Technology | The Guardian

In this week’s newsletter: Though costly, the PSVR2 is the most usable virtual gaming device yet – even for sceptics like me

How an undercover investigation revealed a team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social mediaLast year, coordinated by the French media organisation Forbidden Stories, a group of journalists from around the world, including from the Guardian, embarked on a project: to get inside the murky world of disinformation and expose those who profit from it.Among the reporters were Gur Megiddo, an Israeli investigative journalist for the business newspaper TheMarker. With him was Omer Benjakob, a reporter with the Israeli daily paper Haaretz, and Frédéric Métézeau, a journalist with Radio France. As part of an undercover investigation, they held meetings with a secretive team of Israeli contractors selling “black op” influence campaigns to those with the means to pay for them. Continue reading...

Lawsuits brought by families of terrorist attack victims will consider whether companies are responsible for users’ contentA pair of cases going before the US supreme court this week could drastically upend the rules of the internet, putting a powerful, decades-old statute in the crosshairs.At stake is a question that has been foundational to the rise of big tech: should companies be legally responsible for the content their users post? Thus far they have evaded liability, but some US lawmakers and others want to change that. And new lawsuits are bringing the statute before the supreme court for the first time. Continue reading...

Computer programmer Cassius John-Adams explains how he mashed up Crazy Taxi and The Fifth Element during an obsessive three-year period, single-handedly creating the game he’d always dreamed ofOver lunch one day at work, Cassius John-Adams, a computer programmer for a Canadian TV network, was moaning to his co-workers that things aren’t as good as they used to be. “We got on to how everything, from video games to science-fiction films, was better in the late 90s and early 00s when we were all much younger,” explains the 45-year-old from his house in Toronto. Someone mentioned The Fifth Element, Luc Besson’s wildly inventive 1997 sci-fi film. John-Adams brought up Crazy Taxi, Sega’s cartoonishly energetic driving game. And then, “I was like: ‘Man, I wish there was a mix between the two.’ Everyone around the table went, ‘Yeah, that would be the perfect mix.’”It was the spark for one of the great passion projects in recent video-gaming history. Doing nearly all of the work himself, fitting it around his day job, John-Adams has made that very hybrid, a new game called Mile High Taxi that splices the vibe of Besson’s movie and the hurtling mayhem of Crazy Taxi into a heady compound of millennial nostalgia. Continue reading...

Receiving login codes via text message is much easier to compromise. Using authenticator apps or even a USB are preferred alternativesOn the weekend, Twitter announced that from 20 March, people who haven’t subscribed to Twitter Blue will have two-factor authentication via SMS disabled.Twitter has recommended people use third-party apps or a security key instead, but for the overwhelming majority (74.4%) of the 2.6% of active Twitter users who use SMS as their method of authentication, it will mean they have a month to switch or potentially lose protection. Continue reading...

Creators and influencers on Meta’s platforms are an obvious market for verified users’ monthly feesMark Zuckerberg’s social media empire is built on billions of users – and the advertisers who pay vast sums to grab their attention.But that business model is under pressure on several fronts. It is against this backdrop that Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said on Sunday it is trialling subscriptions for both social media platforms. Continue reading...

Amid boarded up shops in Wearside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving – and shows how tired retail districts can be reimaginedOn Bishop Auckland’s increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on are mostly discount retailers, the odd vape shop and a few charity shops. Even Poundland has gone. But a few doors down from where Boots used to be, next to the HSBC branch that closed last August, you can now find yourself at the starting grid of a Formula One race, then hurled down a towering rollercoaster.On average, 47 shops shut down every day last year across the UK – up nearly 50% on 2021 – as retailers faced ever-increasing competition from online stores along with rising costs and damage from the pandemic. The future for these streets is not retail but entertainment, and The Gaming Hideaway in Bishop Auckland, a virtual reality arcade, is a prime example. Continue reading...

AI-generated clues are often bizarre and sometimes flat-out wrong – but, setters agree, that may not be a bad thing. Plus: a podcast returnsThis week, some Things of Interest to Puzzlers That You Might Otherwise Miss.Did your school mention crossword compiling in career discussions?

Updated chips give already great 14in model a boost but the hefty price hike stingsApple’s M2 Pro chip upgrade for the MacBook Pro boosts performance and battery life in an already extremely capable machine – but it comes with a sizable price increase, making it particularly expensive outside the US.The starting price is £2,149 ($1,999/A$3,199), which is £250 (A$200) more than its predecessor despite being the same price in the US, which is partly down to weak currency rates. It is not as if the 2021 model was cheap, but pushing beyond the £2,000 mark for the new version significantly raises the barrier to entry.Screen: 14.2in mini LED (3024x1964; 254 ppi) ProMotion (120Hz)Processor: Apple M2 Pro or M2 MaxRAM: 16, 32, 64 or 96GBStorage: 512GB, 1, 2, 4 or 8TB SSDOperating system: macOS 13.2 VenturaCamera: 1080p FaceTime HD cameraConnectivity: wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 3x USB 4/Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, SD card, headphonesDimensions: 221.2 x 312.6 x 15.5mmWeight: 1.6kg Continue reading...

The UK’s would-be ‘Amazon of banking’ run by Nikolay Storonsky has raised alarm over delayed accounts, EU regulatory fines, its co-founder’s Russian ties and issues with staffMinutes after Jeremy Hunt had finished speaking, Nikolay Storonsky collared the chancellor backstage. The 38-year-old co-founder of British financial technology company Revolut, wearing a tech bro’s uniform of jeans and a sweater, had been listening to Hunt set out his vision of the UK as “the world’s next Silicon Valley”, in a speech last month at the media group Bloomberg’s London headquarters.The chancellor had praised Revolut as a “shining” success, saying the government was willing to back innovative companies “to the hilt”. After a quick introduction, the pair posed for a photo – which was swiftly posted by Storonsky’s team to one of Revolut’s Twitter accounts. Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg follows Elon Musk’s lead in introducing fee for blue ticks, while Twitter to restrict 2FA via SMS to paid users

Delivery of rental cars using remote driving could be outlawed after Law Commission recommendationsThe remote driving of vehicles from overseas, such as for the delivery of rental cars, could be banned following a government-commissioned review.The review was carried out by the Law Commission of England and Wales, which recommended ministers regulate the technology. Continue reading...

When lockdown hit, walking her dog gave the photographer some welcome respite. But on this occasion, she left him behind …Lobo the Norfolk terrier is the perfect walking companion, but not around sheep. Mariko Klug, who lives in Bavaria, Germany, left him at home to take this photo. “He barks to protect us from the ‘evil sheep’,” Klug laughs.She’s grateful for him, though, as dog owners were allowed to leave the house at any time of day during Covid lockdowns. “I work part-time for an airline at Munich airport, but back then I was at home so much more. It was an unreal time, but we made the most of it by being outside as much as possible.” Continue reading...

PC, Playstation 5; Luminous Productions

Strategist says he noticed ‘increased activity’, after revelations about activities of a disinformation unitA senior strategist with close links to Kenya’s president, William Ruto, has publicly acknowledged that his Telegram account was infiltrated in the lead-up to last year’s election.Dennis Itumbi told the Star newspaper that he had noticed “increased activity” on his Telegram last year but called it “inconsequential”. Continue reading...

Nissan’s ServCity project shows how far autonomous vehicles have come and difficulties they still faceThe journey in a self-driving Nissan across Woolwich in south-east London begins smoothly enough: fitted with cameras and sensors, the electric car confidently handles pedestrian crossings, vans cutting into its lane without warning and even scurrying jaywalkers.Then comes an unexpected obstacle: a football-sized rock, fallen from the back of a lorry on to the middle of the road. The specially trained safety driver hastily grabs the steering wheel, taking back control to avoid a nasty crunch. Continue reading...

One of Google’s earliest employees, she rented out her garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they founded the companyThe CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, will be stepping down after nine years at the helm of the world’s largest online video platform, she said in a blog post on Thursday.YouTube’s chief product officer, Neal Mohan, will be the new head of YouTube, she said. Wojcicki, 54, was previously a senior vice-president for ad products at Google and became CEO of YouTube in 2014. Before Google, Wojcicki worked at Intel and Bain & Company. Continue reading...

Playstation 5, Xbox Series, PC; EA/Omega Force

Leaked messages show failed plan to discredit Muhammadu Buhari and get Goodluck Jonathan re-elected in 2015Four weeks before a pivotal presidential election in Nigeria, an Israeli private operative specialising in political “black ops” was preparing his trip to the country. On 17 January 2015 the man, who used the alias “Jorge”, emailed Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy he was coordinating with on a covert plan to manipulate Africa’s largest democracy.“Friends, hi, I will be on the ground tomorrow for couple days … Who is best to meet there[?]” he asked. “Low profile as we came in on a special visa and we are watched closely (which is part of our plan :) anyway we need better understanding of the current status, improve communication and coordinate plans, we want to run by you a couple things that we might execute if the stars align. so plz, in very limited circulation, who is best to meet, and whats his/her position, and contact info.” Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Meet six people who claim to have made contact with extraterrestrials – or even be one themselves – in Alien Kidnap Club. Plus: five podcasts to listen to with your kids

A tweet from Joe Biden got triple the impressions than Musk’s game time post, sending engineers scrambling to boost their bossTwitter chief executive Elon Musk rallied a team of roughly 80 engineers to reconfigure the platform’s algorithm so his tweets would be more widely viewed, tech news site Platformer has reported.A disgruntled Musk called for an emergency effort after a tweet he sent during Sunday’s Super Bowl game failed to achieve as much engagement as a tweet from Joe Biden, interviews and internal documents reviewed by Platformer have revealed. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: From Street Fighter parties with friends to Minecraft with my kids, there’s something special about playing together that’s hard to recreate online

Social media content creators are increasingly advising followers against expensive purchasesMore and more content creators on social media are rejecting traditional influencer culture and becoming “deinfluencers” instead, according to social media experts.Influencers have historically sold something to users. Whether that is the newest trending lipgloss or the viral “it” dress, the products – often available at a discount using influencers’ special codes – are perceived to provide a certain lifestyle, one that is aesthetically pleasing and on trend. Continue reading...

Online retailer has been aggressively expanding into driverless technology and bought the startup ZooxAmazon is testing a fleet of robotaxis on public roads in California, using employees as passengers, as the tech behemoth moves closer to a commercial service for the general public.The online retailer has been aggressively expanding into self-driving technology and bought the self-driving startup Zoox for $1.3bn in 2020. A test conducted on 11 February saw the robotaxis successfully drive between two Zoox buildings a mile apart at its headquarters in Foster City, California. It was part of the launch of a no-cost employee shuttle service that will also help the company refine its technology. Continue reading...

An update will begin to replace its 27-year-old predecessor from TuesdayInternet Explorer, for years the principal way of accessing any website for a generation of computer users, is to go the way of the dancing baby screensaver and the floppy disk.Microsoft is killing off the outdated browser’s desktop app after nearly 30 years with the release of an update to its newer Edge browser on Tuesday. Users will be redirected to Edge and further updates due in the summer will scrub away signs of the dead browser from start menus and taskbars. Continue reading...

Employees announce plan to unionize in challenge to chief executive Elon Musk, who has been vocal union opponentTesla workers in New York said on Tuesday they will launch a campaign to form a union, setting stage for the latest labor challenge for chief executive Elon Musk.In a letter to Tesla management, the employees announced their plan to unionize with the Workers United Upstate New York. Continue reading...

Raids target machines hosted around Leeds believed to be offering to buy or convert traditional currenciesAuthorities have raided several sites around Leeds as part of what is believed to be the UK’s first crackdown on illegally operated crypto ATMs.Evidence was gathered from multiple sites around the city that were suspected to be hosting machines allowing customers to buy or convert traditional currencies into cryptoassets including bitcoin. Continue reading...

PC; Bit Wave/Embracer

In this week’s newsletter: It may not seem like a Google, Apple or Meta but the risk-taking Japanese games giant has long been a tech maverick

Victim Support reports 38% rise in people affected by dating scams and gives advice on avoiding fake profilesPeople looking for love online have been warned to be on high alert for scammers this Valentine’s Day because romance fraud has risen by more than a third, according to data released by Victim Support.The charity, the UK’s biggest provider of services for victims of crime, is circulating a warning to online daters after a 38% rise in the number of romance fraud victims being supported by its services. Its supported 322 victims in 2022, up from 233 in 2021. Continue reading...

More than 310 staff to take part in stoppages after becoming first UK employees of online retailer to strikeAmazon workers at a warehouse in Coventry have announced seven more days of strike action as they continue their push for better pay.More than 310 staff at a giant fulfilment centre in the West Midlands city will strike on 28 February, 2 March and from 13 to 17 March, according to the GMB union. Continue reading...

Mobile operator’s Smarty brand offers unlimited calls, texts and data to help with cost of livingA social tariff aimed at helping mobile users struggling with the cost of living, which offers unlimited calls, texts and data for £12 a month, has been launched by mobile operator Three.The Guardian revealed on Monday that other big telecoms providers were planning steep bill increases from April and May. Continue reading...

In a Texas dive bar, the photographer suddenly happened on a far from ordinary sightJon Tonks was on a US road trip bookended by photography exhibitions: his own in Indiana, and the Houston photography festival. This shot was taken in Austin, Texas, where he’d met a friend from back home in Bath.“We’d just arrived and had done a quick search of recommended bars in our area. This place, C-Boy’s Heart & Soul, was just down the street from our Airbnb. The ground floor was like every American dive bar you can imagine. There were booths down one side, racks of bourbon behind the bar, even a singer who was the spit of Ray Charles. Continue reading...

Labor MP Julian Hill and Liberal MP Aaron Violi both used OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tool to help write speeches for parliament. Could you spot the difference?

Alphabet’s shares plummeted after Bard gave incorrect answer in a demo

In this week’s newsletter: From Belfast to Birmingham, Damian Kerlin investigates the radical history of our under-threat LGBTQ+ clubbing culture and beyond. Plus: five podcasts to help you get fit

Chatbot Bard incorrectly said James Webb Space Telescope was first to take pictures of planet outside Earth’s solar systemGoogle’s riposte to ChatGPT has got off to an embarrassing start after its new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot gave a wrong answer in a promotional video, as investors wiped more than $100bn (£82bn) off the value of the search engine’s parent company, Alphabet.The sell-off on Wednesday came amid investor fears that Microsoft, which is deploying an ChatGPT-powered version of its Bing search engine, will damage Google’s business. Alphabet stock slid by 9% during regular trading in the US but was flat after hours. Continue reading...

US tech publication reports CEO Elon Musk has asked staff to pause all new development to stabilise appTwitter users were unable to post instantly on the website for almost an hour, in the latest outage to hit the social media platform since billionaire Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover.From around 10pm GMT on Wednesday, users attempting to tweet were informed by the platform they had hit their daily limit – despite many of them reporting having not tweeted at all that day. Continue reading...

Company temporarily restricted New York Post article in 2020 about contents of the abandoned computer of Joe Biden’s sonUS lawmakers held a combative hearing on Wednesday with former senior staffers at Twitter over the social media platform’s handling of reporting on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.The proceedings set the stage for the agenda of a newly Republican-controlled House, underscoring its intention to hone in on longstanding and unsubstantiated allegations that big tech platforms have an anti-conservative bias. Continue reading...

Guardian exclusive: AI tools rate photos of women as more sexually suggestive than those of men, especially if nipples, pregnant bellies or exercise is involved

SNP MP for Glasgow South says he is victim of ‘sophisticated and targeted spear phishing’ attackAn SNP MP whose emails were hacked has spoken out because he fears they were stolen by a group linked to Russia and will be published.Stewart McDonald’s emails were compromised last month after he clicked on a message from a member of his staff on his private MP’s account. Continue reading...

Top-performing phone has great screen, superfast charging and solid camera but lacks pizazzThe OnePlus 11 is one of the first smartphones with the latest top chip from Qualcomm, which makes it faster and longer lasting but a revamped design of the device has polarised opinion.The new phone costs from £729 ($699) and so is keenly priced versus big-screen rivals from Samsung, Google and Apple, if £100 more than OnePlus’s 10T from last year. Continue reading...

Online tool used by more than 50 cities helps planners weigh costs against climate and social benefitsIn early 2018, Tomer Shalit looked at the overwhelming mass of data and the tens of thousands of pages of scientific studies and parliamentary reports that had gone into the making of Sweden’s bold new Climate Act, and thought: this is hopeless.“There was this avalanche of material, but none of it was operational,” he said. “There were solid, ambitious targets, but no roadmaps for reaching them. There was a ton of evidence, but no concrete action plans. And nothing was connected.” Continue reading...

CEO Eric Yuan says ‘We worked tirelessly … but we also made mistakes’ as he takes 98% pay cut for coming yearZoom is cutting about 1,300 jobs as demand for the company’s video-conferencing services slows with the waning of the pandemic.While announcing the layoffs on Tuesday, which will hit nearly 15% of its workforce, the chief executive officer, Eric Yuan, said he would take a pay cut of 98% for the coming fiscal year and forgo his bonus. Continue reading...

Company to work with OpenAI to improve search and Edge web browser as rival unveils ChatGPT competitorMicrosoft is revamping its search products with more artificial intelligence, using technology behind the wildly popular ChatGPT, as tech companies race to take advantage of increasingly powerful AI tools.The company detailed its plans at a special event on Tuesday, saying it would work with OpenAI, the startup behind the ChatGPT tool, to upgrade its Bing search engine and Edge web browser and enhance the information available. Continue reading...

Ellie gets to grips with a gun, Joel has a rude awakening – and here’s Melanie Lynskey as the revolutionary Kathleen. But don’t be fooled by her dulcet tones … she’s as twisted as they comeThis article contains spoilers for The Last of Us TV series. Do not read unless you have seen episodes one to four …After the heartbreaking spectacle of Bill and Frank’s two-hander, here we saw Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) return to centre stage as they embarked on an epic road trip and adjusted to life post-Tess. Continue reading...

Technology will be added to Google’s search engine after explosion in use of rival backed by MicrosoftGoogle is releasing its own artificial intelligence chatbot, called Bard, as it responds to the huge success of the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.The company is also adding the technology behind Bard to the Google search engine to enable complex queries – such as whether the guitar or piano is easier to learn – to be distilled into digestible answers. Continue reading...

Stars like Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford are being rendered younger digitally but voices in the industry express concern about where we might be headingCraggy, grey-haired and 80 years old, Harrison Ford might seem a bit old to don his brown Fedora-style hat or crack his whip as Indiana Jones. But a trailer for his upcoming film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny offers a flashback to Indy in his swashbuckling glory days.“That is my actual face at that age,” the actor explained on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “They have this artificial intelligence (AI) programme. It can go through every foot of film that Lucasfilm owns because I did a bunch of movies for them and they have all this footage including film that wasn’t printed: stock. They could mine it from where the light is coming from, the expression. But that’s my actual face. Then I put little dots on my face and I say the words and they make it. It’s fantastic.” Continue reading...

PlayStation 5 (version tested), Xbox Series X, PC; Avalanche/Portkey Games

US-based PC maker makes move in order to reduce costs as ‘market conditions continue to erode’Dell is to cut 6,650 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as the PC maker becomes the latest US tech firm to reduce costs amid economic uncertainty.Dell told employees that market conditions were deteriorating and that initial attempts to save money, such as a hiring freeze and travel curbs, were not enough. Continue reading...