Chiefs from Coinbase, Ripple and Robinhood to strategize with president on how to make US crypto capital of world'Cryptocurrency industry elite met with Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss how the government will enact Trump's vision of making the country the crypto capital of the world". During the round-table summit, which had more than a dozen attendees, the president thanked each of his guests.High-IQ individuals around this table, high-IQ," Trump said. We feel like pioneers." Continue reading...
Paolo Ardoino - head of the world's most traded cryptocurrency, which is backed by Trump aide Howard Lutnick - claims Tether is benefiting the USPaolo Ardoino, CEO of the cryptocurrency company Tether, was flying over Switzerland last week as he contemplated the changing regulatory landscape.Tether used to be at war with the establishment. Now it is the establishment. Continue reading...
British Fallout' became the almost-instant sobriquet for this game when it was announced - but that doesn't capture the breadth of its scary influencesThe year is 1962 and you've just woken up in the shadow of the Windscale (now Sellafield) nuclear power station in Cumbria, five years after its catastrophic meltdown. Trapped in the sizeable quarantine zone surrounding the accident site, you must stay alive long enough to figure out how to escape - a task made rather more challenging by the presence of aggressive cultists, irradiated monsters and highly territorial terror bees. Imagine Stalker, but set in northern England, and you're edging towards what Oxford-based developer Rebellion has in store.Fallout may seem like another obvious inspiration for this irradiated game world, but after playing a two-hour demo, it's clear the game draws more from classic British sci-fi. Here you are, stuck in the picturesque Lake District, with its lush woodlands, gurgling rivers and dry-stone walls. But all around you are the burned-out remains of 1960s cars and tanks, abandoned farm buildings and odd sounds and symbols that suggest something extremely sinister is happening. The development team have mentioned Dr Who, The Wicker Man the novels of John Wyndham as key inspirations, and you can see it in the grubby dislocated scene all around you. Approach a phone box and pick up the ringing handset, and you may hear a disembodied voice warning you about an apparently friendly character you met up the road. Stray into a cave and a ghost-like monster comes at you, infecting you with a paranoid mind virus. This is very much the stuff of Quatermass and Jon Pertwee-era Who. Continue reading...
World's richest man has spent years trying to get Starlink into the fast-growing economy. It could serve as a beachhead for his other business ambitions in IndiaIt is easy to believe that Elon Musk's reach knows no limits. But while the world's richest man may control a space satellite empire, own one of the largest social media platforms, produce the world's bestselling electric car, and have been given carte blanche by Donald Trump to gut the US government, there is one market that Musk has yet to properly crack: India.Now, with his newfound influence over the Trump administration and global geopolitics, it appears likely that Musk's entrance into the Indian market, both with his Tesla electric cars and his Starlink satellite internet, may come smoother and faster than expected. Continue reading...
Once again Lara Croft has appeared near the top of an arbitrary list of the hottest video game characters - but when are we going to admit there's something about Luigi's eyes?Is Lara Croft hot? It's a question that's plagued our greatest minds for almost three decades. Yes, she appeared on the cover of the Face magazine next to the tagline bigger than Pammy" in 1997, and yes, in 2006 lad mag FHM created a whole TV special designed to find the real" tomb raider. But what does science say? In a world where American academics can't use the word women" without jeopardising their scientific funding, it's a relief that a gambling site called Casino Days is willing to do this important work, recently ranking The Top 10 Most Attractive Video Game Characters According to Science".Using the so-called golden ratio" - which determines how beautiful someone is by measuring their facial features - the company has found that Lara Croft is the second most attractive video game character in the virtual world. In a move that will finally leave women with nothing to complain about, first place goes to The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia. Continue reading...
A generation who came of age online now feel deprived of real connections. The upside is they are doing something about itIt's the love-hate relationship that defined a generation. We think we know all about teenagers and the phones to which they're so umbilically tied: sleeping with them under the pillow, panicking at the prospect of ever being denied wifi, so glued to the screen that they're oblivious to the world unfolding around them. Yet the first generation to have never really known a life without social media - the drug that primarily keeps them coming back to their phones for more - is now grown up enough to reflect on what it may have done to them, and the answers are almost enough to break your heart.Two-thirds of 16- to 24-year-olds think social media does more harm than good and three-quarters want tougher regulation to protect younger people from it, according to polling for the New Britain Project, a thinktank founded by a former teacher, Anna McShane. Half think they spent too much time on it when they were younger, with regret highest among those who started using social media youngest. And most tellingly of all, four in five say they'd keep their own children away from it for as long as they could if they became parents. This isn't how anyone talks about something they love, but how you look back on a relationship that was in retrospect making you miserable.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Boss says BBC News's reach is defying gravity' and it must use AI to support and accelerate our growth'BBC News is to create a new department that will use AI to give the public more personalised content, as its leader said the corporation had been defying gravity" in reaching audiences amid seismic changes in the way news is consumed.In a note to staff seen by the Guardian, Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, announced an overhaul of the organisation's structure, including the creation of a new department, BBC News growth, innovation and AI. It will have a particular focus on under-25s, amid a huge shift to news consumption on smartphones and on platforms such as TikTok. Continue reading...
AI is being used to recreate Charles Darwin talking about evolution and to reimagine Luton as a car - and teachers report students are more engagedCharles Darwin chatting with students about evolution, primary school pupils seeing their writing transformed into images, Luton reimagined as a cool automobile - artificial intelligence is invading schools across England in surprising ways.While Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, in January called for a digital revolution" involving AI in schools, it has already begun in places such as Willowdown primary school in Bridgwater, Somerset. Continue reading...
As Bafta launches a survey asking the public to nominate the most influential game of all time, we asked people from across games and culture for their picksAhead of the 21st Bafta games awards this April, the institution is running a public survey asking people to nominate the most influential video game of all time. As the survey points out, this is an open-ended question: early, groundbreaking titles such as Space Invaders and Pong regularly crop up as answers because they helped write the rules of the form, but on a personal level, the right game at the right time can be exceptionally influential, too. For players, it's often the games that made us feel differently about what games could do that feel the most influential. For a game designer, a film director, a writer or a musician, one particular game might inspire a whole creative era.Inspired by Bafta's survey, we asked people from across games and culture for their most influential game - and not one name cropped up twice. Continue reading...
Film-maker reacts after US president shares video on his Truth Social account last weekThe creator of the viral Trump Gaza" AI-generated video depicting the Gaza Strip as a Dubai-style paradise has said it was intended as a political satire of Trump's megalomaniac idea".The video - posted by Trump on his Truth Social account last week - depicts a family emerging from the wreckage of war-torn Gaza into a beachside resort town lined with skyscrapers. Trump is seen sipping cocktails with a topless Benjamin Netanyahu on sun loungers, while Elon Musk tears flatbread into dips. Continue reading...
New proposal calls for research instead of exclusion of under-16s from algorithms and mobile phone bans in schoolsA bill which campaigners hoped would ban addictive smartphone algorithms aimed at young teenagers has been watered down after opposition to tougher measures from the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, and the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson.The safer phones bill, a private member's bill from Labour MP Josh MacAlister, will come to the Commons on Friday. It had heavyweight cross-party backing from MPs and a string of child protection charities but will now commit the government to researching the issue further rather than immediate change. Continue reading...
Chair of wellbeing commission says countries should follow Denmark to halt digitalisation of children's livesThe whole of Europe should follow Denmark's lead by banning mobile phones from schools to stop them from being colonised by digital platforms", the chair of the country's wellbeing commission has said.Removing mobile phones from schools gave young people a pause" from online life, teaching them how to be part of analogue communities and train their attention spans, said Rasmus Meyer, who led the government commission to investigate growing dissatisfaction among children and young people. Continue reading...
CMA says tie-up does not qualify for an official investigation under Britain's merger control regimeThe UK's competition watchdog will not hold a formal investigation into Microsoft's partnership with the startup behind the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, stating that while the $2.9tn (2.3tn) tech company has material influence" over OpenAI it does not control it.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest financial backer with a $13bn investment, acquired material influence over the San Francisco-based business in 2019 but did not exercise de facto control over it - and therefore did not meet the threshold for an official inquiry. Continue reading...
The judge rejected Musk's request for a preliminary injunction but fast-tracked the dispute for a trialA US judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk's request for a preliminary injunction to pause OpenAI's transition to a for-profit model but agreed to hear a trial in the fall of this year, the latest turn in the high-stakes legal fight.The tech billionaire does not have the high burden required for a preliminary injunction" to block the conversion of OpenAI, said Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a US district judge in Oakland, California. Continue reading...
The PlayStation Portal offers a new way to play PS5 games at home or on the go. But it struggles to match the seamless gaming experience I yearn forHappy Monster Hunter Wilds week to all who celebrate: Capcom's thrilling action game has sold 8m units in three days, which means that quite a lot of you are likely to be playing it. I'm a huge fan of this series and am delighted by the latest entry, but after filing the review last week, I've barely had a minute to play it since it came out. Regular readers will know that this is a familiar problem for me: I have two kids, so my gaming time is tight, and the living room TV is very often in use.I anticipated this, so in the run-up to Monster Hunter Wilds' release, I spent 200 on a PlayStation Portal - essentially a screen sandwiched between two halves of a PlayStation 5 controller. I can't decide whether it's one of the most unwieldy things that Sony has ever come out with, or one of the most elegant. It lets me stream games from my PS5, so the console can be whirring away under the TV and I can be on the sofa with my little screen, swinging a transforming axe at a dreadful octopus. Continue reading...
How a group of Silicon Valley math prodigies, AI researchers and internet burnouts descended into an alleged violent cultYears before she became the peculiar central thread linking a double homicide in Pennsylvania, the fatal shooting of a federal agent in Vermont and the murder of an elderly landlord in California, a computer programmer bought a sailboat.The programmer was known to friends, foes and followers as Ziz. She had come to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016 as part of an influx of young people arriving to study the dangers that artificial intelligence could pose to humanity. Continue reading...
Sales of battery-powered cars jumped in February, with Model 3 and Model Y most popular after Mini CooperSales of Teslas in the UK rose by more than a fifth last month as demand for battery-powered cars increased, despite the prospect of a buyer backlash over Elon Musk's controversial and divisive behaviour since becoming a key figure in Donald Trump's administration.Almost 4,000 Teslas were sold in the UK in February, with the Model 3 and Model Y proving the second and third most popular after the Mini Cooper, according to the latest new car registration figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Continue reading...
Card game Balatro was a huge hit last year - but a year-long struggle with the European age ratings board has exposed how well-meaning rules can have unintended consequencesOver the last few months, the makers of a popular card game have been wrestling with the byzantine process that surrounds video game age classifications. Age ratings are intended to help parents determine whether or not a game is appropriate for their children. But in practice, an erroneous label doesn't just mislead consumers - it can be the difference between success or failure.Balatro is an award-winning poker game made by an anonymous game developer known as LocalThunk, in which the only guiding principle is chaos. In each match the player must divine the best possible poker hand out of a randomised draw, but the conditions fluctuate constantly. In one round, the game might prevent you from using an entire suit or junk all your face cards, while the next round might challenge you to achieve an eyebrow-raising score with only a single hand. As the game progresses, players accrue jokers for their deck that add yet more wild rules. Continue reading...
by Antonio Voce, Tural Ahmedzade and Ashley Kirk on (#6VPMB)
Europe is on high alert after a series of outages to cables and pipelines. This visual guide explains what happened and what's being done Continue reading...
Survey of bosses and staff finds that more than half of executives feel their organisation has no official AI planSome companies are stuck in neutral" in their approach to artificial intelligence, according to Microsoft's UK boss, who said a significant number of private and public sector organisations lack any formal AI strategy.A Microsoft survey of nearly 1,500 UK senior leaders across public and private sectors, as well as 1,440 employees, found that more than half of executives feel their organisation has no official AI plan. Roughly the same proportion report a growing gap in productivity - a measure of economic efficiency - between employees who use AI and those who do not. Continue reading...
Musk plans cost-cutting - and Americans will end up footing the bill; the business of immigration surveillance; and a fond farewell to SkypeHello, and welcome back. In this week's Techscape: the cost of Elon Musk's cost-cutting, the emotional shutdown of Skype, and a new documentary on immigration and surveillance.Donald Trump's administration could rack up a monumental" bill and is breaking the law by firing government workers on spurious grounds, according to a top labor lawyer.Officials have cited poor performance" when terminating thousands of federal workers. In many cases it's not true, according to employees embroiled in the blitz, many of whom are now seeking legal advice.I'm selling the Nazi mobile': Tesla owners offload cars after Elon Musk's fascist-style salutesTrump cabinet flunkies hail wannabe Caesar and Elon, his oligarch pal Continue reading...
With Trump's tariffs and DeepSeek's AI tech in the news, China waits to see how the Communist party plans to revitalise a stagnating economyAs thousands of delegates from across China arrive in Beijing this week to participate in the annual parliamentary session, there is a barely perceptible shift in the mood in the capital. Though few ordinary Chinese pay much attention to goings-on inside the Great Hall of the People, the imposing 1950s modernist building that flanks the western edge of Tiananmen Square, the ripple effects of this week's conclave can be felt across the city.Security is heightened. Extra uniformed personnel have been deployed to stand guard on Beijing's bridges - lest anyone attempt a stunt inspired by Peng Lifa's protest at Sitong Bridge ahead of the 20th party congress in 2022. Guards at busy subway stations subject commuters to random scans of their identification cards. Continue reading...
While millions live with regular blackouts and limited energy, plants are being built to satisfy the global demand for digital storage and processing - piling pressure on an already fragile systemThirty-six hours by boat from Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, Deodato Alves da Silva longs for enough electricity to keep his tucuma and cupuacu fruits fresh. These highly nutritious Amazonian superfoods are rich in antioxidants and vitamins, and serve as a main source of income for farmers in Silva's area. However, the lack of electricity to refrigerate the fruit makes it hard to sell their produce.Silva's fruit-growing operation is located in the village of Boa Frente, in Novo Aripuana municipality, one of Brazil's most energy-poor regions, where there is only one diesel-powered electricity generator working for a few hours a day. Continue reading...
Powered chiefly by enthusiasm and primitive publishing tech, these publications shaped the future of video games mediaIn the summer of 1985, I made the long pilgrimage from my home in Cheadle Hulme to London's glamorous Hammersmith Novotel for the Commodore computer show. As a 14-year-old gamer, this was a chance to play the latest titles and see some cool new joysticks, but I was also desperate to visit one particular exhibitor: the publisher Newsfield, home of the wildly popular games mags Crash and Zzap!64. By the time I arrived there was already a long queue of kids at the small stand and most of them were waiting to have their show programmes signed by reigning arcade game champion and Zzap reviewer, Julian Rignall. As an ardent subscriber, I can still remember the thrill of standing in that line, the latest copy of the mag clutched in my sweaty hands. I wouldn't feel this starstruck again until I met Sigourney Weaver a quarter of a century later.It turns out I'm not the only one who remembers that day. In his wonderful new book, The Games of a Lifetime, Rignall himself recalls the shock of being swamped by fans. We just didn't expect anything like that," he writes. I had no idea readers would be so interested in us. But I loved it." Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6VNPE)
Choose the speed that's right for you, beware of price rises at renewal time and consider ditching your landlineIn the age of true fibre broadband the speeds available can be tremendous - and providers often try to upsell people to expensive, higher-speed packages. One way to save money is to pay for only the speed you need. For most households a speed of 100Mbps is likely to be enough, although it depends on the number of people who will use the internet at the same time, the kinds of devices you use, whether you play online games and the services you require. Continue reading...
Insight' labeled the argument center-left' and created a reply insisting AI will make storytelling more democraticBeneath a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece about the dangers of artificial intelligence, there is now an AI-generated response about how AI will make storytelling more democratic.Some in the film world have met the arrival of generative AI tools with open arms. We and others see it as something deeply troubling on the horizon," the co-directors of the Archival Producers Alliance, Rachel Antell, Stephanie Jenkins and Jennifer Petrucelli, wrote on 1 March. Continue reading...
Fifteen years since Microsoft's motion-sensing gaming camera was released for the Xbox 360, artists, roboticists and more are still finding new ways to use itReleased in 2010 and bundled with the Xbox 360, the Kinect looked like the future - for a brief moment, at least. A camera that could detect your gestures and replicate them on-screen in a game, the Kinect allowed players to control video games with their bodies. It was initially a sensation, selling 1m units in its first 10 days; it remains the fastest-selling gaming peripheral ever.However, a lack of games, unreliable performance and a motion-control market already monopolised by the Nintendo Wii caused enthusiasm for the Kinect to quickly cool. Microsoft released a new version of the Kinect with the Xbox One in 2013, only for it to become an embarrassing flop; the Kinect line was unceremoniously discontinued in 2017. The Guardian reached out to multiple people involved in the development of the peripheral, all of whom declined to comment or did not wish to go on record. Instead, the people keenest to discuss Microsoft's motion-sensing camera never used it for gaming at all. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#6VMYM)
UN-commissioned study in UK, US, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand finds satisfaction rises with ageFor more than half a century, the midlife crisis has been a feature of western society. Fast cars, impulsive decisions, and peak misery between the age of 40 and 50. But all that is changing, according to experts.In a new paper commissioned by the UN, the leading academics Jean Twenge and David Blanchflower warn that a burgeoning youth mental health crisis in six English-speaking countries worldwide is upending the traditional pattern of happiness across our lifetimes. Continue reading...
Information Commissioner's Office says it aims to learn about wider market by looking into two sites plus ImgurTikTok is to be investigated by the UK's data protection watchdog, which is looking into whether social media algorithms are serving up inappropriate or harmful content to children.Growing concerns over how social media platforms are using data generated by children's online activity have prompted the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to launch an investigation into the Chinese platform, along with the forum site Reddit and the image-sharing site Imgur. Continue reading...
TUC says proposals on copyright and AI framework must go further to stop exploitation by rapacious tech bosses'Action is needed to protect workers in creative industries amid huge changes in technology and artificial intelligence, unions have urged.The TUC said there was an urgent need to put in place proper guardrails" for workers ranging from artists, writers and journalists to teachers and academics. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency slipped into technical bear market, before Donald Trump talked up plans for Crypto Strategic ReserveBitcoin has recorded its largest monthly loss since June 2022, pushing it into a bear market as the euphoria over cryptocurrencies after Donald Trump's election win faded, before the president pumped it up again on Sunday.The price of bitcoin fell by 17.5% in February, the biggest monthly drop since June 2022, and its 11th worst month in the last decade, as negative sentiment gripped financial markets. Continue reading...
Air fryers have taken over our kitchens, but which wins the crown for the crispiest cooking? Our expert peeled 5kg of potatoes to find out The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and testedAir fryers inspire the sort of feelings that microwaves did in the 1980s. I vividly remember those new-fangled boxes being spoken about often, either dismissively or with delight. A rash of cookbooks followed, and dinner changed across the land. Fast-forward a few decades and air fryers have become the same kind of kitchen disruptors", offering time-saving convenience and healthier cooking, but with the added allure of easily achieved, mouth-watering crispiness.Since launching with a single-drawer design, air fryers have evolved. Sizes range from compact to XL, while drawer configurations can be double, split or stacked. Alongside air frying, many will grill, roast and bake, and some will dip to lower temperatures for dehydrating, fermenting and proving dough. One we tested features steam cooking, allowing you to whip up dim sum as easily as a roast dinner, while another included racks for cooking on four levels.Best air fryer overall:
Dismissing 6,700 IRS workers during tax season is a recipe for chaos but AI's disruption will be much more widespreadThe Trump administration recently announced that it would be laying off approximately 6,700 workers at the Internal Revenue Service, about 8% of the people employed by the agency. Tens of thousands of federal employees at other agencies are also losing their jobs.The timing could not be worse. We're in the middle of the tax season with corporations and individuals facing filing deadlines in March and April. Millions of returns will need to be processed. Refunds will be due. Questions will need to be answered. But that's not all. Continue reading...
As AI grows increasingly prevalent, some are showing their children tools from ChatGPT to Dall-E to learn and bondJules White used to believe his 11-year-old son needed to know how to code to be successful. Now, though, the Vanderbilt computer science professor says it's more crucial for James to learn a new, more useful skill: how to prompt artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, White has been showing his son the ropes of generative AI. He began by demonstrating to James how ChatGPT can create games using photos of toys on the floor of their house. Later, White exposed him to AI's hallucinatory flaws by having his son debunk ChatGPT-generated world record claims with verified information from the Guinness Book of World Records. After more than two years of experimentation, White's son, now in fifth grade, has learned how to integrate AI into a range of everyday activities, from crafting study materials to determining the cost of shoes without a price tag. Continue reading...
Criminal justice specialists call for new approach to identify emerging type of murderer with no prior convictionsThe rise of 0 to 100" killers who go from watching torture, mutilation and beheading videos in their bedrooms to committing murder suggests there could be a link between extreme violence online and in real life, experts have said.Criminal justice experts advocated a new approach, inspired by counter-terrorism, to identify an emerging type of murderer with no prior convictions, after cases such as Nicholas Prosper, who killed his mother and siblings and planned a primary school massacre. Continue reading...
Potential uses for gadget could include online shopping, weight management and sensory testing, say researchersIf your colleague bores you to tears with pictures of their lunch, then a new gadget could make your life even worse.Scientists have developed a device to recreate the flavours of food and drink, allowing them to be shared remotely in a matter of seconds - but they have not yet cracked spicy food. Continue reading...
Internet calling service that disrupted landline industry to close in May as tech giant says it will focus on TeamsSkype will ring for the last time on 5 May as owner Microsoft retires the two-decade-old internet calling service that redefined how people connect across borders.Shutting down Skype will help Microsoft focus on its homegrown Teams service by simplifying its communication offerings, the office software giant said on Friday. Continue reading...
Users of Reels report feeds dominated by violent and graphic footage after apparent algorithm malfunctionMark Zuckerberg's Meta has apologised after Instagram users were subjected to a flood of violence, gore, animal abuse and dead bodies on their Reels feeds.Users reported the footage after an apparent malfunction in Instagram's algorithm, which curates what people see on the app. Continue reading...
Sora would not exist without its training data,' said peer Beeban Kidron, citing another level of urgency' to debateThe artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT has launched its video generation tool in the UK amid a deepening row between the tech sector and creative industries over copyright.Beeban Kidron, the film director and crossbench peer, said the introduction of OpenAI's Sora in the UK added another layer of urgency to the copyright debate", in a week the government faced strong criticism over its plans for letting AI firms use artists' work without permission. Continue reading...
From the raw materials required to the machines that make them, every part of the chip supply chain is fiercely contested in the global race for tech supremacyA small town in the Netherlands hosts the only factory that produces the only chip-making machines that generate a type of light found nowhere naturally on Earth: extreme ultraviolet, a light emitted by young stars in outer space.This light, known as EUV, is the only way to make one of the world's most valuable and important technologies at scale: cutting-edge semiconductor chips. The factory is forbidden from selling its EUV machines to China. Continue reading...
Geo Group, an Ice partner, is moving at unprecedented speed' to build out its monitoring, executive chair saysThe Geo Group, the largest single private contractor to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), said it was building out its surveillance business to be able to monitor hundreds of thousands or millions more immigrants than it already does.The Geo Group, a private prison corporation and parent company of BI Inc, has contracted with Ice for nearly 20 years to manage the agency's electronic monitoring program. It currently tracks approximately 186,000 immigrants using devices such as ankle monitors, smart watches and a facial recognition app, according to public Ice data. Due to increasing demand from Donald Trump's administration, which has promised mass deportations, company executives said that they expect that number to grow past its previous peak of 370,000 to 450,000 immigrants within the next year. The remarks were made during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday morning. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian