Month: July 2025

Melanie Dawes says rules will protect children from harmful content but campaigners are unconvinced The UK’s chief media regulator has promised age verification checks will prove a “really big moment” in the battle to keep children safe online, even as campaigners warn she needs to take tougher action against big technology companies. Melanie Dawes, the …

Ofcom head says age checks are ‘really big moment’ for children’s online safety Read More »

Brenda Allen from Cheshire amasses more than 2m views for videos featuring her quirky Jellycat figures The anger and polarisation often on display on social media have made it a stressful place to venture for many people, wary of its unpredictable pile-ons and bile-filled responses. Yet a 95-year-old Cheshire woman and her soft toy collection …

Brenda, 95, and her soft toys become unlikely stars on TikTok Read More »

Why does the online world seem so toxic compared with normal life? Our research shows that a small number of divisive accounts could be responsible – and offers a way out When I scroll through social media, I often leave demoralized, with the sense that the entire world is on fire and people are inflamed …

Are a few people ruining the internet for the rest of us? Read More »

Recruitment is powered increasingly by artificial intelligence but employers still want big (human) brains Recruiter moves to in-person assessments as candidates apply using AI Graduates share their job-hunting woes amid the AI fallout ChatGPT can certainly write your university essay – but will it take your job soon after? Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have …

‘Workforce crisis’: key takeaways for graduates battling AI in the jobs market Read More »

A surge in messages from fraudsters about automatic renewal at a higher price has prompted Amazon to email 200m users to warn them As a frequent Amazon shopper you pay £95 for an annual Prime subscription, so when an email arrives warning the price is going up you are quick to react. But the email, …

‘Scamazon’ – how fake emails are targeting Prime subscribers Read More »

The users of AI companion app Replika found themselves falling for their digital friends. Until – explains a new podcast – the bots went dark, a user was encouraged to kill Queen Elizabeth II and an update changed everything … A large bearded man named Travis is sitting in his car in Colorado, talking to …

‘I felt pure, unconditional love’: the people who marry their AI chatbots Read More »

Centre for animal sentience to look into animal consciousness and the ethical use of AI in how we treat them If your cat’s sulking, your dog’s whining or your rabbit’s doing that strange thing with its paws again, you will recognise that familiar pang of guilt shared by most other pet owners. But for those …

New research centre to explore how AI can help humans ‘speak’ with pets Read More »

Lead brand of French luxury group LVMH reassures customers financial data such as bank details were not taken Louis Vuitton has said the data of some UK customers has been stolen, as it became the latest retailer targeted by cyber hackers. The retailer, the leading brand of the French luxury group LVMH, said an unauthorised …

Louis Vuitton says UK customer data stolen in cyber-attack Read More »

Silicon Valley’s final dream is a world without institutions. But what works for a startup doesn’t work for democracy Elon Musk has stepped away from Doge with very little “efficiency” to show for it. While it may have been more of a showpiece than real policy, this brutal and short experiment in Silicon Valley governance …

Doge wants to replace our institutions with a tech utopia. It won’t work | Mike Pepi Read More »

PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch/Switch 2; Iron Galaxy Studios/ActivisionThis remake is a nostalgia fest of grabs, spins, flips and skids – and a stiff, even occasionally humiliating test of skill It’s almost insulting how easily this skating-game remake pushes my millennial nostalgia buttons. The second that Ace of Spades comes on over a montage …

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 review – a gnarly skating time capsule Read More »