Technology | The Guardian

Company close to accepting offer price of $54.20 a share, with deal valuing business at $43bnTwitter is poised to agree a sale to Elon Musk after he put together a $46.5bn (£36.4bn) funding package to acquire the social media platform, according to reports.The company is close to agreeing to Musk’s offer price of $54.20 a share, multiple reports said on Monday, and an announcement could be imminent on a deal valuing the business at $43bn. Continue reading...

A new book exposes Silicon Valley’s use of spiritual concepts and practices to optimise their workers’ productivityCarolyn Chen is a sociologist and UC Berkeley professor who researches religion, race and ethnicity. Her new book, Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, features in-depth interviews with employees and employers to explore how spirituality begets productivity in the world’s tech hub.As a professor of religion, what sparked your interest in Silicon Valley?

Experts say Wales has huge potential for generating renewable marine power, yet, so far, ambitious schemes have been ignoredOn the stunning and craggy coastline of Holy Island in north Wales, work has started on a construction project to generate energy from one of the world’s greatest untapped energy resources: tidal power.The Morlais project, on the small island off the west of Anglesey has benefited from £31m in what is likely to be the last large grant for Wales from the European Union’s regional funding programme. It will install turbines at what will be one of the largest tidal stream energy sites in the world, covering 13 square miles of the seabed. Continue reading...

For older people, the internet plays on the part which is in all of us, that is alone and unknown, says Philippa PerryThe question As a retired woman living alone, I felt isolated during the various lockdowns. The answer seemed to be to rely on technology, which was fine when it worked, but it often made me feel more cut off from the world. For example, when I didn’t know how to unmute myself on a video call it was like having locked-in syndrome. Emerging from the pandemic, things are better, except Covid has made technology the way forward and I can’t always get it to work for me.I’ve been to a pub where I had to forgo lunch because I couldn’t order on the app. I know people who have gone abroad for holidays, but I’ve been too scared to go because of the passenger locator form, which you had to complete online while out of the country (how?). I have a mobile phone I often struggle with – for months I didn’t know how to answer a call, so I had to wait for people to ring off, then I had to call them back. Continue reading...

After losing a record $230bn in market value due to a disappointing earnings report in February, analysts are hoping to see progressMeta experienced a historic nosedive in value earlier this year amid a major rebrand and shake-ups to its business model – and investors are bracing for another difficult quarter.Meta lost a record $230bn in market value after a disappointing earnings report in February, in which it revealed Facebook had recorded its first-ever drop in daily user numbers. Continue reading...

Billionaires like Musk use their vast wealth to build a world unconstrained by laws, shareholders or accountabilityElon Musk has now put together a $46.5bn financing package to buy Twitter – two thirds of it from his own assets, and a third from bank loans secured against Twitter’s assets. It’s the biggest acquisition financing ever put forward for one person.Twitter’s founder and top managers don’t want Musk to take over the company. They offered him a seat on the board but he didn’t want it because he’d have to be responsible to all other shareholders. Now they’re adopting a “poison pill” to stop him. But Musk plans to buy shares directly with a tender offer that shareholders can’t refuse. After all, it’s a free market.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

The platform has been a source of a growing wave of climate misinformation and said denialism ‘shouldn’t be monetized’Twitter chose Earth Day to announce it will ban advertisements that deny the scientific consensus on climate crisis.“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” the company declared on Friday. Continue reading...

Electric vehicle maker Arrival is gambling that small sites, a ‘Lego-block’ manufacturing system and lots of robots will bring it successThe last year has been tricky for electric vehicle startups. After a burst of investment mania in which companies raised billions on the mere promise of battery propulsion, valuations have come back down to earth.One of the loudest thuds has come from Arrival, the closest to what could be called a British electric vehicle champion. Its market value on the Nasdaq has fallen from $15bn (£11.6bn) in March 2021, when it first completed a merger with a listed cash shell, to about $1.75bn. Continue reading...

The London-based photographer on his serendipitous avian encounter when capturing a plane and a fleeting rainbowPhotographer Josh Edgoose has always tried to capture “moments that feel a bit strange”. Until recently, photography was a hobby, and when lockdown first hit, he was limited to the area surrounding his home in Hounslow, London, for inspiration.“We live under a flight path, so planes go by every 10 minutes or so,” Edgoose says. “This beautiful rainbow appeared and I went out hoping to capture it as one flew over. I knew I had only two or three shots before the rainbow faded. The bird was complete luck. There is even another one peeking out from behind the chimney pot.” Continue reading...

As the government tightens its grip, some social media stars are speaking out, while others are pivoting to propaganda

A class-action lawsuit brought by users, including church groups, states they were bombarded with abusive messages and imageryThe Covid-19 pandemic brought on a surge of “zoom-bombing” as hackers and pranksters crashed into virtual meetings with abusive messages and imagery. Now, Zoom has agreed to a “historic” payout of $85m as part of a class-action settlement brought by its users, including church groups who said they were left traumatized by the disruptions.As part of the settlement agreement, Zoom Video Communications, the company behind the teleconference application that grew popular during the pandemic, will pay the $85m to users in cash compensation and also implement reforms to its business practices. Continue reading...

The Daily Mail dropped two stories detailing Activision’s Bobby Kotich’s abuse of an ex after threats by Meta executive, WSJ reportsSheryl Sandberg, the Meta executive, allegedly pressured the Daily Mail to drop unflattering stories about her then-boyfriend Bobby Kotick, the Activision Blizzard CEO, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.The Journal reports that she persuaded the digital edition of the Mail not to run stories revealing that an ex-girlfriend of Kotick had obtained a temporary restraining order against him in 2014. Kotick reportedly said that Sandberg, who he dated for three years until 2019, told the Mail in 2016 that if the article were published, it could damage the outlet’s relationship with Facebook. Sandberg allegedly contacted the Daily Mail in 2016 and 2019 to put a stop to the articles, and both times the stories never ran. Continue reading...

Time-lapse satellite images show glacial retreat at Mount Kilimanjaro, Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching, deforestation in Germany and Greenland glacial meltGoogle is marking Earth Day with time-lapse satellite images showing melting glaciers, retreating snow cover, deforestation and coral bleaching to remind its users about humanity’s impact on the climate and environment.The 2022 Earth Day Google doodle includes four Gifs created from satellite imagery and photographs from The Ocean Agency that will rotate throughout the day. Continue reading...

In a keynote address at Stanford University, the former president made his most extensive remarks yet about the tech landscapeTechnology companies must be reined in to address the “weakening of democratic institutions around the world”, Barack Obama said Thursday, in a sweeping keynote speech on the perils of disinformation.Speaking at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, the former president made his most extensive remarks yet about the technology landscape, which he said is “turbo-charging some of humanity’s worst impulses”. Continue reading...

Tesla CEO is putting $21bn of his own money in the package, according to US watchdog filingElon Musk has secured $46.5bn (£35.6bn) in financing to fund a possible hostile bid for Twitter and is putting up $21bn of his own money as part of the package.On top of that equity, Musk is raising a further $12.5bn for the offer via a margin loan secured against his shares in Tesla, the electric carmaker that he runs as CEO. Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank, is leading a group of financial institutions providing $13bn in debt financing. Continue reading...

Alphabetti theatre, Newcastle

In this week’s newsletter: an American nurse sent anti-vaxxers into a frenzy after fainting on TV after her vaccine – NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny finds out why. Plus: five podcasts to help you find love

Electric car company reports $18.8bn in revenue for the first quarter, up 81% from a year beforeTesla smashed Wall Street estimates for revenue and profit in another record quarter on Wednesday, despite a tumultuous few months for its CEO, Elon Musk, and ongoing supply chain concerns.The electric car manufacturer reported $18.8bn in revenue for Q1 of 2022, up 81% from a year earlier. The report beat analyst expectations of $17.8bn, sending Tesla shares up 4% in after-hours trading. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: the difference between people who understand video games and those who are dismissive isn’t personality – it’s exposure

You can see Van Gogh’s brush strokes being applied or watch aliens dancing. But true immersion should mean more than just access to the latest techPeek through the gallery window and you’ll see a holographic alien dancing in space. Venture inside, and an eerie, indeterminate soundtrack plays while the smell of woodsmoke floats through the air. Five VR headsets greet entrants, each offering a different simulation of extraterrestrial life. Put the pair of goggles on and you may find yourself, as I did, surrounded by a shoal of electric-blue pixels that move in concert like a jellyfish. That part left me feeling slightly unsteady, as if my neurons had been massaged.This experience is part of Alienarium 5, a new exhibition by the French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster at the Serpentine Gallery. Installation art that uses technology such as augmented and virtual reality to “immerse” viewers, merging the physical world with digital experience, has become popular in recent years. There have already been immersive exhibitions of David Bowie and Abba, while an immersive Avicii experience has just opened in Sweden with a Prince one due to follow in Chicago later this year. There are so many immersive Van Gogh experiences that the phenomenon has its own Wikipedia page. These projects vary hugely in scope, from elaborate, hi-tech installations to Instagram-friendly projection shows of deceased painters. Continue reading...

The east African state was the first in the world to use drones to deliver blood and essential medicines to rural hospitals. The breakthrough came following an agreement between the government and US manufacturer Zipline, and two centres now operate in the east and west of the countryPhotographs by Gianluca De Bartolo Continue reading...

Proposed interim measures include making insurance companies liable for accidents in self-driving vehiclesUsers of self-driving cars will be able to watch films on the motorway under planned changes to the Highway Code, although it will remain illegal to use mobile phones.The update, proposed by the Department for Transport (DfT), will allow those in the driver’s seat to use a car’s built-in screens to watch movies and TV programmes. Continue reading...

Company asks officials to further investigate allegations as it seeks chance to settle California litigationTesla has asked a California judge to pause a lawsuit against the company alleging widespread racial discrimination at its flagship assembly plant.In a Monday court filing, Tesla said the state should further investigate allegations brought against it by the state’s department of fair employment and housing (DFEH) and allow a chance to settle the litigation. Continue reading...

Peter Ricketts’ warning comes as UAE accused of using Pegasus spyware to hack into mobile phone at Downing StreetBoris Johnson should “pay close attention” to basic rules of cybersecurity, a former national security adviser has said, after it emerged that the United Arab Emirates was accused of hacking into a mobile phone at Downing Street.Peter Ricketts, who held the post between 2010 and 2012, said the cyber-attack demonstrated that “commercially made” Pegasus software from NSO Group allowed a “wide range of actors” to engage in sophisticated espionage. Continue reading...

Pere Aragonès says the Spanish government must have known about the spying, but it denies all wrongdoingThe Catalan president has called on the Spanish government to launch an “official and independent investigation” into how and why he and more than 60 figures associated with the regional independence movement reportedly had their mobile phones targeted using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.Pere Aragonès told the Guardian that the alleged targeting, revealed by Citizen Lab cybersecurity experts on Monday, constituted a violation of individual rights, an attack on democracy, and a threat to political dissent. Continue reading...

No 10 subjected to UAE-linked spyware attack, says report, but Israeli firm suggests allegations are falseBoris Johnson has been told his Downing Street office has been targeted with “multiple” suspected infections using Pegasus, the sophisticated hacking software that can turn a phone into a remote listening device, it was claimed on Monday.A report released by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said the United Arab Emirates was suspected of orchestrating spyware attacks on No 10 in 2020 and 2021. Continue reading...

Victims said to include Pere Aragonès and Carles Puigdemont, but Israeli firm suggests claims are falseDozens of pro-independence Catalan figures, including the president of the north-eastern Spanish region and three of his predecessors, have been targeted using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, according to a report from cybersecurity experts.The research published on Monday by Citizen Lab, considered among the world’s leading experts in detecting digital attacks, said victims of the mobile phone targeting included Pere Aragonès, who has led Catalonia since last year, as well as the former regional presidents Quim Torra, Carles Puigdemont and Artur Mas. Continue reading...

Great screen, top performance, good camera and fully charges in 20 minutes – but it’s no match for SamsungXiaomi’s new top phone for the start of 2022 is the 12 Pro featuring high-end specs, svelte design and triple 50-megapixel cameras but at a decidedly premium price.“China’s Apple” as Xiaomi was once called, is more frequently known for top-spec phones that undercut the competition on price. But the 12 Pro is different – a direct challenger to Apple and Samsung costing £1,049, which is as much if not more than rivals.Screen: 6.73in QHD+ OLED (522ppi) 120HzProcessor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1RAM: 12GB of RAMStorage: 256GBOperating system: Miui 13 based on Android 12Camera: Triple 50MP rear camera: wide, ultra-wide, 2x telephoto; 32MP selfie cameraConnectivity: 5G, USB-C, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and locationWater resistance: noneDimensions: 163.6 x 74.6 x 8.2mmWeight: 205g Continue reading...

As company faces rising pressure in west, it is investing in digital infrastructure elsewhereWhen government officials in the southern Nigerian state of Edo set about radically improving poor internet access for its population of 4 million, they didn’t have to look far for help. MainOne, a company responsible for laying a vast network of fibre-optic cables across west Africa, was an obvious partner. Another, perhaps less obvious one, was Facebook.A joint agreement was signed to install fibre-optic cables running across the state’s capital, Benin City. Since 2019, 400km (250 miles) of cables have been laid in Edo, about a quarter via the partnership between the two companies and the government. Continue reading...

Gardeners are looking for a more environmentally friendly machine, but which is right for you?Gardeners want to make their grass even greener. As petrol prices rocket and people become ever more conscious of their environmental impact, many are turning to the latest generation of lawnmowers to keep their gardens looking good.While the fronts of our houses are gradually seeing the replacement of petrol cars with electric vehicles, advances in lithium-ion batteries have meant that the trusted back garden mower has also been given a modern overhaul – but at a price. Continue reading...

It disrupted the market and has more than 200m subscribers. But with slower growth, some say Netflix must change its gameTwelve years ago Jeff Bewkes, then chief executive of Time Warner, compared Netflix to the Albanian army. “It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world? I don’t think so,” Bewkes told the New York Times, disparaging the streaming service’s ability to take on the established media players.Well, the Albanian army won. Time Warner followed Netflix into streaming, NBCUniversal and Disney came after and so it carried on. In Britain, BBC and ITV invested in their streaming portals. Media was now living in Netflix’s world. Continue reading...

The firm is doing well, but it will have perform amazingly to merit its position as the world’s most valuable carmakerSpare a brief thought for Elon Musk’s bankers and lawyers. One week he is posting earnest polls about freedom of speech on Twitter, and the next he is spending billions of dollars on a major stake in the social media site, before attempting an all-cash take-private deal complete with by-now-compulsory stoner meme. (And possibly – no, let’s be honest, probably – sticking two fingers up to US regulators at the same time.) Just another fortnight in the life of the world’s richest man.Musk’s all-or-nothing ultimatum has made for box-office corporate drama, and nervous times in Twitter’s boardroom. But social media executives may not be the only ones feeling queasy: Tesla shareholders are also watching closely. Shares in Musk’s electric car company dropped by 3% on Thursday. Continue reading...

Using real-world data, we rank the most successful measures European cities have introducedGetting cars out of cities has become an international focus. But city officials, planners and citizens still do not have a clear, evidence-based answer to the question: what works to reduce car use in cities?We screened almost 800 peer-reviewed reports and case studies from throughout Europe published since 2010, and used real world data to rank the 12 most effective measures that European cities have introduced. Continue reading...

Another high-profile hack has raised more questions about the vulnerabilities of the blockchainLate last month, hackers made off with what was then worth more than $500m from the systems of cryptocurrency network Ronin, in what is believed to be the second-largest cryptocurrency theft on record.Ronin was a juicy target for a hacker. The blockchain project supports the wildly popular Axie Infinity video game, which with an estimated 8 million players has drawn comparisons to action-driven collecting games like Pokémon Go. Continue reading...

Experts say the path forward for Musk is uncertain as he continues in his quest to take over the social networkIt’s been a chaotic few days for Elon Musk.After announcing he had quietly become Twitter’s largest shareholder, this week Musk launched a hostile takeover bid, offering to buy the social network for $43bn. Twitter’s board responded on Friday by announcing it would implement a plan that could stall or prevent Musk’s attempt. Continue reading...

The social media company adopted a shareholder rights plan to protect itself from the billionaire’s bidTwitter has announced a limited-duration shareholder rights plan that may thwart billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s attempts to take over the company.Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and the world’s richest person, had offered to buy the social media platform for $43.4bn, arguing he wanted to release its “extraordinary potential” to support free speech and democracy across the world. Continue reading...

Huawei executive warns of ‘massive losses’ in tech sector as tensions rise over strict lockdownsA top Huawei executive has broken ranks to warn that China’s stringent zero-Covid policy may trigger “massive losses” for the tech industry, putting the country’s economy as well as the global supply chain at greater risk.“If Shanghai cannot resume production by May, all of the tech and industrial players who have supply chains in the area will come to a complete halt, especially the automotive industry,” Richard Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei’s consumer and auto division said in a WeChat post. “That will pose severe consequences and massive losses for the whole industry.” Continue reading...

Tanya DePass did not know that a tweet would eventually lead to a career based around making a difference for underrepresented people in gamesOne day in 2014, Tanya DePass was feeling the rage. She had been playing games for most of her life, since the time of Pong, ColecoVision, and the glory days of the arcade. And yet she still saw very few people like her in the games she played. A queer black woman, DePass started becoming aware of video games’ diversity problem as far back as 1987’s Street Fighter. Outside of sports and fighting, there were hardly any black characters around; queer characters were nearly nonexistent; and women characters made up a tiny percentage of gaming’s lead stars. That year at E3, game publisher Ubisoft had come out with a now infamous response to a journalist’s question about why all four of the playable characters in its latest Assassin’s Creed game were male: women were too much extra work to animate.So she tweeted about it, using the hashtag #ineeddiversegames. And it exploded. People from within and outside the games industry started sharing their own reasons why they, too, needed better representation in video games: because they needed to see themselves; because they wanted their daughters to be able to play as a character they identified with; because they wanted to be able to create a character with natural hair. The hashtag eventually became its own Twitter account and website, and a not-for-profit organisation that works to give marginalised people a leg-up in the video games industry through initiatives such as Game Developers Conference scholarships, panels and events, and consultancy. Continue reading...

E-commerce firm blames move on wage increases, hiring of workers and warehouse constructionAmazon is taking a step to offset its rising costs by adding a 5% “fuel and inflation surcharge” to the fees it charges third-party sellers who use its fulfillment services.The Seattle-based company said the increase, which will take effect from 28 April, were subject to change and applied to clothing and non-clothing items. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: What is it like to suit up and hand out vigilante justice as an actual caped crusader? Plus: five of the best comedy talkshow podcasts

The comedian and former face of Tip Top bread in New Zealand shares her favourite videos, including an orchestral mishap and Obama’s ‘anger management translator’

Private contractor running service sent email to applicants containing more than 170 email addressesThe Home Office’s visa service has apologised for a data breach in which the email addresses of more than 170 people were mistakenly copied into an email circulated last week.More than 170 email addresses were accidentally copied into a message on 7 April 2022 about the change of location for a visa appointment with the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service. The UKVCAS is run on behalf of the Home Office by the private contractor Sopra Steria. Some of the email addresses appeared to be private Gmail accounts, while others belonged to lawyers from a variety of firms. Continue reading...

Musk took several weeks to reveal his stake, violating federal law requiring disclosure within 10 daysA Twitter shareholder is suing Elon Musk for failing to disclose that he had bought a substantial stake in the company, affecting share prices.The Tesla CEO revealed on 4 April that he had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter. Shares of the social media company soared, as investors viewed the move as a vote of confidence from the richest man in the world. Continue reading...

Good combination of speed, long battery life, rapid charging, svelte design and solid camera at a reasonable priceThe latest high-end smartphone from OnePlus is a top-spec device with a good combination of aesthetics and performance, and a price that undercuts rivals. Just don’t sit on it.The 10 Pro costs from £799 ($899), which is still premium priced but £30 cheaper than last year’s model and £250 less than the parent company Oppo’s Find X5 Pro.Screen: 6.7in 120Hz QHD+ OLED (525ppi)Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1RAM: 8 or 12GB of RAMStorage: 128 or 256GBOperating system: OxygenOS 12.1 (Android 12)Camera: 48MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, 8MP 3.3x telephoto; 32MP selfieConnectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSSWater resistance rating: NoneDimensions: 163 x 73.9 x 8.6mmWeight: 200.5g Continue reading...

Clip prompts amusement online as car stops, then drives across an intersection, leaving police behindA video recently posted online shows what happens when police try to apprehend an autonomous vehicle – only to find nobody inside.Police in San Francisco stopped a vehicle operated by Cruise, an autonomous car company backed by General Motors, in a video posted on 1 April. Officers approached the car, which had been driving without headlights, only to find it was empty. Continue reading...

Pam Lunn is not impressed by the environmental credentials of the all-electric version of the supersized pickup truckElectric vehicles are not climate-friendly, but merely somewhat less climate-unfriendly than petrol or diesel ones. There are carbon emissions from manufacturing the vehicle, and from generating electricity to charge the battery. The wider environmental damage includes pollution from mining and processing battery components, particulate air pollution from tyres and brakes, and pollution from the disposal of batteries. The very idea of a climate-friendly Hummer is a kind of Orwellian doublethink (I test-drove the all-electric Hummer. Can it win over America’s EV skeptics?, 7 April).

Analysis: Week of activity from tech billionaire supports platform chief’s prediction of disruptions aheadTwitter’s chief executive knows this will not be the end of it. Announcing that Elon Musk will not join the company’s board, Parag Agrawal wrote: “There will be distractions ahead.”Interference is hard to avoid when one of your largest shareholders has more than 80 million followers on your platform and a penchant for impulsive use of the tweet button. Since it emerged last Monday that the world’s wealthiest person controls 9.2% of Twitter, Musk has lived up to his reputation for shoot-first-ask-later tweeting. Continue reading...

Nintendo Switch; HAL Laboratories/Nintendo

Tango Gameworks’ developers spent years imagining a Tokyo cleared by a terrible event – then lockdown emptied the streets, bringing an uncanny reality to their paranormal visionsMaking games is a long old road – five years or more, often, from conception to actual release – and when Kenji Kimura was stuck for ideas on the game he was directing, Ghostwire: Tokyo, he would wander the streets of Tokyo for inspiration. Walking around the back alleys of Shibuya, where the city’s ultra-modern architecture rubs up against old shrines and traditional houses, he would imagine a Tokyo eerily emptied of people by a paranormal event; what it would look like, how it would feel. Then, a few years into the production of Ghostwire: Tokyo, something similar happened. Like many cities across the world, Tokyo was suddenly deserted as people were confined to their homes in the early stages of the pandemic.“It suddenly felt so spooky walking in the city, because we had to be afraid of a thing that we cannot see,” says Kimura. “If we needed to go somewhere, we wouldn’t deviate from the shortest path.” The team he was directing at Tango Gameworks moved from their Shibaura office to home-working, finishing off their game about a ghostly city while living in one. Continue reading...

The Tesla boss, who now has a 9.2% stake in the social network, has offered suggestions and criticisms in a series of tweetsElon Musk has set out his vision for Twitter after buying a 9.2% stake in the company, in a series of posts on the social network described by one commentator as having “chaos energy”.Since being appointed to the Twitter board on Tuesday, Musk has posted a stream of open questions about the present and future of the site, proposing new features, highlighting areas of concern, and making jokes. Typically for the Tesla billionaire, it was not always clear which was which. Continue reading...