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This weekend, tens of millions will watch and interact with an Ariana Grande avatar for a concert in video game Fortnite – the latest in a growing, lucrative market A shimmering Ariana Grande emerges from the starry night sky as she begins to run through her biggest pop hits. Dressed in a glistening sequinned two-piece …

‘Limits are non-existent in the metaverse!’ Video game concerts become big business Read More »

Project that could bring fibre broadband to remote areas while monitoring pipes for water leaks The government has launched a £4m fund to back projects trialling running fibre optic broadband cables through water pipes to help connect hard-to-reach homes without digging up roads. The money will also be used to test out monitors in pipes …

UK launches £4m fund to run fibre optic cables through water pipes Read More »

The social media platform was once a favourite of artists and photographers, but a shift towards TikTok-type videos and shopping could leave them looking for a new home online In late July, hobbyist photographer and self-proclaimed “sunrise hunter” Sam Binding conducted an experiment. After visiting Somerset Lavender Farm to catch the sun peeking over the …

Why Instagram’s creatives are angry about its move to video Read More »

California’s legal action could mark step towards fixing culture of harassment, experts say For women at Activision Blizzard, one of the world’s most famous video game companies, showing up to work meant navigating near daily episodes of humiliation, sexual harassment, and even physical abuse, according to a bombshell lawsuit that has prompted a reckoning within …

Activision Blizzard scandal a ‘watershed moment’ for women in the gaming industry Read More »

Seek help for a mental health issue today and you may find yourself referred to an online app or talking to a robot therapist. Is this welcome democratisation of an expensive resource – or the ‘Uberisation of therapy’? She’s sitting on a purple armchair, nodding slowly as she talks. “When was the last time you …

Is robot therapy the future? Read More »

The social media magnate has evidently decided that the ‘metaverse’ is the way forward. But should we be worried? Brace yourselves: Mark Zuckerberg has a new pivot for Facebook. The visionary genius who brought us the pivot to video, the pivot to privacy, the pivot to trusted news and the pivot away from trusted news …

Now Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be master of the virtual universe | Alex Hern Read More »

On the surface Apple’s new features sound both sensible and commendable – but they also open a Pandora’s box of privacy and surveillance issues Privacy. That’s (no longer) iPhone. Continue reading… On the surface Apple’s new features sound both sensible and commendable – but they also open a Pandora’s box of privacy and surveillance issues …

Apple wants to check your phone for child abuse images – what could possibly go wrong? | Arwa Mahdawi Read More »

National Cyber Security Centre recommends approach for improved combination of usability and safety It is far better to concoct passwords made up of three random words than to use more complex variations involving streams of letters, numbers and symbols, government experts have said. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of Government Communications Headquarters, highlighted …

Password of three random words better than complex variation, experts say Read More »

The messaging app does not comply with laws protecting children, say prosecutors, in fresh crackdown on tech firms Prosecutors in Beijing have initiated a civil lawsuit against a subsidiary of Tencent, saying the “youth mode” on the company’s popular social messaging app WeChat does not comply with laws protecting minors. Related: No cults, no politics, …

WeChat’s youth mode is illegal, says lawsuit, as China steps up attack on Tencent Read More »

Silicon Valley makes billions by stealing your attention. No wonder it’s so hard to focus… One Friday in April 2016, as that year’s polarising US presidential race intensified, and more than 30 armed conflicts raged around the globe, approximately 3 million people spent part of their day watching two reporters from BuzzFeed wrap rubber bands …

At best, we’re on Earth for around 4,000 weeks – so why do we lose so much time to online distraction? Read More »