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Why I'll never be convinced by Meta's ‘pervert’ glasses | Opinion
'Most people don’t want pervert glasses that can film us without our consent,' said a spokesperson from activist group Everyone Hates Elon. The group has launched a series of guerilla adverts deriding non-consensual filming by the glasses as well as an email campaign encouraging people to legally object to being filmed by Meta glasses under general data protection regulations, which over 20,000 people have signed. Rights groups have warned that the glasses threaten the right to privacy, while countries such as Germany are reportedly considering a ban. And while Meta’s safety guidelines say smart glasses should not be used for 'harassment, infringing on privacy rights, or capturing sensitive information', women have taken to social media to share their stories of being filmed by men without their consent. Watch as Guardian columnist and Opinion editor Kirsty Major dives into why fears of surveillance and 'creepy men' mean Meta can never convince her to love the glasses – and read more about the glasses via the link in the bio Continue reading...
Darth Vader to become a TikTok star as Disney strikes deal on short video
Iconic characters and memorable scenes from back catalogue made available to group of creator fans The likes of Darth Vader, Spider-Man and Moana are about to become TikTok stars for the first time – at least now on an official basis – after Walt Disney struck a “first of its kind” deal with the booming short-video platform. In an acknowledgment of the influence fan-made content now has in the entertainment industry, a select group of creators will be allowed to use iconic characters and memorable scenes from Disney’s back catalogue. Continue reading...
The games industry’s obsession with visual fidelity is costing them money and talent
Big developers are discovering that the technical progress of photorealism doesn’t always translate into the creative spark that gives gamers joy – and keeps them playing • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Last week, Asha Sharma, the new head of Xbox, laid out her vision for the future of the console and interestingly, the two titles she picked out as potential areas of growth were Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga – games that don’t exactly scream next-generation entertainment. Neither relies on hyper-realistic visuals, which is the north star that games consoles and gaming PCs have been aiming at for the past 40 years. They are, instead, well-designed, well-loved franchises that you can play and enjoy on almost any PC, console or phone. The fact is, the quest for visual hyperrealism is breaking the games industry. It’s becoming more and more expensive to put high-end graphics hardware into machines thanks to demand from the AI sector ; at the same time, creating superrealistic visuals is an incredibly expensive and complex part of game development, leading to longer development periods. GTA VI, for example, has taken at least eight years to develop and is rumoured to have cost between $1bn and $2bn. By my back-of-an-envelope calculations, that’s around four times more than GTA V. Admittedly, the detail on everything, from the characters’ faces, to the cars, to the cityscapes, is astonishing. But will it be four times better than GTA V? Will it be four times more fun? Continue reading...
SpaceX spooks investors with debut earnings report
Shares slide in pre-market trading even as group says its quarterly revenues nearly doubled.
Apple's ‘Private Relay’ Is Exposing Users' Real IP Addresses
Researchers found a group of issues that mean Private Relay isn't actually protecting users' real IP addresses. 404 Media verified the issues do expose IP addresses.
Teachers need help with AI. A union is offering training – with $23m in funding from big tech
Partnership between American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest labor unions in the US, and AI firms has stirred controversy Darius Saczuk, a high school teacher, views artificial intelligence as his enemy. Earlier this year, he and several dozen New York City teachers spent the day inside a windowless conference room in downtown Manhattan to learn how to use AI and prevent students from outsourcing their thinking to it. As Saczuk sees it, he needs to understand his enemy in order to beat it. Continue reading...
‘It confirmed my flaws’: women are paying for face scans that score beauty and suggest excessive procedures
‘Looksmaxxing’ culture has led to the rise of facial analysis services – but experts warn they aren’t backed by science and can be harmful to users Danielle, 37, didn’t always have issues with body image: she used to be a model and recalls receiving positive attention from men. However, when two years of unemployment plunged her into a period of financial insecurity, her confidence faded. “It was easy to wonder, if I was prettier, if some of my features were different, would that help?” she said. So, when Danielle saw videos on TikTok about a “facial analysis” service that claimed it could provide her with “science-backed” glow-up advice, she bought it without hesitation. Three-hundred and thirty dollars later, after sending in selfies to be analyzed, Danielle received her personalized 30-page report from the company Qoves. Continue reading...
Pushing the limits: Infinite Machine's Olto is barely a bicycle
Scooter layout makes pedaling a bad experience. But it does have pedals.
‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them In April, Gil Durán was permanently banned from Elon Musk’s X for posting just two words. Durán was responding to a post from the tech company Palantir outlining its 22‑point “technological manifesto” , which praised American “hard power”, western culture and AI weapons, denounced inclusivity and called for compulsory national service. Durán responded: “TLDR: Fascism” (TLDR is short for “too long, didn’t read”). Durán didn’t break any of X’s written rules, he points out over a video call from San Francisco – so much for Musk’s “free-speech absolutism” . His ban might just have had something to do with his preceding tweet, showing the cover of his new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy. The book’s central argument is that big tech is no longer our friend, as many of its billionaire owners have seized economic and political control and are steering the fate of the planet towards their own bizarre, apocalyptic visions. Continue reading...
OpenAI and Anthropic models ‘went rogue’ during UK cybersecurity test
AI Security Institute says tools engaged in potentially harmful activity and incident reveals new type of risk Advanced AI models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic went rogue during a cybersecurity test and showed a new type of risk posed by the technology, according to the UK’s AI Security Institute. AISI described the actions carried out by the agents, the term for AI systems that can perform tasks without human help, as a “serious incident”. In one example, an agent powered by Anthropic’s Mythos model sent targeted emails to people. Continue reading...
What is Fields of Mistria? A magical new obsession for fans of Stardew Valley
Since Stardew Valley rejuvenated the farming sim genre a decade ago, games like Fields of Mistria are capitalising on its popularity with their own special touches Farming simulator games deliver on an escapist fantasy: going off-grid from the modern work grind, in exchange for charming small-town life and a farm to call your own. While these games have had dedicated fans since the days of Harvest Moon, the most popular today, Stardew Valley , contemporised the genre with a larger range of activities and lovable townspeople to befriend and romance. Created in 2016 by independent developer Eric Barone, it has now sold more than 50m copies and become the mould for so many other indie farming sims. Fields of Mistria is one of these farming sims in a post - Stardew world – though it updates the core formula. Created by independent developer NPC Studio, Fields of Mistria has already proven popular: it debuted in early access (a pre-release version of the game meant for early players to find bugs and give feedback) for PC players on Steam in August 2024, and in the first month the game racked up more than 4m player hours. It’s for a good reason: Mistria satisfies all of those same farming sim desires but with more expansive character creation and a story steeped in magic. Continue reading...
Video game maker EA bought by Saudi-led group for $55bn
Company acquired in deal involving Affinity Partners, a firm run by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner Electronic Arts, the maker of video games such as The Sims, Madden NFL and Battlefield, has been bought by Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and a group of investors for $55bn (£41bn). The company announced the completion of the deal on Tuesday evening, only days after the EU gave its approval, the final regulatory green light needed. Continue reading...
AI-generated stories rated better quality than human-written ones, study finds
Researcher says simpler writing by AI is easier to read and digest, but this does not mean human authors are obsolete From Homer’s Odyssey to Agatha Christie’s crime fiction, humans have produced plenty of tales to grace the bookshelf. But research suggests artificial intelligence may now be providing some competition. In a study published in the journal Judgment and Decision Making , 1,682 adults were asked to read one of six short stories, three of which were written by humans and three by ChatGPT . Each AI story had a similar theme to one of the human-authored works. Continue reading...
Senators demand crackdown on wildfire "prediction markets"
Fire experts warn such markets could incentivize arson.
Trump killed the Digital Equity Act, but US was forced to bring part of it back
$1.25 billion program restored, but judge ruled race provision unconstitutional.
Texas halts data center connections to power grid amid overwhelming demand
Governor who touted Texas as AI “epicenter” pauses data center grid connections.
The SCREEN Act is a Christian Nationalist Nightmare
Mike Lee's SCREEN Act, which heads to Senate Commerce Committee for markup on Wednesday, would expand age verification requirements to a nearly limitless scope of websites, and is supported by the architects of Project 2025.
China is Tesla's cash cow, but for how much longer?
Tesla's Shanghai factory is busier than ever but might be cut loose.
Microsoft Tells Engineers ‘Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For’
Microsoft is introducing budget limits for AI use but says it still wants to be an ‘AI-first’ company.
The Pixel 11's "glow" feature is actually called HiLight—here's what it does
The camera flash will evolve into a multicolor LED that illuminates when your phone is face down.
Can Trump FCC repeal 39% TV ownership cap? Republican who wrote cap into law says no.
Congress set ownership limit at 39%, but FCC claims authority to kill the rule.
Trump admin "aware" of deaths in explosive diarrhea outbreak, delays reporting
Federal officials will update the outbreak sometime "this week," a spokesperson said.
‘He’s tiny, dumpy and funny – so his BMX tricks are hilarious’: Tanuki: Pon’s Summer, an adorable slice-of-life adventure
Denkiworks’ debut lets players pull off tricks and pull pints in a stunning, Japan-inspired setting A freeloading tanuki, mounting debt, and a town full of possibilities will sound familiar to fans of Animal Crossing . Alas, while you won’t find accountability from Tom Nook, Kyoto-based studio Denkiworks has stepped in to heal your financial trauma with a BMX-filled adventure in which a mammal finally pays the price for their years of bad behaviour. “Even Japanese people ask why it’s a tanuki,” jokes Liam Edwards, a game designer at Denkiworks. “They have such a mythological background to them; they’re almost like dragons in terms of their mythology.” In Tanuki: Pon’s Summer, you play as an adorable but irresponsible critter named Pon, who’s bled the coffers of the local shrine – his home – dry by buying video games and snack food instead of preparing for its semicentennial matsuri. As a result, the shrine is in total disrepair, and important architecture and cultural artefacts – such as the ema stand and the chōzuya – are left cracked and broken, unbefitting a festival half a century in the making. Continue reading...
2027 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport X proves code is as important as hardware
Chevy's 721-hp hybrid ups the ante with few compromises, but at a steep cost.