Technology | The Guardian

The volume of child sexual assault material online is on the rise. An Australian project is crowdsourcing images of safe children so it can find those in dangerLeading Senior Constable Dr Janis Dalins is looking for 100,000 happy images of children – a toddler in a sandpit, a nine-year-old winning an award at school, a sullen teenager unwrapping a present at Christmas and pretending not to care.The search for these safe, happy pictures is the goal of a new campaign to crowdsource a database of ethically obtained images that Dalins hopes will help build better investigative tools to use in the fight against what some have called a “tsunami” of child sexual assault material online. Continue reading...

Consider getting physical products, head for sales and beware dodgy resale sitesDownloading games is far more convenient than buying them on a disc these days but if you play on consoles, buying a physical copy often costs substantially less – especially a few weeks or months after a game comes out. Continue reading...

As Ofcom confirms that young people now stay informed through Instagram and TikTok, we meet the online newshoundsIn early March, military experts reported that Russian tanks were sporting handwritten “Z” symbols. The letter, thought to be a staunchly pro-war symbol of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, was soon spotted at Russian bus stops, a school, then on a Russian gymnast’s uniform during a World Cup event at Qatar. On 8 March, 18-year-old TikToker Matt Welland explained the symbol’s meaning and its significance to his 2.4 million subscribers, along with the caption “the ‘Z’ symbol is more terrifying than you think”.The scale of the influence of social media personalities such as Welland in disseminating current affairs was revealed last week. An Ofcom report found that, for the first time, Instagram was the most popular news source among teenagers, used by 29% of them in 2022, while 28% used TikTok and YouTube. Continue reading...

The platform’s rise is best seen as the latest evolution in how we consume newsTwenty-three million people in the UK use TikTok every month. Enhanced by the pandemic and its impact on remote work, apps like TikTok and Instagram have become the digital equivalent of the watercooler. It’s where we talk about Love Island, the latest soaps, the dysfunction in our government and what’s going on in the world.So why are we so surprised that it’s a place people turn to for news? Continue reading...

Chef Pii’s tips on how to use her $20-a-bottle condiment have won 40m views, she says, but many wonder what goes into itIt’s pink. It’s a sauce. It’s called, rather prosaically, Pink Sauce. And it’s doing a very good job of trying to break the internet right now.A Florida chef’s TikTok videos showing her dunking fried chicken, french fries and vegetables into her culinary creation have gone viral. Up to 40m views, she claims. Continue reading...

Social media firm says 1% decline for three months to 30 June reflects uncertainty over acquisition bidTwitter has blamed a drop in revenue on uncertainty around Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover bid for the business and a weak advertising market.The social media company said revenue for the three months to 30 June was $1.18bn (£986m), a decline of 1% on the same period last year, which it said reflected “advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment” as well as “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter” by the Tesla chief executive. Continue reading...

Leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic claims search engine is promoting ‘terrorism and violence against all Russians’

Virtual pet site launches investigation but has not confirmed the scale of the alleged breach, amid reports hacker has taken database with user detailsThe popular virtual pet website Neopets says it has launched an investigation after a hacker breached its databases, with one website claiming the personal data of up to 69 million users may have been stolen.“Neopets recently became aware that customer data may have been stolen … it appears that email addresses and passwords used to access Neopets accounts may have been affected,” the website said in a statement issued on its official Twitter account on Thursday. Continue reading...

Top chip, brilliant camera, great software and solid battery life in a smaller body with a cheaper priceThe Pixel 6a is Google’s latest mid-range smartphone offering the same chips and performance as its top phones, but in a new, smaller body for a cheaper price.The phone costs £399 ($449/A$749), which is £200 less than the Pixel 6, but offers 80% of what you get with Google’s top models.Screen: 6.1in 60Hz FHD+ OLED (429ppi)Processor: Google TensorRAM: 6GBStorage: 128GBOperating system: Android 12Camera: 12.2MP + 12MP ultrawide, 8MP selfieConnectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSSWater resistance: IP67 (1m for 30 minutes)Dimensions: 152.2 x 71.8 x 8.9mmWeight: 178g Continue reading...

One Medical, the primary care organization, will be acquired by the e-commerce behemoth in a deal valued at roughly $3.9bnAmazon will acquire the primary care organization One Medical in a deal valued roughly at $3.9bn, marking another expansion for the retailer into healthcare services.The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said in a statement Thursday it is buying One Medical for $18 a share in an all-cash transaction. It’s one of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions, following its $13.7bn deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017 and its $8.5bn purchase of Hollywood studio MGM, which closed earlier this year. Continue reading...

Cryptocurrency exchange manager and his brother arrested in Seattle in what is described as the first case of its kindA former Coinbase employee and two others have been charged in what federal authorities described as the US government’s first cryptocurrency insider trading case.Ishan Wahi, a product manager at the cryptocurrency exchange, and his brother Nikhil Wahi were arrested in Seattle on Thursday. They and a third defendant, their friend Sameer Ramani, who remains at large, also face civil charges from the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Continue reading...

Researchers find movements can still be tracked despite firm’s vow to protect location history of people who visit abortion clinicsGoogle’s promise to protect the location history of users who visit abortion clinics is coming under scrutiny after researchers found that a user who had brief access to another user’s Android phone – such as a boyfriend logging into his girlfriend’s phone – could relatively easily monitor the user’s movements.The finding by Tech Transparency Project, a research arm of the non-profit Campaign for Accountability, comes weeks after Google announced in a blogpost that it would delete entries to sensitive locations – such as abortion clinics or domestic violence shelters – if its systems identified that someone has visited one of these places. The 1 July blogpost said the change would take effect “in the coming weeks”. Continue reading...

Firm is splitting its News Feed over two tabs on its iOS and Android apps, separating its algorithmic curationFacebook is going back to basics, restoring a chronological news feed to its app to make it easier for users to keep up with posts from their friends.More than a decade after Facebook updated its patented News Feed to default to showing “top stories” rather than a chronological list of posts from friends and pages, the company is restoring the ability to “easily see the most recent posts from your friends, Pages and groups”. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Follow Rotherham and Oxford’s coaches through their tense end of season run-ins in Moment of Truth. Plus: five of the best podcasts for gamers

Mojang Studios says use of non-fungible tokens does not align with the game’s ‘values of creative inclusion and playing together’Minecraft will not allow non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be used on the popular gaming platform, with the company describing them as antithetical to Minecraft’s “values of creative inclusion and playing together”.NFTs confer ownership of a unique digital item, typically an image or a video, with the ownership recorded on a decentralised digital register known as a blockchain. Continue reading...

App is used by 7% of adults for news with nearly half turning to TikTokers rather than conventional outlets for updatesWatch out Huw Edwards, the TikTokers are coming. The social video platform is the fastest growing news source for UK adults, according to a survey, but nearly half of people using it for current affairs turn to fellow TikTokers rather than conventional news organisations for their updates.TikTok is used by 7% of adults for news, according to the UK’s communications watchdog, up from 1% in 2020. The growth is primarily driven by young users, with half of its news followers aged 16 to 24. Continue reading...

CEO Elon Musk said the cryptocurrency sale was to maximize its cash position only, but prices still slid after Wednesday’s reportTesla’s second quarter of 2022 came to a shaky end as the electric carmaker reported a drop in profit after it struggled to meet demand due to a shutdown of its Shanghai factory and production challenges at new plants. The company also sold 75% of its bitcoin holdings, leading to a slide in the cryptocurrency price.Tesla’s second-quarter profit fell 32% from record levels in the first quarter, with the company reporting a $2.26bn net profit on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The Meta CEO, and former COO Sheryl Sandberg will be questioned as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Facebook users in CaliforniaMark Zuckerberg, CEO of the Facebook parent company Meta, will face a six-hour deposition over the way the company handled user data relating to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to new court filings.The deposition comes as part of a lawsuit filed in a California court on behalf of Facebook users impacted by the platform’s partnership with Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm accused of manipulating user data. Continue reading...

Tax benefit was part of £850m in tax credits provided to online retailer by governments across EuropeAmazon’s core UK division was handed a tax credit of just over £1m last year by HM Revenue and Customs despite the online retailer’s profits soaring by almost 60% to £204m.The tax benefit was part of €1bn (£850m) in tax credits provided to Amazon by governments across Europe, up from €56m a year before, according to accounts filed for the US company’s Luxembourg-based division. Continue reading...

Judge in Delaware denies Tesla chief’s bid to delay trial, as Twitter seeks verdict that will force Musk to complete $44bn takeoverTwitter has won the first legal skirmish in its attempt to force Elon Musk to complete a $44bn (£36.7bn) takeover of the social media company, after a judge ruled that a trial will take place in October.Legal experts said the ruling in Delaware was good news for Twitter, which had asked for a fast-track process to settle the dispute. A Delaware judge said there was a “cloud of uncertainty” hanging over Twitter and accepted the company’s argument that a delay would cause severe damage to the business. Continue reading...

The company joins other tech firms in slowing hiring as fears grow that inflation will lower consumer demandApple is reportedly planning to slow hiring and spending growth next year to cope with an economic downturn, which would place it in the company of American tech companies including Facebook, Amazon and Google in enacting similar measures.The changes, first reported by Bloomberg, would not affect all teams, and Apple is reportedly still planning a major product launch scheduled for next year that includes a mixed-reality headset, its first significant new category since the Apple Watch in 2015. Continue reading...

Dominik Diamond hasn’t had the best month – but scampering around in a virtual world full of robot dinosaurs has at least given him a breakThe worst thing about video games is also the best thing: their addictiveness. When you find the right one? The rest of the world can go to hell. That helped me as a child: I could use them to escape the more painful parts of growing up. Parents didn’t fight in Manic Miner. You didn’t have to worry about Stephen Gibson battering you on the way home from school in Chuckie Egg.As a parent of young kids, I was a dreadful hypocrite, always saying they should be doing something more worthwhile than playing Mario Kart – even though, when they would ask me “like WHAT, Dad?”, the only answer I could think of was “the stuff the other parents brag about their kids doing on Facebook”. Continue reading...

An opaque council controls smartphone access for Israel’s Haredim population, but many are making forays online anywayTel Aviv’s booming science and technology industry, bolstered by graduates of elite state intelligence units, has earned Israel the nickname “start-up nation”.Yet in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb just a few miles east of Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers, a vicious fight is unfolding over whether smartphones are compatible with traditional Jewish law - and who should have the power to decide on internet access. Continue reading...

PC, Xbox; Interior Night/Microsoft

A new study says many employees think a work communication without an emoji lacks something. But with generations split over their meanings, sending them is not risk-freeName: Workplace emojis.Age: 25. The first set of emojis hit Japanese phones in 1997. Continue reading...

PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (version tested); BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive

Latest findings suggest Rwandan government has deployed surveillance campaign against relatives of Paul RusesabaginaThe mobile phone of a Belgian citizen who is the nephew of Paul Rusesabagina, a jailed critic of the Rwandan government made famous by his portrayal in Hotel Rwanda, was hacked nearly a dozen times in 2020 using Israeli-made surveillance technology, according to forensic experts at The Citizen Lab.The findings follow earlier revelations by the Guardian and other media partners in the Pegasus Project, an investigation of Israel’s NSO Group, that Rusesabagina’s daughter, a dual American-Belgian national named Carine Kanimba, was under near-constant surveillance by a client of NSO Group from January to mid-2021, when the hacking attack was discovered by researchers at Amnesty International’s security lab. Continue reading...

‘Foxes are guarding hen house,’ says expert after ministers seek tougher industry-led protections insteadLoot boxes in video games will not be banned in the UK, despite a government consultation finding evidence of a “consistent” association between the features and problem gambling.Loot boxes have attracted comparison with gambling because they allow players to spend money to unlock in-game rewards, such as special characters, weapons or outfits, without knowing what they will get. Continue reading...

The Conservatives have kicked the sprawling document, which aimed for a political Goldilocks zone and ended up a hot mess, firmly down the roadThe Goldilocks theory of policy is simple enough. If Mummy Bear says your latest government bill is too hot, and Daddy Bear says your latest government bill is too cold, then you can tuck in knowing that the actual temperature is just right.Unfortunately, the Goldilocks theory sometimes fails. You learn that what you actually have in front of you is less a perfectly heated bowl of porridge and more a roast chicken you popped in the oven still frozen: frosty on the inside, burnt on the outside, and harmful to your health if you try to eat it. Continue reading...

Customers to the online retailer’s first in-person location were disappointed by the limited selection and algorithmic picksOutside Amazon’s first in-person clothing store in California, Diemmi Le, 22, summed up her experience: “You don’t have to talk to anybody.”For years, Amazon tried – and ultimately failed – to translate its online book business into successful brick and mortar bookstores. Dozens of stores were shuttered this spring. Now, the online shopping giant is trying again, this time attempting to reinvent the mall clothing store. Continue reading...

An investigation revealed that companies use enough energy to power Houston, and contribute to growing carbon emissionsThe largest US cryptomining companies have the capacity to use as much electricity as nearly every home in Houston, Texas; energy use that is contributing to rising utility bills, according to an investigation by Democratic lawmakers.Cryptomining is a highly energy intensive process involving the use of specialized computers running constantly to solve complex math problems in order to create new virtual coins. Continue reading...

Lawyers for the billionaire oppose company’s request that the trial begin in SeptemberElon Musk has filed a motion opposing Twitter’s request to fast-track a trial over his plan to terminate his $44bn deal for the social media company.Musk’s lawyers, in papers filed with the Delaware Chancery court on Friday, said Twitter’s “unjustifiable request” to rush the merger case to trial in two months should be rejected. Continue reading...

Company says it was faced with ‘run on the bank’ amid ‘cryptopocalypse’ as investors raced to withdraw assetsThe cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network was left with a $1.2bn (£1bn) deficit after suffering from a digital version of an old-fashioned “run on the bank”, according to its bankruptcy filing in the US.Blaming a combination of its own poor decisions, a global “cryptopocalypse” and unfavourable media coverage, the company filed for Chapter 11 – a US process that allows companies to trade while restructuring their finances. Continue reading...

In viral videos, content creators film themselves surprising strangers with toys, food and wads of cash – whether they like it or not

US company says recruitment drive will take permanent workforce in Britain to 75,000Amazon is creating more than 4,000 permanent jobs across the UK this year, the company has announced.It said the recruitment drive would bring its permanent workforce in the UK to 75,000, having created 40,000 new jobs in the past three years. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Explore the shocking murder of the Maltese journalist, with input from her son – and the man who confessed to her killing – in Who Killed Daphne? Plus: five of the best podcasts for book-lovers

Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert award-winner could transform lives of kidney disease patients, say expertsA home dialysis machine inspired by technology used in fruit juice dispensers has won the UK’s most prestigious engineering prize.The device, made by Quanta, is currently used by about 50 patients in the UK, but more than a dozen NHS trusts are planning to offer the technology to patients this year and experts say it could transform the lives of kidney disease patients. Continue reading...

World’s richest man posts series of memes after legal team confirmed plans to pull plug on Twitter takeoverElon Musk broke his silence on Monday over his attempt to bail out on buying Twitter for $44bn, mocking the company before the firm hit back with a statement of its own that called his attempted termination “invalid and wrongful”.Early on Monday, the world’s richest man went on the social media platform he claims he is no longer trying to buy and fired off a series of tweets suggesting he is gearing up for a likely legal battle. Continue reading...

‘Buy now, pay later’ firm, once Europe’s most valuable private tech company, valued at less than $7bnKlarna, the “buy now, pay later” fintech darling that was once Europe’s most valuable private tech company, has seen its value slashed by 85% to less than $7bn in its latest round of fundraising.The company, which enjoyed stellar growth while also being criticised for potentially leading shoppers into unsustainable debt, announced the valuation after the conclusion of a difficult $800m funding round as investors continued to question the true worth of many tech businesses. Continue reading...

Billionaire finds platform he no longer wants to buy useful after termination of $44bn takeover

Exclusive: Mark MacGann says he has decided to speak out about firm to ‘right some fundamental wrongs’Mark MacGann, a career lobbyist who led Uber’s efforts to win over governments across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has come forward to identify himself as the source who leaked more than 124,000 company files to the Guardian.MacGann decided to speak out, he says, because he believes Uber knowingly flouted laws in dozens of countries and misled people about the benefits to drivers of the company’s gig-economy model. Continue reading...

Leak shows how the former Labour minister used his access to pro-Kremlin oligarchs, including some now under sanctionsEven before Uber’s top executives arrived in Davos in January 2016, its bosses were trying to secure invitations to the exclusive party hosted by the billionaire Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska. Famous for its free-flowing vodka, the event was an invitation-only, after-hours fixture of the world economic forum, the annual gathering of corporate leaders and politicians in the Swiss Alps.Fortunately for Uber, it had hired someone who could pull strings. “Put them on list at door,” ordered Peter Mandelson, according to messages in the Uber files data leak. Continue reading...

Greater accuracy, longer battery and full support for triathlons makes the best running watch even betterGarmin’s latest running watch has been upgraded in almost every way, bringing multisport tracking, more advanced GPS and a bunch of high-end features down to a more affordable price with the Forerunner 255.The longstanding series is available in two sizes for the first time with the 255 – a small 41mm-wide case and a larger 46mm model, which means it should fit comfortably on a wider range of runners’ wrists. But it has very big shoes to fill, replacing the well-regarded Forerunner 245 from 2019. Continue reading...

The US firm used Tory connections to wage a relentless UK lobbying campaign, leaked files show

Four creators share their Dall-E-generated images – and their hopes and fears about AI in artYou type in words – however nonsensical or disjointed – and the algorithm creates a unique image based on your search. This is Dall-E 2, a startlingly advanced, image-generating AI trained on 250 million images, named after the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and Pixar’s Wall-E.While use of Dall-E 2 is currently limited to a narrow pool of people, Dall-E mini (or Craiyon) is a free, unrelated version that is open to the public. Drawing on 15m images, Dall-E mini’s algorithm offers a smorgasbord of surreal images, complete with absurd compositions and blurred human forms. Continue reading...

Uber sought access to leaders, officials and diplomats through David Plouffe and Jim Messina, leak shows

Leak suggests former CEO believed there was an upside to attacks on drivers as firm campaigned for law changes

Striking a balance between protecting your data, ensuring your personal security and getting the most out of dating apps can be tricky. Here’ some advice on the dos and don’tsIn an online wild west populated by scammers and hackers, dating apps pose challenges beyond just finding a partner. It’s getting harder to tell if your date is who they say they are, and that’s before you consider the data security and privacy implications of using the apps on your smartphone.It’s difficult to maintain privacy when apps such as Hinge, Tinder and Bumble need to collect data to match you with potential dates. Then there’s the data you share with other users – including your sexual orientation, age and social media information – that could put you at risk if it gets into the wrong hands. Continue reading...

Billionaire avoids talking of collapse of $44bn deal but talks about colonizing Mars and boosting Earth’s birthrates at conferenceElon Musk reportedly talked about the colonization of Mars and boosting Earth’s birthrates during his keynote address at Allen & Co’s Sun Valley conference on Saturday, but he avoided discussing his attempt to withdraw from his $44bn bid to buy Twitter.Musk’s talk to close out this year’s edition of the Idaho conference which annually draws tech, media and finance gurus became one of the hottest tickets after lawyers for the Tesla boss filed notice Friday that he was terminating his bid to acquire Twitter. The billionaire accused the social media firm of failing to provide information on bot accounts, among other things, making observers wonder whether he would address such complaints at his speech scheduled for the next day. Continue reading...

Venture capitalist Matthew Ball’s new book explores the three-dimensional virtual world that is set to supersede the net. What might this alternative digital reality have in store for users?Venture capitalist Matthew Ball first wrote about the metaverse in 2018 and his essays have become essential reading for entrepreneurs and tech watchers who are attempting to understand or profit from the network Mark Zuckerberg and many others are anticipating will supersede the internet. Ball is former head of strategy at Amazon Studios and his first book, The Metaverse: How It Will Revolutionize Everything, is published later in July.What is the metaverse?