In this week’s newsletter: The boom years of smartphone gaming have given way to a naked cash-grab that rewards player-unfriendly design Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here In the first half of the 2010s, when smartphones became ubiquitous, mobile gaming was exciting new terrain for both developers and players. Here …
Pushing Buttons: The true cost of ‘free’ mobile games Read More »
The story of how investigative journalists exposed the frightening abuse of software that can infect your phone When asked what superpower they would wish for, quite a lot of people choose invisibility. The desire to be able to spy unnoticed on others appeals to something in our nature: a wish for knowledge without retribution. The …
Pegasus by Laurent Richard review – spyware hiding in plain sight Read More »
A perfect storm of wider cultural and economic forces have been pulling the video games industry apart. Is this the year it remakes itself? There are, littered throughout the history of video games, certain years of radical, fundamental change. We can look at the major crashes in the US games industry in 1977 and 1983, …
Playtime’s over: how 2023 could reshape video games Read More »
The restoration of communications to the war-torn Ethiopian region after last month’s peace deal has ended two years of extreme and destructive isolation for Tigrayans When Lemlem read online that phone lines had been restored to parts of Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region last month, she spent the entire night trying to call her elderly mother, …
‘I didn’t know if my mother was alive’: joy and grief as Tigray reconnects to the world Read More »
From February advertisers will no longer be able to see young users’ gender or type of posts they have engaged with Facebook and Instagram are to tighten restrictions around the data available to firms to target ads at teenage users, the platforms’ parent company, Meta, has said. From February, advertisers will no longer be able …
Facebook and Instagram to restrict advertisers’ access to teenagers’ data Read More »
Inside the social video app’s new scandal. Plus, Musk continues to Trump tech and Apple might finally make the metaverse interesting Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here Hello and welcome to TechScape. Alex is now off on paternity leave, and in his place a rotating cast of …
TikTok has been spying on reporters – exactly no one is surprised Read More »
Closure of facilities in Doncaster, Hemel Hempstead and Gourock comes as retailer opens sites in Peddimore and Stockton-on-Tees Amazon has announced plans to shut three of its 30-plus UK warehouses, affecting 1,200 jobs. Workers from the facilities in Doncaster, Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and Gourock in western Scotland will be offered roles at other Amazon …
Amazon to shut three UK warehouses, putting 1,200 jobs at risk Read More »
Sarah, 59, and Martin, 56, met playing Words with Friends in 2019. They live at opposite ends of the world, but can’t wait to be together Sarah never imagined that her online word-game addiction would become more than a hobby. But at the end of 2019 it led to an unexpected, long-distance love story. “I …
How we met: ‘We got chatting in an online word game – and fell in love’ Read More »
Wildlife departments in Washington and Oklahoma have led the way as government officials find a new voice “If you encounter a cougar, never approach or offer it food. You are not a Disney princess.” “Most grandma/reindeer collisions are entirely preventable. Please give wildlife plenty of space.” Continue reading… Wildlife departments in Washington and Oklahoma have …
‘Truly a renaissance period of social media’: how US state agencies got funny Read More »
The father-son relationship in Sony’s smash hit shows how important actors have become to video games. Its creators discuss their blockbuster success – and the future of gaming In Los Angeles last month, Al Pacino walked on stage at the Microsoft theatre in front of an audience of video game developers and performers to present …
‘He gives us every bit of himself’: how God of War’s actors hold the whole game together Read More »
