Technology | The Guardian

The community manager Victoria Taylor was abruptly let go from her job at the site, prompting a number of high-profile subforums to go dark in protestMany of the biggest subreddits on social news site Reddit have shut down to protest against the sacking of a well-liked employee.The so-called “Reddit Revolt” has seen the temporary closure of the site’s gaming, science, history, and cinema subforums by their volunteer moderators, with many more joining in. Continue reading...

Tech pioneer says he doesn’t recognise himself in Seth Rogen’s performance, but admits parts of the trailer for Danny Boyle’s Apple drama made him cry

Taking photos during public tours of the ‘People’s House’ is now allowed, a sign the Obamas believe the White House should be more open and accessibleThe lifting of the 40-year-old ban on taking photos during public tours of the White House on Wednesday led to a stream of filtered shots of the president’s mansion making their way to social media.Using #WhiteHouseTour - a hashtag promoted by the White House - visitors documented the inside of the “People’s House” for the first time in decades. Since Wednesday, more than 2,500 photos have been uploaded to Instagram under the hashtag.

GoFundMe page, which has since been removed, had asked for $5,000 in contributions after Charleston church shooting forced cancellationThe sister of the man suspected of killing nine people at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, briefly launched a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the lost costs of her wedding, which was canceled in the wake of the mass shooting.A GoFundMe page, which the company confirmed was created by Amber Roof, asks donors to help her and her fiance, Michael Tyo, gain a “fresh start” after their wedding was abruptly called off. Continue reading...

Residents of the Spanish town use Twitter for everything from reporting crimes to booking doctor’s appointments. Is this the future of local government?“The only things that the United States has given to the world are skyscrapers, jazz, and cocktails,” once wrote Federico García Lorca. “And in Cuba, in our America, they make much better cocktails.”The residents of Lorca’s hometown of Granada may now dare to add Twitter to that list. The California-based social network has become something of a specialism for the Spanish city, which now proudly promotes Jun, a local town pioneering Twitter as a way of administering its public services, and hosts an annual conference dedicated to Twitter. Continue reading...

Writers of shorter works could lose out on revenue as company’s Kindle Owners Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited no longer pay per copy downloaded

Minecraft in Education portal aims to get educators sharing tips on how Mojang’s popular game can be used to teach childrenMillions of children are already playing Minecraft at home, whether on computers, consoles or mobile devices. Now the game’s parent company Microsoft wants to encourage more teachers to use it in the classroom.Microsoft, which bought the game’s developer Mojang for $2.5bn in 2014, has launched a new site aimed at teachers, aiming to foster a community of educators swapping lesson plans and other tips based on Minecraft. Continue reading...

Social app’s latest update is designed to make long videos less annoying, but it’s also adding two-factor authentication to protect usersSocial app Snapchat hopes its 100 million daily active users will give the thumbs up... to spending less time holding their thumbs on their smartphone screens to see photos and videos.The company’s latest app update introduces a new “tap to view” control, which replaces the “press and hold” user interface that’s been used since Snapchat’s launch in 2011. Continue reading...

Contractor was setting up the stationary robot when it grabbed and crushed him against a metal plate at the plant in BaunatalA robot has killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen’s production plants in Germany, the automaker has said.The man died on Monday at the plant in Baunatal, about 100km (62 miles) north of Frankfurt, VW spokesman Heiko Hillwig said. Continue reading...

Social networking company doubled its number of African American employees in 2014 with 36 hires but proportion to total company barely changedFacebook has almost doubled its number of black employees, but African Americans still represent less than 1.5% of the social networking company’s 5,479 US employees, according to a report released on Wednesday.Mark Zuckerberg’s company hired 36 black employees last year out of a total headcount increase of 1,216. Continue reading...

In your article (Export bar imposed on John Logie Baird archive, 30 June), the culture minister, Ed Vaizey, is quoted as saying: “Britain led the world in the development of television technology in the 1920s, all due to the pioneering work of John Logie Baird and his colleagues.”While not wishing to diminish the contribution made by Logie Baird, I think it is unfortunate that Vaizey completely omits to mention the key role played in the development of television in this country by my grandfather, Sir Isaac Shoenberg. It was Shoenberg’s vision and leadership as director of research at EMI that guided his team of gifted electronic engineers in developing the high-definition television system, which was adopted in preference over Logie Baird’s system at Alexandra Palace in 1936 and which resulted later that year in the opening by the BBC of the world’s first public television service. Continue reading...

Mojang’s London conference will have 10k attendees, plenty of panels, a costume contest for fans and other surprisesMinecraft developer Mojang has published the schedule for this weekend’s Minecon conference in London: its gathering of more than 10,000 fans, partners and YouTube stars.Highlights include panels and live “let’s play” sessions featuring the creators of Minecraft-focused YouTube channels Stampy, The Diamond Minecart and Captain Sparklez, as well as sessions giving a glimpse at what’s next for Minecraft. Continue reading...

Those showing support online for the US supreme court’s decision to legalise same-sex unions have faced a barrage of criticismWhen Nabeel Khalid joined the 26 million people around the world to superimpose a rainbow flag over his Facebook profile picture, he did not expect a tirade of abuse for showing support for same-sex marriage.But the meme that swept the social networking site in the wake of last week’s decision by the US supreme court to legalise same-sex unions has not gone down well in Pakistan. Continue reading...

NaturalMotion claims it’ll be ‘not just the best-looking racing game on mobile, but the best-looking racing game full stop – including console’The original CSR Racing game was a big hit on mobile. After its release in 2012, it quickly sped to $12m of monthly revenues – a startling amount at the time, although less so now with Candy Crush Saga having made around $3.6m a day in 2014.Still, CSR Racing motored on to 130m downloads on iOS and Android, and was a big part of the reason why social games publisher Zynga paid $527m to acquire its British developer NaturalMotion in January 2014. Continue reading...

The BBC’s action betrays a wider ambivalence to the right to be forgotten. But they would do well to recognise the dangers of the internet’s perpetual presentThe BBC really doesn’t like the right to be forgotten. Director of editorial policy, David Jordan, has termed it “unsearching – an ugly word for an ugly process”. Big data advisor, James Leaton Gray, says it makes him nervous. And now Neil McIntosh, managing editor of BBC Online, has republished a list of 182 BBC links that have been partially obscured by Google over the past year, after Europe’s highest court commanded Google to start respecting European data protection law.Crucially, the BBC links are not removed from Google or the web, as McIntosh’s post misleadingly implied. Instead, as Google corrected, they are only delisted in a very selective way - from top search results on particular individuals’ names, where those individuals have made a solid case for obscurity. Continue reading...

The Greek PM and his finance minister have been live-tweeting the debt drama, but the eurozone is striking back in the social media onslaughtPoliticians aren’t particularly renowned for a strong game on social media. Whether it’s falling for parody accounts, tweeting their own names, or, er, offering free owls for all, it’s not often they get it right.Enter the Greeks. Never before has a government embroiled in one of the biggest global economic crises been so good at tweeting. We hear President Coolidge, for instance, was always screwing up his mentions. Continue reading...

Officials say increasingly severe national security situation necessitates the law, which has wide-ranging powers but few exact detailsChina has passed a wide-ranging national security law expanding its legal reach over the internet and even outer space as concerns grow about ever-tighter limits on rights.

Rev Jesse Jackson says black people are becoming ‘intolerant’ with companies like Twitter, which has exploited its large base of minority users for ad revenueTwitter employs just 49 black people out of a total US workforce of 2,910. The tiny number of African American staff – 35 men and 14 women – represents just 1.7% of Twitter’s US staff.

Can the plucky new upstart beat the music streaming market leader at its own game? A Spotify user puts Apple Music to the testI’ve always loved music. I used to spend hours making cassette compilations so I could play my CD singles in the car. Yes, this was another time (and indeed another place). Tapes were replaced by MiniDiscs (stop laughing please), then I joined the iPod generation.But I never really became a committed iTunes buyer, so when Spotify came along it was something of a revelation. Read about a new artist or a new album from a band I already know, go to Spotify and listen to it, all for no additional cost above the £9.99 a month I already pay. Repeat ad nauseam. Finding the time to listen to everything I’d like to is the real problem. Continue reading...

From its Zane Lowe-fronted radio station to the quasi–social network Connect, it’s a big day in Apple’s attempt to knock Spotify from its music-streaming perch. Nadia Khomami listens in to bring you her verdict

In interview before his last day in job, CEO says going public accelerated short-term-thinking, and regulation would pose threat to free speechThe outgoing chief executive of Twitter has said he underestimated the pressures that going public would place on the company and warned that his successor would nevertheless have to manage an increasingly complex set of geopolitical challenges as well as the demands of Wall Street.Speaking to the Guardian before his last day at the company on Wednesday, Dick Costolo said that while Twitter had grown revenue by 97% year on year to $1.7bn (£1.1bn), the pressure placed on the company obscured its other achievements in bringing 302 million monthly active users on to the service. Continue reading...

Streaming music service goes live with on-demand music, programmed playlists and live radio stationApple has launched its Apple Music streaming service, kicking off a three-month free trial with hopes of competing with entities as varied as Spotify, broadcast radio and Facebook.Apple Music was launched for iOS devices as part of the company’s iOS 8.4 software update, which was due to go live at 4pm BST. Continue reading...

Why no character classes and space battles? We put some of the key questions to the gaming company’s general manager, Patrick BachBattlefield is one of the most respected military shooters of the decade, and Star Wars is a reasonably well-known science fiction film. So when the developer of the former set out to make a game based on the latter it was always going to be controversial.Ever since its official unveiling at the Star Wars Experience event in April, gamers and movie fans have worried about Star Wars Battlefront, the multiplayer shooter based on the original trilogy. EA Dice has largely weathered that storm, producing a convincing E3 demo, based around the Hoth and Tatooine levels, but we put several lingering doubts to the studio’s general manager Patrick Bach. Here’s what he had to say. Continue reading...

From the Apple Watch, the Pebble Time and a raft of Google Android Wear watches, there are a lot to choose from. Here are the five best.Smartwatches are the hottest thing in technology right now. The little wrist-based screens are dragging timepieces into the 21st century and shifting the buzzing, binging and bonging of modern life away from our phones.The choice is staggering: from the high end luxury of the Apple Watch to Google’s growing army of Android Wear to the elegantly simplicity of the Pebble. But which one should you choose if you fancy joining the shift to wearables? Continue reading...

How can “sharing economy” enterprises, like taxi-finding scheme Uber, be “a throwback to … when villages used to share” based on personal trust, yet also generate Luddite protests of a similar pre-industrial mindset (Uber bears brunt of sharing economy backlash, 27 June)? Perhaps it’s because Uber et al are not unleashing “new sources of economic activity” at all. Isn’t it simply another corporate finance initiative (with a pre-flotation estimate of $17bn) to transfer income streams away from regulated trades and occupations to big business on the basis of more precarious, casual work?

Tom Blomfield’s Mondo is one of a number of new startups hoping to tap into customers’ increasing use of digital technology as branch use falls steeplyIt was 21 May, and a historic moment for Tom Blomfield. Stood at a cash machine in Clerkenwell, central London, the ambitious young entrepreneur withdrew money from a brand new account with a new bank at which he was the only customer.Five weeks later, Mondo has 30 customers testing its prototype account. Blomfield – a former management consultant now on his third business startup, all before the age of 30 – said a crunch meeting with the Bank of England on Wednesday would determine whether Mondo gets the formal go-ahead to apply for a banking licence. The full process would take another six months. Continue reading...

London mayor Boris Johnson announces the trial of all-electric bus on route 16 between Cricklewood and Victoria stationThe first fully electric London doubledecker bus will enter service in October, as transport authorities try to reduce the capital’s air pollution levels.Transport for London said the Chinese-built bus would be the the world’s first purpose-built electric doubledecker. Continue reading...

Proponents hope cryptocurrency could soar in value as Greeks try to find ways to keep their money safe and avoid currency controlsThe world is watching with bated breath as the Greek people consider how to vote in the country’s upcoming referendum. A yes vote on Sunday will see Greece accept the terms of the troika’s bailout, and commit itself to further austerity; a no vote will see the country taking the first step towards exiting the Euro entirely.But not everyone is afraid of the prospect of “Grexit”. For proponents of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, a shaky Mediterranean economy implementing capital controls amid the prospect of full-blown exit from the euro recalls halcyon days gone by. Continue reading...

Google’s urban innovation startup Sidewalk Labs has made its first big investment – turning NYC’s disused phone booths into 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspotsThe goal of free, high-speed internet for everyone in New York City has jumped much closer: Sidewalk Labs, the new Google-backed startup that was created last month to improve city life though technological innovation, has announced it is investing in a project to turn the city’s payphones into Wi-Fi hotspots.The company is among a group of investors acquiring two New York-based firms that have been leading the effort to turn disused payphones into 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and information kiosks, beginning later this year. In a stroke, it puts Sidewalk Labs – and, by proxy, Google – in the lead of the world’s highest-profile rollout of free, citywide Wi-Fi. Continue reading...

The web can be liberating for disabled adults – but a lack of training, accessibility and funding means the online world is a step too far for manyElaine suffers from depression and anxiety. A psychiatric nurse suggested that she learn how to use a computer to keep in contact with her family so that she didn’t feel so isolated. So Elaine decided to attend one-to-one tutorials at Cambridge Online. “I’m in my 50s. We didn’t have computers when I was at school, so it was quite a job to teach me. I didn’t even know how to use a keyboard and was afraid if I hit a wrong button, I would break it.”Since then she has learned how to type, use a search engine, send emails, save photos and make birthday cards by following the Tinder Foundation’s Learn My Way courses. “My family lives in Scotland, but because of the computer I was able to see my nephew’s fourth birthday pictures the next day. It’s opened up a whole new life for me. If I go online I can lose myself for quite a while and it stops my mind wandering and thinking about myself.” Continue reading...

The long-awaited streaming service from Apple goes live tomorrow. Will it be a smash hit?The new music streaming service from Apple – yep, it’s called Apple Music – goes live on Tuesday. Here’s everything you need to know.What is Apple Music? Continue reading...

Capcom is bringing its hack-n-slash classic to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but do improved visuals and new characters add enough to the bill?The arrival of a Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition on Playstation 4 and Xbox One is a welcome, though somewhat perplexing.Sure, Capcom’s slick hack-n-slasher was favourably received when it first arrived on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2008. This is a much-loved franchise, characterised by its frenetic, stylised gameplay, which is both satisfying to play and exciting to watch – not least because lead protagonist Dante remains one of gaming’s most suave and compelling characters. This enhanced edition of the fourth title in the series keeps the excellent combo-based and enthrallingly deep gameplay intact whilst updating the visuals to make it truly the best version of any of the original games. Continue reading...

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

Broadcaster to challenge YouTube kids, allowing children to watch The Cartoon Network, Disney and Nickelodeon on mobiles and tablets

PS3/4, Xbox One; Focus Home Interactive, cert: 3It takes a bold developer to tackle long-distance cycling as a subject matter. Arduous uphill climbs and hours in the peloton simply aren’t obvious elements for enthralling gameplay. But despite the challenges, Cyanide has crafted a surprisingly captivating game with Tour de France 2015, by offering a winning blend of strategy and racing.Asking the player to take teams through the titular contest’s stages, the experience swings between flashes of intensity akin to those in the most sincere and realistic motor racing titles and peculiarly meditative, protracted stretches of drifting through rural France. Continue reading...

Xbox One, PS4; 505 Games, cert: 18An anarchic injection of bonus content makes this team-based shooter a fun social experience for the, well, shall we say, morally flexible. As the masked Payday Gang, a group of violent crooks for hire, you blow chunks out of Washington DC for fun and profit. Most missions are riffs on “fend off the cops while getting away with filthy lucre”. This Xbox One and PS4 port gives you more – more guns, more missions, more crooks – including DLC crossovers with Hotline Miami and John Wick, while the ability to plan raids with a team makes a huge difference.You can dabble in different play styles, going in sneaky or guns blazing, but unfortunately some cracks haven’t really been papered over – certain parts still look last-gen, connections can be finicky and the bot AI is barely there. However, when it all comes together, with a full team that works well, there are many blasts to be had (and made). Continue reading...

3DS; Natsume, cert: 3In the hands of developer Natsume, the labyrinthine history of Harvest Moon takes a fresh turn. After 2013’s A New Beginning reboot, Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley develops things beyond a simple farm simulation to the rather grander story of placating the Harvest Goddess and restoring peace to the village.Nonetheless, planting, watering and tending crops, along with caring for animals, are still central; they result in goods to trade with townsfolk, which in turn develops relationships and uncovers specific tasks. Do well at these and a life partner can be won, as well as the prospect of having children. There’s also a nod to the Minecraft set, with The Lost Valley granting terrain sculpting for the first time. Shovel and hoe, flatten or raise farmland to create custom landscapes and more space to grow. Continue reading...

ACCC says falling number of customers using Telstra network, as it is replaced by NBN, should not be hit with sizeable cost of maintaining itThe competition watchdog has recommended that Telstra should cut the price it charges other telcos to access its copper wire network, which is likely to lead to lower phone and internet bills for consumers.Many of Telstra’s phone and internet rivals pay the telco giant to provide phone and broadband services via the Telstra network. Continue reading...

Human drivers may be the real cause of the vehicles’ recent fender benders: the cars keep getting rear-ended, perhaps because they distract usGoogle’s self-driving cars are having a rough time on the streets of Mountain View, California. But a look at the evidence suggests it’s human error and not robots that are to blame.In recent months, Google’s fleet of experimental self-driving cars have suffered five minor accidents while driving 200,000 miles around this sleepy Silicon Valley suburb. That is nearly ten times the national average for ‘property only’ fender benders, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Continue reading...

Half the size, twice as smart… Here’s the pick of today’s hottest superminisThere has never been a better time to buy a small car. The current crop of compact, ingenious, well-designed and super-economic vehicles are the best there has ever been. Manufacturers know that emerging electric and hybrid technology will dramatically change the cars we drive in the future, but this Class of 2015 proves that, until then, the dinky car can be frisky, frugal and a lot of fun to drive. Continue reading...

Site particularly aims to advise women and LGBT people after figures from Stonewall show 23% of LGBT pupils experienced cyberbullyingThe government has launched an anti-trolling website offering practical tips to people who find themselves the victims of online abuse on how to report the offence and where to seek help.The site is particularly aimed at women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, because they have suffered some of the most extreme online abuse since the explosion in use of social media. It explains how to identify abuse and get offensive content removed. Continue reading...

‘The emissions are roughly what you’d emit smoking a cigar. A cigar made of coal’Everything’s easy once you’re used to it, so I try not to mention how long I normally spend figuring out the touch screen in cars, even though that accounts for roughly a third of my life. The Golf GTE (Gran Turismo Electricity) is brilliantly intuitive. Its technology is remarkable and it has five operating modes: pure electric, electric plus, battery hold, battery charge and auto hybrid. If they hadn’t managed to mask all that and make it easy to use, I would still be sitting in the car right now, waiting to move.The battery life display is a bit boastful and unrealistic, constantly claiming 16 miles and going six, though obviously that doesn’t matter in a hybrid that you can just switch to battery charge (unlike next week: a little electric-car cliffhanger for you there). This exaggeration – the claimed combined cycle is a preposterous 166mpg, which I didn’t get anywhere near – is softened by ridiculous riders telling you that you make your own bed with your “driving style, speed, use of additional electrical consuming equipment, outside temperature, number of people in the car, driving style selection and topology”. What they really mean to say is, “There must be a way to guesstimate hybrid range, but we don’t yet know it.” Continue reading...

Cities around the world are banning Uber because of its lack of safety measures and knowledge, while licensed cabbies protest at the unfair competitionThe rapid global expansion of Uber has sparked interventions from taxi drivers and authorities around the world. “A city that welcomes Uber will be a better city,” said Uber chief executive, Travis Kalanick. Some cities and jurisdictions, disagree.Related: Uber backlash: taxi drivers' protests in Paris part of global revolt Continue reading...

Singer Courtney Love finds herself caught up in protests in Paris against the Uber ride app during a journey from Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday. Taxi drivers have been protesting against Uber because, they say, the facility undercuts their service. Love, 50, has criticised the French president in a series of tweets, claiming she would have been safer in Baghdad after her taxi became caught up in the protests Continue reading...

Singer gives permission for the LP to appear on the new Apple Music service after it reversed its decision not to pay artists royalties during its trial periodTaylor Swift has agreed to stream her album 1989 on Apple Music after the company reversed its decision not to pay artists royalties for the first three trial months their music is available on the company’s new streaming service.The pop star made the announcement on Twitter, writing: “After the events of this week, I’ve decided to put 1989 on Apple Music ... and happily so”. The artist and the company had traded tweets and blogposts over whether artists should be paid during the trial period. Continue reading...

Singer uses tweets to complain of her driver ‘being taken hostage’ during protests by taxi drivers in France against the Uber ride appCourtney Love has criticised the French president, François Hollande, claiming she would have been safer in Baghdad after her taxi became caught up in a protest in Paris against the Uber taxi app.paid some guys on motorcycles to sneak us out, got chased by a mob of taxi drivers who threw rocks, passed two police and they did nothing Continue reading...

The competition chief gave the company 10 weeks to respond to accusations of it favouring its own services in Google Shopping – so what is happening?

Developers claim flag was used in historical context, after company ban turn-based games over alledged ‘offensive and mean-spirited’ use of it

At this year’s Founders Forum the power hierarchies that make it so hard for female entrepreneurs to break through were on full display

Visual bookmarking service beefs up its UK team, although no confirmed launch yet for ads and shopping featuresSocial service Pinterest has doubled its number of users in the UK in the past year as Britons “pinned” 1.6bn items with DIY and recipes among their favourite topics.The US-based visual bookmarking site launched in 2010 and debuted a British-English version in 2013, with a London office focused on working with local brands and users. Continue reading...