UK consumer group Which? finds some everyday items including watches and speakers are ‘stuffed with trackers’ Air fryers that gather your personal data and audio speakers “stuffed with trackers” are among examples of smart devices engaged in “excessive” surveillance, according to the consumer group Which? The organisation tested three air fryers, increasingly a staple of British kitchens, each of which requested permission to record audio on the user’s phone through a connected app. Continue reading...

With no intensive care available in remote areas, many patients died on their way to city hospitals. Now rural medics are using tele-ICU systems to save lives • Photographs by Elke Scholiers for the Guardian Whenever an ambulance arrived with a critically ill patient, Dr R Mubarak’s heart would sink. His small country hospital in Bagepalli, like most rural government hospitals in India, had no intensive-care unit. Families had to take the patient, who was perhaps on the brink of death, on a two-hour drive to the general hospital in Bengaluru. “Often the patient came back in the same ambulance, dead. They never made it,” says Mubarak. “I knew I could be signing their death warrant by sending them but I had no choice.” Continue reading...

When I got a confirmation email addressed to the wrong name. I suspected an error and cancelled. Then £500 was taken from my account Eight months ago, I booked an Airbnb on my new iPhone. The confirmation congratulated someone called Rachel on the booking. I realised Airbnb tech had somehow logged me in to a stranger’s account using my new work phone number and my Face ID. Airbnb later told me the phone number had been recycled and was previously owned by “Rachel”. No payment had been taken and I immediately cancelled the reservation and booked a different property. Continue reading...

Most European users won’t be getting integrated AI on Apple devices, so are the updates offered by Apple just window dressings? • Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here Trying to figure out what to focus on for the first post-Alex Hern TechScape was tricky. (If you missed it last week, you can and should revisit his valedictory newsletter after 11 years at The Guardian). Why? Well, everything is happening all the time now – so there are any number of topics to dive into. We could talk about the likelihood of Elon Musk running Donald Trump’s“government efficiency commission” if he is re-elected as US president. But that would involve doing another newsletter on Musk, and you may be as tired as Alex was of that. The likelihood of the latter is still a flip of the coin; the likelihood Musk would stop running his multi-trillion-dollar companies for a low-paying government job, less so. Continue reading...

Taking the plunge and giving your child a handset? Here’s all you need to know – from the best models to the tariffs and networks (and how to use parental controls) As the schools go back, pressure mounts on parents to give their children their first phone. If you’ve decided the time has come, there are many options to choose from, whether it’s a smartphone, a basic handset, or an upgrade to something newer. From the handset to the mobile service that goes with it, and from key parental controls to how well the phone fits with the devices you already use, here are some of the things you should know before taking the plunge – including which models are the best. Continue reading...

Using the reissued 3210 model left our reporter very frustrated – but less mobile-obsessed and in awe of its battery life After about 10 minutes of furious tapping on the tiny buttons to write a still unfinished text the anger I’m feeling towards the “retro” Nokia 3210 I’m toiling over is mounting. It is one of a new wave of “detox” or “dumb” phones aimed at techno-stressed individuals who want to escape the thrall of apps and notifications but, in this moment, I really want to smash it. Continue reading...

The most ethical, sustainable and repairable handset gets a big upgrade with even longer support The Dutch smartphone company Fairphone has achieved something remarkable – a handset that could last a decade. The ethical pioneer, which leads the way in repairable devices, has just released the Fairphone 5. It is a thinner, lighter and more refined device compared with its predecessors and one that makes leaps and bounds in terms of longevity, repairability and quality. Screen: 6.46in QHD+ OLED (460ppi) Processor: Qualcomm QCM6490 RAM: 8GB Storage: 256GB + microSD card slot Operating system: Fairphone OS based on Android 13 Camera: dual 50MP rear, 50MP selfie camera Connectivity: 5G, esim + nanosim, wifi6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GPS Water resistance: IP55 (spray/splash) Dimensions: 161.6 x 75.83 x 9.6mm Weight: 212g Continue reading...