A new feature on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter allows users to see the location of other accounts. It has resulted in a firestorm of recriminations

When X rolled out a new feature revealing the locations of popular accounts, the company was acting to boost transparency and clamp down on disinformation. The result, however, has been a circular firing squad of recriminations, as users turn on each other enraged by the revelation that dozens of popular “America first� and pro-Trump accounts originated overseas.

The new feature was enabled over the weekend by X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, who called it the first step in “securing the integrity of the global town square.� Since then many high-engagement accounts that post incessantly about US politics have been “unmasked� by fellow users.

OpenAI responds to lawsuit claiming its chatbot encouraged California teenager to kill himself

The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse� of its system and was “not caused� by the chatbot.

The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine.

MEPs pass resolution to help parents tackle growing dangers of addictive internet platforms

Children under 16 should be banned from using social media unless their parents decide otherwise, the European parliament says.

MEPs passed a resolution on age restrictions on Wednesday by a large majority. Although not legally binding, it raises pressure for European legislation amid growing alarm about the mental health risks to children of unfettered internet access.

Kensington and Westminster councils investigating whether data has been compromised as Hammersmith and Fulham also reports hack

Three London councils have reported a cyber-attack, prompting the rollout of emergency plans and the involvement of the National Crime Agency (NCA) as they investigate whether any data has been compromised.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), and Westminster city council, which share some IT infrastructure, said a number of systems had been affected across both authorities, including phone lines. The councils shut down several computerised systems as a precaution to limit further possible damage.

US firm says plan to speed up product development and improve customer satisfaction would save $1bn a year

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Up to 6,000 jobs are to go at HP worldwide in the next three years as the US computer and printer maker increasingly adopts AI to speed up product development.

Announcing a lower-than-expected profit outlook for the coming year, HP said it would cut between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs by the end of October 2028. It has about 56,000 employees.

Trades, machine operations and administrative roles are most at-risk, says leading educational research charity

Up to 3m low-skilled jobs could disappear in the UK by 2035 because of automation and AI, according to a report by a leading educational research charity.

The jobs most at risk are those in occupations such as trades, machine operations and administrative roles, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) said.

EU and US unshackle regulations in quest for growth, and is the AI bubble about to burst? Not yet, says Nvidia

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you from an American grocery store, where I’m planning my Thanksgiving pies.

In tech, the European Union is deregulating artificial intelligence; the United States is going even further. The AI bubble has not popped, thanks to Nvidia’s astronomical quarterly earnings, but fears persist. And Meta has avoided a breakup for a similar reason as Google.

The best early Black Friday deals in the UK on the products we love, from sunrise alarm clocks to heated airers

The 15 best tech gifts in the US, picked by a gadget reviewer who’s used hundreds

The 20+ best Black Friday and Cyber Monday tech deals in the US – so far

Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI

AI is changing the relationship between journalist and audience. There is much at stake | Margaret Simons

Snapchat to tell 440,000 Australians to prove they’re 16 or accounts will be locked in social media ban

Australia’s under-16s social media ban is weeks away. How will it work – and how can I appeal if I’m wrongly banned?

The sales you’ve been waiting for all year have arrived. Snag deals from Samsung, Amazon, Sony and more

• The 43 very best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, curated and vetted

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Black Friday started off as a way to score some great deals on gifts, but let’s be honest: it’s also a chance to pick up some nice, deeply discounted goodies for yourself. This is especially true in the world of tech, where high prices and personal taste mean it’s often just safest to buy what works for you rather than guessing on a gift. Don’t worry, we won’t judge.

But when you’re inundated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, it’s easy to get spun around by specs: is that really enough storage? Is the screen big enough? Will I regret not getting the newer version? That’s when you turn to the experts.

We’ve cut through the noise to find genuinely good Black Friday discounts on Filter tried-and-tested products across home, tech, beauty and toys

• How to shop smart this Black Friday
• The best Black Friday beauty deals

Like Christmas Day, Black Friday has long since ceased to be a mere “day�. Yuletide now seems to start roughly whezn Strictly does, and Black Friday seemed to kick off around Halloween. But now, at last, we’ve reached the day that puts the “Friday� into Black Friday.

Black Friday is a devil worth dancing with if you want to save money on products you’ve had your eye on. Some of the Filter’s favourite items spent most of November floating around at prices clearly designed to make them sell out fast. Other deals have been kept back until now, and some won’t even land until the daftly named Cyber Monday (1 December).

Tech is on its last legs? Refurbished can be the cheaper, greener option. Here’s how to choose well and avoid the pitfalls

• How to shop smart this Black Friday
• How to make your phone last longer

Even if you do your best to avoid it, it’s hard to escape the noise of retailers offering implausible-seeming Black Friday discounts on desirable technology. What they won’t be so keen to highlight is the huge environmental cost that comes from feeding the capitalist beast year on year, given what an obvious sales vibe-killer it would be.

While the best approach for the planet is to opt out completely and observe the alternate holiday of Buy Nothing Day instead, such an approach can prove self-defeating to your finances in the long term. If you shop smart on Black Friday and avoid the lure of impulse buys, it’s a good time to stock up on the things you need, at lower prices than at the rest of the year.

Our writer trialled the most powerful robot vacuums – some of which even mop your floors – and these are the ones he rates

• The best window vacs for clearing condensation: seven expert picks for streak-free shine

Robot vacuum cleaners take the drudge work out of cleaning your floors and carpets. No more tiresome weekly stints of vacuuming, and no more last-minute panic sessions when you have visitors on the way. Instead, your compact robot chum regularly trundles out from its dock, sucking up dust, hair and debris to leave your floors looking spick and span.

Over the past few years, robot vacuums have become much more affordable, with basic units starting at about £150. They’re also doing more than they used to, mopping areas of hard flooring and charging in sophisticated cleaning stations that empty their dust collectors and clean their mop pads for you.

Best robot vacuum cleaner overall:
Eufy X10 Pro Omni

Book-style Android with cutting-edge AI, good cameras and great tablet screen for media and multitasking on the go

Google’s third-generation folding phone promises to be more durable than all others as the first with full water and dust resistance while also packing lots of advanced AI and an adaptable set of cameras.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold builds on last year’s excellent 9 Pro Fold by doing away with gears in the hinge along its spine allowing it to deal with dust, which has been the achilles heel of all foldable phones until now, gumming up the works in a way that just isn’t a problem for regular slab phones.

Standard iPhone levels up to Pro models with big screen upgrade, double the storage and more top features than ever

It may not look as different as the redesigned Pro models this year or be as wafer thin as the new iPhone Air, but the iPhone 17 marks a big year for the standard Apple smartphone.

That’s because Apple has finally brought one of the best features of modern smartphones to its base-model flagship phone: a super-smooth 120Hz screen.

Screen: 6.3in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi)

Processor: Apple A19

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 256 or 512GB

Operating system: iOS 26

Camera: 48MP main + 48MP UW; 18MP front-facing

Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS

Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)

Dimensions: 149.6 x 71.5 x 7.95mm

Weight: 177g

Ultra-slim and light smartphone feels special, but cuts to camera and battery may be too hard to ignore for most

The iPhone Air is a technical and design marvel that asks: how much are you willing to give up for a lightweight and ultra-slender profile?

Beyond the obvious engineering effort that has gone into creating one of the slimmest phones ever made, the Air is a reductive exercise that boils down the iPhone into the absolute essentials in a premium body.

First new design in ages, upgraded camera, serious performance and longer battery life make it a standout year

The 17 Pro is Apple’s biggest redesign of the iPhone in years, chucking out the old titanium sides and all-glass backs for a new aluminium unibody design, a huge full-width camera lump on the back and some bolder colours.

That alone will make the iPhone 17 Pro popular for those looking to upgrade and be seen with the newest model. But with the change comes an increase in price to £1,099 (€1,299/$1,099/A$1,999), crossing the £1,000 barrier for the first time for Apple’s smallest Pro phone, which now comes with double the starting storage.

Cut-price watch offers most of what makes the Series 11 great, including an always-on screen, watchOS 26 and wrist-flick gesture

Apple’s entry level Watch SE has been updated with almost everything from its excellent mid-range Series 11 but costs about 40% less, making it the bargain of iPhone smartwatches.

The new Watch SE 3 costs from £219 (€269/$249/A$399), making it one of the cheapest brand-new fully fledged smartwatches available for the iPhone and undercutting the £369 Series 11 and the top-of-the-line £749 Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Camera-equipped sports shades have secure fit, open-ear speakers, mics and advanced Garmin and Strava integration

The Oakley Meta Vanguard are new displayless AI glasses designed for running, cycling and action sports with deep Garmin and Strava integration, which may make them the first smart glasses for sport that actually work.

They are a replacement for running glasses, open-ear headphones and a head-mounted action cam all in one, and are the latest product of Meta’s partnership with the sunglasses conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, the owner of Ray-Ban, Oakley and many other top brands.

Third-gen watch adds 5G, satellite SOS and messaging, a bigger screen and longer battery life in same rugged design

The biggest, baddest and boldest Apple Watch is back for its third generation, adding a bigger screen, longer battery life and satellite messaging for when lost in the wilderness.

The Ultra 3 is Apple’s answer to adventure watches such as Garmin’s Fenix 8 Pro while being a full smartwatch for the iPhone with all the trimmings. As such, it is not cheap, costing from £749 (€899/$799/A$1,399) – £50 less than 2023’s model – sitting above the £369-plus Series 11 and £219 Watch SE 3.

Top adventure watch upgraded with 4G calls, messages, live tracking, satellite texts and SOS for going off the grid

The latest update to Garmin’s class-leading Fenix adventure watch adds something that could save your life: phone-free communications and emergency messaging on 4G or via satellite.

The Fenix 8 Pro takes the already fantastic Fenix 8 and adds in the new cellular tech, plus the option of a cutting-edge microLED screen in a special edition of the watch. It is Garmin’s top model and designed to be the only tool you need to more-or-less go anywhere and track anything.

Two decades on, its influence still lingers, marking a moment when gaming felt thrillingly new again

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Almost 20 years ago (on 1 December 2005, to be precise), I was at my very first video game console launch party somewhere around London’s Leicester Square. The Xbox 360 arrived on 22 November 2005 in the US and 2 December in the UK, about three months after I got my first job as a junior staff writer on GamesTM magazine. My memories of the night are hazy because a) it was a worryingly long time ago and b) there was a free bar, but I do remember that DJ Yoda played to a tragically deserted dancefloor, and everything was very green. My memories of the console itself, however, and the games I played on it, are still as clear as an Xbox Crystal. It is up there with the greatest consoles ever.

In 2001, the first Xbox had muscled in on a scene dominated by Japanese consoles, upsetting the established order (it outsold Nintendo’s GameCube by a couple of million) and dragging console gaming into the online era with Xbox Live, an online multiplayer service that was leagues ahead of what the PlayStation 2 was doing. Nonetheless, the PS2 ended up selling over 150m to the original Xbox’s 25m. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, would sell over 80m, neck and neck with the PlayStation 3 for most of its eight-year life cycle (and well ahead in the US). It turned Xbox from an upstart into a market leader.

Nintendo Switch 2; Bandai Namco/Sora/HAL Laboratory/Nintendo
It takes some getting used to, but this Mario Kart challenger soon reveals a satisfyingly zen, minimalist approach to competitive racing

In the world of cartoonish racing games, it’s clear who is top dog. As Nintendo’s moustachioed plumber lords it up from his gilded go-kart, everyone from Crash Bandicoot to Sonic and Garfield has tried – and failed – to skid their way on to the podium. Now with no one left to challenge its karting dominance, Nintendo is attempting to beat itself at its own game.

The unexpected sequel to a critically panned 2003 GameCube game, Kirby Air Riders has the pink squishball and friends hanging on for dear life to floating race machines. With no Grand Prix to compete in, in the game’s titular mode you choose a track and compete to be the first of six players to cross the finish line, spin-attacking each other and unleashing weapons and special abilities to create cutesy, colourful chaos.

From Minecraft chess and coding for kids to retro consoles and Doom on vinyl for grown-ups – hit select and start with these original non-digital presents

Gamers can be a difficult bunch to buy for. Most of them will get their new games digitally from Steam, Xbox, Nintendo or PlayStation’s online shops, so you can’t just wrap up the latest version of Call of Duty and be done with it. Fortunately, there are plenty of useful accessories and fun lifestyle gifts to look out for, and gamers tend to have a lot of other interests that intersect with games in different ways.

So if you have a player in your life, whether they’re young or old(er), here are some ideas chosen by the Guardian’s games writers. And naturally, we’re starting with Lego …

The use of AI in the surprise game-of-the-year contender has sparked a heated cultural and ethical debate, and raised existential questions for artists, writers and voice actors

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Arc Raiders is, by all accounts, a late game-of-the-year contender. Dropped into a multiplayer world overrun with hostile drones and military robots, every human player is at the mercy of the machines – and each other. Can you trust the other raider you’ve spotted on your way back to humanity’s safe haven underground, or will they shoot you and take everything you’ve just scavenged? Perhaps surprisingly, humanity is (mostly) choosing to band together, according to most people I’ve talked to about this game.

In a review for Gamespot, Mark Delaney paints a beguiling picture of Arc Raiders’s potential for generating war stories, and highlights its surprisingly hopeful tone as the thing that elevates it above similar multiplayer extraction shooters: “We can all kill each other in Arc Raiders. The fact that most of us are choosing instead to lend a helping hand, if not a sign that humanity will be all right in the real world, at the very least makes for one of the best multiplayer games I’ve ever played.�

Online gaming company says voluntary age assurance technology will limit teens and children messaging users outside their own age groups

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As Roblox rolls out new age assurance features to prevent teens and kids from chatting with adults they do not know, it has insisted Australia’s upcoming under-16s social media ban should not apply to its services.

The company, which is releasing the new features in Australia first, said that from Wednesday users will be able to voluntarily have their age estimated by going through the Persona age estimation technology, built into the Roblox app. It will access the camera of a user’s device and take a live estimation of their age based on their facial features.