Technology | The Guardian

Australian science agency CSIRO says workplaces will be increasingly digitally focused and automated. Who wants to be an ‘online chaperone’?Workers looking for jobs in 2035 might consider retraining as remote-controlled vehicle operators or online chaperones.Those are two of the jobs of the future suggested in a report by the CSIRO that charts 20-year trends in increasingly digitally focused and automated Australian workplaces. Continue reading...

The director of the FBI, James Comey, appeared before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday and addressed the contentious question of whether the demand by his organization that Apple help them break into a gunman’s iPhone could create a legal precedent. Stating that, due to the phone model and operating system, he did not believe the case would be a ‘trailblazer’, Comey nonetheless agreed that it could impact similar cases around the country Continue reading...

Former innovation adviser to Hillary Clinton Alec Ross talks us through the big tech changes that are set to radically change how we work and livePredicting the future can be a fraught process. History is littered with the grand visions of futurists who imagined us living under a dome on the moon come 2015 and yet here we are in 2016 no closer to lunar life but glued to cat videos on the screens in our hands.One man who has had enough experience travelling the world as Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser to look into his own crystal ball is Alec Ross. His new book The Industries of the Future looks at the sorts of changes that are going to emerge in the next 20 years from the commercialisation of genomics to the impact of robotics and whether the next world war will be a cyber war. Continue reading...

Much-delayed hi-tech tracking device for use in England and Wales will be replaced with off-the-shelf alternativeJustice ministers have given up a three-year attempt to introduce a “bespoke” GPS tracking tag for offenders, after the prime minister, David Cameron, promised to make the technology a central part of a radical overhaul of British prisons.

ISPs could wield ‘gatekeeper power’ in conflict with public sector broadcasters unless regulation is modernised, it warnsThe BBC has called for stronger protection for digital TV services such as iPlayer to make sure internet providers treat them fairly.In its submission to Ofcom’s once-in-a-decade review of UK communications, which was published on Thursday, the BBC said the communications regulator and Ofcom needed to modernise regulation and ensure incoming net neutrality rules were enforced. Continue reading...

Court documents show that the government funded apparently successful study into revealing identity of anonymity service usersThe US government funded research into breaking the online anonymity service Tor, court documents have revealed.Carnegie Mellon University carried out the research, funded by the US Department of Defense, which attempted to deanonymise users of the service. Continue reading...

BT has been told to open up its Openreach cable network to rivals. What problems are consumers having? Are they entitled to compensation?BT is under pressure to open up its network infrastructure to allow rivals to lay their own ultrafast fibre-optic broadband lines, after a review by the telecoms regulator.The move was announced on Thursday as part of Ofcom’s once in a decade review of the telecoms market. It has been considering whether to push BT to spin off its Openreach subsidiary, which operates the UK’s broadband network infrastructure. Continue reading...

Dating app releases charts for most popular professions among its users, with entrepreneurs, interior designers and firefighters also scoring highlyMen looking to improve their prospects on dating app Tinder have a new failsafe strategy: albeit one that involves racking up 1,500 hours of flying planes to secure a pilot’s licence.The company has published research into the most popular professions on its service in terms of how often those users get swiped right – approved as a potential match. Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Thursday! Sorry about the whole Wednesday thing - I was on a plane! Continue reading...

Latest version of iOS 9.3 public beta software reportedly restores broken smartphones through iTunes

Proposed changes would bring bitcoin, dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies under definition of currencyJapan’s governing Liberal Democratic party is planning to propose legal changes that would define bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as currencies.The changes would mean bitcoin could be more tightly regulated and taxed, and are likely to lead to more investment in developing cryptocurrency infrastructure in Japan. Continue reading...

US-based Anna Messner turns to online forum users to call ambulance after partner Melody Madill falls ill during SkypeReddit users have come to the aid of a New Zealand student who had an epileptic seizure while home alone.Melody Madill, a student in Dunedin, was Skyping her fiancée, Anna Messner, on Tuesday afternoon when she started having a seizure. However, Messner was powerless to help because she was in the US. Continue reading...

Trying to build public support as it prepares to do legal battle with the FBI, Apple’s boss has said the debate needs to be conducted openly and fairlyApple chief executive Tim Cook accused the US government of asking his firm to engineer the “software equivalent of cancer” to help investigators unlock a terrorist’s iPhone.“This is not about one phone,” Cook told ABC multiple times in an interview, which aired 24 February. “This case is about the future. Can the government compel Apple to write software that we believe would make hundreds of millions of customers vulnerable around the world?” Continue reading...

The law requires a balance between flexibility and tyranny, and was never intended to allow the government to dictate software designRelated: The FBI wants a backdoor only it can use – but wanting it doesn’t make it possibleApple’s celebrated fight with the FBI over the security of its encrypted iPhones has shone the spotlight on an old and obscure federal law from 1789 known as the All Writs Act (AWA). Continue reading...

PwC says not enough companies are dealing with big threat of economic crime and problem of ‘silver fraudsters’UK businesses are battling a huge rise in cybercrime capable of bringing down entire companies, according to analysis by accountancy company PwC.In a report that singled out the UK as a hotbed of economic crime, PwC said the threat of cyber offences was now a “board-level issue”, but warned that not enough companies were taking it seriously enough. Continue reading...

Threats from the terrorist group are part of ‘everyday life’, Twitter says, following the companies’ attempts to block terrorist content on social mediaIslamic State has released a 25-minute video featuring the faces of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg being riddled with mock bullet holes.Isis has begun to respond with increasing urgency as Facebook and Twitter have attempted to block terrorist content on the network. Representatives from both companies were among those who met senior White House officials in January to discuss how to deal with terrorism online. Continue reading...

Rapper tweeted about upcoming album amid Twitter storm in which he talked about his debt and criticized Grammys as ‘completely out of touch’Kanye West has said he will release a new album this summer, announcing the plans on Twitter.New album coming this summer Continue reading...

The NRA is not opposed to smart guns, engineers say. So why isn’t the market flooded with biometrically accessible firearms? We went to a ‘smart-gun symposium’ in San Francisco to find outA federal agent lost his loaded gun in San Francisco last week after leaving the firearm on top of his car and driving off. In September, police say a man with a Glock 26 pistol stolen from a federal immigration officer’s car shot and kill a beloved Oakland artist. And in July, a man allegedly used a federal ranger’s semi-automatic pistol to shoot 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in a random San Francisco killing.The thefts and resulting gun violence have raised questions about the individual officers and agency protocols, but in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, police officials and tech entrepreneurs say the offenses shed light on a much broader issue: the need for personalized “smart” guns that only the weapons’ owners can use. Continue reading...

A smartphone app piloted by the NHS could improve communication between hospital staff and help patients get vital care fasterGoogle DeepMind, the tech giant’s London-based company most famous for its groundbreaking use of artificial intelligence, is developing a software in partnership with NHS hospitals to alert staff to patients at risk of deterioration and death through kidney failure.The technology, which is run through a smartphone app, has the support of Lord Darzi, the surgeon and former health minister in the Blair government who is director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London. Continue reading...

Social media giant Facebook has reformed the way its users can react to posts by their friends, adding a range of Reaction buttons to depict a wider range of emotions. The Reactions, which include Love, Haha, Wow and Angry, will appear alongside the traditional ‘like’ on users’ devices from Wednesday, with the rollout set to be complete in a few days Continue reading...

A new word processor allows writers to get work done without distraction. Which is fine until you need to check a fact

Weakness in communication between electric car and app provides opportunities for hackersHackers can control features in Nissan’s Leaf electric cars over the internet, enabling them to remotely enable the air conditioning and heating, or pull information from the car including driving history, replete with GPS co-ordinates.The car can be hacked by exploiting a weakness in the way it communicates with its companion app, NissanConnect EV. The app itself can be used to control the in-car climate and check driving range, but only for the owner’s car. Continue reading...

People will now be able to use a variety of faces and a heart – named Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry – on friends’ posts, but not commentsUsers no longer have to take the time and effort to write “dislike” on Facebook posts about firings and deceased pets: the company now provides a selection of expressive images christened Reactions to use for a wider variety of occasions than simply hitting “like”.The faces and a heart have names: Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry. A video explaining the concept in greater depth was posted to Facebook’s blog on Wednesday morning. Users simply hover a cursor or hold down a finger over the traditional upturned thumb and the new selection pops up. Continue reading...

Forget brightly coloured cases – 2016 will be the year of the hard-sell of phone add-ons, as manufacturers try to ensure brand loyaltyAs the world’s largest mobile trade show, MWC 2016, draws to a close in Barcelona, one thing is for certain: the days of the smartphone being the be-all and end-all are over. We’re now in the second coming of the accessory, with virtual reality leading the charge.Samsung, LG, Sony, Xiaomi, HP, Alcatel and others all lined up to announce their latest smartphones, some garnering interest, others less so. But while the new and shiny smartphones were plentiful, they were dwarfed by the sheer volume of add-ons. Continue reading...

Public accounts committee says £130m deal seems ‘disproportionately small’ compared with size of UK businessGoogle’s controversial tax deal has been criticised for being “disproportionately small” by parliament’s public spending watchdog.The new analysis of the deal to pay £130m in back taxes has been released amid claims that the French government is seeking about€1.6bn (£1.3bn) in back taxes from the tech company. Continue reading...

Much like climate change denialists, politicians continue to debate encryption – ignoring the consensus of experts that it must not be compromisedThe FBI’s demand that Apple create a defeat device for decrypting a phone that belonged to a mass murderer has all the ingredients for a disastrous public conversation.Combine a highly technical debate about information security with an emotionally charged subject matter, then confuse the whole issue with a 24-hour news cycle tick-tock about who did what, when, and you end up bogged down in questions like, “Does it matter if the FBI directed the local cops to try to change the phone’s password, inadvertently creating the lockout?” Continue reading...

Atlas, the latest robot from Google’s Boston Dynamics, can withstand a beatingGoogle’s long-standing quest to build the robot overlords which will eventually subjugate humanity and usher in a 1,000-year reign of the machines is apparently progressing nicely.The company’s robotics subsidiary, Boston Dynamics, has revealed the latest iteration of its Atlas robot, most recently seen doing the hoovering last month. Continue reading...

‘On your very best day at work – the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world – what did you do that day?’ social network asks prospective employeesTechnology companies are notorious for favouring impossible job interviews. Google’s questions range from logic puzzles (“how would you weigh an elephant without using a scale”?) to puzzles of a different sort altogether: it asks would-be music curators to put together a playlist that would please Susan Boyle fans, to make sure that they don’t accidentally hire music snobs.Facebook too has its own range of interview questions. Their technical challenges are as tough as any other Silicon Valley firm, with candidates reportedly asked to write code to find words on a Boggle board, or find sums in an array of numbers. And even non-technical jobs are given their own head-scratchers: one executive assistant candidate in London was asked “If your exec was stuck in Paris and needed to get to Milan, but their flight was cancelled and their phone was dying, what would you do?” Continue reading...

While the iPhone itself has advanced, its software is stuck in the past, making it feel like trying to drive a sports car with the handbrake onWhile every other smartphone manufacturer is trying to speed up your smartphone, providing ever snappier interactions, better links and faster access, Apple is intentionally holding the iPhone in the slow lane.It’s obvious when you look at the iPhone and its default interactions. Everything has a smooth animation. Those slick-looking motions were interesting about three years ago, but today they’re holding users up, slowing things down that that should be quick. Continue reading...

Broadcaster’s new Android and iOS app will help people discover music from its radio and TV output and listen to it through streaming servicesThe BBC is launching a standalone smartphone and tablet app for its BBC Music brand, helping people listen and watch music clips from its radio and TV output.The app is being released as a free download today for Android and iOS devices, although it will only be available in the UK. Continue reading...

Firm has submitted list to federal judge of at least 11 times since September that DoJ has sought access to newer models of iPhone than was earlier suggestedApple has challenged the White House’s claims that its use of a controversial law to access the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook is limited in scope.The Department of Justice has sought access to iPhones, including the company’s very latest models, under the All Writs Act at least 11 times since September, according to a letter from Apple counsel Marc Zwillinger to federal magistrate judge James Orenstein dated Monday. Continue reading...

What the US intelligence agency is asking the tech company to do may not affect mobile security as much as its CEO Tim Cook wants you to believe

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates welcomes the debate over privacy and security following the row between Apple and the FBI. The FBI wants Apple to override its encryption features to access an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists. Photograph: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

US government is asking for a particular case, and Apple should comply, says Microsoft co-founder GatesThe Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has waded into the row between Apple and the FBI, arguing that the government agency is right to demand co-operation from Silicon Valley when it comes to terrorism investigations.Gates also questioned Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s characterisation of the case as a demand for a “back door”, the Financial Times reported. Continue reading...

‘It needed enemies fast – so I just drew this pig thing I’ve been drawing since I was 10’Rovio only had enough money to make one game. It was 2009 and, as the company’s sole designer, I had to start coming up with ideas. I’ve always been keen on drawing animals, so I sat at my computer and drew a bunch of birds, giving them beaks, a rounded shape – and angry eyebrows. I had this idea of an angry flock of birds, running around destroying things. Continue reading...

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

Facebook chief executive qualifies comments supportive of Tim Cook, saying social network is guided by ‘a big responsibility to help prevent terrorism’Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that he was “sympathetic” with Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook in his standoff with the FBI – but the Facebook boss left the door open to helping authorities fight terrorism and “different types of attacks”.“If we have opportunities to basically work with the government to make sure there are not terrorist attacks, obviously we are going to take those opportunities,” Zuckerberg told delegates at the world’s biggest mobile congress in Barcelona. Continue reading...

Donna Seymour is the second high-ranking official to leave OPM since the hacking of personal information of 22 million people was disclosed last JulyThe top technology official at the US Office of Personnel Management announced her retirement on Monday amid calls for her ouster by some Republican lawmakers.

Some are questioning the ride-sharing company’s less stringent safety standards after driver Jason Dalton completed rides between several shootings in MichiganThe spotlight is once again on Uber and its alarmingly light safety requirements after a driver went on a mass shooting spree, killing six people and injuring two in Michigan this weekend, while picking up and dropping off passengers in between.

Online abuse can be cruel – but for some tech companies it is an existential threat. Can giants such as Facebook use behavioural psychology and persuasive design to tame the trolls?It was a book on the curious decline of the murder rate that gave Aja Bogdanoff her idea.Her job back then stopped short of actual bloodshed, but it left her no stranger to the dark side of human nature. A software engineer who built and moderated online comment platforms, Bogdanoff spent her days wading through insults, and her spare time firefighting more urgent incidents. She could see platforms being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of antisocial users, but couldn’t figure out how to get one jump ahead of them. Continue reading...

Lawyer says US attorney’s office asked him on 14 February to file brief asking company to help unlock shooter’s iPhone amid feud over encryptionFederal prosecutors asked an attorney for victims of the San Bernardino terrorist attack to aid their case two days before they asked a judge to order Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters, spurring a massive privacy battle, the Guardian has learned.

FBI director James Comey says he hopes people will ‘stop saying the world is ending’, while Apple CEO Tim Cook argues that iPhone user data is ‘under siege’The director of the FBI has pleaded for responsible dialogue and calm in an escalating public battle with Apple, even as the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, vowed to continue a legal fight that carries widespread implications for digital privacy and law enforcement.

The company’s AI startup DeepMind will take on the Go champion Lee Se-Dol in March, but hopes that ‘human ingenuity’ will be the real winnerDon’t ask Demis Hassabis, the chief executive of Google’s artificial intelligence startup DeepMind, to indulge in mind games before a big competition. “We hope that whatever the result, the power of human ingenuity will be the winner” isn’t the sort of fighting talk that will make an opponent quake in their boots.Hassabis’ DeepMind is preparing for the bout of its life: a five-game match against Lee Se-Dol, one of the strongest players in the world at the ancient game of Go. Continue reading...

Among the secretive, almost religious community of expert security engineers, breaking your own encryption is seen as shameful and unholyApple’s security team are a tight-knit tribe of hackers driven by a strict belief system and with almost unparalleled power around the company’s Cupertino campus, according to a former employee who worked closely with them.Related: Apple says the FBI is making access demands even China hasn't asked for Continue reading...

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

A mysterious island begs to be explored in the sublime new indie game from Jonathan Blow, Unravel is a bit woolly and Bravely Default’s sequel has little of value to add(PC, PS4 , Thekla, cert: 3)

South Korean mobile giant unveils new top-end Android phones with fan favourite microSD card slot, super-fast cameras and larger batteriesSamsung has unveiled its latest Galaxy S7 flagship smartphones, bringing back favourite features as it aims to close out the top-end of the Android market.

It looks like an ordinary four-door family saloon, but don’t be fooled: this new V8 Merc is one of the fastest cars you can buyPrice: £66,810

The tech company claims San Bernardino government workers botched an attempt to access gunman Syed Farook’s iCloud account and reset his passwordThe US government is asking for greater access to Apple’s software than even the Chinese government, an Apple executive has said, as the company resists an order forcing it to help the government crack the passcode for a phone that was used by a San Bernardino shooter.America’s most valuable company and its government used increasingly bellicose tones on Friday in a debate over whether national security can dictate how Silicon Valley makes products. Continue reading...