Month: December 2022

About 12,000 people reported facing difficulty using the shopping portal, according to Downdetector, a site that tracks outages Amazon said it has resolved an issue that prevented some users from accessing the shopping site on Wednesday. “We’re sorry that some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping. We have resolved the issue,” a company …

Amazon resolves problem preventing US users from accessing site Read More »

In this week’s newsletter: Give kids time, and they’ll find a game that captures their imagination – and yours too, if you’re lucky Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Tis the season, folks – the season of lists. All around the media world, 2022’s games, albums, films et cetera are …

Pushing Buttons: The one game my kid will play with me Read More »

For a generation of players, these colourful cabinets house not just ailing electronics, but formative memories. Meet the people who save them from landfill On a rural industrial estate five miles outside Honiton, under the flight path of a nearby aerodrome, sits a rather nondescript warehouse. Only one feature marks it out: in front is …

Infinite lives: the company saving old arcade machines Read More »

The company now known as Meta has spent staggering amounts on creating an immersive successor to the traditional 2D internet. But what has it got to show for it, apart from 11,000 job losses? What a difference a year makes. Last October, Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg could barely wait to show the world what he …

‘The metaverse will be our slow death!’ Is Facebook losing its $100bn gamble on virtual reality? Read More »

PC; Bay 12/KitfoxA graphical overhaul offers a gentler way of playing this vast, strange strategy game of staggering intricacy The idea of reviewing Dwarf Fortress is inherently hilarious. You might as well apply a tape measure to a black hole. Playable in unfinished form for 16 years and counting, with no end to development in …

Dwarf Fortress review – a grand chronicle of inevitable disaster Read More »

‘Cross-check’ system appears to protect users who generate high revenue from content moderation more than ordinary users A Facebook policy designed to protect high-profile users from moderation was structured to satisfy the company’s business interests, Meta’s “supreme court” has found, and did not prioritise protecting free speech and civil rights on the platform. The oversight …

Facebook moderation system favours ‘business partners’, says oversight board Read More »

In this week’s newsletter: OpenAI’s new chatbot isn’t a novelty. It’s already powerful and useful – and could radically change the way we write online Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up here AI tech, for so long a promising vision of the future but an underwhelming experience in the present, is starting …

TechScape: Meet ChatGPT, the viral AI tool that may be a vision of our weird tech future Read More »

PC, PlayStation, Xbox; Striking Distance Studios/KraftonThis intense, gory horror game is steadfastly old-fashioned and lacking in internal logic – but it’s fun anyway An immense amount of effort has gone into making the derelict spaceship and monstrous creatures of The Callisto Protocol look, sound and feel realistic, but this sci-fi horror revival from some of …

The Callisto Protocol review – a shotgun-blast from the past Read More »

Online service will offer tools and sell screens, batteries and camera parts for some models released since 2020 Those brave enough to attempt to fix their own iPhone or Mac with Apple’s tools can now do so in the UK and parts of Europe. The tech company is expanding its self-repair programme to Belgium, France, …

Apple expands DIY iPhone and Mac repairs to UK and Europe Read More »

Exiled protest organiser Yusuf al-Jamri is beginning legal action against Bahrain and NSO Group after finding Pegasus spyware on his phone Yusuf al-Jamri had every reason to believe he was safe when he arrived in Britain in October 2017 and applied for asylum protection. The 41-year-old Bahraini activist had experienced sporadic periods of detention and …

No safe haven? The Bahraini dissident still menaced after gaining UK asylum Read More »