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0 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/31/russia-hacking-malware-vermont-electric-obama | A day after Barack Obama announced tough new sanctions over what intelligence agencies believe to be Russian attempts to influence the presidential election in favour of Donald Trump, US officials said computer code linked to Russian-sponsored hackers had been detected in a computer at a Vermont electric utility. The municipally run Burlington electric department confirmed on Friday that it had found, in a laptop not connected to grid systems, malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, the name the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI have applied to a Russian campaign linked to cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations. The Washington Post first reported the discovery. On Thursday, the day on which Obama announced the new sanctions, the DHS and the FBI published a report detailing what they called Russia’s “ongoing campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the US government and its citizens”. After the discovery in Vermont, however, officials said they did not know when the code was placed in the laptop computer or what the intentions behind it may have been. Russian malware is regularly found inside computers used by US utilities. Vermont Democrats reacted strongly. The state’s governor, Peter Shumlin, said in a statement: “Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world’s leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality of life, economy, health, and safety.” Peter Welch, a US representative, said Russian hacking was “rampant… systemic, relentless, predatory” and added: “They will hack everywhere, even Vermont, in pursuit of opportunities to disrupt our country.” The FBI and DHS report appeared to confirm one aspect of the Russian hacking programme: the gaining of access to Democratic party emails through the use of fraudulent emails that tricked recipients into revealing passwords. Such emails were released by WikiLeaks during the election, to the perceived disadvantage of the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. ‘They fly under the radar’ The reports from Vermont came at the end of a tense week in US-Russian relations that also placed the Obama White House and the incoming Trump administration further at odds with each other. On Thursday, Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomatic personnel and the closure of country estates in Maryland and New York used by embassy staff. By midday on Friday, the New York compound Elmcroft in Upper Brookville, on Long Island’s Gold Coast, had been evacuated. The gates were chained shut and US state department personnel were posted outside, in a black SUV. The Obama administration claimed the compound had been “used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes”. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, disagreed, accusing the White House of targeting children by closing compounds he said were used by families over the Christmas and New Year vacation. “It’s quite scandalous that they chose to go after our kids, you know?” Churkin told reporters. “They know full well that those two facilities ... they’re vacation facilities for our kids.” The Elmcroft compound is five miles from another cold war-era Russian compound, Killenworth, in Glen Cove, an area known for its Gatsby-esque estates and golf courses. There, the gates were closed and the intercom went unanswered. The last time diplomatic hostilities broke out in Glen Cove, mayor Reginald A Spinello told the Guardian, was more than 50 years ago, when Nikita Khrushchev visited and locals threw food at his limousine. “What happens behind those doors is anyone’s guess, but it’s our understanding it’s mostly caretakers there now,” said Spinello. “They fly under the radar. They pay their bills. The most we ever see is a diplomatic licence plate or two.” ‘All Americans should be alarmed’ With the Trump inauguration three weeks away, the latest US-Russian dispute could yet prove to be short-lived. Despite Obama’s assertion on Thursday that “all Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions”, Trump has repeatedly questioned claims of Russian responsibility for hacking. He has also lavished praise on Putin and called for better relations with Russia, putting himself at odds with the Republican congressional leadership, key members of which welcomed Obama’s sanctions and called for tougher measures to follow. The Arizona senator John McCain, the chair of the Senate armed forces committee, who has scheduled a hearing on Russian cyber-intrusions for next week, told Ukrainian TV on Friday he saw such activity as “an act of war”. On Thursday, however, Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said claims of Russian meddling in the election were part of an effort to undercut Trump’s mandate to govern. “You have a lot of folks on the left who continue to undermine the legitimacy of his win,” he said in a call with reporters. Trump defeated Clinton by 304 votes to 227 in the electoral college; Clinton won the popular vote by close to 3m ballots. After the announcement of the US sanctions, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, recommended a proportional response. Putin, however, declined to engage, signalling instead that he would wait to see how relations formed with the incoming administration. Trump, who said it was “time for our country to move on to bigger and better things”, did agree to meet intelligence officials next week. On Friday, he used Twitter to say Putin was “very smart”. The tweet was pinned to the top of his timeline, so anyone who visited his feed would see it. It seemed as much an attempt to shock the political establishment as a way to disparage Obama. Trump continues to ridicule the president in public, even as he admits to having “productive” and frequent phone conversations with him. The two men spoke by phone on Wednesday and the White House informed Trump of the sanctions before they were announced the next day, the Trump transition team told reporters. Later on Friday, Trump turned his attention to the US media, complimenting Fox News for its coverage of Russia but criticising that of NBC and CNN – and in doing so, once again implicitly praising Putin. On Long Island, meanwhile, the expulsions were being treated largely as a passing dispute. Many local residents said they were only dimly aware of the Russians’ presence. “They’re not unfriendly,” said one Locust Valley contractor, who declined to give his name. “The spying is no big deal. It’s no more than what we do to them. Obama’s just getting back at them.” | technology/2016/dec/31/russia-hacking-malware-vermont-electric-obama | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-31T16:34:02Z | US-Russia tensions rise as malware found at Vermont electric utility | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/31/russia-hacking-malware-vermont-electric-obama | ['day', 'barack', 'obama', 'announced', 'tough', 'new', 'sanctions', 'intelligence', 'agencies', 'believe', 'russian', 'attempts', 'influence', 'presidential', 'election', 'favour', 'donald', 'trump', 'us', 'officials', 'said', 'computer', 'code', 'linked', 'russian-sponsored', 'hackers', 'detected', 'computer', 'vermont', 'electric', 'utility', 'municipally', 'run', 'burlington', 'electric', 'department', 'confirmed', 'friday', 'found', 'laptop', 'connected', 'grid', 'systems', 'malware', 'code', 'used', 'grizzly', 'steppe', 'name', 'department', 'homeland', 'security', 'dhs', 'fbi', 'applied', 'russian', 'campaign', 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1 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/30/facebook-temporary-ban-kevin-sessums-trump-supporters | A journalist was temporarily banned from Facebook after a post in which he called Trump supporters “a nasty fascistic lot”, in the latest example of the social media platform’s censorship of journalists. Facebook “reviewed and restored” the post by Kevin Sessums after being contacted by the Guardian and dropped the posting ban. “We’re very sorry about this mistake,” a spokesman said. “The post was removed in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate. Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong.” Sessums, who is well known for his celebrity profiles for Vanity Fair and two best-selling memoirs, says that he shared a Facebook post from ABC political analyst Matthew Dowd that read: “In the last few hours I have been called by lovely ‘christian’ Trump fans: a jew, faggot, retard. To set record straight: divorced Catholic.” Sessums added his own commentary, writing: But as those who do hold Trump to the standards of any other person have found out on Twitter and other social media outlets these Trump followers are a nasty fascistic lot. Dowd is lucky he didn’t get death threats like Kurt Eichenwald. Or maybe he did and refuses to acknowledge them. If you voted for Trump and continue to support him and you think you are better than these bigoted virulent trolls, you’re not. Your silence enables them just as it did in the racist campaign that Trump and Bannon ran. In fact, hiding behind a civilized veneer in your support of fascism I consider more dangerous. We’re past describing you as collaborators at this point. That lets you off the hook. You’re Russo-American oligarchical theocratic fascists. Soon thereafter, Sessums received a notification from Facebook that the post violated the company’s “community standards” and that he was barred from posting for 24 hours. “It’s chilling. It’s arbitrary censorship,” Sessums said. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, do I have to be careful about what I say about Trump now?’” The censorship of Sessums caps a year in which Facebook has increasingly struggled to navigate its role as the world’s largest media platform, with unprecedented influence over the global flow of news and information. In September, the company sparked controversy when it censored an iconic photograph of a naked child fleeing a Napalm attack during the Vietnam war. That incident also began with the company banning an individual journalist for 24 hours but soon ballooned into global outrage. The company went so far as to censor a post by the prime minister of Norway before backing down and acknowledging the historic significance of the photograph. In October, the company responded to the controversy by announcing that it would consider factors like newsworthiness and the public interest when deciding how to enforce its “community standards”. Policing the platform became particularly tricky during the heated US election. Facebook did not respond to questions about why Sessum’s post was mistakenly censored, but the incident highlights the company’s ham-handedness when it comes to political speech. The Wall Street Journal reported in October that one instance when the company relaxed its standards around hate speech came when it chose not to censor a post by then-candidate Donald Trump, despite the fact that the post violated the company’s rules barring hate speech. “Mr Zuckerberg acknowledged that Mr Trump’s call for a ban [of Muslims] did qualify as hate speech, but said the implications of removing them were too drastic,” the Wall Street Journal reported. For Sessums, the temporary banning was particularly significant because he uses his Facebook page as a “personal blog”. The author has about 20,000 friends and followers, and he considers his frequent posts a “meta-memoir”. Since Trump’s election, however, Sessums’ posts have been largely political, with frequent invocations of “fascism”. Sessums said that he was deeply disturbed by the fact that there was no appeals process for individuals facing bans. “What will the cyber world be like under a Trump administration?” he asked, referencing Facebook board member Peter Thiel’s support of the president-elect. “This is chilling to me.” | technology/2016/dec/30/facebook-temporary-ban-kevin-sessums-trump-supporters | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-30T21:22:06Z | Facebook temporarily bans author after he calls Trump fans 'nasty fascistic lot' | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/30/facebook-temporary-ban-kevin-sessums-trump-supporters | ['journalist', 'temporarily', 'banned', 'facebook', 'post', 'called', 'trump', 'supporters', 'nasty', 'fascistic', 'lot', 'latest', 'example', 'social', 'media', 'platform', 'censorship', 'journalists', 'facebook', 'reviewed', 'restored', 'post', 'kevin', 'sessums', 'contacted', 'guardian', 'dropped', 'posting', 'ban', 'sorry', 'mistake', 'spokesman', 'said', 'post', 'removed', 'error', 'restored', 'soon', 'able', 'investigate', 'team', 'processes', 'millions', 'reports', 'week', 'sometimes', 'get', 'things', 'wrong', 'sessums', 'well', 'known', 'celebrity', 'profiles', 'vanity', 'fair', 'two', 'best-selling', 'memoirs', 'says', 'shared', 'facebook', 'post', 'abc', 'political', 'analyst', 'matthew', 'dowd', 'read', 'last', 'hours', 'called', 'lovely', 'christian', 'trump', 'fans', 'jew', 'faggot', 'retard', 'set', 'record', 'straight', 'divorced', 'catholic', 'sessums', 'added', 'commentary', 'writing', 'hold', 'trump', 'standards', 'person', 'found', 'twitter', 'social', 'media', 'outlets', 'trump', 'followers', 'nasty', 'fascistic', 'lot', 'dowd', 'lucky', 'get', 'death', 'threats', 'like', 'kurt', 'eichenwald', 'maybe', 'refuses', 'acknowledge', 'voted', 'trump', 'continue', 'support', 'think', 'better', 'bigoted', 'virulent', 'trolls', 'silence', 'enables', 'racist', 'campaign', 'trump', 'bannon', 'ran', 'fact', 'hiding', 'behind', 'civilized', 'veneer', 'support', 'fascism', 'consider', 'dangerous', 'past', 'describing', 'collaborators', 'point', 'lets', 'hook', 'russo-american', 'oligarchical', 'theocratic', 'fascists', 'soon', 'thereafter', 'sessums', 'received', 'notification', 'facebook', 'post', 'violated', 'company', 'community', 'standards', 'barred', 'posting', 'hours', 'chilling', 'arbitrary', 'censorship', 'sessums', 'said', 'like', 'wait', 'minute', 'careful', 'say', 'trump', 'censorship', 'sessums', 'caps', 'year', 'facebook', 'increasingly', 'struggled', 'navigate', 'role', 'world', 'largest', 'media', 'platform', 'unprecedented', 'influence', 'global', 'flow', 'news', 'information', 'september', 'company', 'sparked', 'controversy', 'censored', 'iconic', 'photograph', 'naked', 'child', 'fleeing', 'napalm', 'attack', 'vietnam', 'war', 'incident', 'also', 'began', 'company', 'banning', 'individual', 'journalist', 'hours', 'soon', 'ballooned', 'global', 'outrage', 'company', 'went', 'far', 'censor', 'post', 'prime', 'minister', 'norway', 'backing', 'acknowledging', 'historic', 'significance', 'photograph', 'october', 'company', 'responded', 'controversy', 'announcing', 'would', 'consider', 'factors', 'like', 'newsworthiness', 'public', 'interest', 'deciding', 'enforce', 'community', 'standards', 'policing', 'platform', 'became', 'particularly', 'tricky', 'heated', 'us', 'election', 'facebook', 'respond', 'questions', 'sessum', 'post', 'mistakenly', 'censored', 'incident', 'highlights', 'company', 'ham-handedness', 'comes', 'political', 'speech', 'wall', 'street', 'journal', 'reported', 'october', 'one', 'instance', 'company', 'relaxed', 'standards', 'around', 'hate', 'speech', 'came', 'chose', 'censor', 'post', 'then-candidate', 'donald', 'trump', 'despite', 'fact', 'post', 'violated', 'company', 'rules', 'barring', 'hate', 'speech', 'mr', 'zuckerberg', 'acknowledged', 'mr', 'trump', 'call', 'ban', 'muslims', 'qualify', 'hate', 'speech', 'said', 'implications', 'removing', 'drastic', 'wall', 'street', 'journal', 'reported', 'sessums', 'temporary', 'banning', 'particularly', 'significant', 'uses', 'facebook', 'page', 'personal', 'blog', 'author', 'friends', 'followers', 'considers', 'frequent', 'posts', 'meta-memoir', 'since', 'trump', 'election', 'however', 'sessums', 'posts', 'largely', 'political', 'frequent', 'invocations', 'fascism', 'sessums', 'said', 'deeply', 'disturbed', 'fact', 'appeals', 'process', 'individuals', 'facing', 'bans', 'cyber', 'world', 'like', 'trump', 'administration', 'asked', 'referencing', 'facebook', 'board', 'member', 'peter', 'thiel', 'support', 'president-elect', 'chilling'] |
2 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/30/donald-trump-technology-computers-cyber-hacks-surveillance | Technology? Bah humbug: “I think we ought to get on with our lives,” said Donald Trump on Wednesday, summing up his take on the complex problem of apparently Russian phishing attacks on multiple Democratic party groups during the 2016 election. As the White House’s current resident prepared to impose sanctions on Russia for hacking, Trump said: “I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what’s going on.” It’s not the first time the president-elect has been stumped by the digital world, like a technophobe who unwrapped a computer-operated nuclear arsenal on Christmas morning. And the trouble isn’t that nobody knows exactly what’s going on in the “age of computer” – it’s that technology poses some of the most complex problems in human history to the incoming administration. And its leader is a man who refers to “the cyber” and seems more concerned about the weight of the hacker, or possibly the bed – his syntax is mysterious – than about who broke into the Democratic National Committee. US authorities spent 2016 attempting to chart new territory even beyond the DNC, DCCC and Clinton campaign hacks: how can Americans protect their infrastructure from attacks on the foundations of the internet, such as the Mirai botnet siege in October that took down some of the biggest, and most sophisticated, tech companies in the world? How can the nation’s patchwork of electoral authorities repair voting systems prone to massive, potentially catastrophic error? How should the government treat open-source encryption? Trump remains silent on the details of digital policy as the leader-to-be of a government in desperate need of consistent guiding principles. Instead, Trump appears to regard technology as a contact point for the same obsessions that drove his campaign. He is blase about warrantless surveillance – he has said it “would be fine” to restore the NSA’s bulk data collection programs, a position his pick for CIA director, Mike Pompeo, also endorses, as does Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions. He is far more actively concerned about appearing stronger than his predecessor, Barack Obama, and as always about Chinese activity in cyberspace: Especially when they start “cyber hacking us”: He also occasionally made time during the campaign to mock opponent Hillary Clinton for getting sick and getting hacked: Trump has been general, albeit chilling, on the topic of what exactly his administration will do: as an extension of Trump’s ideology, information gathering will serve to do the unthinkable – his own word. “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before,” he told Yahoo News. “And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.” The apparent lack of interest in the minutiae of his own positions has left his administration’s tech strategy in the hands of Peter Thiel, the thin-skinned billionaire founder of PayPal who quietly bankrolled former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan’s annihilating lawsuit against news outlet Gawker, apparently in retaliation for an article about Thiel’s sexual orientation. Earlier this month, Thiel indulged Trump’s own grudge against Twitter during the president-elect’s “tech summit” at Trump Tower, shutting out the organization that provides Trump with his loudest megaphone reportedly because Twitter refused to add an emoji to the Trump campaign’s #CrookedHillary sponsored hashtag during the election. Another of Thiel’s companies, data-mining firm Palantir, already plays a powerful role: the company’s services are likely to be used in any effort to deport undocumented immigrants, according to multiple reports. But for the president-elect himself, technology appears to be yet another venue for increasingly dangerous hobbies including threats to cut programs that benefit US allies, brinksmanship with China and unraveling Obamacare. Trump calls net neutrality “a top-down power grab” that “will target conservative media”; he has often repeated his support for a registry of American Muslims, and generally demonstrates not merely a lack of proficiency in technology but a contempt for expertise. But like every rich guy who wants to stay that way, he keeps a couple of eggheads around, and between him and them, when it comes to tech policy they will make America … something. Possibly not great. | technology/2016/dec/30/donald-trump-technology-computers-cyber-hacks-surveillance | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-30T08:30:28Z | Donald Trump is technology's befuddled (but dangerous) grandfather | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/30/donald-trump-technology-computers-cyber-hacks-surveillance | ['technology', 'bah', 'humbug', 'think', 'ought', 'get', 'lives', 'said', 'donald', 'trump', 'wednesday', 'summing', 'take', 'complex', 'problem', 'apparently', 'russian', 'phishing', 'attacks', 'multiple', 'democratic', 'party', 'groups', 'election', 'white', 'house', 'current', 'resident', 'prepared', 'impose', 'sanctions', 'russia', 'hacking', 'trump', 'said', 'think', 'computers', 'complicated', 'lives', 'greatly', 'whole', 'age', 'computer', 'made', 'nobody', 'knows', 'exactly', 'going', 'first', 'time', 'president-elect', 'stumped', 'digital', 'world', 'like', 'technophobe', 'unwrapped', 'computer-operated', 'nuclear', 'arsenal', 'christmas', 'morning', 'trouble', 'nobody', 'knows', 'exactly', 'going', 'age', 'computer', 'technology', 'poses', 'complex', 'problems', 'human', 'history', 'incoming', 'administration', 'leader', 'man', 'refers', 'cyber', 'seems', 'concerned', 'weight', 'hacker', 'possibly', 'bed', 'syntax', 'mysterious', 'broke', 'democratic', 'national', 'committee', 'us', 'authorities', 'spent', 'attempting', 'chart', 'new', 'territory', 'even', 'beyond', 'dnc', 'dccc', 'clinton', 'campaign', 'hacks', 'americans', 'protect', 'infrastructure', 'attacks', 'foundations', 'internet', 'mirai', 'botnet', 'siege', 'october', 'took', 'biggest', 'sophisticated', 'tech', 'companies', 'world', 'nation', 'patchwork', 'electoral', 'authorities', 'repair', 'voting', 'systems', 'prone', 'massive', 'potentially', 'catastrophic', 'error', 'government', 'treat', 'open-source', 'encryption', 'trump', 'remains', 'silent', 'details', 'digital', 'policy', 'leader-to-be', 'government', 'desperate', 'need', 'consistent', 'guiding', 'principles', 'instead', 'trump', 'appears', 'regard', 'technology', 'contact', 'point', 'obsessions', 'drove', 'campaign', 'blase', 'warrantless', 'surveillance', 'said', 'would', 'fine', 'restore', 'nsa', 'bulk', 'data', 'collection', 'programs', 'position', 'pick', 'cia', 'director', 'mike', 'pompeo', 'also', 'endorses', 'trump', 'attorney', 'general', 'nominee', 'jeff', 'sessions', 'far', 'actively', 'concerned', 'appearing', 'stronger', 'predecessor', 'barack', 'obama', 'always', 'chinese', 'activity', 'cyberspace', 'especially', 'start', 'cyber', 'hacking', 'us', 'also', 'occasionally', 'made', 'time', 'campaign', 'mock', 'opponent', 'hillary', 'clinton', 'getting', 'sick', 'getting', 'hacked', 'trump', 'general', 'albeit', 'chilling', 'topic', 'exactly', 'administration', 'extension', 'trump', 'ideology', 'information', 'gathering', 'serve', 'unthinkable', 'word', 'going', 'things', 'never', 'told', 'yahoo', 'news', 'people', 'going', 'upset', 'think', 'everybody', 'feeling', 'security', 'going', 'rule', 'certain', 'things', 'done', 'never', 'thought', 'would', 'happen', 'country', 'terms', 'information', 'learning', 'enemy', 'going', 'certain', 'things', 'frankly', 'unthinkable', 'year', 'ago', 'apparent', 'lack', 'interest', 'minutiae', 'positions', 'left', 'administration', 'tech', 'strategy', 'hands', 'peter', 'thiel', 'thin-skinned', 'billionaire', 'founder', 'paypal', 'quietly', 'bankrolled', 'former', 'pro', 'wrestler', 'hulk', 'hogan', 'annihilating', 'lawsuit', 'news', 'outlet', 'gawker', 'apparently', 'retaliation', 'article', 'thiel', 'sexual', 'orientation', 'earlier', 'month', 'thiel', 'indulged', 'trump', 'grudge', 'twitter', 'president-elect', 'tech', 'summit', 'trump', 'tower', 'shutting', 'organization', 'provides', 'trump', 'loudest', 'megaphone', 'reportedly', 'twitter', 'refused', 'add', 'emoji', 'trump', 'campaign', 'crookedhillary', 'sponsored', 'hashtag', 'election', 'another', 'thiel', 'companies', 'data-mining', 'firm', 'palantir', 'already', 'plays', 'powerful', 'role', 'company', 'services', 'likely', 'used', 'effort', 'deport', 'undocumented', 'immigrants', 'according', 'multiple', 'reports', 'president-elect', 'technology', 'appears', 'yet', 'another', 'venue', 'increasingly', 'dangerous', 'hobbies', 'including', 'threats', 'cut', 'programs', 'benefit', 'us', 'allies', 'brinksmanship', 'china', 'unraveling', 'obamacare', 'trump', 'calls', 'net', 'neutrality', 'top-down', 'power', 'grab', 'target', 'conservative', 'media', 'often', 'repeated', 'support', 'registry', 'american', 'muslims', 'generally', 'demonstrates', 'merely', 'lack', 'proficiency', 'technology', 'contempt', 'expertise', 'like', 'every', 'rich', 'guy', 'wants', 'stay', 'way', 'keeps', 'couple', 'eggheads', 'around', 'comes', 'tech', 'policy', 'make', 'america', 'something', 'possibly', 'great'] |
3 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/30/detonating-devices-and-damp-squibs-the-biggest-tech-letdowns-of-2016 | While there were some good things in technology released this year, there were also quite a few let downs. From detonating devices to damp squibs, these are the biggest let downs of 2016. LG G5 and modular smartphones The LG G5 promised so much, but delivered little. As a smartphone, it is a decent if not spectacular entry, with dual cameras on the back and solid specifications. But it was the slot in the bottom of the smartphone that got the hype cycle churning. It was the first modular smartphone from a big-name brand. The G5’s chin and battery could be swapped for fresh cells, a set of speakers, a camera control and extended battery grip and a few other so-called Friends. The trouble was the “friends” were few and far between and those that actually arrived weren’t that great. On paper it was great, in practice it didn’t work. But the G5 wasn’t the only modular smartphone to fail last year, Google also pulled the plug on its Project Ara modular phone while Lenovo’s Motorola released the Moto Z with add-ons that slightly more elegantly magnetically attached to the back. Whether anyone bought the add-ons though remains to be seen. Apple MacBook Pro After four years of waiting for anything more meaningful than a specification bump, the new 2016 13in MacBook Pro arrived. It was thinner, lighter, had a better screen and was slightly more powerful than the last one released in 2015. It had a new-fangled “Touch Bar” instead of traditional F and control keys. It even had Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner, a headphones port and a starting £1,749 price tag. What it didn’t have were any data ports other than USB-C - no traditional USB, no ethernet, no Mini DisplayPort, no HDMI or even a MagSafe power connector. There were four USB-C ports ready to accept a plethora of dongles. Any of them could also be used for power, which is a good thing as the battery life was pretty poor. It’s certainly beautiful, but after four years in the making, style without substance didn’t cut it for even some die-hard Apple Mac fans. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Life for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 started so promisingly. It was a cutting-edge device, worked brilliantly, garnered praise from all sides and even had an iris scanner - one of the first smartphones to do so. It was predicted to sell in the millions, to propel Samsung to even higher heights and cement the South Korean brand’s lead in big-screened smartphones. That was until one exploded. Then another and another. A halt to sales was called for safety concerns around the battery. It was pulled from shelves and the UK launch was cancelled. A fix was applied and the offending batteries taken out before being relaunched. The problem was that the replacement Note 7s started catching fire too. The numbers were small, but the risk was great. Eventually Samsung pulled the plug and terminated the Note 7. Even still some users refused to give up the phone. Samsung was forced to hobble it before rendering it inoperative with a software update. There the sad tale of the Note 7 ended. Pushing boundaries in design and technology can win you plaudits and sales, but Samsung pushed too far this time. PlayStation VR It was heralded as the best VR for normal people. PlayStation VR promised to bring great virtual reality experiences only possible on a desktop-class system but without the need for a £1,000 PC to run it. The trouble was that it lacked the best-in-class controllers that really made VR in 2016. It was cheap and provided a cheap experience. And a cheap VR experience just didn’t cut it. Whether that will be enough to see it go mainstream in 2017 remains to be seen, but it certainly wasn’t the rip-roaring success many hoped it would be. Apple iPhone 7 The highly anticipated 2016 edition of Apple’s flagship smartphone, the iPhone 7, was meant to set the world alight. It was waterproof, had a much better camera and its Plus edition even had two cameras on the back. The physical home button was gone, instead using force touch and so was the headphone socket. But what the iPhone 7 will be remembered for will be its terrible battery life. Less is certainly not more when it comes to how long it lasts in a day, and constantly having to hunt for a charger gets old really quickly. Especially when you can’t even listen to a wired set of headphones and charge it at the same time. Facebook Snapchat clones Snapchat. It’s an app. You share pictures with it, draw stupid things and can even discover news on it. It’s biggest asset is a younger audience than most other services, the untapped market so many are after, including Facebook, which keeps trying to clone it after failing in its attempt to buy it. Facebook has tried to clone Snapchat, copying features and launching apps not once, not twice, not even three times. 2016 saw Facebook try to clone Snapchat for the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth time. It’s getting old. Maybe Facebook should direct some of that engineering talent to working on more pressing matters. Dyson Supersonic The Dyson Supersonic took the humble hairdryer and infused it with the vacuum-firms technology. A high speed fan in the handle for weight distribution, it’s trademark air multiplier head to blast air in your face, magnetically attaching nozzles and a round of digital buttons for controlling temperature and air speed. It looked like the hairdryer finally dragged kicking and screaming into the gadget age. Sadly in group tests up against hairdryers half the Supersonic’s price it was found to be a lot of hot air. Attach a nozzle and all that fancy airflow dropped to a level “akin to blowing through a drinking straw”. | technology/2016/dec/30/detonating-devices-and-damp-squibs-the-biggest-tech-letdowns-of-2016 | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-30T07:00:26Z | Exploding phones and Snapchat clones: the biggest tech letdowns of 2016 | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/30/detonating-devices-and-damp-squibs-the-biggest-tech-letdowns-of-2016 | ['good', 'things', 'technology', 'released', 'year', 'also', 'quite', 'let', 'downs', 'detonating', 'devices', 'damp', 'squibs', 'biggest', 'let', 'downs', 'lg', 'g5', 'modular', 'smartphones', 'lg', 'g5', 'promised', 'much', 'delivered', 'little', 'smartphone', 'decent', 'spectacular', 'entry', 'dual', 'cameras', 'back', 'solid', 'specifications', 'slot', 'bottom', 'smartphone', 'got', 'hype', 'cycle', 'churning', 'first', 'modular', 'smartphone', 'big-name', 'brand', 'g5', 'chin', 'battery', 'could', 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4 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/29/fbi-dhs-russian-hacking-report | The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI have released an analysis of the allegedly Russian government-sponsored hacking groups blamed for breaching several different parts of the Democratic party during the 2016 elections. The 13-page document, released on Thursday and meant for information technology professionals, came as Barack Obama announced sanctions against Russia for interfering in the 2016 elections. The report was criticized by security experts, who said it lacked depth and came too late. “The activity by [Russian intelligence services] is part of an ongoing campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the US government and its citizens,” wrote the authors of the government report. “This [joint analysis report] provides technical indicators related to many of these operations, recommended mitigations, suggested actions to take in response to the indicators provided, and information on how to report such incidents to the US government.” The government report follows several from the private sector, notably a lengthy section in a Microsoft report from 2015 on a hacking team referred to as “advanced persistent threat 28” (APT 28), which the company’s internal nomenclature calls Strontium and others have called Fancy Bear. Also mentioned in the government document is another group called APT 29 or Cozy Bear. Before the government report, other security researchers tracked “the bears” to breaches including the summer 2016 attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency, apparently an act of revenge against whistleblowing Russian athlete Yuliya Stepanova. Other attacks attributed to the same set of apparently Russian actors include an attack on Georgian elections in 2008, the hack of French news channel TV5Monde, and a Twitter account and blog supposedly operated by a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 but more likely an instrument of Fancy Bear. The Microsoft report contains a history of the groups’ operation; a report by security analysts ThreatConnect describes the team’s modus operandi; and competing firm CrowdStrike detailed the attack on the Democratic National Committee shortly before subsequent breaches of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign were discovered. Security experts on Twitter criticized the government report as too basic. Jonathan Zdziarski, a highly regarded security researcher, compared the joint action report to a child’s activity center. Tom Killalea, former vice-president of security at Amazon and a Capital One board member, wrote: “Russian attack on DNC similar to so many other attacks in past 15yrs. Big question: Why such poor incident response?” | technology/2016/dec/29/fbi-dhs-russian-hacking-report | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-29T22:19:53Z | FBI and Homeland Security detail Russian hacking campaign in new report | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/fbi-dhs-russian-hacking-report | ['us', 'department', 'homeland', 'security', 'dhs', 'fbi', 'released', 'analysis', 'allegedly', 'russian', 'government-sponsored', 'hacking', 'groups', 'blamed', 'breaching', 'several', 'different', 'parts', 'democratic', 'party', 'elections', '13-page', 'document', 'released', 'thursday', 'meant', 'information', 'technology', 'professionals', 'came', 'barack', 'obama', 'announced', 'sanctions', 'russia', 'interfering', 'elections', 'report', 'criticized', 'security', 'experts', 'said', 'lacked', 'depth', 'came', 'late', 'activity', 'russian', 'intelligence', 'services', 'part', 'ongoing', 'campaign', 'cyber-enabled', 'operations', 'directed', 'us', 'government', 'citizens', 'wrote', 'authors', 'government', 'report', 'joint', 'analysis', 'report', 'provides', 'technical', 'indicators', 'related', 'many', 'operations', 'recommended', 'mitigations', 'suggested', 'actions', 'take', 'response', 'indicators', 'provided', 'information', 'report', 'incidents', 'us', 'government', 'government', 'report', 'follows', 'several', 'private', 'sector', 'notably', 'lengthy', 'section', 'microsoft', 'report', 'hacking', 'team', 'referred', 'advanced', 'persistent', 'threat', 'apt', 'company', 'internal', 'nomenclature', 'calls', 'strontium', 'others', 'called', 'fancy', 'bear', 'also', 'mentioned', 'government', 'document', 'another', 'group', 'called', 'apt', 'cozy', 'bear', 'government', 'report', 'security', 'researchers', 'tracked', 'bears', 'breaches', 'including', 'summer', 'attack', 'world', 'anti-doping', 'agency', 'apparently', 'act', 'revenge', 'whistleblowing', 'russian', 'athlete', 'yuliya', 'stepanova', 'attacks', 'attributed', 'set', 'apparently', 'russian', 'actors', 'include', 'attack', 'georgian', 'elections', 'hack', 'french', 'news', 'channel', 'tv5monde', 'twitter', 'account', 'blog', 'supposedly', 'operated', 'hacker', 'calling', 'guccifer', 'likely', 'instrument', 'fancy', 'bear', 'microsoft', 'report', 'contains', 'history', 'groups', 'operation', 'report', 'security', 'analysts', 'threatconnect', 'describes', 'team', 'modus', 'operandi', 'competing', 'firm', 'crowdstrike', 'detailed', 'attack', 'democratic', 'national', 'committee', 'shortly', 'subsequent', 'breaches', 'democratic', 'congressional', 'campaign', 'committee', 'hillary', 'clinton', 'campaign', 'discovered', 'security', 'experts', 'twitter', 'criticized', 'government', 'report', 'basic', 'jonathan', 'zdziarski', 'highly', 'regarded', 'security', 'researcher', 'compared', 'joint', 'action', 'report', 'child', 'activity', 'center', 'tom', 'killalea', 'former', 'vice-president', 'security', 'amazon', 'capital', 'one', 'board', 'member', 'wrote', 'russian', 'attack', 'dnc', 'similar', 'many', 'attacks', 'past', '15yrs', 'big', 'question', 'poor', 'incident', 'response'] |
5 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/29/how-to-avoid-siris-blood-curdling-scream | Samuel Gibbs’ piece about the internet of things (How I turned my home into a sci-fi dream, theguardian.com, 24 December) omits an important warning: Alexa and Siri must never be left alone in the same room. The Bluetooth/Wi-Fi version of scratching each other’s eyes out is not pretty, but only Siri has that blood-curdling scream. Tony Waters Eugene, Oregon, USA • Can I ask you to review the use of “to sleep with” when you mean to have sex with (Report, 27 December). It is 2016 and I think your readers can deal with an accurate description rather than this 1950s euphemism for sexual activity. Caroline Pinder Todmorden, West Yorkshire • The rich pay £23m for the privilege of rubbing snow into their skins (Perks snowball as luxury flat market cools, 29 December). Homeless people do it for nothing. Wake up, world. Feel ashamed. Laura Cunningham London • Neither Jem Whiteley (Letters, 28 December) nor Judith Flanders (Letters, 29 December) makes an original point. The Monster Raving Loony Party, many years ago, posed the question: “How come there’s only one Monopolies Commission?” At the same time in its election manifesto it indicated that the way to reduce classroom sizes was to push the desks closer together. Gordon Atkinson Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex • Maybe, having explained (Letters, 29 December) the singularity of “thesaurus”, Judith Flanders could tell us why, stepping off the boat at Ostend, you can’t book a quick tour of just the one Flander? Chris Sladen Woodstock, Oxfordshire • Join the debate – email [email protected] • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | technology/2016/dec/29/how-to-avoid-siris-blood-curdling-scream | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-29T18:12:48Z | How to avoid Siri’s blood-curdling scream | Brief letters | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/how-to-avoid-siris-blood-curdling-scream | ['samuel', 'gibbs', 'piece', 'internet', 'things', 'turned', 'home', 'sci-fi', 'dream', 'theguardiancom', 'december', 'omits', 'important', 'warning', 'alexa', 'siri', 'must', 'never', 'left', 'alone', 'room', 'bluetoothwi-fi', 'version', 'scratching', 'eyes', 'pretty', 'siri', 'blood-curdling', 'scream', 'tony', 'waters', 'eugene', 'oregon', 'usa', 'ask', 'review', 'use', 'sleep', 'mean', 'sex', 'report', 'december', 'think', 'readers', 'deal', 'accurate', 'description', 'rather', '1950s', 'euphemism', 'sexual', 'activity', 'caroline', 'pinder', 'todmorden', 'west', 'yorkshire', 'rich', 'pay', '23m', 'privilege', 'rubbing', 'snow', 'skins', 'perks', 'snowball', 'luxury', 'flat', 'market', 'cools', 'december', 'homeless', 'people', 'nothing', 'wake', 'world', 'feel', 'ashamed', 'laura', 'cunningham', 'london', 'neither', 'jem', 'whiteley', 'letters', 'december', 'judith', 'flanders', 'letters', 'december', 'makes', 'original', 'point', 'monster', 'raving', 'loony', 'party', 'many', 'years', 'ago', 'posed', 'question', 'come', 'one', 'monopolies', 'commission', 'time', 'election', 'manifesto', 'indicated', 'way', 'reduce', 'classroom', 'sizes', 'push', 'desks', 'closer', 'together', 'gordon', 'atkinson', 'shoreham-by-sea', 'west', 'sussex', 'maybe', 'explained', 'letters', 'december', 'singularity', 'thesaurus', 'judith', 'flanders', 'could', 'tell', 'us', 'stepping', 'boat', 'ostend', 'book', 'quick', 'tour', 'one', 'flander', 'chris', 'sladen', 'woodstock', 'oxfordshire', 'join', 'debate', 'email', 'guardianletterstheguardiancom', 'read', 'guardian', 'letters', 'click', 'visit', 'gucomletters'] |
6 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/29/smart-electricity-meters-dangerously-insecure-hackers | Smart electricity meters, of which there are more than 100m installed around the world, are frequently “dangerously insecure”, a security expert has said. The lack of security in the smart utilities raises the prospect of a single line of malicious code cutting power to a home or even causing a catastrophic overload leading to exploding meters or house fires, according to Netanel Rubin, co-founder of the security firm Vaultra. “Reclaim your home,” Rubin told a conference of hackers and security experts, “or someone else will.” If a hacker took control of a smart meter they would be able to know “exactly when and how much electricity you’re using”, Rubin told the 33rd Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg. An attacker could also see whether a home had any expensive electronics. “He can do billing fraud, setting your bill to whatever he likes … The scary thing is if you think about the power they have over your electricity. He will have power over all of your smart devices connected to the electricity. This will have more severe consequences: imagine you woke up to find you’d been robbed by a burglar who didn’t have to break in. “But even if you don’t have smart devices, you are still at risk. An attacker who controls the meter also controls the meter’s software, allowing him to cause it to literally explode.” Rubin said many of the warnings were not hypothetical. In 2009 Puerto Rican smart meters were hacked en masse, leading to widespread billing fraud, and in 2015 a house fire in Ontario was traced back to a faulty smart meter, although hacking was not implicated in that. The problems at the heart of the insecurity stem from outdated protocols, half-hearted implementations and weak design principles. While the physical security of smart meters is strong – “trust me, I tried” to hack in that way, Rubin said – the wireless protocols many of them use are problematic. To communicate with the utility company, most smart meters use GSM, the 2G mobile standard. That has a fairly well-known weakness whereby an attacker with a fake mobile tower can cause devices to “hand over” to the fake version from the real tower, simply by providing a strong signal. In GSM, devices have to authenticate with towers, but not the other way round, allowing the fake mast to send its own commands to the meter. Worse still, said Rubin, all the meters from one utility used the same hardcoded credentials. “If an attacker gains access to one meter, it gains access to them all. It is the one key to rule them all.” Inside the home, too, the communications are rendered insecure by outdated standards and bad implementation. Almost all smart meters use the Zigbee standard to speak to other smart devices in the home. Zigbee, which dates from 2003, is a popular home automation standard, used for controlling everything from lightbulbs to air conditioners. But it is so convoluted, due to the vast array of devices supported, that it is almost better to think of it as 15 different standards, each of which vendors can choose to implement as they see fit. “This unique situation is so difficult to implement, venders actually choose what they want to implement. And when they choose what to support, they more often than not skip security,” Rubin said. Other weak security decisions made by vendors include: Encryption keys derived from short (often just six-character) device names. Pairing standards with no authentication required, allowing an attacker to simply ask the smart meter to join the network and receive keys in return. Hardcoded credentials, allowing administrator access with passwords as simple and guessable as the vendor’s name. Code simplified to work on low-power devices skipping important checks, allowing nothing more than a long communication to crash the device. “These security problems are not going to just go away,” Rubin said. “On the contrary, we are going to see a sharp increase in hacking attempts. Yet most utilities are not even monitoring their network, let alone the smart meters. Utilities have to understand that with great power comes great responsibility.” Smart meters come with benefits, allowing utilities to more efficiently allocate energy production, and enabling micro-generation that can boost the uptake of renewable energy. For those reasons and more, the European Union has a goal of replacing 80% of meters with smart meters by 2020. A spokesperson for the UK government’s department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “Robust security controls are in place across the end to end smart metering system and all devices must be independently assessed by an expert security organisation, irrespective of their country of origin.” | technology/2016/dec/29/smart-electricity-meters-dangerously-insecure-hackers | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-29T14:51:06Z | Smart electricity meters can be dangerously insecure, warns expert | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/smart-electricity-meters-dangerously-insecure-hackers | ['smart', 'electricity', 'meters', '100m', 'installed', 'around', 'world', 'frequently', 'dangerously', 'insecure', 'security', 'expert', 'said', 'lack', 'security', 'smart', 'utilities', 'raises', 'prospect', 'single', 'line', 'malicious', 'code', 'cutting', 'power', 'home', 'even', 'causing', 'catastrophic', 'overload', 'leading', 'exploding', 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7 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/29/music-streaming-industry-saviour-labels-spotify-apple-music | Five years ago, the demise of the music industry seemed almost inevitable. Recession, rampant piracy, falling CD sales and a fear that “kids just don’t buy music any more” had giant record labels, once oozing wealth, counting the pennies. Yet 2016 has seen a reversal of fortune – and the industry’s saviour is not what many predicted. Profits from music streaming, first championed by Spotify and now offered by Apple and Amazon, have given some labels their largest surge in revenue in more than a decade. At the beginning of December, one of the world’s biggest labels, Warner Music, announced revenues of $3.25bn (£2.66bn) this year – its highest in eight years. More significantly, $1bn of that was from streaming, more than double its download revenue and more than $100m more than its physical revenue. The surge in profits is being seen across all the major labels. In the first half of 2016, streaming revenue in the US grew by 57% to $1.6bn, and worldwide digital revenues overtook those from physical sales for the first time in music industry history, mainly because of streaming. This year’s most-streamed artist was Drake, with 4.2bn streams. There are 90 million people signed up to streaming services worldwide and the shift, and the aggressive speed at which it has taken place, is having the greatest impact on music since digital downloads were introduced. It makes boycotts by artists such as Taylor Swift, who condemned Spotify for only paying between $0.006 and $0.0084 each time someone listens to a song, seem redundant. Paul Smernicki, who was head of digital at Universal Records for 17 years before leaving this year to start his own venture, Restless Natives, said: “I thought the days of the music industry talking about anything in terms of millions were gone, but now we are looking at billions of streams on an almost daily basis. If you look at the the raw numbers of people who are streaming, I think you could now argue that music has never been more popular.” Smernecki said streaming had democratised access to music by making it easy and cheap, even for those who were previously unwilling to buy it. “The value of reliability, convenience and accessibility to an enormous catalogue of songs for a small cost now trumps illegally downloading a song free,” he said. “Spotify and Apple Music are now simply better than any hassle of an illegal download service and come without the risk, so people are willing to invest. “You don’t even have to be a hardcore music fan for it to seem like good value. People who previously thought they weren’t that into music, or didn’t like artists enough to buy entire albums, are now discovering they are far more interested in music than they thought. I think streaming has woken people up to how music can really find its place in your life.” The format is so popular that less than a year after the Official Charts Company decided to count streams, as well as physical sales and downloads, it has had to change the formula. Currently, 100 streams count as one “sale” of a song, but from January, the ratio will become 150:1 to avoid certain songs, such as Drake’s One Dance, remaining unmoved at the top of the chart for weeks based almost entirely on their popularity on Spotify. The figures now generated by a select few artists also make Sony’s decision to poach Adele from indie label XL for a mammoth £90m this year, the biggest record deal with a British musician, seem like savvy business sense; her hit single Hello has been streamed 632m times and counting. But it is not just the three major labels, Universal, Warner and Sony, that are benefiting. With album purchases and single downloads, it made no difference if they were ever played, but streaming rewards consumption – the more times a song is played, the more money it makes. That shift has rewarded many independent labels, particularly those with big-hitting artists on their roster. Jamie Oborne, manager of Mercury-nominated band the 1975, said that streaming was responsible for a music industry “renaissance”, financially rewarding not just labels but also musicians. ““We’ve seen this cultural shift where people are willing to pay for music again, not just illegally download it from LimeWire, so of course my artists have benefitted from that. Sales used to be decimated by a leak, whereas now it just doesn’t matter. Digital downloads are shrinking so rapidly that I’d say they will almost certainly be gone in a couple of years” Jane Third, senior vice-president of Because Music, whose artists include Metronomy, Christine and the Queens, Major Lazer and Django Django, said revenue from streaming had ensured profits more than doubled on last year. Third attributed it almost entirely to the success of Christine and the Queens, the French singer who became one of this year’s most talked about musicians, and Major Lazer, whose track Lean On was the most-streamed song of 2015. “Streaming is a positive thing, 100%,” Third said. “We have seen an upswing this year for the first time in more than 10 years and it’s going to continue to grow. Our company has grown exponentially, and as soon as we started having hits in the streaming world, our revenues doubled. Overall, streaming is going to save the industry.” Third said playlists on streaming services, particularly Spotify, were becoming as essential as radio in generating interest in a track. Indies and major labels see streaming playlists as a major part of the marketing strategy around a song, trying to “put your music into people’s consumption habits, whether it’s a playlist they listen to on the way to work, at the gym or just as part of their streaming library”. Streaming playlists are increasingly the way many people find their music. Creating interesting playlists is also a major focus for Spotify, which recently hired the former head of music at Radio 1 George Ergatoudis to head up its playlisting team and seek out new music to champion. Streaming playlists have become so important that the major labels now have “streaming pluggers”, just as they have radio pluggers who push for songs to be played on major stations. Third was adamant that this shift towards play count, or consumption, would not have an impact on the sort of artist signed and championed by the indie sector. However, Darius Van Arman, the co-owner of the Secretly group, whose artists include Bon Iver, Angel Olsen and The War on Drugs, predicted there would be some impact on more experimental artists who in the past might have sold well due to credibility, but were unlikely to generate numerous repeated plays on streaming services. Van Arman said independent labels were definitely “keeping up with the majors” in terms of benefiting from streaming, but added: “I think it’s probably inevitable that the market is going to invest more in music that is accessible and caters to repeat listening. For labels and artists who are more experimental, the new streaming economy is going to make it harder for them to earn money on their recordings. “It has some impact on our A&R philosophy. We do think it’s very important that experimental music and challenging music is released. There are important artists that need to be supported because they are culturally exciting and push the boundaries of what is mainstream, so we will always have one foot in that world. “But we have to be realistic and have another foot in the world where we are working with artists to make recordings that people want to listen to over and over again.” The focus of labels and artists has shifted even more towards generating a hit single, but Van Arman emphasised that streaming had not completely eliminated the album format. Albums tend to perform less well on streaming – currently it accounts for 30% of most album revenues, with the rest from downloads and physical purchases. However, Van Arman pointed to Bon Iver’s recent release, 22, A Million, which data from Spotify showed most people were listening to the whole way through. The flipside is that labels are encouraging artists to make longer albums to monetise the format as much as possible for streaming. The domination of streaming has not benefited the entire industry. Geoff Travis, the founder of Rough Trade records, said: “Our sales figures seem to me shockingly low given the acclaimed quality of the releases. [But] other people seem optimistic and we are still in the game, so maybe there is a future.” | technology/2016/dec/29/music-streaming-industry-saviour-labels-spotify-apple-music | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-29T14:09:43Z | Music streaming hailed as industry's saviour as labels enjoy profit surge | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/music-streaming-industry-saviour-labels-spotify-apple-music | ['five', 'years', 'ago', 'demise', 'music', 'industry', 'seemed', 'almost', 'inevitable', 'recession', 'rampant', 'piracy', 'falling', 'cd', 'sales', 'fear', 'kids', 'buy', 'music', 'giant', 'record', 'labels', 'oozing', 'wealth', 'counting', 'pennies', 'yet', 'seen', 'reversal', 'fortune', 'industry', 'saviour', 'many', 'predicted', 'profits', 'music', 'streaming', 'first', 'championed', 'spotify', 'offered', 'apple', 'amazon', 'given', 'labels', 'largest', 'surge', 'revenue', 'decade', 'beginning', 'december', 'one', 'world', 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8 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/askjack/2016/dec/29/which-is-the-best-cheap-windows-laptop-for-my-mum | My mum is looking to buy a new laptop after Christmas. Her budget is tight: around £200. She uses it for Microsoft Office, browsing the internet (reading the Guardian) and watching TV. I suggested a 32GB SSD drive – which would be really quick – as she will use USB sticks, SD cards and the cloud for storage. I saw one for £160, but if she bought that, she would need to buy an external DVD drive for burning music to CD etc. Would it just be easier to stay safe and get a standard laptop with a hard drive? Charlie There are two kinds of laptop at the low end of the PC market. First, there are traditional laptops, where the base system has a 15.6in screen, 4GB of memory, a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, and (usually) a read/write DVD drive. These machines are not very portable and don’t have long battery life, but they do the job. Current prices range from around £250 to £500. The second type is much like a netbook, albeit one that doesn’t meet all the netbook’s now-obsolete specifications (such as a 1024 x 600-pixel screen). They are designed to be thinner, lighter and cheaper than traditional laptops, and they usually have much better battery life. The base system typically has a 10in or 11.6in screen, 2GB of memory, and 32GB of Flash storage. The touch-screen models often double as tablets: their screens are detachable or have 360-degree hinges that make them into 2-in-1s. Current prices range from about £150 to £300. The hardware specifications of new-style netbooks are very similar to Chromebooks and they sell at much the same prices. Like Chromebooks, they are designed for web-based computing, though they can do much more. They can still run traditional Windows programs, such as Microsoft Office and Apple iTunes, and they can easily use external DVD and Blu-ray drives and other peripherals. Traditional laptops are usually bought as desktop PC replacements. New-style netbooks and Chromebooks are better seen as companion devices that supplement either a desktop PC or laptop – though they could be seen as upgrades for people who only have smartphones or tablets. New-style netbooks are great for casual computing, and for carrying around in handbags, but they compromise on screen size, CPU power, and storage. Beware of 32GB “SSDs” Contrary to what you think, netbooks do not have SSDs (solid state drives) – or at least, not the kind of SSD that can replace a standard hard drive. PC manufacturers often describe them, accurately, as eMMC (Embedded Multi Media Card) drives. They are more like SD storage cards soldered to the motherboard. They are used in smartphones, tablets and low-end laptops because they are very small and very cheap, but they don’t perform anything like real SSDs. Indeed, while eMMC chips load data faster than traditional hard drives, they won’t always write data faster. Apart from that, I think 32GB Flash memory drives are too small for traditional laptop uses. Microsoft has reduced the size of Windows 10, partly by compressing the Windows files, but it’s going to get bigger with use. There will be numerous upgrades, growing log files, swap files, and large caches of temporary internet files. (When I removed Google Chrome, it had about 1.3GB of temp files.) Windows 10 is getting in-place upgrades twice a year – the Creators Update is coming soon – and these are installed as new operating systems. So, you need space for the current version of Windows 10, space for the new version, and space for a backup copy of the old version, which is preserved so you can roll back the upgrade if something goes wrong. August’s Anniversary Update needed 10-20GB of free space to install, and it wouldn’t install on my 32GB 2-in-1. which had 9GB free. I had to plug in an external hard drive. Looking three years or six upgrades ahead, I can’t see a 32GB drive coping without some massive clean-ups. Significant upgrades may have to be downloaded separately and installed from a USB thumb drive. Since eMMC drives can’t be upgraded, I recommend buying PC’s with 64GB instead of 32GB. Stick with tradition Your mother sounds like a traditional laptop user, and if she wants to install Microsoft Office and assemble tracks to burn audio CDs, she’d be better off with a traditional laptop. This is a different scenario from someone who wants a very light PC to carry around, whose data is online, and who streams everything instead of saving and owning it. Of course, traditional laptops are more expensive than new-style netbooks, but if you include the cost of an external DVD, there’s not much in it. Although no PC manufacturer now makes traditional laptops to sell for £250, you can still buy them for less than that. You can get bargains in the sales, refurbished laptops (which come with a guarantee), and second hand machines. Some companies, including HP, do their own refurbishing and sell Grade A laptops that are almost “as new”, except for coming in plain boxes. Some companies, such as Tier1Online, sell ex-corporate systems that may have been heavily used but can still be good value. You will have to shop around. Argos often has sale bargains, especially on Lenovo equipment. Currys PC World sometimes has special deals. Laptop Outlet, on the Tottenham Court Road in London, has deals and refurbished machines. It’s also worth checking online suppliers such as Laptops Direct, eBuyer.com, Morgan Computers and so on. Possible laptops At the moment, mum’s best bet could be the 15.6in Acer Aspire ES with a quad core Intel Pentium N4200 processor, 4GB of memory, 1TB hard drive and read/write DVD, which Argos is selling for £199.99 (was £299.99). The exact model is not specified, and the Pentium N4200 runs at 1.1GHz to 2.5GHz, not the 2.6GHz in Argos’s blurb. However, it’s a decent processor and makes the machine good value for money. An alternative is the Lenovo IdeaPad 110 with the same specification, except for its much slower dual core Intel Celeron N3060 processor. PC World is selling this model online for £249.99, or for £269.99 in store. Laptop Outlet has a refurbished 14in HP 14-AM012NA with the same slow Celeron N3060 and a 500GB hard drive for £219.99. However, refurbished ThinkPads tend to be better value. For example, you could get a Lenovo ThinkPad T420 – a business workhorse – with a 2.50GHz Intel Core i5-2520M, 320GB hard drive and Windows 10 Pro from Eflex on Amazon.co.uk for £229.99, which undercuts Tier1online. It may have a second-generation Core i5 but it’s still faster than a seventh-gen Core i3-7100U. (It runs at 35W instead of 15W, but your mother won’t care.) In passing, it’s hard to find real SSDs at this price level, but Laptop Outlet is selling new 11.6in Lenovo ThinkPad 11e laptops with 128GB SSDs for £249.99. This is a tough, military-spec system designed for use in schools, and current models start at £549.99. The LO version has no DVD and is still running Windows 8.1, but it might suit someone with a child who needs assistive technologies. Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to [email protected] | technology/askjack/2016/dec/29/which-is-the-best-cheap-windows-laptop-for-my-mum | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-29T09:00:01Z | Which is the best cheap Windows laptop for my mum? | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2016/dec/29/which-is-the-best-cheap-windows-laptop-for-my-mum | ['mum', 'looking', 'buy', 'new', 'laptop', 'christmas', 'budget', 'tight', 'around', 'uses', 'microsoft', 'office', 'browsing', 'internet', 'reading', 'guardian', 'watching', 'tv', 'suggested', '32gb', 'ssd', 'drive', 'would', 'really', 'quick', 'use', 'usb', 'sticks', 'sd', 'cards', 'cloud', 'storage', 'saw', 'one', 'bought', 'would', 'need', 'buy', 'external', 'dvd', 'drive', 'burning', 'music', 'cd', 'etc', 'would', 'easier', 'stay', 'safe', 'get', 'standard', 'laptop', 'hard', 'drive', 'charlie', 'two', 'kinds', 'laptop', 'low', 'end', 'pc', 'market', 'first', 'traditional', 'laptops', 'base', 'system', '156in', 'screen', 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9 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/29/oculus-touch-control-future-vr | In 2016, 21st-century virtual reality really arrived. From cheap mobile experiences to exuberant desktop machines, if you wanted to dive into a virtual world, there was a way. But while the headsets opened up possibilities, the new breed of touch controllers are the virtual hands drawing you in. When you first don a VR headset you’re transported to another world, but suspending disbelief is required to keep you there. With the simple wand-like controllers or joypads, that’s pretty hard – you know you’re using a controller on the outside rather than your hands on the inside, which drags you out of the moment. Once that happens, you then start noticing the pixels of the display, the pressure of the headset on your face, the growing motion sickness and the chance to lose yourself in virtual reality disappears. Now Oculus, the high-powered Facebook-owned VR maker, has brought out dedicated Touch controllers. They have buttons joysticks and triggers, but they also track movement in a 3D space – rotational, positional, depth and height – as you might expect. Then they go one stage further, detecting the very presence of your individual fingers around the controller. When you point, so do your virtual hands. When you lift your thumb, they give you a thumbs up. You can tighten or loosen your grip, and do so individually with your index finger, all while having almost as many degrees of freedom as your flesh and blood hands. It is so natural, so intuitive, that very soon you forget there are controllers, it’s just whatever you happen to have picked up in your virtual world, be that a broom, a bottle, a can, a disk or, almost inevitably, a gun. This is transformative. While the view around you tracking the motions of your head tells your brain that you’re no longer in Kansas, it is the almost tactile nature of doing things rather than simply witnessing them that makes you believe. When you’re moving through a puzzle-based shooting world in Super Hot, where every twitch of your hands, face, body or head makes a difference, when you’re picking out bullets from the air like a virtual Neo in the Matrix, or climbing up a rock face where every handhold is key, you’re transported to another realm. The pixels of the display, the cable attaching you to a computer and the awkward feeling of looking like a prat fades away – until you hit something in the earthly plane, which is easier than you might think. And that’s what VR needs to tackle next, the ability to move freely in space. For the holy grail of virtual reality – Star Trek’s Holodeck – you’re going to need something as good for your feet as the Oculus Touch controllers are for your hands. As attempts so far from giant balls to rolling floors show, when it comes to VR, feet are harder to cater for than hands – so sadly don’t expect to be roaming the digital plains any time soon. | technology/2016/dec/29/oculus-touch-control-future-vr | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-29T07:00:57Z | Why the future of VR is all down to touch control | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/oculus-touch-control-future-vr | ['21st-century', 'virtual', 'reality', 'really', 'arrived', 'cheap', 'mobile', 'experiences', 'exuberant', 'desktop', 'machines', 'wanted', 'dive', 'virtual', 'world', 'way', 'headsets', 'opened', 'possibilities', 'new', 'breed', 'touch', 'controllers', 'virtual', 'hands', 'drawing', 'first', 'vr', 'headset', 'transported', 'another', 'world', 'suspending', 'disbelief', 'required', 'keep', 'simple', 'wand-like', 'controllers', 'joypads', 'pretty', 'hard', 'know', 'using', 'controller', 'outside', 'rather', 'hands', 'inside', 'drags', 'moment', 'happens', 'start', 'noticing', 'pixels', 'display', 'pressure', 'headset', 'face', 'growing', 'motion', 'sickness', 'chance', 'lose', 'virtual', 'reality', 'disappears', 'oculus', 'high-powered', 'facebook-owned', 'vr', 'maker', 'brought', 'dedicated', 'touch', 'controllers', 'buttons', 'joysticks', 'triggers', 'also', 'track', 'movement', '3d', 'space', 'rotational', 'positional', 'depth', 'height', 'might', 'expect', 'go', 'one', 'stage', 'detecting', 'presence', 'individual', 'fingers', 'around', 'controller', 'point', 'virtual', 'hands', 'lift', 'thumb', 'give', 'thumbs', 'tighten', 'loosen', 'grip', 'individually', 'index', 'finger', 'almost', 'many', 'degrees', 'freedom', 'flesh', 'blood', 'hands', 'natural', 'intuitive', 'soon', 'forget', 'controllers', 'whatever', 'happen', 'picked', 'virtual', 'world', 'broom', 'bottle', 'disk', 'almost', 'inevitably', 'gun', 'transformative', 'view', 'around', 'tracking', 'motions', 'head', 'tells', 'brain', 'longer', 'kansas', 'almost', 'tactile', 'nature', 'things', 'rather', 'simply', 'witnessing', 'makes', 'believe', 'moving', 'puzzle-based', 'shooting', 'world', 'super', 'hot', 'every', 'twitch', 'hands', 'face', 'body', 'head', 'makes', 'difference', 'picking', 'bullets', 'air', 'like', 'virtual', 'neo', 'matrix', 'climbing', 'rock', 'face', 'every', 'handhold', 'key', 'transported', 'another', 'realm', 'pixels', 'display', 'cable', 'attaching', 'computer', 'awkward', 'feeling', 'looking', 'like', 'prat', 'fades', 'away', 'hit', 'something', 'earthly', 'plane', 'easier', 'might', 'think', 'vr', 'needs', 'tackle', 'next', 'ability', 'move', 'freely', 'space', 'holy', 'grail', 'virtual', 'reality', 'star', 'trek', 'holodeck', 'going', 'need', 'something', 'good', 'feet', 'oculus', 'touch', 'controllers', 'hands', 'attempts', 'far', 'giant', 'balls', 'rolling', 'floors', 'show', 'comes', 'vr', 'feet', 'harder', 'cater', 'hands', 'sadly', 'expect', 'roaming', 'digital', 'plains', 'time', 'soon'] |
10 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/28/nuance-needed-in-debate-about-technologys-role-in-childrens-development | The signatories to the letter on children’s lifestyles (Screen-based lifestyle harms children’s health, 26 December) make the usual error – compounded by your selective headline – of lumping an enormous variety of cultural experience into one category: “screen-based”, which is then labelled as merely “technology”. This makes about as much sense as lumping all printed matter together under the heading of “paper-based technology”. We know that’s a silly idea because we know that printed matter includes a vast range of cultural products, from novels to cereal packets. Screen-based content is just as diverse. Instead of wringing our hands over the long-established fact that children start to access this content during their first year of life, could we start to give some informed attention to how children begin to “learn about the culture they are born into” (to quote one of the signatories to the letter) and consider the possibility that some screen-based material may be enjoyed and valued by both parents and children, and may make a serious contribution to children’s social and emotional development? Cary Bazalgette Researcher on children and moving-image media, UCL Institute of Education • The harmful nature of the screen was revealed in an experiment by neuroscientist Patricia Kuhl quoted in the National Geographic in January 2015. She taught Mandarin sounds to two groups of babies, with one group through personal interaction and with the other through video, and was astonished to find that while the first group learned extremely well, the second learned nothing whatsoever. The reason is that there was a subtle energetic exchange in the interaction between children and carer, whereas machines cannot register or transmit energy other than their own mechanical signals. This is detectable only by the new “quantum” science. Grethe Hooper Hansen Retired teacher, Bath • Join the debate – email [email protected] • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | technology/2016/dec/28/nuance-needed-in-debate-about-technologys-role-in-childrens-development | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-28T18:34:04Z | Nuance needed in debate about technology’s role in children’s development | Letters | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/28/nuance-needed-in-debate-about-technologys-role-in-childrens-development | ['signatories', 'letter', 'children', 'lifestyles', 'screen-based', 'lifestyle', 'harms', 'children', 'health', 'december', 'make', 'usual', 'error', 'compounded', 'selective', 'headline', 'lumping', 'enormous', 'variety', 'cultural', 'experience', 'one', 'category', 'screen-based', 'labelled', 'merely', 'technology', 'makes', 'much', 'sense', 'lumping', 'printed', 'matter', 'together', 'heading', 'paper-based', 'technology', 'know', 'silly', 'idea', 'know', 'printed', 'matter', 'includes', 'vast', 'range', 'cultural', 'products', 'novels', 'cereal', 'packets', 'screen-based', 'content', 'diverse', 'instead', 'wringing', 'hands', 'long-established', 'fact', 'children', 'start', 'access', 'content', 'first', 'year', 'life', 'could', 'start', 'give', 'informed', 'attention', 'children', 'begin', 'learn', 'culture', 'born', 'quote', 'one', 'signatories', 'letter', 'consider', 'possibility', 'screen-based', 'material', 'may', 'enjoyed', 'valued', 'parents', 'children', 'may', 'make', 'serious', 'contribution', 'children', 'social', 'emotional', 'development', 'cary', 'bazalgette', 'researcher', 'children', 'moving-image', 'media', 'ucl', 'institute', 'education', 'harmful', 'nature', 'screen', 'revealed', 'experiment', 'neuroscientist', 'patricia', 'kuhl', 'quoted', 'national', 'geographic', 'january', 'taught', 'mandarin', 'sounds', 'two', 'groups', 'babies', 'one', 'group', 'personal', 'interaction', 'video', 'astonished', 'find', 'first', 'group', 'learned', 'extremely', 'well', 'second', 'learned', 'nothing', 'whatsoever', 'reason', 'subtle', 'energetic', 'exchange', 'interaction', 'children', 'carer', 'whereas', 'machines', 'cannot', 'register', 'transmit', 'energy', 'mechanical', 'signals', 'detectable', 'new', 'quantum', 'science', 'grethe', 'hooper', 'hansen', 'retired', 'teacher', 'bath', 'join', 'debate', 'email', 'guardianletterstheguardiancom', 'read', 'guardian', 'letters', 'click', 'visit', 'gucomletters'] |
11 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/28/airline-passenger-details-online-bookings-easy-prey-hackers-say-researchers | The worldwide system used to coordinate travel bookings between airlines, travel agents, and price comparison websites is hopelessly insecure, according to researchers. The lack of modern security features, both in the design of the system itself and of the many sites and services that control access to it, makes it easy for an attacker to harvest personal information from bookings, steal flights by altering ticketing details, or earn millions of air miles by attaching new frequent-flyer numbers to pre-booked flights, according to German security firm SR Labs. Known as Global Distribution Systems (GDS), the technology dates back to the 1960s, when one of the first companies in the field, Sabre, was founded. To most travellers, the technology is most obviously associated with the six-character Passenger Name Record (PNR) frequently used to enable online check-in and ticket retrieval. The PNR system was also the route for many of the weaknesses demonstrated by Karsten Nohl and Nemanja Nikodijevic, the researchers who revealed the flaws at this year’s Chaos Communication Congress hacker convention in Hamburg. While it was presented at a hacker convention, “much less hacking was actually needed to exploit” the booking system, Nohl said. At the core of many of the weaknesses was the standard use of just two pieces of information to authenticate a booking: the six-character PNR, combined with the user’s last name. “If the PNR is supposed to be a secure password, then it should be treated like one,” Nohl said. “But they don’t keep it secret: it is printed on every piece of luggage. It used to be printed on boarding passes, until it disappeared and they replaced it with a barcode.” However, the barcode is also easy to read using a number of apps, meaning many of the 80,000 travellers who have posted pictures on the #boardingpass tag on Instagram are at risk of information theft, as Nikodijevic demonstrated. “This is supposed to be the only way of authenticating users,” Nohl said, “and it’s printed on pieces of paper you just throw away at the end of the journey.” A bigger problem for most users, though, is that the six-character code is easy to guess. Each GDS provider (there are several, but the biggest two are Sabre, founded in 1960, and Amadeus, founded in 1987) uses a different system for generating them, but all have multiple problems that make them weaker than a simple six-character password. For instance, some providers iterate the first two characters sequentially, meaning all the PNRs generated in one day will have the same opening characters. Others reserve some codes for specific airlines, again narrowing the range of guesses an attacker has to make. Many of the portals into the GDS system also have minimal security features – or at least had minimal security features until Kohl and Nikodijevic notified them. Some websites that have access to the system and allow you to use your PNR and last name to check the status of your flight offer no defences at all against an attacker guessing thousands of combinations a minute. The researchers were able to access multiple records. Looking for bookings under the name “Smith”, for example, and using a thousand randomly generated booking codes, five came back with active bookings. Attackers could use that access to cancel a flight in exchange for airline credit and then use that to book new tickets. Or they could add your frequent flyer number to hundreds of flights and chalk up the air miles. Even more damage could be done with the information contained in the booking. There is enough personal and flight data in them to craft convincing phishing emails purporting to report problems with the flights or bookings. The PNR weaknesses are just scratching the surface of the problems with the GDS in general, the researchers said: there appears to be no good logging for who has accessed data and why, and access controls in general are almost non-existent, allowing anyone from any company involved in your booking to see the whole thing. One saving grace, they said, was that the whole system might end up being rewritten anyway. As the “Smith” example shows, the namespace for booking codes is slowly filling up. Simply running out of characters for new bookings could force a rewrite of the system long before security fears do. If not, Nohl suggested that a rise in cybercrime could do the same job. “Airlines sometimes notice this, but only when it becomes excessive,” he said. “I just hope it becomes so excessive that it can’t be ignored so that it gets fixed, because then the privacy issues get fixed as well. Privacy is never enough on its own.” | technology/2016/dec/28/airline-passenger-details-online-bookings-easy-prey-hackers-say-researchers | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-28T12:47:03Z | Airline passenger details easy prey for hackers, say researchers | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/28/airline-passenger-details-online-bookings-easy-prey-hackers-say-researchers | ['worldwide', 'system', 'used', 'coordinate', 'travel', 'bookings', 'airlines', 'travel', 'agents', 'price', 'comparison', 'websites', 'hopelessly', 'insecure', 'according', 'researchers', 'lack', 'modern', 'security', 'features', 'design', 'system', 'many', 'sites', 'services', 'control', 'access', 'makes', 'easy', 'attacker', 'harvest', 'personal', 'information', 'bookings', 'steal', 'flights', 'altering', 'ticketing', 'details', 'earn', 'millions', 'air', 'miles', 'attaching', 'new', 'frequent-flyer', 'numbers', 'pre-booked', 'flights', 'according', 'german', 'security', 'firm', 'sr', 'labs', 'known', 'global', 'distribution', 'systems', 'gds', 'technology', 'dates', 'back', '1960s', 'one', 'first', 'companies', 'field', 'sabre', 'founded', 'travellers', 'technology', 'obviously', 'associated', 'six-character', 'passenger', 'name', 'record', 'pnr', 'frequently', 'used', 'enable', 'online', 'check-in', 'ticket', 'retrieval', 'pnr', 'system', 'also', 'route', 'many', 'weaknesses', 'demonstrated', 'karsten', 'nohl', 'nemanja', 'nikodijevic', 'researchers', 'revealed', 'flaws', 'year', 'chaos', 'communication', 'congress', 'hacker', 'convention', 'hamburg', 'presented', 'hacker', 'convention', 'much', 'less', 'hacking', 'actually', 'needed', 'exploit', 'booking', 'system', 'nohl', 'said', 'core', 'many', 'weaknesses', 'standard', 'use', 'two', 'pieces', 'information', 'authenticate', 'booking', 'six-character', 'pnr', 'combined', 'user', 'last', 'name', 'pnr', 'supposed', 'secure', 'password', 'treated', 'like', 'one', 'nohl', 'said', 'keep', 'secret', 'printed', 'every', 'piece', 'luggage', 'used', 'printed', 'boarding', 'passes', 'disappeared', 'replaced', 'barcode', 'however', 'barcode', 'also', 'easy', 'read', 'using', 'number', 'apps', 'meaning', 'many', 'travellers', 'posted', 'pictures', 'boardingpass', 'tag', 'instagram', 'risk', 'information', 'theft', 'nikodijevic', 'demonstrated', 'supposed', 'way', 'authenticating', 'users', 'nohl', 'said', 'printed', 'pieces', 'paper', 'throw', 'away', 'end', 'journey', 'bigger', 'problem', 'users', 'though', 'six-character', 'code', 'easy', 'guess', 'gds', 'provider', 'several', 'biggest', 'two', 'sabre', 'founded', 'amadeus', 'founded', 'uses', 'different', 'system', 'generating', 'multiple', 'problems', 'make', 'weaker', 'simple', 'six-character', 'password', 'instance', 'providers', 'iterate', 'first', 'two', 'characters', 'sequentially', 'meaning', 'pnrs', 'generated', 'one', 'day', 'opening', 'characters', 'others', 'reserve', 'codes', 'specific', 'airlines', 'narrowing', 'range', 'guesses', 'attacker', 'make', 'many', 'portals', 'gds', 'system', 'also', 'minimal', 'security', 'features', 'least', 'minimal', 'security', 'features', 'kohl', 'nikodijevic', 'notified', 'websites', 'access', 'system', 'allow', 'use', 'pnr', 'last', 'name', 'check', 'status', 'flight', 'offer', 'defences', 'attacker', 'guessing', 'thousands', 'combinations', 'minute', 'researchers', 'able', 'access', 'multiple', 'records', 'looking', 'bookings', 'name', 'smith', 'example', 'using', 'thousand', 'randomly', 'generated', 'booking', 'codes', 'five', 'came', 'back', 'active', 'bookings', 'attackers', 'could', 'use', 'access', 'cancel', 'flight', 'exchange', 'airline', 'credit', 'use', 'book', 'new', 'tickets', 'could', 'add', 'frequent', 'flyer', 'number', 'hundreds', 'flights', 'chalk', 'air', 'miles', 'even', 'damage', 'could', 'done', 'information', 'contained', 'booking', 'enough', 'personal', 'flight', 'data', 'craft', 'convincing', 'phishing', 'emails', 'purporting', 'report', 'problems', 'flights', 'bookings', 'pnr', 'weaknesses', 'scratching', 'surface', 'problems', 'gds', 'general', 'researchers', 'said', 'appears', 'good', 'logging', 'accessed', 'data', 'access', 'controls', 'general', 'almost', 'non-existent', 'allowing', 'anyone', 'company', 'involved', 'booking', 'see', 'whole', 'thing', 'one', 'saving', 'grace', 'said', 'whole', 'system', 'might', 'end', 'rewritten', 'anyway', 'smith', 'example', 'shows', 'namespace', 'booking', 'codes', 'slowly', 'filling', 'simply', 'running', 'characters', 'new', 'bookings', 'could', 'force', 'rewrite', 'system', 'long', 'security', 'fears', 'nohl', 'suggested', 'rise', 'cybercrime', 'could', 'job', 'airlines', 'sometimes', 'notice', 'becomes', 'excessive', 'said', 'hope', 'becomes', 'excessive', 'ignored', 'gets', 'fixed', 'privacy', 'issues', 'get', 'fixed', 'well', 'privacy', 'never', 'enough'] |
12 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/28/amazon-refuses-to-let-police-access-suspects-echo-recordings | Amazon has refused to hand over data from an Echo smart speaker to US police, who want to access it as part of an investigation into a murder in Arkansas, according to court records seen by tech industry news site The Information. Arkansas police issued a warrant to Amazon to turn over recordings and other information associated with the device owned by James Andrew Bates. Bates has been charged with the murder of a man found dead in his hot tub in November 2015. The Seattle-based tech company twice declined to provide the police with the information they requested from the device, although it did provide Bates’s account information and purchase history, the report said court records show. Although the Echo is known for having “always-on” microphones to enable its voice-controlled features, the vast majority of the recordings it makes are not saved for longer than the few seconds it takes to determine if a pre-set “wake word” (usually “Alexa”) has been said. Only if that wake word has been heard does the device’s full complement of microphones come on and begin transmitting audio to Amazon. While that would seem to limit the use of the Echo data in the investigation, the device is also occasionally accidentally activated, through similar sounds. Those snippets of audio could potentially be useful to police investigating a crime, as could the timing information of when they were recorded. According to the report, the court records show police took the Echo and extracted some data from it. US prosecutors and defence attorneys have both found new uses for “smart” device data in the courtroom in recent years, especially information collected by wristwatch-style Fitbit activity trackers. In 2014, a Canadian woman sued her former employer over a debilitating injury she claimed to have sustained during her work as a personal trainer; she submitted data from her Fitbit to prove that “her activity levels are still lower than the baseline for someone of her age and profession,” according to reports. Conversely, when a Florida woman claimed an intruder had assaulted her, police used information from a Fitbit she had been wearing during the alleged assault that suggested she had in fact been asleep at time. She was subsequently charged with filing a false report. Amazon’s reluctance to part with user information fits a familiar pattern. Tech companies often see law enforcement requests for data as invasive and damaging to an industry that considers privacy a prime selling point. Last year, Apple went to court with the FBI over the bureau’s demand that that company break its own encryption on an iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino spree killing. But firms often retain a “back door” for their own use – to automatically scan emails for key terms used to target advertising, for example – and that can complicate claims that law enforcement access would uniquely invade a user’s privacy. Amazon’s internal approach to user data will likely prove integral to its ability to resist the warrant. In the Echo case, police also extracted data from a different smart home device, a water meter. Bates’ smart water meter recorded a flow of 140 gallons between 1am and 3am, the report said. Prosecutors claim this is an unfeasibly large amount of water use, and allege it was the result of the garden hose being used to spray the patio clean of blood. Bates’s defence team disputes the accuracy of the readings. Bates pleaded not guilty in April 2016 and is on bail awaiting trial early next year. | technology/2016/dec/28/amazon-refuses-to-let-police-access-suspects-echo-recordings | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-28T10:36:26Z | Amazon refuses to let police access US murder suspect's Echo recordings | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/28/amazon-refuses-to-let-police-access-suspects-echo-recordings | ['amazon', 'refused', 'hand', 'data', 'echo', 'smart', 'speaker', 'us', 'police', 'want', 'access', 'part', 'investigation', 'murder', 'arkansas', 'according', 'court', 'records', 'seen', 'tech', 'industry', 'news', 'site', 'information', 'arkansas', 'police', 'issued', 'warrant', 'amazon', 'turn', 'recordings', 'information', 'associated', 'device', 'owned', 'james', 'andrew', 'bates', 'bates', 'charged', 'murder', 'man', 'found', 'dead', 'hot', 'tub', 'november', 'seattle-based', 'tech', 'company', 'twice', 'declined', 'provide', 'police', 'information', 'requested', 'device', 'although', 'provide', 'bates', 'account', 'information', 'purchase', 'history', 'report', 'said', 'court', 'records', 'show', 'although', 'echo', 'known', 'always-on', 'microphones', 'enable', 'voice-controlled', 'features', 'vast', 'majority', 'recordings', 'makes', 'saved', 'longer', 'seconds', 'takes', 'determine', 'pre-set', 'wake', 'word', 'usually', 'alexa', 'said', 'wake', 'word', 'heard', 'device', 'full', 'complement', 'microphones', 'come', 'begin', 'transmitting', 'audio', 'amazon', 'would', 'seem', 'limit', 'use', 'echo', 'data', 'investigation', 'device', 'also', 'occasionally', 'accidentally', 'activated', 'similar', 'sounds', 'snippets', 'audio', 'could', 'potentially', 'useful', 'police', 'investigating', 'crime', 'could', 'timing', 'information', 'recorded', 'according', 'report', 'court', 'records', 'show', 'police', 'took', 'echo', 'extracted', 'data', 'us', 'prosecutors', 'defence', 'attorneys', 'found', 'new', 'uses', 'smart', 'device', 'data', 'courtroom', 'recent', 'years', 'especially', 'information', 'collected', 'wristwatch-style', 'fitbit', 'activity', 'trackers', 'canadian', 'woman', 'sued', 'former', 'employer', 'debilitating', 'injury', 'claimed', 'sustained', 'work', 'personal', 'trainer', 'submitted', 'data', 'fitbit', 'prove', 'activity', 'levels', 'still', 'lower', 'baseline', 'someone', 'age', 'profession', 'according', 'reports', 'conversely', 'florida', 'woman', 'claimed', 'intruder', 'assaulted', 'police', 'used', 'information', 'fitbit', 'wearing', 'alleged', 'assault', 'suggested', 'fact', 'asleep', 'time', 'subsequently', 'charged', 'filing', 'false', 'report', 'amazon', 'reluctance', 'part', 'user', 'information', 'fits', 'familiar', 'pattern', 'tech', 'companies', 'often', 'see', 'law', 'enforcement', 'requests', 'data', 'invasive', 'damaging', 'industry', 'considers', 'privacy', 'prime', 'selling', 'point', 'last', 'year', 'apple', 'went', 'court', 'fbi', 'bureau', 'demand', 'company', 'break', 'encryption', 'iphone', 'belonging', 'one', 'shooters', 'san', 'bernardino', 'spree', 'killing', 'firms', 'often', 'retain', 'back', 'door', 'use', 'automatically', 'scan', 'emails', 'key', 'terms', 'used', 'target', 'advertising', 'example', 'complicate', 'claims', 'law', 'enforcement', 'access', 'would', 'uniquely', 'invade', 'user', 'privacy', 'amazon', 'internal', 'approach', 'user', 'data', 'likely', 'prove', 'integral', 'ability', 'resist', 'warrant', 'echo', 'case', 'police', 'also', 'extracted', 'data', 'different', 'smart', 'home', 'device', 'water', 'meter', 'bates', 'smart', 'water', 'meter', 'recorded', 'flow', 'gallons', '1am', '3am', 'report', 'said', 'prosecutors', 'claim', 'unfeasibly', 'large', 'amount', 'water', 'use', 'allege', 'result', 'garden', 'hose', 'used', 'spray', 'patio', 'clean', 'blood', 'bates', 'defence', 'team', 'disputes', 'accuracy', 'readings', 'bates', 'pleaded', 'guilty', 'april', 'bail', 'awaiting', 'trial', 'early', 'next', 'year'] |
13 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/28/2016-the-year-ai-came-of-age | Over the course of 2016, artificial intelligence made the leap from “science fiction concept” to “almost meaningless buzzword” with alarmingspeed. Everything has AI now. Period-tracking app Flo “uses a neural network approach” to deliver “high period forecast accuracy”; food delivery app Just Eat launched a chatbot that “sees AI integrated into the ordering experience to ensure that customers receive the best, round the clock support and service”; restaurant guide Borsch “uses artificial intelligence to help people discover the yummiest dishes around”. But unlike many buzzwords before it, from “big data” to “blockchain”, artificial intelligence’s transformation into venture capitalist-catnip doesn’t signify the end of anyone serious using the term themselves. In fact, 2017 looks like it could be the most important year yet for the technology: AI will butt up against not only what is possible, but also what is desirable for the first time. Like many futures, the AI revolution feels interminably slow to live through, and will feel like it happened in an instant in hindsight. The first pivotal year was 2011. That was when Apple’s Siri hit iPhones, introducing the world to the first major “virtual assistant”. It was also the year the Google Brain project was instituted: the search engine’s blue-sky research team aimed to address as many tasks as possible through neural network-based learning, the computational technique that has come to define what we mean by artificial intelligence. Five years on, and neural networks have already begun to enable tech which seemed impossible back then. Google and Apple have applied them to their photo apps to let users search through their pictures for images of “dogs”, “cars” or, in Google’s case, “Christmas”, based on what the algorithms see in the images. That machine vision technology is also the basis of the self-driving car efforts from Google’s sister firm Waymo. Oh, and an entirely different neural network is probably the world’s best player at the ancient boardgame Go. That victory, from Google subsidiary DeepMind, was one of the last remaining milestones for a machine to reach. Go is so complex that, as recently as 2014, many thought it would be another decade until an AI could approach the skill of a human player. That was what made it so appealing for DeepMind to tackle. There’s one remaining milestone that the London-based research lab is interested in chasing, according to co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, and it’s a big one: instant voice-to-voice translation. The company has slowly been assembling the pieces for a while, with Google already rebuilding its translation service around a neural network-based approach, and DeepMind creating a whole new way of synthesising speech it calls WaveNet, but there are still a host of other problems to be overcome before the babel fish becomes a reality. Which is not to say that 2017 won’t be a groundbreaking year for AI. The biggest effect will be the step change in the amount of data which companies such as Google and Amazon have access to. When Google released its voice-controlled, AI-powered smart home device, Google Home, in 2016, it already impressed some with its abilities. But, says Fernando Pereira, who leads Google’s natural language understanding projects, that’s only the start. Now that millions of people have Google Home in their living room, the company can analyse every natural language query it starts getting from all of them, giving it far more data to crunch than it could ever get from its testers. “You can start doing machine learning on that,” Pereira told tech site Backchannel. “You can move much faster; you can accelerate the process of getting deeper and broader in understanding. This 2016-to-2017 transition is going to move us from systems that are explicitly taught to ones that implicitly learn.” This is the story Google wants to tell of machine learning: an acceleration, turning the coming year into an inflection point, the instant that machine learning became good enough to start trusting. It’s certainly one possible outcome of the next year, although it’s not yet clear whether Google will be the one to deliver on it; Amazon has been keeping pace with its own Alexa assistant, for instance, while others including Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and Baidu have been trumpeting their own machine-learning successes. But the other possibility is that, as machine learning steps out of the shadows and companies ask for ever more data to train their algorithms, the backlash begins. Already, Google faces competition from other companies over how much of your life it wants to manage. That happens implicitly, in the difference between Google Home and Amazon’s Echo: the former integrates tightly with your Google account, reading emails, notes and calendar events to keep up to date with your life, while the latter takes a more hands-off approach, only linking with what it’s told and generally attempting to be responsive, rather than proactive. It also happens more explicitly in the way Apple has decided to weigh in against its rival. The company, freed from the need to data mine everything by its old-fashioned “sell things for money” business model, has been proudly demonstrating approaches to AI which don’t need a central repository of harvested data to learn or work. That includes its machine vision approach, which scans users’ photo libraries on device, rather than on the cloud, and its research into “differential privacy”, a technological approach to machine learning which allows the company to learn from data in aggregate while never having access to the information of specific users. Of course, there is a third option: that neural network-based machine learning will instead prove to be a technology like any other, useful in some areas, useless in others, and eventually doomed to be rendered obsolete in turn by a future innovation. We’re already seeing some of the downsides, in the eternal craving for more data, in the processing power required to actually learn, and in the opacity of the models that result. One day, those downsides will outweigh the up, and the world will move on. But for now, there’s still a world of possibility. | technology/2016/dec/28/2016-the-year-ai-came-of-age | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-28T10:00:32Z | 2016: the year AI came of age | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/28/2016-the-year-ai-came-of-age | ['course', 'artificial', 'intelligence', 'made', 'leap', 'science', 'fiction', 'concept', 'almost', 'meaningless', 'buzzword', 'alarmingspeed', 'everything', 'ai', 'period-tracking', 'app', 'flo', 'uses', 'neural', 'network', 'approach', 'deliver', 'high', 'period', 'forecast', 'accuracy', 'food', 'delivery', 'app', 'eat', 'launched', 'chatbot', 'sees', 'ai', 'integrated', 'ordering', 'experience', 'ensure', 'customers', 'receive', 'best', 'round', 'clock', 'support', 'service', 'restaurant', 'guide', 'borsch', 'uses', 'artificial', 'intelligence', 'help', 'people', 'discover', 'yummiest', 'dishes', 'around', 'unlike', 'many', 'buzzwords', 'big', 'data', 'blockchain', 'artificial', 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14 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/27/facebook-safety-check-fake-news-explosion-thailand | A Facebook safety check for Bangkok, which the company claimed was prompted by a one-man protest near the prime minister’s office, helped spread a fake news report of an explosion in the city. The incident is the latest example of the social media platform’s algorithms failing to distinguish between reliable and faulty news sources. Facebook’s safety check tool, which allows users to mark themselves safe in the event of a disaster or crisis, was activated in Bangkok on 26 December, citing “media sources” as confirmation of an explosion. A Facebook spokesperson subsequently shared local media reports of a man protesting on a roof, throwing “ping pong bombs” or “giant firecrackers” in the direction of Government House, where the prime minister works. No one was injured, according to the Bangkok Post. Facebook’s activation of the feature sowed confusion, however, because the platform also promoted a link to a false news report of a major “explosion”. A screenshot of the feature shared by Saksith Saiyasombut, a local journalist, shows that Facebook promoted a 26 December article by BangkokInformer.com in conjunction with the safety check. That article consisted of a link to 17 August 2015 BBC video about the bombing of the Erawan Shrine, according to a copy of the article preserved by the Internet Archive. “No, there was not a massive explosion Bangkok on Tuesday night,” wrote the local English-language newspaper Khaosod English in an article attempting to clarify the situation. BangkokInformer.com is part of a network of local “news” websites that appear to simply repost articles from other sources. The company did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. Facebook defended its activation of the safety check feature. “As with all safety check activations, Facebook relies on a trusted third party to first confirm the incident and then on the community to use the tool and share with friends and family,” a spokesperson said in a statement. When the safety check tool was launched in October 2014, it was only used for natural disasters. It was first used for a terrorist attack during the November 2015 Paris attacks. The company faced criticism, however, for its decision to activate the feature in some cases and not in others. In November, the company announced that it would no longer directly control the feature, instead relying on alerts of incidents from a “third-party source”. The company’s explanation of the changes suggest that the feature is now controlled by algorithms detecting whether “people in the area are talking about the incident”. The company declined to name its third-party source for incident reports. Facebook has faced considerable criticism over its role in the dissemination of false information, especially following the US presidential election, in which news hoaxes and partisan propaganda ran rampant on the site. On 15 December, the company announced that it would begin working with third-party fact checkers to flag viral fake news stories. Five fact-checking organizations are participating in a pilot program to combat fake news on the platform, but the pilot is limited by the staff capability of the independent organizations. The pilot also requires the fact-checkers to address each false story individually – a challenge given that fake news stories can rapidly multiply across numerous websites. The BangkokInformer.com article, for example, was subsequently copied on to msn.com, creating another misleading headline featured on the safety check tool. A Facebook spokeswoman, Anna White, pushed back against the idea that the tool was connected to the company’s fake news problem. “Safety Check the product is in no way connected with any news articles – real or fake,” White told the Guardian by email. “People seeing that [the BangkokInformer.com article] at the end of the product flow may have gotten old information but that information did not trigger the activation in the first place like some outlets are reporting.” The false BangkokInformer.com article remains the top search result for Facebook users searching for “Thailand explosion”. It has not been flagged as a fake news story by the independent fact checkers. | technology/2016/dec/27/facebook-safety-check-fake-news-explosion-thailand | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-28T00:49:02Z | Facebook safety check helped spread false reports of Thailand explosion | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/27/facebook-safety-check-fake-news-explosion-thailand | ['facebook', 'safety', 'check', 'bangkok', 'company', 'claimed', 'prompted', 'one-man', 'protest', 'near', 'prime', 'minister', 'office', 'helped', 'spread', 'fake', 'news', 'report', 'explosion', 'city', 'incident', 'latest', 'example', 'social', 'media', 'platform', 'algorithms', 'failing', 'distinguish', 'reliable', 'faulty', 'news', 'sources', 'facebook', 'safety', 'check', 'tool', 'allows', 'users', 'mark', 'safe', 'event', 'disaster', 'crisis', 'activated', 'bangkok', 'december', 'citing', 'media', 'sources', 'confirmation', 'explosion', 'facebook', 'spokesperson', 'subsequently', 'shared', 'local', 'media', 'reports', 'man', 'protesting', 'roof', 'throwing', 'ping', 'pong', 'bombs', 'giant', 'firecrackers', 'direction', 'government', 'house', 'prime', 'minister', 'works', 'one', 'injured', 'according', 'bangkok', 'post', 'facebook', 'activation', 'feature', 'sowed', 'confusion', 'however', 'platform', 'also', 'promoted', 'link', 'false', 'news', 'report', 'major', 'explosion', 'screenshot', 'feature', 'shared', 'saksith', 'saiyasombut', 'local', 'journalist', 'shows', 'facebook', 'promoted', 'december', 'article', 'bangkokinformercom', 'conjunction', 'safety', 'check', 'article', 'consisted', 'link', 'august', 'bbc', 'video', 'bombing', 'erawan', 'shrine', 'according', 'copy', 'article', 'preserved', 'internet', 'archive', 'massive', 'explosion', 'bangkok', 'tuesday', 'night', 'wrote', 'local', 'english-language', 'newspaper', 'khaosod', 'english', 'article', 'attempting', 'clarify', 'situation', 'bangkokinformercom', 'part', 'network', 'local', 'news', 'websites', 'appear', 'simply', 'repost', 'articles', 'sources', 'company', 'respond', 'request', 'comment', 'guardian', 'facebook', 'defended', 'activation', 'safety', 'check', 'feature', 'safety', 'check', 'activations', 'facebook', 'relies', 'trusted', 'third', 'party', 'first', 'confirm', 'incident', 'community', 'use', 'tool', 'share', 'friends', 'family', 'spokesperson', 'said', 'statement', 'safety', 'check', 'tool', 'launched', 'october', 'used', 'natural', 'disasters', 'first', 'used', 'terrorist', 'attack', 'november', 'paris', 'attacks', 'company', 'faced', 'criticism', 'however', 'decision', 'activate', 'feature', 'cases', 'others', 'november', 'company', 'announced', 'would', 'longer', 'directly', 'control', 'feature', 'instead', 'relying', 'alerts', 'incidents', 'third-party', 'source', 'company', 'explanation', 'changes', 'suggest', 'feature', 'controlled', 'algorithms', 'detecting', 'whether', 'people', 'area', 'talking', 'incident', 'company', 'declined', 'name', 'third-party', 'source', 'incident', 'reports', 'facebook', 'faced', 'considerable', 'criticism', 'role', 'dissemination', 'false', 'information', 'especially', 'following', 'us', 'presidential', 'election', 'news', 'hoaxes', 'partisan', 'propaganda', 'ran', 'rampant', 'site', 'december', 'company', 'announced', 'would', 'begin', 'working', 'third-party', 'fact', 'checkers', 'flag', 'viral', 'fake', 'news', 'stories', 'five', 'fact-checking', 'organizations', 'participating', 'pilot', 'program', 'combat', 'fake', 'news', 'platform', 'pilot', 'limited', 'staff', 'capability', 'independent', 'organizations', 'pilot', 'also', 'requires', 'fact-checkers', 'address', 'false', 'story', 'individually', 'challenge', 'given', 'fake', 'news', 'stories', 'rapidly', 'multiply', 'across', 'numerous', 'websites', 'bangkokinformercom', 'article', 'example', 'subsequently', 'copied', 'msncom', 'creating', 'another', 'misleading', 'headline', 'featured', 'safety', 'check', 'tool', 'facebook', 'spokeswoman', 'anna', 'white', 'pushed', 'back', 'idea', 'tool', 'connected', 'company', 'fake', 'news', 'problem', 'safety', 'check', 'product', 'way', 'connected', 'news', 'articles', 'real', 'fake', 'white', 'told', 'guardian', 'email', 'people', 'seeing', 'bangkokinformercom', 'article', 'end', 'product', 'flow', 'may', 'gotten', 'old', 'information', 'information', 'trigger', 'activation', 'first', 'place', 'like', 'outlets', 'reporting', 'false', 'bangkokinformercom', 'article', 'remains', 'top', 'search', 'result', 'facebook', 'users', 'searching', 'thailand', 'explosion', 'flagged', 'fake', 'news', 'story', 'independent', 'fact', 'checkers'] |
15 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/27/will-2017-be-the-year-virtual-reality-gets-real | Virtual Reality is ... well, real. The last year has seen the launch of every major VR platform, from high-quality tethered systems like HTC’s Vive and Facebook’s Oculus Rift, through to cheap-and-cheerful smartphone-based platforms like Google’s Daydream and Samsung’s Gear VR. The early adopters have bought in, the launch games have been launched, and now that the initial flurry of excitement has died down, the more pressing questions are left: how will the platforms evolve? What will you actually be able to do with them? And is VR just a stepping stone anyway, to the even more science-fiction future of augmented reality tech? At its inception, VR is unquestionably a gaming technology first and foremost. The most expensive and technologically advanced systems have an almost total focus on serving the hardcore gamer market. Even the simpler systems, which lack the pixel-pushing power necessary to satisfy modern players, still end up with a preponderance of games and game-like projects, because that’s what’s easiest to build with the tools available. So the number one priority for the titans of VR is to carry on winning round game developers and players to prevent the juggernaut from stalling. But if the experiences of the first wave of early adopters is anything to go by, that could prove trickier than it seems. Right now, the pressures of AAA games seem inimical to those of VR. Games for the hardcore niche of the market are often designed and sold around having durations in the hundreds of hours, with an individual gaming session often lasting three to four hours. In VR, as the devices work today, such heavy use becomes physically punishing: painful for the eyes, face, head and neck, as well as emphatically warned against by the manufacturers. So instead, many of the highest profile games at launch are designed for quick, powerful experiences. CCP’s Eve Valkyrie and Guerrilla’s RIGS both pack intense multiplayer battles into matches lasting at most five minutes, Rebellion’s Battlezone does the same with single-player tank battles, and even more story focused games like Gunfire’s Chronos and Insomniac’s Edge of Nowhere make it fairly easy to jump in and out of the game. In the absence of the life-consuming behemoths which constitute gaming for a large number of fans, VR development has instead been colonised by quirkier games, often made by smaller studios with lower budgets who can survive by selling games at a cut price to the comparatively small install base of VR devices. Even those studios are betting on VR growing, though. Dean Hall, the chief executive of indie studio RocketWerkz, wrote that his company’s game, Out of Ammo, “has exceeded our sales predictions and achieved our internal objectives”. “However, it has been very unprofitable. It is extremely unlikely that it will ever be profitable. We are comfortable with this, and approached it as such. We expected to lose money and we had the funding internally to handle this. Consider then that Out of Ammo has sold unusually well compared to many other VR games.” Currently, platform owners are subsidising much of the development for VR, in exchange for making those games platform exclusives. But those owners will also need to make money at some point; they’re just capable of playing a longer game than an independent developer. In that long term, VR needs to be more than an accessory for better games. Back in 2014, Mark Zuckerberg targeted an install base of 50m to 100m Oculus headsets in the device’s first decade. At the top end, that’s equal to the total sales of the Playstation 4 and Xbox One combined, for a device which currently needs a PC to run it that costs more than a PS4 and Xbox One combined. Of course, Zuckerberg isn’t interested in owning a gaming company, even a successful one. He bought Oculus with the stated intention of offering far more than just better video games. “Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home,” he wrote in the post announcing the company’s acquisition. Perhaps tellingly, in the years since, Zuckerberg has spent far more time focusing on Oculus’ smaller, more accessible product, the Gear VR, than on the weighty, tethered Rift headset. At the Mobile World Congress conference in February, attendees were handed one to try, causing them to miss the smiling executive strolling past them on his way to the stage. Last week, Facebook announced it would split Oculus into two divisions, one focusing on PC-based VR, and the other on mobile. It’s clear on which Zuckerberg is staking the future of computing, and it’s not the tethered division which current Oculus CEO Brendan Irbe will be heading up. If VR is going to become the next major computing platform, pushing mobile phones aside the way they left desktop PCs lagging in their wake, 2017 will be the crunch point: platforms like Google’s Daydream, and whatever Oculus offers as the follow-up to Gear VR, need to arrive with the same pop that tethered VR entered in the past year. More, they need a compelling reason for those who don’t care about gaming to buy in, be that experiences like 360-degree video, or social platforms like those Facebook wants to build. If they don’t, they could find themselves obsolete before they even hit the mainstream, thanks to the new technologies peeking over the horizon. If VR doesn’t charm, could AR succeed where it failed? AR devices, like Microsoft’s Hololens and vaporware start-up Magic Leap’s prototypes, allows virtual images to be imprinted over the real world. It’s not cheap – the developer preview of the Hololens retails for almost £3,000 – but it fixes a number of issues which hold VR back when it comes to everyday practicality. Hololens users can still interact with the real world, with their colleagues and companions, rather than locking themselves away in a virtual space. That interaction makes it much more appealing to imagine using Hololens as a general-purpose computing system, fitting in alongside your current life. Or maybe neither will actually take off in the foreseeable future. For the first time in well over a decade, technology companies worldwide are looking at the end of one hyperbolic growth curve – that of smartphones – with nothing obvious to pick up where it died off. They may have a lot of interest in convincing their shareholders that something is the next big thing, but that doesn’t mean we have to believe them. After all, we live in reality. If the future of video games is VR, it needs to stop making us feel sick | technology/2016/dec/27/will-2017-be-the-year-virtual-reality-gets-real | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-27T07:00:05Z | Will 2017 be the year virtual reality gets real? | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/27/will-2017-be-the-year-virtual-reality-gets-real | ['virtual', 'reality', 'well', 'real', 'last', 'year', 'seen', 'launch', 'every', 'major', 'vr', 'platform', 'high-quality', 'tethered', 'systems', 'like', 'htc', 'vive', 'facebook', 'oculus', 'rift', 'cheap-and-cheerful', 'smartphone-based', 'platforms', 'like', 'google', 'daydream', 'samsung', 'gear', 'vr', 'early', 'adopters', 'bought', 'launch', 'games', 'launched', 'initial', 'flurry', 'excitement', 'died', 'pressing', 'questions', 'left', 'platforms', 'evolve', 'actually', 'able', 'vr', 'stepping', 'stone', 'anyway', 'even', 'science-fiction', 'future', 'augmented', 'reality', 'tech', 'inception', 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16 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/26/twitter-abu-qatada-al-qaida-jihadi-syria-islamic-state | Twitter has suspended the account of Jordanian preacher and al-Qaida spiritual leader Abu Qatada, along with two other influential scholars aligned with the extremist group. The three accounts, which between them had tens of thousands of followers and were used several times a day, were at the heart of an online network of al-Qaida supporters, said Cole Bunzel, scholar of jihadism at Princeton University. Bunzel tweeted: The accounts focused mostly on the war in Syria, frequently attacking Islamic State, but also commented on other issues, from law to religious judgments. “Attacking the west is not a priority in their messaging,” Bunzel told the Guardian. He added that Abu Qatada and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi’s commentary had mostly been limited to the war in Syria. Twitter has cracked down heavily on Isis supporters, leading them to shift towards alternative messaging services including Telegram, but al-Qaida supporters have not been so heavily targeted. “Twitter has been a permissive forum for supporters of al-Qaida as compared to supporters of the Islamic State who have been pushed off,” Bunzel said. “The focus of these crackdowns has been on the Islamic State.” It was not clear what had prompted the shutdown, or whether the move would cause al-Qaida supporters to embrace other social networks. So far only major figures appear to have been targeted by Twitter, not their supporters, he said. “The people who were retweeting and interacting with these ‘big three’ online: they are still online, still communicating.” Qatada was deported from the UK to Jordan to face terror charges after a court battle lasting nearly 10 years with a series of British home secretaries. Last summer he was released from custody after being acquitted of all charges. Since his release, he has become an increasingly vocal critic of Isis. Maqdisi, regarded as the most influential jihadi scholar alive, is counted as a close friend by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Twitter said it could not comment on individual accounts, for privacy and security reasons, but a spokesperson said: “We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter rules make it clear that this type of behaviour, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service. Since the middle of 2015 alone, we’ve suspended more than 360,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to Isis.” | technology/2016/dec/26/twitter-abu-qatada-al-qaida-jihadi-syria-islamic-state | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-26T18:55:18Z | Twitter accounts of Abu Qatada and other key al-Qaida figures suspended | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/26/twitter-abu-qatada-al-qaida-jihadi-syria-islamic-state | ['twitter', 'suspended', 'account', 'jordanian', 'preacher', 'al-qaida', 'spiritual', 'leader', 'abu', 'qatada', 'along', 'two', 'influential', 'scholars', 'aligned', 'extremist', 'group', 'three', 'accounts', 'tens', 'thousands', 'followers', 'used', 'several', 'times', 'day', 'heart', 'online', 'network', 'al-qaida', 'supporters', 'said', 'cole', 'bunzel', 'scholar', 'jihadism', 'princeton', 'university', 'bunzel', 'tweeted', 'accounts', 'focused', 'mostly', 'war', 'syria', 'frequently', 'attacking', 'islamic', 'state', 'also', 'commented', 'issues', 'law', 'religious', 'judgments', 'attacking', 'west', 'priority', 'messaging', 'bunzel', 'told', 'guardian', 'added', 'abu', 'qatada', 'abu', 'muhammad', 'al-maqdisi', 'commentary', 'mostly', 'limited', 'war', 'syria', 'twitter', 'cracked', 'heavily', 'isis', 'supporters', 'leading', 'shift', 'towards', 'alternative', 'messaging', 'services', 'including', 'telegram', 'al-qaida', 'supporters', 'heavily', 'targeted', 'twitter', 'permissive', 'forum', 'supporters', 'al-qaida', 'compared', 'supporters', 'islamic', 'state', 'pushed', 'bunzel', 'said', 'focus', 'crackdowns', 'islamic', 'state', 'clear', 'prompted', 'shutdown', 'whether', 'move', 'would', 'cause', 'al-qaida', 'supporters', 'embrace', 'social', 'networks', 'far', 'major', 'figures', 'appear', 'targeted', 'twitter', 'supporters', 'said', 'people', 'retweeting', 'interacting', 'big', 'three', 'online', 'still', 'online', 'still', 'communicating', 'qatada', 'deported', 'uk', 'jordan', 'face', 'terror', 'charges', 'court', 'battle', 'lasting', 'nearly', 'years', 'series', 'british', 'home', 'secretaries', 'last', 'summer', 'released', 'custody', 'acquitted', 'charges', 'since', 'release', 'become', 'increasingly', 'vocal', 'critic', 'isis', 'maqdisi', 'regarded', 'influential', 'jihadi', 'scholar', 'alive', 'counted', 'close', 'friend', 'al-qaida', 'leader', 'ayman', 'al-zawahiri', 'twitter', 'said', 'could', 'comment', 'individual', 'accounts', 'privacy', 'security', 'reasons', 'spokesperson', 'said', 'condemn', 'use', 'twitter', 'promote', 'terrorism', 'twitter', 'rules', 'make', 'clear', 'type', 'behaviour', 'violent', 'threat', 'permitted', 'service', 'since', 'middle', 'alone', 'suspended', 'accounts', 'threatening', 'promoting', 'terrorist', 'acts', 'primarily', 'related', 'isis'] |
17 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/26/uk-needs-a-more-joined-up-approach-to-broadband-provision | Last week’s government announcement of investment into superfast broadband under the Broadband Delivery UK programme (theguardian.com, 22 December) is welcome news for the UK economy, as there is plenty of evidence to suggest that lack of broadband coverage is preventing many businesses from operating to their full potential, particularly in rural areas. But beyond the investment headlines, we also need to see evidence of a joined-up approach to finding a long-term solution to providing universal superfast broadband, which, as well as improving 4G and 5G, will mean converging fibre broadband and local wireless infrastructure, rather than still relying in many areas on the old copper systems we have today. Ultimately, the government should invest in a gold-standard solution using fibre and wireless technology to create a future-proof broadband infrastructure that will enable the UK to become a global leader in communications networks. Professor Will Stewart Vice-president, Institution of Engineering and Technology | technology/2016/dec/26/uk-needs-a-more-joined-up-approach-to-broadband-provision | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-26T16:55:54Z | UK needs a more joined-up approach to broadband provision | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/26/uk-needs-a-more-joined-up-approach-to-broadband-provision | ['last', 'week', 'government', 'announcement', 'investment', 'superfast', 'broadband', 'broadband', 'delivery', 'uk', 'programme', 'theguardiancom', 'december', 'welcome', 'news', 'uk', 'economy', 'plenty', 'evidence', 'suggest', 'lack', 'broadband', 'coverage', 'preventing', 'many', 'businesses', 'operating', 'full', 'potential', 'particularly', 'rural', 'areas', 'beyond', 'investment', 'headlines', 'also', 'need', 'see', 'evidence', 'joined-up', 'approach', 'finding', 'long-term', 'solution', 'providing', 'universal', 'superfast', 'broadband', 'well', 'improving', '4g', '5g', 'mean', 'converging', 'fibre', 'broadband', 'local', 'wireless', 'infrastructure', 'rather', 'still', 'relying', 'many', 'areas', 'old', 'copper', 'systems', 'today', 'ultimately', 'government', 'invest', 'gold-standard', 'solution', 'using', 'fibre', 'wireless', 'technology', 'create', 'future-proof', 'broadband', 'infrastructure', 'enable', 'uk', 'become', 'global', 'leader', 'communications', 'networks', 'professor', 'stewart', 'vice-president', 'institution', 'engineering', 'technology'] |
18 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/26/engineerings-stark-racial-inequalities-revealed-by-report | Black engineering graduates are less likely to find jobs than white students with lower second or third class degrees, according to a report that reveals stark inequalities within the profession. The review, by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), found that being black or minority ethnic was a bigger obstacle to employment than any other factor considered, including degree classification, attending a less prestigious university or gender. Bola Fatimilehin, the academy’s head of diversity, said an old boys’ network approach to recruitment and unconscious biases were contributing to the challenges faced by non-white students. “There is a certain amount of stereotyping of who can be an engineer and what talent looks like,” she said. “A lot of people fall into the mode of thinking that there aren’t a lot of black engineers because [black people] are not interested in it.” The analysis found that 71% of white engineering graduates were in full-time jobs within six months of leaving university, compared with just 52% of Asian students and 46% of black students. When gender, age, class of degree and type of institution were taken into account, black and Asian graduates were more than twice as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts. The figures highlight an apparent paradox in which government and industry leaders have consistently pointed to a national shortage of engineers, while a high proportion of black and ethnic minority graduates are failing to find jobs. Indeed, the science minister, Jo Johnson, noted “the chronic shortages of engineers that have long held our economy back” in a comment article last month. The shortage of engineers is often cited as an incentive to attract more women into the profession – just 12-15% of engineering undergraduates are female. “That’s true, but what about the missed opportunity with all these graduates from ethnic minority backgrounds?” said Fatimilehin. “It feels like a low hanging fruit.” Gender has dominated the diversity agenda in engineering for the past decade, but the report found that it only has a minor influence on immediate employment prospects for graduates. Women were slightly less likely to enter engineering occupations after university, but more likely to pursue further study. The focus on “getting girls into engineering” has led to the lack of progress on racial diversity being overlooked, according to Fatimilehin. “People come back to gender because it feels safer,” she said, adding that male engineers tended to get behind the idea that women face additional barriers because most would have a wife, daughter or female friend. “They’re less likely to have a friend who is black,” she said. The RAEng report puts forward several possible explanations for the findings, which were based annual destination surveys of around 250,000 students by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Engineering firms often recruit from Russell Group universities, which on average have lower proportions of ethnic minority students. However, even when institution type is taken into account there is a gulf between the employment prospects of white students and black and Asian ones. “This suggests statistically that ethnicity itself is correlated with an unemployment outcome, and is a stronger effect than any of the other factors studied,” the report concluded. According to Fatimilehin, unconscious bias, preconceptions about who will “fit in” with company culture and people “recruiting in their own image” also play a role. “The chief execs say ‘there’s nobody out there’,” she said. “There are people out there. As a society we need to get better at looking for people, rather than just accepting that a certain type of black person doesn’t exist.” Anita Bernie, director of spacecraft platforms at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), said she was “amazed” by the gulf in career prospects between white and ethnic minority students. Bernie, who is black, said that SSTL has a diverse mix of ethnicities and that most of her current team are female. “When I go to other companies, the mix in terms of gender and ethnicity is very different,” she said. Bernie agreed that employer recruitment bias is likely to be a problem. “It’s partly human nature that you tend to want to recruit people like you,” she said. “It’s really easy to see a young white lad come in and think ‘I used to be like that’. I do think that exists in other companies.” Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “It is shocking that black and minority ethnic people with degrees are still not getting the same job opportunities as others. This suggests we have a long way to go to create the equal society the prime minister talked about on the steps of Downing Street.” An EHRC report published earlier this year found that the life prospects for young black and minority ethnic people have got much worse over the past five years and are at their most challenging for generations. On average, black, Asian and ethnic minority workers with degrees are two-and-a-half times more likely to be unemployed than white workers with degrees, the report found. Belinda Phipps, CEO of the Science Council, welcomed the RAEng review, saying it was important to highlight inequalities in the profession. “From the moment a baby is born its life is shaped by the enforcement of stereotypes: girl children are taught they must be clean and quiet; those of certain ethnic origin are expected not to succeed,” she said. | technology/2016/dec/26/engineerings-stark-racial-inequalities-revealed-by-report | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-26T15:43:26Z | Engineering's stark racial inequalities revealed by report | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/26/engineerings-stark-racial-inequalities-revealed-by-report | ['black', 'engineering', 'graduates', 'less', 'likely', 'find', 'jobs', 'white', 'students', 'lower', 'second', 'third', 'class', 'degrees', 'according', 'report', 'reveals', 'stark', 'inequalities', 'within', 'profession', 'review', 'royal', 'academy', 'engineering', 'raeng', 'found', 'black', 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19 | https://content.guardianapis.com/technology/2016/dec/26/2016-memes-internet-harambe-biden-obama | Levity may not be the first thing people think of when they consider the year 2016. But there was diversion from this year’s most popular internet memes. Not all were positive. Or amusing. But here we go! The mannequin challenge Finally, a challenge that didn’t involve an obscure Facebook acquaintance ordering you to do something you don’t want to do. (See: ice-bucket challenge, push-up challenge.) The Mannequin Challenge was a big viral hit in the latter half of 2016. It involves a load of people standing very still – almost as if they were mannequins – while another person films them. Hilarity ensues. A group of high school students in Jacksonville, Florida, reportedly started the trend. Some of the most popular include the Pittsburgh Steelers standing still in their dressing room and Mississippi hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd performing the mannequin challenge mid-show. No one was safe from the mannequin challenge. Not even those in prison – a group of inmates undertook the challenge in an Alabama jail. In hindsight the worst mannequin challenge, or at least the most ill-judged, may have been the one Hillary Clinton and her campaign staff performed on election day. She lost the election a few hours later. Harambe Who can forget Harambe, the lovable gorilla shot to death by staff at Cincinnati zoo after a three-year-old boy fell into his enclosure. The 450lb silverback, blessed with a noble bearing and a regal-sounding name (Harambe is Swahili for “togetherness”) was given a fond send-off by seemingly millions of memes. “Bush did Harambe” was a popular one. There was Harambe driving next to Vin Diesel in Furious 7. Harambe was imagined as Private Ryan. There were also songs, although many weren’t very good. Public Policy Polling included Harambe as a presidential candidate on some of their surveys, with the deceased silverback winning 5% support in July and 2% in August. On election day some people reportedly wrote in Harambe’s name on their presidential ballots, but ultimately the gorilla did not win enough votes to serve as commander-in-chief. Michael Phelps and his angry face Phelps, a previously unheralded swimmer from the United States, sprang to fame when he was captured looking extremely angry as his South African rival, Chad Le Clos, pranced about in front of him ahead of their 200m butterfly Olympic semi-final. It was an apparent attempt to psych Phelps out. It didn’t work. Phelps finished ahead of Le Clos in the semi-final then won gold in the final. Le Clos came fourth. The memes – showing an image of Phelps’ angry face – came thick and fast. “tfw u wanted gryffindor but were sorted into hufflepuff,” wrote Twitter user @taylortrudon. “When you found out that Vanilla Ice’s real name is Robert Van Winkle,” said @records and radio – a reference to the singer of the 1990 hit, Ice Ice Baby. Some were more succinct. “Cargo shorts,” chimed @shirklesxp. The Obama-Biden bromance In hindsight the special relationship between Barack Obama and Joe Biden may have been the main highlight for Democrats in 2016. The pair’s close friendship was well known before 2016 – the number of photographs showing them sharing intimate moments is a testament to that – but it was after Trump was elected that the Obama-Biden memes really took off. Most portray Biden in his long-established role as the president’s fun-loving, prankster sidekick. Frequently at the expense of Trump-Pence’s impending takeover of the White House. Pepe the frog Much less heartwarming was the rise of Pepe the frog. Pepe first appeared in a comic called Boy’s Club, the LA Times reported – but the frog began to be appropriated by certain 4chan and Reddit users as a racist icon around 2015. The Anti-Defamation League labelled Pepe a hate symbol in September 2016 after use of the frog alongside racist messaging proliferated among the “alt-right”. Pepe has been portrayed wearing a yarmulke and smirking in front of an image of the burning Twin Towers. He has been seen sporting a Hitler-esque moustache. And much more. During the presidential campaign Pepe caught the attention of Donald Trump Jr, who posted an Instagram photograph showing prominent Trump supporters. Pepe was among them. Trump Jr later insisted he had “never even heard of Pepe the frog”. Pokémon Go You had to/in some cases still do have to catch them all. It depends on your attention span. Whether you liked Pokémon Go or not – and many people did not – it was certainly a big deal in 2016. It was Google’s top trending search for the year – apparently the app is the only thing capable of beating Donald Trump. Pokémon Go meme highlights include people pairing the app with nature-slaying hard man Bear Grylls. The resulting images involved Grylls travelling long distances to capture a Pokemon, often drinking his own urine in the process. Other memes saw Forest Gump sprinting upon learning the location of a Pokémon – specifically, a Charizard – and Breaking Bad’s Heisenberg ordering someone away from his Pokémon-hunting patch. | technology/2016/dec/26/2016-memes-internet-harambe-biden-obama | false | pillar/news | News | technology | Technology | article | 2016-12-26T13:00:43Z | Harambe homages and Biden's antics: memes that made 2016 more bearable | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/26/2016-memes-internet-harambe-biden-obama | ['levity', 'may', 'first', 'thing', 'people', 'think', 'consider', 'year', 'diversion', 'year', 'popular', 'internet', 'memes', 'positive', 'amusing', 'go', 'mannequin', 'challenge', 'finally', 'challenge', 'involve', 'obscure', 'facebook', 'acquaintance', 'ordering', 'something', 'want', 'see', 'ice-bucket', 'challenge', 'push-up', 'challenge', 'mannequin', 'challenge', 'big', 'viral', 'hit', 'latter', 'half', 'involves', 'load', 'people', 'standing', 'still', 'almost', 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