Liberty Global eyes Virgin Media

5 February 2013 Last updated at 09:02 ET

US billionaire John Malone's cable group, Liberty Global, is in talks with Virgin Media about a possible deal with Richard Branson's UK cable company.

Virgin confirmed that the two sides are talking about a "possible transaction".

The Financial Times reported that Liberty is lining up a potential takeover of Virgin, behind BSkyB as the UK's second biggest pay-TV business.

A deal would pitch Mr Malone in direct competition with Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire owns 39% of BSkyB.

The two mens' business interests clashed a decade ago when Mr Murdoch's News Corp and Liberty Media vied for control of DirecTV Group, the largest US satellite TV broadcaster.

Mr Branson's company said in a statement: "Virgin Media confirms that it is in discussions with Liberty Global, a leading international cable company, concerning a possible transaction."

BSkyB leads the UK pay-TV market with 10.7 million customers compared with Virgin's 4.9 million.

Virgin Media's main listing is in the US but it has a smaller one in London, where the shares were up 14% at midday. BSkyB shares were down 1%.

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Old news used to predict headlines

4 February 2013 Last updated at 07:26 ET

Researchers have developed software which could predict future events such as disease outbreak.

The prototype software uses a combination of archive material from the New York Times and data from other websites, including Wikipedia.

The experts focused on predicting riots, deaths and disease outbreaks and say their accuracy was between 70%-90%.

The work is a collaboration between Microsoft Research and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

In their research paper, the two scientists say that using a mixture of archived news reports and real-time data, they were able to see links between droughts and storms in parts of Africa and cholera outbreaks.

For example in 1973 the New York Times published news of a drought in Bangladesh, and in 1974 it reported a cholera epidemic.

Following reports of another drought in the same country in 1983, the newspaper again reported cholera deaths in 1984.

"Alerts about a downstream risk of cholera could have been issued nearly a year in advance," wrote researchers Eric Horvitz, director of Microsoft Research, and Kira Radinsky, PhD student at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

While other research has been done in this area, it has tended to be retrospective - looking back at the event leading up to an outbreak - rather than using that data to try to look ahead to the next one, they said.

Ms Radinsky told MIT Technology Review that other useful websites included knowledge bases DBpedia and OpenCyc, and language database Word.

The software could also be used to verify the likelihood of other predictions, according to the research paper.

"It can be valuable to identify situations where there is a significantly lower likelihood of an event than expected by experts based on the large set of observations and feeds being considered in an automated manner," it said.

""I truly view this as a foreshadowing of what's to come," Mr Horvitz told MIT Technology Review.

"Eventually this kind of work will start to have an influence on how things go for people."

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No extra charge for 4G from Three

4 February 2013 Last updated at 08:13 ET

Mobile phone provider Three says it will not charge customers extra to upgrade to the 4G data service.

Three is due to get access to the fast data network later this year.

Provider EE was the first company in the UK to be able to offer customers access to 4G and received complaints about its pricing structures.

Existing customers were asked to pay an extra £5 for the same amount of data they were entitled to with their 3G contracts.

Last month the firm cut its entry price from £36 to £31 but the reduced cost was only available for new customers.

Three says any customer with an "ultrafast-ready" smartphone, which includes Apple's iPhone 5, Nokia's Lumia 920 and the Sony Xperia Z, will qualify.

"As we add the next wave of technology to our ultrafast network, we've listened to our customers and thought long and hard about the right way to do it," said Three chief executive Dave Dyson.

"We don't want to limit ultrafast services to a select few based on a premium price and we've decided our customers will get this service as standard."

Ernest Doku, from price comparison website uSwitch.com, said the move "flew in the face" of the current pricing strategy for 4G in the UK.

"Three's move could really force the other networks to reconsider how they price their own forthcoming 4G deals," he said.

"That being said, there's nothing stopping Three from putting tariff prices up across the board ahead of a 4G rollout, so it's still a waiting game before we find out the true cost of super-fast mobile data in the UK."

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Dyson launches hand-drying tap

4 February 2013 Last updated at 18:01 ET

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Sir James Dyson demonstrates his company's latest invention, the Airblade Tap hand dryer

Dyson - the British engineering group - has unveiled a device that combines a high-speed hand dryer with hot and cold water outlets.

The Airblade Tap builds on the firm's success with its existing standalone cold air hand driers, but is more expensive at £1,000.

The firm's founder, Sir James Dyson, said that the device offered long-term savings over hot air dryers and towels.

However, one expert said its appeal might be limited until its cost fell.

The machine consists of a unit placed underneath the sink containing a motor, an air filter and sound-silencing equipment; a pipe that carriers the water, electrics and air to the tap; and a stainless steel head unit from which the water flows and unheated air jets out at 430mph (692 km/h).

Infrared sensors detect where the user's hands are - if placed under the tap's centre water comes out, if under its sides the air nozzles are triggered.

The firm said that the technology was protected by 110 granted patents with another 100 pending.

Dyson's existing Airblade range - launched in 2006 - has proved a money spinner for the firm. It said that to date the hand dryers had been installed in more than 250,000 locations worldwide.

High-speed motor

Although the minimalistic hybrid water-air tap head is the device's signature feature, Sir James said that the "secret" of the machine was its motor, which had taken seven years to develop.

It uses an electromagnetic field, rather than carbon brushes, to accelerate from standstill to up to 100,000 revolutions per minute within 0.7 seconds. That was about four times the number of revolutions per minute that motors its size typically produced, Sir James said.

Software run off a built-in computer chip then makes about 6,000 adjustments a second to maintain optimum efficiency, and the unit is mounted on springs to prevent vibrations being passed on to the rest of the equipment.

The motor is guaranteed to last for five years, and the firm estimates over its lifetime it should be able to pump the equivalent amount of air needed to fill 26 million party balloons.

Companies such as Hyco, Warner Howard and Airdri make much cheaper hand driers - with basic units selling for between £50 and £80. But Sir James said his latest product offered advantages in the long run.

"If you had a hot air hand dryer you would have five times the [running] cost, and if you had paper towels you'd have 15 times the cost," said Sir James.

"So actually although the initial cost is expensive it saves you money and you use a lot less energy with it."

He added that his firm would initially target the device at restaurants, hotels, airports and sports stadia, but added that he thought it ultimately "ought to be in everybody's house" as it was more hygienic than using and re-using hand towels.

Will Dunn, news editor of Stuff Magazine, described the new dryer as "impressive" but suggested that unless there was a radical price drop its appeal was likely to be limited to businesses willing to pay a premium for stylish design.

"It would fit into the home because it doesn't look obtrusive and doesn't take up much space," he said.

"But it would take a long time to pay for itself because the idea of spending £1,000 on a tap is unrealistic for most people beyond the very rich."

However, he added that it would now be interesting to see what other more affordable uses the firm would have for the motor.

"What Dyson always do is invent new technologies that then trickle down into lots of different things."

Made in Singapore

Sir James confirmed that while the research and design of the new dryer had been carried out at the firm's facility in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, the company was going to build the taps at its new plant in Singapore.

Dyson began shifting production to Asia in 2002 when it announced it was cutting jobs to build its vacuum cleaners in Malaysia. 550 posts were lost. At the time the union Amicus - now known as Unite - condemned the move, accusing the firm of having "betrayed" British manufacturing.

But Sir James said the past decade had proved the move had been justified.

"The problem for us is that all the components [involved] are made in the Far East," he said.

"The important thing is that all the research and development is here in Britain... all our exports are done from Britain and all our tax is paid in Britain and we employ large amounts of people - 2,000 of them - down in Malmesbury."

In addition to the Airblade Tap, Dyson is also refreshing its existing hand dryer range to take advantage of the new motor. The new machines will be made available in 37 countries.

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Windows phone launched in Africa

4 February 2013 Last updated at 19:01 ET

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has unveiled a bespoke Windows-run smartphone exclusively available in Africa.

The customised device is being launched today in partnership with Microsoft as part of its new 4Afrika Initiative.

This includes plans to develop cheap wireless broadband in the Rift Valley in Kenya and help local people in South Africa and Egypt develop Windows apps.

Prices for the new device have not yet been announced.

"Our aim is to be the most affordable Windows phone in Africa," Gustavo Fuchs, director of Microsoft Windows Phone division in the Middle East & Africa, told the BBC.

It will initially be rolled out in seven countries: Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Angola, Morocco and South Africa.

The phone will be marketed depending on the retail climate of those individual nations, Mr Fuchs explained.

"At first we are making the product available across the southern market.

"We're looking at the biggest channel for each country. In South Africa, it's operator-led, in other markets like Nigeria and Angola there's a mixed environment and in the Ivory Coast they are only sold at retail."

Accessibility

The phone will be connected to a customised app store including applications designed and built by Africans.

"Affordability is important but without the right local content we believe a lot of users will not see the benefit in the change from a basic feature phone to a smartphone," said Mr Fuchs.

He said the objective of the scheme was to increase the penetration of smartphones across the continent.

"If you look at current penetration compared with the US or Europe, which is around 50%, in Africa the average is very close to 10%, less in some parts."

The handset is a customised version of the Huawei Ascend W1 which was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month.

It has a 4in (10cm) touch screen and 5 megapixel camera. The phone can be on stand-by for up to 420 hours between charges.

"The 4Afrika Initiative should make tens of millions of smart devices available across the continent in the next couple of years," Mr Fuchs said.

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Apps 'boost bullying and abuse'

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat reporter

The NSPCC says smartphone apps are making it easier than ever before for people to be bullied and abused online.

The children's charity is worried about ones that let strangers talk to children, pinpoint their location and send explicit images.

It is also warning that blackmail through pictures and videos is becoming increasingly common.

Senior police officers at the Child Exploitation Online Protection centre (Ceop) agree.

Life-threatening

Peter Davies is the UK's most senior child protection officer.

He said: "One of the operations we completed last year was two men in Kuwait, purely online, abusing and blackmailing children, particularly girls, in the UK and around the world, dozens of them.

"The level of harm was immense and life threatening."

Things didn't get that bad for Sophie Thorne, who's 17 and from Swindon, but she was bullied through a smartphone app for several months in 2012.

She said: "At first it was just name calling and then it got really personal.

Sophie Thorne says that being bullied on a smartphone app led her to self-harm

"[Things like], 'I know when you're at home, I know when you're alone.' Then it got to death threats.

"When I got a notification on my phone it beeps until you read it. Then another one would come through so it was just never ending really.

Self-harming

"I felt quite alone because I'd never really been through anything like this before and I did start self-harming towards the end of it."

Many people say the easiest, quickest and most simple way to stop this type of bullying and abuse is to switch the smartphone off.

"Just saying turn it off doesn't work," according to Mr Davies.

Continue reading the main story

Because the technology is moving so fast as soon as you gather the figures they're out of date because the technology's moved on

Claire Lilley NSPCC

"For a lot of people internet access in their pocket is an integral part of their life and it's how they keep in touch with their friends."

There are of course many thousands of apps that cause no problems at all.

Many people also use the ones the NSPCC is worried about without any problem.

When it comes to numbers Claire Lilley from the NSPCC says it's nearly impossible to know just how many people are victims of smartphone bullying and abuse.

"It's really difficult to put a figure on it," she said.

"Because the technology is moving so fast, as soon as you gather the figures they're out of date because the technology's moved on."

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Web safety lessons urged for infants

5 February 2013 Last updated at 05:30 ET By Judith Burns BBC News education reporter

Pupils as young as five should be given lessons in how to use the internet safely, urge campaigners.

The call comes amid fears that children are increasingly exposed to online pornography and forced to send indecent images of themselves to others.

The charity ChildLine is holding assemblies in every UK primary school to tell children how to stay safe in the digital age.

Claire Lilley, of the NSPCC, said: "We are facing an e-safety time bomb."

Ms Lilley said online abuse was one of the biggest child protection issues of our time.

"Young people tell us they are experiencing all sorts of new forms of abuse on scale never before seen.

'Huge' dangers

"The internet and mobile phones are now part and parcel of young people's everyday lives. They are the first generation who have never known a world without them.

"The benefits are huge, both socially and educationally, but so too are the dangers."

ChildLine says its helpline took some 3,745 calls about abuse via the internet and mobile phones last year, with most callers aged between 12 and 15.

Some 250 callers said they were being groomed for sex online.

There was also a 70% increase in calls about online pornography with 641 calls, some from children as young as 11 years old.

The campaigners also highlighted previous research which has shown that many teenagers see "sexting" and hard core pornography as "mundane", while cyberbullying is a growing and insidious problem.

On Monday the Child Exploitation and Online Protection group (CEOP) warned that paedophiles are increasingly forcing children to carry out sexual acts online.

The NSPCC says that schools need to step in as the issue is something that parents struggle to keep up with.

It is calling for lessons in all schools on internet safety with young people themselves sharing tips for keeping safe online and more advice for parents on how to talk to their children about the issue - just as they would about being wary of drugs or strangers.

Blanket filtering

It also wants all internet service providers to provide easy systems to allow parents to install online blocks and filters in their homes.

However some experts argued against blanket filtering of the internet. Phil Bradley, of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, described it as "like using a hammer to crack a nut".

He warned that blanket filtering could have unintended consequences such as blocking legitimate websites on sexual health and identity.

"When it comes to the internet... children need to learn how to use it safely and how to differentiate the good from the bad."

A government spokeswoman said web safety was taught in schools as part of the personal, social and health curriculum but it shouldn't just be left to teachers.

"Just as parents would teach their children to cross the road safely, they should also help them learn how to stay safe online.

"The industry also has a vital role to play. Websites children use to network should be fully moderated and internet companies should provide parents with all the tools and information they need - including access to parental controls."

Tips for promoting internet safety are available online on Tuesday, 5 February, which is Safer Internet Day

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Arm shares up on profits growth

5 February 2013 Last updated at 06:12 ET Continue reading the main story

Arm Holdings, whose computer chip technology powers Apple and Samsung smartphones, said profits rose in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Pre-tax profits rose 16% to £80m during the period from a year earlier, while revenue was up 19% to £164m.

Shares in Arm rose more than 4.6% in morning trading.

Arm, which had a record order book, is riding the wave of soaring smartphone and tablet sales as more people use these devices to access the internet.

For the full year, the company booked pre-tax profits of £277m, up 20% from 2011. Revenue rose 17% to £577m.

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The company said it shipped 2.5bn chips and signed 36 processor licences in the fourth quarter alone.

Smartphone sales around the world are soaring, while those of personal computers remains sluggish - a trend which plays to Arm's strength.

"Arm has seen good revenue and earnings growth throughout 2012. Customers are developing products to meet the needs of the post-PC era and are driving demand for Arm's most advanced technology," said chief executive Warren East.

He added: "2013 brings exciting opportunities and challenges as Arm enters competitive new markets where we are well positioned to succeed with leading technology."

The group expects total revenues in the first quarter of 2013 to be around $250m (£158m).

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Cheaper Raspberry Pi goes on sale

5 February 2013 Last updated at 11:08 ET

A cheaper version of the bare-bones Raspberry Pi computer has gone on sale in Europe.

The Model A lacks some of the features of the bigger version such as a network jack and has less memory.

The Model A has also been designed to use less power to make it more suitable for projects involving robotics, remote sensors or which rely on solar power.

Cutting out a few components means the gadget is even cheaper and now costs $25 (£16).

In a blogpost about the Model A, Liz Upton, community manager for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, said it was "very, very pleased" to have the new version go on sale.

"It's what we said we'd do all along," she wrote. The release of the A version fulfils the promise to make a computer for about £15 that was made when the first prototype Raspberry Pi computers were unveiled in early 2011.

The Model A Pi has less onboard memory than the Model B which has been on sale for almost a year. The A lacks ethernet networking and has only one USB port.

Initially, the Model A is only available in Europe but this restriction will be lifted "very soon" said the foundation. Orders placed from outside Europe would be honoured, she said, though there would be a delay as the order is processed.

More than one million Raspberry Pi bare-bones computers have been sold since the official launch in late February 2012. The credit-card sized computers have been used in a huge variety of DIY computing projects. One reached an altitude of 25 miles (40km) attached to a high-altitude balloon.

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Dell to be bought back by founder

5 February 2013 Last updated at 11:17 ET

Michael Dell has said that he will buy back the world's number three PC manufacturer that he founded and that carries his name for $24.4bn (£15.5bn).

Mr Dell, together with technology private equity investor, Silver Lake, will offer $13.65 cash per share.

The firm said it offered a 25% premium over the Dell's valuation in January when rumours of the deal first broke.

The buy-out of the Nasdaq-listed firm will be financed by loans from four banks, and a $2bn loan from Microsoft.

Mr Dell, who is also chief executive and chairman of the firm, already owns about 14% of the company. He and fellow senior executives will retain their existing stakes.

Dell's success over the last 29 years has made its founder one of the richest men in America. By buying his company back, he will be taking it off the stock market almost 25 years after it was first listed.

Buying time

Analysts said the move would give Mr Dell greater flexibility in turning the company around, by dispensing with the need to deliver strong results every quarter to shareholders on the stock market.

The entrepreneur said that the firm's long-term strategy would "still take more time, investment and patience, and I believe our efforts will be better supported by partnering with Silver Lake in our shared vision".

"One of the key questions is going to be how much influence Microsoft is going to have over Dell's strategy," said Cindy Shaw, analyst at Discern Group.

Michael Dell founded the company - originally named "PCs Limited" - in 1984 at the age of 19, operating out of his dorm room at the University of Texas.

He later dropped out of university in order to develop his PCs, including innovative laptops, and to expand his business overseas.

But over the last decade, Dell has faced increasingly steep competition, from cheaper Asian PC manufacturers such as China's Lenovo, and from innovative rivals such as Apple and Samsung whose tablets and smartphones have superseded the desktop and laptop.

'Streak'

The company appeared to lose its direction between 2004-07, when Mr Dell stepped down from day-to-day management of the company, and has suffered a number of false starts since his return, including the unsuccessful launch of its "Streak" tablet computer in 2010.

Mr Dell first approached the board with a buy-out proposal in August, and news of the talks emerged in mid-January, propelling the company's share price higher.

However, the share price still remains some way below the $17-$18 level it was trading at a year ago, and well below its all-time high of just under $60 in 2000.

Completion of the buy-out, which will require shareholder approval, is far from agreed.

Before completing the deal, Dell's board said it will conduct what it called a "go shop" period of 45 days during which it would actively seek competing offers to buy the firm at a better price.

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