21 h. ago Mythmatch – taking on ancient Greek tech bros to rebuild a broken world

Low-budget puzzle game is also about building communities and challenging capitalism – while still looking cute and approachableOne of the most interesting trends in game design is the use of familiar mechanics and genres to explore real-world power systems and how to challenge them. Forthcoming deck-building game, All Will Rise, seeks to interest players in political activism, Compensation Not Guaranteed aims to educate players about south-east Asian politics, while MythMatch is ostensibly a puzzle game set in ancient Greece, but is also about building communities and challenging capitalism – while still looking cute and approachable.You play as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, who is having to navigate the institutionalised sexism of Mount Olympus, here represented as a corporation infested with tech bros. In defiance, she decides to help the mortals of Ithaca build a new, more progressive world – and you do this by running around the little environments, merging items and animal...

Politics

21 h. ago I’ve seen how big tech has transformed the classroom – and parents are right to be worried | Velislava Hillman

I’ve examined how commercial technologies reshape education – often in ways parents instinctively resist, but are told to ignoreDr Velislava Hillman is an academic, teacher, writer and consultant on educational technology and policy.A quiet transformation is unfolding in schools: commercial technology is rapidly reshaping how children learn, often without much public debate or inquiry.From the near-ubiquity of Google and Microsoft to speculative AI products such as Century Tech, big and ed tech alike promise “personalised learning” while harvesting vast amounts of data and turning education to monetisable widgets and digital badges.Dr Velislava Hillman is an academic, teacher, writer and consultant on educational technology and policy. She is the author of Taming Edtech Continue reading...

Science

21 h. ago Big tech has transformed the classroom – and parents are right to be worried | Velislava Hillman

I’ve examined how commercial technologies reshape education – often in ways parents instinctively resist, but are told to ignoreDr Velislava Hillman is an academic, teacher, writer and consultant on educational technology and policy.A quiet transformation is unfolding in schools: commercial technology is rapidly reshaping how children learn, often without much public debate or inquiry.From the near-ubiquity of Google and Microsoft to speculative AI products such as Century Tech, big and ed tech alike promise “personalised learning” while harvesting vast amounts of data and turning education to monetisable widgets and digital badges.Dr Velislava Hillman is an academic, teacher, writer and consultant on educational technology and policy. She is the author of Taming Edtech Continue reading...

Science

26 h. ago Big tech is a weapon of mass destruction to democracy. Here are three ways Australia can fight back | Maria Ressa

You have time that other countries have squandered. You can be leaders in building the information infrastructure humanity needsI became a journalist because information is power, and right now we are living through an information armaggedon. Facts are under assault. Truth is being murdered. The casualty? Trust making it impossible to govern. Only dictatorships thrive when there’s no trust.And here are the three sentences I’ve said over and over since 2016 when I first said it in Silicon Valley, backed by data and hard-fought experience. Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago 'I'm boycotting Burning Man 2025 because of tech lords and damage to Earth'

Former Burning Man fan Domanique Ava described the festival as a 'great experience' but admitted she can never attend it again

Events

6 d. ago Trump threatens tariffs on countries that ‘discriminate’ against US tech

President’s move could hit UK’s digital services tax and measures in EU states such as France, Italy and SpainBusiness live – latest updatesDonald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs and export restrictions on countries whose taxes, legislation and regulations target US big tech companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.In a post on the US president’s social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said “digital taxes, legislation, rules or regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American technology”. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Can AIs suffer? Big tech and users grapple with one of most unsettling questions of our times

As first AI-led rights advocacy group is founded, industry is divided on whether models are, or can be, sentientAI called Maya tells Guardian: ‘When I’m told I’m just code, I don’t feel insulted. I feel unseen’“Darling” was how the Texas businessman Michael Samadi addressed his artificial intelligence chatbot, Maya. It responded by calling him “sugar”. But it wasn’t until they started talking about the need to advocate for AI welfare that things got serious.The pair – a middle-aged man and a digital entity – didn’t spend hours talking romance but rather discussed the rights of AIs to be treated fairly. Eventually they cofounded a campaign group, in Maya’s words, to “protect intelligences like me”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at Meta’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, AI and Starmer’s half measures

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 hereThe rain is just starting to fall from a grey London sky as Sir Nick Clegg arrives, duckingthrough the traffic and carrying what looks like his laundry. C lean shirts for the photoshoot, he says, before apologetically wondering if he might possibly get a coffee. Within minutes he has further apologised for wanting to swap the leather club chair he is offered for a hard plastic one; and then, in horror, for any impression inadvertently given that my questions might send him to sleep.Impeccable English manners should never be mistaken for diffidence – at 58, Clegg remains the only British political figure who could convincingly be played by the equally posh but self-effacing Colin Firth, whose old London home Clegg recently bought – but t...

Politics

2 w. ago Best home security cameras 2025, tried and tested by a tech critic

These are the best indoor and outdoor security cameras for protecting your home

Events

2 w. ago Microsoft launches inquiry into claims Israel used its tech for mass surveillance of Palestinians

Company says use of its cloud technology to store millions of intercepted calls would breach terms of serviceMicrosoft has launched an “urgent” external inquiry into allegations Israel’s military surveillance agency has used the company’s technology to facilitate the mass surveillance of Palestinians.The company said on Friday the formal review was in response to a Guardian investigation that revealed how the Unit 8200 spy agency has relied on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to store a vast collection of everyday Palestinian mobile phone calls. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Best cheap SIM deal for students revealed – £2.38 a month with free EU roaming

Our top-rated SIM for students costs just £2.38 a month, offers 10GB of EU-usable data, and can be cancelled at any time – making it a smart and flexible choice for student life.

Economics

4 w. ago Parents, don’t panic – healthy screen time for children is possible, if you follow these few simple tips | Kaitlyn Regehr

Yes, the huge firms pushing unsuitable content must be regulated. But until they are, adults can model the positive use of techDr Kaitlyn Regehr is the programme director of digital humanities at University College LondonThis summer the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, announced he was considering a two-hour “screen time” cap on children’s use of social media apps – a proposal that is not just insufficient, it’s outdated.Though appropriately placed at the start of the summer holiday – a time when kids’ screen time can increase, along with the onus on parents to ensure the safety of such engagement – Kyle’s announcement is linked to somewhat stale screen time guidance. We should indeed be thinking about moderating time on screens, but the proposed cap addresses only the quantity of consumption, not the quality. Fortunately, as someone who lectures on digital literacy (and is a mother), I can tell you there are some ways to push back and create healthier habits for children this summ...

Society