Technology | The Guardian

The vibrant colours of Lagos take centre stage in this bold image by the Nigerian photographerWhen location scouting for this shoot, KamzyNuel was primarily hunting for colour. He settled on the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria. There are so many vibrant colours around, giving room to have as much as possible in the frame to work with," theNigerian photographer says.Hoping to portray afine blend of modernism and culture" in the styling, Nuel chose the red and yellow outfit for his muse, Kommie, a professional model. This was the pair's first time working together; they have since become friends. She's a great person," Nuel says, and she loved the departure from traditional portraiture." Continue reading...

Recent controversies, including Civil War posters and altered photos in a Netflix documentary, have led to concern over the growing use of artificial intelligence on screenThough last year's writers' and actors' strikes in Hollywood were about myriad factors, fair compensation and residual payments among them, one concern rose far above the others: the encroachment of generative AI - the type that can produce text, images and video - on people's livelihoods. The use of generative AI in the content we watch, from film to television to large swaths of internet garbage, was a foregone conclusion; Pandora's box has been opened. But the rallying cry, at the time, was that any protection secured against companies using AI to cut corners was a win, even if only for a three-year contract, as the development, deployment and adoption of this technology will be so swift.That was no bluster. In the mere months since the writers' and actors' guilds made historic deals with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the average social media user has almost certainly encountered AI-generated material, whether they realized it or not. Efforts to curb pornographic AI deepfakes of celebrities have reached the notoriously recalcitrant and obtuse US Congress. The internet is now so rife with misinformation and conspiracies, and the existence of generative AI has so shredded what remained of shared reality, that a Kate Middleton AI deepfake video seemed, to many, a not unreasonable conclusion. (For the record, it was real.) Hollywood executives have already tested OpenAI's forthcoming text-to-video program Sora, which caused the producer Tyler Perry to halt an $800m expansion of his studios in Atlanta because jobs are going to be lost". Continue reading...

Nick Bostrom's Future of Humanity Institute closed this week in what Swedish-born philosopher says was death by bureaucracy'Oxford University this week shut down an academic institute run by one of Elon Musk's favorite philosophers. The Future of Humanity Institute, dedicated to the long-termism movement and other Silicon Valley-endorsed ideas such as effective altruism, closed this week after 19 years of operation. Musk had donated 1m to the FHI in 2015 through a sister organization to research the threat of artificial intelligence. He had also boosted the ideas of its leader for nearly a decade on X, formerly Twitter.The center was run by Nick Bostrom, a Swedish-born philosopher whose writings about the long-term threat of AI replacing humanity turned him into a celebrity figure among the tech elite and routinely landed him on lists of top global thinkers. Sam Altman of OpenAI, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Musk all wrote blurbs for his 2014 bestselling book Superintelligence. Continue reading...

US officials say pedal pad could come loose and get lodged in interior trim, causing vehicle to accelerate unintentionallyTesla is recalling all 3,878 Cybertrucks it has shipped since the vehicle was released in late 2023, according to a Friday filing from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), following reports of a faulty accelerator pedal.Cybertruck owners reported the vehicle's accelerator pedal pad could come loose and get lodged in the interior trim, causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, and increasing the risk of a crash, the auto safety regulator said in a notice. Continue reading...

Volt Typhoon hacking campaign is waiting for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow', says Christopher WrayChinese government-linked hackers have burrowed into US critical infrastructure and are waiting for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow", the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has warned.An ongoing Chinese hacking campaign known as Volt Typhoon has successfully gained access to numerous American companies in telecommunications, energy, water and other critical sectors, with 23 pipeline operators targeted, Wray said in a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday. Continue reading...

Todd Baker composed the soundtrack for the indie puzzler as he was living through the loss of his mother. On the series' 10th anniversary, he reflects on the experienceThe part where the mother and child are separated on a red mountain, in a level quite early on in the game where you have to get back to the mother and find her ... I was completing the sound design and music for that in a hospital, right beside my mum when she was sleeping, recovering from open heart surgery."Todd Baker pauses for a second. He is recalling the development process of 2017's Monument Valley 2, an indie puzzler, the highly anticipated follow-up to the one of the biggest success stories in mobile game history. The second game is more experimental than the first; it has more of a story, which in turn changed its feel. Whereas the first title is all optical illusions and impossible objects, the sequel moves away from MC Escher-inspired towers and spires and towards non-Euclidean geometry and brutalism. Continue reading...

Process has coincided with a rise in price in the past and is due to take place again on SaturdaySatoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, still has an influence on the cryptocurrency nearly 14 years after disappearing.This week the protocol designed by Nakamoto - an individual or group of individuals who went silent in December 2010 - will trigger what is known as a bitcoin halving", a process that has coincided with price increases in the past. The latest halving is expected to take place on Saturday. Continue reading...

Campaigners express concern at new Ofcom figures, which also show that half of under-13s are on social mediaA quarter of three- and four-year-olds in the UK now own a smartphone, while half of children under 13 are on social media, according to new data that comes as ministers consider banning all children under 16 from owning a mobile phone.The figures, from the communications regulator Ofcom, show high and rising rates of online activity by children of infant-school age, with 38% of five- to seven-year-olds using social media, compared with 30% a year ago, and 76% of them using a tablet. Continue reading...

Jonathan Hall, Britain's reviewer of terrorism legislation, says more children could be exposed to encrypted extremist contentThe UK's terror watchdog has criticised Mark Zuckerberg's Meta for lowering the minimum age for WhatsApp users from 16 to 13, warning that the extraordinary" move could expose more teenagers to extreme content.Jonathan Hall KC said more children could now access material that Meta cannot regulate, including content related to terror or sexual exploitation. Continue reading...

Tech firm released early versions of its latest large language model and a real-time image generator as it tries to catch up to OpenAIMeta Platforms on Thursday released early versions of its latest large language model, Llama 3, and an image generator that updates pictures in real time while users type prompts, as it races to catch up to generative AI market leader OpenAI.The models will be integrated into virtual assistant Meta AI, which the company is pitching as the most sophisticated of its free-to-use peers. The assistant will be given more prominent billing within Meta's Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger apps as well as a new standalone website that positions it to compete more directly with Microsoft-backed OpenAI's breakout hit ChatGPT. Continue reading...

Google workers linked to No Tech for Apartheid denounce flagrant act of retaliation' in dispute over $1.2bn cloud contractGoogle said on Thursday it had terminated 28 employees after some staff participated in protests against the company's cloud contract with the Israeli government. Employees staged sit-ins at their offices, some for more than eight hours.The Alphabet unit said a small number of pro-Palestine employees entered and disrupted work at a few unspecified office locations. They occupied the office of the chief technology officer of Google Cloud and held posters reading No cloud apartheid", Googlers against genocide" and Don't be evil, stop retaliation", a reference to Google's former corporate slogan. Continue reading...

Rory Gallagher | Jim Perrin's Country Diary | Tory vacuum | A clear conscience | Smartphone addictionNice to see Andy Welch's article on the Fender Stratocaster reaching the age of 70 (With a Strat you can rule the world!' Nile Rodgers, Bonnie Raitt and John Squire on the electric guitar that changed everything, 10 April). It's a shame he omitted to mention the late Irish blues guitarist RoryGallagher, who played what was - and is - arguably the most iconically road-worn Stratocaster ever. He was a shy and modest musician, and remains underrated. When Jimi Hendrix was asked what it felt like to be the best guitarist in the world, he replied: Idon't know, ask Rory Gallagher."

We'd like to hear from people who have made a booking for accommodation on an online travel platform, only for their host to cancel it at the last minuteWe're interested in hearing from people who have made a booking for accommodation on an online travel platform, only for their host to cancel it at the last minute.Earlier this year, Taylor Swift fans in Australia were left without accommodation after Airbnb hosts cancelled their bookings. Airbnb's host cancellation policy" does not seem to have deterred hosts from then relisting their properties at a higher price. Has something similar happened to you? Are you a Swiftie whose plans to watch her European tour have been affected? Or have you made plans for a holiday elsewhere or another trip that have been thrown into disarray by a host's cancellation? Continue reading...

iPad/iPhone, Nintendo Switch (version tested), PC; Nerial/Devolver Digital

Funky transparent design backed by good sound and noise cancelling make these budget buds winnersThe tech firm Nothing's latest set of cut-price Bluetooth earbuds offer great sound and noise cancelling for an even more competitive price, while continuing to stand out from the crowd through cool design.The London-based firm has launched the budget Ear (a), which keep almost everything that was great about previous Nothing earbuds and cost 99 (99/$99). That is 30 less than its previous offering and the new 129 (149/$149) Ear, which offer a few more customisations for sound and other features. Continue reading...

In this week's newsletter: Alice Levine's The Price of Paradise follows the story of Jayne Gaskin, and the Caribbean island that wasn't all it seemed. Plus: five of the best bad movie podcasts Don't get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe Price of Paradise

LabHost enabled users to set up websites designed to trick victims into revealing personal information - with 70,000 allegedly duped in the UKUniversity students have turned to cyber fraud to boost their income, police have said, as they revealed they have infiltrated a huge phishing site on the dark web responsible for scamming tens of thousands of people.The site called LabHost was active since 2021 and was a cyber fraud superstore, allowing users to produce realistic-looking websites from household names such as the big banks, ensnaring victims around the world including 70,000 in the UK. Continue reading...

European Commission has concerns about app's impact on children, as well as addictionThe EU has given TikTok 24 hours to provide a risk assessment over a new service it has launched amid concerns it could encourage children to become addicted to videos on the platform.The watch-and-get-rewarded application, TikTok Lite, launched in France and Spain this month, in effect offers users prizes such as Amazon vouchers, gift cards via PayPal or TikTok's Coins currency for points earned through tasks". Continue reading...

Delaware court in nullified compensation deal based on carmaker's market value in January, calling it unfathomable sum'Tesla on Wednesday asked its shareholders to once again approve CEO Elon Musks record-breaking $56bn pay that was set in 2018. A Delaware judge rejected the pay package in January, calling it excessive and saying the company's board failed to justify it.The compensation includes no salary or cash bonus, but sets rewards based on Tesla's market value rising to as much as $650bn over the next 10 years. Tesla is now valued at over $500bn, according to LSEG data. Continue reading...

Adults should stop setting a bad example to young people, says Nisha GandhiLike most articles on smartphone usage, your editorial (10 April) discusses phone addiction among young people. This strikes me as hypocritical because, in my experience, adults look at their phones just as much as, or perhaps even more than, children.Most adults I know have their phone in their line of sight at all times. My 60-year-old mother, who used to scold me in my teens for always being on my laptop, recently confessed to being addicted to YouTube. I remember one article about parents being told to stop looking at their phones and pay attention totheir children instead. Continue reading...

More children and families extorted with AI-made photos and videos, says National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrenChild sexual exploitation is on the rise online and taking new forms such as images and videos generated by artificial intelligence, according to an annual assessment released on Tuesday by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a US-based clearinghouse for the reporting of child sexual abuse material.Reports to the NCMEC of child abuse online rose by more than 12% in 2023 compared with the previous year, surpassing 36.2m reports, the organization said in its annual CyberTipline report. The majority of tips received were related to the circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) such as photos and videos, but there was also an increase in reports of financial sexual extortion, when an online predator lures a child into sending nude images or videos and then demands money. Continue reading...

Workers in Africa have been exploited first by being paid a pittance to help make chatbots, then by having their own words become AI-ese. Plus, new AI gadgets are coming for your smartphones Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereWe're witnessing the birth of AI-ese, and it's not what anyone could have guessed. Let's delve deeper.If you've spent enough time using AI assistants, you'll have noticed a certain quality to the responses generated. Without a concerted effort to break the systems out of their default register, the text they spit out is, while grammatically and semantically sound, ineffably generated.The images pop up in Mophat Okinyi's mind when he's alone, or when he's about to sleep. Okinyi, a former content moderator for OpenAI's ChatGPT in Nairobi, Kenya, is one of four people in that role who have filed a petition to the Kenyan government calling for an investigation into what they describe as exploitative conditions for contractors reviewing the content that powers artificial intelligence programs. Continue reading...

Fourteen years in the making, this character-driven sci-fi tale is a wonder of technology and imagination so texturally convincing you'll want to touch itTicktock, ticktock. In the dripping confines of the Fedora 1, an aquatic space colony of exquisite retro-futuristic design, it's not water but time that exerts an unmistakable pressure on inhabitants. A cataclysmic meteor looms on the horizon, threatening to wipe them all out. But this cast of lovably eccentric characters, including the titular Harold, hurry for no one, preferring to amble about their days while staring down the barrel of cosmic disaster.It's fitting that an adventure game as laid back in pacing as Harold Halibut should have been made by a team with a similarly leisurely approach to time. Fourteen years have passed since game director Onat Hekimoglu had the initial idea, while studying for an MA at Cologne Game Lab. Back then, it was a strange point-and-click adventure with earthy stop-motion visuals. Elements of that version persist today, namely protagonist Harold, a depressed caretaker who spends his days gazing out at the sea. But the intervening years have seen it become more mechanically refined, narratively expansive and visually beautiful. Continue reading...

Firms such as Serco and Virgin Active pull facial recognition and fingerprint scan systems used to monitor staff attendanceDozens of companies including national leisure centre chains are reviewing or pulling facial recognition technology and fingerprint scanning used to monitor staff attendance after a clampdown by the UK's data watchdog.In February, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ordered a Serco subsidiary to stop using biometrics to monitor the attendance of staff at leisure centres it operates and also issued more stringent guidance on the use of facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. Continue reading...

Offenders could face jail if image is widely shared under proposed amendment to criminal justice billCreating a sexually explicit deepfake" image is to be made an offence under a new law, the Ministry of Justice has announced.Under the legislation, anyone who creates such an image without consent will face a criminal record and an unlimited fine. They could also face jail if the image is shared more widely. Continue reading...

If the experience of robot-served fast-food dining is any indication, the future of sex robots is going to be very unpleasantOn 1 April, the same day California's new $20 hourly minimum wage for fast-food workers went into effect, a new restaurant opened in north-east Los Angeles that was conspicuously light on human staff.CaliExpress by Flippy claims to be the world's first fully autonomous restaurant, using a system of AI-powered robots to churn out fast-food burgers and fries. A small number of humans are still required to push the buttons on the machines and assemble the burgers and toppings, but the companies involved tout that using their technology could cut labor costs, perhaps dramatically. Eat the future," they offer. Continue reading...

Owner of Al Condominio in Verona says response to the initiative during meals has been very positiveAn Italian restaurant is offering a free bottle of wine to customers who relinquish their mobile phones during meals.Angelo Lella, the owner of Al Condominio, a restaurant that opened in the northern city of Verona in March, said the aim was to encourage diners chat to each other instead of constantly glancing at their phones. Continue reading...

Tech giant is protesting proposed law that would require large online platforms to pay journalism usage fee'Google has temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results in response to the advancement of a bill that would require tech companies to pay publications for links that articles share. The change applies only to some people using Google in California, though it is not clear how many.The California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) would require large online platforms to pay a journalism usage fee" for linking to news sites based in the Golden state. The bill cleared the California assembly in 2023. To become law, it would need to pass in the senate before being signed by the governor, Gavin Newsom. Continue reading...

Shares of Truth Social parent company have fallen 60% since March market debut as ex-president under financial pressureShares of the former president Donald Trump's social media company slumped 12% on Monday, extending their string of losses, after the company said in a regulatory filing that it could sell millions of additional shares in coming months.The filing showed a potential sale of 146.1m shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, including 114.8m shares owned by Trump himself. Documents also listed an additional 21.5m shares that could be sold upon the exercise of certain warrants issued when the company went public through a blank-check merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Continue reading...

Nine states are hashing out bills to protect minors online. Tech companies are fighting the laws with everything they've gotOn 6 April, Maryland became the first state in the US to pass a Kids Code" bill, which aims to prevent tech companies from collecting predatory data from children and using design features that could cause them harm. Vermont's legislature held its final hearing before a full vote on its Kids Code bill on 11 April. The measures are the latest in a salvo of proposed policies that, in the absence of federal rules, have made state capitols a major battlefield in the war between parents and child advocates, who lament that there are too few protections for minors online, and Silicon Valley tech companies, who protest that the recommended restrictions would hobble both business and free speech.Known as Age-Appropriate Design Code or Kids Code bills, these measures call for special data safeguards for underage users online as well as blanket prohibitions on children under certain ages using social media. Maryland's measure passed with unanimous votes in its house and senate. Continue reading...

The director of the Fallout TV series and the director of the modern Fallout video games sit down together to talk about the audacity of video-game storytelling and hope in a post-apocalyptic wastelandIf you had asked director Jonathan Nolan what his favourite film of the year was in the late 00s, more often than not he would have given you the name of a video game instead. Having grown up with the entire history of the medium - I started playing Pong with my brother Chris many, many years ago - that was when games started to take on this level of audacity in their storytelling, their tone, the things they were doing," he says. That's what I felt with [2008's] Fallout 3: the audacity. Frankly I wasn't feeling that in the film and television business at that time."Nolan, who has just finished directing the first series of Amazon Prime's Fallout TV show, is sitting next to Todd Howard, the video-game director who led development on Fallout 3 and 4, talking to me a few hours before the premiere of the first two episodes. It is evident within minutes that Nolan understands games almost as well as Todd does. He says he's drawn to games where your options are open, you decide who you want to be and your decisions have an effect on the world around you: in other words, a game like Todd Howard's. The two come across like old friends, easy in each other's company, and enthusiastic about each other's work. Continue reading...

Billionaire says there is nothing I hate more' than cutting staff as more than 10% of workforce to be affected

South Korean firm regains pole position amid biggest drop in iPhone sales since Covid-19 lockdownsApple has lost its spot as the world's biggest mobile phone seller after a steep sales drop as South Korean rival Samsung retook the lead in the global market share.Samsung had been the biggest seller of mobile phones for 12 years until the end of 2023, when sales of Apple's iPhone models overtook it. Continue reading...

Somerset House, London

An icon of millennials' childhoods languished for nearly two decades. Now it's attempting a comeback - banking on the fact that it hasn't changed at allIn the early 2000s, Olivia Packenham would get home from school, listen to the familiar sound of the dial up tone as her family computer connected to the internet, and navigate her AOL browser to the virtual gaming world of Neopets.Starting at the age of eight, Packenham played for years before losing interest when she was in high school. But in December 2023, after a nearly 15-year hiatus, she logged back on to neopets.com - and found the pets she had raised as a child waiting for her. Her favorite, a Bruce" (the Neopets version of a penguin) is more than 21 years old now. Continue reading...

The rise in mental health problems in young people should force politicians to actAcross the rich world, a problem emerges. Children are spending more time hunched over iPhones working on their personal brands and less time building mud huts in the woods with their friends. Social stakes have got higher: the right post, message, or photo cangive you a huge blast of approval; one mis-step could make you an outcast.Playful and elastic real-life interactions have been replaced by unforgiving virtual hierarchies, in which your position is precisely quantified, recorded and made tomatter more. Continue reading...

The material, discovered in 2004, was meant to be revolutionary. But only now is the technology coming of ageTwenty years ago, scientists announced they had created a new miracle material that was going to transform our lives. They called it graphene.Consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, it is one of the strongest materials ever made and, for good measure, it is a better conductor of electricity and heat than copper. Continue reading...

No one should be surprised that artificial intelligence is following a well-worn and entirely predictable financial arcAre we really in an AI bubble," asked a reader of last month's column about the apparently unstoppable rise of Nvidia, and how would we know?" Good question, so I asked an AI about it and was pointed to Investopedia, which is written by humans who know about this stuff. It told me that a bubble goes through five stages - rather as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said people do with grief. For investment bubbles, the five stages are displacement, boom, euphoria, profit-taking and panic. So let's see how this maps on to our experience so far with AI.First, displacement. That's easy: it was ChatGPT wot dunnit. When it appeared on 30 November 2022, the world went, well, apeshit. So, everybody realised, this was what all the muttering surrounding AI was about! And people were bewitched by the discovery that you could converse with a machine and it would talk (well, write) back to you in coherent sentences. It was like the moment in the spring of 1993 when people saw Mosaic, the first proper web browser, and suddenly the penny dropped: so this was what that internet" thingy was for. And then Netscape had its initial public offering in August 1995, when the stock went stratospheric and the first internet bubble started to inflate. Continue reading...

Reesa Teesa chronicled how she met, dated, married and divorced' a pathological liar', leaving viewers obsessedApril Reign watched all 50 parts of the viral TikTok series, Who TF Did I Marry?Reign, creator of the 2015 viral social media campaign, #OscarSoWhite, was among the millions and counting who tuned in to see Reesa Teesa, whose real name is Tareasa Johnson, talk about how she met, dated, married and divorced" a man who she described as a real pathological liar". Continue reading...

Scientists say an overreliance on sight and sound is having a detrimental effect on people's wellbeing and that our devices should deliver a multisensory experienceWait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothing yet." So went the first line of audible dialogue in a feature film, 1927's The Jazz Singer. It was one of the first times that mass media had conveyed the sight and sound of a scene together, and the audience was enthralled.There have been improvements since: black and white has become colour, frame rates and resolutions have increased and sound quality has improved, but the media we consume still caters overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, to our eyes and ears. Continue reading...

The photographer was in Nepal when she happened upon a wedding ceremony and a once-in-a-lifetime imageJoyful, dancing wedding guests were following aceremonial procession and car through the streets ofBhaktapur, Nepal, when Callie Eh happened upon them. The Malaysian photographer was in the country for aphotography workshop.I try to attend themevery year or so," says Eh, who now lives in Switzerland. I can improve on existing skills and learn new ones, meet other photographers and exchange ideas." Continue reading...

Fisa allows for monitoring of foreign communications, as well as collection of citizens' messages and callsHouse lawmakers voted on Friday to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or Fisa, including a key measure that allows for warrantless surveillance of Americans. The controversial law allows for far-reaching monitoring of foreign communications, but has also led to the collection of US citizens' messages and phone calls.Lawmakers voted 273-147 to approve the law, which the Biden administration has for years backed as an important counterterrorism tool. An amendment that would have required authorities seek a warrant failed, in a tied 212-212 vote across party lines. Continue reading...

Plug in some prompts and the ChatGPT for music' whips up a song in seconds - if you don't mind slightly silly lyricsHeralded as the ChatGPT for music, Suno AI is the latest iteration of generative artificial intelligence to flood social feeds, wowing users with its (ahem) lyrical prowess.Plug in the musical style you want, a genre and a prompt for lyrics and Suno can spit out a full song for you in a matter of seconds.Coffee, you're my fuel for the soul (oh-oh)

Despite lay-offs and studio closures, the 20th edition of the ceremony saw Dungeons & Dragons-inspired Baldur's Gate 3 become the runaway winner in a hotly contested fieldIn London last night, the 20th Bafta games awards celebrated a year that was stacked with critically acclaimed games. Taking place against the backdrop of an unprecedented year of layoffs and studio closures in the gaming industry, acknowledged by Bafta chair Sara Putt in her speech at the beginning of the evening, it was a much-needed night of recognition of the creative efforts of the video game development community.The sprawling Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing game Baldur's Gate 3 won five awards, including the public voted EE players' choice award and best game, alongside music, narrative and best performer in a supporting role (won by Andrew Wincott for his role at the devilish Raphael). Nintendo picked up the family and multiplayer awards for the exuberant Super Mario Bros Wonder, and technical achievement for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Alan Wake 2, the arresting, idiosyncratic horror game from Finnish studio Remedy, won artistic achievement and audio achievement. Continue reading...

Child safety group says Meta putting profits before protecting children', as messaging app lowers age limit from 16Campaigners have reacted with anger to the social media company Meta lowering the minimum age for WhatsApp users from 16 to 13 in the UK and EU.The change was announced in February and came into force on Wednesday. The campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood said the move flies in the face of the growing national demand for big tech to do more to protect our children". Continue reading...

Cross-party committee urges creation of strategy engage with new platforms that appeal to youngThe government needs a TikTok strategy to help combat misinformation directed at young people, MPs have said.Members of the cross-party culture, media and sport committee said the government needed to adapt to new apps and platforms that appeal to young people who are increasingly turning away from traditional sources of news. Continue reading...

Company says it is testing features as part of campaign to fight sexual scams and forms of image abuse'Instagram says it is deploying new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages.The social media company said in a blogpost on Thursday that it was testing the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of image abuse", and to make it tougher for criminals to contact teens. Continue reading...

Concentration of power among just six big tech companies could lead to winner takes all dynamics'Just six major technology companies are at the heart of the AI sector through an interconnected web" of more than 90 investments and partnerships links, the UK's competition regulator has warned, sparking increased concern about the anti-competitive nature of the technology.Sarah Cardell, the chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, said AI foundation models - general-purpose AI systems such as OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Gemini, on which consumer and business products are frequently built - were a potential paradigm shift" for society. Continue reading...

As Tax Day approaches, accountants debunk some money-saving claims that are a little too good to be trueYou can find anything on TikTok from book reviews to sex education classes. So it's unsurprising that some people hit up the app for tax advice. Just try not to be one of those people yourself.The Washington Post reported this week that bad tax advice is multiplying on TikTok", with accountants-slash-influencers (or sketchy financial experts" who boast absolutely no credentials) supposedly revealing the one per cent's secret money-saving schemes. Continue reading...

The fantasy tabletop role-playing game was conceived of by friends at the heart of Wisconsin's gaming community, and has evolved to become a global phenomenonThere are 15 of us crammed into a cellar beneath a nondescript house in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. To the uninformed observer, there's nothing to see down here: just two low rooms, bare breeze-block walls, a ceiling lined with pipes. Yet we're all looking about the place in hushed awe, like tourists staring up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The people I'm with are journalists, bloggers and historians, most of them specialising in table-top games, and we're here because this is not an ordinary basement. It sits beneath 330 Center Street, the one-time home of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax. And in February 1973 something happened here that would change the world of gaming, culture and entertainment for ever.Across town, at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Gary Con XVI is in full swing. The annual convention organised by Luke Gygax in honour of his father has been taking place every year since Gary died in 2008. It started with a few hundred devoted fans, but now several thousand come to play D&D and many other wargames, board games and role-playing games. They pack out the building's many conference rooms and corridors, hunched in groups around large tables laden with character sheets, dice and snacks; they dress up as warriors and wizards and attend talks. Many have clearly been playing for decades. Continue reading...