Lives intersecting in the shared space of the city create a moment of visual serendipity

Misha Vallejo Prut had just finished a class at the London College of Communication where he was studying for an MA in photojournalism and documentary photography, and headed to a nearby cafe. It was 2014 and he was using an iPhone 5. “The degree of pixelation in the image shows the inexorable march of time since I took this,” says says Vallejo Prut, who is now based in Quito, Ecuador.

“Even so, I think the essence of that moment, the serendipitous intersection of lives within the shared space of the city, continues to echo the relentless pace of contemporary life.”

Continue reading...

Thief went on £9,000 spree with the victim’s money before using her Uber account to travel to Stansted

If you are one of those people who keeps their debit card in their mobile phone case, has a note of their pin on their handset, or only ever uses mobile banking, you may want to rethink your setup after you read the case of Sami Souret*.

On a recent night out the 28-year-old healthcare professional was kind enough to help a man who asked to borrow her phone. Less than six hours later, her £9,350 life savings had been spent by him on Apple products in London. And the final indignity: he used her Uber account to take a cab to Stansted airport.

Continue reading...

Stuart Harrington doubts that such a ban will work, while Oscar Acton spells out the benefits of smartphone access for school students

The members of the WhatsApp group Smartphone Free Childhood have an unrealistic expectation if they believe that banning under-14s from possessing smartphones and trying to prevent under-16s accessing social media is a practical way of protecting them from the very real dangers that the internet can unveil ( ‘It went nuts: Thousands join UK parents calling for smartphone-free childhood’, 17 February ).

If the first duty of any parent or guardian is to provide a safe and healthy environment for their children, then showing them how to access and use the internet safely is their responsibility. Roads are also potentially dangerous for children, but we do not ban cars – instead we spend time teaching young people the safe way to navigate through busy traffic.

Continue reading...

On the banks of Myanmar’s largest river, the photographer captured the joy and spontaneity of five young boys

Ayeyarwady River is Myanmar’s largest, and it was on its sandbanks near Sagaing Bridge that Kyaw Zay Yar Lin found these children playing.

“I often go there, because it’s such a beautiful place,” Kyaw says. “I go to relax, enjoy the weather and the views, but that day I approached these five boys playing in the mud and asked permission to take their photo.

Continue reading...

A slick screen, top chip and long battery life are let down by lack of advanced AI and short support life

OnePlus’s latest top phone can’t shake the feeling of being left behind by rivals.

Even with a sleek appearance, speedy software and longer battery life the OnePlus 12 is devoid of the much-hyped AI tools packed into handsets from Samsung, Google and others. It feels more like a phone from 2020 than from the new era of artificial intelligence.

Continue reading...

Putting your device in a bag of rice ‘could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone’, the company warned

No matter how your phone gets soaked – you’re caught in a downpour, you drop it in the bath, or you fall in a pool – perhaps the best-known folk remedy is to put the device in a bag of rice . The dry, absorbent rice should help suck out the moisture, rescuing your device, so the theory goes. Experts have pointed out that’s a bad idea for years – and now Apple is officially warning users not to do it.

“Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone,” the company says in a recent support note spotted by Macworld . Along with the risk of damage, testing has suggested uncooked rice is not particularly effective at drying the device.

“Don’t dry your iPhone using an external heat source or compressed air.”

“Don’t insert a foreign object, such as a cotton swab or a paper towel, into the connector.”

Continue reading...

Two months after Rhik Samadder ended his phone detox, he realises some of its lessons actually stuck with him

• Sign up to our free coaching newsletter to help you spend less time on your phone

In the final update in Rhik’s journey to break his phone addiction, he manages a breakthrough. And a big one.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” I ask Almond one day.

Continue reading...

Titanium superphone has serious speed, battery life and unrivalled camera zoom but is ultra-priced

Samsung’s latest smartphone packs a plethora of the latest flashy AI tools in an attempt to improve text, images, video and search – with both hits and misses.

The new Galaxy S24 Ultra comes equipped with a combination of Samsung and Google’s latest AI layered on top of one of the most capable phones on the market, filled to the brim with competition-beating specs.

Continue reading...

Slumping global demand for smartphones did not bring down earnings, but investors were wary of decline in sales in China

Apple has ended the quarter with its first revenue gain in over a year, but the company still struggled to cope with a decline in global smartphone demand. The company posted $119.58bn in revenue and $2.18 in earnings per share (EPS), beating Wall Street expectations of $117.91bn in full-year revenue and $2.10 in EPS. Apple broke its four-quarter streak of declining revenue with a reported a 2% growth in sales. Shares dropped in after-hours trading.

However, the news wasn’t all rosy for the iPhone maker. The company’s sales in China, its third-largest market, dropped from $23.9bn to $20.8bn. Global iPad sales dropped to $7bn in the most recent quarter, from $9bn in the same quarter last year.

Continue reading...