Tech

A novelty golf-ball finder that conned the military: best podcasts of the week

This unbelievable, Alice Levine-narrated true story sees governments fooled by a fake bomb detector. Plus, Peter Bradshaw’s darkly comic thriller about a charming nurse

Ed Zitron on big tech, backlash, boom and bust: ‘AI has taught us that people are excited to replace human beings’

His blunt, brash scepticism has made the podcaster and writer something of a cult figure. But as concern over large language models builds, he’s no longer the outsider he once was

What the U.S.-Taiwan deal means for the island's 'silicon shield'

The U.S.-Taiwan deal aimed at expanding chip production capacity in the U.S. may not fully wean Washington off the island's most advanced semiconductors.

Roger Allers, Disney film-maker and co-director of The Lion King, dies aged 76

With Rob Minkoff, Allers directed 1994’s The Lion King, which remains the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time

Scott Adams, Pascal’s Wager, and Hacking Eternity

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SNL Aces the Heated Rivalry Meme

The show’s Harry Potter spoof was the ultimate mash-up for a fan culture that can’t let go.

A paper dragon and a cold marathon

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage

AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots

Chinese EV giant BYD is a buy

After beating Tesla in the number of electric vehicles sold, BYD has another big business that investors have yet to fully appreciate, according to Bernstein.

How can we defend ourselves from the new plague of ‘human fracking’?

Big tech treats our attention like a resource to be mercilessly extracted. The fightback begins here

Sweet thing: a personal look at a photographer’s Cuban slavery heritage

From the remnants of my great-grandparents’ Cuban home near the sugar plantation that is part of Unesco’s Slave Route programme – where they were once enslaved - to personal artefacts, each piece reconstructs an uncertain past

Nasa moon rocket creeps to its launchpad in preparation for astronaut flight

First journey around moon with astronauts in more than 50 years could blast off in February