Technology | The Guardian

Whether it’s frustration with longer page load times, intrusive advertising or flashing images, we asked readers to tell us why they use adblockers onlineLast week the UK’s culture secretary John Whittingdale described adblocking companies as acting like a “modern-day protection racket”. We asked our readers why they use adblocking software when browsing the web, and what they thought media companies should do to fund content in the future. Continue reading...

Smart, funny and wonderfully filmed, this movie about the jaded marketeer of virtual reality glasses is the movie Steve Jobs should have beenOne of the more nerve-wracking scenes in film this year consists of a man sitting alone at a desk. Through his augmented reality glasses (more on that in a bit) he’s volleying three IM conversations, watching the latest cut of a past-deadline television commercial and “uh-huh”-ing his way though a video conference with an artiste in need of mollycoddling.With just a few fingertip flicks and nods of the chin David (Benjamin Dickinson, also the director and co-writer) struggles vainly against modernity’s quicksand. With sleek (mostly) black and white cinematography, an unpredictable editing style, unexpected musical choices (Handel, Vivaldi and Bach) and dialogue that is droll af, the Creative Control is the bleeding-edge tech drama we hoped Steve Jobs would be. It’s always the start-ups that surprise us. Continue reading...

The famous, wealthy and attractive no longer need to slum it on Tinder: there’s a new breed of exclusive dating apps in townSo you’ve decided Tinder is full of frogs, and your prince doesn’t seem to coming any day soon. But fear not – there are a new breed of dating apps for the more discerning serial dater.If you went to the wrong school, don’t earn enough money or just aren’t attractive enough, then apps such as Luxy (“Tinder, minus the poor people”), Raya (populated by Kelly Osbourne and Patrick Schwarzenegger) and The League (“You don’t need a dating app to get a date – you’re too popular as it is”) just aren’t for you. Continue reading...

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

Typical British viewer last year watched about 77 minutes a week of shows on services such as Netflix and Amazon, although traditional TV is still kingThe popularity of services such as Netflix and Amazon surged last year with the typical British TV fan almost doubling the amount of time spent watching programmes.The typical British TV viewer watched about 77 minutes a week of shows on subscription video-on-demand services, primarily Netflix and Amazon Prime, in 2015. Continue reading...

Amazon’s hyperactive new click-and-buy live show is a noble effort to extract our every last dollar. But, Dave Schilling asks, just who is it for?Related: Amazing fashion: will Amazon as 'a fashion site' ever take off?I wish it wasn’t so easy to buy things. I can buy a two-pack of Redbarn Ham Bones and they will arrive at my home by Friday. That’s right, for only $6.29, I can have what the company describes as “lightly smoked pork femur” on my doorstep. Continue reading...

Civil court gives search company two weeks to provide information on fake reviewers that attacked nursery with claims of child abuseGoogle has been ordered to hand over the contact details of accounts linked to fake reviews that attacked a Dutch nursery.The nursery, which was not named in the proceedings, won a court order against Google to reveal details on who was responsible for a series of fake reviews alleging child abuse using the company’s Google+ social network. Continue reading...

Report predicts growing threat from ‘swarm attacks’, genetic weapons and cyber-warfareBritain could become increasingly vulnerable to attack from an array of novel threats including “swarm attacks”, genetic weapons, cyber-attacks and new pathogens as hostile powers and extremist groups obtain more lethal weapons, a study by a Ministry of Defence thinktank warns.The study, an attempt to spot future military trends called Future Operating Environment 2035, also warns that the UK, “will face a broad range of natural and manmade threats” and it will be “increasingly difficult to distinguish between threats from state and non-state actors”. It concludes than even “limited tactical nuclear exchanges in conventional conflicts” cannot be ruled out. Continue reading...

Do these technological trackers put our minds at rest, or lull us into a comfort zone?As an old-school runner, I’ve always had a rather scathing attitude towards heart-rate monitors, fitness trackers and associated technology. But as an older runner – I’m 53 – I find I am increasingly susceptible to health scares. I was scared indeed when I witnessed a far younger fellow parkrunner being brought back from the brink by paramedics after he collapsed on the finish line. He went on to make a full recovery, but his near-death experience had a positive legacy: the London Ambulance Service provided our park cafe with a defibrillator, and gave our parkrun team CPR training.We found out later that the casualty had had a narrowed aorta since birth, and that his collapse could have come at any time, but the episode made a big impression on everyone, especially us more mature runners. Mental notes were made to check in at our local GP surgery for an MOT. Continue reading...

Public trust in the US government has been statistically low for years. So what, or who, will replaces it as the public entity in which people can place their faith?If you wanted proof that Americans trust Apple more than they trust their own government, look no further than the FBI encryption debate.The battle between the two giants of modern American society – the nation’s government and the world’s largest corporation – is a watershed moment in technology and corporate history. It’s an amazing new high in the rise of brands, considered by many to be a sort of religious force in the 21st century. And though the verdict is out on who the majority of Americans will support in this battle, with public opinion polls inconclusive, the reality is we’re seeing a corporation successfully take on one of our government’s basic premises: that it knows best how to keep us safe. Continue reading...

Google’s computer programme AlphaGo beat its human opponent, South Korean Go champion Lee Sedol, on Wednesday in the first leg of a five-game match between human and computer. Lee’s loss was a shock to South Koreans and Go fans. The 33-year-old had been confident of victory two weeks ago, but sounded less optimistic a day before the match

The sorry state of research into one of the world’s biggest entertainment industries is leaving us in the darkIn 1976, the driving simulation Death Race was removed from an Illinois amusement park. There had, according to a news story at the time, been complaints that it encouraged players to run over pedestrians to score points. Through a series of subsequent newspaper reports, the US National Safety Council labelled the game “gross” and motoring groups demanded its removal from distribution. The first moral panic over video game violence had begun.This January, a group of four scholars published a paper analysing the links between playing violent video games at a young age and aggressive behaviour in later life. The titles mentioned in the report are around 15-years-old – one of several troubling ambiguities to be found in the research. Nevertheless, the quality and quantity of the data make this an uncommonly valuable study. Given that game violence remains a favoured bogeyman for politicians, press and pressure groups, it should be shocking that such a robust study of the phenomenon is rare. But it is, and it’s important to ask why. Continue reading...

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

The tech industry says the ‘ingenuity, skill and entrepreneurial spirit’ of immigrants is good for the US economy, and is backing Barack ObamaFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley leaders have urged the supreme court to uphold Barack Obama’s efforts to allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay in the US.It marks the latest step in what has largely been a tough political sell by US technology firms to the rest of the country: that additional immigrants would benefit the American economy. The issue has long struck a chord here, where many of the industry’s hottest companies rely heavily on executives and engineers born elsewhere. Continue reading...

Alphago, a cutting-edge computer programme designed by Google, will face off in the Google DeepMind challenge against Lee Sedol, the world champion of GoThe Google DeepMind challenge match, taking place in Seoul on Wednesday, will pit the world’s top player of the ancient Chinese board game against the world’s most sophisticated Artificial Intelligence programme.Here is everything you need to know about this clash between advanced technology and old-fashioned human wit.

New site will be backed by the two companies, as well as receiving support from Google’s innovation fund set up as part of its Digital News InitiativeMashable has struck a deal with France 24, the international news and current affairs public service broadcaster, to launch a French-language version of the social media news site.The new website, which will be called Mashable avec France 24, will be equally financially backed by the two companies as well as receiving support from Google’s innovation fund set up as part of its Digital News Initiative to support publishers. Continue reading...

Labour’s Tom Watson says George Osborne should set up commission looking at how to benefit from technological advancesGeorge Osborne should establish a royal commission on robots, to examine the impact of new technologies such as driverless vehicles on Britain’s workforce, Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has said.The chancellor is expected to announce a trial of driverless lorries as part of next Wednesday’s budget. Writing for the Guardian, Watson argued that the government should launch an investigation into how to make the most of the benefits of rapid advances in technology, which he believes could be as profound as those unleashed by the industrial revolution. Continue reading...

Korean firm’s latest flagship smartphone comes with two processor variants – Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 – with the UK getting a less powerful version

A wave of apps such as Everest, Cake and SafeBeyond are emerging to help people plan their own mortal passings, right down to Instagram-worthy funeralsA young man is staring straight into the camera. He looks late 20s or early 30s, with a suede blazer and two-toned hipster glasses, and cheerfully waves as he introduces himself. “Hi, my name’s Will,” he tells the YouTube audience. “And I’m dead.”“While my family is a bit upset, they’re not stressed. Because when I was among the land of the living, I made the incredibly smart move of signing up for Everest.” Continue reading...

Troubled warplane that has yet to see any cyber security testing hit with yet another bug affecting flight performance requiring software updateThe much maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has yet another problem with its software: the radar stops working requiring the pilot to turn it off and on again.

Reader analytics company finds male readers want an author ‘to get to the point quickly … or they are gone, gone, gone’Men and women are equally likely to finish a book – but men decide much faster than women if they like a story or not, according to analysis of reading habits by Jellybooks.The start-up, which focuses on book discoverability and reader analytics, has tested hundreds of digital titles on hundreds of volunteer readers over the last few months. Working with many of the UK’s major publishers, it uses a piece of JavaScript in the ebooks to look at readers’ habits: when they pick up, complete or abandon a title. The test groups were made up of significantly more female volunteers, with a 20/80 male/female split. Continue reading...

Researchers show they can spoof common smartphone fingerprint sensors using an off-the-shelf printer with special paper and ink used for printing circuitsFingerprint sensors used to secure smartphones can be fooled with something as simple as a inkjet printer, researchers from Michigan State University have shown.

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

Move is part of a campaign to show that Apple has assisted law enforcement in dozens of similar cases, and is thus able to help the FBI gather evidenceThe US government has appealed against a ruling by a New York magistrate who ordered that it cannot force Apple to unlock one of its iPhones as part of a drugs investigation in the city.The move is part of a legal and public relations campaign by the Department of Justice to show that Apple has willingly assisted law enforcement in dozens of similar previous cases, and is therefore technically able to help gather evidence. Apple, claims the DoJ, has only recently begun arguing that it isn’t legally required to do so. Continue reading...

Successful trial at a pilot plant in China using bacteria to convert exhaust emissions to oil will now be tested at a larger scaleTurning the emissions of power stations, steel mills and garbage dumps into liquid fuels has been demonstrated by MIT researchers using engineered microbes.The process has been successfully trialled at a pilot plant in China and a much bigger facility is now planned. Continue reading...

Robert Hannigan says he wants dialogue in a less ‘highly charged atmosphere’ and denies he wants mandatory backdoorsThe director of GCHQ has said it is time for a new relationship between US and British intelligence agencies and tech companies, which have been at odds over encryption.In a speech to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert Hannigan called for dialogue in a less “highly charged atmosphere” and disclosed that David Cameron would set out a process in the next few months that “can shed some really useful light. And, for my part, my promise today is to engage in that process with the tech industry openly, respectfully and in good faith”. Continue reading...

Facing criticism for removing default encryption from its latest version of the Fire operating system, Amazon has said it will reinstate encryption this springAmazon has reversed its decision to remove a security feature in its Fire OS software that protects sensitive information stored its tablets, e-readers and other hardware devices.Related: Amazon stops encryption on Fire tablets, leaving data vulnerable to attack Continue reading...

Australian research finds that nearly half of all women report experiencing abuse or harassment online, and 76% of those under 30Harassment of women online is at risk of becoming “an established norm in our digital society”, with women under 30 particularly vulnerable, according to the creators of a new Australian study.Related: Tell us about the first time you were targeted by online abuse Continue reading...

Email’s inventor, Ray Tomlinson, died last week, and though his gift to humanity has proved a mixed blessing, it is not what makes us slaves to the smartphoneIf you ask anyone what the worst part of their job is, they are likely to respond with one word: email. Over the weekend, the inventor of this contemporary curse, Ray Tomlinson, died. Tomlinson came up with the idea while developing the Arpanet – the predecessor of today’s internet – in 1971. He and his colleagues were scratching their heads about what to do with their new invention, wherein one application eventually became email. “Don’t tell anyone!” he told a colleague. “This isn’t what we’re supposed to be working on.”Related: How did email grow from messages between academics to a global epidemic? Continue reading...

Ray Tomlinson, the man who invented the @ sign, has died. Here’s a brief history of email, from the Queen’s first mail to the triumph of spamRay Tomlinson, the man who literally put the “@” in email, died on Saturday, but his invention, which allowed electronic messages to spread across the internet and fill our lives and our inboxes on a daily basis, will live on.Here is a brief look at what Tomlinson started and the evolution of email through the last half-century. Continue reading...

We look back on video game history with rose-tinted nostalgia, but some things tend to get overlooked amid those misty-eyed tales of gaming yoreGamers tend to glorify the past, wistfully recalling when graphics were simple, but the challenge was tough. Get two gaming veterans together and it’s not long before they’re reminiscing about how good Final Fantasy used to be, and how Jet Set Willy was better than Sonic the Hedgehog.Well I was there and let me tell you, it was weird. Here are 12 aspects of ancient gaming history that we tend to forget.

Experts say some Macs may have their files encrypted on Monday if computer has been infectedApple customers were targeted by hackers over the weekend in the first campaign against Macintosh computers using a pernicious type of software known as ransomware, researchers with Palo Alto Networks have revealed.

In honour of Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of email who has died aged 74, we want to hear about your most memorable emailsRay Tomlinson, the inventor of email, has died aged 74.

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

Halfway between a stylus and a pen, the Smartpen 3 writes on paper but captures your notes and drawings digitally with added audio tied to your strokesThe pen hasn’t changed much since the successful invention of the ballpoint pen in 1938. We’ve had pressurised containers that work in space, different types of ink and slicker ball designs, but fundamentally it works the same way it always has.

A new version of the app previously described as ‘terrifying’ for allowing reviews of people is launching after months of testingPeeple, the controversial app that lets users review people the way some people review restaurants or tourist attractions, is to launch after a period of beta testing in which its co-founder says it was used for “spreading kindness and accolades”.Peeple, subtitled “where your character is your currency”, was met with almost universal criticism when the concept was first publicised in October last year; the Washington Post called it “the terrifying ‘Yelp for people’”. Continue reading...

Tributes paid to ‘true technology pioneer’ who invented program allowing person-to-person messages to be sent across serversRay Tomlinson, considered to be the godfather of email, has died, according to his employer, Raytheon Company. He was 74.“A true technology pioneer, Ray was the man who brought us email in the early days of networked computers,” said Raytheon spokesman Mike Doble. Tomlinson worked in Raytheon’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, office. Continue reading...

Tributes flow for the American computer scientist who ‘changed the way the world communicates’Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of email and the man who picked the @ symbol for addresses, has died aged 74.“A true technology pioneer, Ray was the man who brought us email in the early days of networked computers,” Raytheon spokesman Mike Doble said in a statement confirming his death. Continue reading...

Human rights are under threat in the Gloucestershire parish – where it could take half a day to download a filmName: Miserden, Gloucestershire.Age: Old enough to be mentioned in the Domesday Book – which was completed in 1086 – under its former name, Greenhampstead. Continue reading...

Companies like Arjuna are beginning to take action to address pay inequality, but demographic data doesn’t tell the full story of women’s experienceMicrosoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, earned infamy for his declaration that women should not bother to ask for raises. Instead, he suggested in October 2014, they should have faith that the system will reward them appropriately. Refraining from asking for a raise, he added, is actually “good karma”.

David Foster Wallace was right to be concerned: immersive VR headsets could be the ruin of usThere’s a moment in The End of the Tour, a recent film based on the transcripts of a meeting between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and the late American novelist David Foster Wallace, in which the writer likens the act of watching television to masturbation. Both activities, he argues, offer a pleasurable way to spend a few minutes. Both activities may also highlight deeper issues if allowed to become a person’s primary habit. “At least with masturbation some action is being performed,” says Lipsky. “Isn’t that better?”Wallace is unmoved. “Yes, you’re performing muscular movements,” he says. “But what you’re really doing is running a movie, having a fantasy relationship with somebody who is not real, strictly to stimulate a neurological response.” Continue reading...

There’s precious little game to spot in the wilds of Essex, but this new baby ‘Chelsea tractor’ is certainly a class actPrice: £28,250

It’s a smart urban singled-speed from Dublin – with a differenceThe trend for single-speed fixies saw many things stripped from the urban bike that most of us would regard as ‘essentials’. Gears, brakes, mudguards, common sense, all gone and in their place an admittedly cool, clean and stripped-down frame. Now Funked Up (what a truly terrible name), a Dublin-based brand founded in 2010, is putting an end to some of this hipster madness. They are forging a third path that yields great-looking bikes which still have the simple geometry and sharp lines of the fixie, but which also boast niceties such as brakes and even gears.Their Ride Series uses double-butted 4130 CrMo frames, internally routed cables and an 8-speed Shimano Alfine rear hub. They come with Continental Sport Contact II tyres and are available in six colours (funkedupfixies.com). Continue reading...

Public hearings into adequacy of holiday letting, including through websites such as Airbnb and Stayz, begin on Monday in Tweed HeadsShort-term accommodation through Airbnb could be a boon for regional tourism, a New South Wales parliament inquiry has been told.On Monday the NSW Legislative Assembly environment and planning committee will hold its first public hearing into the adequacy of the regulation of short-term holiday letting, including websites such as Airbnb and Stayz, which allow people to lease a spare room or their entire dwelling to short-term guests. Continue reading...

Following two big acquisitions by US tech companies of AI startups based in academia, the capital is emerging as a hub for young scientist-entrepreneursDeep in the heart of Imperial College, London, a computer is learning how to play Pac-Man. Like many humans, it struggles to get the hang of the classic 1980s video game at first. With time though, experience helps it decide which manoeuvres will allow it to evade the clutches of a relentless gang of animated ghosts.This is just one of dozens of artificial intelligence (AI) projects slowly transforming the UK into the global hub for a technology that elicits fascination and fear in equal measure. Continue reading...

On Friday, the News Corp founder signed off the microblogging service, possibly for ever, thus ending his run of making news simply by stating his opinionsAnother bitter blow for Twitter arrived on Friday as media baron Rupert Murdoch bid adieu to the microblogging service – or did he? On 4 March, the day of his wedding to actor-model Jerry Hall, Murdoch signed off thusly:No more tweets for ten days or ever! Feel like the luckiest AND happiest man in world. Continue reading...

It seems there’s no love lost between the Oculus Rift owner and Apple, but all Luckey wants is a Mac with a better graphics cardThe Venn diagram of “die-hard Mac users” and “virtual-reality gaming enthusiasts” presumably has a small crossover.Nonetheless, if you are in the middle section, we have some bad news: Palmer Luckey, the founder of Facebook’s VR subsidiary Oculus, doesn’t think much of your chances of getting high-end VR any time soon. And he’s getting mean about it. Continue reading...

Chief constable Stephen Kavanagh says scale of abuse could overwhelm police, as MPs prepare to introduce bill to update lawThe chief constable leading the fight against digital crime is calling for new legislation to tackle an “unimagined scale of online abuse” that he says is threatening to overwhelm the police service.Stephen Kavanagh, who heads Essex police, argues it is necessary to consolidate and simplify offences committed online to improve the chance of justice for tens of thousands of victims. Continue reading...

Links with no purpose other than adding a user on a different social network are ‘not the way our platform was intended to be used’, says owner, FacebookFacebook doesn’t often give the impression of being scared of anything, but it looks like the social network is a bit concerned about the potential for competition from Snapchat and Telegram.The two social networks have found themselves blacklisted from Facebook’s Instagram service, just weeks after Telegram also reported minor censorship among users of Facebook’s WhatsApp messenger. Continue reading...

The billionaire CTO of the rental website discusses his rigorous work ethic, its effect on his family life and how discovering a corpse won’t stop people using his siteHe’s a billionaire, but Nathan Blecharczyk still likes to host on Airbnb. He has a guest there right now, he says, though the guest doesn’t know who his host is. He is waking in Blecharczyk’s San Francisco home, unaware that the pleasant quarters with separate entrance and electronic locks belong to one of the three co-founders of Airbnb itself. Hopeful visitors, however, will struggle to discover Blecharczyk’s listing. “You’re not going to find me on the website very easily,” he warns. “For obvious reasons, I don’t want people to know where I live.”What, because some stalker might seek him out? Continue reading...