Go go gadget plaything | Saptarshi Ray
Once we found fun things to do with computers sold as serious machines. Now gadgets are marketed as nothing but toys As a boy I managed, after much persistence, to persuade my parents to buy me a Sinclair Spectrum 48K+ (the one with the black, concave keys). To do this I had to convince them it was not merely a machine on which to play games but an important tool that would teach me computer programming and aid my schoolwork.
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Go go gadget plaything | Saptarshi Ray
Naoko Mori: ‘I’m a gadget freak’ | Celebrity squares
Actor Naoko Mori loves all things Apple – except for the iPhone What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? There's a lot. I'm Japanese, I'm a gadget freak – I like anything with buttons. I want to say my computer, but if I had to choose one, I'd say my mobile phone. This is almost sacrilegious, because I'm a complete Macophile, but I actually still have a BlackBerry – I just prefer the buttons. I'm still on the fence with the iPhone because of the buttons and the texting. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Eight minutes ago, checking emails. What additional features would you add if you could? I travel so much – I'm in the US a lot, and in Japan – that I currently have three phones.
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Naoko Mori: 'I'm a gadget freak' | Celebrity squares
The anti-web movement is gathering pace
It's created billions in sales, gave media companies their first taste of the internet, encouraged self-expression where there was oppression and caused an explosion in publisher plurality.
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The anti-web movement is gathering pace
Tech Weekly podcast: iPhone 4, Like-jacking and searching with Wolfram Alpha
Aleks Krotoski and Charles Arthur welcome Tom Watson MP in this week's lively Tech Weekly discussion about open data, the newest iPhone announcement from Apple, and the most recent problems plaguing social network Facebook. Watson, who was instrumental in helping the previous Labour government understand the value of opening up its public records, shares his view on the reasons why openness should be valued – and what he had to do to convince his political colleagues. Charles Arthur speaks with Wolfram Alpha creator Conrad Wolfram about one of the potential applications of the government data, and how more like this should be released for the benefit of his service – and of mankind. Charles also reveals the specs of the newest handset in the Apple iPhone lineup, announced on Monday. But how did the leak of a prototype affect the launch? The team also discusses Steve Jobs' visions of the future, and how similar they are to Microsoft. Finally, we hear how to avoid being "likejacked", or scammed by hackers who've taken hold of a new Facebook feature that allows you to share where on the web you've been with your social network friends. Don't forget to ... • Comment below • Mail us at tech@guardian.co.uk • Get our Twitter feed for programme updates • Join our Facebook group • See our pics on Flickr /Post your tech pics Aleks Krotoski Charles Arthur Scott Cawley
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Tech Weekly podcast: iPhone 4, Like-jacking and searching with Wolfram Alpha
Video: Stephen Fry collects his iPad and gives his verdict
Author and broadcaster Stephen Fry was among the crowds waiting to get an iPad from the Apple store on launch day. He gives his verdict on Steve Jobs's latest innovation
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Video: Stephen Fry collects his iPad and gives his verdict
Brett Ratner: ‘The iPhone is a toy’ | Celebrity squares
Film director Brett Ratner believes the BlackBerry is vasty superior to Apple's popular device What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? I have to say there's a new gadget that's called a Dash [Personal Internet Viewer] – it's made by Sony, and it's kind of interesting because it's by your bed … basically it's like a futuristic clock radio. I can have everything from TMX to Twitter to Facebook right next to my bed, so I can wake up to my favourite music video. It's the coolest thing ever. I can see this thing being by my bed for the next 20 years. This has everything right at your fingertips. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Every morning when I wake up – I wake up differently every morning. I'm constantly being visually stimulated. What additional features would you add if you could? It's not a phone, so I would probably add that into it. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? All technology will be obsolete in 10 years – it keeps changing and evolving, and makes life exciting. What always frustrates you about technology in general? How fast it's changing – how I buy a new computer from Apple and in six months it's old
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Brett Ratner: 'The iPhone is a toy' | Celebrity squares
Facebook ’sexiest video’ malware spreading virally, warn experts
Fake video installs adware – while Microsoft compares its Internet Explorer 6 to 'nine-year-old milk' and urges upgrade If you get a posting on your Facebook wall telling you "this is without doubt the sexiest video ever! 
:P :P" which seems to be accompanied by a video titled "Candid Camera Prank [HQ]" then don't click on the video: it's a lead-in to malware. Clicking the link will take you to what seems like a Facebook application which then tells you that your video player is out of date – and encourages you to download a file. If you do, then the same "video" plus link gets posted using your avatar to al your friends on Facebook -– meaning it is spreading virally. It's not clear at present whether Facebook has acted to halt it. You should, however, expect that it will mutate in the coming hours/days (depending on how determined the virus writer is), so it might not be exactly that message or video frame. The key element in the attack is that it tells you to download a file. At Sophos, Graham Cluley notes that: "Judging by the number of messages posted on Facebook, thousands of people received this attack. If you were one of them, you should scan your computer with an up-to-date anti-virus, change your passwords, review your Facebook application settings, and learn not to be so quick as to fall for a simple social engineering trick like this in future." The file seems to install a piece of adware called Hotbar , which thus generates revenue for the malware writer. (About Hotbar: "displays a dynamic toolbar and targeted pop-up ads based on its monitoring of Web-browsing activity. The toolbar appears in Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer. The toolbar contains buttons that can change depending on the current Web page and keywords on the page. Clicking a button on the toolbar may open an advertiser Web site or paid search site. Hotbar also installs graphical skins for Internet Explorer, Outlook, and Outlook Express
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Facebook 'sexiest video' malware spreading virally, warn experts
How Apple could bite the free press | Dan Kennedy
Apple is hailed by many as saviour of the news industry, but its iPad and iPhone aren't entirely compatible with an open society What started out as a narrow dispute between Apple and software developers has turned into a raging controversy over free speech. The case of Mark Fiore , an editorial cartoonist who was banned from Apple's iTunes Store, illustrates a heretofore unappreciated connection between open systems and an open society. And it raises serious questions about Apple's supposed role as a saviour of the faltering news business. Our story begins on 12 April, when Fiore won a Pulitzer prize for his animated political cartoons at SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle's website. A few days later Fiore, a freelancer, revealed to Laura McGann of the Nieman Journalism Lab that Apple had rejected an app he submitted the previous December for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The rejection meant that he had been effectively banned from Apple's latest toy, the iPad, as well. Apple had informed Fiore that his app violated the iTunes Store policy against content that "ridicules public figures", notwithstanding the fact that ridiculing public figures is pretty much the primary mission of any political cartoonist. Although Apple had previously attracted notice for rejecting apps, especially those with a sexual theme, the Fiore matter represented an escalation. Within a day, Apple had contacted Fiore and asked him to resubmit his app. "I feel kind of guilty," Fiore told the Wall Street Journal . "I'm getting preferential treatment because I got the Pulitzer." The trouble, as Fiore noted, is that Apple rectified its mistake while maintaining the right to ban any content it doesn't like from its new generation of closed-system devices. (Apple's signature computer, the Macintosh, is unaffected.) And there is a direct relationship between the battles Apple and its chairman, Steve Jobs, are waging against software developers and Apple's dispute with pornographers and other purveyors of content it doesn't like. The best-known example of the former involves Adobe, whose Flash animation software has been excluded from the iPhone, iPod and iPad. According to Apple, Flash hogs resources and makes its devices unstable – an assessment shared by many computer experts. Still, you'd think Apple might let its users decide whether or not to install Flash.
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How Apple could bite the free press | Dan Kennedy
Liz Bonnin: ‘I’m still a nerd, just a different type of a nerd’
The master's degree-wielding BBC presenter Liz Bonnin is so nerdy that she prefers a PC to a Mac What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? I don't use that many, but I do love my iPod – and I have the old school 20GB version, with the wheel. It works beautifully. I have everything on it, and I just think it's my favourite piece of kit. It's just a genius invention. When was the last time you used it, and what for? It was actually yesterday – I downloaded the Il Postino soundtrack because a friend of mine was telling me about the Chilean poet it was based on. I bought Rhianna's Rude Boy as well – just the single, not the album – on iTunes. What additional features would you add if you could? I think if this one ever does break down, I will get the updated version that you can get video on as well. But I'm the kind of person who doesn't get carried away with one piece of kit that does everything. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? No, I can't imagine how you can beat something like this for having your whole music collection on
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Liz Bonnin: 'I'm still a nerd, just a different type of a nerd'
Oren Peli: ‘I’m not a nerd or a luddite, I’m a geek really’
The writer and director of Paranormal Activity admits he's a sucker for the latest bit of gadgetry What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? I would say it's probably my new phone, the Palm Pre. I use it for everything – email, browsing the web, applications, listening to music. I just use it non-stop. It's the one thing I use more than anything else except for my PC. When was the last time you used it, and what for? I'm using it right now! What additional features would you add if you could? I'm pretty much sure it does everything I need at the moment… maybe better support for global travel? Because I think it's limited in the number of countries that it can work in. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Yeah, I think most technology will be obsolete in 10 years and will be replaced by something better. What always frustrates you about technology in general
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Oren Peli: 'I'm not a nerd or a luddite, I'm a geek really'