Category: BBC News – Technology

Published1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty Images / Rockstar GamesBy Brandon DrenonBBC NewsSouth Florida. A place where sea, sand and sexy are always in season.A place where the world’s most famous footballer scores match-winning goals in flamingo pink.And a place where a multibillionaire considers how to commercialise space travel.When Lionel Messi and Jeff Bezos moved to Miami this year, they added a certain shimmer to a city already well-known for its sparkle.But there’s a dark side, a criminal underbelly, too.The intersection of these worlds was on full display this week during the trailer release of Grand Theft Auto 6.Its emergence ended a decade-long streak of relative silence from Rockstar, the game’s creators, and broke YouTube records, grabbing 93 million views in 24 hours.This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.The video was described by LeBron James in a tweet as “INSANE”. And it became the most viewed content on the platform – excluding music videos – in less than a day.The 90-second teaser confirmed the game will be set in Vice City, a hyper-fictionalised version of Miami, and it immediately sparked debates online over how fair and realistic this depiction was.It showcased many of Miami’s cultural landmarks – beach joggers and boat partiers, luxury cars and rooftop pools. Neon-lit streets. Flamingos.(Yes, there are actually flamingos. The cotton-candy coloured birds can be seen at the Hialeah Park Racing and Casino.)Image source, Getty ImagesBut there was also a different side of the city on display.A crocodile crept through a convenience store, strippers danced over dollar bills and shotgun-wielding police kicked down a door.The sight of a woman twerking atop a speeding car seemed other-worldly absurd, but it blended in seamlessly with what appeared to be exact replicas of Miami’s basketball arena Kaseya Center and murals in the Wynwood neighbourhood.It was this precise mix of the inconceivable and the actual that blurred the lines between fact and fiction.GTA trailer sparks soaring streams for 70s rockerUS is in grip of Messi madness after Miami arrivalThat was exactly the aim for Rockstar, the developers behind the GTA series, according to Chris Livingston, senior editor at PC Gamer, a leading gaming publication.”These [GTA games] are based on real American cities, and it’s those tiny details that really bring it to life,” Mr Livingston told the BBC. “So much of what’s in the games is based on real stuff. The developers are from the UK, so it’s kind of their spin on a really exaggerated take on US culture.”Image source, Rockstar: Grand Theft Auto 6Image source, Miami-Dade CorrectionsMr Livingston described what was in the GTA 6 trailer as an intentional “tongue-in-cheek satire of the worst of American culture”.But people on social media were quick to point out where scenes from the trailer actually appeared in reality.For instance, the woman twerking on the car, the angry old lady holding a hammer in each hand, the tattoo-faced criminal with purple hair – these were all images that made headlines in south Florida news.The birth pangs of the Grand Theft Auto franchiseMr Livingston called these moments “great fodder” for Rockstar’s developers, and said it allowed them to add incredible detail by mirroring “the bizarre reality of US culture, especially in Florida”.But, he said, the growing ridiculousness of reality also presented a challenge.”Something we think about when we’re talking about satirising American culture is just how over the top actual life has become,” Mr Livingston said. “How long can Rockstar satirise a culture that’s gotten so ridiculous on its own?”Image source, Rockstar: Grand Theft Auto 6Many viewers of the trailer commented on the recurrence of the “Florida Man” meme, a term which has become a catchall for the outlandish behaviour captured in Florida headlines.Dmitri Williams, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies games, influence and technology, said: “I think there’s more than a little winking at reality here.” “If you can pivot off the headlines, you’re starting from a place that people know or have a feeling about, rather than inventing some new world from scratch,” he told the BBC. “And that’s what Rockstar is good at. They start with the stereotype.” Image source, RockstarBut as much as the game’s creators are good at reflecting reality, Mr Williams said they’ve also played a role in shaping it. He said the Grand Theft Auto series introduced a level of freedom and transgression that captured the hearts of gamers, now a “devoted audience”. “You could go anywhere, or do anything,” he said. This includes everything from eating a burger to shooting a cop and soliciting a prostitute. The unprecedented freedom and violence of previous GTA games has made news headlines of its own, drawing multiple lawsuits, one of which was filed by former first lady Hillary Clinton, another of which reached the Supreme Court. For some, regardless of accuracy, GTA 6’s depictions of Florida’s crime and chaos were too overbearing and one-sided.Nicole Haboush, senior charter and sales manager for TJB Super Yachts located in Palm Beach, said: “I was a little upset by the video, because I’m like ‘where is this’. It was kind of shocking. It doesn’t depict the Miami that I’ve ever seen.”Image source, Getty ImagesMs Haboush said the people and places shown are very different than what she encounters during events like the Miami Boat Show and Art Basel, where she mingles with clients capable of spending up to $200m (£159m) on a “mega yacht”. “We try not to be around areas that would be having theft and violence,” she said.But for others, their reaction to the video was less unsettling.”For all the kind of [heat] that Florida gets about being crazy, we live up to our reputation,” Jose Duran, a Miami nightlife and culture journalist, told the BBC. “I think the pulse around here in south Florida is that people are excited.””In some ways, it’s a point of pride – weirdly enough for some people – just how crazy Florida can really get.”Mr Duran said the trailer delivered as expected for a game that “is all about the things you’re not supposed to do in real life – stealing cars, killing people, beating people up”.”I don’t take offence to [the video], but I see how some people could,” he said.Mr Duran said he will be reserving his real judgement for when the game is officially released – in 2025.”It’ll be a different story when the game actually comes out and people can start dissecting things.” More on this storyGTA trailer sparks soaring streams for 70s rockerPublished3 days agoGrand Theft Auto 6 trailer revealed after leakPublished4 days ago

Published16 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesEuropean Union officials have reached a provisional deal on the world’s first comprehensive laws to regulate the use of artificial intelligence.After 36 hours of talks, negotiators agreed rules around AI in systems like ChatGPT and facial recognition.The European Parliament will vote on the AI Act proposals early next year, but any legislation will not take effect until at least 2025. The US, UK and China are all rushing to publish their own guidelines.What is AI, how does it work and what can it be used for?The proposals include safeguards on the use of AI within the EU as well as limitations on its adoption by law enforcement agencies.Consumers would have the right to launch complaints and fines could be imposed for violations.EU Commissioner Thierry Breton described the plans as “historic”, saying it set “clear rules for the use of AI”.He added it was “much more than a rulebook – it’s a launch pad for EU start-ups and researchers to lead the global AI race”.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the AI Act would help the development of technology that does not threaten people’s safety and rights.In a social media post, she said it was a “unique legal framework for the development of AI you can trust”.The European Parliament defines AI as software that can “for a given set of human-defined objectives, generate outputs such as content, predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing the environments they interact with”.ChatGPT and DALL-E are examples of what is called “generative” AI. These programs learn from vast quantities of data, such as online text and images, to generate new content which feels like it has been made by a human.So-called “chatbots” – like ChatGPT – can have text conversations. Other AI programs like DALL-E can create images from simple text instructions.More on this storyWhat is AI and how does it work?Published1 NovemberChatGPT tool could help scammers and hackersPublished2 days agoThe race to buy AI website addressesPublished9 November

Published42 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, AgopreneBy David SilverbergTechnology reporterFrom crushed oyster shells to agricultural waste, Celine Sandberg has experimented with some wacky ingredients to make parts for furniture.Her aim has been to cut the use of plastic polymers, known as polyurethane, in furniture making. That meant finding a more environmentally-friendly material to fill pillows, sofas and chair cushions.To start with, the founder of Oslo-based Agoprene and her colleagues experimented with using oyster shells. The shells were ground into a powder and used to make a foamy material. Agricultural waste and wood fibres were experimented with in a similar way.”We tried a bunch of different materials, but most of them turned out as rigid foam, not flexible,” she says.But eventually Ms Sandberg hit on seaweed, which her team transformed into a powder and baked in a special oven.The process creates a foam block, soft enough to be used in seat cushions and chairs.”The foam is 100% biodegradable. You can simply leave it in the soil, and it will naturally degrade over eight months – faster if you cut it into smaller pieces,” says Mr Sandberg. Agoprene is now looking to scale-up production by moving to a larger manufacturing facility in the coming year.Image source, AgopreneCan such innovation move furniture away from plastic, which is used in numerous ways in the furniture industry.As well as polyurethane, which provides cushioning, the outside of soft furnishings might contain polyester – also part of the plastic family.Faux leather furniture might use a vinyl blend, and vinyl is a convenient shorthand for a whole class of plastics. Meanwhile, cheaper wood furniture is often just a wood veneer stuck to plastic. Industrially-produced wood furniture is often coated in a blend of chemicals, which may include polymers. That’s what gives the wood that glossy, plastic-like appearance. There are good reasons why plastic is so common, explains Christian Euler, an assistant professor in chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.”It performs very well for its intended functions, and has a high degree of flexibility which allows it be soft or hard,” he says.”Also, because plastic’s chemicals come from by-products from oil refining, it’s cheap to make.”More technology of businessThe t-shirt chewing enzyme ready to tackle plastic wasteCould airports make hydrogen work as a fuel?Can bamboo be big in construction?What happens after a nuclear power station is closed?The incredible power of blue LEDsBut there are serious downsides to cheap, plastic-laden furniture. For a start, more and more of it is being thrown away.The Environmental Protection Agency in the US estimates that 12 million tonnes of furniture was discarded in 2018, up from eight million tonnes in 2000.Around 80% of that furniture discarded in 2018 in the US ended up in landfill, where the plastic parts could take hundreds of years to break down.Meanwhile, making the plastic that goes into furniture involves carbon emissions. According to Agropene’s calculations, polyurethane foam rubber accounts for a 105 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.So numerous firms are looking for alternative materials. Image source, MaterDanish design company Mater has produced a line of chairs that feature seats and backrests made from materials blended with either discarded coffee bean shells or sawdust from furniture production.Its outdoor furniture is composed of ocean waste. “We like mixing creativity with innovation,” says chief executive Katil Ardal.”While it takes a lot of cash to manufacture these sustainable collections, and I get some grey hairs because of it, it’s in our DNA to be a green company.”Beyond seaweed and coffee shell waste, another unusual option researchers are hoping may replace plastic is fungus.Mycellium, the root-like and branching structure of a fungus, is the foundation behind BioKnit, a new type of textile developed by researchers at Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE).The process starts with mycelium grown on a substrate such as sawdust, says Jane Scott, lead of the HBBE’s Living Textiles Group, and then it’s placed in a dark and humid environment so it binds and absorbs nutrients from the sawdust. Then it dehydrates in an oven-like device.Image source, HBBEShe notes BioKnit is already being used by designers to make lampshades, for example.Ms Scott says an advantage of this material is how it “decomposes since it’s bio-based and doesn’t use any binders or glue that wouldn’t decompose in a landfill.”Major design brands are seeking to join smaller nimbler companies in ushering in sustainable materials into their furniture pieces. US kitchenware and home furnishings firm Williams Sonoma has said it’s now using responsibly sourced cotton and recycled polyester, and IKEA plans to use only renewable and recycled materials in its products by 2030.Ms Sandberg says she’s encouraged to see the furniture industry open to changing its wasteful ways. “I thought this industry didn’t want to try anything new and only stay with polyurethane, but they are open and curious and willing to test and try new products because they want to see change happen with the products they create.”

Published17 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Tom RichardsonBBC NewsbeatRed carpets, acceptance speeches and upset wins are usually the highlights of awards shows. But there’s one where the orchestra often steals the show.The Game Awards, which takes place later, and is a celebration of the year’s best titles.Music and sound is a central experience to any game, so it makes sense that it also features heavily during the so-called “Oscars of gaming”. And the man in charge of making it happen is musical director and conductor Lorne Balfe.He trained under legendary movie composer Hans Zimmer, and has worked on blockbuster films including Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible.But it was his gaming music – from the Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed franchises – that caught the eyes and ears of Game Awards organiser Geoff Keighley.Lorne says his comfort zone is “hiding in the studio 23 hours of the day”, but he agreed to do the show.The main event of the night is a medley incorporating all the theme tunes from the six Game of the Year nominees.Image source, Getty ImagesAnd this year, Lorne has to weave Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Baldur’s Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Wonder into one coherent piece.That’s two horror games, two epic RPGs, a superhero blockbuster and the world’s favourite plumber.Is that a challenge when the nominations are revealed just a few weeks before the show?”It’s blooming difficult, is the answer,” Lorne tells BBC Newsbeat.”You’re constantly trying to make sure that it’s just a flowing piece and that the audience are going to sit and just really feel that this year has been summed up.”I just try to think ‘what would I like to actually listen to if I was the audience, and how would I like to see it?'”Image source, Getty ImagesObviously, Lorne doesn’t get much choice over the material he gets to work with, but confesses he keeps an eye on what’s doing well with game critics.”I’m always very conscious of what’s being liked,” he says.”So you kind of start feeling happy… and then there’s always a kind of a shock, a curveball where you kind of think: ‘Well… I didn’t know that was gonna make it,'” he says.”And then you get it and you’re just left scratching your head.”But most fans would agree Lorne manages to pull it off, and the medley is often one of the highlights of the night.Why the 2023 Game Awards will be differentThe Game Awards’ organiser Geoff Keighley, who’s led the event for nine years, describes it as a “celebration” of gaming.And with this year having so many critically acclaimed titles, there’s certainly a lot to be happy about.But the games industry’s also been hit by a huge number of layoffs – and people have been asking whether the show will address this.Like many awards shows, there has also been chat about whether the ceremony will acknowledge world events like the Israel-Gaza war.The Game Awards, and its sister event Summer Game Fest, have also been criticised for being too commercial and a lack of females on-stage.BBC Newsbeat sent questions about these and other issues to the organisers – but didn’t receive answers to all of them.However, Geoff’s co-producer Kimmie Kim, told Newsbeat: “Our focus was always and still is to remain faithful to what we think makes good content for the viewer and participants on the show. “Also, as the gaming industry becomes more inclusive, we want to be more welcoming to those new to the industry.”And Geoff himself has said: “Every year we try to improve and refine our approach.”And last year, it made an unlikely star of musician Pedro Eustache, when his passionate woodwind solo went viral, earning him the nickname “Flute Guy”.”I’ve known him for about 15 years,” says Lorne.”And I think I call him the Flute Guy now, even in emails. “But he’s definitely coming back. And he will be having another solo again, and rightly so.”Music is his passion and his life. And when you see him performing, that is who he is. It’s just oozing out of him. So it was great after last year to see the amount of people falling in love with him.”‘When everybody can game, everyone wins’GTA trailer sparks soaring streams for 70s rockerAlan Wake and Baldur’s Gate lead Game Awards listLorne says that the prominence of the orchestra at the awards has helped to switch more people on to orchestral music, and in some cases even pick up an instrument themselves.”I think what game music is really doing is showing that it’s not the stuffy old-school classical world,” he says.”It’s a whole world that attracts different ages. And I think that that’s what the orchestra is doing. It’s getting a new audience and a younger audience into this sonic experience they normally wouldn’t have.”I think if you can’t get young people into it, then the concept of live music will just vanish one day – we have to keep making sure that audiences want to witness these things and listen to them.”The Game Awards takes place in Los Angeles from 00:30 GMT on Friday. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.More on this story’When everybody can game, everyone wins’Published12 hours agoGTA trailer sparks soaring streams for 70s rockerPublished20 hours agoAlan Wake and Baldur’s Gate lead Game Awards listPublished13 November

Published13 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Chris VallanceTechnology reporter, BBC NewsAll Facebook and Messenger chats will be encrypted automatically, parent company Meta has announced.Messages and calls protected by end-to-end-encryption (E2EE) can be read only by the sender and recipient. It has been possible to opt in to encrypted messages for years, but now it will become the default position. Critics, including UK police and government, have claimed the roll-out will make it harder to detect child sexual abuse on the platform.The protection meant nobody, including Meta, can see what is sent or said, “unless you choose to report a message to us”, Loredana Crisan, head of Messenger, wrote in a post announcing the change.The company had worked with outside experts, academics, advocates and governments to identify risks to “ensure that privacy and safety go hand-in-hand”, she wrote.It is expected that messages in Instagram, which is also owned by Meta, may get encryption by default sometime in the new year.Meta says that people will know when their chats are upgraded and become encrypted, because they will be prompted to set up a recovery method to be able to restore their messages if they lose, change or add a device.Apps including iMessage, Signal and WhatsApp all protect the privacy of messages with E2EE, but the tech has become a political battleground.The apps and their supporters argue the tech protects privacy and security, including that of children.But law enforcement, some children’s charities and the Home Office have opposed the expansion of E2EE.New powers in the recently passed Online Safety Act could enable Ofcom to force tech companies to scan for child abuse material in encrypted messages. Signal and WhatsApp have said they will refuse to comply with such requests.But despite those powers, there has been continued pressure on Meta to hold the expansion of E2EE.James Babbage, the director of general threats at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said in September that if Facebook introduced end-to-end encryption it would “massively reduce our collective ability” to protect children.And the-then home secretary, Suella Braverman, alleged that Facebook Messenger and Instagram direct messages were the platforms of choice for online paedophiles, telling the BBC that “we are arresting in this country about 800 perpetrators a month, we are safeguarding about 1,200 children a month from this evil crime”.But Meta argued that it had spent years developing robust safety measures to prevent, detect and combat abuse while maintaining online security.”When E2EE is default, we will also use a variety of tools, including artificial intelligence, subject to applicable law, to proactively detect accounts engaged in malicious patterns of behaviour instead of scanning private messages,” the company wrote.The firm also announced on Wednesday that it would add a number of new features, including the ability to edit messages for up to 15 minutes after they have been sent.It will also give users the ability to control if people who send messages receive “read receipts” telling them a message has been read. The changes will take some months to fully roll out, the company said.More on this storyBraverman and Facebook clash over private message plansPublished20 SeptemberThe battle over end-to-end encryptionPublished19 January 2022

Published44 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Rob DixBy MaryLou CostaBusiness reporterProperty expert Rob Dix is now available to answer any question, at any time of the day, from his tens of thousands of followers. It is all thanks to cloning himself.You might worry for one moment that there has recently been a huge medical breakthrough that somehow passed you by. But Mr Dix hasn’t actually now got a physical, flesh and bone, copy of himself.Instead he now has a digital clone on his website. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software it takes the form of a chatbot that can quickly answer questions as if it is him or his business partner Rob Bence typing their response.Mr Dix created the clone by feeding it content, such as his books, the Sunday Times column he writes with Rob, and their show The Property Podcast. They say they have also trained the AI to write in their tone of voice.”We answer questions from property investors in a weekly newspaper column and a phone-in show, but there are always far more questions than we can individually answer,” says UK-based Mr Dix. “Yet most of the answers are embedded somewhere in the thousands of pieces of free educational content we’ve put out over the last 10 years.”We’ve been able to organise all this information to coach people through their issues and find answers. As long as we train the AI with our words, our audience members get good responses to whatever they ask.”Image source, PropertyHubMr Dix and Mr Bence are now two of around 150 people who have created AI clones of themselves through a UK company called Coachvox AI. The firm’s other clients so far include chief executives, an astrologer, a nutritionist, a fitness coach, and even a marriage counsellor.It is a small but fast-growing sector, and other providers of AI-powered clones include fellow UK business Synthesia and US start-up Delphi. The idea is that users can free up their time, with their digital clone taking on some of their workload, be it talking to employees, or offering advice to clients.”Our AI clones bring useful, relevant guidance,” says Coachvox AI’s founder Jodie Cook.Delphi also provides users with a text-based chatbot, and asks them to upload as much material they have on things they have previously written or said, including YouTube videos, podcasts, books or newspaper articles.Using that material, Coachvox claims that a user’s clone can “reason on new situations, rather than just regurgitate old anecdotes”.Synthesia goes further by adding video and sound. It allows users to create a talking avatar that appears on screen. You set this up by filming your head and shoulders, and speaking into a microphone. Your avatar clone can then talk to clients, customers or staff members in more than 120 languages. The firm says the technology creates “a realistic digital version of yourself”.Read additional stories on artificial intelligenceUK business coach Rose Radford is another person who has created her own digital clone to make extra use of her time.”I spend a large number of hours per week answering questions from clients, so my first intention with an AI version of me was to allow my clients to have their questions answered instantly and any time of day, without needing my involvement,” she says.Image source, Rose RadfordThis all sounds good, but what are the downsides?”Making good content available for others who need it to advance in their career, or with their business, can provide a positive impact,” says Prof Florian Stahl, an economist and AI expert at the Mannheim Center of Data Science in Germany.”Yet, expectations regarding its quality must be appropriate. Business situations often grow so complex that not all relevant information can be provided in a chatbot prompt.”Dr Clare Walsh, director of education at the Institute of Analytics, a professional body for data science professionals, is even more cautious about AI clones.”Modern day technologies work with partial awareness of the world they operate in, and that can be incredibly dangerous,” she says. “Human experience is near infinite, and machines cannot be trusted to work with the many, many parameters out there.”Image source, Jodie CookMr Dix says he is careful to emphasise to users of his AI clone that they are dealing with technology rather than a real person. “I feel a lot of responsibility when talking about money, so I was concerned that the AI might say things as ‘me’ that sounded too black-and-white, when in reality everyone’s situation is different.”We’ve had people say that, if anything, the AI goes too far in providing caveats and saying that the user should research further – but it’s better that, than the other way around.”Additional reporting by Will Smale

Published47 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, ReutersBy Joe Tidy & Cecilia BarríaBBC NewsEl Salvador’s president is celebrating after a Bitcoin reserve he bought with public money has entered the black amid the continuing Bitcoin price rise.Since 2021, Nayib Bukele has spent more than $120m (£95m) of his impoverished nation’s money buying Bitcoin.”Issue retractions and offer apologies,” he urged his critics on X, formerly known as Twitter.But economists say it is too early to celebrate his high-risk bet at the centre of a drive for Bitcoin adoption.’Hit pieces’Mr Bukele stepped down as president this week to campaign for a controversial second term he is largely expected to win as his popularity in the central American country remains high.According to a website tracking his Bitcoin portfolio, the 2,764 coins he bought became worth more than he paid for them, on Tuesday afternoon. And if he sold them at the time of writing, he could make about $3.7m.The figures have been estimated solely from Mr Bukele X posts announcing each purchase. And the unknown creators of the website could not be reached for comment.Mr Bukele posted a picture of the website’s graph declaring his success, on Monday – but X users noticed a mistake in the maths and the milestone was actually reached 24 hours later.”El Salvador’s Bitcoin investments are in the black,” Mr Bukele posted.There had been “literally thousands of articles and hit pieces that ridiculed our supposed losses”, he said. “It is important that the naysayers and the authors of those hit pieces take back their statements.”Mr Bukele’s posts have mostly met with praise, as Bitcoin enthusiasts celebrate what they say is vindication of his foresight and the potential of digital currencies.’Intense red’At one stage, Mr Bukele’s bitcoins were worth half of what he paid for them. But in the past week, the price has risen to $44,000 a coin, which is being put down to potential changes in financial rules around cryptocurrency in the US.But some economists in El Salvador and elsewhere say the moment is not as significant as Mr Bukele would like.The $120m his government has spent on buying coins is only a portion of the public funds used to promote Bitcoin to Salvadoreans since the country became the first to make it legal tender in parity with the US dollar, the country’s primary money.”The government spent a lot of money on the development of the Chivo Wallet application, on the installation of ATMs, which mostly do not work, on a $30 bonus for all citizens over 18 years of age, on propaganda and international events,” Oscar Picardo, director of the Institute of Sciences at the Francisco Gavidia University, in San Salvador, El Salvador, says.”When you add up all the expenses, the result cannot be positive. The result is in red – and in intense red.”In June, a BBC documentary about Bitcoin take-up in El Salvador found most of the population were using the digital currency less than Mr Bukele and other Bitcoin enthusiasts wanted, despite heavy investment.Image source, ReutersIndependent Salvadorean economist Tatiana Marroquin says: “Bukele’s victorious tone about the increase in the price of Bitcoin, it is quite illusory. “It doesn’t offset the economic costs of the Bitcoin project.” About $200m of public money has been spent trying to persuade citizens to embrace the digital currency, Ms Marroquin says.”It’s a total failure,” she says. “Almost no-one in El Salvador uses Bitcoin – not even in tourism does it seem to be an attraction.”Lourdes Molina, senior economist at the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) think tank, agrees Bitcoin adoption, meant to cut the cost of transferring money abroad, has fallen in recent months, despite the rise in the value of the coins, as Salvadoreans rely on the stability of dollars in cash form.”In a context of extreme poverty and food insecurity that continue to increase, allocating public resources to this speculation has a social cost,” she says.”Those public funds could have been used to guarantee basic rights of the Salvadoran population, such as the right of access to food or a decent income.”Image source, ReutersEconomists have also discussed a lack of transparency. No public body tracks spending on Bitcoin or the status of Mr Bukele’s $100m reserves. “There is no official information other than President Bukele’s Tweets,” Frank Muci, policy fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s School of Public Policy, says. And providing a Bitcoin block-chain wallet address would “trivially prove that the government controls the bitcoin they claim to own at zero cost”.Even some Bitcoin enthusiasts are critical about the lack of information.”It’s very unfortunate that they aren’t disclosing their Bitcoin accounting in a formal way,” crypto investor Pledditor said on X.”Somehow, it’s more opaque than America’s gold in Fort Knox.” El Salvador accepts Bitcoin as legal tenderThousands moved to El Salvador mega-prisonMr Bukele’s office did not respond to requests for comment or information.The Bitcoin Standard author Dr Saifedean Ammous, reportedly appointed as economic adviser for Bitcoin to the Bukele government in May, did not respond to questions about the lack of transparency but said the Bitcoin reserve rising in value was a moment to celebrate. “It is significant that Bitcoin and El Salvador’s investment have recovered after two years under water, because politicians, economists and international organizations had repeatedly branded Bukele and his Bitcoin policy failures because the price had dropped,” he said. And the milestone showed Bitcoin offered a compelling alternative to national currencies and government bonds, which constantly declined in value.”It is also common to dismiss El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy based on short-term concern with adoption for consumer payments – but that misses the bigger picture,” Dr Ammous said.”Far more important than consumer payments is the role Bitcoin can play in economic independence and El Salvador’s treasury, where it offers a reserve asset that appreciates over time and has a large, and growing, global liquidity pool.”Mr Bukele has repeatedly criticised institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which warned him about the risks the cryptocurrency posed to El Salvador, stressing it would be difficult to get a loan from the institution.The IMF did not send a comment about the latest news.Mr Bukele acknowledged the price of Bitcoin would continue to fluctuate – but he has no plans to sell the reserve. More on this storyEl Salvador’s Bitcoin pet hospitalPublished15 June 2022

Published53 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Tom GerkenTechnology reporterSony has teamed up with accessibility experts to release a PlayStation 5 controller for disabled gamers.The Access Controller is a “highly customisable kit” of different buttons, triggers and sticks that lets players create a set-up that suits their needs.Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller, which can be used on Xbox and PC, has been on the market since 2018.But this is the first device of its type to be specifically designed by Sony for the PS5.”The idea is that you unbox it and you can start using it right away as a PlayStation controller,” Alvin Daniel, Senior Technical Program Manager at Sony Interactive Entertainment, told the BBC.”To the extent that this works for you and is comfortable for you, there is no need for you to purchase additional third party accessories and buttons and wire it all together. “We wanted an all-inclusive kit in a box.”But designing accessibility products is a massive task, as every disabled person’s impairment is unique to them, and gaming technology is always evolving.Sony’s plan to tackle this problem is through customisation – making it possible for each person to tailor the solution to their own individual requirements.Image source, Getty ImagesMr Daniel said the firm had teamed up with accessibility experts AbleGamers in the US to find ways round that problem.”When they came up with their own bespoke solutions for various players, they would inevitably try to address three issues – the thumbsticks, pressing buttons, or having to hold the controller.”If you have challenges in those three areas, this controller will help regardless of your underlying condition.”How it playsBy Paul Carter, Technology reporterAll aspects of the Access Controller have clearly been designed with the input of the disabled community.Even the packaging is accessible, and the setup process, while clunky at times, lets people adapt the controller to their own specific requirements, and even create different profiles for different games or situations. As a disabled gamer myself, I waited years for button remapping to become the norm so I was able to play games that rely heavily on the trigger buttons usually placed at the back of a traditional controller, and be able to map them to a more accessible button. But this was always a workaround rather than a solution. This controller makes that a more accessible reality. There are however one or two design decisions that are, at best, bewildering – for example, it doesn’t feature a right stick that is standard on all modern controllers and fairly essential to many genres of game. I tried to play Spider-Man 2 – which has a Deaf character – and it was practically unplayable. The only solutions are to use the Access Controller alongside a regular PS5 controller, which is an unwieldy set-up, or use two Access Controllers together – which becomes an expensive solution. That said, this product, and others like it, are a positive step forward for disabled gamers. That it exists, and that it has been co-designed with and for disabled people shows that gaming accessibility is now a mainstream issue. I hope that this is the start of an evolution of these types of products, and that manufacturers listen to feedback and continue to iterate and innovate.The gaming industry has been under pressure to make improvements for disabled players.In the last few years, racing sim Forza Horizon 5 introduced a sign language feature, the Last of Us Part II has a mode for blind and deaf players, and Just Dance has a routine suitable for players in wheelchairs.But the hardware options have been slim for those with disabilities, and Mr Daniel said Sony’s new controller was about addressing that.”I think particularly if you’re a young person today, gaming is such a big part of popular culture, that you are socially isolated or you’re left behind if you can’t participate in the same experiences your friends or your schoolmates are doing”, he said.”We have seen that we bring joy to players who couldn’t play before.”More on this storyMaking video game Just Dance accessible for allPublished10 NovemberGrand Theft Auto 6 trailer revealed after leakPublished1 day ago

Published1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Shiona McCallum & Joe TidyBBC NewsHackers have been able to gain access to personal information from about 6.9 million users of genetic testing company 23andMe, using customers’ old passwords.In some cases this included family trees, birth years and geographic locations, the company said.After weeks of speculation the firm has put a number on the breach, with more than half of its customers affected.The stolen data does not include DNA records.23andMe is a giant of the growing ancestor-tracing industry. It offers genetic testing from DNA, with ancestry breakdown and personalised health insights.The biotechnology company, which is based in South San Francisco, was not hacked itself but cyber-criminals logged into about 14,000 individual accounts, or 0.1% of customers, by using email and password details previously exposed in other hacks.The company said that by accessing those accounts, hackers were able to access “a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry”.The criminals downloaded not just the data from those accounts but the private information of all other users they had links to across the sprawling family trees on the website.The stolen data includes information like names, how each person is linked and in some cases birth years, locations, pictures, addresses and the percentage of DNA shared with relatives.As first reported by TechCrunch, the hackers were able to access the family tree profile information of about 1.4 million other customers participating in the DNA relatives feature, including display names and relationship labels. One batch of data was advertised on a hacking forum as a list of people with Jewish ancestry, sparking concerns of targeted attacks.But there is currently no evidence that any of the datasets being advertised have had any buyers or that they have been used by criminals.Oz Alashe, CEO of CybSafe, a risk management platform, said that the data breach at 23andMe “emphasises the importance of improving cyber-security behaviours in the general population”.”Poorly secured accounts, with weak passwords and no two-factor authentication, put all those sharing their sensitive data at risk,” he said. 23andMe said it was now telling all affected customers, as required by law. The firm will be forcing customers to change their passwords and improve their account security.More on this storyHackers claim not to have BBC, Boots and BA dataPublished20 JuneHow safe is my data after a hack or leak?Published9 AugustBritish Library’s hacked customer data on dark webPublished27 November

Published49 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy James ClaytonNorth America technology reporterElon Musk’s profane attack on advertisers boycotting X, formally known as Twitter, has baffled experts. If advertisers keep leaving and don’t come back, can X survive?In April, I sat down with Musk for the first of his many chaotic interviews about his acquisition of X. He said something that, in hindsight, was rather revealing, but which passed me by at the time. Talking about advertising, he said: “If Disney feels comfortable advertising children’s movies [on Twitter], and Apple feels comfortable advertising iPhones, those are good indicators that Twitter is a good place to advertise.”Seven months later, Disney and Apple are no longer advertising on X – and Musk is telling companies that have left to “Go [expletive] yourself.”In a fiery interview on Wednesday he also used the “b” word – bankruptcy, in a sign of just how much the ad boycott is damaging the company’s bottom line.For a company he bought for $44bn (£35bn) last year, bankruptcy might sound unthinkable. But it is possible. To understand why, you have to look at how reliant X is on advertising revenue – and why advertisers are not coming back. Although we don’t have the latest figures, last year around 90% of X’s revenue was from advertising. It is the heart of the business.On Wednesday Musk more than hinted at this. “If the company fails… it will fail because of an advertiser boycott. And that will be what bankrupts the company.” he said. Image source, Getty ImagesMark Gay, chief client officer at marketing consultancy at Ebiquity, which works with hundreds of companies, says there is no sign anyone is returning.”The money has come out and nobody is putting a strategy in place for reinvesting there,” he says.To make matters worse, on Friday retail giant Walmart announced it was no longer advertising on X.After Musk had told advertisers who quit X where to go in Wednesday’s interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit, he said something that made advertisers wince even harder.”Hi Bob”, he said – a reference to the chief executive of Disney, Bob Iger. When Musk puts chief executives “in his crosshairs” like this they will be even more reticent to be involved with X, says Lou Paskalis, of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory.Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, adds: “It doesn’t take a social media expert to understand and to know that publicly and personally attacking advertisers and companies that pay X’s bills is not going to be good for business.”So could X really go bankrupt? If advertisers are gone for good, what does Musk have?When I interviewed him in April, it was clear he understood that subscriptions on X were not going to replace advertising money.”If you have a million people that are subscribed for, let’s say, $100 a year-ish, that’s $100m. That’s a fairly small revenue stream relative to advertising,” he told me.In 2022, Twitter’s advertising revenue was around $4bn. Insider Intelligence estimates this year it will drop to $1.9bn. Elon Musk launches profane attack on X advertisersElon Musk visits Israel after antisemitism rowThe company has two major outlays. The first is its staffing bill. Musk has cut X to the bone already, laying off thousands. The second is servicing the loans Musk took out to buy Twitter, totalling about $13bn. Reuters has reported that the company now has to pay $1.2bn or so in interest payments every year. If the company cannot service the interest on its loans or afford to pay staff then, yes, X really could go bankrupt. But that would be an extreme scenario that Musk would surely want to avoid. Image source, ReutersHe has options. By far the simplest thing for Musk would be to put more of his money in – but it sounds like he doesn’t want to do that. Musk could try to renegotiate with the banks for less onerous interest payments. He could ask, for example, for “payment in kind” interest – where payments are delayed. But if renegotiation does not work and the banks don’t get their money, then bankruptcy could be the only option, and at that point the banks could try to push for a change in management. “It would be very messy and complex,” says Jared Ellias, a professor of law at Harvard Law School. “And it would be extremely challenging. It would create a lot of news because he would constantly get deposed and have to testify in court.”It could be terrible for Musk’s business reputation, and would also impact how Musk could borrow money in the future. And in a bankruptcy scenario, would X simply stop working? “I find that to be very hard to believe,” says Ellias. “If that happened, it’d be because Elon decided to pull the rug out. But even then, if he were to do that, the creditors would have the option of pushing the company into bankruptcy, getting a trustee appointed and turning the lights back on,” he says.What next for Musk?The obvious solution to all these problems for X is to simply find another revenue stream – and fast. Musk is certainly trying.He has launched a new audio and video calls service. Last month he streamed himself playing video games – he hopes X can compete with apps like Twitch.He wants X to become the “everything app”, covering everything from chat to online payments.According to the New York Times, which got hold of the pitch deck Musk was giving to investors last year, X was supposed to bring in $15m from a payments business in 2023, growing to about $1.3bn by 2028. X is also sitting on a huge treasure trove of data, and its vast archive of conversations can be used to train chatbots. Musk believes this data is vastly valuable. So X does have potential.But in the short term, none of these options plug the hole advertisers have left. It’s why Musk’s profane outburst was so baffling to many. “I don’t have any theories that make sense,” Paskalis says. “There is a revenue model in his head that eludes me.”This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.More on this storyElon Musk launches profane attack on X advertisersPublished2 days agoWhat is WeChat and why does Elon Musk want to copy it?Published29 JulyElon Musk visits Israel after antisemitism rowPublished5 days agoX sues pressure group over antisemitism claimsPublished21 NovemberX ad boycott gathers pace amid antisemitism stormPublished18 November