3G takes off in North Korea

26 April 2013 Last updated at 05:54 ET

Almost two million North Koreans now use the country's only 3G network, reports a blog dedicated to technology news in North Korea.

The figure has been confirmed by 3G provider Koryolink, a partnership between Egyptian telecoms firm Orascom and the North Korean government.

The service can only be used to make voice calls, and all international calls are banned.

At the start of 2012 Koryolink claimed to have one million 3G subscribers.

In January 2013 the government began allowing visitors to the country to bring in their mobile phones for the first time.

Unlike residents, they would now be able to use the 3G network for mobile internet access as well, by purchasing local SIM cards, the country said at the time.

However last month a China-based tour operator called Koryo Tours, which specialises in tourist visits to North Korea, posted a note on its website saying that 3G was no longer available for visitors.

North Koreans only have access to a very limited, state-run set of internet pages.

When Google Chair Eric Schmidt visited the country at the start of the year he urged the government to allow citizens access to the wider internet and said it would be "easy" for the 3G network to include data access.

"As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth," he wrote in a blog post.

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Judge slashes Google royalty claim

26 April 2013 Last updated at 07:16 ET

Google's claim that Microsoft owes it billions in patent payments has been rebuffed by a US judge.

In 2012, Google subsidiary Motorola sued Microsoft claiming it was owed royalties for technologies used in the Xbox console.

It sought damages of about $4bn (£2.6bn) a year but Microsoft said it would pay about $1m (£647,000).

US Judge James Robart has ruled that Microsoft should pay about $1.8m a year.

"This decision is good for consumers because it ensures patented technology committed to standards remains affordable for everyone," said David Howard, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, in a statement.

In its legal arguments, Microsoft said the patents were so essential to the computer industry as a whole that they should not pay much for them.

Motorola and parent company Google have yet to comment on Judge Robart's ruling.

The dispute was over wireless and video technologies used in the games console. The row over the technologies led Google to seek a ban on Microsoft selling its console and some other products while the dispute was unresolved.

A sales ban was briefly imposed in Germany but was soon overturned on appeal.

The row over royalties is just one part of several different patent wrangles between Google/Motorola and Microsoft.

Until January 2013 the companies were also rowing about video compression software used in the Xbox. However, this wrangle ended after Google withdrew its patent claims.

The remaining patent battle between the two is over whether Motorola has charged too much for use of its patents. This legal dispute is set to be settled in a Seattle court in the summer.

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Warning over bug in Viber chat app

26 April 2013 Last updated at 08:04 ET

Security firms are warning about a security bug in the popular Viber app for Android phones.

The flaw in the net phone application lets attackers bypass screen locks and take control of a smartphone.

The app has been downloaded more than 50 million times from Google's Play store according to statistics from the search giant.

Viber said it was aware of the flaw and was preparing to release a fix that would close the loophole.

The flaw was discovered by Vietnamese security firm Bkav and works in different ways depending on which Android phone a victim is using. In a blog post, Bkav said the attack revolved around sending several messages to a victim via Viber.

The free Viber app works like Skype and lets Android phone users send messages and talk for free. Bkav discovered that sending pop-up messages and using some other parts of the Viber app let them circumvent the lock screens that many people use to secure their phones.

"The way Viber handles to pop-up its messages on smartphones' lock screen is unusual, resulting in its failure to control programming logic, causing the flaw to appear," said Nguyen Minh Duc, head of Bkav's security division. He advised people not to let anyone else use their phone until the bug was fixed.

Continue reading the main story

You cannot expect all developers to be experts in security. We have to make tools that make it easier for them"

End Quote Martin Borrett

Viber said it was aware of the flaw and, via its support forum, gave people advice about how to avoid falling victim. It said it was working on a fix and hoped to resolve the issue soon.

The discovery of the bug is the latest in a series of security flaws that have struck apps in Google's Android store. Many cyber thieves are aiming their efforts at the phones in a bid to steal saleable information or generate revenue by getting handsets to call or send messages to premium rate numbers.

Despite this, Martin Borrett, director of IBM's European Institute for Advanced Security, said phone apps were getting more secure faster than other sectors at the same point in their development.

IBM was "optimistic" about the improving security of mobile apps because tools were emerging that made it straightforward to scan code for the bugs and loopholes that cyber thieves seek, he said.

"You cannot expect all developers to be experts in security," he said. "We have to make tools that make it easier for them.

"I think people are more switched on to the issues and are better placed to address them and have the knowledge and tools to counter these threats," he told the BBC.

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Software album reprises synthesisers

26 April 2013 Last updated at 09:40 ET

A group of software developers is launching an album of electronica music tracks made entirely from software re-creations of classic synthesisers.

They hope to raise money for maths workshops for children at Bletchley Park, and programming lessons at the National Museum of Computing.

The software mimics the sound produced by synthesisers such as the Minimoog.

The Minimoog has been used by hundreds of musicians including Rick Wakeman, Coldplay and Janet Jackson.

It was first released in 1970, replacing earlier versions designed by Dr Robert Moog, known as a pioneer of electronic synthesisers who made his first model at the age of 14. He died in 2008.

Price tag

While vintage hardware such as the Minimoog, Yamaha CS-80 and Oberheim SEM can cost hundreds of pounds, developer and amateur musician Jason Gorman says his suite of nine digital synthesisers costs just 400 euros (£337).

"Some of the album tracks use 12 or 13 virtual synthesisers. To buy one each of those I would have had to remortgage the house," he told the BBC.

"Software synthesisers have been around for a while, but it's only in the last five years that computers have become so powerful that it's possible to have a dozen running at the same time on a laptop.

"Anyone with a laptop and a bit of know-how can now make an album and distribute it around the world."

Mr Gorman says the software works by "recreating the circuitry" of classic synthesisers, while plug-ins exist to give the music that magnetic tape sound.

"Software synthesisers are good enough now that I can't tell the difference. Recreations of the amps and the effects are accurate enough," he said.

Hardware appeal

However, some of the big recording studios report that traditional hardware is still in demand among musicians despite the high cost of maintaining it.

"It's like buying a vintage car," electronics engineer Richard Barrie, who owns a broken 1970s mixing desk used by Mike Oldfield to make Tubular Bells, told the BBC last year.

"Modern cars are great but when a vintage car is working well, it's such a lot of fun."

Mr Gorman, Chris Whitworth, Brian Hogan, Lance Walton, Yuri O'Donnell and Peter Camfield produced music for the Music by Programmers compilation. They are all software developers and amateur musicians.

All the money raised by the album will go towards funding maths and programming workshops for young people.

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Delays dog UK launch of Samsung S4

26 April 2013 Last updated at 10:11 ET

Many Britons keen to get their hands on Samsung's S4 phone look likely to be disappointed.

Samsung has said that "unprecedented" demand for the handset has meant stocks were running low in the UK.

UK operators have been sending messages to many people who pre-ordered the S4, warning that the handset would reach them after the official launch date.

Some messages say people may have to wait up to a week to get hold of the new phone.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4 in mid-March and planned the worldwide launch for 27 April. Interest in the phone is high because of some of the novel technologies, such as the ability to control it with a glance, that are built in.

However, many people who pre-ordered the phone so it would arrive on launch day may now get their handset later.

"There's been unprecedented demand for the Galaxy S4 in the UK," Samsung told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours. Many people contacted the programme to report that they had received messages from operators and others retailers warning about the shortage of S4s in the UK. Some were given a delivery date of 3 May, almost a week later than originally planned.

'Stock constraints'

In its statement, the electronics company said it was "working hard to ensure that pre-orders and sales across all channels are fulfilled as soon as possible".

UK operator 3 told the BBC that Samsung was "experiencing stock constraints" and said it regretted the frustration this would cause customers. The UK's other major operators also said they were having stock problems but were looking to prioritise customers who pre-ordered over those that walk into shops to buy the gadget.

Similar delays were being reported in the US with operator Sprint delaying the opening of its online S4 store by a week to cope with demand.

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Google acquires news stream Wavii

28 April 2013 Last updated at 04:27 ET

Google has acquired news stream service Wavii for an estimated $30m (£18m).

Wavii, which was launched last year, offers customised news feed to users, summarising news stories, tweets and blogs related to their interests.

Apple had also been keen to buy the start-up. According to reports, it wanted to incorporate the technology in the Siri function of its devices.

Last month, Yahoo acquired a news summarisation app, Summly, for "dozens of millions" of pounds.

Yahoo subsequently added the facility to its iPhone app earlier this week.

Neither Google or Wavii have revealed the price of the deal, but most reports say it was about $30m.

Wavii was created by engineers who previously worked for Amazon and Microsoft and offers services via the web or as a smartphone app.

It is closely integrated with Facebook. That may change since the social network competes against Google+.

'Structured feed'

According to its website, Wavii claims that the basic idea behind its service is to summarise everything that users care about into a customised news feed on the lines of a Facebook wall.

"We knew that we really liked what Facebook did… clearly summarizing everything our friends are doing into a simple, structured feed, and adding in related events and photos," it explains.

"Why can't we get all of our news that way?

"Wavii set out to solve this by making a similar feed that covers every topic in the news you might want to follow… or as we sometimes describe it, to make Facebook out of Google," it adds.

Its connection with Facebook does not stop there. Along with allowing users to select at least 12 topics of interest it also detects their likes based on their previous Facebook activity.

It can process up to 1,000 articles per minute and then summarize the most important bits to the user via a personalized news feed.

"We do it by teaching computers to read everything that is reported or shared on the internet, and automatically produce interesting social content about it," it says on its site.

According to some analysts, the technology could be used by Google to improve search results for news stories.

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Chat app messages 'overtake texts'

29 April 2013 Last updated at 02:23 ET

Instant messaging on chat apps, such as WhatsApp, has overtaken the traditional SMS text message for the first time, according to research firm Informa.

Informa said almost 19 billion messages were sent per day on chat apps in 2012, compared with 17.6 billion SMS texts.

The shift is likely to have a big impact on mobile operators, for whom texts have been a key revenue source.

Pamela Clark-Dickson of Informa said some operators were already "seeing a decline in their messaging revenues".

According to separate estimates by research firm Ovum, more than $23bn (£15bn) of SMS revenue was lost in 2012 due to popularity of chat apps.

'Lot of life'

Informa said that it expected the messaging on chat apps to grow even further in the coming years.

Continue reading the main story

There are a few things that, I think, will keep the SMS alive for a few years yet"

End Quote Pamela Clark-Dickson Informa

It has projected that nearly 50 billion messages will be sent per day using these apps by 2014, compared with just over 21 billion traditional SMSs.

However, it said that despite the growing gap between the two, SMS will continue to remain a key player in the sector.

"There is a lot of life still in SMS," said Ms Clark-Dickson of Informa.

She explained that most of the chat apps were used by consumers who own smartphones. However, she said, there are a large number of consumers, especially in emerging and lesser developed economies, who use normal mobile phones and rely on SMS as the preferred messaging tool.

"They don't have mobile data plans, so there is an awfully big base of mobile phone users who are going to still find that SMS is the best messaging experience for them for a while," she added.

At the same time, she said that businesses were starting to look at SMS more seriously, as it can be used on all mobile phones and they do not need smartphones to use it.

"There are a few things that, I think, will keep the SMS alive for a few years yet."

Informa expects SMS revenue to grow to $127bn by 2016, from $115bn last year.

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Hack suspect 'had mobile attack van'

29 April 2013 Last updated at 07:28 ET

A Dutchman accused of mounting one of the biggest attacks on the internet used a "mobile computing office" in the back of a van.

The 35-year-old, identified by police as "SK", was arrested last week.

He has been blamed for being behind "unprecedentedly serious attacks" on non-profit anti-spam watchdog Spamhaus.

Dutch, German, British and US police forces took part in the investigation leading to the arrest, Spanish authorities said.

The Spanish interior minister said SK was able to carry out network attacks from the back of a van that had been "equipped with various antennas to scan frequencies".

He was apprehended in the city of Granollers, 20 miles (35km) north of Barcelona. It is expected that he will be extradited from Spain to be tried in the Netherlands.

'Robust web hosting'

Police said that upon his arrest SK told them he belonged to the "Telecommunications and Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Republic of Cyberbunker".

Cyberbunker is a company that says it offers highly secure and robust web hosting for any material except child pornography or terrorism-related activity.

Spamhaus is an organisation based in London and Geneva that aims to help email providers filter out spam and other unwanted content.

To do this, the group maintains a number of blocklists, a database of servers known to be being used for malicious purposes.

Police alleged that SK co-ordinated an attack on Spamhaus in protest over its decision to add servers maintained by Cyberbunker to a spam blacklist.

Overwhelm server

Spanish police were alerted in March to large distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks originating in Spain but affecting servers in the UK, Netherlands and US.

DDoS attacks attempt to overwhelm a web server by sending it many more requests for data than it can handle.

A typical DDoS attack employs about 50 gigabits of data per second (Gbps). At its peak the attack on Spamhaus hit 300Gbps.

In a statement in March, Cyberbunker "spokesman" Sven Kamphuis took exception to Spamhaus's action, saying in messages sent to the press that it had no right to decide "what goes and does not go on the internet".

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First curved OLED TVs to go on sale

29 April 2013 Last updated at 07:46 ET

LG Electronics says it will begin deliveries of curved OLED television sets next month, making it the first to offer such a product to the public.

The use of organic light-emitting diodes allows screens to be made thinner and more flexible than before.

The 55in (140cm) model will cost 15m won ($13,550; £8,725) and is initially limited to sales in South Korea.

One analyst said that being first to market gave LG "bragging rights", but suggested demand would be limited.

LG Electronics and its rival Samsung Electronics both showed off curved OLED TV prototypes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, but did not announce release dates at the time.

The two businesses are part of larger conglomerates that have separate divisions manufacturing their own television display panels. Many of their competitors buy in the components from third parties, making it harder for them to claim such an exclusive.

'Imax experience'

OLED tech is based on carbon-based materials that convert electricity into light.

While LCD screens need a backlight to illuminate their crystals, OLED does not need a separate light source.

This allows the newer type of TVs to be made thinner, lighter and more energy-efficient than before, as well as offering the advantage of deeper blacks.

In addition, the OLEDs can be fabricated onto a flexible plastic substrate rather than a rigid glass layer, making it easier to manufacture them into a curved screen.

This has allowed LG to market the new EA9800 model as being only 4.3mm (0.17in) thick, weighing 17kg (37.5lb) and offering an "Imax-cinema-like" viewing experience.

"With more than five years research behind developing the optimum curvature, the entire screen surface is equidistant from the viewer's eyes, eliminating the problem of screen-edge visual distortion and loss of detail," the company said in a press release.

Marketing tool

IHS Screen Digest, a market research firm used by television manufacturers, said it expected Samsung to follow with a similar product soon, although it noted that teething troubles with making large OLED TVs was likely to keep their prices high and output low in the near future.

The firm's senior analyst Ed Border added that, in the short term, curved TVs were likely to be more valuable as a promotional tool rather than a profit-making product to their makers.

"There's certain content which is great to see in different ways, but for a lot of what's on TV seeing it curved is not necessarily going to improve the experience that much," he said.

"But I think being curved is a good way of pushing the OLED technology to consumers and acting as a marketing tool.

"Looking forward, I think there will still be room for flatscreen TVs, especially if you are thinking of hanging an OLED screen on the wall or just want to buy a cheaper LCD set."

LG said it was now accepting orders for the curved TV set in South Korea, and would announce the timing and pricing of versions for markets elsewhere "in the months ahead".

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Snake robot teams up with rescue dog

29 April 2013 Last updated at 11:31 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

US researchers working on a snake-like robot have tested pairing it with a search-and-rescue dog.

The engineers sent two dogs fitted with harnesses containing the robot into a simulated collapsed building. The dogs then released the equipment, allowing the robot to wriggle free.

The researchers hope the technology will one day be used to locate people trapped in places inaccessible to dogs.

They are working to make the robot faster over rubble and other debris.

A video of the experiment has been posted online by Carnegie Mellon University's biorobotics lab.

Undulating joints

The test used the latest in a series of "modular snake robots" developed at the Pittsburgh-based research centre over the past decade.

The machines are designed to move through their surrounding environment by altering the angles of the links that chain together the different segments of their bodies.

This is designed to mirror the way their natural counterparts move through "lateral undulation", the synchronised muscle contractions used by snakes that allow them to appear to be gliding over the ground.

"Snake robots can use their many internal degrees of freedom to thread through tightly packed volumes, accessing locations that people and machinery otherwise cannot use," the researchers wrote.

"Moreover, these highly articulated devices can co-ordinate their internal degrees of freedom to perform a variety of locomotion capabilities that go beyond the capabilities of conventional wheeled and the recently developed legged robots."

The search-and-rescue test involved sending the dogs through a concrete pipe into the "collapsed building" at the Teex Disaster City emergency-response training centre in Texas.

They had been trained to bark when they found a point of interest. When they did so, the harnessed unlocked and deployed the robots, which then sent back a video feed via an attached wire linking the machine to its operators.

One of the problems faced by the researchers was that as the robot twisted itself about, the video also rotated, making it difficult to navigate the machine.

However, the researchers told the BBC they had since come up with a software-based fix that ensured the video would always appear the right way up, whatever way the robot's camera was angled.

Previous tests by the team have involved launching one of its snake robots up a tree, which it gripped onto.

The machine was able to do this thanks to accelerometers built into its segments, which detected when it hit the tree's bark. This then triggered a coiling action, wrapping the robot's body around a branch to prevent it falling off.

Earlier robots have successfully navigated their way through the inside of pipes, crawled into storm drains and swum through water while protected by a "waterproof skin".

Sniff and search

Carnegie Mellon University is not the only organisation seeking to equip search-and-rescue dogs with the latest technology.

Berkshire-based firm Wood & Douglas has developed a video camera designed to be strapped onto a rescue dog's head to stream live footage back to base.

"Anything that can help an earthquake or disaster situation should be welcomed," said Chris Bignell, a spokesman for the company.

"We saw such a situation in Bangladesh last week where a building collapsed and a number of levels fell on top of each other.

"Whatever would speed up the process of being able to search everywhere in such an emergency is going to be helpful.

"But the advantage of still using rescue dogs is that they are trained to sniff out victims and locate them even if they can't see them, which you wouldn't get just by using a robot."

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