When the government’s new alert system is tested this weekend it will mark the culmination of much learning from the technological successes and mistakes of other nations There have been accusations of nanny statism, warnings from domestic abuse charities over inadvertently alerting abusers of hidden phones, and even pet shops cordoning off smaller animals so they don’t get frightened when the government’s emergency alert system is tested on Sunday at 3pm.One thing is certain though: the UK government has taken its time in getting the system up and running, taking more than a decade to...

Powerful speaker with quality sound shows how to do immersive music right, if you can find a good trackThe Era 300 is the second in Sonos’s next-generation line of wifi hi-fis, packing six speakers into one curvaceous box capable of immersing listeners in quality sound.The speaker costs £449 ($449/A$749) and sits above the new £249 Era 100, competing directly with Apple’s HomePod and other high-end speakers – premium audio at a premium price.Dimensions: 16 x 26 x 18.5cmWeigh: 4.5kgSpeakers: four tweeters, two woofersConnectivity: wifi 6, Bluetooth 5, USB-C, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect...

Artificial intelligence in its current form is based on the wholesale appropriation of existing culture, and the notion that it is actually intelligent could be actively dangerousArchive: BBC Continue reading...

Photos, emails, playlists: our phones and computers have become hosts for our pasts. What happens when the backups fail?No matter how much our computers assure us they’re backing everything up to a hard drive in the sky, memory failure remains a hardwired part of our lives. Writers reflect on when a digital loss created an emotional hole – from the college essay that disappeared minutes before the due date to an iPhone update that lost years of photographs. Continue reading...

A third of Australian companies rely on artificial intelligence to help them hire the right person. But studies show it’s not always a benign intermediary Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMichael Scott, the protagonist from the US version of The Office, is using an AI recruiter to hire a receptionist.Guardian Australia applies. Continue reading...

Our tendency to humanise large language models and AI is daft – let’s worry about corporate grabs and environmental damageOn 14 February, Kevin Roose, the New York Times tech columnist, had a two-hour conversation with Bing, Microsoft’s ChatGPT-enhanced search engine. He emerged from the experience an apparently changed man, because the chatbot had told him, among other things, that it would like to be human, that it harboured destructive desires and was in love with him.The transcript of the conversation, together with Roose’s appearance on the paper’s The Daily podcast, immediately...

Amid boarded up shops in Teesside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving – and shows how tired retail districts can be reimaginedOn Bishop Auckland’s increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on are mostly discount retailers, the odd vape shop and a few charity shops. Even Poundland has gone. But a few doors down from where Boots used to be, next to the HSBC branch that closed last August, you can now find yourself at the starting grid of a Formula One...

Meet six people who claim to have made contact with extraterrestrials – or even be one themselves – in Alien Kidnap Club. Plus: five podcasts to listen to with your kidsDon’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAs has been noted in this newsletter a few times of late, the big-money boom era for podcasts is perhaps behind us. Fewer shows are being released, layoffs are happening across the industry, and spending on new projects is down. All of this potentially sounds Quite Bad, especially given how accustomed we’ve been to seeing huge amounts of cash floating around the...

It says age verification would contravene its commitment to collect minimal data from readers.

The Apple CEO greeted customers who visited the store and posed for selfies with some of them.

The multi-billionaire defended his running of the company in a last-minute interview live from Twitter HQ.

The firm apologises after around 11,000 customers could not connect to the internet for much of the day.

It is the latest social media channel to restore his account following Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Current and former employees of the company say there are serious ramifications from mass lay-offs.

Repair firm says there is no industry standard training for fixing smartphones and other devices.

Bao Fan's company China Renaissance says it has not been able to reach him in recent days.

The video call firm that surged in popularity during the height of Covid is cutting 1,300 people.

How the late inventor of cat's eyes, Percy Shaw, got his eureka moment.

Tesla boss Elon Musk is cleared of fraud charges over a tweet about taking the carmaker private.

The chatbot has been used millions of times since its public launch last year.

The consumption of pornography is widespread among children, the children's commissioner says.

BBC Click’s Lara Lewington tries out some of the latest fitness technology.

Data from outage tracking website Downdetector showed more than 5,000 reports in the UK alone.

John Ray said he may restart the platform to try to recover "value" for customers who lost money.

The government has conceded after nearly 50 Conservative MPs rebelled over the Online Safety Bill.