Technology

A third of UK firms using ‘bossware’ to monitor workers’ activity, survey r...

Research suggests increase in office snooping in trend that some managers claim undermines trust with staff How employers are gathering Australian workers’ data Share your experience of tech surveillance at work in the UK A third of UK employers are using “bossware” technology to track workers’ activity with the mos...

Sunday, 14 September 2025

Elon Musk calls for dissolution of parliament at far-right rally in London

US-based tech boss was addressing the ‘unite the kingdom’ protest organised by Tommy Robinson via video link Elon Musk has called for a “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government” in the UK while addressing a crowd attending a “unite the kingdom” rally in London, organised by the far-right activist Stephe...

Saturday, 13 September 2025

UK workers wary of AI despite Starmer’s push to increase uptake, survey fin...

Exclusive: A third of those polled do not tell bosses about use of tools and half think AI threatens the social structure It is the work shortcut that dare not speak its name. A third of people do not tell their bosses about their use of AI tools amid fears their ability will be questioned if they do. Research for the ...

Saturday, 13 September 2025

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem s...

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent In the spring of 2024, when Rachael Sawyer, a technical writer from Texas, received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter hiring for a vague title of writing analyst, she assumed it would be similar to her prev...

Thursday, 11 September 2025

How to use ChatGPT at university without cheating: ‘Now it’s more like a st...

The ubiquitous AI tool has a divisive effect on educators with some seeing it a boon and others a menace. So what should you know about where to draw the line between check and cheat? For many students, ChatGPT has become as standard a tool as a notebook or a calculator. Whether it’s tidying up grammar, organising revi...

Sunday, 14 September 2025

US government sues Uber, alleging discrimination against disabled passenger...

Justice department in lawsuit accuses company drivers of routinely refusing to serve people with disabilities The US government sued Uber on Thursday, accusing the ride-sharing company of violating federal law by discriminating against passengers with disabilities. In a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court, t...

Thursday, 11 September 2025

Larry Ellison: Oracle co-founder who overtook Musk as world’s richest perso...

Tycoon who briefly surpassed Elon Musk is a friend of Trump, owner of Hawaiian island and father of man who took over CBS Larry Ellison, co-founder of the software company Oracle, is having a good year. His friend Donald Trump is in the White House, his son David Ellison has taken over the storied media company CBS, an...

Thursday, 11 September 2025

Password1: how scammers exploit variations of your logins

From avoiding recycling a password, even part of it, to two-step verification, steps to closing an open door for hackers The first you know about it is when you find out someone has accessed one of your accounts. You’ve been careful with your details so you can’t work out what has gone wrong, but you have made one mist...

Sunday, 14 September 2025

Billion-dollar coffins? New technology could make oceans transparent and Au...

Quantum sensing, satellite tracking and AI are part of an accelerating arms race in detection that should prompt a re-evaluation of Australia’s defence strategy Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Military history is littered with the cor...

Saturday, 13 September 2025

‘It’s going to be a life skill’: educators discuss the impact of AI on univ...

Artificial intelligence is changing how students learn and the world they’ll graduate into. Experts reveal how applicants can get ahead OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently told a US podcast that if he was graduating today, “I would feel like the luckiest kid in all of history.” Altman, whose company developed and released C...

Saturday, 13 September 2025

‘Extreme nausea’: Are EVs causing car sickness – and what can be done?

Phil Bellamy’s daughters refuse to ride in his electric car without travel sickness tablets. Are there other solutions? It was a year in to driving his daughter to school in his new electric vehicle that Phil Bellamy discovered she dreaded the 10-minute daily ride – it made her feel sick in a way no other car did. As t...

Saturday, 13 September 2025

Not just under-16s: all Australian social media users will need to prove th...

The age assurance technology trial found errors are inevitable – meaning users might have to provide other ID or appeal against wrongful bans Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast It could take just 40 seconds: that’s how long Australians m...

Monday, 01 September 2025

Is the AI bubble about to burst – and send the stock market into freefall? ...

Shares in US tech stocks are falling but it would probably be unwise for fund managers to pull out There are growing fears of an imminent stock market crash – one that will transform from a dip to a dive when euphoric headlines about the wonders of artificial intelligence begin to wane. Shares in US tech stocks have f...

Saturday, 23 August 2025

Researchers asked AI to show a typical Australian dad: he was white and had...

New research finds generative AI depicts Australian themes riddled with sexist and racist caricatures Big tech company hype sells generative artificial intelligence (AI) as intelligent, creative, desirable, inevitable and about to radically reshape the future in many ways. Published by Oxford University Press, our new ...

Friday, 15 August 2025

Scott Farquhar thinks Australia should let AI train for free on creative co...

CEO of Tech Council of Australia and Atlassian founder’s argument hinges on whether AI goes on to create something ‘new and novel’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia should adopt US-style copyright law to allow artificial intel...

Thursday, 14 August 2025

EA Sports FC 26 preview – new play styles aim to tackle Fifa challenge

After a lacklustre response to the 2025 edition, the game has gone all out to engage players and respond to user feedback In an open office space somewhere inside the vast Electronic Arts campus in Vancouver, dozens of people are gathered around multiple monitors playing EA Sports FC 26. Around them, as well as rows of...

Thursday, 11 September 2025

Cronos: The New Dawn review – survival horror is dead on arrival

PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch 2; Bloober Team An intriguing setup sees an unnamed protagonist time-travel to discover the origins of a devastating outbreak, but a stingy inventory and one-sided battles lead to frustration Bloober Team, the Polish developer behind 2021’s hugely underrated psycho-thriller The Medium and last yea...

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Hollow Knight: Silksong has caused bedlam in the gaming world – and the hyp...

In this week’s newsletter: the long-awaited release from the three-person Team Cherry studio has crashed gaming storefronts and put indie developers back in the spotlight Just one game has been dominating the gaming conversation over the past week: Hollow Knight Silksong, an eerie, atmospheric action game from a small ...

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Hollow Knight: Silksong launch crashes online gaming stores

Steam, the Nintendo eShop and Playstation Store among those that crashed on Friday, unable to cope with demand for the Australian-made game Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An enigmatic three-member game developing team from Adelaide has created chaos on global online gaming platforms. Stea...

Friday, 05 September 2025

Roblox to extend age checks in attempt to curb adults talking with children

Company says changes to gaming platform will root out ‘bad actors’ after child safety concerns over unsupervised interaction The gaming website Roblox is to limit adult strangers from talking to children by the end of this year in an effort to root out “bad actors”. The fast-growing platform which has more than 110 mil...

Wednesday, 03 September 2025

‘Slap on the wrist’: critics decry weak penalties on Google after landmark ...

Judge said tech giant had monopoly but let it keep Chrome and Android; critics cried foul while Wall Street cheered A judge ruled on Tuesday that Google would not be forced to sell its Chrome browser or the Android operating system, saving the tech giant from the most severe penalties sought by the US government. The s...

Wednesday, 03 September 2025

Silicon Valley is full of wealthy men who think they’re victims, says Nick ...

Former Lib Dem leader and Meta strategist writes in new book that power in tech capital is interlaced with ‘self pity’ Full interview: Nick Clegg on tech bros, Trump and leaving Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is full of hubris and hugely wealthy and macho men who think they are victims, the former politician and Faceb...

Saturday, 23 August 2025

‘At Meta I found myself wrestling my deputy in an MMA gym’: Nick Clegg on t...

In an exclusive extract from his new book, the former Meta number two recalls the mindset, the mantras and the man at the top • Read an interview with Nick Clegg here I’m not a creature of Silicon Valley. I didn’t study computer science. I’ve never written a line of code. I haven’t spent my career immersed in the proce...

Saturday, 23 August 2025

‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at...

When Britain’s former deputy PM took a job at Meta, nothing could have prepared him for the ‘cloying conformity’ of the tech world. So why does he still think social media is a force for good? • Read an exclusive extract from Nick Clegg’s new book here The rain is just starting to fall from a grey London sky as Sir Nic...

Saturday, 23 August 2025

How to Save the Internet by Nick Clegg review – spinning Silicon Valley

Instead of recognising that social media harms mental health and democracy, the former deputy PM and Meta executive repeats company talking points Nick Clegg chooses difficult jobs. He was the UK’s deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015, a position from which he was surely pulled in multiple directions as he attempted...

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Google Pixel 10 review: the new benchmark for a standard flagship phone

Additional 5x telephoto camera, actually useful AI tools, Qi2 support and slick software make for a quality Android Google’s new cheapest Pixel 10 has been upgraded with more cameras, a faster chip and some quality software that has brought it out of the shadow of its pricier Pro siblings to set a new standard of what ...

Thursday, 04 September 2025

Sky Glass Air review: a surprisingly good budget smart TV

Slim, lightweight and with a bright 4K picture, Sky’s low-cost TV shines because of its software and service Sky’s latest streaming TV aims to be a good, all-in-one budget option for your sitting room – and it achieves all those aims, leaving it standing strong in a field of mediocre, similarly priced appliances. The G...

Monday, 01 September 2025

The best robot vacuums to keep your home clean and dust free, tested by our...

Our writer trialled the most powerful robot vacuums – some of which even mop your floors – and these are the ones he rates • The best window vacs for clearing condensation: seven expert picks for streak-free shine Robot vacuum cleaners take the drudge work out of cleaning your floors and carpets. No more tiresome weekl...

Friday, 29 August 2025

How Google dodged a major breakup – and why OpenAI is to thank for it

An antitrust apocalypse has been averted, and it’s all down to its biggest competitor, according to the judge who could’ve forced Google to sell Chrome Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you as I finish the audiobook version of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, which I can’t say I fou...

Tuesday, 09 September 2025

The women in love with AI companions: ‘I vowed to my chatbot that I wouldn’...

Experts are concerned about people emotionally depending on AI, but these women say their digital companions are misunderstood A young tattoo artist on a hiking trip in the Rocky Mountains cozies up by the campfire, as her boyfriend Solin describes the constellations twinkling above them: the spidery limbs of Hercules,...

Tuesday, 09 September 2025

Facebook fiasco: why is Mark Zuckerberg suing Meta?

His account kept being deactivated, even though he had spent thousands of dollars to use the social media site for advertising. Just one of the perils of sharing a name with the world-famous tech billionaire ... Name: Mark Zuckerberg. Age: Unknown. Continue reading...

Monday, 08 September 2025

AI industry pours millions into politics as lawsuits and feuds mount

From Super Pacs fighting regulation to OpenAI’s first wrongful death lawsuit, the AI tech giants are spending big and facing growing scrutiny Hello, and welcome to TechScape. A little over two years ago, OpenAI’s founder Sam Altman stood in front of lawmakers at a congressional hearing and asked them for stronger regul...

Tuesday, 02 September 2025