Rachael Maskell, the York Central MP, has proposed a bill to tackle shortage of private rental housingLandlords are evicting tenants and switching to Airbnbs and holiday lets because the money is better and they “do not have to worry about bad tenants”.Research has found a boom in rental properties being used for short-term lets, caused by a rise in domestic holidays and increased regulations for long-term landlords. Continue reading...
A California-based organisation wants to harness the power of machine learning to decode communication across the entire animal kingdom. But the project has its doubtersA dolphin handler makes the signal for “together” with her hands, followed by “create”. The two trained dolphins disappear underwater, exchange sounds and then emerge, flip on to their backs and lift their tails. They have devised a new trick of their own and performed it in tandem, just as requested. “It doesn’t prove that there’s language,” says Aza Raskin. “But it certainly makes a lot of sense that, if they had access to a rich, symbolic way of communicating, that would make this task much easier.”Raskin is the co-founder and president of Earth Species Project (ESP), a California non-profit group with a bold ambition: to decode non-human communication using a form of artificial intelligence (AI) called machine learning, and make all the knowhow publicly available, thereby deepening our connection with other living species and helping to protect them. A 1970 album of whale song galvanised the movement that led to commercial whaling being banned. What could a Google Translate for the animal kingdom spawn? Continue reading...
Manufacturers have spied a handy revenue stream by delivering upgrades ‘over the air’, but are car owners prepared to fork out?When a customer said they had driven across three US states, from Texas to North Carolina, to get their car fixed, Tesla servicer Jason Hughes knew something must be up. It turned out to be an unusual problem: the Model S had lost a third of its battery range in an instant, while it was parked on a driveway.One of the US electric carmaker’s big selling points is that it is constantly connected to its vehicles via mobile networks, offering software updates and entertainment downloads “over the air”, or OTA. That remote connection could be revolutionary for the industry, opening the door for self-driving features to be downloaded and TV shows to be livestreamed in high definition. But the connected car is having teething problems. Continue reading...
Rebekah Vardy probably isn’t buzzing at the ruling, a character assassination that has left her well and truly stung by libelOscar Wilde, Barbra Streisand, and now – Rebekah Vardy. When news broke that Vardy had lost her libel case against Coleen Rooney, she joined this heady roster of celebrities who have launched brain-bogglingly misguided and self-wounding legal cases. Like Wilde – who sued the Marquess of Queensberry for revealing his homosexuality – Vardy went to court to deny something that a rock could see was true: she’d passed on private stories about Rooney to the press. And like Streisand – who sued a website for featuring an image of her house, thereby drawing the world’s attention to it – she believed going to court was the best way to control her image. She was wrong.Vardy traded private details of her husband’s colleagues and their wives in the hope of currying positive coverage in the media. And because of that, Mrs Justice Steyn delivered a verdict that was even more of a character assassination than Vardy’s own memorable description of Rooney to a Daily Mail journalist: “Arguing with Coleen Rooney would be as pointless as arguing with a pigeon: you can tell it that you are right and it is wrong, but it’s still going to shit in your hair.” Well, Rebekah, you’re covered in shit now. Continue reading...
Musk’s 164-page filing is under wraps for now, as Twitter shareholder launches separate action to force entrepreneur to close the dealElon Musk has countersued Twitter, escalating his legal fight against the social media company over his bid to walk away from the $44bn purchase.Musk’s lawsuit was filed on Friday, hours after chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware court of chancery ordered a five-day trial beginning 17 October to determine if Musk can walk away from the deal. Continue reading...
Senior figures at social video app pushed back on request deemed ‘sensitive’, according to reportTikTok has said it refused an attempt by the Chinese government to open a disguised account on the platform for the purpose of spreading propaganda.The Chinese-owned social video app said the attempt was refused because the account would have violated its guidelines. Continue reading...
Sales up 7% in three months to June marking one of slowest growth periods in company’s history but still better than expectedAmazon reported its second quarterly loss in a row on Thursday but the company’s share price gained over 10% in after-hours trading on stronger than expected earnings.Sales for the three months ending in June increased by 7% to $121bn compared with $113.1bn in the second quarter of 2021. The increase marks one of the slowest growth periods for Amazon in its history but was better than expected. Continue reading...
The company in its second-quarter earnings report said it anticipates lower than predicted revenue of $26bn to $28.5bnFor the first time in nearly a decade, Meta’s explosive growth has come to a halt, as the Facebook parent company forecast its first decline in revenue since it went public.Meta, in its second-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, said it expects third-quarter revenue of between $26bn and $28.5bn – lower than the $30.52bn analysts predicted. Continue reading...
We would like to hear your thoughts on the platform’s new designInstagram has been subject to a user backlash after it launched a series of changes designed to make it more like TikTok. The changes include pushing the platform’s TikTok-style “reels” videos and heavy promotion of the TikTok-style “remix” feature, which means users have struggles to find content from friends and family.Instagram’s boss, Adam Mosseri, was frank about the changes: “We’re going to continue to support photos, but I need to be honest: more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time.” Continue reading...
For decades, LGBTQ+ characters and stories were almost nonexistent – but now things have improved, and a new generation of queer players are finding themselves (and each other) in video gamesFresh from a drag performance featuring a gender-swapped Mario and Princess Peach chasing each other around on stage, after watching a burlesque performer disrobe to the Tetris theme, I am standing at the bar waiting for a drink, surrounded by people in fabulous outfits. Famous drag queen Asstina Mandella is here in a stunning dress; I am in a purple bisexual-colours suit and I still feel somewhat underdressed for the occasion. I am not used to this at video games events – back in the 00s, it was mostly men in black T-shirts with logos on them, and I was one of about three women in the room. But this is the first in-person Gayming awards, an event that celebrates queer representation in video games, and the huge and ever-growing queer community that plays them.This might not be what some people would think of as the gaming audience, but the fact is that just about everybody plays games now – two-thirds of all Americans, to pluck just one stat – and of course, queer people have always been part of that community. If anything, queer people are overrepresented in the gaming population. Fully 21% of all the people working in the games industry identify as LGBTQ+, according to a recent survey by sector champion Ukie. Until quite recently, though, this was not reflected in games themselves, whose makers and marketers seemed resolutely committed to making games starring either white heterosexual males shooting at things, or anthropomorphic animals. When I was growing up in the 90s, even female representation in games was dismal, let alone queer representation. Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: UK cybersecurity heads want companies like Apple to monitor suspicious activity on devices. It’s not the attack on privacy you might think it is
Research into gameplay habits of 40,000 people counters fears that gaming could harm mental healthTime spent playing video games has no effect on people’s wellbeing, a study from the University of Oxford has found, countering fears that gaming could be harmful to mental health.Unlike the vast majority of previous studies on the effect of video games on wellbeing, the Oxford team were able to track actual gameplay, rather than relying on self-reported estimates. Continue reading...
Destiny, Call of Duty and other epics expect you to play not for hours but for years. This endless games monoculture isn’t just bad for players – it’s bad for innovation
Gaming albums have been steadily rising in popularity since the early 2010s. Players and creators explain whyCaroline Grace has always enjoyed vintage technology. An IT tech in the Mid-Ohio Valley, they collect retro games, laser discs and cassette tapes, but mostly, vinyl records. Their collection is in the thousands, and hundreds of those are video game soundtracks. “I’ve been a big fan of games all my life,” says Grace. “Some of my earliest memories are playing games like Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and Goof Troop with my dad and brother. I get positive feelings from listening to the Wonder Boy III music now. I have a lot of pleasant memories of playing it with my family back in the day.”The idea of buying video game soundtracks on vinyl may seem counter-intuitive: the most hi-tech digital entertainment medium meeting this fragile relic of the analogue era. But gaming albums have been steadily rising in popularity since the early 2010s. Partly that’s thanks to the wider vinyl revival, but it’s also due to the efforts of specialist record labels such as Data Discs, which produces beautiful albums based on vintage video games. “When we started the label in late-2014 there wasn’t really anyone releasing game soundtracks on vinyl,” says co-founder Jamie Crook. “We had been half-joking about trying to release Streets of Rage for the best part of a decade and we’re still surprised that no one else beat us to it. It just seemed abundantly clear that game soundtracks were going to be one of the next growth areas, alongside Japanese ambient, especially after the huge popularity of film soundtrack labels from 2012 onward.” Continue reading...
Tesla chief rejects Wall Street Journal claims he had affair with Nicole ShanahanElon Musk has denied a Wall Street Journal report that claimed he had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of the Google co-founder Sergey Brin, accusing the news outlet of running “hit pieces” on him and Tesla.The chief executive of the electric carmaker tweeted on Monday rejecting the affair claim as “total BS”, adding that he and Brin were still friends. Continue reading...
The Pennsylvania Senate hopeful is wielding social media might against star power. His secret weapon? SnookiWhether it’s Ronald, Donald or Arnold, Americans are all too familiar with the phenomenon of the second-tier celebrity turned politician. So when the TV doctor Mehmet Oz decided to run for Senate in Pennsylvania, his background as a B-lister seemed well suited to the role.As he proudly notes in his official biography, Oz has won Emmys, has written eight bestsellers, and was featured on six seasons of The Oprah Winfrey Show. He is a master of traditional media. But now the daytime TV star is facing a Democratic opponent who has proved himself a media success story in his own right – though his area of expertise is Twitter, not television. Continue reading...
We couldn’t check in online so had to pay to use the airline’s deskOn 27 June my partner and I were booked on a 7.55am Wizz Air flight from Gatwick to Athens. On the Saturday before, I received an email telling me to check in online.After filling in all the necessary details and double-checking the information, the website said “something went wrong” and I was unable to complete the process. I tried several more times but could not get to the end. Continue reading...
Follow the gospel of Larry David, go gaming on horseback, always carry a cushion, bin your cinema mates and learn Korean off the telly … Guardian writers present their best cultural life hacksIf you’re seeing something long and challenging, remember that having an alcoholic drink beforehand is asking for trouble. So be sure to do it. Continue reading...
The volume of child sexual assault material online is on the rise. An Australian project is crowdsourcing images of safe children so it can find those in dangerLeading Senior Constable Dr Janis Dalins is looking for 100,000 happy images of children – a toddler in a sandpit, a nine-year-old winning an award at school, a sullen teenager unwrapping a present at Christmas and pretending not to care.The search for these safe, happy pictures is the goal of a new campaign to crowdsource a database of ethically obtained images that Dalins hopes will help build better investigative tools to use in the fight against what some have called a “tsunami” of child sexual assault material online. Continue reading...
Consider getting physical products, head for sales and beware dodgy resale sitesDownloading games is far more convenient than buying them on a disc these days but if you play on consoles, buying a physical copy often costs substantially less – especially a few weeks or months after a game comes out. Continue reading...
As Ofcom confirms that young people now stay informed through Instagram and TikTok, we meet the online newshoundsIn early March, military experts reported that Russian tanks were sporting handwritten “Z” symbols. The letter, thought to be a staunchly pro-war symbol of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, was soon spotted at Russian bus stops, a school, then on a Russian gymnast’s uniform during a World Cup event at Qatar. On 8 March, 18-year-old TikToker Matt Welland explained the symbol’s meaning and its significance to his 2.4 million subscribers, along with the caption “the ‘Z’ symbol is more terrifying than you think”.The scale of the influence of social media personalities such as Welland in disseminating current affairs was revealed last week. An Ofcom report found that, for the first time, Instagram was the most popular news source among teenagers, used by 29% of them in 2022, while 28% used TikTok and YouTube. Continue reading...
The platform’s rise is best seen as the latest evolution in how we consume newsTwenty-three million people in the UK use TikTok every month. Enhanced by the pandemic and its impact on remote work, apps like TikTok and Instagram have become the digital equivalent of the watercooler. It’s where we talk about Love Island, the latest soaps, the dysfunction in our government and what’s going on in the world.So why are we so surprised that it’s a place people turn to for news? Continue reading...
Chef Pii’s tips on how to use her $20-a-bottle condiment have won 40m views, she says, but many wonder what goes into itIt’s pink. It’s a sauce. It’s called, rather prosaically, Pink Sauce. And it’s doing a very good job of trying to break the internet right now.A Florida chef’s TikTok videos showing her dunking fried chicken, french fries and vegetables into her culinary creation have gone viral. Up to 40m views, she claims. Continue reading...
Social media firm says 1% decline for three months to 30 June reflects uncertainty over acquisition bidTwitter has blamed a drop in revenue on uncertainty around Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover bid for the business and a weak advertising market.The social media company said revenue for the three months to 30 June was $1.18bn (£986m), a decline of 1% on the same period last year, which it said reflected “advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment” as well as “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter” by the Tesla chief executive. Continue reading...
Virtual pet site launches investigation but has not confirmed the scale of the alleged breach, amid reports hacker has taken database with user detailsThe popular virtual pet website Neopets says it has launched an investigation after a hacker breached its databases, with one website claiming the personal data of up to 69 million users may have been stolen.“Neopets recently became aware that customer data may have been stolen … it appears that email addresses and passwords used to access Neopets accounts may have been affected,” the website said in a statement issued on its official Twitter account on Thursday. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#61P45)
Top chip, brilliant camera, great software and solid battery life in a smaller body with a cheaper priceThe Pixel 6a is Google’s latest mid-range smartphone offering the same chips and performance as its top phones, but in a new, smaller body for a cheaper price.The phone costs £399 ($449/A$749), which is £200 less than the Pixel 6, but offers 80% of what you get with Google’s top models.Screen: 6.1in 60Hz FHD+ OLED (429ppi)Processor: Google TensorRAM: 6GBStorage: 128GBOperating system: Android 12Camera: 12.2MP + 12MP ultrawide, 8MP selfieConnectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSSWater resistance: IP67 (1m for 30 minutes)Dimensions: 152.2 x 71.8 x 8.9mmWeight: 178g Continue reading...
One Medical, the primary care organization, will be acquired by the e-commerce behemoth in a deal valued at roughly $3.9bnAmazon will acquire the primary care organization One Medical in a deal valued roughly at $3.9bn, marking another expansion for the retailer into healthcare services.The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said in a statement Thursday it is buying One Medical for $18 a share in an all-cash transaction. It’s one of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions, following its $13.7bn deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017 and its $8.5bn purchase of Hollywood studio MGM, which closed earlier this year. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency exchange manager and his brother arrested in Seattle in what is described as the first case of its kindA former Coinbase employee and two others have been charged in what federal authorities described as the US government’s first cryptocurrency insider trading case.Ishan Wahi, a product manager at the cryptocurrency exchange, and his brother Nikhil Wahi were arrested in Seattle on Thursday. They and a third defendant, their friend Sameer Ramani, who remains at large, also face civil charges from the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Continue reading...
Researchers find movements can still be tracked despite firm’s vow to protect location history of people who visit abortion clinicsGoogle’s promise to protect the location history of users who visit abortion clinics is coming under scrutiny after researchers found that a user who had brief access to another user’s Android phone – such as a boyfriend logging into his girlfriend’s phone – could relatively easily monitor the user’s movements.The finding by Tech Transparency Project, a research arm of the non-profit Campaign for Accountability, comes weeks after Google announced in a blogpost that it would delete entries to sensitive locations – such as abortion clinics or domestic violence shelters – if its systems identified that someone has visited one of these places. The 1 July blogpost said the change would take effect “in the coming weeks”. Continue reading...
Firm is splitting its News Feed over two tabs on its iOS and Android apps, separating its algorithmic curationFacebook is going back to basics, restoring a chronological news feed to its app to make it easier for users to keep up with posts from their friends.More than a decade after Facebook updated its patented News Feed to default to showing “top stories” rather than a chronological list of posts from friends and pages, the company is restoring the ability to “easily see the most recent posts from your friends, Pages and groups”. Continue reading...
by Alexi Duggins, Hollie Richardson, Hannah Verdier a on (#61MWS)
In this week’s newsletter: Follow Rotherham and Oxford’s coaches through their tense end of season run-ins in Moment of Truth. Plus: five of the best podcasts for gamers
Mojang Studios says use of non-fungible tokens does not align with the game’s ‘values of creative inclusion and playing together’Minecraft will not allow non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be used on the popular gaming platform, with the company describing them as antithetical to Minecraft’s “values of creative inclusion and playing together”.NFTs confer ownership of a unique digital item, typically an image or a video, with the ownership recorded on a decentralised digital register known as a blockchain. Continue reading...
App is used by 7% of adults for news with nearly half turning to TikTokers rather than conventional outlets for updatesWatch out Huw Edwards, the TikTokers are coming. The social video platform is the fastest growing news source for UK adults, according to a survey, but nearly half of people using it for current affairs turn to fellow TikTokers rather than conventional news organisations for their updates.TikTok is used by 7% of adults for news, according to the UK’s communications watchdog, up from 1% in 2020. The growth is primarily driven by young users, with half of its news followers aged 16 to 24. Continue reading...
CEO Elon Musk said the cryptocurrency sale was to maximize its cash position only, but prices still slid after Wednesday’s reportTesla’s second quarter of 2022 came to a shaky end as the electric carmaker reported a drop in profit after it struggled to meet demand due to a shutdown of its Shanghai factory and production challenges at new plants. The company also sold 75% of its bitcoin holdings, leading to a slide in the cryptocurrency price.Tesla’s second-quarter profit fell 32% from record levels in the first quarter, with the company reporting a $2.26bn net profit on Wednesday. Continue reading...
The Meta CEO, and former COO Sheryl Sandberg will be questioned as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Facebook users in CaliforniaMark Zuckerberg, CEO of the Facebook parent company Meta, will face a six-hour deposition over the way the company handled user data relating to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to new court filings.The deposition comes as part of a lawsuit filed in a California court on behalf of Facebook users impacted by the platform’s partnership with Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm accused of manipulating user data. Continue reading...
Tax benefit was part of £850m in tax credits provided to online retailer by governments across EuropeAmazon’s core UK division was handed a tax credit of just over £1m last year by HM Revenue and Customs despite the online retailer’s profits soaring by almost 60% to £204m.The tax benefit was part of €1bn (£850m) in tax credits provided to Amazon by governments across Europe, up from €56m a year before, according to accounts filed for the US company’s Luxembourg-based division. Continue reading...
Judge in Delaware denies Tesla chief’s bid to delay trial, as Twitter seeks verdict that will force Musk to complete $44bn takeoverTwitter has won the first legal skirmish in its attempt to force Elon Musk to complete a $44bn (£36.7bn) takeover of the social media company, after a judge ruled that a trial will take place in October.Legal experts said the ruling in Delaware was good news for Twitter, which had asked for a fast-track process to settle the dispute. A Delaware judge said there was a “cloud of uncertainty” hanging over Twitter and accepted the company’s argument that a delay would cause severe damage to the business. Continue reading...
The company joins other tech firms in slowing hiring as fears grow that inflation will lower consumer demandApple is reportedly planning to slow hiring and spending growth next year to cope with an economic downturn, which would place it in the company of American tech companies including Facebook, Amazon and Google in enacting similar measures.The changes, first reported by Bloomberg, would not affect all teams, and Apple is reportedly still planning a major product launch scheduled for next year that includes a mixed-reality headset, its first significant new category since the Apple Watch in 2015. Continue reading...
Dominik Diamond hasn’t had the best month – but scampering around in a virtual world full of robot dinosaurs has at least given him a breakThe worst thing about video games is also the best thing: their addictiveness. When you find the right one? The rest of the world can go to hell. That helped me as a child: I could use them to escape the more painful parts of growing up. Parents didn’t fight in Manic Miner. You didn’t have to worry about Stephen Gibson battering you on the way home from school in Chuckie Egg.As a parent of young kids, I was a dreadful hypocrite, always saying they should be doing something more worthwhile than playing Mario Kart – even though, when they would ask me “like WHAT, Dad?”, the only answer I could think of was “the stuff the other parents brag about their kids doing on Facebook”. Continue reading...
by Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum in Bnei Br on (#61JC6)
An opaque council controls smartphone access for Israel’s Haredim population, but many are making forays online anywayTel Aviv’s booming science and technology industry, bolstered by graduates of elite state intelligence units, has earned Israel the nickname “start-up nation”.Yet in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb just a few miles east of Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers, a vicious fight is unfolding over whether smartphones are compatible with traditional Jewish law - and who should have the power to decide on internet access. Continue reading...
A new study says many employees think a work communication without an emoji lacks something. But with generations split over their meanings, sending them is not risk-freeName: Workplace emojis.Age: 25. The first set of emojis hit Japanese phones in 1997. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Diane Taylor on (#61GX2)
Latest findings suggest Rwandan government has deployed surveillance campaign against relatives of Paul RusesabaginaThe mobile phone of a Belgian citizen who is the nephew of Paul Rusesabagina, a jailed critic of the Rwandan government made famous by his portrayal in Hotel Rwanda, was hacked nearly a dozen times in 2020 using Israeli-made surveillance technology, according to forensic experts at The Citizen Lab.The findings follow earlier revelations by the Guardian and other media partners in the Pegasus Project, an investigation of Israel’s NSO Group, that Rusesabagina’s daughter, a dual American-Belgian national named Carine Kanimba, was under near-constant surveillance by a client of NSO Group from January to mid-2021, when the hacking attack was discovered by researchers at Amnesty International’s security lab. Continue reading...
‘Foxes are guarding hen house,’ says expert after ministers seek tougher industry-led protections insteadLoot boxes in video games will not be banned in the UK, despite a government consultation finding evidence of a “consistent” association between the features and problem gambling.Loot boxes have attracted comparison with gambling because they allow players to spend money to unlock in-game rewards, such as special characters, weapons or outfits, without knowing what they will get. Continue reading...
The Conservatives have kicked the sprawling document, which aimed for a political Goldilocks zone and ended up a hot mess, firmly down the roadThe Goldilocks theory of policy is simple enough. If Mummy Bear says your latest government bill is too hot, and Daddy Bear says your latest government bill is too cold, then you can tuck in knowing that the actual temperature is just right.Unfortunately, the Goldilocks theory sometimes fails. You learn that what you actually have in front of you is less a perfectly heated bowl of porridge and more a roast chicken you popped in the oven still frozen: frosty on the inside, burnt on the outside, and harmful to your health if you try to eat it. Continue reading...
Customers to the online retailer’s first in-person location were disappointed by the limited selection and algorithmic picksOutside Amazon’s first in-person clothing store in California, Diemmi Le, 22, summed up her experience: “You don’t have to talk to anybody.”For years, Amazon tried – and ultimately failed – to translate its online book business into successful brick and mortar bookstores. Dozens of stores were shuttered this spring. Now, the online shopping giant is trying again, this time attempting to reinvent the mall clothing store. Continue reading...
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