by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5VGRY)
Novel device aims to be a multi-tasking power house, but gaps in hardware and software let it downMicrosoft’s second attempt at its interesting dual-screen Android smartphone corrects some mistakes of the original, but falls short of a revolution due to a series of oddities created by its physical laptop-like form.Looking more like a tiny convertible computer than a phone, the Surface Duo 2 starts at £1,349 ($1,499/A$2,319), a lot for a regular smartphone but slightly cheaper than folding-screen rivals. Continue reading...
by Alexi Duggins, Hannah Verdier and Hollie Richardso on (#5VGQQ)
The Obamas-backed podcast The Big Hit Show dives deep into the hit vampire tales, and the misogynistic hatred its female fans receive. Plus: trickster psychics are exposedThe Big Hit Show
Jack, 8, became enamoured with Joe Danger but Apple iOS updates left mobile game defunct, prompting his father to seek developer’s helpAn eight-year-old boy has inspired a developer to relaunch a popular mobile game after it became defunct, leaving his father desperate to find a solution.Jack, who was diagnosed with autism, became enamoured with the game Joe Danger – a motorbike-riding daredevil who takes players on a race across the desert – as a source of joy and a way to cope with stress. Continue reading...
Apple surpasses analysts’ predictions with 11% higher revenues compared with last year despite supply chain issues and Omicron surgeApple reported record sales in the holiday quarter, beating estimates as it benefited from high iPhone demand in China and withstood constraints caused by supply chain disruptions and the Omicron variant.Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, had warned in October that chip shortages were affecting the manufacturing of most Apple products and could lead to over $6bn in lost sales. But on Thursday, the company celebrated a successful quarter in a call with investors. Continue reading...
by Harriet Sherwood Arts and culture correspondent on (#5VG27)
Singer thanked for ‘standing up against inaccuracies' after the streaming service refused to remove Joe Rogan’s podcastThe World Health Organization chief has backed the veteran rock star Neil Young in his dispute with the music streaming behemoth Spotify, thanking the musician for “standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies” around Covid vaccinations.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director general, tweeted that “we all have a role to play to end this pandemic and infodemic” – in particular social media platforms. Continue reading...
Urged on by his millennial daughter, Dominik Diamond is only eight or so years late to this particular party, and finds that an ending can really make or break a game‘OK, Dad, this is an incredible essay on the effects of grief and grey morality in a postapocalyptic society,” says the eldest child, AKA the millennial. “It’s got proper female characters, progressive takes on sexuality and tonnes of rain.”“They’ve made a video game of The Handmaid’s Tale?” Continue reading...
Center for Countering Digital Hate research calculates that anti-vaccine figures could be making $12.5m from the online platformA group of vaccine-sceptic writers are generating revenues of at least $2.5m (£1.85m) a year from publishing newsletters for tens of thousands of followers on the online publishing platform Substack, according to new research.Prominent figures in the anti-vaccine movement including Dr Joseph Mercola and Alex Berenson have large followings on Substack, which has more than 1 million paying subscribers who sign up for individual newsletters from an array of authors who include novelist Salman Rushdie, the writer musician Patti Smith and former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings. Continue reading...
Elon Musk says continuing profitability ‘makes us a real company at this point’Tesla posted record fourth-quarter and full-year earnings in what it called a “breakthrough year”, despite supply chain struggles.The company made $5.5bn last year compared with the previous record of $3.47bn in net income posted in 2020. It was the electric vehicle and solar panel maker’s third straight profitable year. Continue reading...
Machine was ‘significantly better’ than humans at tricky procedure to connect two ends of intestineThe robot surgeon will see you now.For years, the world of medicine has been steadily advancing the art of robot-assisted procedures, enabling doctors to enhance their technique inside the operating theatre. Continue reading...
The new Double J Weekends host loves being online, be it watching a TikToker reading out court transcripts or enjoying strangely threatening tweetsI am a child of the internet. I was always drawn to computers and tech, and used to beg my dad to bring us to his office on a weekend so we could use the high-speed internet to play Neopets games. As I got older it was all MSN, MySpace, Paramore fan forums, Tumblr, Twitter and now TikTok. I want nothing more than to zone out and look at my little pictures.One of my favourite things about the internet is that it allows you to see everyone’s best joke. The moment in their life where they were at their absolute funniest – whether it be because they had a moment of brilliant wit or because they got pulled through a panel roof while practising for a high school play (I assume). Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: meet the vehicle for newly-minted online millionaires to throw their influence into the real world – and the frontier for the next wave of crypto chaos
The software company’s success can be attributed to its cloud computing businessMicrosoft reported a profit of $18.8bn for the last three months of 2021, ahead of analysts expectations, but its share price initially slumped over 5% after another rocky day on Wall Street.The Seattle-based software giant reported revenues of $51.7bn, an increase of 20% compared to the same period last year and ahead of expectations. But the news was not enough to impress investors who appear to have soured on the tech sector after a historic boom in share prices during the pandemic. Continue reading...
Activists claim they could paralyse trains moving Russian forces for potential attack on UkraineCyber-activists opposed to the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, say they have penetrated the state-run railway’s computer system and threatened to paralyse trains moving Russian troops and artillery to the country for a potential attack on Ukraine.Their goals include freeing political prisoners, removing Russian soldiers from Belarus and preventing Belarusians from “dying for this meaningless war”, a person involved in the attack told the Guardian. Continue reading...
Lack of trust in official currency has led to surging interest in cryptocurrencies – despite their volatility and government oppositionIn the offices of Altcointurk, a cryptocurrency hub tucked away in a sidestreet in Istanbul’s bustling Kadıköy neighbourhood, two wall-mounted TV sets showed the live value of currencies bitcoin and Ethereum, both graphs sloping downwards.Altcointurk’s all-male inhabitants were not worried – in the chaotic world of cryptocurrency, their fortunes could soon change. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: whatever reservations we have about the merger, it’s a chance to bring meaningful, positive change for the people who actually make games
A report found the app that will be used to monitor athletes’ health and travel data has a ‘devastating’ encryption flawWith the Beijing Olympics just weeks away, concerns are mounting over a mandatory health app for competing athletes, after a new report revealed the app contains security flaws and a list of “politically sensitive” words that have been marked for censorship.The report, published by University of Toronto’s research and strategic policy unit Citizen Lab, found that the My2022 app, which will be used to monitor athletes’ health and travel data, has a “devastating” encryption flaw that leaves users’ files and media vulnerable. Continue reading...
Until very recently my partner had never owned a mobile – blissful for him, inconvenient for me, infuriating to friends. Will our life ever be the same?In her new memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You, the American novelist Jami Attenberg describes meeting a man who is not on any social media at all, and who therefore has no idea what it’s like to receive a like or retweet. Attenberg considers this state wildly unusual, not to say bizarre; she’s all over Instagram and the rest. But her amazement is tempered with what sounds like envy. “You goddam beautiful unicorn,” she writes of him. “What’s that like, being entirely self-validating? What’s it like to wake up every day and not worry what anyone else thinks?”As it happens, I’ve spent the past 18 years of my life with just such a unicorn, though the man I’m talking about is – or was – an even rarer beast than hers. So, a guy isn’t on social media. So what? Lots of people aren’t. Facebook is for dinosaurs. The more important fact by far when it comes to my mythical creature is that, until three weeks ago, he did not, in a Britain in which around 87% of adults own a smartphone, even have a mobile. Not only had he never used social media, he had never sent, let alone received, a text. The exquisite torture that comes of WhatsApp and its blue ticks was entirely unknown to him, a man whose body is very far indeed from being hard-wired to respond to alerts. Nothing pinged in his pocket as he strolled along. When he was lost, he had to ask a stranger, not Google Maps. When he was out late, he had to rely on his legs, not an Uber. Calls? You’d be surprised. The last time he needed urgently to contact me while out and about, he walked into a hotel bar and, drawing on all of his great David Niven-like urbanity, casually asked a waiter if he might “use your telephone for a moment”. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Experts aim to find out whether there are hotspots around country where electronic waste is avoidedFrom fancy toys to smartphones, when technology breaks, it often seems simplest to ditch it for a new model.But now experts are hoping to challenge the status quo, launching a citizen science project to explore attitudes to repair, and pinpoint parts of the UK where the mending mindset is thriving. Continue reading...
The Finnish photographer on an intimate shot which captured his youngest son was unawaresJuuso Westerlund was passing his family bathroom when he noticed his youngest son, Antero, had climbed up on to the toilet seat. The six-year-old had just finished his evening bath; he didn’t notice his father in the doorway. As the boy studied his body in the steam-clouded mirror, the Finnish photographer snapped a silent photo. It would later become part of his Heartbeats collection, which is being exhibited at the Latvian Museum of Photography, in Riga. “The collection is the story of my boys,” Westerlund says. “The photographs are like love poems to my sons.”Westerlund says he wouldn’t have dreamed of putting away, or later editing out, the half-empty handwash bottle or unplugged toothbrush charger. “I’d never stage a photo like this, and I’d never tidy up the space,” he says. “The world is filled with pictures of kids, and I don’t want mine to be polished or perfect. I just want to capture everyday moments and their special magic.” Continue reading...
Digital tokens seen as new wealth stream as TV rights and sponsorship level off but not everyone is happy at the new signingsWhen FC Barcelona took to the pitch for the 2021 Spanish Super Cup final, the trophy wasn’t the only prize at stake.Thousands of blaugrana fans were also keeping an eye on the market for FCB’s “fan token”, the club’s very own cryptocurrency. Socios, the web-based platform that pioneered fan tokens, had promised to “burn” 20,000 tokens for every goal Barcelona scored – and 40,000 if they lifted the cup. Continue reading...
My years teaching in universities – and my own children – have changed my attitude to the storm of disability our young people faceI’ve been teaching at Australian universities for 25 years now. I began when I was 27 – I’m now 52. This means I’ve been next to university students since 1996, and if you’re curious about these things, you see patterns begin to emerge.Every parent, every aunt or uncle, every grandparent, and in fact anyone who has anything to do with young people today is anxious about one thing: anxiety. It seems it’s on the rise. It is on the rise. Each semester I have more and more students with depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, some form of autism, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and what I’m going to call Terror About The Future. All of these conditions cause anxiety. Continue reading...
Eric Adams will find it difficult to spend his cryptocurrency paycheck to pay for the daily costs of living in the Big AppleNew York’s new mayor gets his first paycheck on Friday – and as part of his bid to keep the city “on the forefront of innovation”, he’ll be receiving his wages in cryptocurrency.“New York is the center of the world and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” Eric Adams said in a press release. Continue reading...
Users describe problems with Amazon Echo smart devices and Downdetector reports wave of outages on Friday morningAmazon has confirmed its Alexa virtual assistant service suffered an outage in the UK and mainland Europe but is now back to normal.The Downdetector website reported a wave of Alexa outages in the UK and across Europe on Friday morning at about 7am GMT, with the reports spread throughout the UK. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5V8FY)
Top noise reduction, comfort and good sound – but a lack of bells and whistles for the priceBose is back with a revamp of its most popular noise-cancelling headphones, which improve the technology but keep the good bits mostly the same.The company appears to have taken an “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the new headphones, which are similar to the excellent QuietComfort 35 from 2016 but markedly different to the more modern NCH 700 that launched two years ago. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5V8EQ)
Ipac’s website went offline following comments about lawyer Christine Lee reportedly seeking to influence MPsMembers of a cross-party China human rights group have accused Britain’s cybersecurity agency of “failing to respond” with help after their website was taken offline this week in an attack they fear came from Beijing.MPs from the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) said the incident took place on Tuesday, days after the group had said publicly it was “deeply disturbed” by reports that an Anglo-Chinese lawyer had been trying to improperly influence parliamentarians in the UK. Continue reading...
Information commissioner defends value of privacy protection in face of government-backed campaignThe UK data watchdog has intervened in the debate over end-to-end encryption, warning that delaying its introduction puts “everyone at risk” including children.The Information Commissioner’s Office said strongly encrypting communications strengthens online safety for children by reducing their exposure to threats such as blackmail, while also allowing businesses to share information securely. Continue reading...
Improved automated drug detection systems and enhanced partnerships with law enforcement are among changesSnapchat has announced new efforts to combat drug dealing on the platform, changes that come as drug-related deaths among US high school and college-aged youth are exploding.The company said it has improved automated drug detection systems, enhanced partnerships with law enforcement, and launched a new portal educating users on the dangers of drugs.Erin McCormick contributed reporting Continue reading...
Suspicious US regulators and a problematic culture at the video game firm need to be overcome to realise AR visionIf the world of Call of Duty seems fraught enough when you are playing it, try being in it. That could be the consequence of Microsoft’s proposed $68.7bn (£50.4bn) acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the video games maker behind the shoot ’em up franchise. Announcing the deal, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said that gaming would “play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms”.The metaverse is a catch-all term for an immersive experience that blends the physical and digital worlds through a mixture of virtual and augmented reality. This concept is years away from being fully realised, but it is envisaged that participants – using digital representations of themselves, or avatars – will access it through a virtual reality headset, or augmented reality (AR) glasses that put a digital layer over what they see in the real world. In the metaverse they can socialise with friends, carry out their job – or take part in a video game. Continue reading...
Papers leaked by Frances Haugen revealed users in India were inundated with fake news and anti-Muslim postsFormer Facebook employee Frances Haugen and other prominent whistleblowers have renewed calls for Facebook to release a long-awaited report on its impact in India, alleging the company is purposely obscuring human rights concerns.More than 20 organizations on Wednesday joined whistleblowers Frances Haugen and Sophie Zhang, as well as former Facebook vice-president Brian Boland, to demand the company, now called Meta, release its findings. Continue reading...
Global headquarters forced to shut down computer systems for programme that reunites families separated by conflictThe International Committee of the Red Cross has been the victim of a cyber-attack in which hackers seized the data of more than 515,000 extremely vulnerable people, some of whom had fled conflicts.“A sophisticated cybersecurity attack against computer servers hosting information held by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was detected this week,” it said in a statement. Continue reading...
The video game industry is bigger than the film and music industries combined – yet has faced far less scrutiny than major tech companies like Facebook and GoogleMicrosoft recently announced plans to purchase Activision Blizzard – one of the world’s largest video game companies – for nearly $70bn, making it the biggest acquisition in tech to date. While big tech always seems to be facing some sort of – usually well-deserved – public criticism lately, the ire has mostly focused on social media. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter executives have all had to testify before Congress about their platforms’ roles in spreading misinformation and being used as organizing tools for events like the January 6 storming of the US Capitol. This is all on top of a history of alleged labor violations, including complaints that traumatized content moderators are paid poverty wages and reports that Black employees face racial discrimination.Video game companies mirror many of the alleged problems of social media yet have long evaded accountability, outside of the occasional attempt to ban a violent video game. This is troubling given the staggering size of the game industry, which produces more revenue than the film and music industries combined and whose biggest hits make more money in days than most entire franchises make in their lifetimes. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: How a judge’s ruling could pave the way for a costly, lengthy legal battle over the future of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram
UK ‘little nearer to closing great digital divide’ between cities and rural areas, says committeeBoris Johnson’s promise to “level up” the nation by providing next-generation-speed broadband to most homes by 2025 is under threat as rural dwellers are left behind in the internet revolution, according to a report by parliament’s spending watchdog.The report by the public accounts committee found that the government is relying too heavily on companies, most notably BT Openreach and Virgin Media O2, to achieve Johnson’s key election manifesto pledge of addressing the UK’s status as a global laggard in broadband speeds. Continue reading...
Analysis: Activision Blizzard deal would help Xbox compete against PlayStation – but will regulators play along?Microsoft’s planned takeover of Activision Blizzard puts the tech company at the centre of two big issues facing the sector: the metaverse and Washington’s determination to rein in big tech.The metaverse is where the physical and digital worlds come together, although it is very much at the concept stage. The idea is that you will put on a virtual reality headset and a digital representation of yourself – an avatar – will interact with others at work and play in a combination of virtual and augmented reality. Continue reading...
Move to change law would see assets subject to the same FCA rules as shares and insuranceThe government has unveiled plans to crack down on misleading cryptocurrency ads by making them subject to the same regulations as marketing for other financial products such as shares and insurance.The Treasury has responded to rising concern over a surge in ads promoting cryptoassets, which are unregulated in the UK, and the potential for naive investors to lose money given the highly volatile price swings of digital currencies such as bitcoin. Continue reading...
Introduction of the new technology near airports could interfere with critical airplane instruments such as radio altimetersUS airline chiefs have warned that the introduction of a new 5G service could cause US commerce to “grind to a halt” due to possibly grounding a significant number of aircraft and might “strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas”.Warnings of an impending “catastrophic” crisis in aviation came in a letter sent to the White House national economic council director, Brian Deese, transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator, Steve Dickson, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, Reuters reported on Monday. Continue reading...
In his book Reality+ David Chalmers says the material world may lose its allure as VR technology advancesIt is hard to imagine humans spending their lives in virtual reality when the experience amounts to waving your arms about in the middle of the lounge with a device the size of a house brick strapped to your face.But this is where humanity is heading, says the philosopher David Chalmers, who argues for embracing the fate. Advances in technology will deliver virtual worlds that rival and then surpass the physical realm. And with limitless, convincing experiences on tap, the material world may lose its allure, he says. Continue reading...
Claim comes as Microsoft warns hack that hit government websites could be worse than first fearedUkraine has said it has “evidence” Russia was behind a massive cyber-attack that knocked out key government websites last week, while Microsoft warned the hack could be far worse than first thought.Tensions are at an all-time high between Ukraine and Russia, which Kyiv accuses of having massed troops on its border before a possible invasion. Some analysts fear the cyber-attack could be the prelude to a military attack. Continue reading...
No more generic American voice. Let Colin Farrell, Michael Fassbender and Paul Mescal do your bidding insteadInside my iPhone is a cornucopia of Irish men.“It’s currently clear and 25 degrees,” Colin Farrell replies when I ask him the weather. Continue reading...
Newly revealed documents from the complaint against Google shed light on potential advertising sales manipulationFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were allegedly aware of and approved a deal to collaborate on the potential manipulation of advertising sales, according to newly revealed documents.The documents, which came to light on Friday, were filed as part of a lawsuit against Google brought by the attorneys general of multiple US states. The lawsuit was first filed in December 2020 and claimed Google misled publishers and advertisers about the price and process of advertising auctions. At that time, many documents and parts of the lawsuit were redacted, but court rulings have since made them public. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian