When human solvers battle artificial intelligence, who is able to think more cryptically, faster? And are some devious clues just too tough for software? The Times hosts an annual crossword-solving competition and it remains, until such time as the Guardian has its own version, the gold standard. This year’s competitors included a dog. Rather, an AI represented as a jolly coffee-drinking dog named Ross (a name hidden in “crossword”), and who is embedded on the Crossword Genius smartphone app. 1ac MP ousted by Liberal, absolutely without authority (9) 13d Radical overhaul of motorsport’s image (9) Continue reading...

Online services that promise to find people romantic matches have been likened to gambling products designed to keep customers hooked “Designed to be deleted” is the tagline of one of the UK’s most popular dating apps. Hinge promises that it is “the dating app for people who want to get off dating apps” – the place to find lasting love. But critics say modern dating is in crisis. They claim that dating apps, which have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times worldwide, are “exploitative” and are designed not to be deleted but to be addictive, to retain users in order to create revenue. Continue reading...

Vast datacentres are being built worldwide, amid growing concerns about the environmental costs. So should we all be considering a data diet – if not complete digital sobriety? Nearly 20 years ago, the British mathematician Clive Humby coined a snappy phrase that has turned into a platitude: “data is the new oil”. He wasn’t wrong. We have an insatiable appetite for data, we can’t stop generating it, and, just like oil, it’s turning out to be bad news for the environment. So the Guardian set me a challenge: to try to give a sense of how much data an average person uses in a day, and what the carbon footprint of normal online activity might be. To do that, I tried to tot up the sorts of things I and millions of others do every day, and how that tracks back through the melange of messaging services, social networks, applications and tools, to the datacentres that keep our digital lives going. Continue reading...

A French newspaper has revealed the whereabouts of world leaders with the use of the hugely popular running app. So is it time to stop it tracking your location? Name: Strava Age: Founded by former Harvard rowers Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey in 2009. Continue reading...

The platform’s billionaire owner has seen its value plunge as advertisers run shy, revenues drop and user numbers fall Two years ago, there was some trepidation among advertisers, anti-hate-speech groups and staff about Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Those concerns have been borne out: advertisers have sharply reduced spending on the platform, Musk has sued nonprofits over their coverage of a rise in controversial content and about eight out of 10 employees have been sacked. Continue reading...

Plus: art on Samsung TVs, babies’ faces online, and the iPhone 16 Pro reviewed • Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, technology news editor at the Guardian US. Thank you for joining me. Continue reading...

Platform run from industrial estate in Cumbria and catering to alternative relationships has expanded globally A dating app aimed at alternative relationships nearly doubled its revenues last year as non-monogamous, queer and kinky users helped the UK-based business expand its reach across the world. Feeld, founded by an entrepreneur couple in an open relationship, has said it is “on a mission to elevate the human experience of sexuality and relationships” from its registered office on an industrial estate in Carlisle, Cumbria. Continue reading...

Millions are rejecting the culture-war hotspots of the major social media sites in favour of apps dedicated to activities they enjoy, while bonding with their fellow users Singletons looking to shack up with their soulmates online have relied on two key routes in the past decade or so: take your chance on dating apps, or befriend as many mutuals as possible on social media, in the hope that you find the one. But some have found a third way, using services such as Goodreads and Strava to meet partners with whom they hope to spend the rest of their lives. Those couples proved to be trendsetters. So-called hobby apps – built around activites such as running, reading or movie-going – are having a moment, and not just for love. Continue reading...

Personalised videos from celebrities such as Elijah Wood were a lockdown hit for a firm once valued at £1bn. Now A-listers have deserted it – though there’s always Nigel Farage It started, as many things do, with drama in the WhatsApp group. It was 2021, and a loose coalition of my friends and acquaintances was passing the on-again, off-again lockdowns by playing a spectacularly vicious online game called Subterfuge, in which treachery and betrayal are all part of how to play. Only, this time, people had gone too far and someone had been upset badly enough that they had quit the group. To win him back, my friends came up with a dubious plan – they would have Nigel Farage, of all people, record an ironic apology video urging their departed comrade to rejoin the group. Continue reading...

From long-range forecasts to ‘real feel’ temperatures, a good app can prepare you for the best and worst of weather * I find them quite magical’: the UK’s obsession with weather apps A weather app was a leading feature of the first iPhone in 2007 and enthusiasm for them has not dampened since. While the sophistication of forecasting and range of choice may have grown exponentially, different apps often give wildly different predictions. Meteorological institutions record observations using a network of instruments and tend to share them freely, so most weather services start with roughly the same data. But differences arise in how each office analyses and models the data to produce a forecast, and the chaotic nature and complexity of the climate system means small changes can produce huge variation. Continue reading...