Month: January 2023

Use of emergency laws sheds light on fragile and fractious place social media now occupy in India The response by the Indian government was quick and draconian. Days after a BBC documentary examining the role that Narendra Modi, now prime minister, had played in 2002 communal riots in Gujarat was released, the information ministry announced …

Indian ban on BBC Modi film puts Musk’s Twitter ‘free speech’ vow to the test Read More »

In this week’s newsletter: For 45 years, the sci-fi series has influenced the visual and narrative language of countless games, not just films – and shows no signs of slowing down Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here In the top 10 list of my favourite-ever video game moments – a …

Pushing Buttons: Why the force is still strong with Star Wars video games Read More »

Free to roam through the post-apocalyptic game, one intrepid group has taken to performing the Bard. They have found an intent new audience, as well as the odd mutant scorpion One crisp spring evening, the Wasteland Theatre Company gathered to rehearse Romeo and Juliet. Jonathan “Bram” Thomas was playing Romeo. A self-confessed Shakespeare geek, he’d …

The open world’s a stage: how the video game Fallout became a backdrop for live Shakespeare shows Read More »

Service status monitoring website Downdetector records thousands of people reporting problems Microsoft is investigating an outage that has hit users of its products worldwide including Teams and Outlook. The US tech firm said it was investigating “issues impacting multiple Microsoft 365 services”, referring to a suite of products that includes its Teams messaging and videoconference …

Microsoft investigates outage affecting Teams and Outlook users worldwide Read More »

National roundtable mulls safety strategies as communications minister says ‘no one law is going to fix this issue’ Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Background checks and ID verification systems in dating apps are among the measures being …

Dating app background and ID checks being considered in bid to fight abuse Read More »

Some app users are sending out surveys to screen potential suitors. But can a pop quiz ever lead to love? One night this January, as Robert Stewart scrolled through old Hinge matches, he decided to revive a conversation he had begun months ago with a woman on the dating app. After picking up where they …

‘It felt like a job application’: the people weeding out first dates with questionnaires Read More »

CEO of electric carmaker says finance was ‘not an issue’ but he did not have binding commitments from investors Elon Musk expected strong financial support when he tweeted that he would take Tesla private in 2018, but lacked specific commitments from potential backers, according to testimony he gave on his third day of questioning in …

Musk tells court he lacked ‘specific’ funding to take Tesla private Read More »

Lawsuit is second federal antitrust complaint filed against Google, alleging violations of antitrust law The US justice department filed a lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday over allegations that the company abused its dominance of the digital advertising business, according to a court document. “Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or …

Justice department sues Google over its ‘unlawful’ online advertising dominance Read More »

Frant Gwo’s follow-up to his 2019 mega-hit favours special effects and set pieces over performances, as the human race battles for survival A gargantuan success in 2019, Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth remains one of the highest grossing non-English films of all time. This hotly anticipated prequel, even more ambitious in scope, follows the catastrophic …

The Wandering Earth II review – blockbuster Chinese sci-fi prequel veers off course Read More »

In this week’s newsletter: American universities and legislators are blocking access to the China-owned app over privacy concerns – but fans say the choice should be theirs Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here The US battle with TikTok over data privacy concerns and Chinese influence has been …

TechScape: Is ‘banning’ TikTok protecting users or censorship? It depends who you ask Read More »