The Guardian

Ultrarich face backlash as billionaire tax in California makes it to the ballot and Americans organize for higher wages The day that Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire , Gilberto Rubio, a security officer in the San Francisco area, said he was thinking about how to cut back on meals to save money. Jessica Ordeñana, a bartender in midtown Manhattan, was worrying about air conditioning…

Company says it cannot shield customers from memory and storage chip costs – and iPhone hikes could be next Apple raised iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, saying it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs driven by the AI industry’s data center buildout. The move does not affect Apple’s cash cow, the iPhone. But it would take the starting price of the ⁠Neo, …

Former employee files complaint accusing company of ‘coercive surveillance’ and first amendment violation The Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams is suing the tech company over its efforts to “silence” her. A 57-page complaint filed to a US district court in California on Thursday argues that an interim arbitration ruling sought by Meta preventing Wynn-Williams from publicising her memoir, Car…

Julie Elie worked out how zebra finches announce who they are, what they are doing and use individual signatures A scientist who decoded the dictionary that a bird uses to communicate has won a $100,000 prize for making progress towards a world in which humans can talk to the animals – without being met with a blank response. Dr Julie Elie at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded th…

The company has just a few hundred satellites in low Earth orbit but has state backing and is already reportedly negotiating with dozens of countries Elon Musk’s Starlink has long dominated the satellite internet industry, but a Chinese government-backed project is aiming to challenge its position. SpaceSail has just a few hundred satellites in low Earth orbit compared with Starlink’s 10,000-plus…

‘It’s all just rendered useless’, Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey says as AI scrapes millions of songs to learn how to make music Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Paul Dempsey and Bernard Fanning are among big-name Australian musicians upset that their original songs have been found in datasets used to train arti…

LSE analysis highlights litigation linked to energy sources, water consumption and air pollution The proliferation of datacentres and AI is increasingly at the forefront of environmental litigation around the world, from the US and UK to Chile to Ireland, a report has found. In an analysis of about 3,600 climate-related lawsuits filed since 2015, the latest annual review of climate litigation by …

Content creation and online safety among new topics for 14- to 18-year-olds – but tweaks may be needed when social media ban comes in Scouts are introducing badges in content creation, digital communication and online safety after consulting nearly 3,000 teenagers who said they wanted skills to help them navigate a world increasingly shaped by AI, social media and digital technology. The new Expl…

A guide to the steep Prime Day deals on Apple’s top-rated smartwatch and how to choose the right model for you The best Prime Day deals in the US on things our editors actually tested and love Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things The Apple Watch has been around for a decade, so it’s safe to say you’ve already heard the evangelism from fawning owne…

Anker 511 Nano 3 is the kind of charger you’ll want a few of, and for $12.34, you can afford to stock up during Prime Day The 40+ best Prime Day deals – and 20+ best deals from Amazon competitors This clever router fixed my spotty home wifi – and it’s currently on sale A beefy USB charger with half a dozen ports can be great for charging your laptop, phone and even USB bike light all at once, but…

The blockbuster launch is expected to dwarf the box office takings of the year’s biggest movies with one industry analyst predicting it could make $1bn within an hour It is, quite simply, the most anticipated piece of entertainment since the Star Wars prequels and now, at last, you can reserve a copy. At midnight last night, Rockstar opened preorders on Grand Theft Auto VI, the latest title in th…

Not every Prime Day deal is worth your money. We vetted sales from Samsung, Our Place, Stasher, Cozy Earth, Levoit and more – here are our best picks The best anti-Prime Day deals for Amazon skeptics Prime Day is the wild west of online shopping. For every genuinely great deal, there are about seven duds dressed up in “best of” graphics. To prevent you from wasting your money (or time), our edito…

Mayor’s office grants extra 12 months to run pilot while London force procures long-term supplier The Metropolitan police have been granted a 12-month extension to a pilot project with the spy-tech firm Palantir while the force carries out a procurement process. The development comes weeks after the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, blocked a £50m deal between the Met and the US company to automate in…

Driver told authorities he had driver-assistance technology engaged before crash that killed 76-year-old Martha Avila The US government has opened a second federal investigation into a recent crash of a Tesla that reportedly had driver-assistance technology engaged, struck a Texas home and killed a resident. Meanwhile, the family of Martha Avila, the 76-year-old resident who was killed, has sued …

Falling shares push tech mogul back down to billionaire ranks after SpaceX IPO made him world’s first trillionaire Elon Musk was no longer a trillionaire by the time markets closed on Wednesday. Plunging shares in Tesla and SpaceX dragged the tech magnate down to billionaire status. As of 4pm ET, Forbes listed Musk’s net worth as $970.2bn. Musk reached trillionaire status on 12 June after SpaceX’…