by Amanda Meade in Sydney and agencies on (#5EBD3)
Trade group chairman says robust regulation is needed to rein in monopolistic tech firmsFacebook’s move to block all media content in Australia shows why countries need robust regulation to stop tech firms behaving like a “schoolyard bully”, the head of the UK’s news media trade group has said.Henry Faure Walker, the chair of the News Media Association, said Facebook’s ban during a pandemic was “a classic example of a monopoly power being the schoolyard bully, trying to protect its dominant position with scant regard for the citizens and customers it supposedly serves”. Continue reading...
Labels to be attached to posts directing users to Facebook’s Climate Science Information CenterFacebook has said it will start labelling misinformation about the climate crisis in a small trial limited to the UK.Labels will be attached to certain posts directing users to Facebook’s Climate Science Information Center, a repository of fact-checked claims about the environment. Continue reading...
Social media company’s ban on sharing news has also affected dozens of government, not-for-profit and community pagesThe Bureau of Meteorology, state health departments, the Western Australian opposition leader, charities and Facebook itself are among those to have been hit by Facebook’s ban on news in Australia.On Thursday morning Facebook began preventing Australian news sites from posting, while also stopping Australian users from sharing or viewing content from any news outlets, both Australian and international. Continue reading...
The announcement is in response to Australia’s proposed Media Bargaining law, which would force the company to pay publishers for contentFacebook announced on Wednesday that it would restrict publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content.The move comes in response to Australia’s proposed Media Bargaining law, which would force Facebook and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to pay publishers for content, Facebook said in a blog post on Wednesday. Continue reading...
News Corp will receive ‘significant payments’ to feature news outlets in Google’s News ShowcaseGoogle and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have signed a multi-year partnership that will lead to the search engine paying for journalism from news sites around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, the Times and the Australian.The deal, which involves News Corp receiving “significant payments” to feature the company’s news outlets in Google’s News Showcase product, will last for three years, and comes with a number of other investments from Google, including “meaningful investments in video journalism” and the development of a subscription platform. Continue reading...
Two of the three creators of Why Are You Like This chose the links for this column (they told Mark Samual Bonanno he had to sit out)The last time two women did this list, they split it into two halves and said while they are both girls, they are not the same. Well, Naomi Higgins and Humyara Mahbub are both girls and we’re exactly the same. We refuse to be separated from the comforting monolith of girlhood. If you like these videos, you’re a girl too. Welcome. Mark Samual Bonanno, pictured above, is a boy and has been silenced for this article.The three of us recently created and wrote a sitcom called Why Are You Like This and the whole thing is up on ABC iView right now (and coming to Netflix for the rest of the world soon). Continue reading...
The growth and spread of misinformation poses a fundamental threat to Australian society, experts say. The government’s cautious approach to countering it won’t workAustralia: fertile ground for misinformation and QAnonWhen Michael Marom steers his Telstra-branded company car past the site of a planned 5G tower on the streets of Mullumbimby, it draws a now predictable response.Someone is watching, always, and news of his presence quickly ripples through the faithful. Continue reading...
Labor says the payments are ‘offensive’ given the cost of the NBN has blown out by $6bn and there’s been a nationwide recessionThe government-owned company responsible for building and operating the National Broadband Network paid its staff and executives $77m in bonuses between July and December last year, new documents reveal.New data released to the Senate in response to questions on notice from a Senate estimates committee reveal NBN Co paid $4.3m in bonuses to executives including the CEO, and paid employees $73.2m in bonuses between July and December 2020. Continue reading...
Need your hair cut? Cake served? No problem! Lockdown has led millions to discover the work of Joseph Herscher and friends, whose absurdly complicated ‘labour-saving’ machines reveal the potential for magic in the everyday“It’s one thing to maim myself,” says Joseph Herscher. “But maiming someone else? I’m not sure I could live with that. At least I’d have it on tape, but it’d still suck to be killed by one of my machines.”Herscher, 36, is a chain reaction artist who works out of his bedroom in a Brooklyn flatshare. He builds elaborate contraptions using everyday items in the style of Rube Goldberg, the madcap American cartoonist and inventor. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency value up 75% since start of year spurred by prominent business peopleBitcoin soared through the key $50,000 level on Tuesday for the first time as the growing acceptance of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency among large banks and investment funds continued to draw in mainstream investors.After a meteoric rise in which its value increased by 75% since the start of the year, the currency hit $50,547.70 (£36,320) per coin in European trading at around 12.35 GMT. Continue reading...
Purchase by Shpock owner Adevinta could lead to less choice for consumers, says watchdogA $9.2bn (£6.5bn) deal to create the world’s largest classified ads business could reduce consumer choice and increase the fees people are charged for advertising goods online, Britain’s competition watchdog has warned.Shpock operator Adevinta’s proposed purchase of Gumtree from eBay would combine websites that allow people to buy and sell used or new items such as clothes, electronics and furniture. The eBay marketplace is the largest such platform in the UK. Continue reading...
Controversy over former president’s ban has prompted letters from activists and record 9,000 commentsFacebook is expected to announce imminently whether it will allow Donald Trump to return to the platform after banning him more than a month ago.The decision will be the most consequential yet made by Facebook’s Oversight Board, a group of 20 members who range from humanitarian activists and religious experts to lawyers and a former prime minister. The board, which launched in late 2020, is meant to function as an independent arm of the social platform, making binding decisions on a selection of its thorniest content moderation issues. Continue reading...
Despite protestations from both companies, the Australian parliament is set to pass legislation it says is needed to boost public interest journalismThe Australian parliament is poised to pass a landmark media law that would make Google and Facebook pay news publishers for displaying their content.The Australian law is separate to a deal Facebook made to pay mainstream UK news outlets millions of pounds a year to license their articles, but has a similar motivation. Continue reading...
App was cut off by major service providers amid accusations that it failed to police violent content related to the deadly attackParler, a social media service popular with American rightwing users that virtually vanished after the US Capitol riot, re-launched on Monday and said its new platform was built on “sustainable, independent technology”.In a statement announcing the relaunch, Parler also said it had appointed Mark Meckler as its interim chief executive, replacing John Matze, who was fired by the board this month. Continue reading...
From old-school publishing models to a collective of indie game makers, funding has never been more important for an industry in perpetual fluxBrenda Romero, the designer behind Prohibition-era strategy game Empire of Sin, remembers the meeting as if it were yesterday. Facing publisher bigwigs in a Cologne conference room, the veteran game maker presented what she had been writing for the past five years, and dreaming of for 20. “It was the most nerve-racking pitch of my life,” she says. “I’m comfortable with public speaking but to be on a stage with an audience of two, where you’re trying to get somebody to fund an idea for two-and-a-half to three years, that’s a big ask.”For all the shifting dynamics of the video game industry over the past decade – most notably the proliferation of indie games, sometimes made without any funding at all – this is still the most likely way a video game will get made. In a world before Covid-19, hopeful game makers and executives would jet off to conferences such as Gamescom, E3, or the Game Developers Conference to thrash out deals in backroom meetings while the public enjoyed the show. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5E6CF)
Anker’s true wireless earbuds sound good and fit well for about half the price of AirPods ProThe Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro by the longstanding charging brand Anker look to offer good sound, long battery life and noise-cancelling at almost half the price of Apple’s AirPods Pro – and largely achieves the goal.The new true wireless earbuds cost £130, undercutting big-name competitors from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Jabra and Bose, with a design that doesn’t reinvent the wheel: a stalk, fairly small earbud and a silicone tip. Continue reading...
After putting $100m into Covid research, the billionaire is taking on the climate crisis. And first he has some bones to pick with his fellow campaigners...
The exclusive invitation-only social networking app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...
My brother-in-law Don Hunter, who has died aged 93, was a physicist who worked on some of the first electronic computers in the Rutherford Laboratory at Cambridge University and later helped set up one of the first major computer software companies in the UK.Don worked as a research assistant in the maths department of the Rutherford Laboratory from 1949 until 1952. There he was involved in pioneering work on the electronic delay storage automatic calculator (Edsac 1) computer. In 1955 he took up a research post at the Standard Telecommunication Laboratories (STL) in Harlow, Essex, where he was part of the design team for a computer called Step 1. Continue reading...
Facebook says collecting user data across the internet makes for ‘better experiences’. Apple – and privacy groups – are pushing backFacebook is taking lessons from its debacle over WhatsApp privacy changes in a bid to prevent millions of its users opting out of allowing the company to track their interests across the internet.WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, was forced to delay an update to its privacy policy last month when an in-app notification informed users that some data from the communications app would be shared with Facebook. It raised concerns about the privacy of chat messages and profile data, and led users to shift in droves to other encrypted messaging apps such as Signal. Continue reading...
The pandemic has shown that other ways of teaching and learning are possibleThe thing about pandemics, observed the historian Yuval Noah Harari, is that they tend to accelerate history. A couple of years ago, appalled by the environmental, financial and working-time costs of running research conferences, I wondered aloud how long it would take for many of these events to be conducted online – and gloomily predicted that it would take another decade. And then in early 2020 along comes the coronavirus and – bang! – suddenly everything is on Zoom. Even, as every sentient being on the planet must know by now, meetings of the planning and environment committee of Handforth parish council. What’s come to mind a lot in watching these transformations is Ernest Hemingway’s celebrated explanation of how people go bankrupt: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”Way back in 1995, the Columbia University scholar Eli Noam published a remarkable article in the prestigious journal Science. Its title – Electronics and the Dim Future of the University – should have given the game away. Noam was writing about the likely impact of the internet on higher education. The new communications technology, he said, would indeed link the information resources of the globe. But while new technologies were likely to strengthen research, “they will also weaken the traditional major institutions of learning, the universities. Instead of prospering with the new tools, many of the traditional functions of universities will be superseded, their financial base eroded, their technology replaced and their role in intellectual inquiry reduced. This is not a cheerful scenario for higher education.” Continue reading...
Bo Harris says he was not only looking for an organ donation, he wanted to put a face to his largely invisible kidney diseaseBo Harris was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 2015. In the five years since, he has gone to countless doctor appointments, spent weeks in bed with symptoms of the illness such as severe fatigue and body aches, and even battled and beat lung cancer. But the most difficult part of the journey by far, he says, was pushing the publish button on his first Instagram post searching for a life-saving kidney donation.“It’s very out of my nature to have to ask people for anything, and for this, you have to essentially ask, ‘Can you donate an organ so I can continue living?’” he said. “It’s unimaginably difficult.” Continue reading...
My father-in-law, Wolfgang Marc Schatzberger, who has died aged 94, was evacuated as a child from Austria to the UK through the Kindertransport programme, which rescued thousands of children from across Europe as the second world war approached.He was born in Vienna into an assimilated middle-class Polish/Jewish family. Following the Anschluss in March 1938 and Kristallnacht that October, his parents hurriedly secured for him a place on a train to London Liverpool Street: by May 1939 they were waving him goodbye with a white handkerchief (an old family tradition), as he departed the Westbahnhof in Vienna. Continue reading...
Younger generation mock the style popular since 2000s, saying it has had its day and is not flatteringA generation war has been playing out on TikTok for some time, though anyone older than 24 might be oblivious to the millions of “millennial v Gen Z” videos that have appeared on the social media site in the past year. But now the kids have turned their sights on something that millennials apparently hold close to their hearts: skinny jeans.In scenes reminiscent of the “OK boomer” meme that divided the generations in 2019, the videos have shone a light on how Generation Z – broadly defined as anyone born between the mid-90s and 2010 – identify themselves in contrast with the generation that came before them. Continue reading...
The exclusive invitation-only social networking app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...
by Hannah Verdier, Hannah J Davies and Danielle Steph on (#5E39J)
Jim Moir and Jools Holland talk memorable trips with celebrity guests on their Joyride podcast. Plus: seeing the world differently in SidewaysJools and Jim’s Joyride
The exclusive invitation-only social networking app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...
Moves comes as platforms attempt to crack down on misinformation and conspiracy theories about Covid vaccinesThe prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr has been booted from Instagram for repeatedly sharing false claims about Covid-19 and the safety of vaccines. Continue reading...
Libya, Palestine and Syria near top in online searches for bitcoin and other digital forms of money, analysis findsPeople in the world’s major conflict zones are turning to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as soaring values and the backing of super-rich investors make them more attractive.Online searches for bitcoin, ethereum and dogecoin have increased in Libya, Syria and Palestine, pushing aside the usual focus of interest in stock markets and safe-haven investments in gold and property. Continue reading...
Since Spotlight’s launch, the app has been giving ordinary users a share of $1m daily for popular contentPet influencers are nothing new on social media. From Marnie the shih tzu (RIP) to Grumpy Cat (also RIP), there’s a long history of animals becoming famous on the internet – and their owners making a quick buck off them in turn.But Crusha, a nine-year-old black-and-white moggy from Norfolk, is not a typical social media star. For one thing, she’s only featured in one video, and it’s not exactly glamorous: a misstep as she scampers across a conservatory roof leaves her slowly sliding down plastic sheeting before she catches herself just at the last minute and scurries back up with an indignant mew. Continue reading...
Listing is result of firm’s takeover by British music tech startup MelodyVRNapster is to make its debut on the London stock market later this month, marking the first time the music streaming pioneer has had its own public listing in a chequered 22-year history.Napster, which will start trading on the Alternative Investment Market from 26 February, is listing in London as a result of the company’s $70m (£53m) reverse takeover by a British music tech startup last summer. Continue reading...
They’re not quite as good as new but the phones are cheaper, more sustainable and now available at the supermarket in AustraliaBuying new smartphones gets worse for the wallet every year. Back in 2008, the first generation iPhone cost about $700. The tenth generation started at $1,549. Today, the top-shelf iPhone 12 Pro Max with more than 500gb of storage is an uncomfortable $2,369 – about a third more than the cheapest Apple laptop.On top of that, e-waste is the world’s fastest-growing solid-waste stream, increasing at a rate three times faster than general waste in Australia. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5DX2A)
Improved performance and battery life let down by weak vibrations, app and sustainability nigglesGoogle’s TicWatch Pro 3 is the first Wear OS watch to use a newer, faster chip designed to breathe new life into the stagnant smartwatch line – but doesn’t do enough to manage the uphill task.Made by the Chinese tech firm Mobvoi, the new watch costs £289.99 and competes directly with Fossil’s Gen 5, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy watches on Android. It’s a big watch that manages to avoid being chunky, looking fairly nondescript with a black plastic body and silicone strap. It is quite light but designed for fairly large wrists – I had the strap pulled to its second-tightest position. Continue reading...
Gen Sir Patrick Sanders says rivals are using cyberspace to fuel conspiracy theories and sow divisionBritain’s enemies are attempting to use social media to tear the “fabric of society apart”, one of the country’s top generals has warned.In a candid interview about cyberwarfare, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders said the threat was not like that seen in films where power plants are targeted. Continue reading...
After investors caused havoc on the markets last week in a battle over the shares of a video-game chain, we explore the promise and pitfalls of the apps they usedA year ago shares in struggling US video game store GameStop were worth just $3.25 a pop, yet at the end of last month they had reached $482. This stupendous surge was created by thousands of armchair traders, organising themselves on internet forums such as Reddit, who were attempting to outwit hedge funds who had placed massive bets on the chain’s decline in a process known as short-selling.This has resulted in billion-dollar losses for some hedge funds, and big profits for traders who cashed out before the stock fell back to less than $100. Many of these speculators were using a new generation of share-trading apps, such as eToro, Robinhood and Trading 212. Have these services tipped the scales of financial power in favour of the little guy? Here we answer some key questions … Continue reading...
Technological advances mean taking humans to play among the stars is just one of the aims of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and a host of eager investorsLater this year Jeff Bezos, the first person to have led a business from nothing to a trillion-dollar valuation, will step down from his job as head of Amazon. But as you’d expect from a tech multibillionaire, his eyes are on a potentially bigger prize: outer space. Bezos will be dedicating more time to a space race between entrepreneur rivals that hopes to push the frontiers of society – and commerce – beyond planet Earth.Having completed its 14th mission last month – successfully carrying a dummy, “Mannequin Skywalker”, into space – Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, believes relatively cheap travel for humans is not far off. That would finally deliver a return on the $1bn (£730m) of Amazon stock Bezos has to sell annually to fund it. Blue Origin was one of four projects flagged by the Amazon boss as likely recipients of his attention now, alongside the Washington Post newspaper, his Day One charitable fund and the environmental Earth Fund. Continue reading...
Experts say pandemic could provide watershed moment for technology, potentially leading to more sustainable tourismWith globe-trotting banned in the pandemic, increasing numbers of people are turning to virtual reality to relieve pent-up demand for travel.Escapism from the sofa through a growing range of VR travel experiences is whetting appetites for post-pandemic holidays and could be a watershed moment for the technology in tourism, say analysts. Continue reading...
The Covid crisis has turbo-charged profits and share prices. But are the big six now too powerful for regulators to ignore?The coronavirus pandemic has wrought economic disruption on a global scale, but one sector has marched on throughout the chaos: big tech.Further evidence of the industry’s relentless progress has come in recent weeks with the news that Apple and Amazon both raked in sales of $100bn (£72bn) over the past three months – 25% more than Tesco brings in over a full year. Continue reading...
National Labor Relations Board denies Amazon bid to delay election and says vote can be conducted by mailAmazon warehouse workers in Alabama will be allowed to conduct a union election by mail, the US’s top labor relations agency said on Friday, in a major blow to the online retail giant’s intense anti-union efforts.Related: ‘A managerial Mephistopheles’: inside the mind of Jeff Bezos Continue reading...
There is a chance that if you’re on Twitter you are not pure evil, but the way people speak to each other on it is unacceptableI decided to quit Twitter last month. I haven’t been engaging properly with it for a while, only tweeting to point out a podcast or a show I was doing. But still, I’d had enough and tweeted to say as much (yes, I did a leaving tweet, which I admit is a little embarrassing).I was tired of the incessant comments about me getting work only because of diversity quotas and political correctness, from people who ignore the fact I couldn’t care less whether it’s talent or initiatives that get me the work: I’m still taking the money. Continue reading...
by Hannah J Davies, Hannah Verdier and Nicholas Alexa on (#5DSDY)
Jacob Hawley hosts On Love, a follow-up to his series On Drugs. Plus: politics meets rock music, and Reply All investigate the unrest at food website Bon AppétitJacob Hawley On Love
Exclusive app is a hybrid of conference calls, talkback radio and HousepartyPart talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian