Category Archives: Technology

YouTube at 15: what happened to some of the platform’s biggest early stars?

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As YouTube celebrates its 15th birthday, we talk to five early adopters about how the all-singing all-dancing platform has evolved

Late on the evening of 14 February 2005, Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen registered the website YouTube.com. Two months later, when the first video (of Karim briefly describing the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo) was uploaded, a platform was launched that has gone on to change the world.

Today, more than 2bn of us visit YouTube monthly, and 500 hours of footage is uploaded every minute. That’s a far cry from the 18-second video that started it all. Its stars are multi-millionaires: YouTube’s highest earner in 2019 was an eight-year-old called Ryan, who netted $26m. The number of creators earning five or six figures has increased by more than 40% year on year. At first, users earned a few hundred pounds for mentioning products in their videos; now they can make hundreds of thousands, and much more through exclusive brand deals. Not many like talking about their income: it makes them less relatable.

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Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook must accept some state regulation

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Co-founder says site sits between telephone company and newspaper as content provider

Facebook must accept some form of state regulation, acknowledging its status as a content provider somewhere between a newspaper and a telephone company, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said.

He also claimed an era of clean democratic elections, free of interference by foreign governments, is closer due to Facebook now employing 35,000 staff working on monitoring content and security.

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US defence secretary warns Huawei 5G will put alliances at risk

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Mark Esper says countries using Chinese technology will put intelligence cooperation at risk

The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, warned that US alliances including the future of Nato were in jeopardy if European countries went ahead with using Chinese Huawei technology in their 5G networks.

Esper also warned future intelligence cooperation would be at risk, as the US would no longer be certain its communications networks were secure.

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Trump claims he has ‘legal right’ to intervene in criminal cases

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President reasserts his right to tweet on judicial issues following William Barr’s warning the posts ‘make it impossible for me to do my job’

Donald Trump has ignored a plea from his attorney general, William Barr, to not tweet about ongoing legal cases, by using his Twitter account to say he has a “legal right” to do so.

Barr delivered a remarkable public rebuke of the president just hours earlier, saying that Trump’s tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job” and that he would not be “bullied or influenced” over justice department decisions.

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‘Can you post a meme?’: Facebook changes ad rules after Bloomberg exploits loophole

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Policy change involves what Facebook calls ‘branded content’, sponsored items posted by ordinary users who are typically paid by companies

Facebook decided on Friday to allow a type of paid political message that had sidestepped many of the social network’s rules governing political ads, in a reversal that highlights difficulties tech companies and regulators have in keeping up with the changing nature of paid political messages.

Facebook’s policy change comes days after the Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg exploited a loophole to run humorous messages promoting his campaign on the accounts of popular Instagram personalities followed by millions of younger people.

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Huawei faces new US charges alleging decades-long effort to steal technology

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  • Superseding indictment likely to deepen US-UK tensions
  • Telecoms giant accused of violating Iran and Korea sanctions

Huawei has been accused of stealing trade secrets and lying to US federal investigators in a new indictment that is likely to deepen US-UK tensions over a recent move by the British government to allow the Chinese company to supply 5G equipment for a new network.

The superseding indictment makes new allegations against the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, including claims that the company successfully engaged in a decades-long effort to steal intellectual property, giving it an unfair advantage over competitors.

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Jeff Bezos buys lavish Beverly Hills estate for record $165m – report

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Amazon founder purchases nine-acre estate once owned by Warner Bros president, Wall Street Journal says

Jeff Bezos has set a new property price record in Los Angeles with the purchase of a $165m Beverly Hills estate, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Amazon founder’s purchase of the home from the media mogul David Geffen is the largest amount paid for a single-family Los Angeles-area home. The nine-acre estate originally belonged to Jack Warner, the late former president of Warner Bros Studios. Warner built up the estate’s 13,600-sq-ft Georgian-style mansion in the 1930s, reportedly with the wood floor that Napoleon was standing on when he proposed to Josephine.

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Bill Gates orders £500m hydrogen-powered superyacht

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Microsoft billionaire’s innovative and eco-fuelled 112m Aqua vessel to launch after 2024

Bill Gates has ordered the world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht, worth an estimated £500m ($644m) and featuring an infinity pool, helipad, spa and gym.

The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft has commissioned the Aqua ship – a 112-metre (370ft) luxury vessel completely powered by liquid hydrogen – which was publicised last year at the Monaco yacht show by the Dutch design firm Sinot.

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No 10 says Johnson’s row with Trump over Huawei was ‘overblown’

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US president was reportedly furious about PM’s decision to use Chinese 5G expertise

Downing Street has sought to play down the significance of a difficult phone call between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson over the UK’s decision to allow Chinese company Huawei to help build its 5G network.

Trump was reported by the FT to have been “apoplectic” about the decision taken by Johnson, and the phone call last week was said by one official to have been “very difficult” and tense.

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Vodafone to remove Huawei from core European networks

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Move will cost €200m over five years but have limited financial impact on UK operations

Vodafone is to remove Huawei equipment from the sensitive, core parts of its mobile networks across Europe at a cost of €200m (£169m) over the next five years.

The group, which has 111 million customers across Europe, has taken the decision after the UK government’s move last week to limit the use of Huawei equipment in the country’s 5G network.

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Grand Theft Auto mastermind Dan Houser leaves Rockstar Games

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Co-writer of the multimillion-selling series to step down in March, leaving questions over long-awaited sixth instalment

Dan Houser, a co-founder of Rockstar Games, is leaving his post in March, according to the developer’s parent company Take-Two Interactive. Houser was lead writer on the multimillion-selling Grand Theft Auto series, as well as other Rockstar hits including the acclaimed western adventure Red Dead Redemption.

In a statement to investors on Tuesday, Take-Two stated that Houser, who was creative vice president at the studio, would leave Rockstar on 11 March after taking an “extended break”, which began in spring last year. Houser’s brother Sam, with whom he co-founded Rockstar Games in 1998, will stay on as company president.

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Algorithms on social media need regulation, says UK’s AI adviser

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Report also urges government to consider making firms such as Facebook share their data

New regulation should be passed to control the algorithms that promote content such as posts, videos and adverts on social networks, the UK government’s advisory body on AI ethics has recommended.

As part of a forthcoming overhaul of regulation covering the internet, the government should also consider requiring social media platforms to allow independent researchers access to their data if they are researching issues of public concern, the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) suggested. That could include topics such as the effects of social media on mental health, or its role in spreading misinformation.

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Facebook commitment to free speech will ‘piss people off’, Zuckerberg says

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CEO defended Facebook’s decision not to ban political ads and said company will ‘stand up for free expression’

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, has unveiled a new approach to political advertising which he described as a stand for the principles of free speech, but also one that will “piss off a lot of people”.

In a candid discussion at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit 2020 in Salt Lake City on Friday, Zuckerberg said that since his company is criticized for both what it does and does not do in terms of monitoring use of its platform, it will now support free speech “because in order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for”.

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MIA launches crowdfunding drive to avoid platforms that ‘sell data to Cambridge Analytica’

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The musician has promised music and videos to her Patreon supporters, and the possibility of recipes and dating advice

MIA has launched a crowdfunding page to support her future work – which may encompass therapy sessions, dating advice and recipes in addition to the music for which she is best known.

MIA, AKA Maya Arulpragasam, said that she had joined the site Patreon because her work was too broad to fit on other sites. “I’ve tried all the other platforms and it’s like: this one is too mean and hateful, this one is too fake and self-obsessed and this one just sells all your data to Cambridge Analytica. Hopefully, this one is going to be just right.”

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Jeff Bezos met FBI investigators in 2019 over alleged Saudi hack

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Amazon founder interviewed as FBI conducts inquiry into Israeli firm linked to malware

Jeff Bezos met federal investigators in April 2019 after they received information about the alleged hack of the billionaire’s mobile phone by Saudi Arabia, the Guardian has been told.

Bezos was interviewed by investigators at a time when the FBI was conducting an investigation into the Israeli technology company NSO Group, according to a person who was present at the meeting.

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Huawei ruling will cost us £500m, says BT

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Telecoms group faces big bill for stripping out banned kit from 5G broadband network

Limiting the use of Huawei equipment in BT’s EE 5G mobile and full-fibre broadband networks will cost the telecoms group £500m over the next five years.

BT uses more Huawei equipment in the masts and towers of its mobile network than is allowed under new government rules, meaning it will now have to be stripped out and replaced with hardware from other manufacturers.

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Telescope captures most detailed pictures yet of the sun

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First observations from Inouye telescope bring previously hazy star into sharp focus

The sun’s turbulent surface has been revealed in unprecedented detail in the first observations by the Inouye solar telescope in Hawaii.

The striking images reveal a surprising level of structure hidden within the churning plasma exterior, bringing a previously hazy impression of the sun’s patchwork surface sharply into focus for the first time.

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Reporter who wrote book on Saudi crown prince was allegedly targeted by hackers

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State department investigates after New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard says his phone was targeted in 2018

A New York Times reporter was allegedly targeted with spyware linked to Saudi Arabia in 2018, at a time when the kingdom was targeting several Saudi dissidents around the world.

A new report by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School found that Ben Hubbard, who has written a book about Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, was targeted by spyware known as “Pegasus”, which is made by Israel’s NSO Group.

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The power of celibacy: ‘Giving up sex was a massive relief’

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The plethora of dating apps has bolstered society’s obsession with sex, but many people find that a period of abstinence makes them happier and healthier

In a world where you can get a sexual partner faster than a pizza delivery, it has never been easier to play the field. Yet, despite all that swiping right, a surprising number of people are not having sex at all – not for religious reasons, or because they can’t get a date, but because they find that celibacy makes them happier.

Some have never had much interest in sex, while others are taking a break to address personal problems, recover from bad dating experiences or change the way they approach relationships.

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NSA faces questions over security of Trump officials after alleged Bezos hack

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Democratic lawmaker asks agency if it is confident the Saudi government has not sought to hack US officials

The US National Security Agency is facing questions about the security of top Trump administration officials’ communications following last week’s allegations that the Saudi crown prince may have had a hand in the alleged hack of Jeff Bezos.

Ron Wyden, a senior Democratic lawmaker, asked the director of the NSA whether he was confident that the Saudi government had not also sought to hack senior US government officials, including the White House adviser Jared Kushner, who has reportedly had a WhatsApp relationship with the Saudi heir.

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