37 m. ago AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow

AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its rootsI am a science-fiction writer, which means that my job is to make up futuristic parables about our current techno-social arrangements to interrogate not just what a gadget does, but who it does it for, and who it does it to.What I do not do is predict the future. No one can predict the future, which is a good thing, since if the future were predictable, that would mean we couldn’t change it. Continue reading...

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71 m. ago BREAKING: UK and EU countries hit back at Donald Trump's tariff threat in joint statement

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73 m. ago Trump risks 'dangerous downward spiral' as UK and Europe hit back at Greenland threat

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1 hour ago Missing passenger plane search continues as 'single body and debris' found on mountain

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2 h. ago Scotland World Cup tracker as Harvey Barnes claim rings out, party date set and Ancelotti makes key Brazil change

The in-form winger has been pitched as an option for Thomas Tuchel and the Three Lions.

Politics

2 h. ago How can we defend ourselves from the new plague of ‘human fracking’?

Big tech treats our attention like a resource to be mercilessly extracted. The fightback begins hereIn the last 15 years, a linked series of unprecedented technologies have changed the experience of personhood across most of the world. It is estimated that nearly 70% of the human population of the Earth currently possesses a smartphone, and these devices constitute about 95% of internet access-points on the planet. Globally, on average, people seem to spend close to half their waking hours looking at screens, and among young people in the rich world the number is a good deal higher than that.History teaches that new technologies always make possible new forms of exploitation, and this basic fact has been spectacularly exemplified by the rise of society-scale digital platforms. It has been driven by a remarkable new way of extracting money from human beings: call it “human fracking”. Just as petroleum frackers pump high-pressure, high-volume detergents into the ground to force a litt...

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2 h. ago ‘I looked exceptional but I was out of breath’: the bodybuilder who switched to mindful movement

Ten years ago, Eugene Teo was obsessed with lifting weights. But, gradually, he realised his extreme mindset was making him unhappy. So he changed his outlookEugene Teo, 34, began lifting weights at the age of 13, looking for validation. “I was short, skinny and I thought it would give me confidence,” he says. “Bodybuilding for me was the ultimate expression of that.”Now living on the Gold Coast in Australia, with his partner and daughter, the fitness coach spent from age 16 to 24 training and competing. At times, he lifted weights for up to four hours a day, aiming to get as muscular and lean as possible. The ideal he was chasing? “If you grab your eyelid and feel that skin,” he says, “that’s the skin thinness you want on your bum and abs.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Polyamory, regrets and revenge: changing the story on infidelity

From Lily Allen to Raven Leilani’s Luster, a new generation is re-writing the script around love and cheating, argues the author of The Ten Year AffairO n the first track of Lily Allen’s breakup album West End Girl, we hear a long phone call that leads to a marriage’s unravelling. Allen listens, confused then hurt, for almost two minutes as a presumed husband on the other end asks to open up the relationship. Fans made the obvious connection to Allen’s own marriage to David Harbour, the cop from Stranger Things (who is perhaps equally well known for his tasteful Brooklyn townhouse). The two dabbled in polyamory, goes the tabloid story, only to have Harbour break the rules and hurt Allen in the end.The album is good – pretty and catchy, with an appealing edge of anger. But public reaction went beyond appreciation for the work. The breakup became the object of gruesome rubbernecking. It was a juicy story about one of the oldest topics: infidelity, betrayal, an...

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2 h. ago Australian Open winner dubbed 'hottest athlete in the world' looks unrecognisable now

A former Australian Open champion has changed dramatically since her last victory in Melbourne almost 20 years ago

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3 h. ago Tesla Model 3 Long Range review: an EV that makes 400 miles feel realistic

Tesla claims its new Model 3 can top 400 miles on a charge – but living with one tells a more interesting story

Politics

3 h. ago This is how we do it: ‘Nobody’s enjoyed a night at the Premier Inn Milton Keynes more than us’

Beth’s liberated and open-minded attitude to sex has helped Alex reignite his passion after his former wife came out as a lesbian• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymouslyWe’re always letting our hands wander under restaurant tables, or on the escalator in the Tube Continue reading...

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3 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘We celebrated Christmas in July – and suddenly every night was Saturday night’

At the start of the first festive shift, the other bartender and I silently pulled our crackers and grimly donned paper hats. Yet it worked a treat and taught me the value of making your own funI was an employee and a customer at this pub as a teenager in the early 1990s. This was one of four or five pubs clustered around the high street in the town where I grew up in Somerset. We gravitated towards the Blue Ball as teenagers, not because they served underage drinkers. They didn’t. And we could only afford to drink lime and soda anyway. No, we loved this place because it had (drumroll) two bars. So we were not only cool enough to go down the pub (never “to the pub”, strictly “down the pub” or, better still, “down the Blue”), but we even had our own bar. Continue reading...

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3 h. ago Neil Robertson fights back tears in BBC interview as snooker star's name changes

Australian snooker star Neil Robertson became emotional as he spoke about receiving the Order of Australia Medal, calling it the 'proudest moment' of his career and life

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4 h. ago Eight changes as Celtic aim to avoid Scottish Cup shock and wrongly identified £5m man lands new role

Martin O'Neill has made it abundantly clear he will freshen up his side against Auchinleck Talbot

Economics

4 h. ago Shopping centre blaze sees at least six dead and dozens injured in 'mass disaster'

Shoppers visiting a multi-story shopping centre in Kurachi, Pakistan, saw their trip turn to horror after a major blaze started on the ground floor quickly engulfed the whole building

Events

4 h. ago Emmerdale star addresses 'moving on' as they share exit regret after death twist

Emmerdale's Joe Absolom opens up about his character Ray Walters being killed off in explosive whodunnit storyline.

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5 h. ago BREAKING: Las Vegas strip chaos as 30 police cars and helicopter flock to Paris Hotel

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5 h. ago Las Vegas strip chaos as 30 police cars and helicopter flock to Paris Hotel

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5 h. ago Las Vegas strip chaos after 'unruly crowd' attacks police sparking 30

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5 h. ago Emmerdale star opens up on exit regret but promises 'great twist' on killer plot

Emmerdale will finally reveal who murdered Ray Walters this week as Joe Absolom discusses his exit.

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