Mobile network Everything Everywhere has taken fresh steps to lobby for 4G data services in the UK.
 
 
The firm is urging business leaders and consumer champions to join 4GBritain - a campaign calling on the government "to do whatever is necessary to move forward" with the roll-out. The network operator's chief executive said the UK needed to catch up. The sale of the 4G spectrum has been delayed by operators fighting over how to distribute the airwaves. Experts predict that the telecoms regulator Ofcom may have to go to court before the auction goes ahead. Everything Everywhere (EE) - the merger between T-Mobile and Orange - has kickstarted the campaign, but potential members are promised that they will be treated as "an equal partner", according to a document seen by the BBC. "This is a call for attention to be brought to this issue, to stop battling in the background and let us catch up with the other 34 countries that have already launched 4G services," said a spokeswoman for EE. Olaf Swantee, chief executive of EE since September, told the BBC that he was surprised how far behind the UK was.

According to former Apple engineer Tony Fadell, one of the proposals for the first iPhone was a hardware keyboard.
 
One little decision can provoke so much. It seems that, in those days when everyone believed that BlackBerrys were the most extraordinary machines on the planet, Apple was still cogitating over its little iPod-phone thingy. And apparently one of the options the company considered was to have a physical keyboard. Yes, like the BlackBerry. With real physical buttons. This revelation came via Tony Fadell, an engineer who was working at Apple at the time. In an interview with the Verge, Fadell -- who left Apple to create learning thermostat company Nest -- offered that there were three designs being considered -- one involving a hardware keyboard.

Microsoft has rushed out a fix for a serious bug in its Hotmail webmail services.
 
The bug allowed a hacker to reset the password for a Hotmail account, locking out its owner and giving the attacker access to the inbox. The fix was put together because the bug was starting to be actively exploited online. One security news site reported that some hackers were offering to hack Hotmail accounts for $20 (£12). Computer security researchers discovered the vulnerability in early April and told Microsoft about it soon afterwards. The bug revolved around the way Hotmail handles the data that must pass back and forth when a user wants to reset their password. Details of the bug leaked out and led to attackers trying to find a way round it.

Samsung Electronics has overtaken Nokia to become the world's largest maker of mobile phones, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
 
Nokia took the top spot in 1998 from Motorola, but in the first quarter of 2012 Samsung shipped 93m phones compared to almost 83m by Nokia. Samsung also reported its highest quarterly profit since 2008. Net profit was 5.05tn won ($4.5bn; £2.8bn) in the quarter ending 31 March, up 81% from 2.78tn won last year. Samsung is also the world's biggest TV and flat screen maker. "We cautiously expect our earnings momentum to continue going forward, as competitiveness in our major businesses is enhanced," said Robert Yi, head of investor relations at Samsung. Bright future The firm said its IT and mobile communications division, which manufactures the smartphones, made an operating profit of 4.27tn won during the period, as revenues in the division surged 86% from a year earlier. Samsung will unveil the latest version of its Galaxy range of phones on 3 May. The Galaxy range has been very popular and helped Samsung overtake Apple to become the world's biggest seller of smartphones.

Mobile network O2 has launched a smartphone app that allows users to transfer up to £500 via text message.
 
It also allows customers to "digitise" their debit and credit cards to speed up purchases from online stores. The firm also intends to allow users of phones with near-field communication (NFC) chips to make contactless payments in high street shops. It is the latest of several firms to charge retailers a transaction fee for making it easier to shop. The service will be free to consumers at first, but O2 said that it would charge 15p for each money message sent by text at a later date. The network provider said that more than 100 retailers had agreed to accept payments from the service. They include Debenhams, Comet, Sainsbury's Direct and Tesco Direct. Users can also benefit from a search facility that compares how much goods cost, the ability to load money onto the app from their debit cards and a "transaction history" that keeps track of what they have spent. The firm said it had held off introducing contactless payments as only a handful of retailers had installed the necessary systems. It added that it was also in discussions with a rail operator to add a button to buy train tickets. Security risks James Le Brocq, managing director at O2 Money said: "We believe it will transform the way people manage their finances and spend money." One of the biggest stumbling blocks for uptake of such technology is fears about security. He noted that all personal details, pin codes, passwords and other financial data were held on remote central servers rather than on the mobile device. "O2 wallet has been trialled internally for months and has undergone extensive 'stress-testing' with security experts," he added. "This is, we believe, the safest and most secure way to deliver mobile payment services." Project Oscar Eden Zoller, analyst at Ovum, said the service was part of a wider plan. O2 and its rivals Vodafone and EverythingEverywhere are working on a national mobile payments service - dubbed Project Oscar. They had hoped to have it up and running in time for the London Olympics. But the project is held up in Brussels, subject to an anti-competitive investigation. "For O2 if this project is in danger of being stalled or even derailed it make sense to move ahead with a solo initiative," said Ms Zoller. It is not the first time O2 has experimented with mobile wallets. In 2009 it tested using mobiles as an Oyster card replacement to pay for travel on London's Underground network. Last summer saw the launch of the UK's first mobile payment service with Orange and Barclaycard teaming up to offer contactless payments in a range of stores, including Pret a Manger, Little Chef and the National Trust. Juniper Research estimates that one in six mobile devices will be NFC-enabled by 2014. O2 currently has 200,000 customers with NFC-enabled phones in the UK.

The controversial piracy law, the Digital Economy Act, has again been delayed, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed.
 
The measures, such as letters to suspected illegal downloaders and potential disconnection, will not be enforced until at least 2014. Since being passed at the end of the Labour administration in 2010, action has stalled due to legal challenges. The delay was welcomed by the Internet Service Providers' Association (Ispa). Under the Act, letters sent out to apparent illegal file-sharers would offer advice on how to prevent such illegal activity. Serious repeat offenders risk facing measures that limit, or even cut off, internet connection. ISPs have criticised aspects of the Act, suggesting it would unfairly force them to police user behaviour on the internet. 'Effective solution' "The fact it hasn't been implemented is a good thing," an Ispa spokesman said. "We don't think it's a particularly good piece of legislation." However, he added that there were other measures being discussed which could see a clampdown on piracy. "There's more than just the Digital Economy Act when it comes to tackling copyright infringement online," he said. "Ispa continues to believe that the most effective solution to the problem of users accessing unlawful content is for reform of the licensing framework so that legal content can be distributed online in a way that consumers are demanding." Last month, BT and TalkTalk lost a two-year legal bid to have the Act overturned. They argued it was incompatible with European law. The repeated delays have led some industry observers to speculate that the Act's measures will never come into force. "I think I might be waiting for a fairy to arrive and wave her magic wand over the House of Commons saying 'come to your senses, come to your senses'," wrote Trefor Davies, chief technology officer for service provider Timico. "Maybe that's the point at which I wake up and find that I've been dreaming."

Companies that do not do enough to keep their websites secure are to be named and shamed to help improve security.
 
The list of good and bad sites will be published regularly by the non-profit Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM). A survey carried out to launch the group found that more than 52% of sites tested were using versions of security protocols known to be compromised. The group will test websites to see how well they have implemented basic security software. Security fundamentals The group has been set up by security experts and entrepreneurs frustrated by the slow pace of improvements in online safety. "We want to stimulate some initiatives and get something done," said TIM's founder Philippe Courtot, serial entrepreneur and chief executive of security firm Qualys. He has bankrolled the group with his own money. TIM has initially focused on a widely used technology known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Experts recruited to help with the initiative include SSL's inventor Dr Taher Elgamal; "white hat" hacker Moxie Marlinspike who has written extensively about attacking the protocol; and Michael Barrett, chief security officer at Paypal. Many websites use SSL to encrypt communications between them and their users. It is used to protect credit card numbers and other valuable data as it travels across the web. "SSL is one of the fundamental parts of the internet," said Mr Courtot. "It's what makes it trustworthy and right now it's not as secure as you think." Compromised certificates TIM plans a two-pronged attack on SSL. The first part would be to run automated tools against websites to test how well they had implemented SSL, said Mr Courtot. "We'll be making it public," he added. "Everyone is now going to be able to see who has a good grade and who has a bad grade." Early tests suggest that about 52% of sites checked ran a version of SSL known to be compromised. Companies who have done a bad job will be encouraged to improve and upgrade their implementations so it gets safer to use those sites. The second part of the initiative concerns the running of the bodies, known as certificate authorities, which guarantee that a website is what it claims to be. TIM said it would work with governments, industry bodies and companies to check that CAs are well run and had not been compromised. "It's a much more complex problem," said Mr Courtot. In 2011, two certificate authorities, DigiNotar and GlobalSign were found to have been compromised. In some cases this meant attackers eavesdropped on what should have been a secure communications channel. Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum which represents security specialists working in large corporations, said many of its members took responsibility for making sure sites were secure. "You cannot just say 'buyer beware'," he said. "That's not good enough anymore. They have a real a duty of care." He said corporations were also increasingly conscious of their reputation for providing safe and secure services to customers. Data breaches, hack attacks and poor security were all likely to hit share prices and could mean they lose customers, he noted.

Apple's boss has dismissed the idea of mixing laptops and tablets into a hybrid product.
 
Chief executive Tim Cook said the idea of combining the iPad and MacBook Air would "wind up compromising" both. Rival Asus already markets such products in its Transformer series. Intel has also been a vocal advocate of the idea. Mr Cook also said he hated litigation, signalling a willingness to settle patent disputes. It comes after Apple reported its profits almost doubled in the first three months of the year and it sold 11.8 million iPads, 150% more than the same period last year. Toaster-refrigerator hybrids When asked if Apple planned to build a notebook that closed "in a clever way" to let it be used as a tablet, Mr Cook attacked the idea. "Anything can be forced to converge," he said in a conference call after the results, as transcribed by financial news website Seeking Alpha. "But the problem is that products are about trade-offs, and you begin to make trade-offs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn't please anyone. "You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user. "We're not going to that party... others might from a defensive point of view." The statements contrast with Intel's vision of the future. The chipmaker makes the processors that power Mac computers, but not its tablets and phones. Intel showed off a prototype laptop that converted into a tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Earlier this week its PC business chief told the BBC it still believed the concept would prove popular with users of Microsoft's next operating system. "As touch become more ubiquitous across Ivy Bridge platforms you don't need to carry both devices around," said Kirk Skaugen. "With Windows 8 coming you can get the best of a mechanical keyboard, which people are telling us they don't want to give up, but when you want to get into consumption mode and read articles or the newspaper you can switch into tablet mode." Patent lawsuit phobic Mr Cook was also quizzed about how "flexible" he would be about the idea of using part of the firm's $110bn (£68bn) cash pile to settle some of its patent disputes. Apple's former chief executive, Steve Jobs, famously told his biographer that he intended to "destroy Android" even if the attack on Google's operating system exhausted all of his company's savings. But since launching a series of lawsuits against Android handset makers, the firm itself has been sued. On Tuesday the US International Trade Commission issued a preliminary ruling stating that the firm's iPhones had infringed a patent for eliminating noise and other interference during calls, held by Motorola Mobility. Motorola - which is in the process of being taken over by Google - has already forced Apple to halt some services in Germany. Mr Cook sounded a conciliatory tone. "I've always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it," he said. "We just want people to invent their own stuff. If we could get into some kind of arrangement where we could be assured that's the case and a fair settlement of the stuff that's occurred, I would highly prefer to settle versus battle." The comments comes ahead of a planned meeting with the boss of Samsung. Mr Cook and Gee-Sung Choi, chief executive of Samsung Electronics, are due to appear in a San Francisco court before the end of July to discuss ending intellectual property disputes spanning nine countries.

Google is expected to shortly launch a major new consumer service offering cloud-based storage for photos and other online content.
The effort - dubbed Google Drive - is likely to offer 5GB (gigabytes) of free storage with more available for a monthly fee. It would challenge services including Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive. Experts suggest it could also force rival Facebook to enter the cloud market. Synchronisation Cloud services have become hugely popular as people seek to access content from a variety of places and devices. Reports suggest that Google Drive will work with sophisticated image search technology to let consumers sift through a wide variety of document types, including PDF files and photographs. Richard Edwards, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, thinks that it may act as a wake-up call to others. "Facebook doesn't have a cloud service but this may prompt it into an acquisition," he said. "If Facebook was to buy Dropbox that would be a game-changer." Google was "very late to the market" he added. "I would see this as an extension to its Google Docs offering and it could provide value to its social network Google+, allowing the sharing of files that are too big to email." The most important aspect of Google Drive would be how it worked with the myriad of devices people carried, he suggested. "I will be looking to see how I can synchronise content stored in the cloud to all my devices to access as and when I want." Digital assets A recent study commissioned by cloud service RackSpace and conducted by Goldsmith University concluded that a new generation of Britons was growing up in the cloud. A quarter of the 2,000 interviewees estimated that they had £200 or more worth of music, videos, photos in their personal cloud. 31% said that they had considered digital possessions as a potential "digital inheritance" that they could leave behind when they died. In anticipation of Google's announcement, rivals have updated their own services. Dropbox now allows users to give non-members access to files via emailed links. Until now it had required both parties to have signed up to its service and have shared folders. Microsoft has also improved its SkyDrive service. Among other features, it has integrated the drive into Windows Explorer and Apple's Finder so that it works as an extension of the desktop. It also added capability to access files stored on the drive from an iPad as well as the iPhone and Windows Phone-based handsets. 24 April 2012 Last updated at 13:21 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17824417

The company says that it generated $31.8 billion in revenue during the first quarter, up 1.8 percent compared to the same period in the prior year.
 
AT&T's strong financial performance extended into the first quarter, the company announced today. During the three-month period ended March 31, AT&T generated $31.8 billion in revenue, representing a gain of $575 million, or 1.8 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2011. In addition, AT&T posted a profit of $3.6 billion during the period, up from the $3.4 billion it generated in the first quarter of 2011. A key revenue driver for the company was smartphone sales, which hit their highest first-quarter point ever. According to AT&T, it sold 5.5 million smartphones last quarter, and those advanced devices accounted for 78 percent of all postpaid device sales. By the end of the quarter, 59.3 percent of AT&T's wireless subscribers were on smartphones, up from 46.2 percent last year. AT&T also activated 4.3 million iPhones during the period. It was more good news on the subscriber front, as AT&T net additions of 726,000 wireless customers during the period. With those additions, AT&T's total wireless subscriber count has reached 103.9 million. So-called "branded computing" net additions, which tally those who have signed up for AT&T service via tablets or tethering plans, among other options, hit 460,000 during the period, totaling 5.8 million. "We continue to capitalize on our terrific momentum in mobile Internet," AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said today in a statement. "Smartphone and branded computing device sales continue to set a record pace, mobile data revenues were up nearly 20 percent, and we achieved this growth with expanding margins. These results add confidence in our outlook for the year." AT&T's strong first-quarter performance stands in stark contrast to the fourth quarter of 2011 when the company took a massive, $6.7 billion loss. Although that might seem to indicate trouble, much of that loss was due to how the wireless company was forced to account for employee pension benefits, as well as the breakup fee it had to pay after ditching plans to acquire T-Mobile USA. If not for those two elements, things would have looked quite good for the company as revenue and subscriber figures grew during the period. Interestingly, AT&T revealed today that one of the more controversial decisions it made back in 2010 -- a switch to tiered data plans -- isn't necessarily upsetting customers. In fact, 61 percent of its smartphone subscribers at the end of the quarter were on a tiered-data offering. In the first quarter of 2011, 38 percent of its smartphone subscribers had decided to pay for such plans. So far, investors seem quite pleased with AT&T's results. In pre-market trading, the company's shares are up 59 cents to 1.93 percent. This story has been updated throughout the morning with new details. by Don Reisinger April 24, 2012 4:33 AM PDT http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57419729-94/another-strong-quarter-for-at-t-as-revenue-profits-climb/?tag=mncol;topStories

It was Christmas, sometime between 1993 and 1995. I don’t remember the specifics, as it was a while ago and my memory has always been spotty. Nevertheless, we were spending the holidays back in Washington state, USA where I’m originally from (but had moved over to Australia a few years earlier). We took a few days stop off in Hawaii, and while traipsing around one of the islands, I found a games store and managed to persuade my parents into buying me an early Christmas present. That game was Gobliins 2. Visiting my childhood friend Josh, we proceeded to play the game for the remainder of my stay, slowly working our way through its seemingly incomprehensible puzzles and amusing cartoonish presentation. Revisiting the game all these years later two things come to mind. The first is that the visuals, audio, sense of exploration, and humourous rewards still hold up to this day. The other is that the puzzles are enough to make you want to tear your hair right out of your scalp… so let’s explore this root of premature baldness. Gone is the health bar that plagued the first game in the series. Making a mistake would deplete this bar and have you restarting the level when you ran out. This became a drawing point of Gobliins 2, to my young adventure game loving self. I grew up playing Sierra adventures (at this point I think it was another couple of years before I discovered the wonders of Loom and The Secret of Monkey Island) and anyone who has played Sierra adventure games knows all about dying and game breaking scenarios. One wrong turn could spell doom for your character, and missing a crucial item or not doing things in the correct order could create an un-winnable scenario, where the only option was to restart; Gobliins 2 had neither of these. Nothing would cause your characters to die, and nothing you did would impede your progress. This was a breath of fresh air, but perhaps that was because this game was only published by Sierra, with Coktel Vision being the developer. I would say that this approach to freedom of experimentation is the cause of the style of puzzles found within the game. The main puzzle solving mechanic is using the two goblins at your command (named Fingus and Winkle) in tandem to either acquire items or access new areas of the current screen. Fingus is a more polite, well-mannered goblin, while Winkle is a chaotic troublemaker, and solutions often make use of their personalities. An example of this is on the first screen: a bottle is being guarded by two old men who will attack any goblin that tries to take it. There is an oaf sleeping next to a sausage. Having Winkle try to steal it will wake the oaf and result in a good pummeling. This causes the old men nearby to cackle uproariously, and while their laughing distracts them, Fingus is free to grab the bottle. Yes, slapstick and hurting your main characters isn’t just amusing, a lot of the time it’s a good way to solve puzzles. The timing and puzzles become more complex as the game goes on however, and there’s one puzzle in particular that was the catalyst to stop playing and start writing, due to the continued frustration mounting and at this point I experienced enough of the game to jog my memory and enjoy myself. It’s the meatball puzzle in the kitchen. It’s not a hard puzzle per-say (it does have iffy elements of timing though), but what makes it insufferable is that upon failure you need to reset everything, wasting a lot of effort for those of us who weren’t smart enough to save before executing it in the first place. To give you an idea of the steps needed,Ive found a video of this section of the game on YouTube. If you don’t mind spoiling the puzzles, give it a watch. Not only does this guy know what he’s doing, but aside from showing off the sequence in question, this provides a great example of not only the gameplay, but the odd world and puzzles presented, which is part of its overall charm. Also from what I hear, the timing and setups only get more convoluted the further into the game you go. For those of you wishing to revisit this game, or those that wish to try it for the first time, the Gobliins pack is available at GoG for a very reasonable price. It includes the first three games in the series and you get the option of playing either the floppy or CD versions. It’s this choice I wish to end with. I originally played all three games on floppy disc, completely unaware of any CD versions. Upon purchasing this pack I decided to give these previously unknown versions a try. Perhaps it is nostalgic bias, but I much prefer the floppy versions. They give the goblins this amusing fake language that I believe helps shape their personality… while the CD versions have voice acting. Not the highest quality to be sure, but I don’t think that’s the issue. Giving them voices instead of the fake language takes something away. Again, this is probably nostalgia talking but I find myself reciting the nonsense words of the wizard in the intro or Fingus’ high pitched speech at times, and this has helped strengthen my attachment to the game over the years. I’d be interested to know if there are fans out there who prefer the CD version. Would it be because you played that one originally and the voice acting is stronger in your memory than what might be considered annoying gibberish on the floppy version? For those of you with no frame of reference, I’ve run back to YouTube to show you the difference. The first video is the floppy version of the intro, and the second is the CD version with speech. Gobliins 2 is a strong entry in this adventure franchise, but the true champion of the trilogy in my humble opinion is Goblins 3; which is what I’ll be covering next time I write one of these. Until then, enjoy your games new and old, and never be afraid to revisit one of your favourites from years gone passed, even if it might not hold up as well as you thought it did. April 23rd, 2012 http://retro.indiegamemag.com/memories-of-gaming-past-revisiting-gobliins-2/

Intel is launching its Ivy Bridge family of processors - the first to feature what it describes as a "3D transistor".
 
The American firm says the innovation allows it to offer more computational power while using less energy. The initial release includes 13 quad-core processors, most of which will be targeted at desktop computers. Further dual core processors, suitable for ultrabooks - thin laptops - will be announced "later this spring". Intel and PC manufacturers expect the release to drive a wave of new sales. "The momentum around the system design is pretty astonishing," Intel's PC business chief, Kirk Skaugen, who is spearheading the launch, told the BBC. "There are more than 300 mobile products in development and more than 270 different desktops, many of which are all-in-one designs. "This is the world's first 22 nanometre product and we'll be delivering about 20% more processor performance using 20% less average power." The firm has already built three factories to fabricate the new chips and a fourth will come online later this year. "This is Intel's fastest ramp ever," Mr Skaugen added. "There will be 50% more supply than we had early in the product cycle of our last generation, Sandy Bridge, a year ago. And we're still constrained based on the amount of demand we're seeing in the marketplace." Low power The fact that Intel's new transistor technology - the on/off switches at the heart of its chips - are more power-efficient could be crucial to its future success. To date it has been largely shut out of the smartphone and tablet markets, where devices are most commonly powered by chips based on designs by Britain's Arm Holdings. Arm now threatens to encroach on Intel's core market with the release of Windows 8 later this year. Microsoft has decided to let one variant of its operating system work on Arm's architecture, paving the way for manufacturers to build laptops targeted at users who prioritise battery life over processing speeds. Tri-gate transistors Intel hopes a new transistor technology, in development for 11 years, will help it challenge Arm's reputation for energy efficiency. Bell Labs created the first transistor in 1947, and it was about a quarter of the size of an American penny. Since then, engineers have radically shrunk them in size - so there are now more than one billion fitted inside a single processor. Moore's law - named after Intel's co-founder Gordon Moore - stated that the number of transistors that could be placed on an integrated circuit should double roughly every two years without a big leap in cost. However, transistors had become so small that there were fears they would become unreliable if they were shrunk much further. "A lot of people had thought that Moore's law was coming to an end," said Mr Skaugen. "What Intel has been able to do is instead of just shrinking the transistor in two dimensions, we have been able to create a three-dimensional transistor for the first time. "For the user, that means the benefits of better performance and energy use will continue for as far as Intel sees on the road map." Graphics gains Mr Skaugen said that those who use the integrated GPU (graphics processing unit) on the chips, rather than a separate graphics card, would see some of the biggest gains. He said the processing speed had been significantly boosted since Sandy Bridge, meaning devices would be capable of handling high-definition video conferences and the 4K resolution offered by top-end video cameras. The GPU's transcoding rate also benefits from the upgrade, allowing users to recode video more quickly if they want to send clips via email or put them on a smartphone. The chips also offer new hardware-based security facilities as well as built-in USB 3.0 support. This should make it cheaper for manufacturers to offer the standard which allows quicker data transfers to hard disks, cameras and other peripherals. Chip challenge It all poses quite a challenge to Intel's main competitor in the PC processor market - Advanced Micro Devices. AMD plans to reduce the amount of power its upcoming Piledriver chips consume by using "resonant clock mesh technology" - a new process which recycles the energy used by the processor. However, full details about how it will work and a release date are yet to be announced. One industry analyst told the BBC that Intel was expected to retain its lead. "AMD did briefly nudge ahead of Intel in the consumer space in the early 2000s at the time of Windows XP, but since then Intel has been putting in double shifts to break away from its rival," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the consultants Davies Murphy Group Europe. "Intel is making leaps ahead using proven technology, while AMD is trying to use drawing board stuff. So there's less certainty AMD will succeed, and PC manufacturers may not want to adopt its technology in any volume, at least initially." As advanced as Ivy Bridge sounds, the one thing it is not is future-proof. Intel has already begun to discuss its successor, dubbed Haswell. "We are targeting 20 times better battery life on standby - always on, always connected," Mr Skaugen said about the update, due for release in 2013. "So you can get all your files and emails downloaded onto your PC while it's in your bag, and still get more than 10 days of standby and all-day battery life." 23 April 2012 Last updated at 00:01 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17785464

Mobile phones running an operating system developed by makers of the Firefox web browser will go on sale in late 2012.
 
The first handsets running Mozilla's "Boot to Gecko" (B2G) software will be available in Brazil on Telefonica Vivo's mobile network. Brazilian tech blog Ztop broke the news but had no details about which firm will make the handsets. Announced in July 2011, B2G aims to be an open rival to Google's Android. Open apps The Mozilla Foundation is best known for its Firefox browser that adheres strictly to official standards for writing and viewing web pages. B2G was started as a way to bring the same discipline to mobiles and give people more control over what their phones do and the applications they run. It gets the name "Gecko" because that is the part of Firefox that decides how to display pages in a web browser. Speaking at a press conference in Sao Paulo, Gary Kovacs, chief executive of Mozilla, said this openness would make a difference to the way applications on phones operate. B2G aimed to make apps more like webpages and able to share data and links, he said. It did this by basing everything on the latest web standard known as HTML5. No details were given on who would make the handsets that Telefonica Vivo was planning to offer to its 90 million customers. It said the phones would cost about the same as existing feature phones. No specific date for the launch was given but Telefonica said it should happen at the end of 2012 or in early 2013. 20 April 2012 Last updated at 11:48 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17784585

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The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) has announced the winners of its annual Awards for the best photographic and imaging products of 2012.
Headline winners include the Canon 1D X for the Best Professional DLSR and the Nikon D800 for the Best Expert DSLR. The two models were underpinned by the Sony A65 as the Best Advanced DSLR and the Nikon D5100 as the Best Entry Level DSLR. The recently announced Canon 5D Mark III won Best Video DLSR.

US publisher John Wiley & Sons is demanding a trial by jury of people accused of copying its books.
 
Papers filed in New York and revealed by the Torrent Freak news site said four defendants were involved. The firm's lawyer said that he believed this would be the first trial of its kind based on the use of Bittorrent. The peer-to-peer communications protocol allows users to upload and download files to each others' computers. Wiley had previously filed 15 lawsuits to obtain the identities of about 200 people believed to have infringed the copyright of its titles. It said in papers filed last October that users had "engaged in the illegal copying and distribution of Wiley's 'For Dummies' books through the peer-to-peer file sharing software known as Bittorrent". Although it said that it was unable to give a precise figure for the amount of revenue lost, it described the sum as "enormous". It noted that one title - Photoshop CS5 All-In-One For Dummies - had been downloaded 74,000 times over a 16-month period. The title is sold for £28. Damages The firm signalled that it had tried to settle the cases and that its main intention was to stop the activity and publicise the fact that sharing books illegally denied authors their rightful compensation. Wiley's lawyer, William Dunnegan, told the BBC: "We are asking people who are identified by their ISPs as being copyright infringers to pay the minimum amount due under the Copyright Act as statutory damages. That sum is $750. "For the most part people are owning up and complying with the law. However, the named defendants have not." The US Copyright Act allows a penalty of up to $150,000 (£94,000) to be imposed per infringement if the accused loses the case. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have shied away from trying to sue individual file sharers and have instead focused on forcing ISPs to police the activity. Ernesto Van Dersar, editor of Torrent Freak, said that if Wiley's claim made it to trial it would be the first time that evidence against Bittorrent users would have been tested in a US court. "The problem they have is that their evidence will be based on an IP address which is tied to an internet connection," he said. "They also need to prove the accused was the person who committed the act using that connection - which is very hard to do." 18 April 2012 Last updated at 20:35 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17763218

The chiefs of Apple and Samsung have agreed to meet in a bid to resolve a patent case between the two in a California court.
This was after a US judge ordered the firms to participate in a settlement conference led by a magistrate judge.
The two companies have sued each other over technology used in smartphones and tablet PCs.
The two firms are fighting patent cases in various other countries as well.

There are on average 14 tracking tools per webpage on the UK's most popular sites, according to a study.
Privacy solutions provider Truste suggests that means a user typically encounters up to 140 cookies and other trackers while browsing a single site.
The research was published less than 40 days before strict rules come into effect governing cookie use.
The study was carried out in March and covered the UK's 50 most visited organisations.

A controversial anti-piracy agreement should be rejected by the European Parliament, a key Euro MP has said.
David Martin, the MEP responsible for its report on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), said the treaty threatened civil liberties.
His comments came less than three months after the previous rapporteur, Kader Arif, resigned from his post in protest at the plans.
To date, 22 EU member states have signed the agreement.

Sure, the BlackBerry business is tanking big time, but there are still a few reasons why Research In Motion could fetch an offer.
Research In Motion, struggling to keep its BlackBerrys relevant in the smartphone game, could still make an attractive prize for the right acquirer.
RIM is considering hiring a banker to explore its "strategic alternatives" -- often code word for putting itself on the block -- according to a Bloomberg report today.

Separated from his family at age 5, Indian man uses the Web tool to track down the name of his village -- and ultimately reunite with his mother.
Sometimes Google Earth can help you find your way home after decades of not knowing where home is.
That is what apparently happened for an Indian man who was separated from his family as a 5-year-old. Saroo Brierley tells BBC magazine that he was accompanying his older brother on a train trip in 1986 when he fell asleep and awoke 14 hours later in the notorious slum of Calcutta. Without his brother.

Intel is expected to launch its next generation of processors, dubbed Ivy Bridge, on April 23. They will take over from the current Sandy Bridge range, and will start appearing in laptops from May.
According to DigiTimes, Intel has brought forward the date of the Ivy Bridge series launch slightly, from April 29 to April 23. This won't mean laptops featuring the new chips will start flying out instantly, but Ivy Bridge computers are expected to start appearing in May. Acer, Asus, HP and Lenovo are reportedly all signed up to bring Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks to market this year.

Canon has unveiled its promised 4K capable DSLR, the EOS-1D C, which can capture 4K (4096 x 2160 pixel) video at up to 24p without downscaling, from an APS-H crop of its 18MP full-frame sensor. The camera, which shares the majority of its specifications with the still-awaited EOS 1D X, can also capture 1080p60 or 50p or output it uncompressed over its HDMI connector. Full HD can be captured from a 16:9 crop from the whole sensor, or a smaller, APS-C-like Super 35mm sub-frame that allows the use of Canon's EF Cinema Zoom lenses. The camera will cost around €10,000 (exact price to be confirmed) and will be available from October.

Since Google went public in 2004, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been wedded to the idea that management ought to be able to decide what's right for the company without needing to sacrifice future opportunities to satisfy near-term demands from Wall Street.
That philosophy was on display as Google disclosed plans for a 2 for 1 split, which would still preserve their control over the company with the issuance of a new class of non-voting capital stock.

Organisations wishing to buy web addresses ending in their brand names have until 00:00 GMT on Thursday to submit applications.
For example, drinks giant Pepsi can apply for .pepsi, .gatorade or .tropicana as an alternative to existing suffixes such as .org or .com.
Parties are able to request up to 50 web address endings.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers plans to publish application details on 30 April.

Public radio journalist touring the factory takes a film crew along to see how Apple's tablets are made.
Ever want to see an iPad being made?
Rob Schmitz, the public radio journalist who exposed Apple commentator Mike Daisey's fabrications regarding working conditions at a Chinese electronics factory, recently got a first-hand look at how the iPad is made.
Schmitz, the bureau chief of Marketplace Shanghai, is only the second Western journalist to have access to the factory floor since Daisey's falsified report about hazardous working conditions suffered by employees at a Foxconn factory in China.

It's been a while since we've been able to say this, but Nokia is wrapping up a very good week.
On Sunday, the company's flagship Windows Phone 7 device, the Lumia 900, finally arrived in stores. Praise from early critics, including CNET's Jessica Dolcourt, is high. So at this early stage, it appears that AT&T and Nokia managed to deliver on the early hype they generated last January at CES.
Of course, we'll have to wait to see how many handsets the company actually sells. It's entering a crowded and fiercely competitive marketplace and it's no secret that Nokia and Microsoft have a lot riding on the Lumia 900's success. For Microsoft, it's a chance to push Windows Phone 7 into the big leagues, whereas for Nokia, it's an opportunity to get its real groove back.