Month: February 2022

Home rental platform joins swathe of companies offering support and donations during crisis Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news Airbnb has said it will offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, joining a swathe of companies offering support and donations following the Russian invasion. The home rentals platform’s nonprofit set up to provide …

Airbnb to offer free housing to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees Read More »

The runner-up enjoys a seven-hour episode of the livestreaming phenomenon in which voice actors role-play wizards, warlocks and goblin in a game of Dungeons & Dragons Read the rest of this year’s entries Laura de Lisle is a theatre critic for The Arts Desk and a freelance writer, currently working on a play about an …

Runner-up: Observer/Anthony Burgess prize for arts journalism 2022 – Laura de Lisle on Critical Role, Campaign 2, Episode 141 Read More »

Meta says network ran websites posing as independent news entities and created fake personas Russia-Ukraine crisis: live news Facebook and Instagram have taken down a disinformation network targeting people in Ukraine, as their owner announced it was blocking access to Kremlin-backed media organisations in the country. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta said it had uncovered a “relatively …

Facebook takes down disinformation network targeting Ukraine Read More »

After two years of messaging and video chats, in-person dates are back. But how do you give yourself the best chance of meeting the right people? So much about being single is great: being able to eat, watch and do what you want; independence; no in-laws. But routine can easily turn into a rut, which …

Swipe less, don’t be a sleaze, do say hello … and 10 more tips to raise your dating game Read More »

Could buying an NFT the way one buys a bag of Cheetos demystify the process? It’s easy to miss the storefront that is home to the “world’s first NFT vending machine” in Manhattan’s Financial District. Squished between a sandwich shop and a tailor, the windows are bathed in pink neon light, with glowing letters that …

What did I just buy? I tried to use New York’s first NFT vending machine Read More »

The group has claimed credit for hacking the Russian Ministry of Defence database, and is believed to have hacked multiple state TV channels to show pro-Ukraine content Cyber conflicts are fought in the shadows but in the case of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is a group that calls itself Anonymous that has made the …

Anonymous: the hacker collective that has declared cyberwar on Russia Read More »

Services like PayPal and Square now need your tax information. Scammers are going to be on the prowl to get it too Thanks to new legislation that went into place at the beginning of this year, I predict that a lot of unsuspecting small business owners are about to fall victim to a fresh scam. …

Beware: new IRS rules will lead a wave of phishing frauds | Gene Marks Read More »

The tech giant has many ways of gathering information about its users’ activity – from Prime to Alexa. But how much can it collect and what can you do to keep your life private? From selling books out of Jeff Bezos’s garage to a global conglomerate with a yearly revenue topping $400bn (£290bn), much of …

The data game: what Amazon knows about you and how to stop it Read More »

For centuries, swindlers and thieves have been drawn to the highly lucrative world of wine crime. But a new generation of tech-savvy detectives are closing in on them. Ed Cumming meets the men and women trying to put a cork in the business of wine fraud Down in the cool, dark cellar of Berry Bros …

Wine crime is soaring but a new generation of tech savvy detectives is on the case Read More »

Drivers with no off-street parking must use public charging points and miss £950 in savings, warns thinktank Almost 10 million households in England and Wales risk missing out on savings of £950 a year that come from owning an electric car, according to a study warning that richer households stand to benefit most. About a …

Plug in your car … but only Britain’s richer motorists can charge up cheaply Read More »