Murdoch buys Irish social media firm

20 December 2013 Last updated at 12:32 ET

Rupert Murdoch's media company NewsCorp has bought Storyful, an Irish "social media news agency".

The Dublin-based firm has been acquired for $25 million (£15.3m).

Storyful specialises in licensing and distributing social media content to major news organisations such as the Wall Street Journal and BBC.

"We believe that journalism in the age of social media needs to be open, innovative and collaborative," Storyful founder Mark Little said.

Mr Little set up the company in 2010. He had previously been a presenter on Irish TV network RTE.

Storyful's business is in verifying online video authenticity, and also licenses usage rights to broadcasters for popular viral video.

The company will remain at its current location in Dublin, and will act as a standalone company.

Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp, added: "Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content."

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Google robot wins Pentagon contest

23 December 2013 Last updated at 08:26 ET

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Schaft won this round of Darpa's competition by a wide margin

A robot developed by a Japanese start-up recently acquired by Google is the winner of a two-day competition hosted by the Pentagon's research unit Darpa.

Team Schaft's machine carried out all eight rescue-themed tasks to outscore its rivals by a wide margin.

Three of the other 15 teams that took part failed to secure any points at the event near Miami, Florida.

Schaft and seven of the other top-scorers can now apply for more Darpa funds to compete in 2014's finals.

Continue reading the main story

1. Schaft (27 points)

2. IHMC Robotics (20 points)

3. Tartan Rescue (18 points)

4. MIT (16 points)

5. Robosimian (14 points)

6. Traclabs / Wrecs (11 points)

8. Trooper (9 points)

9. Thor / Vigir / Kaist (8 points).

12. HKU / DRC-Hubo (3 points)

14. Chiron / Nasa-JSC / Mojavaton (0 points)

Darpa said it had been inspired to organise the challenge after it became clear robots were only capable of playing a very limited role in efforts to contain 2011's Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan.

"What we realised was ... these robots couldn't do anything other than observe," said Gill Pratt, programme manager for the Darpa Robotics Challenge.

"What they needed was a robot to go into that reactor building and shut off the valves."

In order to spur on development of more adept robots the agency challenged contestants to complete a series of tasks, with a time-limit of 30 minutes for each:

• Drive a utility vehicle along a course
• Climb an 8ft-high (2.4m) ladder
• Remove debris blocking a doorway
• Pull open a lever-handled door
• Cross a course that featured ramps, steps and unfastened blocks
• Cut a triangular shape in a wall using a cordless drill
• Close three air valves, each controlled by a different-sized wheel or lever
• Unreel a hose and then screw its nozzle into a wall connector

More than 100 teams originally applied to take part, and the number was whittled down to 17 by Darpa ahead of Friday and Saturday's event.

Some entered their own machines, while others made use of Atlas - a robot manufactured by another Google-owned business, Boston Dynamics - controlling it with their own software.

One self-funded team from China - Intelligent Pioneer - dropped out at the last moment, bringing the number of contestants who took part at the Homestead-Miami Speedway racetrack to 16.

Continue reading the main story

Schaft's 1.48m (4ft 11in) tall, two-legged robot entered the contest the favourite and lived up to its reputation.

It makes use of a new high-voltage liquid-cooled motor technology that uses a capacitor, rather a battery, for power. Its engineers say this lets its arms move and pivot at higher speeds than would otherwise be possible, in effect giving it stronger "muscles".

The machine was developed by a spin-off from the University of Tokyo's Jouhou System Kougaku lab, which Google recently revealed it had acquired.

The team scored 27 points out of a possible 32, putting it seven points ahead of second-placed IHMC Robotics, which used Atlas.

Scores were based on a system that awarded three points for completing a task's primary objectives, and then a bonus point for doing so without any human intervention.

Schaft's robot behaved nearly perfectly, but lost points because "the wind blew a door out of their robot's hold and because their robotic creation was not able to climb out of a vehicle after it successfully navigated an obstacle course," reported the Japan Daily Press.

'Reality check'

Videos posted online by Darpa illustrate that the robots remain much slower than humans, often pausing for a minute or more between actions while they carried out the calculations needed to make each movement.

Several proved unsteady on their feet and were only saved from falls by attached harnesses.

Three of the teams which entered self-designed machines - including Nasa's Johnson Space Center and its robot Valkyrie - failed to complete any of the challenges.

The event was described as a "reality check" by Jyuji Hewitt, who attended on behalf of the US Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command.

But Darpa's Mr Pratt added that the competition, and the finals that will be held in December, would help bring forward a time the machines could be used in real-world situations.

"Today's modest progress will be a good next step to help save mankind from disasters," he said.

The top eight teams can now apply for up to $1m (£611,000) of Darpa investment before the finals to improve their robots' skills. The winner will get a $2m prize.

Lower scorers in last weekend's round can stay in the contest but will have to fund their own efforts,

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RSA denies 'secret deal' with NSA

23 December 2013 Last updated at 06:16 ET

Security firm RSA has strongly denied reports it signed a "secret contract" with the NSA spying agency.

On December 21, a Reuters report said the NSA paid RSA to use a random number generator now known to be flawed.

In a blogpost RSA "categorically" denied the allegation that this opened a backdoor into any product in which it was used.

In September 2013, RSA told users to avoid using the code when its flaws were confirmed.

Bad numbers

The Reuters report said the NSA paid RSA $10m (£6.1m) to use a random number generator that has since been discovered to open a backdoor into any software in which it was used.

Documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden have confirmed the existence of backdoors in some technologies RSA, and other firms, used in their products.

The random number generator, known as the "Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generator" (Dual EC DRBG), became a standard part of some RSA products in 2004.

In 2007 academic research revealed that the number generator had serious weaknesses that, if exploited, could let eavesdroppers get at data it was supposed to help protect. In its blogpost, RSA explained that it continued to rely on the system in 2007 following advice from the US standards body that oversaw development of such systems.

It also followed the advice of this body when it told users to stop using the module earlier this year.

In addition, RSA added, the Dual EC DRBG was one of several different random number generators available and customers were "free to choose whichever one best suited their needs".

It concluded: "We also categorically state that we have never entered into any contract or engaged in any project with the intention of weakening RSA's products, or introducing potential 'backdoors' into our products for anyone's use."

In response, Reuters reporter Joseph Menn who broke the story said in a tweet: "We stand by our RSA story."

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Google hit by Spanish privacy fine

20 December 2013 Last updated at 06:04 ET

Google has been fined 900,000 euros (£751,000) for breaking Spanish data protection laws.

The fine is the maximum it is possible to levy on a firm that has broken the nation's privacy laws.

It was imposed after Google changed its privacy policy and started combining personal information across its online services.

Google said it had co-operated with the Spanish inquiry and would act once it had seen the agency's full report.

Biggest fine

Google changed its privacy policy in March 2012 and began the process of combining the data that people surrendered when they used its many services.

The change led many European data protection authorities to look into Google's privacy policy. The investigation carried out by Spain's privacy watchdog has now led to it imposing a fine - the maximum possible under Spanish law.

Google collected information across almost 100 services, said the Spanish data protection agency, but had not obtained the consent of people to gather information nor done enough to explain what would be done with the data.

The "highly ambiguous" language Google employed on its privacy policy pages made it hard for people to find out what would happen to their data, said the agency in a statement. Google also kept data for too long and made it far too hard for people to delete data or manage the information they surrendered.

The 900,000 euro fine is made up of three separate penalties of 300,000 euros each for breaking different parts of Spanish privacy laws.

Google said it had worked closely with the Spanish data agency during its investigation and said it would await publication of the full report before taking any action.

The search giant could also face further action from other European data protection bodies. In late November, the Netherlands data protection authority said Google's 2012 policy change also broke its laws. France is also believed to be contemplating levying a fine over Google's data handling policies.

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Artificial worm starts to wriggle

20 December 2013 Last updated at 09:49 ET

A project to create artificial life has hit a key milestone - the simulated creature can now wriggle.

The Open Worm project aims to build a lifelike copy of a nematode roundworm entirely out of computer code.

This week the creature's creators added code that gets the virtual worm wriggling like the real thing.

The next step is to hook the body up to a simulation of the worm's brain to help understand more about how and why it moves.

Swim speed

The Open Worm project started in May 2013 and is slowly working towards creating a virtual copy of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode. This worm is one of the most widely studied creatures on Earth and was the first multicelled organism to have its entire genome mapped.

The simulated worm slowly being built out of code aims to replicate C. elegans in exquisite detail with each of its 1,000 cells being modelled on computer.

Early work on the worm involved making a few muscle segments twitch but now the team has a complete worm to work with. The code governing how the creature's muscles move has been refined so its swaying motion and speed matches that of its real life counterpart. The tiny C. elegans manages to move around in water at a rate of about 1mm per second.

"Its movement closely resembles published literature on how C. elegans swims," project leader John Hurliman told the New World Notes blog.

The immediate next step for the project is to plug in the system used to model how nerve fibres in the worm fire to get muscle segments twitching and propelling the whole creature forward.

Soon the Open Worm creators hope to make a virtual version of C. elegans available online so people can interact with it via a web browser.

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'Angry' singer 'H' in Google row

20 December 2013 Last updated at 10:42 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Lawyers for Steps singer Ian "H" Watkins have approached Google after his image appeared next to stories about convicted paedophile Ian Watkins.

The "furious" singer's management said lawyers were "taking immediate steps to urgently rectify the position".

He was said to be "astonished" that his photo was still being linked to "the appalling crimes of the Lostprophets singer".

Google said it was looking into "layout" issues with its pages.

Mr Watkins won a court apology earlier this week after website E! Online used his picture on a story about the abuse case.

Unlike typical news websites, Google News is not managed by a human editor, instead using complex algorithms to determine the importance and relevance of stories posted on news websites around the world.

Google's algorithm appeared to be unable to differentiate between the two cases, taking a picture - from a BBC News article about the E! apology - and pairing it with a separate article by CBS News about the abuse.

A Google spokesman added: "For some specific searches Ian H Watkins' picture is appearing in our results because he is relevant to the story, having received a court apology.

Continue reading the main story

We are looking into the issue he raises"

End Quote Google spokesman

"We are looking into the issue he raises."

'Angry and upset'

"A publisher's intention is irrelevant to the question of liability for defamation," said Emma Woollcott, media lawyer at Mishcon de Reya.

"What matters is what the ordinary person would understand by what they read.

"If electronic algorithms connect two pieces of information and defamatory inferences arise, there may be potential for liability, even if the connection is inadvertent."

US-based CBS News, which incorrectly received criticism from several users on Twitter because of the mix-up, said it had never had an image of "H" in its system - and was therefore confident it had not made an error.

After being alerted to the problem by one of his fans, Ian 'H' Watkins tweeted angrily about the issue on Thursday, saying: "I can't actually tell you how angry and upset I am right now.... ;0("

He shared a screenshot showing the results of a search for "ian watkins cbs news".

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Digital rights 'risk inconsistency'

23 December 2013 Last updated at 05:59 ET

A proposed new law designed to improve consumer protection for purchasers of digital music risks being inconsistent, a committee of MPs has said.

The government has proposed a Consumer Bill of Rights, to update some laws that have been unchanged for decades.

Rights for those buying digital content are also included in the plan.

But the Business Select Committee said it would mean a refund for someone who bought a faulty CD but not a faulty download of the same music.

"This is a clear inconsistency in the draft Bill that should be sorted out," said Adrian Bailey, who chairs the committee.

"The consumer's concern is getting a refund for their faulty product, not whether it counts as tangible or intangible content under consumer legislation."

Overall, the committee said that the proposed law had the potential to "consolidate, simplify and modernise" consumer law if various "issues and inconsistencies" were resolved.

The Department for Business said it welcomed the report and would respond in due course.

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German 'streamed porn' case reviewed

23 December 2013 Last updated at 07:29 ET

A German court that told an ISP to hand over details of users who had allegedly been illegally streaming porn online is reviewing its decision.

The names and addresses of those identified were used by a law firm to send letters asking for a one-off fee.

The firm, Urmann, acting on behalf of Swiss copyright company Archive, targeted users it said had viewed content on porn-streaming site Redtube.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have been affected.

It was one of the first cases to target people accused of streaming rather than downloading pornography.

Now, the court in Cologne says it has examined complaints from dozens of people who received the copyright infringement warning letters, which demanded a 250 euro (£210) payment.

'Victory for users'

In a statement the court said the complaints had raised "considerable" doubts about the legal procedure.

It also said the laws on "streaming" were not clear enough.

Urmann issued a strongly worded statement defending itself against claims it had issued a false affidavit to the court. The firm called on the court to withdraw the allegation.

A final decision on the case is not expected until January.

In a separate court in Hamburg, a temporary injunction has been issued against Urmann and Archive preventing them from sending warning letters to Redtube users alleging copyright infringement.

In a statement Redtube said that the allegations that its site broke copyright laws were "a thinly disguised attempt to extort money from its users".

Commenting on the injunction Alex Taylor, vice president of Redtube, said: "This ruling is a victory not just for Redtube users, but for anyone who accesses a streaming website.

"It sends a clear message that the exploitation of personal information and the violation of privacy for financial gain will not be tolerated," he said.

Redtube also stressed that it had not passed on users information to third parties.

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Cash limits follow Target data theft

23 December 2013 Last updated at 07:58 ET

Debit card limits are being cut for two million Americans following a hack attack on US retailer Target.

Details of more than 40 million cards were stolen by thieves who compromised card swipe systems at Target's tills.

Bank JP Morgan Chase said it was reducing limits on all cards used at Target while thieves had been scooping up data.

Security researchers said the stolen card numbers had been seen on underground markets.

Card losses

The thieves managed to grab the key details for so many cards by getting malware onto the computer systems at the checkout desks in almost 1,800 Target stores in the US. It is still not clear how the thieves managed to get their malware onto the systems.

The thieves had access to card data read at the tills for almost three weeks, said Target in a statement released after it realised it had been under attack.

JP Morgan Chase said it had lowered daily spending limits to $300 (£183) and daily cash withdrawal limits to $100 on potentially vulnerable cards as a "precaution".

Reuters reported that other US banks are also believed to be putting stringent precautions in place that would help to spot if cards were being used fraudulently. In addition, Target said it would offer free credit monitoring for customers affected by fraud.

On 20 December, security researcher Brian Krebs said there was evidence that card numbers stolen in the Target attack had shown up on underground markets where such details are traded.

Writing on his blog, Mr Krebs said security investigators had first confirmed card details had been stolen from Target by buying a "dump" of credit card numbers and matching them to those known to have been used at stores during the breach.

A huge batch of numbers had shown up on one site that traded in good quality dumps, he said, adding that cards from non-US banks used at Target stores were now fetching premium prices.

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Apple shares rise on Chinese deal

23 December 2013 Last updated at 11:00 ET

Shares in US technology giant Apple have jumped 3% after it signed a deal to supply its iPhone to China Mobile.

The Chinese firm is the world's largest carrier and was one of three networks to be awarded China's first 4G licences earlier this month.

Apple has been looking to boost its sales in China, the world's largest smartphone market, but has struggled amid growing competition from rivals.

The latest deal is expected to help it increase its market share.

Continue reading the main story

"China is an extremely important market for Apple," Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, said in a statement.

"Our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network."

Earlier this year, Mr Cook said he expected China to replace North America as Apple's largest source of revenue. The iPhone is the firm's most important product in terms of earnings power.

China Mobile has more than 760 million subscribers.

The country's two other major phone carriers, China Unicom and China Telecom, already offer iPhones to their subscribers.

Cheaper rivals

Oliver Pursche, president of the Gary Goldberg Financial Services in New York, which owns the stock, said: "This is just good news, and a much bigger strategic deal than had been forecast."

"Apple is incredibly undervalued at this stage, and this deal can help it trade well beyond $600 early in 2014."

China is the world's biggest smartphone-using country, with 1.2 billion users.

Continue reading the main story

Apple's "imminent" deal with China Mobile has been a long running soap opera. Back in September when a separate launch event for the iPhone 5C and 5S was held in Beijing, it was assumed that an agreement had already been reached.

But fixing terms between the world's biggest mobile operator and a company which has always played hardball when it comes to pricing, was never going to be simple.

Apple has long been a highly prized brand in China, with fake Apple stores springing up all over the country. But even with access to China Mobile's 700 million customers, don't expect it to grab a big share of the market.

Samsung is the biggest overseas brand - the Chinese market was quick to see the attractions of the oversized Galaxy Note "phablet" - and home-grown brands like Xiaomi are giving consumers the smartphone experience at a much keener price than Apple can offer.

Nevertheless, China has a big appetite for luxury brands - for Rolls Royce it vies with the USA as its biggest market.

Apple does not have to be number one in China to make huge amounts of money there, so don't expect the company to follow the advice of some analysts and launch cut price models. It will settle for being the Rolls Royce of the mobile market.

But Chinese sales of previous iPhone models have slumped recently, as consumers have turned to cheaper rival handsets from Samsung, and domestic Chinese developers.

China's three bestselling smartphone makers are Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad, according to a recent report by the consultants IDC.

Apple's sales have also been impacted by the fact that unlike in developed markets, many phone carriers in emerging markets do not subsidise smartphones.

That means that subscribers have to pay the full amount for the phone upfront, making Apple's products relatively expensive for some buyers.

In an attempt to take on the low-cost rivals Apple unveiled a relatively cheaper version of the iPhone, the 5c, earlier this year.

Analysts said the firm was hoping that a cheaper handset combined with a deal with the biggest mobile carrier in the world may help it take on rivals.

However, Apple is yet to announce how much Chinese customers will have to pay for the iphone 5s and 5c models sold via China Mobile.

'Biggest partnership'

Nevertheless, analysts say the deal has huge potential. Cantor Fitzgerald Research estimates that Apple could sell 24 million iPhones next year to China Mobile customers alone.

Apple sold 102.4 million iPhones globally in the nine months to September this year.

Previously, China Mobile subscribers have not been able to use Apple's iPhone, because the firm's 3G technology was not compatible with Apple handsets.

However, its 4G network will work with the iPhone 5s and 5c.

Manufacturer	Marketshare
Source: IDC
Samsung	18.3%
Lenovo	12.6%
Coolpad	11%
ZTE	8.8%
Huawei	8.7%
Others	41%

"This is one of the biggest partnership announcements Apple has made in the past several years," Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, told the BBC.

"It gives them access to more than 10% of the global mobile phone users. It is an incredible growth opportunity for Apple."

However, he added that in order to fully realise the potential of the deal, Apple may need to introduce even more affordable phone models.

The iPhone 5s and 5c will be available to China Mobile subscribers from 17 January.

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Twitter scraps blocking changes

13 December 2013 Last updated at 02:34 ET

Twitter has reversed changes it made to how people block other users, less than a day after they were introduced.

The changes allowed blocked users to continue to see tweets and interact with accounts that had blocked them, leading to an outcry.

Twitter said it was reverting to old rules, under which users are not able to follow an account once blocked.

Blocking is used by people to stop trolls and rude online commentators from interacting with them.

"We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users - we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe," Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice-president of product, said in a blogpost.

"Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect."

Continue reading the main story

Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse"

End Quote Michael Sippey Twitter

'Post-blocking retaliation'

There have been calls for Twitter to do more to counter cyberbullying following a number of high-profile cases of trolling, where users of the social networking site were bombarded with threats and abuse.

The firm recently introduced a "report Tweet" button to try to combat the problem.

Mr Sippey said that Twitter's initial decision to change the way blocking works was a further attempt to prevent abuse, by ensuring that users did not know they had been blocked by someone.

He said blocked users - and sometimes even their friends - often retaliated against the people who had blocked them, resulting in increased bullying.

"Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse," he explained.

He added that Twitter "will continue to explore features designed to protect users from abuse and prevent retaliation".

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Copycat ransomware racks up victims

13 December 2013 Last updated at 08:02 ET

Malicious programs that demand a ransom to restore files that they have encrypted are starting to proliferate.

Security company IntelCrawler has discovered malware called Locker that demands $150 (£92) to restore files.

The cyber-thieves behind Locker were trying to emulate the success of CryptoLocker that has racked up thousands of victims this year.

However, IntelCrawler said, flaws in the malicious program suggest it might be easier to defeat than CryptoLocker.

IntelCrawler said it first saw "large-scale distribution" of several different versions of Locker early this month. So far, the malware has managed to snare people across the US, Europe and Russia. It is spread via infected files placed on compromised websites and through booby-trapped files disguised as MP3s.

Unscramble

Analysis by Andrey Komarov, of IntelCrawler, shows that when Locker infects a machine, it deletes files leaving only encrypted copies behind and also drops a small file containing a unique ID number and contact details for Locker's creators.

The file also warns that no key will be given to any victim who harasses or threatens the malware's creators.

Those who want to get their data back are encouraged to use the contact details and, once the ransom is paid, each victim gets a key to unscramble files.

However, help could be at hand for anyone hit by Locker, said Mr Komarov, as IntelCrawler had managed to penetrate the network the cyber-thieves were using to monitor victims. This helped the company extract the universal keys used to scramble target files.

"Our researchers are working on the universal decryption software in order to help the victims," said Mr Komarov.

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'Greenest' supercomputer unveiled

13 December 2013 Last updated at 08:53 ET

A supercomputer that is the "greenest of its kind" has been built at Cambridge University.

Wilkes - named after computing pioneer Maurice Wilkes - will be used for development of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

When complete the SKA will be the biggest radio telescope ever made.

The computer's power is the equivalent of 4,000 typical desktop computers all working together, the university said.

While it is some way off being the most powerful in the world - it ranks at 166th - Wilkes was built to be efficient rather than powerful.

"Energy-efficiency is the biggest single challenge in supercomputing today and our new system makes an important step forward in this regard," said Dr Paul Calleja, director of the Cambridge High Performance Computing Service.

It has an energy efficiency of 3,361 Mega-flops per watt. In simple terms, "flops" (floating point operations per second) is a measure of how much computing a machine can handle at once.

Wilkes comes in 2nd place on the Green 500, a ranking of the most energy-efficient computers. However the leading machine, built by a team in Tokyo, requires an oil-cooling system, whereas Wilkes is cooled using air, making it the most efficient of its kind.

Maurice Wilkes was the man behind EDSAC, the first programmable computer to come into general use - it was designed in 1947 and ran its first program on 6 May 1949.

A team at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park are currently in the process of building an authentic replica of EDSAC.

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Google buys military robot-maker

15 December 2013 Last updated at 23:22 ET

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Robotics expert Noel Sharkey said Google's acquisition of Boston Dynamics, was "a big surprise"

Google has acquired the engineering company that developed Cheetah, the world's fastest-running robot and other animalistic mobile research machines.

Boston Dynamics, which contracts for the US military, is the eighth robotics company snapped up by Google this year.

Both the price and size of the project, which is led by former Android boss Andy Rubin, are being kept under wraps.

However, analysts say the purchases signal a rising interest in robotics use by consumer internet companies.

Online shopping portal Amazon, for example, recently announced plans to deploy a fleet of delivery drones.

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The firm's BigDog robot can throw breeze blocks

In a statement posted on the Google Plus service, Chief Executive Larry Page said:

"I am excited about Andy Rubin's next project. His last big bet, Android, started off as a crazy idea that ended up putting a supercomputer in hundreds of millions of pockets. It is still very early days for this, but I can't wait to see the progress."

Robot Machines

Boston Dynamics, which does not sell robots commercially, was founded in 1992 by a former professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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The Cheetah Robot developed by Boston Dynamics breaks the speed record

It consulted for Japanese electronics giant Sony on consumer applications such as Aibo, a robot dog.

But it mostly develops mobile and off-road robotics technology, funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa.

Google has said it would honour the existing military contracts with Darpa.

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Boston Dynamics road-tests its Atlas robot on rough terrain

Boston Dynamics' videos of its walking robots have garnered millions of views online.

One of them, called BigDog, is remarkably agile for a machine and is able to move over rough terrain such as snow and ice.

Another, of a four-legged robot named WildCat, shows the noisy machine galloping down a car park at high speed and pivoting quickly on the spot.

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Boston Dynamics' WildCat robot is put through its paces

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NSA considering Snowden amnesty

16 December 2013 Last updated at 05:23 ET

The US National Security Agency is considering offering an amnesty to fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden if he agrees to stop leaking secret documents, an NSA official says.

The man in charge of assessing the leaks' damage, Richard Ledgett, said he could be open to an amnesty deal.

Disclosures by the former intelligence worker have revealed the extent of the NSA's spying activity.

But NSA Director Gen Keith Alexander has dismissed the idea.

Mr Ledgett spoke to US television channel CBS about the possibility of an amnesty deal: "So my personal view is, yes it's worth having a conversation about.

"I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high, would be more than just an assertion on his part."

But Gen Alexander, who is retiring early next year, rejected the idea of any amnesty for Mr Snowden.

"This is analogous to a hostage taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10, and then say, 'if you give me full amnesty, I'll let the other 40 go'. What do you do?"

In an earlier interview with the Reuters news agency, Mr Ledgett said he was deeply worried about highly classified documents not yet public that are among the 1.7 million files Mr Snowden is believed to have accessed.

Mr Snowden's disclosures have been "cataclysmic" for the agency, Mr Ledgett told Reuters.

Earlier this month, a UK newspaper editor told UK MPs only 1% of files leaked by Mr Snowden had been published by the newspaper.

The state department says its position has not changed and that Mr Snowden must return to the US to face charges, says the BBC's Suzanne Kianpour.

The US has charged Mr Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.

Each of the charges carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

At the weekend, the NSA allowed a CBS television crew into their headquarters for the first time in its history, in an effort to be more open about what the agency does with the data it collects.

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BT default 'porn filter' switched on

16 December 2013 Last updated at 06:33 ET

BT has announced the launch of a new internet filter designed to protect children online.

The controls will automatically be set to "on" for new users. Customers who do not want the service will have to actively choose not to turn it on.

The filter is designed to block sites deemed unsuitable for children.

The move comes after the government called for internet service providers to filter legal pornography and other adult subjects "by default".

The BT Parental Controls filter will cover any internet-enabled device connected to its home broadband service.

The implementation of the controls will be pre-selected for new users who are setting up their internet connection for the first time. They will have to confirm this option and then will be asked to set a filter level.

There will be three levels - strict, moderate and light - or customers can choose to turn the filter off.

Existing users of BT's broadband will be contacted during 2014 and asked to make a decision on whether or not they want to set up the new service.

Search blocked

Sites that show pornography, refer to illegal drugs or promote self-harm will all be blocked. Other categories of sites that the filter can be set to block include nudity, social networking and gaming.

Users can also personalise the filters to block access to sex-education sites and search engines.

BT currently has 6.8 million broadband customers.

"BT takes the issue of online child protection extremely seriously and we are very pleased to be able to launch the whole-home filter to help parents keep their families safe online," said BT's managing director of consumer commercial marketing and digital, Pete Oliver.

The National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) said it welcomed the move by BT.

The government has said by the end of 2014, 20 million homes - 95% of all homes in Britain with an existing internet connection - will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole-home "family- friendly" internet filter.

Sky and Talk Talk have already implemented their own version of a "family-friendly" filter. Virgin is expected to introduce something similar in the new year.

In November, Google and Microsoft announced that 100,000 search terms that related to illegal material would be blocked by their search engines.

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Warnings over text-sharing apps

16 December 2013 Last updated at 07:35 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Warnings are being issued about Android apps that exploit a phone's ability to send unlimited numbers of text messages.

The apps are proving popular because they claim to reward phone owners for every text message they relay.

But, say security firms, the apps can relay huge numbers of texts via a phone and lead to its number being blocked.

Mobile operators say the apps violate their terms and conditions and could lead to a service being suspended.

Daily rate

The apps aim to profit via the unlimited texting that many people get with their mobile contract.

Routing text messages through a phone can be a cheap way to ensure an SMS reaches its destination, said Cahal McDaid from mobile security firm Adaptive Mobile.

"There's a huge market in sending text messages as cheaply as possible around the world," he said.

The fees for transporting text messages vary from country to country which has led to a "grey market" for routing messages via the cheapest route.

Routing the message via a phone already in the country that someone wants to reach could cut costs even more, he added.

However, said Mr McDaid, the sheer number of texts that some of the apps sent through a participating phone could cause problems.

Adaptive had seen thousands of messages passing through phones that had downloaded one of the apps.

In addition, he said, operators were likely to take a dim view of customers who use their phone as a text message relay.

"You cannot resell your message plan," he said. "Operators have terms and conditions for a reason."

A spokesperson for Bazuc, one of the message-relaying Android apps, said it told participants to ensure that the daily limit of messages they send is not set too high.

"We are fully aware that mobile operators are not going to be a big fan of this app," said the spokesperson. "We're simply trying to help people out there make some extra money."

The spokesperson claimed that some users of its app had five phones dedicated to using the app so they can cash in. Bazuc said it paid participants $0.001 cents for every message they relayed.

All the UK's large mobile operators contacted by the BBC said any customer using text-message-relaying apps would be breaching the terms of their contract. This could lead to their number being blocked or their service being suspended.

Marc Rogers, principal security researcher at mobile security firm Lookout, said getting caught using such apps could make the whole experience very expensive.

"If your operator decides to bill you their 'out of bundle' or overage rate for violating their terms you could be billed hundreds of pounds for those messages," he said.

"Aside from the potential issues with your operator, you are allowing people to send messages from your mobile number, without having any control or visibility of what those messages are," he said. "But you may have to face the consequences."

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Legal row over Google privacy case

16 December 2013 Last updated at 08:50 ET

Britons accusing Google of violating their privacy by tracking them via Apple's Safari browser face the search giant in the High Court today.

In the hearing, Google is expected to ask for the case to be dismissed, as a similar case was recently in the US.

But lawyers for the Britons say UK laws have been broken so Google should be held to account in a UK court.

In the US, Google has already paid a record fine for tracking people via the Safari browser.

The legal spat arose over the way Google got round a feature in Apple's Safari browser that stopped advertising firms keeping an eye on where people went online.

Google used small text files called cookies to get around the "do not track" feature in order to keep monitoring people and piping tailored adverts to them.

In August 2012, Google paid $22.5m (£13.8m) to settle the case. At the time the payment was the largest fine ever imposed on a single company by the US Federal Trade Commission. Google has also paid a separate $17m fine levied by attorney generals in 38 US states for its actions.

The UK hearing revolves around a procedural question of whether UK campaigners can continue with their case against Google.

Lawyers from legal firm Olswang argue that Google breached UK privacy laws and has a case to answer here.

"British users have a right to privacy protected by English and European laws," said Dan Tench from Olswang.

Google is expected to argue that the case does not meet the strict standards required for it to be heard in the UK.

"A case almost identical to this one was dismissed in its entirety two months ago in the US," said Google in a statement. "We're asking the Court to re-examine whether this case meets the standards required in the UK for a case like this to go to trial."

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Vocational 'Tech levels' unveiled

16 December 2013 Last updated at 09:48 ET By Judith Burns Education reporter, BBC News

A range of A-level standard "Tech level" qualifications, ranging from motorcycle maintenance to craft baking, has been announced in England.

Leading employers are backing the vocational qualifications, designed to boost teenagers' work skills.

The overhaul follows concerns that some vocational exams were of poor quality.

The new qualifications, due to be taught from 2014, "will lead to better employment opportunities", said Skills Minister Matthew Hancock.

The government unveiled 142 Tech levels, each supported by leading businesses or trade associations, including Vauxhall, John Deere, Procter and Gamble and Kawasaki.

Recognised occupation

They are designed to lead to a recognised occupation, such as engineering, accounting, construction, agriculture or information technology.

In addition the government announced 87 Applied General Qualifications, which provide broader study of a vocational area and are each endorsed by at least three universities.

The new qualifications will be ready for first teaching in 2014, will first be awarded in 2016 and will count in school performance tables from 2017.

Schools can still teach other qualifications but most of these will no longer count in the tables.

The changes are a response to Prof Alison Wolf's 2011 review of vocational education which suggested the system was failing young people.

The review said schools were often tempted to teach qualifications that attracted the most points in performance tables but would not necessarily help students into work or higher education.

Mr Hancock said: "For the first time young people will know which qualifications are backed by top employers and lead to better employment opportunities.

"Tech levels and Applied General Qualifications will give students the skills so vital to getting on in life, preparing them for employment, training and higher education."

He said the new qualifications would help fill the skills gap holding back UK business and were part of a long-term plan for the economy.

An 'afterthought'

Prof Wolf said the new system would "serve the needs of motivated and ambitious young people, of employers, and of the country as a whole."

Labour's minister for young people Rushanara Ali said three years of "downgrading rigorous vocational courses" showed that vocational education was "an afterthought for this Tory-led Government".

"Almost a million young people unemployed. David Cameron has proved he has no plan for the forgotten 50%, those young people who do not plan to pursue A-levels and university.

Ms Ali said Labour would ensure there were "qualified teachers in all schools and colleges, maths and English for all to 18 and a new gold-standard Technical Baccalaureate that will be accredited by business. Colleges will have to earn accreditation to deliver the 'Tech Bacc', driving up standards in vocational education."

In a separate move, the government also announced new vocational courses in engineering and construction for 14- to 16-year-olds.

These are among 73 new courses for this age group, which will each count as a GCSE equivalent in league tables.

Continue reading the main story

This is a real partnership, working to produce vocational qualifications that really deliver for young people"

End Quote Prof Matthew Harrison Royal Academy of Engineering

The engineering courses were developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering and backed by businesses including JCB, Rolls Royce and Siemens.

The aim is to replace the Engineering Diploma which was controversially downgraded by the government as part of its initial response to the Wolf Review, despite having been developed by academics and industrialists.

Prof Matthew Harrison, director of engineering and education at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: "This announcement really matters to the engineering profession.

"Four of the qualifications included on the list are the product of deep engagement between awarding bodies, engineering employers, universities and professional engineering institutions.

"This is real partnership working to produce vocational qualifications that really deliver for young people and for engineering in the UK."

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Tablet goes on sale for £30

16 December 2013 Last updated at 10:25 ET

A tablet costing £30 has gone on sale in the UK.

The UbiSlate 7Ci, made by UK-based company Datawind, is the commercial version of the Aakash 2 tablet, which was originally launched in India.

There, the tablet is mainly used by students and was designed to provide cheap internet access to help improve education.

Analysts say UK customers buying this tablet and comparing it with others on the market may be disappointed.

The 7in (18cm) Android tablet has wi-fi connectivity, 512MB of RAM, a microUSB connection and 4GB of storage.

When the Aakash was launched in India in 2011 it was dubbed the "world's cheapest touch-screen tablet" and was aimed at schools and colleges. The first version was not well received by critics, but an upgraded version, the Aakash 2, fared better.

Speaking at the Wired 2013 conference in October, Suneet Singh Tuli, who founded Datawind, said getting online was all about affordability.

"It's not just about creating low-cost devices, for us it's about delivering the internet," he said.

Cost offset

A partnership with the Indian government helped the Aakash 2 became one of the country's best-selling tablets.

"At the start of this year we became the largest supplier of tablet computers in India, ahead of both Apple and Samsung," said Mr Tuli.

Samsung has since taken the lead.

The company said it could afford to sell the product at such a low price as the cost of the hardware was offset with revenue from content and advertising.

"The reality is that with any consumer electronics device you get what you pay for," said Ben Wood, an analyst at research company CCS Insight.

"Any consumer buying this tablet with the expectation it will deliver a comparable experience to more expensive, yet affordable, Android tablets such as Amazon's Kindle Fire and Tesco's Hudl will be sorely disappointed."

The company, which was named as the UK's most innovative mobile company in a government competition in 2012, also has two other tablets with higher specifications advertised on its UK website.

Both Tesco and Aldi have recently joined the "low-cost" tablet market. Tesco's 7in Hudl device went on sale for £120 and Aldi sold out of the 7in £80 Medion Lifetab shortly after launching it. Argos also launched a £100 tablet known as the MyTablet.

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Facebook mugging apology 35 years on

2 December 2013 Last updated at 10:00 ET

A man who mugged someone in New York in the 1970s has apologised to his victim after finding him on Facebook.

Michael Goodman said he stole Claude Soffel's bus pass from him outside the Museum of Natural History.

After reading a post about a bagel shop closing down Mr Goodman recognised the name of his victim and sent him a message to apologise.

Mr Soffel responded to the message and said he accepted the apology.

Writing on Facebook Mr Goodman said: "You may not remember this (about 1976 or '77) but a long long time ago... trying to look like a tough guy... I walked up to you and mugged you for your bus pass.

"I have never forgotten the incident or your name. Finally I can say I'm very sorry. So once again I'm truly sorry for taking your bus pass back then."

Arrested immediately

Some time later the victim, Mr Soffel, replied.

"Clearly you're a bigger man today. I recognise your name now as well. So, apology accepted. So let us now, jointly put this in its proper place, behind us," he wrote.

Mr Goodman went on to explain that on the day of the mugging there had been undercover police nearby and he was arrested immediately.

"My father had to leave work and come and get me (I was a minor at the time) and [he] was not too happy with me to say the least," he wrote.

He expressed his surprise that the story of the apology had spread so quickly and hoped the reason for the original contact with Mr Soffel did not get lost in all the coverage.

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'Farcical' Ashes game taken off sale

28 November 2013 Last updated at 09:10 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

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The game showed bizarre artificial intelligence. Footage credit: 505 Games

The official video game for the Ashes cricket tour has been pulled from sale after gamers branded it "shameful", "embarrassing" and "farcical".

Publisher 505 Games apologised and said refunds would be given to those who had purchased the title for PC.

The game had already been delayed by several months, and will now be abandoned entirely.

One games journalist said it was "clearly unfinished" and "didn't even have an animation for catching".

Videogamer.com editor-in-chief Simon Miller said such a botched launch was unprecedented.

"They were never going to get away with it," he told the BBC.

"Usually if a game is pulled they delay it - but for them to say they can't do this at all, it must have been an absolute nightmare in development."

Continue reading the main story

We would like to extend sincere apologies to any supporters who purchased this product"

End Quote England and Wales Cricket Board

The game was made available on Valve's Steam online store on 22 November.

Future releases on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U were never given a firm date. The title had originally been scheduled for release to coincide with the Ashes test that took place this summer.

Footage of glitches in the game were quickly uploaded to YouTube. One clip, uploaded by PlanetCricket.net editor Matt Whitehorn, showed fielders in a state of confusion, dancing around and throwing the ball in random directions.

Misplaced assurances

505 Games blamed the lacklustre quality on Australian-based Trickstar Games - the developer contracted to make the game.

"The development of Ashes Cricket 2013 has been fraught with challenges almost from the outset," 505 Games said.

"The chosen developer, even with their many years of cricket game development experience, was unable to overcome the unexpected challenges that the chosen game engine threw up, even with multiple extensions to the development schedule.

"At the start of the project, 505 Games received all assurances from the developer that the engine was up to the task of creating a dynamic, cutting-edge cricket game for the modern age across multiple platforms, and unfortunately those assurances were found to be misplaced."

The company went on to apologise to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia, as well as various sponsors involved in the series.

It added: "Our deepest apologies, however, are reserved for the fans of cricket and cricket games worldwide."

Trickstar Games has not commented on the issue.

'Extremely disappointed'

The official rights to produce the game are dished out jointly by the ECB and Cricket Australia.

A spokesman for the ECB said: "The ECB entered into a licensing agreement with 505 Games, in conjunction with Cricket Australia, with the intention of producing a high quality game linked to both the recent Ashes Test Series in England and the current one in Australia.

"We are extremely disappointed that the product did not match our expectations and would like to extend sincere apologies to any supporters who purchased this product."

505 Games has said that those who purchased the game will be contacted shortly with details of how to claim the refund.

In the meantime, gamers took to social media and forums to poke fun at the product.

"I'm struggling to understand why Ashes Cricket 2013 was pulled from sale," tweeted Peter Parrish. "It's the comedy game of the year."

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Google in breach of Dutch data laws

29 November 2013 Last updated at 07:32 ET

Google breached Dutch data protection laws by combining data on users of its different services, said the Netherlands' privacy watchdog.

The decision came after a seven-month investigation into changes Google made to its privacy policy.

The changes were made in March 2012 and meant Google gathered data on people who used more than one of its services.

Google said it provided specific information to users about the data it collected on them.

In a summary of its findings, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) said that Google's policy did not do enough to specify what it was collecting data for.

Dutch data laws do allow information to be gathered about individuals but only for a particular purpose or business goal. Because Google did not set out exactly what it was doing with data it was "acting in breach" of the country's laws, said the DPA in a statement.

In addition, said the DPA, Google had not done enough to win consent from its users to grab data in the first place. The search giant had to work harder to get "unambiguous" consent from users to combine data.

Google had also failed to put in place good enough safeguards to ensure data about the same user across services was combined legitimately, added the DPA.

"Google spins an invisible web of our personal data, without consent," said Jacob Kohnstamm, DPA chairman in a statement. "That is forbidden by law."

In response, Google said it did give users detailed information about the data it was collecting and what would be done with it.

"Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services," it said in a statement. "We have engaged fully with the Dutch DPA throughout this process and will continue to do so going forward."

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US agrees to pay $50m after 'piracy'

28 November 2013 Last updated at 07:34 ET

The US government has agreed to pay $50m (£31m) after it was said to have pirated "thousands" of copies of military software.

Apptricity, based in Texas, has provided logistics programs to the army since 2004.

The company said it had discovered last year the software had been installed on many more machines than had been licensed.

The Department of Justice has not commented on the settlement.

The Dallas Morning News reported a DoJ spokeswoman had confirmed the agreement, but would not give more details.

Apptricity's software allows the military to track the movements of soldiers as well as key supplies.

It has also been used during relief efforts, most notably in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

According to court documents filed in 2012, the deal with the military meant up to 500 named users could access the software.

Presentation revelation

Apptricity later estimated that 9,000 users were accessing the program, in addition to the 500 that had been paid for.

The unauthorised copying only came to light after a US Army official mentioned "thousands" of devices running the software during a presentation on technology.

Apptricity called for $224m (£137m) to be paid to cover costs.

The settlement of $50m falls some way short - but in a statement the company said Apptricity would spend the sum on expanding the company.

"Apptricity is now incredibly energised to use the settlement resolution as a catalyst for aggressive investment in our team, our solutions and our untapped market opportunities," said Randy Lieberman, Apptricity's chief financial officer.

In recent years, the US government has stepped up efforts to combat piracy, announcing a wide-ranging strategy for clamping down in 2010.

"Piracy is theft, clean and simple," remarked vice-president Joe Biden at the time.

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Warning issued over Windows XP bug

29 November 2013 Last updated at 05:57 ET

Microsoft has issued a warning about a bug in older version of Windows that could let attackers take over a computer.

The vulnerability in Windows XP and Server 2003 is being actively exploited by cyber-thieves, it said.

It has taken the unusual step of issuing a temporary workaround that closes the loophole.

However, it acknowledged that applying this fix could break some Windows functions that people regularly use.

Security firm FireEye has been credited with finding the bug that lets an attacker piggyback on a known flaw in some older versions of Adobe Reader. Via the Adobe bug, the FireEye researchers found evidence that attackers were able to "escalate" the access they were granted to the system to eventually allow them to install their own code.

Microsoft said it was aware of "limited, targeted" attacks using the combined bug to attack PCs.

It issued advice to customers saying they should turn off some services to stop the attack working. It warned that turning off the vulnerable service could shut down some widely used networking functions including the ability to access a machine over the net or use a PC to work remotely over a virtual private network (VPN).

A comprehensive fix for the loophole is now being worked on by Microsoft and it said it hoped to include this in a future security update.

Although Windows XP has been superseded by versions 7 and 8 of Microsoft's flagship operating system, the older software is still widely used. Market research figures suggests about one-third of PCs still run XP.

People who have upgraded to the latest version of Adobe Reader will not be vulnerable to the combined attack, said FireEye.

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PlayStation 4 'starting to sell out'

29 November 2013 Last updated at 11:42 ET

Sony's PlayStation 4 was launched in the UK at midnight and is already "starting to sell out".

Fans camped overnight for a chance to get their hands on one of the consoles.

The first-come first-served launch was considered one of the only ways for people to get hold of a console before Christmas.

Amazon said customers who had not pre-ordered before 13 November would not receive a console in time for Christmas.

The UK launch comes two weeks after the PS4 was launched in the US and a week after Microsoft's Xbox One was launched worldwide. Both consoles sold over a million in the first 24 hours.

In a statement to the BBC a Sony spokesman said: "We are starting to sell out - very rapidly but [we] will continue to work with all parts of the supply chain including our partners at retail to get more, as and when we can."

The company said it was facing "unprecedented" demand and it would be setting up a stock-tracker website to help customers find "those elusive units".

The launches are seen as a fight for dominance in the key Christmas season says the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

Imran Choudhary was the first in the queue outside the venue in Covent Garden, London.

"It was always my goal to try and be one of the first people in the country to get hold of a PS4," he said.

Online scams

The chief executive of Sony's computer entertainment division, Andrew House, said: "We are trying to create a much more social and connected feeling. The whole goal of PlayStation 4 is to connect people via play, in a way that they maybe have not had before."

Customers who had placed online pre-orders with Amazon before 6 August were given the option of receiving their console on release day.

Anyone ordering after 14 November will have to wait until after Christmas for delivery, the company said.

The console was sold out on Game's website and only people who had paid a deposit when pre-ordering were guaranteed to receive a console before Christmas.

Customers have been warned to be careful of online scams involving consoles. NetNames, a company which advises brands on protecting their online reputation, said it had seen an increase in marketplace websites offering cheap consoles, sometimes in countries where they have not yet been launched.

"To avoid falling victim to the latest online scams, consumers need to remember that if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is," said NetNames product director of brand protection, Haydn Simpson.

Both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have suffered problems after their launches in the US and worldwide.

Users of the Xbox One reported that the console's disc drive made a loud noise when they tried to insert a disc and in some cases couldn't read discs at all. Microsoft responded by offering a replacement console and a free game download to anyone affected by the problem.

Sony published a troubleshooting guide after some users complained that a blue light continuously flashed on the front of the PS4 console affecting its operation.

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Amazon testing drones for deliveries

2 December 2013 Last updated at 00:10 ET

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Amazon's video shows how drone delivery might work - but is it really viable?

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is testing unmanned drones to deliver goods to customers, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos says.

The drones, called Octocopters, could deliver packages weighing up to 2.3kg to customers within 30 minutes of them placing the order, he said.

However, he added that it could take up to five years for the service to start.

The US Federal Aviation Administration is yet to approve the use of unmanned drones for civilian purposes.

"I know this looks like science fiction, but it's not," Mr Bezos told CBS television's 60 Minutes programme.

"We can do half-hour delivery... and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds (2.3kg), which covers 86% of the items that we deliver."

'Ready to enter'

Continue reading the main story

From a technology point of view, we'll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place"

End Quote Amazon

The service will be called Prime Air and comes as Amazon is looking to improve its efficiency to boost growth.

Amazon also posted a video on its website showing a drone picking up a package from one of its warehouses and delivering it to the doorstep of a customer's house.

However, it still has to wait for permission from US regulators.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the use of drones for police and government agencies, issuing about 1,400 permits over the past several years.

Civilian air space is expected to be opened up to all kinds of drones in the US by 2015 and in Europe by 2016.

Existing regulations are in place to minimise the risk of injury to people on the ground, said Dr Darren Ansell, an expert on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from the University of Central Lancashire.

"The UAVs do not currently have the awareness of their environment to be able to avoid flying into people. To deliver goods to people's homes for example in residential areas, the UAVs must overfly densely populated towns and cities, something that today's regulations prevent.

"Other things to consider are security of the goods during the transit. With no one to guard them the aircraft and package could be captured and stolen," he said.

Amazon said: "from a technology point of view, we'll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place."

The FAA was "actively working on rules for unmanned aerial vehicles", the company said, adding that it hoped the green light would be given as early as 2015.

"One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today."

Zookal, an Australian textbook rental company, announced earlier this year that it would start using drones to make deliveries from 2015 if approved by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Australian law allows the use of unmanned aircraft for commercial use.

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Bitcoin theft closes drug website

2 December 2013 Last updated at 07:04 ET

Dark net market Sheep Marketplace has shut down after $5.3m (£3.3m) in bitcoins was stolen from the site.

The site shut down over the weekend and visitors today see a notice blaming the theft for the closure.

It said the theft was carried out by a vendor on Sheep who exploited a bug in the site's software to steal the virtual cash.

Sheep Marketplace rose to prominence after the FBI shut down the illegal Silk Road marketplace in October.

Cash call

The Sheep Marketplace, like the Silk Road, was accessible via the Tor network and let people buy drugs and other illegal items through its pages.

Tor is a system that hides the identity of people visiting sites and it has also given rise to a "dark net" of sites accessible only via an associated Tor browsing program.

In the message posted to the site's opening page, the Sheep Marketplace's operator said it had shut down following the theft on 21 November of 5,400 bitcoins - £3.3m at current exchange rates.

"Your money, our provisions, all was stolen," reads the message.

The site's operator had been trying to "resolve" the situation since the theft took place but had failed and had decided to shut down the site as a result. He added that any remaining bitcoins would be distributed to members who had provided an emergency address to which they could be sent.

Many former dealers and customers who used the Sheep Marketplace took to social news site Reddit to complain about the shutdown. Many wondered why the site was left to run for a week after the theft was spotted. None of those posting reported that their bitcoins had been sent to their emergency address.

The closure of Sheep has had repercussions elsewhere on the "dark net". A site called Black Market Reloaded stopped letting new users register on 1 December saying it could not handle the influx of users caused by the closure of Sheep.

Writing on Forbes, tech reporter Andy Greenberg said the closure of Sheep was only the latest event in a "widening crisis" that was hitting drug sellers operating via the dark net. He cited the example of two other sites, Atlantis and Project Black Flag that had shut down following the FBI seizure of the Silk Road.

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France orders search engine blocks

2 December 2013 Last updated at 07:10 ET

A court in France has ordered Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to block 16 video-streaming sites from their search results.

The case was brought by five groups representing film companies, distributors and producers.

The High Court in Paris ruled the websites were dedicated to the "distribution of works without consent of their creators".

Several internet service providers were also ordered to block the sites.

The two-year legal battle involved the streaming of copyrighted content on sites including allostreaming, Fifostream and dpstream.

The court said the sites broke French intellectual property laws and were "almost entirely dedicated" to streaming content without the owners' permission.

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo must now take measures to ensure the blocked pages cannot be found in a list of search results.

ISPs, including Orange and Bouygues Telecom, will also have to prevent users from being able to access the sites.

Legitimising theft

In a statement, the groups representing the rights holders said the ruling "recognised the merits of the approach [of] forcing ISPs and search engines to cooperate with right holders in the protection of the law of literary and artistic property on the internet".

Some of the companies involved in the case told the court blocking the streaming websites was unworkable as users just created new sites under a different name and used forums to tell each other where pirated content could be found.

Google said it was disappointed with the court's verdict.

"We are committed to helping content owners fight piracy across Google's tools, and we will continue to work with them so that they can make the best use of our state of the art copyright protection tools," the company said in a statement.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents six major Hollywood studios, said it welcomed the outcome of the court case and that search engines had a responsibility to help users get a "high-quality viewing experience".

"Search engines are incredibly skilful, yet they are still leading consumers to illegal money-making sites even when the searcher is seeking legal content online," said Chris Marcich, president of MPA in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"The present situation is confusing for consumers, damaging the legal download market and legitimising copyright theft. The decision in France clearly is a step in this direction."

The search companies and ISPs have two weeks to implement blocking procedures.

In a separate case in Ireland the Irish subsidiaries of Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music will appear at the High Court on Monday.

They will ask the court to order five of the country's largest ISPs to block access to the file sharing site Kickass Torrents.

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Toq extends smartwatch battery life

2 December 2013 Last updated at 10:56 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Qualcomm has released a smartwatch that it says can last days between recharges despite the fact its touchscreen display is always on.

The US company says the "limited edition" Toq is designed to showcase its new technologies rather than compete with its other products.

Qualcomm is best known for making processors that power smartphones.

However, one analyst suggested the device was too bulky to appeal beyond a niche enthusiast audience.

The $349 (£215) gadget is being made available via only Qualcomm's website to US customers, and the company said it was "unlikely" it would sell the watch elsewhere.

Wrist action

The Toq is designed to be paired with any smartphone running Android 4.0.3 or higher.

It allows its owner to receive and send text messages, manage reminders and view other information - such as weather forecasts or stock prices - obtained via their handset.

There is no software store for the watch itself, but existing handset apps can be adapted to send details to its display and activate a vibrate function. In addition it can be used to accept or reject calls, and control what music is being played from the linked phone's library.

The company says that the watch's key innovation is its use of its proprietary Mirasol technology.

Rob Chandok, president of Qualcomm Interactive Platforms, described this as being similar to the e-ink displays commonly used by e-book readers and another smartwatch - the Pebble - but better.

Backlight

"In addition to the fact it offers colour, the refresh rate of Mirasol can be 30 frames a second, which allows you to build a touch interface," he told the BBC.

"That's tremendously important when you are trying to offer some of these experiences.

Continue reading the main story

We would consider making more if the demand were high"

End Quote Rob Chandok, Qualcomm

"In an e-ink display you can't refresh the screen fast enough to follow the finger."

Mirasol is significantly less power-hungry than the OLED tech used by Samsung's Galaxy Gear watch, meaning that unlike its rival, its screen does not have to turn itself off when angled away from the user's face to extend battery life.

Sony's Smartwatch 2 does offer an always-on LCD display - however, it requires the user to switch on a backlight in dim conditions.

Although Qualcomm suggests the Toq's lack of an on/off switch makes it the superior option, Mr Chandok acknowledged that the Toq display's graphics were not as vibrant or crisp as the alternatives.

"But we've got other versions of Mirasol in the pipeline that are going to have a better colour gamut and vibrancy," he added.

Qualcomm has also included three other technologies it has developed that it hopes will attract the attention of manufacturers:

• Stereo Bluetooth headphones, allowing synchronised left and right-channel audio without the need for a wire between the earphones and the watch
• WiPower LE - the firm's "drop 'n' charge" tech that allows the headphones and watch to be recharged by placing them on top of the same base
• AllJoyn peer-to-peer networking, a system the firm is promoting as a cross-platform way to share data between various gadgets

Mr Chandok said "tens of thousands, but not hundreds of thousands" of the watches were being produced, adding that its appeal was likely to be limited to an "early adopter" crowd.

"We would consider making more if the demand were high," he said. "But our preference is for our partners to bring out products [using the new technologies] in the next six months, and we're working hard with a few people to do that."

He declined to name the companies involved, but did reveal that in theory the Toq could be made compatible with Apple's iPhones.

"We limited the spend on what we were doing and just built the applications on the Android side," he said.

"There's nothing keeping us from doing an iOS app, we just haven't invested in that."

Unproven market

Many analysts believe the market in smartwatches and other wearable technologies - such as Google's Glass eyewear - has the potential for huge growth.

The research firm NextMarket Insights has predicted 373 million smartwatches will be shipped in 2020 compared with fewer than one million this year.

However, one expert warned that Qualcomm and others had to make major improvements to achieve such numbers.

"They are still relatively bulky in watch terms and you still have issues with recharging, which is an alien concept to people with watches," said Chris Green, an analyst at the consultants Davies Murphy Group.

"The Toq offers a little bit more than some of the other smartwatches in terms of what it can do, but it's still ultimately a basic thing offering little more than a second screen, and is quite gimmicky.

"We've still to see anyone offer a smartwatch that delivers something that we actually need."

08.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

US prepares for more online gambling

22 November 2013 Last updated at 09:39 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Online gambling has been launched in the state of New Jersey, a sign that the US may slowly be opening up to the multibillion-dollar industry.

Unlike in many countries, online gambling remains prohibited by the US government because of legislation passed in 1961.

Individual states may allow online gambling if it does not cross borders.

A test is under way in New Jersey to make sure only people within the state can play.

Until now, only two of the country's 50 states, Nevada and Delaware, allowed online gambling and heavy restrictions are in place.

Geolocation technology, which checks where a person is logging on, is typically used to lock out gamblers from further afield.

In New Jersey, people taking part in the test have suggested the restrictions have been overbearing.

One user told the Associated Press news agency that he drove 30 miles further into the state to log on, but was still getting locked out because the system failed to recognise he was within New Jersey.

Despite these troubles, gambling in the state is expected to launch in full next week, with 14 websites on offer.

State-to-state

Although the US gave the world the glitz of Las Vegas and the bright lights of Atlantic City, the federal government has for the most part rejected the online gambling industry.

Continue reading the main story

The estimates for the New Jersey [gambling market] alone run somewhere between $250m and $1.2bn"

End Quote Mark Jordan PricewaterhouseCoopers

The 1961 Wire Act means a state can decide to allow online gambling, but only if sites and players are based within its borders.

The gambling industry is pressing for the federal government to greatly relax its stance, bringing it into line with other markets, such as the UK.

"A federal law, should it come in the future, would allow for a customer in California to play poker against a citizen in New Jersey," said Mark Jordan, a director at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who has researched the online gaming market extensively.

"At the moment you cannot do that. That's prohibited. What a lot of the operators are hoping is that as the states prove this can be done, and that it's safe, that the federal laws will change to allow state-to-state gaming."

Massive potential

The UK's online gambling industry is far less restricted, Mr Jordan told the BBC, and is envied by those looking to expand into the US.

"The UK gaming industry is one of the market leaders in the world," he said. "We are very well serviced here."

The value of the UK industry is put at around the $2bn (£1.2bn) mark. The US offers staggering possibilities in comparison.

"The estimates for New Jersey alone run somewhere between $250m and $1.2bn," Mr Jordan said.

"That market has got a huge broad range - it all depends on customer uptake and the quality of the product."

Illegal sites

Despite the illegality, some websites operating offshore have been able to offer gambling to people in the US.

Technology-savvy users have got around location restrictions by using proxy servers, which can fabricate a user's location.

But difficulties in receiving winnings have meant online gambling with offshore sites is too troublesome for all but a few determined users.

Furthermore, major innovations to create more sophisticated and life-like gaming environments are mostly the preserve of the major companies that do business in the UK.

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

08.10 | 0 komentar | Read More