Amid boarded up shops in Teesside, The Gaming Hideaway is thriving – and shows how tired retail districts can be reimaginedOn Bishop Auckland’s increasingly desolate high street, shops have steadily closed over the years as a retail park has lured local people away. Dozens of shopfronts lie empty, and the businesses that cling on are mostly discount retailers, the odd vape shop and a few charity shops. Even Poundland has gone. But a few doors down from where Boots used to be, next to the HSBC branch that closed last August, you can now find yourself at the starting grid of a Formula One...

Meet six people who claim to have made contact with extraterrestrials – or even be one themselves – in Alien Kidnap Club. Plus: five podcasts to listen to with your kidsDon’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAs has been noted in this newsletter a few times of late, the big-money boom era for podcasts is perhaps behind us. Fewer shows are being released, layoffs are happening across the industry, and spending on new projects is down. All of this potentially sounds Quite Bad, especially given how accustomed we’ve been to seeing huge amounts of cash floating around the...

Company’s new feature hopes to challenge Google’s search engineMicrosoft is reportedly in the works to launch a version of its search engine Bing using the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT, launched by OpenAI.The Information reported the news on Tuesday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the plans. Continue reading...

The seven-year-old’s deep love of sweetcorn made him a viral sensation. But how do you top meeting Michelle Obama and starring on The Drew Barrymore Show?It was the height of summer when seven-year-old Tariq declared: “For me … I really like corn” – and promptly became an internet sensation. His video interview with Julian Shapiro-Barnum, host of web series Recess Therapy, went viral, as his description of corn as “a big lump with knobs” and general enthusiasm for the vegetable racked up views around the world.“What do you like about corn?” asks Shapiro-Barnum in the video...

From moon missions to fast-charging batteries and AI-sourced antibiotics, in no particular order, the year’s significant scientific developmentsThe year opened with a bang. Or rather, it didn’t. The successful film Don’t Look Up, in which a comet is found to be on a collision course with Earth, had been released just before Christmas 2021. In the bleak days of post-festive gloom, the news media were on an adrenaline high, chasing any and every story about potential asteroid collisions to cheer us all up. Five asteroids were to pass close to the Earth in January alone! Happily for the...

Former Superman star Henry Cavill linked to project, and agreement includes film and merchandise plansAmazon has struck a deal with the high street games chain Games Workshop to create a series based on its hit franchise Warhammer, the science-fiction fantasy miniature war game, potentially featuring the former Superman star Henry Cavill.The London-listed Games Workshop, which has a £2.7bn market value and runs about 530 stores, has struck a deal with Amazon to develop the company’s intellectual property into film and TV productions as well as sell merchandise. Continue reading...

Xbox, PC; Squanch GamesThis first-person shooter from Rick and Morty’s co-creator pairs a barrage of nihilistic jokes with flimsy gameplayI honestly can’t tell you whether High on Life is funny. Humour is subjective, sure, but also, after eight hours of this game’s rapid-fire jokes, I’m not sure I even know any more. You spend enough time spacefaring in Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland’s orbit and eventually, you get sucked into the void. It’s no longer a series of clearly delineated jokes, more a transcendental oneness with an eternal bit. Body fluids. Self-reflexive...

Artificial intelligence is creating increasingly sophisticated images. But what does it mean for the art world? Gilbert and George, Gillian Wearing, Mat Collishaw, Elizabeth Price, Polly Morgan and Lindsey Mendick found outFor more than 30,000 years we have been the only art-making species on Earth, give or take the odd paint-throwing Neanderthal or chimpanzee. Art is the oldest and most spectacular triumph of human consciousness, from Lascaux to the Sistine Chapel. But a new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) art software may be about to end that. It will whip you up a Picasso or a...

Repair firm says there is no industry standard training for fixing smartphones and other devices.

Bao Fan's company China Renaissance says it has not been able to reach him in recent days.

The video call firm that surged in popularity during the height of Covid is cutting 1,300 people.

How the late inventor of cat's eyes, Percy Shaw, got his eureka moment.

Tesla boss Elon Musk is cleared of fraud charges over a tweet about taking the carmaker private.

The chatbot has been used millions of times since its public launch last year.

The consumption of pornography is widespread among children, the children's commissioner says.

BBC Click’s Lara Lewington tries out some of the latest fitness technology.

Data from outage tracking website Downdetector showed more than 5,000 reports in the UK alone.

John Ray said he may restart the platform to try to recover "value" for customers who lost money.

The government has conceded after nearly 50 Conservative MPs rebelled over the Online Safety Bill.

The slump comes as the global economic slowdown hits memory chip prices and demand for devices.

It is the latest technology giant to unveil major layoffs as customers cut back on spending.

Elon Musk says he will resign as soon as he finds someone "foolish enough" to take over the job.

The social media giant has also suspended the Twitter account of its new rival.

Some reporters for the New York Times, CNN and Washington Post have had their accounts suspended.

FTX filed for bankruptcy last month, leaving many unable to withdraw their funds from the cryptocurrency exchange.