Parrot app-driven toys jump and fly

6 January 2014 Last updated at 01:28 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

A two-wheeled "robot insect" that can launch itself into the air, and a "miniature" flying drone are the latest hi-tech toys to be unveiled by Parrot.

The French firm is showing off its latest products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Both can be controlled using a smartphone or tablet.

The firm already makes one of the best-selling consumer drones. But one gadget expert questioned the safety of one of its latest machines.

"The Jumping Sumo sounds fun, but it really gives itself a vigorous push to make itself jump," said Stuart Miles, founder of tech news site Pocket-lint.

"You can easily see someone getting smacked in the face or more likely it wiping out the contents of a coffee table or knocking over a vase - wives and mothers will go mental."

The price and release date for both toys have yet to be announced.

Budget drone

The Jumping Sumo runs around on two wheels and can make sharp 90-degree turns because each wheel is independently controlled. But its key selling point will be its ability to jump 80cm (31.5in) into the air, allowing it to leap over gaps or on to objects above it.

A promotional video shows the machine jumping between two kitchen surfaces and then on to shelves, scattering objects in its path.

It is controlled via wi-fi, features a camera that can stream video to the connected smart device and, according to a demo seen by Stuff Magazine, can last about 20 minutes between charges.

MiniDrone is a fraction of the size of the firm's best-known flying contraption, the AR Drone 2. But like its larger sibling, it has four plastic rotors to get airborne and then uses a gyroscope, speed and height sensors to hover in one spot, fly around or flip over in the air.

Three consequences of the machine's reduced size are that its battery can only keep it flying for up to eight minutes at a time; it connects to a smart device using Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy rather than wi-fi, which reduces its range; and it cannot stream video from its camera.

It does, however, gain one ability: it can be clipped into a two-wheeled structure that allows it to roll around floors, ceilings and walls.

Another expected benefit is that it should be cheaper than the larger model, which costs about £300.

"If they can get it low enough that it's less than the remote-controlled helicopters that you see in all the gadget shops then it could do really well because it will be classed as a fun toy rather than a luxury that you'd never buy," said Mr Miles.

Other exhibitors at CES with flying-themed electronics include:

• PowerUp Toys, which is a showing a piece of kit featuring a small rotor and Bluetooth radio that attaches to a paper plane allowing a smartphone to control its speed and direction
• Rotor Concept, which is showing off quadcopters that can support GoPro cams or larger DSLR cameras
• DJI, a Chinese firm that recently launched Phantom 2 Vision, a quadcopter that allows its owner to take 14MP photos and 1080p high definition video from a distance of 300m (1,000ft)

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NSA 'developing quantum computer'

3 January 2014 Last updated at 06:30 ET

The US National Security Agency is building a quantum computer to break the encryption that keeps messages secure, reports the Washington Post.

The NSA project came to light in documents passed to the newspaper by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

The spying agency hopes to harness the special qualities of quantum computers to speed up its code-cracking efforts.

The NSA is believed to have spent about $80m (£49m) on the project but it has yet to produce a working machine.

If the NSA managed to develop a working quantum computer it would be put to work breaking encryption systems used online and by foreign governments to keep official messages secure, suggest the documents excerpted in the Post.

The quantum computer is being developed under a research programme called Penetrating Hard Targets and is believed to be conducted out of a lab in Maryland.

Processing power

Many research groups around the world are pursuing the goal of creating a working quantum computer but those developed so far have not been able to run the algorithms required to break contemporary encryption systems.

Current computers attempt to crack encryption via many different means but they are limited to generating possible keys to unscramble data one at a time. Using big computers can speed this up but the huge numbers used as keys to lock away data limits the usefulness of this approach.

By contrast, quantum computers exploit properties of matter that, under certain conditions, mean the machine can carry out lots and lots of calculations simultaneously. This makes it practical to try all the possible keys protecting a particular message or stream of data.

The hard part of creating a working quantum computer is keeping enough of its constituent computational elements, called qubits, stable so they can interact and be put to useful work.

The NSA is not believed to have made significant breakthroughs in its work that would put it ahead of research efforts elsewhere in the US and Europe. However, the documents passed to the Post by Edward Snowden suggest the agency's researchers are having some success developing the basic building blocks for the machine.

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Elite hacker 'overdosed on drugs'

3 January 2014 Last updated at 18:55 ET

A world-renowned hacker, who died in San Francisco in July, overdosed on a mix of heroin, cocaine and other drugs, a coroner's report shows.

New Zealand-born Barnaby Jack was found dead in his bed a week before he was scheduled to give a talk at an event.

An autopsy revealed that "acute mixed drug intoxication" led to his death, San Francisco's medical examiner said.

Mr Jack rose to fame after a 2010 demonstration, in which he hacked a cash machine, making it give out money.

The technique was dubbed "Jackpotting".

He had also emerged as a leading expert in the weaknesses that could be found in medical technology.

'No visible trauma'

In July, the medical examiner had provided no further details into what may have caused the hacker's sudden death.

But the autopsy report has now been made available and says Mr Jack had shown "no visible or palpable evidence of trauma".

Instead, his physical symptoms indicated an accidental overdose of heroin, cocaine, and prescription drugs.

The report said Mr Jack's girlfriend had found him lying in bed unresponsive, with "multiple bottles of beer and champagne in the garbage can".

Mr Jack's death occurred shortly before he was due to demonstrate how heart implants could be hacked at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.

He had said one technique could kill a man from 30 feet (nine metres) away.

Last year, he told the BBC about how he had discovered flaws in widely-used insulin pumps which allowed him to compromise the devices.

The hack made it possible to control them and administer a fatal level of insulin, Mr Jack said.

"My purpose was not to allow anyone to be harmed by this because it is not easy to reproduce," he told the BBC during an interview in April 2012.

"But hopefully it will promote some change in these companies and get some meaningful security in these devices."

Mr Jack's expertise and vivid demonstrations of his knowledge at events like Black Hat earned him the respect of many security professionals.

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RAF jets fly with 3D printed parts

5 January 2014 Last updated at 11:33 ET

RAF Tornado fighter jets have flown with parts made using 3D printing technology for the first time, defence company BAE Systems has said.

The metal components were used in test flights from the firm's airfield at Warton, Lancashire, late last month.

The parts include protective covers for cockpit radios and guards for power take-off shafts.

It is hoped the technology could cut the RAF's maintenance and service bill by over £1.2m over the next four years.

BAE engineers are producing the parts for four squadrons of Tornado GR4 aircraft at RAF Marham in Norfolk - with some parts costing less than £100.

Mike Murray, head of airframe integration at BAE Systems, said: "You are suddenly not fixed in terms of where you have to manufacture these things. You can manufacture the products at whatever base you want, providing you can get a machine there, which means you can also start to support other platforms such as ships and aircraft carriers.

"And if it's feasible to get machines out on the front line, it also gives improved capability where we wouldn't traditionally have any manufacturing support."

3D printing - which has been hailed as the future of manufacturing - works by building up layer upon layer of material to build complex solid objects.

In September, US space agency Nasa announced that it is planning to launch a 3D printer into space in 2014 for the first time to help astronauts manufacture spare parts and tools in zero gravity.

It is thought it could help reduce the costs of future missions.

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Samsung connects home gadgets at CES

5 January 2014 Last updated at 16:02 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Samsung has announced a system to link together a household's various gadgets, appliances, and utility controls.

It said one way the Smart Home service could be used would be to turn off a home's lights and TV if the owner said "going out" into a smartwatch app.

Samsung said the service would initially be limited to its own products, but added it planned to support third parties' devices in time.

However, one expert doubted the firm's rivals would support the idea.

"Samsung is the most aggressive competitor that exists," said Martin Garner, who covers connected homes technologies for the consultancy CCS Insight.

"So, why would another manufacturer want to use its platform?"

The South Korean firm will show off the technology at its booth at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) when it opens in Las Vegas on Tuesday,

Other companies are expected to demonstrate competing visions at the event.

Archos has already said it will show off an Android-powered Smart Home Tablet designed to control and access information from other connected devices.

LG will also show off its HomeChat system, announced last year, which allows owners to control devices by sending them SMS-based text messages.

'Grand vision'

Samsung said its new service would initially offer three features:

• Device Control: Devices including air conditioners and lights can be turned on and off via a smart device app. This can be done whether the user is at home or elsewhere, and includes support for voice commands that can also be spoken into its new TV remote controls.
• Home View: Cameras built into TVs and other appliances can be used to provide real-time video feeds to a user's smartphone, allowing them to keep an eye on their property when out.
• Customer Service: Appliances will notify the app if a part needs to be cleaned or replaced, for example sending an alert if a fridge light burns out or if a washing machine filter is clogged.

The firm said its Smart Home app would initially run on selected Samsung TVs, smartphones, tablets and its Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

It will work by sending messages to remote computer servers that in turn send data to Samsung's range of internet connected air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, robot vacuum cleaners, LED lights and digital cameras.

The company added that it intended to expand the platform to support healthcare products, door locks and unspecified "eco-home applications" at a later date, and would also release a software protocol to enable other device-makers to link up their machines.

However, bearing in mind doubts over whether competitors would co-operate, CCS Insight suggested the firm would struggle to realise its goal.

"Samsung have had the same connected home vision for a while, but their implementation of it was a bit ragged," said Mr Garner.

"In the past they had different apps for different appliances and they didn't all join up. It sounds like they've tidied that up quite nicely now.

"But the thing we worry about is that brand loyalty across appliance categories isn't strong - research suggests if you buy a Samsung TV you don't become more likely to buy a Samsung fridge rather than one from another manufacturer.

"So, just having a grand vision like this doesn't mean people will go for it."

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Evernote to focus on fixing bugs

5 January 2014 Last updated at 18:46 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Evernote has promised to focus on tackling stability problems rather than adding new features after complaints about its record-keeping apps.

Founder Phil Libin acknowledged that the release of an app for Apple's iOS 7 had proved particularly "frustrating" after bugs had "disproportionally hit longer-term customers".

His comments were prompted by a post by tech writer Jason Kincaid.

The blogger had listed a series of faults including lost sound recordings.

"Instead of building a product that is secure, reliable, and fast, it has spread itself too thin, trying to build out its install base across as many platforms as possible in an attempt to fend off its inevitable competition," Mr Kincaid wrote.

Mr Libin responded: "Jason's article was a painful and frustrating experience because, in the big picture, he's right. We're going to fix this."

Evernote allows its 80 million users to record and tag notes, photos, sounds, webpages and other content. They can then be searched and viewed via a variety of apps that run on PCs, phones and tablets as well as via the firm's website.

The California-based company makes money by charging for premium features, including an increased storage allowance.

It competes with Microsoft's OneNote, Google's Keep and Springpad, another start-up.

Privacy flaw

Mr Kincaid is an influential US journalist with more than 28,000 Twitter followers, who previously worked for the news site Techcrunch.

On Friday he documented his frustrations after Evernote's tech support had failed to solve why some of his audio recordings were becoming corrupted and others vanishing altogether.

In addition he complained that the firm's image editor Skitch had failed to synchronise captured pictures because he had not installed the latest version, while its browser extensions - used to take a copy of webpages - frequently crashed.

However, he appeared most concerned by a privacy issue that he only stumbled upon while raising the other issues.

Evernote offers a "quick note" feature, available via the menu bar of Mac computers, that allows users to jot down messages without having to switch to its main app.

Mr Kincaid discovered that text written using the facility was copied into the app's Activity Log - data used by support staff to identify problems.

The writer discovered the flaw when he decided to double-check the contents of his Activity Log after Evernote's workers had asked to see it to help them study his sound recording problems.

He said it was only his "paranoia" that prevented him from sending over some "deeply embarrassing musings" about sex that he had written earlier.

"I am alarmed that Evernote seems to be playing fast and loose with the data entrusted to it," he exclaimed.

Mr Libin denied there was an "inherent privacy problem" with Evernote.

But he acknowledged there had been a menu bar bug, which had since been fixed. He added that users would now be warned that other personal information, such as the title of their notes and their notebook names, could still be transmitted if they emailed in their Activity Logs.

"Over the next few months, we'll be releasing new versions of all the apps that incorporate our many lessons learned about what does and doesn't work," he added.

"Our new philosophy is to find every spot in our products where we've been forced to make a trade-off between doing what's simple and doing what's powerful, then rethink it so that the simplest approach is also the most powerful."

Positive feedback

One company watcher commended his quick response.

"Many start-ups face similar issues when success comes quickly and is huge, and they have to support a lot of people on their service at the same time as trying to keep ahead of their competitors," said Carolina Milanesi, from the tech consultants Kantar Worldpanel.

"Obviously you can't go out and say 'we suck', but admitting that you have had problems and are fixing them can be very important to your customers."

Mr Kincaid also appears to be impressed by Mr Libin's post.

"@plibin your candour is encouraging - looking forward to the improvements," he tweeted.

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Bedroom kit promises 'smarter sleep'

5 January 2014 Last updated at 20:46 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

The maker of a set of communicating bedroom sensors that control a changing-colour lamp claims to be able to wake sleepers at the best moment.

Withings unveiled the Aura "smart sleep" system on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

One part slides under the mattress to study the dozing owners while another screens their bedroom environment.

It is the first of more than a dozen sleep-related gadgets set to be launched at the event.

However, one expert warned it was too soon to know how much difference such devices could really make to purchasers' health.

Changing light

The Aura system consists of three parts:

• A soft padded sensor that is slipped under the mattress. The firm says it is able to record body movements, breathing cycles and heart rates.
• A device that should be placed next to the bed. This includes sensors to study noise levels, room temperature and light levels. In addition it contains a clock, a speaker that plays alarm sounds and a circular LED (light-emitting diode) lamp.
• A smartphone app that controls the system and provides feedback about the sleepers' night.

The light changes colour from blue to yellow and red across the course of the night on the basis of research that different light wavelengths can affect the secretion of hormones.

Studies have suggested that blue light stimulates melanopsin - a pigment found in cells in the eye's retina, which send nerve impulses to parts of the brain thought to make a person feel alert.

Blue light is also believed to suppress melatonin - a hormone made by the brain's pineal gland which makes a person feel sleepy when its levels rise in their blood.

By switching from blue to red light - via an intermediary yellow or white stage - this process should be reversed, encouraging a feeling of sleepiness.

Space agency Nasa has previously studied the phenomenon and has announced plans to install a light-colour changing system of its own into the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016.

Withings' system is being launched at a cost of $299 (£180).

Philips recently announced a competing product at the same price. Its Wake-up Light system mimics the changing conditions created by a sunrise, turning from red to bright yellow over the course of half-an-hour before sounding an alarm. However, it does not monitor the sleepers themselves.

Early days

Brian Blau, an analyst at the tech consultancy Gartner, said the fall in price of the components involved was encouraging companies to introduce sleep tracking systems, but that consumers should be cautious about the claims made about their benefits.

"Providing data to help you understand your sleep patterns has the potential to help you get over problems with them," he told the BBC.

"But it's an open question just how useful each individual type of device will be.

"Because they are so new and there's not a mass market yet, I think that a lot of learning and experimentation has got to be done to figure out exactly what to monitor, how best to analyse the data produced and how to give good feedback to whoever is using them."

Other sleep-related technologies on show at CES include:

• Sensible Baby - a sensor put in an infant's night clothes that tracks their temperature, orientation and movement. It sounds a smartphone app alarm if it detects a problem.
• Sleepow - a pillow that plays tones at slightly different frequencies for each ear, which its maker claims promotes relaxation.
• Basis - one of several new smartwatches that can monitor sleep data, in this case by studying the wearer's heart rate, perspiration and skin temperature.

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Bitcoin crosses $1,000 on Zynga move

5 January 2014 Last updated at 20:49 ET

The value of Bitcoin has topped $1,000 (£610) again after social gaming firm Zynga said it would start accepting the virtual currency as a payment option.

Zynga is perhaps the most significant video games firm to accept bitcoins to date.

The virtual currency has been gaining in popularity but its value has been highly volatile in recent weeks.

It peaked at $1,250 in November last year, but fell sharply in December after China restricted trade.

According to the South China Morning Post, the value of a single Bitcoin fell to as low as 2,560 yuan ($421, £258) in December, after China's move.

On Monday, a single Bitcoin was trading close to $1,030 on MTGox, one of the virtual currency's major exchanges.

Zynga follows Ouya, the Android-based video games console-maker, which began accepting payments for its hardware in bitcoins last month.

The Humble Bundle - an organisation selling a changing selection of indie games - also began accepting bitcoins in 2013.

'Expanded payment options'

Supporters of Bitcoin, which is not backed by a central bank, have been pushing for its increased usage.

Continue reading the main story

Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency.

But it may be best to think of its units being virtual tokens rather than physical coins or notes.

Like many assets its value is determined by how much people are willing to exchange it for.

To process Bitcoin transactions, a procedure called "mining" must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.

For each problem solved, one block of bitcoins is processed. In addition the miner is rewarded with new bitcoins.

This provides an incentive for people to provide computer processing power to solve the problems.

To compensate for the growing power of computer chips, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure a steady stream of about 3,600 new bitcoins a day.

There are currently about 11 million bitcoins in existence.

To receive a bitcoin a user must have a Bitcoin address - a string of 27-34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual postbox to and from which the bitcoins are sent.

Since there is no registry of these addresses, people can use them to protect their anonymity when making a transaction.

These addresses are in turn stored in Bitcoin wallets which are used to manage savings.

They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the bitcoins owned.

Its popularity and value surged last year after a US Senate committee described virtual currencies as a "legitimate financial service".

Zynga said it had tied up with BitPay, a Bitcoin payment service, to allow users to purchase virtual goods in some of its games using the facility.

"In response to Bitcoin's rise in popularity around the world, Zynga, with help from BitPay, is testing expanded payment options for players to make in-game purchases using Bitcoin," the firm said in a post on Reddit.

Concerns

Concerns over the use and risks associated the virtual currency have also grown.

Bitcoin became popular, in part, due to it being difficult to trace transactions that use it. The currency has been linked to illegal activity online.

Last month, the European Banking Authority (EBA) warned the public about the potential risks of using bitcoins.

"Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the European Union that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business," the EBA said.

China, the world's second largest economy, has also banned its banks from handling Bitcoin transactions, saying they had no legal status and should not be used as a currency.

At the same time, there have been concerns that the rise in Bitcoin's value has been triggered by speculators looking to cash in on its popularity.

Alan Greenspan, former US Federal Reserve chairman, has called the rapid rise a "bubble".

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Nvidia boasts better mobile graphics

6 January 2014 Last updated at 03:19 ET

Chip-maker Nvidia has announced a new processor destined for mobile devices that it says will offer better graphics than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The Tegra K1 features 192 GPU (graphics processing unit) cores, based on the same Kepler technology used in the US firm's high-end PC components.

It showed the chip running Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 at a Las Vegas event.

The advance is intended to help Nvidia compete against Qualcomm and Samsung for orders from manufacturers.

The company was beaten by rival AMD for the contract to make the graphics chips that power the recently released PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

Nvidia's current generation Tegra 4 mobile chips - which feature 72 GPU cores - are used by Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet, Asus's Transformer Pad Infinity hybrid, the Toshiba Excite Pro tablet and Xiaomi's Phone 3.

64-bit chip

California-based Nvidia's chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang described the Tegra K1 as offering next-generation graphics to mobile devices "for the first time" when he announced the news at the Consumer Electronics Show.

He noted that while the chip outperformed the last-generation consoles, it required just 5% of their power.

He added that it would be released in two variants: one with a quad-core Cortex A15 CPU (central processing unit) designed by the British firm ARM; the second with Nvidia's forthcoming dual-core Denver CPU, which is a customised version of ARM's more powerful 64-bit V8 architecture.

Offering a 64-bit CPU means the chip can theoretically be used in high-end mobile devices that require more than four gigabytes of RAM (random-access memory) - the upper limit that 32-bit chips can address.

Apple based the CPU of its recent A7 chip, which powers the iPhone 5S and iPad Air, on the same design.

However, Mr Huang claimed the GPU cores in its chip meant the Tegra K1 would be three times more powerful than the A7 according to the GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan test.

"It's a huge deal that Nvidia is finally putting its real talent in building high performance GPUs to use in mobile," Anand Shimpi, founder of influential component news site AnandTech, told the BBC.

"Nvidia definitely has an uphill battle when it comes to convincing device makers to pick its solutions over Qualcomm or others, but Tegra K1 is likely the best story it has ever had in mobile.

"If it can get the chips out on time and they are competitive in terms of power efficiency, they should do better than any previous Nvidia solution.

"The real impact of Tegra K1's GPU is that it raises the bar for what is expected in terms of graphics performance in mobile. And that's a very good thing."

Mr Huang told the press conference that the Tegra K1 would also be targeted at carmakers wishing to introduce processor-intensive self-drive facilities.

"You'll have a supercomputer in your car," he said.

The 32-bit version of the Tegra K1 is intended to appear in devices before mid-2014, and the 64-bit version by the end of the year.

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Google drives Android into cars

6 January 2014 Last updated at 07:17 ET

Google is teaming up with car manufacturers including Audi, Honda and Hyundai to integrate its Android operating system into their dashboards.

It would allow the apps and music on Android smartphones and tablets to work better with onboard car systems.

Rival Apple has already signed similar deals with BMW, GM and Honda.

In a blogpost, Google announced that, along with GM and Nvidia, it would form the Open Automotive Alliance to "speed up innovation" in the car industry.

"Millions of people already bring Android phones and tablets into their cars, but it's not yet a driving-optimised experience," said Patrick Brady, director of Android engineering.

"Wouldn't it be great if you could bring your favourite apps and music with you and use them safely with your car's built-in controls and in-dash display?" he added.

It is expected that Audi and Google will show off some of the systems at the CES show in Las Vegas this week.

In-car entertainment

The car was fast becoming the next battleground for technology firms, said Ovum analyst Jeremy Green.

"From car makers to the makers of car components, from the big software names to the telecoms players, everyone is piling into this market," he said.

"People spend a lot of time in their cars and Google wants people to use its services wherever they are. Searching is something you do a lot of in the car," he added.

Google already has its eyes set on drivers. As well as developing a self-drive car, it has also added a traffic layer to Google Maps, sourced from other Android users, to inform users about traffic jams and other road issues.

Last summer the search giant acquired crowd-sourced traffic app Waze.

Connected cars is likely to be a big theme at this week's CES tech show in Las Vegas.

"A lot of the focus is on entertainment, how to get Spotify and other services into your car," said Mr Green.

But he added that other apps were also beginning to launch - such as systems that sent diagnostic information directly to garages to allow mechanics to prepare for car services.

"There are also systems that allow users to remotely lock or unlock vehicles or even turn on the air conditioning before you get in the car," he said.

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