Samsung in $290m payout to Apple

21 November 2013 Last updated at 21:47 ET

A Silicon Valley jury has ruled that Samsung must pay $290m (£180m) to Apple for copying iPhone and iPad features in its devices.

This verdict comes after a previous jury found Samsung owed Apple $1.05bn for patent infringement.

However, US District Judge Lucy Koh ordered a retrial because she said that jury miscalculated the amount Samsung must pay.

Samsung is expected to appeal.

Apple said in a statement: "For Apple, this case has always been about more than patents and money. It has been about innovation and the hard work that goes into inventing products that people love.

"While it's impossible to put a price tag on those values, we are grateful to the jury for showing Samsung that copying has a cost."

The jury's ruling covers 13 of the 26 Samsung devices that Apple had argued copied its technology. These are mostly older Samsung tablets and smartphones.

The $290m figure comes on top of the $550m Samsung owes Apple as a result of the initial verdict. In total, Apple has now been awarded close to $930m in the case.

Apple shares traded slightly higher on the news. Samsung closed down slightly earlier in the day.

Continue reading the main story 'Beautiful and sexy'

Samsung had argued that Apple should not have ownership over technology like what Samsung said was the "basic rectangle" shape of smartphones.

"Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy," Samsung lawyer William Price told the jury during the proceedings.

However, the jury in the courtroom - which is located just 15 minutes away from Apple's headquarters in California - thought otherwise, awarding close to the $380m Apple sought. Samsung said it owed just $52m.

Samsung was found to have infringed Apple patents, including one that allows users to "pinch and zoom" on smartphone and tablet screens.

A separate trial to determine whether or not current Samsung devices violate Apple's patents is scheduled for March 2014.

Apple has also asked Judge Koh to consider a sales ban against all of the older Samsung models that used Apple's technology.

While Judge Koh has previously refused to issue such an injunction, a separate US Appeals Court asked her to reconsider this week.

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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

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Facebook sues over sex tape spam

21 November 2013 Last updated at 06:42 ET

Facebook launches legal action against an alleged spammer suspected of posting fake links to a supposed sex tape of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.

Court papers filed in the US allege Christopher Peter Tarquini was behind the faked Facebook messages.

Users who clicked the link in the posts were redirected to sites that allegedly paid Mr Tarquini for hits.

In addition, clicking led to the posts being automatically shared with users' Facebook friends.

In its legal complaints, Facebook calls Mr Tarquini, of New Jersey, a "recidivist" spammer who has spent much of the past five years crafting computer programs that put "deceptive messages, images and links" on the site's pages.

One of the most notorious of the programs involved faked images purporting to take people to a video of actress Selena Gomez with her partner, singer Justin Bieber. Instead the link led to a pop-up message asking for access to a Facebook account that then let an app take control and spam the message out to a person's friends.

Mr Tarquini persisted in targeting the social network even after he was told that his actions violated Facebook's terms - his account was shut down and he was told never to use the site again, the papers state.

Facebook said it had a confession from Mr Tarquini that he had written the program that took over accounts and posted faked links. Now it says it wants to be reimbursed for the cost of clearing up after Mr Tarquini and for the work it has done to track him down. In addition, it wants him banned from ever using Facebook again.

Mr Tarquini has yet to file any legal response to Facebook's claims.

The action against the alleged spammer is the latest in a series of steps Facebook has taken to stem the flow of junk messages passing through the network.

In September, Facebook won a $3m (£1.8m) settlement against a spam company that sent tens of thousands of messages to users.

In addition, in 2009 Facebook was awarded $711m after winning a lawsuit against spammer Sanford Wallace.

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Banks 'hit by net traffic hijacks'

21 November 2013 Last updated at 11:27 ET

Repeated attacks on the way the net routes data have resulted in huge amounts of traffic being hijacked, a net monitoring company has said.

Renesys said it had uncovered the mass hijackings as part of its day-to-day monitoring of global net links.

Data to and from finance firms, net phone services and governments had been re-routed during the attacks, it said.

On more than 60 days in 2013, Renesys said it had seen large chunks of data go astray from its usual routes.

So far it was unclear who orchestrated the redirecting of the traffic or why it had been done, wrote Renesys technology boss Jim Cowie on a blog about the company's findings.

The companies involved had been told about what had happened to their traffic, he added.

No malice

Unlike other attacks that simply divert all traffic so it never reaches its intended destination, the incidents reported by Renesys simply changed the route the traffic took to its final destination.

In some cases this had involved traffic that should only have taken a short hop across a US city travelling halfway round the world before being delivered to its intended destination, it said.

This meant traffic had been slightly delayed but not so much targets would have noticed it had been re-routed, Renesys said.

"The traffic keeps flowing and everything looks fine to the recipient," wrote Mr Cowie.

This type of diversion is known as a "man-in-the-middle" attack because the perpetrator sits between a target and the entity it is swapping data with in order to spy on the traffic passing back and forth.

Some of the biggest hijacks in 2013 had involved traffic being redirected to net companies in Belarus and Iceland, Renesys said.

The Belarusian company has not commented on Renesys' reports, but one Icelandic internet service provider (ISP) named by the company blamed a software bug for the re-routing and said the incidents it had been involved with had not been malicious.

Renesys' discovery meant route hijacking had moved on from being a theoretical threat to a phenomenon seen "fairly regularly", said Mr Cowie, adding the "potential for traffic interception was very real."

He said the discovery was "troubling" and should prompt action by banks, credit card companies and government agencies to start monitoring their view of global net traffic to spot when hijacks occurred.

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LG promises fix for 'spying' TVs

21 November 2013 Last updated at 12:49 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

LG has admitted it continued collecting data on viewing habits even after users had activated a privacy setting designed to prevent it.

The television maker has apologised to its customers and told the BBC it would issue an update to correct the problem.

UK-based IT consultant Jason Huntley, who raised the issue in a blog, welcomed the "positive step".

Viewing information helps manufacturers deliver relevant advertising and programme recommendations.

"I hope that their future products will reflect this decision and keep customers clearly informed as to their data collection practices before they take place," he said.

LG launched an investigation in the wake of his blog, which was reported widely in the media.

'Not personal data'

"We have verified that even when this function is turned off by the viewers, it continues to transmit viewing information, although the data is not retained by the server," LG said in a statement.

"A firmware update is being prepared for immediate rollout that will correct this problem on all affected LG Smart TVs so when this feature is disabled, no data will be transmitted," it added.

Since the issue became public it has emerged that Sony's PlayStation also collects data from every Blu-ray disc that is played.

Samsung, the world's largest TV maker, is yet to respond to questions about its operations.

LG stressed that the information gathered was not personal but viewing information.

"This information is collected as part of the Smart TV platform to deliver more relevant advertisements and to offer recommendations to viewers based on what other LG Smart TV owners are watching," the firm said.

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Global launch for Microsoft Xbox One

21 November 2013 Last updated at 19:22 ET

Microsoft's Xbox One game console went on sale in the UK at midnight.

About 300 game shops and 100 Tesco stores across the UK stayed open so gamers could buy the device.

Microsoft held launch events in London, New York and Los Angeles to mark the arrival of the successor to the Xbox 360.

The launch comes a week after the US launch of Sony's PlayStation 4 and sees the two start their fight for dominance during the key Christmas season.

Continue reading the main story

Both consoles seem destined to do well - but neither is likely to replace all the other boxes under the TV in most homes. Whatever the industry may tell you about the ever widening audience for games in all their forms, many people just won't want an Xbox or Playstation controller to be their route into a night in front of the telly. And having tried the Xbox One's voice control, it is clever, but in my view not quite intuitive enough to persuade an older person like me to throw away the remote control.

No advantage

Although the PS4 launched first in the US, it will not go on sale in the UK and Europe until 29 November. By contrast the Xbox One went on sale in 13 countries on Friday, 22 November. Neither console is set to be available in Japan until 2014.

Marc Whitten - and chief producer officer, Xbox One, told the BBC Microsoft had experienced an unprecedented number of pre-orders for the Xbox, far exceeding those of the Xbox 360. "I feel very very good about where we are. Today's launch is just the beginning of an amazing journey."

Launches are typically staggered so console makers keep manufacturing costs down, to give makers time to translate content into different languages, and to ensure deals covering what media can be seen on the gadget are in place.

In the UK the Xbox One is expected to cost about £429 (514 euros) and the PlayStation 4 £349 (418 euros).

The more expensive Xbox includes a bundled Kinect sensor that does a better job of spotting movement and hearing sounds than the first generation of the device.

Microsoft also has ambitions for its console to act as a hub for anything seen on a TV, and the device can act as a controller for cable and satellite set-top boxes. Microsoft's Skype net calling system is also integrated into the device.

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Xbox One chief producer officer Marc Whitten says the console is just at the beginning of its journey

The technical specifications of the two devices are broadly similar and the graphics on games are much improved on the preceding generation of consoles. Experts suggest that Sony's PS4 has the edge on graphics and early reports revealed that two games - Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts - would play in higher resolution on the PS4.

Both consoles attempt to round out the social side of gaming, giving owners tools and services that let them play with or against friends or find opponents online.

"If history has anything to say about it, core gamers tend to favour Sony," said Brian Blau, research director at analyst firm Gartner. "There is nothing I've seen to say that one platform is going to have an advantage over the other."

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The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones reports on the gaming battle between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Rob Crossley, associate editor of ComputerAndVideoGames.com, called Microsoft's build up to the launch "luckless and calamitous" because it had had to drop features, such as restrictions on used games, that had been widely criticised.

"With Sony's PlayStation 4 being such a similar device and £80 cheaper, Microsoft will face significant challenges convincing shoppers that Xbox One is the smarter investment," he added.

In 2013, Microsoft and Sony face a very different games market than that seen when the Xbox 360 and PS3 were launched. The past few years have seen the rise of indie and casual games, a renaissance in PC gaming and the emergence of rivals such as Valve, which is preparing its own gaming gadget.

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Simon and Tim test out the new Sony and Microsoft consoles

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Web inventor in surveillance warning

21 November 2013 Last updated at 19:24 ET

Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee has warned that the democratic nature of the net is threatened by a "growing tide of surveillance and censorship".

The warning came as he launched his World Wide Web Foundation's annual web index report, tracking global censorship.

It suggests that 94% of the countries in the index do not adequately monitor government internet interception.

Thirty per cent of countries block or filter political content, it indicates.

The report concludes that the current legal framework on government snooping needs urgent review.

"One of the most encouraging findings of this year's web index is how the web and social media are increasingly spurring people to organise, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world," said Sir Tim.

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"But some governments are threatened by this, and a growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy.

Bold steps are needed now to protect our fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and association online," he added.

'Appalling and foolish'

Sir Tim has been an outspoken critic of government surveillance following the revelations from whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

He described attempts by the spy agencies to crack encryption as "appalling and foolish".

He has previously said that the checks and balances to oversee GCHQ and its US counterpart, the National Security Agency (NSA), have failed.

It is a view shared by digital forensic expert Professor Peter Sommer.

"GCHQ is a spying agency. It needs to produce good results. But how far anyone understands the techniques they are using is more unclear."

"The things they are doing need a ministerial warrant but the ministers have a lot of other things to do. Did they have sufficient understanding of the technology? Who is doing the risk analysis?"

A Cabinet Office spokesperson told the BBC: "The success of our intelligence agencies relies on secrecy. But secrecy does not mean lack of accountability. The United Kingdom's intelligence agencies operate under the tightest of controls and oversights.

"Our agencies only act in line with their strict legal mission, above all keeping people safe from harm.

"There is a triple lock to ensure every action is lawful, necessary and proportionate - interception underpinned by Ministerial warrants, world class internal controls and three safety nets of outside scrutiny by the Interception Commissioner, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal."

Measure of influence

The report compiled by Sir Tim's World Wide Web Foundation ranks countries in terms of the social and political impact of the web.

Sweden tops the annual web index, ahead of Norway, and followed by the UK, US and New Zealand.

It found that in 80% of the countries studied, the web and social media played a role in mobilising the public on a range of issues.

It also found that rich countries did not necessarily rank higher in the index. The Philippines, with a per-capita income of $4,410 per year, is more than 10 places ahead of Qatar, the world's richest country.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia is outperformed by 10 sub-Saharan African countries, and Switzerland, the third wealthiest nation, is only one place ahead of Estonia.

But in poorer countries the digital divide is growing ever more marked, according to the report.

"Ten years after world leaders committed to harnessing technology to build an inclusive information society, parents in 48% of countries can't use the web to compare school performances and budgets, women in over 60% of countries can't use the web to help them make informed choices about their bodies, and over half the population in developing countries can't use the web at all," said Anne Jellema, the foundation's chief executive.

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Google patents social media helper

22 November 2013 Last updated at 07:08 ET

If maintaining your presence on social media is becoming a burden, Google may be able to help.

The search giant has patented plans for software which slowly learns how you react on social networks.

The software can mimic your usual responses to updates and messages from friends and relations to help cope with the daily data deluge.

The software also analyses continuing interaction and flags messages that demand a more personal response.

Life lessons

"The popularity and use of social networks and other types of electronic communication has grown dramatically in recent years," wrote Google software engineer Ashish Bhatia in the patent. "It is often difficult for users to keep up with and reply to all the messages they are receiving."

In a bid to help people cope Mr Bhatia envisions a sophisticated system that collects information about all the different social networks someone has joined. This logs what they do and notes how they respond to the different types of messages, notifications, status changes, videos, images and links sent to them.

The system analyses these responses so it can eventually start making suggestions of its own that, ideally, should be indistinguishable from those of an actual person.

The suggested system should also be flexible enough to cope with many different types of event, use data culled from other interactions with a person and shape the responses to match the style demanded by different social networks. For instance, suggested responses to events on professional social networks should be more formal than those on services where someone interacts with friends and family.

Instead of writing every response individually or clicking buttons to "like" or forward messages, the software would generate suggested responses which a person could simply agree to be posted on their behalf.

Despite its potential sophistication, examples provided in the patent suggest it still needs refinement.

In response to learning that an acquaintance called David has changed jobs, the system might suggest: "Hey David, I am fine, You were in ABC corp for 3 years and you recently moved to XYZ corp, how do you feel about the difference, enjoying your new workplace?"

Social media technologist Hadley Beeman said the subtleties of human interaction might undermine the ability of Google's suggested system to pick out what matters most and flag it appropriately. A calendar appointment for lunch might look unimportant but loom large in someone's life for reasons the software cannot spot.

"The problem is that the 'important stuff' (or the trivial) depends on what our relationship is," said Ms Beeman. "If I had lunch with you, for example, then your message about hating that terrible sandwich is actually relevant to me."

Prof Shaun Lawson from the University of Lincoln who studies social computing wondered who would be compelled to use such a service.

"Are we really so concerned with posting messages to every friend or follower that we feel compelled to have to automate that process?" he said.

Google's system seemed to underline the common misconception that social media was reducing contact between people, he said.

"The fabulous thing about social media is the reverse," said Prof Lawson. "It facilitates human-to-human interaction in ways that were impossible even a few years ago."

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Danish trial for Pirate Bay founder

22 November 2013 Last updated at 08:01 ET

Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Warg will be deported next week to Denmark to face charges of stealing confidential data.

Mr Warg is being deported from Sweden where he is serving a one-year jail sentence for a separate hack attack.

Danish police want to talk to him about a hack attack on computers holding police files.

Last month, Mr Warg wrote to the Swedish government urging it not to let him be extradited.

In his letter he said it had been shown that his computer, which was used in the Danish hack, could have been controlled remotely and the attack carried out by someone else.

The Swedish government threw out his request and he is now due to be transferred to Denmark on 27 November.

In Denmark, Mr Warg is suspected of being involved with an attack that took place between April and August last year on computers run by services company CSC. Mr Warg and a Danish accomplice are accused of downloading lots of files from CSC mainframes that included documents about wanted criminals.

Mr Warg was deported from Cambodia to Sweden to answer charges relating to his involvement with the notorious Pirate Bay file-sharing site. Once in Sweden he had to face separate charges relating to an attack on IT firm Logica. An initial two-year sentence for this hack attack was reduced to a year on appeal.

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Opposition to mobile chat on planes

22 November 2013 Last updated at 11:25 ET

A proposal to allow mobile phone calls during commercial flights has met opposition.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has suggested that passengers should be allowed to make calls once a plane reaches 10,000 feet.

But one petition against the idea said it would "make an already cranky, uncomfortable travel experience exponentially worse".

Calls would not be allowed during take-off and landing.

But the rule change would be the latest relaxation of guidelines on device use at airports and on aircraft.

Last month the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would permit passengers to use gadgets such as tablet computers and e-readers during take-off and landing.

That decision was made after a review committee determined that most commercial aircraft can tolerate radio interference signals from such devices.

The technological ability to make calls in the air has been possible for some time, but it has not been widely adopted, mostly because of regulations not being updated.

Virgin Atlantic announced it would allow passengers to make calls on its flights between London and New York. However, calls would have to be ended within 250 miles of US airspace.

'Inane'

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said it was time to bring regulations about making calls up-to-date as well.

"Modern technologies can deliver mobile services in the air safely and reliably, and the time is right to review our outdated and restrictive rules," he said in a statement.

He heralded "new mobile opportunities for consumers".

But others do not see it that way. The Washington Post reported that "hundreds" of emails had been sent to an FCC commissioner after the announcement.

The petition, posted on the White House website, began building momentum on Friday morning.

"During flights, passengers are forced into a restricted space, often for long periods," the petition reads.

"Forcing them to listen to the inane, loud, private, personal conversations of a stranger is perhaps the worst idea the FCC has come up with to date."

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Robot cow-herder a hit with farmers

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:50 ET

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Is it a man? Is it a dog? No, it's Rover, the robotic cow-herder

Robots could be used in the future to round up cows on dairy farms, according to researchers.

A four-wheeled device, known as Rover, has been tested by a team at Sydney University. It was used to move a herd of cows from a field to a dairy.

Researchers were amazed at how easily cows accepted the presence of the robot.

They were not fazed by it and the herding process was calm and effective, they said.

Because the robot moved in a steady manner it allowed cows to move at their own speed which was important in reducing lameness among cattle, Dr Kendra Kerrisk, dairy researcher and associate professor, told the BBC.

Robots are already used in the milking process but the team wanted to see if they could be used in other areas of dairy farming.

The robot was adapted from one that was already being used to monitor fruit and trees on farms. A team at Sydney University's Centre for Field Robotics modified the robot so that it could be put in a field with cows in order for the researchers to gather data on robot-bovine interaction.

The prototype needs to be operated by a human but it's hoped that in the future a version can be developed that will be fully automated.

Extremely excited

As well as herding cows a new version could also collect information useful for farmers.

According to the research team, the robot could be used at night to move slowly through the maternity paddock monitoring cows that are due to calve. It could also be used to gather data on soil and detect problems with electric fences.

"The research is in its very early stages but robotic technologies certainly have the potential to transform dairy farming," said Dr Kerrisk.

"When we have discussed this concept with farmers they have been extremely excited and we have had a flurry of calls and emails asking how they can get hold of one," she added.

The robot could also cut down the number of accidents involving humans on farms. Most dairy farmers in Australia use quad bikes to round up their cattle and they are one of the leading causes of injury. The team hopes that by using the robot to do the job instead, accident rates could fall.

Since demonstrating the robot at a dairy symposium in Australia earlier in the year the team has secured funding to develop Rover the robot, mark II.

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Police warn of 'ransom' spam

15 November 2013 Last updated at 13:19 ET

Tens of millions of UK internet users could be at risk from "ransom" email spam seemingly sent from financial institutions.

The email has an attachment that looks legitimate but is malware that encrypts computer files.

If the attachment is opened, a displayed countdown timer demands a ransom to decrypt the files.

Small to medium businesses seem to be the target and the National Crime Agency says there is significant risk.

Lee Miles, deputy head of the National Cyber Crime Unit, says: "The NCA are actively pursuing organised crime groups committing this type of crime. We are working in co-operation with industry and international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible and reduce the risk to the public."

The malware installs a piece of "ransomware" called Cryptolocker on computers running the Windows operating system. The ransom demands that the user pay two Bitcoins, a virtual currency, that would be worth £536 to release the decryption key.

Reports suggest that people who have paid the ransom have not had their files decrypted and it has been impossible to restore encrypted files.

No guarantee

The NCA said it would never endorse the payment of a ransom to criminals and warns that there is no guarantee that the people behind the demand would honour the payments.

An NCCU investigation is seeking to identify the source of the email addresses used.

Computer users are being warned not to click on any suspicious attachments, to have updated antivirus software and to regularly back up files. If a computer is infected the advice is to disconnect it from the network and seek professional help to clean the device.

The NCA said that anyone infected with this malware should report it via actionfraud.police.uk.

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Europe allows full flight gadget use

14 November 2013 Last updated at 05:57 ET

Europe is relaxing rules about the use of electronics during flights, paving the way for devices to be used during take-off and landing.

Currently smartphones, tablets and other devices can be used only while a flight is in the air.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published guidelines saying use of such devices should now be allowed during take-off and landing.

It follows the US bringing in similar rules last month.

The EASA stipulates that devices must be used in "airplane mode", meaning passengers cannot use voice or text services.

This is due to the possibility of radio interference with flight equipment.

The changes will apply to aircraft operated by European airlines and are likely to be introduced at the end of the month.

"This is a major step in the process of expanding the freedom to use personal electronic devices on-board aircraft without compromise in safety," said Patrick Ky, EASA executive director.

Explaining the US change of heart, the Federal Aviation Administration said that recent reviews had determined that most commercial aircraft can tolerate radio interference signals from such devices.

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Hot HP Chromebook 11 taken off sale

14 November 2013 Last updated at 06:22 ET

All HP Chromebook 11 laptops have been removed from sale following reports the devices' chargers had been overheating.

The decision to halt sales came from HP and Google after owners complained about broken chargers.

The two companies have also issued advice to existing owners telling them not to use the charger that came in the box with the computer.

Instead, they said, owners should use third-party chargers to keep the gadget going.

US reports suggest the machines have been taken off shelves at retailer Best Buy and the gadget can no longer be found in the Google, HP and Amazon online stores.

In a joint statement, Google and HP said they had received a "small number" of reports from users saying their original charger had been damaged by overheating.

The companies said they were now looking into the problem to see what was making the chargers overheat. They apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused by the faulty chargers and added that more information would follow shortly.

The statement said that micro-USB chargers that work with other tablets and smartphones should be used instead of the bundled charger. Technology news site Ars Technica noted that this advice would mean that Chromebooks took much longer to charge than they would with the original charger.

HP's Chromebook 11 was released in early October 2013 and cost about £230 in the UK.

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McAfee faces legal action over death

14 November 2013 Last updated at 07:28 ET

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee is being sued by the family of Gregory Faull, his neighbour in Belize who was found shot dead last November.

The legal action alleges Mr McAfee either committed the murder himself or ordered the killing.

Mr McAfee went on the run after the death, but said he had "no connection whatsoever" with the killing.

Belize has classed him as a "person of interest" but has never named him an official murder suspect.

Two of Mr McAfee's former girlfriends are also named in the action as "possible agents" in Mr Faull's death.

Gary Roberts, a Florida-based lawyer acting on behalf of Mr Faull's daughter, is seeking a jury trial and more than $75,000 (£46,800) in damages from the "wrongful death lawsuit".

Mr McAfee said that he had not received the legal papers yet, but would not fight a subpoena to give out-of-court testimony ahead of a possible trial.

"Would I answer questions in a deposition relative to the murder? Of course, absolutely. That's the requirement of law," he told the BBC.

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John McAfee spoke to BBC reporter Leo Kelion last month

But he added that he planned to file a counter-claim for defamation of character and personal injury.

"Why would they wait until I started a new company and have had all the press for the past month-and- a-half?" he asked.

"When I came back from Belize there was a great to do about the fact that I everything I owned I had left in Belize and that I was virtually broke.

"Recently I have stated that I now have money and am funding the development of a new company, and that I don't even need venture capital funds."

Mr Roberts said the case was currently being delayed by his firm's inability to deliver the paperwork.

"[We] are presently attempting to serve Mr McAfee with the complaint that has been filed in Federal Court," he said.

"However, process servers and investigators have been unable to locate him. If Mr McAfee is willing to be deposed in this case, then we respectfully ask him to accept service of this complaint so that this lawsuit can move forward."

Dead dogs

Mr Faull, an Orlando sports bar owner, had moved to live in his Belize holiday home on the Caribbean island of Ambergris Caye following his divorce.

He was found face-up with a bullet in his head by his housekeeper on 11 November 2012.

The previous month he had filed a complaint with the local mayor against Mr McAfee, alleging that the entrepreneur's dogs were "causing an unsafe environment for residents and tourists alike" and that his neighbour's security guards were also scaring people.

In the days following the filing, Mr McAfee found two dogs, which belonged to one of his girlfriends, poisoned, forcing him to put them down.

However, Mr McAfee has said he was not aware at the time of Mr Faull's complaint and had not suspected him of being the person responsible for feeding the animals a contaminated tortilla.

"I barely knew Gregory Faull," he told the BBC in an interview last month.

"The entire five years I was there, I'd said maybe 15 words to him.

"He did not like my dogs and the past two occasions I had seen him walking on the beach he complained. But so did everybody.

"There was no ongoing argument. Yeah, he was mad about my dogs. Maybe as I'm beginning to think now, maybe he was the one who poisoned them. At the time I certainly did not believe that."

Mr McAfee added that he went into hiding, eventually crossing the border illegally into Guatemala, not because he had been linked to the murder, but because he feared the Belizean authorities would take advantage of the case to keep him "in jail forever" since he had repeatedly accused them of corruption.

Mc McAfee - who has now returned to the US and lives in in Portland, Oregon - offered a $25,000 reward last December for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Mr Faull's murder.

This was dismissed as a "hollow gesture" by the family.

"While continuing to grieve, the Faull family intends to pursue all possible avenues to ensure the individual or individuals responsible for the death of Gregory Faull are brought to justice," said Mr Roberts in a statement released to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

"They are confident that with the tools available in civil discovery cases in the US Federal Courts and with the information obtained in the criminal investigation in Belize, the true facts will come to light as to how and by whom Gregory met his end.

"In this manner justice can be served in both the criminal court in Belize and the civil court in the US."

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PS4 and Xbox One ready for battle

14 November 2013 Last updated at 19:04 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

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Marc Cieslak takes a hands on look at Sony's new PlayStation 4 console

The release of the PlayStation 4 in North America - it goes on sale in Europe and Latin America in a fortnight - is seen by many as the true dawn for next-generation console gaming after the troubled launch of Nintendo's Wii U.

Early reviews of Sony's new machine have praised its graphics for looking "cinematic"; commended its latest DualShock controller's added touchpad and redesigned thumbsticks and triggers; and remarked that the console is much quieter and easier to navigate than the seven-year-old original PS3.

In a week's time Microsoft fires back with the launch of the Xbox One.

It will be more expensive, but includes a more advanced body-movement sensor in the Kinect; better voice recognition; and a more ambitious bid to take charge of your living room thanks to its ability to control satellite and cable TV set top boxes.

The revelation that two cross-platform launch titles - Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts - both feature higher resolution graphics on the PS4 than Xbox One, has played to Sony's favour.

But at this point the Xbox's exclusive games, including Forza Motorsport and Titanfall, are creating more positive buzz on tech sites than Sony's Killzone Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son.

The releases come at a critical time for both firms.

Sony recently slashed its full year profit forecast by 40%, surprising investors. Chief executive Kaz Hirai would like the PS4 to mirror the healthy sales of its smartphones, rather than its struggling TV unit.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has still to declare who will replace Steve Ballmer. The next chief executive has already been urged to "get rid" of the Xbox unit by the fund manager looking after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's $2bn (£1.2bn) stake in the business.

To mark the consoles' births the BBC invited five experts for their different perspectives on the challenges they face.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Never before has gaming had two such stand-out consoles to choose from"

End Quote

Brian Crecente, Polygon

This month marks the beginning of a new generation of gaming. And for many gamers the question isn't whether to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One - that's a given - but which to buy.

Sony and Microsoft have for years fought tooth-and-nail over the same growing audience of gamers.

They've done so by leap-frogging one another with technology, new bells-and-whistles, more powerful systems, new ways to play. But that's not the case this time around.

With this latest next-generation there is a great schism between the two.

Where Sony's PlayStation 4 delivers an intensely focused gaming machine, Microsoft's Xbox One promises an entertainment hub, a system just as capable of controlling your cable box as it is delivering a new game for you to play.

Continue reading the main story

Brian Crecente

• News editor at video games news and reviews website Polygon
• Previously a crime reporter before switching focus. He has written for Wired, Playboy, Stuff, Variety and Kotaku

The PlayStation 4 is the evolution of gaming, the product of the best bits of learning gleaned from three generations of systems.

It is refined. It is powerful. But it's also lacking in any single stand-out gaming experience at launch.

And the Xbox One? It takes more chances, reaches for a broader range of experiences to deliver.

And in its variety it might, at least initially, miss some of the perfection of the PlayStation 4.

Never before has gaming had two such stand-out consoles to choose from and never before has there been more reasons to wait and see how both deliver on their promises.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

There still seems to be a lot of forms to fill in"

End Quote

Daniel Kaplan, Mojang

Both Microsoft and Sony talk about the new platforms as indie friendly and it will be interesting if that is the case.

So far, for us it has been quite good but what I'm hearing from other developer friends, who are not in the same fortunate position of having had a bestselling game like Minecraft, is that there still seems to be a lot of forms to fill in to gain access to software development kits and tools.

The idea that you need a separate development kit - a special version of the console that can be very expensive - to create games for the PS4 and Xbox One is quite bad for indies since a lot of them usually have very little cash at hand, so removing as much friction as possible would be ideal.

Microsoft has said that every standard Xbox One will work as a dev kit at some point, however not from launch.

Continue reading the main story

Daniel Kaplan

• Business developer at Stockholm-based games developer Mojang
• The firm has sold about 45 million copies of its most famous game Minecraft, which has yet to launch on the PlayStation platform

There is really no need of all of this behaviour since both Google Play and Apple's App Store have shown that you can create open markets for all kinds of developers with the same deal for everyone.

Giving more or less everyone the same opportunity is important for the indies.

It allows their developers to focus their time on creating games and not on filling out forms describing different features or ordering dev kits for a lot of money that may not ultimately bear fruit for them anyway.

With that being said, both Microsoft and Sony are changing and I'm really looking forward to what will happen in the future.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The maths works out to Sony having about a 40% peak potential graphics performance advantage"

End Quote

Anand Shimpi, AnandTech

For the first time the guts of both the Xbox and PlayStation are very similar - their processor and memory hardware vary in performance but not capabilities.

Gone are the days when Sony's machine was substantially more difficult to program for than Microsoft's.

In fact, the PlayStation 4 has appreciably more graphics horsepower under its hood than the Xbox One, there's no way around that fact.

Both firms have licensed the same GPU (graphics processing unit) architecture, but Sony's chip has 1152 "cores" compared to Microsoft's 768.

Microsoft runs its cores at a slightly higher speed, but the maths works out to Sony having about a 40% peak potential graphics performance advantage.

The real question is whether this translates into a substantially better gaming experience.

Continue reading the main story

Anand Shimpi

• Launched the AnandTech news site in 1997
• Specialises in explaining how computer components work in an easy-to-understand manner without being too superficial

Typically developers building one game for multiple platforms target the lower performing one, and may offer some additional perks to the faster one - smoother frame rates, slightly improved visuals.

I suspect that's what will happen this generation. At worst you'll see parity between the two consoles, but at best you'll see developers give PS4 versions of cross-platform games a slight edge.

Where things get really interesting is what happens if a developer chooses to develop exclusively for the PS4 and go all out.

Here's where Microsoft believes its other strengths - Xbox Live, developer relations, the Kinect sensor - will give it the advantage. Microsoft is basically counting on everything else being so good that developers would rather give it their exclusives.

Sony appears to have built the faster gaming machine, while Microsoft has built a system that might appeal to a broader audience and perhaps consume less power.

There are strengths in both platforms - anyone hoping for a clean sweep will likely be disappointed.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

If I walk in to the room, can I walk into your game, too? "

End Quote

Margaret Robertson, Hide&Seek

When the PS3 and Xbox 360 launched, there was no iPhone or Android. There was no Farmville, no Zynga, no Temple Run, no Plants vs Zombies.

Gaming was owned, overwhelmingly, by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. And that meant it was also owned, overwhelmingly, by your TV. And TV games have some very particular properties.

TV games are public - everyone else in the house can see that you're playing and what you're playing.

They're comfortable for long play sessions, and a big screen and big speakers lend themselves to big, epic stories and spectacle.

Long, spectacular play sessions means it's worth scheduling with friends to play online.

TV gaming is all kinds of great, but I've often heard from people who reject it - women especially - that they aren't rejecting the content, but the format.

Continue reading the main story

Margaret Robertson

• New York-based president of Hide&Seek, a video games developer
• Previously acted as a consultant to several console games developers and edited Edge magazine

Many people don't have lives that support them owning the TV for four hours on a worknight, diving deep into The Last Of Us instead of finishing a report for the morning or packing the kids' lunchboxes.

And in the meantime, we've discovered completely different patterns of play.

Apple now owns gaming in a way that the big console manufacturers used to. We're used to private, short-session, interstitial, soundless games. Arcade treats and abstract puzzles.

As the new consoles face their perennial challenge of attracting a wider market - more female players, more older players - this feels to me like their critical battle ground.

Above and beyond producing more varied game content to appeal to more people, can they adapt to the new patterns of consumption that have emerged since the last generation?

How can console games capitalise? More short games. More weird games. More games that people can play together on the sofa.

If I walk in to the room, can I walk into your game, too?

Last time the console giants brought out new machines, they're challenge was: "Can we turn people who aren't gamers into gamers?"

Now their challenge is: "How can we convert phone gamers to the console experience."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The banner games on the Xbox One and PS4 will be the big budget action-oriented titles"

End Quote

Michael French, MCV magazine

Shop shelves are bulging with games machines, and it would be natural to think that the success of any new launch depends on cannibalising the others' market share.

But I think that many, if not all, the platforms can survive.

Smartphone and tablet games are more often than not about shorter play sessions and free-to-play business mechanics and thus appeal to a more casual gamer.

You can see proof of this in the success of Candy Crush from UK-based King.

On console, you have three major players in Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

The banner games on the Xbox One and PS4 will be the big budget action-oriented titles: the Call of Dutys and Grand Theft Autos of the world.

Continue reading the main story

Michael French

• Publisher of MCV, a video games news magazine targeted at those working in the industry
• Believes it is only a matter of time before Nintendo releases its own tablet

The fact GTA 5 was the biggest entertainment launch of all time on the machines' predecessors indicates a real demand still exists for "stereotypical video games" at their best.

Sales of the Wii U may have been disappointing so far, but as a software-maker Nintendo is still the one to beat.

Behind-the-scenes action to speed up releases should mean the machine soon has a stronger line-up of exclusive titles.

Then you have PC. This is actually the fastest growing platform for games in the UK thanks to digital distribution and the fact that the wide variety of machines on offer means you can get all types of content.

Valve's Steam Box plans to help cement this format and develop it further, not disrupt it.

I would wager that most players these days have access to software via a mix of platforms both in the home and in their pocket.

When it comes to the crunch, if platforms do start falling away it will likely be down to the manufacturers' own mistakes, rather than the actions of their rivals.

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Quantum 'world record' smashed

14 November 2013 Last updated at 21:16 ET By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News

A fragile quantum memory state has been held stable at room temperature for a "world record" 39 minutes - overcoming a key barrier to ultrafast computers.

"Qubits" of information encoded in a silicon system persisted for almost 100 times longer than ever before.

Quantum systems are notoriously fickle to measure and manipulate, but if harnessed could transform computing.

The new benchmark was set by an international team led by Mike Thewalt of Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

"39 minutes may not seem very long. But these lifetimes are many times longer than previous experiments"

End Quote Stephanie Simmons Oxford University

"This opens the possibility of truly long-term storage of quantum information at room temperature," said Prof Thewalt, whose achievement is detailed in the journal Science.

In conventional computers, "bits" of data are stored as a string of 1s and 0s.

But in a quantum system, "qubits" are stored in a so-called "superposition state" in which they can be both 1s and 0 at the same time - enabling them to perform multiple calculations simultaneously.

The trouble with qubits is their instability - typical devices "forget" their memories in less than a second.

There is no Guinness Book of quantum records. But unofficially, the previous best for a solid state system was 25 seconds at room temperature, or three minutes under cryogenic conditions.

In this new experiment, scientists encoded information into the nuclei of phosphorus atoms held in a sliver of purified silicon.

Magnetic field pulses were used to tilt the spin of the nuclei and create superposition states - the qubits of memory.

The team prepared the sample at -269C, close to absolute zero - the lowest temperature possible.

When they raised the system to room temperature (just above 25C) the superposition states survived for 39 minutes.

What's more, they found they could manipulate the qubits as the temperature of the system rose and fell back towards absolute zero.

At cryogenic temperatures, their quantum memory system remained coherent for three hours.

"Having such robust, as well as long-lived, qubits could prove very helpful for anyone trying to build a quantum computer," said co-author Stephanie Simmons of Oxford University's department of materials.

Continue reading the main story

Future directions in computing

"39 minutes may not seem very long. But these lifetimes are many times longer than previous experiments.

"We've managed to identify a system that seems to have basically no noise."

However she cautions there are still many hurdles to overcome before large-scale quantum computations can be performed.

For one thing, their memory device was built with a highly purified form of silicon - free from the magnetic isotopes which interfere with the spin of nuclei.

For another, the spins of the 10 billion or so phosphorus ions used in this experiment were all placed in the same quantum state.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

"What's most important is this is silicon. The global investment in this material means it has a lot of potential for engineering"

End Quote Dr Thaddeus Ladd HRL Laboratories

Whereas to run calculations, physicists will need to place different qubits in different states - and control how they couple and interact.

"To have them controllably talking to one another - that would address the last big remaining challenge," said Dr Simmons.

Independent experts in the quantum field said the new record was an "exciting breakthrough" that had long been predicted.

"This result represents an important step towards realising quantum devices," said David Awschalom, professor in Spintronics and Quantum Information, at the University of Chicago.

"However, a number of intriguing challenges still remain. For instance - will it be possible to precisely control the local electron-nuclear interaction to enable initialisation, storage, and readout of the nuclear spin states?"

The previous "world record" for a solid state quantum system at room temperature - 25 seconds - was held by Dr Thaddeus Ladd, formerly of Stanford University's Quantum Information Science unit, now working for HRL Laboratories.

"It's remarkable that these coherence states could be held for so long in a measurable system - as measurement normally introduces noise," he told BBC News.

"It's also a nice surprise that nothing goes wrong warming up and cooling the sample again - from an experimental point of view that's pretty remarkable.

"What is perhaps most important is that this is silicon. The global investment in this particular material means that it has a lot of potential for engineering."

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Summer launch for London domain name

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:01 ET

The capital will gets its own domain name, .london, in the summer of 2014.

London & Partners, the promotional agency for London, said a contract has been signed with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

The registrations for the new addresses will open in spring 2014, with the domain name going live months later.

Tens of thousands of businesses have shown interest, with Selfridges and Carnaby Street saying they were excited to be associated with the London brand.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "Adopting the .london suffix will enable organisations to more closely associate themselves with our great city's powerful global brand.

"This is also an excellent opportunity to expand London's digital presence, which in turn is set to generate funds to invest back into the city."

Continue reading the main story

• A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the last part of any web address
• There are two different kinds of TLD - country-codes (ccTLD) and generic (gTLD).
• ccTLDs are always two letters long and are given to areas listed by the International Standardization Organisation - for instance .fr for France and .de for Germany.
• gTLDs are at least three characters long and can be used to represent organisations, communities and concepts - ie .org for organisations and .coop for co-operatives.

Gordon Innes, chief executive of London & Partners, said the agency has seen "huge interest" from top stores, visitor attractions and other businesses in the city.

Hazel Kay, interim head of marketing at Selfridges, said: "Having a selfridges.london address is an exciting new opportunity to be creative with our web presence while showcasing our strong association with London, which is a key component of our identity."

Claire Harris, head of marketing and communication at Shaftesbury PLC, said: "London is an incredibly strong brand in retail, fashion and lifestyle, so Carnaby is delighted to be able to promote its geographical and cultural identity across the internet in this way."

The bid to get the new domain name was launched last year and a new subsidiary of London & Partners, Dot London Domains Ltd, will operate the .London registry.

London & Partners applied for what is described as a generic top-level domain (gTLD), and other cities, including New York, Paris and Berlin are believed to have applied for their relevant city gTLDs.

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Pictures censored by China revealed

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:33 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

A collection of images censored on Sina Weibo - a popular Twitter-like service in China - has been revealed.

Analysis from US investigative journalism group ProPublica logged 100 users on the service, discovering a total of 527 images removed by censors.

The sample data - which was collected over two weeks - contained dissidents, a yawning politician, and archive shots from the Korean War.

Sina Weibo has some 500 million users in China, but is closely monitored.

ProPublica selected a group of users that had previously had material removed from the site, with a focus on journalists, lawyers and other figures with significant numbers of followers.

The site - with help from the University of Hong Kong - wrote some software that would store posts from the users, and then check on an hourly basis to see if the posts had been removed.

Bo Xilai

What they found was a wide ranging selection of images deemed not suitable for dissemination on the site.

The collection included images of Bo Xilai, the former high-ranking Chinese politician, who was jailed in October for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

One deleted post had called for the trial to be broadcast live, while another showed Bo with former US national security adviser Henry Kissinger.

Pictures of other public figures, such as human rights advocate Xu Zhiyong and activist singer Wu Hongfei, were also removed.

A large number of the censored posts monitored were of long passages of text, ProPublica reported.

A service called Long Weibo - comparable to TwitLonger, an equivalent service on Twitter - allows for posts that go beyond the service's 140-character limit by creating an image showing Chinese characters.

The popularity of Long Weibo has created a censorship headache for authorities as it means banned words are not automatically flagged.

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'Progress made' on internet filters

16 November 2013 Last updated at 07:24 ET

Internet service providers have made progress in their bid to protect children from pornography, according to the government.

Sky has joined TalkTalk by launching family-friendly filters which customers are asked at the point of signing up if they want to use them.

BT and Virgin are set to introduce something similar within the next two months.

The filters block pornographic websites and can be switched off.

The government wants internet service providers (ISPs) to filter legal pornography and other adult subjects "by default".

Earlier this week, Sky launched Sky Broadband Shield which requires new customers to choose which filters they want, as part of the sign-up process. The 13 rating is pre-selected so customers who do not want this filter applied, need to deselect it.

Existing customers can change their preferences if they access their account on Sky's website.

'Blacklisted'

TalkTalk said its Home Safe product offers numerous filters which do not just block pornography, but also other types of content parents may not want their children to see such as self harm and violence. Customers can choose which filter they want activated.

It said since it launched last year, about a third had signed up which correlates with the number of customers that have children in the home.

The government said by the end of next year, 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.

Other measures to be introduced include:

• ISPs to launch a £25m internet safety campaign over three years to inform parents how to protect their children online.

• The Brownies to have a computer skills and safety badge while the Girl Guides will work with TalkTalk to teach girls about how to stay safe online

• ISPs to work to prevent the over-blocking of charities, such as those that offer advice to victims of sexual abuse

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "As a dad, it is very simple: I want to know my children are protected when they go onto the internet.

"A family-friendly filter gives me the tool to do that and so this is a really important step forward by the Internet Service Providers.

"As I said in July, we all need to work together, both to prevent children from accessing pornography and educate them about keeping safe online, and I will continue to ensure this happens."

On Monday, the prime minister will hold an internet safety meeting with firms including Google and Microsoft who have been under pressure to do more to block child abuse images on the internet.

Mr Cameron has previously said access to online pornography was "corroding childhood" and has called for "horrific" internet search terms to be blacklisted, meaning they would bring up no results on search websites.

Last year, a public consultation found that 35% of parents wanted an automatic bar on pornography however ministers rejected the plans, saying the move was not widely supported.

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Imax in home cinema deal with China

1 November 2013 Last updated at 10:42 ET

Imax, the cinema technology company specialising in immersive 3D screenings, is to offer home cinemas for China's wealthy elite in a joint venture with Shenzhen's TCL Multimedia.

Each luxury theatre will cost at least $250,000 (£157,000), Reuters reported.

"China now is our second largest market in the world, and our fastest growing market," Imax chief executive Richard Gelfond said.

The company is also targeting Russia, Hong Kong and the Middle East.

China's burgeoning wealthy class is hungry for luxury goods of all kinds, with TCL estimating that the home theatre market will grow 20% a year over the next five years.

Three-D films are also growing in popularity, with more than 80% of audiences for the recent blockbuster film Gravity opting for the 3D format thanks to the film's ground-breaking special effects.

Luxury, immersive home cinemas are now possible - albeit only for the rich - thanks to advancements in 3D and large-screen technology.

Shooting a film with dedicated Imax cameras used to cost more than £6m before the company developed a way of converting standard films to Imax format using algorithms for less than £1m.

Producers started making films specifically for 3D, with James Cameron's Avatar in 2009 proving to be the first mainstream 3D box office success, taking about $250m in Imax theatres.

Imax already earns 16% of its revenue in China, and now has 131 screens installed there.

In July, it announced an agreement with China's Dalian Wanda Group Corp to build up to 120 new cinemas in the country, building on its 2011 deal with the group.

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Insect-like drone is 'crash happy'

31 October 2013 Last updated at 10:20 ET By Tom Espiner Technology reporter

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Co-creator Adrien Briod said the Gimball was tested in a forest, where it collided with trees

An insect-like flying rescue robot that can bounce off trees and buildings has been revealed by its creators.

Gimball has been developed to be used in situations that are hazardous to humans.

The robot is designed to be able to deal with crashes, and to right itself after a collision.

Gimball has a protective spherical roll-cage, and is mounted on pivots to stay upright.

The flying robot, which bounces off walls, moves in a similar way to a mosquito.

Gimball was in part inspired by the way insects fly, co-creator Adrien Briod told the BBC.

"Usually robots need to move around obstacles, so we thought it would be interesting to allow it to sustain collisions," Mr Briod said.

The drone, described as "crash happy", was designed and built by a team in Switzerland at the Ecole Polytechnique Federerale de Lausanne (EPFL).

The robot was developed for use in disaster situations, such as entering a building on fire, or after a radiation leak.

Normally flying robots are taken out of action by a major collision, but the designers did not think the problem could be solved by adding more sensors.

To keep Gimball lightweight, the research team decided to allow the robot to ricochet off obstacles instead.

Staying upright

The robot has a rotating flexible frame that lets it bounce off anything that it hits in a chaotic environment.

To stay upright, Gimball has a gyroscopic system that includes an accelerometer, the same type of sensor as used in smartphones to let the phone know which way is up.

The battery-driven robot has two propellers, and is steered by fins. It is fitted with a motion sensor, a camera, an altimeter, a magnetic compass and a micro-controller processor.

The 34cm (13 inch) , 370g (13oz) drone can lift weights of up to 30g, so can carry gas or radioactivity sensors, Mr Briod said.

The robot can be remotely controlled, but Mr Briod aims to eventually incorporate artificial intelligence capabilities into Gimball to allow it to accomplish complex tasks by itself.

The team that built Gimball at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL included Mr Briod and engineer Mariusz Kornatowski.

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US clears gadgets for take-off use

31 October 2013 Last updated at 12:54 ET

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The BBC's Jonny Dymond: "Now you can keep your e-reader on, all the way through from take-off to landing"

Aviation regulators have cleared the safe use of mobile devices during take-off and landing for US airlines.

US carriers are expected to let passengers use smartphones, tablets, and e-book readers from gate to gate by the end of the year.

Internet connections for email, web surfing, and downloading will be prohibited below 10,000 feet.

Cellular voice calls will remain banned because of the possibility of radio interference with flight equipment.

The changes to US regulations mean passengers will be able to read e-books, play games, and watch videos for the duration of domestic and international flights.

Airlines will need to perform safety checks before changing their current policies on device use.

Carriers must show the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that they can handle the effects that mobile devices have on flight instruments and avionics, and they must assess risks such as stowage problems.

US airline Delta said it had submitted a plan to the regulator, and expected to let customers on domestic flights use personal electronic devices as early as 1 November.

The relaxation of rules for US carriers may have a knock-on effect for UK airlines, a spokesman for the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told the BBC.

UK regulators will study how the FAA rules can be applied to UK airlines.

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Google launches Nexus 5 handset

31 October 2013 Last updated at 14:58 ET By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Google has officially unveiled the latest incarnation of its flagship Nexus smartphone.

Made by LG, the handset is smaller, slimmer and lighter than the Nexus 4 but its 4.96in (126mm) touchscreen is bigger.

The Nexus 5 has been developed to show off the capabilities of the new version of the Android operating system.

Called Kitkat, the software has been designed to work well on both high-end smartphones and cheaper feature phones.

The alliance with Google has helped bolster LG's fortunes even though, according to statistics from Gartner, it is still a long way behind rivals Samsung and Apple.

In the April-to-June quarter, the consultancy indicated 3.8% of all smartphones sold were LG handsets putting the South Korean firm in third place.

By contrast, Apple accounted for 18.8% of all sales and Samsung 29.7%.

Memory cut

The specifications for the new phone were widely leaked before it was announced on the official Google blog.

The gadget shares some of the hardware from LG's G2 handset and can record and play back HD video at the full 1080p resolution. Its camera also has a rapid burst system that captures several photographs at the same time so owners can pick the best shot.

The handset is due to go on sale on 1 November in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea.

"Nexus devices serve an important function for Google," said Ben Wood, head of research at analyst firm CCS Insight.

"The company collaborates closely with the chosen phone maker as it rolls out a new version of the Android operating system and this results in a 'vanilla' version of the software that acts as a reference platform for developers and tech enthusiasts."

Google said a base 16GB version of the device would cost $349 in the US (£299 in the UK), unlocked and without a contract. The 32GB version should cost $399 (£339 in the UK).

With Android Kitkat, Google said it had made the software use less memory so it could be used on handsets with much lower specifications than top end smartphones.

In addition, Google has begun moving some services off Android's core software and onto its app store. Many see this as a way for it to maintain more control over the security of the software and its associated applications.

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How technology best boosts learning

31 October 2013 Last updated at 21:00 ET By Judith Burns BBC News education reporter

An inner city primary is at the heart of a project to test how technology can be used to boost children's learning.

Rosendale Primary, in south London, won a £253,000 grant for the research which will involve 1,400 pupils in 24 schools in London, Essex and Manchester.

Rosendale pupils use tablet computers to photograph their work and tag it with notes about how well they learned.

The Lambeth school's head teacher, Kate Atkins, says the aim is to help pupils develop a range of learning strategies.

"Poor learners are often over-confident about the power of their memories and can struggle to find alternative strategies.

Emotional reaction

"We need to encourage them to think about how they learn and to try something else."

Children at the school are encouraged to reflect on every piece of work or unit of learning.

They are asked to think about which bits went well, what they struggled with and what they might need to do to improve when they next revisit the subject.

A key part of this is to ask children how they felt about each piece of work, for example many children find conducting a science experiment exciting and fun but hate having to sit down and write it up afterwards, says Ms Atkins.

"An emotional reaction is a key part of the learning process."

The research project aims to test whether the strategy actually improves pupils' attainment.

It will be tested at 24 two-form-entry schools, one form will carry on as normal, the other will record and reflect on their learning using digital note-taking.

Children will be tested at the start and finish of the project to measure their abilities and the results evaluated at Manchester University.

The project is one of seven in a £3.5m strategy by the Education Endowment Foundation and Nominet Trust to evaluate the impact of technology in schools .

The charities say the aim is to "rigorously test" new ways to use technology to improve attainment, particularly of less advantaged children.

The grants will support 18,000 pupils in 260 schools across England.

'Flipped learning'

Another project, centred on Shireland Collegiate Academy in Sandwell, West Midlands, will test the effectiveness of a "flipped learning" approach.

In effect pupils do their homework before the lesson, watching a video or web presentation on a new concept the night before.

The lesson itself then focuses on a more detailed exploration of the concept, perhaps experimentation or discussion, and on helping struggling pupils.

Dan Sutch of the Nominet Trust said: "The more we can understand where technology best supports learning and teaching the better."

The Education Endowment Foundation said the grants would help identify the most effective ways to use digital technology to improve learning for the most disadvantaged pupils.

Chairman Sir Peter Lampl said schools spent huge sums on technology but there was too little evidence of its effectiveness.

"The gap in educational outcomes between rich and poor is the biggest barrier to social mobility we face and it is essential to find out if and how technology can be used to help close it."

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Sony shares plunge on forecast cut

1 November 2013 Last updated at 02:24 ET

Shares in Japanese electronics giant Sony plunged 11% to 1,668 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the firm cut its profit forecast.

The firm lowered its full-year profit forecast by 40% on Thursday as it reported a loss for the July-to-September quarter.

The company has been hurt by slowing demand and falling prices for key products such as TVs and game consoles.

Its cinema division was also hurt during the quarter by some flops.

The firm now expects to make a net profit of 30bn yen ($305; £190m) in the financial year to 31 March 2014, down from its earlier forecast of 50bn yen.

The cut came as the firm said its loss in the three months to the end of September widened 25% from a year ago to 19.3bn yen.

Its earnings were impacted by the poor showing of some high-profile movies including White House Down.

Meanwhile, its TV division - which has struggled in recent years - also posted a loss of 9.3bn yen during the period,

At the same time, a drop in prices resulted in its Game division reporting an operating loss of 800m yen during the period, compared to an operating profit of 2.3bn yen during the same quarter a last year.

Analysts said that with some of the key divisions continuing to struggle, investors were worrying whether the firm will be able to turn around its fortunes.

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'Anonymous' hack Singapore newspaper

1 November 2013 Last updated at 04:13 ET

The website of Singapore's main paper, The Straits Times, has been hacked by someone who claimed to be a part of the hacking collective Anonymous.

It comes just days after a person claiming to be part of the group posted an online video threatening to hit out at the country's infrastructure.

The video protested Singapore's new licensing regulations for news sites.

The hacker, dubbed The Messiah, said the paper's report on the video was misleading.

The hacker left a comment on a section of the site saying: "Dear ST: You just got hacked for misleading the people!"

The message alleged that the Straits Times reporter who blogged on the video "chose to conveniently modify the sentence 'war against the Singapore government' into 'war against Singapore'".

"That in our opinion can be very misleading," the hacker posted.

The post added "the media has also misled our intentions by stating that we had plans to attack the infrastructure of Singapore on the 5th of November".

"That is ONLY our intention if the internet framework gets implemented. Not otherwise," it said.

Under new rules, unveiled by the Media Development Authority earlier this year, sites "that report regularly on issues relating to Singapore and have significant reach among readers" require individual licences.

Singapore Press Holdings, the firm the runs the Straits Times, said in a statement it had the taken down the affected blog from its site and also made a police report.

The paper also reported that the government's IT Security Incident Response Team - set up to co-ordinate responses to a cyber intrusion, had alerted all government agencies after the video was posted on YouTube on Tuesday.

It quoted the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore as saying that it was "aware of the video, and the police are investigating the matter".

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Patent wars: Rockstar sues Samsung

1 November 2013 Last updated at 08:06 ET

A group of tech giants known as the Rockstar Consortium is suing Google, Samsung, HTC and others over alleged mobile phone patent infringements.

Rockstar, jointly owned by Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Ericsson and Sony, is targeting manufacturers of phones that run the rival Google Android operating system.

Rockstar spent $4.5bn (£2.8bn) buying thousands of Nortel patents after the telecoms giant went bankrupt in 2009.

Google lost out in the bidding war.

The Rockstar lawsuit claims Google has infringed seven patents relating to the way internet search terms match up with relevant advertising.

Dominance

The move is just the latest in a number of mobile device patent cases being fought across the world, as technology behemoths fight for dominance of the lucrative smartphone, tablet and games console markets.

Google's Android has been doing particularly well, largely thanks to the success of Samsung's Galaxy range of smartphones.

Android devices accounted for 81.3% of smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2013, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, compared with 13.4% for Apple iOS and 4.1% for Windows Phone.

This week, Nokia, whose mobile devices division is being bought by Microsoft, won a patent victory over HTC that could see the Taiwanese company's HTC One smartphone being banned from import into the UK.

And earlier in October, Samsung offered to stop taking rivals to court over alleged patent infringements for a period of five years, after European Union authorities said the South Korean company's litigious actions were stifling competition.

Samsung faced a potential £11.3bn ($18.3bn) fine if found guilty of breaching European anti-trust laws.

Google's Motorola Mobility, which the search giant bought for $12.5bn, has also been accused of similar anti-competitive behaviour.

Samsung and Apple are currently slugging it out in the courts of more than 10 countries across Europe.

Cross-licensing

But some senior technology experts believes the legal conflict is bad for consumers.

In an interview with the BBC's Click programme to be broadcast on Saturday, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says: "There are good things I see on Samsung phones that I wish were in my iPhone; I wish Apple would use them, and could use them, and I don't know if Samsung would stop us.

"I wish everybody just did a lot of cross-licensing and sharing the good technology; all our products would be better, we'd go further.

"I do kind of wish they were more compatible."

But the Rockstar Consortium's legal action suggests such a rapprochement in the global patent wars is still a long way off.

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