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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/12/new-ransomware-victims-popcorn-time-malware

A new ransomware variant has been discovered using an innovative system to increase infections: the software turns victims into attackers by offering a pyramid scheme-style discount. Any user who finds themselves infected with the Popcorn Time malware (named after, but unrelated to, the bittorrent client) is offered the ability to unlock their files for a cash payment, usually one bitcoin ($772.67/£613.20). But they also have a second option, described by the developers as “the nasty way”: passing on a link to the malware. “If two or more people install this file and pay, we will decrypt your files for free”. The affiliate marketing scheme was discovered by security researchers MalwareHunterTeam. For now, it’s only in development, but if the software gets a full release, its innovative distribution method could lead to it rapidly becoming one of the more widespread variants of this type of malware. Like most ransomware, Popcorn Time, encrypts the key files on the hard drive of infected users, and promises the decryption key only to those users who pay up (or infect others). But the code also indicates a second twist: the ransomware may delete the encryption key entirely if the wrong code is entered four times. The in-development software doesn’t actually contain the code to delete the files, but it contains references to where that code would be added. Advice varies as to what users who are infected with ransomware should do. Most law enforcement organisations recommend against paying the ransoms, noting that it funds further criminal activities, and that there is no guarantee the files will be recovered anyway (some malware attempts to look like ransomware, but simply deletes the files outright). Many security researchers recommend similarly, but some argue that it should not be on the individual victim to sacrifice their own files for the sake of fighting crime at large. Some ransomware has even been “cracked”, thanks to the coders making a variety of mistakes in how they encrypt the hard drive. Petya and Telecrypt are two types of malware that have been so defeated. How can I remove a ransomware infection?

technology/2016/dec/12/new-ransomware-victims-popcorn-time-malware

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2016-12-12T11:55:39Z

New 'nasty' ransomware encourages victims to attack other computers

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/12/new-ransomware-victims-popcorn-time-malware

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/12/share-your-best-raspberry-pi-or-arduino-projects

More than 10m Raspberry Pi units have sold since 2012 – and many of them, we know, have landed in the hands of our ever-inventive readers. When the Raspberry Pi Zero launched in 2015 we asked you to share the projects you’d been working on, but the past year has seen further development of the technology and exploration of its capacity – so, we’re asking again. After we published the results – including audiovisual and entertainment projects, educational tools and even festive ideas – many of you wanted to highlight similar or alternative home project-enabling technology: So we’re happy to say we’re also looking for anything you’ve been making with open source electronics platform Arduino – or anything else you’d like to tell us about. Whether you have pieced a Pi or Arduino-based system together from scratch as a fun joint project with the kids, or breathed life into some older tech you had lying around, contribute your stories and photographs and we’ll gather together some of your success stories – or even tales of woe. You can share your pictures and stories by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ button on this article. You can also use the Guardian app and search for ‘GuardianWitness assignments’ – add it to the homepage to keep up with all our assignments. GuardianWitness is the home of readers’ content on the Guardian. Contribute your video, pictures and stories, and browse news, reviews and creations submitted by others.

technology/2016/dec/12/share-your-best-raspberry-pi-or-arduino-projects

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2016-12-12T11:33:26Z

Share your best Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/12/share-your-best-raspberry-pi-or-arduino-projects

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/12/facebook-2016-problems-fake-news-censorship

Mark Zuckerberg started 2016 with a cookie cutter message of hope. “As the world faces new challenges and opportunities, may we all find the courage to keep making progress and making all our days count,” he wrote on his Facebook wall on 1 January. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, had just had their daughter, Max, and had been sharing warm and fuzzy photos of gingerbread houses and their dreadlocked dog Beast over the holiday season. Then 2016 happened. As the year unfurled, Facebook had to deal with a string of controversies and blunders, not limited to: being accused of imperialism in India, censorship of historical photos, and livestreaming footage of human rights violations. Not to mention misreported advertising metrics and the increasingly desperate cloning of rival Snapchat’s core features. Things came to a head in November, when the social network was accused of influencing the US presidential election through politically polarized filter bubbles and a failure to tackle the spread of misinformation. The icing on the already unpalatable cake was Pope Francis last week declaring that fake news is a sin. This was Facebook’s annus horribilis. Mark Zuckerberg must long for the day when his biggest dilemma was deciding which grey T-shirt to wear on his first day back at work. It wasn’t all bad. None of these controversies made a dent on the bottom line; Facebook had a bumper year for advertising revenue, and the $3bn investment to tackle “all diseases” (no big deal) through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was well received. But this year has revealed how difficult it has become for the social network to stand behind its mission to “make the world more open and connected” when the decisions it makes can be so divisive. Unprecedented power Thanks to its 1.79bn users and how much it knows about them, Facebook rakes in billions in advertising. In the first three quarters of this year, the company made almost $6bn in profit – a big jump from a mere $3.69bn in 2015. “They have perfected advertising in a way that makes it extremely enticing. It’s so easy to place an ad and get immediate results,” said media expert Gordon Borrell, whose analysis suggests that Facebook has taken $1bn away from print publications in the past year. For every new dollar spent by brands online, a whopping 85 cents goes to Facebook and Google at a time when traditional publishers are facing layoffs. Some believe Facebook has become too big to be regulated effectively. “We don’t have the right regulatory paradigm for these globe-striding technology giants,” said Carl Miller, research director at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the thinktank Demos. “We treat them like neutral utility companies but they are value-maximising commercial entities.” Facebook is a monopoly with too much power, argues author and activist Robert McChesney. “When you get companies this big they are not just a threat to democracy, but they are also a threat to capitalism. They suck investment capital and profits away from smaller businesses and screw over the competitive sector.” He has an extreme solution: if Facebook can’t be regulated effectively, it should be nationalised to ensure it acts in the interest of the public. McChesney scoffs at the suggestion that Facebook is acting democratically by serving its many users. “That’s self-serving garbage,” he said. Does it not make a difference that Mark Zuckerberg is a principled CEO with good intentions? Not according to McChesney: “I am sure the people who produced napalm thought they were doing a good service to protect the free world.” Digital colonialism One of 2016’s earliest missteps was Facebook’s mishandling of Free Basics. The company pitched Free Basics as a way to give internet access, and all the wonderful benefits it can unlock, to the world’s poorest people. The catch: it wasn’t real internet access, but a selection of apps and services curated by – and always including – Facebook. In February, the Indian government rejected Free Basics over its violation of the tenets of net neutrality following a public debate in which Facebook was accused of digital colonialism. It was an expensive and embarrassing blow for the social network and indicative that not everyone finds its brand of Silicon Valley techno-utopianism palatable. To compound the issue, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen reacted on Twitter with the tone-deaf and contemptuous line: “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?” Nitin Pai, director of the Takshashila Institution, an Indian thinktank, and a critic of Free Basics, said: “Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg must take a long, hard look at what are the values it wants to strengthen or weaken in this world ... Unlike other multinational firms that merely sell goods and services to people across the globe, Facebook enables connections among them. It cannot take the usual, and usually untenable, ‘we are apolitical’ route to international business.” Indeed, so political are Facebook’s global expansion plans that they are said to be working on a “censorship” tool that would allow them to operate in China once again. Censorship and accountability Censorship has been a running theme on Facebook in 2016. Despite insisting it is not a media company and is not in the business of making editorial judgments, Facebook, it seems, is all too happy to censor content when that content violates its own policies or at the request of police. This has led to a number of high-profile blunders in 2016, including the removal in September of the iconic Vietnam war photograph “napalm girl” from a Norwegian journalist’s post and the deletion of a breast cancer awareness video in October. In both cases, human moderators made bad judgment calls that the algorithm then enforced across the site – to widespread criticism. In August, Facebook deactivated Korryn Gaines’ profile during an armed standoff with police at the request of the Baltimore County police department. Gaines, who was later killed by police, had been posting to the social network after barricading herself inside her apartment and aiming a shotgun at police. The incident highlighted the existence of an emergency request system that police can use to get Facebook to take content down without a court order if they think someone is at risk of harm or death. Elsewhere, Facebook suspended live footage from the Dakota Access pipeline protests and disabled Palestinian journalists’ accounts; there were also reports it had removed Black Lives Matter activists’ content. The lack of transparency over this process led to a coalition of more than 70 human and civil rights groups demanding that Facebook be more transparent about its takedown processes and arguing that censorship of user content depicting police brutality at the request of authorities “sets a dangerous precedent that further silences marginalized communities”. Reem Suleiman of the not-for-profit organisation SumOfUs added: “There’s a lot of doublespeak. Zuckerberg talks about being a human rights defender and champion of civil liberties protection. He hung a Black Lives Matter banner outside of Facebook. These are ideals that the company is claiming to promote, so it’s totally fair to hold them to account.” Suleiman fears that under Trump’s administration, surveillance and silencing of minorities, particularly Muslims and undocumented immigrants, could become more commonplace. “Facebook has an ethical duty to protect its users,” she said. Effect on the election None of 2016’s controversies have rattled Facebook as much as the criticism that its failure to clamp down on fake news combined with the way its algorithm places users in polarized filter bubbles shaped the outcome of the presidential election. “It’s crazy that Zuckerberg says there’s no way Facebook can influence the election when there’s a whole sales force in Washington DC that does nothing but convince advertisers that they can,” said author Antonio García Martínez, who used to work in Facebook’s advertising sales department. “We used to joke that we could sell the whole election to the highest bidder.” In the runup to the election, misinformation and fake news – such as articles suggesting Hillary Clinton was a murderer or that the pope endorsed Trump – proliferated on social media so feverishly that even Barack Obama said it undermined the political process. Macedonian teenagers built a cottage industry of pro-Trump fake news sites, motivated by the advertising dollars they could accrue if their stories went viral. Widespread outrage over the issue led to an internal mutiny and an uncharacteristic climb-down from Zuckerberg. Having initially denied any responsibility, he wrote an apologetic post outlining ways the platform would tackle the problem, including building tools to detect and classify misinformation. This, combined with the cases of censorship, points to the inevitability of Facebook accepting it is a media company and not just a neutral technology platform. “Mark Zuckerberg is now the front-page editor for every news reader in the world. It’s a responsibility he’s not choosing to accept,” Martínez said. Claire Wardle, from First Draft News, thinks that is changing. “They may not have said it yet, but 2016 is the year Facebook recognized they are a publisher.” The company is simply reluctant to admit it because “it’s a nightmare”. “We’ve never had a global newspaper in 192 countries, with all these different legal and cultural contexts and languages,” she said. She points out that Facebook has been very diligent at policing the platform for sexual content and bullying, but now has to do the same for misinformation with a combination of expert human judgment and software. It’s not going to be easy and marks a huge cultural shift for Facebook. “Algorithms aren’t yet smart enough to make these decisions. Facebook needs to be honest about that,” she said. Harvard Business School professor Ben Edelman added: “They need to grow up ... There are duties that come with their size and revenue. Facebook spends more on beer and ping-pong tables than on professionals to vet the quality of the material they show to users.” Problems to come As we draw towards the end of 2016, Facebook faces a number of looming challenges, including the fact – admitted in earnings calls this year – that the core site has reached saturation point for advertising. “They’ve squeezed the newsfeed lemon as far as it will go,” Martínez said. This means it will need to find other ways to make money, presumably through the other companies it owns, including WhatsApp and Instagram, or through virtual reality – if it is to continue growing at the same pace. On the horizon is also the threat of Snapchat – a rival that has continually taunted Zuckerberg because of its overwhelming popularity with tastemakers in their teens and 20s. He tried, and failed, to buy it for $3bn in 2013, and since then Facebook has obsessively copied its younger, cooler competitor. The company will also have a public relations battle on its hand when the movie The Circle, starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, launches in 2017. The film, based on David Eggers’ book, is a cautionary tale about an omniscient, privacy-violating Silicon Valley technology company that has subsumed Facebook, Google and Twitter. The dark and dystopian future it portrays is likely to create mainstream discussion about the ethics and intentions of these companies. Zuckerberg can draw some comfort from the fact that this intense scrutiny is likely to pass. “Facebook is a relatively young company and will experience similar growing pains any maturing company faces as it navigates the teenage years,” said Forrester analyst Jessica Liu. Wardle agrees. “Facebook is where Google was five years ago, and in five years’ time we’ll be having this conversation about Snapchat.”

technology/2016/dec/12/facebook-2016-problems-fake-news-censorship

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2016-12-12T11:00:10Z

2016: the year Facebook became the bad guy

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/12/facebook-2016-problems-fake-news-censorship

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'towards', 'end', 'facebook', 'faces', 'number', 'looming', 'challenges', 'including', 'fact', 'admitted', 'earnings', 'calls', 'year', 'core', 'site', 'reached', 'saturation', 'point', 'advertising', 'squeezed', 'newsfeed', 'lemon', 'far', 'go', 'martinez', 'said', 'means', 'need', 'find', 'ways', 'make', 'money', 'presumably', 'companies', 'owns', 'including', 'whatsapp', 'instagram', 'virtual', 'reality', 'continue', 'growing', 'pace', 'horizon', 'also', 'threat', 'snapchat', 'rival', 'continually', 'taunted', 'zuckerberg', 'overwhelming', 'popularity', 'tastemakers', 'teens', '20s', 'tried', 'failed', 'buy', '3bn', 'since', 'facebook', 'obsessively', 'copied', 'younger', 'cooler', 'competitor', 'company', 'also', 'public', 'relations', 'battle', 'hand', 'movie', 'circle', 'starring', 'tom', 'hanks', 'emma', 'watson', 'launches', 'film', 'based', 'david', 'eggers', 'book', 'cautionary', 'tale', 'omniscient', 'privacy-violating', 'silicon', 'valley', 'technology', 'company', 'subsumed', 'facebook', 'google', 'twitter', 'dark', 'dystopian', 'future', 'portrays', 'likely', 'create', 'mainstream', 'discussion', 'ethics', 'intentions', 'companies', 'zuckerberg', 'draw', 'comfort', 'fact', 'intense', 'scrutiny', 'likely', 'pass', 'facebook', 'relatively', 'young', 'company', 'experience', 'similar', 'growing', 'pains', 'maturing', 'company', 'faces', 'navigates', 'teenage', 'years', 'said', 'forrester', 'analyst', 'jessica', 'liu', 'wardle', 'agrees', 'facebook', 'google', 'five', 'years', 'ago', 'five', 'years', 'time', 'conversation', 'snapchat']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/12/twitter-u-turn-banning-white-nationalist-richard-b-spencer-alt-right

Twitter has reinstated the account of Richard B Spencer, a self-styled white nationalist leader who was suspended from the service in the wake of a much publicised crackdown on hateful conduct. Spencer’s account was initially suspended on 15 November, as part of a sweeping move against leaders of the “alt-right”, a far-right movement which has been resurgent in America since the election of Donald Trump. That same day, Twitter had announced new safety tools on its social network, including the ability to more easily report hateful conduct. It had also announced changes in how it trained its moderators to enforce the policies. The suspension of Spencer, along with the accounts of the white-nationalist National Policy Institute which he heads up and its journal, Radix, was widely seen as a consequence of Twitter putting those new rules in action. Now, however, it appears that Twitter suspended Spencer for other reasons. Twitter sent the Guardian a copy of the email the company sent to the white nationalist activist, which suggests that Spencer was banned instead for running multiple accounts with too much overlap. A Twitter spokesperson said: “Our rules explicitly prohibit creating multiple accounts with overlapping uses. When we temporarily suspend multiple accounts for this violation, the account owner can designate one account for reinstatement.” The email Twitter sent Spencer reads: As referenced in our November 18, 2016 communication, creating serial and/or multiple accounts with overlapping use is a violation of the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules). Please select one account for restoration; the others will remain suspended. This account will need to comply fully with the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules). Please reply to this email with the username of the account you would like reinstated and we will make sure to answer your request in a timely manner. In the weeks following his suspension, Spencer hosted a conference in Washington DC, where audience members gave enthusiastic Nazi salutes (Spencer later said they had been “done in exuberance and fun”). But on 11 December, his Twitter account was reactivated, and its verified status was reinstated. Verification is a special account status the social network gives to notable users to confirm they are who they say they are, but Twitter emphasises that “a verified badge does not imply an endorsement by Twitter”. As one of his first tweets after being reinstated, Spencer said: “I worked on getting my personal reinstated first. Next will be Radix, NPI, _AltRight_ and WSP.” But the Guardian understands that those accounts, as some of the “multiple, overlapping accounts” for which Spencer was suspended, are unlikely to be reinstated. When it banned Spencer for the first time, the company declined to comment directly on the suspended accounts, but said “the Twitter Rules prohibit violent threats, harassment, hateful conduct and multiple account abuse, and we will take action on accounts violating those policies.” What Gamergate should have taught us about the ‘alt-right’

technology/2016/dec/12/twitter-u-turn-banning-white-nationalist-richard-b-spencer-alt-right

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technology

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2016-12-12T09:43:26Z

Twitter U-turns over banning white nationalist

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/12/twitter-u-turn-banning-white-nationalist-richard-b-spencer-alt-right

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/12/apple-macbook-pro-review-the-best-computer-you-shouldnt-buy

Apple’s latest laptop, the new 13in MacBook Pro, is a much anticipated re-design of the company’s notebook range and represents a brave new USB-C-only future. But is it worth sacrificing ports and spending the best part of £2,000 to use? The last update to the MacBook Pro that was more than simply a spec-bump was in 2012 with the addition of a high-resolution “Retina” screen. Four years on, powerful notebooks with high-resolution screens that can last all day on a single charge are commonplace in the premium market. The competition has never been more fierce. Thinner, lighter and now in dark grey The new MacBook Pro is thinner and lighter than the old one – like almost every tech product every year. It’s also smaller in almost every meaningful way. Even the screen is thinner, and the light-up Apple logo on the lid is no more. The trackpad has grown considerably, taking up a sizeable proportion of the laptop’s wrist rest In fact it’s so big you will have a tough time not touching it with the heels of your hands when you type, but thankfully Apple’s touch rejection works as advertised. It’s also 3D Touch or Force Touch, whatever you want to call pressure-sensitive, enabled. It means it doesn’t move. I don’t miss the motion, the Taptic Engine underneath is great. The only thing I routinely use a harder click for, though, is to look up words in the dictionary, although a three-finger tap does that too. The screen is beautiful. Vibrant, crisp, clear and bright: it’s everything you would expect from a £1,749 computer and is a big part of what makes it good to use. The 13in MacBook Pro is about as beautiful as a regular laptop can be. Touch Bar The biggest visible change is just above the keyboard. The fabled Touch Bar, which replaces the standard function key row with an OLED, touch-sensitive screen. The idea is that it gives you dynamic buttons and sliders to control various aspects of your computing workflow dependent on which app you have open. By default and without any apps in focus, the Touch Bar displays an escape key and a row of four icons on the right with an arrow expander to show more of the traditional quick settings keys. It’s reminiscent of the Windows task bar. Holding the Fn key will show the traditional function keys, but can also be set to expand the control keys. Alternatively they can be left expanded like a traditional control row all the time, but that limits what else can be displayed on it. When using a particular program, it’s up to that program which functions are placed on the Touch Bar. Most provide formatting tools such as bold, italics, underline, justify and list tools. There’s the emoji button that does what you may expect in text boxes, plus there’s the same auto-complete suggestions you might get on an iPhone, although stopping typing to tap on them is most definitely slower for anyone who types at a reasonable speed. Almost all of Apple’s apps have Touch Bar support, and most buttons and functions can be customised. I liked having the send mail button in Mac Mail on the very left, plus a trash rather than archive button. Third-party imaging program Pixelmator is a great example of what can be done with the bar: you can select various tools straight from it, then change the size of them and other aspects. With a bit of practice you can do most things with one hand on the Touch Bar and one on the trackpad. Those who use the function or control keys a lot will find the Touch Bar slows them down a bit, myself included. Those who touch type will find it more difficult to use as it’s slower to look down at the keyboard and hit a button rather than just bash out a keyboard shortcut. But for those buttons that you would normally mouse over to – in my case the send email button – having it just above the keyboard is faster and more convenient, although not as convenient as a touchscreen. Touch ID The power button on the end of the Touch Bar is a Touch ID fingerprint scanner. I found it a bit of a mixed bag. When it works it works just as well as it does on an iPhone 6S, though not as well as on the 7. The problem is that I found it a bit inconsistent. Not knowing when and where you can and can’t use it means its usually faster just to type a password. Changing a setting, for instance, I normally had to enter my password, but sometimes I could use my fingerprint. When firing up the computer from cold I had to enter my password, but if resuming from standby I could use my fingerprint, unless the battery got too low, or I left it for too long, then it needs my password. You can buy apps with it, and other bits and pieces. Apple Pay works like it does on an iPad, but only in Safari. You can also only register three fingerprints, which seems like a step backwards from the five you can register on an iPhone. Fingerprint scanners on a smartphone were such a massive leap forward for usability, I presumed the same would be for laptops, but it wasn’t the case. I certainly don’t lock and unlock a laptop as much as a phone, so maybe my expectations were too high. The keyboard A lot has been said of Apple’s practically-no-travel keyboards. What you make of them will depend on your typing style. I write a lot, and I type quite lightly. I found there was enough feedback for accurate and fast touch typing, but it made a surprising amount of noise. It’s a different noise to a mechanical keyboard, but it’s definitely in that range, particularly when I was really going for it. If you give the keys some welly when you type, if you’re used to the travel of a good mechanical keyboard for instance, then you may hate the keyboard. If you’re seriously considering buying one, get down to a shop and try it out for at least five minutes. Specifications Screen: 13.3in LCD 2560x1600 (227 ppi) Processor: Intel Core i5 or i7 (6th generation) RAM: 8 or 16GB Storage: 256GB, 512GB or 1TB Operating system: macOS Sierra Camera: 720p FaceTime HD camera Connectivity: Intel Iris 550, Wi-Fiac, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C, Thunderbolt 3, headphone Dimensions: 212.4 x 304.1 x 14.9mm Weight: 1.37Kg General computing power The 13in MacBook Pro has a choice of dual-core versions of Intel’s sixth-generation Core i5 or i7 processors. They’re not the latest – that would be the seventh generation – but are entirely capable. The cheapest machine (as tested) has 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM and a 2.9GHz Core i5 processor and is not a power-house by modern standards. It handled the work I put it through admirably - writing, processing and manipulating photos, creating small snippets of video, gifs and doing the odd bit of number crunching. With enough tabs open in Chrome, running Evernote, Mac Mail and various other bits and pieces, I did hit the 8GB RAM cap though. As with previous Flash-based Macs, Apple’s use of a speedy page file means you might not notice until you get an occasional sluggish page load or a short delay when jumping between apps. For longevity, 16GB of RAM is worth buying for most people, given it’s soldered on and you can’t change it later. For the general consumer, the 13in MacBook Pro is more than capable of getting the job done, but given it has “Pro” in the name, perhaps that isn’t enough. Attempting to edit small documentary-length 4K video is likely to a bit of a chore on it, particularly if you do not use Apple’s video editing suite, but then I’m not sure many who buy a 13in laptop are likely to be attempting to do so. It’s worth noting that the massive jumps in processing performance every 12 months or so that was possible five to 10 years ago have more or less faded into distant memory, replaced instead by incremental gains and reduced power consumption in computers. Where are all the ports? Apple has decided that USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 are the future, which means apart from a headphones/mic socket, all you get are four USB-C ports. There’s no card reader, no traditional USB, no ethernet or mini DisplayPort. USB-C is even used for power, which means any of the four ports can be used to charge the MacBook Pro. It might be the future, but right now it’s a dongle-ridden faff. How much it’s a problem depends on what you normally plug into your machine. Many things are cable agnostic – just buy a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect your printer, if you still have one. But many are not and the lack of even just one USB-A port is irritating. I ended up carrying an extra six different cables and adapters just to continue as I was, adding another step to most peripheral action. The funny thing is that many Android smartphones ship with USB-C to USB-C cables, meaning they can be plugged straight into the MacBook Pro no problem, but Apple’s own iPhone requires either a dongle or USB-C to Lightning cable to be bought. Five-to-six hour battery Lack of ports is something you can get used to. Lack of battery life is not. Apple claims that the 13in MacBook Pro will last for 10 hours under its testing conditions. I didn’t get anywhere close to that figure. Barely using it for more than emailing and browsing with a few tabs open in Chrome, the brightness set at about 75%, Evernote and Twitter open and Double Shot preventing it from sleeping, I managed just over six hours on battery. Swapping Chrome out for Safari increased battery life for some sites, but I noticed others really chewed through battery, meaning it came out about even. A good working day with about 10 tabs open in Chrome, as well as Typora for text, Wire for chat, Mac Mail for email, Twitter and Pixelmator open intermittently for image editing when required, I got just over five hours. I’m not sure that could be counted as really pushing the machine either. If it was the 15in MacBook Pro I could almost imagine that you’d never use it when away from power, and that battery life wasn’t that important. But a 13in laptop is made for portability. Thankfully charging it from dead while under full working conditions only took one hour 40 minutes, and less if I wasn’t actively using it. Observations I wish you could permanently place a single F key on the Touch Bar, but you can’t Touch ID seems slower than on an iPhone 7 Below 5% battery the computer becomes incredibly sluggish Being able to plug in power either side is great The speakers are louder and sound better than old MacBook Pros, but still not quite room filling The USB-C ports are too close together to put anything wider into them meaning USB-C to USB-A adapters have to have a decent cord length to attach them next to anything else I kept touching the Touch Bar accidentally when resting my hands on the keyboard Changing the volume or brightness is now a two-stage tap and tap or tap and drag affair Price The 13in MacBook Pro with Touch Bar starts at £1,749 and reaches £2,759 with optional upgrades. For comparison, Dell’s XPS 13 with a compatible screen starts at £1,129, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 with an Intel Core i5 starts at £849 and the Surface Book starts at £1,299. Verdict The 13in MacBook Pro could be a wonderful computer, but it isn’t. Is it great to use? Absolutely, it’s brilliant, it’s beautiful, it’s almost everything Apple said it was, I absolutely love it … until it runs out of battery. Or you have to dig out yet another dongle to use a sodding USB flash drive, or a card reader, or attach a display. Or you realise that you spent a month’s mortgage money on a computer and are having your house repossessed. And that is the 13in MacBook Pro’s biggest flaw. It is very expensive for what it is. It hasn’t got the latest processors or graphics, it has limits on the amount of RAM you can pay to shove in it and you can’t change anything after you’ve bought it. That’s not such a problem for a general computer, but a minimum of £1,749 for a general computer, even a post-Brexit referendum Apple computer, is a lot of money. So then it’s “for the Pros”, who justify spending large sums of money on working machines. But it’s not capable of getting through a journalist’s day on battery, let alone anyone who does anything more intensive than browse the internet, write in a basic text editor and edit the odd photo. It’ll saddle you with iPhone 7 syndrome – constantly in search of a power supply or chaining you to using it as a small desktop surrogate. Perhaps all-day battery life shouldn’t be a thing we expect, but previous Apple computers could do just that and more. And there’s the question of power. For almost two grand you’d expect a machine to last four to five years. For a demanding user who must have a “Pro” the RAM cap of 16GB isn’t going to cut it in two years time, which again, wouldn’t be a problem if the machine cost £1,000 not £2,000. So, then, the 13in MacBook Pro is the best computer you shouldn’t buy. Pros: beautiful, great screen, interesting Touch Bar, Touch ID, massive trackpad, thin and relatively light, USB-C Cons: short battery life, no USB-A ports, no ethernet, no native display ports, no upgrading after purchase, very expensive Other reviews Microsoft Surface Book review: the best Windows laptop, with detachable screen Apple 27in iMac with retina 5K display review: oh my that screen

technology/2016/dec/12/apple-macbook-pro-review-the-best-computer-you-shouldnt-buy

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2016-12-12T07:45:23Z

Apple 13in MacBook Pro review: the best computer you shouldn’t buy

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/12/apple-macbook-pro-review-the-best-computer-you-shouldnt-buy

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'volume', 'brightness', 'two-stage', 'tap', 'tap', 'tap', 'drag', 'affair', 'price', '13in', 'macbook', 'pro', 'touch', 'bar', 'starts', 'reaches', 'optional', 'upgrades', 'comparison', 'dell', 'xps', 'compatible', 'screen', 'starts', 'microsoft', 'surface', 'pro', 'intel', 'core', 'i5', 'starts', 'surface', 'book', 'starts', 'verdict', '13in', 'macbook', 'pro', 'could', 'wonderful', 'computer', 'great', 'use', 'absolutely', 'brilliant', 'beautiful', 'almost', 'everything', 'apple', 'said', 'absolutely', 'love', 'runs', 'battery', 'dig', 'yet', 'another', 'dongle', 'use', 'sodding', 'usb', 'flash', 'drive', 'card', 'reader', 'attach', 'display', 'realise', 'spent', 'month', 'mortgage', 'money', 'computer', 'house', 'repossessed', '13in', 'macbook', 'pro', 'biggest', 'flaw', 'expensive', 'got', 'latest', 'processors', 'graphics', 'limits', 'amount', 'ram', 'pay', 'shove', 'change', 'anything', 'bought', 'problem', 'general', 'computer', 'minimum', 'general', 'computer', 'even', 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'light', 'usb-c', 'cons', 'short', 'battery', 'life', 'usb-a', 'ports', 'ethernet', 'native', 'display', 'ports', 'upgrading', 'purchase', 'expensive', 'reviews', 'microsoft', 'surface', 'book', 'review', 'best', 'windows', 'laptop', 'detachable', 'screen', 'apple', '27in', 'imac', 'retina', '5k', 'display', 'review', 'oh', 'screen']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/11/amazon-accused-of-intolerable-conditions-at-scottish-warehouse

Amazon has been accused of creating “intolerable working conditions” after allegations that workers have been penalised for sick days and that some are camping near one of its warehouses to save money commuting to work. Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrat leader in Scotland, said Amazon should be “ashamed” that workers at its warehouse in Dunfermline have chosen to camp outside in the winter. He made the comments after the the Courier newspaper published photographs of tents near the site that it said were being lived in by Amazon workers. It said at least three tents were pitched close to the warehouse by the M90 in Dunfermline and that a man living in one of them had said he was an employee who usually lives in Perth. A Sunday Times investigation found that temporary workers at the warehouse were being penalised for taking time off sick and put under pressure to hit targets for picking orders. It also claimed that although workers could walk up to 10 miles a day doing their jobs, water dispensers were regularly empty. Amazon has hired 20,000 agency workers for the peak Christmas season, more than doubling its workforce. Staff have to pay to catch an agency-provided bus to the Dunfermline site. Rennie has repeatedly called for the firm to improve conditions at its Dunfermline site and said the latest claim “chimes with the feedback I have received from local people over a long period of time”. He said: “It confirms that Amazon have created intolerable working conditions for many. The company don’t seem to be interested in keeping workers for too long as they work them until they drop. They have generated an oppressive culture where management and some workers put undue pressure on workers. “It’s time for Amazon to finally change their ways. That means a change to wages and to working conditions.” Rennie said the firm should be “ashamed that they pay their workers so little that they have to camp out in the dead of winter to make ends meet”. Amazon, which has 12 fulfilment centres around the UK, has come under fire in the past for its treatment of workers, many of whom are employed through agencies. Three years ago, an undercover reporter for the Observer wrote about the long hours and physical work carried out for low pay, while more recently unions have claimed that workers are falling ill as a result. Online job forums have reviews by former workers which describe being expected to “work like robots” and “paranoia with job security”. Workers say overtime is compulsory and holidays banned in the busy months of November and December. When questioned about the tents, Amazon said it “provides a safe and positive workplace with competitive pay and benefits from day one”. It added: “We are proud to have been able to create several thousand new permanent roles in our UK fulfilment centres over the last five years. One of the reasons we’ve been able to attract so many people to join us is that we offer great jobs and a positive work environment with opportunities for growth. “We offer associates a range of roles in our fulfilment centres, depending on their preferences. Some roles involve walking a number of miles each day, a fact we make clear during the recruitment process. Many associates seek these positions as they enjoy the active nature of the work. There are many opportunities for people who prefer less active roles. “As with nearly all companies, we expect a certain level of performance from our associates. Productivity targets are set objectively, based on previous performance levels achieved by our workforce.” The company said it analysed wages every year to ensure they were competitive. All permanent and temporary Amazon workers start on £7.35 an hour or more and earn at least £11 an hour for overtime. There are paid 30-minute lunch breaks and subsidised meals. The new national living wage is £7.20 for workers aged over 25. Water is readily available for staff as they performed their duties, Amazon said, and it has a “fair and predictable system to record staff attendance and take into account individual circumstances”. Michael Newman, an employment lawyer at Leigh Day, said that it was legal for companies to have a policy which meant that workers were effectively penalised if they were off sick. “Absence policies are definitely becoming stricter – one example would be having a bonus or ‘attendance allowance’ that is then forfeited if the worker is off sick,” he said. “Amazon’s policy doesn’t seem particularly unusual though – the important thing is to distinguish between days off, and periods of absence. It is usually the latter that counts for unfair dismissal purposes, although many policies look at both how long you are off for, and how many times you are off.” The Labour MP Frank Field, who has been campaigning against poor conditions for self-employed workers, said the government-ordered review into working practices should issue an interim report. “Inquiries take time but over that time the injustices are growing,” he said. “There have been reports on Hermes and Uber done by my office, and now the Sunday Times investigation – there is enough information out there.”

technology/2016/dec/11/amazon-accused-of-intolerable-conditions-at-scottish-warehouse

pillar/news

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technology

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2016-12-12T07:31:09Z

Amazon accused of 'intolerable conditions' at Scottish warehouse

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/11/amazon-accused-of-intolerable-conditions-at-scottish-warehouse

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/11/top-30-gadgets-of-2016-tablets-hybrid-cars-smartphones-virtual-reality

Drone Parrot Disco, £1,150 This first person-view drone can bank, twist and zoom through the heavens at nearly 50mph. Probably as close as you can get to flying without leaving the ground. Wi-Fi speaker Naim Mu-so Qb, £595 In a noisy market this speaker from the British hi-fi manufacturer cemented their reputation for beautifully constructed, connected speakers that produce a rich, authentic sound. Phablet Apple iPhone 7 Plus, £719 Aside from the vast, bright 5.5in screen, this device’s advantage over a regular iPhone 7 is the two lenses on its main camera, which enable professional-looking “bokeh” depth-of-field effects. No headphone jack but it is waterproof – which should avoid some insurance claims. Turntable Rega Planar 3, £550 All the best people listen to their music on vinyl these days and the finest sound is delivered by this latest update of the award-winning UK-made turntable. Sounds and looks beautiful. Vacuum cleaner Dyson V8 Absolute, £439 Cable-free vacuuming is less of a chore and this nifty Dyson combines the brand’s illustrious suction performance with a power pack that allows 40 minutes of cleaning on one charge – which should be sufficient for most residences. VR Headset Playstation VR, £350 After all the hype about virtual reality, Sony came out victorious by producing a headset at a lower price than their rivals that built on their powerful PlayStation gaming platform. “This genuinely feels like the future has come early,” said the Guardian. Console Nintendo Mini NES, £50 A miniaturised version of the 1983 Nintendo Entertainment System featuring a greatest hits of retro fun from Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong to Ice Climber and Metroid. Described by the Guardian as “a visual celebration of console gaming’s birth, its past, its beautiful innocence”. Road bike Cervélo P5X, £13,499 A bike aimed at long-distance (and rich) triathletes. For the car-sized price tag you get wireless gears, the latest in aerodynamic design and even built-in storage for snacks. Stop sniggering, it’s the shape of bikes to come. Sports headphones Plantronics Backbeat Fit Bluetooth, £65 These unsealed headphones allow you to hear some background noise without sacrificing too much sound quality compared with sealed models on the market. Updated this year with new gym kit-complementing colours. Smartphone Google Pixel, £599 The Silicon Valley conglomerate’s first own-brand smartphone is a high spec (and price) competitor to the iPhone, featuring a fantastic camera, snappy performance and up-to-the-upgrade Android software. Home-bot Amazon Echo, £150 Some might think it sounds creepy having Jeff Bezos’s bots listening in on your domestic life, yet millions of happy Echo owners have quickly become hooked on the metal cylinder that can make their wildest dreams of takeaway meals and never running low on washing powder a reality. Projector RIF6 Cube, £239 Tired of viewing films on your tablet or smartphone but not ready for the commitment and bulk of television? This tiny device, capable of projecting a 120in image on to a patch of white wall, could be the answer. Tablet Google Pixel C, £399 A bright screen, hardy aluminium casing, a snappy processor and a long-lasting battery make this tablet the winner in a crowded market. You can also add a magnetic keyboard to transform it into an Android-powered laptop. DJ controller Pioneer DDJ-WEG04, £269 Fancy yourself as a digital DJ? This competitively priced slab of tricks includes many of the features of pro-level decks, including powerful software such as Rekordbox. Compatible with PC, Mac, tablet and smartphone. Television Panasonic TX-50DX802B, £1,099 An elegant looking easel stand-mounted 4K TV that comes complete with it’s own soundbar and all the smart TV capabilities you’d expect. Delivering fantastic image quality, it even looks good switched off. Running watch Garmin Forerunner 35, £170 Lacks some of the frills of pricier running watches but it does include GPS tracking and a heart rate monitor – wear it all day long and it will also track your steps, resting heart rate and sleep. 3D Printer UP Mini 2, £560 A fantastic entry point into the world of 3D fabrication. Compared with its rivals the Mini 2 is simple to set up, produces finely detailed prints and looks pretty good when not in use. Toy Sphero SPRK+, £120 This unassuming plastic ball of electronics is a great introduction to the world of coding – via a smartphone app it can be programmed to whiz around and interact with its environment in a multitude of different ways. Headphones Bose QC35, £289 Bose is generally acknowledged to have the best noise-cancelling technology available and these combine that knowhow with Bluetooth and NFC connectivity for cable-free listening – plus fantastic sound of course. As the Guardian said, “They’re brilliant”. Portable speaker Ultimate Ears Roll 2, £69 A colourful waterproof speaker for the beach or hot tub that connects via Bluetooth to stream your favourite poolside tunes. Just over five inches wide, it has a built-in strap to hang it in the shower. Soundbar Philips Fidelio Soundstage XS1, £450 Wall-mounted flatscreen televisions tend to have tiny, tinny sounding speakers so a soundbar or soundbase will transform your viewing experience. This discreet number from Philips comes with a matching subwoofer that you can hide under your sofa. Laptop Dell XPS 13, £999 The standout feature of this machine is the tiny bezel surrounding the screen, allowing the body to be smaller than you’d expect with a 13in screen. It comes with Intel’s latest snappy Core i5 processor and all the ports you need. Camera FUJI X-T2Fuji X-T2, £1,399 Mirrorless cameras are gradually supplanting chunkier digital SLRs as the first choice for serious photographers. This latest retro-looking model from Fuji is packed full of far-from-retro features. “Revolutionary” and a “dream camera” according to Amateur Photographer. E-reader Amazon Kindle, £60 The bargain in the Kindle range, updated in 2016 with Bluetooth audio accessibility, and a slightly lighter, thinner casing. Other Kindles are fancier but the software and the library of titles to choose from is identical across the range. Cheap smartphone Moto G4, £150 The Moto G series has a well-deserved reputation for value and performance, and the new model’s price drop means you get even more bang for your buck: a 13Mp camera, a bright 5.5in display, dual sim capability and a MicroSD slot. Health gadget Withings thermo, £90 Measures your temperature when held near or on the arteries on your forehead. Great for children who don’t like having their temperature taken, the results for each family member are stored on a smartphone app. Car Toyota Prius 4 Gen, £23,600 The latest iteration of this ground-breaking hybrid car is bigger, quieter, with a more efficient engine and a hybrid system that boasts fuel consumption of 94mpg. Budget tablet Amazon Fire HD, £90 Not as slick and desirable as an iPad, and you need to be an Amazon Prime member to get the most from it, but for £90 there’s little to complain about. Window cleaner Vorwerk Kobold VG100, £249 No job is safe, with even the humble window cleaner facing redundancy from this automatic glazing cleanser. It coats the window pane with a proprietary cleaning liquid, which it then vacuums off leaving your glass shiny as new. Action camera GoPro HERO5, £349 Pricier than the competition, but the newest GoPro delivers the best image quality around, including 4K video. It’s waterproof to 10 metres without a separate housing and even responds to voice commands.

technology/2016/dec/11/top-30-gadgets-of-2016-tablets-hybrid-cars-smartphones-virtual-reality

pillar/news

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technology

Technology

article

2016-12-11T07:00:20Z

The top 30 gadgets of 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/11/top-30-gadgets-of-2016-tablets-hybrid-cars-smartphones-virtual-reality

['drone', 'parrot', 'disco', 'first', 'person-view', 'drone', 'bank', 'twist', 'zoom', 'heavens', 'nearly', '50mph', 'probably', 'close', 'get', 'flying', 'without', 'leaving', 'ground', 'wi-fi', 'speaker', 'naim', 'mu-so', 'qb', 'noisy', 'market', 'speaker', 'british', 'hi-fi', 'manufacturer', 'cemented', 'reputation', 'beautifully', 'constructed', 'connected', 'speakers', 'produce', 'rich', 'authentic', 'sound', 'phablet', 'apple', 'iphone', 'plus', 'aside', 'vast', 'bright', '55in', 'screen', 'device', 'advantage', 'regular', 'iphone', 'two', 'lenses', 'main', 'camera', 'enable', 'professional-looking', 'bokeh', 'depth-of-field', 'effects', 'headphone', 'jack', 'waterproof', 'avoid', 'insurance', 'claims', 'turntable', 'rega', 'planar', 'best', 'people', 'listen', 'music', 'vinyl', 'days', 'finest', 'sound', 'delivered', 'latest', 'update', 'award-winning', 'uk-made', 'turntable', 'sounds', 'looks', 'beautiful', 'vacuum', 'cleaner', 'dyson', 'v8', 'absolute', 'cable-free', 'vacuuming', 'less', 'chore', 'nifty', 'dyson', 'combines', 'brand', 'illustrious', 'suction', 'performance', 'power', 'pack', 'allows', 'minutes', 'cleaning', 'one', 'charge', 'sufficient', 'residences', 'vr', 'headset', 'playstation', 'vr', 'hype', 'virtual', 'reality', 'sony', 'came', 'victorious', 'producing', 'headset', 'lower', 'price', 'rivals', 'built', 'powerful', 'playstation', 'gaming', 'platform', 'genuinely', 'feels', 'like', 'future', 'come', 'early', 'said', 'guardian', 'console', 'nintendo', 'mini', 'nes', 'miniaturised', 'version', 'nintendo', 'entertainment', 'system', 'featuring', 'greatest', 'hits', 'retro', 'fun', 'super', 'mario', 'bros', 'donkey', 'kong', 'ice', 'climber', 'metroid', 'described', 'guardian', 'visual', 'celebration', 'console', 'gaming', 'birth', 'past', 'beautiful', 'innocence', 'road', 'bike', 'cervelo', 'p5x', 'bike', 'aimed', 'long-distance', 'rich', 'triathletes', 'car-sized', 'price', 'tag', 'get', 'wireless', 'gears', 'latest', 'aerodynamic', 'design', 'even', 'built-in', 'storage', 'snacks', 'stop', 'sniggering', 'shape', 'bikes', 'come', 'sports', 'headphones', 'plantronics', 'backbeat', 'fit', 'bluetooth', 'unsealed', 'headphones', 'allow', 'hear', 'background', 'noise', 'without', 'sacrificing', 'much', 'sound', 'quality', 'compared', 'sealed', 'models', 'market', 'updated', 'year', 'new', 'gym', 'kit-complementing', 'colours', 'smartphone', 'google', 'pixel', 'silicon', 'valley', 'conglomerate', 'first', 'own-brand', 'smartphone', 'high', 'spec', 'price', 'competitor', 'iphone', 'featuring', 'fantastic', 'camera', 'snappy', 'performance', 'up-to-the-upgrade', 'android', 'software', 'home-bot', 'amazon', 'echo', 'might', 'think', 'sounds', 'creepy', 'jeff', 'bezos', 'bots', 'listening', 'domestic', 'life', 'yet', 'millions', 'happy', 'echo', 'owners', 'quickly', 'become', 'hooked', 'metal', 'cylinder', 'make', 'wildest', 'dreams', 'takeaway', 'meals', 'never', 'running', 'low', 'washing', 'powder', 'reality', 'projector', 'rif6', 'cube', 'tired', 'viewing', 'films', 'tablet', 'smartphone', 'ready', 'commitment', 'bulk', 'television', 'tiny', 'device', 'capable', 'projecting', '120in', 'image', 'patch', 'white', 'wall', 'could', 'answer', 'tablet', 'google', 'pixel', 'c', 'bright', 'screen', 'hardy', 'aluminium', 'casing', 'snappy', 'processor', 'long-lasting', 'battery', 'make', 'tablet', 'winner', 'crowded', 'market', 'also', 'add', 'magnetic', 'keyboard', 'transform', 'android-powered', 'laptop', 'dj', 'controller', 'pioneer', 'ddj-weg04', 'fancy', 'digital', 'dj', 'competitively', 'priced', 'slab', 'tricks', 'includes', 'many', 'features', 'pro-level', 'decks', 'including', 'powerful', 'software', 'rekordbox', 'compatible', 'pc', 'mac', 'tablet', 'smartphone', 'television', 'panasonic', 'tx-50dx802b', 'elegant', 'looking', 'easel', 'stand-mounted', '4k', 'tv', 'comes', 'complete', 'soundbar', 'smart', 'tv', 'capabilities', 'would', 'expect', 'delivering', 'fantastic', 'image', 'quality', 'even', 'looks', 'good', 'switched', 'running', 'watch', 'garmin', 'forerunner', 'lacks', 'frills', 'pricier', 'running', 'watches', 'include', 'gps', 'tracking', 'heart', 'rate', 'monitor', 'wear', 'day', 'long', 'also', 'track', 'steps', 'resting', 'heart', 'rate', 'sleep', '3d', 'printer', 'mini', 'fantastic', 'entry', 'point', 'world', '3d', 'fabrication', 'compared', 'rivals', 'mini', 'simple', 'set', 'produces', 'finely', 'detailed', 'prints', 'looks', 'pretty', 'good', 'use', 'toy', 'sphero', 'sprk', 'unassuming', 'plastic', 'ball', 'electronics', 'great', 'introduction', 'world', 'coding', 'via', 'smartphone', 'app', 'programmed', 'whiz', 'around', 'interact', 'environment', 'multitude', 'different', 'ways', 'headphones', 'bose', 'qc35', 'bose', 'generally', 'acknowledged', 'best', 'noise-cancelling', 'technology', 'available', 'combine', 'knowhow', 'bluetooth', 'nfc', 'connectivity', 'cable-free', 'listening', 'plus', 'fantastic', 'sound', 'course', 'guardian', 'said', 'brilliant', 'portable', 'speaker', 'ultimate', 'ears', 'roll', 'colourful', 'waterproof', 'speaker', 'beach', 'hot', 'tub', 'connects', 'via', 'bluetooth', 'stream', 'favourite', 'poolside', 'tunes', 'five', 'inches', 'wide', 'built-in', 'strap', 'hang', 'shower', 'soundbar', 'philips', 'fidelio', 'soundstage', 'xs1', 'wall-mounted', 'flatscreen', 'televisions', 'tend', 'tiny', 'tinny', 'sounding', 'speakers', 'soundbar', 'soundbase', 'transform', 'viewing', 'experience', 'discreet', 'number', 'philips', 'comes', 'matching', 'subwoofer', 'hide', 'sofa', 'laptop', 'dell', 'xps', 'standout', 'feature', 'machine', 'tiny', 'bezel', 'surrounding', 'screen', 'allowing', 'body', 'smaller', 'would', 'expect', '13in', 'screen', 'comes', 'intel', 'latest', 'snappy', 'core', 'i5', 'processor', 'ports', 'need', 'camera', 'fuji', 'x-t2fuji', 'x-t2', 'mirrorless', 'cameras', 'gradually', 'supplanting', 'chunkier', 'digital', 'slrs', 'first', 'choice', 'serious', 'photographers', 'latest', 'retro-looking', 'model', 'fuji', 'packed', 'full', 'far-from-retro', 'features', 'revolutionary', 'dream', 'camera', 'according', 'amateur', 'photographer', 'e-reader', 'amazon', 'kindle', 'bargain', 'kindle', 'range', 'updated', 'bluetooth', 'audio', 'accessibility', 'slightly', 'lighter', 'thinner', 'casing', 'kindles', 'fancier', 'software', 'library', 'titles', 'choose', 'identical', 'across', 'range', 'cheap', 'smartphone', 'moto', 'g4', 'moto', 'g', 'series', 'well-deserved', 'reputation', 'value', 'performance', 'new', 'model', 'price', 'drop', 'means', 'get', 'even', 'bang', 'buck', '13mp', 'camera', 'bright', '55in', 'display', 'dual', 'sim', 'capability', 'microsd', 'slot', 'health', 'gadget', 'withings', 'thermo', 'measures', 'temperature', 'held', 'near', 'arteries', 'forehead', 'great', 'children', 'like', 'temperature', 'taken', 'results', 'family', 'member', 'stored', 'smartphone', 'app', 'car', 'toyota', 'prius', 'gen', 'latest', 'iteration', 'ground-breaking', 'hybrid', 'car', 'bigger', 'quieter', 'efficient', 'engine', 'hybrid', 'system', 'boasts', 'fuel', 'consumption', '94mpg', 'budget', 'tablet', 'amazon', 'fire', 'hd', 'slick', 'desirable', 'ipad', 'need', 'amazon', 'prime', 'member', 'get', 'little', 'complain', 'window', 'cleaner', 'vorwerk', 'kobold', 'vg100', 'job', 'safe', 'even', 'humble', 'window', 'cleaner', 'facing', 'redundancy', 'automatic', 'glazing', 'cleanser', 'coats', 'window', 'pane', 'proprietary', 'cleaning', 'liquid', 'vacuums', 'leaving', 'glass', 'shiny', 'new', 'action', 'camera', 'gopro', 'hero5', 'pricier', 'competition', 'newest', 'gopro', 'delivers', 'best', 'image', 'quality', 'around', 'including', '4k', 'video', 'waterproof', 'metres', 'without', 'separate', 'housing', 'even', 'responds', 'voice', 'commands']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/11/volvo-s90-car-review-technology-driver-aids-saloon-safety-luxury

Price: from £32,995 Top speed: 145mph 0-62mph: 6.7 seconds MPG: up to 64.2 CO2: 116g/km Douglas Adams once set out his rules to describe our reactions to technology: “1) Anything already in the world when you’re born is just the way it works; 2) Anything that’s invented when you’re between 15 and 35 is cool and you can probably get a career in it; and 3) Anything invented after you are 35 is wholly against the natural order of things.” I’m very much in the over-35 gang – and sometimes it seems that new cars are getting just too darned clever. I like driving. In fact, I love driving. So why would I ever let a car do it for me? But that’s exactly what Volvo’s new saloon wants to do. It’s edging us drivers out. The S90 has got the sort of smarts that mean it would have been mocked at school. It’d have been the kid in the front row with all the answers: “Miss, Miss, Miss, me please…” It monitors the light, the rain, your driving, the road ahead, pedestrians… It’s fitted with Pilot Assist which means at up to 80mph it’ll do the lot: steering, acceleration, deceleration, braking. And Volvo really has thought of everything. For instance if an “elk, horse or moose strays on to the road night or day” the car’s “large animal detection” device will slam on the brakes to save you – and it. Then, when you reach your destination, Park Assist will take over, setting the steering wheel spinning, as if by ghostly hands, as it eases the vehicle into the most awkward of spots. Safety, of course, is second to none, this is a Volvo, remember! But the S90 goes so far as to make a plausible claim to be the safest, most risk-averse car ever made. Even a fatalistic stunt driver would struggle to override all the nannying and pile it into a tree. Strip away all this technology and you’re left with a big, luxurious, supremely comfortable saloon. It looks impressive, in a sharky, corporate kind of way. The Thor’s hammer LED lights and abrupt vertical grille are real statement features. Inside it’s an homage to stripped-back Skandi taste, and a lesson in understatement. The use of unvarnished wood lends a little sauna chic to the proceedings. It feels fiendishly posh. Volvo was bought by Geely in 2010 and since then the Chinese have invested $11bn in the brand. There is no sense that any corner has been cut in the S90 – ever. Power comes from a choice of two 2-litre four-cylinder diesels: the 190hp D4 and the 235hp D5. Both are matched to a silky eight-speed auto. It’s elegant, powerful and clever, the only problem is I feel too old for it. And saying you’re too old for a Volvo is a bad state of affairs… Email Martin at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166 Correction: the Pilot Assist feature works at up to 80mph, not 30mph as previously stated. When the XC90 was launched last year, 30mph was the maximum, but with the launch of S90 and V90, all three models now have Pilot Assist up to 80mph.

technology/2016/dec/11/volvo-s90-car-review-technology-driver-aids-saloon-safety-luxury

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2016-12-11T06:00:19Z

Volvo S90: car review | Martin Love

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/11/volvo-s90-car-review-technology-driver-aids-saloon-safety-luxury

['price', 'top', 'speed', '145mph', '0-62mph', 'seconds', 'mpg', 'co2', '116gkm', 'douglas', 'adams', 'set', 'rules', 'describe', 'reactions', 'technology', 'anything', 'already', 'world', 'born', 'way', 'works', 'anything', 'invented', 'cool', 'probably', 'get', 'career', 'anything', 'invented', 'wholly', 'natural', 'order', 'things', 'much', 'over-35', 'gang', 'sometimes', 'seems', 'new', 'cars', 'getting', 'darned', 'clever', 'like', 'driving', 'fact', 'love', 'driving', 'would', 'ever', 'let', 'car', 'exactly', 'volvo', 'new', 'saloon', 'wants', 'edging', 'us', 'drivers', 's90', 'got', 'sort', 'smarts', 'mean', 'would', 'mocked', 'school', 'would', 'kid', 'front', 'row', 'answers', 'miss', 'miss', 'miss', 'please', 'monitors', 'light', 'rain', 'driving', 'road', 'ahead', 'pedestrians', 'fitted', 'pilot', 'assist', 'means', '80mph', 'lot', 'steering', 'acceleration', 'deceleration', 'braking', 'volvo', 'really', 'thought', 'everything', 'instance', 'elk', 'horse', 'moose', 'strays', 'road', 'night', 'day', 'car', 'large', 'animal', 'detection', 'device', 'slam', 'brakes', 'save', 'reach', 'destination', 'park', 'assist', 'take', 'setting', 'steering', 'wheel', 'spinning', 'ghostly', 'hands', 'eases', 'vehicle', 'awkward', 'spots', 'safety', 'course', 'second', 'none', 'volvo', 'remember', 's90', 'goes', 'far', 'make', 'plausible', 'claim', 'safest', 'risk-averse', 'car', 'ever', 'made', 'even', 'fatalistic', 'stunt', 'driver', 'would', 'struggle', 'override', 'nannying', 'pile', 'tree', 'strip', 'away', 'technology', 'left', 'big', 'luxurious', 'supremely', 'comfortable', 'saloon', 'looks', 'impressive', 'sharky', 'corporate', 'kind', 'way', 'thor', 'hammer', 'led', 'lights', 'abrupt', 'vertical', 'grille', 'real', 'statement', 'features', 'inside', 'homage', 'stripped-back', 'skandi', 'taste', 'lesson', 'understatement', 'use', 'unvarnished', 'wood', 'lends', 'little', 'sauna', 'chic', 'proceedings', 'feels', 'fiendishly', 'posh', 'volvo', 'bought', 'geely', 'since', 'chinese', 'invested', '11bn', 'brand', 'sense', 'corner', 'cut', 's90', 'ever', 'power', 'comes', 'choice', 'two', '2-litre', 'four-cylinder', 'diesels', '190hp', 'd4', '235hp', 'd5', 'matched', 'silky', 'eight-speed', 'auto', 'elegant', 'powerful', 'clever', 'problem', 'feel', 'old', 'saying', 'old', 'volvo', 'bad', 'state', 'affairs', 'email', 'martin', 'martinloveobservercouk', 'follow', 'twitter', 'martinlove166', 'correction', 'pilot', 'assist', 'feature', 'works', '80mph', '30mph', 'previously', 'stated', 'xc90', 'launched', 'last', 'year', '30mph', 'maximum', 'launch', 's90', 'v90', 'three', 'models', 'pilot', 'assist', '80mph']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/10/google-facebook-critical-thinking-computers

The lack of transparency around the processes of Google’s search engine has been a preoccupation among scholars since the company began. Long before Google expanded into self-driving cars, smartphones and ubiquitous email, the company was being asked to explain the principles and ideologies that determine how it presents information to us. And now, 10 years later, the impact of reckless, subjective and inflammatory misinformation served up on the web is being felt like never before in the digital era. Google responded to negative coverage this week by reluctantly acknowledging and then removing offensive autosuggest results for certain search results. Type “jews are” into Google, for example, and until now the site would autofill “jews are evil” before recommending links to several rightwing antisemitic hate sites. That follows the misinformation debacle that was the US general election. When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed the issue, he admitted that structural issues lie at the heart of the problem: the site financially rewards the kind of sensationalism and fake news likely to spread rapidly through the social network regardless of its veracity or its impact. The site does not identify bad reporting, or even distinguish fake news from satire. Facebook is now trying to solve a problem it helped create. Yet instead of using its vast resources to promote media literacy, or encouraging users to think critically and identify potential problems with what they read and share, Facebook is relying on developing algorithmic solutions that can rate the trustworthiness of content. This approach could have detrimental, long-term social consequences. The scale and power with which Facebook operates means the site would effectively be training users to outsource their judgment to a computerised alternative. And it gives even less opportunity to encourage the kind of 21st-century digital skills – such as reflective judgment about how technology is shaping our beliefs and relationships – that we now see to be perilously lacking. The engineered environments of Facebook, Google and the rest have increasingly discouraged us from engaging in an intellectually meaningful way. We, the masses, aren’t stupid or lazy when we believe fake news; we’re primed to continue believing what we’re led to believe. The networked info-media environment that has emerged in the past decade – of which Facebook is an important part – is a space that encourages people to accept what’s presented to them without reflection or deliberation, especially if it appears surrounded by credible information or passed on from someone we trust. There’s a powerful, implicit value in information shared between friends that Facebook exploits, but it accelerates the spread of misinformation as much as it does good content. Every piece of information appears to be presented and assessed with equal weight, a New York Times article followed by some fake news about the pope, a funny dog video shared by a close friend next to a distressing, unsourced and unverified video of an injured child in some Middle East conflict. We have more information at our disposal than ever before, but we’re paralyzed into passive complacency. We’re being engineered to be passive, programmable people. In the never-ending stream of comfortable, unchallenging personalized info-tainment there’s little incentive to break off, to triangulate and fact check with reliable and contrary sources. Actively choosing what might need investigating feels like too much effort, and even then a quick Google search of a questionable news story on Facebook may turn up a link to a rehashed version of the same fake story. The “transaction costs” of leaving the site are high: switching gears is fiddly and takes time, and it’s also far easier to passively accept what you see than to challenge it. Platforms overload us with information and encourage us to feed the machine with easy, speedy clicks. The media feeds our susceptibility to filter bubbles and capitalizes on contagious emotions such as anger. It is crucial for a resilient democracy that we better understand how these powerful, ubiquitous websites are changing the way we think, interact and behave. Democracies don’t simply depend on well-informed citizens – they require citizens to be capable of exerting thoughtful, independent judgment. This capacity is a mental muscle; only repeated use makes it strong. And when we spend a long time in places that deliberately discourage critical thinking, we lose the opportunity to keep building that skill. Evan Selinger is a professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Brett Frischmann is the Microsoft visiting professor of information technology policy at Princeton University and professor of law at Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law. Their forthcoming book Being Human in the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press, 2017) examines whether technology is eroding our humanity, and offers new theoretical tools for dealing with it.

technology/2016/dec/10/google-facebook-critical-thinking-computers

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2016-12-10T12:00:02Z

Why it's dangerous to outsource our critical thinking to computers

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/10/google-facebook-critical-thinking-computers

['lack', 'transparency', 'around', 'processes', 'google', 'search', 'engine', 'preoccupation', 'among', 'scholars', 'since', 'company', 'began', 'long', 'google', 'expanded', 'self-driving', 'cars', 'smartphones', 'ubiquitous', 'email', 'company', 'asked', 'explain', 'principles', 'ideologies', 'determine', 'presents', 'information', 'us', 'years', 'later', 'impact', 'reckless', 'subjective', 'inflammatory', 'misinformation', 'served', 'web', 'felt', 'like', 'never', 'digital', 'era', 'google', 'responded', 'negative', 'coverage', 'week', 'reluctantly', 'acknowledging', 'removing', 'offensive', 'autosuggest', 'results', 'certain', 'search', 'results', 'type', 'jews', 'google', 'example', 'site', 'would', 'autofill', 'jews', 'evil', 'recommending', 'links', 'several', 'rightwing', 'antisemitic', 'hate', 'sites', 'follows', 'misinformation', 'debacle', 'us', 'general', 'election', 'facebook', 'ceo', 'mark', 'zuckerberg', 'addressed', 'issue', 'admitted', 'structural', 'issues', 'lie', 'heart', 'problem', 'site', 'financially', 'rewards', 'kind', 'sensationalism', 'fake', 'news', 'likely', 'spread', 'rapidly', 'social', 'network', 'regardless', 'veracity', 'impact', 'site', 'identify', 'bad', 'reporting', 'even', 'distinguish', 'fake', 'news', 'satire', 'facebook', 'trying', 'solve', 'problem', 'helped', 'create', 'yet', 'instead', 'using', 'vast', 'resources', 'promote', 'media', 'literacy', 'encouraging', 'users', 'think', 'critically', 'identify', 'potential', 'problems', 'read', 'share', 'facebook', 'relying', 'developing', 'algorithmic', 'solutions', 'rate', 'trustworthiness', 'content', 'approach', 'could', 'detrimental', 'long-term', 'social', 'consequences', 'scale', 'power', 'facebook', 'operates', 'means', 'site', 'would', 'effectively', 'training', 'users', 'outsource', 'judgment', 'computerised', 'alternative', 'gives', 'even', 'less', 'opportunity', 'encourage', 'kind', '21st-century', 'digital', 'skills', 'reflective', 'judgment', 'technology', 'shaping', 'beliefs', 'relationships', 'see', 'perilously', 'lacking', 'engineered', 'environments', 'facebook', 'google', 'rest', 'increasingly', 'discouraged', 'us', 'engaging', 'intellectually', 'meaningful', 'way', 'masses', 'stupid', 'lazy', 'believe', 'fake', 'news', 'primed', 'continue', 'believing', 'led', 'believe', 'networked', 'info-media', 'environment', 'emerged', 'past', 'decade', 'facebook', 'important', 'part', 'space', 'encourages', 'people', 'accept', 'presented', 'without', 'reflection', 'deliberation', 'especially', 'appears', 'surrounded', 'credible', 'information', 'passed', 'someone', 'trust', 'powerful', 'implicit', 'value', 'information', 'shared', 'friends', 'facebook', 'exploits', 'accelerates', 'spread', 'misinformation', 'much', 'good', 'content', 'every', 'piece', 'information', 'appears', 'presented', 'assessed', 'equal', 'weight', 'new', 'york', 'times', 'article', 'followed', 'fake', 'news', 'pope', 'funny', 'dog', 'video', 'shared', 'close', 'friend', 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'capitalizes', 'contagious', 'emotions', 'anger', 'crucial', 'resilient', 'democracy', 'better', 'understand', 'powerful', 'ubiquitous', 'websites', 'changing', 'way', 'think', 'interact', 'behave', 'democracies', 'simply', 'depend', 'well-informed', 'citizens', 'require', 'citizens', 'capable', 'exerting', 'thoughtful', 'independent', 'judgment', 'capacity', 'mental', 'muscle', 'repeated', 'use', 'makes', 'strong', 'spend', 'long', 'time', 'places', 'deliberately', 'discourage', 'critical', 'thinking', 'lose', 'opportunity', 'keep', 'building', 'skill', 'evan', 'selinger', 'professor', 'philosophy', 'rochester', 'institute', 'technology', 'brett', 'frischmann', 'microsoft', 'visiting', 'professor', 'information', 'technology', 'policy', 'princeton', 'university', 'professor', 'law', 'benjamin', 'n', 'cardozo', 'school', 'law', 'forthcoming', 'book', 'human', '21st', 'century', 'cambridge', 'university', 'press', 'examines', 'whether', 'technology', 'eroding', 'humanity', 'offers', 'new', 'theoretical', 'tools', 'dealing']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/10/citroen-ds-3-car-review-it-adds-to-the-gaiety-of-the-road

I imagined this car throughout as a young person selling themselves on The Apprentice. I am the DS 3 Performance, Lord Sugar, and this is because I perform. I am not shy, and nobody has called me that, not once, not ever, least of all when I am on a motorway. And I am painted sports red because that makes me faster. And (joking aside, both to imaginary Lord Sugar, and to you, reader), I am actually bloody nippy. I go like I’ve been shot out of a cannon. I have a top speed of 143mph, and you know it, however fast I’m actually going. My emissions are rubbish, considering how small I am, but that’s just the way I like it. There are three doors and fold-down seats because I take no passengers, unless they are tiny ones, and my boot is very small because I have no baggage, unless you would like me to carry your briefcase, Lord Sugar, which I totally have room for. People might look at me and think “small car”, and I have all those plus points, glamour and buzz; but I’m big where it counts, in my legroom and stuff. Oddment stowage is for wimps. Only pensioners need a place to store their hot drinks. Apart from drive, drive, drive, my watchword is respond, respond, respond. Just point my nose at it and I’m there. My nought to 60 is mad fast, and other cars can’t touch me – if one comes too close, front or rear, I will make big noises, huge, really, relative to my size – because they shouldn’t have underestimated me. If you asked me to name my faults, Lord Sugar, I could only really say that I am a bit too exciting, too agile, and people who live in the past might not understand the way I roll. A critical observer, however – Karren Brady, curling her lip – would make the following observations: that I am a bit jumpy, that a ridge in the road knocks my steering off, that I am easily rattled and noisy at speeds, that I don’t feel like a fully rounded adult car, more like a teenage car with defensive narcissism. She would say it is just ridiculous for a car of this size to have such poor fuel economy. But then she would twinkle indulgently and say this car adds to the gaiety of the road. Perhaps she would say young people need a bit of fun before they get a proper car, and the DS 3 would be waving furiously behind her, yelling, “I’m not just a bit of fun! I’m your For Ever car, Lord Sugar! Pick me!” But secretly it would be chuffed to bits. Citroën DS 3 Performance THP 208: in numbers Price £22,590 Acceleration 0-62 in 6.5 seconds Top speed 143mph Combined fuel consumption 52mpg CO2 emissions 125g/km Eco rating 7/10 Cool rating 7/10

technology/2016/dec/10/citroen-ds-3-car-review-it-adds-to-the-gaiety-of-the-road

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2016-12-10T11:00:00Z

Citroën DS 3 car review – ‘It adds to the gaiety of the road’

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/10/citroen-ds-3-car-review-it-adds-to-the-gaiety-of-the-road

['imagined', 'car', 'throughout', 'young', 'person', 'selling', 'apprentice', 'ds', 'performance', 'lord', 'sugar', 'perform', 'shy', 'nobody', 'called', 'ever', 'least', 'motorway', 'painted', 'sports', 'red', 'makes', 'faster', 'joking', 'aside', 'imaginary', 'lord', 'sugar', 'reader', 'actually', 'bloody', 'nippy', 'go', 'like', 'shot', 'cannon', 'top', 'speed', '143mph', 'know', 'however', 'fast', 'actually', 'going', 'emissions', 'rubbish', 'considering', 'small', 'way', 'like', 'three', 'doors', 'fold-down', 'seats', 'take', 'passengers', 'unless', 'tiny', 'ones', 'boot', 'small', 'baggage', 'unless', 'would', 'like', 'carry', 'briefcase', 'lord', 'sugar', 'totally', 'room', 'people', 'might', 'look', 'think', 'small', 'car', 'plus', 'points', 'glamour', 'buzz', 'big', 'counts', 'legroom', 'stuff', 'oddment', 'stowage', 'wimps', 'pensioners', 'need', 'place', 'store', 'hot', 'drinks', 'apart', 'drive', 'drive', 'drive', 'watchword', 'respond', 'respond', 'respond', 'point', 'nose', 'nought', 'mad', 'fast', 'cars', 'touch', 'one', 'comes', 'close', 'front', 'rear', 'make', 'big', 'noises', 'huge', 'really', 'relative', 'size', 'underestimated', 'asked', 'name', 'faults', 'lord', 'sugar', 'could', 'really', 'say', 'bit', 'exciting', 'agile', 'people', 'live', 'past', 'might', 'understand', 'way', 'roll', 'critical', 'observer', 'however', 'karren', 'brady', 'curling', 'lip', 'would', 'make', 'following', 'observations', 'bit', 'jumpy', 'ridge', 'road', 'knocks', 'steering', 'easily', 'rattled', 'noisy', 'speeds', 'feel', 'like', 'fully', 'rounded', 'adult', 'car', 'like', 'teenage', 'car', 'defensive', 'narcissism', 'would', 'say', 'ridiculous', 'car', 'size', 'poor', 'fuel', 'economy', 'would', 'twinkle', 'indulgently', 'say', 'car', 'adds', 'gaiety', 'road', 'perhaps', 'would', 'say', 'young', 'people', 'need', 'bit', 'fun', 'get', 'proper', 'car', 'ds', 'would', 'waving', 'furiously', 'behind', 'yelling', 'bit', 'fun', 'ever', 'car', 'lord', 'sugar', 'pick', 'secretly', 'would', 'chuffed', 'bits', 'citroen', 'ds', 'performance', 'thp', 'numbers', 'price', 'acceleration', '0-62', 'seconds', 'top', 'speed', '143mph', 'combined', 'fuel', 'consumption', '52mpg', 'co2', 'emissions', '125gkm', 'eco', 'rating', 'cool', 'rating']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/09/galaxy-note-7-samsung-software-update

Samsung’s next software update for the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone will render the devices useless in order to prevent any more from catching fire and exploding. A problem with the device’s lithium ion battery led some units to combust, in some cases injuring their owners and causing damage to property. The issues continued even after Samsung recalled, replaced and refunded some of the units, leading to a second more expansive recall of 1.9m devices. The Note 7 was banned from so many airlines that the company is opening stalls in airports where owners can swap or refund it before boarding their flight. Although more than 93% of the devices have been returned as part of the exchange program in the United States, some units remain “in the wild”. The software update, which Samsung confirmed would be released in mid-December in the US, will prevent the phones from charging and functioning as mobile phones, essentially turning them into useless mementos from a disastrous product launch. “Customer safety remains our highest priority,” said the company in a statement. Such an update has been expected for months, and follows efforts by Samsung’s partners to prevent people from using the Note 7. Facebook, for example, issued a software update in October to prevent the Gear VR virtual reality headset – which acts as an accessory to compatible Samsung phones – from working with the Note 7. This was to ensure no one accidentally strapped an exploding phone to their eyes. Not everyone’s happy about the update as it will leave some people without their main communications device. Verizon issued a statement saying it would not push the update to its customers to avoid the added risk it could pose to Galaxy Note 7 users who don’t have another device to switch to. “We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note7 to work as a mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in an emergency situation,” said the company in a statement.

technology/2016/dec/09/galaxy-note-7-samsung-software-update

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2016-12-09T19:44:58Z

Samsung software update will disable Galaxy Note 7 phones completely

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/09/galaxy-note-7-samsung-software-update

['samsung', 'next', 'software', 'update', 'galaxy', 'note', 'smartphone', 'render', 'devices', 'useless', 'order', 'prevent', 'catching', 'fire', 'exploding', 'problem', 'device', 'lithium', 'ion', 'battery', 'led', 'units', 'combust', 'cases', 'injuring', 'owners', 'causing', 'damage', 'property', 'issues', 'continued', 'even', 'samsung', 'recalled', 'replaced', 'refunded', 'units', 'leading', 'second', 'expansive', 'recall', '19m', 'devices', 'note', 'banned', 'many', 'airlines', 'company', 'opening', 'stalls', 'airports', 'owners', 'swap', 'refund', 'boarding', 'flight', 'although', 'devices', 'returned', 'part', 'exchange', 'program', 'united', 'states', 'units', 'remain', 'wild', 'software', 'update', 'samsung', 'confirmed', 'would', 'released', 'mid-december', 'us', 'prevent', 'phones', 'charging', 'functioning', 'mobile', 'phones', 'essentially', 'turning', 'useless', 'mementos', 'disastrous', 'product', 'launch', 'customer', 'safety', 'remains', 'highest', 'priority', 'said', 'company', 'statement', 'update', 'expected', 'months', 'follows', 'efforts', 'samsung', 'partners', 'prevent', 'people', 'using', 'note', 'facebook', 'example', 'issued', 'software', 'update', 'october', 'prevent', 'gear', 'vr', 'virtual', 'reality', 'headset', 'acts', 'accessory', 'compatible', 'samsung', 'phones', 'working', 'note', 'ensure', 'one', 'accidentally', 'strapped', 'exploding', 'phone', 'eyes', 'everyone', 'happy', 'update', 'leave', 'people', 'without', 'main', 'communications', 'device', 'verizon', 'issued', 'statement', 'saying', 'would', 'push', 'update', 'customers', 'avoid', 'added', 'risk', 'could', 'pose', 'galaxy', 'note', 'users', 'another', 'device', 'switch', 'push', 'software', 'upgrade', 'eliminate', 'ability', 'note7', 'work', 'mobile', 'device', 'heart', 'holiday', 'travel', 'season', 'want', 'make', 'impossible', 'contact', 'family', 'first', 'responders', 'medical', 'professionals', 'emergency', 'situation', 'said', 'company', 'statement']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/09/uber-driver-trying-to-support-family-not-earning-enough

Abdurzak Hadi has worked as a minicab driver for 10 years, and as an Uber driver in London for nearly three. He came to the UK as a child refugee from Somalia in 1992 and now has a young family but is struggling to support them. His low pay is, like that of many Uber drivers, topped up by the state with working tax credits. His 10-year-old son has been receiving treatment for leukaemia and he hoped that being an Uber driver would allow him the flexibility to arrange his work around hospital appointments and collecting his other children from school, sharing the caring with his wife, but he says the reality has been very different. Hadi regularly works about 40 hours a week for Uber. He says most of the drivers he knows work much longer hours to make ends meet but his children’s needs prevent him from doing so. Last week, after paying Uber 20% commission, he earned £557 before costs for a full working week; some weeks it has been much less. Newer drivers have 25% deducted. He estimates that the costs for hiring his vehicle, paying public hire vehicle insurance, fuel, his licence fees, car cleaning and phone hire are about £285 a week, so his hourly earnings fell below the statutory “national living wage” of £7.20 an hour, if it applied. In his previous job he could ask the operator to give him local jobs when he needed to come to the end of a shift, but he says he is unable to do that with Uber because he is penalised by being logged out if he turns down jobs that are too far away. “If I am self-employed I ought to be able to take jobs I want or not, but you don’t even know where the passenger is going.” Hadi is one of 19 drivers who took Uber to an employment tribunal, which ruled that they were not self-employed, but workers entitled to basic rights, including the national living wage. Uber is appealing against the decision. Although he has worked for different operators in the past, he says they have been undercut by Uber so are no longer recruiting, and he has nowhere else to go. “At the beginning the money was really good because fares were higher but now they have cut them and flooded the market. Sometimes I have to wait well over an hour for a job. It’s taxpayers like you who are funding Uber at the moment because we are not earning enough and having to go to the government to ask for benefits.”

technology/2016/dec/09/uber-driver-trying-to-support-family-not-earning-enough

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2016-12-09T13:53:09Z

The Uber driver trying to support his family: 'We are not earning enough'

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/09/uber-driver-trying-to-support-family-not-earning-enough

['abdurzak', 'hadi', 'worked', 'minicab', 'driver', 'years', 'uber', 'driver', 'london', 'nearly', 'three', 'came', 'uk', 'child', 'refugee', 'somalia', 'young', 'family', 'struggling', 'support', 'low', 'pay', 'like', 'many', 'uber', 'drivers', 'topped', 'state', 'working', 'tax', 'credits', '10-year-old', 'son', 'receiving', 'treatment', 'leukaemia', 'hoped', 'uber', 'driver', 'would', 'allow', 'flexibility', 'arrange', 'work', 'around', 'hospital', 'appointments', 'collecting', 'children', 'school', 'sharing', 'caring', 'wife', 'says', 'reality', 'different', 'hadi', 'regularly', 'works', 'hours', 'week', 'uber', 'says', 'drivers', 'knows', 'work', 'much', 'longer', 'hours', 'make', 'ends', 'meet', 'children', 'needs', 'prevent', 'last', 'week', 'paying', 'uber', 'commission', 'earned', 'costs', 'full', 'working', 'week', 'weeks', 'much', 'less', 'newer', 'drivers', 'deducted', 'estimates', 'costs', 'hiring', 'vehicle', 'paying', 'public', 'hire', 'vehicle', 'insurance', 'fuel', 'licence', 'fees', 'car', 'cleaning', 'phone', 'hire', 'week', 'hourly', 'earnings', 'fell', 'statutory', 'national', 'living', 'wage', 'hour', 'applied', 'previous', 'job', 'could', 'ask', 'operator', 'give', 'local', 'jobs', 'needed', 'come', 'end', 'shift', 'says', 'unable', 'uber', 'penalised', 'logged', 'turns', 'jobs', 'far', 'away', 'self-employed', 'ought', 'able', 'take', 'jobs', 'want', 'even', 'know', 'passenger', 'going', 'hadi', 'one', 'drivers', 'took', 'uber', 'employment', 'tribunal', 'ruled', 'self-employed', 'workers', 'entitled', 'basic', 'rights', 'including', 'national', 'living', 'wage', 'uber', 'appealing', 'decision', 'although', 'worked', 'different', 'operators', 'past', 'says', 'undercut', 'uber', 'longer', 'recruiting', 'nowhere', 'else', 'go', 'beginning', 'money', 'really', 'good', 'fares', 'higher', 'cut', 'flooded', 'market', 'sometimes', 'wait', 'well', 'hour', 'job', 'taxpayers', 'like', 'funding', 'uber', 'moment', 'earning', 'enough', 'go', 'government', 'ask', 'benefits']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/09/uber-drivers-report-sweated-labour-minimum-wage

Uber treats its drivers as Victorian-style “sweated labour”, with some taking home less than the minimum wage, according to a report into its working conditions based on the testimony of dozens of drivers. Drivers at the taxi-hailing app company reported feeling forced to work extremely long hours, sometimes more than 70 a week, just to make a basic living, said Frank Field, the Labour MP and chair of the work and pensions committee. Field received testimony from 83 drivers who said they often took home significantly less than the “national living wage” after paying their running costs. The report says they described conditions that matched the Victorian definition of sweated labour: “when earnings were barely sufficient to sustain existence, hours of labour were such as to make lives of workers periods of ceaseless toil; and conditions were injurious to the health of workers and dangerous to the public”. Although Uber classifies its drivers as self-employed, which puts them outside minimum wage legislation, Field said that in reality they had almost no independence – Uber dictates their working patterns once they have logged on, has raised its commission while cutting the rates they can charge, and imposes lockouts from its system if drivers turn down too many jobs. This, combined with the cost of the vehicles needed to meet Uber’s requirements, is creating “chronically low pay” and insecurity, the report says. Field said he had produced the report, Sweated Labour, Uber and the “Gig” Economy, because he was concerned that the bottom was falling out of the labour market. It follows his highly critical examination of working practices at the courier company Hermes. He said ordinary taxpayers were suffering because companies in the gig economy, where people do predominantly short-term, casual work, were failing to carry a fair share of the risks of business. “This is what has blown a hole in the government’s projections for tax revenue. The more workers are pushed into low-paid, insecure self-employment, the less will be the tax take for the rest of the country. The Uber report shows that this form of self-employment is not confined to Hermes, but is a driving force in the wider gig economy.” Uber said it did not believe the cases in Field’s report were representative. It said recent polling had shown that nine in 10 of its drivers were satisfied with the money they made and enjoyed being able to balance work and family life. “We’re proud of the economic opportunities we have created for people who can choose to drive when and where they want. Drivers using our app made average payments of more than £16 an hour after Uber’s service fee this September,” the company said in a statement. It said most of its drivers worked less than 40 hours a week on its platform, with only about 25% logged in for more than that. It urged any driver who was making “below average payments to get in touch so that it could advise on better car and insurance deals and best times and places to drive”. The report, written with Field’s parliamentary researcher Andrew Forsey, says Uber has flooded the market with new drivers, increasing competition for passengers so drivers are forced to work longer and longer just to maintain their low earnings. Those who have taken on debt to finance their vehicles feel trapped and have little choice but to work unsafe hours to service their loans and feed their families, it says. The number of private hire drivers licensed by Transport for London (TfL) has almost doubled in six years, from 59,000 in 2010 to more than 116,000 by December this year. Uber says around 40,000 drivers work for its platform in the UK, with about 30,000 of those in the capital. One driver told Field: “Yesterday my hourly net income fell to £2 an hour. I made £40 cash, then had to put in £30 in petrol.” Another described his work as being so low paid he received working tax credits from the state despite working very long hours. “The fares are too low and the commission too high. Drivers work six and a half days and 16 hours a day – dangerous for the driver, passenger and the public. Often you will earn less than the minimum wage, so you work more hours.” Field is calling for TfL and the Department for Transport to require Uber to banish “sweated labour” from its working practices before renewing its licence to operate when it ends in 2017. He also wants the government to reform employment law so that companies in the gig economy are required to give workers basic protections, including the national living wage. Uber was founded in 2009 in San Francisco and has expanded rapidly across the world since. Consumers love its low fares and convenience but it has attracted controversy in many of the cities where it operates, being banned in some, and provoking protests and legal challenges in others. In London, a group of 19 Uber drivers took the company to an employment tribunal earlier this year with the help of the GMB union, arguing that they were not genuinely self-employed and were entitled to workers’ rights, including the national living wage. The court ruled in favour of the drivers in October but Uber said it would appeal against the decision. Employment law currently requires individual workers to bring their own cases rather than the ruling being automatically applied to other drivers. Yaseen Aslam, the founder of United Private Hire Drivers, said the report’s findings echoed members’ experiences with Uber. “Minicab drivers throughout the UK have been exploited by operators for years but Uber’s entry to the market has accelerated a race to the bottom.” TfL has argued for a cap on driver licensing under both the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and his predecessor, Boris Johnson, but says it would require the government to legislate, which it has not been willing to do. A government spokesman said: “Taxis and private hire vehicles provide a vital service for many people and businesses across the country. We are committed to supporting the industry, with safety a priority. “We are keen to ensure our employment rules keep up to date to reflect new ways of working, and that’s why we have asked the Royal Society for the Arts chief executive, Matthew Taylor, to conduct an independent review into modern working practices.”

technology/2016/dec/09/uber-drivers-report-sweated-labour-minimum-wage

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2016-12-09T13:51:59Z

Uber is treating its drivers as sweated labour, says report

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/09/uber-drivers-report-sweated-labour-minimum-wage

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/09/virtual-reality-childbirth-pain-relief

Erin Martucci had been enjoying the beach vista and gazing at a flock of birds overhead when something shook her view. The voice of Ralph Anderson, her gynecologist, broke through the sound of the waterfall next to her. “We’re ready to push!” he said, gently taking Martucci’s virtual reality headset off and bringing her back to a hospital room at Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, New York. Martucci, 40, looked around at her husband and mother, their voices swirling excitedly around her: “She’s crowning! She’s ready!” “I was like, ‘Wait, what are you doing?’. I thought I needed the goggles to push!,” Martucci says. She had been so engrossed in her virtual beachside hideaway, she hadn’t realised that her baby’s head was starting to show. It was time to take off the goggles. Martucci is believed to be the first woman to use virtual reality (VR) for pain management during labor. With more women moving away from scheduled C-sections – which accounted for 32% of US births in 2015 – VR might offer another drug-free pain option during birth. “I was on a beach, and there was a fire going,” Martucci recalls. “Wherever you moved, the scene moved with you. If I looked up, I saw the galaxy and the sun setting. On the right, there was a waterfall and a lot of movement with birds,” Martucci says. From time to time, a woman with an English accent peppered Martucci’s virtual world with guidance. “You wanted to listen to her,” she says. “I remember her focusing on the breathing and your body tensing and relaxing, and tensing and relaxing. She kept saying ‘Focus on the birds,’” says Martucci. “It was really very calming. She would teach me how to breathe and be really in touch with your body.” ‘It made me feel I’m OK here’ Martucci had declined an epidural earlier in the day when she started to think her labor contractions were becoming too painful to manage on her own, but she was open to Anderson’s suggestion to try a pre-programmed VR headset. While Martucci wore the device, Anderson monitored her contractions remotely and check on her in between seeing other patients. “You could tell she was having pain the whole time, but she was breathing through all of it,” Anderson says. Near the end of the two hours, Anderson saw Martucci was reacting more to her contractions, and her pain had intensified. She let out some guttural sounds and writhed a bit. He sensed that it was time to check whether she was ready to push. “Obviously, I know I was going through some of the contractions, and eventually I knew my body was telling me I’m ready, but I never anticipated that I wore the machine for that long. It definitely calmed me down and helped me breathe and really focus on getting through the labor,” Martucci says. “There was something about it that made me feel, ‘I’m OK here.’” Within minutes of taking off the device, Martucci gave birth to her second child, a girl. Getting women on board with virtual reality Anderson’s medical practice wants to improve patient safety by reducing the use of opiate and narcotic pain medications and anesthesia, and is exploring alternative pain treatments during labor, including jacuzzi baths and nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. Since the summer, Anderson, who is also the chairperson of the robotic surgery steering committee at Orange Regional Medical Center, has been using a Samsung Gear VR headset to help calm his patients before and during minor procedures, such as biopsies of the cervix. He had only offered it to a small number of women during early-stage, passive labor, and wasn’t sure his patients would be open to using it during late-stage, active labor when contractions are at their strongest and most women want to focus on their breathing. During active labor, women are prone to ask for epidurals, where pain relief is injected into the spine. Martucci seemed open to managing her pain without medication, so was a good candidate for the headset. “The patient has to be a little bit motivated and not someone who is going to be that scared of the pain,” Anderson says. “You have to put the device on at the right time, because if that pain is that intense, you’re not going to catch up.” Later that day, Anderson offered the device to another woman who was going into labor with her fourth child, and who chose VR to distract herself during an uncomfortable pelvic exam and induction. She gave birth shortly after removing the headset. “She was so interested, and was writing down the details, wanting to know where she could get her own.” says Anderson. VR for pain The company that created the virtual environment and supplied the headset Anderson uses, AppliedVR, has partnered with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for clinical studies. The trials will explore using VR to manage acute pain, mainly through coaching and distraction. Other hospitals, including Boston Children’s Hospital and UCLA, also have planned trials with AppliedVR. Using VR in this way is still rare, but there is some evidence that this technique of being immersed in an different sensorial environment can temporarily relieve pain. According to a report in the Psychology of Consciousness medical journal in September 2015, adults using VR while experiencing pain reported an average 82% reduction compared to those who do not. The researchers found that adults benefited more than children, though it remains unclear how virtual reality could alter chronic, persistent pain. Some hospitals and doctors have begun to use VR to train surgeons before they operate on real patients, while others are exploring how to use it to aid diagnosis, allowing multiple, complex 3D scans to be examined in a virtual environment. In the limited VR trials for childbirth, Anderson found that AppliedVR’s technology can help women take their mind off the pain, but also keeps their eyes open and engaged – rather than closing their eyes and clenching their firsts. Prenatal professionals encourage women to concentrate on a focal point to keep them relaxed and concentrated on their breathing. Natural birthing proponents point to the increasing medicalization of birth since the Victorian era, and to discussion of birth that focuses on pain and fear. Using VR during labour could encourage women to give birth naturally and without drugs, but might also mean that they aren’t fully present during one of the most important moments of their lives. “I can imagine that for some women, looking at the sky or at the birds or flowers can be more relaxing than focusing on the body,” says Beatrijs Smulders, a Dutch midwife and author of Safe Birth. “But from my experience, any distraction from focusing on your body inhibits the birth.” She has attended to more than 4,000 births in her 40-year career in the Netherlands, a country known to promote home and natural births and with a C-section rate of 7.7%, according to a 2015 study. Too much stimulation during labor can stimulate cortisol, the stress hormone, which inhibits the other hormones the body needs to quickly and successfully push the labor along, including oxytocin, endorphins, and prolactin. Smulders recommends laboring women seek darker, quieter spaces and give full attention to their bodies. Women are capable of internalizing the pain, Smulder says, and using it to make the body respond to labor. “It’s the body that does the work. You have to go down into your body and leave all the activities in your brain alone.” But for Martucci, using virtual reality felt like a simple and powerful way to deal with the intensity and discomfort of her labor. “Having that voice take me through the breathing and being in touch with your body and that focal point helped so much more,” says Martucci, who recounts her birth story at every opportunity. “I thought it was great. And we have this healthy, beautiful baby girl.”

technology/2016/dec/09/virtual-reality-childbirth-pain-relief

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2016-12-09T11:00:27Z

Can virtual reality help women cope with childbirth?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/09/virtual-reality-childbirth-pain-relief

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/09/facebook-copying-another-snapchat-feature

Facebook has, er, “borrowed” a feature from Snapchat. Again. Just as a reminder, here are all the previous times Facebook has tried to take on Snapchat: two clones of Snapchat Stories, two attempted acquisitions, four standalone apps, two ephemeral messaging implementations, and three new cameras with AR lenses. Facebook clearly felt like13 clone attempts could be unlucky, though, so it raced ahead with its14th attack on the ephemeral messaging app: custom geofilters! Except they’re called “frames” in Facebook’s implementation because even it has some shame. Users can the visual frames using nothing more than their graphic design skills, then upload them to Facebook for others to discover when they’re in the right geographic location. That means a concert venue or sports team could offer custom frames for users taking pictures at an event, for example. The UK is one of the first markets to get access to the custom frames, through a feature called the Camera Effects Platform, which is launching in Britain as well as Ireland, Colombia, Mexico and Taiwan. Apparently those are the countries which currently use Facebook’s normal Frames most often. One day, there will be no more Snapchat features left for Facebook to clone. That day is not here yet.

technology/2016/dec/09/facebook-copying-another-snapchat-feature

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2016-12-09T09:49:16Z

This is getting silly now: Facebook is copying another Snapchat feature

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/09/facebook-copying-another-snapchat-feature

['facebook', 'er', 'borrowed', 'feature', 'snapchat', 'reminder', 'previous', 'times', 'facebook', 'tried', 'take', 'snapchat', 'two', 'clones', 'snapchat', 'stories', 'two', 'attempted', 'acquisitions', 'four', 'standalone', 'apps', 'two', 'ephemeral', 'messaging', 'implementations', 'three', 'new', 'cameras', 'ar', 'lenses', 'facebook', 'clearly', 'felt', 'like13', 'clone', 'attempts', 'could', 'unlucky', 'though', 'raced', 'ahead', 'its14th', 'attack', 'ephemeral', 'messaging', 'app', 'custom', 'geofilters', 'except', 'called', 'frames', 'facebook', 'implementation', 'even', 'shame', 'users', 'visual', 'frames', 'using', 'nothing', 'graphic', 'design', 'skills', 'upload', 'facebook', 'others', 'discover', 'right', 'geographic', 'location', 'means', 'concert', 'venue', 'sports', 'team', 'could', 'offer', 'custom', 'frames', 'users', 'taking', 'pictures', 'event', 'example', 'uk', 'one', 'first', 'markets', 'get', 'access', 'custom', 'frames', 'feature', 'called', 'camera', 'effects', 'platform', 'launching', 'britain', 'well', 'ireland', 'colombia', 'mexico', 'taiwan', 'apparently', 'countries', 'currently', 'use', 'facebook', 'normal', 'frames', 'often', 'one', 'day', 'snapchat', 'features', 'left', 'facebook', 'clone', 'day', 'yet']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/08/mark-zuckerberg-political-office-facebook-control

Mark Zuckerberg may intend to pursue government service while retaining control of Facebook, according to recently unsealed court filings in a case pitting the CEO against minority investors. The class-action lawsuit was first filed in late April, after Zuckerberg proposed a corporate shake-up that would dilute the voting power of shareholders – giving him “eternal control” of the company, in the words of the shareholders’ lawyers. Text messages excerpted in the court documents reveal that Zuckerberg and two board members discussed the CEO’s possible government service, and argued about how to present it to shareholders. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, one of the company’s most prominent investors, texted Zuckerberg in March to say that the “biggest issue” of the corporate proposal was “how to define the gov’t service thing without freaking out shareholders that you are losing commitment”. A few weeks later, as Andreessen spoke with two other members of a special committee, the investor continued texting with Zuckerberg about negotiations. “I think the biggest remaining issue is still around the government service,” he wrote. Andreessen added that another of the committee members, former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, was “massively uncomfortable” with Zuckerberg “going off on leave with no involvement by the board and retaining control”. “He’s worried that it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back on the optics of good governance,” Andreesen went on about Erskine. “He’s worried it’s the thing people will point to on announcement and say ‘what the fuck are you guys doing agreeing to this’ Particularly since he thinks gov’t service would require you to give up control of FB anyway and it’s a moot point. “My counter argument is that because it’s likely a moot point let’s just give on it and it will probably never matter.” In mid-April, the special committee recommended that Facebook’s board approve the new system, and according to the court documents Andreessen texted Zuckerberg: “The cat’s in the bag and the bag’s in the river.” Zuckerberg replied: “does that mean the cat’s dead?” Andreessen answered: “mission accomplished”, adding a smiley face. The board approved the plan, as did shareholders, with Zuckerberg the controlling voter among them. According to the proposal as it was described in a regulatory filing, Zuckerberg would be able to take a two-year leave from Facebook to serve “in a government position or office” without losing control of the company. Minority Facebook investors sued Zuckerberg in late April and early May, alleging in in Delaware’s chancery court that the CEO and Andreessen unfairly meddled in the board’s decision, and protected Zuckerberg over minority shareholders. The plan to restructure Facebook’s stock system was paused by the court until the lawsuit’s resolution. Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Facebook said: “Facebook is confident that the special committee engaged in a thorough and fair process to negotiate a proposal in the best interests of Facebook and its shareholders.” Zuckerberg has fastidiously tried to avoid the appearance of political bias, even as his company has sunk deeper into political controversies, for instance in board member Peter Thiel’s support for Donald Trump and Facebook’s emergence as a platform for misinformation and fake news. Earlier this year, Facebook fired the human team that moderated its “trending news” section over accusations of bias, and Zuckerberg called it a “crazy idea” that misleading and false articles could sway voters. He later promised “we take misinformation seriously”. The CEO has also met with Republicans, Democrats and officials in the Obama administration, in part to talk about government surveillance. He has also increasingly turned his attention to philanthropy, saying that he hopes to “cure, prevent and manage all disease by the end of this century”. Andreessen first invested in Facebook not long after the company’s founding, though Zuckerberg rebuked the board member earlier this year for saying India had suffered from “anti-colonialism”.

technology/2016/dec/08/mark-zuckerberg-political-office-facebook-control

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2016-12-08T23:42:31Z

Facebook court filings hint at possible political future for Mark Zuckerberg

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/08/mark-zuckerberg-political-office-facebook-control

['mark', 'zuckerberg', 'may', 'intend', 'pursue', 'government', 'service', 'retaining', 'control', 'facebook', 'according', 'recently', 'unsealed', 'court', 'filings', 'case', 'pitting', 'ceo', 'minority', 'investors', 'class-action', 'lawsuit', 'first', 'filed', 'late', 'april', 'zuckerberg', 'proposed', 'corporate', 'shake-up', 'would', 'dilute', 'voting', 'power', 'shareholders', 'giving', 'eternal', 'control', 'company', 'words', 'shareholders', 'lawyers', 'text', 'messages', 'excerpted', 'court', 'documents', 'reveal', 'zuckerberg', 'two', 'board', 'members', 'discussed', 'ceo', 'possible', 'government', 'service', 'argued', 'present', 'shareholders', 'venture', 'capitalist', 'marc', 'andreessen', 'one', 'company', 'prominent', 'investors', 'texted', 'zuckerberg', 'march', 'say', 'biggest', 'issue', 'corporate', 'proposal', 'define', 'gov', 'service', 'thing', 'without', 'freaking', 'shareholders', 'losing', 'commitment', 'weeks', 'later', 'andreessen', 'spoke', 'two', 'members', 'special', 'committee', 'investor', 'continued', 'texting', 'zuckerberg', 'negotiations', 'think', 'biggest', 'remaining', 'issue', 'still', 'around', 'government', 'service', 'wrote', 'andreessen', 'added', 'another', 'committee', 'members', 'former', 'white', 'house', 'chief', 'staff', 'erskine', 'bowles', 'massively', 'uncomfortable', 'zuckerberg', 'going', 'leave', 'involvement', 'board', 'retaining', 'control', 'worried', 'straw', 'breaks', 'camel', 'back', 'optics', 'good', 'governance', 'andreesen', 'went', 'erskine', 'worried', 'thing', 'people', 'point', 'announcement', 'say', 'fuck', 'guys', 'agreeing', 'particularly', 'since', 'thinks', 'gov', 'service', 'would', 'require', 'give', 'control', 'fb', 'anyway', 'moot', 'point', 'counter', 'argument', 'likely', 'moot', 'point', 'let', 'give', 'probably', 'never', 'matter', 'mid-april', 'special', 'committee', 'recommended', 'facebook', 'board', 'approve', 'new', 'system', 'according', 'court', 'documents', 'andreessen', 'texted', 'zuckerberg', 'cat', 'bag', 'bag', 'river', 'zuckerberg', 'replied', 'mean', 'cat', 'dead', 'andreessen', 'answered', 'mission', 'accomplished', 'adding', 'smiley', 'face', 'board', 'approved', 'plan', 'shareholders', 'zuckerberg', 'controlling', 'voter', 'among', 'according', 'proposal', 'described', 'regulatory', 'filing', 'zuckerberg', 'would', 'able', 'take', 'two-year', 'leave', 'facebook', 'serve', 'government', 'position', 'office', 'without', 'losing', 'control', 'company', 'minority', 'facebook', 'investors', 'sued', 'zuckerberg', 'late', 'april', 'early', 'may', 'alleging', 'delaware', 'chancery', 'court', 'ceo', 'andreessen', 'unfairly', 'meddled', 'board', 'decision', 'protected', 'zuckerberg', 'minority', 'shareholders', 'plan', 'restructure', 'facebook', 'stock', 'system', 'paused', 'court', 'lawsuit', 'resolution', 'attorneys', 'plaintiffs', 'declined', 'comment', 'spokesperson', 'facebook', 'said', 'facebook', 'confident', 'special', 'committee', 'engaged', 'thorough', 'fair', 'process', 'negotiate', 'proposal', 'best', 'interests', 'facebook', 'shareholders', 'zuckerberg', 'fastidiously', 'tried', 'avoid', 'appearance', 'political', 'bias', 'even', 'company', 'sunk', 'deeper', 'political', 'controversies', 'instance', 'board', 'member', 'peter', 'thiel', 'support', 'donald', 'trump', 'facebook', 'emergence', 'platform', 'misinformation', 'fake', 'news', 'earlier', 'year', 'facebook', 'fired', 'human', 'team', 'moderated', 'trending', 'news', 'section', 'accusations', 'bias', 'zuckerberg', 'called', 'crazy', 'idea', 'misleading', 'false', 'articles', 'could', 'sway', 'voters', 'later', 'promised', 'take', 'misinformation', 'seriously', 'ceo', 'also', 'met', 'republicans', 'democrats', 'officials', 'obama', 'administration', 'part', 'talk', 'government', 'surveillance', 'also', 'increasingly', 'turned', 'attention', 'philanthropy', 'saying', 'hopes', 'cure', 'prevent', 'manage', 'disease', 'end', 'century', 'andreessen', 'first', 'invested', 'facebook', 'long', 'company', 'founding', 'though', 'zuckerberg', 'rebuked', 'board', 'member', 'earlier', 'year', 'saying', 'india', 'suffered', 'anti-colonialism']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/08/uber-vomiting-flirting-vandalism-banned

Uber released a new set of rules for passengers on Thursday, banning vandalism, “vomiting due to excessive alcohol consumption” and flirting. It is the first time Uber has published specific guidelines for passengers. The rules set out specific examples of unacceptable behaviour, and people flouting the rules could be permanently banned from the service. “Most riders show drivers the respect they deserve,” the company said in a statement. “But some don’t – whether it’s leaving trash in the car, throwing up in the back seat after too much alcohol or asking a driver to break the speed limit so they can get to their appointment on time. “This kind of poor behavior is not OK.” Some of the guidelines relate to sexual misconduct. There have been a number of cases where Uber drivers have been accused of rape and sexual assault since its inception. While setting out rules for passenger-driver interactions, some of the guidelines appear to be aimed at people using UberPool – the money-saving service where separate passengers are collected and dropped off at different locations in the same car. “Don’t touch or flirt with other people in the car,” the rules state. Drivers are also banned from flirting. “As a reminder, Uber has a no sex rule. That’s no sexual conduct between drivers and riders, no matter what.” The regulations also note that it is “common courtesy not to shout, swear or slam the car door” and tell passengers not to bring a gun into the car. Discrimination based on race, religion or sex will also be punished. “Any behavior involving violence, sexual misconduct, harassment, discrimination, or illegal activity while using Uber can result in the immediate loss of your account,” the rules state. Uber’s release of the passenger rules come at the end of a troubled year for the company. In October, an Uber driver in California was charged with four counts of sexual assault after allegedly raping an unconscious 17-year-old girl. In November, Uber settled a lawsuit brought by two women, from Boston, and Charleston, South Carolina, who said the company was responsible for alleged sexual assault by Uber drivers. In May, it was revealed that Uber drivers in London had been accused of 32 rapes and sexual assaults over a 12-month period.

technology/2016/dec/08/uber-vomiting-flirting-vandalism-banned

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2016-12-08T19:25:30Z

Uber tries to solve sexual misconduct issues by banning riders from flirting

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/08/uber-vomiting-flirting-vandalism-banned

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/08/kickstarter-pebble-shut-down

Smartwatch maker Pebble has sold to Fitbit in a deal that leaves it shutting down all manufacturing, refunding Kickstarter backers, and warning current owners that their watches may stop working at some point in the future. The deal, according to a report from Bloomberg, values the smartwatch startup at less than $40m. If true, that is a massive drop from earlier reported acquisition attempts. Techcruch says Pebble was first offered $740m by watchmaker Citizen in 2015, and then $70m by Intel in early 2016. Pebble’s chief executive, Eric Migicovsky, reportedly refused both offers. After the purchase, Fitbit will incorporate Pebble’s software engineering team into its own company, but the majority of Pebble’s employees, including Migicovsky, have not been offered jobs by the new owner. In a statement, Fitbit co-founder and chief executive James Park said Fitbit “sees an opportunity to build on our strengths and extend our leadership position in the wearables category. “With this acquisition, we’re well positioned to accelerate the expansion of our platform and ecosystem to make Fitbit a vital part of daily life for a wider set of consumers.” Pebble’s own statement was less upbeat. The company said that it “is no longer promoting, manufacturing, or selling any devices, and that while “Pebble devices will continue to work as normal … Pebble functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future.” Pebble had gained a reputation for swimming against the tide of the wider smartwatch industry, eschewing powerful devices and high-resolution screens for simpler watches with e-ink screens and a focus on long battery life. But that wasn’t enough to help the company make its mark on the wider market, and Pebble was hurt further by the consolidation of the smartwatch market around platforms with strong links to pre-existing smartphone operating systems, such as Android Wear and the Apple Watch. Other smartwatch and wearable manufacturers have found themselves in similar straits. Microsoft’s Band, a hybrid fitness tracker and smartwatch, was discontinued in October this year, while Fitbit itself has struggled to break into the market with its Blaze smartwatch. The company cut its Christmas sales forecast in early November this year. The acquisition comes less than six months after Pebble ended its last Kickstarter campaign, raising $12m to produce and sell three new devices: the Pebble 2, Pebble Time 2, and Pebble Core. The company had become a recurring feature on the crowdfounding site, using it to sell pre-orders and tighten links with customers long after similar businesses would have moved to a more conventional shop. Now, Pebble is refunding backers who haven’t received their watches, which includes everyone who tried to buy a Time 2 or Core, and says they will receive a full refund by 16 December. “It’s a bittersweet time, no doubt,” Pebble said in a message to backers. “We’ll miss what we’re leaving behind, but are excited for what the future holds. It will be important for Pebblers to extend a warm welcome to Fitbit – as fans and customers – sharing what they love about Pebble and what they’d like to see next.” Pebble backers were, by and large, less hopeful. Comments included one user saying it was the “Last time ever I will use Kickstarter and will advise everyone I know to avoid!” and another noting that “My Round should have shipped in September, but it didn’t. When I asked for an update I was told delays. Now I know that was a bit of a fallacy and it was never going to be produced, and you want to possibly not even refund the monetary value you got from me.”

technology/2016/dec/08/kickstarter-pebble-shut-down

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2016-12-08T09:58:21Z

Kickstarter darling Pebble shut down after being bought for $40m

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/08/kickstarter-pebble-shut-down

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/askjack/2016/dec/08/whats-the-best-cheap-laptop-for-running-minecraft

I have just read your 2015 guide, What’s the best laptop for running Minecraft?, and wondered if you could update it for 2016. My 10-year-old son adores Minecraft, and his Chromebook isn’t cutting it. He’s really into Pixelmon, so I was thinking about spending approx £300, though I’m willing to go up a bit if it gets something that will grow with him. He is using the web and the usual office tools a lot, and he’s increasingly keen to learn coding. Claire This has been a common query for three or four years, and when buying a Minecraft machine, the basic rules never change. First, get the fastest processor you can, within your budget. Second, go for the fastest graphics card you can afford. Shop around, but I doubt you’ll find anything under £300, unless you are willing to buy a refurbished or second-hand laptop. Minecraft platforms It’s actually quite easy to run Minecraft. There are versions for most platforms including Apple iOS and Google Android tablets, and for Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation games consoles. There’s also a free trial beta version that runs as a “modern” app in Windows 10. All these are great. The drawback is that they don’t support “mods” or modding platforms such as Pixelmon. The main version of Minecraft runs in a Java virtual machine, which enables the same program to run on Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux (which you can install on an Intel-based Chromebook). This is the version that supports “mods” and Pixelmon. Unfortunately, it consumes a lot of resources, which means you need a reasonably powerful PC to get good results. It’s therefore best to run full Minecraft on a desktop tower if possible. Tower PCs have lots of space inside, and cooling fans, so they can use hot, fast processors. They also have expansion slots so you can add a graphics card that wasn’t supplied as standard. Laptops are cramped for space, so manufacturers install slower processors that run cooler. And because Windows laptop manufacturers compete heavily on price, they rarely fit dedicated graphics cards. Instead, they rely on the “integrated graphics” that come with the processor. These also use the computer’s main memory for graphics, instead of having their own fast memory chips. The good news is that integrated graphics have improved a lot in the past 5-10 years. To benefit, go for the newest processor you can afford. Either way, aim to buy at least 4GB of memory – preferably 8GB – and at least 64GB of storage for Minecraft. This eliminates most of the laptops in the £150-£250 price bracket. Also, buy a good USB mouse. Intel chip choice Intel makes two main ranges of processors. Low-end laptops use low power Atom designs, which are branded Atom, Celeron and Pentium. These are fine for most purposes, including running full-screen videos and Microsoft Office. However, more powerful Core processor are needed for tougher jobs, such as video editing and gaming. So far, Intel has released seven generations of its Core range, and the generation is shown by the first number in the processor name. In other words, a seventh-gen chip will have a number in the form i5-7xxx while a sixth-gen chip will be i5-6xxx. If you’re relying on built-in graphics, aim for a sixth- or seventh-gen processor. The three main lines of Core chips are designated, BMW style, the Core i3, i5 and i7. The i7 is out of your price range, while the Core i3 is a little underpowered, and lacks the “burst mode” (short speed boost) feature of the i5 and i7. The Core i3-6100U is unusually fast for an i3 chip, but may not save much cash compared with the superior Core i5-6200U. Some gamers prefer AMD processors because they have more cores and are easier to overclock. In general, however, they are slower and run hotter than Intel processors. You can compare processor speeds at NotebookCheck’s Comparison of Mobile Processors (CPU Benchmarks). Ignore the numbers and use search (Ctrl-F) to find each chip’s rank in the table. Possible laptops There are lots of laptops for just under £300 – it’s a popular price point – but it requires compromises. For example, the Asus VivoBook A540 at Currys PC World (£299) has a Core i3-5005U but only 4GB of memory, while the equivalent Asus X540SA at John Lewis (£299.95) has 8GB of memory but a much slower Intel Pentium N3700 processor. Unless you can find something in the sales, you should aim to pay a little more. Your best bet could be the 15.6in Lenovo IdeaPad 310 laptop with a 1920 x 1080-pixel Full HD screen, Core i5-6260U processor, 8GB of memory and 1TB hard drive. This is available from both John Lewis and Currys PC World for £379, but John Lewis includes a 3-year guarantee. You could get the same laptop with a Core i3-6100U processor, a lower-resolution 1366 x 768-pixel screen and a two-year guarantee for £349.95. However, it’s not such good value, and only saves £40. You could drop further down to an IdeaPad 305 with 4GB of memory and a fifth-gen Core i3-5005U for £329.95, but you’d be losing even more power and £50 worth of memory to save £20. The Asus VivoBook A540 has the same spec for £299. Incidentally, Lenovo sells these machines direct. The Core i3-6100U version costs £349.99, with Core i5-7200U models at £449.99 and £479.99, and a Core i7-7500U for £579.99. The 2.5GHz i5-7200U laptop (£449.99) is faster than the 1.8GHz i5-6260U model that John Lewis stocks (£379), but probably not worth the extra £70. If you can make it to a shop, you can compare the IdeaPad 310 with the HP 15-ay167sa, Asus and other machines, to see how you like the screen, keyboard and general build quality. The HP 15-ay167sa has the latest Core i5-7200U processor but a lower screen resolution (1366 x 768) for £399. Dedicated graphics? The improvements in Intel integrated graphics have pushed dedicated graphics cards out of low-end laptops, so they are now rather hard to find. However, eBuyer is offering an Acer Aspire E5-573G with a Core i3-5005U and Nvidia GeForce 940M graphics for £409.98, while Laptops Direct has an Asus X556UB-DM262T with a Core i3-6100U and GeForce GTX 940M graphics for £479.97. The main appeal of this machine is that it has a 128GB SSD instead of a traditional hard drive, but it’s way over budget. Minecraft settings As mentioned, Minecraft will run on almost anything. However, high graphics settings will bring most mainstream laptops to their knees. OptiFine and other optimisations can help. However, your son needs to understand that the settings he chooses for graphics, lighting, textures, render distance, and screen size – plus the number of mods and plug-ins installed – can all slow the frame-rate. If the graphics start to judder and lag, he will need to dial back the fancy effects until he gets a good playing experience. Hitting F3 shows the frame rate. I’d aim for at least 50-60 frames per second with Minecraft full screen. As usual, more is better. Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to [email protected] What’s the best laptop for a child ... who plays Minecraft? What’s the best type of machine for playing Minecraft? What’s the best laptop for running Minecraft?

technology/askjack/2016/dec/08/whats-the-best-cheap-laptop-for-running-minecraft

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2016-12-08T09:47:21Z

What’s the best cheap laptop for running Minecraft?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2016/dec/08/whats-the-best-cheap-laptop-for-running-minecraft

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/08/countering-drones-conference-studies-security-threats-airports-prisons

Security officials, police and legal experts from around the world are gathered in London for a global conference on tackling the threats posed to prisons, airports, nuclear facilities and other infrastructure by consumer drones. The Countering Drones conference, which organisers describe as the first of its kind, reflects concerns that increasingly high-powered and affordable models of drones are posing new and wide-ranging security challenges for police and other protection forces. Nearly 80% of people surveyed by Defence IQ, the conference organisers, said they believed a major security incident involving drones in civilian airspace was strongly likely or almost certain to happen in the next five years. In some areas, such as at airports and in prisons, drones are already causing widespread disruption, but the conference also highlights areas such as at sporting events and seaports, where threats posed by unmanned aircraft are still emerging. The conference is sponsored by defence companies Thales and Rheinmetall with tickets starting at £599 a head. A programme advertises sessions by officials from the US, UK, France, Israel, Switzerland and Germany, among others, and offers intriguing hints as to the solutions being considered – one session by a Canadian researcher is titled “Can we just shoot them down?” Reports of near-misses between drones and commercial aircraft have risen sharply: four serious incidents were reported in July alone, with unmanned aircraft spotted as close as five metres from passenger jets taking off or landing. It is often unclear whether close calls are due to naive drone pilots or potentially malicious actors, said Steve Landells, safety officer at the British Airline Pilots Association. “Whether that person’s deliberately flying a drone around an airport to stop all traffic to disrupt things or because they just want some pretty pictures, the end result from an aviation point of view is roughly the same,” he said, warning that their presence dangerously distracts pilots during takeoff and landing phases. “As a pilot you’re coming into land, you’ve got 200 tonnes of metal and human beings behind you and you’re trying to put an aircraft down on an area the size of a couple of tennis courts at 150mph. The last thing you really need to be doing is having a sudden shock … that’s the danger the drones pose,” Landells said. Lawyers at the conference were scheduled to discuss whether airports and civil aviation authorities are at risk of being sued if a drone strike leads to an air accident, while officials from Los Angeles, Berlin and Budapest airports will discuss the potential prevention measures they could take. There has also been a steep increase in the past three years of reports of small drones being used to smuggle drugs and other contraband equipment into prisons. The commissioner of Canada’s correctional service, Don Head, is in London to discuss the “menace” posed by drones to prisons at the conference. “This is a problem that’s growing on a daily basis and it’s a problem that needs to be eradicated,” said Glyn Travis, spokesman for the Prison Officers Association, adding that it posed “a real threat to security and public safety”. Travis said: “We have asked the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service what they are doing to try and combat this, and we are still waiting for a solution that will prevent the use of drones in prison and stop the use of them to smuggle equipment in. It’s a real problem. We haven’t seen anything that’s being done to stop it.” This week the justice secretary, Liz Truss, was mocked for suggesting that the barking of guard dogs was deterring drones at Pentonville prison. The conference programme also hints at less frequently reported threats: one session examines how to protect civil nuclear sites against drone attack and surveillance, while a US official is scheduled to deliver a briefing on how drones are being used to spy on seaports, as well as for smuggling. Another session examines threats to sporting events, including consideration of whether in future stadia will need to be designed with advanced anti-drone “detect and destroy” technologies. The rapid growth of consumer drones had taken officials by surprise and had left the authorities scrambling to catch up with basic measures such as ensuring drones are registered, said Landells. “I don’t think anyone anticipated the massive growth … that they’d be selling tens of thousands of drones every year,” he said.

technology/2016/dec/08/countering-drones-conference-studies-security-threats-airports-prisons

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2016-12-08T07:00:09Z

Conference studies security threats posed by consumer drones

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/08/countering-drones-conference-studies-security-threats-airports-prisons

['security', 'officials', 'police', 'legal', 'experts', 'around', 'world', 'gathered', 'london', 'global', 'conference', 'tackling', 'threats', 'posed', 'prisons', 'airports', 'nuclear', 'facilities', 'infrastructure', 'consumer', 'drones', 'countering', 'drones', 'conference', 'organisers', 'describe', 'first', 'kind', 'reflects', 'concerns', 'increasingly', 'high-powered', 'affordable', 'models', 'drones', 'posing', 'new', 'wide-ranging', 'security', 'challenges', 'police', 'protection', 'forces', 'nearly', 'people', 'surveyed', 'defence', 'iq', 'conference', 'organisers', 'said', 'believed', 'major', 'security', 'incident', 'involving', 'drones', 'civilian', 'airspace', 'strongly', 'likely', 'almost', 'certain', 'happen', 'next', 'five', 'years', 'areas', 'airports', 'prisons', 'drones', 'already', 'causing', 'widespread', 'disruption', 'conference', 'also', 'highlights', 'areas', 'sporting', 'events', 'seaports', 'threats', 'posed', 'unmanned', 'aircraft', 'still', 'emerging', 'conference', 'sponsored', 'defence', 'companies', 'thales', 'rheinmetall', 'tickets', 'starting', 'head', 'programme', 'advertises', 'sessions', 'officials', 'us', 'uk', 'france', 'israel', 'switzerland', 'germany', 'among', 'others', 'offers', 'intriguing', 'hints', 'solutions', 'considered', 'one', 'session', 'canadian', 'researcher', 'titled', 'shoot', 'reports', 'near-misses', 'drones', 'commercial', 'aircraft', 'risen', 'sharply', 'four', 'serious', 'incidents', 'reported', 'july', 'alone', 'unmanned', 'aircraft', 'spotted', 'close', 'five', 'metres', 'passenger', 'jets', 'taking', 'landing', 'often', 'unclear', 'whether', 'close', 'calls', 'due', 'naive', 'drone', 'pilots', 'potentially', 'malicious', 'actors', 'said', 'steve', 'landells', 'safety', 'officer', 'british', 'airline', 'pilots', 'association', 'whether', 'person', 'deliberately', 'flying', 'drone', 'around', 'airport', 'stop', 'traffic', 'disrupt', 'things', 'want', 'pretty', 'pictures', 'end', 'result', 'aviation', 'point', 'view', 'roughly', 'said', 'warning', 'presence', 'dangerously', 'distracts', 'pilots', 'takeoff', 'landing', 'phases', 'pilot', 'coming', 'land', 'got', 'tonnes', 'metal', 'human', 'beings', 'behind', 'trying', 'put', 'aircraft', 'area', 'size', 'couple', 'tennis', 'courts', '150mph', 'last', 'thing', 'really', 'need', 'sudden', 'shock', 'danger', 'drones', 'pose', 'landells', 'said', 'lawyers', 'conference', 'scheduled', 'discuss', 'whether', 'airports', 'civil', 'aviation', 'authorities', 'risk', 'sued', 'drone', 'strike', 'leads', 'air', 'accident', 'officials', 'los', 'angeles', 'berlin', 'budapest', 'airports', 'discuss', 'potential', 'prevention', 'measures', 'could', 'take', 'also', 'steep', 'increase', 'past', 'three', 'years', 'reports', 'small', 'drones', 'used', 'smuggle', 'drugs', 'contraband', 'equipment', 'prisons', 'commissioner', 'canada', 'correctional', 'service', 'head', 'london', 'discuss', 'menace', 'posed', 'drones', 'prisons', 'conference', 'problem', 'growing', 'daily', 'basis', 'problem', 'needs', 'eradicated', 'said', 'glyn', 'travis', 'spokesman', 'prison', 'officers', 'association', 'adding', 'posed', 'real', 'threat', 'security', 'public', 'safety', 'travis', 'said', 'asked', 'ministry', 'justice', 'national', 'offender', 'management', 'service', 'try', 'combat', 'still', 'waiting', 'solution', 'prevent', 'use', 'drones', 'prison', 'stop', 'use', 'smuggle', 'equipment', 'real', 'problem', 'seen', 'anything', 'done', 'stop', 'week', 'justice', 'secretary', 'liz', 'truss', 'mocked', 'suggesting', 'barking', 'guard', 'dogs', 'deterring', 'drones', 'pentonville', 'prison', 'conference', 'programme', 'also', 'hints', 'less', 'frequently', 'reported', 'threats', 'one', 'session', 'examines', 'protect', 'civil', 'nuclear', 'sites', 'drone', 'attack', 'surveillance', 'us', 'official', 'scheduled', 'deliver', 'briefing', 'drones', 'used', 'spy', 'seaports', 'well', 'smuggling', 'another', 'session', 'examines', 'threats', 'sporting', 'events', 'including', 'consideration', 'whether', 'future', 'stadia', 'need', 'designed', 'advanced', 'anti-drone', 'detect', 'destroy', 'technologies', 'rapid', 'growth', 'consumer', 'drones', 'taken', 'officials', 'surprise', 'left', 'authorities', 'scrambling', 'catch', 'basic', 'measures', 'ensuring', 'drones', 'registered', 'said', 'landells', 'think', 'anyone', 'anticipated', 'massive', 'growth', 'would', 'selling', 'tens', 'thousands', 'drones', 'every', 'year', 'said']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/07/information-overload-pew-study-digital-divide

Some 20% of American adults feel the burden of information overload, with that figure at least doubling among those from poorer or less educated backgrounds, according to a report released today by the Pew Research Center. “The large majority of Americans do not feel that information overload is a problem for them,” the authors of the report said, pointing out that fewer Americans feel overloaded now than they did in 2006, when the figure was 27%. Furthermore, 77% of US adults say they like having so much information at their fingertips. “We thought it was surprising that the rate was so low and that it has fallen fairly substantially in the last decade,” said senior researcher John Horrigan. He suggested that the decline in people reporting information overload is due to the increased availability of digital access tools such as tablet computers, smartphones and broadband. “Even though there are greater flows of information flying around, we think the fact that people have more tools to help them allows them to deal with it,” he said. However, the sense of “information overwhelm” is made worse by the digital divide. “Those who are more likely to feel information overload have less technology and are poorer, less well-educated and older,” the authors said. Forty-five percent of people with high school degrees sometimes feel stressed about the amount of information they have to follow, compared with 39% of those with college degrees or more. Similarly, 47% of those whose household income is less than $30,000 sometimes feel stressed by the information they have to keep track of compared with 39% of those earning more than $75,000. The problem becomes even more acute in specific situations when institutions such as banks, government agencies or schools impose high information demands on people. “There are some members of society that don’t have the range of tools that many of us do. They are the ones that feel the stress. It suggests that institutions might want to be more patient with parts of the population who may not be as digitally sophisticated,” Horrigan said. “Information overload is a terrible scourge of modern society,” said Jonathan Spira, author of Overload, a book that examines the cost of the problem to businesses. “It has caused people to lose their ability to manage thoughts and ideas, contemplate, and even reason and think. “After 15 years of studying the problem of information overload I was so overloaded I had to find something else to do.” Spira believes, contrary to Pew’s research, that the problem is getting worse and that it is illustrated by the current epidemic of fake news. “That’s an information overload problem. There is so much information out there that people are no longer able to distinguish between legitimate information and fake news.” Information overload is not without its upsides, according to Pew’s report. “People’s abilities to access information online can open new doors to knowledge, facilitate connections with friends and make all sorts of transactions convenient,” researchers said.

technology/2016/dec/07/information-overload-pew-study-digital-divide

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2016-12-07T15:00:33Z

Only 20% of US adults have information overload, but those who do feel burden

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/07/information-overload-pew-study-digital-divide

['american', 'adults', 'feel', 'burden', 'information', 'overload', 'figure', 'least', 'doubling', 'among', 'poorer', 'less', 'educated', 'backgrounds', 'according', 'report', 'released', 'today', 'pew', 'research', 'center', 'large', 'majority', 'americans', 'feel', 'information', 'overload', 'problem', 'authors', 'report', 'said', 'pointing', 'fewer', 'americans', 'feel', 'overloaded', 'figure', 'furthermore', 'us', 'adults', 'say', 'like', 'much', 'information', 'fingertips', 'thought', 'surprising', 'rate', 'low', 'fallen', 'fairly', 'substantially', 'last', 'decade', 'said', 'senior', 'researcher', 'john', 'horrigan', 'suggested', 'decline', 'people', 'reporting', 'information', 'overload', 'due', 'increased', 'availability', 'digital', 'access', 'tools', 'tablet', 'computers', 'smartphones', 'broadband', 'even', 'though', 'greater', 'flows', 'information', 'flying', 'around', 'think', 'fact', 'people', 'tools', 'help', 'allows', 'deal', 'said', 'however', 'sense', 'information', 'overwhelm', 'made', 'worse', 'digital', 'divide', 'likely', 'feel', 'information', 'overload', 'less', 'technology', 'poorer', 'less', 'well-educated', 'older', 'authors', 'said', 'forty-five', 'percent', 'people', 'high', 'school', 'degrees', 'sometimes', 'feel', 'stressed', 'amount', 'information', 'follow', 'compared', 'college', 'degrees', 'similarly', 'whose', 'household', 'income', 'less', 'sometimes', 'feel', 'stressed', 'information', 'keep', 'track', 'compared', 'earning', 'problem', 'becomes', 'even', 'acute', 'specific', 'situations', 'institutions', 'banks', 'government', 'agencies', 'schools', 'impose', 'high', 'information', 'demands', 'people', 'members', 'society', 'range', 'tools', 'many', 'us', 'ones', 'feel', 'stress', 'suggests', 'institutions', 'might', 'want', 'patient', 'parts', 'population', 'may', 'digitally', 'sophisticated', 'horrigan', 'said', 'information', 'overload', 'terrible', 'scourge', 'modern', 'society', 'said', 'jonathan', 'spira', 'author', 'overload', 'book', 'examines', 'cost', 'problem', 'businesses', 'caused', 'people', 'lose', 'ability', 'manage', 'thoughts', 'ideas', 'contemplate', 'even', 'reason', 'think', 'years', 'studying', 'problem', 'information', 'overload', 'overloaded', 'find', 'something', 'else', 'spira', 'believes', 'contrary', 'pew', 'research', 'problem', 'getting', 'worse', 'illustrated', 'current', 'epidemic', 'fake', 'news', 'information', 'overload', 'problem', 'much', 'information', 'people', 'longer', 'able', 'distinguish', 'legitimate', 'information', 'fake', 'news', 'information', 'overload', 'without', 'upsides', 'according', 'pew', 'report', 'people', 'abilities', 'access', 'information', 'online', 'open', 'new', 'doors', 'knowledge', 'facilitate', 'connections', 'friends', 'make', 'sorts', 'transactions', 'convenient', 'researchers', 'said']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/07/tech-talk-your-tech-for-christmas-questions-answered

Want to ask us about whether the Pixel is better than the iPhone? If VR is really the future? Or how good that new Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is? Experts from the Guardian’s technology desk, including Jonathan Haynes, Samuel Gibbs and Alex Hern, will be online and in the comments from 11am-1pm (GMT) answering your tech questions and discussing the latest issues – join them now. We’ll round up some of the best discussion, advice and expert opinion in a blog post after.

technology/2016/dec/07/tech-talk-your-tech-for-christmas-questions-answered

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2016-12-07T10:50:59Z

Tech talk: your tech for Christmas questions answered

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/07/tech-talk-your-tech-for-christmas-questions-answered

['want', 'ask', 'us', 'whether', 'pixel', 'better', 'iphone', 'vr', 'really', 'future', 'good', 'new', 'touch', 'bar', 'new', 'macbook', 'pro', 'experts', 'guardian', 'technology', 'desk', 'including', 'jonathan', 'haynes', 'samuel', 'gibbs', 'alex', 'hern', 'online', 'comments', '11am-1pm', 'gmt', 'answering', 'tech', 'questions', 'discussing', 'latest', 'issues', 'join', 'round', 'best', 'discussion', 'advice', 'expert', 'opinion', 'blog', 'post']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/07/twitter-donald-trump-tweeting-jack-dorsey

For the first time, Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, has described his “complicated” feelings about the US president-elect Donald Trump’s use of the social media service. Speaking at the Code Commerce conference in California, Dorsey demurred when asked if he felt responsible for Trump’s election. “America is responsible for Donald Trump being president,” he said, before conceding that, more than any other candidate, Trump excelled in his use of Twitter. “He’s known how to use it for quite some time. I think it’s an important time for the company and service. And having the president-elect on our service, using it as a direct line of communication, allows everyone to see what’s on his mind in the moment. I think that’s interesting. I think it’s fascinating. I haven’t seen that before. “We’re definitely entering a new world where everything is on the surface and we can all see it in real time and we can have conversations about it. Where does that go? I’m not really sure. But it’s definitely been fascinating to learn from.” Asked how he felt about Trump’s use of the service, Dorsey said: “Complicated”. “I feel very proud of the role of the service and what it stands for and everything that we’ve done, and that continues to accelerate every single day. Especially as it’s had such a spotlight on it through his usage and through the election.” More than any other social network, Twitter has taken a stand against the surge of far-right activity that followed Donald Trump’s victory. A few days after the election, the company announced a host of new safety features, including a crackdown on hate speech and a renewed focus on training its moderators to better react to threats of violence and hateful conduct. “The amount of abuse, bullying, and harassment seen across the internet has risen sharply over the past few years,” Twitter said at the time. “In the worst cases, this type of conduct threatens human dignity, which we should all stand together to protect.” That same day, Twitter banned a host of notable “alt-right” users, members of the far-right subculture who push a meme-filled variant of traditional white supremacist views. Banned accounts included that of Richard B Spencer, a white nationalist Trump supporter who hosted a conference last month where supporters gave Nazi salutes. While Twitter has received praise from some for taking action, the move has also raised difficult questions for the company: what would it do if the president-elect tweeted views that his supporters have been banned from the network for expressing?

technology/2016/dec/07/twitter-donald-trump-tweeting-jack-dorsey

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2016-12-07T09:39:30Z

Twitter founder feels 'complicated' about Donald Trump's tweeting

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/07/twitter-donald-trump-tweeting-jack-dorsey

['first', 'time', 'twitter', 'chief', 'executive', 'jack', 'dorsey', 'described', 'complicated', 'feelings', 'us', 'president-elect', 'donald', 'trump', 'use', 'social', 'media', 'service', 'speaking', 'code', 'commerce', 'conference', 'california', 'dorsey', 'demurred', 'asked', 'felt', 'responsible', 'trump', 'election', 'america', 'responsible', 'donald', 'trump', 'president', 'said', 'conceding', 'candidate', 'trump', 'excelled', 'use', 'twitter', 'known', 'use', 'quite', 'time', 'think', 'important', 'time', 'company', 'service', 'president-elect', 'service', 'using', 'direct', 'line', 'communication', 'allows', 'everyone', 'see', 'mind', 'moment', 'think', 'interesting', 'think', 'fascinating', 'seen', 'definitely', 'entering', 'new', 'world', 'everything', 'surface', 'see', 'real', 'time', 'conversations', 'go', 'really', 'sure', 'definitely', 'fascinating', 'learn', 'asked', 'felt', 'trump', 'use', 'service', 'dorsey', 'said', 'complicated', 'feel', 'proud', 'role', 'service', 'stands', 'everything', 'done', 'continues', 'accelerate', 'every', 'single', 'day', 'especially', 'spotlight', 'usage', 'election', 'social', 'network', 'twitter', 'taken', 'stand', 'surge', 'far-right', 'activity', 'followed', 'donald', 'trump', 'victory', 'days', 'election', 'company', 'announced', 'host', 'new', 'safety', 'features', 'including', 'crackdown', 'hate', 'speech', 'renewed', 'focus', 'training', 'moderators', 'better', 'react', 'threats', 'violence', 'hateful', 'conduct', 'amount', 'abuse', 'bullying', 'harassment', 'seen', 'across', 'internet', 'risen', 'sharply', 'past', 'years', 'twitter', 'said', 'time', 'worst', 'cases', 'type', 'conduct', 'threatens', 'human', 'dignity', 'stand', 'together', 'protect', 'day', 'twitter', 'banned', 'host', 'notable', 'alt-right', 'users', 'members', 'far-right', 'subculture', 'push', 'meme-filled', 'variant', 'traditional', 'white', 'supremacist', 'views', 'banned', 'accounts', 'included', 'richard', 'b', 'spencer', 'white', 'nationalist', 'trump', 'supporter', 'hosted', 'conference', 'last', 'month', 'supporters', 'gave', 'nazi', 'salutes', 'twitter', 'received', 'praise', 'taking', 'action', 'move', 'also', 'raised', 'difficult', 'questions', 'company', 'would', 'president-elect', 'tweeted', 'views', 'supporters', 'banned', 'network', 'expressing']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/07/chatterbox-wednesday

It’s Wednesday.

technology/2016/dec/07/chatterbox-wednesday

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2016-12-07T07:00:24Z

Chatterbox: Wednesday

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/07/chatterbox-wednesday

['wednesday']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/06/youtubers-increase-earnings-forbes-top-12-ranking

Their talents range from comedy to gaming and from singing to playing pranks, often captured with nothing more than a handheld camera. But YouTubers are at the vanguard of an industry worth tens of millions of pounds. Forbes’ ranking of the 12 highest-earning YouTube stars shows they collectively earned £55m in the past 12 months, an increase of 23% on last year. The substantial rise in income is a testament to the growing influence of YouTube celebrities, who have moved beyond the platform to monetise their digital success, by authoring bestselling books, securing film deals and, in one case, becoming the face of L’Oréal. It is the second year that Forbes has ranked the earnings of YouTube celebrities, who come from countries including the US, France, Sweden, India and Chile. The list was again topped by PewDiePie, whose name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg. The 27-year-old from Sweden has built up a following of nearly 50 million subscribers for his videos, which have had 11bn views, in which he comedically narrates while playing video games. It has proved to be an increasingly lucrative pastime since Kjellberg joined YouTube in 2010. Forbes estimated that he earned $15m (£11.8m) last year from advertising revenue and sales of his parody self-help tome This Book Loves You. The list this year features four new entries, most of whom have capitalised on their enormous online following to earn six-figure book deals and sell merchandise. Roman Atwood, who earned $8m last year from videos of him and his friends performing pranks in the street, has a book and feature film in the pipeline, as well as an online store that sells branded hats, pens and sunglasses. Integrated sponsorship deals, where companies pay for their products to feature in popular vlogs, are also a large source of revenue for this generation of YouTube celebrities. The comedy duo Smosh, who are fourth on the Forbes list with earnings of $7m, had a series sponsored by razor company Schick. One of the new entries is the vlogger Tyler Oakley, who has won plaudits for using his largely video diary YouTube channel to challenge LGBT issues and speak about being bullied and having an eating disorder. Oakley, who earned $5m last year, has had a book reach number two in the New York Times bestseller list and interviewed Barack Obama. Oakley attributed the success of YouTube vloggers to the DIY ethos they continue to represent for a young audience. “I think it’s the concept of authenticity,” he said. “It’s an honesty that didn’t exist in media before when I was growing up. For example, gay youth might look at me and feel more of a connection because it’s a human, as opposed to a fictional TV character who’s gay. “For sure, YouTube is becoming so important in challenging those closed-minded attitudes. I think through YouTube, a lot of people have met their first openly LGBTQ people. “And by feeling that level of intimacy with people like me and other YouTubers, it has definitely accelerated the sentiment of acceptance. “I think there’s a level of intimacy with YouTube people, where maybe [with] a movie star, you feel [a] connection maybe once a year. With YouTube, you can find who you want and if you don’t like someone, you don’t have to watch it.” The number of YouTube channels making six-figure sums is up by 50% on last year. One of the UK’s biggest YouTube stars is Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, a vlogger living in Brighton whose chatty videos about beauty have earned her millions of followers. Her book, Girl Online, broke the record for the highest first week sales of a first-time novelist when it was released. However, Penguin later admitted that Sugg had not written the book and had instead “worked with an expert editorial team to help her bring to life her characters and experiences in a heartwarming and compelling story”.

technology/2016/dec/06/youtubers-increase-earnings-forbes-top-12-ranking

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2016-12-06T20:29:01Z

Net earnings: top YouTubers' income rises 23% in past year

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/06/youtubers-increase-earnings-forbes-top-12-ranking

['talents', 'range', 'comedy', 'gaming', 'singing', 'playing', 'pranks', 'often', 'captured', 'nothing', 'handheld', 'camera', 'youtubers', 'vanguard', 'industry', 'worth', 'tens', 'millions', 'pounds', 'forbes', 'ranking', 'highest-earning', 'youtube', 'stars', 'shows', 'collectively', 'earned', '55m', 'past', 'months', 'increase', 'last', 'year', 'substantial', 'rise', 'income', 'testament', 'growing', 'influence', 'youtube', 'celebrities', 'moved', 'beyond', 'platform', 'monetise', 'digital', 'success', 'authoring', 'bestselling', 'books', 'securing', 'film', 'deals', 'one', 'case', 'becoming', 'face', 'loreal', 'second', 'year', 'forbes', 'ranked', 'earnings', 'youtube', 'celebrities', 'come', 'countries', 'including', 'us', 'france', 'sweden', 'india', 'chile', 'list', 'topped', 'pewdiepie', 'whose', 'name', 'felix', 'arvid', 'ulf', 'kjellberg', '27-year-old', 'sweden', 'built', 'following', 'nearly', 'million', 'subscribers', 'videos', '11bn', 'views', 'comedically', 'narrates', 'playing', 'video', 'games', 'proved', 'increasingly', 'lucrative', 'pastime', 'since', 'kjellberg', 'joined', 'youtube', 'forbes', 'estimated', 'earned', '15m', '118m', 'last', 'year', 'advertising', 'revenue', 'sales', 'parody', 'self-help', 'tome', 'book', 'loves', 'list', 'year', 'features', 'four', 'new', 'entries', 'capitalised', 'enormous', 'online', 'following', 'earn', 'six-figure', 'book', 'deals', 'sell', 'merchandise', 'roman', 'atwood', 'earned', '8m', 'last', 'year', 'videos', 'friends', 'performing', 'pranks', 'street', 'book', 'feature', 'film', 'pipeline', 'well', 'online', 'store', 'sells', 'branded', 'hats', 'pens', 'sunglasses', 'integrated', 'sponsorship', 'deals', 'companies', 'pay', 'products', 'feature', 'popular', 'vlogs', 'also', 'large', 'source', 'revenue', 'generation', 'youtube', 'celebrities', 'comedy', 'duo', 'smosh', 'fourth', 'forbes', 'list', 'earnings', '7m', 'series', 'sponsored', 'razor', 'company', 'schick', 'one', 'new', 'entries', 'vlogger', 'tyler', 'oakley', 'plaudits', 'using', 'largely', 'video', 'diary', 'youtube', 'channel', 'challenge', 'lgbt', 'issues', 'speak', 'bullied', 'eating', 'disorder', 'oakley', 'earned', '5m', 'last', 'year', 'book', 'reach', 'number', 'two', 'new', 'york', 'times', 'bestseller', 'list', 'interviewed', 'barack', 'obama', 'oakley', 'attributed', 'success', 'youtube', 'vloggers', 'diy', 'ethos', 'continue', 'represent', 'young', 'audience', 'think', 'concept', 'authenticity', 'said', 'honesty', 'exist', 'media', 'growing', 'example', 'gay', 'youth', 'might', 'look', 'feel', 'connection', 'human', 'opposed', 'fictional', 'tv', 'character', 'gay', 'sure', 'youtube', 'becoming', 'important', 'challenging', 'closed-minded', 'attitudes', 'think', 'youtube', 'lot', 'people', 'met', 'first', 'openly', 'lgbtq', 'people', 'feeling', 'level', 'intimacy', 'people', 'like', 'youtubers', 'definitely', 'accelerated', 'sentiment', 'acceptance', 'think', 'level', 'intimacy', 'youtube', 'people', 'maybe', 'movie', 'star', 'feel', 'connection', 'maybe', 'year', 'youtube', 'find', 'want', 'like', 'someone', 'watch', 'number', 'youtube', 'channels', 'making', 'six-figure', 'sums', 'last', 'year', 'one', 'uk', 'biggest', 'youtube', 'stars', 'zoe', 'sugg', 'known', 'zoella', 'vlogger', 'living', 'brighton', 'whose', 'chatty', 'videos', 'beauty', 'earned', 'millions', 'followers', 'book', 'girl', 'online', 'broke', 'record', 'highest', 'first', 'week', 'sales', 'first-time', 'novelist', 'released', 'however', 'penguin', 'later', 'admitted', 'sugg', 'written', 'book', 'instead', 'worked', 'expert', 'editorial', 'team', 'help', 'bring', 'life', 'characters', 'experiences', 'heartwarming', 'compelling', 'story']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/dec/06/calling-gordon-gekko-how-old-mobiles-became-collector-items

When it debuted in 1989, the MicroTAC was hailed as a “game-changer”, one that Motorola argued would bring mobile phones out of the hands of top execs and into the hands of senior mid-level execs. Competively priced at $2,995, the size of a Dutch brick rather than the preceding concrete breezeblock, it had an amazing half-hour’s talk time with only 10 hours of charging. The price has dropped a bit, but at £100 on eBay, the likes of the MicroTAC still hold value for collectors. New research by Talkmobile highlights how the market for vintage phones has become increasingly lively as collectors aim to snap up a brick of tech history. Before they start cropping up on Antiques Roadshow, here are 10 landmark phones and what they’re changing hands for online this year: 1. Motorola DynaTAC 8000x The elder brother to the MicroTAC, and Gordon Gekko’s handset of choice, the DynaTAC, released in 1984, pretty much invented all those 80s cliches. Street value: £1,000 2. Nokia 3310 The Volkswagen Beetle of phones. You’ve definitely got two of these and thrown three away. Released in 2000, it went on to sell 126m units, and is so popular it is now one of three “national emojis” for Finland. Street value: £10-£55 3. Nokia Mobira Senator Released in 1981, the Senator is hailed as one of the first truly mobile phones – if by mobile you mean “can be plugged into your car and weighs 10kg”. Street value: £1,300 4. Apple iPhone 2G It may have only had a now-piddly 4G or 8G of memory but, because of increased processing, 2007’s original iPhone still stacks up with today’s phones when it comes to battery life while browsing. Street value: £150-£1,000 5. Motorola StarTAC The first clamshell phone, and the first to sell more than 60m units. Weighing in at only 88g, this 1996 unit heralded the birth of the mass-consumer phone. Street value: £30-£100 6. Motorola Razr V3 In 2004, Motorola released the definitive handset of the clamshell era – the thinnest of its genus, it also boasted a sporty “electroluminescent” keyboard. Street value: £15-£60. But the Dolce & Gabanna tie-in model will set you back £150. 7. Sony Ericsson W880i Featuring breakthroughs of “video editing, picture blogging, web gallery uploading”, Sony Ericsson’s sturdy W880i defined 2006’s proto-smartphone era – when music and photos suddenly became the chief selling points of everyone’s next handset. Street value: £30-£50 8. Nokia N95 The same year that Apple was debuting the iPhone, Nokia’s N95 was giving it a run for its money. An early adopter of the accelerometer, it was utterly eclipsed by Apple’s entry, but has since been widely heralded as a lost classic. Street value: £60-£90 9. HTC One An early Android hit in 2012, the innovative tech in HTC’s breakthrough paved the way for them to be the handset manufacturers to Google’s 2016 Pixel. Street value: £40-£50 10. Nokia 9000 Communicator The original “fold-out keyboard” unit attempted an obvious solution to a common problem, pre-predictive text. First seen on-screen in The Saint reboot in 1997, it is also referenced in Brett Easton Ellis’s brand-mad Glamorama. Street value: £20-£50

technology/shortcuts/2016/dec/06/calling-gordon-gekko-how-old-mobiles-became-collector-items

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2016-12-06T16:18:00Z

Calling Gordon Gekko: how old mobile phones became £1,000 collector items

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/dec/06/calling-gordon-gekko-how-old-mobiles-became-collector-items

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/dec/06/why-does-bill-gates-want-you-to-read-the-myth-of-the-strong-leader

If there’s one thing more valuable to an author than a Richard and Judy endorsement circa 2006, it’s a Bill Gates plug circa this week. The man has reach, and the luxury of reading time that comes with being a semi-retired billionaire. And he has weight. So, while four of the books on his annual list cover predictable if fascinating ground (genetics, tennis, electricity infrastructure and a business memoir), the fifth is quite interesting, not to say timely. In The Myth of the Strong Leader, the renowned British political scholar Archie Brown throws a dozen world leaders of the past century into a bag, shakes them up, and watches the nice guys rise to the top. Brown debunks the idea that the most successful leaders are those who dominate and mould their nations around themselves, as far as their political systems allow. “A more collegial style of leadership is too often characterised as a weakness,” he writes. Gates says on his blog that this year’s US election prompted him to pick up the book, which was published in 2014. Brown, emeritus professor of politics at Oxford University, “could not have predicted how resonant his book would become in 2016”, he adds. However, in a separate review on his website, Gates studiously avoids the T-word. He comes closest, perhaps, when he says that the ostensibly appealing qualities of “strong” leaders “can be boiled down to a belief [that he or she] is the only one who knows what the country needs, and the only one who can deliver it”. Brown, who is 78, is understandably delighted by Gates’s approval, and doesn’t mind alluding to Trump. “The myth of the strong leader is alive and well,” he says in an email. “It was a major factor in bringing us the looming reality of the presidency of a TV star. So I believe that the arguments I make in The Myth of the Strong Leader do, as Gates suggests, have a particular resonance right now.” Gates starts his review with the case of the former Spanish prime minister Adolfo Suárez. The rightwing minister under Franco reached out to the left to form a centrist, democratic government after the dictator’s demise with “negotiation, persuasion, and some very adroit coalition-building”. Of US leaders, Brown – and Gates – big up Harry Truman, who once said: “I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to do without my persuading them ... That’s all the powers of the president amount to.” Putin is the biggest reigning strongman in Brown’s book, but the writer is reluctant to assess his growing popularity among rightwing figures including Trump, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen. It’s also too soon to judge Trump, he says. But perhaps we can be premature, and do it anyway, using Brown’s own list of the qualities that, he says, make a truly strong president: “Integrity, intelligence, articulateness, collegiality, shrewd judgment, a questioning mind, willingness to seek disparate views, ability to absorb information, flexibility, good memory, courage, vision, empathy and boundless energy.” How’s he doing so far?

technology/shortcuts/2016/dec/06/why-does-bill-gates-want-you-to-read-the-myth-of-the-strong-leader

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2016-12-06T15:31:00Z

Why does Bill Gates want you to read The Myth of the Strong Leader?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/dec/06/why-does-bill-gates-want-you-to-read-the-myth-of-the-strong-leader

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/06/facebook-tool-fake-news-rank-misleading-language-data-collecting

Facebook appears to be testing a tool designed to help it identify and hide so called “fake news” on the social network, in an attempt to quell increasingly vocal criticism of its role in spreading untruths and propaganda. The tool, reported by at least three separate Facebook users on Twitter, asks readers to rank on a scale of one to five the extent to which they think a link’s title “uses misleading language”. The articles in question were from reliable sources: Rolling Stone magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Chortle, a news site which reports on comedy. It isn’t clear how Facebook intends to act on the data it is collecting, or whether it intends to act at all. Misleading link text is certainly a part of the fake news problem on the social network, as evidenced by the two misleading adverts that accompanied Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s 18 November post about fake news. (That post was later temporarily deleted by Facebook, before the site acknowledged the “system error”.) The problem of misleading links is compounded by Facebook’s user interface, which serves to de-emphasise links to external sources in favour of encouraging users to like, share or comment on the site itself. Research suggests that almost 60% of social media shares come from users who never clicked the link, implying that the headline drives discussion and sharing far more than the content of an article. At the same time, much of the conversation around fake news has focused on articles and publications with many more problems than simple misleading headlines. The “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which resulted in a self-radicalised gunman discharging his weapon in a popular pizza restaurant in Washington DC on Sunday, was spread with the help of a string of fake news stories falsely accusing the owners of being part of a made up paedophile ring with supposed ties to Hillary Clinton. While the Pizzagate stories ranged from misleading to outright fabricated, the headlines on them were accurate summations of their content, suggesting that readers from Facebook who clicked through would end up ranking them as highly trustworthy links under the site’s experimental system.

technology/2016/dec/06/facebook-tool-fake-news-rank-misleading-language-data-collecting

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2016-12-06T09:35:29Z

Facebook reportedly testing new tool to combat fake news

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/06/facebook-tool-fake-news-rank-misleading-language-data-collecting

['facebook', 'appears', 'testing', 'tool', 'designed', 'help', 'identify', 'hide', 'called', 'fake', 'news', 'social', 'network', 'attempt', 'quell', 'increasingly', 'vocal', 'criticism', 'role', 'spreading', 'untruths', 'propaganda', 'tool', 'reported', 'least', 'three', 'separate', 'facebook', 'users', 'twitter', 'asks', 'readers', 'rank', 'scale', 'one', 'five', 'extent', 'think', 'link', 'title', 'uses', 'misleading', 'language', 'articles', 'question', 'reliable', 'sources', 'rolling', 'stone', 'magazine', 'philadelphia', 'inquirer', 'chortle', 'news', 'site', 'reports', 'comedy', 'clear', 'facebook', 'intends', 'act', 'data', 'collecting', 'whether', 'intends', 'act', 'misleading', 'link', 'text', 'certainly', 'part', 'fake', 'news', 'problem', 'social', 'network', 'evidenced', 'two', 'misleading', 'adverts', 'accompanied', 'facebook', 'chief', 'executive', 'mark', 'zuckerberg', 'november', 'post', 'fake', 'news', 'post', 'later', 'temporarily', 'deleted', 'facebook', 'site', 'acknowledged', 'system', 'error', 'problem', 'misleading', 'links', 'compounded', 'facebook', 'user', 'interface', 'serves', 'de-emphasise', 'links', 'external', 'sources', 'favour', 'encouraging', 'users', 'like', 'share', 'comment', 'site', 'research', 'suggests', 'almost', 'social', 'media', 'shares', 'come', 'users', 'never', 'clicked', 'link', 'implying', 'headline', 'drives', 'discussion', 'sharing', 'far', 'content', 'article', 'time', 'much', 'conversation', 'around', 'fake', 'news', 'focused', 'articles', 'publications', 'many', 'problems', 'simple', 'misleading', 'headlines', 'pizzagate', 'conspiracy', 'theory', 'resulted', 'self-radicalised', 'gunman', 'discharging', 'weapon', 'popular', 'pizza', 'restaurant', 'washington', 'dc', 'sunday', 'spread', 'help', 'string', 'fake', 'news', 'stories', 'falsely', 'accusing', 'owners', 'part', 'made', 'paedophile', 'ring', 'supposed', 'ties', 'hillary', 'clinton', 'pizzagate', 'stories', 'ranged', 'misleading', 'outright', 'fabricated', 'headlines', 'accurate', 'summations', 'content', 'suggesting', 'readers', 'facebook', 'clicked', 'would', 'end', 'ranking', 'highly', 'trustworthy', 'links', 'site', 'experimental', 'system']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/05/facebook-twitter-google-microsoft-terrorist-extremist-content

Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft have pledged to work together to identify and remove extremist content on their platforms through an information-sharing initiative. The companies are to create a shared database of unique digital fingerprints – known as “hashes” – for images and videos that promote terrorism. This could include recruitment videos or violent terrorist imagery or memes. When one company identifies and removes such a piece of content, the others will be able to use the hash to identify and remove the same piece of content from their own network. “We hope this collaboration will lead to greater efficiency as we continue to enforce our policies to help curb the pressing global issue of terrorist content online,” said the companies in a statement. Because the companies have different policies on what constitutes terrorist content, they will start by sharing hashes of “the most extreme and egregious terrorist images and videos” as they are most likely to violate “all of our respective companies” content policies, they said. The precise technical details remain to be established, said Facebook, although the approach echoes that adopted to tackle child sexual abuse imagery. The same companies use the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s PhotoDNA technology, developed by Microsoft, to identify images of child sexual abuse. However, with PhotoDNA the images are categorized centrally by law enforcement and the technology companies are legally obliged to remove the content. Earlier this year Hany Farid, the computer scientist who helped develop PhotoDNA, proposed a sister program for extremist content. He teamed up with the Counter Extremism Project to develop a system that could proactively flag extremist photos, videos and audio clips as they are posted online. “We are happy to see this development. It’s long overdue,” he said, explaining that he has been in conversations with Facebook and Microsoft since January. Despite welcoming the announcement he remained cautious, particularly because of the lack of an impartial body to monitor the database: “There needs to be complete transparency over how material makes it into this hashing database and you want people who have expertise in extremist content making sure it’s up to date. Otherwise you are relying solely on the individual technology companies to do that.” The strength of PhotoDNA comes from the single central database, he said. “If it’s removed from one site, it’s removed everywhere. That’s incredibly powerful. It’s less powerful if it gets removed from Facebook and not from Twitter and YouTube. “What we want is to eliminate this global megaphone that social media gives to groups like Isis. This doesn’t get done by writing a press release.” Technology companies have been under pressure from governments around the world over the spread of extremist propaganda online from terror networks such as Isis. In January, top White House officials met with representatives from Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft to explore ways to tackle terrorism. “We are interested in exploring all options with you for how to deal with the growing threat of terrorists and other malicious actors using technology, including encrypted technology,” said a briefing document released before the secretive summit. “Are there technologies that could make it harder for terrorists to use the internet to mobilize, facilitate, and operationalize?” Facebook said the latest initiative was not the direct result of the January meeting. But it said all the companies agreed there was no place for content that promotes or supports terrorism on their networks.

technology/2016/dec/05/facebook-twitter-google-microsoft-terrorist-extremist-content

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2016-12-06T01:47:44Z

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft team up to tackle extremist content

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/05/facebook-twitter-google-microsoft-terrorist-extremist-content

['google', 'facebook', 'twitter', 'microsoft', 'pledged', 'work', 'together', 'identify', 'remove', 'extremist', 'content', 'platforms', 'information-sharing', 'initiative', 'companies', 'create', 'shared', 'database', 'unique', 'digital', 'fingerprints', 'known', 'hashes', 'images', 'videos', 'promote', 'terrorism', 'could', 'include', 'recruitment', 'videos', 'violent', 'terrorist', 'imagery', 'memes', 'one', 'company', 'identifies', 'removes', 'piece', 'content', 'others', 'able', 'use', 'hash', 'identify', 'remove', 'piece', 'content', 'network', 'hope', 'collaboration', 'lead', 'greater', 'efficiency', 'continue', 'enforce', 'policies', 'help', 'curb', 'pressing', 'global', 'issue', 'terrorist', 'content', 'online', 'said', 'companies', 'statement', 'companies', 'different', 'policies', 'constitutes', 'terrorist', 'content', 'start', 'sharing', 'hashes', 'extreme', 'egregious', 'terrorist', 'images', 'videos', 'likely', 'violate', 'respective', 'companies', 'content', 'policies', 'said', 'precise', 'technical', 'details', 'remain', 'established', 'said', 'facebook', 'although', 'approach', 'echoes', 'adopted', 'tackle', 'child', 'sexual', 'abuse', 'imagery', 'companies', 'use', 'national', 'center', 'missing', 'exploited', 'children', 'photodna', 'technology', 'developed', 'microsoft', 'identify', 'images', 'child', 'sexual', 'abuse', 'however', 'photodna', 'images', 'categorized', 'centrally', 'law', 'enforcement', 'technology', 'companies', 'legally', 'obliged', 'remove', 'content', 'earlier', 'year', 'hany', 'farid', 'computer', 'scientist', 'helped', 'develop', 'photodna', 'proposed', 'sister', 'program', 'extremist', 'content', 'teamed', 'counter', 'extremism', 'project', 'develop', 'system', 'could', 'proactively', 'flag', 'extremist', 'photos', 'videos', 'audio', 'clips', 'posted', 'online', 'happy', 'see', 'development', 'long', 'overdue', 'said', 'explaining', 'conversations', 'facebook', 'microsoft', 'since', 'january', 'despite', 'welcoming', 'announcement', 'remained', 'cautious', 'particularly', 'lack', 'impartial', 'body', 'monitor', 'database', 'needs', 'complete', 'transparency', 'material', 'makes', 'hashing', 'database', 'want', 'people', 'expertise', 'extremist', 'content', 'making', 'sure', 'date', 'otherwise', 'relying', 'solely', 'individual', 'technology', 'companies', 'strength', 'photodna', 'comes', 'single', 'central', 'database', 'said', 'removed', 'one', 'site', 'removed', 'everywhere', 'incredibly', 'powerful', 'less', 'powerful', 'gets', 'removed', 'facebook', 'twitter', 'youtube', 'want', 'eliminate', 'global', 'megaphone', 'social', 'media', 'gives', 'groups', 'like', 'isis', 'get', 'done', 'writing', 'press', 'release', 'technology', 'companies', 'pressure', 'governments', 'around', 'world', 'spread', 'extremist', 'propaganda', 'online', 'terror', 'networks', 'isis', 'january', 'top', 'white', 'house', 'officials', 'met', 'representatives', 'apple', 'facebook', 'twitter', 'microsoft', 'explore', 'ways', 'tackle', 'terrorism', 'interested', 'exploring', 'options', 'deal', 'growing', 'threat', 'terrorists', 'malicious', 'actors', 'using', 'technology', 'including', 'encrypted', 'technology', 'said', 'briefing', 'document', 'released', 'secretive', 'summit', 'technologies', 'could', 'make', 'harder', 'terrorists', 'use', 'internet', 'mobilize', 'facilitate', 'operationalize', 'facebook', 'said', 'latest', 'initiative', 'direct', 'result', 'january', 'meeting', 'said', 'companies', 'agreed', 'place', 'content', 'promotes', 'supports', 'terrorism', 'networks']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/05/google-must-review-its-search-rankings-because-of-rightwing-manipulation

Google must urgently review its search ranking system because of “compelling” evidence that it is being “manipulated and controlled” by rightwing propagandists, leading academics have said, after the Observer reported that hate sites are now dominating searches on Muslims, Jews, Hitler and women. Cathy O’Neil, a data scientist and the author of Weapons on Math Destruction, said that unless Google acknowledged responsibility for the problem, it would be a “co-conspirator” with the propagandists. “This is the end for Google pretending to be a neutral platform,” she said. “It clearly has a terrible problem here and it has to own and acknowledge that. “It simply can’t go on pretending that it has no editorial responsibilities when it is delivering these kinds of results. It is simply not defensible for it go on claiming ‘plausible deniability’. It has clearly become a conduit for rightwing hate sites and it must urgently take action.” The Observer found that searches for “are jews” were offering the suggestion “are jews evil”, and nine out of the 10 top results gave links to rightwing antisemitic hate sites. Google refused to comment on the individual search results, but on Sunday, it moved to change some but not all of the autocomplete suggestions that the report highlighted. Frank Pasquale, professor of law at Maryland University, said he found this “a very troubling and disturbing development”. “They’ve gone on in the fly and plugged the plug on certain search terms in response to your article, but this raises bigger and more difficult questions. Who did that? And how did they decide? Who’s in charge of these decisions? And what will they do in the future? This is clearly just being done in response to a story in the media, but it’s not accountable, and it’s not sustainable. I find it really troubling that they’ve taken this very quick and hasty response without any explanation of how and why they’ve done it.” Google had removed the lines suggesting that Jews and black people are evil and that blacks “commit more crimes”, but it is still suggesting Muslims were “bad” and that Islam “should be destroyed”. While Facebook has faced criticism in the wake of revelations about how the site had become a conduit for fake news, the problem facing Google is potentially even more intractable. O’Neil said that she believed Google would ultimately have to hire human editors. She said: “There’s a a growing list of social media empires that have been attempting with all their power and might to claim that they don’t have editorial responsibility, but they have been proven wrong. “They have been proven wrong by this troll army, and quite clearly when it comes to the questions that require a subtle understanding of the truth versus lies, they are going to have to use human judgment. “It is clearly very frightening what is going on here. Google has done a huge amount of work to avoid exactly this scenario. And yet the troll army has still managed to break through all its resources and defences. It is very troubling and they are clearly very, very good at this, but it’s why Google has to own this problem. It is doing a terrible job here. “Twenty years ago, these sites with these views … they would have been completely shut out by the mainstream press, but we have replaced our guardians of information with algorithms that are dumb and that can be toyed with and manipulated.” Jonathan Albright, assistant professor of communications at Elon University, North Carolina, said that rightwing websites had launched a new “information war”, and that that they were winning. His research has shown that fake news and extremist sites have created a vast network of links to each other and mainstream sites that has enabled them to game Google’s algorithm. The top eight out of 10 results for the Google search “was Hitler bad?”, for example, are links to Holocaust denial sites including the neo-Nazi site, StormFront.org. Albright’s research has shown that fake news and information is a far bigger structural problem than had been previously realised. He has mapped a “vast satellite system that is encroaching on the mainstream news system”. Websites propagating extreme rightwing propaganda have thrown out thousands of hyperlinks that connect to each other and to mainstream news sources, such as YouTube and Facebook, and he says they “are growing in strength and influence every day”. Julia Powles, a researcher at Cambridge University on technology and law, said Google’s response to the problem was “the classic PR response”. She added: “The media makes a fuss about something. Google goes in and hand-tweaks the result, while still claiming that it is not an editor and it is totally neutral, when clearly that is not true. It can and does change search results when it suits them. “They keep using this analogy that they’re like a card catalogue, but they’re really more like a card shark that can be gamed. It raises deeply disturbing issues about the democratic distribution of information.” A Google spokesperson said: “We took action within hours of being notified on Friday of the autocomplete results.” Google did not comment on its decision to alter some but not all those results raised in the article. It said: “Our search results are a reflection of the content across the web. This means that sometimes, unpleasant portrayals of sensitive subject-matter online can affect what search results appear for a given query. These results don’t reflect Google’s own opinions or beliefs. As a company, we strongly value a diversity of perspectives, ideas and cultures.” Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Land and one of the leading authorities on Google search, said Google faced a “very difficult, very challenging issue”. “They’ve done the PR of getting rid of some of the bad stuff quickly, and they will hope the PR spin will help this go away, but it doesn’t take away from the bigger issues. I take the concern very deeply. Google is the universal resource that people turn to. It is a concern they really need to solve.”

technology/2016/dec/05/google-must-review-its-search-rankings-because-of-rightwing-manipulation

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2016-12-05T19:48:21Z

Google 'must review its search rankings because of rightwing manipulation'

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/05/google-must-review-its-search-rankings-because-of-rightwing-manipulation

['google', 'must', 'urgently', 'review', 'search', 'ranking', 'system', 'compelling', 'evidence', 'manipulated', 'controlled', 'rightwing', 'propagandists', 'leading', 'academics', 'said', 'observer', 'reported', 'hate', 'sites', 'dominating', 'searches', 'muslims', 'jews', 'hitler', 'women', 'cathy', 'oneil', 'data', 'scientist', 'author', 'weapons', 'math', 'destruction', 'said', 'unless', 'google', 'acknowledged', 'responsibility', 'problem', 'would', 'co-conspirator', 'propagandists', 'end', 'google', 'pretending', 'neutral', 'platform', 'said', 'clearly', 'terrible', 'problem', 'acknowledge', 'simply', 'go', 'pretending', 'editorial', 'responsibilities', 'delivering', 'kinds', 'results', 'simply', 'defensible', 'go', 'claiming', 'plausible', 'deniability', 'clearly', 'become', 'conduit', 'rightwing', 'hate', 'sites', 'must', 'urgently', 'take', 'action', 'observer', 'found', 'searches', 'jews', 'offering', 'suggestion', 'jews', 'evil', 'nine', 'top', 'results', 'gave', 'links', 'rightwing', 'antisemitic', 'hate', 'sites', 'google', 'refused', 'comment', 'individual', 'search', 'results', 'sunday', 'moved', 'change', 'autocomplete', 'suggestions', 'report', 'highlighted', 'frank', 'pasquale', 'professor', 'law', 'maryland', 'university', 'said', 'found', 'troubling', 'disturbing', 'development', 'gone', 'fly', 'plugged', 'plug', 'certain', 'search', 'terms', 'response', 'article', 'raises', 'bigger', 'difficult', 'questions', 'decide', 'charge', 'decisions', 'future', 'clearly', 'done', 'response', 'story', 'media', 'accountable', 'sustainable', 'find', 'really', 'troubling', 'taken', 'quick', 'hasty', 'response', 'without', 'explanation', 'done', 'google', 'removed', 'lines', 'suggesting', 'jews', 'black', 'people', 'evil', 'blacks', 'commit', 'crimes', 'still', 'suggesting', 'muslims', 'bad', 'islam', 'destroyed', 'facebook', 'faced', 'criticism', 'wake', 'revelations', 'site', 'become', 'conduit', 'fake', 'news', 'problem', 'facing', 'google', 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'classic', 'pr', 'response', 'added', 'media', 'makes', 'fuss', 'something', 'google', 'goes', 'hand-tweaks', 'result', 'still', 'claiming', 'editor', 'totally', 'neutral', 'clearly', 'true', 'change', 'search', 'results', 'suits', 'keep', 'using', 'analogy', 'like', 'card', 'catalogue', 'really', 'like', 'card', 'shark', 'gamed', 'raises', 'deeply', 'disturbing', 'issues', 'democratic', 'distribution', 'information', 'google', 'spokesperson', 'said', 'took', 'action', 'within', 'hours', 'notified', 'friday', 'autocomplete', 'results', 'google', 'comment', 'decision', 'alter', 'results', 'raised', 'article', 'said', 'search', 'results', 'reflection', 'content', 'across', 'web', 'means', 'sometimes', 'unpleasant', 'portrayals', 'sensitive', 'subject-matter', 'online', 'affect', 'search', 'results', 'appear', 'given', 'query', 'results', 'reflect', 'google', 'opinions', 'beliefs', 'company', 'strongly', 'value', 'diversity', 'perspectives', 'ideas', 'cultures', 'danny', 'sullivan', 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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/05/google-alters-search-autocomplete-remove-are-jews-evil-suggestion

Google has altered autocomplete suggestions in its search engine after it was alerted to antisemitic, sexist and racists entries. Google’s autocomplete feature aims to suggest common searches after a user enters one or more words into the site’s search box or address bar of its Chrome browser. Typing the phrase “are Jews” into Google, the search engine suggested “evil”, for “are women” it again suggested “evil” and for “are Muslims” it suggested “bad”, an Observer article reported. On Monday the searches for Jews and women no longer returned those results, although the “are Muslims bad” autocomplete was still present. A Google spokesperson said: “We took action within hours of being notified on Friday of the autocomplete results.” Google did not comment on its decision to alter some but not all those raised in the article. It said: “Our search results are a reflection of the content across the web. This means that sometimes unpleasant portrayals of sensitive subject matter online can affect what search results appear for a given query. These results don’t reflect Google’s own opinions or beliefs – as a company, we strongly value a diversity of perspectives, ideas and cultures. “Autocomplete predictions are algorithmically generated based on users’ search activity and interests. Users search for such a wide range of material on the web – 15% of searches we see every day are new. Because of this, terms that appear in autocomplete may be unexpected or unpleasant. We do our best to prevent offensive terms, like porn and hate speech, from appearing, but we acknowledge that autocomplete isn’t an exact science and we’re always working to improve our algorithms.” This is not the first time Google and others’ autocomplete and search algorithms have caused offence. An auto-suggested photo tag within Google’s Photos service in July 2015 labelled two black teenagers as “Gorillas”. Google apologised and said it was working on “longer term fixes” around the recognition of dark-skinned faces as well as the linguistics of photo labels. In May 2015, Google apologised when the White House was returned as a result for searches for “nigger house” and “nigger king” within Google maps. Google declined to explain why the results occurred but a spokesperson said: “Some inappropriate results are surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologise for any offence this may have caused.” In April this year Google apologised after a search for “unprofessional hairstyles for work” yielded image results showing predominantly black women with natural hair, while searching for “professional” ones returned pictures of coiffed, white women. In June, Google’s image search also caused offence by returning criminal mugshots for searches of “three black teenagers” but not for “three white teenagers”. Google has also previously denied “conspiracy theories” accusing it of censoring its search results to please the Conservative party in exchange for a deal over its taxes.

technology/2016/dec/05/google-alters-search-autocomplete-remove-are-jews-evil-suggestion

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2016-12-05T15:00:25Z

Google alters search autocomplete to remove 'are Jews evil' suggestion

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/05/google-alters-search-autocomplete-remove-are-jews-evil-suggestion

['google', 'altered', 'autocomplete', 'suggestions', 'search', 'engine', 'alerted', 'antisemitic', 'sexist', 'racists', 'entries', 'google', 'autocomplete', 'feature', 'aims', 'suggest', 'common', 'searches', 'user', 'enters', 'one', 'words', 'site', 'search', 'box', 'address', 'bar', 'chrome', 'browser', 'typing', 'phrase', 'jews', 'google', 'search', 'engine', 'suggested', 'evil', 'women', 'suggested', 'evil', 'muslims', 'suggested', 'bad', 'observer', 'article', 'reported', 'monday', 'searches', 'jews', 'women', 'longer', 'returned', 'results', 'although', 'muslims', 'bad', 'autocomplete', 'still', 'present', 'google', 'spokesperson', 'said', 'took', 'action', 'within', 'hours', 'notified', 'friday', 'autocomplete', 'results', 'google', 'comment', 'decision', 'alter', 'raised', 'article', 'said', 'search', 'results', 'reflection', 'content', 'across', 'web', 'means', 'sometimes', 'unpleasant', 'portrayals', 'sensitive', 'subject', 'matter', 'online', 'affect', 'search', 'results', 'appear', 'given', 'query', 'results', 'reflect', 'google', 'opinions', 'beliefs', 'company', 'strongly', 'value', 'diversity', 'perspectives', 'ideas', 'cultures', 'autocomplete', 'predictions', 'algorithmically', 'generated', 'based', 'users', 'search', 'activity', 'interests', 'users', 'search', 'wide', 'range', 'material', 'web', 'searches', 'see', 'every', 'day', 'new', 'terms', 'appear', 'autocomplete', 'may', 'unexpected', 'unpleasant', 'best', 'prevent', 'offensive', 'terms', 'like', 'porn', 'hate', 'speech', 'appearing', 'acknowledge', 'autocomplete', 'exact', 'science', 'always', 'working', 'improve', 'algorithms', 'first', 'time', 'google', 'others', 'autocomplete', 'search', 'algorithms', 'caused', 'offence', 'auto-suggested', 'photo', 'tag', 'within', 'google', 'photos', 'service', 'july', 'labelled', 'two', 'black', 'teenagers', 'gorillas', 'google', 'apologised', 'said', 'working', 'longer', 'term', 'fixes', 'around', 'recognition', 'dark-skinned', 'faces', 'well', 'linguistics', 'photo', 'labels', 'may', 'google', 'apologised', 'white', 'house', 'returned', 'result', 'searches', 'nigger', 'house', 'nigger', 'king', 'within', 'google', 'maps', 'google', 'declined', 'explain', 'results', 'occurred', 'spokesperson', 'said', 'inappropriate', 'results', 'surfacing', 'google', 'maps', 'apologise', 'offence', 'may', 'caused', 'april', 'year', 'google', 'apologised', 'search', 'unprofessional', 'hairstyles', 'work', 'yielded', 'image', 'results', 'showing', 'predominantly', 'black', 'women', 'natural', 'hair', 'searching', 'professional', 'ones', 'returned', 'pictures', 'coiffed', 'white', 'women', 'june', 'google', 'image', 'search', 'also', 'caused', 'offence', 'returning', 'criminal', 'mugshots', 'searches', 'three', 'black', 'teenagers', 'three', 'white', 'teenagers', 'google', 'also', 'previously', 'denied', 'conspiracy', 'theories', 'accusing', 'censoring', 'search', 'results', 'please', 'conservative', 'party', 'exchange', 'deal', 'taxes']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/05/amazon-snowmobile-upload-truckload

“The internet is not something that you just dump something on,” the American senator Ted Stevens famously said in 2006. “It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes.” Ted Stevens was wrong. The internet is a big truck, and Amazon wants to drive it right up to your gaff to give you better upload speeds. That truck isn’t a metaphor, by the way. It’s literally a big truck, called the “snowmobile”, carrying a shipping container holding a mobile data centre which can store up to 100 petabytes (100 million gigabytes) of information. Drive it up to your own data centre, plug it in with a fibre connection, fill it up and let it go. If you need to upload 100 petabytes to the cloud, it turns out there is literally no faster way than driving it down the highway at 75mph. The truck is the successor to 2015’s “Snowball”, a pre-packed hard drive that could store 50TB of data that Amazon would post to customers needing to upload large amounts of data. The Snowball, which can now store 80TB, even uses a Kindle screen on the outside to skip the need for a pre-printed postage label. Both services are marketed at developers who want to use Amazon’s cloud computing service, AWS, but don’t have the time to upload large amounts of data. They’re a twist on the old concept of the “sneakernet”: physically transporting storage media to send large files around the workplace, often by carrying a USB flash drive or portable hard-drive. The sneakernet, and it’s modern equivalents, can often beat the internet on both speed and cost. Even a fast modern connection, at 1Gb/s, uploading 50TB of data will take four days; uploading 100 petabytes over the same connection would take a little over 25 years. On cost, however, Amazon is tight-lipped, saying nothing more than “we intend to make sure that Snowmobile is both faster and less expensive than using a network-based data transfer model”.

technology/2016/dec/05/amazon-snowmobile-upload-truckload

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2016-12-05T09:52:14Z

Amazon's Snowmobile will let you upload stuff by the truckload – literally

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/05/amazon-snowmobile-upload-truckload

['internet', 'something', 'dump', 'something', 'american', 'senator', 'ted', 'stevens', 'famously', 'said', 'big', 'truck', 'series', 'tubes', 'ted', 'stevens', 'wrong', 'internet', 'big', 'truck', 'amazon', 'wants', 'drive', 'right', 'gaff', 'give', 'better', 'upload', 'speeds', 'truck', 'metaphor', 'way', 'literally', 'big', 'truck', 'called', 'snowmobile', 'carrying', 'shipping', 'container', 'holding', 'mobile', 'data', 'centre', 'store', 'petabytes', 'million', 'gigabytes', 'information', 'drive', 'data', 'centre', 'plug', 'fibre', 'connection', 'fill', 'let', 'go', 'need', 'upload', 'petabytes', 'cloud', 'turns', 'literally', 'faster', 'way', 'driving', 'highway', '75mph', 'truck', 'successor', 'snowball', 'pre-packed', 'hard', 'drive', 'could', 'store', '50tb', 'data', 'amazon', 'would', 'post', 'customers', 'needing', 'upload', 'large', 'amounts', 'data', 'snowball', 'store', '80tb', 'even', 'uses', 'kindle', 'screen', 'outside', 'skip', 'need', 'pre-printed', 'postage', 'label', 'services', 'marketed', 'developers', 'want', 'use', 'amazon', 'cloud', 'computing', 'service', 'aws', 'time', 'upload', 'large', 'amounts', 'data', 'twist', 'old', 'concept', 'sneakernet', 'physically', 'transporting', 'storage', 'media', 'send', 'large', 'files', 'around', 'workplace', 'often', 'carrying', 'usb', 'flash', 'drive', 'portable', 'hard-drive', 'sneakernet', 'modern', 'equivalents', 'often', 'beat', 'internet', 'speed', 'cost', 'even', 'fast', 'modern', 'connection', '1gbs', 'uploading', '50tb', 'data', 'take', 'four', 'days', 'uploading', 'petabytes', 'connection', 'would', 'take', 'little', 'years', 'cost', 'however', 'amazon', 'tight-lipped', 'saying', 'nothing', 'intend', 'make', 'sure', 'snowmobile', 'faster', 'less', 'expensive', 'using', 'network-based', 'data', 'transfer', 'model']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/05/oneplus-3t-review-android-smartphone

The OnePlus 3T is a minor update to a very good smartphone which improves on some key areas, but it isn’t quite the bargain the original was. The Chinese smartphone firm only released the OnePlus 3 in June, but already it has been replaced. The 3T is practically identical to its predecessor, a slight colour difference on the outside the only sign that things have changed. According to OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, the company had some improvements available that would fit more or less in the same package – a larger battery, faster processor and improved cameras – so rather than wait a year, it simply replaced the OnePlus 3 with the 3T. But at the same time it has also increased the price of the smartphone, from its original £309 on launch, through its post Brexit referendum currency adjustment of £329 to a starting price of £399. Is the new 3T worth £70 more than the old 3? Refined and smooth The smooth aluminium body with a curved back and beveled sides feels every bit as good six months on with the 3T. It is a very nice smartphone to hold, touch and appreciate: there’s no doubt the 3T has the look and feel of a smartphone costing much more than £400. The 5.5in 1080p AMOLED screen is great. Now you can customise the colour tone to your liking, although out of the box most people will be very happy with the more subtle colour mode OnePlus uses compared to other AMOLED-using phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S7. With a pixel density of 401 pixels per inch, the 3T isn’t quite as crisp as top-end Android competitors, which have quad HD resolutions at the same screen size, and therefore side-by-side with a 534ppi Google Pixel XL it looks slightly less pin sharp. Most will be happy with it, although it will be noticeably poorer for virtual reality applications. The narrow bezels and curved back make it manageable one-handed even with the 5.5in screen. It isn’t quite as narrow as the current king of the large screen in a tiny bodied phone, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, but it is 1mm narrower than the Pixel XL. OnePlus’ excellent notification slider completes some well made buttons on the left and right side of the phone. Screen: 5.5in full HD AMOLED (401ppi) Processor: quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 RAM: 6GB of RAM Storage: 64 or 128GB Operating system: Android 6.0.1 OxygenOS 3.5 Camera: 16MP rear camera with OIS, 16MP front-facing camera Connectivity: LTE, Dual-Sim, Wi-Fi, NFC, USB-C, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS Dimensions: 152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35 mm Weight: 158g Longer battery life The OnePlus 3T has the same amount of memory and storage as its predecessor, but has a slightly more powerful processor: the Snapdragon 821 from Qualcomm, which is used in other high-end Android smartphones including the Pixel XL. It feels snappy, but not quite the fastest smartphone on the market: the Huawei Mate 9. It doesn’t feel any faster than the OnePlus 3, but the battery did last longer between charges. It has a slightly larger battery, and software refinements over the last six months have made the experience smoother. Used as my primary device with five hours of listening to music through Bluetooth earbuds, three hours spent browsing or using apps, occasional gaming and taking photos, with hundreds of push notifications throughout the day, the OnePlus 3T lasted around 36 hours between charges. The big improvement over the 3 has been in standby performance: where the 3 dropped 12-16% overnight, the 3T dropped only 4%, which is very good compared to most of the competition. Charging the battery is fast, too. With OnePlus’ proprietary Dash Charge power adapter and cable it took just over 70 minutes to reach 100% from zero charge, which is right up there with the fastest charging smartphones. It can also be charged using pretty much any USB charger, but at a standard rate. The OnePlus 3T also has dual-Sim support, which means two mobile phone contracts and two numbers can be used at the same time in the same phone. It’s a common and useful feature in Asia, but rare in the UK, and makes travelling or juggling a work and personal phone much easier within one device. The fingerprint scanner on the front, which doubles as a home button, is excellent. It’s fast, accurate and works great. OxygenOS 3.5 OnePlus customises Android to create OxygenOS. Unlike some other manufacturers the changes are subtle, more refinements rather than drastic alterations. If you’re a fan of the standard Android experience, you will appreciate OxygenOS. It has more customisation options, from the ability to swap the navigation buttons over, put them on screen or use the capacitive buttons beside the fingerprint scanner, to extended gesture support and tweaks for the dual-Sim capabilities. But the 3T ships with OxygenOS 3.5, which is based on last year’s Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, not the newest Android 7 Nougat. OnePlus expects to have an update to Nougat available before the end of the year. So far, it has not had the best track record for speedy software updates, but has got better over the last few months. Camera The 16-megapixel rear camera has some subtle improvements to detail and noise suppression over the OnePlus 3. Overall it’s a capable camera, shooting detailed shots in good lighting and solid if not remarkable shots in lowlight. It’s not quite as good as the best from Samsung or Google, but it’s hard to take a rubbish shot with the 3T. The 16-megapixel selfie camera is one of the highest resolution front-facing cameras available, and although more megapixels does not always equal better results, the 3T produced some of the most detailed and natural-looking selfies I’ve ever shot, even in tough lighting conditions such as office fluorescent strip lights. Price The OnePlus 3T is available in either gun metal grey or soft gold with 64GB of storage for £399 or just in gun metal with 128GB of storage for £439. It’s also available exclusively with a mobile phone contract with O2 in the UK. Buy here. For comparison, the 5.5in Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge costs £520, the Google Pixel XL costs £719, the Huawei Mate 9 costs €699 (£589) and the Apple iPhone 7 Plus costs £719. Verdict The OnePlus 3T is an excellent smartphone. The fit and finish is right up there with the best, the metal design is refined and even with a 5.5in screen, it’s a manageable smartphone to use on a daily basis. It isn’t quite the bargain the OnePlus 3 was, and I don’t think it’s worth £70 more than the previous model. But with currency fluctuations the way they are and the pound down against the US dollar it’s not all about profit. It is still excellent value for £400 when Apple and Google’s equivalent smartphones, that boast less storage, cost £719. With the backing of O2, OnePlus also now has more legitimacy as a manufacturer in the UK. And while there’s certainly room for improvement, the company is committed to delivering faster software updates. You get more than what you pay for with the OnePlus 3T compared to rivals. Pros: all-metal, great fingerprint sensor, good screen, fast charging, good cameras, excellent notification slider, dual-Sim with dual standby, cheaper than rivals Cons: not quite as cheap as it once was, no removable battery, no expandable storage, slow charging from non-Dash charge power adapters, screen low res for VR, not yet running Nougat Other reviews Five of the best phablets for 2016 OnePlus 3 review: flagship phone at mid-range price Huawei Mate 9 review: big screen, long battery life and dual cameras Google Pixel XL review: very good phablet but with price tag to match Huawei P9 Plus review: high-class phablet held back by sub-par software Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review: this is the smartphone to beat iPhone 7 Plus review: 2014 called – it wants its phablet back This article contains affiliate links to products. Our journalism is independent and is never written to promote these products although we may earn a small commission if a reader makes a purchase.

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2016-12-05T07:00:17Z

OnePlus 3T review: the top-end smartphone that won't break the bank

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/05/oneplus-3t-review-android-smartphone

['oneplus', '3t', 'minor', 'update', 'good', 'smartphone', 'improves', 'key', 'areas', 'quite', 'bargain', 'original', 'chinese', 'smartphone', 'firm', 'released', 'oneplus', 'june', 'already', 'replaced', '3t', 'practically', 'identical', 'predecessor', 'slight', 'colour', 'difference', 'outside', 'sign', 'things', 'changed', 'according', 'oneplus', 'co-founder', 'carl', 'pei', 'company', 'improvements', 'available', 'would', 'fit', 'less', 'package', 'larger', 'battery', 'faster', 'processor', 'improved', 'cameras', 'rather', 'wait', 'year', 'simply', 'replaced', 'oneplus', '3t', 'time', 'also', 'increased', 'price', 'smartphone', 'original', 'launch', 'post', 'brexit', 'referendum', 'currency', 'adjustment', 'starting', 'price', 'new', '3t', 'worth', 'old', 'refined', 'smooth', 'smooth', 'aluminium', 'body', 'curved', 'back', 'beveled', 'sides', 'feels', 'every', 'bit', 'good', 'six', 'months', '3t', 'nice', 'smartphone', 'hold', 'touch', 'appreciate', 'doubt', '3t', 'look', 'feel', 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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/drone-racing-takes-off-at-birmingham-show-but-only-with-men

Top Gun pitted Maverick and Goose against the Iceman and Viper. At the UK Drones Show Championships at Birmingham NEC on Sunday, it was Saggy Nun and Collision who competed to be crowned the nation’s fastest pilot of an unmanned flying vehicle. It was Collision, aka 22-year-old graduate trainee Brett Collis, who took the £1,000 prize in this new event in which pale young men sporting special goggles synched with flying cameras navigated an illuminated 3D obstacle course in the dark. FPV (first person view) drone racing is rapidly becoming a lucrative business: Sky Sports recently decided to show a US race series on its Mix channel and in March a 15-year-old British boy called Luke Bannister won $250,000 (£173,900) when he triumphed at the World Drone Prix in Dubai. Wearing his call sign on the back of his T-shirt, Collis explained how he graduated to drone racing from video games. “It’s like a real-life computer game, with the extra dramatic dimension that if you crash you can’t just reboot,” he said, as a smattering of drone groupies pressed up against the barriers to eavesdrop on their hero. Poor old Saggy Nun, aka Oliver Peters, who occasionally competes in a wimple, barely got off the start line before hitting a barrier and wiping out. With even the cheapest Chinese drone costing £150, crashing can be an expensive mistake – not to mention a dangerous one. In November pilots reported four near misses in a month between drones and passenger aircraft, including one flying near the Shard in London and another at Liverpool airport. Self-described serial entrepreneur Alan Proto (“a ghastly title, I know”) was one of a fast-growing number of drone flying academies vying for business at the trade show, now in its second year. He set up Phantom Flight School in Chester two years ago after a career that began with a degree in economics from Cambridge and cycled through accountancy, construction, nurseries and skiing holidays. “I bought my first drone at the start of 2015. I took it home, got it out of the box and thought, fantastic! Then, oh my God, I could kill somebody with this,” he recalled. Since 2002 the CIA has been using Predator drones to kill insurgents in Afghanistan, but Proto wanted to fly in peace. Unable to find an instructor, he taught himself and now employs five pilots who have now taught for a combined 2,000 hours at £120 an hour. This year Phantom branched out into drone flying holidays in Spain. “It just struck me that flying drones can be quite a lonely pursuit. Standing in a field in England on your own is not as fun as standing in a field in Spain with five soon-to-be mates,” he said. Prolo’s customers – like 90% of visitors to the NEC on Sunday – are overwhelmingly male. “I wish I knew why,” he mused, “because the few lady pilots I have trained have been very good and my five-year-old daughter is one of the best pilots I know.” Carys Kaiser, who runs a blog called The Drone Lass, is one of the few female commercial drone pilots in the UK. Looking up at the all-male competitor list for the flying championships, she bemoaned the lack of women involved with the fast-evolving technology. “Why is it so blokey? Mainly because woman feel that it’s not a career for them. You need to be a little bit technical and there’s a shortage of women in Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths],” she said. One of the most popular exhibits at the show was a synchronised flying display by eight dancing drones, fresh from an appearance on Britain’s Got Talent and its French equivalent. The Parrot Bebop 2 (£599 including FPV goggles) is really designed as a flying camera for ambitious wedding or wildlife photographers but can be programmed with software to perform tricks in time to music. On another stall, the Drone Zone advertised itself as a “safe place to fly your FPV” on a purpose-built track in Popham, Hampshire. Top Gun it’s not. But to the ever-swelling number of drone pilots in the UK, it’s the place to be.

technology/2016/dec/04/drone-racing-takes-off-at-birmingham-show-but-only-with-men

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2016-12-04T19:58:31Z

Drone racing takes off at Birmingham show – but only with men

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/drone-racing-takes-off-at-birmingham-show-but-only-with-men

['top', 'gun', 'pitted', 'maverick', 'goose', 'iceman', 'viper', 'uk', 'drones', 'show', 'championships', 'birmingham', 'nec', 'sunday', 'saggy', 'nun', 'collision', 'competed', 'crowned', 'nation', 'fastest', 'pilot', 'unmanned', 'flying', 'vehicle', 'collision', 'aka', '22-year-old', 'graduate', 'trainee', 'brett', 'collis', 'took', 'prize', 'new', 'event', 'pale', 'young', 'men', 'sporting', 'special', 'goggles', 'synched', 'flying', 'cameras', 'navigated', 'illuminated', '3d', 'obstacle', 'course', 'dark', 'fpv', 'first', 'person', 'view', 'drone', 'racing', 'rapidly', 'becoming', 'lucrative', 'business', 'sky', 'sports', 'recently', 'decided', 'show', 'us', 'race', 'series', 'mix', 'channel', 'march', '15-year-old', 'british', 'boy', 'called', 'luke', 'bannister', 'triumphed', 'world', 'drone', 'prix', 'dubai', 'wearing', 'call', 'sign', 'back', 't-shirt', 'collis', 'explained', 'graduated', 'drone', 'racing', 'video', 'games', 'like', 'real-life', 'computer', 'game', 'extra', 'dramatic', 'dimension', 'crash', 'reboot', 'said', 'smattering', 'drone', 'groupies', 'pressed', 'barriers', 'eavesdrop', 'hero', 'poor', 'old', 'saggy', 'nun', 'aka', 'oliver', 'peters', 'occasionally', 'competes', 'wimple', 'barely', 'got', 'start', 'line', 'hitting', 'barrier', 'wiping', 'even', 'cheapest', 'chinese', 'drone', 'costing', 'crashing', 'expensive', 'mistake', 'mention', 'dangerous', 'one', 'november', 'pilots', 'reported', 'four', 'near', 'misses', 'month', 'drones', 'passenger', 'aircraft', 'including', 'one', 'flying', 'near', 'shard', 'london', 'another', 'liverpool', 'airport', 'self-described', 'serial', 'entrepreneur', 'alan', 'proto', 'ghastly', 'title', 'know', 'one', 'fast-growing', 'number', 'drone', 'flying', 'academies', 'vying', 'business', 'trade', 'show', 'second', 'year', 'set', 'phantom', 'flight', 'school', 'chester', 'two', 'years', 'ago', 'career', 'began', 'degree', 'economics', 'cambridge', 'cycled', 'accountancy', 'construction', 'nurseries', 'skiing', 'holidays', 'bought', 'first', 'drone', 'start', 'took', 'home', 'got', 'box', 'thought', 'fantastic', 'oh', 'god', 'could', 'kill', 'somebody', 'recalled', 'since', 'cia', 'using', 'predator', 'drones', 'kill', 'insurgents', 'afghanistan', 'proto', 'wanted', 'fly', 'peace', 'unable', 'find', 'instructor', 'taught', 'employs', 'five', 'pilots', 'taught', 'combined', 'hours', 'hour', 'year', 'phantom', 'branched', 'drone', 'flying', 'holidays', 'spain', 'struck', 'flying', 'drones', 'quite', 'lonely', 'pursuit', 'standing', 'field', 'england', 'fun', 'standing', 'field', 'spain', 'five', 'soon-to-be', 'mates', 'said', 'prolo', 'customers', 'like', 'visitors', 'nec', 'sunday', 'overwhelmingly', 'male', 'wish', 'knew', 'mused', 'lady', 'pilots', 'trained', 'good', 'five-year-old', 'daughter', 'one', 'best', 'pilots', 'know', 'carys', 'kaiser', 'runs', 'blog', 'called', 'drone', 'lass', 'one', 'female', 'commercial', 'drone', 'pilots', 'uk', 'looking', 'all-male', 'competitor', 'list', 'flying', 'championships', 'bemoaned', 'lack', 'women', 'involved', 'fast-evolving', 'technology', 'blokey', 'mainly', 'woman', 'feel', 'career', 'need', 'little', 'bit', 'technical', 'shortage', 'women', 'stem', 'science', 'technology', 'engineering', 'maths', 'said', 'one', 'popular', 'exhibits', 'show', 'synchronised', 'flying', 'display', 'eight', 'dancing', 'drones', 'fresh', 'appearance', 'britain', 'got', 'talent', 'french', 'equivalent', 'parrot', 'bebop', 'including', 'fpv', 'goggles', 'really', 'designed', 'flying', 'camera', 'ambitious', 'wedding', 'wildlife', 'photographers', 'programmed', 'software', 'perform', 'tricks', 'time', 'music', 'another', 'stall', 'drone', 'zone', 'advertised', 'safe', 'place', 'fly', 'fpv', 'purpose-built', 'track', 'popham', 'hampshire', 'top', 'gun', 'ever-swelling', 'number', 'drone', 'pilots', 'uk', 'place']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/apple-confirms-it-is-working-on-self-driving-cars

Apple has said for the first time that it is working on technology to develop self-driving cars. The company, which has been rumoured to be interested in the automated car market for the past two years, confirmed its previously secret initiative in a statement to the US highways regulator. “The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation,” said the letter from Steve Kenner, Apple’s director of product integrity, to the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The letter offered no details of the project, instead highlighting the “significant societal benefits of automated vehicles”, which it described as a life-saving technology, potentially preventing millions of car crashes and thousands of fatalities each year. Although fully automated cars are not expected to be in use in the UK for several years, trials have taken place in Britain and the US. The British government is keen to ensure that the country is at the forefront of a fast developing market that could be worth £900bn by 2025, according to a KPMG study. Earlier this year, ministers launched a consultation on changes to motor insurance rules and the highway code aimed at allowing self-driving cars to be on the roads by 2020. The business secretary, Greg Clark, said at the time: “The global market for autonomous vehicles presents huge opportunities for our automotive and technology firms. The research that underpins the technology and software will have applications way beyond autonomous vehicles.” Rumours of Apple’s interest in the car market surfaced early last year. Known as Project Titan, the internal initiative was reportedly staffed by more than 1,000 engineers and other personnel working at top secret labs in Sunnyvale, California, some of whom were pulled from important consumer product teams. The letter from Kenner was dated 22 November, but has only just emerged. It leaves open the possibility that Apple will go on to design and produce a car of its own, rather than merely provide technology to an existing manufacturer. Earlier this year, the company was rumoured to be in talks to take over the British car manufacturer McLaren. “To maximise the safety benefits of automated vehicles, encourage innovation and promote fair competition, established manufacturers and new entrants should be treated equally,” Apple wrote. Kenner argued that manufacturers should pool their data as they develop automated systems, to help everyone identify unusual situations or “edge cases” that cars may encounter on the roads. “Companies should share de-identified scenario and dynamics data from crashes and near misses,” Kenner wrote. “By sharing data, the industry will build a more comprehensive data set than any one company could create alone.” But the letter added: “Data sharing should not come at the cost of privacy.” Apple urged the regulator to continue “thoughtful exploration of the ethical issues” of self-driving cars. “Because automated vehicles promise such a broad and deep human impact, companies should consider the ethical dimensions of them in comparably broad and deep terms,” it said. The letter said these considerations include privacy, how the cars’ software systems make decisions and the impact on employment and public spaces. Kenner ended the letter by saying: “Apple looks forward to collaborating with NHTSA and other stakeholders so that the significant societal benefits of automated vehicles can be realised safely, responsibly and expeditiously.” Several large technology companies and traditional car manufacturers are working on automated vehicle technology. Uber has raced ahead of its competitors, deploying Ford Fusions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which do not require hands on the wheel, as part of the company’s regular taxi service. It is also developing a driverless car in partnership with Swedish carmaker Volvo. Electric car company Tesla is also involved, although it raised concerns earlier this year about the implications of driverless vehicles after one of its cars using autopilot mode was involved in a fatal crash. In September, a Google self-driving car collided with another vehicle after the latter ran through a red light.

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2016-12-04T17:22:01Z

Apple confirms it is working on self-driving cars

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/apple-confirms-it-is-working-on-self-driving-cars

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/voice-control-amazon-echo-digital

The problem with using the human voice to control computers is well known and well documented: it doesn’t always work. You can find yourself adopting the aggressive tone of a belligerent tourist in a foreign land while digital assistants employ a range of apologetic responses (“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that”, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand the question”). We throw our arms up and complain about their shortcomings. Plenty of us have tried them, plenty of us have dismissed them as a waste of time. We tend not to hear about them doing the job perfectly well, because few people write impassioned tweets or blog posts about things that work flawlessly. The evidence, however, shows that we are becoming more comfortable with using voice control as its capabilities improve. Back in May, Google announced that 20% of mobile search queries were now initiated by voice; and it is predicted that this will rise – across all platforms – to 50% by the end of the decade. But it’s not phones leading the way in making voice control palatable. That honour goes to the Amazon Echo, the home-based “ambient device” inhabited by a digital assistant called Alexa. Quietly launched in late 2014, the success of the Echo (and its smaller siblings, the Dot and the Tap) has been described as “unlikely”, but sales have been increasing steadily quarter by quarter, with an estimated five million units sold in the US alone. Compared to the average smartphone, the Echo is comparatively modest: it is mainly dedicated to playing music and only does anything if you call its name. “Alexa, play me a song by Hot Chip. Alexa, can I listen to Radio 2? Alexa, stop.” It does these things efficiently, without complaint, and in doing so engenders a strange kind of affection. “Alexa, goodnight.” “Goodnight,” it replies. “Sleep tight.” The first successes in getting computers to recognise the spoken word were made in the 1950s, but more significant ground was gained in the early 1970s when two students at Carnegie Mellon University, James and Janet Baker, began to apply statistical modelling techniques to the recognition of speech patterns. These so-called “hidden Markov” models turned out to be perfectly suited to machine learning; by absorbing thousands of examples, the machine became capable (in theory) of handling examples that it hadn’t yet seen. The Bakers would go on to found Dragon Systems, which ultimately became Nuance, one of the architects of Apple’s Siri voice assistant. In the early days, Dragon’s software was used to power specialist accessibility and dictation applications, but when such techniques started being used in computer operating systems – most notably with Apple’s PlainTalk in 1993 – our difficult relationship with voice control began. The first version of PlainTalk hogged computer resources, understood a limited number of phrases and wasn’t particularly reliable. Ever since, we’ve subconsciously measured the effectiveness of each iteration of voice control in terms of the time we take to give up on it. Increases in processor power made things better. “We were improving speech recognition year on year,” says Nils Lenke, senior director of corporate research at Nuance, “but it became tougher and tougher, because the old technology – the hidden Markov models – were nearing the end of their lifetime. When we started to use neural networks, accuracy went up a lot.” The problem with machine learning techniques, according to Lenke, is that the model reflects what you show it. “You need a lot of data covering all kinds of variants of speech,” he says, “accents, dialects, ages, gender, and different settings, different environments. But when cloud-based speech recognition came along, things got a lot better; now, as people use it, we can see that data on our servers. The right data, covering exactly what people are doing with the technology. Not what we thought people might be doing.” As speech recognition improves from 90% to 95% and beyond, the problem encountered by developers of voice assistants is not necessarily one of comprehension; it’s persuading us that it’s not just a novelty and that we should persist beyond uncovering its cute quirks. “Speech has to solve a problem,” says Lenke. “But which problems can it solve? Can I remember which ones it can solve and which it can’t? It can book a cinema ticket, but can it book a flight? We’re not yet able to build a speech recognition system that understands the world, and for human beings that’s difficult to understand.” The car is perhaps the best example of a single “domain” with well-defined problems (finding petrol stations, demisting windscreens) that can now be dealt with by voice commands. But this kind of understated ambition has, perhaps unwittingly, been the Echo’s strength, too. “In terms of voice technology, it’s not revolutionary,” says Simon Bryant, associate director at Futuresource Consulting, “but people aren’t overwhelmed by it. They get it. The entrypoint is via controlling your media, but once you get comfortable with playing a track, or a radio station, and you’re aware that it’s constantly learning, other applications will piggyback on to that. The potential is huge.” The Echo’s expandability comes in the form of “skills”, links with third-party services that range from time-wasting ephemera (trivia quizzes) to things that could be genuinely useful if you happened to have the right technology installed in your home (ie controlling room temperature). But the growing affection for the device is also linked to its immobility. Much of our interaction with a smartphone is conducted in public, where talking to it is simply too embarrassing. In the privacy of the home, however, we can explore its capabilities and slowly come to terms with the reality of talking to a machine. With Apple’s Siri, personality is crucial; behind its development seems to be a belief that the psychological “rule of reciprocation” (where we mirror the behaviour others dish out) also applies to machines. Google Now, meanwhile, is cooler, more utilitarian. “Some people would say that building a persona makes people more comfortable and lowers the barrier to entry,” says Lenke. “Others would say look, it’s a machine, we should make that visible. Both approaches can be right, depending on the task.” Ultimately, our enthusiasm for voice control may be defined by issues of trust. There’s trust in the device itself – that it will perform in the way we want it to – and there’s trust in the company providing the service. Privacy concerns are never far from debates surrounding voice control; to function properly it requires data to be processed on external servers, but warnings of this within terms and conditions (“if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party”) can end up being interpreted as an Orwellian nightmare. These issues can be particularly sensitive when it comes to Amazon, whose ultimate aim with the Echo could reasonably be interpreted as “frictionless purchasing” – ie getting us to buy things as quickly and easily as possible. Detractors warn of an inglorious future where we casually mention that we’re out of washing up liquid, and an hour later a drone drops some off at our door having already billed our credit card. “Amazon’s strategy is far reaching,” says Simon Bryant, “but a big aspect of it is Amazon Prime, which drives consumption of products and keeps people paying on an annual basis.” Behind the cute replies and brisk efficiency of voice assistants is the aim of drawing us into an ecosystem; for example, the Echo’s ability to cue up sounds in response to a murmur is beautifully executed, but if your stash of personal music happens to be with Google Play, you’ll have to move everything over to Amazon’s Music Unlimited if you want to listen to it. The promise of voice control will continue to be restricted by these walled gardens. Advances in speech recognition could be seen as the fulfilling of a science fiction dream that extends from Star Trek through 2001: A Space Odyssey to Knight Rider and beyond. Its history has been characterised by disappointment, but its key attributes are clear: it is hands-free and fast, devices don’t have to be unlocked and there are no menu structures to navigate. As more TVs and set-top boxes become speech savvy, the remote control will be consigned to history. As devices get smaller and lose their keyboards and screens, voice control will become crucial. And according to Bryant, the knock-on effects are already being seen. “We’re expecting 6.1m units of Echo-like devices to be sold by the end of this year,” he says, “which takes a huge chunk out of the audio market. And it’s going to boost radio audiences, because people are going into rooms and just want something to be playing.” Alexa’s ability to instantly switch on Heart FM falls well short of the kind of rich human-computer relationship that’s depicted in the Spike Jonze film Her, but while new apps like Hound are becoming more adept at having longer conversations and understanding context, there are limits to a computer’s ability to deal with conversational interaction, according to Mark Bishop, professor of cognitive computing at Goldsmiths University of London. “Action-focused commands like ‘tell me the weather in Seattle’ are much simpler things for a machine to parse and interact with than an open-ended narrative,” he says. “But there are fundamental problems in AI that, for me, mean that we’re some years away from having a machine that can have a meaningful, goal-directed conversation, if it’s ever possible at all.” We may not see a convincingly empathetic machine in our lifetime, but in the meantime we can always ask Alexa to “say something nice”. “You have a great taste in technology,” it replies. “But seriously, you rock. I’m glad to know you.” Same here, Alexa. I think. No, Siri! A timeline of voice control 1952 Scientists at Bell Laboratories build Audrey, the first documented speech recognition system, which can discern between the numbers zero to nine 1962 The Shoebox, built at IBM, adds the words “plus”, “minus”, “total”, “subtotal”, “false” and “off” to the 10 digits and can perform simple arithmetic 1976 Work at Carnegie Mellon University results in Harpy, a system that can recognise 1,011 words to 90% accuracy from both male and female speakers 1986 IBM demonstrates a system running on “three 6ft-tall array processors” that can recognise 5,000 words at 95% accuracy 1990 Dragon launches a dictation software package for PC that recognises 30,000 words, but “discretely” (ie with pauses between words) for $4,995 1996 IBM’s MedSpeak combines software with a noise-cancelling microphone to achieve continuous speech recognition; 25,000 words with an average accuracy of over 95% 2002 The newest version of Microsoft Word “allows you to literally speak to your computer via a microphone” 2007 GOOG-411, a telephone-based directory service, is launched by Google; the following year sees the technology deployed in a Voice Search app for iPhone 2011 Siri, previously available as a standalone app, is integrated into the operating system for the new iPhone 4S, launching the era of the digital assistant

technology/2016/dec/04/voice-control-amazon-echo-digital

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2016-12-04T16:30:18Z

​Has voice control finally started speaking our language​?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/voice-control-amazon-echo-digital

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/children-test-connected-toys-for-christmas

Toys are getting smarter. Whether they are racing cars that “read” the track, robots that teach coding or ground-drones controlled with the swipe of an iPad, these “connected” playthings have been proclaimed as the future of the toy industry. For parents concerned about the amount of time their kids spend in front of a screen, connected toys offer a welcome and reassuring physicality: the toy is the focus, the app merely the control panel. For their children, it means (effectively) getting a pet robot. Which is why brands such as Sphero and Anki are set to dominate 2016 Christmas lists. But the question remains: how much fun are these digitally driven playthings? We asked Louis (10), Phoebe (10), Eliza (eight) and Max (seven) to help us find out. Dash (pictured top) Wonder Workshop, £149.95, 5+ It feels incongruous that the robot aimed at the youngest children should also be the most expensive, but Wonder Workshop’s Dash certainly boasts production value with its hard, polished chassis and Minion-esque features and vocalisations, even if all our kids bar one (Eliza) deemed these “creepy” rather than rather than appealing. There is further cost in the peripherals (sold separately) that clip on to its body, such as a ping-pong-ball-catapulting launcher or a xylophone, but it does come with building-block attachments that Eliza delightedly discovered could shoulder homemade Lego-constructed add-ons. There is also an impressive array of apps that you can download in addition to the control panel that allow for coding, path-making and “guided challenges”. The boy/girl divide was notable with Dash; Louis and Max were dismissive, while Eliza was positively charmed. Eliza’s verdict: “He looks really cute, a bit like a Minion and a blueberry mixed together. I liked playing with him, especially the coding game, which made him move around the room. I think people my age would like him as he’s very funny, especially in disco mode, when he turns all sorts of colours and starts grooving.” Jimu Robot Meebot Kit Ubtech, £109.95, 8+ Well, this one isn’t going to win any beauty contests, that’s for sure. The Meebot starts its artificial life as a construction kit, which requires a patient older child or adult to snap its components together, carefully connecting up a sextet of servo motors. On its first test drive, our Meebot shuffled along like a drunk with his trousers around his ankles, then fell over and started making distressing clacking sounds. But after one misaligned leg servo was eventually sorted out, it was able to waddle along without its grey box-head butting the floor, even pulling off dance moves like a stiff-limbed Cossack. Until the kids rapidly and unanimously lost interest. Max’s verdict: “I don’t like it when people say something bad about him. It makes me feel really sad, because he’s so cute. But there aren’t that many things you can do with him. The coding was fun at first, but then it does get a little bit boring. And I don’t really like the way he moves around.” Anki Overdrive Super Truck Anki, RRP £49.99-59.99, 8+ Anki’s smart racing cars have already proved a hit with children since they first arrived in late 2013 and with good reason: they offer the ideal blend of the physical and the virtual. As their artificially intelligent autos battle it out on modular tracks (which can be bought as a starter set with two cars for about £140), players can customise their driver avatar, level up their vehicles’ abilities and weaponry and interact with non-player-character rivals, all through the slickly designed Anki app. The Super Truck, then, is simply a new vehicle for the existing system. Both models, the X-52 and the Freewheel, bring a new control system and game mode (called Takeover) to the Anki experience, though, as Phoebe notes, they do little to encourage more girls to play. “If you watch the advert it’s only got one girl using it,” she points out. “All the rest are boys.” Louis’s verdict: “I think Anki Overdrive is brilliant for families – adults and children – and unlike Scalextric it will never get boring for me. The addition of the Super Trucks is brilliant, too.” SPRK+ (pictured above) Sphero, £119.99, 8+ Sphero made an impact on Xmas budgets last year with its app-controlled BB-8 toy and here’s the latest iteration of its own robotic ball of fun, the SPRK+. Even without the Star Wars trimmings and with its circuitry on display through a transparent plastic shell (which can be covered up with a protective sheath, sold separately), our testers quickly warmed to it as it whirled and tumbled around the play area. The SPRK+ is versatile and, thanks to its engaging, Scratch-like block-based computer coding system, it was the toy that held attention longest. Louis soon had it autonomously zipping around and yelling “ouch!” on impact with obstacles, then downloaded another user’s program via Sphero’s Lightning Lab app to turn it into a fortune-telling ball giving yes or no answers. Louis’s verdict: This is so much more fun than coding with Scratch, because you’re coding a real object. And I like how you can go online and take other people’s programs. It’s a really nice design, too, and overall the best toy we’ve got here. Totally worth the money in my opinion.” Jett Jumping Race Drone Parrot, RRP £99.99, 14+ Parrot specialises in entry-level flying drones, but has here brought things down to kid-friendly ground level. The box advises it’s a 14+ toy and there was an initial wariness among our junior testers of its jittery, insect-like manoeuvres, electronic growls and skull-like face. But once they’d got hands-on with the app’s simple touchscreen controls (which connect via its own Wi-Fi network rather than Bluetooth), it wasn’t long before the zippy and thankfully durable machine was being joyfully directed to use its floorboard-thumping “foot” to bound over and on to furniture in a series of impressive stunts. In very brief bursts, though: the big drawback here is the Jett’s limited battery life – only 20 minutes. Phoebe’s verdict: “It’s my favourite out of all the toys here. I was quite scared of it at first – when we were testing the robots it started hitting all the others – but now I think it is in some ways charming. It’s light on its feet and quite bouncy and it’s really cool because you can film things with its camera.”

technology/2016/dec/04/children-test-connected-toys-for-christmas

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technology

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2016-12-04T10:30:11Z

Connected toys for Christmas on test

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/children-test-connected-toys-for-christmas

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook

Here’s what you don’t want to do late on a Sunday night. You do not want to type seven letters into Google. That’s all I did. I typed: “a-r-e”. And then “j-e-w-s”. Since 2008, Google has attempted to predict what question you might be asking and offers you a choice. And this is what it did. It offered me a choice of potential questions it thought I might want to ask: “are jews a race?”, “are jews white?”, “are jews christians?”, and finally, “are jews evil?” Are Jews evil? It’s not a question I’ve ever thought of asking. I hadn’t gone looking for it. But there it was. I press enter. A page of results appears. This was Google’s question. And this was Google’s answer: Jews are evil. Because there, on my screen, was the proof: an entire page of results, nine out of 10 of which “confirm” this. The top result, from a site called Listovative, has the headline: “Top 10 Major Reasons Why People Hate Jews.” I click on it: “Jews today have taken over marketing, militia, medicinal, technological, media, industrial, cinema challenges etc and continue to face the worlds [sic] envy through unexplained success stories given their inglorious past and vermin like repression all over Europe.” Google is search. It’s the verb, to Google. It’s what we all do, all the time, whenever we want to know anything. We Google it. The site handles at least 63,000 searches a second, 5.5bn a day. Its mission as a company, the one-line overview that has informed the company since its foundation and is still the banner headline on its corporate website today, is to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. It strives to give you the best, most relevant results. And in this instance the third-best, most relevant result to the search query “are Jews… ” is a link to an article from stormfront.org, a neo-Nazi website. The fifth is a YouTube video: “Why the Jews are Evil. Why we are against them.” The sixth is from Yahoo Answers: “Why are Jews so evil?” The seventh result is: “Jews are demonic souls from a different world.” And the 10th is from jesus-is-saviour.com: “Judaism is Satanic!” There’s one result in the 10 that offers a different point of view. It’s a link to a rather dense, scholarly book review from thetabletmag.com, a Jewish magazine, with the unfortunately misleading headline: “Why Literally Everybody In the World Hates Jews.” I feel like I’ve fallen down a wormhole, entered some parallel universe where black is white, and good is bad. Though later, I think that perhaps what I’ve actually done is scraped the topsoil off the surface of 2016 and found one of the underground springs that has been quietly nurturing it. It’s been there all the time, of course. Just a few keystrokes away… on our laptops, our tablets, our phones. This isn’t a secret Nazi cell lurking in the shadows. It’s hiding in plain sight. Stories about fake news on Facebook have dominated certain sections of the press for weeks following the American presidential election, but arguably this is even more powerful, more insidious. Frank Pasquale, professor of law at the University of Maryland, and one of the leading academic figures calling for tech companies to be more open and transparent, calls the results “very profound, very troubling”. He came across a similar instance in 2006 when, “If you typed ‘Jew’ in Google, the first result was jewwatch.org. It was ‘look out for these awful Jews who are ruining your life’. And the Anti-Defamation League went after them and so they put an asterisk next to it which said: ‘These search results may be disturbing but this is an automated process.’ But what you’re showing – and I’m very glad you are documenting it and screenshotting it – is that despite the fact they have vastly researched this problem, it has gotten vastly worse.” And ordering of search results does influence people, says Martin Moore, director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King’s College, London, who has written at length on the impact of the big tech companies on our civic and political spheres. “There’s large-scale, statistically significant research into the impact of search results on political views. And the way in which you see the results and the types of results you see on the page necessarily has an impact on your perspective.” Fake news, he says, has simply “revealed a much bigger problem. These companies are so powerful and so committed to disruption. They thought they were disrupting politics but in a positive way. They hadn’t thought about the downsides. These tools offer remarkable empowerment, but there’s a dark side to it. It enables people to do very cynical, damaging things.” Google is knowledge. It’s where you go to find things out. And evil Jews are just the start of it. There are also evil women. I didn’t go looking for them either. This is what I type: “a-r-e w-o-m-e-n”. And Google offers me just two choices, the first of which is: “Are women evil?” I press return. Yes, they are. Every one of the 10 results “confirms” that they are, including the top one, from a site called sheddingoftheego.com, which is boxed out and highlighted: “Every woman has some degree of prostitute in her. Every woman has a little evil in her… Women don’t love men, they love what they can do for them. It is within reason to say women feel attraction but they cannot love men.” Next I type: “a-r-e m-u-s-l-i-m-s”. And Google suggests I should ask: “Are Muslims bad?” And here’s what I find out: yes, they are. That’s what the top result says and six of the others. Without typing anything else, simply putting the cursor in the search box, Google offers me two new searches and I go for the first, “Islam is bad for society”. In the next list of suggestions, I’m offered: “Islam must be destroyed.” Jews are evil. Muslims need to be eradicated. And Hitler? Do you want to know about Hitler? Let’s Google it. “Was Hitler bad?” I type. And here’s Google’s top result: “10 Reasons Why Hitler Was One Of The Good Guys” I click on the link: “He never wanted to kill any Jews”; “he cared about conditions for Jews in the work camps”; “he implemented social and cultural reform.” Eight out of the other 10 search results agree: Hitler really wasn’t that bad. A few days later, I talk to Danny Sullivan, the founding editor of SearchEngineLand.com. He’s been recommended to me by several academics as one of the most knowledgeable experts on search. Am I just being naive, I ask him? Should I have known this was out there? “No, you’re not being naive,” he says. “This is awful. It’s horrible. It’s the equivalent of going into a library and asking a librarian about Judaism and being handed 10 books of hate. Google is doing a horrible, horrible job of delivering answers here. It can and should do better.” He’s surprised too. “I thought they stopped offering autocomplete suggestions for religions in 2011.” And then he types “are women” into his own computer. “Good lord! That answer at the top. It’s a featured result. It’s called a “direct answer”. This is supposed to be indisputable. It’s Google’s highest endorsement.” That every women has some degree of prostitute in her? “Yes. This is Google’s algorithm going terribly wrong.” I contacted Google about its seemingly malfunctioning autocomplete suggestions and received the following response: “Our search results are a reflection of the content across the web. This means that sometimes unpleasant portrayals of sensitive subject matter online can affect what search results appear for a given query. These results don’t reflect Google’s own opinions or beliefs – as a company, we strongly value a diversity of perspectives, ideas and cultures.” Google isn’t just a search engine, of course. Search was the foundation of the company but that was just the beginning. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, now has the greatest concentration of artificial intelligence experts in the world. It is expanding into healthcare, transportation, energy. It’s able to attract the world’s top computer scientists, physicists and engineers. It’s bought hundreds of start-ups, including Calico, whose stated mission is to “cure death” and DeepMind, which aims to “solve intelligence”. And 20 years ago it didn’t even exist. When Tony Blair became prime minister, it wasn’t possible to Google him: the search engine had yet to be invented. The company was only founded in 1998 and Facebook didn’t appear until 2004. Google’s founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are still only 43. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is 32. Everything they’ve done, the world they’ve remade, has been done in the blink of an eye. But it seems the implications about the power and reach of these companies is only now seeping into the public consciousness. I ask Rebecca MacKinnon, director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at the New America Foundation, whether it was the recent furore over fake news that woke people up to the danger of ceding our rights as citizens to corporations. “It’s kind of weird right now,” she says, “because people are finally saying, ‘Gee, Facebook and Google really have a lot of power’ like it’s this big revelation. And it’s like, ‘D’oh.’” MacKinnon has a particular expertise in how authoritarian governments adapt to the internet and bend it to their purposes. “China and Russia are a cautionary tale for us. I think what happens is that it goes back and forth. So during the Arab spring, it seemed like the good guys were further ahead. And now it seems like the bad guys are. Pro-democracy activists are using the internet more than ever but at the same time, the adversary has gotten so much more skilled.” Last week Jonathan Albright, an assistant professor of communications at Elon University in North Carolina, published the first detailed research on how rightwing websites had spread their message. “I took a list of these fake news sites that was circulating, I had an initial list of 306 of them and I used a tool – like the one Google uses – to scrape them for links and then I mapped them. So I looked at where the links went – into YouTube and Facebook, and between each other, millions of them… and I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “They have created a web that is bleeding through on to our web. This isn’t a conspiracy. There isn’t one person who’s created this. It’s a vast system of hundreds of different sites that are using all the same tricks that all websites use. They’re sending out thousands of links to other sites and together this has created a vast satellite system of rightwing news and propaganda that has completely surrounded the mainstream media system.” He found 23,000 pages and 1.3m hyperlinks. “And Facebook is just the amplification device. When you look at it in 3D, it actually looks like a virus. And Facebook was just one of the hosts for the virus that helps it spread faster. You can see the New York Times in there and the Washington Post and then you can see how there’s a vast, vast network surrounding them. The best way of describing it is as an ecosystem. This really goes way beyond individual sites or individual stories. What this map shows is the distribution network and you can see that it’s surrounding and actually choking the mainstream news ecosystem.” Like a cancer? “Like an organism that is growing and getting stronger all the time.” Charlie Beckett, a professor in the school of media and communications at LSE, tells me: “We’ve been arguing for some time now that plurality of news media is good. Diversity is good. Critiquing the mainstream media is good. But now… it’s gone wildly out of control. What Jonathan Albright’s research has shown is that this isn’t a byproduct of the internet. And it’s not even being done for commercial reasons. It’s motivated by ideology, by people who are quite deliberately trying to destabilise the internet.” Albright’s map also provides a clue to understanding the Google search results I found. What these rightwing news sites have done, he explains, is what most commercial websites try to do. They try to find the tricks that will move them up Google’s PageRank system. They try and “game” the algorithm. And what his map shows is how well they’re doing that. That’s what my searches are showing too. That the right has colonised the digital space around these subjects – Muslims, women, Jews, the Holocaust, black people – far more effectively than the liberal left. “It’s an information war,” says Albright. “That’s what I keep coming back to.” But it’s where it goes from here that’s truly frightening. I ask him how it can be stopped. “I don’t know. I’m not sure it can be. It’s a network. It’s far more powerful than any one actor.” So, it’s almost got a life of its own? “Yes, and it’s learning. Every day, it’s getting stronger.” The more people who search for information about Jews, the more people will see links to hate sites, and the more they click on those links (very few people click on to the second page of results) the more traffic the sites will get, the more links they will accrue and the more authoritative they will appear. This is an entirely circular knowledge economy that has only one outcome: an amplification of the message. Jews are evil. Women are evil. Islam must be destroyed. Hitler was one of the good guys. And the constellation of websites that Albright found – a sort of shadow internet – has another function. More than just spreading rightwing ideology, they are being used to track and monitor and influence anyone who comes across their content. “I scraped the trackers on these sites and I was absolutely dumbfounded. Every time someone likes one of these posts on Facebook or visits one of these websites, the scripts are then following you around the web. And this enables data-mining and influencing companies like Cambridge Analytica to precisely target individuals, to follow them around the web, and to send them highly personalised political messages. This is a propaganda machine. It’s targeting people individually to recruit them to an idea. It’s a level of social engineering that I’ve never seen before. They’re capturing people and then keeping them on an emotional leash and never letting them go.” Cambridge Analytica, an American-owned company based in London, was employed by both the Vote Leave campaign and the Trump campaign. Dominic Cummings, the campaign director of Vote Leave, has made few public announcements since the Brexit referendum but he did say this: “If you want to make big improvements in communication, my advice is – hire physicists.” Steve Bannon, founder of Breitbart News and the newly appointed chief strategist to Trump, is on Cambridge Analytica’s board and it has emerged that the company is in talks to undertake political messaging work for the Trump administration. It claims to have built psychological profiles using 5,000 separate pieces of data on 220 million American voters. It knows their quirks and nuances and daily habits and can target them individually. “They were using 40-50,000 different variants of ad every day that were continuously measuring responses and then adapting and evolving based on that response,” says Martin Moore of Kings College. Because they have so much data on individuals and they use such phenomenally powerful distribution networks, they allow campaigns to bypass a lot of existing laws. “It’s all done completely opaquely and they can spend as much money as they like on particular locations because you can focus on a five-mile radius or even a single demographic. Fake news is important but it’s only one part of it. These companies have found a way of transgressing 150 years of legislation that we’ve developed to make elections fair and open.” Did such micro-targeted propaganda – currently legal – swing the Brexit vote? We have no way of knowing. Did the same methods used by Cambridge Analytica help Trump to victory? Again, we have no way of knowing. This is all happening in complete darkness. We have no way of knowing how our personal data is being mined and used to influence us. We don’t realise that the Facebook page we are looking at, the Google page, the ads that we are seeing, the search results we are using, are all being personalised to us. We don’t see it because we have nothing to compare it to. And it is not being monitored or recorded. It is not being regulated. We are inside a machine and we simply have no way of seeing the controls. Most of the time, we don’t even realise that there are controls. Rebecca MacKinnon says that most of us consider the internet to be like “the air that we breathe and the water that we drink”. It surrounds us. We use it. And we don’t question it. “But this is not a natural landscape. Programmers and executives and editors and designers, they make this landscape. They are human beings and they all make choices.” But we don’t know what choices they are making. Neither Google or Facebook make their algorithms public. Why did my Google search return nine out of 10 search results that claim Jews are evil? We don’t know and we have no way of knowing. Their systems are what Frank Pasquale describes as “black boxes”. He calls Google and Facebook “a terrifying duopoly of power” and has been leading a growing movement of academics who are calling for “algorithmic accountability”. “We need to have regular audits of these systems,” he says. “We need people in these companies to be accountable. In the US, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, every company has to have a spokesman you can reach. And this is what needs to happen. They need to respond to complaints about hate speech, about bias.” Is bias built into the system? Does it affect the kind of results that I was seeing? “There’s all sorts of bias about what counts as a legitimate source of information and how that’s weighted. There’s enormous commercial bias. And when you look at the personnel, they are young, white and perhaps Asian, but not black or Hispanic and they are overwhelmingly men. The worldview of young wealthy white men informs all these judgments.” Later, I speak to Robert Epstein, a research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioural Research and Technology, and the author of the study that Martin Moore told me about (and that Google has publicly criticised), showing how search-rank results affect voting patterns. On the other end of the phone, he repeats one of the searches I did. He types “do blacks…” into Google. “Look at that. I haven’t even hit a button and it’s automatically populated the page with answers to the query: ‘Do blacks commit more crimes?’ And look, I could have been going to ask all sorts of questions. ‘Do blacks excel at sports’, or anything. And it’s only given me two choices and these aren’t simply search-based or the most searched terms right now. Google used to use that but now they use an algorithm that looks at other things. Now, let me look at Bing and Yahoo. I’m on Yahoo and I have 10 suggestions, not one of which is ‘Do black people commit more crime?’ “And people don’t question this. Google isn’t just offering a suggestion. This is a negative suggestion and we know that negative suggestions depending on lots of things can draw between five and 15 more clicks. And this all programmed. And it could be programmed differently.” What Epstein’s work has shown is that the contents of a page of search results can influence people’s views and opinions. The type and order of search rankings was shown to influence voters in India in double-blind trials. There were similar results relating to the search suggestions you are offered. “The general public are completely in the dark about very fundamental issues regarding online search and influence. We are talking about the most powerful mind-control machine ever invented in the history of the human race. And people don’t even notice it.” Damien Tambini, an associate professor at the London School of Economics, who focuses on media regulation, says that we lack any sort of framework to deal with the potential impact of these companies on the democratic process. “We have structures that deal with powerful media corporations. We have competition laws. But these companies are not being held responsible. There are no powers to get Google or Facebook to disclose anything. There’s an editorial function to Google and Facebook but it’s being done by sophisticated algorithms. They say it’s machines not editors. But that’s simply a mechanised editorial function.” And the companies, says John Naughton, the Observer columnist and a senior research fellow at Cambridge University, are terrified of acquiring editorial responsibilities they don’t want. “Though they can and regularly do tweak the results in all sorts of ways.” Certainly the results about Google on Google don’t seem entirely neutral. Google “Is Google racist?” and the featured result – the Google answer boxed out at the top of the page – is quite clear: no. It is not. But the enormity and complexity of having two global companies of a kind we have never seen before influencing so many areas of our lives is such, says Naughton, that “we don’t even have the mental apparatus to even know what the problems are”. And this is especially true of the future. Google and Facebook are at the forefront of AI. They are going to own the future. And the rest of us can barely start to frame the sorts of questions we ought to be asking. “Politicians don’t think long term. And corporations don’t think long term because they’re focused on the next quarterly results and that’s what makes Google and Facebook interesting and different. They are absolutely thinking long term. They have the resources, the money, and the ambition to do whatever they want. “They want to digitise every book in the world: they do it. They want to build a self-driving car: they do it. The fact that people are reading about these fake news stories and realising that this could have an effect on politics and elections, it’s like, ‘Which planet have you been living on?’ For Christ’s sake, this is obvious.” “The internet is among the few things that humans have built that they don’t understand.” It is “the largest experiment involving anarchy in history. Hundreds of millions of people are, each minute, creating and consuming an untold amount of digital content in an online world that is not truly bound by terrestrial laws.” The internet as a lawless anarchic state? A massive human experiment with no checks and balances and untold potential consequences? What kind of digital doom-mongerer would say such a thing? Step forward, Eric Schmidt – Google’s chairman. They are the first lines of the book, The New Digital Age, that he wrote with Jared Cohen. We don’t understand it. It is not bound by terrestrial laws. And it’s in the hands of two massive, all-powerful corporations. It’s their experiment, not ours. The technology that was supposed to set us free may well have helped Trump to power, or covertly helped swing votes for Brexit. It has created a vast network of propaganda that has encroached like a cancer across the entire internet. This is a technology that has enabled the likes of Cambridge Analytica to create political messages uniquely tailored to you. They understand your emotional responses and how to trigger them. They know your likes, dislikes, where you live, what you eat, what makes you laugh, what makes you cry. And what next? Rebecca MacKinnon’s research has shown how authoritarian regimes reshape the internet for their own purposes. Is that what’s going to happen with Silicon Valley and Trump? As Martin Moore points out, the president-elect claimed that Apple chief executive Tim Cook called to congratulate him soon after his election victory. “And there will undoubtedly be be pressure on them to collaborate,” says Moore. Journalism is failing in the face of such change and is only going to fail further. New platforms have put a bomb under the financial model – advertising – resources are shrinking, traffic is increasingly dependent on them, and publishers have no access, no insight at all, into what these platforms are doing in their headquarters, their labs. And now they are moving beyond the digital world into the physical. The next frontiers are healthcare, transportation, energy. And just as Google is a near-monopoly for search, its ambition to own and control the physical infrastructure of our lives is what’s coming next. It already owns our data and with it our identity. What will it mean when it moves into all the other areas of our lives? “At the moment, there’s a distance when you Google ‘Jews are’ and get ‘Jews are evil’,” says Julia Powles, a researcher at Cambridge on technology and law. “But when you move into the physical realm, and these concepts become part of the tools being deployed when you navigate around your city or influence how people are employed, I think that has really pernicious consequences.” Powles is shortly to publish a paper looking at DeepMind’s relationship with the NHS. “A year ago, 2 million Londoners’ NHS health records were handed over to DeepMind. And there was complete silence from politicians, from regulators, from anyone in a position of power. This is a company without any healthcare experience being given unprecedented access into the NHS and it took seven months to even know that they had the data. And that took investigative journalism to find it out.” The headline was that DeepMind was going to work with the NHS to develop an app that would provide early warning for sufferers of kidney disease. And it is, but DeepMind’s ambitions – “to solve intelligence” – goes way beyond that. The entire history of 2 million NHS patients is, for artificial intelligence researchers, a treasure trove. And, their entry into the NHS – providing useful services in exchange for our personal data – is another massive step in their power and influence in every part of our lives. Because the stage beyond search is prediction. Google wants to know what you want before you know yourself. “That’s the next stage,” says Martin Moore. “We talk about the omniscience of these tech giants, but that omniscience takes a huge step forward again if they are able to predict. And that’s where they want to go. To predict diseases in health. It’s really, really problematic.” For the nearly 20 years that Google has been in existence, our view of the company has been inflected by the youth and liberal outlook of its founders. Ditto Facebook, whose mission, Zuckberg said, was not to be “a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission to make the world more open and connected.” It would be interesting to know how he thinks that’s working out. Donald Trump is connecting through exactly the same technology platforms that supposedly helped fuel the Arab spring; connecting to racists and xenophobes. And Facebook and Google are amplifying and spreading that message. And us too – the mainstream media. Our outrage is just another node on Jonathan Albright’s data map. “The more we argue with them, the more they know about us,” he says. “It all feeds into a circular system. What we’re seeing here is new era of network propaganda.” We are all points on that map. And our complicity, our credulity, being consumers not concerned citizens, is an essential part of that process. And what happens next is down to us. “I would say that everybody has been really naive and we need to reset ourselves to a much more cynical place and proceed on that basis,” is Rebecca MacKinnon’s advice. “There is no doubt that where we are now is a very bad place. But it’s we as a society who have jointly created this problem. And if we want to get to a better place, when it comes to having an information ecosystem that serves human rights and democracy instead of destroying it, we have to share responsibility for that.” Are Jews evil? How do you want that question answered? This is our internet. Not Google’s. Not Facebook’s. Not rightwing propagandists. And we’re the only ones who can reclaim it.

technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook

pillar/news

News

technology

Technology

article

2016-12-04T10:00:11Z

Google, democracy and the truth about internet search

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/hyundai-santa-fe-car-review-suv-martin-love

Price: £31,026 Top speed: 118mph 0-62mph: 9.8 seconds MPG: 47.1 CO2: 159g/km To my mind, a holiday isn’t a holiday without an arduous road expedition to some rain-streaked corner of the UK. Ideally the trip starts with an expletive-studded rant as you attempt to pack too much kit into too small a boot. This is followed by heavy traffic, possibly a breakdown, map anxiety, tooth-tasering sweets and, the coup de grâce, a full marital row… Sadly this month, the car that accompanied us on our long haul up to Scotland was far too well behaved, and we all arrived north of the border still on speaking terms. Unbelievable. The culprit was the new Santa Fe from Hyundai. It’s been branded “the poor man’s” Land Rover Discovery. It’s certainly cheaper, smaller and less luxurious than the £43,495 all-singing Disco, but this value-packed Korean car is an authentic off-roader that will keep everyone happy – except for maybe a few spoilt gymkhana mums. This is the third generation of the SUV that was originally launched just over a decade ago. Then the cheap definitely outranked the chic. It was a basic bruiser that was all about caravan-towing and paving-stone lugging, but this new model has been refined, improved and blessed with enough gadgets and gewgaws to prove that even though it’s not yet a Chelsea tractor, it’s certainly moved into an up-and-coming postcode. The interior is calm, uncluttered and bright, thanks mostly to a giant panoramic glass roof. Leather seats and soft-touch plastics make it a pleasant place to lounge, while the car gets on with the serious business of actually driving. It has so many smart aids that using the word “driving” feels like an overstatement for the basic activity of clinging to the steering wheel. On the motorway, advanced cruise control means it dynamically follows the lead of the car in front. In town, the “stop and go” system means you are always a safe distance from the driver ahead. When they stop, you stop. When they go, you go. The car beeps and shudders if you drift towards the edge of your lane and if the Santa Fe detects a collision scenario it alerts you. Fail to act and it slams on the anchors. Lights and wipers are automatic, so is defogging and de-icing… It does the lot and doesn’t leave you with much to do. It has a reliable 2.2-litre turbo diesel. You can opt for manual or auto, and 2 or 4WD. You can also add folding seats into the boot and turn it into a seven-seater. Then there’s the five-star safety score and a full five-year warranty… Remind me again, why does anyone buy a Disco? Email Martin at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166

technology/2016/dec/04/hyundai-santa-fe-car-review-suv-martin-love

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technology

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2016-12-04T06:00:06Z

Hyundai Santa Fe: car review | Martin Love

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/hyundai-santa-fe-car-review-suv-martin-love

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/04/elon-musk-trolling-us-conservatives-green-tech

He is the charismatic Silicon Valley entrepreneur who believes his many companies - including the electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, solar power firm Solar City, and SpaceX, which makes reusable space rockets – can help resist man-made climate change. South African-born Elon Musk is a billionaire green evangelist, a bete noire of the fossil fuels industry who talks about colonising Mars and believes it may be possible that we’re living in a computer simulation. But having been feted by the Obama administration, he now faces an extraordinary barrage of attacks from rightwing thinktanks, lobbyists, websites and commentators. The character of the assault says much about which way the political wind is blowing in Washington – something that will have consequences that stretch far beyond the US. One of Musk’s most trenchant critics has been the journalist Shepard Stewart, who writes for a clutch of conservative online news sites. In several articles in September, not long after a SpaceX rocket exploded, Stewart attacked Musk for receiving billions in government subsidies “to make rockets that immediately self destruct” and branded him “a national disgrace”. As Musk fought back on Twitter, it became apparent that Stewart was an invention. Even his photo byline had been doctored from a LinkedIn profile of a tech entrepreneur. “Definitely a fake,” Gavin Wax, editor-in-chief of the Liberty Conservative, one of the websites that published Stewart, admitted to Bloomberg. The revelation triggered several theories: that Stewart was created by speculators shorting shares in Musk’s companies, or that he was invented by rival rocket companies keen to bring SpaceX down to earth. But Musk may be reassured to learn that Stewart’s attacks on him weren’t that personal. Rather, they appear to be part of a wider agenda against big government, the environmental lobby and liberals in general – an agenda reinvigorated by the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency. In recent months, Stewart has twice attacked Oregon’s former governor, John Kitzhaber, a supporter of ObamaCare and solar energy who was forced to resign from office, saying his appearance at a healthcare conference was like “having Bernie Madoff heading an upcoming conference on retirement savings”. He has also taken aim at Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy for introducing an act that compels online contact lens sellers to seek approval from optometrists before selling their products. And he has lambasted the Obama administration for “banning payday loans despite the fact that there is an overwhelming need and positive reception for them”. Stewart’s protean efforts have been erased from the internet. But the online attacks on Musk continue. A website, stopelonfromfailingagain.com, regularly publishes negative stories about him. The site is similar to another anti-Musk site, whoiselonmusk.com, created by an organisation called The Center for Business and Responsible Government (CBRG), which describes itself as a “non-partisan organisation dedicated to highlighting cronyism and its effect on American taxpayers and policy” and seems not to exist anywhere but cyberspace. Both sites were set up around the same time this summer and are registered to a domain-name allocation company in Arizona. Whoiselonmusk carries stories from the Daily Signal, the news arm of the Heritage Foundation, a powerful rightwing thinktank whose mission statement is to promote “free enterprise” and “limited government”. It also republishes items from the Washington Examiner and the Daily Caller – online titles that have both published articles by Stewart. Closer inspection of stopelonfromfailingagain.com reveals that it was established by Citizens for the Republic, a political action committee (Pac) set up in the 70s by Ronald Reagan. Dormant for years, CFTR resurfaced in 2008 under Craig Shirley, a biographer of Reagan, whose lobbying firm, Shirley & Banister, claims to have played a key role helping the “Tea Party Patriots in its rise to prominence as the premiere grassroots group in the country”. Announcing its campaign against Musk, CFTR’s’ executive director, Diana Banister, the other half of Shirley & Banister, said they would mobilise “public opinion, advertising, grassroots advocacy, testimony and legislation” in their attack on federal solar subsidies, of which Musk has been a major beneficiary. But how and why did CFTR spring back to life? Reports at the time suggested it was revived due to widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the Republican party. One stated: “The revitalized Citizens for the Republic has already secured $17m in solid financial commitments, according to an official involved in raising money for the organisation.” Whether CFTR really secured this sort of money cannot be verified. But documents filed with the US Internal Revenue Service reveal that two linked organisations – the Wellspring Committee and the Annual Fund – donated the best part of $1m between 2010 and 2011. Few people in the UK will have heard of these two organisations, but they are part of a powerful conservative political network whose influence has global consequences. An investigation by the Center for Responsive Politics found that Wellspring was one of many organisations that in the past was used as a “dark money conduit” by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, David and Charles, to channel money to their favoured causes, which have included climate change denial scientists, Tea Party activists and a host of other rightwing groups, including the Heritage Foundation. While Wellspring has reportedly distanced itself from the Kochs, it continues to draw donations from the brothers’ network of like-minded supporters. One of the Kochs’ latest campaigns emerged in February when it was announced that James Mahoney, a vice-president at Koch Industries, had teamed up with a former lobbyist for American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers to launch a group promoting petroleum. The group is spending $10m a year talking up petrol while attacking government subsidies for electric vehicles, according to sources who spoke to the Huffington Post. The announcement followed a pledge made last December by the Koch brothers that they and their supporters intended to spend nearly $900m this year helping favoured conservative candidates get elected to Congress, the presidency, and state legislatures. This was double what they spent in the last election cycle and almost as much as was expended by the two presidential campaigns. Koch Industries did not respond to requests for comment. The Observer attempted to talk to Craig Shirley about CFTR’s relationship with the Wellspring Committee and its campaign against Musk. A spokesman for Shirley & Banister declined to comment on specific questions but said: “The Observer may not be familiar with our laws, and therefore we feel a duty to inform you that conservative philosophy is perfectly legal in the United States. While our hearts go out to the liberal groups who may be ‘upset’, Citizens for the Republic will continue to fight back against cronyism and corruption at all levels of government. If liberals can’t understand that, then that is further proof they have learned nothing from this election.” Ironically, given the money they spent, the Kochs’ preferred presidential candidate – Scott Walker, the Republican governor of Wisconsin and a darling of many in the Tea Party movement – crashed and burned. Walker’s links to the Kochs may actually have hindered his chances, as they gave plenty of ammunition to his rivals. Hillary Clinton joked that Walker received “his marching orders from the Koch brothers and just goes down the list”. Trump derided Republicans who took Koch money as “puppets”. Walker’s failure to secure the nomination was a blow for Shirley & Banister, which ran the communications operation for his super-Pac, The Unintimidated Pac, positioning their candidate as an opponent of the Washington elite “unintimidated by powerful political forces”. And yet, despite the ostensible setback, Christmas has come early for the Kochs. The incoming vice-president, Mike Pence, has acknowledged the support of David Koch. Myron Ebell, the chair of the Koch-backed Cooler Heads Coalition, which questions “global warming alarmism”, will lead Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency. Another Trump appointment to that team, David Schnare, is a former member of the Heartland Institute, which denies the scientific evidence for man-made climate change and is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), another organisation funded by the Kochs. Meanwhile Thomas Pyle, of the Koch-backed American Energy Alliance, is off to the energy department, while Doug Domenech of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which has received millions in Koch funds, is joining the Department of the Interior. As the campaigning website kochvsclean.com put it: Are The Koch Brothers Controlling Trump Through Appointees? If the answer is yes, then Musk and other evangelists for the green economy will soon have a lot more to worry about than fake news. It’s the real news they should fear now.

technology/2016/dec/04/elon-musk-trolling-us-conservatives-green-tech

pillar/news

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technology

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2016-12-04T00:05:02Z

The trolling of Elon Musk: how US conservatives are attacking green tech

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/elon-musk-trolling-us-conservatives-green-tech

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/03/airbnb-regulation-london-amsterdam-housing

Airbnb, the startup that has fought tooth and nail to avoid regulation in cities around the world, appears to have reversed its attitude toward regulators in a dramatic change of policy. In a deal with London and Amsterdam announced this week, the company has agreed to take on the responsibility of policing limits on the number of days per year a full unit can be let through its system, making it the first short-term rental company to cut such a deal. Some analysts have met the move with cautious optimism, hoping that the short-term rental giant might finally be able to get its regulation problem under control before its mooted IPO. Under the deal, Airbnb will be responsible for making sure their hosts stick to the local limits for short-term rentals unless the hosts have the proper licenses – 90 days per year in London, 60 per year in Amsterdam. Even more so than Uber, Airbnb has struggled against local regulatory environments as it grew. It has been engaged in protracted battles with city authorities in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Barcelona, and scores of other cities – often because it is blamed for eating into the housing stock – and falls into legal grey areas in places like Japan. In Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, critics say Airbnb is to blame for a total drying-out of the long-term rental market. In Australia, where a construction boom means cities worry less about draining housing stock, regulatory bodies have been more open to short-term rentals, according to Julian Ledger, the CEO of the Youth Hostel Association of Australia. But even there, the company is controversial. The state government of New South Wales is preparing a response to a parliamentary enquiry into Airbnb earlier this year. Public opinion, Ledger said, was “mixed”. Dutch MP Mei Li Vos, a supporter of regulation of the “sharing economy” in Holland, welcomed the Amsterdam deal. “I think it’s a good step forward,” she said. “Some very stubborn people and hosts of illegal hotels will persist, but it’s a good thing that Airbnb finally listens to the complaints of its neighbors. “It’s a positive development for Airbnb, because the more certainty there is around the structure for Airbnb in cities around the world, and the less uncertainty there is about what is legal and what isn’t, [the better],” said Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business who studies the sharing economy. Sundararajan found the move especially heartening in the face of Airbnb’s $30bn valuation and possible future IPO - though others have suggested that the move was a kind of Potemkin village move designed to reassure skittish investors before a possible offering. Not all of Airbnb’s supporters were overjoyed. Andrew Moylan, the executive director of the R Street Institute, a libertarian thinktank, was concerned by the precedent that was set by the deal. “Airbnb and other short-term rental services have been fighting these existential battles across the world, and this is worrisome to me in that it’s the first time I’ve seen a company make a concession of this scale in basically agreeing to serve as an extension of law and code enforcement on behalf of the cities in which they have to operate,” he said. Opponents of the company, however, expressed skepticism that Airbnb could be trusted to self-police. “It’s a little bit like having the fox watch the chicken coop,” said Joe LaCava, a community leader and former chairman of the San Diego Community Planners Committee. Judith Roth Goldman, the co-founder of Keep Neighbourhoods First, a Los Angeles-based grassroots coalition opposing Airbnb-type rentals, said that Airbnb would “do anything to keep their $30bn IPO valuation”. “Let’s see if Airbnb follows through as agreed,” Goldman said. “Only time will tell, but truthfully I can say that we’re hopefully optimistic that they’re committed to comply – but we’re skeptical given their track record.” Dale Carlson, the co-founder of Share Better San Francisco, a pressure group agitating for greater regulation of Airbnb, said that the move was a good thing “only if it’s real,” but felt that his experience of the company led him to doubt that they would follow through with the deal in good faith. “Don’t buy the Airbn-BS” was his advice to London and Amsterdam. “These guys are really quite shameless.” This article has been amended to state that Keep Neighbourhoods First is based in LosAngeles, not New York

technology/2016/dec/03/airbnb-regulation-london-amsterdam-housing

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2016-12-03T14:41:39Z

Airbnb regulation deal with London and Amsterdam marks dramatic policy shift

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/03/airbnb-regulation-london-amsterdam-housing

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/03/mercedes-e-class-car-review

If you were given to conspiracy theories, the Mercedes E-class would be your nemesis. Every move I made, every corner, every rev, it was already there. Every thought I thinked, it had already thunk it. Opening the boot in a shower, watching water drip round the perfectly designed rubber piping, so that nothing touched me or my luggage, I felt gripped by a sudden mourning. Such a lot of thought has gone into this – more than thought, empathy. If only that kind of intelligence could have gone somewhere useful, like the refugee crisis. But look, we are where we are. This boot is awesome and my plentiful luggage is as dry as toast. I’ve never sat in a car thinking, “If only this was a nine-speed automatic”, but the truth is, this was subtle and elegant at every speed, shifting deftly, making driving feel like flying. You could feel its grip on the road, and it spread confidence, via your butt, throughout the car. One time in 1994, I was in Ghent, lit up like the Commonwealth, and I got into a car driven by a guy as drunk as I was, and I remember thinking, just before I went to sleep, “It’s fine that he is drunk, because there is no way he would crash a car as expensive as this.” I got exactly the same feeling from this Merc, though I stress that nobody in charge of it was drunk at any time. The exterior has resisted the fashion, which is to underscore luxury with a kind of studied beefiness, your superiority marked literal-mindedly by the fact that you’re taller and better nourished than the other cars. This is more of a classic bank manager size – big enough for your chums and your golf clubs, not so big that you have to worry about parking. You don’t have to worry about parking anyway, of course, since it parks itself. I’m not trying to be cute – it can literally steer itself into bays and parallel spaces. It’s eerily incredible. The interior is as leathery as you would expect, spacious, classy, the kind of backseat they’d choose for a sit-down in The Sopranos. Controls are large and legible. I have one quibble, with the gear change being on a paddle rather than in the centre. The number of times I went into neutral trying to turn on the wipers correlated exactly with the number of times it rained. But I feel bad mentioning it, because I know that in another 24 hours, I’d have been used to it. I needed it for a week and a day. Or a month and a day. Lord, protect me from what I want. Mercedes E220d AMG: in numbers Price from £38,430 Top speed 149mph Acceleration 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds Combined fuel consumption 72mpg CO2 emissions 112g/km Eco rating 7/10 Cool rating 6/10

technology/2016/dec/03/mercedes-e-class-car-review

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technology

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2016-12-03T11:00:20Z

Mercedes E-class car review – ‘Makes driving feel like flying’

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/03/mercedes-e-class-car-review

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/02/facebook-affordable-housing-silicon-valley

Facebook has agreed to invest $20m in affordable housing initiatives after facing intense criticism for failing to help low-income residents in Silicon Valley where the technology boom has exacerbated displacement and gentrification. The corporation, which is pushing forward with a massive campus expansion in northern California, announced on Friday a partnership with community organizations aimed at funding affordable housing construction and assisting tenants facing eviction. Housing activists who have long been critical of Facebook and its role in accelerating income inequality in the region said the investment marked an “unprecedented” collaboration between Silicon Valley corporations and advocacy groups and that the project could push neighboring tech companies to better address local poverty. “I’m hoping this fund will be the thing that starts to move the rest of the region,” said Tameeka Bennett, executive director of Youth United for Community Action (Yuca), a non-profit in East Palo Alto that helped negotiate the new agreement. The housing shortage has reached crisis levels in Silicon Valley, which is also home to Google, Apple and many other wealthy technology firms. Rapid job creation combined with a lack of new housing has created an estimated shortfall of 22,000 homes, with the region building only 26% of the housing needed for low-income people, according to non-profit group Public Advocates. That means only the wealthy can afford to live near their Silicon Valley jobs, forcing an estimated 70,000 low-income workers to commute more than 50 miles to work. Facebook, headquartered in Menlo Park, has contributed to the problem in direct and indirect ways. The company sparked backlash after it began offering generous bonuses to employees if they live near campus, which advocates say has hastened gentrification. Local real estate managers have evicted low-income tenants en masse, explicitly marketing units to Facebook employees. The funding announced this week is not simply a philanthropic donation from Facebook, which is valued at $350bn. The corporation is legally required to fund certain community benefits as part of its ongoing expansion project, and activists have spent months pressuring the company to make substantial investments. Facebook plans to add 126,000 sq ft to its campus and bring 6,500 new employees to the area, increasing the Menlo Park workforce by 20%. Development laws mandated that the corporation contribute $6.3m to below-market-rate housing. Still, non-profit leaders said the housing fund could have a significant impact and noted that Facebook executives have relied heavily on the input of local advocates with the kind of intensive collaboration advocates rarely see from corporations. “The community groups that have the expertise really were equal players,” said Sam Tepperman-Gelfant, senior staff attorney at Public Advocates, which had raised formal objections to Facebook’s expansion proposal. “I hope having one large prominent Silicon Valley company leading the way on this will be a wake-up call for all the other global corporations that the Bay Area is hosting and the need for them to work locally,” he added, “rather than just thinking of themselves as global corporations that exist online.” In addition to investing $18.5m toward the creation and preservation of affordable housing, the company has offered $500,000 toward legal and rental assistance to tenants threatened with displacement. A Facebook spokesman told the Guardian that the company doesn’t have projections on the number of housing units the partnership could fund, but noted that the $20m is an “initial contribution” and said the company hopes to “attract additional public, private and philanthropic entities to contribute to the fund”. Kyra Brown, Yuca’s social justice program director, said it was critical that Facebook do a better job diversifying its workforce and hire locally in East Palo Alto, a historically black city. African American employees make up only 3% of the corporation’s senior leadership in the US. “Silicon Valley is known as this very innovative place when it comes to addressing everyday issues,” she said, “but my hope is that we also take that same innovation and apply it to social issues.” Brown, who grew up in East Palo Alto, said the announcement was an important first step in the tech sector helping to address inequities in the communities they’ve entered. “I’m glad that Facebook is thinking about the legacy it wants to leave particularly when it comes to communities of color,” she said.

technology/2016/dec/02/facebook-affordable-housing-silicon-valley

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2016-12-02T20:49:50Z

Facebook plans to invest $20m in affordable housing projects

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/02/facebook-affordable-housing-silicon-valley

['facebook', 'agreed', 'invest', '20m', 'affordable', 'housing', 'initiatives', 'facing', 'intense', 'criticism', 'failing', 'help', 'low-income', 'residents', 'silicon', 'valley', 'technology', 'boom', 'exacerbated', 'displacement', 'gentrification', 'corporation', 'pushing', 'forward', 'massive', 'campus', 'expansion', 'northern', 'california', 'announced', 'friday', 'partnership', 'community', 'organizations', 'aimed', 'funding', 'affordable', 'housing', 'construction', 'assisting', 'tenants', 'facing', 'eviction', 'housing', 'activists', 'long', 'critical', 'facebook', 'role', 'accelerating', 'income', 'inequality', 'region', 'said', 'investment', 'marked', 'unprecedented', 'collaboration', 'silicon', 'valley', 'corporations', 'advocacy', 'groups', 'project', 'could', 'push', 'neighboring', 'tech', 'companies', 'better', 'address', 'local', 'poverty', 'hoping', 'fund', 'thing', 'starts', 'move', 'rest', 'region', 'said', 'tameeka', 'bennett', 'executive', 'director', 'youth', 'united', 'community', 'action', 'yuca', 'non-profit', 'east', 'palo', 'alto', 'helped', 'negotiate', 'new', 'agreement', 'housing', 'shortage', 'reached', 'crisis', 'levels', 'silicon', 'valley', 'also', 'home', 'google', 'apple', 'many', 'wealthy', 'technology', 'firms', 'rapid', 'job', 'creation', 'combined', 'lack', 'new', 'housing', 'created', 'estimated', 'shortfall', 'homes', 'region', 'building', 'housing', 'needed', 'low-income', 'people', 'according', 'non-profit', 'group', 'public', 'advocates', 'means', 'wealthy', 'afford', 'live', 'near', 'silicon', 'valley', 'jobs', 'forcing', 'estimated', 'low-income', 'workers', 'commute', 'miles', 'work', 'facebook', 'headquartered', 'menlo', 'park', 'contributed', 'problem', 'direct', 'indirect', 'ways', 'company', 'sparked', 'backlash', 'began', 'offering', 'generous', 'bonuses', 'employees', 'live', 'near', 'campus', 'advocates', 'say', 'hastened', 'gentrification', 'local', 'real', 'estate', 'managers', 'evicted', 'low-income', 'tenants', 'en', 'masse', 'explicitly', 'marketing', 'units', 'facebook', 'employees', 'funding', 'announced', 'week', 'simply', 'philanthropic', 'donation', 'facebook', 'valued', '350bn', 'corporation', 'legally', 'required', 'fund', 'certain', 'community', 'benefits', 'part', 'ongoing', 'expansion', 'project', 'activists', 'spent', 'months', 'pressuring', 'company', 'make', 'substantial', 'investments', 'facebook', 'plans', 'add', 'sq', 'ft', 'campus', 'bring', 'new', 'employees', 'area', 'increasing', 'menlo', 'park', 'workforce', 'development', 'laws', 'mandated', 'corporation', 'contribute', '63m', 'below-market-rate', 'housing', 'still', 'non-profit', 'leaders', 'said', 'housing', 'fund', 'could', 'significant', 'impact', 'noted', 'facebook', 'executives', 'relied', 'heavily', 'input', 'local', 'advocates', 'kind', 'intensive', 'collaboration', 'advocates', 'rarely', 'see', 'corporations', 'community', 'groups', 'expertise', 'really', 'equal', 'players', 'said', 'sam', 'tepperman-gelfant', 'senior', 'staff', 'attorney', 'public', 'advocates', 'raised', 'formal', 'objections', 'facebook', 'expansion', 'proposal', 'hope', 'one', 'large', 'prominent', 'silicon', 'valley', 'company', 'leading', 'way', 'wake-up', 'call', 'global', 'corporations', 'bay', 'area', 'hosting', 'need', 'work', 'locally', 'added', 'rather', 'thinking', 'global', 'corporations', 'exist', 'online', 'addition', 'investing', '185m', 'toward', 'creation', 'preservation', 'affordable', 'housing', 'company', 'offered', 'toward', 'legal', 'rental', 'assistance', 'tenants', 'threatened', 'displacement', 'facebook', 'spokesman', 'told', 'guardian', 'company', 'projections', 'number', 'housing', 'units', 'partnership', 'could', 'fund', 'noted', '20m', 'initial', 'contribution', 'said', 'company', 'hopes', 'attract', 'additional', 'public', 'private', 'philanthropic', 'entities', 'contribute', 'fund', 'kyra', 'brown', 'yuca', 'social', 'justice', 'program', 'director', 'said', 'critical', 'facebook', 'better', 'job', 'diversifying', 'workforce', 'hire', 'locally', 'east', 'palo', 'alto', 'historically', 'black', 'city', 'african', 'american', 'employees', 'make', 'corporation', 'senior', 'leadership', 'us', 'silicon', 'valley', 'known', 'innovative', 'place', 'comes', 'addressing', 'everyday', 'issues', 'said', 'hope', 'also', 'take', 'innovation', 'apply', 'social', 'issues', 'brown', 'grew', 'east', 'palo', 'alto', 'said', 'announcement', 'important', 'first', 'step', 'tech', 'sector', 'helping', 'address', 'inequities', 'communities', 'entered', 'glad', 'facebook', 'thinking', 'legacy', 'wants', 'leave', 'particularly', 'comes', 'communities', 'color', 'said']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/02/facebook-fake-news-flag-techcrunch-bs-detector

It’s a fable for our times. Someone creates a tool that flags fake news on Facebook with big red warning signs. Someone else installs said tool, forgets about it, and then mistakenly assumes that the red warning signs are evidence of Facebook’s own efforts to tackle the problem. A reputable technology website then writes a story about Facebook’s new experiment without doing any fact checking, thus generating its own piece of fake news. The icing on the cake? The fake news detector fails to recognize it as fake news. “I thought it was the most meta thing I’ve ever seen: a fake news article about a fake news detector,” said Daniel Sieradski, who created the BS Detector browser plug-in to alert users to unreliable news sources. He immediately contacted the TechCrunch authors to point out their mistake, and they updated the article. Sieradski, a 37-year-old activist and independent journalist from Syracuse, created BS Detector as a reaction to Facebook’s failure to acknowledge any responsibility for the spread of misleading and false information on its platform. “The proliferation of misinformation has severely impacted people’s ability to make informed decisions when it comes to politics and other issues,” he said. He was irritated by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that fake news was a difficult problem to solve and so built BS Detector to prove that it’s possible. “This is how anti-semitism surges in a public sphere instead of staying in the dark corners of the internet. These conspiracy theories move into mainstream discourse and become adopted as factual beliefs,” he added. BS Detector, which Sieradski claims has been downloaded more than 25,000 times, works by cross-referencing news links with a database of questionable news sources. If there’s a match, it injects a red warning sign flagging that the website is not a reliable news source. There are different classifications for fake news, satire, extreme bias, conspiracy theory, junk science, state news or hate groups. Sieradski continuously updates the database and provides a way for websites to appeal the classification. “Ultimately we could connect with media watchdog groups and work with them on an actual methodology to back our product,” he said. Today, in a final twist in the tale, Facebook blocked people from linking to BS Detector citing security reasons. When the Guardian attempted to post a link to bsdetector.tech, a pop-up appeared stating “message failed”. “Obviously it’s not a security risk because there’s no security related behavior of the plug-in. It doesn’t affect the integrity of Facebook’s operations, it just inserts an HTML element into the page. It’s not doing anything mischievous. My suspicion is that they didn’t like the TechCrunch article.” The Guardian contacted Facebook to find out why the link was blocked from the social network, but the company didn’t initially respond. Hours later the link could be posted once again – as predicted by Sieradski himself. “This is how Facebook rolls. I expected nothing less than a quiet unblocking. It’s routine for them at this point. Drop a banhammer unjustly, get called out in the press, pretend it wasn’t on purpose,” he said. A Facebook spokeswoman later issued this statement: “We maintain a set of systems to help us detect and block suspicious behavior on our site. We temporarily blocked people from sharing the domain bsdetector.tech because of other abuse we have seen from the .tech top-level domain. We have corrected the error.”

technology/2016/dec/02/facebook-fake-news-flag-techcrunch-bs-detector

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2016-12-02T20:36:56Z

Fake news detector for Facebook leads to fake news story about who made it

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/02/facebook-fake-news-flag-techcrunch-bs-detector

['fable', 'times', 'someone', 'creates', 'tool', 'flags', 'fake', 'news', 'facebook', 'big', 'red', 'warning', 'signs', 'someone', 'else', 'installs', 'said', 'tool', 'forgets', 'mistakenly', 'assumes', 'red', 'warning', 'signs', 'evidence', 'facebook', 'efforts', 'tackle', 'problem', 'reputable', 'technology', 'website', 'writes', 'story', 'facebook', 'new', 'experiment', 'without', 'fact', 'checking', 'thus', 'generating', 'piece', 'fake', 'news', 'icing', 'cake', 'fake', 'news', 'detector', 'fails', 'recognize', 'fake', 'news', 'thought', 'meta', 'thing', 'ever', 'seen', 'fake', 'news', 'article', 'fake', 'news', 'detector', 'said', 'daniel', 'sieradski', 'created', 'bs', 'detector', 'browser', 'plug-in', 'alert', 'users', 'unreliable', 'news', 'sources', 'immediately', 'contacted', 'techcrunch', 'authors', 'point', 'mistake', 'updated', 'article', 'sieradski', '37-year-old', 'activist', 'independent', 'journalist', 'syracuse', 'created', 'bs', 'detector', 'reaction', 'facebook', 'failure', 'acknowledge', 'responsibility', 'spread', 'misleading', 'false', 'information', 'platform', 'proliferation', 'misinformation', 'severely', 'impacted', 'people', 'ability', 'make', 'informed', 'decisions', 'comes', 'politics', 'issues', 'said', 'irritated', 'facebook', 'ceo', 'mark', 'zuckerberg', 'claims', 'fake', 'news', 'difficult', 'problem', 'solve', 'built', 'bs', 'detector', 'prove', 'possible', 'anti-semitism', 'surges', 'public', 'sphere', 'instead', 'staying', 'dark', 'corners', 'internet', 'conspiracy', 'theories', 'move', 'mainstream', 'discourse', 'become', 'adopted', 'factual', 'beliefs', 'added', 'bs', 'detector', 'sieradski', 'claims', 'downloaded', 'times', 'works', 'cross-referencing', 'news', 'links', 'database', 'questionable', 'news', 'sources', 'match', 'injects', 'red', 'warning', 'sign', 'flagging', 'website', 'reliable', 'news', 'source', 'different', 'classifications', 'fake', 'news', 'satire', 'extreme', 'bias', 'conspiracy', 'theory', 'junk', 'science', 'state', 'news', 'hate', 'groups', 'sieradski', 'continuously', 'updates', 'database', 'provides', 'way', 'websites', 'appeal', 'classification', 'ultimately', 'could', 'connect', 'media', 'watchdog', 'groups', 'work', 'actual', 'methodology', 'back', 'product', 'said', 'today', 'final', 'twist', 'tale', 'facebook', 'blocked', 'people', 'linking', 'bs', 'detector', 'citing', 'security', 'reasons', 'guardian', 'attempted', 'post', 'link', 'bsdetectortech', 'pop-up', 'appeared', 'stating', 'message', 'failed', 'obviously', 'security', 'risk', 'security', 'related', 'behavior', 'plug-in', 'affect', 'integrity', 'facebook', 'operations', 'inserts', 'html', 'element', 'page', 'anything', 'mischievous', 'suspicion', 'like', 'techcrunch', 'article', 'guardian', 'contacted', 'facebook', 'find', 'link', 'blocked', 'social', 'network', 'company', 'initially', 'respond', 'hours', 'later', 'link', 'could', 'posted', 'predicted', 'sieradski', 'facebook', 'rolls', 'expected', 'nothing', 'less', 'quiet', 'unblocking', 'routine', 'point', 'drop', 'banhammer', 'unjustly', 'get', 'called', 'press', 'pretend', 'purpose', 'said', 'facebook', 'spokeswoman', 'later', 'issued', 'statement', 'maintain', 'set', 'systems', 'help', 'us', 'detect', 'block', 'suspicious', 'behavior', 'site', 'temporarily', 'blocked', 'people', 'sharing', 'domain', 'bsdetectortech', 'abuse', 'seen', 'tech', 'top-level', 'domain', 'corrected', 'error']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/02/tesco-bank-cyber-attack-involved-simply-guessing-details-study-claims

A team of academics claims an unsophisticated type of cyber attack that exploits “flaws” in the Visa card payment system was probably used to defraud Tesco Bank customers of £2.5m last month. In an academic paper, the team at Newcastle University claimed that working out the card number, expiry date and security code of any Visa credit or debit card could take a criminal “as little as six seconds” and involved nothing more than guesswork. They said the so-called “distributed guessing attack” method they had identified was able to circumvent all the security features put in place to protect online payments from fraud, and exploited vulnerabilities at Visa – which has more than 500m cards in circulation in Europe alone – and hundreds of the world’s biggest and most popular retail websites. Some sites have changed their online security settings in response to the findings. Visa said the research did not take into account the multiple layers of fraud prevention that exists within the payments system, “each of which must be met in order to make a transaction possible in the real world”. The research paper, whose lead author is a 26-year-old PhD student, said the good news for people with MasterCard debit and credit cards was that this form of hacking did not work on MasterCards, because its systems were able to detect the attacks. It added that the minority of online retailers that used so-called 3D Secure technology to provide extra protection – such as the Verified by Visa, Mastercard SecureCode and American Express SafeKey systems – were also “safe” from this type of attack. The paper was published weeks after Tesco Bank suffered what was described as an unprecedented attack on its online accounts, which affected 9,000 customers and resulted in the theft of £2.5m. The type of hacking identified by the Newcastle team involves criminals using merchants’ payment websites to “guess” people’s card details. The criminals use software that automatically generates different variations of a card’s security data – for example, the card number, expiry date and three-digit security code known as the CVV – and fires these off to hundreds or even thousands of websites around the world at the same time. The reply to the transaction will confirm whether or not the guess was right. Because Visa’s network did not detect multiple invalid payment requests on the same card from different websites, “unlimited guesses” could be made by spreading the guesses over a large number of sites, even if individual merchants limited the number of attempts. This meant that “within seconds, hackers are able to get a ‘hit’ and verify all the necessary security data”. Once they have all the details, the criminal can use these to buy goods online or, potentially, open a money transfer account and send cash to an anonymous recipient abroad. The Newcastle team used a set of software tools – including a website “bot” and automated scripts – and their own bank cards, including seven Visa ones, to carry out an experimental distributed guessing attack. They chose 400 of the world’s biggest commercial websites for their investigation, including Google, Amazon, iTunes and PayPal, before later whittling this down to 389. Of these, 47 made use of 3D Secure systems, which meant they could not be attacked in this way. That left 342 that were vulnerable. The research paper stated that the experiment proved that this type of attack was practical and so a credible threat, and also that it was possible to run multiple bots at the same time on hundreds of payment sites “without triggering any alarms in the payment system”. Mohammed Ali, a PhD student in Newcastle University’s school of computing science and lead author on the paper, said: “Most hackers will have got hold of valid card numbers as a starting point, but even without that, it’s relatively easy to generate variations of card numbers and automatically send them out across numerous websites to validate them.” He added: “The next step is the expiry date. Banks typically issue cards that are valid for 60 months, so guessing the date takes at most 60 attempts. The CVV is your last barrier and theoretically only the cardholder has that piece of information – it isn’t stored anywhere else. But guessing this three-digit number takes fewer than 1,000 attempts. Spread this out over 1,000 websites and one will come back verified within a couple of seconds. And there you have it: all the data you need to hack the account.” Ali said MasterCard’s centralised network was able to detect a guessing attack after fewer than 10 attempts, even when those payments were distributed across multiple networks. The team said this guessing attack method was likely to have been used in the Tesco cyber-attack, and was “frighteningly easy if you have a laptop and an internet connection … The risk is greatest at this time of year, when so many of us are purchasing Christmas presents online.” Their research has been published in the academic journal IEEE Security & Privacy. In a statement, Visa said it was “committed to keeping fraud at low levels, and works closely with card issuers and acquirers to make it very difficult to obtain and use cardholder data illegally … We provide issuers with the necessary data to make informed decisions on the risk of transactions. There are also steps that merchants and issuers can take to thwart brute force attempts”. The spokesman said that in cases where someone’s card details were used fraudulently the cardholder was protected from liability and added that where a merchant chose not to use its Verified by Visa system for a card-not-present transaction, they assumed the risk for fraud. “Visa welcomes industry and academic efforts to identify and address perceived vulnerabilities in the payment system.” Tesco Bank said it refunded each customer account in full and no customer data was lost or stolen. “This incident has highlighted that all banks need to work together in the interests of all customers and the financial system,” a spokesman said.

technology/2016/dec/02/tesco-bank-cyber-attack-involved-simply-guessing-details-study-claims

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technology

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2016-12-02T00:01:00Z

Tesco Bank cyber attack involved guesswork, study claims

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/02/tesco-bank-cyber-attack-involved-simply-guessing-details-study-claims

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'typically', 'issue', 'cards', 'valid', 'months', 'guessing', 'date', 'takes', 'attempts', 'cvv', 'last', 'barrier', 'theoretically', 'cardholder', 'piece', 'information', 'stored', 'anywhere', 'else', 'guessing', 'three-digit', 'number', 'takes', 'fewer', 'attempts', 'spread', 'websites', 'one', 'come', 'back', 'verified', 'within', 'couple', 'seconds', 'data', 'need', 'hack', 'account', 'ali', 'said', 'mastercard', 'centralised', 'network', 'able', 'detect', 'guessing', 'attack', 'fewer', 'attempts', 'even', 'payments', 'distributed', 'across', 'multiple', 'networks', 'team', 'said', 'guessing', 'attack', 'method', 'likely', 'used', 'tesco', 'cyber-attack', 'frighteningly', 'easy', 'laptop', 'internet', 'connection', 'risk', 'greatest', 'time', 'year', 'many', 'us', 'purchasing', 'christmas', 'presents', 'online', 'research', 'published', 'academic', 'journal', 'ieee', 'security', 'amp', 'privacy', 'statement', 'visa', 'said', 'committed', 'keeping', 'fraud', 'low', 'levels', 'works', 'closely', 'card', 'issuers', 'acquirers', 'make', 'difficult', 'obtain', 'use', 'cardholder', 'data', 'illegally', 'provide', 'issuers', 'necessary', 'data', 'make', 'informed', 'decisions', 'risk', 'transactions', 'also', 'steps', 'merchants', 'issuers', 'take', 'thwart', 'brute', 'force', 'attempts', 'spokesman', 'said', 'cases', 'someone', 'card', 'details', 'used', 'fraudulently', 'cardholder', 'protected', 'liability', 'added', 'merchant', 'chose', 'use', 'verified', 'visa', 'system', 'card-not-present', 'transaction', 'assumed', 'risk', 'fraud', 'visa', 'welcomes', 'industry', 'academic', 'efforts', 'identify', 'address', 'perceived', 'vulnerabilities', 'payment', 'system', 'tesco', 'bank', 'said', 'refunded', 'customer', 'account', 'full', 'customer', 'data', 'lost', 'stolen', 'incident', 'highlighted', 'banks', 'need', 'work', 'together', 'interests', 'customers', 'financial', 'system', 'spokesman', 'said']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/01/uk-homes-lose-internet-access-after-cyber-attack

More than 100,000 people in the UK have had their internet access cut after a string of service providers were hit by what is believed to be a coordinated cyber-attack, taking the number affected in Europe up to about a million. TalkTalk, one of Britain’s biggest service providers, the Post Office and the Hull-based KCom were all affected by the malware known as the Mirai worm, which is spread via compromised computers. The Post Office said 100,000 customers had experienced problems since the attack began on Sunday and KCom put its figure at about 10,000 customers since Saturday. TalkTalk confirmed that it had also been affected but declined to give a precise number of customers involved. Earlier this week, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom said up to 900,000 of its customers had lost their internet connection as part of the same incident. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which both Deutsche Telekom and KCom said was part of a worldwide effort. Security experts said the hackers may have been Russian but they had no proof. The speculation led the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to say that, while she could not be sure who was responsible for the strike, “such cyber-attacks, or hybrid conflicts as they are known in Russian doctrine, are now part of daily life and we must learn to cope with them”. The Mirai worm takes control of devices running the Linux operating system and uses them to knock services offline. This attack has targeted certain types of broadband routers, damaging their internet connection. A similar attack on the US-based Dyn web domain provider in October knocked a host of prominent websites offline, including Spotify, Twitter and Reddit. Security experts have suggested the aim of the attack may have been to simply cause disruption. “When the modified Mirai attack hit Deutsche Telekom over the weekend, many guessed that the fact that it simply shut down the devices it hit was a mistake by the bad guys trying to steal data,” said Jonathan Sander, from the security firm Lieberman Software. “Now that Post Office routers are falling victim to the same type of attack shutting them down, it begs the question if the shutdown is the goal. Most cybercrime is about money. But every now and then there are bad guys who just want to watch the world burn.” TalkTalk said: “Along with other internet service providers in the UK and abroad, we are taking steps to review the potential impacts of the Mirai worm. A small number of customer routers have been affected and we have deployed additional network-level controls to further protect our customers.” A spokeswoman declined to put a number on the number of people affected. She said: “Only a small percentage of our customers have the affected router and, of those, only a very small number have experienced connection issues as a result.” A Post Office spokesperson confirmed a “third party disrupted the services” of its broadband customers on Sunday. “Although this did result in service problems, we would like to reassure customers that no personal data or devices have been compromised,” he said. “We have identified the source of the problem and implemented a resolution which is currently being rolled out to all customers. No other Post Office services were affected.” KCom said it had been affected since Saturday but the vast majority of its customers were now able to connect to and use their broadband service as usual. A spokesperson said: “Our core network was not affected at any time and we have put in place measures to block future attacks from impacting our customers … We have provided formal notification of the attacks to the communications regulator, Ofcom, and will continue to work with other UK communications providers to ensure a consistent approach to mitigating this threat.”

technology/2016/dec/01/uk-homes-lose-internet-access-after-cyber-attack

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2016-12-01T23:02:22Z

UK homes lose internet access after cyber-attack

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/01/uk-homes-lose-internet-access-after-cyber-attack

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/01/nokia-smartphones-to-return-to-sale-2017

Do you pine for the days of your Nokia 3210? When phones were simple and the Finish company was cutting edge? That’s the kind of nostalgia that the Nokia brand will be banking on when it returns to the smartphone market next year, after selling out to Microsoft in 2013. A company set up by former Nokia employees called HMD Global has licensed the Nokia brand name from Microsoft, struck partnerships with device manufacturer Foxconn and intends to launch an Android smartphone in the early part of 2017. The head of HMD Global, Arto Nummela, said: “Consumers may be carrying different smartphones now, but are they really in love and loyal to those brands?” HMD Global will be looking to stir nostalgia in an effort to challenge the big and small players of the highly competitive smartphone market, dominated by Samsung and Apple, as well as Chinese brands such as Huawei. Nummela said: “We want to be one of the key competitive players in the smartphone business.” Brand power That road will be tough from a standing start, but brand power might be an edge against lesser-known rivals. “For a new entrant, having an established brand provides it with an instant on-ramp,” said Ben Wood from analysts CCS Insight. “The barriers to entry for the Android phone space are low. “What HMD has is the Nokia brand and management experience. The key to its success will be driving scale.” After the sale of the Nokia phone business to Microsoft in 2014 and the cull of the Nokia brand from Microsoft’s Lumia range of smartphones, the consumer brand lived on as a maker of feature or so-called dumb phones, mainly for Asia, India and eastern Europe. HMD took over the Nokia feature phone business from Microsoft on Thursday following the sale of the business in May. It has a licensing deal with Nokia giving it sole use of the brand on mobile phones and tablets for the next decade. It will pay Nokia royalties for the brand and patents, but Nokia has no direct investment in HMD. Instead, filled with ex-Nokia personnel, and executives from Siemens, Rovio and others, HMD is owned by Smart Connect LP, a private equity fund run by Jean-Francois Baril, who was once in charge of Nokia’s world-leading supply chain management system. Other HMD managers have put in money of their own. Shipments of Nokia feature phones plunged 40% in 2015 and HMD must reverse that decline while trying to break back into the smartphone market, where hundreds of vendors compete by selling phones that can be hard to distinguish. Nummela says his team’s enduring relationships with phone service providers and retailers could help HMD quickly convince owners of Nokia feature phones to upgrade in markets like India, Indonesia and Russia. In the UK and other smartphone-dominated markets, Nokia smartphones will have to overcome the various contenders for the world number three spot, currently held by the rising Huawei. What does the future of Android look like in a world with the Pixel?

technology/2016/dec/01/nokia-smartphones-to-return-to-sale-2017

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2016-12-01T16:17:50Z

Nokia smartphones to return in 2017

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/01/nokia-smartphones-to-return-to-sale-2017

['pine', 'days', 'nokia', 'phones', 'simple', 'finish', 'company', 'cutting', 'edge', 'kind', 'nostalgia', 'nokia', 'brand', 'banking', 'returns', 'smartphone', 'market', 'next', 'year', 'selling', 'microsoft', 'company', 'set', 'former', 'nokia', 'employees', 'called', 'hmd', 'global', 'licensed', 'nokia', 'brand', 'name', 'microsoft', 'struck', 'partnerships', 'device', 'manufacturer', 'foxconn', 'intends', 'launch', 'android', 'smartphone', 'early', 'part', 'head', 'hmd', 'global', 'arto', 'nummela', 'said', 'consumers', 'may', 'carrying', 'different', 'smartphones', 'really', 'love', 'loyal', 'brands', 'hmd', 'global', 'looking', 'stir', 'nostalgia', 'effort', 'challenge', 'big', 'small', 'players', 'highly', 'competitive', 'smartphone', 'market', 'dominated', 'samsung', 'apple', 'well', 'chinese', 'brands', 'huawei', 'nummela', 'said', 'want', 'one', 'key', 'competitive', 'players', 'smartphone', 'business', 'brand', 'power', 'road', 'tough', 'standing', 'start', 'brand', 'power', 'might', 'edge', 'lesser-known', 'rivals', 'new', 'entrant', 'established', 'brand', 'provides', 'instant', 'on-ramp', 'said', 'ben', 'wood', 'analysts', 'ccs', 'insight', 'barriers', 'entry', 'android', 'phone', 'space', 'low', 'hmd', 'nokia', 'brand', 'management', 'experience', 'key', 'success', 'driving', 'scale', 'sale', 'nokia', 'phone', 'business', 'microsoft', 'cull', 'nokia', 'brand', 'microsoft', 'lumia', 'range', 'smartphones', 'consumer', 'brand', 'lived', 'maker', 'feature', 'so-called', 'dumb', 'phones', 'mainly', 'asia', 'india', 'eastern', 'europe', 'hmd', 'took', 'nokia', 'feature', 'phone', 'business', 'microsoft', 'thursday', 'following', 'sale', 'business', 'may', 'licensing', 'deal', 'nokia', 'giving', 'sole', 'use', 'brand', 'mobile', 'phones', 'tablets', 'next', 'decade', 'pay', 'nokia', 'royalties', 'brand', 'patents', 'nokia', 'direct', 'investment', 'hmd', 'instead', 'filled', 'ex-nokia', 'personnel', 'executives', 'siemens', 'rovio', 'others', 'hmd', 'owned', 'smart', 'connect', 'lp', 'private', 'equity', 'fund', 'run', 'jean-francois', 'baril', 'charge', 'nokia', 'world-leading', 'supply', 'chain', 'management', 'system', 'hmd', 'managers', 'put', 'money', 'shipments', 'nokia', 'feature', 'phones', 'plunged', 'hmd', 'must', 'reverse', 'decline', 'trying', 'break', 'back', 'smartphone', 'market', 'hundreds', 'vendors', 'compete', 'selling', 'phones', 'hard', 'distinguish', 'nummela', 'says', 'team', 'enduring', 'relationships', 'phone', 'service', 'providers', 'retailers', 'could', 'help', 'hmd', 'quickly', 'convince', 'owners', 'nokia', 'feature', 'phones', 'upgrade', 'markets', 'like', 'india', 'indonesia', 'russia', 'uk', 'smartphone-dominated', 'markets', 'nokia', 'smartphones', 'overcome', 'various', 'contenders', 'world', 'number', 'three', 'spot', 'currently', 'held', 'rising', 'huawei', 'future', 'android', 'look', 'like', 'world', 'pixel']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/01/future-android-pixel-google

Android, the world’s most used mobile operating system, is going through a step change. For years, its creator, Google, only made a small number of own-brand devices running it for developers and enthusiasts. That changed with the release of the Pixel. The Pixel is Google’s first real attempt to challenge Apple and Samsung’s smartphone dominance, but it wasn’t made by the same team that makes Android. In fact, Google’s hardware team, headed by the ex-Motorola chief executive Rick Osterloh, aren’t even in the same building as the Android team, but instead are situated across the street. The Pixel phones introduced a new version of Android to the world, a version more Google-y than any before, that broke away from the standard or so-called pure Android experience of the open-source operating system underneath. Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s head of Android, Chrome OS, and Google Play told the Guardian it was a conscious decision for Google to not change core Android: “The Google consumer hardware team’s product vision is a phone for Google fans, who have adopted Google technologies. “Samsung takes a different approach, LG and HTC take a different approach: that’s the core of Android - they get to customise Android and build own experiences on top. The one from Google happens to be for Google fans. It makes sense.” But that act of Google making both Android and a phone that runs it could be seen as a big kick in the teeth to long-time licensees of the mobile operating system who have driven its success. Samsung has been Android’s champion for years and there are hundreds of other smartphone and device manufacturers who license and use Android on their products. OnePlus, a rising Chinese smartphone manufacturer, is just one of Google’s licensees. It creates a modified version of Android called OxygenOS, which runs on the companies smartphones including the recently released OnePlus 3T. Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus, told the Guardian he embraced Google’s decision to make its own smartphone for the mass market. He said: “The interesting thing about the Pixel series is that Google’s diverging from pure Android. “That gives everyone else much more creative freedom, because before we’ve had the purists complaining that every time you made a small tweak that ‘this is not pure Android’, but now even the Pixel is not pure Android so that gives you more creative freedom to realise your vision.” Lockheimer’s pleased other manufacturers see it that way: “For Carl and OnePlus to feel free with OxygenOS, that’s great, that’s exactly what we wanted to see happen. And what he and the team did with OxygenOS, Rick [Osterloh]’s doing with the Pixel team. Differentiating for a Google-orientated audience,” he said. ‘Android has always been about choice’ Google’s open-source moves with Android – giving it away free with a liberal licence to make it your own – but still maintain some control in the form of licences with conditions over app bundling and compatibility has put it in the firing line of the European commission. Google is embroiled in a battle with the European commission, accused of using its dominance over Android to exclude competitor apps and services. While Google’s legal counsel and the European commission thrash out charges, responses and eventually a likely settlement of some kind, does that change the way Android is built? Lockheimer said: “Android has always been about choice, about enabling others to build business on top, whether that’s multiple OEMs adopting the same source code because we’re giving it away, millions of developers building businesses on top of it, or simply being an open platform to provide consumer choice from the high to the low end. “So I think we’re very much aligned with the goals of the commission. We want choice, we want openness, and that’s how we’ve been thinking about it for a while. And that’s how we’ve always been operating.” Time will tell if the commission agrees. Being able to customise Android is certainly one of the operating system’s strengths, but it also introduces a weakness beyond European commission filings: software update delays. In a world where products radically change, normally for the better, over their lifetimes through software, updates are more crucial than ever. They’re the linchpin of modern security, delivering critical fixes for holes that could let hackers into the one device that knows more about you, your comings and goings and your personal information than anything else. Google releases annual updates to Android, denoted by a new name such as Lollipop, Marshmallow and now Nougat, but it can take months, sometimes a year or so before those big updates reach devices made by third-party manufacturers. Some put the blame on chip makers, others manufacturers, networks or even Google. Lockheimer acknowledges the difficulties: “We share the source code with chip makers such as MediaTek and Qualcomm, as well as manufacturers including Samsung and others before we publish Android. But it really is a pipeline. “If you’re in an operator-driven market, such as the US, they also add their customisations, so it adds another layer in the pipeline of development. We’re doing things to make Android more modular to speed things up.” One such effort has been the unpacking of some services specific to Google that get updated more regularly into what’s known as Google Play Services - a layer that sits on top of the Android operating system and delivers all of the Google-ness of the smartphone. Lockheimer said: “Android is an operating system that’s not tied to any one company. The Android Open Source Project, doesn’t know that Google exists, it doesn’t call into any Google servers or anything like that. So all the Google specific technologies are put into a thin layer on top of Android.” With Google’s apps and Play Services updatable separate from Android operating system underneath, material updates that change the look and field, the way Android works can be performed directly without having to go through various channels and without significantly changing the underlying system. Security updates have also been made more modular, although still require Android system updates to apply. Here there has been progress from the big manufacturers including Samsung, Google and others that have pledged to keep up with the Android team’s monthly security update releases. Cross-pollinating Chrome OS and Android Even full Android updates are being made easier on the user, according to Lockheimer. Google’s other operating system, Chrome OS which runs on laptops and desktop computers as an extended Linux-based version of the company’s Chrome browser, has been doing seamless updates for years. Now the latest version of Android 7 Nougat (N) has the same technology employed. Lockheimer explained: “Android N does operating system updates in the same way as Chrome OS, in the background so that the user doesn’t know it’s happening. You just reboot and boom you’re using the new version. It’s literally the same technology as used in Chrome OS.” Much has been said over the years about the slow merging of Chrome OS and Android, with speculation that Google would eventually ditch Chrome OS for Android and run a desktop version of Android. The introduction of the Android Google Play store onto Chromebooks this year did nothing to quell rumours of the merge. Lockheimer said: “We’re not interested in merging the source code of Android and ChromeOS, but we are doing is to bring the best of both systems to each other. One area where ChromeOS was lacking was app support. We happened to have this great ecosystem in Google Play for Android, so why not stick it on ChromeOS? “So not really a merge, more taking the best elements of both and cross-pollinating.” Could Google claim Huawei’s spot in the market? The future of Android is still unclear. Google’s experiment with the Pixel has changed the landscape, whether that’s for the better for all or simply for Google remains to be seen. Samsung and Apple dominate the smartphone market, selling vastly more smartphones than anyone else, but the race to be the third biggest smartphone manufacturer is on. Huawei occupies that spot, according to the latest data from analysts firms – could Google take its place with the Pixel, and how would everyone else feel about the Android maker out competing them? Pei is bullish: “It’s fair game. If Google makes a product that everyone likes and remembers, they will get the number three spot. But if we do it, we get the spot behind Samsung and Apple.” Five of the best phablets for 2016 Pixel is a direct challenge to Apple – and a referendum on Google Google Pixel review: an iPhone beater but not quite an Android king Google Pixel XL review: very good phablet but with price tag to match

technology/2016/dec/01/future-android-pixel-google

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2016-12-01T12:54:55Z

What does the future of Android look like in a world with the Pixel?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/01/future-android-pixel-google

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'lifetimes', 'software', 'updates', 'crucial', 'ever', 'linchpin', 'modern', 'security', 'delivering', 'critical', 'fixes', 'holes', 'could', 'let', 'hackers', 'one', 'device', 'knows', 'comings', 'goings', 'personal', 'information', 'anything', 'else', 'google', 'releases', 'annual', 'updates', 'android', 'denoted', 'new', 'name', 'lollipop', 'marshmallow', 'nougat', 'take', 'months', 'sometimes', 'year', 'big', 'updates', 'reach', 'devices', 'made', 'third-party', 'manufacturers', 'put', 'blame', 'chip', 'makers', 'others', 'manufacturers', 'networks', 'even', 'google', 'lockheimer', 'acknowledges', 'difficulties', 'share', 'source', 'code', 'chip', 'makers', 'mediatek', 'qualcomm', 'well', 'manufacturers', 'including', 'samsung', 'others', 'publish', 'android', 'really', 'pipeline', 'operator-driven', 'market', 'us', 'also', 'add', 'customisations', 'adds', 'another', 'layer', 'pipeline', 'development', 'things', 'make', 'android', 'modular', 'speed', 'things', 'one', 'effort', 'unpacking', 'services', 'specific', 'google', 'get', 'updated', 'regularly', 'known', 'google', 'play', 'services', '-', 'layer', 'sits', 'top', 'android', 'operating', 'system', 'delivers', 'google-ness', 'smartphone', 'lockheimer', 'said', 'android', 'operating', 'system', 'tied', 'one', 'company', 'android', 'open', 'source', 'project', 'know', 'google', 'exists', 'call', 'google', 'servers', 'anything', 'like', 'google', 'specific', 'technologies', 'put', 'thin', 'layer', 'top', 'android', 'google', 'apps', 'play', 'services', 'updatable', 'separate', 'android', 'operating', 'system', 'underneath', 'material', 'updates', 'change', 'look', 'field', 'way', 'android', 'works', 'performed', 'directly', 'without', 'go', 'various', 'channels', 'without', 'significantly', 'changing', 'underlying', 'system', 'security', 'updates', 'also', 'made', 'modular', 'although', 'still', 'require', 'android', 'system', 'updates', 'apply', 'progress', 'big', 'manufacturers', 'including', 'samsung', 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'onto', 'chromebooks', 'year', 'nothing', 'quell', 'rumours', 'merge', 'lockheimer', 'said', 'interested', 'merging', 'source', 'code', 'android', 'chromeos', 'bring', 'best', 'systems', 'one', 'area', 'chromeos', 'lacking', 'app', 'support', 'happened', 'great', 'ecosystem', 'google', 'play', 'android', 'stick', 'chromeos', 'really', 'merge', 'taking', 'best', 'elements', 'cross-pollinating', 'could', 'google', 'claim', 'huawei', 'spot', 'market', 'future', 'android', 'still', 'unclear', 'google', 'experiment', 'pixel', 'changed', 'landscape', 'whether', 'better', 'simply', 'google', 'remains', 'seen', 'samsung', 'apple', 'dominate', 'smartphone', 'market', 'selling', 'vastly', 'smartphones', 'anyone', 'else', 'race', 'third', 'biggest', 'smartphone', 'manufacturer', 'huawei', 'occupies', 'spot', 'according', 'latest', 'data', 'analysts', 'firms', 'could', 'google', 'take', 'place', 'pixel', 'would', 'everyone', 'else', 'feel', 'android', 'maker', 'competing', 'pei', 'bullish', 'fair', 'game', 'google', 'makes', 'product', 'everyone', 'likes', 'remembers', 'get', 'number', 'three', 'spot', 'get', 'spot', 'behind', 'samsung', 'apple', 'five', 'best', 'phablets', 'pixel', 'direct', 'challenge', 'apple', 'referendum', 'google', 'google', 'pixel', 'review', 'iphone', 'beater', 'quite', 'android', 'king', 'google', 'pixel', 'xl', 'review', 'good', 'phablet', 'price', 'tag', 'match']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/01/airbnb-introduces-90-day-a-year-limit-for-london-hosts

A quarter of London homes listed on Airbnb were rented for more than 90 days last year, many illegally and in breach of an act intended to stop landlords turning badly needed housing into unofficial hotels. The booming homesharing website admitted on Thursday that 4,938 of its “entire home” London listings – 23% of the total – were let out for for three months or more, despite a law requiring anyone doing so to apply for planning permission. The San Francisco-based website published an independent report into its activities by the thinktank IPPR that concluded: “It is likely there are many cases where planning permission for a change of use has not been obtained.” The report warned that Airbnb and other homesharing sites are causing landlords to remove properties from the already stretched private rented sector and placing them into short-term lets in a trend that poses “potential future risks to housing supply in London”. Airbnb announced on Thursday that from next spring it will ban hosts in London from renting out entire homes for more than 90 days a year without official consent. “The problem was that a website that was about people making a little money letting out rooms was being abused by professional landlords turning their properties into hotels by the back door,” said Tom Copley, Labour’s housing spokesman on the London assembly, who campaigned for the change. He said it adversely impacted on the already squeezed housing supply in the capital and affected local communities, with people in some areas complaining of Airbnb guests coming and going at all times. It was already against the law for property owners to let out their homes on short term, hotel-style lets without planning permission, if the total letting period was over 90 days per year. But, according to Copley, town halls did not have the resources or data to enforce it. Sarah Hayward, leader of the London Borough of Camden, welcomed the ban. “Swathes of properties in Camden had effectively been removed from the longer-term rental market, making it both more expensive and difficult to find a longer-term rental property in the borough for those working here,” she said. “It was abundantly clear to all councils involved that many users of the site were flouting the 90-night limit, and the simplest way to stop that was for Airbnb to stop it at source.” In a letter to hosts sent on Thursday, Airbnb said: “We want to help ensure that home-sharing grows responsibly and sustainably, and makes London’s communities stronger. That is why we are introducing a change to our platform that will create new and automated limits to help ensure that entire home listings in London are not shared for more than 90 days a year, unless hosts confirm that they have permission to share their space more frequently. “The new measures will begin from 2017. If you want to host more often, you will need to certify that you have permission to do so or apply for the relevant permissions from your local council.” In March, Airbnb said London was the third biggest city in terms of places to stay, with a little over 40,000 places, and that this was growing at a rate of 75% per year. “I welcome this move,” Copley said. “Airbnb have engaged constructively since I raised this with the mayor a couple of months ago. I now call on other short-term letting websites to do the same.” Airbnb, which has been valued at $25bn (£20bn) and helps let out 3m properties around the world, has faced a regulatory backlash in some cities where leaders have grown concerned about its impact on housing supply. Berlin levies a €100,000 (£85,000) fine for anyone renting out more than half of their home for less than two months without a permit, while hosts in San Francisco who do not register with the city authorities can be fined up to $1,000 per day. In New York there are strict laws against short lets in apartment blocks if hosts are not staying the apartments at the same time as their Airbnb guests. “While independent research shows that home-sharing has no significant impact on housing affordability in London, we believe it’s important to take action against unwelcome commercial operators who have no place on our platform,” Airbnb told hosts.

technology/2016/dec/01/airbnb-introduces-90-day-a-year-limit-for-london-hosts

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technology

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2016-12-01T11:12:51Z

Airbnb introduces 90-day annual limit for London hosts

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/01/airbnb-introduces-90-day-a-year-limit-for-london-hosts

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/askjack/2016/dec/01/how-can-i-use-a-local-account-in-windows-10

When I took the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I continued to use my local account to log on. When I had to replace my motherboard recently, I needed a 30-minute chat (and remote access) with a very helpful Microsoft tech to re-activate Win10. Hmmm. To avoid that in future, I would like to use a Microsoft account, but only to get my system details on file in case I replace another critical component. The problem is that I’m told I need to set-up a new local account after logging on with a Microsoft account. But I don’t want to do that. I want to use my existing local account with the Microsoft one in reserve. I understand the functionality argument for using a Microsoft account, but I am happy without any extras. I do what I want online perfectly well at the moment. Graeme A motherboard change can look like a new PC, so you might well have needed to talk to Microsoft even if you had been using a Microsoft account. Either way, you should recognise that Windows 10 is fundamentally different from Windows 7 in at least two important ways. First, it’s no longer a desktop operating system, it’s a mobile operating system. Some major features – including Cortana, Notifications and apps – originated in the smartphone world. As with other mobile operating systems, everything is maintained from the cloud. Second, Windows 10 is just one part of Microsoft’s cross-platform ecosystem, which includes smartphones, tablets, the Xbox One range of games consoles, cloud-based services such as OneDrive and Office 365, and dozens of Microsoft apps on Android and Apple iOS devices. Your Microsoft account (MSA) is your key to this ecosystem. It links your data, apps and settings across multiple personal computers, smartphones and tablets. This as a sort of Copernican revolution. In the old days, everything revolved around the PC. Today, everything revolves around the user, and users are identified by their MSAs, or their Gmail addresses, or their Apple IDs. This is the modern world: people are mobile and they use multiple devices. So, your Windows 10 PC is no longer authenticated locally, and all your credentials are stored online against your MSA. Your cloud profile also stores your apps, preferences and settings, so if you buy a new PC, you can have it set up just like your old one. Your MSA also synchronises bookmarks and other data across devices. For example, if you’re using the OneNote app on your Windows 10 PC, you can carry on from the same place in the OneNote app on an Android/iOS/Windows tablet or smartphone – as long as you’re using the same MSA. What is an MSA? The most common MSA is a Microsoft email address, which can be at Hotmail, Live, Outlook.com or some other Microsoft email service. If you don’t have an MSA, you can easily create one. This does not involve giving Microsoft your real name or any other personal information. Of course, if you want to use two-factor authentication for extra security, you will have to provide a phone number, but this can be any dumbphone that can receive an SMS text. It is perfectly possible to create an MSA based on a Gmail or any other non-Microsoft email address. I don’t recommend this. If you’re not careful, you can end up with a Microsoft email account that can send emails “as from” Gmail etc. All these “single sign-ons” – MSA, Gmail, Apple, Facebook etc – have the same problem: being locked out of one service can lock you out of many others. The solution is to use services from several different suppliers, rather than putting all your eggs in one basket, and to keep backups of all your cloud data. Local accounts You can continue to use an old Windows 7 local account in Windows 10 – as you did – but it requires some care. For example, you need an MSA to use a cloud service, such as the Windows Store. You have to look for the line that says “Sign in to this App only” every time to avoid getting your MSA attached to all the other stuff as well. If you run a Windows Store app, you will be prompted to sign on to your PC with your MSA and you must click “Sign in to just use this app instead” rather than simply clicking Next. But, in reality, there’s no benefit to signing in to every app and service separately if you’re using the same MSA. It’s just pointless extra work. Nonetheless, Microsoft has responded to complaints by making it much easier to use a local account in Windows 10 than it was in Windows 8. For example, you can now use Cortana and the mail, maps and music apps without an MSA, though you inevitably lose some functionality. You can’t, for example, sync data or music across devices, or use the app you paid for on one device on a different device. The gap will continue to grow as online services become more powerful. Either way, using an MSA doesn’t stop you from using any other online services – including Microsoft services – in your web browser. I regularly log on to several different Hotmail/Outlook.com/Gmail accounts using names and passwords that are different from the MSA that I use to log on to my Windows 10 machines. Using an MSA adds features: it doesn’t take any away. A new local Windows 10 lets you convert Microsoft Accounts into local accounts, and vice versa. However, this means changing the features of a single account. When the MSA is created, the local account ceases to exist. Unlike Schrödinger’s cat, a Windows account can’t be both things at the same time. Like it or not, the only solution is to open a second Administrator account to use as your local account. To do this, run the Settings app and go to Accounts, pick “Family & other people” and click “Add someone else to this PC”. When asked how this person will sign in, say you don’t know. When asked to create an account, select “Add a user without a Microsoft account”. You can then enter a user name, password, and password hint in the usual way. I have one of these extra local accounts for back-up purposes, in case my MSA gets corrupted. When your new local account appears in Settings, click the button marked “Change account type” and change it from Standard to Administrator. Click OK and log on to your new account, which will start with the familiar Windows 10 welcome routine. Open File Explorer, go to This PC and open the Users folder. You will now see two accounts: the original Graeme and the new Graeme_Local. Open the folder owned by the MSA (Graeme), and click Continue when told you don’t have permission. (Admins can do this.) Next, select a folder, such as Pictures, copy it (Ctrl-C), go back to Graeme_Local, and paste it in (Ctrl-V). Check that it worked. Repeat to taste. You may have some cleaning up to do, but you can probably copy the bulk of your stuff to the local account. And if it all goes pear-shaped, log off, go back to Settings in your MSA account, remove the Graeme_Local account and try again. Alternatively, you can copy data from your MSA account to an external hard drive and then copy it back to a new Graeme_Local account. Of course, the new Graeme_Local account will quickly go out of sync with the old Microsoft account, but I assume you won’t care about that. In any case, one account isn’t really backing up the other: if the hard drive fails, you’ll lose data from both accounts at the same time. If this happens, you should be able to restore your stuff from an external back-up. If not, you might be sorry that you didn’t enable your MSA to preserve more of your stuff in the cloud.... Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to [email protected]

technology/askjack/2016/dec/01/how-can-i-use-a-local-account-in-windows-10

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technology

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2016-12-01T09:29:03Z

How can I use a local account in Windows 10?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2016/dec/01/how-can-i-use-a-local-account-in-windows-10

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'next', 'select', 'folder', 'pictures', 'copy', 'ctrl-c', 'go', 'back', 'graemelocal', 'paste', 'ctrl-v', 'check', 'worked', 'repeat', 'taste', 'may', 'cleaning', 'probably', 'copy', 'bulk', 'stuff', 'local', 'account', 'goes', 'pear-shaped', 'log', 'go', 'back', 'settings', 'msa', 'account', 'remove', 'graemelocal', 'account', 'try', 'alternatively', 'copy', 'data', 'msa', 'account', 'external', 'hard', 'drive', 'copy', 'back', 'new', 'graemelocal', 'account', 'course', 'new', 'graemelocal', 'account', 'quickly', 'go', 'sync', 'old', 'microsoft', 'account', 'assume', 'care', 'case', 'one', 'account', 'really', 'backing', 'hard', 'drive', 'fails', 'lose', 'data', 'accounts', 'time', 'happens', 'able', 'restore', 'stuff', 'external', 'back-up', 'might', 'sorry', 'enable', 'msa', 'preserve', 'stuff', 'cloud', 'got', 'another', 'question', 'jack', 'email', 'askjacktheguardiancom']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/australia-culture-blog/2016/dec/01/buzzconf-2016-gaming-and-tech-meets-bush-doof-in-country-victoria

It’s 10am and a selection of Australian alpha nerds are emerging from their tents in a former campground outside Ballan in country Victoria. They’re here for BuzzConf, a high-technology and futurism conference by day and music festival by night. Geeks have always loved their outdoor music festivals and in 2015, two Melbourne-based developers Rick Giner and Ben Dechrai kicked off BuzzConf with a lineup of top-tier tech speakers and local music talent. It’s a wide brief – there’s everything from augmented reality and biotech to space travel. There are plenty of on-site soldering irons and a fleet of 3D printers. There’s also a beer tent stocked with local craft brews and a live act playing each night. This is a conference designed with inclusivity in mind: of 11 speakers, six are women – almost unheard-of in the notoriously male tech industry. Dr Leila Alem, an industry leader in virtual and augmented reality, is here to reveal her inside knowledge on bringing the ideas that drive Pokémon Go and Snapchat flower crowns to the workplace. A Pilbara mining worker fixes machinery with remote visual instructions from an expert in Perth. Cows are kitted out with Fitbit-style Silent Herdsman wearable health monitors. A brain-monitoring SmartCap detects when a driver is getting sleepy and wakes them up. Another session offers a new perspective on how we pay for our media. Nic Hodges, head of commercial innovation for News Corp Australia, wants to harness new blockchain technology (used in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency) as a way of allowing people to pay for their media as they consume it: a cent or 10 here, a chunk of an article, picture, slice of an episode or chapter of a book there. It’s a hot-button issue, with newspapers struggling, grandmothers asking grandkids to pirate TV shows for them, and media producers finding their content with someone else’s watermark on it (and someone else’s advertising in the sidebar). In the workshop tent, people are introduced to the new ESP8266 chips: a tiny programmable Wi-Fi-enabled microprocessor, a tenth of the price of comparable Arduino or Raspberry Pi boards (a Chinese innovation that was quietly released without any English documentation to knock down the price of consumer electronics). These gadgets are cheap enough to allow you to add anything you like to the “internet of things”. Want your toaster to text you when breakfast’s ready? Get soldering. The keynote speech is on space. Developer and public speaker Paul Fenwick wants to solve the world’s problems and, when in doubt, solve them with space travel. Mining one single asteroid could provide humanity with a wealth of rare minerals. Putting our solar panels in space could ramp their efficiency orders of magnitude. And if you can solve a problem with space, why wouldn’t you? Space is cool. Everyone loves space. Even more than they love using a specially-developed website to honk the horn of the Tesla S series that’s parked outside the tent. Families are encouraged to attend, with free entry for children at an otherwise pricey event. The kids play with endearing anthropomorphic, pod-shaped Dash and Dot robots, building games with BitsBox and bushwhacking zombies in a Minecraft treasure hunt. At the end, they present their games to popular acclaim. (You can try out Skulls by Keiran Taylor, age six.) It’s hard to tell if anyone’s going to leave an event like BuzzConf with a genuine take-home bag of inspiration, creativity and connection, but they’re definitely going to leave with that happy exhaustion and yearning for a shower that comes after a great outdoor festival. And if they’ve managed to build a hat with a BuzzConf badge that wiggles every time someone tweets the #buzzconf hashtag ... well, that’s just gravy, really.

technology/australia-culture-blog/2016/dec/01/buzzconf-2016-gaming-and-tech-meets-bush-doof-in-country-victoria

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2016-11-30T23:20:34Z

BuzzConf 2016: gaming and tech meets bush doof in country Victoria

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/australia-culture-blog/2016/dec/01/buzzconf-2016-gaming-and-tech-meets-bush-doof-in-country-victoria

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/30/oculus-vr-immersive-fall-face-plant-virtual-reality

Virtual reality is the future, they say. If that’s true, it’ll be filled with people falling to the floor for no reason beyond their eyes telling them they should, fooled by some screens strapped to their face. In a video that has gone viral across Facebook, posted by Jukin Media, watched by around 12 million people and shared by Star Trek actor and social media star George Takei, a man demonstrates the power of VR by face-planting in an Oculus Rift headset experience. Virtually climbing up a mountainside using the new Oculus Touch controllers, he misses a handhold, throwing his disconnected-hand avatar tumbling to its doom. It’s a game. That isn’t a problem and is the whole point of playing a game rather than risking your very real neck on a cliff face. Unless, of course, you feel the compunction to throw yourself to the ground, mimicking the flailing actions of your virtual self. As the man hits the deck a Microsoft employee has to stifle a laugh – something tells you that this isn’t the first time this has happened on her watch – before helping him to his feet. Not put off by his real life tumble from a virtual mishap, he jumps right back on the horse, slides the VR headset back on and gets right back into it. Good man. Does PlayStation 4 Pro really improve virtual reality performance? Google Daydream View review: comfortable mobile VR headset with limited compatibility

technology/2016/nov/30/oculus-vr-immersive-fall-face-plant-virtual-reality

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2016-11-30T14:40:03Z

Oculus miffed: when VR is so immersive you fall flat on your face

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/30/oculus-vr-immersive-fall-face-plant-virtual-reality

['virtual', 'reality', 'future', 'say', 'true', 'filled', 'people', 'falling', 'floor', 'reason', 'beyond', 'eyes', 'telling', 'fooled', 'screens', 'strapped', 'face', 'video', 'gone', 'viral', 'across', 'facebook', 'posted', 'jukin', 'media', 'watched', 'around', 'million', 'people', 'shared', 'star', 'trek', 'actor', 'social', 'media', 'star', 'george', 'takei', 'man', 'demonstrates', 'power', 'vr', 'face-planting', 'oculus', 'rift', 'headset', 'experience', 'virtually', 'climbing', 'mountainside', 'using', 'new', 'oculus', 'touch', 'controllers', 'misses', 'handhold', 'throwing', 'disconnected-hand', 'avatar', 'tumbling', 'doom', 'game', 'problem', 'whole', 'point', 'playing', 'game', 'rather', 'risking', 'real', 'neck', 'cliff', 'face', 'unless', 'course', 'feel', 'compunction', 'throw', 'ground', 'mimicking', 'flailing', 'actions', 'virtual', 'self', 'man', 'hits', 'deck', 'microsoft', 'employee', 'stifle', 'laugh', 'something', 'tells', 'first', 'time', 'happened', 'watch', 'helping', 'feet', 'put', 'real', 'life', 'tumble', 'virtual', 'mishap', 'jumps', 'right', 'back', 'horse', 'slides', 'vr', 'headset', 'back', 'gets', 'right', 'back', 'good', 'man', 'playstation', 'pro', 'really', 'improve', 'virtual', 'reality', 'performance', 'google', 'daydream', 'view', 'review', 'comfortable', 'mobile', 'vr', 'headset', 'limited', 'compatibility']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/30/evil-kermit-perfect-meme-terrible-times

Kermit is back. The Muppet Show character continues to be a rich source for meme creators, and the latest iteration? Evil Kermit. The perfect devil-on-the-shoulder meme for these times of geopolitical global despair, when the temptation is to throw one’s hands in the air and succumb to our worst impulses. Colloquially known as Evil Kermit, the meme is a screenshot from the 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted, in which Kermit the Frog meets his evil twin, Constantine, who wears a Sith Lord-style hood. In the film, Constantine is a criminal mastermind who has recently escaped from a gulag and urges Kermit to behave badly. It was Twitter user anya who first shared the screenshot on 6 November about the temptation to steal a cute dog. That original tweet has since been retweeted 24,000 times (and of course, ripped off by other people, and retweeted again). It turns out Anya Sudarkina is a 19-year-old student who is relaxed about her new meme fame, although rather poignantly, she said she didn’t think Evil Kermit would take off because she has “really low meme confidence”. But it also turns out that she’s pretty awesome, musing to The Verge: “How’d I even think of a tweet so genius? Am I Einstein? No, I am prettier.” Sudarkina doesn’t mind that folks ripped off her original tweet because she recognises that the only means of a meme gaining currency is to be picked up and shared by humour accounts or Facebook profiles with huge followings to reach a wider audience. Then the dream is for the meme to take on a life of its own, and grow with original additions. The wit and creativity of people is one of the best things the internet showcases, especially when we’re drowning in internet woe. Evil Kermit has jumped off-platform and is finding its way across Instagram and Snapchat too. Many of the best Evil Kermits relate to relationship problems, where the internet often provides comfort in the form of memes. But there’s also fashion … … and just our general laziness. There are now multiple Evil Kermit accounts dedicated solely to the dark side. And Instagrammer meme.w0rld even Photoshopped the image into Miss Piggy – Kermit’s on-off love – to get in on the action. Eventually, a Twitter Moments was created about Evil Kermit, solidifying its place in the meme establishment. But that’s none of my business … But frequent internet watchers will know that this is not the first time Kermit has gone viral. Back in 2014, Kermit blew up broadband connections thanks to the But That’s None of My Business meme, which saw a screenshot of Kermit sipping tea in a Lipton advert become the perfect visualisation of shade, (or a pointed response to uncouth behaviour). Embarrassingly, TV show Good Morning America picked up the meme and referred to it with the hashtag #tealizard, apparently not realising that Kermit the Frog is, um, a frog. It was an awkward appropriation of a meme which many argued had originated on Black Twitter. Which it had. It was also probably the case, however, that the producers on GMA just didn’t get the meme when referring to #tealizard, or perhaps referred to it wrongly knowing it would result in publicity. (But there is a legitimate debate to be had as to who receives credit and who does not when a meme goes big.) Why Kermit? Kermit was also a popular choice for My Face When meme, which takes a traditional reaction macro format. But why Kermit the Frog? Most memes have a short shelf-life, but Kermit has now been floating around the internet for near three years. The key is flexibility and adaptation to current affairs. But there’s something else too. The familiarity we feel with Kermit. The fact he is a childhood favourite from the days of Sesame Street. (See also: Arthur’s Fist, originating from children’s cartoon, Arthur). Kermit was created in 1955 by Jim Henson and the character has even appeared in the pop charts and “written” an autobiography, as well as appeared on numerous Muppets shows and meeting US first lady Michelle Obama. “He is an incredibly recognisable and loveable character, so people feel comfortable using him to signal things about their identity”, Don Caldwell from Know Your Meme told the BBC. Evil Kermit probably won’t be the last we see of the Muppet in meme form then, but where Kermit will go from here is anybody’s guess. No doubt he will get picked up by another brand, used inappropriately and be hammered into saturation. But that’s none of my business. • Apple engineer spoof video: is Spanish Laughing Guy the new Downfall? • When people say Nicholas Fraser’s vine isn’t the best of 2015: why you always lyin’?

technology/2016/nov/30/evil-kermit-perfect-meme-terrible-times

pillar/news

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2016-11-30T11:27:59Z

Evil Kermit: the perfect meme for terrible times

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/30/evil-kermit-perfect-meme-terrible-times

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/30/why-facebooks-china-adventure-will-need-more-than-censorship-to-succeed

Facebook needs to invest in more than just censorship tools if it hopes to lift a seven-year ban in China, experts say, amid a tightening space for foreign technology companies in the world’s most populous nation. Last week it emerged Facebook is working on software designed to suppress content – widely seen as a prerequisite to ending the ban, put in place in the wake of deadly ethnic riots in 2009 in attempt to quell the sharing of information about the violence. Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, have embarked on a high-profile and often controversial campaign to lift the China block in recent years. “Censorship is the biggest requirement,” said Adam Segal, director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, “and then they should start to invest in the ecosystem around them, in Chinese startups and funds, to show that they are friends of China.” Facebook would need to partner with a local company and would likely hand control over censorship to its Chinese partner. But experts inside China say the company’s efforts to control news deemed unfavourable by the ruling Communist party would need to be as good as the censorship practised by the government itself. “Facebook would need to satisfy Chinese government demands and be able to adapt to China’s censorship conditions,” said Li Yonghui, head of the international relations institute at Beijing Foreign Studies University. The reported censorship software developed by Facebook would only “solve the most basic problems”, Li added, and although more conditions were still under discussion, “it will definitely contribute to it returning to the Chinese market”. US internet companies often block content at the behest of government requests in order to comply with local laws. Facebook has removed content for France, Russia and Pakistan. There is little information on the details of how Facebook’s censorship would work in China but experts agree it would have to pre-empt and predict the government’s needs, rather than simply responding. “Censorship would clearly have to be automated, keyword based, but that’s imperfect,” Clark said. “If ads or posts from outside China start getting blocked because it’s seen as sensitive by the Chinese government, then it would start to pollute the global Facebook. “The other way would have Chinese users be second-class citizens, cut off from the site used by the international community, but then what’s the point of using Facebook?” Even if Facebook jumped through enough hoops to break into the Chinese market, there’s no guarantee it will be successful. Tencent’s WeChat is already ubiquitous in the country and combines many of the features Facebook provides, such as messaging, posting photos and sharing links. “It’s not just about the firewall, Facebook wouldn’t transform the market overnight because people stick to what they already have and use,” Clark said. “Wechat is integrated with so many aspects of your life in China, domestic companies are simply light years ahead.” While Facebook is desperate to break into China, officials have far more to lose than gain from allowing the social network that helped organise protests during the Arab Spring into the country’s fenced-off internet. Facebook declares it is “on a mission to connect the world” but it is hard to achieve that goal when 1.3bn people cannot access it. For the Chinese government it would be a global propaganda coup and help promote the idea of “internet sovereignty” – the idea that states have the right to control how technology affects their citizens. These ideas and Facebook’s apparent willingness to cooperate with the Chinese government have long alarmed human rights groups. Fears about the company’s moral compass were reignited after reports of its censorship programme. “There is danger to global users, by virtue of being connected to users in China, the Chinese government can request to see that data,” said Nicholas Bequelin, east Asia director for Amnesty International. “Facebook then becomes a massive social network for surveillance for the Chinese government. “The company has larger human rights obligations – it’s not only about finding a clever way to operate in China within extraordinarily restrictive Chinese laws. “Facebook has the responsibility to carry out due diligence on the potential human rights consequences of entering the Chinese market.” Facebook did not respond to requests for comment. Despite a personal charm offensive by Zuckerberg – including rumours he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to name his daughter – the efforts may be in vain as Chinese authorities weigh the potential threat to their grip on power. “None of that is going to change the fundamental interests of the Communist party and the Chinese state,” Segal, from the Council on Foreign Relations, said. “While Zuckerberg has done many of the right things given the playbook, he cannot fundamentally change those interests.” Additional reporting by Christy Yao

technology/2016/nov/30/why-facebooks-china-adventure-will-need-more-than-censorship-to-succeed

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technology

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2016-11-30T04:14:05Z

Why Facebook's China adventure will need more than censorship to succeed

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/30/why-facebooks-china-adventure-will-need-more-than-censorship-to-succeed

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/29/facebook-fake-news-problem-experts-pitch-ideas-algorithms

The impact of fake news, propaganda and misinformation has been widely scrutinized since the US election. Fake news actually outperformed real news on Facebook during the final weeks of the election campaign, according to an analysis by Buzzfeed, and even outgoing president Barack Obama has expressed his concerns. But a growing cadre of technologists, academics and media experts are now beginning the quixotic process of trying to think up solutions to the problem, starting with a rambling 100+ page open Google document set up by Upworthy founder Eli Pariser. The project has snowballed since Pariser started it on 17 November, with contributors putting forward myriad solutions, he said. “It’s a really wonderful thing to watch as it grows,” Pariser said. “We were talking about how design shapes how people interact. Kind of inadvertently this turned into this place where you had thousands of people collaborating together in this beautiful way.” In Silicon Valley, meanwhile, some programmers have been batting solutions back and forth on Hacker News, a discussion board about computing run by the startup incubator Y Combinator. Some ideas are more realistic than others. “The biggest challenge is who wants to be the arbiter of truth and what truth is,” said Claire Wardle, research director for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. “The way that people receive information now is increasingly via social networks, so any solution that anybody comes up with, the social networks have to be on board.” Journalists, the public or algorithms? Most of the solutions fall into three general categories: the hiring of human editors; crowdsourcing, and technological or algorithmic solutions. Human editing relies on a trained professional to assess a news article before it enters the news stream. Its proponents say that human judgment is more reliable than algorithms, which can be gamed by trolls and arguably less nuanced when faced with complex editorial decisions; Facebook’s algorithmic system famously botched the Vietnam photo debacle. Yet hiring people – especially the number needed to deal with Facebook’s volume of content – is expensive, and it may be hard for them to act quickly. The social network ecosystem is enormous, and Wardle says that any human solution would be next to impossible to scale. Humans are also partial to subjectivity, and even an overarching “readers’ editor”, if Facebook appointed one, would be a disproportionately powerful position and open to abuse. Crowdsourced vetting would open up the assessment process to the body politic, having people apply for a sort of “verified news checker” status and then allowing them to rank news as they see it. This isn’t dissimilar to the way Wikipedia works, and could be more democratic than a small team of paid staff. It would be less likely to be accused of bias or censorship because anyone could theoretically join, but could also be easier to game by people promoting fake or biased news, or using automated systems to promote clickbait for advertising revenue. Algorithmic or machine learning vetting is the third approach, and the one currently favored by Facebook, who fired their human trending news team and replaced them with an algorithm earlier in 2016. But the current systems are failing to identify and downgrade hoax news or distinguish satire from real stories; Facebook’s algorithm started spitting out fake news almost immediately after its inception. Technology companies like to claim that algorithms are free of personal bias, yet they inevitably reflect the subjective decisions of those who designed them, and journalistic integrity is not a priority for engineers. Algorithms also happen to be cheaper and easier to manage than human beings, but an algorithmic solution, Wardle said, must be transparent. “We have to say: here’s the way the machine can make this easier for you.” How to treat fake news, exaggeration and satire on Facebook Facebook has been slow to admit it has a problem with misinformation on its news feed, which is seen by 1.18 billion people every day. It has had several false starts on systems, both automated and using human editors, that inform how news appears on its feed. Pariser’s project details a few ways to start: Verified news media pages Similar to Twitter’s “blue tick” system, verification would mean that a news organization would have to apply to be verified and be proved to be a credible news source so that stories would be published with a “verified” flag. Verification could also mean higher priority in newsfeed algorithms, while repeatedly posting fake news would mean losing verified status. Pros: The system would be simple to impose, possibly through a browser plug-in, and is likely to appeal to most major publications. Cons: It would require extra staff to assess applications and maintain the system, could be open to accusations of bias if not carefully managed and could discriminate against younger, less established news sites. Separate news articles from shared personal information “Social media sharing of news articles/opinion subtly shifts the ownership of the opinion from the author to the ‘sharer’,” Amanda Harris, a contributor to Pariser’s project, wrote. “By shifting the conversation about the article to the third person, it starts in a much better place: ‘the author is wrong’ is less aggressive than ‘you are wrong’.” Pros: Easy and cheap to implement. Cons: The effect may be too subtle and not actually solve the problem. Add a ‘fake news’ flag Labelling problematic articles in this way would show Facebook users that there is some question over the veracity of an article. It could be structured the same way as abuse reports currently are; users can “flag” a story as fake, and if enough users do so then readers would see a warning box that “multiple users have marked this story as fake” before they could click through. Pros: Flagging is cheap, easy to do and requires very little change. It would make readers more questioning about the content they read and share, and also slightly raises the bar for sharing fake news by slowing the speed at which it can spread. Cons: It’s unknown whether flagging would actually change people’s behavior. It is also vulnerable to trolling or gaming the system; users could spam real articles with fake tags, known as a “false flag” operation. Add a time-delay on re-shares Articles on Facebook and Twitter could be subject to a time-delay once they reach a certain threshold of shares, while “white-labeled” sites like the New York Times would be exempt from this. Pros: Would slow the spread of fake news. Cons: Could affect real news as much as fake, and “white-labelling” would be attacked as biased and unfair, especially on the right. Users could also be frustrated by the enforced delay: “I want to share when I want to share.” Partnership with fact-checking sites, such as Snopes Fake news could automatically be tagged with a link to an article debugging it on Snopes, though inevitably that will leave Facebook open to criticism if the debunking site is attacked as having a political bias. Pros: Would allow for easy flagging of fake news, and also raise awareness of fact-checking sources and processes. Cons: Could be open to accusations of political bias, and the mission might also creep: would it extend to statements on politicians’ pages? Headline and content analysis An algorithm could analyze the content and headline of news to flag signs that it contains fake news. The content of the article could be checked for legitimate sourcing – hyperlinks to the Associated Press or other whitelisted media organizations. Pros: Cheap, and easily amalgamated into existing algorithms. Cons: An automated system could allow real news to fall through the cracks. Cross-partisan indexing This system would algorithmically promote non-partisan news, by checking stories against a heat-map of political opinion or sharing nodes, and then promoting those stories that are shared more widely than by just one part of the political spectrum. It could be augmented with a keyword search against a database of language most likely to be used by people on the left or the right. Pros: Cheap, and easily combined with existing algorithms. Can be used in partnership with other measures. It’s also a gentler system that could be used to “nudge” readers away from fake news without censoring. Cons: Doesn’t completely remove fake news. Sharer reputation ranking This would promote or hide articles based on the reputation of the sharer. Each person on a social network would have a score (public or private) based on feedback from the news they share. Pros: Easy to populate a system quickly using user feedback. Cons: User feedback systems are easy to game, so fake news could easily be upvoted as true by people who want it to be true, messing up the algorithm. Visible design cues for fake news Fake news would come up in the news feed as red, real news as green, satire as orange. Pros: Gives immediate visual shorthand to distinguish real from fake news. Could also be a browser plug-in. Cons: Still requires a way to distinguish one from the other, whether labor-intensively or algorithmically. Any mistake with an algorithm, say one that puts Breitbart articles in red, would open Facebook up to accusations of bias. Punish accounts that post fake news If publishing fake news was punishable with bans on Facebook then it would disincentivise organizations from doing so. Pros: Attacks the problem at its root and could get rid of the worst offenders. Cons: The system would be open to accusations of bias. And what about satire, or news that’s not outright fake but controversial? Tackling fake news on the web outside Facebook News is shared across hundreds of other sites and services, from SMS and messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat, to distribution through Google’s search engine and aggregations sites like Flipboard. How can fake news, inaccurate stories and unacknowledged satire be identified in so many different contexts? Fact-checking API A central fact-checking service could publish an API, a constantly updated feed of information, which any browser could query news articles against. A combination of human editing and algorithms would return information about the news story and its URL, including whether it is likely to be fake (if it came from a known click-farm site) or genuine. Stories would be “fingerprinted” in the same way as advertising software. People could choose their fact-checking system – Snopes or Politifact or similar – and then install it as either a browser plug-in or a Facebook or Twitter plug-in that would colour-code news sources on the fly as either fake, real or various gradations in between. Pros: Human editors would become less necessary as the algorithm learns, and wouldn’t have to check each story individually. Being asked to choose a fact-checker might encourage critical thinking. Cons: Will be labor-intensive and expensive, especially at first. It could be open to accusations of bias, especially once the algorithm takes over from the human input. Arguably only those already awake to the problem would choose to opt in, unless a platform like Facebook or Google assimilates it as standard. Page ranking system Much like Google’s original PageRank algorithm, a system could be developed to assess the authority of a story by its domain and URL history, suggested Mike Sukmanowsky of Parse.ly. This would effectively be, Sukmanowsky wrote, a source reliability algorithm that calculated a “basic decency score” for online content that pages like Facebook could use to inform their trending topic algorithms. There could also be “ratings agencies” for media; too many Stephen Glass-style falsified reporting scandals, for example, and the New York Times could risk losing its triple-A rating. Pros: Relatively easy to construct using open-sourcing, and could be incorporated into existing structures. Domains that serially propagate fake information could be punished by being downgraded in rank, effectively hiding them. Cons: Little recourse for sites to appeal against their ranking, and could make it unfairly difficult for less established sites to break through. Connect fake news to fact-checking sites Under this system, fake news would be inter-linked (possibly through a browser plug-in) to a story by a trusted fact-checking organization like Snopes or Politifact. (Rbutr already does this, though on a modest scale.) Pros: Connects readers with corrections that already exist. Facebook or Google could use a database like Snopes in its algorithm. Cons: Unless this kind of system gets hardwired into Facebook or Google, people have to want to know if what they’re reading is fake. On current evidence, many people feel comfortable when presented by news which doesn’t challenge their own prejudices and preferences – even if that news is inaccurate, misleading or false. What many of these solutions don’t address is the more complex, nuanced and long-term challenge of educating the public about the importance of informed debate – and why properly considering an accurate, rational and compelling viewpoint from the other side of the fence is an essential part of the democratic process. “There’s a feeling that in trying to come up with solutions we risk a boomerang effect that the more we’re debunking, the more people will disbelieve it,” said Claire Wardle. “How do we bring people together to agree on facts when people don’t want to receive information that doesn’t fit with how they see the world?” • Jasper Jackson contributed to this report

technology/2016/nov/29/facebook-fake-news-problem-experts-pitch-ideas-algorithms

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technology

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2016-11-29T20:37:08Z

How to solve Facebook's fake news problem: experts pitch their ideas

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/29/facebook-fake-news-problem-experts-pitch-ideas-algorithms

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'facebook', 'google', 'could', 'use', 'database', 'like', 'snopes', 'algorithm', 'cons', 'unless', 'kind', 'system', 'gets', 'hardwired', 'facebook', 'google', 'people', 'want', 'know', 'reading', 'fake', 'current', 'evidence', 'many', 'people', 'feel', 'comfortable', 'presented', 'news', 'challenge', 'prejudices', 'preferences', 'even', 'news', 'inaccurate', 'misleading', 'false', 'many', 'solutions', 'address', 'complex', 'nuanced', 'long-term', 'challenge', 'educating', 'public', 'importance', 'informed', 'debate', 'properly', 'considering', 'accurate', 'rational', 'compelling', 'viewpoint', 'side', 'fence', 'essential', 'part', 'democratic', 'process', 'feeling', 'trying', 'come', 'solutions', 'risk', 'boomerang', 'effect', 'debunking', 'people', 'disbelieve', 'said', 'claire', 'wardle', 'bring', 'people', 'together', 'agree', 'facts', 'people', 'want', 'receive', 'information', 'fit', 'see', 'world', 'jasper', 'jackson', 'contributed', 'report']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/29/airbnb-denies-liability-after-guests-plunge-two-storeys-from-balcony

Airbnb has refused to admit liability for multiple serious injuries suffered by a group of guests who fell two storeys when the balcony of their holiday rental in Brighton collapsed beneath them. Four friends had to have hospital treatment, including one impaled on an iron railing, when what was advertised as a “balcony with sea view” sheared off, sending the guests tumbling into the basement footwell. They had rented the £217-a-night flat for a birthday celebration in July through the booming accommodation website, which is at the forefront of the fast-growing sharing economy. One shattered her pelvis in three places and another broke her back and suffered arterial bleeding and head injuries. The San Francisco website, through which they made the booking, has been valued at $25bn (£20bn) and takes up to 12.5% of rental fees. It told them last month it could not be held liable for the accident or the injuries and has no duty of care towards them. The group of young professionals have spent weeks in hospital and said they have racked up thousands of pounds in costs through lost work, medical bills, psychological counselling and physiotherapy. But four months since the accident, neither Airbnb nor the property owner have offered to help cover their costs or admit liability. The customers are now threatening legal action. Their lawyer, Jenny Kennedy at Anthony Gold solicitors, is also seeking to contact the owner of the property. “We want acknowledgement of suffering, a recognition of responsibility and liability and coverage of rehabilitation and ongoing costs,” said Alexander Browning, 30, a lawyer from London who smashed his head, broke his wrist in four places and suffered facial injuries. “It should be easy for a company with a valuation of $25bn. None of this has happened. They have done the opposite and expressly said: ‘We are a platform, we are not responsible.’ That makes me feel pretty angry.” Airbnb bills itself as “a trusted community marketplace” but Harry Dee, who was impaled through his back on a railing which missed his vital organs by an inch and spent hours in surgery and a week in hospital, said: “They don’t seem to care at all. “You see Airbnb trying to sell this social-minded [approach], but it’s a load of crap. We have asked them for help. I would have liked my missing wages accounted for. But they just didn’t do anything at all.” Dee had to move out of his rented flat in Brighton because he is a self-employed carpenter and could no longer afford it. A spokeswoman for Airbnb said: “As soon as we were aware of the incident, we reached out to the guest to provide support,” but declined to comment further. Monika Payne, who was listed on Airbnb as the host, told the Guardian: “Because the insurers are still conducting their investigations we having nothing to say at this time.” Airbnb has suggested the group make a claim through the “host protection insurance”, which is billed as providing up to $1m cover for each booking, including for bodily injury. The victims’ lawyer has been told by a third-party insurance administrator that the case is being considered by lawyers for Airbnb. The insurer for the building, which is held in freehold, is expected to deny liability. “The safety of our community is our number one priority and problems for guests and hosts are incredibly rare,” Airbnb’s spokeswoman said. Airbnb insists it does not provide accommodation but operates as a platform on which independent hosts provide rooms for guests. It says it is not party to any bookings. Earlier this year, Patrick Robinson, Airbnb’s head of public policy in Europe, told a UK parliamentary committee: “We try to ensure that all of our customers are protected, that in the event that things go wrong, we are there to help and support them beyond what we are required to do legally.” Airbnb has become one of the fastest-growing businesses in the gig economy, offering people with spare rooms the chance to rent them out on a nightly basis. Global bookings are predicted to hit £12bn this year, up from £42m in 2010. In London, there have been warnings that the website is reducing the housing supply, while Berlin levied a €100,000 (£85,000) fine for anyone renting out more than half of their home for less than two months without a permit. The group had gathered at the apartment on a warm Friday evening before a day on the beach. They had sung Happy Birthday to their friend Tom and toasted him with prosecco and cake. Five of them were stood on the balcony. “One second they were there and the next second they were gone,” said Ben Mason, 30, a recruitment consultant and the only person on the balcony who did not fall. “They just dropped. I looked down and it was just dark and rubble. I thought they were all dead.” His fiancee, Jessica Paterson, was among them. “Harry had landed on the fence and was staggering around. Jess and Alex were tangled among themselves. Claire [Corfield] was beneath a large piece of the balcony. We removed as much of the rubble as we could and checked pulses. Ali and Jess started to come around. I had to help Mike [Claire’s husband] lift the rubble off Claire because it was so heavy. It was totally horrendous.” Paterson broke her pelvis in three places, suffered three transverse fractures of her back, laceration to her liver and a collapsed lung. She was in hospital for almost two weeks and on crutches for three months. She has been told she will not be able to give birth naturally. She suffers from low moods and fatigue. “It has been traumatic,” she said. “On the day we were supposed to be going on honeymoon to Costa Rica we had a day out in Portsmouth in a wheelchair.” Corfield cut an artery requiring five units of blood, broke her shoulder blade, a bone in her back, her eye socket, nose and cheekbone. She has been off work for two and a half months and struggles with memory and concentration. “I would like an apology from them,” she said. “It doesn’t feel fair that we have been through all this trauma and to feel that no one cares.”

technology/2016/nov/29/airbnb-denies-liability-after-guests-plunge-two-storeys-from-balcony

pillar/news

News

technology

Technology

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2016-11-29T17:45:52Z

Airbnb denies liability after guests plunge two storeys from balcony

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/29/airbnb-denies-liability-after-guests-plunge-two-storeys-from-balcony

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/29/fake-news-echo-chamber-ethics-infosphere-internet-digital

The internet age made big promises to us: a new period of hope and opportunity, connection and empathy, expression and democracy. Yet the digital medium has aged badly because we allowed it to grow chaotically and carelessly, lowering our guard against the deterioration and pollution of our infosphere. We sought only what we wanted – entertainment, cheaper goods, free news and gossip – and not the deeper understanding, dialogue or education that would have served us better. The appetite for populism is not a new problem. In the ferocious newspaper battles of 1890s New York, the emerging sensational style of journalism in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal was dubbed “yellow journalism” by those concerned with maintaining standards, adherence to accuracy and an informed public debate. We now have the same problem with online misinformation. Humans have always been prejudiced and intolerant of different views. Francis Bacon’s philosophical masterwork Novum Organum, published in 1620, analyses four kinds of idols or false notions that “are now in possession of the human understanding, and have taken deep root therein”. One of them, the “idols of the cave”, refers to our conceptual biases and susceptibility to external influences. “Everyone ... has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolours the light of nature, owing either to his own proper and peculiar nature; or to his education and conversation with others; or to the reading of books, and the authority of those whom he esteems and admires; or to the differences of impressions, accordingly as they take place in a mind preoccupied and predisposed or in a mind indifferent and settled; or the like.” It is at least a 400-year-old problem. Likewise, the appetite for shallow gossip, pleasant lies and reassuring falsehoods has always been significant. The difference is that the internet allows that appetite to be fed a bottomless supply of semantic junk, transforming Bacon’s caves into echo chambers. In that way, we have always been “post-truth”. These kinds of digital, ethical problems represent a defining challenge of the 21st century. They include breaches of privacy, of security and safety, of ownership and intellectual property rights, of trust, of fundamental human rights, as well as the possibility of exploitation, discrimination, inequality, manipulation, propaganda, populism, racism, violence and hate speech. How should we even begin to weigh the human cost of these problems? Consider the political responsibilities of newspapers’ websites in distorting discussions around the UK’s Brexit decision, or the false news disseminated by the “alt-right”, a loose affiliation of people with far-right views, during the campaign waged by President-elect Donald Trump. So far, the strategy for technology companies has been to deal with the ethical impact of their products retrospectively. Some are finally taking more significant action against online misinformation: Facebook, for example, is currently working on methods for stronger detection and verification of fake news, and on ways to provide warning labels on false content – yet only now that the US presidential election is over. But this is not good enough. The Silicon Valley mantra of “fail often, fail fast” is a poor strategy when it comes to the ethical and cultural impacts of these businesses. It is equivalent to “too little, too late”, and has very high, long-term costs of global significance, in preventable or mitigable harms, wasted resources, missed opportunities, lack of participation, misguided caution and lower resilience. A lack of proactive ethics foresight thwarts decision-making, undermines management practices and damages strategies for digital innovation. In short, it is very expensive. Amazon’s same-day delivery service, for example, systematically tends to exclude predominantly black neighbourhoods in the 27 metropolitan areas where it was available, Bloomberg found. It would have been preventable with an ethical impact analysis that could have considered the discriminatory impact of simple, algorithmic decisions. The near instantaneous spread of digital information means that some of the costs of misinformation may be hard to reverse, especially when confidence and trust are undermined. The tech industry can and must do better to ensure the internet meets its potential to support individuals’ wellbeing and social good. We need an ethical infosphere to save the world and ourselves from ourselves, but restoring that infosphere requires a gigantic, ecological effort. We must rebuild trust through credibility, transparency and accountability – and a high degree of patience, coordination and determination. There are some reasons to be cheerful. In April 2016, the British government agreed with the recommendation of the House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee that the government should establish a Council of Data Ethics. Such an open and independent advisory forum would bring all stakeholders together to participate in the dialogue, decision-making and implementation of solutions to common ethical problems brought about by the information revolution. In September 2016, Amazon, DeepMind, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Google (whom I advised on the right to be forgotten) established a new ethical body called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society. The Royal Society, the British Academy and the Alan Turing Institute, the national institute for data science, are working on regulatory frameworks for managing personal data, and in May 2018, Europe’s new General Data Protection Regulation will come into effect, strengthening the rights of individuals and their personal information. All these initiatives show a growing interest in how online platforms can be held more responsible for the content they provide, not unlike newspapers. We need to shape and guide the future of the digital, and stop making it up as we go along. It is time to work on an innovative blueprint for a better kind of infosphere. Luciano Floridi is professor of philosophy and ethics of information at the University of Oxford and faculty fellow of the Alan Turing Institute. He is a member of the EU’s Ethics Advisory Group on data and ethics, the Royal Society and British Academy Working Group on Data Governance, and the Google advisory board on “the right to be forgotten”, and chairman of the ethics advisory board of the European Medical Information Framework. He has published, by the Oxford University Press: The Fourth Revolution – How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality (2014), The Ethics of Information (2013) and The Philosophy of Information (2011)

technology/2016/nov/29/fake-news-echo-chamber-ethics-infosphere-internet-digital

pillar/news

News

technology

Technology

article

2016-11-29T17:42:50Z

Fake news and a 400-year-old problem: we need to resolve the ‘post-truth’ crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/29/fake-news-echo-chamber-ethics-infosphere-internet-digital

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'decision-making', 'implementation', 'solutions', 'common', 'ethical', 'problems', 'brought', 'information', 'revolution', 'september', 'amazon', 'deepmind', 'facebook', 'ibm', 'microsoft', 'google', 'advised', 'right', 'forgotten', 'established', 'new', 'ethical', 'body', 'called', 'partnership', 'artificial', 'intelligence', 'benefit', 'people', 'society', 'royal', 'society', 'british', 'academy', 'alan', 'turing', 'institute', 'national', 'institute', 'data', 'science', 'working', 'regulatory', 'frameworks', 'managing', 'personal', 'data', 'may', 'europe', 'new', 'general', 'data', 'protection', 'regulation', 'come', 'effect', 'strengthening', 'rights', 'individuals', 'personal', 'information', 'initiatives', 'show', 'growing', 'interest', 'online', 'platforms', 'held', 'responsible', 'content', 'provide', 'unlike', 'newspapers', 'need', 'shape', 'guide', 'future', 'digital', 'stop', 'making', 'go', 'along', 'time', 'work', 'innovative', 'blueprint', 'better', 'kind', 'infosphere', 'luciano', 'floridi', 'professor', 'philosophy', 'ethics', 'information', 'university', 'oxford', 'faculty', 'fellow', 'alan', 'turing', 'institute', 'member', 'eu', 'ethics', 'advisory', 'group', 'data', 'ethics', 'royal', 'society', 'british', 'academy', 'working', 'group', 'data', 'governance', 'google', 'advisory', 'board', 'right', 'forgotten', 'chairman', 'ethics', 'advisory', 'board', 'european', 'medical', 'information', 'framework', 'published', 'oxford', 'university', 'press', 'fourth', 'revolution', 'infosphere', 'reshaping', 'human', 'reality', 'ethics', 'information', 'philosophy', 'information']

https://content.guardianapis.com/media/2016/nov/29/rupert-murdoch-theranos-investment-wall-street-journal

Rupert Murdoch is likely to lose nearly all of the $100m he invested in Theranos, the blood testing startup beset by scandals exposed by the Wall Street Journal, his flagship business newspaper. Murdoch is reported to have invested $100m in Theranos between 2014 and 2015, when its valuation was soaring thanks to the promise of being able to revolutionize blood testing by replacing needles with low-cost finger pricks. The Wall Street Journal reported that Murdoch was part of a group of wealthy families and individuals who invested $632m in Theranos’s latest funding round at about $17 a share, giving the Silicon Valley company a valuation of nearly $9bn, and making it the highest-valued private healthcare startup in the US. Murdoch is reported to have toured Theranos’s laboratories in Palo Alto and inspected its proprietary devices prior to investing. The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Murdoch’s publishing group News Corp, has published a series of investigative stories questioning the accuracy of Theranos’s testing and unusual management techniques. The WSJ investigation, which kept going despite intense pressure on its whistleblower from Theranos and its board of high profile figures, led to a government investigation that found the company’s practices were putting patients’ lives at risk. Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos’s chief executive, was banned from the blood testing business for two years. Last month, the company shut down its labs. The company – which Holmes founded when she was 19, in 2003 – is also facing both criminal and civil investigations by the US attorney’s office in San Francisco and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is looking into whether the company misled investors and regulators. Some investors on Monday launched their own lawsuit against the company, claiming they were misled. They said they hoped their suit would attract others and become a class action. High-profile Theranos investors include the billionaire Riley Bechtel, chairman of the private construction giant Bechtel Group, and Cox Enterprises, the family-controlled conglomerate. As well as attracting prominent investors, Theranos also secured big names for its board, including Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, both former secretaries of state. The WSJ revealed earlier this month Shultz’s grandson was the whistleblower who approached the newspaper with his concerns about Theranos after they were dismissed by Holmes. Tyler Shultz, 26, joined Theranos in 2013 and quit in 2014 after his concerns were labelled arrogant, patronizing and reckless. News Corp and Theranos declined to comment.

media/2016/nov/29/rupert-murdoch-theranos-investment-wall-street-journal

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technology

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2016-11-29T16:22:19Z

Rupert Murdoch set to lose $100m Theranos investment

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/29/rupert-murdoch-theranos-investment-wall-street-journal

['rupert', 'murdoch', 'likely', 'lose', 'nearly', '100m', 'invested', 'theranos', 'blood', 'testing', 'startup', 'beset', 'scandals', 'exposed', 'wall', 'street', 'journal', 'flagship', 'business', 'newspaper', 'murdoch', 'reported', 'invested', '100m', 'theranos', 'valuation', 'soaring', 'thanks', 'promise', 'able', 'revolutionize', 'blood', 'testing', 'replacing', 'needles', 'low-cost', 'finger', 'pricks', 'wall', 'street', 'journal', 'reported', 'murdoch', 'part', 'group', 'wealthy', 'families', 'individuals', 'invested', '632m', 'theranos', 'latest', 'funding', 'round', 'share', 'giving', 'silicon', 'valley', 'company', 'valuation', 'nearly', '9bn', 'making', 'highest-valued', 'private', 'healthcare', 'startup', 'us', 'murdoch', 'reported', 'toured', 'theranos', 'laboratories', 'palo', 'alto', 'inspected', 'proprietary', 'devices', 'prior', 'investing', 'wall', 'street', 'journal', 'owned', 'murdoch', 'publishing', 'group', 'news', 'corp', 'published', 'series', 'investigative', 'stories', 'questioning', 'accuracy', 'theranos', 'testing', 'unusual', 'management', 'techniques', 'wsj', 'investigation', 'kept', 'going', 'despite', 'intense', 'pressure', 'whistleblower', 'theranos', 'board', 'high', 'profile', 'figures', 'led', 'government', 'investigation', 'found', 'company', 'practices', 'putting', 'patients', 'lives', 'risk', 'elizabeth', 'holmes', 'theranos', 'chief', 'executive', 'banned', 'blood', 'testing', 'business', 'two', 'years', 'last', 'month', 'company', 'shut', 'labs', 'company', 'holmes', 'founded', 'also', 'facing', 'criminal', 'civil', 'investigations', 'us', 'attorney', 'office', 'san', 'francisco', 'securities', 'exchange', 'commission', 'looking', 'whether', 'company', 'misled', 'investors', 'regulators', 'investors', 'monday', 'launched', 'lawsuit', 'company', 'claiming', 'misled', 'said', 'hoped', 'suit', 'would', 'attract', 'others', 'become', 'class', 'action', 'high-profile', 'theranos', 'investors', 'include', 'billionaire', 'riley', 'bechtel', 'chairman', 'private', 'construction', 'giant', 'bechtel', 'group', 'cox', 'enterprises', 'family-controlled', 'conglomerate', 'well', 'attracting', 'prominent', 'investors', 'theranos', 'also', 'secured', 'big', 'names', 'board', 'including', 'henry', 'kissinger', 'george', 'shultz', 'former', 'secretaries', 'state', 'wsj', 'revealed', 'earlier', 'month', 'shultz', 'grandson', 'whistleblower', 'approached', 'newspaper', 'concerns', 'theranos', 'dismissed', 'holmes', 'tyler', 'shultz', 'joined', 'theranos', 'quit', 'concerns', 'labelled', 'arrogant', 'patronizing', 'reckless', 'news', 'corp', 'theranos', 'declined', 'comment']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/29/its-no-christmas-no-1-but-ai-generated-song-brings-festive-cheer-to-researchers

It will not, if there is any certainty left in the world, top the charts this Christmas. But what it lacks in party hit potential, it more than makes up for with its unique, if vaguely unsettling, brand of festive cheer. To be fair, humans had very little hand in penning the song. Instead, scientists fed a Christmassy photograph into a computer and let it do its thing. A program analysed the image, whipped up some relevant lyrics, and then sang them to music it had composed along the way. Known to its creators as “neural karaoke”, the project from the University of Toronto can take any digital photo and transform it into a computer-generated singalong. It is a whimsical demonstration of what artificial intelligence (AI) might do for us beyond the familiar: giving voice to chatbots, wiping billions off the stock market, and ultimately destroying the human race. “We are used to thinking about AI for robotics and things like that. The question now is what can AI do for us?” said Raquel Urtasun, an associate professor in machine learning and computer vision at Toronto’s computer science lab. “You can imagine having an AI channel on Pandora or Spotify that generates music, or takes people’s pictures and sings about them,” adds her colleague, Sanja Fidler. “It’s about what can deep learning do these days to make life more fun?” Neural karaoke emerged from a broader research effort to use computer programs to make music, write lyrics and even generate dance routines. Taking music creation as a starting point, Hang Chu, a PhD student at the lab, trained a neural network on 100 hours of online music. Once trained, the program can take a musical scale and melodic profile and produce a simple 120-beats-per-minute melody. It then adds chords and drums. But computer-generated music was just the start. The Toronto team next taught the program how to dance. Fed with an hour of footage from the video game Just Dance, the program tracked human poses and so learned to connect moves with music. Suitably trained, the program can make a digital stick figure dance to the music it has made. The results are more dad dancing than Travolta, but one cannot expect too much from a single one hour lesson. Another hour of Just Dance tunes and 50 hours of song lyrics from the internet helped teach the program how to put words to music. Drawing on words that appeared at least four times in the dataset, the program built up a vocabulary of 3390 words, which the computer could then string together at a rate of one word per beat. For the final step of the latest work, the program trained on a collection of pictures and their captions to learn how specific words can be linked to visual patterns and objects. When fed a fresh image, the program can compile some relevant lyrics and sing them using phonemes, or units of sound, linked to the words in its vocabulary. The system builds on previous work that could take a picture and generate lyrics in the style of Taylor Swift. Should the program choose words that it cannot say, it replaces them with an “oooh” sound. In an early demonstration, Chu fed the program a Christmassy scene to see what kind of song it created. The result is certainly festive, not least the virtual singer whose tone is distinctly elf-like. Future updates of the program will bring in a greater number of instruments to create more complex songs, and even choose the best instruments for the picture. While surely the most Christmassy, Chu’s track is not the most convincing computer-generated song. Earlier this year, researchers at Sony’s Computer Science Laboratory in Paris used AI to help create a Beatles-inspired song called Daddy’s car. François Pachet, director of the lab, used the company’s Flow Machines software to study 13,000 pieces of music from which is created a melody and harmonies. The French composer Benoît Carré then added lyrics and produced the final version of the track. A full album of Flow Machines AI music is due out soon. Dr Urtasun said more advanced versions of the Toronto lab’s program might one day serve as a virtual coach for wannabe stars on X Factor, The Voice and America’s Got Talent. But before that, computer generated karaoke might find its way into home entertainment. “Instead of buying a karaoke machine with certain tracks on it, you can create your own karaoke at home by throwing in some interesting photos and inviting the machine to generate music for you,” said Fidler. “I think it has endless possibilities.”

technology/2016/nov/29/its-no-christmas-no-1-but-ai-generated-song-brings-festive-cheer-to-researchers

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2016-11-29T12:55:22Z

It's no Christmas No 1, but AI-generated song brings festive cheer to researchers

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/29/its-no-christmas-no-1-but-ai-generated-song-brings-festive-cheer-to-researchers

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/28/cards-against-humanity-hole

Cards Against Humanity, described as “a party game for horrible people”, marked Black Friday by digging a giant hole funded by donations. “As long as money keeps coming in, we’ll keep digging,” read HolidayHole.com, a website dedicated to the hole set up by Cards Against Humanity. Viewers could watch a live feed of a backhoe digging on YouTube. “Hole got dug,” proclaimed the game’s Twitter account on Sunday. According to the site, $100,573 was raised to dig the “tremendous hole in the earth”. Claire Friedman, a Cards Against Humanity employee, explained to NPR how donations translated to digging: “It’s set so time gets more expensive the longer we dig. The first dollar paid for 5.5 seconds, now it’ll only get .3. Basically just reflecting the longer we need to hold crew and equipment here, the more expensive it gets.” In an FAQ on the Holiday Hole site, Cards Against Humanity explains that the hole is located in “America. And in our hearts”. There’s no “deeper meaning or purpose” to the hole, the site reads. The FAQ also addresses the question of “Why aren’t you giving all this money to charity?” The game-maker replied: “Why aren’t YOU giving all this money to charity? It’s your money.” The hole is supposed to be funny, according to the FAQ. “You might not get it for a while, but some time next year you’ll chuckle quietly to yourself and remember all this business about the hole,” it reads. Cards Against Humanity’s basic premise is to answer a question printed on a black card with a white card. The irreverent game thrives on taboo, cheeky or politically incorrect responses. This wasn’t the first stunt pulled by the company in honor of the commercial holiday. Among its many Black Friday gags, the company increased its prices on Black Friday in 2013. The next year, it sold boxes of “bullshit” to customers on Black Friday with proceeds going to charity. In 2015, it sold nothing for $5 and made over $70,000 for employees to spend. That same year, the company also gave the workers at its printing factory in China a week’s paid vacation. During the election, Cards Against Humanity sold Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump-themed expansions packs and used the profits to support Clinton’s campaign. In the past, Cards Against Humanity has donated to charity through its holiday endeavors – for example, by giving its 2012 holiday profits to the Wikimedia Foundation. That the money raised this year is going towards digging a purposeless hole has garnered criticism, as the funds could have been used for much more beneficial purposes. Meanwhile, a few other companies announced they would be donating all or a portion of their Black Friday profits to charitable causes. Patagonia, the outdoor brand, pledged to donate its entire global sales from 25 November to environmental organizations.

technology/2016/nov/28/cards-against-humanity-hole

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2016-11-28T18:51:06Z

Cards Against Humanity raises $100,000 to dig 'tremendous hole'

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/28/cards-against-humanity-hole

['cards', 'humanity', 'described', 'party', 'game', 'horrible', 'people', 'marked', 'black', 'friday', 'digging', 'giant', 'hole', 'funded', 'donations', 'long', 'money', 'keeps', 'coming', 'keep', 'digging', 'read', 'holidayholecom', 'website', 'dedicated', 'hole', 'set', 'cards', 'humanity', 'viewers', 'could', 'watch', 'live', 'feed', 'backhoe', 'digging', 'youtube', 'hole', 'got', 'dug', 'proclaimed', 'game', 'twitter', 'account', 'sunday', 'according', 'site', 'raised', 'dig', 'tremendous', 'hole', 'earth', 'claire', 'friedman', 'cards', 'humanity', 'employee', 'explained', 'npr', 'donations', 'translated', 'digging', 'set', 'time', 'gets', 'expensive', 'longer', 'dig', 'first', 'dollar', 'paid', 'seconds', 'get', 'basically', 'reflecting', 'longer', 'need', 'hold', 'crew', 'equipment', 'expensive', 'gets', 'faq', 'holiday', 'hole', 'site', 'cards', 'humanity', 'explains', 'hole', 'located', 'america', 'hearts', 'deeper', 'meaning', 'purpose', 'hole', 'site', 'reads', 'faq', 'also', 'addresses', 'question', 'giving', 'money', 'charity', 'game-maker', 'replied', 'giving', 'money', 'charity', 'money', 'hole', 'supposed', 'funny', 'according', 'faq', 'might', 'get', 'time', 'next', 'year', 'chuckle', 'quietly', 'remember', 'business', 'hole', 'reads', 'cards', 'humanity', 'basic', 'premise', 'answer', 'question', 'printed', 'black', 'card', 'white', 'card', 'irreverent', 'game', 'thrives', 'taboo', 'cheeky', 'politically', 'incorrect', 'responses', 'first', 'stunt', 'pulled', 'company', 'honor', 'commercial', 'holiday', 'among', 'many', 'black', 'friday', 'gags', 'company', 'increased', 'prices', 'black', 'friday', 'next', 'year', 'sold', 'boxes', 'bullshit', 'customers', 'black', 'friday', 'proceeds', 'going', 'charity', 'sold', 'nothing', 'made', 'employees', 'spend', 'year', 'company', 'also', 'gave', 'workers', 'printing', 'factory', 'china', 'week', 'paid', 'vacation', 'election', 'cards', 'humanity', 'sold', 'hillary', 'clinton', 'donald', 'trump-themed', 'expansions', 'packs', 'used', 'profits', 'support', 'clinton', 'campaign', 'past', 'cards', 'humanity', 'donated', 'charity', 'holiday', 'endeavors', 'example', 'giving', 'holiday', 'profits', 'wikimedia', 'foundation', 'money', 'raised', 'year', 'going', 'towards', 'digging', 'purposeless', 'hole', 'garnered', 'criticism', 'funds', 'could', 'used', 'much', 'beneficial', 'purposes', 'meanwhile', 'companies', 'announced', 'would', 'donating', 'portion', 'black', 'friday', 'profits', 'charitable', 'causes', 'patagonia', 'outdoor', 'brand', 'pledged', 'donate', 'entire', 'global', 'sales', 'november', 'environmental', 'organizations']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/28/more-charge-points-needed-urgently-for-switch-to-electric-cars

I am delighted to learn that the UK government is to encourage the production of electric cars (Report, 26 November). But there is only a very brief mention of the need for the adequate provision of charge points. My wife and I took delivery of our first electric car, a Nissan Leaf, six months ago. It is our only car. We live in a rural area. We can manage round trips of up to 100 miles easily, relying solely on our domestic charge point for topping up at night. For longer trips, however, we need to know that there are properly functioning charge points available to enable quick recharges to get us safely home without the anxiety of possibly being stranded on the way back. Unfortunately we regularly find charge points out of order, even in major centres such as Newcastle. On a recent trip to Durham, right on the far edge of our range, we found that the only rapid charge point at an out-of-town park-and-ride centre had been out of order for a long time. If the use of electric cars is to be seriously encouraged, the provision of a good network of readily accessible and reliable charge points has to be given absolute priority. Clive Wilkinson Rothbury, Northumberland • Join the debate – email [email protected] • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

technology/2016/nov/28/more-charge-points-needed-urgently-for-switch-to-electric-cars

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2016-11-28T18:24:29Z

More charge points needed urgently for switch to electric cars | Letters

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/28/more-charge-points-needed-urgently-for-switch-to-electric-cars

['delighted', 'learn', 'uk', 'government', 'encourage', 'production', 'electric', 'cars', 'report', 'november', 'brief', 'mention', 'need', 'adequate', 'provision', 'charge', 'points', 'wife', 'took', 'delivery', 'first', 'electric', 'car', 'nissan', 'leaf', 'six', 'months', 'ago', 'car', 'live', 'rural', 'area', 'manage', 'round', 'trips', 'miles', 'easily', 'relying', 'solely', 'domestic', 'charge', 'point', 'topping', 'night', 'longer', 'trips', 'however', 'need', 'know', 'properly', 'functioning', 'charge', 'points', 'available', 'enable', 'quick', 'recharges', 'get', 'us', 'safely', 'home', 'without', 'anxiety', 'possibly', 'stranded', 'way', 'back', 'unfortunately', 'regularly', 'find', 'charge', 'points', 'order', 'even', 'major', 'centres', 'newcastle', 'recent', 'trip', 'durham', 'right', 'far', 'edge', 'range', 'found', 'rapid', 'charge', 'point', 'out-of-town', 'park-and-ride', 'centre', 'order', 'long', 'time', 'use', 'electric', 'cars', 'seriously', 'encouraged', 'provision', 'good', 'network', 'readily', 'accessible', 'reliable', 'charge', 'points', 'given', 'absolute', 'priority', 'clive', 'wilkinson', 'rothbury', 'northumberland', 'join', 'debate', 'email', 'guardianletterstheguardiancom', 'read', 'guardian', 'letters', 'click', 'visit', 'gucomletters']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/28/lib-dems-to-oppose-uk-plan-to-block-porn-sites-without-age-checks

The Liberal Democrats will oppose proposals to force adult websites to impose strict age regulation and empower a regulator to block websites that show a range of sexual acts, calling it the kind of measure one would expect of China or Russia. The digital economy bill, which will introduce new policies for Britain’s electronic communications infrastructure and services, is due for a report stage vote and third reading in the Commons on Monday afternoon. It is almost certain to pass the Commons with the backing of Labour and Conservative MPs. But Brian Paddick, the Lib Dems’ shadow home secretary, said: “Clamping down on perfectly legal material is something we would expect from the Russian or Chinese governments, not our own. Of course the internet cannot be an ungoverned space, but banning legal material for consenting adults is not the right approach. “Liberal Democrats believe in evidence-based policy and it is obvious that blocking perfectly legal content is not just illiberal, it will easily be circumvented. We will not support these measures when they come to the House of Lords. “The Investigatory Powers Act already has the potential to undermine online privacy and there is very little in the new bill to protect our most sensitive data. Liberal Democrats will do everything possible to ensure that our privacy is not further eroded by this Tory government.” The digital economy bill would empower the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to assess whether websites hosting pornographic material have strong enough age verification in place, and whether they are showing “prohibited content”, which will be assessed according to the limits it already places on DVD releases. BBFC censorship bans a range of sexual activities – ranging from female ejaculation to heavy bondage – that are widespread on many mainstream adult websites. However, until now there has been no way to enforce the restrictions on websites based outside of UK jurisdiction. Under the proposed law, websites failing either test could be fined or blocked. Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dems’ shadow first secretary of state, is expected to speak against the bill on Monday. A Lib Dem source said there was not much the party’s MPs could do to stop it, but their peers would try to amend it heavily. A better course of action would be to introduce sex and relationship education that addressed pornography, the source added. There is also the question of whether the bill could break international law. David Banisar, the senior legal counsel at Article 19, a charity that campaigns for freedom of speech, said he expected that it would not survive a challenge at the European court of human rights. “This is really an ancient battle that has been going on since the internet existed, which is there’s a lot of content out there that some people don’t like and they are trying to restrict it in a way which is overly broad, which catches a lot of things that are – while not desirable to everybody’s tastes – still perfectly legal to see,” he said. “They are trying to impose fairly archaic rules on new media. And then they are trying to impose them globally, basically, because this really will have a global impact. Neither of those is really allowable under international law. “The restrictions have to be proportional, they have to be limited to what is the least restrictive way of dealing with something. So those are certainly issues that would go into an analysis looking at whether this would really even do that.”

technology/2016/nov/28/lib-dems-to-oppose-uk-plan-to-block-porn-sites-without-age-checks

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2016-11-28T12:29:15Z

Lib Dems to oppose UK plan to block porn sites without age checks

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/28/lib-dems-to-oppose-uk-plan-to-block-porn-sites-without-age-checks

['liberal', 'democrats', 'oppose', 'proposals', 'force', 'adult', 'websites', 'impose', 'strict', 'age', 'regulation', 'empower', 'regulator', 'block', 'websites', 'show', 'range', 'sexual', 'acts', 'calling', 'kind', 'measure', 'one', 'would', 'expect', 'china', 'russia', 'digital', 'economy', 'bill', 'introduce', 'new', 'policies', 'britain', 'electronic', 'communications', 'infrastructure', 'services', 'due', 'report', 'stage', 'vote', 'third', 'reading', 'commons', 'monday', 'afternoon', 'almost', 'certain', 'pass', 'commons', 'backing', 'labour', 'conservative', 'mps', 'brian', 'paddick', 'lib', 'dems', 'shadow', 'home', 'secretary', 'said', 'clamping', 'perfectly', 'legal', 'material', 'something', 'would', 'expect', 'russian', 'chinese', 'governments', 'course', 'internet', 'cannot', 'ungoverned', 'space', 'banning', 'legal', 'material', 'consenting', 'adults', 'right', 'approach', 'liberal', 'democrats', 'believe', 'evidence-based', 'policy', 'obvious', 'blocking', 'perfectly', 'legal', 'content', 'illiberal', 'easily', 'circumvented', 'support', 'measures', 'come', 'house', 'lords', 'investigatory', 'powers', 'act', 'already', 'potential', 'undermine', 'online', 'privacy', 'little', 'new', 'bill', 'protect', 'sensitive', 'data', 'liberal', 'democrats', 'everything', 'possible', 'ensure', 'privacy', 'eroded', 'tory', 'government', 'digital', 'economy', 'bill', 'would', 'empower', 'british', 'board', 'film', 'classification', 'bbfc', 'assess', 'whether', 'websites', 'hosting', 'pornographic', 'material', 'strong', 'enough', 'age', 'verification', 'place', 'whether', 'showing', 'prohibited', 'content', 'assessed', 'according', 'limits', 'already', 'places', 'dvd', 'releases', 'bbfc', 'censorship', 'bans', 'range', 'sexual', 'activities', 'ranging', 'female', 'ejaculation', 'heavy', 'bondage', 'widespread', 'many', 'mainstream', 'adult', 'websites', 'however', 'way', 'enforce', 'restrictions', 'websites', 'based', 'outside', 'uk', 'jurisdiction', 'proposed', 'law', 'websites', 'failing', 'either', 'test', 'could', 'fined', 'blocked', 'alistair', 'carmichael', 'lib', 'dems', 'shadow', 'first', 'secretary', 'state', 'expected', 'speak', 'bill', 'monday', 'lib', 'dem', 'source', 'said', 'much', 'party', 'mps', 'could', 'stop', 'peers', 'would', 'try', 'amend', 'heavily', 'better', 'course', 'action', 'would', 'introduce', 'sex', 'relationship', 'education', 'addressed', 'pornography', 'source', 'added', 'also', 'question', 'whether', 'bill', 'could', 'break', 'international', 'law', 'david', 'banisar', 'senior', 'legal', 'counsel', 'article', 'charity', 'campaigns', 'freedom', 'speech', 'said', 'expected', 'would', 'survive', 'challenge', 'european', 'court', 'human', 'rights', 'really', 'ancient', 'battle', 'going', 'since', 'internet', 'existed', 'lot', 'content', 'people', 'like', 'trying', 'restrict', 'way', 'overly', 'broad', 'catches', 'lot', 'things', 'desirable', 'everybody', 'tastes', 'still', 'perfectly', 'legal', 'see', 'said', 'trying', 'impose', 'fairly', 'archaic', 'rules', 'new', 'media', 'trying', 'impose', 'globally', 'basically', 'really', 'global', 'impact', 'neither', 'really', 'allowable', 'international', 'law', 'restrictions', 'proportional', 'limited', 'least', 'restrictive', 'way', 'dealing', 'something', 'certainly', 'issues', 'would', 'go', 'analysis', 'looking', 'whether', 'would', 'really', 'even']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/28/passengers-free-ride-san-francisco-muni-ransomeware

Hackers have managed to infect and take over more than 2,000 computers used to operate San Francisco’s public transport system, forcing the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) to open the gates and allow passengers to ride for nothing. The attackers used a variant of the HDDCryptor malware to infect 2,112 computers on Friday, encrypting their data and preventing them from operating normally – holding them to ransom for 100 bitcoin (£58,514, $73,086), according to the Register,. Every computer was left displaying a black screen with a ransom note written across it stating: “You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted. Contact For Key ([email protected])ID:681, Enter.” A San Francisco MTA spokesperson declined to comment beyond saying: “There’s no impact to the transit service, but we have opened the fare gates as a precaution to minimise customer impact.” The MTA’s operational and worker machines were affected, disrupting email, payment services, but not core operations, which allowed trains to continue running without payment. The hackers said in a statement given to the Verge on Sunday: “We don’t attention to interview and propagate news ! our software working completely automatically and we don’t have targeted attack to anywhere ! SFMTA network was Very Open and 2000 Server/PC infected by software ! so we are waiting for contact any responsible person in SFMTA but i think they don’t want deal ! so we close this email tomorrow!” Ransomware infects a computer and encrypts all the data on its storage drives while spreading to any other vulnerable computer connected to it. It typically starts when someone opens an infected email attachment or downloaded file, spreading through any computer networks. Once the data is encrypted the user is locked out of the computer and a ransom note is displayed promising to decrypt and release the data in exchange for money. The SFMTA is not the first public sector institution or company to be hit by ransomware. The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre in Los Angeles was attacked in February forcing it to return to paper charts and fax machines. In 2013 the Cryptolocker ransomware infected an estimated 234,000 computers, including at least 50,000 in the UK, and required a global police operation to neutralise it. How can I remove a ransomware infection? Cryptolocker: what you need to know

technology/2016/nov/28/passengers-free-ride-san-francisco-muni-ransomeware

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2016-11-28T10:19:30Z

Ransomware attack on San Francisco public transit gives everyone a free ride

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/28/passengers-free-ride-san-francisco-muni-ransomeware

['hackers', 'managed', 'infect', 'take', 'computers', 'used', 'operate', 'san', 'francisco', 'public', 'transport', 'system', 'forcing', 'municipal', 'transportation', 'agency', 'mta', 'open', 'gates', 'allow', 'passengers', 'ride', 'nothing', 'attackers', 'used', 'variant', 'hddcryptor', 'malware', 'infect', 'computers', 'friday', 'encrypting', 'data', 'preventing', 'operating', 'normally', 'holding', 'ransom', 'bitcoin', 'according', 'register', 'every', 'computer', 'left', 'displaying', 'black', 'screen', 'ransom', 'note', 'written', 'across', 'stating', 'hacked', 'data', 'encrypted', 'contact', 'key', 'cryptom27yandexcomid681', 'enter', 'san', 'francisco', 'mta', 'spokesperson', 'declined', 'comment', 'beyond', 'saying', 'impact', 'transit', 'service', 'opened', 'fare', 'gates', 'precaution', 'minimise', 'customer', 'impact', 'mta', 'operational', 'worker', 'machines', 'affected', 'disrupting', 'email', 'payment', 'services', 'core', 'operations', 'allowed', 'trains', 'continue', 'running', 'without', 'payment', 'hackers', 'said', 'statement', 'given', 'verge', 'sunday', 'attention', 'interview', 'propagate', 'news', 'software', 'working', 'completely', 'automatically', 'targeted', 'attack', 'anywhere', 'sfmta', 'network', 'open', 'serverpc', 'infected', 'software', 'waiting', 'contact', 'responsible', 'person', 'sfmta', 'think', 'want', 'deal', 'close', 'email', 'tomorrow', 'ransomware', 'infects', 'computer', 'encrypts', 'data', 'storage', 'drives', 'spreading', 'vulnerable', 'computer', 'connected', 'typically', 'starts', 'someone', 'opens', 'infected', 'email', 'attachment', 'downloaded', 'file', 'spreading', 'computer', 'networks', 'data', 'encrypted', 'user', 'locked', 'computer', 'ransom', 'note', 'displayed', 'promising', 'decrypt', 'release', 'data', 'exchange', 'money', 'sfmta', 'first', 'public', 'sector', 'institution', 'company', 'hit', 'ransomware', 'hollywood', 'presbyterian', 'medical', 'centre', 'los', 'angeles', 'attacked', 'february', 'forcing', 'return', 'paper', 'charts', 'fax', 'machines', 'cryptolocker', 'ransomware', 'infected', 'estimated', 'computers', 'including', 'least', 'uk', 'required', 'global', 'police', 'operation', 'neutralise', 'remove', 'ransomware', 'infection', 'cryptolocker', 'need', 'know']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/28/amazon-echo-dot-review

The Amazon Echo Dot is essentially all the bits of an Amazon Echo that make it interesting, but without the speaker beneath it – and so it costs just one-third of the price. The Dot is one of three Alexa-enabled products from Amazon that puts the company’s voice assistant front and centre. Only two, the Echo Dot (find here) and the Echo are available in the UK: the third, the portable Bluetooth speaker called Amazon Tap, is only available in the US. What is it? The Dot is a small black or white puck with a ring of lights at the top, four buttons and a seven-microphone array – the same system that makes the Echo speaker so good at hearing you from pretty much anywhere. It listens out for a “wake word”, which by default is the name of the voice assistant contained within the Dot: “Alexa”. Say the wake word and the voice assistant comes to life to answer questions, take commands and perform actions. The Dot has a small built-in speaker, which is good enough for all the voice responses Alexa spits out, alarms and other alerts, but is not really designed to play music, producing tinny sound. Instead the back of the Dot has a audio-out port, which is intended plug into your existing speakers. Alternatively, it can pair to a wireless speaker via Bluetooth. What does it look like? The Dot is surprisingly discreet sitting on a countertop or stuck to the wall. There’s a rotating light ring around the top that indicates when it’s actively listening to you and turns red when you hit the mute button, electrically disconnecting the mics, so you know when it is and isn’t listening in. The white Dot has a grey top, which means it stands out more than it might on a white bed-side table, for instance. You can get little jackets for the base in leather or fabric if shiny plastic doesn’t quite cut it with your decor. What does it do? The Echo Dot can do whatever Alexa can do. The set up is the same as the Echo: plug it in, open the Alexa app on your smartphone and follow the instructions to connect it to your Wi-Fi network. Once up and running, Alexa can perform a variety of your typical assistant features. It’ll set timers, tell you the time, set alarms, tell you what your day looks like from your connected calendar, tell you about your commute or the weather and answer questions about all sorts of things. Alexa has access to quite a lot of information, but the sheer volume of data Google has at its fingertips, which means Alexa will struggle with certain questions when a Google voice search may not. The big difference is that Alexa replies in a surprisingly human way, and can almost always understand what you’ve said even if it can’t answer the question, which means it should get better over time as more data is shovelled into the backend artificial intelligence. Alexa has so-called skills that can be added to her. These app-like things give her new abilities. Lots of companies and services have skills. The Guardian skill will read you the news, headlines or reviews, for instance. The National Rail skill will tell you what your rail commute looks like. The Allrecipies skill will be able to read you one of 60,000 different recipes. But perhaps the best set of skills available for the Echo Dot are smart home controls. Here is where the Dot shines: it has a wide range of support for smart connected devices, from speakers and remote controls, to lights, coffee machines or anything connected to a Samsung SmartThings hub. Alexa, turn on the lights in the living room Out of the box it works with Philips Hue, while skills exist for Nest, Hive, Honeywell, Tado, LightwaveRF and LIFX, with Sonos expected soon. Once hooked up you can command just about anything. You have to remember the name of the thing you’re trying to command, but within the Alexa app you can group things to turn them on and off with one command. Unlike most other smart home systems, a single item can be placed into multiple groups meaning a bedroom light could be in the “bedroom” group as well as in the “upstairs” group and perhaps a “house” group, so that you can turn just the bedroom lights on, the whole of the upstairs or turn off the whole house when you’re walking out the door. You can also set brightness, colour, scene or anything else your lights support, but lighting is just the start. Almost any smart home appliance can be controlled via voice with the right connection. You can set the temperature via a Nest, set the coffee going via a smartplug, switch the TV on or off, set the channel or do pretty much anything with devices connected to a SmartThings hub. The Echo Dot doesn’t have to be used in isolation either. If you’re in earshot of two Dots or another Echo device, only the nearest one will reply to your commands. Amazon even sells them in packs: buy five get a sixth free, or buy 10 and get two free. Clearly it wants you to put them all over your house. Observations It works surprisingly well when mounted to the wall, but you have to pull off the rubber pad or make you own bracket Alexa ads on the TV set them off Occasionally the radio will set them off When you’ve got it hooked up to speakers the Dot will only output its audio through those speakers, so they need to be left on all the time to enable it to speak to you even if you’re not playing music IFTTT and Logitech Harmony support are coming soon, which will greatly extend Alexa’s smart home support You have to think carefully about what you’re going to call each of the connected devices because you will have to say their names to Alexa for them to be activated on an individual basis Price The Amazon Echo Dot costs £50 (buy here) in either black or white. The larger Echo costs £150 (buy here). Verdict The Echo Dot is everything that’s great about the larger Echo speaker condensed into a small puck that costs one-third of the price. Being able to voice control things without having to pull out a phone or push a button marks a massive step forward for the Internet of Things. Activating, changing, switching things off and firing up automation routines via voice feels natural and satisfying: there’s nothing quite like marching into a room and commanding the lights to turn on. Alexa isn’t quite the all-conquering voice assistant it promises to be just yet, but the Dot gets the job done in a way nothing else can. Pros: excellent mic array means it can almost always hear you, small but loud enough to be heard clearly, great device support, clear mute, turns your old Hi-Fi into a smart, voice-controlled speaker, voice control IoT devices Cons: really needs to be connected to a speaker for music, can’t always answer the question, always-listening object in your house, doesn’t support multiple user calendars or personal information, only one Spotify or Amazon music account can be linked at any one time Other reviews Amazon Echo review: the best combined speaker and voice assistant in the UK Samsung SmartThings Hub review: an Internet of Things to rule them all? Withings Body Cardio review: stylish scales for health obsessives Nest Learning Thermostat third-gen: the simple, effective heating gadget Logitech Harmony Elite review: easy to use remote that takes charge of your home This article contains affiliate links to products. Our journalism is independent and is never written to promote these products although we may earn a small commission if a reader makes a purchase.

technology/2016/nov/28/amazon-echo-dot-review

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2016-11-28T07:00:23Z

Amazon Echo Dot review: as good as the Echo for one-third of the price

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/28/amazon-echo-dot-review

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'purchase']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/28/seized-nbn-documents-have-parliamentary-privilege-committee

Documents seized by Australian federal police during a raid on Parliament House three months ago as part of their investigation of allegedly leaked NBN documents are subject to parliamentary privilege and should be handed back, a committee says. The house standing committee of privileges and members’ interests made the recommendation in its report published on Monday. If parliament accepts the recommendation, the AFP will not be allowed to access the seized documents and they will have to be returned. It is the latest twist in the drama surrounding the AFP’s NBN Co investigation. The AFP is investigating a complaint made by NBN in December over the alleged leak of documents, which the former Labor senator Stephen Conroy said related to delays and cost blowouts in the delivery of the NBN. The AFP has conducted two raids on political offices this year. The first was in May, during the election campaign, when Conroy’s parliamentary offices in Melbourne and a house on Allan Street in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick were raided. The second occurred on 24 August this year when the AFP raided offices of the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) in Parliament House in Canberra, seizing material belonging to a staff member of the Labor MP Jason Clare. Monday’s parliamentary committee report relates to the second raid. The day before that raid, the AFP had informed Clare of its intention to execute a search warrant on DPS offices and Clare told them he would claim parliamentary privilege for all material seized. After investigating the incident, the committee says it believes the seized material belonging to Clare’s staff member was subject to parliamentary privilege. The committee has six Liberal members and five Labor members. There were no dissenting reports. It recommends that the house accept its recommendation and that the AFP be advised of the ruling. Parliament could be asked to vote on it this week. “I’m hopeful that parliament can resolve this matter this week because it provides important guidance on the operation of privileges in the commonwealth parliament,” said Labor MP Pat Conroy, the deputy chair of the committee. A spokeswoman said the AFP was aware of the committee’s recommendation. It was still waiting for the outcome of a separate Senate inquiry into the first raid in May. “While this investigation is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time,” she said. A spokeswoman for NBN Co declined to comment. Clare’s claim of parliamentary privilege was the first time such a ruling had been sought from the house after the execution of a search warrant under the AFP national guidelines. If parliament does not vote on the matter this week – its last for the year – the documents seized by the AFP will stay with the clerk of the house until parliament meets next year.

technology/2016/nov/28/seized-nbn-documents-have-parliamentary-privilege-committee

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2016-11-28T06:04:42Z

Seized NBN documents have parliamentary privilege – committee

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/28/seized-nbn-documents-have-parliamentary-privilege-committee

['documents', 'seized', 'australian', 'federal', 'police', 'raid', 'parliament', 'house', 'three', 'months', 'ago', 'part', 'investigation', 'allegedly', 'leaked', 'nbn', 'documents', 'subject', 'parliamentary', 'privilege', 'handed', 'back', 'committee', 'says', 'house', 'standing', 'committee', 'privileges', 'members', 'interests', 'made', 'recommendation', 'report', 'published', 'monday', 'parliament', 'accepts', 'recommendation', 'afp', 'allowed', 'access', 'seized', 'documents', 'returned', 'latest', 'twist', 'drama', 'surrounding', 'afp', 'nbn', 'co', 'investigation', 'afp', 'investigating', 'complaint', 'made', 'nbn', 'december', 'alleged', 'leak', 'documents', 'former', 'labor', 'senator', 'stephen', 'conroy', 'said', 'related', 'delays', 'cost', 'blowouts', 'delivery', 'nbn', 'afp', 'conducted', 'two', 'raids', 'political', 'offices', 'year', 'first', 'may', 'election', 'campaign', 'conroy', 'parliamentary', 'offices', 'melbourne', 'house', 'allan', 'street', 'melbourne', 'suburb', 'brunswick', 'raided', 'second', 'occurred', 'august', 'year', 'afp', 'raided', 'offices', 'department', 'parliamentary', 'services', 'dps', 'parliament', 'house', 'canberra', 'seizing', 'material', 'belonging', 'staff', 'member', 'labor', 'mp', 'jason', 'clare', 'monday', 'parliamentary', 'committee', 'report', 'relates', 'second', 'raid', 'day', 'raid', 'afp', 'informed', 'clare', 'intention', 'execute', 'search', 'warrant', 'dps', 'offices', 'clare', 'told', 'would', 'claim', 'parliamentary', 'privilege', 'material', 'seized', 'investigating', 'incident', 'committee', 'says', 'believes', 'seized', 'material', 'belonging', 'clare', 'staff', 'member', 'subject', 'parliamentary', 'privilege', 'committee', 'six', 'liberal', 'members', 'five', 'labor', 'members', 'dissenting', 'reports', 'recommends', 'house', 'accept', 'recommendation', 'afp', 'advised', 'ruling', 'parliament', 'could', 'asked', 'vote', 'week', 'hopeful', 'parliament', 'resolve', 'matter', 'week', 'provides', 'important', 'guidance', 'operation', 'privileges', 'commonwealth', 'parliament', 'said', 'labor', 'mp', 'pat', 'conroy', 'deputy', 'chair', 'committee', 'spokeswoman', 'said', 'afp', 'aware', 'committee', 'recommendation', 'still', 'waiting', 'outcome', 'separate', 'senate', 'inquiry', 'first', 'raid', 'may', 'investigation', 'ongoing', 'would', 'appropriate', 'comment', 'time', 'said', 'spokeswoman', 'nbn', 'co', 'declined', 'comment', 'clare', 'claim', 'parliamentary', 'privilege', 'first', 'time', 'ruling', 'sought', 'house', 'execution', 'search', 'warrant', 'afp', 'national', 'guidelines', 'parliament', 'vote', 'matter', 'week', 'last', 'year', 'documents', 'seized', 'afp', 'stay', 'clerk', 'house', 'parliament', 'meets', 'next', 'year']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/27/coinbase-bitcoin-irs-government-summons-data-cryptocurrency

A US government request to trawl through the personal data of millions of users of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase signals the start of an effort to pull digital currencies like bitcoin into the mainstream, experts have said. The “John Doe” summons, a broad order for data on all Coinbase users in 2013, 2014 and 2015, was filed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in a federal court in California on 17 November. In the summons, the IRS said that all of Coinbase’s users in that period “have not been or may not be complying with US internal revenue laws”. Coinbase has said it will fight the request in court. Cryptocurrencies – digital assets which exist entirely online but are exchangeable for goods or services – have grown in popularity in recent years, in part because they grant a degree of user anonymity. Coinbase is the largest bitcoin exchange and its best-known brand. But user confidentiality has also caused headaches for governments, who worry the currencies are being used for drug dealing, money laundering or tax evasion. Digital currencies are currently taxed as an asset like gold, with capital gains tax due when there is an appreciation in value. However, the extent to which bitcoin users with US tax liabilities have been declaring such assets is unclear. In documentation supporting its petition, the IRS referred to three anonymous cases of taxpayers who had used virtual currencies to evade tax, two of which were “corporate entities with annual revenues of several million dollars” which used Coinbase wallets and concealed bitcoin transactions as “technology expenses” on their tax returns. Several experts in cryptocurrency said that the IRS was on a “fishing expedition”, and pointed out that it followed an excoriating report by the US treasury’s inspector-general for taxation which said the IRS was not doing enough to regulate and investigate cryptocurrencies. “The government has no idea that anybody has committed a crime,” said Jerry Brito, the executive director of Coin Center, a lobbying and research group focused on cryptocurrencies. In a statement, Coinbase said: “Although Coinbase’s general practice is to cooperate with properly targeted law enforcement inquiries, we are extremely concerned with the indiscriminate breadth of the government’s request.” It added: “In its current form, we will oppose the government’s petition in court.” Some experts, though dismayed by what they saw as the overly broad and invasive nature of the request, said that more government scrutiny on cryptocurrencies was inevitable as they became more mainstream. “It’s an indication of bitcoin’s growing adoption,” said Chris Burniske, an analyst at ARK Investment Management who focuses on bitcoin. “As more people use it, it is going to grow in a way which affects national and global economies, so the IRS needs more clarity on how citizens are using it,” he said. “Globally, we’re seeing regulators grapple with how to regulate and tax [cryptocurrencies].” Others said that while they felt Coinbase was right to seek to narrow the scope of the request, some change was needed to bring bitcoin and its ilk out of the dark and into the world of mainstream finance. “If bitcoin and other digital currencies are going to be viewed as legitimate financial instruments, there has to be some regulatory apparatus here,” said Kevin McIntyre, associate professor of economics at McDaniel College in Maryland. “Certainly,” he added, “the tinfoil hat-wearing libertarian types who embrace the privacy of [bitcoin] are going to be very disappointed.” Not all of them, however. Juan Llanos, an advisor in financial technology regulation and compliance, said he was seeing a lot of anger within the cryptocurrency industry at the IRS’s move, but also some schadenfreude from the more anarchistic parts of bitcoin’s user base. “Coinbase has been attacked by ultra-anarchists from the beginning, because they are the closest to a digital bank there is,” he said. “Many anarchists – usually the early adopters of bitcoin – who are against the customs of Coinbase are celebrating,” he said. This is not the first time the IRS has used blanket John Doe summonses as part of an investigation, though it is possible that the Coinbase request will be the largest of its kind. In 2014, a federal judge approved similar summonses for FedEx, DHL and UPS to produce information about taxpayers who use an offshore asset-management service called Sovereign Management & Legal, and in 2015 a judge approved another summons for US taxpayers with offshore accounts at Belize Bank International Limited.

technology/2016/nov/27/coinbase-bitcoin-irs-government-summons-data-cryptocurrency

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2016-11-27T15:00:03Z

Why the US government wants to bring cryptocurrency out of the shadows

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/27/coinbase-bitcoin-irs-government-summons-data-cryptocurrency

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/27/genevieve-bell-ai-robotics-anthropologist-robots

Genevieve Bell is an Australian anthropologist who has been working at tech company Intel for 18 years, where she is currently head of sensing and insights. She has given numerous TED talks and in 2012 was inducted into the Women in Technology hall of fame. Between 2008 and 2010, she was also South Australia’s thinker in residence. Why does a company such as Intel need an anthropologist? That is a question I’ve spent 18 years asking myself. It’s not a contradiction in terms, but it is a puzzle. When they hired me, I think they understood something that not everyone in the tech industry understood, which was that technology was about to undergo a rapid transformation. Computers went from being on an office desk spewing out Excel to inhabiting our homes and lives and we needed to have a point of view about what that was going to look like. It was incredibly important to understand the human questions: such as, what on earth are people going to do with that computational power. If we could anticipate just a little bit, that would give us a business edge and the ability to make better technical decisions. But as an anthropologist that’s a weird place to be. We tend to be rooted in the present – what are people doing now and why? – rather than long-term strategic stuff. A criticism that is often made of tech companies is that they are dominated by a narrow demographic of white, male engineers and as a result the code and hardware they produce have a narrow set of values built into them. Do you see your team as a counterbalance to that culture? Absolutely. I suspect people must think I’m a monumental pain. I used to think my job was to bring as many other human experiences into the building as possible. Being a woman, being Australian and not being an engineer – those were all valuable assets because they gave me a very different point of view. Now, the leadership of Intel is around 25% female, which is about what market availability is in the tech sector. We are conscious of what it means to have a company whose workforce doesn’t reflect the general population. Repeated studies show that the more diverse your teams are, the richer the outcomes. You have to tolerate a bit of static, but that’s preferable to the self-perpetuating bubble where everyone agrees with you. You are often described as a futurologist. A lot of people are worried about the future. Are they right to be concerned? That technology is accompanied by anxiety is not a new thing. We have anxieties about certain types of technology and there are reasons for that. We’re coming up to the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the images in it have persisted. Shelley’s story worked because it tapped into a set of cultural anxieties. The Frankenstein anxiety is not the reason we worried about the motor car or electricity, but if you think about how some people write about robotics, AI and big data, those concerns have profound echoes going back to the Frankenstein anxieties 200 years ago. What is the Frankenstein anxiety? Western culture has some anxieties about what happens when humans try to bring something to life, whether it’s the Judeo-Christian stories of the golem or James Cameron’s The Terminator. So what is the anxiety about? My suspicion is that it’s not about the life-making, it’s about how we feel about being human. What we are seeing now isn’t an anxiety about artificial intelligence per se, it’s about what it says about us. That if you can make something like us, where does it leave us? And that concern isn’t universal, as other cultures have very different responses to AI, to big data. The most obvious one to me would be the Japanese robotic tradition, where people are willing to imagine the role of robots as far more expansive than you find in the west. For example, the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori published a book called The Buddha in the Robot, where he suggests that robots would be better Buddhists than humans because they are capable of infinite invocations. So are you suggesting that robots could have religion? It’s an extraordinary provocation. So you don’t agree with Stephen Hawking when he says that AI is likely “either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity”? Mori’s argument was that we project our own anxieties and when we ask: “Will the robots kill us?”, what we are really asking is: “Will we kill us?” Coming from a Japanese man who lived through the 20th century that might not be an unreasonable question. He wonders what would happen if we were to take as our starting point that technology could be our best angels, not our worst – it’s an interesting thought exercise. When I see some of the big thinkers of our day contemplating the arc of artificial intelligence, what I see is not necessarily a critique of the technology itself but a critique of us. We are building the engines, so what we build into them is what they will be. The question is not will AI rise up and kill us, rather, will we give it the tools to do so? Is there a movie that you think creates a convincing picture of the future? The Matrix, Her, Planet of the Apes? In terms of capturing the current anxiety and ambivalence we have about the role of technology, it’s two movies: Her and Ex Machina. Not because they are visions of the future, but because they underline a particular set of concerns, which is not that the machines will kill us but that we will become irrelevant. James Cameron’s The Terminator promised death, but in Spike Jonze’s Her the anxiety is that the machine will become bored with you. It’s the same in Ex Machina – you build the perfect machine and it abandons you. In both instances, there’s a notion that the technology is self-determining and it’s decision is to leave us; in both movies, there is a conversation about gender – the machines are women that are leaving men. The machines’ voices are female, which isn’t what they were 40 or 50 years ago, like Hal [in 2001: A Space Odyssey]. A lot of the work you do examines the intersection between the intended use of a device and how people actually use it – and examining the disconnection. Could you talk about something you’re researching at the moment? I’m interested in how animals are connected to the internet and how we might be able to see the world from an animal’s point of view. There’s something very interesting in someone else’s vantage point, which might have a truth to it. For instance, the tagging of cows for automatic milking machines, so that the cows can choose when to milk themselves. Cows went from being milked twice a day to being milked three to six times a day, which is great for the farm’s productivity and results in happier cows, but it’s also faintly disquieting that the technology makes clear to us the desires of cows – making them visible in ways they weren’t before. So what does one do with that knowledge? One of the unintended consequences of big data and the internet of things is that some things will become visible and compel us to confront them. Why is your Twitter handle “feraldata”? I was castigating an Australian colleague about 10 years ago about how we talked about technology using British idioms. For example, we kept talking about the digital commons, yet Australia does not have an enclosure act. So what are the Australian experiences we could use to talk about technology? I began to think about camels, goats and cats – lots of animals jumped the boats in Australia and created havoc by becoming feral. Would feral be an interesting way for thinking about how technology had unintended consequences? It occurred to me that of all the things that were most likely to go feral in the technological landscape it was data. It gets created in one context, is married with a third thing and finds itself in another. Genevieve Bell will be the keynote speaker at the Ireland’s Edge conference, part of the Other Voices festival in Dingle, Co. Kerry, 2-4 December

technology/2016/nov/27/genevieve-bell-ai-robotics-anthropologist-robots

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2016-11-27T07:00:54Z

Genevieve Bell: ‘Humanity’s greatest fear is about being irrelevant’

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/27/genevieve-bell-ai-robotics-anthropologist-robots

['genevieve', 'bell', 'australian', 'anthropologist', 'working', 'tech', 'company', 'intel', 'years', 'currently', 'head', 'sensing', 'insights', 'given', 'numerous', 'ted', 'talks', 'inducted', 'women', 'technology', 'hall', 'fame', 'also', 'south', 'australia', 'thinker', 'residence', 'company', 'intel', 'need', 'anthropologist', 'question', 'spent', 'years', 'asking', 'contradiction', 'terms', 'puzzle', 'hired', 'think', 'understood', 'something', 'everyone', 'tech', 'industry', 'understood', 'technology', 'undergo', 'rapid', 'transformation', 'computers', 'went', 'office', 'desk', 'spewing', 'excel', 'inhabiting', 'homes', 'lives', 'needed', 'point', 'view', 'going', 'look', 'like', 'incredibly', 'important', 'understand', 'human', 'questions', 'earth', 'people', 'going', 'computational', 'power', 'could', 'anticipate', 'little', 'bit', 'would', 'give', 'us', 'business', 'edge', 'ability', 'make', 'better', 'technical', 'decisions', 'anthropologist', 'weird', 'place', 'tend', 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'right', 'concerned', 'technology', 'accompanied', 'anxiety', 'new', 'thing', 'anxieties', 'certain', 'types', 'technology', 'reasons', 'coming', '200th', 'anniversary', 'mary', 'shelley', 'frankenstein', 'images', 'persisted', 'shelley', 'story', 'worked', 'tapped', 'set', 'cultural', 'anxieties', 'frankenstein', 'anxiety', 'reason', 'worried', 'motor', 'car', 'electricity', 'think', 'people', 'write', 'robotics', 'ai', 'big', 'data', 'concerns', 'profound', 'echoes', 'going', 'back', 'frankenstein', 'anxieties', 'years', 'ago', 'frankenstein', 'anxiety', 'western', 'culture', 'anxieties', 'happens', 'humans', 'try', 'bring', 'something', 'life', 'whether', 'judeo-christian', 'stories', 'golem', 'james', 'cameron', 'terminator', 'anxiety', 'suspicion', 'life-making', 'feel', 'human', 'seeing', 'anxiety', 'artificial', 'intelligence', 'per', 'se', 'says', 'us', 'make', 'something', 'like', 'us', 'leave', 'us', 'concern', 'universal', 'cultures', 'different', 'responses', 'ai', 'big', 'data', 'obvious', 'one', 'would', 'japanese', 'robotic', 'tradition', 'people', 'willing', 'imagine', 'role', 'robots', 'far', 'expansive', 'find', 'west', 'example', 'japanese', 'roboticist', 'masahiro', 'mori', 'published', 'book', 'called', 'buddha', 'robot', 'suggests', 'robots', 'would', 'better', 'buddhists', 'humans', 'capable', 'infinite', 'invocations', 'suggesting', 'robots', 'could', 'religion', 'extraordinary', 'provocation', 'agree', 'stephen', 'hawking', 'says', 'ai', 'likely', 'either', 'best', 'worst', 'thing', 'ever', 'happen', 'humanity', 'mori', 'argument', 'project', 'anxieties', 'ask', 'robots', 'kill', 'us', 'really', 'asking', 'kill', 'us', 'coming', 'japanese', 'man', 'lived', '20th', 'century', 'might', 'unreasonable', 'question', 'wonders', 'would', 'happen', 'take', 'starting', 'point', 'technology', 'could', 'best', 'angels', 'worst', 'interesting', 'thought', 'exercise', 'see', 'big', 'thinkers', 'day', 'contemplating', 'arc', 'artificial', 'intelligence', 'see', 'necessarily', 'critique', 'technology', 'critique', 'us', 'building', 'engines', 'build', 'question', 'ai', 'rise', 'kill', 'us', 'rather', 'give', 'tools', 'movie', 'think', 'creates', 'convincing', 'picture', 'future', 'matrix', 'planet', 'apes', 'terms', 'capturing', 'current', 'anxiety', 'ambivalence', 'role', 'technology', 'two', 'movies', 'ex', 'machina', 'visions', 'future', 'underline', 'particular', 'set', 'concerns', 'machines', 'kill', 'us', 'become', 'irrelevant', 'james', 'cameron', 'terminator', 'promised', 'death', 'spike', 'jonze', 'anxiety', 'machine', 'become', 'bored', 'ex', 'machina', 'build', 'perfect', 'machine', 'abandons', 'instances', 'notion', 'technology', 'self-determining', 'decision', 'leave', 'us', 'movies', 'conversation', 'gender', 'machines', 'women', 'leaving', 'men', 'machines', 'voices', 'female', 'years', 'ago', 'like', 'hal', 'space', 'odyssey', 'lot', 'work', 'examines', 'intersection', 'intended', 'use', 'device', 'people', 'actually', 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'yet', 'australia', 'enclosure', 'act', 'australian', 'experiences', 'could', 'use', 'talk', 'technology', 'began', 'think', 'camels', 'goats', 'cats', 'lots', 'animals', 'jumped', 'boats', 'australia', 'created', 'havoc', 'becoming', 'feral', 'would', 'feral', 'interesting', 'way', 'thinking', 'technology', 'unintended', 'consequences', 'occurred', 'things', 'likely', 'go', 'feral', 'technological', 'landscape', 'data', 'gets', 'created', 'one', 'context', 'married', 'third', 'thing', 'finds', 'another', 'genevieve', 'bell', 'keynote', 'speaker', 'ireland', 'edge', 'conference', 'part', 'voices', 'festival', 'dingle', 'co', 'kerry', '2-4', 'december']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/27/mclaren-650s-spider-car-review-martin-love

The word McLaren sends a shiver of expectation down the spine of anyone who thinks life on four wheels is how God intended us to spend our most fulfilled moments. On the track it’s the most successful marque in Formula 1 history, the car in which Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and co have smashed records and set pulses racing. On the road it is sure-footed, sublime and intoxicatingly faaaaaaaaast… But no one had bothered to tell the large woodpigeon that swooped over me as I whipped the open-topped McLaren 650S along a country lane in Northamptonshire. It unloaded a colossal pile of guano which hit me square in the forehead before exploding over my face and splattering over the instrument panel and the immaculate suede lining of the doors. A real life angry bird! It’s a sign of luck, they say, but when you are at the wheel of a McLaren you don’t need anyone to tell you how fortunate you are. The road cars take their lead from 1992’s seminal McLaren F1 – a car which caused a proper hoo-ha when it was launched. Back then it was the world’s fastest production car (240mph), used real gold in the engine and cost £635,000. Only 106 were made and today each is worth at least £10m. Back then it used to take about 3,000 hours to make each carbon-fibre chassis, today it takes four hours to create the carbon MonoCell at the heart of the 650S. Today there are 10 different McLaren models. Each is built in very small numbers and usually all are sold within a week or two of their announcement. It’s hard to get into the mindset of the McLaren owner. They’re happy to pay through the nose for a car that drives like a bullet. What they’re worried about is rarity. How many will McLaren build? More than a few hundred and they’re not interested. The question they ask is not how fast or how much, but how many? Last year, McLaren made and sold 1,654 cars. They have 80 shops in 30 countries. Five years ago, they had one shop – in London. The firm’s long-term plan is to make about 3,000 a year – all hand assembled in Woking. The factory employs 1,700 people and only one robot. There’s been talk of interest from Google… but McLaren is happy to remain “fiercely independent and self-funding”. Stepping into a McLaren for the first time feels like being indoctrinated. Everything is done their own particular way. There are no common parts – you won’t recognise an indicator stalk from an Audi, for instance. Everything is built for this one brand. Of the McLaren cars that you’d only have to sell your flat to afford, the 650S Spider stands out as the most dramatic. It’s dihedral doors mean it makes an entrance wherever it goes. The retractable hardtop roof opens in 17 seconds and has been painstakingly engineered to minimise weight. The LED running lights gracefully mirror the arch of McLaren’s logo. Hit the throttle and the balanced 3,799cc V8 twin turbo engine hurls you to 62mph in 3 seconds. If you had your own racetrack or runway, you’d hit 186mph in 26 seconds. These are speeds few of us will ever experience. But what I can tell you is that at 60mph on a pretty country lane, this is a car that leaves you slack-jawed with appreciation. It’s perfect, transcendental. It makes you feel, oddly, like bursting into tears. Who knew? Time to brush up on your Highway Code Did you know it’s illegal to drive barefoot? What about blowing your horn while stationary? A new survey conducted by Warranty Direct has revealed a worrying lack of awareness when it comes to knowledge on UK driving laws. Areas of particular weakness include understanding road safety, general vehicle rules and interpretation of The Highway Code. A report from the Department of Transport, recently revealed there are almost 200,000 reported driving accidents annually in the UK. Despite the general public showing concern over such data, it seems the country still has a long way to go when it comes to improving their knowledge of the road. Awareness regarding motorway driving in particular produced some troubling results. A quarter of respondents thought it was legal to both overtake and undertake on the motorway, and nearly a third think you’re allowed to pull over and sleep on the hard shoulder if you can’t find a rest stop! Almost half of drivers thought it was fine to flash your lights to warn fellow drivers of a speed trap, in spite of a well-publicised case in 2011 of a man being fined £440 for doing so and in turn being accused of ‘obstructing the police’. Other laws that drivers showed a high lack of awareness of, included: It is illegal to drive barefoot. It is illegal to use your horn whilst stationary. You can be charged with drink driving if you’re asleep in your (stationary) vehicle. Accelerating through a puddle can get you three points on your licence. You are not obliged to wear a seatbelt whilst reversing. Email Martin at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166 Correction: McLaren is not “the most successful marque in F1 history”. Its drivers have won 182 Grands Prix which is 42 fewer than Ferrari. Ferrari also leads Constructor’s Championship having won that this 16 times, Williams 9 and McLaren 8.

technology/2016/nov/27/mclaren-650s-spider-car-review-martin-love

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technology

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2016-11-27T06:00:53Z

McLaren 650S Spider: car review | Martin Love

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/27/mclaren-650s-spider-car-review-martin-love

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/26/best-phablets-apple-iphone-7-plus-google-pixel-xl-samsung-galaxy-s7-edge

If a big screen for watching videos, playing games or simply to fit more on the screen when browsing, emailing and texting is what you’re after, these are the best phablets available right now. Apple iPhone 7 Plus Price: £719 Apple’s latest phablet is like a greatest hits from the past two years of iPhone. It looks pretty much the same as 2014’s iPhone 6 Plus, has the same fingerprint scanner as the iPhone 6S Plus, but is now waterproof and has a better camera. The dual camera on the back is the main attraction, using two different lenses to create an effective 2x zoom and some fancy effects. The home button also doesn’t move any more, but the little vibrating Taptic Engine does a good job of giving you the impression that it does. One thing the 5.5in phablet doesn’t have is a headphone socket, which means you’ll have to use an adaptor to plug wired headphones into the Lightning port at the bottom. You can’t charge while listening to music, but at least the battery lasts about a day. The iPhone 7 Plus is also wider and more difficult to use one-handed than other 5.5in smartphones in this group, so it’s worth investing in a good case as dropping it is a real possibility when out and about. Verdict: best phablet for iOS users who don’t want to switch. Apple iPhone 7 Plus review: 2014 called - it wants its phablet back Google Pixel XL Price: £719 Google’s first own-brand phablet runs the very latest version of Android 7.1 Nougat and will get updates before any other Android smartphone. It has the company’s latest in intelligent voice control, Google Assistant, which is a conversational search and personal assistant hiding under the Pixel’s home button for when you need it. The 5.5in Pixel XL is a relatively simple-looking device, but its subtle wedge shape means there’s no camera lump on the back. The camera is excellent – ranked the best in the business by DxoMark – and it’ll last over a day between charges. It’s snappy, has a good fingerprint scanner on the back, great screen on the front and is one of the first smartphones compatible with Google’s new Daydream View VR goggles. But the Pixel isn’t waterproof, like Apple’s iPhone doesn’t have expandable storage, and is pretty pricy compared to the rest of the Android competition. Verdict: best for latest and greatest Android with a cracking camera. Google Pixel XL review: very good, but with a price tag to match Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Price: £520 Samsung’s smaller top-end phablet, the Galaxy S7 Edge has a 5.5in curved screen that makes it the narrowest and easiest to handle in the category. It has more features too, with a great camera, fingerprint scanner, heart-rate reader, wireless charging and various bits and pieces to take advantage of the curved screen. It is that curved screen that makes the S7 Edge stand out, fitting a 5.5in screen in a body not much larger than a 5in phone. The only real downside is that picking a case for it could be difficult. The S7 Edge is waterproof, and has a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. It lasts a day and a half between charges and is compatible with Samsung’s Gear VR headset too. It doesn’t run the latest version of Android yet, but an update to Android 7 Nougat is already in testing and is expected to be available to all in 2017. Verdict: best for those looking for a big screen without a big device. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review: this is the smartphone to beat Huawei Mate 9 Price: €699 If you want a really big screen – bigger than all the others in this lineup – the Mate 9 is for you. The front is pretty much all screen with a 5.9in display and small bezels at either side making it more manageable than you might expect. Not everyone will be able to use it comfortably with one hand, but the curved back, chamfered edges and good palm rejection make it easier to hold on to than even some smaller-screened competitors, even when it weighs a good 20g more. The screen isn’t as sharp as some others, but the Mate 9 will last around two days between charges. It’s superfast too, has dual-sim support, expandable storage and has an extremely rapid fingerprint scanner on the back. It has two cameras on the back, one monochrome and one colour, which work together to improve detail and low-light performance. You can also use them in interesting combinations – shooting in true monochrome is great fun. Huawei’s version of Android – Emotion UI based on Android 7 Nougat – has many more power and notification controls than you would normally find, and looks a little different from Android on most other smartphones. Verdict: for those after the biggest screen with the best battery life. Huawei Mate 9 review: big screen, long battery life and dual cameras OnePlus 3T Price: £399 The OnePlus 3T is the successor to the excellent OnePlus 3. Now it has a faster processor, a larger capacity battery and better cameras. It’s 5.5in screen is slightly less sharp than rivals with the same size display, but is vibrant and colourful with good viewing angles. It’s also got narrow bezels, which combined with a curved back and chamfered edges make the 3T easier to grip than most. You have a choice of 64GB or 128GB of storage, but cannot add more. It has two sim slots for using two phone numbers simultaneously, and a rapid charging technology called Dash Charge. The battery lasts a day between charges and the phone has the fastest Qualcomm processor on the market, matching the Google Pixel XL. The fingerprint scanner on the front is excellent and the camera’s pretty good too. It doesn’t yet run Android 7 Nougat, but an update to the latest version is promised before the year is out. The OnePlus 3T is a great all-round device for less money than most of the rest. Verdict: a high-quality phablet that is cheaper than most of the competition.

technology/2016/nov/26/best-phablets-apple-iphone-7-plus-google-pixel-xl-samsung-galaxy-s7-edge

pillar/news

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2016-11-26T11:00:30Z

Five of the best phablets for 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/26/best-phablets-apple-iphone-7-plus-google-pixel-xl-samsung-galaxy-s7-edge

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'yet', 'update', 'android', 'nougat', 'already', 'testing', 'expected', 'available', 'verdict', 'best', 'looking', 'big', 'screen', 'without', 'big', 'device', 'samsung', 'galaxy', 's7', 'edge', 'review', 'smartphone', 'beat', 'huawei', 'mate', 'price', 'want', 'really', 'big', 'screen', 'bigger', 'others', 'lineup', 'mate', 'front', 'pretty', 'much', 'screen', '59in', 'display', 'small', 'bezels', 'either', 'side', 'making', 'manageable', 'might', 'expect', 'everyone', 'able', 'use', 'comfortably', 'one', 'hand', 'curved', 'back', 'chamfered', 'edges', 'good', 'palm', 'rejection', 'make', 'easier', 'hold', 'even', 'smaller-screened', 'competitors', 'even', 'weighs', 'good', '20g', 'screen', 'sharp', 'others', 'mate', 'last', 'around', 'two', 'days', 'charges', 'superfast', 'dual-sim', 'support', 'expandable', 'storage', 'extremely', 'rapid', 'fingerprint', 'scanner', 'back', 'two', 'cameras', 'back', 'one', 'monochrome', 'one', 'colour', 'work', 'together', 'improve', 'detail', 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'numbers', 'simultaneously', 'rapid', 'charging', 'technology', 'called', 'dash', 'charge', 'battery', 'lasts', 'day', 'charges', 'phone', 'fastest', 'qualcomm', 'processor', 'market', 'matching', 'google', 'pixel', 'xl', 'fingerprint', 'scanner', 'front', 'excellent', 'camera', 'pretty', 'good', 'yet', 'run', 'android', 'nougat', 'update', 'latest', 'version', 'promised', 'year', 'oneplus', '3t', 'great', 'all-round', 'device', 'less', 'money', 'rest', 'verdict', 'high-quality', 'phablet', 'cheaper', 'competition']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/25/the-fact-it-was-grindr-isnt-relevant-users-debate-apps-role-in-stephen-port-murders

The murders of four young men by Stephen Port, the serial killer sentenced to life in prison on Friday, have given rise to a debate among users of the gay dating app Grindr. One man who matched with Stephen Port on the app has rubbished what he sees as attempts to blame Grindr for the deaths, but others claim more must be done to protect people meeting prospective partners online. Benjamin Wilson, 29, was living in Barking, close to the graveyard around St Margaret’s church, at the time Port dumped the bodies of three of his four victims there after drugging them with GHB and raping them in his flat. “I was in a relationship with two guys and we’d all messaged him,” Wilson said. “He had a very attractive profile photo, which was was not very representative as it turns out. “It didn’t go any further than that because we weren’t his type and there was perhaps a little bit too much consent – which sounds bleak ... He wasn’t interested in people who were approaching him. I wonder if between me having a beard, and me being interested, that actually is the thing which means I am alive.” Nevertheless, Wilson, a writer who now lives in Cornwall, said attempts by the police to pin blame for Port’s killings on Grindr and the culture of online hook-ups were “victim blaming”. He saw it as an attempt by police to shirk responsibility for their alleged failings in investigating the case. Wilson said: “The fact it was Grindr isn’t really relevant, there’s always been sexual violence. But the fact it’s treated that way basically seems like a way to let people off the hook, like: ‘They were on Grindr, they were having chemsex, these deviant homosexual things.’ When actually the issue is that there was a man murdering people, there is a pervasive culture of sexual violence, and the police didn’t act appropriately.” Monty Moncrieff, chief executive of London Friend – a health and well-being charity for London’s LGBT community, said apps were merely playing a role that had previously been filled by personal ads in newspapers or dating websites. “What role the apps have been playing to facilitate that is that it’s just been the medium through which he’s met them and the intention’s been there,” Moncrieff said. “He hasn’t done it as a result of the apps, the apps haven’t made him do that.” Michael (a pseudonym), a 50-year-old who has been a regular user of Grindr, said his worst recent experience had been when a man he met, who had been heavily using drugs, suddenly decided to kick him out. He was left on the doorstep in an unfamiliar neighbourhood at 5am. He is visually impaired and did not know how to get home. Such experiences have led him to take precautions before meeting anyone. “Usually I try to chat to the person for a long while, and if we are going to meet I try to meet in a public place first. I try to get details to give to some of my close mates, about where I’ve gone, what phone number I’ve gone to, address and all that lot,” he said. Others are not so careful, he said, particularly when there are drugs involved. “You know there is a lot of guys who are just – I don’t want to say the word seducing, not inducing – but they offer you so much, all the time, constantly, and sometimes you wonder: ‘Hang on, what’s your intention?’,” Michael said. “I’ve seen how some people just literally get like a rag doll, and there’s no enjoyment in that, when the other person doesn’t know what’s going on.” Despite his link to the Port murders, Wilson said he felt that in many ways meeting men through apps like Grindr was safer than the alternative, which was cruising to meet partners. “That’s almost certainly going to involve alcohol, it’s going to involve going through areas where you are more at risk,” he said. “Being online gives you a lot more control. You know exactly where you are going, you can tell people ‘I am going to 54 West Street.’ “You are generally sober, or if you are not that’s been your choice – you are not pushed by your environment into drinking. And you don’t have to make yourself a target in the wider sense. There’s always a risk that a stranger could be a danger, but not more so than if you are going to a bar.”

technology/2016/nov/25/the-fact-it-was-grindr-isnt-relevant-users-debate-apps-role-in-stephen-port-murders

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2016-11-25T18:27:19Z

'The fact it was Grindr isn’t relevant': users debate app's role in Stephen Port murders

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/25/the-fact-it-was-grindr-isnt-relevant-users-debate-apps-role-in-stephen-port-murders

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/25/what-were-labour-mps-doing-on-their-mobile-phones-in-parliament

They filed into the House of Commons chamber to learn what Brexit means for the economy, and filed out to be shamed the next morning by newspaper picture editors armed with yellow pens. In one photograph, half of the 42 Labour MPs sitting behind John McDonnell can be seen immersed in their mobile phones while the shadow chancellor responds to the autumn statement. “Isn’t that awful?” asked Judith Woods in the Daily Telegraph, comparing the “rude” MPs to millennials unable to resist the lure of their devices during pub quizzes. “Isn’t this addiction steering dangerously close to out-and-out junkiedom?” she added, gamely offering to “restore Britain’s manners to their factory settings”. McDonnell was sanguine about the perceived digital snub. “It doesn’t look good, but that’s what happens,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. But should it happen? Beyond the obvious danger that phones can pose, not least on the road, should we take a stand against tapping in the workplace? Labour MP Sarah Champion, one of those pictured, makes a stirring defence of connected politicians. “When I look at that picture, I see a lot of MPs trying to live-stream what’s going on to make it more accessible,” she says. “They’re not playing Candy Crush – or at least this one certainly isn’t.” Seven minutes after McDonnell stood up to respond to Philip Hammond, Champion tweeted about the chancellor’s failure to address the gender pay gap. She then retweeted shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, another of the MPs in the picture, who was sharing his dismay about the absence of the NHS in the autumn statement. “Tweeting is a direct way for me to get my messages out to people,” adds Champion, who has more than 20,000 followers, many of whom she represents. “I could put out a press statement hours afterwards, but it may not be picked up. This way I can commentate live, and if I’ve got a juicy story on Twitter, within minutes I have journalists calling me for more information.” Outside parliament, rules, unspoken or otherwise, vary. Debrett’s, the arbiter of etiquette for centuries, is strict on the matter. “In a work context, mobiles can be seen as disruptive, self-involved and anti the corporate culture,” its Netiquette Pocket Book says, adding: “The cardinal rule is always to switch your phone off before you go into a meeting.” Three-quarters of the respondents to a 2013 survey of business people by the University of Southern California said that it was inappropriate to read phones during meetings. But Monideepa Tarafdar, a professor of management at Lancaster University, says bosses are adapting to modern demands for always-on communication. “There are times in meetings when not everyone is talking, and if something work-related can be quickly finished off with a little email, people can do that,” she says. “I think people are sensible about when interruptions might affect productivity.” Champion says she wouldn’t use her phone for anything other than calls were she not an MP, but insists social media offers a vital, two-way channel. “I also get alerted to campaigns and casework,” she adds. “And MPs are expensive. Do you want us just listening for hours, or to be able to work and talk to people and reflect debate? That’s a much better use of my time.” House of Commons authorities have permitted the use of phones in the chamber since 2007, but emails on Blackberries were the only distraction then. In May, the Speaker John Bercow burned Jeremy Hunt for “fiddling ostentatiously” with his phone during a debate, calling him “rank discourteous” for “impairing parliamentary decorum”. David Cameron banned phones from cabinet meetings in 2010, and last year had to remind Michael Gove of this when the minister’s ringtone gave him away. Theresa May has expanded the ban to include Apple Watches, reportedly over concerns that they might be hacked by spies. In 2014, Conservative MP Nigel Mills apologised after being caught playing Candy Crush Saga during a meeting of the work and pensions committee. But Labour MPs – or anyone else – feeling unfairly rebuked can seek solidarity with the Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg, no less, who was caught playing Pokémon Go during a parliamentary debate last month. It wasn’t the first incidence of Pokémon distraction in the house: Trine Skei Grande, the Liberal party leader who had previously been rumbled, responded on Twitter (naturally). “We ladies can do two things at the same time you know,” she wrote, including a winky-face emoji for good measure. Smartphone etiquette – the professionals’ views Pauline Brimblecombe, 62, GP and prison doctor in Cambridgeshire: Some practices have “no mobile phone” signs, but nobody pays any attention of course. I’ve had patients answer non-urgent calls in consultations, which is rather irritating, and I’ve also known patients to complain about doctors using phones. It’s part of life now. But not in prison, where phones are banned. I leave mine in the car. In a way, it’s quite nice – an unlikely oasis where I can go and have an uninterrupted day. Sarah Champion, 47, Labour MP for Rotherham: If I’m awake, my phone is on, but it never comes into the bedroom, and I see it as a piece of kit for me to do my job. It’s fundamental for me to able to communicate directly with people. I’m on Twitter, which I do myself, and I’ve got Facebook, though that tends to be more press release-type stuff. I haven’t got Snapchat – I’m old, remember. And I don’t have my parliamentary inbox on my phone, because that would take up every minute of my day. On a busy day I can get 200 emails per hour. Michael Donkor, 30, English teacher in south London: New students get a talk about the importance of not touching phones in lessons. They go a bit crazy at first because they come to a new school expecting all these new freedoms, but they soon get used to it. We’re not supposed to use them either, but occasionally I’ve felt a buzz in my pocket and resisted the urge to check for that email from the mortgage broker. Phones tend to stay put away, even in the staff room. After two hours in the company of young people, you really just want an actual conversation with an adult.

technology/2016/nov/25/what-were-labour-mps-doing-on-their-mobile-phones-in-parliament

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2016-11-25T17:43:35Z

What were all those MPs doing on their phones?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/25/what-were-labour-mps-doing-on-their-mobile-phones-in-parliament

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/25/facebook-fake-news-fight-mark-zuckerberg

In the wake of the US presidential election, almost everyone agrees that misinformation is a problem. Even Mark Zuckerberg has finally said that Facebook will take it seriously. “Our goal is to connect people with the stories they find most meaningful, and we know people want accurate information,” he wrote this week. Zuckerberg’s message was slightly undercut for some users by the fact that it was accompanied by adverts for fake news. Ev Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, Blogger and Medium, posted his own example a few days later: links, claiming to be from ESPN and CNN, to stories that implying that Tiger Woods had died and Donald Trump had been “disqualified”, right next to the Facebook chief executive’s post. Those examples are the obvious extreme of Facebook’s problem: straightforward hoaxes, mendaciously claiming to be sites that they aren’t. Dealing with them should be possible, and may even be something the social network can tackle algorithmically, as it prefers to do. But they exist at the far end of a sliding scale, and there’s little agreement on where to draw the line. Open questions like this explain why many are wary of pushing Facebook to “take action” against fake news. “Do we really want Facebook exercising this sort of top-down power to determine what is true or false?” asks Politico’s Jack Shafer. “Wouldn’t we be revolted if one company owned all the newsstands and decided what was proper and improper reading fare?” The thing is, Facebook isn’t like the newsstands. And it’s the differences between the two that are causing many of the problems we see today. If you walk into a newsagent, and pick up a copy of the Sunday Sport (American readers, think the National Enquirer but with a lower proportion of true stories), you have a number of contextual clues that suggest a story with the headline “Ed Miliband’s Dad Killed My Kitten” might not be entirely true. The prominent soft porn and chatline adverts; the placement alongside other stories like “Bus found buried at south pole” and “World War 2 Bomber Found on Moon”; and the fact that the paper is in its 30th year of publishing, letting readers build up a consistent view about the title based on previous experience. If a friend shares that same article on Facebook, something very different happens. The story is ripped from its context, and presented as a standard Facebook post. At the top, most prominently, is the name and photo of the person you know in real life who is sharing the piece. That gives the article the tacit support and backing of someone you really know, which makes it far more likely to slip past your bullshit detector. Next, Facebook pulls the top image, headline, and normally an introductory paragraph, and formats it in its own style: the calming blue text, the standard system font, and the picture cropped down to a standard aspect ratio. Sometimes, that content will be enough for a canny reader to realise something is up: poor spelling, bad photoshopping, or plain nonsensical stories, can’t be massaged away by Facebook’s design sense. Nonetheless, the fact that every link on Facebook is presented in the same way serves the average out the credibility of all the posts on the site. The Sunday Sport’s credibility gets a boost, while the Guardian’s gets a drop: after all, everyone knows you can’t trust everything you read on Facebook. Then, at the very bottom of the shared story, in small grey text, is the actual source. It’s not prominent, and because it’s simply the main section of a URL, it’s very easy to miss hoaxes. Are you sure you could spot the difference between ABC.GO.COM, the American broadcaster’s website, and ABC.CO.COM, a domain that was briefly used to spread a hoax story about Obama overturning the results of the election? Then below all of that, are three further buttons: like, share and comment. All three help spread the story, whether you support it or not, because Facebook’s algorithm views engagement with a post as a reason for showing it to more people. And while all three get a button to themselves, nowhere does Facebook provide a similar call to action for the most important response of all: clicking through, and reading the whole story in its original context. For that, you’ll have to scroll back up – but by then, you’ve already moved on to the next article on your newsfeed. And even if you reacted with scepticism when you first read the headline, as time goes by, your initial reaction gets lost, and eventually it becomes one of those things you “just know”. It’s not an accident that Facebook is designed this way. The company extensively tests its site, to ensure its layout is fully optimised for pursuing its goals. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t A/B test its site for public goods like “functioning media ecosystem” or “supporting extremist politicians”. Instead, the company’s goals are to maximise time spent on site, to try and make sure readers come back every day and continue to share posts, engage with content, and, ultimately, click on the adverts that have made the social network the fifth largest company in the world by market cap. So, here’s what Facebook could do to help deal not with fake news, but with the negative effects it has on our society: de-emphasise who shared a story into your timeline, instead branding it with the logo and name of the publication itself, and encourage readers to, well, read, before or instead of liking, sharing and commenting. Doing so might not be great for Facebook’s bottom line, of course. The site would be less “sticky”, users would be more likely to click away and not come back, and the amount of sharing would drop. But maybe it’s time for Zuckerberg to take one for the team. Facebook announces new push against fake news after Obama comments

technology/2016/nov/25/facebook-fake-news-fight-mark-zuckerberg

pillar/news

News

technology

Technology

article

2016-11-25T13:56:04Z

Facebook doesn't need to ban fake news to fight it

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/25/facebook-fake-news-fight-mark-zuckerberg

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/25/huawei-mate-9-review-big-screen-long-battery-life-and-dual-cameras

Huawei’s Mate 9 is a phablet that tries to squeeze a monster screen into a not-quite-so monster body and mostly succeeds. Given the demise of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owing to exploding batteries the top-end of the phablet market is open for the first time in years. Huawei’s Mate series - its big screened but until recently, niche phablet - has been around for a while. The Mate 9 is the latest and greatest, and while it doesn’t look much different from the outside than its predecessor the Mate 8, it’s now more widely available than ever and targeting that vacant spot at the top of the phablet tree. Big slab of metal The Mate 9 doesn’t share much in the way of design likeness to Huawei’s flagship P9. The front is pretty plain: a screen with tiny bezels either side with a top bar containing the earpiece speaker and selfie camera and the bottom bar just containing the Huawei logo. It’s got one of the highest screen-to-body ratios of any smartphone available, which is good, because the screen really is ginormous at 5.9in. There have been a few devices with larger screens, but not many. For instance, Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus and Google’s Pixel XL have 5.5in screens, while Samsung’s Note series topped out at 5.7in on the diagonal. The curved aluminium back and chamfered edges make it a lot easier to hold on to the Mate 9 than you might expect. I say easier, because it certainly isn’t as easy to use as a normal, non-monster smartphone such as the Galaxy S7 or Huawei P9. At 7.9mm thick, the Mate 9 is relatively thin, and even at 78.9mm wide it’s relatively narrow, but one thing it certainly isn’t is light. It weighs 190g, is solidly built and with heft. There’s no getting over this is a bigger-than-big smartphone. For comparison, the 5.5in iPhone 7 Plus is 7.3mm thick, 77.9mm wide and weighs 188g, while Google’s Pixel XL is 8.5mm thick, 75.7mm wide and 168g. The 5.9in screen is surprisingly good for a 1080p screen. Most smartphones this size have higher resolution screens so that they have higher pixel densities - the more pixels the sharper the screen. You can certainly see the difference; the Mate 9’s screen is just not as pin-sharp as the Pixel XL’s screen for instance. But colour reproduction is good, so are the viewing angles and brightness. Specifications Screen: 5.9in 1080p LCD (373ppi) Processor: octa-core Huawei Kirin 960 RAM: 4GB of RAM Storage: 64GB + microSD card Operating system: Android 7.0 with EMUI 5 Camera: 12MP RGB with OIS + 20MP monochrome rear cameras, 8MP front-facing camera Connectivity: LTE, dual-sim, Wi-Fi, NFC, USB-C, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS Dimensions: 156.9 x 78.9 x 7.9 mm Weight: 190g Impressive battery life The Mate 9 has Huawei’s new top of the line processor the Kirin 960 and 4GB of RAM, which places right up there with the best of the rest of Android devices in raw power. It’s snappy, particularly in launching apps, which is down in part to Huawei’s new system of intelligent resource management that predicts apps you’re likely to want to use at any given moment. My usage is obviously predictable because after about two days it was noticeably snappier. Particularly when launching relatively complex apps such as Evernote and games. It actually felt faster than any other Android smartphone I have used to date, which is an achievement. Huawei promises that its smart systems will keep it that way over the lifespan of the smartphone, but it’s not something we’ll be able to tell for a year or so. The Mate 9’s battery is equally impressive. Without any power saving modes active I routinely went over 36 hours between charges, dropping only 3% overnight with do not disturb enabled. I used it as my primary device with three hours of app usage and browsing, hundreds of emails and push notifications, a few photos, 30 minutes of mapping, five hours of music over Bluetooth headphones and quite a lot of Dan the Man and Out There Ω during my one hour and 20-minute train commute to and from work. There are some aggressive power saving modes that promise to stretch the battery life out further. For most the Huawei Mate 9 will last a good two days between charges. A full charge took just over two hours via the included fast charging USB-C power adapter. Call quality was excellent, and so was its signal retention: the Mate 9 got a strong, usable 4G signal in places most other smartphone struggle to get any signal, including underground. Emotion UI 5 Huawei customises Android on its smartphones with a different look and changes to the underlying control and app permissions systems, which it calls Emotion UI (EMUI). In the past EMUI has been a bit clunky, chintzy and not to my tastes looking a bit like an Android clone of Apple’s iOS. The new EMUI 5, which is based on Android 7 Nougat, is a giant leap in the right direction. It’s much more streamlined. Out the box it doesn’t have an app drawer - every icon must be on the home screen - but it’s a simple option to enable. The colour scheme across the whole interface has been cooled to a much more modern-looking white and blue. The strange notification panes and other changes that made EMUI worse than most other Android versions have been removed. A series of quick settings are now accessible from the notification shade and even the overview of recently used apps now resembles standard Android. EMUI 5 still has the tight control over app power consumption, and the reminders that guide users through the identification and killing of apps that are using more than their fair share of power when the screen is off. Some may not like them, but they are useful when used properly at prolonging battery life without having to change you habits. Some of Huawei’s apps are actually better than standard Android’s counterparts too. The voice recorder app, which is able to use the range of microphones positioned about the phone to identify where a person is speaking from an isolate their audio, is particularly good for recording roundtable meetings. The app twin feature is also worth using - it allows you to have two instances of apps that only allow one login, such as WhatsApp, Facebook and others. It essentially duplicates the app so you can hot swap between them. Fingerprint scanner Huawei’s fingerprint scanners are the best in the business for accuracy and speed. The one of the back of the Mate 9 is no exception. Despite being quite small compared to rivals, it worked with a near 100% accuracy. The only time it didn’t recognise my finger instantly was when I was cooking and it was a bit greasy. Camera The Mate 9 has the second generation of Huawei’s dual camera, which like the P9 is branded as co-engineered with camera maker Leica. There is one 12-megapixel colour camera with optical image stabilisation and one 20-megapixel monochrome sensor, which is used to collect more light information for the colour camera to improve the amount of detail captured in the shots. That’s the theory, in practice the whole experience is pretty transparent. If you didn’t know there were two cameras on the back you wouldn’t notice. Low-light performance is good, but not quite up to the same quality as Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge or the Pixel XL. It’s relatively easy to get good shots in average lighting conditions, and you can produce some detail-rich, beautiful shots in good lighting. There are various camera modes to choose from, including an easy to use “Pro” or manual mode and some software-based refocusing tricks. But it is the monochrome mode, which just uses the monochrome camera on the back that’s the most fun, capturing sharp, black and white photos better than any colour camera just turned black and white ever could. The 8-megapixel selfie camera is good - most will like its balance of detail and soft focus for more flattering pictures. It struggled a bit in low-light conditions but no more than most others. Observations There’s a super simple mode should you want to use it without the complexity of apps all over a home screen There are lots and lots of customisation options should you want to change the order of the navigation buttons, enable gesture support, themes, the size of items on the screen, the colour temperature etc A blue light filter is there for saving your eyes at night and helping you sleep Various utilities such as a floating dock, a shifting keyboard and a mini-screen view are available to help make using the Mate 9 one handed a little easier Price The Mate 9 costs €699 (£595) and is expected to be available by the end of November in a range of five colours in some markets. For comparison, Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus and Google’s Pixel XL both cost £719 with 32GB of storage, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge costs around £520, the Huawei P9 Plus costs £500 and the OnePlus 3T costs £399. Verdict The Huawei Mate 9 is a very large smartphone that does a great job of not feeling so in use. The curved back, minimal body to screen ratio and solid build mean it’s easier to hold onto than you might expect. But with that 5.9in screen, it’s still a massive phone whichever way you look at it, both in use and in your pocket or bag. After the demise of Samsung’s top-end Note 7 phablet, the Mate 9 is ready to fill the void, as long as a stylus isn’t crucial. So if you want a phone with the big screen, snappy performance and great battery life, a good camera, excellent fingerprint scanner, expandable memory and dual-sim support you can’t go far wrong with the Mate 9. Pros: expandable storage, dual-sim, great battery life, excellent fingerprint scanner, good camera, massive screen Cons: big, heavy, screen only 1080p Other reviews Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review: this is the smartphone to beat Huawei P9 Plus review: high-class phablet held back by sub-par software Google Pixel XL review: very good phablet but with price tag to match iPhone 7 Plus review: 2014 called – it wants its phablet back

technology/2016/nov/25/huawei-mate-9-review-big-screen-long-battery-life-and-dual-cameras

pillar/news

News

technology

Technology

article

2016-11-25T05:00:53Z

Huawei Mate 9 review: big screen, long battery life and dual cameras

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/25/huawei-mate-9-review-big-screen-long-battery-life-and-dual-cameras

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'mate', 'one', 'handed', 'little', 'easier', 'price', 'mate', 'costs', 'expected', 'available', 'end', 'november', 'range', 'five', 'colours', 'markets', 'comparison', 'apple', 'iphone', 'plus', 'google', 'pixel', 'xl', 'cost', '32gb', 'storage', 'samsung', 'galaxy', 's7', 'edge', 'costs', 'around', 'huawei', 'p9', 'plus', 'costs', 'oneplus', '3t', 'costs', 'verdict', 'huawei', 'mate', 'large', 'smartphone', 'great', 'job', 'feeling', 'use', 'curved', 'back', 'minimal', 'body', 'screen', 'ratio', 'solid', 'build', 'mean', 'easier', 'hold', 'onto', 'might', 'expect', '59in', 'screen', 'still', 'massive', 'phone', 'whichever', 'way', 'look', 'use', 'pocket', 'bag', 'demise', 'samsung', 'top-end', 'note', 'phablet', 'mate', 'ready', 'fill', 'void', 'long', 'stylus', 'crucial', 'want', 'phone', 'big', 'screen', 'snappy', 'performance', 'great', 'battery', 'life', 'good', 'camera', 'excellent', 'fingerprint', 'scanner', 'expandable', 'memory', 'dual-sim', 'support', 'go', 'far', 'wrong', 'mate', 'pros', 'expandable', 'storage', 'dual-sim', 'great', 'battery', 'life', 'excellent', 'fingerprint', 'scanner', 'good', 'camera', 'massive', 'screen', 'cons', 'big', 'heavy', 'screen', '1080p', 'reviews', 'samsung', 'galaxy', 's7', 'edge', 'review', 'smartphone', 'beat', 'huawei', 'p9', 'plus', 'review', 'high-class', 'phablet', 'held', 'back', 'sub-par', 'software', 'google', 'pixel', 'xl', 'review', 'good', 'phablet', 'price', 'tag', 'match', 'iphone', 'plus', 'review', 'called', 'wants', 'phablet', 'back']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/askjack/2016/nov/24/how-can-i-protect-myself-from-government-snoopers

Now that the snooper’s charter has been passed, how can I protect myself? Should I use a VPN? Charles The UK has just passed the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, at the third attempt, and it will become law by the end of the year. The bill was instigated by the then home secretary, Theresa May, in 2012. It is better known as the snooper’s charter. Jim Killock, the director of Open Rights Group, described it as the “most extreme surveillance law ever passed in a democracy”. It more or less removes your right to online privacy. The law forces internet service providers to keep a record of all the websites – not the actual pages – you visit for up to a year. It also obliges companies to decrypt data on demand and gives government security services the power to hack your computers, tablets, mobile phones and other devices. To some extent, the new law merely legalises the current “custom and practice” as revealed by Edward Snowden. The most obvious difference is that it makes your web history readily available to almost 50 assorted police forces and government departments. These include the British Transport Police, the Department of Health, the Food Standards Agency, the Gambling Commission, and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust. Web tracking and proxies When you sign up with an ISP, the traffic from your PCs and other devices goes to your ISP’s servers, which feed most of it – except various blocked websites – on to the internet. You can track this process yourself using TraceRoute. Your ISP therefore knows where you are going online. You can avoid this by using one or more anonymous “proxy servers” between your PC and your eventual destination. Your ISP will then know you visited the proxy server, but, if the anonymising is done properly, it won’t know where you went from there. Most people aren’t interested in proxy servers, but often end up using them. For example, British people travelling or living aboard use UK-based proxy servers to watch TV programmes on BBC iPlayer, while people outside the US use American proxies to access Netflix and other services. Enter the VPN There are two big problems with using free proxies. First, you may not know who’s running them. They could be helpful hackers or criminals, or even CIA honeypots. Second, they may be unreliable and slow. It’s better to use a virtual private network or VPN. Multinational corporations have long used VPNs as a way of extending their private networks across the public internet. If they encrypt all the traffic between computers in their British, American and other offices, they can send their traffic securely over the internet without paying for expensive leased lines. VPN service providers offer the same facilities to ordinary users for a small monthly fee. The traffic from your PC is automatically encrypted and sent to the VPN supplier’s server, so your ISP can’t see the final destination. The ISP’s records should only contain the VPN company’s server addresses. Not many people use VPNs. However, I recommend them to people who travel a lot or work from public Wi-Fi hotspots, because they protect your traffic from snoopers who steal passwords – or worse. I also recommend them to people who are potential targets for other reasons. They might be diplomats, film stars, bankers or anyone with commercially sensitive data Choosing a VPN Dozens of companies sell VPN services, and you can find plenty of reviews to help you choose. The things to look for include the number of servers and where they are located, their privacy policies, the applications they support (Tor, BitTorrent etc), speed and price. Some have applications for different devices. For example, NordVPN has them for Windows, MacOS, iPhone, iPad and Android. If your motivation includes the snooper’s charter, choose a VPN that is not UK-based, and that does not keep any logs. If they don’t keep any logs, they can’t hand them over to government raiders. TorrentFreak keeps an updated list of “which VPN services take your anonymity seriously”: The Best Anonymous VPN Services of 2016. For increased privacy, some VPN providers accept payments by dozens of different methods including Bitcoin and anonymous gift cards. However, note that a VPN can’t guarantee access to any particular website. For example, Netflix has taken to blocking most VPN services (where hundreds of users are coming from one IP address), though some are making technical efforts to maintain access. You may also have problems with Google’s geolocation, PayPal’s fraud detection software, and so on. Also, remember that a VPN doesn’t protect you from phishing emails, keyloggers, and websites that try to install “drive by” malware. Web tracking A VPN stops your ISP from logging your web visits, but they may still be logged. For starters, your own web browser is keeping a history. You’re also being tracked by dozens of advertising services, including Google’s. You can block trackers with a browser extension such as Ghostery or the EFF’s Privacy Badger, but note that Privacy Badger only blocks trackers from third-party sites. GRC has a “forensics” page, which checks whether you are being tracked by cookies. For increased privacy, you could access the internet from a “virtual computer” loaded in your operating system, and then throw it away after use. VirtualBox is a good free example. VMware Workstation Player is also free for non-commercial use. This may be the only way to avoid being tracked by “browser fingerprinting”. This is when the tracking company (or government agency) gives your PC a unique identifier based on variables such as screen resolution, browser version, extensions, fonts, timezone and so on. If you use a virtual PC, every session starts with a more-or-less generic fingerprint. It may not be perfect, but it’s less identifiable than the alternative. Mail, messaging and smartphones The snooper’s charter obviously covers too many services and devices for a single answer. However, you could consider switching to a secure email service such as ProtonMail, and a secure messaging service such as Signal. ChatSecure, WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage also encrypt messages. You can’t make smartphone use private because you’re always being tracked by the cellular network. However, you can turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you’re not using them – they can also be used to track you – and use a VPN for web access. Remember also that many smartphone apps request permissions that enable them to track you. Last words As an ordinary citizen with a life, you can’t hide from the security services, any more than you can defend your house against a tank regiment. If they want to hack your devices, they will. If you’re an investigative journalist, human rights campaigner, one of Snowden’s collaborators etc, you need a higher level of security. But if they are not out to get you, why act as though they should be? It’s probably better to be as inconspicuous as possible, while limiting the amount of data that might turn up in some bored agency’s random fishing expeditions. I think that VPNs are – or soon will be – normal enough not to attract undue attention. There are already plenty of reasons for using a VPN, to protect yourself in a world of hostile Wi-Fi hotspots (hence HotSpot Shield, Hide My Ass etc) and other online threats. That’s why many large businesses use VPNs. The fact that they may also shield you from some state snooping is just a bonus. Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to [email protected]

technology/askjack/2016/nov/24/how-can-i-protect-myself-from-government-snoopers

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2016-11-24T10:14:57Z

How can I protect myself from government snoopers?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2016/nov/24/how-can-i-protect-myself-from-government-snoopers

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'shield', 'state', 'snooping', 'bonus', 'got', 'another', 'question', 'jack', 'email', 'askjacktheguardiancom']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/24/college-of-national-security-teenage-codebreakers-school-open-bletchley-park

Its first operatives famously cracked coded messages encrypted by the Nazis, hastening the end of the second world war. Now Bletchley Park is planning a new school for the next generation of codebreakers in order to plug a huge skills gap in what is fast emerging as the biggest security threat to 21st-century Britain. The College of National Security, a first for the UK, is scheduled to open in 2018 in a specially adapted premises on the Bletchley Park site. The sixth-form boarding school will be free to the 500-odd applicants, with a mix of venture capital, corporate sponsorship and very possibly state funding underwriting the multimillion-pound costs. The school will teach cyber skills to some of the UK’s most gifted 16- to 19-year-olds. It will select on talent alone, looking in particular for exceptional problem solvers and logic fiends, regardless of wealth or family background, according to Alastair MacWillson, a driving force behind the initiative. “The cyber threat is the real threat facing the UK, and the problem it’s causing the UK government and companies is growing exponentially,” said MacWillson, chair of Qufaro, a not-for-profit organisation created by a consortium of cybersecurity experts for the purposes of education. “There is a shortfall in terms of the professional resources to combat this right now and it will get so much worse unless there is a programme to get to grips with it,” MacWillson said, adding that a shortage of about 700,000 cybersecurity experts in Europe has meant that companies are struggling to get the right people. The college will offer a curriculum that balances cybersecurity tuition – approximately 40% – with related subjects including maths, physics, and computer science over a three-year study period. Beyond the boarding school option, there will be a selection of virtual short courses. Staffing and a detailed curriculum are still being thrashed out. Qufaro is discussing with the Department for Education whether state funding will apply. If it does not, the backup plan is to rely wholly on corporate sponsorship and money earned from other Qufaro initiatives. The college will be boarding partly to ensure attendance by those who do not live in the south-east, but also, according to MacWillson, so individuals attending the college see themselves as a collective “inspired by their surroundings, and linked by a common goal”. One in 10 places will be offered to day students. “It will be open to anybody providing that they can demonstrate the key talent – people who have natural ability to solve logic problems,” MacWillson said. Cybercrime is growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the 2016 Internet Security Threat Report, spear-phishing campaigns targeting corporate and private data via seemingly innocuous emails have increased by 55% over the past year. The report also found that 75% of all legitimate websites have serious security flaws. Richard Brunton, a cybersecurity expert at Burwell IT, thinks the college is an excellent initiative as the next generation is going to be key to cybersecurity. “The 16-year-olds are ideal, in that they have grown up in this technologically reliant world and perhaps are not held back by naivety of older generations who think a single firewall or a decent password is enough to secure their data.” Capturing the interest of budding cybersecurity specialists is the main challenge. The school was launched because of the belief that there is a sizeable gap in cyber education from GCSE – where cyber forms part of the national computing curriculum – to degree level, where plenty of universities offer cybersecurity options. However, Tim Stevens, a professor of war studies at King’s College London, questions whether the UK needs such an academy. “There’s already the promise of a new government-sponsored ‘virtual’ initiative mentioned in the new UK National Cyber Security Strategy, and this in addition to many degree courses, research groups and, of course, the sovereign capabilities of UK armed forces, intelligence, police and others,” he said. For those involved with Bletchley Park, it is touching that part of the site is being reused for its original purpose. The museum will remain fully operational, but the two largest buildings on the site are being refurbished at a cost of more than £5m to house the school. Margaret Sale, Qufaro’s non-executive director and founding member of the Bletchley Park Trust and the National Museum of Computing, says: “Through initiatives such as the national college, we can effectively combine the principles of heritage, education and innovation for which everything on this site stands. Previous generations are deeply proud of their contributions at Bletchley Park. I am keen to see what the next cadre will achieve.”

technology/2016/nov/24/college-of-national-security-teenage-codebreakers-school-open-bletchley-park

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2016-11-24T00:01:18Z

School for teenage codebreakers to open in Bletchley Park

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/24/college-of-national-security-teenage-codebreakers-school-open-bletchley-park

['first', 'operatives', 'famously', 'cracked', 'coded', 'messages', 'encrypted', 'nazis', 'hastening', 'end', 'second', 'world', 'war', 'bletchley', 'park', 'planning', 'new', 'school', 'next', 'generation', 'codebreakers', 'order', 'plug', 'huge', 'skills', 'gap', 'fast', 'emerging', 'biggest', 'security', 'threat', '21st-century', 'britain', 'college', 'national', 'security', 'first', 'uk', 'scheduled', 'open', 'specially', 'adapted', 'premises', 'bletchley', 'park', 'site', 'sixth-form', 'boarding', 'school', 'free', '500-odd', 'applicants', 'mix', 'venture', 'capital', 'corporate', 'sponsorship', 'possibly', 'state', 'funding', 'underwriting', 'multimillion-pound', 'costs', 'school', 'teach', 'cyber', 'skills', 'uk', 'gifted', '16-', '19-year-olds', 'select', 'talent', 'alone', 'looking', 'particular', 'exceptional', 'problem', 'solvers', 'logic', 'fiends', 'regardless', 'wealth', 'family', 'background', 'according', 'alastair', 'macwillson', 'driving', 'force', 'behind', 'initiative', 'cyber', 'threat', 'real', 'threat', 'facing', 'uk', 'problem', 'causing', 'uk', 'government', 'companies', 'growing', 'exponentially', 'said', 'macwillson', 'chair', 'qufaro', 'not-for-profit', 'organisation', 'created', 'consortium', 'cybersecurity', 'experts', 'purposes', 'education', 'shortfall', 'terms', 'professional', 'resources', 'combat', 'right', 'get', 'much', 'worse', 'unless', 'programme', 'get', 'grips', 'macwillson', 'said', 'adding', 'shortage', 'cybersecurity', 'experts', 'europe', 'meant', 'companies', 'struggling', 'get', 'right', 'people', 'college', 'offer', 'curriculum', 'balances', 'cybersecurity', 'tuition', 'approximately', 'related', 'subjects', 'including', 'maths', 'physics', 'computer', 'science', 'three-year', 'study', 'period', 'beyond', 'boarding', 'school', 'option', 'selection', 'virtual', 'short', 'courses', 'staffing', 'detailed', 'curriculum', 'still', 'thrashed', 'qufaro', 'discussing', 'department', 'education', 'whether', 'state', 'funding', 'apply', 'backup', 'plan', 'rely', 'wholly', 'corporate', 'sponsorship', 'money', 'earned', 'qufaro', 'initiatives', 'college', 'boarding', 'partly', 'ensure', 'attendance', 'live', 'south-east', 'also', 'according', 'macwillson', 'individuals', 'attending', 'college', 'see', 'collective', 'inspired', 'surroundings', 'linked', 'common', 'goal', 'one', 'places', 'offered', 'day', 'students', 'open', 'anybody', 'providing', 'demonstrate', 'key', 'talent', 'people', 'natural', 'ability', 'solve', 'logic', 'problems', 'macwillson', 'said', 'cybercrime', 'growing', 'unprecedented', 'rate', 'according', 'internet', 'security', 'threat', 'report', 'spear-phishing', 'campaigns', 'targeting', 'corporate', 'private', 'data', 'via', 'seemingly', 'innocuous', 'emails', 'increased', 'past', 'year', 'report', 'also', 'found', 'legitimate', 'websites', 'serious', 'security', 'flaws', 'richard', 'brunton', 'cybersecurity', 'expert', 'burwell', 'thinks', 'college', 'excellent', 'initiative', 'next', 'generation', 'going', 'key', 'cybersecurity', '16-year-olds', 'ideal', 'grown', 'technologically', 'reliant', 'world', 'perhaps', 'held', 'back', 'naivety', 'older', 'generations', 'think', 'single', 'firewall', 'decent', 'password', 'enough', 'secure', 'data', 'capturing', 'interest', 'budding', 'cybersecurity', 'specialists', 'main', 'challenge', 'school', 'launched', 'belief', 'sizeable', 'gap', 'cyber', 'education', 'gcse', 'cyber', 'forms', 'part', 'national', 'computing', 'curriculum', 'degree', 'level', 'plenty', 'universities', 'offer', 'cybersecurity', 'options', 'however', 'tim', 'stevens', 'professor', 'war', 'studies', 'king', 'college', 'london', 'questions', 'whether', 'uk', 'needs', 'academy', 'already', 'promise', 'new', 'government-sponsored', 'virtual', 'initiative', 'mentioned', 'new', 'uk', 'national', 'cyber', 'security', 'strategy', 'addition', 'many', 'degree', 'courses', 'research', 'groups', 'course', 'sovereign', 'capabilities', 'uk', 'armed', 'forces', 'intelligence', 'police', 'others', 'said', 'involved', 'bletchley', 'park', 'touching', 'part', 'site', 'reused', 'original', 'purpose', 'museum', 'remain', 'fully', 'operational', 'two', 'largest', 'buildings', 'site', 'refurbished', 'cost', '5m', 'house', 'school', 'margaret', 'sale', 'qufaro', 'non-executive', 'director', 'founding', 'member', 'bletchley', 'park', 'trust', 'national', 'museum', 'computing', 'says', 'initiatives', 'national', 'college', 'effectively', 'combine', 'principles', 'heritage', 'education', 'innovation', 'everything', 'site', 'stands', 'previous', 'generations', 'deeply', 'proud', 'contributions', 'bletchley', 'park', 'keen', 'see', 'next', 'cadre', 'achieve']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/donald-trump-apple-tim-cook-phone-call-manufacturing-us

Donald Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he is going to “get” the company to start manufacturing its products in the United States, the president-elect told the New York Times on Tuesday. Trump revealed that he had received a post-election phone call from Cook during which he said, “Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States.” According to Trump’s account, Cook responded, “I understand that,” and Trump went on to promise incentives through tax breaks and reduced regulations. “I think we’ll create the incentives for you, and I think you’re going to do it,” Trump said he said. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of Trump’s characterization of the call, nor did it respond to a request for comment on the content of Trump’s remarks. Though Apple markets its high-end products as being “designed by Apple in California”, the electronics are assembled at factories in China from components produced primarily in China, Japan and Taiwan, according to the MIT Technology Review. The company says that its suppliers employ more than 1.6 million people. Forcing American companies to bring jobs back to the US was one of the key themes of Trump’s presidential campaign, despite his own business’s decision to manufacture apparel in China or Bangladesh. “We’re going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries,” the then-candidate told supporters in Virginia on 18 January. Trump later called for a boycott of the company’s products unless it acceded to the FBI’s demand that it unlock one of the San Bernardino shooters’ iPhones, a request Apple had strenuously resisted. But most experts agree that building iPhones from scratch in the US is impractical and economically unfeasible, largely because the company relies on a complex and very large supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure already established around Shenzhen, China. “Geography matters,” said Seungjin Whang, a Stanford Business School professor who studies supply chain management. “In Shenzhen, if you need a part (how scarce it might be), you can find at least 10 suppliers within a day.” “Right now the supply chain to make consumer electronics in volume does not exist in the US,” said Tim Wilson, a partner in venture capital firm Artiman. “You might tax [importing] so it costs more, but to reposition and get people to rebuild that supply chain in the US is not something that I would predict in the next few years.” If Apple were to invest in establishing a new supply base in the US, Whang predicts that the delay would give its competitors – largely Korean and Chinese companies – time “to catch up and eat its lunch”. Jason Dedrick, a professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, analyzed Apple’s supply chain for the MIT Technology Review and found that assembling iPhones in the US would add between $30 to $40 to the product’s cost, largely due to labor costs and the additional cost of shipping components to the US. Dedrick’s estimate did not include the capital cost outlay of building factories, which could be substantial. “It’s quite feasible for Apple to do limited volume assembly of some products in the US,” Dedrick said, proposing iMacs as a possibility. “I don’t think it’s possible to move production of hundreds of millions of iPhones to the US, at least not at a competitive cost.” One possibility, Greg Linden of the Institute for Business Innovation at UC Berkeley said, would be for Apple to have “the parts kitted in China and shipped to the existing factory of one its assemblers here and voilà – you’ve got a US-assembled iPhone with one extra process step plus some extra shipping and labor.” That strategy could cost as little as $10 to $20 per iPhone, he said, but is limited to the capacity of those already existing factories. As to whether Apple will attempt something like that, Linden said, “I guess it depends on how badly Tim Cook wants to give Trump a win.” This article was changed on Friday November 25 to correct the final quote from Greg Linden

technology/2016/nov/23/donald-trump-apple-tim-cook-phone-call-manufacturing-us

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2016-11-23T20:18:57Z

Could Donald Trump really get Apple to 'build a big plant' in the US?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/donald-trump-apple-tim-cook-phone-call-manufacturing-us

['donald', 'trump', 'told', 'apple', 'ceo', 'tim', 'cook', 'going', 'get', 'company', 'start', 'manufacturing', 'products', 'united', 'states', 'president-elect', 'told', 'new', 'york', 'times', 'tuesday', 'trump', 'revealed', 'received', 'post-election', 'phone', 'call', 'cook', 'said', 'tim', 'know', 'one', 'things', 'real', 'achievement', 'get', 'apple', 'build', 'big', 'plant', 'united', 'states', 'many', 'big', 'plants', 'united', 'states', 'according', 'trump', 'account', 'cook', 'responded', 'understand', 'trump', 'went', 'promise', 'incentives', 'tax', 'breaks', 'reduced', 'regulations', 'think', 'create', 'incentives', 'think', 'going', 'trump', 'said', 'said', 'apple', 'immediately', 'respond', 'request', 'confirmation', 'trump', 'characterization', 'call', 'respond', 'request', 'comment', 'content', 'trump', 'remarks', 'though', 'apple', 'markets', 'high-end', 'products', 'designed', 'apple', 'california', 'electronics', 'assembled', 'factories', 'china', 'components', 'produced', 'primarily', 'china', 'japan', 'taiwan', 'according', 'mit', 'technology', 'review', 'company', 'says', 'suppliers', 'employ', 'million', 'people', 'forcing', 'american', 'companies', 'bring', 'jobs', 'back', 'us', 'one', 'key', 'themes', 'trump', 'presidential', 'campaign', 'despite', 'business', 'decision', 'manufacture', 'apparel', 'china', 'bangladesh', 'going', 'get', 'apple', 'build', 'damn', 'computers', 'things', 'country', 'instead', 'countries', 'then-candidate', 'told', 'supporters', 'virginia', 'january', 'trump', 'later', 'called', 'boycott', 'company', 'products', 'unless', 'acceded', 'fbi', 'demand', 'unlock', 'one', 'san', 'bernardino', 'shooters', 'iphones', 'request', 'apple', 'strenuously', 'resisted', 'experts', 'agree', 'building', 'iphones', 'scratch', 'us', 'impractical', 'economically', 'unfeasible', 'largely', 'company', 'relies', 'complex', 'large', 'supply', 'chain', 'manufacturing', 'infrastructure', 'already', 'established', 'around', 'shenzhen', 'china', 'geography', 'matters', 'said', 'seungjin', 'whang', 'stanford', 'business', 'school', 'professor', 'studies', 'supply', 'chain', 'management', 'shenzhen', 'need', 'part', 'scarce', 'might', 'find', 'least', 'suppliers', 'within', 'day', 'right', 'supply', 'chain', 'make', 'consumer', 'electronics', 'volume', 'exist', 'us', 'said', 'tim', 'wilson', 'partner', 'venture', 'capital', 'firm', 'artiman', 'might', 'tax', 'importing', 'costs', 'reposition', 'get', 'people', 'rebuild', 'supply', 'chain', 'us', 'something', 'would', 'predict', 'next', 'years', 'apple', 'invest', 'establishing', 'new', 'supply', 'base', 'us', 'whang', 'predicts', 'delay', 'would', 'give', 'competitors', 'largely', 'korean', 'chinese', 'companies', 'time', 'catch', 'eat', 'lunch', 'jason', 'dedrick', 'professor', 'syracuse', 'university', 'school', 'information', 'studies', 'analyzed', 'apple', 'supply', 'chain', 'mit', 'technology', 'review', 'found', 'assembling', 'iphones', 'us', 'would', 'add', 'product', 'cost', 'largely', 'due', 'labor', 'costs', 'additional', 'cost', 'shipping', 'components', 'us', 'dedrick', 'estimate', 'include', 'capital', 'cost', 'outlay', 'building', 'factories', 'could', 'substantial', 'quite', 'feasible', 'apple', 'limited', 'volume', 'assembly', 'products', 'us', 'dedrick', 'said', 'proposing', 'imacs', 'possibility', 'think', 'possible', 'move', 'production', 'hundreds', 'millions', 'iphones', 'us', 'least', 'competitive', 'cost', 'one', 'possibility', 'greg', 'linden', 'institute', 'business', 'innovation', 'uc', 'berkeley', 'said', 'would', 'apple', 'parts', 'kitted', 'china', 'shipped', 'existing', 'factory', 'one', 'assemblers', 'voila', 'got', 'us-assembled', 'iphone', 'one', 'extra', 'process', 'step', 'plus', 'extra', 'shipping', 'labor', 'strategy', 'could', 'cost', 'little', 'per', 'iphone', 'said', 'limited', 'capacity', 'already', 'existing', 'factories', 'whether', 'apple', 'attempt', 'something', 'like', 'linden', 'said', 'guess', 'depends', 'badly', 'tim', 'cook', 'wants', 'give', 'trump', 'win', 'article', 'changed', 'friday', 'november', 'correct', 'final', 'quote', 'greg', 'linden']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/internet-age-checks-are-an-overreaction

John Carr asks why the Open Rights Group is worried about requirements for people to verify their age with pornographic websites (Letters, 22 November). Open Rights Group supports the many organisations calling for compulsory sex education that discusses pornography and relationships. We also welcome efforts by British internet service providers to help parents mediate their children’s internet access and keep them safe online. However, the government’s proposals, outlined in the digital economy bill, could lead to the tracking of UK adults across the pornographic websites they visit. There are no specific privacy protections in the bill. In fact, the government wants a proliferation of age verification technologies. How will we know which are safe and which are putting us at risk of an Ashley Madison-style data leak? Some sites might ask for your credit card details. Again, how will we know if this is genuine, or in fact a scam to steal your payment details? Most pornographic sites will ignore the age verification requirement. So the government wants to give the British Board of Film Classification the power to block sites that don’t comply. To make this work, the BBFC would have to censor tens of thousands of legal websites. Censorship of this kind is an extreme step and should be reserved for illegal content. It is clear that the government has not thought any of this through. Jim Killock Executive director, Open Rights Group • The debate about how to enforce age verification systems on pornographic websites is hugely important if we are going to keep young people safe online. But the debate has now strayed into questioning the efficacy of self-regulation of child sexual abuse content, which is illegal for anyone, regardless of age. The UK is one of the most hostile territories in the world for hosting child sexual abuse. In 1996, 18% of known content was hosted here, but since 2004 this has been less than 0.5% and in 2015 was 0.2%. If we find content in the UK, it’s typically removed in under two hours, which is a record unmatched anywhere else in the world. In 2015, the IWF, working with the internet industry, removed a record 68,000 URLs of child sexual abuse webpages. A number of children were safeguarded and thousands of children’s images were removed, stopping their re-victimisation. All this happened because the IWF self-regulatory model works and is held up as a global model of good practice. Internet companies work voluntarily with the IWF to remove this content as quickly as they can. The IWF self-regulatory model needs to be protected and valued for what it is: the most effective way to tackle a hideous crime. Susie Hargreaves Internet Watch Foundation • Join the debate – email [email protected] • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

technology/2016/nov/23/internet-age-checks-are-an-overreaction

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2016-11-23T18:30:04Z

Internet age checks are an overreaction | Letters

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/internet-age-checks-are-an-overreaction

['john', 'carr', 'asks', 'open', 'rights', 'group', 'worried', 'requirements', 'people', 'verify', 'age', 'pornographic', 'websites', 'letters', 'november', 'open', 'rights', 'group', 'supports', 'many', 'organisations', 'calling', 'compulsory', 'sex', 'education', 'discusses', 'pornography', 'relationships', 'also', 'welcome', 'efforts', 'british', 'internet', 'service', 'providers', 'help', 'parents', 'mediate', 'children', 'internet', 'access', 'keep', 'safe', 'online', 'however', 'government', 'proposals', 'outlined', 'digital', 'economy', 'bill', 'could', 'lead', 'tracking', 'uk', 'adults', 'across', 'pornographic', 'websites', 'visit', 'specific', 'privacy', 'protections', 'bill', 'fact', 'government', 'wants', 'proliferation', 'age', 'verification', 'technologies', 'know', 'safe', 'putting', 'us', 'risk', 'ashley', 'madison-style', 'data', 'leak', 'sites', 'might', 'ask', 'credit', 'card', 'details', 'know', 'genuine', 'fact', 'scam', 'steal', 'payment', 'details', 'pornographic', 'sites', 'ignore', 'age', 'verification', 'requirement', 'government', 'wants', 'give', 'british', 'board', 'film', 'classification', 'power', 'block', 'sites', 'comply', 'make', 'work', 'bbfc', 'would', 'censor', 'tens', 'thousands', 'legal', 'websites', 'censorship', 'kind', 'extreme', 'step', 'reserved', 'illegal', 'content', 'clear', 'government', 'thought', 'jim', 'killock', 'executive', 'director', 'open', 'rights', 'group', 'debate', 'enforce', 'age', 'verification', 'systems', 'pornographic', 'websites', 'hugely', 'important', 'going', 'keep', 'young', 'people', 'safe', 'online', 'debate', 'strayed', 'questioning', 'efficacy', 'self-regulation', 'child', 'sexual', 'abuse', 'content', 'illegal', 'anyone', 'regardless', 'age', 'uk', 'one', 'hostile', 'territories', 'world', 'hosting', 'child', 'sexual', 'abuse', 'known', 'content', 'hosted', 'since', 'less', 'find', 'content', 'uk', 'typically', 'removed', 'two', 'hours', 'record', 'unmatched', 'anywhere', 'else', 'world', 'iwf', 'working', 'internet', 'industry', 'removed', 'record', 'urls', 'child', 'sexual', 'abuse', 'webpages', 'number', 'children', 'safeguarded', 'thousands', 'children', 'images', 'removed', 'stopping', 're-victimisation', 'happened', 'iwf', 'self-regulatory', 'model', 'works', 'held', 'global', 'model', 'good', 'practice', 'internet', 'companies', 'work', 'voluntarily', 'iwf', 'remove', 'content', 'quickly', 'iwf', 'self-regulatory', 'model', 'needs', 'protected', 'valued', 'effective', 'way', 'tackle', 'hideous', 'crime', 'susie', 'hargreaves', 'internet', 'watch', 'foundation', 'join', 'debate', 'email', 'guardianletterstheguardiancom', 'read', 'guardian', 'letters', 'click', 'visit', 'gucomletters']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/nov/23/can-google-really-tell-us-how-busy-a-place-is

One of the creepiest – and most useful – Google inventions has been its ability to predict traffic jams by using anonymised ping-backs from mobile phones to tell how fast everyone is moving. Now, the technology giant is rolling out the same thing for places using live data. Although, since July 2015, the Popular Times section of Google Maps has provided a bar graph showing how busy a bar, museum or restaurant is at any given time, this is just based on averages. How accurate will the new feature be? Rather than just believe our Alphabet overlords, we road-tested the system by dawdling around five of London’s biggest attractions. Tate Modern At the Tate, a number of people hover in the little dark room where you have to clap to make the art strobe go on, while, up in the ziggurat, a slightly sparser crowd than normal are standing at the windows ogling the residents of Richard Rogers’s Neo Bankside building in their exposed lounges. Down at the Turbine Hall, a man at the info kiosk says it is “just about as busy as usual”. According to Google, he is 100% correct. Conclusion: Correct Tower of London As we enter the main courtyard, the Tower swallows up a phalanx of 100 or so tourists in one go. Despite this, Google says it is under-populated compared with the average crowd between noon and 1pm on Wednesdays. The Beefeater-ish woman at the main gates agrees: “It’s a bit quieter than usual.” Conclusion: Correct. The London Eye Is it slightly less of a hellscape today? It seems borderline-agreeable as a few pigeons gull about and some half-empty glass orbs arc skywards. According to Google, it is quiet today. Not that anyone here seems to know. “You’ll have to go on the website and look up the contact details for our marketing department if you want that kind of information,” a manager says. Conclusion: Correct? Dishoom, King’s Cross branch “To be honest, we’re never not busy,” says the woman at the other end of the line at this Indian tapas joint. Such humblebrag aside, Google agrees that the restaurant is exactly as busy as normal. Which is pretty damned busy, apparently. Conclusion: Correct. Nopi, Soho Yotam Ottolenghi could expect a turnout boost at his flagship restaurant after being on Desert Island Discs last week. “We’re as busy as normal,” the Australian assistant says, with a pleasing authority, after a moment on hold. However, his assertion is undermined by Google’s phone-ping polygraph, which suggests he is a good fraction less busy than normal. Are Nopi diners the type to turn off their phones? Are they so rich that there’s a phone porter who comes and casks diners’ phones in their vaults? Clearly, the technology has a few imperfections. Some of which will be smoothed out over time as users contribute visual feedback. All told, as ever the creepiness will fade, the glitches will be fixed, and there will be endless benefits that we have barely begun to imagine. Conclusion: Incorrect.

technology/shortcuts/2016/nov/23/can-google-really-tell-us-how-busy-a-place-is

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2016-11-23T16:52:11Z

Can Google really tell us how busy a place is?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/nov/23/can-google-really-tell-us-how-busy-a-place-is

['one', 'creepiest', 'useful', 'google', 'inventions', 'ability', 'predict', 'traffic', 'jams', 'using', 'anonymised', 'ping-backs', 'mobile', 'phones', 'tell', 'fast', 'everyone', 'moving', 'technology', 'giant', 'rolling', 'thing', 'places', 'using', 'live', 'data', 'although', 'since', 'july', 'popular', 'times', 'section', 'google', 'maps', 'provided', 'bar', 'graph', 'showing', 'busy', 'bar', 'museum', 'restaurant', 'given', 'time', 'based', 'averages', 'accurate', 'new', 'feature', 'rather', 'believe', 'alphabet', 'overlords', 'road-tested', 'system', 'dawdling', 'around', 'five', 'london', 'biggest', 'attractions', 'tate', 'modern', 'tate', 'number', 'people', 'hover', 'little', 'dark', 'room', 'clap', 'make', 'art', 'strobe', 'go', 'ziggurat', 'slightly', 'sparser', 'crowd', 'normal', 'standing', 'windows', 'ogling', 'residents', 'richard', 'rogers', 'neo', 'bankside', 'building', 'exposed', 'lounges', 'turbine', 'hall', 'man', 'info', 'kiosk', 'says', 'busy', 'usual', 'according', 'google', 'correct', 'conclusion', 'correct', 'tower', 'london', 'enter', 'main', 'courtyard', 'tower', 'swallows', 'phalanx', 'tourists', 'one', 'go', 'despite', 'google', 'says', 'under-populated', 'compared', 'average', 'crowd', 'noon', '1pm', 'wednesdays', 'beefeater-ish', 'woman', 'main', 'gates', 'agrees', 'bit', 'quieter', 'usual', 'conclusion', 'correct', 'london', 'eye', 'slightly', 'less', 'hellscape', 'today', 'seems', 'borderline-agreeable', 'pigeons', 'gull', 'half-empty', 'glass', 'orbs', 'arc', 'skywards', 'according', 'google', 'quiet', 'today', 'anyone', 'seems', 'know', 'go', 'website', 'look', 'contact', 'details', 'marketing', 'department', 'want', 'kind', 'information', 'manager', 'says', 'conclusion', 'correct', 'dishoom', 'king', 'cross', 'branch', 'honest', 'never', 'busy', 'says', 'woman', 'end', 'line', 'indian', 'tapas', 'joint', 'humblebrag', 'aside', 'google', 'agrees', 'restaurant', 'exactly', 'busy', 'normal', 'pretty', 'damned', 'busy', 'apparently', 'conclusion', 'correct', 'nopi', 'soho', 'yotam', 'ottolenghi', 'could', 'expect', 'turnout', 'boost', 'flagship', 'restaurant', 'desert', 'island', 'discs', 'last', 'week', 'busy', 'normal', 'australian', 'assistant', 'says', 'pleasing', 'authority', 'moment', 'hold', 'however', 'assertion', 'undermined', 'google', 'phone-ping', 'polygraph', 'suggests', 'good', 'fraction', 'less', 'busy', 'normal', 'nopi', 'diners', 'type', 'turn', 'phones', 'rich', 'phone', 'porter', 'comes', 'casks', 'diners', 'phones', 'vaults', 'clearly', 'technology', 'imperfections', 'smoothed', 'time', 'users', 'contribute', 'visual', 'feedback', 'told', 'ever', 'creepiness', 'fade', 'glitches', 'fixed', 'endless', 'benefits', 'barely', 'begun', 'imagine', 'conclusion', 'incorrect']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/facebook-secret-software-censor-user-posts-china

Facebook has developed censorship software in an effort to get China to lift its seven-year ban on the world’s largest social network, according to reports. The social network developed the software to suppress posts from appearing in users’ news feeds in specific geographies with the support of the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, according to the New York Times. The posts themselves will not be suppressed, only their visibility. A Facebook spokesperson said: “We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country. “However, we have not made any decision on our approach to China.” The Cybersecurity Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, did not immediately respond to request for comment. China’s foreign ministry declined to comment. China banned Facebook after the Urumqi riots in July 2009 in an effort to stem the flow of information about the unrest which left 140 people dead. The ban denied the social network access to the world’s largest population of internet users, which will be key to Facebook’s continued growth. Facebook would offer the software to enable third parties to monitor popular stories and topics that gain visibility as users share them across the network. The third-party partners would have full control to decide whether those posts should show up in users’ feeds, but there is no indication that Facebook has offered the software to China yet. US internet companies have a practice of complying with legitimate government requests to block posted information in keeping with local laws, subject to evaluation. Facebook restricted content in a score of countries in the second half of last year, according to the company’s most recent transparency report. In Russia it restricted content that authorities there said violated “the integrity of the Russian Federation and local law which forbids activities such as mass public riots and the promotion and sale of drugs.” Access to items in Pakistan was restricted owing to allegations that local blasphemy laws were violated. In France, Facebook restricted content reported under laws prohibiting denying of the Holocaust or condoning terrorism. It also removed posts of an image relating to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris on the grounds they violated French laws related to the protection of human dignity. Meanwhile, Facebook has come under fire in the past few months from those who accuse the social network of not having done enough to filter out fake news stores that may have swayed the outcome of the US presidential election. Angry about Facebook censorship? Wait until you hear about the news feed Facebook announces new push against fake news after Obama comments Facebook executive accuses UK parents of flouting age restrictions

technology/2016/nov/23/facebook-secret-software-censor-user-posts-china

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2016-11-23T15:08:24Z

Facebook developed secret software to censor user posts in China, report says

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/facebook-secret-software-censor-user-posts-china

['facebook', 'developed', 'censorship', 'software', 'effort', 'get', 'china', 'lift', 'seven-year', 'ban', 'world', 'largest', 'social', 'network', 'according', 'reports', 'social', 'network', 'developed', 'software', 'suppress', 'posts', 'appearing', 'users', 'news', 'feeds', 'specific', 'geographies', 'support', 'chief', 'executive', 'mark', 'zuckerberg', 'according', 'new', 'york', 'times', 'posts', 'suppressed', 'visibility', 'facebook', 'spokesperson', 'said', 'long', 'said', 'interested', 'china', 'spending', 'time', 'understanding', 'learning', 'country', 'however', 'made', 'decision', 'approach', 'china', 'cybersecurity', 'administration', 'china', 'country', 'internet', 'regulator', 'immediately', 'respond', 'request', 'comment', 'china', 'foreign', 'ministry', 'declined', 'comment', 'china', 'banned', 'facebook', 'urumqi', 'riots', 'july', 'effort', 'stem', 'flow', 'information', 'unrest', 'left', 'people', 'dead', 'ban', 'denied', 'social', 'network', 'access', 'world', 'largest', 'population', 'internet', 'users', 'key', 'facebook', 'continued', 'growth', 'facebook', 'would', 'offer', 'software', 'enable', 'third', 'parties', 'monitor', 'popular', 'stories', 'topics', 'gain', 'visibility', 'users', 'share', 'across', 'network', 'third-party', 'partners', 'would', 'full', 'control', 'decide', 'whether', 'posts', 'show', 'users', 'feeds', 'indication', 'facebook', 'offered', 'software', 'china', 'yet', 'us', 'internet', 'companies', 'practice', 'complying', 'legitimate', 'government', 'requests', 'block', 'posted', 'information', 'keeping', 'local', 'laws', 'subject', 'evaluation', 'facebook', 'restricted', 'content', 'score', 'countries', 'second', 'half', 'last', 'year', 'according', 'company', 'recent', 'transparency', 'report', 'russia', 'restricted', 'content', 'authorities', 'said', 'violated', 'integrity', 'russian', 'federation', 'local', 'law', 'forbids', 'activities', 'mass', 'public', 'riots', 'promotion', 'sale', 'drugs', 'access', 'items', 'pakistan', 'restricted', 'owing', 'allegations', 'local', 'blasphemy', 'laws', 'violated', 'france', 'facebook', 'restricted', 'content', 'reported', 'laws', 'prohibiting', 'denying', 'holocaust', 'condoning', 'terrorism', 'also', 'removed', 'posts', 'image', 'relating', 'november', 'terrorist', 'attacks', 'paris', 'grounds', 'violated', 'french', 'laws', 'related', 'protection', 'human', 'dignity', 'meanwhile', 'facebook', 'come', 'fire', 'past', 'months', 'accuse', 'social', 'network', 'done', 'enough', 'filter', 'fake', 'news', 'stores', 'may', 'swayed', 'outcome', 'us', 'presidential', 'election', 'angry', 'facebook', 'censorship', 'wait', 'hear', 'news', 'feed', 'facebook', 'announces', 'new', 'push', 'fake', 'news', 'obama', 'comments', 'facebook', 'executive', 'accuses', 'uk', 'parents', 'flouting', 'age', 'restrictions']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/us-regulators-reduce-road-deaths-smartphone-driving-mode-apple-samsung

US regulators are seeking to reduce smartphone-related vehicle deaths with a new driving-safe mode that would block or modify apps to prevent them being a distraction while on the road. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are to issue voluntary guidelines for smartphone makers, which will seek to restrict the apps and services accessible on a smartphone being used by a driver. US transport secretary Anthony Foxx told the New York Times: “Your smartphone becomes so many different things that it’s not just a communication device. Distraction is still a problem. Too many people are dying and being injured on our roadways.” The NHTSA is hoping that Apple, Samsung and other popular smartphone manufacturers will adopt the guidelines in future smartphone and software releases. The so-called driving mode will block distractions such as social media, messages or email, stop the use of the keyboard for communication activities and also restrict access to websites, video and distracting graphics. The intention is that the driving mode will be adopted in a similar manner to the airplane mode common to most smartphones and connected devices, which restricts radio communications while airborne. Airplane mode has been a feature of smartphones since 2007. While the NHTSA cannot force manufacturers to follow the guidelines, previous guidelines concerning the design and use of navigation and entertainment systems built into cars have seen wide adoption and implementation. The guidelines for smartphones call for features able to differentiate between drivers and passengers within cars, so that only the driver is shown a simplified and restricted view. They also request a connection between smartphones and in-car controls such as steering wheel buttons, to remove the need to interact with the screen. Such driving modes are already implemented within certain Android smartphones, including Samsung models, but they are not compulsory and are up to the users to activate. Simplified driving mode interfaces are also a feature of several smart in-vehicle mounting options, which aim to collect navigation, music and other driving orientated features into a large button interface that is easier to at arms length and less distracting. One example isn Google’s Android Auto, which was until recently restricted to dedicated built-in systems but is now available for many Android smartphones. Apple’s CarPlay, which connects an iPhone to the car’s built-in infotainment system, restricts app use to features involved in navigation and music. In the UK, use of a mobile phone and other handheld devices while driving is prohibited, but the law is less clear over the use of navigation devices. It states that drivers “must exercise proper control of their vehicle at all times” and that they should “not be distracted by maps or screen-based information (such as navigation or vehicle management systems) while driving”. In the US, accidents caused by distracted driving are considered to be on the rise as the attraction of using apps, games and messaging while on the road has grown. Data from the NHTSA shows that 3,179 people were killed and 431,000 were injured in crashes involving distracted driving in 2014 in the US, while the number of people texting or using handheld devices while driving is increasing reaching 2.2% of drivers. While legislation can go some way to curbing use, action from technology companiesis thought to be crucial to both educate drivers and provide a viable alternative to stop distracted driving. Siri, stop distracting me’: controlling smartphones while driving is dangerous, study finds

technology/2016/nov/23/us-regulators-reduce-road-deaths-smartphone-driving-mode-apple-samsung

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2016-11-23T13:20:36Z

US regulators seek to reduce road deaths with smartphone 'driving mode'

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/us-regulators-reduce-road-deaths-smartphone-driving-mode-apple-samsung

['us', 'regulators', 'seeking', 'reduce', 'smartphone-related', 'vehicle', 'deaths', 'new', 'driving-safe', 'mode', 'would', 'block', 'modify', 'apps', 'prevent', 'distraction', 'road', 'us', 'national', 'highway', 'traffic', 'safety', 'administration', 'nhtsa', 'issue', 'voluntary', 'guidelines', 'smartphone', 'makers', 'seek', 'restrict', 'apps', 'services', 'accessible', 'smartphone', 'used', 'driver', 'us', 'transport', 'secretary', 'anthony', 'foxx', 'told', 'new', 'york', 'times', 'smartphone', 'becomes', 'many', 'different', 'things', 'communication', 'device', 'distraction', 'still', 'problem', 'many', 'people', 'dying', 'injured', 'roadways', 'nhtsa', 'hoping', 'apple', 'samsung', 'popular', 'smartphone', 'manufacturers', 'adopt', 'guidelines', 'future', 'smartphone', 'software', 'releases', 'so-called', 'driving', 'mode', 'block', 'distractions', 'social', 'media', 'messages', 'email', 'stop', 'use', 'keyboard', 'communication', 'activities', 'also', 'restrict', 'access', 'websites', 'video', 'distracting', 'graphics', 'intention', 'driving', 'mode', 'adopted', 'similar', 'manner', 'airplane', 'mode', 'common', 'smartphones', 'connected', 'devices', 'restricts', 'radio', 'communications', 'airborne', 'airplane', 'mode', 'feature', 'smartphones', 'since', 'nhtsa', 'cannot', 'force', 'manufacturers', 'follow', 'guidelines', 'previous', 'guidelines', 'concerning', 'design', 'use', 'navigation', 'entertainment', 'systems', 'built', 'cars', 'seen', 'wide', 'adoption', 'implementation', 'guidelines', 'smartphones', 'call', 'features', 'able', 'differentiate', 'drivers', 'passengers', 'within', 'cars', 'driver', 'shown', 'simplified', 'restricted', 'view', 'also', 'request', 'connection', 'smartphones', 'in-car', 'controls', 'steering', 'wheel', 'buttons', 'remove', 'need', 'interact', 'screen', 'driving', 'modes', 'already', 'implemented', 'within', 'certain', 'android', 'smartphones', 'including', 'samsung', 'models', 'compulsory', 'users', 'activate', 'simplified', 'driving', 'mode', 'interfaces', 'also', 'feature', 'several', 'smart', 'in-vehicle', 'mounting', 'options', 'aim', 'collect', 'navigation', 'music', 'driving', 'orientated', 'features', 'large', 'button', 'interface', 'easier', 'arms', 'length', 'less', 'distracting', 'one', 'example', 'google', 'android', 'auto', 'recently', 'restricted', 'dedicated', 'built-in', 'systems', 'available', 'many', 'android', 'smartphones', 'apple', 'carplay', 'connects', 'iphone', 'car', 'built-in', 'infotainment', 'system', 'restricts', 'app', 'use', 'features', 'involved', 'navigation', 'music', 'uk', 'use', 'mobile', 'phone', 'handheld', 'devices', 'driving', 'prohibited', 'law', 'less', 'clear', 'use', 'navigation', 'devices', 'states', 'drivers', 'must', 'exercise', 'proper', 'control', 'vehicle', 'times', 'distracted', 'maps', 'screen-based', 'information', 'navigation', 'vehicle', 'management', 'systems', 'driving', 'us', 'accidents', 'caused', 'distracted', 'driving', 'considered', 'rise', 'attraction', 'using', 'apps', 'games', 'messaging', 'road', 'grown', 'data', 'nhtsa', 'shows', 'people', 'killed', 'injured', 'crashes', 'involving', 'distracted', 'driving', 'us', 'number', 'people', 'texting', 'using', 'handheld', 'devices', 'driving', 'increasing', 'reaching', 'drivers', 'legislation', 'go', 'way', 'curbing', 'use', 'action', 'technology', 'companiesis', 'thought', 'crucial', 'educate', 'drivers', 'provide', 'viable', 'alternative', 'stop', 'distracted', 'driving', 'siri', 'stop', 'distracting', 'controlling', 'smartphones', 'driving', 'dangerous', 'study', 'finds']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/apple-patent-flip-phone-iphone-oled-screen-clamshell-

It’s time to party like it’s 1999: Apple has patented a flip-phone. Admittedly, the phone depicted in the patent, spotted by AppleInsider, is rather more advanced than 2004’s Motorola Razr. The patent envisages a phone with a flexible OLED screen on the front, designed to fold in the middle with a more conventionally hinged back, allowing the whole thing to fold in half for portability. Patents are not products, of course, and there’s every possibility that Apple may never ship anything using the idea. But it indicates a few potential changes in the company’s thinking. Apple has yet to make much use of OLED screens. A newer display technology than the backlit LCDs that are used in every iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod, OLED displays emit their own light without the need for a backlight. As a result, OLED displays have darker blacks and bolder colours, as well as lower power consumption. The company has only used them in the Apple Watch so far, but OLED screens are widely expected to feature in 2017’s iPhone. The patent was filed in July 2014, before the Apple Watch was announced, and what it depicts isn’t yet possible. While bendable or flexible OLED screens have hit trade shows, few shipping products have incorporated them, except for a few curved televisions and smartphones, and none have yet been demonstrated that can bend to the extreme degrees depicted in Apple’s patents. iPhone 7 review: how good can a phone be if the battery doesn’t last even a day? iPhone 7 Plus review: 2014 called – it wants its phablet back

technology/2016/nov/23/apple-patent-flip-phone-iphone-oled-screen-clamshell-

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2016-11-23T12:18:04Z

Apple flips out with clamshell iPhone patent

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/apple-patent-flip-phone-iphone-oled-screen-clamshell-

['time', 'party', 'like', 'apple', 'patented', 'flip-phone', 'admittedly', 'phone', 'depicted', 'patent', 'spotted', 'appleinsider', 'rather', 'advanced', 'motorola', 'razr', 'patent', 'envisages', 'phone', 'flexible', 'oled', 'screen', 'front', 'designed', 'fold', 'middle', 'conventionally', 'hinged', 'back', 'allowing', 'whole', 'thing', 'fold', 'half', 'portability', 'patents', 'products', 'course', 'every', 'possibility', 'apple', 'may', 'never', 'ship', 'anything', 'using', 'idea', 'indicates', 'potential', 'changes', 'company', 'thinking', 'apple', 'yet', 'make', 'much', 'use', 'oled', 'screens', 'newer', 'display', 'technology', 'backlit', 'lcds', 'used', 'every', 'iphone', 'ipad', 'mac', 'ipod', 'oled', 'displays', 'emit', 'light', 'without', 'need', 'backlight', 'result', 'oled', 'displays', 'darker', 'blacks', 'bolder', 'colours', 'well', 'lower', 'power', 'consumption', 'company', 'used', 'apple', 'watch', 'far', 'oled', 'screens', 'widely', 'expected', 'feature', 'iphone', 'patent', 'filed', 'july', 'apple', 'watch', 'announced', 'depicts', 'yet', 'possible', 'bendable', 'flexible', 'oled', 'screens', 'hit', 'trade', 'shows', 'shipping', 'products', 'incorporated', 'except', 'curved', 'televisions', 'smartphones', 'none', 'yet', 'demonstrated', 'bend', 'extreme', 'degrees', 'depicted', 'apple', 'patents', 'iphone', 'review', 'good', 'phone', 'battery', 'last', 'even', 'day', 'iphone', 'plus', 'review', 'called', 'wants', 'phablet', 'back']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/twitter-suspends-ceo-jack-dorsey-account

In the wake of the US elections, with the rise of the “alt-right” blamed for the easy ride the far right have had on social media, Twitter is eager to prove that it can police its own borders. Perhaps too eager. Overnight, the social network suspended its own chief executive and co-founder, Jack Dorsey. A couple of hours later, Dorsey was back, blaming an “internal mistake” for his account suspension, and attempting to make light of it with a call back to both his and the service’s very first tweet. Hours later, there remain some odd effects around the suspension. Dorsey has lost almost 700,000 followers, if the public counts before and after his suspension are accurate. Dorsey’s self-imposed ban follows a more deliberate crackdown of far-right accounts on the network. Last week, a number of American far right leaders found their accounts disabled for hate speech, including the white nationalist Richard Spencer, the self-styled “founder of the alt-right”, who led a conference a few days later at which supporters gave Nazi salutes.

technology/2016/nov/23/twitter-suspends-ceo-jack-dorsey-account

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2016-11-23T10:13:43Z

Twitter suspends CEO Jack Dorsey's account

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/twitter-suspends-ceo-jack-dorsey-account

['wake', 'us', 'elections', 'rise', 'alt-right', 'blamed', 'easy', 'ride', 'far', 'right', 'social', 'media', 'twitter', 'eager', 'prove', 'police', 'borders', 'perhaps', 'eager', 'overnight', 'social', 'network', 'suspended', 'chief', 'executive', 'co-founder', 'jack', 'dorsey', 'couple', 'hours', 'later', 'dorsey', 'back', 'blaming', 'internal', 'mistake', 'account', 'suspension', 'attempting', 'make', 'light', 'call', 'back', 'service', 'first', 'tweet', 'hours', 'later', 'remain', 'odd', 'effects', 'around', 'suspension', 'dorsey', 'lost', 'almost', 'followers', 'public', 'counts', 'suspension', 'accurate', 'dorsey', 'self-imposed', 'ban', 'follows', 'deliberate', 'crackdown', 'far-right', 'accounts', 'network', 'last', 'week', 'number', 'american', 'far', 'right', 'leaders', 'found', 'accounts', 'disabled', 'hate', 'speech', 'including', 'white', 'nationalist', 'richard', 'spencer', 'self-styled', 'founder', 'alt-right', 'led', 'conference', 'days', 'later', 'supporters', 'gave', 'nazi', 'salutes']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/censor-non-conventional-sex-acts-online-internet-pornography

Web users in the UK will be banned from accessing websites portraying a range of non-conventional sexual acts, under a little discussed clause to a government bill currently going through parliament. The proposal, part of the digital economy bill, would force internet service providers to block sites hosting content that would not be certified for commercial DVD sale by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). It is contained within provisions of the bill designed to enforce strict age verification checks to stop children accessing adult websites. After pressure from MPs, the culture secretary, Karen Bradley, announced on Saturday that the government would amend the bill to include powers to block non-compliant websites. In order to comply with the censorship rules, many mainstream adult websites would have to render whole sections inaccessible to UK audiences. That is despite the acts shown being legal for consenting over-16s to perform and for adults in almost all other liberal countries to film, distribute and watch. Free speech campaigners labelled the move a “prurient” invasion into people’s sexual lives. “It should not be the business of government to regulate what kinds of consensual adult sex can be viewed by adults,” said Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of Index on Censorship. Pictures and videos that show spanking, whipping or caning that leaves marks, and sex acts involving urination, female ejaculation or menstruation as well as sex in public are likely to be caught by the ban – in effect turning back the clock on Britain’s censorship regime to the pre-internet era. The scale of the restrictions only became apparent after the BBFC, which has since 1984 been empowered to classify videos for commercial hire or sale, agreed to become the online age verification regulator last month. A spokeswoman for the BBFC said it would also check whether sites host “pornographic content that we would refuse to classify”. “In making this assessment, we will apply the standards that we apply to pornography that is distributed offline,” she said. “If a website fails on either of these [age verification or obscene content] tests then a notification of non-compliance will be sent to the site.” There is no definitive list of sexual acts proscribed by the BBFC, but many adult film producers who have worked with the regulator have been forced to cut scenes, said Jerry Barnett, a free speech campaigner and author of Porn Panic!, which details the rise of a new pro-censorship movement in the UK. “Although it is nominally designed to enforce the [Obscene Publications Act] guidelines of the Crown Prosecution Service, in practice it draws far tighter lines, many of them inexplicable. The ban on female ejaculation is a particularly strange example,” he said. The censorship regime has led to bizarre understandings between the producers and regulators, Barnett said. One is the “four-finger rule”, which limits the number of digits that can be inserted into an orifice for sexual stimulation. Even some who back age verification questioned such strict censorship. “It’s mad that we regulate such material that aren’t even criminal acts,” said Prof Clare McGlynn, an expert on pornography laws at Durham University and co-founder of the Centre for Gender Equal Media. “If we are regulating things like menstrual blood or urination, that’s detracting from a focus on what I think is really the harmful material, and that would be material around child sexual abuse, but also around sexual violence,” she added. There has been no discussion of the censorship provisions of the digital economy bill by MPs during its committee stage, where debate has largely focused on age verification rules. But sources within the adult industry seemed aware. A spokeswoman for MindGeek, one of the world’s biggest pornographic website operators, said the company expected that structures would be created to “maintain the rights of adults to view adult content”. She said it was too early to say whether the same CPS guidance would be in place for the Obscene Publications Act by the time the bill becomes law. “Many of the sexual activities prohibited from R18 [the BBFC’s most explicit certification] are normalised and accepted aspects of healthy sexuality, and are proudly celebrated by the feminist, queer and ethical porn movements internationally,” she said. Neither the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which drafted the bill, nor the BBFC would comment on suggestions that censorship could be relaxed. A spokesman for DCMS said the government’s aim is to ensure that the same “rules and safeguards” that exist in the physical world also apply online. “DCMS has recently indicated that it intends to designate the BBFC as regulator and is considering the most effective way to implement these measures,” he added.

technology/2016/nov/23/censor-non-conventional-sex-acts-online-internet-pornography

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2016-11-23T09:43:23Z

UK to censor online videos of 'non-conventional' sex acts

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/censor-non-conventional-sex-acts-online-internet-pornography

['web', 'users', 'uk', 'banned', 'accessing', 'websites', 'portraying', 'range', 'non-conventional', 'sexual', 'acts', 'little', 'discussed', 'clause', 'government', 'bill', 'currently', 'going', 'parliament', 'proposal', 'part', 'digital', 'economy', 'bill', 'would', 'force', 'internet', 'service', 'providers', 'block', 'sites', 'hosting', 'content', 'would', 'certified', 'commercial', 'dvd', 'sale', 'british', 'board', 'film', 'classification', 'bbfc', 'contained', 'within', 'provisions', 'bill', 'designed', 'enforce', 'strict', 'age', 'verification', 'checks', 'stop', 'children', 'accessing', 'adult', 'websites', 'pressure', 'mps', 'culture', 'secretary', 'karen', 'bradley', 'announced', 'saturday', 'government', 'would', 'amend', 'bill', 'include', 'powers', 'block', 'non-compliant', 'websites', 'order', 'comply', 'censorship', 'rules', 'many', 'mainstream', 'adult', 'websites', 'would', 'render', 'whole', 'sections', 'inaccessible', 'uk', 'audiences', 'despite', 'acts', 'shown', 'legal', 'consenting', 'over-16s', 'perform', 'adults', 'almost', 'liberal', 'countries', 'film', 'distribute', 'watch', 'free', 'speech', 'campaigners', 'labelled', 'move', 'prurient', 'invasion', 'people', 'sexual', 'lives', 'business', 'government', 'regulate', 'kinds', 'consensual', 'adult', 'sex', 'viewed', 'adults', 'said', 'jodie', 'ginsberg', 'chief', 'executive', 'index', 'censorship', 'pictures', 'videos', 'show', 'spanking', 'whipping', 'caning', 'leaves', 'marks', 'sex', 'acts', 'involving', 'urination', 'female', 'ejaculation', 'menstruation', 'well', 'sex', 'public', 'likely', 'caught', 'ban', 'effect', 'turning', 'back', 'clock', 'britain', 'censorship', 'regime', 'pre-internet', 'era', 'scale', 'restrictions', 'became', 'apparent', 'bbfc', 'since', 'empowered', 'classify', 'videos', 'commercial', 'hire', 'sale', 'agreed', 'become', 'online', 'age', 'verification', 'regulator', 'last', 'month', 'spokeswoman', 'bbfc', 'said', 'would', 'also', 'check', 'whether', 'sites', 'host', 'pornographic', 'content', 'would', 'refuse', 'classify', 'making', 'assessment', 'apply', 'standards', 'apply', 'pornography', 'distributed', 'offline', 'said', 'website', 'fails', 'either', 'age', 'verification', 'obscene', 'content', 'tests', 'notification', 'non-compliance', 'sent', 'site', 'definitive', 'list', 'sexual', 'acts', 'proscribed', 'bbfc', 'many', 'adult', 'film', 'producers', 'worked', 'regulator', 'forced', 'cut', 'scenes', 'said', 'jerry', 'barnett', 'free', 'speech', 'campaigner', 'author', 'porn', 'panic', 'details', 'rise', 'new', 'pro-censorship', 'movement', 'uk', 'although', 'nominally', 'designed', 'enforce', 'obscene', 'publications', 'act', 'guidelines', 'crown', 'prosecution', 'service', 'practice', 'draws', 'far', 'tighter', 'lines', 'many', 'inexplicable', 'ban', 'female', 'ejaculation', 'particularly', 'strange', 'example', 'said', 'censorship', 'regime', 'led', 'bizarre', 'understandings', 'producers', 'regulators', 'barnett', 'said', 'one', 'four-finger', 'rule', 'limits', 'number', 'digits', 'inserted', 'orifice', 'sexual', 'stimulation', 'even', 'back', 'age', 'verification', 'questioned', 'strict', 'censorship', 'mad', 'regulate', 'material', 'even', 'criminal', 'acts', 'said', 'prof', 'clare', 'mcglynn', 'expert', 'pornography', 'laws', 'durham', 'university', 'co-founder', 'centre', 'gender', 'equal', 'media', 'regulating', 'things', 'like', 'menstrual', 'blood', 'urination', 'detracting', 'focus', 'think', 'really', 'harmful', 'material', 'would', 'material', 'around', 'child', 'sexual', 'abuse', 'also', 'around', 'sexual', 'violence', 'added', 'discussion', 'censorship', 'provisions', 'digital', 'economy', 'bill', 'mps', 'committee', 'stage', 'debate', 'largely', 'focused', 'age', 'verification', 'rules', 'sources', 'within', 'adult', 'industry', 'seemed', 'aware', 'spokeswoman', 'mindgeek', 'one', 'world', 'biggest', 'pornographic', 'website', 'operators', 'said', 'company', 'expected', 'structures', 'would', 'created', 'maintain', 'rights', 'adults', 'view', 'adult', 'content', 'said', 'early', 'say', 'whether', 'cps', 'guidance', 'would', 'place', 'obscene', 'publications', 'act', 'time', 'bill', 'becomes', 'law', 'many', 'sexual', 'activities', 'prohibited', 'r18', 'bbfc', 'explicit', 'certification', 'normalised', 'accepted', 'aspects', 'healthy', 'sexuality', 'proudly', 'celebrated', 'feminist', 'queer', 'ethical', 'porn', 'movements', 'internationally', 'said', 'neither', 'department', 'culture', 'media', 'sport', 'drafted', 'bill', 'bbfc', 'would', 'comment', 'suggestions', 'censorship', 'could', 'relaxed', 'spokesman', 'dcms', 'said', 'government', 'aim', 'ensure', 'rules', 'safeguards', 'exist', 'physical', 'world', 'also', 'apply', 'online', 'dcms', 'recently', 'indicated', 'intends', 'designate', 'bbfc', 'regulator', 'considering', 'effective', 'way', 'implement', 'measures', 'added']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/the-nun-harnessing-twitter-to-spread-her-message-to-the-masses

Pope Francis was probably not dwelling on the myriad uses and abuses of social media when he called for a “bruised, dirty and hurting” Roman Catholic church that would more closely resemble the flawed 21st-century world to which it ministers. But, as far as one technologically engaged nun is concerned, the Twitter-sphere is equally deserving of the church’s presence. Xiskya Valladares, a Nicaraguan who lives and works in Mallorca and has more than 32,000 Twitter followers, has just published a book on how the faithful can best use the medium to reach out to people both religious and secular. “Pope Francis himself has invited us to build an outward-looking church that is in dialogue with the world,” she said. “Social networks make that easier: we shouldn’t be bombarding people with religious messages because that will mean we’re only talking to people who already think like us. What we need to do is enter into a dialogue with the world not to impose an idea but to find out what people need and what they’re worried about, and then to bear with them in their suffering.” Although the guide was inspired by her doctoral thesis on the “not very positive” Twitter use of 16 of the biggest Catholic institutions, she insists it could prove useful to anyone on the microblogging site. “The book is really as much for anyone who wants to navigate the web as it is for Catholics,” she said. “Everyone faces the same problems and you don’t have to be Catholic to be interested in the book.” The guide – Good Practices for Evangelising on Twitter – offers tips on how to build a digital community, foster initiatives and provide useful information. It recommends exploiting hashtags, using photos and videos, listening to the views of others and, above all, realising that Twitter is more than just a digital parish noticeboard or a self-referential echo chamber. Helpfully, it also gives advice on dealing with the legions of trolls who increasingly bedevil the digital arena. “Knowing how to respond to trolls is important: to create a community you need to watch out for people who are looking to make a big noise and distort the conversation,” she said. “First you need to figure out whether you’re dealing with a troll or not: sometimes they’re just negative critics who can help to build a conversation. If that’s the case, talk to them. But when you’re getting threats and insults, you’re dealing with a troll. The best thing to do is ignore them.” Alternatively, she suggests, try waving them off with a blessing – though the strategy doesn’t always work: “Sometimes that makes them react and return to the dialogue. Sometimes it’s just winds them up more.” Valladares, who has been asked to run a course for the Vatican’s community managers, concedes that Twitter is becoming a more hostile and violent place “under the banner of freedom of expression”. But she says that should not lead the quieter voices to abandon it. “If there are more people who are radical, fanatical and violent, I think other kinds of people need to be around to balance the situation out a bit,” she said. “You can’t say, ‘Look at what these people have done, let’s get out of here’. The world is like that. You can’t just hop off the train of life. Twitter isn’t a virtual reality, it’s a digital reality. It’s may be a digital means of expression rather than a physical one, but it’s still real.”

technology/2016/nov/23/the-nun-harnessing-twitter-to-spread-her-message-to-the-masses

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2016-11-23T07:00:58Z

The nun harnessing Twitter to spread her message to the masses

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/the-nun-harnessing-twitter-to-spread-her-message-to-the-masses

['pope', 'francis', 'probably', 'dwelling', 'myriad', 'uses', 'abuses', 'social', 'media', 'called', 'bruised', 'dirty', 'hurting', 'roman', 'catholic', 'church', 'would', 'closely', 'resemble', 'flawed', '21st-century', 'world', 'ministers', 'far', 'one', 'technologically', 'engaged', 'nun', 'concerned', 'twitter-sphere', 'equally', 'deserving', 'church', 'presence', 'xiskya', 'valladares', 'nicaraguan', 'lives', 'works', 'mallorca', 'twitter', 'followers', 'published', 'book', 'faithful', 'best', 'use', 'medium', 'reach', 'people', 'religious', 'secular', 'pope', 'francis', 'invited', 'us', 'build', 'outward-looking', 'church', 'dialogue', 'world', 'said', 'social', 'networks', 'make', 'easier', 'bombarding', 'people', 'religious', 'messages', 'mean', 'talking', 'people', 'already', 'think', 'like', 'us', 'need', 'enter', 'dialogue', 'world', 'impose', 'idea', 'find', 'people', 'need', 'worried', 'bear', 'suffering', 'although', 'guide', 'inspired', 'doctoral', 'thesis', 'positive', 'twitter', 'use', 'biggest', 'catholic', 'institutions', 'insists', 'could', 'prove', 'useful', 'anyone', 'microblogging', 'site', 'book', 'really', 'much', 'anyone', 'wants', 'navigate', 'web', 'catholics', 'said', 'everyone', 'faces', 'problems', 'catholic', 'interested', 'book', 'guide', 'good', 'practices', 'evangelising', 'twitter', 'offers', 'tips', 'build', 'digital', 'community', 'foster', 'initiatives', 'provide', 'useful', 'information', 'recommends', 'exploiting', 'hashtags', 'using', 'photos', 'videos', 'listening', 'views', 'others', 'realising', 'twitter', 'digital', 'parish', 'noticeboard', 'self-referential', 'echo', 'chamber', 'helpfully', 'also', 'gives', 'advice', 'dealing', 'legions', 'trolls', 'increasingly', 'bedevil', 'digital', 'arena', 'knowing', 'respond', 'trolls', 'important', 'create', 'community', 'need', 'watch', 'people', 'looking', 'make', 'big', 'noise', 'distort', 'conversation', 'said', 'first', 'need', 'figure', 'whether', 'dealing', 'troll', 'sometimes', 'negative', 'critics', 'help', 'build', 'conversation', 'case', 'talk', 'getting', 'threats', 'insults', 'dealing', 'troll', 'best', 'thing', 'ignore', 'alternatively', 'suggests', 'try', 'waving', 'blessing', 'though', 'strategy', 'always', 'work', 'sometimes', 'makes', 'react', 'return', 'dialogue', 'sometimes', 'winds', 'valladares', 'asked', 'run', 'course', 'vatican', 'community', 'managers', 'concedes', 'twitter', 'becoming', 'hostile', 'violent', 'place', 'banner', 'freedom', 'expression', 'says', 'lead', 'quieter', 'voices', 'abandon', 'people', 'radical', 'fanatical', 'violent', 'think', 'kinds', 'people', 'need', 'around', 'balance', 'situation', 'bit', 'said', 'say', 'look', 'people', 'done', 'let', 'get', 'world', 'like', 'hop', 'train', 'life', 'twitter', 'virtual', 'reality', 'digital', 'reality', 'may', 'digital', 'means', 'expression', 'rather', 'physical', 'one', 'still', 'real']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/2016-in-metaphors-dead-turkey-frozen-moose-and-man-digging-his-own-grave

For many people 2016, which brought the planet Brexit, the Donald Trump election victory, the deaths of Prince, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen and the brief union that was Twiddleswift, has not been the greatest of years. In fact, the year has become so maligned that Twitter is now awash with scores of posts listing the strange and terrible things that the last 11 months can be compared to. Among the suggested metaphors for 2016 are a boy being knocked over by an uncooperative wheelie bin, two bald eagles stuck in a drain and the death of Courage, the Thanksgiving turkey pardoned by Barack Obama in 2009. Here, we collate some of the most poignant: In this one, a crab rips its own arm off. And here, a polar bear pats a dog - and then eats it. In more animal news, two moose were found frozen in a lake, locked in combat. 2017 - you have a lot to live up to.

technology/2016/nov/23/2016-in-metaphors-dead-turkey-frozen-moose-and-man-digging-his-own-grave

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2016-11-23T04:01:51Z

2016 in metaphors: dead turkey, frozen moose and man digging his own grave

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/2016-in-metaphors-dead-turkey-frozen-moose-and-man-digging-his-own-grave

['many', 'people', 'brought', 'planet', 'brexit', 'donald', 'trump', 'election', 'victory', 'deaths', 'prince', 'david', 'bowie', 'leonard', 'cohen', 'brief', 'union', 'twiddleswift', 'greatest', 'years', 'fact', 'year', 'become', 'maligned', 'twitter', 'awash', 'scores', 'posts', 'listing', 'strange', 'terrible', 'things', 'last', 'months', 'compared', 'among', 'suggested', 'metaphors', 'boy', 'knocked', 'uncooperative', 'wheelie', 'bin', 'two', 'bald', 'eagles', 'stuck', 'drain', 'death', 'courage', 'thanksgiving', 'turkey', 'pardoned', 'barack', 'obama', 'collate', 'poignant', 'one', 'crab', 'rips', 'arm', 'polar', 'bear', 'pats', 'dog', '-', 'eats', 'animal', 'news', 'two', 'moose', 'found', 'frozen', 'lake', 'locked', 'combat', '-', 'lot', 'live']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/moderators-trump-reddit-group-fake-news-crackdown

One of the web’s most virulent incubators of fake news stories about the US election has begun a crackdown on conspiracy theories and “outlandish or unverified claims”. Moderators on a Reddit group r/the_donald, which became a focal point for supporters of Donald Trump during the election, explained on Tuesday morning that they had been removing some posts about two conspiracy theories because they were “drowning out thoughtful discussion or Trump related content”. The two theories concern false claims of a pedophile ring run from a pizza restaurant tangentially linked to Hillary Clinton and suggestions that Julian Assange, currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, has disappeared. In a post addressed to r/the_donald’s almost 300,000 subscribers, referred to as Centipedes, moderator IFIFIFOKIEDOKE explained that those running the subreddit were also concerned about “shills and trolls” posting outlandish claims to discredit the moderators themselves. “A hot topic lately has been how we as a moderation team have handled some sensitive topics such as pizzagate and the alleged disappearance of Julian Assange. We are well aware that the community wants us to promote awareness of these two topics (among others) and we have heard your feedback and concerns about what is perceived as censorship,” the moderator wrote. “I will do everyone a favor and be completely transparent – yes, we remove quite a bit of this content. Why? The vast majority of what gets posted here in regards to these topics is simply concern trolling about us not giving them sticky space, outlandish and unverifiable claims, or illegal content. We also allow a portion of it to remain on the sub, though we do not provide it sticky space.” “Additionally, we have detected (more than a few times) shills and trolls intentionally piggybacking on these controversial topics to slander and attack our community. They want to paint us as lunatics and turn our community against the moderators … This strain of trolls have successfully created a narrative or idea that we are censoring these topics.” The rise of fake news has become a cause of concern for much of the media, and outgoing president Barack Obama, following the surprise election win for Trump. Many have focused on the role of Facebook, which recently announced that it was acting to address its fake news problem. But sites such as Reddit often play a key role in seeding stories that find a larger audience on other social networks. Despite being smaller than many of Reddit’s communities, r/the_donald has consistently been ranked as among the most active and less than two weeks ago it helped disseminate false claims that people were being bussed in to attend an anti-Trump protest in Austin, Texas. Trump himself has taken the sub-Reddit seriously, hosting an Ask Me Anything session for its users in July during which he answered 13 questions. Though the post on r/the_donald suggests its moderators want to limit the amount of unverified content in that particular group, the moderators are clear they are not objecting to it being hosted elsewhere on Reddit. In the post they say that they will direct users to threads dedicated to the two conspiracies, and they are also planning to set up a dedicated subreddit with “the overall theme of investigating corruption in politics”.

technology/2016/nov/22/moderators-trump-reddit-group-fake-news-crackdown

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2016-11-22T23:35:58Z

Moderators of pro-Trump Reddit group linked to fake news crackdown on posts

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/moderators-trump-reddit-group-fake-news-crackdown

['one', 'web', 'virulent', 'incubators', 'fake', 'news', 'stories', 'us', 'election', 'begun', 'crackdown', 'conspiracy', 'theories', 'outlandish', 'unverified', 'claims', 'moderators', 'reddit', 'group', 'rthedonald', 'became', 'focal', 'point', 'supporters', 'donald', 'trump', 'election', 'explained', 'tuesday', 'morning', 'removing', 'posts', 'two', 'conspiracy', 'theories', 'drowning', 'thoughtful', 'discussion', 'trump', 'related', 'content', 'two', 'theories', 'concern', 'false', 'claims', 'pedophile', 'ring', 'run', 'pizza', 'restaurant', 'tangentially', 'linked', 'hillary', 'clinton', 'suggestions', 'julian', 'assange', 'currently', 'holed', 'ecuadorian', 'embassy', 'london', 'disappeared', 'post', 'addressed', 'rthedonald', 'almost', 'subscribers', 'referred', 'centipedes', 'moderator', 'ifififokiedoke', 'explained', 'running', 'subreddit', 'also', 'concerned', 'shills', 'trolls', 'posting', 'outlandish', 'claims', 'discredit', 'moderators', 'hot', 'topic', 'lately', 'moderation', 'team', 'handled', 'sensitive', 'topics', 'pizzagate', 'alleged', 'disappearance', 'julian', 'assange', 'well', 'aware', 'community', 'wants', 'us', 'promote', 'awareness', 'two', 'topics', 'among', 'others', 'heard', 'feedback', 'concerns', 'perceived', 'censorship', 'moderator', 'wrote', 'everyone', 'favor', 'completely', 'transparent', 'yes', 'remove', 'quite', 'bit', 'content', 'vast', 'majority', 'gets', 'posted', 'regards', 'topics', 'simply', 'concern', 'trolling', 'us', 'giving', 'sticky', 'space', 'outlandish', 'unverifiable', 'claims', 'illegal', 'content', 'also', 'allow', 'portion', 'remain', 'sub', 'though', 'provide', 'sticky', 'space', 'additionally', 'detected', 'times', 'shills', 'trolls', 'intentionally', 'piggybacking', 'controversial', 'topics', 'slander', 'attack', 'community', 'want', 'paint', 'us', 'lunatics', 'turn', 'community', 'moderators', 'strain', 'trolls', 'successfully', 'created', 'narrative', 'idea', 'censoring', 'topics', 'rise', 'fake', 'news', 'become', 'cause', 'concern', 'much', 'media', 'outgoing', 'president', 'barack', 'obama', 'following', 'surprise', 'election', 'win', 'trump', 'many', 'focused', 'role', 'facebook', 'recently', 'announced', 'acting', 'address', 'fake', 'news', 'problem', 'sites', 'reddit', 'often', 'play', 'key', 'role', 'seeding', 'stories', 'find', 'larger', 'audience', 'social', 'networks', 'despite', 'smaller', 'many', 'reddit', 'communities', 'rthedonald', 'consistently', 'ranked', 'among', 'active', 'less', 'two', 'weeks', 'ago', 'helped', 'disseminate', 'false', 'claims', 'people', 'bussed', 'attend', 'anti-trump', 'protest', 'austin', 'texas', 'trump', 'taken', 'sub-reddit', 'seriously', 'hosting', 'ask', 'anything', 'session', 'users', 'july', 'answered', 'questions', 'though', 'post', 'rthedonald', 'suggests', 'moderators', 'want', 'limit', 'amount', 'unverified', 'content', 'particular', 'group', 'moderators', 'clear', 'objecting', 'hosted', 'elsewhere', 'reddit', 'post', 'say', 'direct', 'users', 'threads', 'dedicated', 'two', 'conspiracies', 'also', 'planning', 'set', 'dedicated', 'subreddit', 'overall', 'theme', 'investigating', 'corruption', 'politics']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/obama-net-neutrality-regulations-under-threat-trump-fcc-appointments

Legislation that assures equal access to high-performance internet – one of the signature achievements of Obama’s administration – could be reversed under President-elect Trump after he appointed two opponents of “net neutrality” to the US communications regulator team. Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison have been vocal in their opposition to the policy of net neutrality, which prevents large internet companies from creating fast lanes for high-paying customers. They are both associated with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank based in Washington DC which has previously campaigned against net neutrality. While Trump himself hasn’t said a lot about net neutrality, Eisenach testified before the judiciary committee of the US Senate in 2014, saying the policy used government regulation to unnecessarily advantage small companies and had little to do with protecting consumers. “Net neutrality regulation cannot be justified on grounds of enhancing consumer welfare or protecting the public interest,” he said. “The potential costs of net neutrality regulation are both sweeping and severe, and extend far beyond a simple transfer of wealth from one group to another. Legitimate policy concerns about the potential use of market power to disadvantage rivals or harm consumers can best be addressed through existing antitrust and consumer protection laws and regulations.” Mark Jamison took the argument one step further. In an October 2016 opinion piece for Tech Policy Daily, he asked provocatively whether or not the FCC is needed any more. “Most of the original motivations for having an FCC have gone away. Telecommunications network providers and ISPs are rarely, if ever, monopolies,” he wrote. “If there are instances where there are monopolies, it would seem overkill to have an entire federal agency dedicated to ex ante regulation of their services. A well-functioning Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in conjunction with state authorities, can handle consumer protection and anticompetitive conduct issues.” Milton Mueller, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy, and a principal of the Internet Governance Project, suggests that the kinds of sweeping changes that Trumps advisers seem to be encouraging could not happen quickly or without public comment. “If the new FCC makes significant changes in regulations there will be an opportunity for public comment, as there always is as per the Administrative Procedures Act,” he said. “In principle, the public has the same type of input it had before, it’s just that the current commissioners will be less likely to lend a sympathetic ear to net neutrality advocates than before.” Mueller also suggests that even if the current net neutrality rules are scrapped or overhauled, its impact might not be that dramatic. “I don’t see the curbing or elimination of current net neutrality rules as affecting broad access to reliable high-speed internet that much,” he said. “It’s pricing and competition that matter the most. I don’t think the major ISPs are all that keen to engage in major acts of discrimination against specific content, applications and services.” But Anne Jellema, CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, whose founding director is web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, is not so sure. She warns that her organization will be keeping a close eye on the new administration’s actions around net neutrality. “Today’s appointments certainly don’t look like good news for net neutrality,” she said. “But President-elect Trump has promised to be a ‘president for all Americans’. If he’s serious about this promise, we trust the transition team will pay heed to the over three million comments submitted just last year by Americans of all political stripes calling for strong net neutrality, and will respect the recent decision by a federal appeals court to uphold the FCC’s Open Internet order. Jellema said that strong net neutrality rules help to secure budding entrepreneurs the same opportunities as Amazon or Facebook, as well as making sure internet providers had the same incentive to serve people in rural areas, and not just more lucrative audiences in cities. “The open internet has played an important role in driving economic progress in the US, and can continue to do so in the years ahead – but only if fairness is hardwired into the rules of the game,” she added. “The new administration has a key role in setting an equitable internet policy for all Americans and signaling that they will continue the US’s role as a global guardian of an open and free web.” Campaigns for and against net neutrality regulations have been waged since 2005. Regulationwas finally adopted last year after the FCC ruled that broadband internet access (both at home and wirelessly) would be classified as a “common carrier” under specific sections of the 1934 Communications Act and the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Obama wrote of the 2015 FCC decision: “Today’s FCC decision will protect innovation and create a level playing field for the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he said, thanking the four million people who wrote to the FCC in support of net neutrality.

technology/2016/nov/22/obama-net-neutrality-regulations-under-threat-trump-fcc-appointments

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2016-11-22T23:06:27Z

Net neutrality regulations under threat by Trump's new FCC appointments

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/obama-net-neutrality-regulations-under-threat-trump-fcc-appointments

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'entrepreneurs', 'opportunities', 'amazon', 'facebook', 'well', 'making', 'sure', 'internet', 'providers', 'incentive', 'serve', 'people', 'rural', 'areas', 'lucrative', 'audiences', 'cities', 'open', 'internet', 'played', 'important', 'role', 'driving', 'economic', 'progress', 'us', 'continue', 'years', 'ahead', 'fairness', 'hardwired', 'rules', 'game', 'added', 'new', 'administration', 'key', 'role', 'setting', 'equitable', 'internet', 'policy', 'americans', 'signaling', 'continue', 'us', 'role', 'global', 'guardian', 'open', 'free', 'web', 'campaigns', 'net', 'neutrality', 'regulations', 'waged', 'since', 'regulationwas', 'finally', 'adopted', 'last', 'year', 'fcc', 'ruled', 'broadband', 'internet', 'access', 'home', 'wirelessly', 'would', 'classified', 'common', 'carrier', 'specific', 'sections', 'communications', 'act', 'telecommunications', 'act', 'obama', 'wrote', 'fcc', 'decision', 'today', 'fcc', 'decision', 'protect', 'innovation', 'create', 'level', 'playing', 'field', 'next', 'generation', 'entrepreneurs', 'said', 'thanking', 'four', 'million', 'people', 'wrote', 'fcc', 'support', 'net', 'neutrality']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/snapchat-spectacles-pop-up-new-york-lines

As temperatures dipped and high winds whistled down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Tuesday hundreds waited in line for the chance to snap up this season’s must-have tech toy – Snapchat Spectacles – and the possibility to make some extra money. This was the second day that tech company Snap Inc’s Spectacles pop-up store had opened on 59th street and enthusiasm for the video-capturing sunglasses hadn’t waned. Its doors were closed until 4.00pm but by 12.30pm, the line to purchase had already stretched around the corner to Fifth Avenue and up to 60th street. There were about 150 people waiting at that time, still with three and a half hours to go. Those waiting stood in jackets and hats, scarves and layered sweaters. Some were huddled together and others – the professionals – sat in plastic tents to keep out the wind. One woman, Kelsey, was dressed in a dinosaur costume. Kelsey, who had come with her friend Krystal – clad in a neon green snowsuit for warmth – arrived on the scene at 10.30am. The pair had tried to come on Monday to get their hands on the technology, but were too late. “We decided to shower in the morning which wasn’t the right move because by the time we got here there was a line,” Krystal joked. On Tuesday, the pair arrived with snacks, blankets and enthusiasm. “We’re not calling it waiting on line, we’re calling it tailgating,” Krystal said. “We just felt like the word tailgating makes it seem like more of an event and less waiting on line for this product.” A woman standing in line behind them said she thought Spectacles would make it much easier to take videos of cats. The coveted device consists of a pair of sunglasses with a camera inside. They shoot video which directly links to the Snapchat app. Each pair of glasses costs $129.99 and customers can purchase two Spectacles each. Braven Stone, an economics student at Hunter College, was one of the first people in line on Tuesday morning. He didn’t know what time the store would open, but didn’t want to take a chance so he arrived at 4am. “I’m kind of in the new tech fandom, so I’m down for anything,” Stone said. But Stone said he hoped to sell the Spectacles, rather than keep them for himself. People walking by had stopped to ask him if he would sell them to him, Stone said. He’s hoping to get $700 for them. On eBay, Spectacles are listed at a few hundred dollars to as much as $1,000 – though its unclear if people are actually buying them for such exorbitant amounts. Others in line were also hoping to turn a profit through resale.Joe Miller and Joy Aldrich, who had recently moved to New York from Colorado, had purchased two pairs of Spectacles each on Monday and were waiting in line again on Tuesday to buy two more to sell. Snap Inc, the company that makes Snapchat and Spectacles, has kept the locations of its Spectacles pop-up stores secret. Before New York, the Snapbot – a vending machine of Spectacles – had recently appeared in the Grand Canyon and at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, among other locations, according to the New York Times. Miller said he had been watching the countdown clock online for about two weeks awaiting the next location. If the store hadn’t been in New York, he had considered traveling to it. “Honestly to think you’re making a thousand bucks to go, what’s a $200 train ticket?” Miller said. Between jobs, the money would be helpful with rent and presents for the holidays, he said. Robert Samuel, the owner of Same Ole Line Dudes, was sitting in a clear plastic tent with his computer on Tuesday morning holding a spot in line for a paying customer. He and his company got on line at 7.30am to purchase Spectacles for 13 people . Samuel said business had been booming since the Spectacles store opened up, with people from as far as Toronto and Florida hiring him and his employees to procure the device for them. “People want it when they want it and they don’t want to wait for it to hit Pensacola, Florida, if it ever will,” he said with a laugh. At around 3.50pm, about 50 people were let into the store to queue up for the Snapbot vending machine. Over the next hour, they slowly trickled out, Spectacles in hand. Those still waiting called out: “Congratulations”. Most people bought two, and black seemed to be the most popular color. Kyuwon Choi, a quantitative researcher for a hedge fund, was one of the first people to make the purchase. “I’m feeling so good,” he said after walking out. “I had been waiting for 12 hours and now I’ve finally got them.” He plans to keep one for himself, and might sell the other. Others stood outside with their purchases, making phone calls or haggling with passersby.

technology/2016/nov/22/snapchat-spectacles-pop-up-new-york-lines

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2016-11-22T22:53:55Z

Hundreds brave long, cold lines to snap up Snapchat Spectacles in New York

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/snapchat-spectacles-pop-up-new-york-lines

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/facebook-executive-accuses-uk-parents-flouting-age-restrictions

A senior Facebook boss has accused parents in the UK of helping their children to open an account before they are 13, flouting the minimum age restriction for signing up to the social media giant. Facebook’s policy director, Simon Milner, was giving evidence on Tuesday before a parliamentary committee looking into issues surrounding children’s use of the internet. When the committee raised concerns about children as young as eight having Facebook profiles, Milner said it was difficult to police when parents allowed their children – and even actively helped them – to open an account. Milner, who is policy director for the UK and Ireland, as well as the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said research suggested there were “not many” eight-year-olds on Facebook; there were, however, a lot of 10- and 12-year-olds lying about their age. He said the company worked hard to ensure that users were aware of Facebook’s age restriction and to enforce it. However, there was a fundamental issue in the UK, he said, where many parents chose for whatever reason to allow their underage children to sign up and open a profile under a false age. “Often they’ve helped their children to get on Facebook,” said Milner. “It’s very hard for us to know the person is not the age that they say they are. “It’s a really fundamental problem. We’ve not found a ready-made solution … when millions of parents are making that decision, how can we enforce our policy?” Milner, who was one of a number of witnesses appearing before the House of Lords communications committee, also challenged parents when asked about the amount of time children spend on screens and the compulsive nature of the internet. “It’s important for parents to set a good example,” he said. If there is a family rule of no phones at the dinner table, then that should apply to parents as well as children, he told the committee, adding that Facebook was not trying to preach to families. “Who are we to tell parents how to bring up their children?” Milner told the committee that nothing was more important to Facebook than the safety of its users, particularly those under 18. He said the company employed hundreds of safety experts and worked in partnership with other safety organisations. Asked about policy when a young person on Facebook appeared to be at risk of self-harm or suicide, Milner said if particularly concerning cases were flagged up to the network it would intervene and even go as far as to alert the local police. Milner was also asked about the issue of “fake news” and the suggestion that it could have influenced the outcome of the US election. He said that “much less than 1%” of Facebook’s entire content was fake or inauthentic, adding: “We want to try to find ways to diminish the extent of that content on Facebook.” Also appearing before the committee was Katie O’Donovan, Google’s public policy and government relations manager, who was asked about the “right to be forgotten” ruling by the European court of justice in 2014, which allows EU residents to request the removal of search results that they feel link to outdated or irrelevant information about themselves. O’Donovan said there were 100,000 requests in the UK last year of which 40% were granted. Whether the ruling – or something similar – would still apply once the UK leaves the EU remains to be seen, the committee was told.

technology/2016/nov/22/facebook-executive-accuses-uk-parents-flouting-age-restrictions

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2016-11-22T19:46:18Z

Facebook executive accuses UK parents of flouting age restrictions

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/facebook-executive-accuses-uk-parents-flouting-age-restrictions

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/23/australia-taking-cyber-fight-to-isis-malcolm-turnbull-to-confirm

The prime minister will tell parliament on Wednesday that Australia’s cyber capability, through the Australian Signals Directorate, is being deployed offensively to support coalition military operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Malcolm Turnbull will make a security statement at noon addressing directly the sensitive subject of Australia’s offensive cyber capabilities – while the minister assisting the prime minister on cyber security, Dan Tehan, will use a separate outing at the National Press Club to argue that, domestically, Australia needs to step up its preparedness against hacking and malicious cyber-attacks. In April the government confirmed that the Bureau of Meteorology and the Department of Parliamentary Services had been targets of cyber-attacks, and the prime minister also confirmed for the first time that Australia possessed the capability to launch such attacks. Building on those revelations, according to an excerpt of the prime minister’s security statement, Turnbull will confirm for the first time on Wednesdaythat capabilities within the ASD are now supporting coalition operations against Isis in Iraq and Syria – as well as helping the government to respond to and deter cyber-attacks against Australian agencies. The prime minister will say in the statement that he won’t provide details of specific operations, but cyber capabilities “are being used to make a difference to the military battle”. Turnbull insists that “all offensive cyber activities in support of the ADF and our allies are subject to the same rules of engagement which govern the use of our other military capabilities in Iraq and Syria, such as our F/A-18 Hornets”. Tehan will focus on domestic preparedness and identify four areas where Australia could improve its capacity to repel cyber-attacks. He will say the government needs to accelerate the implementation of its cyber security strategy “and look to where we can further address our vulnerabilities”. “First, while government has a strong level of coordination against cyber threats, we need to stay ahead of the game,” Tehan will say. “Departments need to take greater responsibility for the security of their agencies and policy needs to reflect that all areas of cyber security – crime and safety – overlap.” Tehan will also argue that government and businesses need to be clear when attacks occur, arguing that information needs to be released to the public as soon as the details become known “and it is safe and secure to do so”. “And we need to encourage and create the environment where business can do the same.” “Third, cybercrime is a growing problem and we need to be more proactive. Cybercrime can be deterred and we should protect ourselves and our communities just as we do offline in the real world by having a strong cop on the beat and other forms of social and civil rules of the road. “Fourth, we need to work with businesses and state and territory governments to better secure our critical infrastructure. This will involve better coordination and strong legislation reform, where appropriate.”

technology/2016/nov/23/australia-taking-cyber-fight-to-isis-malcolm-turnbull-to-confirm

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2016-11-22T19:00:43Z

Australia taking cyber fight to Isis, Malcolm Turnbull to confirm

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/australia-taking-cyber-fight-to-isis-malcolm-turnbull-to-confirm

['prime', 'minister', 'tell', 'parliament', 'wednesday', 'australia', 'cyber', 'capability', 'australian', 'signals', 'directorate', 'deployed', 'offensively', 'support', 'coalition', 'military', 'operations', 'islamic', 'state', 'iraq', 'syria', 'malcolm', 'turnbull', 'make', 'security', 'statement', 'noon', 'addressing', 'directly', 'sensitive', 'subject', 'australia', 'offensive', 'cyber', 'capabilities', 'minister', 'assisting', 'prime', 'minister', 'cyber', 'security', 'dan', 'tehan', 'use', 'separate', 'outing', 'national', 'press', 'club', 'argue', 'domestically', 'australia', 'needs', 'step', 'preparedness', 'hacking', 'malicious', 'cyber-attacks', 'april', 'government', 'confirmed', 'bureau', 'meteorology', 'department', 'parliamentary', 'services', 'targets', 'cyber-attacks', 'prime', 'minister', 'also', 'confirmed', 'first', 'time', 'australia', 'possessed', 'capability', 'launch', 'attacks', 'building', 'revelations', 'according', 'excerpt', 'prime', 'minister', 'security', 'statement', 'turnbull', 'confirm', 'first', 'time', 'wednesdaythat', 'capabilities', 'within', 'asd', 'supporting', 'coalition', 'operations', 'isis', 'iraq', 'syria', 'well', 'helping', 'government', 'respond', 'deter', 'cyber-attacks', 'australian', 'agencies', 'prime', 'minister', 'say', 'statement', 'provide', 'details', 'specific', 'operations', 'cyber', 'capabilities', 'used', 'make', 'difference', 'military', 'battle', 'turnbull', 'insists', 'offensive', 'cyber', 'activities', 'support', 'adf', 'allies', 'subject', 'rules', 'engagement', 'govern', 'use', 'military', 'capabilities', 'iraq', 'syria', 'fa-18', 'hornets', 'tehan', 'focus', 'domestic', 'preparedness', 'identify', 'four', 'areas', 'australia', 'could', 'improve', 'capacity', 'repel', 'cyber-attacks', 'say', 'government', 'needs', 'accelerate', 'implementation', 'cyber', 'security', 'strategy', 'look', 'address', 'vulnerabilities', 'first', 'government', 'strong', 'level', 'coordination', 'cyber', 'threats', 'need', 'stay', 'ahead', 'game', 'tehan', 'say', 'departments', 'need', 'take', 'greater', 'responsibility', 'security', 'agencies', 'policy', 'needs', 'reflect', 'areas', 'cyber', 'security', 'crime', 'safety', 'overlap', 'tehan', 'also', 'argue', 'government', 'businesses', 'need', 'clear', 'attacks', 'occur', 'arguing', 'information', 'needs', 'released', 'public', 'soon', 'details', 'become', 'known', 'safe', 'secure', 'need', 'encourage', 'create', 'environment', 'business', 'third', 'cybercrime', 'growing', 'problem', 'need', 'proactive', 'cybercrime', 'deterred', 'protect', 'communities', 'offline', 'real', 'world', 'strong', 'cop', 'beat', 'forms', 'social', 'civil', 'rules', 'road', 'fourth', 'need', 'work', 'businesses', 'state', 'territory', 'governments', 'better', 'secure', 'critical', 'infrastructure', 'involve', 'better', 'coordination', 'strong', 'legislation', 'reform', 'appropriate']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/nov/22/cars-outgrew-car-park-spaces-wider-size

If you haven’t had a ding, you’ve probably had a job squeezing yourself out of your car, pushing limbs through the door like an octopus escaping an aquarium. At its worst, car parking can be a trial of stress and bodily contortion. What’s to blame? Fat cars. A vehicular obesity epidemic is reportedly putting a strain on the nation’s multistoreys, where accidents are on the rise. According to Accident Exchange, a courtesy-car firm, there are now almost 2,000 parking prangs a day. Cars are growing, thanks to the addition of safety features and our demands for more space, but, like airline seats, parking spaces are not keeping up. In the 1970s, when the earliest VW Golfs were a modest 1.6 metres across, the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation recommended a standard bay size of 2.4 metres by 4.8 metres. Including mirrors, a new Golf today is 2.027 metres wide, almost as fat as a Range Rover. “The standard hasn’t really changed since then and we generally still work on that basis depending on usage type,” says Glynn Rhodes, a partner at Hill Cannon Consulting. The Harrogate firm, which has designed or consulted on thousands of car parks since the 1960s, goes for 2.3-metre bays in airport long-stays, for example, or 2.5 metres in, say, a shopping centre. NCP, which has more than 600 car parks, says it also observes the 2.4-metre standard, but is adding 2.5-metre bays in some sites, including the new Grand Central shopping centre in Birmingham. “It is an extremely fine balance between a demand for wider spaces versus complaints over a car park being full,” the company has said in a statement. (See also: profits.) Rhodes says Buckinghamshire county council has approved a new guideline of 2.8 metres. “That is an absolutely incredible size,” he adds. But wait, there’s bigger. Q-Park, a Dutch firm with more than 60 sites in the UK, has introduced a small number of 3.6-metre “superbays” (its own standard is 2.5 metres). “We are also introducing angle bays because they’re much easier to enter and exit,” says John Denton, head of sales and marketing. Prangs are bad for business, he adds. But the future of parking is, like everything else, robotic. At Düsseldorf airport, premium parkers enter flight details on a touchscreen and hand their cars to a robo-valet called Ray. The machine slides under the wheels and slots the car into storage, monitoring arrivals to retrieve it at the right time. Unitronics, an Israeli company, builds automated car parks with lower head heights and tight packing. The company claims its 373-car project in New Jersey occupies the space of a four-storey building, whereas a traditional car park would have required 10 storeys. Self-driving cars will reduce the space required for parking even further, particularly if we agree to share them. “Having parking wedded or close to where people spend time, that’s going to be a thing of the past,” Prof Alain Kornhauser, a transport expert at Princeton University, told design website Curbed in August: “If I go to a football game, my car doesn’t need to stay with me. If I’m at the office, it doesn’t need to be there.” And if it does need to find an automated car park for a robo-rest, it’s not going to bump into anything.

technology/shortcuts/2016/nov/22/cars-outgrew-car-park-spaces-wider-size

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2016-11-22T16:02:22Z

How our cars outgrew our car park spaces

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/nov/22/cars-outgrew-car-park-spaces-wider-size

['ding', 'probably', 'job', 'squeezing', 'car', 'pushing', 'limbs', 'door', 'like', 'octopus', 'escaping', 'aquarium', 'worst', 'car', 'parking', 'trial', 'stress', 'bodily', 'contortion', 'blame', 'fat', 'cars', 'vehicular', 'obesity', 'epidemic', 'reportedly', 'putting', 'strain', 'nation', 'multistoreys', 'accidents', 'rise', 'according', 'accident', 'exchange', 'courtesy-car', 'firm', 'almost', 'parking', 'prangs', 'day', 'cars', 'growing', 'thanks', 'addition', 'safety', 'features', 'demands', 'space', 'like', 'airline', 'seats', 'parking', 'spaces', 'keeping', '1970s', 'earliest', 'vw', 'golfs', 'modest', 'metres', 'across', 'institution', 'structural', 'engineers', 'chartered', 'institution', 'highways', 'transportation', 'recommended', 'standard', 'bay', 'size', 'metres', 'metres', 'including', 'mirrors', 'new', 'golf', 'today', 'metres', 'wide', 'almost', 'fat', 'range', 'rover', 'standard', 'really', 'changed', 'since', 'generally', 'still', 'work', 'basis', 'depending', 'usage', 'type', 'says', 'glynn', 'rhodes', 'partner', 'hill', 'cannon', 'consulting', 'harrogate', 'firm', 'designed', 'consulted', 'thousands', 'car', 'parks', 'since', '1960s', 'goes', '23-metre', 'bays', 'airport', 'long-stays', 'example', 'metres', 'say', 'shopping', 'centre', 'ncp', 'car', 'parks', 'says', 'also', 'observes', '24-metre', 'standard', 'adding', '25-metre', 'bays', 'sites', 'including', 'new', 'grand', 'central', 'shopping', 'centre', 'birmingham', 'extremely', 'fine', 'balance', 'demand', 'wider', 'spaces', 'versus', 'complaints', 'car', 'park', 'full', 'company', 'said', 'statement', 'see', 'also', 'profits', 'rhodes', 'says', 'buckinghamshire', 'county', 'council', 'approved', 'new', 'guideline', 'metres', 'absolutely', 'incredible', 'size', 'adds', 'wait', 'bigger', 'q-park', 'dutch', 'firm', 'sites', 'uk', 'introduced', 'small', 'number', '36-metre', 'superbays', 'standard', 'metres', 'also', 'introducing', 'angle', 'bays', 'much', 'easier', 'enter', 'exit', 'says', 'john', 'denton', 'head', 'sales', 'marketing', 'prangs', 'bad', 'business', 'adds', 'future', 'parking', 'like', 'everything', 'else', 'robotic', 'dusseldorf', 'airport', 'premium', 'parkers', 'enter', 'flight', 'details', 'touchscreen', 'hand', 'cars', 'robo-valet', 'called', 'ray', 'machine', 'slides', 'wheels', 'slots', 'car', 'storage', 'monitoring', 'arrivals', 'retrieve', 'right', 'time', 'unitronics', 'israeli', 'company', 'builds', 'automated', 'car', 'parks', 'lower', 'head', 'heights', 'tight', 'packing', 'company', 'claims', '373-car', 'project', 'new', 'jersey', 'occupies', 'space', 'four-storey', 'building', 'whereas', 'traditional', 'car', 'park', 'would', 'required', 'storeys', 'self-driving', 'cars', 'reduce', 'space', 'required', 'parking', 'even', 'particularly', 'agree', 'share', 'parking', 'wedded', 'close', 'people', 'spend', 'time', 'going', 'thing', 'past', 'prof', 'alain', 'kornhauser', 'transport', 'expert', 'princeton', 'university', 'told', 'design', 'website', 'curbed', 'august', 'go', 'football', 'game', 'car', 'need', 'stay', 'office', 'need', 'need', 'find', 'automated', 'car', 'park', 'robo-rest', 'going', 'bump', 'anything']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/uber-drivers-go-slow-protest-central-london-minimum-wage-guarantee

More than a hundred Uber drivers have mounted a go-slow protest through central London to put pressure on the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to insist the US company guarantee the minimum wage. At least 100 Uber minicabs drove at walking pace down Edgware Road and Park Lane towards Westminster on Tuesday, honking their horns and blocking traffic as drivers angry at low pay for long hours stepped up direct action against the San Fransisco-based firm. The protest infuriated some drivers who found themselves blocked behind a line of slow-moving Toyota Prius cars. One angry black-cab driver shouted: “Do the knowledge!” a reference to the way cabbies have to memorise streets before getting their license rather than rely on GPS maps as Uber drivers do. The action was organised by James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, who three weeks ago won a crucial employment tribunal verdict that Uber should treat its drivers as workers rather then self-employed. The ruling means drivers should be paid the national minimum wage, receive sick pay and holidays. Uber said it would appeal the judgment. Farrar and Aslam have established a representative group for minicab drivers, mostly working for Uber, called United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD). “In May 2017, Uber’s licence comes up for renewal and the mayor has a duty to assess whether they are fit and proper to hold a licence,” said Farrar. “He must assess that Uber respects workers’ rights in order to continue having an operator’s licence in London.” UPHD also sent a letter to Khan apologising for the disruption of its protest, but suggested Uber’s business model resulted in “abuses that would be more fitting of Victorian era London than a 21st-century global mega city”. It said: “The fact that such abuses are carried out in a trade which is licensed and supervised by TfL [Transport for London] on behalf of all Londoners is nothing short of a public scandal. More than that, drivers working up to 90 hours a week on £5 per hour presents a significant public safety risk.” Uber insists that its drivers earn more and said that the only case of a driver earning £5 per hour over 90 hours was because they were declining fares. But several drivers who took time off work to join the protest said their earnings were below the legal minimum. “I am working 70 to 80 hours a week, which comes out at £4 an hour which is below the minimum wage,” said Ibrahim, 30, an Uber driver for 18 months. “With these hours, people are going to be falling sick and filling up the NHS and they will be falling back on to benefits,” said Mujeeb, an Uber driver who said he worked 70 to 80 hours a week and only took home about £250after paying his expenses. “If the government doesn’t act, it will cost them.” An Uber spokesperson defended the business model, and said: “Tens of thousands of licensed drivers in London choose to partner with Uber because they love the freedom and flexibility of being their own boss.” It claimed its own polling showed 90% of drivers were “satisfied with driving with Uber, and a majority say the amount of money they make, as well their ability to balance work and family life, has increased since they started driving with us. “We’re proud of the economic opportunities we have created for people who can choose to drive when and where they want. Drivers using our app made average payments of more than £16 an hour after Uber’s service fee this September, and 20% of drivers were logged into the app for 10 hours or less a week with just 25% logged in for 40 or more hours per week.”

technology/2016/nov/22/uber-drivers-go-slow-protest-central-london-minimum-wage-guarantee

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2016-11-22T14:55:59Z

Uber drivers stage go-slow protest through central London

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/uber-drivers-go-slow-protest-central-london-minimum-wage-guarantee

['hundred', 'uber', 'drivers', 'mounted', 'go-slow', 'protest', 'central', 'london', 'put', 'pressure', 'city', 'mayor', 'sadiq', 'khan', 'insist', 'us', 'company', 'guarantee', 'minimum', 'wage', 'least', 'uber', 'minicabs', 'drove', 'walking', 'pace', 'edgware', 'road', 'park', 'lane', 'towards', 'westminster', 'tuesday', 'honking', 'horns', 'blocking', 'traffic', 'drivers', 'angry', 'low', 'pay', 'long', 'hours', 'stepped', 'direct', 'action', 'san', 'fransisco-based', 'firm', 'protest', 'infuriated', 'drivers', 'found', 'blocked', 'behind', 'line', 'slow-moving', 'toyota', 'prius', 'cars', 'one', 'angry', 'black-cab', 'driver', 'shouted', 'knowledge', 'reference', 'way', 'cabbies', 'memorise', 'streets', 'getting', 'license', 'rather', 'rely', 'gps', 'maps', 'uber', 'drivers', 'action', 'organised', 'james', 'farrar', 'yaseen', 'aslam', 'three', 'weeks', 'ago', 'crucial', 'employment', 'tribunal', 'verdict', 'uber', 'treat', 'drivers', 'workers', 'rather', 'self-employed', 'ruling', 'means', 'drivers', 'paid', 'national', 'minimum', 'wage', 'receive', 'sick', 'pay', 'holidays', 'uber', 'said', 'would', 'appeal', 'judgment', 'farrar', 'aslam', 'established', 'representative', 'group', 'minicab', 'drivers', 'mostly', 'working', 'uber', 'called', 'united', 'private', 'hire', 'drivers', 'uphd', 'may', 'uber', 'licence', 'comes', 'renewal', 'mayor', 'duty', 'assess', 'whether', 'fit', 'proper', 'hold', 'licence', 'said', 'farrar', 'must', 'assess', 'uber', 'respects', 'workers', 'rights', 'order', 'continue', 'operator', 'licence', 'london', 'uphd', 'also', 'sent', 'letter', 'khan', 'apologising', 'disruption', 'protest', 'suggested', 'uber', 'business', 'model', 'resulted', 'abuses', 'would', 'fitting', 'victorian', 'era', 'london', '21st-century', 'global', 'mega', 'city', 'said', 'fact', 'abuses', 'carried', 'trade', 'licensed', 'supervised', 'tfl', 'transport', 'london', 'behalf', 'londoners', 'nothing', 'short', 'public', 'scandal', 'drivers', 'working', 'hours', 'week', 'per', 'hour', 'presents', 'significant', 'public', 'safety', 'risk', 'uber', 'insists', 'drivers', 'earn', 'said', 'case', 'driver', 'earning', 'per', 'hour', 'hours', 'declining', 'fares', 'several', 'drivers', 'took', 'time', 'work', 'join', 'protest', 'said', 'earnings', 'legal', 'minimum', 'working', 'hours', 'week', 'comes', 'hour', 'minimum', 'wage', 'said', 'ibrahim', 'uber', 'driver', 'months', 'hours', 'people', 'going', 'falling', 'sick', 'filling', 'nhs', 'falling', 'back', 'benefits', 'said', 'mujeeb', 'uber', 'driver', 'said', 'worked', 'hours', 'week', 'took', 'home', '250after', 'paying', 'expenses', 'government', 'act', 'cost', 'uber', 'spokesperson', 'defended', 'business', 'model', 'said', 'tens', 'thousands', 'licensed', 'drivers', 'london', 'choose', 'partner', 'uber', 'love', 'freedom', 'flexibility', 'boss', 'claimed', 'polling', 'showed', 'drivers', 'satisfied', 'driving', 'uber', 'majority', 'say', 'amount', 'money', 'make', 'well', 'ability', 'balance', 'work', 'family', 'life', 'increased', 'since', 'started', 'driving', 'us', 'proud', 'economic', 'opportunities', 'created', 'people', 'choose', 'drive', 'want', 'drivers', 'using', 'app', 'made', 'average', 'payments', 'hour', 'uber', 'service', 'fee', 'september', 'drivers', 'logged', 'app', 'hours', 'less', 'week', 'logged', 'hours', 'per', 'week']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/google-bar-shop-busy-real-time-live-data-black-friday

Google’s latest feature will tell you how busy a place is in real-time before you set off. The new extension to the Popular Times feature added to Google Maps and search in July 2015 has been upgraded with a live feed of how busy a place is for certain venues. With a new “Live” tag, Maps now displays a red overlay on top of the historic busy period data showing whether it really is busy or quiet as usual at the moment. The feature uses anonymised location data from other Google users, as well as searches, to analyse how busy it is at that moment. While predicted busy times from historic data is generally useful, at sales times or when transport conditions are less than ideal, the flow of people might increase at normally quiet times. The feature is being rolled out ahead of the busy Black Friday shopping period, but could equally be useful for checking out whether a particular bar or cinema is packed among other venues with variable busy times. Google Maps, like others such as CityMapper, already displays live traffic and public transport congestion information pulled from both public data and other Google Maps and Waze users. The introduction of live data is one of the big differentiators for mapping apps along with indoor navigation and libraries of store and points of interests data. Google has also expanded the extra information Maps displays, including data on how long people generally stay in the venue or location, as well as opening hours for concessions and departments within a larger store or business, which are set by the individual businesses. Google reverses decision to ban Pixel phone resellers Google commits to massive new London headquarters

technology/2016/nov/22/google-bar-shop-busy-real-time-live-data-black-friday

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2016-11-22T13:18:12Z

Google will now tell you whether a bar or shop is busy in real-time

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/google-bar-shop-busy-real-time-live-data-black-friday

['google', 'latest', 'feature', 'tell', 'busy', 'place', 'real-time', 'set', 'new', 'extension', 'popular', 'times', 'feature', 'added', 'google', 'maps', 'search', 'july', 'upgraded', 'live', 'feed', 'busy', 'place', 'certain', 'venues', 'new', 'live', 'tag', 'maps', 'displays', 'red', 'overlay', 'top', 'historic', 'busy', 'period', 'data', 'showing', 'whether', 'really', 'busy', 'quiet', 'usual', 'moment', 'feature', 'uses', 'anonymised', 'location', 'data', 'google', 'users', 'well', 'searches', 'analyse', 'busy', 'moment', 'predicted', 'busy', 'times', 'historic', 'data', 'generally', 'useful', 'sales', 'times', 'transport', 'conditions', 'less', 'ideal', 'flow', 'people', 'might', 'increase', 'normally', 'quiet', 'times', 'feature', 'rolled', 'ahead', 'busy', 'black', 'friday', 'shopping', 'period', 'could', 'equally', 'useful', 'checking', 'whether', 'particular', 'bar', 'cinema', 'packed', 'among', 'venues', 'variable', 'busy', 'times', 'google', 'maps', 'like', 'others', 'citymapper', 'already', 'displays', 'live', 'traffic', 'public', 'transport', 'congestion', 'information', 'pulled', 'public', 'data', 'google', 'maps', 'waze', 'users', 'introduction', 'live', 'data', 'one', 'big', 'differentiators', 'mapping', 'apps', 'along', 'indoor', 'navigation', 'libraries', 'store', 'points', 'interests', 'data', 'google', 'also', 'expanded', 'extra', 'information', 'maps', 'displays', 'including', 'data', 'long', 'people', 'generally', 'stay', 'venue', 'location', 'well', 'opening', 'hours', 'concessions', 'departments', 'within', 'larger', 'store', 'business', 'set', 'individual', 'businesses', 'google', 'reverses', 'decision', 'ban', 'pixel', 'phone', 'resellers', 'google', 'commits', 'massive', 'new', 'london', 'headquarters']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/facebook-solar-powered-aquila-drone-under-investigation

Facebook has hit a hitch in its plans to use a solar-powered unmanned drone to provide internet access to developing nations, after it was revealed the American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into an accident on the drone’s first test flight in June. At the time, Facebook described the flight as “successful”: the drone, called Aquila, stayed aloft for 96 minutes, three times the planned duration. “We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Jay Parikh, Facebook’s head of engineering and infrastructure, wrote when Facebook revealed the test flight, in late July. “In our next tests, we will fly Aquila faster, higher and longer, eventually taking it above 60,000 feet.” In a second, more technical, blogpost published that same day, Facebook’s Martin Luis Gomez and Andrew Cox acknowledged the failure in passing. “Our first flight lasted three times longer than the minimum mission length, so we were able to gather data on how the structure and autopilot responded under a range of real-world conditions to help verify these predictions,” they wrote. “We are still analysing the results of the extended test, including a structural failure we experienced just before landing. We hope to share more details on this and other structural tests in the future,” Cox and Gomez added. It has now come to light that the “structural failure” led to an NTSB investigation, according to a report seen by Bloomberg News. The failure was classified by the NTSB as an “accident”, which requires “substantial” damage. The drone is intended to boost Facebook’s Internet.org project to bring a billion people online, by flying at a higher altitude than commercial planes and beaming data down to earth using lasers. The goal is for the plane to occupy a similar niche to satellites in providing access to remote areas, without the exorbitant launch costs that come with space-based communications technology. The drone is physically little more than a lightweight wing with solar panels on the top, ensuring it can fly for extended periods of time without landing. Aquila was developed in Bridgwater, Somerset, by a team Facebook acquired for $20m back in 2014. Formerly a consultancy called Ascenta, the team is led by 51-year old engineer Andrew Cox.

technology/2016/nov/22/facebook-solar-powered-aquila-drone-under-investigation

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2016-11-22T12:47:51Z

Facebook's solar-powered drone under investigation after 'accident'

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/facebook-solar-powered-aquila-drone-under-investigation

['facebook', 'hit', 'hitch', 'plans', 'use', 'solar-powered', 'unmanned', 'drone', 'provide', 'internet', 'access', 'developing', 'nations', 'revealed', 'american', 'national', 'transportation', 'safety', 'board', 'ntsb', 'opened', 'investigation', 'accident', 'drone', 'first', 'test', 'flight', 'june', 'time', 'facebook', 'described', 'flight', 'successful', 'drone', 'called', 'aquila', 'stayed', 'aloft', 'minutes', 'three', 'times', 'planned', 'duration', 'lot', 'work', 'ahead', 'us', 'jay', 'parikh', 'facebook', 'head', 'engineering', 'infrastructure', 'wrote', 'facebook', 'revealed', 'test', 'flight', 'late', 'july', 'next', 'tests', 'fly', 'aquila', 'faster', 'higher', 'longer', 'eventually', 'taking', 'feet', 'second', 'technical', 'blogpost', 'published', 'day', 'facebook', 'martin', 'luis', 'gomez', 'andrew', 'cox', 'acknowledged', 'failure', 'passing', 'first', 'flight', 'lasted', 'three', 'times', 'longer', 'minimum', 'mission', 'length', 'able', 'gather', 'data', 'structure', 'autopilot', 'responded', 'range', 'real-world', 'conditions', 'help', 'verify', 'predictions', 'wrote', 'still', 'analysing', 'results', 'extended', 'test', 'including', 'structural', 'failure', 'experienced', 'landing', 'hope', 'share', 'details', 'structural', 'tests', 'future', 'cox', 'gomez', 'added', 'come', 'light', 'structural', 'failure', 'led', 'ntsb', 'investigation', 'according', 'report', 'seen', 'bloomberg', 'news', 'failure', 'classified', 'ntsb', 'accident', 'requires', 'substantial', 'damage', 'drone', 'intended', 'boost', 'facebook', 'internetorg', 'project', 'bring', 'billion', 'people', 'online', 'flying', 'higher', 'altitude', 'commercial', 'planes', 'beaming', 'data', 'earth', 'using', 'lasers', 'goal', 'plane', 'occupy', 'similar', 'niche', 'satellites', 'providing', 'access', 'remote', 'areas', 'without', 'exorbitant', 'launch', 'costs', 'come', 'space-based', 'communications', 'technology', 'drone', 'physically', 'little', 'lightweight', 'wing', 'solar', 'panels', 'top', 'ensuring', 'fly', 'extended', 'periods', 'time', 'without', 'landing', 'aquila', 'developed', 'bridgwater', 'somerset', 'team', 'facebook', 'acquired', '20m', 'back', 'formerly', 'consultancy', 'called', 'ascenta', 'team', 'led', '51-year', 'old', 'engineer', 'andrew', 'cox']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/apple-stops-making-wireless-airport-routers-shuts-division

Apple has closed the division responsible for designing its wireless routers, reassigning the employees within the company and putting an end to its 17-year-old AirPort product line, sources close to the company have confirmed. The iPhone-maker currently sells three router devices developed by the division: the £99 AirPort Express, a small wireless access point, the £199 AirPort Extreme, a larger wireless router, and the Time Capsule, a wireless router with an in-built hard drive for backups, which is available in two sizes for £299 and £399. But none of the devices have been updated since 2013, after years of near-annual alterations to support the latest wireless networking technologies. Bloomberg News reports: “Apple began shutting down the wireless router team over the past year, dispersing engineers to other product development groups.” Beneficiaries include the Apple TV division, which saw a major boost in importance last October when the fourth generation of its hardware was released. The shutdown of the AirPort division is an attempt to “sharpen the company’s focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue”, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The overwhelming bulk of Apple’s revenue comes from its iPhone division, with Macs and iPads reported as separate units in its financial statements. Every single other piece of hardware, including the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and all of Apple’s accessories, is bundled into an “Other Products” category, which brings in less than 5% of Apple’s overall revenue – less than the amount Apple makes from “services” like the iTunes Store and iCloud. As a result, Apple has apparently been discontinuing numerous hardware products. When it launched the new MacBook Pro in October, it demonstrated the device with a premium 5K monitor made by LG. Until that month, Apple had made its own high-end monitors, which were quietly removed from sale after the press conference. Years ago, Apple used to have a much larger accessory division. Over its history, the company has made printers, digital cameras, and external modems, but slowly killed all those divisions as it honed its core business. Of those accessories it does still sell, some, such as the company’s Pencil, can’t be provided by third parties for technical reasons. But Apple does still compete directly with accessory manufacturers in a few areas, including cases, cables and keyboards, as well as mice, headphones and adapter dongles. iPhone ‘prank’ video crashes Apple smartphones

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2016-11-22T11:41:43Z

Apple stops making wireless routers and shuts division

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/apple-stops-making-wireless-airport-routers-shuts-division

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/22/iphone-prank-video-apple-smartphones-crash-bug-miaopai

A link to a video, which when watched slows down any iPhone until it crashes, is being used as the latest iPhone crash prank. The video from the Sina Weibo-backed video-sharing app Miaopai plays normally in the iPhone’s video player, but once the video is finished it can take up to a minute for the iPhone to lock up, requiring a forced reboot to recover it. Most people are unaware anything has happened, continuing to use their smartphone until it either won’t turn back on or locks up in an app, the home screen or with a spinning loading logo on a black screen. The bug, which appears to involve the media handling functions of iOS, affects versions of the operating system as far back as iOS 5 and devices from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 7. The older the smartphone, the faster the lockup occurs. The lockup is not permanent, but requires a soft reset or forced reboot to recover the functionality of the iPhone. On an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus users will need to hold down the power and down volume buttons until they see the Apple logo. On the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus or older Apple smartphones, users need to hold down the power and home buttons until they see the Apple logo. Once the iPhones reboot, everything appears to function as normal. Apple’s iPhone has a history of strange links and bugs crashing the device as a prank. In January, a link sent to an iPhone user and opening in Safari would crash the browser and force the smartphone to reboot. The bug also affected Android devices and computers, although to a lesser extent. Perhaps the most prolific crash bug prank for the iPhone used the “effective power” text message that caused the recipients’ smartphone to crash without needing to be opened. Apple has not replied to a request for comment. Wi-Fi hack creates ‘no iOS zone’ that cripples iPhones and iPads

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2016-11-22T09:57:41Z

iPhone 'prank' video crashes Apple smartphones

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/iphone-prank-video-apple-smartphones-crash-bug-miaopai

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/21/more-than-1bn-faster-uk-broadband-autumn-statement

The chancellor will deploy more than £1bn to boost broadband speeds for up 2m homes and businesses as part of an infrastructure plan to be outlined in the autumn statement. Responding to calls from business for the government to back the digital economy, Philip Hammond will back a £400m digitalinfrastructure fund, which the Treasury expects will be matched by private sector investors. He will also offer local authorities the chance to bid for a slice of a £740m fund to trial superfast 5G mobile networks, linking them to fibre-optic systems to provide greater wireless capacity. The move follows announcements that £1.3bn will be released for maintenance and improvements to the road network and £2bn for extra science, and research and development spending. Hammond is concerned that Britain is falling behind in the race to install the latest fibre-optic networks that allow TV box sets and large data files to be downloaded quickly. South Korea, Japan and China have moved more quickly than most other developed countries to introduce fast broadband and mobile networks. Last year South Korea claimed it would lead the world in 5G, making it a destination for business investment and digital businesses. In September China asked telecoms providers to bid to install 5G networks in major cities after a year-long trial. The Treasury wants businesses to be “well placed to exploit the opportunities arising from 5G and future digital services,” according to a source. It expects smaller broadband operators to borrow from the digital infrastructure fund to compete with BT, Virgin and Sky for customers who need faster connection speeds and capacity. Families will find they can download a series of Game of Thrones in one minute once they are connected to a 5G network, the source said. “Full-fibre is the future of broadband, helping people to share digital content faster with friends and family, stream Ultra-HD TV without buffering, and use virtual reality to change how we engage with the world. “It’s also more reliable and secure than traditional copper internet cables, so businesses and consumers will always have internet access when they need it,” they said. Britain already has one of the most comprehensive digital networks among developed world economies, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but it also ranks as one of the most expensive for consumers and businesses to use. More businesses are connected in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Germany than the UK, according to OECD figures, though it is not known whether the cost of a monthly connection is a deterrent. The CBI listed a digital infrastructure fund on its list of demands for the autumn statement and is expected to welcome the government’s move. Hammond will say that the funding could increase to nearer £1.5bn over the life of the project, which runs until 2021, once private sector funds are included.

technology/2016/nov/21/more-than-1bn-faster-uk-broadband-autumn-statement

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2016-11-22T00:10:11Z

More than £1bn for faster UK broadband in autumn statement

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/21/more-than-1bn-faster-uk-broadband-autumn-statement

['chancellor', 'deploy', '1bn', 'boost', 'broadband', 'speeds', '2m', 'homes', 'businesses', 'part', 'infrastructure', 'plan', 'outlined', 'autumn', 'statement', 'responding', 'calls', 'business', 'government', 'back', 'digital', 'economy', 'philip', 'hammond', 'back', '400m', 'digitalinfrastructure', 'fund', 'treasury', 'expects', 'matched', 'private', 'sector', 'investors', 'also', 'offer', 'local', 'authorities', 'chance', 'bid', 'slice', '740m', 'fund', 'trial', 'superfast', '5g', 'mobile', 'networks', 'linking', 'fibre-optic', 'systems', 'provide', 'greater', 'wireless', 'capacity', 'move', 'follows', 'announcements', '13bn', 'released', 'maintenance', 'improvements', 'road', 'network', '2bn', 'extra', 'science', 'research', 'development', 'spending', 'hammond', 'concerned', 'britain', 'falling', 'behind', 'race', 'install', 'latest', 'fibre-optic', 'networks', 'allow', 'tv', 'box', 'sets', 'large', 'data', 'files', 'downloaded', 'quickly', 'south', 'korea', 'japan', 'china', 'moved', 'quickly', 'developed', 'countries', 'introduce', 'fast', 'broadband', 'mobile', 'networks', 'last', 'year', 'south', 'korea', 'claimed', 'would', 'lead', 'world', '5g', 'making', 'destination', 'business', 'investment', 'digital', 'businesses', 'september', 'china', 'asked', 'telecoms', 'providers', 'bid', 'install', '5g', 'networks', 'major', 'cities', 'year-long', 'trial', 'treasury', 'wants', 'businesses', 'well', 'placed', 'exploit', 'opportunities', 'arising', '5g', 'future', 'digital', 'services', 'according', 'source', 'expects', 'smaller', 'broadband', 'operators', 'borrow', 'digital', 'infrastructure', 'fund', 'compete', 'bt', 'virgin', 'sky', 'customers', 'need', 'faster', 'connection', 'speeds', 'capacity', 'families', 'find', 'download', 'series', 'game', 'thrones', 'one', 'minute', 'connected', '5g', 'network', 'source', 'said', 'full-fibre', 'future', 'broadband', 'helping', 'people', 'share', 'digital', 'content', 'faster', 'friends', 'family', 'stream', 'ultra-hd', 'tv', 'without', 'buffering', 'use', 'virtual', 'reality', 'change', 'engage', 'world', 'also', 'reliable', 'secure', 'traditional', 'copper', 'internet', 'cables', 'businesses', 'consumers', 'always', 'internet', 'access', 'need', 'said', 'britain', 'already', 'one', 'comprehensive', 'digital', 'networks', 'among', 'developed', 'world', 'economies', 'according', 'organisation', 'economic', 'cooperation', 'development', 'oecd', 'also', 'ranks', 'one', 'expensive', 'consumers', 'businesses', 'use', 'businesses', 'connected', 'spain', 'france', 'netherlands', 'germany', 'uk', 'according', 'oecd', 'figures', 'though', 'known', 'whether', 'cost', 'monthly', 'connection', 'deterrent', 'cbi', 'listed', 'digital', 'infrastructure', 'fund', 'list', 'demands', 'autumn', 'statement', 'expected', 'welcome', 'government', 'move', 'hammond', 'say', 'funding', 'could', 'increase', 'nearer', '15bn', 'life', 'project', 'runs', 'private', 'sector', 'funds', 'included']

https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/21/simon-ramo-obituary

Simon Ramo, who has died aged 103, was a great of American corporate science who described himself as a “hybrid of a scientist, engineer and entrepreneur”. But it was his role, from 1953 onwards, as the father of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), that would make Ramo a key figure in the American technocratic elite, and in the shaping of the cold war. Ramo had made his mark with the Hughes Aircraft Company – but his association with the defence contractor and its maverick owner, Howard Hughes, ended one Saturday morning in the summer of 1953. A Hughes Chevrolet picked Ramo up from his home in Santa Monica, California, and drove him to a nearby beach house-cum-mansion built by the press baron William Randolph Hearst – the model for Citizen Kane – for his movie star lover Marion Davies. There, Ramo had the last of his encounters with Hughes. The multimillionaire recluse, wrote the scientist, was “eccentric, uneducated, uninformed [and] virtually out of communication with the world”. Thanks largely to Ramo and his business partner Dean Wooldridge, Hughes Aircraft, once a minor part of the Hughes Tool Company, had become, in just seven years, extremely lucrative – and a powerhouse for the US military. But Ramo, wearying of Hughes’s paranoia, had quit the company. In the Pacific shore mansion, Hughes was sifting through the wreckage, angling for a deal. It never came. Instead, the new Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation (R-W) put its impetus and systems engineering into the first generation of ICBMs. And, from the late 1950s, what became Thompson Ramo Wooldridge (TRW) was also supplying technology – and technologists – to Nasa, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. By the end of the 60s, said Ramo, 1% of living physicists worked for TRW. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969, TRW provided the module’s descent engine. In 1970 the same engine powered the crippled Apollo 13 on its return from the moon – while TRW technicians were programming its escape trajectory. Ramo had the talent to second-guess US strategic thinking – from the implications of the A-bomb, through the space race to President Ronald Reagan’s “star wars” fantasy and beyond – and he was also a stern critic of US science policy. From 1936 until 1946, he had been a leader in microwave and electron microscope research at General Electric’s headquarters in Schenectady, New York state. And after the second world war, while US industry was refocusing on civilian production, Ramo’s hunch was that, following the 1945 nuclear attack on Japan, the Soviet Union would rapidly acquire the A-bomb, generating in turn a huge American response. Ramo had resolved to abandon the bureaucratic rigidity of GE and set up his own business, but then he and Wooldridge were recruited to Hughes Aircraft, a company with flexibility – because it was a company in crisis. Having received $60m in wartime government contracts, Hughes had failed to produce any combat aircraft. “Howard,” Ramo was told, “is only interested in girls and aeroplanes – in that order.” Hughes’s aeronautical fantasies were then embodied in the semi-flightless wooden wonder, the Spruce Goose flying boat. “I was impressed with both its colossal size,” Ramo wrote in The Business of Science (1988), “and the lack of common sense which could have led to such a project.” By 1948 Ramo was vice-president and director of operations with the firm’s aerospace group, working with the newly independent US Air Force, and its nuclear-bomber-equipped Strategic Air Command. In 1949, confirming Ramo’s hunch, the first Soviet A-bomb was detonated. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. The cold war intensified, and the Hughes Aircraft Company, ranging across missiles, radar, fire-control units and navigation systems, boomed. But Hughes, wrote Ramo, came close “to sinking the whole enterprise”. “You have made a hell of a mess of a great property,” the air force secretary Harold Talbott told Hughes in 1953, but by then Ramo and Wooldridge were creating R-W. “The new company,” wrote Ramo, “… would become profitable in its second week.” Key USAF personnel – not in uniform – were based at R-W, and from 1954 to 1958 Ramo directed the US ICBM programme, which included the Titan ICBM and the Thor intermediate range missile. The first US ICBM, the Atlas, was eventually successfully test-fired for its full 6,000-mile range in late 1958. An earlier launch had ended six inches above the pad. “Now we know the thing can fly,” Ramo had observed, “all we have to do is improve its range a bit.” In October 1957, amid western alarm, the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik, the first satellite. A dormant R-W subsidiary, Space Technology Laboratories (later Bunker-Ramo), was activated to spearhead R-W’s contribution to the space race. Ramo’s hunches had again proved perceptive, but he retained many reservations about the manned civilian space programme, even as the Atlas became a Nasa workhorse. By 1961, Ramo concluded that the US had won the ICBM race – and rockets were shifting the priorities of nuclear deterrence from manned aircraft, among all the nuclear powers. Ramo was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the second son of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants. His father, Benjamin, came from Brest-Litovsk, now in Belarus, and his mother, Clara (nee Trestman), from the Kiev region of Ukraine. Together they ran a workwear store – with their son bookkeeping and shelf-stacking. As a 12-year-old, Ramo was deliberating between a career as a violinist or a scientist – until he heard the sublime Jascha Heifetz in concert in his home town (they later became friends), which tipped him towards science, as he knew he could never be that good. Nonetheless, at 16, Ramo won a music contest that provided him, in the year of the Wall Street crash, with a scholarship to the University of Utah. In 1933 Ramo became the university’s youngest graduate when he emerged with top grades in electrical engineering. In 1936 he took a combined doctorate in physics and in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). There Ramo first met Wooldridge. In that year, too, at a time when jobs were scarce and young scientists plentiful, it was Ramo’s talent as a violinist that gave him the extra edge and won him a job at the vast GE corporation, where, by 1943, he had registered 25 patents. Three years later came the move to Hughes Aircraft and the beginning of Ramo’s ascent to the American scientific pantheon. He was an adviser to presidents from Eisenhower onwards, and he taught and researched at many universities, including California, Caltech and Harvard. From the 40s until recent years, he also published extensively on science and management, and even wrote a book on tennis. Ramo was awarded more than a dozen honorary degrees, and other honours, included the National Medal of Science (1979), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1982) and the Space Foundation’s lifetime achievement award (2007). He received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Founders medal – and in 1982 the IEEE created the Simon Ramo medal, honouring systems engineers and scientists. In 2014, aged 100, Ramo became the oldest person to receive a patent, having, by then, accumulated more than 40. His wife, Virginia (nee Smith), whom he married in 1937, died in 2007. He is survived by their two sons, James and Alan, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. • Simon Ramo, entrepreneur and engineer, born 7 May 1913; died 27 June 2016

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2016-11-21T13:23:21Z

Simon Ramo obituary

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/21/simon-ramo-obituary

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/21/apple-replace-iphone-6s-batteries

Apple will replace the batteries on its iPhone 6S free of charge after discovering a fault with the 2015 top-end smartphone. The company has started a free repair programme for iPhone 6S smartphones manufactured between September and October 2015. Apple said in a support document published on Sunday: “Apple has determined that a very small number of iPhone 6s devices may unexpectedly shut down. “If your iPhone 6s has any damage such as a cracked screen which impairs the replacement of the battery, that issue will need to be resolved prior to the battery replacement. In some cases, there may be a cost associated with the repair.” Checking whether your iPhone 6S is eligible for the free repair requires a trip to an Apple store or authorised service centre. Mobile phone network stores are not part of the service programme. Apple is also offering refunds for those who have already paid to replace their batteries for the same issue. The smartphone maker recently kicked off a repair programme for the so-called touch disease affecting the iPhone 6 Plus, which starts as a thin grey line on the display and eventually renders the phone’s touchscreen inoperative. Apple charges £146.44 for affected devices with unbroken screen glass to repair the touchscreen issues. iPhone 6S debrief: one year on, how did it do? iPhone 7 review: how good can a phone be if the battery doesn’t last even a day?

technology/2016/nov/21/apple-replace-iphone-6s-batteries

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2016-11-21T10:52:14Z

Apple to replace some iPhone 6S batteries free of charge

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/21/apple-replace-iphone-6s-batteries

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https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/nov/21/facebook-hire-500-uk-workers-opens-london-hq-fitzrvovia

Facebook will hire an extra 500 workers in the UK when it opens a new headquarters in London, increasing its British workforce by half. The US social media company will employ 1,500 people in London next year when it opens its office, which is under construction in Fitzrovia, close to the West End. Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s European head, will announce the expansion at the CBI’s conference on Monday. She said many of the jobs would be highly skilled roles. Lady Mendelsohn said: “The UK remains one of the best places to be a tech company and is an important part of Facebook’s story. We came to London in 2007 with just a handful of people. By the end of next year we will have opened a new HQ and plan to employ 1,500 people.” Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, said the announcement was a further vote of confidence in London as a tech centre – a position called into question by the vote to leave the EU. Google said last week it would go ahead with plans to build a new headquarters in King’s Cross, central London, creating 3,000 jobs. Amazon is leaving its UK base in Slough, Berkshire, after 16 years to move to a 15-floor office on the outskirts of the City next year. Khan said: “The capital’s vibrant tech scene is the envy of Europe, and Facebook’s continuing commitment is another sign that London is open to talent, innovation and entrepreneurship from all four corners of the world.”

technology/2016/nov/21/facebook-hire-500-uk-workers-opens-london-hq-fitzrvovia

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2016-11-21T08:23:27Z

Facebook will hire extra 500 UK workers for new central London HQ

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/21/facebook-hire-500-uk-workers-opens-london-hq-fitzrvovia

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