Richard Kind is compelling as the retiree seduced by a VR ‘companion’, but the film fails to do much with its rather familiar premise The face of American character actor Richard Kind – melancholy, hangdog, a little dyspeptic – is exactly right for this high-concept midlife satire from director and co-writer Matt Kane. It’s a …
Auggie review – watchable hi-tech satire doesn’t quite know what to say Read More »
Juan Orlando Hernández falsely inflated his posts’ popularity for nearly a year after the company was informed about it Facebook allowed the president of Honduras to artificially inflate the appearance of popularity on his posts for nearly a year after the company was first alerted to the activity. The astroturfing – the digital equivalent of …
State-backed harassment campaign targets journalists and dissidents in authoritarian country Facebook has allowed a state-backed harassment campaign targeting independent news outlets and opposition politicians in Azerbaijan to return to its platform, less than six months after it banned the troll network. A Guardian investigation has revealed how Facebook allowed an arm of Azerbaijan’s ruling party, …
Critics argue the new integration could mimic notoriously faulty background checks without necessarily making dating apps safer When Jerrel Gantt was released from prison after three years, he was handed a pamphlet about healthcare and nothing else. He began searching for employment, a deep source of anxiety for him, and secured housing through a ministry …
Tinder’s plan for criminal record checks raises fears of ‘lifelong punishment’ Read More »
Cheaper wifi speaker has Bluetooth plus Google or Alexa for great indoor and outdoor music Sonos’s new smaller and cheaper Roam portable speaker is one that won’t end up relegated to a drawer collecting dust as it sounds great at home too. The £159 Roam joins the much bigger and heavier £399 Move as the …
Sonos Roam review: the portable speaker you’ll want to use at home too Read More »
In 1842, the US patent office registered 14 designs, including a bathtub and a ‘corpse preserver’. It now handles 35,000 a year. Why did this once sedate world became a corporate arms race? It was designed to make sharpening a pencil feel as thrilling as flying a jet. A gleaming chrome teardrop, tapered to a …
From pencil sharpeners to a $539m lawsuit: how big tech weaponised patents Read More »
Deal comes as Microsoft builds up its cloud-computing operation for healthcare and business customers Microsoft is to buy the artificial intelligence and speech technology firm Nuance Communications for about $16bn (£12bn), as it builds up its cloud-computing operation for healthcare and business customers. Nuance, known for pioneering speech technology and helping to launch Apple’s virtual …
Microsoft to buy AI and speech technology firm Nuance for $16bn Read More »
Surge in share price of parent company Alphabet moved pair on to eight-man list The Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have joined the $100bn club of super-rich people with 12-digit fortunes after a surge in the share price of the tech firm’s parent company, Alphabet. Page and Brin, who co-founded Google in 1996, …
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin join $100bn club Read More »
App was to have been updated before English lockdown easing, but firms objected to data-sharing changes Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Ministers have paused a planned update to the NHS Covid-19 app after Apple and Google blocked it from their stores over privacy violations. The app, which aids contact tracing in …
Apple and Google block NHS Covid app update over privacy breaches Read More »
Gesture backfires as customers highlight accessibility issues, with one saying UK has ‘completely lost the plot’ A leading sight charity has stressed the need for inclusive web design after rail websites switched to black and white to mark Prince Philip’s death, leaving partially sighted people struggling. Network Rail and National Rail websites turned from colour …
Visually impaired users complain after rail websites go greyscale for Prince Philip Read More »
