From excellence to genius | Effortlessly superb | Time flies | Describing misogyny | Unwanted Americanisms I note that you have changed the achievement levels of your Word Wheel puzzle in the print edition, expanding from three (average, good and excellent) to five (beginner, good, brilliant, superb and genius). I appreciate the promotion from excellence …
Taking Word Wheel to another two levels | Brief letters Read More »
Firms defend security features after police tell committee 80,000 phones were stolen in London in 2024 MPs have accused Apple and Google of profiting from multimillion-pound phone-snatching operations that police say are masterminded by organised crime gangs in Britain, Algeria and China. In 2024, 80,000 phone devices of all kinds were stolen in London alone, …
MPs accuse Apple and Google of profiting from rise in phone thefts Read More »
Floss without the faff with our expert-tested water flossers, from travel-size models to countertop jets • The best electric toothbrushes, tested There isn’t much I miss from my pre-Invisalign “gappy teeth” days, but it was far more difficult for food and plaque to get stuck in the gaps – something I took for granted at …
The best water flossers, tested: seven models for that dentist-clean feeling Read More »
Generative AI is reshaping the job market, and it’s starting with entry-level roles Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week, I’m wondering what my first jobs in journalism would have been like had generative AI been around. In other news: Elon Musk leaves a trail of chaos, and influencers are selling the text they fed …
Will AI wipe out the first rung of the career ladder? Read More »
Fraudsters use fake artists to juice royalties from streaming services – but real musicians are getting blamed. Might they be better off without Spotify et al? There is a battle gripping the music business today around the manipulation of streaming services – and innocent indie artists are the collateral damage. Fraudsters are flooding Spotify, Apple …
Part-interpreters, part-comedians, video jockeys translate and contextualise western movies for audiences at home On a recent Saturday afternoon in an informal settlement in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, dozens of young men sat on benches in a dark shack to watch a bootlegged version of the Hollywood comedy-horror film The Monkey. As the English-language action unfolded …
Video stars: the booming VJ scene localising Hollywood films for Ugandans Read More »
Everyone might be talking about the new title from gaming’s favourite plumber, but there’s at least one other interesting original launching with the new console this week The interesting thing about console launches is that you never know what unexpected treasures will emerge from the first batch of games. Who could have foretold that the …
Survival Kids proves Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t just about Mario Kart World Read More »
Is artificial intelligence coming for everyone’s jobs? Not if this lot have anything to do with it The novelist Ewan Morrison was alarmed, though amused, to discover he had written a book called Nine Inches Pleases a Lady. Intrigued by the limits of generative artificial intelligence (AI), he had asked ChatGPT to give him the …
After nearly 16 years the veteran standup comic is calling time on the show that redefined podcasting It’s the end of an era: Marc Maron has announced that he’s ending his popular and influential podcast WTF with Marc Maron after nearly 16 years and more than 1,600 episodes. The final episode will be released later …
WTF with Marc Maron is ending. Here are five of the podcast’s best interviews Read More »
He’s spent 24 hours immersed in slime, two days buried alive – and showered vast amounts of cash on lucky participants. But are MrBeast’s videos simply very savvy clickbait – or acts of avant garde genius? Jimmy Donaldson, the 27-year-old online content creator and entrepreneur known as MrBeast, is by any reasonable metric one of …
