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Welcome to the new feudalism – with Silicon Valley as our overlords
EU eyes temporary ban on facial recognition in public places – Draft white paper suggest prohibition lasting three to five years is being considered
Christopher Tolkien has died
YouTube ads of 100 top brands fund climate misinformation – study
Mobile phones cause tumours, Italian court rules, in defiance of evidence | World news
Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robot
France’s digital minister says tax on big tech is just the start
'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession
We’re approaching the limits of computer power – we need new programmers now
Source: Microsoft contractors vetting Skype audio worked from home in China with "no security measures"; company says it now uses secure facilities not in China
Facebook refuses to restrict untruthful political ads and micro-targeting
World’s first fully electric commercial aircraft takes flight in Canada
A scandal in the Oxford Classics Department: the curious case of a stolen gospel
Lab-grown food will soon destroy farming – and save the planet. Scientists are replacing crops and livestock with food made from microbes and water. It may save humanity’s bacon
‘Extreme privilege’: Ivanka Trump faces backlash over keynote speech at CES | Technology
Bots and trolls spread false arson claims in Australian fires ‘disinformation campaign’ – Online posts exaggerating the role of arson are being used to undermine the link between bushfires and climate change
Mystery of Rolling Stones tracks posted briefly on YouTube | Music | The Guardian
Travelex ‘being held to ransom’ by hackers said to be demanding $3m | Technology
Shutdown of US coal power facilities saved over 26k lives, study finds
Cutting battery industry’s reliance on cobalt will be an uphill task – Electric cars and consumer electronics use mineral mined in exploitative conditions in Congo
Fukushima unveils plans to become renewable energy hub – Japan aims to power region, scene of 2011 meltdown, with 100% renewable energy by 2040
NHS gets £40M to cut login times on its IT systems
Iran ‘revenge’ could come in the form of cyber-attacks, experts warn
Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak ‘shows global manipulation is out of control’ – Company’s work in 68 countries laid bare with release of more than 100,000 documents
Porn site to pay $12.7m to women who didn't know videos would be posted
Amazon threatened to fire employees for speaking out on climate, workers say
Reddit · 2 weeks ago
From The Big Short to Normal People: the books that defined the decade | Books | The Guardian
AI system outperforms experts in spotting breast cancer. Program developed by Google Health tested on mammograms of UK and US women.
‘What an insult’: CES names Ivanka Trump as keynote speaker
He Jiankui, Chinese scientist who edited babies’ genes, jailed for three years
California’s groundbreaking privacy law takes effect in January. What does it do?
Lack of guidance leaves public services in limbo on AI, says watchdog – CCTV commissioner says he gets many queries about facial recognition and other tools
We’ve spent the decade letting our tech define us. It’s out of control – Technology has grown from some devices and platforms we use to an entire environment in which we function
The smartphone tracking industry has been rumbled. Now we must act
Volkswagen to hit 1m electric cars milestone two years early – Carmaker says it expects to reach 1m by end of 2023 and 1.5m by end of 2025
A brutal year: how the ‘techlash’ caught up with Facebook, Google and Amazon – Privacy scandals and antitrust issues dogged social media giants and the online retailer saw a rise in employee organizing
Reddit · 3 weeks ago
A look at the rise of tech activism in the 2010s led by blue-collar or contract workers, with a sharp rise in activism of full-time/white-collar workers in 2019
UK's Competition and Markets Authority says Amazon failed to address its concerns about the investment in Deliveroo, refers the deal to a full investigation
Techmeme · 3 weeks ago
Sky shepherds: the farmers using drones to watch their flocks by flight – For some farmers in New Zealand, Britain and Australia, drones are not just a toy – they’re an increasingly vital tool
Australian miners hit by lowest thermal coal price in more than a decade – Drop comes as usage in Europe and the US declines and China tightens use of imported coal.
The vandals destroying libraries should have the book thrown at them
‘This is the farming of the future’: the rise of hydroponic food labs – Needing no soil or sun, an underground farm in Liverpool challenges traditional methods
Science made astonishing progress. It was also hijacked by those with an axe to grind – Attacks and scepticism are on the rise, even as leaps are made in fields from gene editing and AI to interplanetary exploration
Too big to fail? Tech’s decade of scale and impunity – Big tech behaves as though power absolves them of responsibility. Have we learned nothing since the financial crash?
Be careful you are not giving away your privacy with Christmas gifts this year – Internet-connected devices are a tempting way to fill Christmas stockings, but our privacy is often traded away while we’re swept up in the fun
2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts
The tech giants dominated the decade. But there’s still time to rein them in
Reddit · 3 weeks ago