Month: July 2021

Social media giants contribute to global conflicts and allow misinformation. How have they gained so much control, and what is that doing to our lives? It’s good to remember that every time Mark Zuckerberg claims that he founded Facebook in order to connect people or build communities, he is somehow forgetting that he first created …

Social Warming by Charles Arthur review – a coolly prosecutorial look at social media Read More »

Alliances are shifting as states led by China and Russia compete with the US and tech entrepreneurs Liu Boming took in the dizzy view. Around him lay the inky vastness of space. Below was the Earth. “Wow,” he said, laughing. “It’s too beautiful out here.” Over the next seven hours Liu and his colleague Tang …

The space race is back on – but who will win? Read More »

Additional emojis will complete Unicode’s drive to offer more variety and gender-neutral options A pregnant man, a multiracial handshake and a face that cannot bear to watch are some of the emojis that will hit devices over the next year, according to a draft list published by the Unicode Consortium, which approves icons for use. …

Pregnant man and multiracial handshake emojis approved for launch Read More »

TV doctors Chris and Xand consider the drastic differences in their weight – and health. Plus: Slate’s One Year takes us back to 1977, and more mind-changing action in You’re Wrong About A Thorough Examination With Drs Chris and XandThe Van Tulleken brothers’ new podcast investigates why Xand is obese and Chris isn’t, despite the …

The Van Tulleken brothers chew the fat on obesity – podcasts of the week Read More »

Organisations in Scotland say they have tried to contact Google about the dangers but received no reply Scottish mountaineering charities have criticised Google for suggesting routes up Ben Nevis and other mountains they say are “potentially fatal” and direct people over a cliff. The John Muir Trust, which looks after the upper reaches of the …

Google Maps suggests ‘potentially fatal’ routes up Ben Nevis, say mountain charities Read More »

Anonymous person will be replaced by 18-year-old recent high school graduate on New Shepard spacecraft The anonymous winner of a ticket to join billionaire Jeff Bezos in space next week will no longer board the New Shepard spacecraft due to “scheduling conflicts”, Bezos’s Blue Origin company announced Thursday. The winner, who paid $29.7m in a …

Winner who paid $30m for space flight with Bezos drops plan due to ‘scheduling conflicts’ Read More »

• Social media company takes down 200 accounts • ‘Hallmarks of a well-resourced and persistent operation’ Facebook said on Thursday it had taken down about 200 accounts run by a group of hackers in Iran as part of a cyber-spying operation that targeted mostly US military personnel and people working at defense and aerospace companies. …

Facebook says Iran-based hackers used site to target US military personnel Read More »

Documents appear to show how Russian intelligence worked to install their preferred candidate as president Papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House In January 2016, America was coming to terms with what had previously seemed incredible. Barring an unforeseen event, Donald J Trump was on course to become the Republican …

The person to ‘weaken’ America: what the Kremlin papers said about Trump Read More »

Researchers say web domains masquerading as activist, health and media groups are used by governments to hack targets An Israeli company that sells spyware to governments is linked to fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty International websites that are used to hack targets, according to a new report. Researchers from the Citizen Lab at the …

Israeli spyware firm linked to fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty websites – report Read More »

My father, Aladdin Bahrani, who has died aged 91, spent many years working as a senior engineer in his birthplace, Iraq, before becoming professor of manufacturing engineering at Queen’s University in Belfast, where he had trained just after the second world war. The eldest of 10 children, he was born in Baghdad, to Mohammed Saleem …

Aladdin Bahrani obituary Read More »