Technology | The Guardian

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...

Research by Oxford University shows five rich countries edit most articles about places – and when others do contribute, they write about the westNearly half of all edits to articles about places on Wikipedia were made from just five countries, researchers at the University of Oxford have found.The UK, US, France, Germany and Italy are the source of 45% of the edits on “geocoded” Wikipedia articles, which have a longitude and latitude associated with them to link them to a specific place in the world. Continue reading...

Indicators that a user has viewed content are being rolled out to event invitations on Facebook. This is not good newsIs there anything that strikes fear deep into the heart like an invitation to the poetry reading of a guy that you met once, at a party, and who wore a cravat?Thanks to Facebook introducing read receipts on its events, swerving the kind of soiree that’s about attractive as a chlamydia diagnosis has just become a lot more difficult – and a more dangerous social minefield. Continue reading...

The taxi app faces many obstacles to its plans for city transport, making its battles with existing cab services merely the beginningIt’s been a busy summer for Uber. In San Francisco, the app-based transportation service and world’s richest startup is testing on-demand mass transit with its Smart Routes offering – essentially carpools running bus-like routes. Elsewhere, Uber is expanding into China, raising $1.2bn to back a push into 100 Chinese cities over the next year.To build its Eastern empire, Uber is maintaining its infamously aggressive tactics by hiring an “elite team of launchers”. The job advertisement sounds like Uber is looking for CIA operatives, not brand ambassadors: “At base, this job entails being dropped into a city or country where Uber has zero brand and physical presence, quickly figuring out who and what make that city run, and then building a new business from scratch – in a matter of weeks – which sets Uber up for long-term success”.

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Tuesday and I’m currently watching the Sony press conference from Tokyo Game Show wishing I was there. Continue reading...

Apple’s latest iPhone and iPad software promises better battery life, real multitasking, improved Siri and Google Now-like featuresThe latest version of Apple’s iPhone and iPad software promises better battery life, a smarter Siri and true multitasking – but does it deliver and is it worth upgrading?

Even if you cannot play an instrument, a game such as Sentris, which allows you to bring music to life, can be magicalA delightful new puzzle game, Sentris, was released on Steam last month. Beautiful and engrossing, it leads the player through increasingly complex musical levels, in which you have to place blocks in the correct point in a spinning circle to add in different loops and instruments to an electronic track. The game is deeply enjoyable, tapping into one of the deepest human instincts: the sense of rhythm.Newborn babies have a sense of rhythm. Only days after birth, scans can detect the brain anticipating a missing downbeat, or noticing the rhythm “stumble”. There’s still debate about whether animals share this trait but dance, drumming and music are common across human cultures. There’s something in us that just likes it. Even without the skills to play an instrument, there’s a satisfaction to a game that allows you to control music, to bring it to life, even to feel that you’re playing it. Continue reading...

The drip-fed tools might irk the impatient, but this chance to take a stab at outdoing Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has cult classic written all over itWhen, in 1985, Nintendo’s in-house genius Shigeru Miyamoto unleashed Super Mario Bros on the nascent world of gaming, he could scarcely have imagined that it would act as the definitive blueprint for one of the games world’s most enduring genres: the 2D side-scrolling platformer. Still less that, over 30 years later, he would be able to let any old gamer emulate his development process (albeit with vastly superior tools than the ones he had in 1985), while melding the most venerable gameplay with a truly 21-century gaming phenomenon. But that’s what Super Mario Maker does: by giving gamers the means to create their own Super Mario courses, it enters the realms of user-generated content alongside the stunningly successful likes of Minecraft and LittleBigPlanet.Super Mario Maker gently eases you into your quest to become the new Miyamoto, with a half-built course that you must jazz up simply by painting new elements on the screen of the Wii U’s Gamepad, using the stylus. You can add various blocks, either vanilla or containing power-ups and rewards, enemies such as goombas, trampolines, pipes and so on. Then, using the so-called Coursebot, you can name your creation (the game carefully explains that an interesting name can attract a much bigger audience) and publish it for all to play. Although, sensibly, you aren’t allowed to publish it until you’ve completed a play-through – it’s dead easy to make courses that are physically impossible to negotiate. Continue reading...

A month of events includes dystopian visions of immortality and a futuristic clinic promising to make you happierPlayful visions of the future of technology are springing up across Brighton this month, from dystopian immortality machines to global choirs, open to the public and mostly free.The Brighton Digital Festival includes conferences, performances and installations based on artistic approaches to the digital world and vice versa. Arts co-ordinator Laurence Hill says it is the most expansive to date: “In 2011 there were 40-odd events . This year it’s topped 180.” Continue reading...

Prosecutors say gang reaped a fortune by signing thousands of mobile users up to unwanted paid-for junk text messagesTwo men have been charged with helping to run a so-called “cramming” scheme in which they earned tens of millions of dollars by charging unsuspecting mobile phone users for unwanted text messages.Related: Scammers target lonely hearts on dating sites Continue reading...

Record-high pre-orders have been attributed to the inclusion of sales in China, where demand has been particularly highAdvance orders of Apple’s new iPhones are on track to beat the 10m units previous versions logged in their first weekend last year, a feat analysts have attributed to the inclusion of sales from China which is poised to overtake the United States as Apple’s biggest market.Apple did not disclose the specific number of advance orders it received for the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which have improved cameras, 3D touch and display technology that responds according to how hard users press their screens. Continue reading...

In a satirical video game based on Super Mario Bros, the character evades border patrols and swaps Bowser’s castle for ‘Camp’ in order to highlight the plight of refugeesWe can assume that David Cameron is a bit of a gamer, having been busted obsessively playing Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds in the past. So there is an outside chance that, finally, he might soften his government’s harsh, grudging response to the Syrian refugee crisis. Because one of the gaming world’s most famous characters – the moustachioed plumber Mario – has been co-opted into highlighting the plight of those attempting to flee from the Scylla and Charybdis of Isis and Bashar al-Assad.A Syrian artist, pseudonymously known as Samir al-Mutfi, has created Syrian Super Mario, a satirical video that is currently going viral, highlighting the horrors faced by Syrian refugees – by tweaking the 1985 video game Super Mario Bros. Mario has taken many forms over the decades, but this time he has become Refugee Mario. And instead of making his way to Bowser’s castle in order to rescue Princess Peach, he merely has to get to the castle, which now bears the forbidding legend: “Camp”. Continue reading...

Documents published on Reddit hint that John Travolta, Bruce Willis and Uma Thurman were not Quentin Tarantino’s first choices for cult movieMichael Madsen, not John Travolta, was Quentin Tarantino’s first choice to play Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, and Eddie Murphy was considered to play Jules Winnfield, according to new documents leaked via Reddit.The two hand-typed sheets of paper also suggest that Uma Thurman was not even in the original running to play gangster’s moll Mia Wallace, with Virginia Madsen, Marisa Tomei, Patricia Arquette and Phoebe Cates all named ahead of her. Meanwhile, John Cusack was Tarantino’s first choice to play Vincent’s drug dealer Lance, the role that eventually went to Eric Stoltz; and Matt Dillon, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage and Johnny Depp were all ahead of Bruce Willis for the role of boxer Butch. Continue reading...

For a series as full of fan service as Metal Gear Solid, it’s still surprising to see a sheep attached to a balloon take off as a meme. Pun intendedThe surprise star of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system (or STARS), an experimental technology dating back to the 1950s that allowed a covert operative be airlifted out of hostile territory by an aeroplane travelling at low altitude.The STARS fit nicely into the world of Metal Gear Solid, with its mixture of cutting-edge real-world tech and science fiction gadgets, and at first glance, it is so bizarre that it seems like it could only have come from the fictional side of the divide. Continue reading...

The failings of Forza 5 are all but forgotten with this vastly improved instalment on Xbox One, which boasts faster action, a broader range of cars and sublime handlingIf one thing comes to mindthe moment you boot up Forza 6, it’s this: if developer Turn 10 turned its hand to creating a car, it would be a wonderful piece of engineering. This latest in the now-decade-old franchise is a meticulously crafted package, with an incredible attention to detail in almost every facet of its design.Having made major missteps with Forza 5, Turn 10 has recognised and rectified where necessary. While its predecessor was a tight-fisted, condensed racing experience with a cut-down list of cars and tracks, Forza 6 is generous and dauntingly broad, more in line with series highpoint Forza 4. It has also excised the monetisation that plagued the Xbox One launch title and, while these shifts aren’t enough to make Forza 6 truly exemplary, it’s still a fantastic ride. Continue reading...

Mark Karpelès faces the charges over his role in the collapse of the bitcoin exchange in 2014The former head of defunct bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, Mark Karpelès, has been charged with embezzlement by Japanese prosecutors, according to reports from the Japanese media.Karpelès is alleged to have embezzled ¥321m (£1.7m) from the bitcoin exchange, which collapsed in 2014 after revelations of a massive shortfall in customer funds. Continue reading...

Lack of competition leaves rural Britain beyond the reach of fibre-optic deliveryBefore we moved, we filled boxes. “Why are you packing those CDs?” asked my wife, eyeing them. “You’ve put them all on a hard disk, and with streaming services you can get what you want.”I opened my mouth to offer a devastating rebuttal. No sound emerged. In other news, it turns out that charity shops love secondhand CDs. I looked forward to streaming it all.We last moved in 2006, when I noted here how essential broadband had already become. (And also, hilariously, that six megabits was “adequate for nearly everything we do today”. To be fair, the BBC’s iPlayer was then more than two years from launch.) Continue reading...

For both novelesque stories and non-fiction, iOS and Android apps are trying innovative ways to tell storiesIn the early days of Apple’s iPad, there was a gallon of hype around the potential for interactive book apps. When many of the early, expensive-to-develop examples flopped on the App Store, the hype ebbed away.Even so, a number of developers, publishers and authors have continued plugging away at the idea, with the results often standing proud as works of fiction or non-fiction, regardless of the way they’re delivered. Continue reading...

Official review aimed at improving classroom behaviour to investigate how smartphones may disrupt learningThe impact of mobile phones on pupils’ behaviour in lessons is to be investigated as part of a wider inquiry aimed at improving teachers’ classroom management.Tom Bennett, a teacher and behaviour expert, is leading a government-commissioned review into how to improve training to better equip new teachers for tackling poor behaviour in the classroom. And the Department for Education has asked him to focus on the potentially disruptive influence of smartphones on learning in school. Continue reading...

What do tomorrow’s dinners look like, and how will you adjust? Our special feature sheds light on a world of algae, cowless beef, insect lollies and even an mouthwatering recipe for jellyfish salad...Read more of our future of food special:

Bild reporter Paul Ronzheimer travelled across Europe live-streaming interviews: ‘For the refugee story, the personalisation is very important’The negative side of coverage of the Syrian crisis has been dehumanising references to “swarms” of refugees, and an emphasis on numbers rather than people.However, one journalist for German newspaper Bild has found a way to use his smartphone to help those people tell their stories direct to readers. Or rather viewers. Continue reading...

As the world population grows and food security is threatened, the pressing challenge for agriculture is to produce more food, more efficiently and more sustainably. Here are a couple of the latest innovations.Read more of our future of food special:

The way we access food is changing, whether it’s your favourite recipe streamed online or home delivery from a Michelin-starred eatery.Read more of our future of food special:

It isn’t just food itself that’s changing; the world of food consumption is developing some radical methods of delivering it into our bodies. This section of our special feature looks at a few of these eating innovations.Read more of our future of food special:

The latest walking simulator lacks gameplay, Resident Evil’s Vita incarnation skimps on graphics and Beatbuddy makes beautiful music with the WiiUGames in the “walking simulator” genre – with an emphasis on exploration and light puzzle-solving – are somewhat divisive. Ever since they emerged in the past few years, there have been some that suggest that they shouldn’t be considered games at all. Sci-fi mystery Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, for good or ill, adds considerable weight to this argument. Continue reading...

You’ll need a thick skin, a strong left leg and very deep pockets to enjoy Porsche’s revered sports carPrice: £99,602

Four days of talks wrap up to help prepare for president Xi Jinping’s visit later this month including a ‘frank and open exchange’ about thorny cyber issuesSenior US and Chinese officials have met to discuss cybersecurity and other issues ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month.

British composer Hélène Muddiman’s plan would charge online audiences every time they view an artist’s materialCopyright infringement has long been seen as part of the merry free-for-all of communication in the digital age. But an ambitious project launched this weekend by a successful British film and television composer is reinventing the way artists and writers can publish their work online.Theft is theft. There is no difference between stealing digital content and stealing from a shop - though it's easier Continue reading...

Unheralded first Venezuelan film to be selected for Venice competition takes top prize, with Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa taking second spotThe first ever Venezuelan film to be selected for competition at the Venice film festival has carried off the top prize. Desde Allá (From Afar), directed by Lorenzo Vigas, was given the Golden Lion by a heavyweight festival jury headed by Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron, and including directors Lynne Ramsay, Pawel Pawlikowski, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Nuri Bilge Ceylan.Vigas’ film was an unexpected winner, even if it carried the marque of influential Mexican scriptwriter Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, Babel) among its credits. Starring Alfredo Castro, it is about a 50 year old man who pays young men for company but no physical intimacy, and is Vigas’ directorial debut. Continue reading...