The company I founded in my 20s exploited vulnerable people for profit. I was a merchant of death, and a charlatanA few years ago I sat on the phone, as a first-time CEO of a funeral startup in my 20s, trying to convince a woman to buy a $1,799 necklace filled with her mother’s ashes.“Well, Katherine. It’s really beautiful.” I paused for dramatic effect. “We take a charm that you like, let’s say a dove, or a cross – or maybe something that meant something to Marcella. And then we fill it with some of her ashes. Whenever you wear it, it’s like Marcella is with you … right next to your heart.” Continue reading...
by Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Danielle Steph on (#5HHZD)
Badlands considers crime, history and legends bubbling beneath the surface of Tinseltown. Plus: a look at the “unseen forces” around us, and just who is Matthew MaGill?Badlands: Hollywoodland
A silly and dated new attempt to transport the classic fighting game to the big screen is a late-night drunk watch at bestConfiguring one’s expectations before settling down to watch the latest big (and small) screen adaptation of Mortal Kombat is something of a process. The largely wretched game-to-movie subgenre carries with it little-to-no hope at this stage, even the so-called “best” examples are seen as just about tolerable, and the last two attempts to translate Midway’s long-running fighting game failed to justify why watching these characters battle it out would be preferable to playing as them instead. As popular as the game still is (the most recent iteration has sold over 8m copies worldwide), transporting it to film is still a rather dated prospect, almost 25 years after the last version, the result of a torturous period in development hell.Related: Stowaway review – a devastating dilemma drives tense Netflix sci-fi Continue reading...
Readers are in demand on dating sites, with one focused entirely on bringing book-lovers together. But is our taste in literature truly a good indication of compatibility?“He mentioned in his bio that he liked Virginia Woolf and I was like, ‘Ah! The dream boy,” says Francesca, 34, who met her boyfriend Andy on Tinder. They spent two years as friends, exchanging books and chatting about Mrs Dalloway, until one day Francesca had a revelation during lockdown: “I was like, I miss you so much – I think I love you,” she says.Andy gave her an illustrated collection of love letters between Woolf and her lover Vita Sackville-West: “If there’s anything that inspired our relationship it would be a lesbian love story from the 1930s,” she says. Last year, they went to Hampton Court for “a Vita and Virginia date,” she says. “We joke we’ll get some fish named after them, too.” Continue reading...
I am a member of Facebook’s oversight board. Here’s why we decided to continue his suspension from FacebookAs so often is the case, Donald Trump gets to the heart of the problem. On 6 January, he was the president of the United States: probably the most powerful man in the world. He should be free to speak his mind, and voters should be free to listen. But he was also a habitual liar who, by the end of his term, had edged into repudiating the very democracy that had elevated him.And then came his inflammatory words on that day, uttered even as rioters were breaking their way into the heart of US democracy. His words had a veneer of restraint – “We have to have peace, so go home.” But his statements were laced with lies, along with praise for the mob who terrorised lawmakers as they sought to confirm Biden as Trump’s successor – “We love you, you’re very special … great patriots … remember this day for ever.” Continue reading...
Jerry Lawson led the invention of cartridges, Ed Smith made a hybrid console/PC, and designer Muriel Tramis won France’s highest honour for bringing history into play. How many more names are forgotten?In the 1970s, in the fledgling days of the video games industry, an engineer named Gerald “Jerry” Lawson designed one of the earliest game consoles, the Channel F, and also led the team that invented the game cartridge, a defining innovation in how games were made and sold. His son, Andersen Lawson, recalls that he was often working on gaming projects in the garage of their family home in Santa Clara, California. “There have been conversations recently about the struggles he might have had that were related to his colour,” he says. “Was it difficult [for him]? Yes, I’m quite certain. But I never heard any grumblings from him. And I’m also certain that he earned his respect … My father was a person of colour and I think that would inspire young people today to jump in and help move the industry along.”Black people, and especially black women, are still underrepresented in the video games industry. The Independent Game Developers’ Association records that only 2% of US game developers identify as black; in the UK, meanwhile, according to UKIE’s 2020 census of the entire industry, 10% of its workers are black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME). But black innovators such as Jerry Lawson have been present and influential since the earliest days of the video games industry – and there is not enough recognition for their achievements. Continue reading...
Lack of prenuptial agreement with Bill Gates could herald $73bn divorce settlement as fears focus on future of couple’s charityMelinda Gates, a philanthropist and campaigner for female empowerment, could be about to become the world’s second-richest woman, with a fortune estimated at $73bn.In her divorce petition filed on Monday at King County superior court in Seattle, Washington, Melinda Gates stated that her marriage to multibillionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, one of the richest men on the planet, had “irretrievably broken” and called on the courts to divide up the couple’s combined $146bn (£105bn) fortune Continue reading...
Keep checking your smartphone without knowing why? You may be unconsciously copying those around you, according to Italian research into the ‘chameleon effect’
Revelations that information can be falsified on Cellebrite’s devices throws into question its reliability in court rulingsCriminal lawyers could soon begin challenging a tool Australian police routinely rely on to extract messages, photos and other information from mobile phones for investigations after the discovery of security flaws that meant data could be falsified.Last week Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of encrypted messaging app Signal, published a blog post outlining a series of vulnerabilities in Israeli company Cellebrite’s surveillance devices. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5H8M4)
Novel motorised smart screen tracks your movements to keep facing you for media and video callsAmazon’s latest top-of-the-range Alexa smart display has a trick up its sleeve like no other: it can follow you around a room.The third-generation Echo Show 10 costs £239.99 and is Amazon’s largest smart display, sitting above the smaller £100 Echo Show 8 with an 8in screen and £80 Echo Show 5 with a 5.5in screen. Continue reading...
by Hannah J Davies, Hannah Verdier and Elena Morresi on (#5H8JY)
Josie Bevan considers her own family’s story and societal flaws in Prison Break. Plus: more nuanced takes on black lives and racism from ResistancePrison Break
A Dutch couple have become Europe’s first tenants of a fully 3D printed house the first completed home of five for 'Project Milestone', in suburb of Bosrijk in Eindhoven.
New home in shape of boulder is first legally habitable property with load-bearing walls made using 3D-printing technologyA Dutch couple have become Europe’s first tenants of a fully 3D printed house in a development that its backers believe will open up a world of choice in the shape and style of the homes of the future.Elize Lutz, 70, and Harrie Dekkers, 67, retired shopkeepers from Amsterdam, received their digital key – an app allowing them to open the front door of their two-bedroom bungalow at the press of a button – on Thursday. Continue reading...
Users based in India noted on Twitter that the #ResignModi hashtag had been blocked from view on FacebookA hashtag calling for the resignation of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was briefly blocked on Facebook on Wednesday, hiding more than 12,000 posts critical of the Indian government as the coronavirus pandemic spirals out of control in the country.Facebook users based in India noted on Twitter that the hashtag #ResignModi had been blocked from view on Facebook. Continue reading...
The company’s revenue rose to $26.17bn as it continues to blast Apple for a policy that will make it more difficult to target ads to usersFacebook earnings beat analyst expectations Wednesday, but the company warned growth later this year could “significantly” decline as new Apple privacy policies will make it more difficult for the social media giant to target ads to its users.The positive earnings report for Facebook was bolstered by pandemic-driven traffic and ad sales and comes despite a number of roadblocks for the company in previous months. Those include the Apple operating system update that threatens its advertising revenue, a slew of antitrust hearings in the US Congress, and reports of a 2019 data leak that had affected millions of users. Continue reading...
Proposals come days after two men in a Tesla were killed in a crash near HoustonUS automakers have outlined principles designed to encourage drivers to pay attention to the road while driving partially automated vehicles as political scrutiny of the technology intensifies following a series of fatal crashes.The proposals, published yesterday before a Senate subcommittee hearing on the future of automotive safety and technology, come days after two men reportedly using Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assist system were killed in a crash near Houston. Local police say no-one was in the driving seat, though Tesla disputes this. The incident is being investigated by two federal agencies. Continue reading...
Relatives of Lee Kun-hee to donate 23,000 artworks to South Korean national museumsThe family of the late Samsung Electronics chair Lee Kun-hee have said they will pay more than 12tn won (£7.8bn) in inheritance tax and donate his collection of more than 23,000 artworks – including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and one of Claude Monet’s water lilies paintings – to South Korean national museums.Lee, who is credited with transforming Samsung into the world’s largest smartphone and memory chip maker, died in October 2020 aged 78 with an estate worth an estimated 26tn won. His family had until Friday to figure out how to pay the inheritance tax bill. Continue reading...
Tensions between Facebook and Apple have been growing, but is it just an attempt to get ahead of US antitrust regulators?A longstanding feud between Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook could come to a head this week, as a highly anticipated Apple operating system update will for the first time allow users to opt out of cross-platform tracking.Tensions between Facebook and Apple have been growing for some time, but the new operating system threatens to kneecap Facebook’s business model, and has turned up the heat, said Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. Continue reading...
Social media giant gave organisation behind a page for Australian 13- to 17-year-olds option to run alcohol, smoking and gambling ads for as little as $3Facebook is allowing businesses to advertise to children as young as 13 who express an interest in smoking, extreme weight loss and gambling for as little as $3, research by the lobby group Reset Australia has found.The organisation, which is critical of digital platforms, set up a Facebook page and advertising account under the name “Ozzie news network” to see what ad options Facebook would provide through its Ads Manager platform. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#5H537)
Automated lane-keeping systems likely to be allowed only when traffic is moving slowlyMotorists could legally allow their cars to “self-drive” on British motorways later this year – but only slowly, the government has announced.Drivers could soon be allowed to read a newspaper or watch a film via the car’s built-in screen in periods of slow-moving traffic, using automated lane-keeping system (Alks) technology that makes the car stay in lane and a safe distance from other vehicles. Continue reading...
Designer living in Buenos Aires says he snapped up google.com.ar after noticing it available in registryGoogle’s entire web presence in Argentina was last week briefly redirected to the website of a 30-year-old designer who bought the company’s domain name for just £2.Nicolas Kuroña, a resident of Buenos Aires, says he noticed that the company’s services were down when he began receiving messages from friends on WhatsApp. But rather than doing what many would have, and shrugging before returning to work – or taking the outage as a sign to have a tea break – he headed to the Argentinian domain name registry, NIC Argentina, to see if he could work out the cause. Continue reading...
Researchers are going on a bear hunt, using AI and radar to spot dens and track the threatened Arctic predatorsGenghis Khan got his dying wish: despite attempts by archaeologists and scientists to find the Mongolian ruler’s final resting place, the location remains a secret 800 years after his death. The search for his tomb, though, has inspired an innovative project that could help protect polar bears.“I randomly tuned into the radio one night and heard an expert talking about the use of synthetic aperture radar [SAR] to look for Genghis Khan’s tomb,” says Tom Smith, associate professor in plant and wildlife sciences at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah. “They were using SAR to penetrate layers of forest canopy in upper Mongolia, looking for the ruins of a burial structure.” Continue reading...
How am I supposed to wean my children off screens when they know I’m addicted too?It started, last March, as an act of necessity – sticking the kids on iPads all day so I could make a hard deadline that fell six weeks into lockdown. There was no way around this; at five years old, my kids couldn’t manage their Zoom schedules or self-entertain for long without fighting, and I couldn’t break off every two minutes to help them. Overnight, kindergarten and after-school disappeared, to be replaced with the sedative of kids YouTube, and when the appeal of that started to wane, the more addictive and ruinous content on TikTok. If it was hideous, I told myself, it was an emergency. It wouldn’t be like this for ever.A year later and in New York, at least, we’re in a radically different place. Next week my kids’ elementary school goes back full-time and although it lets out early – at 2pm – half of the city is now at least partially vaccinated, so most parents are comfortable hiring a sitter. (If they can find one, that is; indoor after-school programmes still seem risky to many, so the scramble is on for that already mythical creature, the 22-year-old sitter only looking for two hours work a day.) Things are, on the surface, starting to look vaguely like normal. Continue reading...
The bosses of Tesla and Amazon want to take humans to Mars and beyond – but won’t show basic humanity on EarthElon Musk’s SpaceX just won a $2.9bn Nasa contract to land astronauts on the moon, beating out Jeff Bezos.Related: Revive the US space program? How about not | Nicholas Russell Continue reading...
Tech boss ‘proud’ to be working with space agencies as astronauts begin six-month missionFour astronauts on board Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft have successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-month mission.Frenchman Thomas Pesquet is the first European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut to fly in the billionaire tech entrepreneur’s space capsule, alongside Nasa’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, and Jaxa’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Akihiko Hoshide, who is on his second mission to the space station. Continue reading...
37m people use the gaming platform every day in search of adventure – and for teenagers exploring their gender identity, it is also a place of liberation
Why not applaud the explosion of literacy in texts and posts? Better to welcome rather than vilify a tool that can play a part in learningI heard you on the radio the other day, explaining why you thought the proposed European Super League was a bad idea. I must say I was surprised, as I thought your hands were full with the matter of this summer’s GCSE and A-level assessments.How’s that going? If my youngest is anyone to go by, the situation is as clear as mud – not the school’s fault by any means. I have a sense the education department has been dragged kicking and screaming into accepting the inevitable – that you will have to trust teachers to assess students. Even so, you and your department are so annoyed at having to let go of your usual control-freakery, you’ve inserted exam-like tests into the process. Right now, I have a sense this is the lull before the storm. Come August and the publication of the exam results, a mighty furore will break out. Again. And you can not resign. Again. Continue reading...
Readers on the row over text messages between James Dyson and Boris Johnson about a tax waiver for people coming to Britain to work on ventilatorsGaby Hinsliff jokes about patriotism moving “in mysterious ways”, with the “great British patriot” James Dyson taking his “clean out of the country” (A lot of people pitched in during Covid, but only Dyson got a tax waiver for it, 22 April), but there is nothing remotely funny about the way patriotism is being distorted in No 10. Making arrangements for people to avoid paying taxes suggests that Boris Johnson’s brand of patriotism is measured by the amount of union jacks on show, rather than fairness and justice for all individuals, businesses and regions of the country.What patriotism is demonstrated by governments which, as Rafael Behr wrote a few months ago, force the people to pay the penalty for their “neglect of public health infrastructure” (Covid is teaching the Tories basic social democracy – but they won’t learn, 26 January), or waste billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on contracts for firms noted for their tax avoidance schemes? Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency falls below $50,000 as White House looks to bring levy on investment gains into line with income taxesSpeculators in Bitcoin have been left nursing heavy losses after reports Joe Biden is planning to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans to tackle inequality and finance trillions of dollars in higher social spending.The cryptocurrency price fell more than 6% to below $50,000 (£36,000) a bitcoin, hitting the lowest level since early March, as the White House puts the finishing touches on plans to almost double the rate of capital gains tax for rich individuals. Continue reading...
London’s high court allowing Wright to pursue operator-publisher of bitcoin.org over what he says is copyright infringementAn Australian computer scientist who claims he created bitcoin is taking legal action in the United Kingdom, which could force the court to rule on whether he is indeed the cryptocurrency’s inventor.London’s high court this week allowed Craig Wright’s lawyers to pursue the operator and publisher of the bitcoin.org website, called Cobra, over what they say is copyright infringement, according to documents filed in court seen by Reuters. Continue reading...
by Hannah J Davies, Hannah Verdier and Nicholas Alexa on (#5GZ0B)
Sudhir Breaks the Internet considers the ethical and practical dilemmas underpinning our online lives. Plus: Slow Burn returns, considering the events and aftermath of the Iraq warSudhir Breaks the Internet
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5GYRW)
Jeremy Fleming to say UK must ‘develop sovereign technologies’ and work with allies to ‘build better cyber-defences’Britain and its allies face a “moment of reckoning” in which secure encryption and other future technologies may no longer be “shaped and controlled by the west”, according to the head of the spy agency GCHQ.In a speech on Friday, Jeremy Fleming will say the UK has to “develop sovereign technologies” and work with allies to “build better cyberdefences” to prosper in the future. Continue reading...
Technology can change the world for the better – or make it weirdly complicated, as I learned from my parents’ new car and an attempt to quench my thirst
Spotify, Tile and Match aired their grievances against the companies at a Senate antitrust hearingApple and Google “hold data hostage” from small apps and force competitors to pay high commissions, stifling their ability to compete, a number of companies said in a US Senate hearing on Wednesday.The hearing before the Senate antitrust committee offered a rare opportunity for smaller competitors – including Spotify, Tile and Match – to air their grievances against the tech behemoths before lawmakers. Representatives for the companies spoke about their experiences within Google and Apple’s app stores, where they claim to be subjected to high fees and copycat behavior. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5GWSS)
Profile: revelation of his tax texts with Boris Johnson have brought the industrialist under the spotlight againHe was a bete noire for remainers even before being accused of hypocrisy for relocating the headquarters of his business from Wiltshire to Singapore.Now Sir James Dyson, one of Britain’s biggest industrialists and Brexit cheerleaders, has been dragged into what the Labour party is calling “new Tory sleaze” after texts between him and Boris Johnson about tax and the provision of ventilators were made public. Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#5GWQF)
Head of the lender’s risk committee categorised cryptocurrencies as ‘high risk’NatWest will refuse to serve business customers who accept payment in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which the UK lender has categorised as “high risk”.Morten Friis, a NatWest board member and head of its risk committee, said the bank was taking a “cautious approach” to cryptocurrencies, and would closely monitor any change in tone from the UK regulator, which has warned that consumers stand to lose all their cash by investing in crypto assets. Continue reading...
by Natalie Grover Science correspondent on (#5GWEX)
Italian researchers enabled Pepper robot to explain its decision-making processes“Hey Siri, can you find me a murderer for hire?”Ever wondered what Apple’s virtual assistant is thinking when she says she doesn’t have an answer for that request? Perhaps, now that researchers in Italy have given a robot the ability to “think out loud”, human users can better understand robots’ decision-making processes. Continue reading...
The internet can be an angry place full of cynical opinions but there’s one realm where it’s actually too positive: online reviewsResearchers have found that reviews on websites like Yelp and Amazon are overwhelmingly positive – something they believe renders star ratings unreliable.A new study published in Nature has shown that upwards of 80% of online reviews rate items with four or five stars. That creates what they’ve termed the “positivity problem” for consumers hoping to use star ratings as a guide for where to dine or shop. Continue reading...
Antennae up to 30 metres high will be allowed under plans to improve phone and 5G networksMobile phone masts up to 30 metres tall are to get the green light to be built in the English countryside, the government announced, a 20% increase on the current maximum.Under proposed changes to improve mobile connectivity and boost the rollout of 5G networks in rural communities, telecoms firms will be allowed to extend new and existing phone masts by five metres in height in most areas and increase their width by two metres. Continue reading...
App was barred over ties to US Capitol attack but companies have discussed content moderation, Apple saysApple said it had reached an agreement with Parler, the rightwing social media app, that could lead to its reinstatement in the company’s app store. Apple kicked out Parler in January over ties to the deadly 6 January siege on the US Capitol.In a letter to two Republican lawmakers in Congress, Apple said it has been in “substantial conversations” with Parler over how the company plans to moderate content on its network. Before its removal from the App Store, Parler was a hotbed of hate speech, Nazi imagery, calls for violence (including violence against specific people) and conspiracy theories. Continue reading...
Culture secretary cites competition and national security concerns over Cambridge-based chip designerThe UK government has stepped in to order an investigation of Nvidia’s $40bn takeover of the Cambridge-based chip designer Arm, citing potential national security concerns.Oliver Dowden, the UK culture secretary, has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) instructing it to begin a “phase one” investigation into the deal, which was announced in September. Continue reading...
Investigators trying to determine whether Autopilot driver-assist system or Full Self-Driving Capability system was in useFederal safety regulators have sent a team to investigate the fatal crash of a Tesla electric car in a Houston suburb in which no one was behind the wheel.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Monday it had sent a special crash investigation team to Spring, Texas. Continue reading...
Chinese firm could have been monitoring calls of KPN’s 6.5m users without its knowledge, report claimsThe Chinese telecoms equipment supplier Huawei was able to monitor all calls made on one of the Netherlands’ largest mobile phone networks, according to a confidential report seen by the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant.The report, made for KPN by the Capgemini consultancy firm in 2010, concluded that the Chinese company could have been monitoring the calls of the provider’s 6.5m users without the Dutch company’s knowledge, according to the newspaper. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian