Technology | The Guardian

How do you block ads without ‘leeching’ free content? This chrome plugin could be the answer. Provided you’re OK with the internet becoming a bit… sparseThe adblocking debate might just have been solved with the launch of the Ethical Adblocker.Adverts suck, and many people would prefer not to see them. But the economics of the internet are such that adverts are also the effective payment for reading free content online (such as this article here). Continue reading...

Daily Mail & General Trust reports digital ad revenue growth of 16% in 11 months to the end of August, compared to 49% in the same period last year.Mail Online has reported digital advertising growth of 16% in the 11 months to the end of August, a significant slowdown on the almost 50% rate of growth seen a year ago.Parent company Daily Mail & General Trust said Mail Online has reported ad revenue growth of 16% year on year, a £9m revenue increase to about £62m, in the year to the end of August. Continue reading...

Smartwatch update brings forth improved Siri, added widgets, more watchfaces and good nightstand mode, but still lacks consistency and does nothing for battery lifeApple has updated the operating system of its first smartwatch with native apps, added complications and a few interface tweaks.

The findings, launched by VicHealth, come from a national survey of 1923 people aged between 16 and 24 about attitudes towards violence against womenAlmost half of young Australians believe tracking their partner by going through their computer or phone, or by installing phone and computer tracking software, is acceptable.This was one of the findings from a nationally representative survey of 1923 people aged between 16 and 24 about their attitudes towards violence against women. The results were launched by VicHealth in Melbourne on Thursday. Continue reading...

Office of Personnel Management hack, which US believes China is responsible for, originally thought to have compromised prints of only 1.1 million workersThe number of people applying for or receiving security clearances whose fingerprint images were stolen in one of the worst government data breaches is now believed to be 5.6 million, not 1.1 million as first thought, the Office of Personnel Management announced on Wednesday.The agency was the victim of what the US believes was a Chinese espionage operation that affected an estimated 21.5 million current and former federal employees or job applicants. The theft could give Chinese intelligence a huge leg up in recruiting informants inside the US government, experts believe. It also could help the Chinese identify US spies abroad, according to American officials. Continue reading...

Photo and video-sharing app’s current challenge, however, is to make money from a youthful audience for whom Twitter is ‘barely on the radar’Instagram, with its Kardashian selfies, retro filters and endless stream of images of meals, has reached 400 million active users, the company has announced. Facebook’s photo and video-sharing app has added 100 million users in the last nine months, with three-quarters now based outside the US.“While milestones like this are important, what really excites us is the way that visual communication makes the world feel a little bit smaller to every one of us,” the company said in a blog post, revealing that its fastest-growing countries include Brazil, Japan and Indonesia. Continue reading...

Cross-platform smartwatch company releases new circular e-paper model that claims to beat all others on weight and thicknessSmartwatch pioneer Pebble has unveiled a new round model, which the company claims is the world’s thinnest and lightest, beating Apple, Samsung and Motorola.

Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigns, taking responsibility for the German carmaker’s rigging of US emissions tests of which he had no knowledge, according to the supervisory board. The head of IG Metall Trade Union, Berhold Huber, said the resignation was received with the greatest respect Continue reading...

The answer isn’t complicated, it’s just hard: find a way for publishers and advertisers to deal with one another directlyThe news that Apple was opening the iOS app-store to ad blockers for mobile devices created a storm in publishing circles, which meant that we heard a lot about them, because publishers publish things that are important to publishing.

Indian PM sees visit to America as opportunity to enlist global IT industry leaders to help push for technological modernisation in his homelandThe flags are ready, the stadium is too. The dinner with the Fortune 500 CEOs is scheduled, and so is the one-on-one with president Obama.Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, will be welcomed in New York on Wednesday with much goodwill – but also increasing doubts about his ability to deliver promised reforms in the emerging south Asian power.

The original toys-to-life series is back with a new driving feature and some neat tweaks to the well-known formulaThe novelty of the awkwardly named toys-to-life genre has well and truly passed. When Skylanders first appeared four years ago, the idea of unlocking characters and levels by placing toys on a “portal” peripheral was fresh and interesting. Now we’re on the fifth instalment and Activision has Disney Infinity, Nintendo Amiibos and Lego Dimensions to compete with. The emphasis now is on finding new gimmicks to keep things fresh.This year the theme is racing and with that a new line of air, land and sea vehicles have been added to the Skylanders ecosystem. This not only brings driving missions and a new racing mode but finally adds proper articulated toys along with the static collectable figurines. Kids can play with the cars even when they’re not on the console.

Gavin Patterson promises more services as Ofcom reviews BT ownership of Openreach and rivals criticise its dominanceBT has pledged to ensure every home in the UK has access to a minimum standard of internet access and to accelerate its rollout of faster fibre connections in an effort to head off criticism over its dominance of the UK broadband market.Gavin Patterson, the chief executive of BT, called for a “collaborative effort across industry and government” and a supportive regulatory and policy environment to help provide faster and more comprehensive internet coverage. Continue reading...

They can shoot Live Photos, have pressure-sensitive screens, an always-listening Siri, and faster fingerprint sensors, but look identical to last year’s modelsApple’s new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus smartphones land in customers hands on Friday, but a select bunch of reviewers have been given early access.The Guardian is not one of those picked by Apple to receive a sample of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus ahead of its release, and will publish a review after buying one at the same time as consumers. Continue reading...

Michael Horn admits carmaker was dishonest with US regulators as France calls for Europe-wide inquiry into emissions-fixing scandalThe US chief executive of Volkswagen has said the company has “totally screwed up” over the emissions scandal that has rocked the automotive industry.

Music-streaming service with 6.3m subscribers could be valued at €1bn in upcoming Paris IPOMusic-streaming service Deezer is planning to float on the Paris stock exchange by the end of the year in an attempt to keep up with larger, deeper-pocketed rivals such as Apple and Sweden’s Spotify.The company, founded in 2007 in Paris, has 6.3 million subscribers who can listen to a catalogue of 35m songs for a monthly fee of €9.99 (£7.20). Continue reading...

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

German carrier struck deal with Deutsche Telekom and satellite company Inmarsat for short- and medium-haul flightsHigh-speed internet access via smartphones could become a feature on European airline flights following a deal involving the German carrier Lufthansa – but voice calls will be blocked at first.Lufthansa will offer Wi-Fi on its short- and medium-haul flights from 2017, provided by the satellite firm Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom. Continue reading...

Data regulator’s opening volley in privacy lawsuit claims Facebook is contucting NSA-like snooping on citizens declaring that Belgium shouldn’t be intimidatedFacebook acted like the US’s National Security Agency, spying without authority on European users, lawyers representing the Belgian data protection authority said on Monday.In opening arguments in a closely watched case being brought against the social network company, Frederic Debussere, representing the Belgian privacy commission (BPC), referred to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about surreptitious mass surveillance by the spy agency. Continue reading...

Shares fall by almost a fifth as economy minister says US claims over falsified data threaten reputation of German car industryThe German government has warned that the Volkswagen emissions fixing scandal is putting at risk the reputation of the country’s automotive industry, as shares in Europe’s largest carmaker slumped by nearly 20%.Shares plunged as investors responded to US accusations that the German carmaker falsified emissions data, an action that could attract penalties of up to $18bn (£11.6bn). The German economy minister, Sigmar Gabriel, expressed concern over the impact of what he called “a bad case” for the country’s vital car industry and he urged VW to clear up the allegations.

Big internet names have been cutting out and dropping off in the last week. Why are they playing with us in this way?First it was Twitter, the desktop client of which went down for over an hour last week, (that’s almost a year in Twitter time). Then it was Amazon Web Services, which glitched and took with it the likes of Netflix, Medium and Buffer over the weekend. Today, Skype has lost connection, scuppering those wishing to talk to long-distance other halves or interviewing for that job on a different continent.What is happening? Why is the internet breaking? And isn’t this all a bit Paper magazine November 2014? Continue reading...

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

A lame outing for the Road Warrior, but an old run-and-gun favourite finds a great new home on the 3DS while Forza roars back into top formFrom Fury Road to the middle of the road: this adaptation does nothing wrong but equally, nothing to stand out, which is a disappointment given its source material. Continue reading...

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...