower court abused its right of discretion in blocking Apple from stopping Samsung sales of smartphones in the USApple should have been awarded an injunction against Samsung in their long-running smartphone patent war, the US court of appeals ruled on Thursday.The court of appeals for the federal circuit in Washington DC said the lower court, led by US district judge Lucy Koh, abused its discretion by denying Apple an injunction against Samsung after a jury ordered the Korean company to pay $120m in May last year for infringing three of Apple’s patents. Continue reading...

What happens when you combine teenage Tumblr fandoms and the labour leadership election? You get the Lolitics community.This week in our podcast dedicated to internet memes and all things digitally viral, Marie le Conte joins Elena Cresci and Alex Hern for a look at Britain's most dedicated fans of George Osborne's hands, John Major's Cones Hotline, and dreamy mid-90s Peter Mandleson Continue reading...

As Leap Motion lays off staff and Project Soli remains unknown, wider adoption of computers that use gestural control proves more difficult than predicted

Chicago, Miami and Dallas-Fort Worth all affected by issues caused by a computer malfunctionAmerican Airlines was forced to ground large parts of its fleet on Thursday night, after a computer malfunction led to a widespread outage.Flights from Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami were all halted while the company struggled to deal with the issue. Continue reading...

How to follow this year’s tournament from your iOS or Android device, as well as testing your virtual playing (or management) skillsAs England and Fiji prepare to kick off this year’s Rugby World Cup, tens of thousands of fans will be watching in the stadium, and millions more on television.In 2015, though, your smartphone and tablet provide plenty of ways to keep up with the action, and indulge in your rugby union habit around the matches in other ways. Here’s a selection of 10 of the mobile apps worth trying. Continue reading...

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

Company says 7kWH energy storage unit, which uses lithium-ion battery to store energy from rooftop solar panels, will be available by end of yearAustralia will be one of the first countries in the world to get Tesla’s vaunted Powerwall battery storage system, as several other companies scramble to sign up Australia’s growing number of households with solar rooftops.

Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to Siri, proves less than helpful during a live presentation by chief executive Satya Nadella. Nadella was delivering a keynote address at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference when he called upon the services of Cortana. ‘Show me my most at-risk opportunities,’ he commanded. ‘Show me to buy milk at this opportunity,’ Cortana replied•Watch the full video Continue reading...

Former journalist who led error-strewn care.data programme goes to work for Australian telecoms companyOne of David Cameron’s top advisers on technology, Tim Kelsey, has resigned from the NHS to take up a job with the health data division of Australia’s largest telecommunications company.Related: NHS patient data plans unachievable, review finds Continue reading...

Foreign minister, who took leading role in ousting Tony Abbott, insists her account had not been taken over by an intern after flurry of emoji posts to fansJulie Bishop is a well known fan of the power of the emoji – the Australian foreign affairs minister once conducted an entire interview through the medium of tiny pictures.But perhaps in an effort to soften her image in the days after she joined forces with Malcolm Turnbull to unceremoniously oust prime minister Tony Abbott from office, Bishop appears to have gone on an emoji-fuelled following spree with fans on Twitter. Continue reading...

UK eavesdropping plans must deal with US internet firms’ security, users’ encryption and a White House retreat on legal actionThe British government wants the support of technology firms for its “snooper’s charter” surveillance bill, yet that bill could end up being undercut by the US decision to back off in its own fight with the tech firms and also leave UK consumers free to guard their communications in such a way that no government can compel disclosure.The home secretary, Theresa May, this week invited the biggest US internet firms and British telecoms providers to a meeting to seek their support for the legislation, officially known as the draft communications data bill. Continue reading...

5G is coming. But what will that mean in practise? Olly hits the CTIA Super Mobility conference in Las Vegas to find outOlly touches down in the bright lights city for the CTIA Super Mobility conference, an annual business-to-business gathering of the mobile tech industry's dreamers, analysts and salespeople.Leave your laptops and your tablets at home. This episode comes to you via super fast mobile connection as our guests talk the future of 5G, why Apple still reigns as king of phones and how drones could replace wind turbines. Continue reading...

Dissidents raise the finger with a grin at the Ecuadorian embassy, LondonAi Weiwei and Julian Assange have made what seem to be gestures of contempt for their critics in a selfie posted to an Instagram account.Related: Ai Weiwei review – momentous and moving Continue reading...

John and Ed paid a professional to look after their slick city apartment only to discover it had been rented out, coincidentally to one of their friendsJohn and Ed were approaching Black Rock desert on the way to Burning Man when the email arrived from a friend. “Thanks for letting us stay in your apartment this weekend!”John looked at his husband in confusion. There must be some mistake – they had left their San Francisco apartment with their professional housesitter. Continue reading...

With best selling media streaming box update, Amazon says to Apple that it can do anything they can do, including games, voice search and MayDayAmazon is moving into 4K content with a new Fire TV box and ultra-high definition content through its video streaming service.

Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, speaking on Radio 4’s Today Programme, says social media sites and telecoms companies must do more to assist the security services. Parker says companies have an ethical responsibility to come forward when they become aware of their services being used to propagate terrorism or distribute child pornographyListen to the full interview Read: MI5 chief calls for more up-to-date surveillance powers Continue reading...

27 November stands to mark a victory a decade in the making for Merrill, who was served with a national security letter in 2004 and said he was ‘terrified’ of revealing the extent of the information he was being asked to hand overFor over a decade, Nick Merrill could say nothing about the FBI subpoena he received in 2004 – not to his wife, his ailing father nor his closest friends. Merrill didn’t even know if consulting an attorney about it would land him in a jail cell.But now, after more than a decade of court challenges, Merrill is on the verge of revealing an unprecedented amount of detail about what the FBI and its partner agencies believe they can obtain without a warrant, using a controversial form of nonjudicial subpoena called a national security letter (NSL). Continue reading...

Peace becomes number one paid app in US, forcing publishers to adapt to new realityLess than a day after the launch of iOS 9, Apple’s latest operating system, content blocking software is at the top of the app charts worldwide.In the UK, two content blockers have hit the top 20 paid apps, with Purify at number 11 and Peace at number 12. In the US, the take-up has been even starker: Purify is at number 5 in the charts, and Peace is the top paid app in the whole country. Continue reading...

Tim Cook says he hasn’t seen the recent films about the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Speaking on the Late Show to Stephen Colbert, Cook says he hates the part of global society that pursues this kind of venture. He adds that Jobs was ‘a joy to work with and I miss him every day’. The latest movie, entitled Steve Jobs and starring Michael Fassbender, is to be released in the US in October Continue reading...

BBC4’s channel editor has revealed that 10% of all viewing is done while people are going about their lavatorial businessIf you are reading this on the porcelain throne, you are not alone. Fear not, there’s no one hiding behind the shower curtain, but 10% of all digital video consumption is now done in the bathroom.

Warner Music company to air first commercial during Channel 4’s Gogglebox on Friday following equity stake deal with broadcaster agreed in JuneDeezer, the music streaming service part owned by Warner Music proprietor Len Blavatnik, is to launch its first-ever UK TV ad campaign to fight the arrival of rival Apple Music.Deezer, in which Blavatnik’s Access Industries group has a minority stake purchased for $130m (£84m) three years ago, launched in the UK in 2011 but has never launched a major advertising campaign. Continue reading...

Terry has just bought a laptop running Microsoft Windows 10, and wants to know how to move his photos and data to the new machineI have just bought a new HP laptop running Windows 10. How can I get my pictures, applications, tax returns etc off the old one and onto the new laptop in the right places? TerryThe answer to this question used to be a free Microsoft utility called Windows Easy Transfer (WET), which was first supplied with Windows Vista. However, when Microsoft released Windows 8, it did a deal with Laplink to provide a free version of its PCmover program instead. Earlier this month, it announced a similar deal for home users of Windows 10. Continue reading...

Travis Kalanick says Uber has an opportunity to push adoption of autonomous vehicles that, he claims, offer better safety and less congestion for citiesUber has claimed that its “optimistic leadership” would help ease the transition for city authorities as they deal with the introduction of self-driving cars.Speaking at a conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Kalanick said self-driving cars could reduce the 30,000 annual deaths on US roads by using centrally controlled, algorithmic traffic management systems to prevent accidents and reduce congestion at peak times. But he also intimated that self-driving cars would be part of Uber’s plans to expand its business in the transport industry. Continue reading...

‘Cool clock, Ahmed’ tweets president as Mark Zuckerberg also joins outpouring of support for student arrested Monday for bringing homemade clock to schoolSchool officials in Texas are standing by their decision to detain Ahmed Mohamed for bringing a homemade clock to school, but the 14-year-old old has found some incredibly high-profile supporters, including the US president and the chief executive of Facebook.Ahmed, from Irving, Texas, left school in handcuffs on Monday after his English teacher told him and the school’s principal that his homemade clock looked like a bomb. Continue reading...

Ahmed Mohamed was handcuffed after his school called police over the digital clock which ‘looked like a bomb’ to a teacherPolice and school authorities in Irving, Texas are under fire after arresting a 14-year-old boy for bringing a homemade clock into school.Ahmed Mohamed, an engineering hobbyist, made the timepiece and brought it to school in the hope of impressing teachers and fellow students in his first few weeks at MacArthur High School. But when he showed it to an English teacher after it beeped during her lesson, she told him it looked like a bomb. Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg recognises that ‘not every moment is a good moment’. The new function will offer a refreshing antidote to the social network’s relentless optimismSome excellent news for lovers of negativity: Facebook will soon be rolling out a “dislike” button. People have long pointed out that it doesn’t feel right to “like” posts about natural disasters or announcements of illness and death. So only those posts featuring kittens, heartwarming news stories, and inspirational greeting-card slogans formatted as pictures for no reason generate a lot of “likes” and, in turn, are shown to others. The infantilising tyranny of “like” skews Facebook content towards the moronically optimistic.Related: Facebook working on 'dislike button', Zuckerberg says Continue reading...

The BBC was clearly aiming for a big-budget, US-style tale of boardroom tech success, but the script felt underdeveloped and the portrayal of Grand Theft Auto itself fell shortThere is a new genre in Hollywood, the tech origin story, and it comes with its own version of goodies and baddies. Critically lauded films such as The Social Network, the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs, and even The Imitation Game, all present young, socially abrasive mavericks rallying against unimaginative naysayers who can’t dream of the future. It’s a potent formula, so you can see why the BBC is keen to tell the story behind the biggest British success story of modern tech, Grand Theft Auto, one of the best-selling franchises in the history of gaming.Related: Rockstar Games slams BBC Grand Theft Auto drama: 'Was Basil Brush busy?' Continue reading...

The Urbanimals – winners of this year’s Playable City Award – will be projected into various overlooked Bristol locations in an effort to engage residents with environments which often get ignoredVisions of the future city from the 1920s and 30s brought us ambitious foresight of flying cars, weather-regulating domes and post-apocalyptic dystopias void of any of human activity. Even today, forward-thinking ideas seem to plan for urban efficiency by removing citizens from city streets, or by reducing everyday interaction to a world of self-checkouts, driverless cars and touch-screen communication. But as we drift towards a life with our head in the cloud, Bristol’s Playable City Award is trying to bring us back down to earth.“We are not just users of the city. We are also its creators,” says Anna Grajper and Sebastian Dobiesz of Wrocław-based LAX (Laboratory for Architectural Experiments). Selected from 197 applicants as winners of the £30,000 award, LAX are a key part of the movement to make cities around the world more exciting, engaging and liveable. And for LAX, this starts with a rabbit, a kangaroo, a beetle and a dolphin.

Security bug means Android smartphones running Android Lollipop can be broken into by simply entering a very long password causing the lockscreen to crashA bug has ben found which allows anyone in possession of an Android smartphone running Lollipop to unlock the device by bypassing the lockscreen with a very long password.

Games developer tweets its dislike of televised The Gamechangers tale of its past legal battles: ‘This new Rentaghost isn’t as good as I remember’Having sued the BBC in 2015 over its plans for a drama based on Grand Theft Auto, it should come as no surprise that Rockstar Games was unimpressed by the final results.The GTA developer delivered a sharp response to The Gamechangers - which starred Daniel Radcliffe - on Twitter, while it was airing, in tweets aimed directly at the broadcaster: Continue reading...

The ephemeral messaging app has got a little less ephemeral and a whole lot more disturbingSnapchat has launched its first in-app purchases, offering users the chance to buy the ability to replay already-seen pictures and videos.The new feature, which is only available in the US for the time being, offers “replays” in packs of three for $0.99. Without them, users can only view any given picture or video once, and get one additional replay for free each day. Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, says on Tuesday that the social network is working on a ‘dislike’ button. During a Q&A at Facebook’s headquarters, Zuckerberg, responding to a question from a user in Cairo, says he has often been asked about an alternative to Facebook’s familiar ‘like’ button. Zuckerberg wants the ‘dislike’ button to express empathy in the event of bad news

The rise of family vlogging has seen new mums and dads turn the lives of their kids into an online spectacle. But can they be sure this isn’t harming them?By now, you know Zoella. When you hear the word “vlogger”, her squeaky-clean, baby-faced brand is exactly what comes to mind. But vloggers are varied. Older, rounder and balder individuals have also amassed millions of views, subscribers, and pounds on YouTube. But they don’t do it by filming 20-minute lipstick reviews. Instead, they film their children.The daily vlogging of family life is nothing new. The Shaytards, an American family with five children and over 3.7 million YouTube subscribers, have recorded every day of their lives for the past eight years. But family vlogging is on the rise and hundreds of Britons are now copying the Shaytards. Continue reading...

The social media site’s users want the ability to express empathy about certain posts, says Facebook CEO: ‘Not every moment is a good moment’Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says the company is – at long last – responding to the desire for a “dislike” button on the popular social media site.“I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years. Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it,” Zuckerberg said during a Q&A at Facebook’s headquarters, according to reports from Business Insider and CNBC. Continue reading...

Jaguar’s new sports car enters the record books on Monday after performing the largest ever loop-the-loop completed by a car. Guinness World Records have confrimed that the Jaguar F-PACE, driven by stunt driver Terry Grant, successfully completed a 19.08 metre tall, 360 degree circle. Grant had to withstand G-Force more severe than that experienced by space shuttle pilots to complete the stunt Continue reading...

Nigel Wilson, 42, forced to give up equipment after judge says his behaviour was ‘height of arrogance in terms of public safety’A drone enthusiast has been fined and banned from pursuing his hobby after he was convicted of flying remote control aircraft over and around Premier League football stadiums, parliament and Buckingham Palace.Nigel Wilson, a security guard from Nottingham, posted videos to YouTube showing views from heights of at least 100 metres of Premier League, Champions League and Championship football matches. It is the first time a person has been prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service for using drones after a police-led operation. Continue reading...

Businessman found guilty of defamatory tweets says he will appeal and will ‘never’ tweet the rulingA court in the southern Spanish city of Seville has put a new spin on the classic classroom punishment of writing out lines by ordering a businessman found guilty of defamation to tweet his court sentence every day for the next 30 days.The case, which came to light this week, dates back to 2013, when Rubén Sánchez, a spokesman for the Spanish consumer rights group Facua, launched a legal challenge against Luis Pineda, who runs a rival consumer rights organisation, over hundreds of defamatory tweets. Sánchez and his legal team argued that Pineda had spent the previous two years using Twitter to launch baseless accusations of corruption, theft and fiscal fraud against Sánchez. Continue reading...

CEO of parent company, Damiler, says Mercedes premium driverless cars are a ‘concrete development goal’Watch out Uber; Mercedes-Benz is coming up on the inside lane. In comments made at the Frankfurt auto show, Dieter Zetsche – CEO of Mercedes owner Daimler – suggested the company might develop driverless cars.Related: Self-driving cars: from 2020 you will become a permanent backseat driver Continue reading...