Month: July 2022

The volume of child sexual assault material online is on the rise. An Australian project is crowdsourcing images of safe children so it can find those in danger Leading Senior Constable Dr Janis Dalins is looking for 100,000 happy images of children – a toddler in a sandpit, a nine-year-old winning an award at school, …

100,000 happy pictures: a new tool in the cyber ‘arms race’ against child sexual abusers Read More »

As Ofcom confirms that young people now stay informed through Instagram and TikTok, we meet the online newshounds In early March, military experts reported that Russian tanks were sporting handwritten “Z” symbols. The letter, thought to be a staunchly pro-war symbol of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, was soon spotted at Russian bus stops, a …

‘People get bored quickly’: how UK teens turned to social media for their news Read More »

Chinese internet giants have become compliant parts of the regime they promised to disrupt. For Tencent’s Jack Ma and other tycoons the future is fraught In April 2022, a resurgence of Covid spread seemingly unchecked through the financial centre of Shanghai. The government imposed a strict lockdown, confining millions to their homes, triggering mass-testing on …

‘We show hotshots who’s boss’: how China disciplines its tech barons Read More »

The platform’s rise is best seen as the latest evolution in how we consume news Twenty-three million people in the UK use TikTok every month. Enhanced by the pandemic and its impact on remote work, apps like TikTok and Instagram have become the digital equivalent of the watercooler. It’s where we talk about Love Island, …

TikTok is not the enemy of journalism. It’s just a new way of reaching people | Chris Stokel-Walker Read More »

It is understandable that railway infrastructure could not cope with last week’s temperatures, but why did Google and Oracle’s facilities go offline? One of the unexpected delights of the heatwave was the sound of a Conservative transport secretary talking sense. Grant Shapps was on the Today programme on Tuesday morning explaining a basic principle of …

If our datacentres cannot take the heat, the UK could really go off the rails | John Naughton Read More »

Company said Blake Lemoine violated Google policies and that his claims were ‘wholly unfounded’ Google has dismissed a senior software engineer who claimed the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot LaMDA was a self-aware person. Google, which placed software engineer Blake Lemoine on leave last month, said he had violated company policies and that it found his …

Google fires software engineer who claims AI chatbot is sentient Read More »

The exclusive lane, at the remote checkpoint just north of Laredo, Texas, will be for suppliers only, not Tesla owners Tesla has reportedly gained an exclusive lane at a remote US-Mexico border crossing after Elon Musk recently struck a deal with the “pro-business” state of Nuevo León. The electric car company’s suppliers traveling from Mexico …

Mexico gives Tesla a dedicated lane at the border to speed up crossing into the US Read More »

Chef Pii’s tips on how to use her $20-a-bottle condiment have won 40m views, she says, but many wonder what goes into it It’s pink. It’s a sauce. It’s called, rather prosaically, Pink Sauce. And it’s doing a very good job of trying to break the internet right now. A Florida chef’s TikTok videos showing …

Florida chef’s pink sauce videos stir up TikTok backlash Read More »

Social media firm says 1% decline for three months to 30 June reflects uncertainty over acquisition bid Twitter has blamed a drop in revenue on uncertainty around Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover bid for the business and weak advertising revenue. The social media company said revenue for the three months to 30 June was $1.18bn (£986m), …

Twitter blames revenue slide on Elon Musk takeover uncertainty Read More »

Leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic claims search engine is promoting ‘terrorism and violence against all Russians’ Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates Google’s search engine is to be banned in the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after pro-Russian authorities there accused the US tech giant of promoting “terrorism and violence against all Russians”. In …

Google to be banned in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions Read More »