Technology | The Guardian

Experts say it is the roboticists we need to hear from – and the people and jobs AI is already affectingWhen it announced that “the world’s first robot artist” would be giving evidence to a parliamentary committee, the House of Lords probably hoped to shake off its sleepy reputation.Unfortunately, when the Ai-Da robot arrived at the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, the opposite seemed to occur. Apparently overcome by the stuffy atmosphere, the machine, which resembles a sex doll strapped to a pair of egg whisks, shut down halfway through the evidence session. As its creator, Aidan Meller, scrabbled with power sockets to restart the device, he put a pair of sunglasses on the machine. “When we reset her, she can sometimes pull quite interesting faces,” he explained. Continue reading...

Voracious Games/XSEED Games; PC

Ebb Software; PC, Xbox

Scammers posing as immigration lawyers targeted Facebook groups with tens of thousands of users, new report revealsScammers posing as Canadian immigration lawyers have targeted Facebook groups with tens of thousands of users, a new report reveals.The posts, documented in a new report by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), the research arm of watchdog group the Campaign for Accountability, have been flagged as potentially fraudulent by Latin American and Canadian authorities but continue to proliferate. Continue reading...

Samaritans among those calling for people of ‘all ages’ to be safeguarded from suicide and self-harm materialThe government must ensure the online safety bill protects adults from dangerous suicide and self-harm content, a group of charities including Samaritans has said, as ministers prepare to alter the legislation’s approach to legal but harmful content.The bill is set to resume its progress through parliament but the culture secretary has signalled that a key area, which contains provisions related to suicide and self-harm content, will be altered.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Court filing made public by social media company does not state what is being investigated, nor which federal authorities are involvedElon Musk is under a federal investigation related to his $44bn takeover of Twitter, the social media company has said in a court filing made public on Thursday.While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not say what the focus was, or which federal authorities were investigating. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: From Geli Raubal’s life and death to the mystery of Prince George, the Duke of Kent, this new series shines a light on the untold tales of our past. Plus: five podcasts on rock’n’roll excess

In government, party says it would stop inflation-busting price rises and take action on mid-contract hikesA Labour government would enforce a cheap broadband tariff for low-income families as well as taking action on mid-contract price hikes, the shadow culture secretary will announce.Labour will say broadband is an essential utility and that figures from the regulator Ofcom show almost a third of households (8 million) are having problems paying their broadband, phone and streaming bills. That is double the number a year ago. Continue reading...

LinkedIn posts suggest it is looking to operate its own warehouses to compete with other social commerce firms such as MetaTikTok appears to be deepening its foray into e-commerce with plans to operate its own US warehouses, the kind of packing and shipping facilities more associated with Amazon or Walmart than the social media platform best known for addictive short videos.In the past two weeks, TikTok has posted several job listings on LinkedIn looking for candidates to help it develop and grow its “Fulfillment by TikTok Shop” in the US to accommodate sellers using the app. According to the listings, TikTok plans to provide warehousing, delivery and item return options to sellers. Continue reading...

New iPhones which can detect car crashes and notify emergency services appear confused by thrill ridesApple’s newest phone has been automatically calling emergency services from the pockets of people riding rollercoasters in the US, mistaking the bumps and jerks of the rides as car crashes.The latest iPhone 14, as well as newer Apple watches, includes a feature that detects the signs and vibrations typical of a serious car accident – and calls 911 if the owner does not respond to a prompt to cancel. Continue reading...

Comments on China-owned app come after Liz Truss expressed a desire to crack downThe director of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, said he would encourage young people to use TikTok, despite a campaign pledge by the prime minister, Liz Truss, to “crack down” on the Chinese video app and companies like it.The spy chief was asked on Tuesday morning if he would be concerned if his children were to use TikTok after he had warned that China was seeking to “impose its values” in other strategic areas of science and technology. Continue reading...

Money from crypto exchange was allegedly used to buy four houses worth $4m, vehicles, art and furniture, police officer tells court

Parent company of Australian telco says that the personal data of 129,000 customers and 23 businesses was obtained in a cyber-attack two years ago

Musk, the world’s richest person, suggested giving China some control over the island to resolve the cross-strait dispute

In Mirror Mirror, the former advertising executive argues technology is an unregulated psychological experiment that is changing our brains

Ian Russell, whose daughter took her own life, says ‘waiting around’ leaves children exposed to harmful contentFurther delays in implementing the online safety bill will endanger young people at risk of harmful social media content, Molly Russell’s father has warned.Ian Russell said he received a phone call last week from the culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, in which she pledged to resume the bill’s progress through parliament before Christmas. Continue reading...

Geography of Robots; Raw Fury; Xbox, PlayStation

If the deal does not close by 28 October, a November trial will be scheduledA Delaware judge has postponed the Twitter v Elon Musk trial in order to give the Tesla chief executive time to complete his proposed $44bn takeover of the social media platform.The litigation was halted until 28 October to allow both parties to close the transaction, after Musk said he needed time to put together the funds for the deal. Judge Kathaleen McCormick said if the deal did not close by her deadline the parties were to contact her to schedule a November trial. Continue reading...

Activists fear Flock, whose tech reads license plates, might endanger women seeking abortionsFlock Safety, a rapidly expanding company that sells license plate readers to police and neighborhoods across the US, has an ambitious mission: to eliminate crime.Since being founded in 2017, Flock says it has contracted with more than 1,200 law enforcement partners in more than 40 states. It provides its services to more than 2,000 neighborhoods, and is expanding the products it offers beyond license plate readers to include a gunshot detection system. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: the reality star examines the case of Kevin Keith in The System – can she pull off another rebrand? Plus: five of the best podcasts about money

Some people use it to improve their focus while others use it to drop off to sleep. The writer Zadie Smith says she listens to it day and night. But what is brown noise? And does it work?There’s a new buzz on TikTok – well, not a buzz exactly. It’s more of a hum, maybe waves crashing, a purring fan or steady, heavy rain. To me, it sounds like an empty aeroplane, cruising peacefully at altitude. It’s brown noise, a close cousin of the better-known white noise, and TikTok users, particularly the platform’s ADHD community, are all over it: there are 85.3m views for the #brownnoise hashtag.One top-rated video (1.3m views) shows user @NatalyaBubb trying brown noise. She looks initially startled, then spellbound. “Where did all the thoughts go?” reads the caption over her wide-eyed face. Commenters on her and other brown-noise clips are mainly – though not exclusively – rapturous. “I closed my eyes and literally thought of NOTHING … it makes my brain feel soft in the best way possible”; “This felt like fresh air to my ears”; “Like a soft weighted blanket that I’ve safely swathed my brain in,” says one writer with ADHD. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: The question of tougher regulation is back following an inquest into the death of a 14-year-old who viewed significant amounts of harmful online content

Smaller, cheaper bass add-on for wifi speakers and soundbars delivers in all the right areasThe Sonos Sub Mini is a more compact bass upgrade at a slightly more palatable price, adding big boom and greater range to the firm’s wifi speakers and soundbars.The Mini costs £429 ($429/A$699) and is for Sonos fans who want more bass for their movies and music but can’t stomach the £749 outlay for its big Gen 3 Sub. Continue reading...

Elon Musk will proceed with the $44bn buyout of Twitter, but a bumpy road still lies ahead for the companyElon Musk was always going to struggle to win in Delaware. He had signed a binding agreement to buy Twitter for $44bn and to make his “reasonable best efforts” to complete the deal. Saying he didn’t want to buy it any more wasn’t going to work in Delaware, the state where Twitter is incorporated and one that carries a reputation for making sure agreed company transactions happen.And so it appears that Musk has chosen the least bad option, which is going ahead with the deal before spending millions more dollars trying to convince a judge that he should be allowed to walk away even though he had no grounds to do so. Continue reading...

Judge rules Twitter has ‘done enough’ to remove defamatory tweets about Bodegraven ReeuwijkA Dutch town has lost a court case asking Twitter to do more to stop the spread of a false conspiracy theory claiming it was home to a ring of Satan-worshipping paedophiles.Bodegraven Reeuwijk in the western Netherlands sued the social media company in September over the unfounded rumours spread by three men since 2021. Continue reading...

Chinese-owned platform popular among teens and young adults saw its turnover rise by 477% last yearTikTok has reported a five-fold surge in turnover to $1bn (£875m) across its operations in international markets including the UK and Europe last year, as trend-setting teens and young adults continue to make the video-sharing platform the hottest social app of the moment.Financial filings for Chinese-owned TikTok UK, which also covers operations in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Colombia, shows that its popularity with the public is rapidly translating into an advertising and e-commerce boom. Continue reading...

Google’s gaming platform had good tech but it’s become the latest casualty in the cloud-gaming realm. Plus, the creators of Monument Valley are back with a gorgeous game of feelings-dodgeball

Hackers are increasingly taking users’ data hostage and demanding huge sums for its release. They have targeted individuals, businesses, vital infrastructure and even hospitals. Authorities have been slow to respond – but there is help out thereAround 9pm on Monday 23 November 2020, the IT manager for a school in central London received a text message from a colleague, saying the school’s website was down. He tried logging on but couldn’t. At first, he thought he had forgotten the password. After several attempts, he realised that he was locked out.The IT manager, Matthew (he asked us not to use his last name), works in a central London neighbourhood where affluence hides pockets of poverty, and migrant families from Pakistan, India and eastern Europe pin their hopes for their children on a small, publicly funded school. It has about 150 students aged between five and 10, many of them on free school meals. On a shoestring budget, in a Victorian building that’s showing its age, teachers track the students’ progress by photographing them as they learn how to hold a pencil, draw a picture or write their name. The snapshots and other progress reports are uploaded to a server, a powerful computer that processes data and provides services for other devices used around the school. Continue reading...

The founder of the language app is in talks with the UK government about offering its online test to visa applicants, at less than £50 a timeDuolingo is in discussions with the government to allow UK visa applicants to take an online language test for less than £50, replacing a system that costs some more than £1,000.Luis von Ahn, the founder of the online language-learning app, said the $49 Duolingo test had less risk of fraud and would be fairer for people wanting to study or work in the UK. Continue reading...

Texts disclosed to a US court show the two bonding before the Tesla CEO tweeted: ‘Is Twitter dying?’Newly published messages between Elon Musk and the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, show that their relationship appeared to be blossoming before it dramatically soured, with the Tesla boss tweeting: “Is Twitter dying?”The series of text messages, disclosed in a Delaware court filing, suggest that the two men were for a short period bonding, including over their shared love of engineering, after Agrawal got in touch with him, weeks before Musk revealed his offer to buy Twitter. Continue reading...

Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, showcased his humanoid robot, Optimus, at the electric vehicle maker's AI Day event. The billionaire has said a robot business will be worth more than its carmaking business. At the event a prototype of the robot walked on stage and waved to the audience. And a video of it carrying a box, watering plants and moving metal bars in the Tesla factory was shown.'Our goal is to make a useful humanoid robot as quickly as possible,' Musk said at the event in Palo Alto, California.

The British photographer on the timeless quality black and white gives to an image of a young boy learning to swimHarry had never swum without armbands before. It was August 2021 and the three-year-old was on holiday with his parents, grandparents, sister and aunt, the photographer Hannah Cassidy. It had been the second arduous year of pandemic restrictions and time stuck at home for the toddler, so he and his sister Rose, six, were thrilled to arrive in southern Spain. The extended family had rented a villa in Murcia and from day one the kids gravitated towards the pool. Rose had taken swimming lessons before, but Harry had not.“A few days in, we switched his armbands for a float that strapped to his back,” Cassidy says. “He was standing on the side while we were in the pool, cheering him on, encouraging him to jump in and try to swim towards us. The outstretched arms you can see belong to Rose. They’re really close.” Continue reading...

Prototype walks onstage and waves at event as company looks to future beyond vehiclesTesla CEO Elon Musk showcased his much-touted humanoid robot “Optimus” at the electric vehicle maker’s “AI Day” event on Friday.The billionaire has said a robot business will be worth more than its cars, hoping to expand beyond self-driving vehicles that have not yet become a reality despite his repeated promises. Continue reading...

These companies make decisions that harm children. The government must take action

The older, saggier and sadder you get, the less you want to stare at your own digital doppelganger in a game, finds Dominik DiamondI’m having a midlife crisis with character creation in video games. My kids have always known the joy of recreating themselves virtually, but those of us who started playing in the 1970s as yellow balls with ghost-munching mouths still feel a tingle of excitement at those opportunities to put yourself into a game.The first time, for me, was when I created my own player in Fifa’s Career Mode in about 2006. This was an intoxicating addition to the football game genre, because you could live your dream of playing for the team you supported. But I was overweight, 6ft 2in and balding. In-game Dominik had the acceleration of an Acme anvil and looked like a fat Stanley Matthews. I could create a smaller, leaner whippet of a player who could score a bucketload of goals and lead Celtic to glory, but it wouldn’t be me in any way, shape or form. Continue reading...

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says tech company aims to ‘plan somewhat conservatively’ and will ‘further restructure’Meta employees have been warned of potential layoffs after the Facebook parent company announced on Thursday it would freeze hiring and “further restructure”, Bloomberg News has reported.In company communication with employees, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg cited the uncertain macroeconomic environment for the changes. The announcement comes after several tech companies have been forced to slash headcount in recent months, as advertisers trim spending in anticipation of a recession. Continue reading...

David and Ina Steiner were sent live spiders, cockroaches and funeral wreaths among other things by executives to harass themA former eBay executive was sentenced on Thursday to almost five years in prison for leading a scheme to terrorize the creators of an online newsletter that included sending live spiders, cockroaches, a funeral wreath and other disturbing deliveries to their home.David Steiner, who along with his wife was the target of the harassment campaign, told the court that eBay’s former senior director of safety and security James Baugh and other eBay employees made their lives “a living hell”. He expressed fear that other companies would use it as a blueprint to go after journalists in the future. Continue reading...

A report raises serious doubts about the US intelligence agency’s handling of safety measures after flaws put sources at riskThe CIA used hundreds of websites for covert communications that were severely flawed and could have been identified by even an “amateur sleuth”, according to security researchers.The flaws reportedly led to the death of more than two dozen US sources in China in 2011 and 2012 and also reportedly led Iran to execute or imprison other CIA assets. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Steve Coogan’s character returns in the new season of From the Oasthouse. Plus: five of the funniest podcast host duos

‘Disney Animal Crossing’ is all over the video platform, but is it merely an imitation of everyone’s favourite pandemic play? Or will Mickey and co have you enthralled?When I first noticed TikTokers effusing about something called Disney Dreamlight Valley, I imagined it was your standard gem-matching mobile game, complete with in-app purchases and the occasional uncanny valley Elsa cheering you on from the sidelines. But throughout September, TikTok continued to feed me more and more videos of people claiming to be “addicted” to a game that had “taken over their life”. Someone, somewhere called it “Disney Animal Crossing” and with that, I was off to see a mouse about a house.Available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, Gameloft’s Disney Dreamlight Valley is a simulation adventure that owes Tom Nook-levels of debt to everyone’s favourite pandemic play, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In both games, you obtain a home in a strange land and start fishing, digging, breaking rocks, picking flowers, growing crops and crafting to make it as idyllic as possible for new residents. In Disney’s offering, these residents are Goofy, WALL·E and Ursula. Dreamlight even rips off ACNH’s rewards programme, rebranding “Nook miles” to “Dreamlight duties”, though it gives it a notably more adult – or at least, Disney adult – interface. Continue reading...

In the digital age, marketability is just as important as music. Artist and repertoire reps from Warner, Ministry of Sound and Partisan explain how they discover music in 2022Artists and repertoire representatives (A&Rs) are the wildcatters of the music business, spotting new acts, signing them and guiding their artistic development. The essence of what they do hasn’t fundamentally changed in over a century – but the way they do it has shifted significantly.Joe Kentish is president of Warner Records UK, and has signed acts such as Dua Lipa and Griff. He says his early days in A&R took place in “an analogue world” where he might be tipped off at 4pm “to see an act in Preston tonight” that he had never heard of, scrambling to arrive in time lest his competitors swoop first. Continue reading...

Future of company hailed by Boris Johnson as key to green industrial revolution hangs in the balance, as the first in our Electric Dreams series on Britain’s fledgling battery industry revealsChampagne flowed freely as Orral Nadjari courted bankers and potential business partners in a private box, against a soundtrack of V12 supercar engines, at the Goodwood festival of Speed.Nadjari had hit the big time: his Britishvolt battery startup was gatecrashing the annual petrolheads’ gathering at the historic West Sussex circuit in June with plans to power cars of the future using British-made batteries. Continue reading...

PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Microids/Pendulo Studios

Headteacher describes ‘terrible shock’ at north London school after 14-year-old killed herself in 2017The headteacher of Molly Russell’s secondary school has told an inquest into the teenager’s death it is “almost impossible” to keep track of the risks posed to pupils by social media.North London coroner’s court heard of the “complete and terrible shock” at Molly’s school after the 14-year-old killed herself in November 2017. Molly, from Harrow in north-west London, killed herself after viewing extensive amounts of online content related to suicide, depression, self-harm and anxiety.In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Apple is now manufacturing a new phone model outside China – and the implications could be huge. Plus, a cyberstalking saga puts social media platforms on the spot

Company says British sanctions compel it to remove the social media app from its store globallyApple has removed VK, Russia’s homegrown Facebook competitor, from its App Store globally, citing conflicts with British sanctions.In a statement on the social network’s website, the company said the app would continue to work on smartphones that had already installed it before the takedown, but warned users that “there may be difficulties with notifications and payments” as a result. Continue reading...

A text-based, multiplayer role-playing game based on the works of Terry Pratchett, the Discworld MUD has been in constant service for 30 yearsSir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld has a long association with video games. Not only was the author himself a fan of Doom, Thief, and The Elder Scrolls, but the relationship between his satirical fantasy world and video games goes all the way back to 1986’s The Colour of Magic – a text-adventure adaptation of Pratchett’s first Discworld novel. Later games based on Pratchett’s work include 1995’s Discworld, a notoriously difficult adventure game voiced by actors including Eric Idle and Tony Robinson, and 1999’s Discworld Noir, a 3D detective game where you play as the universe’s first private investigator.But the most ambitious Discworld game in existence is not officially associated with Terry Pratchett at all. The Discworld MUD is a text-based “multi-user-dungeon” – an early form of online role-playing game where everything from places to in-game actions are described in words. Created in 1991 by David “Pinkfish” Bennett, the MUD has been in consistent service for over 30 years, and today offers the most detailed depiction of the Discworld outside of Pratchett’s books. Not only does it feature most of the key locations, from the city of Ankh-Morpork to areas such as Klatch and the Ramtops, it has seven guilds, player-run shops, and countless quests and adventures featuring many of the Discworld’s most notable characters. It even has its own newspaper. Continue reading...

What’s more annoying than a very rich boss cutting his staff’s benefits? A very rich boss announcing it shouldn’t stop them having fun

Minor update adds new temperature sensors and car crash safety features, but higher prices outside US stingThe latest Apple Watch adds new safety features and a temperature sensor for some intriguing uses for women’s health and family planning. But otherwise it remains the same as last year’s version.Like the latest iPhones, the Series 8 gets a £50 (A$30 in Australia) price hike over its predecessor, costing from £419 (A$629) despite remaining $399 in the US, owing to weak currency rates against the dollar. But the Series 8 is not Apple’s most expensive new smartwatch. That title goes to the Ultra model costing £849 ($799/A$1,299). Continue reading...

Researchers suggest devices such as Alexa could have a long-term impact on empathy, compassion and critical thinking skillsFrom reminding potty-training toddlers to go to the loo to telling bedtime stories and being used as a “conversation partner”, voice-activated smart devices are being used to help rear children almost from the day they are born.But the rapid rise in voice assistants, including Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Apple’s Siri could, researchers suggest, have a long-term impact on children’s social and cognitive development, specifically their empathy, compassion and critical thinking skills. Continue reading...