Technology | The Guardian

Rogue tweet directed followers to ‘offensive’ picture but site did not seem to be running malware, force saysEssex police have launched a review of their online security after hackers hijacked their Twitter account and potentially directed thousands of the force’s online followers to an “offensive” picture.The force apologised to its 108,924 Twitter followers after the rogue tweet was sent out by a hacker on Friday morning. Continue reading...

Company confirms contact from someone claiming responsibility for attack that potentially compromised customers’ personal dataTalkTalk says it has received a ransom demand from an individual or group claiming responsibility for a cyber-attack that has potentially compromised the credit card and bank details of millions of customers.The telecommunications and media firm has said it does not know how many of its 4 million customers have been affected by what it called a “significant and sustained” attack on its systems. Continue reading...

Baroness Dido Harding, the chief executive of TalkTalk, confirms the company has been working to ensure all of its customers have been informed that their personal data may have been compromised following a cyber attack. Harding says that customers should be wary if they receive an unexpected phone call purporting to be from TalkTalk and asking for personal information. She says this call would not come from a TalkTalk representative, but rather someone who could be attempting identity theft

Customer’s internet connection hijacked by callers who knew his account number and threatened him as he tried to hang upHackers were using personal details in an attempt to scam TalkTalk customers nearly 24 hours before the cyber-attack was publicly revealed.Iain Frater, a trainee doctor from Glasgow, said he nearly fell victim to what he described as a “very convincing scam” on Wednesday morning, in which the perpetrators hijacked his internet connection and telephoned pretending to be from the broadband company. Continue reading...

While titles like Witcher 3 and Metal Gear Solid V have innovated on the open-world adventure, Syndicate is stuck in the past, in more ways than one2015 has been a transformative year for open-world games, with standout releases like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain revolutionising individual tenets of the genre, from narrative depth to mechanical breadth. Unfortunately, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is not one of those progressive titles, and instead of continuing this year’s trend of pushing toward higher expectations from triple-A blockbusters, Syndicate suffers from a litany of legacy issues that run the gamut from design to technical.With a new studio, Ubisoft Quebec, making its Assassin’s debut, Syndicate does occasionally suggest a desire to affect change in an annual juggernaut so large that it can barely be steered. However, the team seems essentially powerless when placed under such monumental time pressure. The small shifts toward better worlds, characters, and in particular sharper writing, get lost among problems that have pervaded the series since its peak in 2009. Continue reading...

Survey shows 52% of media companies across the world have suffered hackingWith TalkTalk having suffered a “significant and sustained” cyber-attack on its website, a timely piece of research reveals that similar threats loom over media outlets across the world.According to a global study carried out by Newscycle Solutions, 52% of news media companies it canvassed were either hacked or suffered a data breach from the beginning of 2014. A further 12% were uncertain if their businesses had been attacked or compromised. Continue reading...

If you are a TalkTalk customer, the company says to be aware of a heightened risk of financial crime and phishing attacksTalkTalk customers are being advised to keep an eye on their bank accounts for fraudulent activity, and to be particularly alert to the danger of “phishing” emails, after a large-scale hack at the telecoms firm.The company has not specified exactly what data was stolen from its servers, but says that the systems accessed contained information including: Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt’s Friday! Yay! Are any of you coming to GameCity?! Continue reading...

First Android 6.0 Marshmallow smartphone has excellent camera, fast fingerprint sensor, is light but battery only just lasts long enoughThe Nexus 5X is the smaller and cheaper of Google’s new flagship Android 6.0 Marshmallow smartphones, and is billed as the phone for everyone. It has a great camera, fingerprint sensor and 5.2in screen for £339.

Addition to controversial cybersecurity bill, which passed key Senate hurdle on Thursday, would lower barrier for US to pursue foreign nationals for cybercrimeAn amendment to a controversial cybersecurity bill will allow US courts to pursue and jail foreign nationals even if the crimes they commit are against other foreigners and on foreign soil.The main aim of the amendment to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (Cisa), which passed a key Senate hurdle on Thursday, is to lower the barrier for prosecuting crimes committed abroad. But the amended law would make it a crime punishable by US prison time not merely to clone the credit card or steal the Netflix password of an American citizen, but to take unauthorized information from any American company, no matter where it happens. Continue reading...

Its on-disc soundtrack may be more filler than killer, but backwards compatibility, solid instruments and wig-out solos make it awesomeIn the last decade, the phrase “social games” has come to represent a very specific gaming category. Initially, on Facebook with the likes of Zynga’s FarmVille, and then on mobile led by the ubiquitous Candy Crush Saga, it tends to mean casual games that are highly connected to social media sites.Yet video games have always been social. From Pong to Sensible Soccer to Mario Kart to World of Warcraft there have been titles that could be played alone, but were much more fun with friends. And perhaps the most joyful among them, were the ones that involved looning about with plastic instruments. Continue reading...

How pop star’s ‘twin who was locked in a basement her whole life’ captured the web’s creatives and fans with onslaught of Poot memes and Photoshop efforts

Explosion of 150 more emoji, including rude hand gesture, comes along with UK launch of Apple News and security updatesThe holy grail of emoji has arrived. After years of fudging angry faces, aubergines and fists together, now you can tell people how you really feel with just one character: a middle finger emoji.

Ösp’s PC gets going all by itself at around 3am. Can it be made to sleep through the night?

Newsfeed aggregator included in iOS 9.1 update features content from the BBC, Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Sun and Sky NewsApple’s News app has launched in the UK with a range of publisher partners including the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, Sun and Sky News.The Apple News app, which aims to aggregate digital news media, has launched with 14 UK newspaper and magazine publishers. Continue reading...

Company admits it struck ‘wrong tone’ with ad campaign highlighting hotel tax contributions of its users after it backfires

The place to talk about games and other things that matterA little late due to illness : ( Continue reading...

Google hopes shows from PewDiePie, Lilly Singh and The Fine Brothers will persuade YouTube viewers to pay $9.99 a month for premium accessYouTube has built its billion-viewer audience on the basis of free, ad-supported videos and a growing roster of digital stars. Now it hopes exclusive shows from some of the latter will persuade people to pay to access the service.YouTubers including Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, Lilly Singh, The Fine Brothers and Joey Graceffa are making new shows that will only be available on a new YouTube Red subscription tier. Continue reading...

Felix Kjellberg stars on US chat shows, is fighting off TV offers and has written his first book. But his online life remains top priorityWith 40 million fans, YouTube star Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg could have his pick of broadcasters if he decided to move into television. But the man whose channel has more than 10bn video views plans to stick with his online community.Television is just another promotional channel for his online work, rather than the next rung of the entertainment ladder, he argues. Continue reading...

‘I’ve never heard of what a Buzzfeed was,’ says Liberal senator during committee session about the foreign minister’s emoji-filled interview with the news siteRelated: Julie Bishop goes on emoji-fuelled late-night tweeting spreeLabor’s attempt to explore Julie Bishop’s views on Vladimir Putin ran into an unexpected obstacle during Thursday’s Senate estimates when a Liberal senator admitted he did not know what an emoji or “a Buzzfeed” was. Continue reading...

Publication follows the hacking of John Brennan’s email account on Monday, allegedly by high school students who call themselves Crackas With AttitudeWikiLeaks has released documents it said had been collected from CIA director John Brennan’s personal AOL account, the first in what the group said would be a series of publications.The personal email account of the US’s top spy was compromised by hackers who claimed to be high school students. Those hackers had threatened on Twitter to release the same documents. Continue reading...

CEO Jack Dorsey used Twitter’s annual developer conference to ‘reboot’ the company’s credentials, saying he would make sure its plans were transparentA confident, assured Jack Dorsey took the stage of Twitter’s annual developer conference in San Francisco and began his new reign with an apology. Two weeks into his reappointment as CEO, Dorsey used the opportunity to try to “reboot” relations with tech community.“I come to you today to apologise for our confusion,” he said, in his first big speech since his appointment last month. “Somewhere along the line our relationship with developers got complicated, confusing and unpredictable,” he told the Flight event at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Auditorium. “That culminated in what [entrepreneur and writer] Anil Dash named ‘the matrix of doom’ ... We want to reset our relationship and make sure that we are learning, listening and that we are rebooting.” Continue reading...

Failure to use available technology to cut dangerous nitrogen oxides in new cars is a ‘disgrace’, says MEPA modern diesel car pumps out more toxic pollution than a bus or heavy truck, according to new data, a situation described as a “disgrace” by one MEP.The revelation shows that effective technology to cut nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution exists, but that car manufacturers are not implementing it in realistic driving conditions. Continue reading...

Video-game events are usually about noise, crowds, darkness and heavily marketed blockbuster titles. But it doesn’t have to be that wayThis summer, the picturesque Birchcliffe Centre, a converted baptist church in the West Yorkshire village of Hebden Bridge, hosted an unusual festival. Guests danced across the sunlit floor to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach; they drank mugs of tea and watched talks. Outside, there was an “art walk” where attendees trudged up and down the muddy slopes, breathing in the scent of early summer flowers. There were nice places to eat, the village was welcoming. Everyone felt safe and included. Passers-by would perhaps not have guessed what people had come here to see and share. Video games.The event, named Feral Vector, was a conscious attempt by organiser David Hayward to fight both the “gravitational pull of London” as he puts it, and the popular image of what a gaming event is. From the cavernous E3 show in Los Angeles to the annual EGX, this year held at Birmingham’s NEC, the usual set-up involves a vast convention centre, near total darkness and a constant cacophony of competing sound systems. But not everyone feels comfortable in these aggressively noisy environments. As independent game designer Rob Fearon recently noted on his website: “We all deserve better.” Continue reading...

Hundreds of internet service providers have not yet submitted plans as they struggle to understand what is required of them in storing Australians’ metadataThe federal government has processed less than a third of data retention plans submitted by internet service providers, while hundreds more have not even put forward proposals, placing them in technical breach of the country’s metadata laws.The Attorney General’s Department has confirmed that of the 229 plans submitted by ISPs to show that they comply with the laws – which require them to collect and store the metadata – just 79 have been processed.

The NBN Co says it needs more copper to meet demand but prime minister says existing copper network is in much better condition than was expectedThe prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has defended the national broadband network’s purchase of 1,800km of copper to deliver his vision of fibre to the node.The company told a Senate estimates hearing it has so far purchased $14m worth of copper and will need more to meet future demand. Continue reading...

As fans worldwide celebrate the date depicted in cult 1989 film, Universal Studios, Nintendo and Pepsi also get on (hover)boardIt is the day that Back to the Future fans have waited 26 years for, the moment the real world finally catches up to the future world imagined in the second film of the time-travelling franchise.Related: Back to the Future day: live! Enjoy 21 October 2015 around the world Continue reading...

Many of the world’s top technology companies are against cybersecurity plans before US Senate on privacy grounds, according to a new pollTwenty-two of the world’s top technology companies are firmly against the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (Cisa) now on the floor of the Senate, according to a new poll by internet activists Fight for the Future.The poll lists Apple, Google, Twitter and Wikipedia as opposing the legislation while Comcast, HP, Cisco and Verizon are among the 12 companies who back or have remained silent on the bill. Cisa is aimed at tightening online security but has been criticised as infringing on civil liberties and privacy. Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence experts point to looming danger amid unpredictable technology and fears that technology could ‘seduce us into warfare’Experts in artificial intelligence, lawyers and activists organized by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots gathered at the United Nations on Tuesday to warn against a growing reliance on cheap drones and “stupid AI” that can be unpredictable in the real world.“Terminator always comes up,” Toby Walsh, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales, told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the sci-fi cyborg on a mission to wipe out mankind. “But it’s not really Terminator that we’re worried about at the moment. I think that Terminator is perhaps 50 or so years away.”

Company reports 6.4% revenue increase and also announces deal with Google to provide web search results and ads for some Yahoo user queriesYahoo reported another set of disappointing results on Tuesday as the tech company inked a deal with Google over search ads.In another blow to boss Marissa Mayer’s efforts to turn around the tech company, Yahoo reported an 6.4% increase in revenues for the three months ending in September, below analysts’ forecasts.

New all-metal Android 6.0 Marshmallow device comes bearing resemblance to iPhone 6S as Taiwanese company decides to tackle Apple head-onHTC has decided that the best way to win in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung is to try and beat Apple at its own game, with the One A9.

Audit by Irish data protection watchdog over alleged transfer of European data to US by Facebook follows three-year campaign and ECJ rulingFacebook’s European privacy practices are to be investigated by the Irish data protection watchdog, after a three-year legal fight by Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems.The high court in Dublin quashed the Irish data protection commissioner’s original refusal to examine Schrems’ complaint over the alleged movement of his data outside of Europe by Facebook after referring the case to the European court of justice. Continue reading...

The Senate is currently debating a bill that would give the government huge amounts of your private information. But this would make hacks more likely

Shiv Kumar Yadav attacked 25-year-old woman in case that led to accusations of inadequate background checks on driversAn Uber taxi driver has been convicted of raping a female passenger in Delhi last year, a case that sparked fresh fears in a city plagued by sexual violence.Uber was banned from operating in India’s capital in the aftermath of the attack, which led to accusations that the company failed to conduct adequate background checks, although the ban has never been fully enforced. Continue reading...

Taxi-hailing app is latest company to risk public anger but says tax figure due reflects accounting losses in previous yearsUber is the latest company to risk public anger after paying £22,134 in UK corporation tax last year despite making an £866,000 profit.The online taxi-hailing service was reportedly able to pay such a low sum as it legally transferred profits to its sister company in the Netherlands, where it would be liable for a lower rate of tax. Continue reading...

Publisher to distribute more than a million cardboard virtual reality headsets to NYT subscribers

The apps, mostly used by Chinese users, pulled private information from iPhones due to having used a malicious advertising toolkitApple has removed 250 apps from its store after discovering a widely-used advertising network was siphoning off private information such as email addresses in breach of the company’s policies.The apps, which are largely from Chinese-based developers, all used a software development kit (SDK) called Youmi to build in advertising. But, apparently unknown to the developers, Youmi also built in code that would steal user data and upload it to Youmi’s own servers. Continue reading...

#PowerShift looks at power of social media in series commissioned out of AOL/HuffPo’s UK operation and starring actor who plays Sansa Stark in HBO hitThe Huffington Post has commissioned a new web docu-series starring Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner.Turner, who plays Sansa Stark in the hit HBO series which airs on Sky in the UK, will host a 10-part series called #PowerShift which will look at the power of social media. Continue reading...

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

New audio device does for speakers what Google’s Chromecast TV dongle did for smart television with great audio quality and simple setupThe Chromecast Audio is Google’s wireless streaming dongle that turns almost any speaker into an internet-connected one.

FAA chief cites ‘troubling trend’ of close calls with pilots and wildfire-fighting operations in creating taskforce to determine regulation of private dronesHobbyist drone owners have flown too close to the fire for the last time: the US government announced this morning that it would require some publicly available drone aircraft to be registered to their owners, a move prompted by the growing number of reported close calls and incidents that pose safety risks, officials announced Monday.The goal, said transportation secretary Anthony Foxx, was to identify exactly who was using what drone, and where. “Finding the drone has not been as much of a problem as finding the person who was using the drone,” said Foxx. Continue reading...

Plans for new Essex plant alarm conservationists and come on top of worries about security implications of China’s involvement in UK nuclear industryConservation charities have expressed alarm at plans for a Chinese-built nuclear power station in Essex, with one saying the plant could have “major impacts” on the estuary location, a haven for birds and marine life.The new reactor in Bradwell, on the heavily protected Blackwater estuary, east of Chelmsford, could be confirmed this week during a state visit to Britain by China’s president, Xi Jinping. Continue reading...

Online retailer senior vice president claims newspaper failed to check backgrounds of sources and misled company about focus of articleAmazon has launched a scathing attack on the New York Times’ exposé of a “bruising” work culture at the online retailer, claiming the paper’s journalists failed to check facts and verify their sources.

The social network will now explicitly warn users it fears are being targeted by state-sponsored hackersFacebook will explicitly notify users it believes have been targeted by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation state, the company has announced.Users whose accounts are targeted or compromised by state-sponsored hackers will now receive a notification upon login, warning them that “we believe your Facebook account and your other online accounts may be the target of attacks from state-sponsored actors”. Continue reading...

Writer and broadcaster Julia Hardy was depressed and angered by the comments she received on Twitter and YouTube, so she set out to do something about itI never really thought about being a woman as an “issue” until I worked in video games. Admittedly, I arrived in 2006, when the idea of social media was just taking off thanks to the explosive growth of MySpace and the arrival of YouTube. Out of nowhere, there were these vast communication platforms offering exciting new dialogues, fascinating exchanges of thought and … masses of depressing and upsetting vitriol.It was only when I hosted GameFace, a video game TV show on Bravo, that I became aware that, as a visible woman in this culture, you can be subjected to torrents of spiteful abuse – as well as endless commentary on your physical appearance. Admittedly, I first discovered this through a serious rookie error: I googled myself, just to see how the new show was being received. It was a truly mortifying experience. Continue reading...

Unsettling undersea machinations inspired by Philip K Dick, enjoyably unadorned robot combat and… interior designFrom Amnesia to Total Recall, indie horror darling Frictional takes you to the bottom of the sea in this trans-human mind-bender. Simon undergoes an experimental medical procedure after suffering life-threatening brain damage, only to wake on Pathos-II, a research facility under the ocean. Stalked by murderous machines and confronted with questions of morality and the nature of life, Simon has to rely on stealth and his wits to survive. But is any of it real? Continue reading...

Cocoon uses a microphone to detect sounds outside of the hearing range of humans to alert you to intrudersAs history has it, the young Isaac Newton found inspiration for the theory of gravity by watching apples fall to the ground. Dan Conlon’s big idea was born after smashing the bell box of a faulty alarm system off the side of his house in the early hours of the morning as the ringing kept the neighbourhood awake.

She had agreed to settle his monthly charges by direct debit. But no one told her he’d been sent multiple handsetsA Cheshire parent has had to pay out more than £2,000 after Vodafone gave eight expensive mobile handsets to her 21-year-old son in a case that will alarm parents who pay their grown-up children’s mobile bills.Claire Hardwick is paying her unemployed son Nick’s monthly bill by direct debit because his severe learning difficulties mean he is unable to manage a bank account. But she has been left unable to afford this month’s mortgage payment after it turned out Nick had persuaded Vodafone to send him a string of mobile phones worth thousands of pounds over just a few weeks. Continue reading...

Government can’t be trusted to store data safely, our readers say, but the public’s sense of what is private is shiftingThere have been few public disclosures to put privacy and surveillance on the agenda as much as Edward Snowden in June 2013. Yet outside the technology industry and surveillance community itself, how much impact did the story make, and what have been the wider implications for citizens and their attitudes to online privacy?We asked Guardian readers whether they felt happy to trade off online privacy for online security. And what about private companies; is it a fair exchange if they use our personal data to allow them to make better products and services? Continue reading...