Europe's first "Intel Inside" smartphone has been unveiled by the telecoms firm Everything Everywhere.
 
 
The handset is powered by Intel's single-core Atom Z2460 processor and runs Google's Android system. It was manufactured by the Chinese firm Gigabyte, but will be marketed under EE's Orange brand. The launch marks Intel's entry into a market dominated by chips based on designs by British firm Arm Holdings. It will go on sale on 6 June in the UK - where it will be called San Diego - and will be released in France shortly after. There has been no announcement as yet for other markets. Growth market The handset is the third Intel-based smartphone, following the launch of Lava's XOLO X900 in India in April and the Lenovo LePhone K800 in China on Wednesday. Intel has also partnered with Google's Motorola Mobility division with devices scheduled to launch in the second half of the year. Sales of mobile devices are growing at a much faster rate than PCs and some analysts believe the dividing line between the two sectors will blur, so success could be critical for Intel's future. "This is part of our strategy to grow into what we refer to as adjacent markets, whether that be premium high performance smartphone products in the mature markets or lower cost solutions in some of the emerging markets, and everything in between," Graham Palmer, Intel's country manager for the UK and Ireland told the BBC. "This is absolutely a core part of Intel's strategy to allow us to take our technology into these new growth sectors."

Iran says it has developed tools that can defend against the sophisticated cyber attack tool known as Flame.
 
The country is believed to have been hit hard by the malicious programme which infiltrates networks in order to steal sensitive data. Security companies said Flame, named after one of its attack modules, is one of the most complex threats ever seen. Iran says its home-grown defence could both spot when Flame is present and clean up infected PCs. Hard work Iran's National Computer Emergency Response Team (Maher) said in a statement that the detection and clean-up tool was finished in early May and is now ready for distribution to organisations at risk of infection. Flame was discovered after the UN's International Telecommunications Union asked for help from security firms to find out what was wiping data from machines across the Middle East. An investigation uncovered the sophisticated malicious programme which, until then, had largely evaded detection. An in-depth look at Flame by the Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security at Hungary's University of Technology and Economics in Budapest, said it stayed hidden because it was so different to the viruses, worms and trojans that most security programmes were designed to catch. In addition, said the report, Flame tried to work out which security scanning software was installed on a target machine and then disguised itself as a type of computer file that an individual anti-virus programme would not usually suspect of harbouring malicious code. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos, said the programme had also escaped detection because it was so tightly targeted. "Flame isn't like a Conficker or a Code Red. It's not a widespread threat," he told the BBC.

Google has announced new computers running on its Chrome operating system.
 
The Samsung-manufactured laptop and desktop PCs include processors based on Intel's Sandy Bridge technology, addressing criticism that the launch models were underpowered. Chrome-based computers run all their applications through the firm's web browser and store their files online. Google has not released sales numbers for the previous range, but analysts said demand had been very low. Tech consultants IDC said that 50,000 Chromebooks had shipped in the US in the first three months of the year in a market that had absorbed about 10 million laptops over the same period. An earlier study by Gartner suggested there would be fewer than 300,000 Chromebooks sold worldwide this year. Google Drive Google says software updates had helped boost the computers' speed so that they ran 2.5 to 3.5 times faster than before. Improvements include greater use of the machines' GPUs (graphic processing units) and tweaks to ensure the system runs Javascript more efficiently. An upcoming software release will also enable the firm's Google Drive cloud storage service to act as the computers' file system, making it easier for users to manage their documents.

China's biggest microblogging service has introduced a code of conduct explicitly restricting the type of messages that can be posted.
 
Weibo - which resembles Twitter - took the action after local authorities criticised "unfounded" rumours posted by some users. Reports suggest a credit score system will also be introduced with points deducted for rule breaches. Repeat offenders face having their accounts deleted. The service's parent, Sina Corp, says it has more than 300 million registered users. Users are reported to start with 80 points - they gain more by taking part in promotional activities, but lose points if they break any of the rules. It is reported that if a subscriber's points fell below 60 a "low credit" warning would appear on their microblog, leading to the possible cancellation of their account if it hit zero. If they "behaved" for two consecutive months their score is reported to return to 80. "This is a sign of the authorities trying to restrain the internet in China, but a hardcore group of people will still find ways to get round the restraints," Dr Kerry Brown, head of the Asia Programme at the Chatham House think tank, told the BBC. "There is a tradition of indirect criticism in which people make points using coded references. I very much doubt these rules will change anything." Restricted speech The news was first reported in the western press by The Next Web which quoted from a translated version of the rules created by an anonymous group of volunteers. The "community convention" says its members may not use the service to: Spread rumours Publish untrue information Attack others with personal insults or libellous comments Oppose the basic principles of China's constitution Reveal national secrets Threaten China's honour Promote cults or superstitions Call for illegal protests or mass gatherings It adds that members must not use "oblique expressions or other methods" to circumvent the rules. Users have sometimes abbreviated names or used code words to avoid detection in the past. Rumours The Tech in Asia blog noted that Sina did not invent the rules.

Social networking giant Facebook is to launch its own smartphone by next year, reports have suggested.
 
The New York Times cited unnamed sources, including Facebook employees, suggesting that the network had been hiring several smartphone engineers. Facebook recently admitted it was struggling to make money out of its growing mobile audience. The company, which recently floated on the stock market, has also just launched its own mobile app store. The App Center currently offers links to Facebook-enabled apps within Apple's iOS and Google Android stores but developers will soon be able to write apps to be placed exclusively in Facebook's store. According to the New York Times, Facebook has hired experts who worked on the iPhone and other smartphones. It quoted a Facebook employee as saying the site's founder Mark Zuckerberg was "worried that if he doesn't create a mobile phone in the near future... Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms".

Microsoft has asked Google to remove more than 500,000 links from its index in the last month, figures show.
 
The vast majority of the links in question were ones which took people to sites connecting to pirated Microsoft software. Google shared the statistics as part of its efforts to be more transparent about what influences search results. Microsoft's requests dwarf those of the British Phonographic Institute, which represents record labels. It asked for 160,000 links to be removed, again because they gave people access to pirated content. Growing list In a blog post explaining its decision to share the figures, Google said it had done so because it believed there should be transparency when "something gets in the way of the free flow of information." In the past it had shared information about official requests from government to get results removed from its search results and revealed when traffic to its services had been disrupted. Now it has decided to broaden the range of information it shares to include requests from copyright owners. "We remove more search results for copyright reasons than for any other reason," a Google spokesman told the AFP agency.

A German court has ruled that Motorola Mobility infringed a Microsoft patent which allows long text messages to be divided into parts and then reassembled by receiving handsets.
 
It marks the first patent ruling against Google since it completed its takeover of Motorola. Microsoft can now demand a German sales ban of Motorola products, although it signalled it would prefer a licence fee. Google said it may appeal. Google's chief executive had previously said that his firm bought Motorola and its patents "to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies". Patent wars Microsoft and Motorola have repeatedly clashed this month over a series of patent disputes. Motorola won the right to order the recall and destruction of Xbox 360 games consoles and Windows 7 system software in Germany at the start of May. A judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) subsequently recommended there should also be a Xbox import and sales ban in the US. However, another Seattle judge has ordered Motorola to hold off from enforcing any such bans until it ruled on a related complaint. Microsoft won a separate patent victory against Motorola earlier this month when the ITC ruled that the handset maker's Android-based devices infringed an appointment scheduling patent owned by the Microsoft.

Apple's lead designer Sir Jonathan Ive has reaffirmed his desire to stay at the computing giant.
 
Sir Jonathan spoke after being knighted for services to design and enterprise. He said he wanted to stay with "the same team I've been fortunate enough to work with for the past 15 years." Last year there was speculation that Sir Jonathan, who was born in Chingford, London, might leave the California-based company to allow his children to be schooled in the UK. But in an interview with BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Sir Jonathan said he would stay at Apple to "work on trying to solve the same sort of problems we've been trying to solve over the last fifteen years." Sir Jonathan has been behind some of Apple's most successful products including the iPod and iPhone. It is a process he describes as being "part fine art, part engineering". Innovation struggle He told the BBC that the job of a product designer was now more complex than ever.

Heads up, Google 7-inch tablet incoming. It could be released as soon as July.
 
The Google 7-inch tablet is on the way, according to a fresh report -- the latest in a long line of reports dating back to the beginning of the year. The tablet will hit the market in July, according to a Thursday report from DigiTimes. Shipments -- about 600,000 initially -- are set to begin in June, the Taipei-based publication claimed. Asus is expected to manufacture the device. NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim told CNET previously that a 7-inch Goggle tablet was in the works, though a June shipment date means that an original projection of an April production run was apparently premature. That said, total production for 2012 of about two million units, cited in today's report, is in keeping with NPD DisplaySearch's original estimate. The tablet's details are not known but there has been speculation about Android 4.0 running on top of a quad-core chip. If Google's 7-inch tablet materializes and a rumored tablet 7.85-inch "iPad Mini" from Apple also surfaces, that would add to a growing collection of smaller tablets from first-tier suppliers. Amazon is already a major force in the 7-inch market segment and Samsung has recently begun selling its 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2.

Dell is pinning its hopes on new touchscreen products pegged to Windows 8's launch to boost the fortunes of its consumer products division.
 
Sales of the US firm's notebook computers and other mobile devices were down by 10% over the three months to 4 May, compared with the same period the previous year. It blamed competition from cheap entry-level products in emerging markets, a category it does not participate in. Its shares fell 13% in extended trade. Net income for the first quarter was $635m (£404m), a fall of 33%. Revenue dropped 4% to $14.4bn, with its consumer unit reporting a steeper 12% decline. The company predicted only a small increase in sales over the current period. Although it expected to benefit from falling hard disk prices as suppliers recovered from last year's Thai floods, it warned that the savings would be offset by higher memory and display costs.

Proposals to force users to opt-in to access adult content would be "a mistake", Google has said.
 
Speaking during a debate in Hertfordshire, the company warned against allowing private companies to manage lists of inappropriate websites. The government is currently consulting with ISPs to determine if such filters should be on by default. Some ISPs, such as TalkTalk, have already provided an option to filter adult content at a network level. If the government decides to introduce the blocks, it would mean web users would have to inform their ISPs if they want to view adult content. Simple solutions Sarah Hunter, Google's head of public policy, said the search giant was strongly in favour of education over technical measures. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Who decides what is blocked? Who puts together these lists? This is a form of censorship” Kirsty Hughes Index on Censorship "We believe that children shouldn't be seeing pornography online. We disagree on the mechanisms. It's not that easy," she said. "There is a problem about the extent to which we deskill parents by giving them simple solutions.

Kodak's efforts to enforce a digital image patent have been dealt a blow by the US International Trade Commission.
A preliminary ruling by the body recommended that a claim against Apple and Blackberry-maker RIM should be ruled invalid because of the innovation's "obviousness". The patent, submitted in 1997, relates to a way of creating image previews. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in January and is seeking to sell many of its patents to secure its future. The firm said it planned to appeal, but its share price fell by more than 25% after the announcement. A full panel of the ITC's judges is now expected to issue a final ruling on the matter on 21 September. Patent auction Kodak decided to stop making digital cameras in February after warning that it was running short of cash. However, it still makes money from its portfolio of 1,155 digital imaging patents which have been licensed to more than 30 companies.

Microsoft has opened up its So.cl social networking service to the general public.
The website is designed to let users share and comment on interesting search results and connect with "like-minded" people. It is targeted at students and had formally been restricted to invitees at universities and schools in the US. The service integrates with Facebook and is being pitched as an "experiment" rather than a rival to other networks. Microsoft noted that the product was developed by its Fuse Labs unit as a "research project... focused on the future of social experiences and learning." Members are invited to create "collages of content" using the firm's Bing search engine technology and external links which they can then share with others.

France's data protection watchdog has set up a meeting with Google to closely examine its controversial privacy policy.
 
The search giant consolidated 60 privacy policies into one single agreement in March. The EU expressed concern over the legality and impact of the change. France's information commission, the CNIL, said it was not yet "totally satisfied" with Google's explanation of the amendments. "We want to untangle the precise way that specific personal data is being used for individual services, and examine what the benefit for the consumer really is," CNIL president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said. Google spokesman Anthony House said its privacy policy "respected the requirements of European data protection law".

South Korean electronics giant loses $10 billion in market value -- all because of a report in DigiTimes.
 
An Apple-related report from Taipei-based DigiTimes lopped $10 billion off Samsung's market value, according to Reuters. The Taipei-based publisher said on Tuesday that Apple has placed "huge orders for mobile DRAM" chips with Elpida, a Samsung rival. That news alone drove Samsung's shares down 6 percent, wiping the $10 billion off the market value on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Search giant Google has patented the technology behind its augmented-reality glasses, known as Project Glass.
 
Three patents for a "wearable display device" with characteristics of the much-talked about futuristic glasses were submitted last autumn. The patents reference such functions as displaying data in front of the wearer's eyes and playing audio. In April, Google revealed details of its research into the glasses and showed a demo video of a prototype. The patents show images of different versions of augmented reality glasses, some with lenses and some without. Cyborg eye Google is working on the project in its research lab, Google X.

The company says that the new user interface will be known as the Optimus UI 3.0, and run on top of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
 
One of the nicest things about Android is that vendors can place their own user interface on top of it to deliver a unique experience to customers. And LG is taking advantage of that. The company today introduced the Optimus UI 3.0 for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices it sells. A key ingredient in the new user interface is an enhanced Quick Memo feature, allowing users to use their finger to quickly take notes. In addition, Quick Memo information can be shared via social networks, or sent as a text message or e-mail. The update is by no means groundbreaking, but according to LG, will make it "faster, simpler, and more convenient" for its Optimus owners to get work done on the handset.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has launched its new Trinity processor family boasting "twice the performance per watt" of its earlier Llano chips.
 
Like Intel's rival Ivy Bridge release, the update includes up to four CPU (central processing unit) cores and a single GPU (graphics processing unit). AMD claims its product offers gamers a superior experience. The first computers using the chips go on sale in June, with the US launch of a Hewlett Packard "Sleekbook". AMD's focus on low power requirements reflects manufacturers' desire to offer thinner laptops and slimmer all-in-one desktop models. Trinity can be set to run off as low as 17 watts, half the minimum amount possible using Llano. The move should also allow traditional-sized laptops to run off their batteries for longer. The firm says systems could last up to 12 hours, although the figure cannot be verified until models utilising the chips are released. Recycled power While Intel has shifted to a new manufacturing process - radically changing the design of its transistors - to make gains, AMD has opted for an alternative innovation. The "Piledriver" architecture of its CPU cores introduces an energy-saving technique called "resonant clock mesh technology" which allows it to "recycle" some of the energy consumed as it carries out calculations. "Over the past decade, several test chips successfully demonstrated a variety of resonant clocking implementations," AMD's chief technology officer Joe Macri told the BBC. "None however, has achieved integration into a commercial processor due to various practicality or cost issues.

The bold new design of the Google+ iPhone app has major implications for the future of Google's social network, and the trajectory of the company.
 
Vic Gundotra has been running engineering teams at Google since 2006 but he's never been more bullish about what Google is building than he is today and there's one simple reason: Design. "We care more about design than we ever have in our history," Gundotra said the day after his pet project, Google+, launched a groundbreaking new redesign for its iPhone app. The new app design is a stunning departure from the previous Google+ app and from the Google+ site interface itself. Released on May 9, it turns the act of scanning social media updates into a highly visual experience by combining a slick rendering of your avatar with the signature image of whatever you're posting and then overlaying the first two lines of your text. The effect is quite appealing, and addicting.

The popular US-based campaign site Change.org is opening a UK branch as part of a global roll-out.
 
The company offers individuals and organisations the chance to publicise petitions and sign up more supporters. It says it already has 14 million users, 500,000 of them in the UK. It says the move will allow it to offer a localised home page and employ a four-person London-based team, headed by a former Oxfam employee, to flag up "hot campaigns" to the media. Longer term, the service promises to personalise its pages to identify campaigns in the areas visitors live in, and provide ways to contact their local MPs and councillors. The site's founder says its success to date is based on letting petition organisers stay in touch with supporters after they have added their name to a campaign list. "Any message you submit gets sent over email and Twitter to the target audience," Change.org's founder Ben Rattray told the BBC. "Those people are then mobilisable by the person who started the campaign for follow-on actions. Oftentimes the signatures on the petitions aren't enough to win, but the mobilisation of those people who signed subsequently are the reasons they win." Change.org is not the only site trying to empower the public with online innovation. In the US it competes with Avaaz.org, Sumofus and Care2, and is likely to cover topics already voted on by members of the UK-based campaign community 38 Degrees. Shooting Change.org's site highlights past "victories" including Apple's promise to do more to protect China-based workers employed by its suppliers after more than 250,000 people signed an online letter calling for change, and a nanny's effort to force Bank of America to drop a new banking fee. But perhaps the site's highest profile case to date was the prosecution of a Neighbourhood Watch volunteer charged with the murder of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, in Florida in February. The State Attorney and local police originally said they had no evidence to disprove the killer's claim he had acted in self defence. Close to 2.3 million people subsequently signed a petition on Change.org's site posted by Mr Martin's parents. This helped spark protest marches in several cities and extensive media coverage. President Obama went on to comment: "It is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this...

Windows 8 should available by November when Intel-based devices hit retail stores.
 
The first wave of Intel-based Windows 8 tablets are expected to land in retail stores in November, a source familiar with device makers' plans told CNET. "The schedule is tight," said the source. "Looking at what Windows is trying to achieve not only with a new OS, but a new OS that needs to run four to five architectures -- three ARM, Intel, and AMD," according to the source. And don't expect just tablets. "More than 50 percent" of the "more than a dozen" designs will be hybrids, aka convertibles, the source said. Those designs combine aspects of a traditional physical keyboard-based laptop and tablet. All the devices described by the source will tap Intel's upcoming "Clover Trail" Atom chip. Clover Trail is Intel's first dual-core Atom design based on its 32-nanometer process technology.

Judge William Alsup warns that the "most" the plaintiff -- Oracle -- might end up with is statutory damages over the nine lines of code.
 
SAN FRANCISCO -- Oracle's situation in its intellectual property legal battle against Google is looking more bleak by the day. At one point in time, Oracle was going after Google with the intent to receive up to $6 billion in damages. Slowly that figure has dwindled down to somewhere around $1 billion and then a few hundred million. Now, it looks like Oracle could end up with just $150,000 -- if anything at all given that the threat of a mistrial looms and we're still in the middle of the second phase of the trial covering patent infringement. Judge William Alsup warned Oracle at the U.S. District Court of Northern California here this morning that the "most" the plaintiff might end up with is statutory damages over the nine lines of code in the rangeCheck method -- the only item on the verdict form during phase one of the trial in which the jury found Google's conceded use was copyright infringement.

A smaller iPad would bring a smaller price tag, but a new report suggests it might shrink down the built-in storage too.
 
A smaller version of the iPad will be less expensive and offer less storage than Apple's full-sized model, but will have the same resolution, according to a new report. Citing a previously reliable source, iMore today adds to the handful of existing iPad mini rumors, with something a little different. The outlet says such a device is very much in the works and will come in around the $200 to $250 price range. On the lower end, that's less than half the price of Apple's current entry-level iPad model, and $150 to $200 less than the 16GB second-generation model that Apple still sells. That would also overlap with the pricing of Apple's iPod Touch line, which starts out at $199 and tops out at $399 for the 64GB model. iMore's report adds two other interesting assertions. The first is that the device will only have 8GB of memory.

Carmageddon, a notorious video game from the late nineties, is attempting to raise crowd-sourced funding to make a return.
 
The original, which sold over 2 million copies, was heavily criticised for featuring excessive violence Stainless Games aims to raise over $400,000 (£250,000) via Kickstarter. The UK-based firm has had to set up a separate company in the US in order to receive money through the crowdfunding site. Censorship Bonus points are awarded in the game for driving over pedestrians. This action was amended in the game's initial 1997 UK release following the threat of a sales ban, causing the developer to replace the victims with green-blooded zombies. However, it was later re-released in full, as was a sequel the following year. In subsequent years, other 3D "violent" games such as the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto sequels followed. Despite the Carmageddon's controversy, it was well-received by the gaming community for its innovative gameplay and "action replay" feature. 'Pedestrians running' Five of the original eight developers are still with Stainless Games and work has already begun on the new title, which is set to be called Carmageddon: Reincarnation.

Facebook has launched its own app store to promote mobile programs that operate using the social network.
 
The company said the App Center will become the "new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something" and other titles. Developers will have the ability to charge a fee for apps sold in the store in the near future, Facebook said. The announcement came as Facebook admitted growth in mobile use could hurt future advertising revenue. Ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook told potential investors in a statement: "If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetisation strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected." 'Start preparing' The App Center is expected to be rolled out globally in "the coming weeks", said Facebook's Aaron Brady in a post on the network's developer blog.

A bug report response from Apple suggests that the company is working on multi-user support for iPad 
  A bug report response from Apple suggests that the company is working on multi-user support for iPad. In the bug report submitted to Apple, a developer suggested that the company should add support for multiple users to the iPad. Apple responded to the developer saying: "After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering," reports Apple Insider.

Twitter is contesting a US court order ordering it to hand over the message history of one of its users.
 
A New York state court has called on the firm to release tweets written by an activist who took part in the Occupy Wall Street protests last year. The micro-blogging service disputes a judge's ruling that messages are owned by the firm rather than its users. The American Civil Liberties Union commended the company for defending free speech rights. Twitter's lawyer, Ben Lee, said: "Twitter's terms of service make absolutely clear that its users 'own' their own content. Our filing with the court reaffirms our steadfast commitment to defending those rights for our users." Boston march The case centres around Malcolm Harris, managing editor of the New Inquiry website. He was arrested on 1 October along with hundreds of other campaigners during a march across Brooklyn Bridge. Prosecutors claim tweets by Mr Harris would reveal that he was "well aware of police instructions" ordering protesters not to block traffic. Mr Harris's lawyer had tried to block access to the postings, but a judge ruled that once the messages had been sent they became the property of Twitter, meaning the defendant was not protected by Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure. Twitter's lawyers argued that the judge had misunderstood how the service worked, noting that the Stored Communications Act gave its members the right to challenge requests for information on their user history.  

Driverless cars will soon be a reality on the roads of Nevada after the state approved America's first self-driven vehicle licence.
 
The first to hit the highway will be a Toyota Prius modified by search firm Google, which is leading the way in driverless car technology. Its first drive included a spin down Las Vegas's famous strip. Other car companies are also seeking self-driven car licences in Nevada. Accident The car uses video cameras mounted on the roof, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic. Engineers at Google have previously tested the car on the streets of California, including crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge. For those tests, the car remained manned at all times by a trained driver ready to take control if the software failed. According to software engineer Sebastian Thrun, the car has covered 140,000 miles with no accidents, other than a bump at traffic lights from a car behind. Human error Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles, says he believes driverless vehicles are the "cars of the future". Nevada changed its laws to allow self-driven cars in March.

Waterproof, crushproof, freezeproof
Olympus has officially unveiled a compact camera that the manufacturer promises will deliver expert shots at up to 12 metres underwater. As part of Olympus’ Tough range, the TG-1, which had been inadvertently leaked on the net, is kitted out with an extra-wide f2.0 aperture high-speed lens that helps counter the darker light found underwater. The lens itself is a 12-megapixel low-noise, high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, while Olympus has included a TruePic VI image processor.The camera’s “tough” credentials are not just reserved for its diving prowess. The TG-1 is crushproof, withstanding a force of 100kg, and freezeproof with Olympus claiming the camera will remain intact in temperatures up to -10°C. Video can also be recorded with the Olympus TG-1 with the option of switching to a low light, or super macro mode both for still and moving images.