by Mark Harris on (#M7M8)
Head of policy for GoogleX hints it could possibly move towards mass manufacturing of fully autonomous prototypes, ahead of road tests in AustinAs a handful of Google’s self-driving cars venture outside California for the first time, arriving on the streets of Austin, Texas, this week, the company has revealed its plans to build many more fully autonomous prototypes, and possibly move towards mass manufacturing.When Google introduced the low-speed, two-seater electric cars last year, it said it was going to build just 100 vehicles by the end of 2015. But speaking at the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday, Sarah Hunter, head of policy for GoogleX, said: “We’re … making a few hundred of them. We’re making them to enable our team to learn how to actually build a self-driving vehicle from the ground up.†Continue reading...
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Technology | The Guardian
Link | https://www.theguardian.com/us/technology |
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Copyright | Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2024 |
Updated | 2024-11-28 00:02 |
by Hilary Osborne on (#M5MX)
Social media company increases office space again with change to controversial London developmentStaff at social media firm Facebook will have to update their status to “moving†after it agreed to take offices on a former Royal Mail site near Tottenham Court Road in central London.The company has agreed to take on all of the 227,324 sq ft of office space at One Rathbone Square, a new development by Great Portland Estates (GPE) on a site sold by Royal Mail in 2011. The sale had been criticised because the price paid for the prime 2.3-acre site was £120m and the project has been forecast to generate a profit of almost £100m. Continue reading...
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by Presented by Elena Cresci and Alex Hern, produced on (#M579)
In our podcast dedicated to internet memes and all things digitally viral this week we tackle Metal Gear Solid V where sheep theft is rife and memes become meta-memesThe game of the summer is out, but if you're like Alex Hern and Elena Cresci, you've only interacted with Metal Gear Solid V through vines of sheep being floated into the sky. Welcome to our guide to the wonderful and bizarre world of viral content on the web. Continue reading...
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by Hannah Jane Parkinson on (#M56R)
Dating app adds a third swiping option – the super like – but will users want to know just how eager a suitor is?In the dating sphere, “treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen†used to be the adage. That, and the “three-day rule†– the length of time it was deemed necessary to wait before contacting someone after the first date.Tinder, however, has distanced itself from received courting wisdom with the latest addition to its dating app – the “super like†feature, which allows users to declare an interest more eager than a mere swipe right. Continue reading...
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by Matt Kamen on (#M4DY)
The Japanese anime series is still serious business among players at this year’s world championships in BostonTo many, Pokémon was a craze that peaked at the turn of the millennium. Yet to thousands of dedicated players, both the video games and the trading card game (TCG) are still cause for celebration, and not just among kids. It turns out the grownups are more involved than ever as they, alongside the younger gamers, take part in what might be described as Pokémon’s world cup – and British competitors of all ages are there in force.Just as characters in the games (and animated series, and movies, and more – Pokémon remains a thriving media empire) employ virtual beasts to do battle, so too do the competitors who fight for a place at the annual Pokémon world championships. Continue reading...
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by Hannah Jane Parkinson on (#M4BM)
Apple’s new mobile operating system iOS 9.1, released this month, will include new emoji including a burrito, table tennis and a swearing fingerEver wanted to send a burrito emoji? Of course, you have. We live in a world of Netflix and chill. Well now – you know where this is going, right? – users will soon be able to send burrito emoji and communicate via a unicorn or a flipped middle finger. Or they will when Apple’s update to its mobile operating system, iOS 9.1, arrives later this autumn.A whole new batch of emoji was approved by the Unicode Consortium, the industry body which sets the standard cross-platform options, in June 2015 and 2014. But many of the newer designs have yet to be implemented, aside from emoji people of colour, fixing the, quite frankly, appalling fact that initially only white people were represented in human emoji. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#M47E)
Skydiver Chris Walker completes a Rubik’s cube during a freefall sky-dive before opening his parachute. Walker takes 51 seconds to finish the Rubik’s cube – not a record-breaking speed, but fast enough to open his parachute in good time Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern and agencies on (#M46A)
Despite two appeals from the taxi firm, the ruling was upheldUber’s US operation has suffered another legal defeat in its efforts to class its drivers as independent contractors, after a California labour board ruled that a former driver was an employee and so eligible for unemployment benefits.The ruling is particularly significant as it was upheld twice on appeal, once to an administrative law judge and once to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. But as the ruling comes from an administrative board, not a full court, Uber says it “does not have any wider impact or set any formal or binding precedentâ€, meaning future cases are free to decide differently. Continue reading...
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by Paul Farrell and Michael Safi on (#M41P)
Constitutional challenge possible over control order, which also controls the 20-year-old’s movements, associations and use of media such as FaceTimeA constitutional challenge could be launched over a control order sought by the Australian federal police, which restricts the movements and associations of a 20-year-old man and what mosques he can attend, a federal court judge has heard.The order also prohibits the man talking to a 12-year-old boy and other teenagers, and places significant restrictions on his use of electronic communication.
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by David Nield on (#M40G)
Hello Cortana? Give me 21 features and tools to master Windows 10 Continue reading...
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by Ruby Tandoh on (#M3WX)
The star of the Great British Bake Off gives her verdict on four of the latestMy favourite-ever kitchen gadget is a £1.50 small aluminium fish scaler in the shape of a turbot which I have never actually used to scale a fish but have cherished as a much loved back-scratcher.I’ve never been much good at finding the right tools for the job. I’ve had other more productive forays into the world of kitchen gadgetry since, but good products are hard to find. Most gizmos were one-trick ponies, used once and then dutifully retired to kitchen graveyard at the back of the under-sink cupboard with the bundt tin and the juicer. Others, like the Egg Master and my hog-shaped jelly mould, are delightful grotesques designed to be gleefully revered and never, ever sullied by actual use. Continue reading...
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by Associated Press in San Francisco on (#M2A4)
Pao said she cannot afford to continue fight against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture capital firm that she alleged had discriminated against herThe woman who lost her high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit against a Silicon Valley venture capital firm says she is dropping her appeal.Ellen Pao said in a statement released on Thursday that she cannot afford the risk of incurring additional costs to fight Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. She said she had not reached any settlement with the firm and will pay some of its legal fees. Continue reading...
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by Spencer Ackerman in New York on (#M251)
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by Jessica Elgot on (#M22D)
Franklin Sinclair says Charlotte Proudman has ‘blacklisted’ herself by shaming senior lawyer over his LinkedIn message on her personal appearanceA partner at one of the UK’s largest criminal law firms has stood by tweets saying he would not give work to a lawyer at the centre of a sexism row over a LinkedIn message sent to her by a solicitor 30 years her senior.Human rights lawyer Charlotte Proudman said she had been told she faced “career suicide†but did not regret her decision to make public a message from Alexander Carter-Silk that commented on her “stunning†photo. She took a screenshot of the message and posted it on Twitter, along with her terse reply, and the tweet went viral. Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern on (#M1MC)
Choosing to ‘fix’ a model’s smile undermined Apple’s progress on gender representation and showed that the tech industry still has a very long way to goAfter years of Apple events starring the same four-person executive team, of Craig Federighi, Eddy Cue, Phil Schiller and Tim Cook, the absence of any female representation on stage had started to be a running joke – albeit not a funny one.Even after the hiring of Burberry’s Angela Ahrendts to head up the company’s retail operation in 2014, the biggest company in the world still managed to run overwhelmingly male-dominated keynotes. At the company’s WWDC event in June 2014, and at the launch of the iPhones 6 and Apple Watch, no women were on stage at all. Continue reading...
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by Keith Stuart on (#M1FC)
The Finnish casual gaming giant is tackling the match-three genre with its latest title, but you won’t be catapulting anything at naughty piggiesSmartphone gaming is a tough business – even for the companies at the very top. Candy Crush Saga developer King has struggled to develop new games beyond its hit “match-three†puzzler, while Rovio announced more than 200 lay-offs in August as part of an attempt to restructure and refocus its increasingly bloated business. The app stores are dominated by a handful of longstanding titles, and that makes developing, marketing and launching new IPs even more expensive and risky, especially as it can take several months to start seeing significant returns.
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by Presented by Alex Hern and produced by Alannah Cha on (#M1C3)
We may not have jetpacks and flying cars, but artificial intelligence is taking ever greater stridesThis week on the podcast we look one day into the future at some of the biggest technological designs of the next few years set to beam out of this year's D'Construct Conference, part of the Brighton Digital festival.Joining Alex Hern on the panel is time traveller Ingrid Burrington who argues that the time machines of today don't look like Deloreans, they look like NTP servers, real-time data streams and predictive models, Nick Foster an industrial designer working on future projects for google and Carla Diana who thinks that the robot takeover will start in our kitchens.
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by Anonymous on (#M0XJ)
Blockbuster releases are homogenising around a narrow range of experiences and it could be driving creative people out of the industryThere’s been a lot of chat lately about why people might stop playing games – in particular why little girls who grew up with consoles don’t seem to stick with the hobby as they get older. I’ve experienced this firsthand; girls I knew at school who were gamers before I even got my first console just seemed to stop once the industry switched from the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo to the PlayStation era. It baffled me, especially as games were making the big leap from 2D to 3D at the time – how could you not be excited?
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by Alex Hern on (#M0TY)
ISP has apologised to customers for the outage, which can temporarily be fixed by switching to Google Public DNSPlusnet users have been experiencing intermittent service outages due to a DNS malfunction at the internet service provider’s HQ, leaving them unable to access websites from their broadband connection.We’re really sorry about the current problems, we’re working as quickly as possible to resolve this and we will keep you updated. Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern on (#M0GE)
Lockpickers took advantage of US Transportation Security Administration breach in which photos of its ‘approved’ locks were posted onlineAnyone with a 3D printer can now unlock every single TSA-approved padlock, thanks to a security lapse by the American government agency.The Transportation Security Administration, created following the 9/11 attacks to ensure the safety of travellers into and around the US, requires any lock on bags to be branded as “travel sentry approvedâ€, to enable them to carry out searches without having to break the lock or bag. Continue reading...
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by Stuart Dredge on (#M0B6)
Kabam swaps hobbits for Wookiees in title that sets scene for upcoming film – and shows growing cultural clout of mobile gamingTeaser trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens have left fans speculating on events within the sci-fi universe since Return of the Jedi, based on less than four minutes of heavily edited footage.Now they’ll be able to spend a few hours exploring the period in a mobile game, Star Wars: Uprising, released for Android and for iOS by publisher Kabam, a company with form when it comes to mobile games – and colon-infused titles – based on popular movie franchises. Continue reading...
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by Stuart Dredge on (#M09C)
Nintendo’s mobile strategy ramps up as it partners with former Googlers Niantic on freemium game for iOS and Android in 2016Nintendo is working with a team of former Google developers on a new location-based Pokémon game for smartphones.The game will involve going to real world locations while playing on your phone in order to catch Pokémon monsters. Continue reading...
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by Jemima Kiss in San Francisco on (#KZ67)
New tablet – to be launched with Apple Pencil stylus – revealed alongside two new iPhones and a revamped Apple TV
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by Guardian Staff on (#KZNX)
Taxi drivers rallying on the steps of the Victorian parliament on Thursday say there are many reasons why the ride-sharing app Uber is illegal and a safety risks for passengers. They cite the lack of security cameras in cars and general lack of regulation as key concerns, as well as a potential loss of tax revenue to the app’s US-based owners Continue reading...
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by Sam Thielman on (#KYPE)
Microsoft counsel addresses question of US search warrant for Hotmail emails stored in Ireland: ‘We would go crazy if China did this to us’The United States government has the right to demand the emails of anyone in the world from any email provider headquartered within US borders, Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers told a federal appeals court on Wednesday.The case being heard in the second circuit court of appeals is between the US and Microsoft and concerns a search warrant that the government argues should compel Microsoft to retrieve emails held on a Hotmail server in Ireland. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#KYN5)
The Apple CEO called the announcement of the iPad Pro – a larger tablet device with a 12.9-inch screen that is aimed at the enterprise market – ‘the biggest news in iPad since the iPad’. The Pro version will have a 2732x2048-pixel screen and is 6.9mm thick and weighs 1.57lb Continue reading...
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by Samuel Gibbs on (#KYGW)
Next generation smartphone launched in San Francisco features a pressure-sensitive screen, 12-megapixel camera and stronger screen and bodyApple has unveiled the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, the next generation of its smartphones, with faster processors, longer battery life, improved cameras and new “3D Touch†gestures.
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by Samuel Gibbs on (#KY7W)
Company hopes larger iPad will appeal to businesses and professionals to revive flagging tablet sales, but runs risk of cannibalising laptop marketApple has announced a new iPad Pro with a larger 12.9in screen and a focus on productivity.
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by Alex Hern on (#KY2Y)
Hacked extramarital dating service ran fake accounts but protected itself legally by admitting to it in the terms of serviceThe terms of service of hacked extramarital dating service Ashley Madison allow the company to run fake accounts, protecting it from at least some user lawsuits in the wake of its massive data breach in August.The company had previously denied allegations of a “fembot armyâ€, but according to information in the data dump, it actually ran tens of thousands of fake female accounts to send millions of messages to users. Continue reading...
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by Jonathan Haynes on (#KY1F)
Apple has launched a larger iPad, the iPad Pro, which can be used with a smart keyboard and Apple Pencil, and details of the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s PlusApple has held a launch event in San Francisco to unveil new products including the iPad Pro, which can be used with the new Apple Pencil, as well as revamped Apple TV and its latest smartphones, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Here’s what they launched and what you need to know. Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern on (#KX7C)
New iPads, new iPhones and a new Apple TV – but most of you don’t care about the latterThere will be a new iPhone, an iPad Pro and a new Apple TV announced on stage in San Francisco on Wednesday – at least if the combined wisdom of 5,000 Guardian readers is to be believed.We asked you to tell us what you expected from the world’s biggest company, and the answers were surprising. Continue reading...
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by Ben Child on (#KXK4)
Film director takes to Facebook to apologise for his own ‘death’ after website publishes premature obituaryReports of Terry Gilliam’s death may have been greatly exaggerated, but that hasn’t stopped the film director and Monty Python troupe member from taking great pleasure in confirming them. After Hollywood film industry bible Variety mistakenly announced that Gilliam had passed away, sparking a torrent of mirth at its faux pas, the UK-based film-maker has taken to Facebook to “apologise for being deadâ€.Terry Gilliam dead? Did somebody press the publish button on the wrong post? pic.twitter.com/LyiB3Z64pR Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#KXEM)
Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsAs a Guardian-reading leftie, is it morally wrong for me to play computer games such as Grand Theft Auto?Angus Davies, Bruton, Somerset Continue reading...
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by Ben Child on (#KX1B)
British fans will get to see JJ Abrams’ ultra-hyped reboot on 17 December, a day ahead of those in North America but behind FranceEuropean fans of Star Wars will get to see new instalment The Force Awakens before their counterparts in North America, it has been announced.JJ Abrams’ film will open a day earlier than expected in the UK, on Thursday 17 December, while the French will get to see the movie a further 24 hours ahead of that, on Wednesday 16 December. The new dates were announced on the official UK and France Star Wars Facebook pages. The US and Canadian release date remains 18 December. Continue reading...
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by Guardian readers on (#KX0T)
We asked if you could design a better logo after Google unveiled their new sans-serif one. You did not disappoint. Here is a selection of our favourites
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by Sam Thielman on (#KWX7)
A verdict against the company could be troubling, legal experts warn, as governments consider whether they can require tech firms to reveal private dataThe US government takes on Microsoft in a Manhattan court on Wednesday morning – and if the verdict goes badly for the software giant, the decision could set a dangerous legal precedent across the world, experts warn.The long-running case concerns a single Hotmail email account, stored on a Microsoft server in Ireland and of interest to the Department of Justice (DoJ), which tried to force Microsoft to recover the emails from its foreign facilities without working with the Irish police. Continue reading...
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by Stuart Dredge on (#KWHA)
Software mogul says he plans to set up his own party after receiving ‘thousands’ of emails from advisors asking him to runDonald Trump may be making the early waves in the US 2016 presidential election race, but he is set to be joined by an equally eccentric figure: technology veteran John McAfee.The founder of antivirus software firm McAfee filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to enter the race, and launched an official McAfee 2016 website, with plans to launch his own party to support the bid. Continue reading...
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by Stuart Dredge on (#KWHC)
Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.12 adds hunger, weather, gunpowder and the Nether zoneThe smartphone and tablet edition of Minecraft is now much closer to its desktop and console versions, after developer Mojang launched one of the biggest updates in its history.The Minecraft: Pocket Edition 0.12 update adds some prominent features that had previously been missing from the mobile version including hunger; sneaking and sprinting; the game’s Nether zone; and tameable ocelots. Continue reading...
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by Keith Stuart on (#KWA2)
The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Wednesday, right? Continue reading...
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by Mark Sweney on (#KVWN)
Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform rolls out ad service to 38 markets and adds new formats including landscape-shaped photo and videoInstagram is to hugely expand its advertising capability from eight to 38 markets, and has unveiled a new TV-style 30-second video ad format.The Facebook-owned photo-sharing service has unveiled a major expansion of its ad operation, to countries including Italy, Spain, Mexico, India and South Korea, with the global rollout complete by the end of this month. Continue reading...
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by Claire Burke on (#KV0W)
The social network has developed a series of new features to improve communication, as it reveals 45m SMEs now have a Facebook pageFacebook has announced a series of updates to its pages to make it easier for firms and customers to interact, as it revealed there are now 45m active small business pages on the site.Benji Shomair, director of global partnerships at Facebook, says the new page features and tools are designed to help businesses communicate efficiently with potential customers and to encourage “tighter communication between consumers and businessesâ€.
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by Sam Thielman on (#KTA1)
Google is teaming up with Whole Foods to send fresh fruits and vegetables to customers in San Francisco and one other city (so far unnamed) later this yearFirst they came for your search, then they came for your phone, now they want your groceries. Google is getting into the fresh foods business. The company confirmed on Tuesday that Google Express, the company’s delivery service, will send fresh fruits and vegetables to customers in San Francisco and one other city (so far unnamed) later this year.The tech company also announced it will expand its next-day delivery service – which is already available in cities including Chicago, New York and San Francisco and works with partners like Barnes & Noble, Target and ToysRUs – to areas in the midwest. Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern on (#KSTK)
South Korean company anticipates tough year for smartphone market, say reports from SeoulSamsung is to cut jobs and expenditure at its headquarters in anticipation of a slump in the smartphone market, according to a Korean financial newspaper.The company will make 10% of its support employees redundant and cut general expenditure by 50% in the next year, writes the Korea Economic Daily. Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern on (#KSHN)
Apple’s event on Wednesday is expected to include new iPhones and a revamp of Apple TV. Complete our quick survey and we’ll post the results before the launchApple’s executive team will get up on stage in San Francisco on Wednesday and announce … something. The event, like all major Apple press conferences, has only been officially teased with an invitation bearing the phrase “Hey Siriâ€.But, also like all major Apple press conferences, the company’s been leakier than a colander carrying water, and so we all have a pretty good idea what’s about to happen. Continue reading...
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by Press Association on (#KSDX)
Paul Mahoney from Londonderry, who had £82,000 in cash hidden in his home, receives four-year sentenceA man whose bedroom-run internet piracy scam put the film industry at risk of losing an estimated £120m has been handed a four-year sentence, half of which will be spent in prison.Paul Mahoney, 29, from Londonderry, made almost £300,000 through advertising revenue generated from his illegal websites offering access to the latest films and TV shows – many before general release. Continue reading...
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by Alex Hern on (#KS08)
FBI criticises firm for being unable to read iPhone users’ messages after Justice Department obtains iMessage rulingApple has rebuffed a court order to hand over in real time texts sent using iMessage between two iPhones because its encryption system leaves the company unable to comply.The order was obtained by the US Department of Justice during an investigation over the summer involving guns and drugs, according to a report in the New York Times, and represents the first known direct face-off between the government and Apple over encryption. Continue reading...
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by Keith Stuart on (#KRHN)
The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Tuesday! I’m giving a talk at the Pocket Gamer Connects conference in Helsinki in about half an hour. Continue reading...
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by Jana Kasperkevic in New York on (#KQKB)
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by Stuart Dredge on (#KP1D)
Music streamers craving some shuteye are spoiled for choice, with 282 albums released in the last week alone – and Ed Sheeran a popular aid for snoozingPutting on music is often seen as an energising action to aid dancing, even jogging. But now one of the fastest-growing new album categories features music focused on the opposite goal: putting listeners to sleep.Spotify’s fastest-growing music category is the newly named “environmental/sleep/relaxative†– in the last week alone, 282 albums from the category were added to the music streaming service’s catalogue, many times more than other genres including hard rock, latin pop and dancehall. Continue reading...
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by Keith Stuart on (#KNDJ)
The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Monday! Continue reading...