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As platforms such as Omegle and Roblox proliferate so do warnings about technology being weaponised to abuse children'. What can families do?

Move is to address extreme levels' of data scraping and system manipulation, says Elon MuskTwitter has applied temporary reading limits to address extreme levels" of data scraping and system manipulation, Elon Musk said in a post on the social media platform on Saturday.Verified accounts were temporarily limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, Musk said, adding that unverified accounts and new unverified accounts were limited to reading 600 posts a day and 300 posts a day respectively. Continue reading...

For a street photographer in a New York zoo, wildlife and children came together brilliantlyIt happens to be his daughter Tess's 16th birthday on the day I speak with Sheldon Serkin about this photograph, which he took when Tess (on right) was just six. Sheldon and his wife, Tali, had taken Tess and her older brother, Elliot, to visit an exhibition at New York's Bronx zoo when they came upon the prairie dog enclosure.I wanted to take a photo of these bubbles in the ground, which visitors can climb up into as though they are in with the animals," Serkin says. It looked like an alien landscape to me. I framed the shot without the surrounding spectators, and as one of the prairie dogs took centre stage, children popped up in all three bubbles. It was brilliant timing and made an even better photo than I had anticipated." Continue reading...

A Netflix standup show was written by bots'. A TV writer has scripted joke software. And now artificial intelligence is taking on improvI've seen some bad comedy acts over the years - but not, until now, one that is part of an existential threat to humanity. One of artificial intelligence's pre-eminent boffins, Geoffrey Hinton, sent out shock waves recently by arguing that, in relation to AI: We're toast. This is the actual end of history."That's a hell of a backdrop to my visit to see Artificial Intelligence Improvisation, a show by the Improbotics troupe playing as part of an AI festival in London this week. You'll forgive me, I hope, for some hesitation in wielding the critical brickbat, given that the act under review boasts the capacity to wipe out all of us. Continue reading...

Shares of Apple, which is also the world's most valuable listed company, ended the day up 2.3%, valuing the company at just over $3tnApple market capitalization on Friday breached the $3tn mark for the first time since January last year, as investors bet on the iPhone maker's ability to grow its revenue even as it explores new markets such as virtual reality.Shares of Apple, which is also the world's most valuable-listed company, ended the day up 2.3%, valuing the company at just over $3tn. Continue reading...

The parents of the home computer gamers of the 1980s presumably hoped we'd become programmers or accountants, but instead their kids ended up like meI had one of those ads pop up on Twitter recently. You know the ones. Not the weirdly suggestive ones trying to get you to download some crap free-to-play mobile game. The ones that show you something you never previously thought you needed - because you didn't - but now you've seen it, you think your life cannot possibly go on without it. Like a cage for barbecuing vegetables. A watch that doubles as a miniature air fryer. This one was for a tiny inkless printer you can use to print stuff from your phone and turn it into stickers.People my age had this 42 years ago, though. Only back then it was the most derided peripheral ever: the Sinclair ZX Printer for the ZX Spectrum. My mother brought both machine and printer home in 1982, proclaiming that we would now be able to do word processing and write books like the families in the posh part of town. Before you scoff and say, But Dominik, you grew up in Arbroath. There IS no posh part of Arbroath!", let me stress that there IS. It is called Dundee. Continue reading...

This week in artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is either going to save humanity or finish it off, depending on who you speak to. Either way, every week there are new developments and breakthroughs. Here are just some of the AI stories that have emerged in recent days: The US company behind the ChatGPT chatbot, OpenAI, has announced that its first international office will be in London. The move is a boost for the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who has described the AI race as one of the greatest opportunities" for the country's tech industry. OpenAI said it chose the UK capital because of its rich culture and exceptional talent pool". This month Palantir, a $30bn US firm specialising in software programs that process huge amounts of data (customers range from the NHS to the US army), picked London as its European base for AI research and development. Continue reading...

2020's Tell Me Why from French studio Don't Nod remains the best trans story in games - and we could use more of themNow is the perfect time to play 2020's story-driven adventure game Tell Me Why: in honour of Pride month, it's currently free to download. Developer Don't Nod's tale follows a trans man returning to his childhood home and confronting his family's past. A major video game that centres any trans character is a rarity to celebrate, but Tyler Ronan doesn't feel tokenistic; he is part of a mature and complex story. Tell Me Why feels like a necessary counterbalance to a wider climate that seems desperate to make gender-diverse people feel marginalised and forgotten.Tyler, a trans man, and his twin cisgender sister, Alyson, spend much of the game exploring the mysteries behind their mother's death. Mental health and the fallibility of memory take equal weight, as the game explores transphobia and belonging. As a trans woman, I found the narrative compelling, challenging and deeply affecting. I was drawn in by its representation of trans people, but my attention was held by its musings on the universal concerns we all have. In other words, I was moved by its confidence in showing that trans lives are as complex as anyone else's. Continue reading...

Changes to the online safety bill will order platforms such as TikTok to protect young users from harm or injurySocial media firms will be ordered to protect children from encountering dangerous stunts and challenges on their platforms under changes to the online safety bill.The legislation will explicitly refer to content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for a challenge or stunt highly likely to result in serious injury" as the type of material that under-18s should be protected from. Continue reading...

Online News Act, which was passed last week, stipulates tech giant must negotiate deals with publishers for their contentGoogle has announced that it will make good on its threat to remove news links from search results and its other products in Canada once a law that requires tech firms to negotiate deals to pay news publishers for their content goes into effect.Google joins Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc in announcing an end to news access for Canadian users of their platforms after Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, was passed into law last week. The move is just the latest development in the years-long tussle between tech platforms and publishers around the world over whether and how to share advertising revenue from engagement with news articles. Continue reading...

As Pride month ends, the editor of Gayming magazine assesses the state of play for LGBTQ+ depictions in video gamesOne of the falsehoods perpetuated among the more toxic sections of the gaming community is that LGBTQ+ representation and community in video games is something new: an agenda developers and publishers are pushing, at the risk of alienating their overwhelmingly white, cis male fanbase. Actually, video games have always been queer.This is the title of a very informative book from Bo Ruberg, which investigates the ways in which LGBTQ+ themes show up in games. Was there anything remotely gay about Pong, Tetris, Sonic or Call of Duty? Ruberg would argue that there is - but in 2023, we don't have to read queerness into video games. It's more overt, and it's everywhere, from Horizon Forbidden West to The Last of Us to the forthcoming Thirsty Suitors. Continue reading...

Board overturns decision to leave up Facebook video of Hun Sen threatening opponents with violenceMeta's content moderation board has ordered the social media company to take down a video of the Cambodian prime minister threatening his political opponents with violence, and urged it to suspend his Facebook and Instagram accounts.The oversight board, whose decisions on content are binding, overturned Meta's decision to leave up a video on Facebook in which Hun Sen issued a number of threats. It also called for an immediate six-month suspension of Hun Sen's Facebook page, which has 14 million followers, and his Instagram account, which has 167,000 followers. Continue reading...

Data released by SiegedSec from six states includes South Carolina police files and contact details for Nebraska court officialsA group of self-described anti-US government gay furries" have distributed hacked materials from agencies in six US states in recent days, citing legislative attacks on gender-affirming care as their motive.The data released by the group, which calls itself SiegedSec, includes South Carolina police files, a list of licensed therapists in Texas and contact details for court officials in Nebraska. The Guardian's review of that data has substantiated the group's claims that the materials sourced from state and local agencies are genuine. Continue reading...

From the gay couples of Greek myth to trans spies and Stonewall, discover hidden queer heroes of the past in Historical Homos. Plus: five of the best business podcasts Don't get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe Covenant of Water Podcast

PC, Nintendo Switch (version tested), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X; Marvelous

OpenAI's first international office will boost UK attempts to stay competitive in artificial intelligence race

Musicians, some well into their 70s, are engaging with the platform to discover gen Z just value a good tuneThey have long been a staple of older music lovers' playlists, but classic stars - from Kate Bush to Fleetwood Mac and Kylie Minogue - are bypassing traditional music platforms to find younger audiences on TikTok, one of the app's music heads has said.The platform, once regarded as a teen dance fad, has evolved into one of the key players in the music industry, allowing legacy superstars to connect with fans who were born decades after they started releasing music. Continue reading...

Sega and Nintendo are releasing new games within days of each other this October, both nostalgic callbacks to the era of 2D platformers. Can they push the genre forward? Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereRivalry is a vital element of fandom. Whether its punks v rockers, Star Trek v Star Wars or Marvel v DC, subcultures have always defined themselves by what they're not as much as what they are. Which is why I'm secretly delighted that Sega and Nintendo are apparently releasing their new Sonic and Mario games within days of each other this October. Both Super Mario Bros Wonder and Sega Superstars are nostalgic callbacks to the era of 2D platforming. Both games allow players to select from a range of classic characters and take on the rich, lushly colourful environments in cooperative modes, and both supplement the retro aesthetics with new abilities. Mario can transform into an elephant and use his trunk to batter enemies. Sonic can harness chaos emerald power to, say, transform into a watery version of himself so that he can swim up waterfalls.After visiting the Summer Games Fest in Los Angeles earlier this month, I am thrilled to hear other attendees vividly debating the merits of the two titles. At the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in 1991, Sega made its rivalry with Nintendo the theme of its stand, where the Mega Drive console (known as Genesis in the US) was being shown to American audiences for the first time. Visitors could watch a video demo of Sonic the Hedgehog playing side-by-side with Super Mario World on a big CRT monitor in the centre of the space. While the latter was sedate, comfortable and somewhat childish, Sonic pelted across the screen like a comet, synth-rock blaring. Famously, when tech reporters tried to talk to Sega about the much smaller colour palette of the Mega Drive hardware compared to the Super Nintendo, Sega's then head of marketing Al Nilsen would point at the games running side by side and yell: Which has more colours? Can you tell? Nobody cares!" Continue reading...

Google has said the study makes extremely inaccurate claims" and stated that advertisers are only paying for ads when they are viewedGoogle may have misled dozens of business and government advertisers about the viewership of ads running on third party websites and apps, while charging for them, a new report has claimed.Google's TrueView is the company's proprietary video ad product that is displayed not only in YouTube but on third party sites and apps across the internet. Users can skip the ad after five seconds, but an advertiser only gets charged if a user watches 30 seconds - or the length of the ad if under 30 seconds - and if the video is playing audio, and isn't activated by a user passively scrolling past it on the page. Continue reading...

From illustration to translation, young people worry that they will have to choose their paths carefullyRonan Carolan has always been the creative type, and after attending an art school's open day last autumn he thought he had settled on illustration as a degree.But as the Ucas deadline approached, he began to have second thoughts. I noticed more and more things drawn by AI," he says, referring to a magazine cover among other examples. Considering that only a few years ago, the images it generated were entirely nonsensical, it is scary how fast it has progressed." Continue reading...

As countries scramble to deal with the risks and rewards of AI, the European Union is way ahead on the first laws regulating artificial intelligence. Here's what's really in the new AI Act Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereDeepfakes, facial recognition and existential threat: politicians, watchdogs and the public must confront daunting issues when it comes to regulating artificial intelligence.Tech regulation has a history of lagging the industry, with the the UK's online safety bill and the EU's Digital Services Act only just arriving almost two decades after the launch of Facebook. AI is streaking ahead as well. ChatGPT already has more than 100 million users, the pope is in a puffer jacket and an array of experts have warned that the AI race is getting out of control. Continue reading...

The head investor of Norway's sovereign wealth fund worries more about AI affecting the country's portfolio than his own collection of paintingsFor a prolific art collector, Nicolai Tangen is remarkably relaxed about the prospect of masterpieces created by robots. The threat of AI-made paintings, impossible to distinguish from human brushstrokes, has sparked soul-searching and paranoia in the art world, but not with Tangen.Hey, if it creates better art that's fantastic," says the Norwegian philanthropist, art historian and boss of the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund. If you create something which is even more aesthetically pleasing, what's wrong about that?" Continue reading...

John Goodenough's research enabled the technological revolution that powers most of our gadgets and toolsJohn Goodenough, who shared the 2019 Nobel prize in chemistry for his pioneering work developing the lithium-ion battery that transformed technology with rechargeable power for devices ranging from cellphones and computers to pacemakers and electric cars, has died at 100, the University of Texas announced on Monday.Goodenough died on Sunday at an assisted living facility in Austin, Texas, the university announced. No cause of death was given. Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence can't replace human professionals but it could transform the way they treat diseases such as cancer, and save lives

A Freddie Mercury act is among the performers protesting as a Meta ban on impersonators threatens their careersBig music festivals are not the only places to enjoy a headline act such as Adele, Taylor Swift or Dolly Parton.Convincing impersonators of the biggest names in music, and of other late, great stars, such as George Michael and Freddie Mercury, also regularly entertain the crowds at civic centres, summer fairs and even the odd golden wedding. Continue reading...

Prototypes are finally taking off after a difficult time for investors, and some surprising challengers have joined the raceAmong the fighter jets and military helicopters performing for the crowds at the Paris airshow last week, a strange two-seater craft lifted off the runway. Like a drone crossed with a helicopter, the Volocopter has an electric motor and a white wasp-shaped body, on top of which sits a circular frame supporting 18 separate sets of blades, or rotors. With that short flight, the dream of making flying taxis for the masses moved a little closer to becoming reality.Made by a German startup, Volocopter was the only such vehicle actually flying at the show, while other companies displayed mock-ups. Getting from the costly design and testing phase to even costlier manufacturing will be a major challenge for the industry. Not all of the competitors will survive. Continue reading...

Rapid developments in AI are forcing managers and politicians alike to confront profound questions about the future of jobsWith a low electrical hum, a small team of boxy, wheeled robots called ants" criss-cross the top of a giant 3D grid of grey storage crates - 60,000 of them - ceaselessly arranging and rearranging them to order.Down on the warehouse floor, flat-topped ranger" robots ferry cardboard packing boxes around. Just one man, jokingly known as the robot whisperer, walks among them with a laptop. Continue reading...

In one of his favourite communities to shoot in, the Ghanaian photographer spotted four brothers ...Dressed in matching golden shorts to signify their brotherhood, and helmets to symbolise protection, siblings Ibrahim, Nana Kofi, Benjamin and Kojo were smiling down the lens of Derrick O Boateng's iPhone 12. The Ghanaian photographer was in Nungua town, in the capital, Accra - one of his favourite communities to shoot in. There are always all sorts of cool things happening there: the busy market, kids on the beach, people fishing or playing football," he says.Bold colours are typical of his work; he coined the term Hue-ism to create a bigger podium for artists like myself, painting with the colours of the continent, creating colour therapy and visual poetry showcasing the African perspective." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Researcher Dr Larissa Suzuki tells how Nasa is developing a ChatGPT-style interfaceIn the film 2001: A Space Odyssey the sentient supercomputer, HAL 9000, chats conversationally to the mission pilots on a Jupiter-bound spaceship, executing their orders and alerting them to onboard faults - and eventually going rogue.Now Nasa engineers say they are developing their own ChatGPT-style interface that could ultimately allow astronauts to talk to their spacecraft and mission controllers to converse with artificial intelligence-powered robots exploring distant planets and moons. Continue reading...

A major Newcastle venue had to be shut down after it was targeted by a ransomware attack

This week in artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is either going to save humanity or finish it off, depending on who you speak to. Either way, every week there are new developments and breakthroughs. Here are just some of the AI stories that have emerged in recent days ... The Wimbledon tennis tournament revealed it will be introducing AI-generated audio and text commentary in its online highlights this year. The All England Club has teamed up with the tech group IBM to provide automatically created voiceovers and captions for its footage. The move, which is separate to the BBC's coverage of the tournament, follows use of the cloned voice of a British athletics commentator, Hannah England, for online coverage of the European Athletics Championships. Generative AI refers to the creation of text and images from a human prompt - think ChatGPT and Midjourney - but voice is becoming a prominent development in this area as well. Continue reading...

Law firm also penalised after chatbot invented six legal cases that were then used in an aviation injury claimA US judge has fined two lawyers and a law firm $5,000 (3,935) after fake citations generated by ChatGPT were submitted in a court filing.A district judge in Manhattan ordered Steven Schwartz, Peter LoDuca and their law firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman to pay the fine after fictitious legal research was used in an aviation injury claim. Continue reading...

Bloc officials enter company's headquarters to test its controls on issues such as Russian propagandaTwitter has agreed to comply with tough new EU laws on fake news, Russian propaganda and online crime after a team of officials from the European Commission entered its headquarters to stress test its capacity to operate legally in Europe.The move came just weeks after Elon Musk, Twitter's owner, quit the bloc's voluntary code of practice on disinformation. Continue reading...

Musician clarifies how artificial intelligence was applied to vocals by John Lennon, amid anxiety over how the technology will affect musicPaul McCartney has clarified how artificial intelligence has been used to create a new Beatles song, saying that nothing has been artificially or synthetically created".Last week, McCartney announced that he had employed AI technology on an unreleased Beatles demo from the 70s, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme that AI had been used to extricate" John Lennon's voice from a cassette recording of the demo. Continue reading...

Bereaved families welcome online safety bill amendment that hands greater powers to coronersOfcom will be able to force tech platforms to hand over the personal data of children whose deaths are suspected to be related to online harm, the government has confirmed.On the last day of the online safety bill's passage through parliament, the government accepted an amendment backed by a group of bereaved parents that will give coroners the power through Ofcom to force cooperation when investigating the deaths of children. Continue reading...

Key executive at Chinese-owned company says I feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions'TikTok's chief operating officer, V Pappas, is stepping down after five years with the short-video company.In an email to staff on Thursday, the Australian said they would be taking on an advisory role for the company during the transition. Continue reading...

Zuckerberg has been competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu; Musk has size on his side - and a move called the Walrus'In the red corner, the world's richest person, and in the blue corner, the world's richest millennial: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have agreed to a cage match, after Musk jokingly suggested the bout in response to efforts by Meta to launch a Twitter competitor.I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb," Musk tweeted on Wednesday in response to a post about Meta's rumoured Threads app. The app, previously known inside Instagram as Project 92 and Barcelona, has been pitched to celebrities and influencers as a stable place to build and grow" their audiences. Continue reading...

Spencer played down concerns about AI being used to streamline the video game production process and said it had a role in moderationArtificial Intelligence is very much on the news agenda right now. The unstoppable rise of ChatGPT and the seemingly imminent prospect of generalised AI able to re-create broad human thinking processes has seen concerns raised by everyone from major business CEOs to Geoffrey Hinton, one of the godfathers of AI research. AI has been an element of video game design and production for at least two decades, but now with AI art programs and the rise of procedurally generated game dialogue, there are growing questions over how AI is going to effect not just the content of games, but the teams that make them.Talking at the Xbox games showcase in Los Angeles recently, Xbox chief Phil Spencer played down concerns that AI could be used to streamline the game production process and therefore lead to smaller teams. Continue reading...

Battery fires put gig workers at particular risk - but safer alternatives are often out of reachTwisted mountains of charred bikes, scooters, wheels, and battery casings. The distinctive, acidic smell of burnt chemicals. And where delivery workers once stood in line chatting while waiting for repairs, now blackened ruins and a somber crowd of neighbors behind police tape. This was the scene - one that's become horrifyingly common - after yet another deadly lithium battery fire in New York City.Four people, including a 71-year-old man and 65-year-old woman, died in the inferno just after midnight on Tuesday - the latest victims of a growing problem that's now claimed the lives of 13 people this year in the nation's densest city, compared with six such deaths in all of 2022. The fires are caused by the cheap, dangerous electric batteries powering the two-wheeled devices that the city's 65,000 delivery workers use to meet the demands of Silicon Valley gig platforms. And without decisive action, more carnage is guaranteed. Continue reading...

In this week's newsletter: The comedian answers made-up reader questions and meets showbiz stars in Lolly Adefope's Fanmail. Plus: five of the best agony aunt podcasts

Sky Live camera is hoped to cement firm's Glass TV as centre of all home entertainmentSky has launched a smart camera for its streaming television to allow customers to watch live and on-demand TV remotely with friends, place video calls via Zoom, track workouts and play motion-controlled games.The Sky Live camera is an add-on service for the firm's broadband-powered TV set and forms part of its attempt to cement the traditional television as the centre of all home entertainment in the face of competing technologies and streaming services. Continue reading...

A legal battle is brewing over how giant firms will be able to appeal against new unit's decisionsBig tech is trying to use its vast coffers to neuter the powers of the UK's new tech regulator, Rishi Sunak has been warned, as a fight over the courts becomes the latest battleground for overseeing Silicon Valley.Under the digital markets, competition and consumers bill, which is passing through parliament, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be empowered to set strict new rules on large online platforms such as Apple's App Store, Amazon's Marketplace and Google's search engine. Continue reading...

Federal Trade Commission alleges Bezos firm used manipulative and deceptive user-interface designs to trick consumers'The US Federal Trade Commission has sued Amazon for what it called a years-long effort to enroll consumers without consent into its paid subscription program, Amazon Prime, and making it hard for them to cancel.The FTC, the US agency charged with consumer protection, filed a federal lawsuit in Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered, alleging that the tech behemoth knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime" through a secret project internally called Iliad". Continue reading...

Square Enix; PS5

From Untitled Goose Game to Octodad and even Tears of the Kingdom, it's always games with silly physics or absurd set-ups that crack me up the most. Plus: Final Fantasy XVI Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereI was reminded of the understated farcical comedy masterwork that is Untitled Goose Game recently, after walking through Regent's Park and seeing Canada geese and their goslings honking at tourists. I was with a friend who had never heard of it, and so a couple of hours later we were playing it on the Switch in a pub, honking and flapping and making life difficult for any human unfortunate enough to cross our path. The sheer physical comedy of the game - the goose's waddling gait, the appalled reactions of the villagers, the mischievous glee of running away from a gardener with a trowel in my beak and throwing it into the pond - is delightful. If anything, it's even funnier now, because you can play with two geese (one of you can run interference while the other steals sandwiches).When people talk about funny video games, they often mention Monkey Island or Sam and Max - games with quippy writing and witty characters, wordplay, and self-referential puzzle design. But those games have only rarely made me laugh; an appreciative smile, sure, but never an involuntary hoot of amusement like those Untitled Goose Game embarrassingly elicits. Perhaps my comedy tastes lean more slapstick, but it's always the games with dumb physics or amusing controls or absurd set-ups that crack me up - games where the experience of play itself is what's funny. Continue reading...

Conservatives say liberals want to kill talk radio. But there's plenty else on the AM dial - much of it essentialCharlie Kirk, radio host and founder of the rightwing youth group Turning Point USA, believes that a conspiracy may be afoot. Whether they're doing this intentionally or not, the consequence will be ... an all-out attack on AM radio," he told the listeners of his popular syndicated show.In an appearance on Fox, the television and radio host Sean Hannity gave his viewers a similar warning: This would be a direct hit politically on conservative talk radio in particular, which is what most people go to AM radio to listen to." Mark Levin, another longtime radio host, agreed: They finally figured out how to attack conservative talk radio," he told his listeners in April. Continue reading...

Senator seeks information about systematically underreported' injury rates and turnover at US's second-largest employerBernie Sanders has launched an investigation into Amazon that will focus on working conditions inside the warehouses of the online marketplace, which is also the nation's second-largest employer.In a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, the 81-year-old US senator from Vermont and chair of the influential Senate committee on health, education, labor and pension (Help) demanded information about systematically underreported" injury rates, turnover, productivity targets, and adherence to federal and state safety guidelines at the e-commerce giant. Continue reading...

Moderators flood feeds with pictures of TV comic as they fight owners' plans to go publicA civil war between Reddit's owners and the volunteer moderators it relies on has taken an odd turn, with some of the biggest subreddits" on the site devoting themselves to sharing pictures of one man and one man only - British TV comic John Oliver - in a cunning play in an increasingly fractious battle. Continue reading...

We scrutinised the latest games showcases to pick out the most interesting titles, from wacky races to medieval BaghdadViewfinderCombining elements of popular world-manipulating puzzlers such as Monument Valley and Chicory, Viewfinder has you exploring a lush, possibly post-apocalyptic environment, where you're able take photos, paintings and sketches and superimpose them on to the world to change the layout, reach fresh areas or open new explorable domains. It's an intriguing premise with a cool, minimal visual style. Continue reading...

The social network is changing how it works with third parties - but some argue that a push for profit could bring a wave of misinformation Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereWelcome back to TechScape, where I - along with a rotating cast of tech writers - will help fill Alex Hern's shoes while he's on parental leave. He'll make the first of some occasional appearances in the newsletter in a few weeks, but what might not return any time soon are some of Reddit's most popular communities.Last week, the pages of Reddit went dark - with thousands taking their forums offline to protest against a decision by the platform to impose fees on third-party tools many rely on to make the site more efficient. Continue reading...