Technology | The Guardian

Facebook parent company and two subcontractors face court hearing over unfair dismissal allegationsSettlement talks have collapsed between Facebook's parent company, Meta, and Kenyan content moderators over a lawsuit alleging unfair dismissal, a tech rights group working with the plaintiffs has said.The 184 moderators sued Meta and two subcontractors earlier this year after they allegedly lost their jobs with one of the subcontractors, Sama, for organising a union. They say they were then blacklisted from applying for the same roles at a second firm, Majorel, after Facebook changed contractors. Continue reading...

Sony; PS5

TaxWatch analysis estimates British arms of seven major tech firms paid 750m in corporation tax instead of possible 2.8bnThe UK might have missed out on as much as 2bn in tax in 2021 from big tech companies shifting their profits elsewhere, according to an estimate by a group campaigning for greater tax transparency.Seven of the biggest US-headquartered tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet, are estimated to have paid 750m in UK corporation tax and the digital sales tax, compared with 2.8bn in estimated tax due had profits not been routed elsewhere, according to TaxWatch, a campaign group. Continue reading...

Dubbed the crackberry', it was a tech gamechanger and status symbol. So what happened to the first smartphone and why didn't the execs see it coming?A decade and a half ago, there was no bigger status symbol than the BlackBerry. Lady Gaga tweeted from hers. Madonna slept with one under her pillow. Kim Kardashian owned three of them. When he became president, Barack Obama fought tooth and nail to be able to keep his device. When Naomi Campbell lost her temper with a housekeeper in 2006, which household object did she choose to use as a projectile weapon? That's right, it was the humble BlackBerry. Without any overstatement, they were everywhere.And yet, when was the last time you thought about BlackBerry? A year ago? A decade ago? More? The BlackBerry currently occupies a genuinely strange space in the culture. It swept in with such gamechanging ferocity - here was a phone that allowed you to send emails, liberating its user from the tyranny of the office - only to be displaced just as quickly when Apple announced the iPhone. BlackBerry's ups and downs were so sudden and violent that they're now almost impossible to comprehend. Continue reading...

As the world's wealthiest men chest-thump in low-Earth orbit, others wonder how their mess will eventually be cleaned upYou're a mega-billionaire. You already own one of the world's most influential social media platforms, and dominate more than half of the US electric car market. You are regularly named as one of the world's most influential people. You've had your hairline sorted, you've already had 11 children, so what do you do next?For Elon Musk, the answer is: attempt to dominate space. Continue reading...

The social network owner's business model appears to include a slurry of unmoderated toxicity, such as footage of a murderAt 4am a couple of weeks ago, Ryan Carson, a young activist for social justice, was sitting with his girlfriend at the B38 bus stop at Lafayette Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard in New York. They were on their way home from a wedding party. Carson was suddenly accosted by an aggressive stranger who asked: What the fuck are you looking at?" and then stabbed him to death.The murder was captured by a surveillance camera, the video from which somehow made its way to the New York Post and thence on to the internet, where it was seized upon on X, formerly known as Twitter, by one of the social network's prolific shitposters" (the ones X's owner, Elon Musk, calls creators"). This particular individual specialises in incendiary incidents from all over the world and posts several times a day to just under a million followers.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

While falling sales suggest the demise of print, the industry has proved adaptable and remains attractive to media baronsThe imminent auction of the Telegraph is being viewed as a litmus test of the value of influential national newspaper titles in the era of increasingly digitally led profitability. Media barons and conglomerates, who have hung on to old-world assets for decades in the belief it was right to bet on a sector largely unfancied by tech-obsessed investors, are watching it keenly.Since the onset of the digital era at the start of the century, newspapers have, with a few notable exceptions, been a precarious investment at best. Continue reading...

Completion of sale follows regulator's decision to allow it after competition concerns were addressedMicrosoft has completed its $69bn (57bn) deal to buy Activision Blizzard, the maker of games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, after the UK's competition watchdog cleared the acquisition.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had moved to block the deal in April, citing concerns that Microsoft - the maker of the Xbox gaming console - would dominate the nascent cloud gaming market. Continue reading...

The former Alameda CEO offered stunning testimony against her ex-boyfriend and failed crypto mogul being tried for fraudIn the second week of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto fraud trial, Manhattan federal prosecutors called their star witness to the stand: former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. She delivered stunning, detailed testimony against the failed crypto mogul.Over the course of three days, Ellison, also Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend, described her work at FTX's sister hedge fund - repeatedly implicating Bankman-Fried in allegedly siphoning $10bn in customer funds from the cryptocurrency exchange to boost Alameda after a crash in the market. Continue reading...

Microsoft; PC, Xbox

Federal judge seems to side with ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation that ban is unenforceable and unconstitutionalA federal judge appeared skeptical about Montana's TikTok ban in a hearing on Thursday, telling representatives of the state that their argument for restrictions on the app just confuses me".US district judge Donald Molloy heard arguments in a case filed by TikTok and five Montana content creators who want the court to block the state's ban on the video-sharing app before it takes effect 1 January. Continue reading...

As the tool becomes less of a curiosity and more a part of daily life, fans are finding clever uses - and discovering limitationsNext month ChatGPT will celebrate its first birthday - marking a year in which the chatbot, for many, turned AI from a futuristic concept to a daily reality.Its universal accessibility has led to a host of concerns, from job losses to disinformation to plagiarism. Over the same period, tens of millions of users have been investigating what the platform can do to make their lives just a little bit easier. Continue reading...

Engineers want to set up giant oven at HS2 boring sites to create calcined clay mix for use in foundations and platformsThe recent announcement that HS2 may still extend to Euston station instead of terminating in the suburbs could be good news for a group of scientific alchemists planning to conjure concrete from London clay.The boring for HS2 will produce more than a million tonnes of waste overall, and that clay will need to be carted away on the surface. Continue reading...

Trauma experts say Jon Romano, who was released from prison in 2020 after serving time for a 2004 shooting, is doing even more harmA school shooter who went viral on TikTok for talking publicly about his actions is facing backlash from many who believe he should not be on the platform at all.In 2020, Jon Romano was released from prison after serving 17 years out of a 20-year prison sentence for bringing a shotgun to Columbia High School in upstate New York back in 2004. Romano, who was 16 years old at the time, shot a teacher in the leg after the assistant principal attempted to wrestle the gun away from him. Continue reading...

Case of footage from set of Palestinian film being repurposed to make false claims is far from one-off

A new housing development outside Phoenix is looking towards European cities for inspiration and shutting out the cars. So far residents love itIf you were to imagine the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the modern US, it would be difficult to conceive such a thing sprouting from the environs of Phoenix, Arizona - a sprawling, concrete incursion into a brutal desert environment that is sometimes derided as the least sustainable city in the country.But it is here that such a neighborhood, called Culdesac, has taken root. On a 17-acre site that once contained a car body shop and some largely derelict buildings, an unusual experiment has emerged that invites Americans to live in a way that is rare outside of fleeting experiences of college, Disneyland or trips to Europe: a walkable, human-scale community devoid of cars. Continue reading...

Delete Act signed by Gavin Newsom will enable residents to request all data brokers in the state remove their informationIn a victory for privacy advocates and consumers, the California governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would enable residents to request that their personal information be deleted from the coffers of all the data brokers in the state.The bill, SB 362, otherwise known as the Delete Act, was introduced in April 2023 by the state senator Josh Becker in an attempt to give Californians more control over their privacy. Californians already have a right to request their data be deleted under current state privacy laws, but it requires filing a request with each individual company. Continue reading...

The e-sim is gaining traction as smartphone connectivity shoots for the stars, but it's not without risk - as I found when I fired up my new iPhone 15 Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereA shocking thing happened when I upgraded to an iPhone 15 Pro: my sim card figuratively dissolved into a tiny pile of ash, or rather, was transformed into a wholly digital e-sim. I blame myself, but I blame Apple even more: while transferring my data from my old iPhone, I was asked whether I would also like to move my phone number. I frowned - of course I would - and tapped yes. A minute later, my new iPhone had a mobile signal, my old phone did not, and my sim card was utterly redundant.I can't feign total ignorance. I'd heard tales of woe from friends forced to move to e-sims when they bought a US version of the iPhone 14, which lacked a sim slot. New iPhones sold outside the US still take sim cards however - and I'd been planning to keep my old one, if only for convenience. Continue reading...

Dozens of contract workers at Amazon warehouses say they were tricked into toiling and living in grueling, squalid conditions

Foreign workers at the Middle East locations of US and UK brands allege low pay, harsh conditions and a legal limbo with few protections

Investment manager tells of how fraudsters managed to persuade him to hand over his life savings

Wording will form communique for AI summit next month where agreement on organisation to scrutinise technology is unlikely to be reachedRishi Sunak's advisers are trying to thrash out an agreement among world leaders on a statement warning about the risks of artificial intelligence as they finalise the agenda for the AI safety summit next month.Downing Street officials have been touring the world talking to their counterparts from China to the EU and the US as they work to agree on words to be used in a communique at the two-day conference. Continue reading...

Alex Lykos documents life without a smartphone, tablet or laptop in Disconnect Me

Elon Musk endorsed users who have posted wrong and unverifiable things' while paid-for accounts spread fake newsX's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict has come under scrutiny after a deluge" of fake posts and Elon Musk's recommendation of war coverage from accounts that have made false claims or antisemitic comments.The owner of X, formerly Twitter, recommended two accounts on Sunday. He wrote: For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors and @sentdefender are good. It is also worth following direct sources on the ground. Please add interesting options in the replies below." Continue reading...

Digital artist Daniel Ambrosi has created an exhibition that interprets quintessentially English, eighteenth-century vistas with AI. The exhibition runs at the Robilant+Voena gallery in London from 6 October Continue reading...

Speed is of the essence, so here are some steps to follow if you suspect fraud

Titanium sides, USB-C, 5x camera and new action button make for the biggest iPhone upgrade in yearsApple's latest, most expensive superphone is a big step forward for the iPhone. But despite a powerful new camera and USB-C port, the best feature is simply its lighter weight.That is because Apple's 6.7in iPhones have always been beasts in price and weight. But while this new iPhone 15 Pro Max is still wallet-crushingly expensive, starting at 1,199 (1,449/$1,199/A$2,199), it is at least 19g lighter, making a huge difference in your hand and pockets. Continue reading...

Matt Johnson's boisterous drama about the rise and fall of the mobile - and the Canadian nerds who created it - diverges refreshingly from the usual arc of product success storiesTech years are like dog years. Less than a decade and a half has passed since the early 2010 sheyday of the BlackBerry smartphone. But in the accelerated world of technology, the once coveted accessory of any self-respecting business bigshot or self-promoting celebrity (Paris Hilton used to carry five of them at a time) now might as well be an ancient relic.By any standard, the BlackBerry story is a wild ride - going from a prototype cobbled together from bits of a pocket calculator to a product so addictive that it was nicknamed the CrackBerry; from a share of the US mobile phone market that was at one point estimated at about 40% to virtual oblivion in the space of just a few years. Based on the 2015 book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry, the film, directed by Matt Johnson (The Dirties), is a boisterous account of the boom-and-bust, crash-and-burn trajectory of one of the world's first smartphones and the chaotic collection of Canadian nerds that created it. Continue reading...

On a celebratory road trip at Lake Tahoe, the photographer spotted an umbrella on a beach ...I just loved how the scene stacked up that day, under the strong morning light," says Jessica Chou. The photographer was celebrating her husband's birthday with a road trip from Los Angeles, where the pair were living, to San Francisco, then out east, stopping in Lake Tahoe before heading to Utah.We knew Lake Tahoe as a ski spot in the winter, so it was nice to see it during the summertime," she says. The day we stopped there, the vista was all blue skies, snow-capped mountains, calm lake, miles of sand and, in the middle of all of it, this lady, who had staked out a piece of shade." Continue reading...

Steps you can take to detect fake retail websites, missed-delivery texts and other swindles

Scammers stole more than 1.2bn from UK consumers in 2022. We speak to victims of fraud - and give tips to avoid being duped

ICO inquiry provisionally finds social media app's owner failed to assess risks to users of My AI serviceSnapchat could face a fine of millions of pounds after the UK data watchdog issued it with a preliminary enforcement notice over the alleged failure to assess privacy risks its artificial intelligence chatbot may pose to users and particularly children.The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it had provisionally found that the social media app's owner failed to adequately identify and assess the risks" to several million UK users of My AI, including among 13- to 17-year-olds. Continue reading...

UK police forces and private firms urged to drop technology due to impact on human rightsDozens of cross-party MPs and peers have joined a campaign for an immediate stop" to the use of live facial recognition surveillance by police and private companies.The former cabinet minister David Davis, the Liberal Democrats leader, Sir Ed Davey, the Green MP Caroline Lucas and the former shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti are among 65 members of the House of Commons and House of Lords to call for a halt to the technology's use. Continue reading...

Temu's meteoric growth - and its astronomical marketing budget - has experts asking whether its business model is sustainableA chicken-shaped lamp. A toilet paper holder in the shape of a smiling velociraptor. An apron that catches beard hair during shaving. The list of unusual products goes on.Among the more everyday items are cleaning products, smartwatches, novelty T-shirts, knock-off sneakers and barbecue tools, but the common thread across all of them is that everything is incredibly, mindbogglingly cheap. Continue reading...

Securities and Exchange Commission inquiring whether Musk broke federal law in 2022 when he bought stock in the platformElon Musk is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over his $44bn takeover of social media giant Twitter, it was revealed on Thursday.The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which he later renamed X, as well as statements and SEC filings he made about the deal. Continue reading...

The millennial tech journalist speaks with the activist about surviving merciless harassment, the media's double standards on gender, and why they still have hopeOccasionally, during an otherwise impassioned conversation about mental health, social media and the perils of being online while female, Taylor Lorenz and Monica Lewinsky will start laughing. It is usually Lewinsky who lightens the mood, as when Lorenz says: The biggest mistake of my career was going on MSNBC and trusting a reporter," to which Lewinsky replies: Not mine!", then starts chuckling.The pair are convening on Zoom with the Guardian for the release of Lorenz's new book, Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence and Power on the Internet. Continue reading...

In this week's newsletter: Guests from John Oliver to Jen Brister join the comedian to select their most precious possessions in Wonderbox. Plus: five of the best podcasts about sporting heroes Don't get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereWonderbox

Hilarity and pathos intertwine in this likable comedy as the smartphone creators go loopy with wealth - and slack-jawed when the iPhone spoils the partyHere is a punchy Canadian comedy-drama in that burgeoning true-life genre which could loosely be called Tech Startup Hubris; we've seen Dumb Money (about GameStop), WeCrashed (about WeWork), and The Beanie Bubble (about the bizarre 90s web-driven tulip-style craze for Beanie Babies). The great ancestor of them all is naturally David Fincher's The Social Network, about Facebook, with its propulsive script by Aaron Sorkin. This film is a fictionally souped-up account of the steep rise and sudden fall of the BlackBerry, the handset device that towards the end of the 00s was so ubiquitous and addictive among the white-collar classes it was known as the Crackberry".But then Steve Jobs unveiled his iPhone, and the BlackBerry executives suddenly looked like a bunch of brontosauruses that had been hit in the face by a meteor. Continue reading...

The change came after owner Elon Musk said it would improve the esthetics' as platform becomes increasingly hostile for news organisationsX, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines for links posted on the site, after site owner Elon Musk said it would make posts look better.Links posted on Twitter now appear as the image included in the article, as well as text in the left-hand corner of the image noting the domain of the link. If users want to visit the page, they must click the image, but it only appears slightly different to how images uploaded to the site appear. Continue reading...

Readers argue that Gillian Keegan's plan to ban mobile phones in schools is not needed and won't workYour editorial on phones in schools (2 October) makes the point that most secondary schools already have clear policies to deal with this issue. The comprehensive school with 1,800 pupils that I last taught at allowed pupils to bring their phones in, but they had to be switched off and kept in bags during lessons. If a pupil tried to access their phone in class, the teacher would confiscate it and leave it at the school's reception, where it could be collected only by a parent or guardian. This policy was very effective. Pupils could use their phones at break and lunchtime, and many did - to listen to music, play games and interact socially.In my experience, most parents of secondary schoolchildren want them to carry phones. It means they can contact a parent if they are going to be late home, or want permission to go to a friend's etc, while the parents are reassured by having direct access to their children before and after the school day. Continue reading...

New phones with better cameras and heat sensing announced alongside Pixel Watch 2 and Android 14Google's latest smartphone launch packs its Pixel devices with AI, an object-measuring temperature sensor and extended software support for up to seven years.Announced alongside the second-generation of its Pixel smartwatch and the launch of Android 14, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro hope to go toe-to-toe with Apple's iPhone 15 line while following the pioneering Fairphone's lead with longer-lasting devices. Continue reading...

US student safety not improved by surveillance technology such as cameras and facial recognition software, research showsAn ACLU report has found that despite claims from companies, surveillance technology in US schools does not improve student safety and constant surveillance can, in fact, cause a number of harms to students including making students less likely to report dangerous behavior.Schools typically use technologies such as cameras, facial recognition software and communication monitoring and filtering technology, which have been marketed by education technology surveillance companies as intervention tools against school shootings, suicides and bullying. In 2021, US schools and colleges spent $3.1bn on these products and this number is expected to grow by 8% every year, according to the report. Continue reading...

For 15 years, Brent Lee spent hours each day consuming truther' content online. Then he logged off. Can he convince his former friends to question their worldview?Brent Lee struggles to explain why he used to believe that a cabal of evil satanic paedophiles was working to establish a new world order. He pauses, looks sheepish, and says: I cringe at all this now."For 15 years, Lee collected signs that so-called Illuminati overlords were controlling global events. He convinced himself that secret societies were running politics, banks, religious institutions and the entertainment industry, and that most terrorist attacks were actually government-organised ritual sacrifices. Continue reading...

Male-skewed investment is another instance of tech gender imbalance that needs urgent redress, say researchersAn urgent issue" of gender imbalance in artificial intelligence investment must be addressed according to a government-backed body which has found that female-founded companies accounted for just 2% of AI startup deals over the past decade.The report by the Alan Turing Institute found that when female-founded companies have secured funding, they raise on average 1.3m a deal compared with 8.6m raised by all-male founder teams. Continue reading...

FTX founder shed his signature T-shirt and shorts look to don a suit with freshly cut hair as day one of fraud trial commenced

Paramount's release of the popular film in small clips reflects a rising trend of people watching movies on the platformAs the oldest and baldest person to have access to a TikTok account, I usually have a pretty good idea of what sort of content I'll be served, in that it's usually equal parts animal attack videos and jet-washing tutorials. Recently, however, the algorithm threw me a curveball: a 90-second clip of the 23-year-old Nancy Meyers film What Women Want.It was a good scene, one where Mel Gibson listens in on Judy Greer's self-hating inner monologue and starts to see her as a true contemporary. I watched the whole thing. And, as a reward, TikTok then gave me another scene from What Women Want. And then another. And another. And over the course of a couple of days, albeit in a disjointed and non-linear manner, I had basically watched all of What Women Want. It's a good film! Sarah Paulson is in it! Who knew? Continue reading...

Politicians opt for change they say amounts to de facto ban on spyware but free speech campaigners dispute claimAn attempt to stop EU governments from being able to insert spyware on journalists' phones on the grounds of national security is dead", campaigners have said after a vote in the European parliament on new media laws.MEPs voted against an amendment to scrap the right to surveil journalists in the European Media Freedom Act in Strasbourg on Tuesday, pitting themselves against free speech campaigners. Continue reading...

Meta's social networks considering charge of 13 a month on mobile and 17 on desktop, say sourcesMark Zuckerberg's Meta is considering charging users in the EU 13 (11) a month to access an ad-free version of Instagram or Facebook on their phones, as the company grapples with regulatory pressure on how it uses people's data.Meta is also weighing a 17 charge to use Instagram and Facebook without adverts on desktop, according to sources close to the discussions. Accessing both apps on smartphones would cost about 19 a month. Continue reading...

In this week's newsletter: Geofence warrants' tied a man in the wrong place at the wrong time to a crime he didn't commit - is he the only one? Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereIn January 2020, Florida resident Zachary McCoy received a concerning email from Google: local authorities were asking the company for his personal information and he had just seven days to stop them from handing it over.Police were investigating a burglary, McCoy later found out, and had issued Google what's called a geofence warrant. The court-ordered warrant requested the company look for and hand over information on all the devices that were within the vicinity of the broken-into home at the time of the alleged crime. McCoy was on one of his regular bike rides around the neighbourhood at the time and the data Google handed over to police placed him near the scene of the burglary. Continue reading...

From being unable to harvest little sister' characters but happy to kill others freely, to playing the Legend of Zelda as a vegan - gaming ethics are complex and highly personalI can kill foxes but I can't kill wolves. Not in real life, obviously - in real life I send emails eight hours a day - but in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, where every animal is an arrow away from becoming a fortifying meal. Shoot a wolf and you'll be rewarded with a thick red slab of raw prime meat, but I can't do it, I just can't do it, even though they often attack me in packs. They look too much like dogs.I can kill a fox - even though they never attack me, and they often let out sad little yelps - but many other gamers can't. One post in the Tears of the Kingdom subreddit is entitled, I can't shoot the foxes" and has almost 500 upvotes. They're so sweet and nice I can't bring myself to hurt them," the original poster wrote. Continue reading...