Apple apologises to China customers

2 April 2013 Last updated at 02:28 ET

Apple boss Tim Cook has apologised to Chinese consumers after state media accused the firm of arrogance, greed and of "throwing its weight around".

A two-week long Chinese media campaign had focused on Apple's repair policies.

A statement on Apple's China website said "misunderstandings" may have led to the perception "Apple's attitude was arrogant" towards Chinese customers.

Mr Cook promised to improve the repair policy on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and to improve warranty information.

"We are aware that a lack of communications... led to the perception Apple's attitude was arrogant and that we do not care and attach importance to consumer feedback," Mr Cook wrote. "We express our sincere apologies for any concerns or misunderstandings this gave consumers."

Apple said it would enhance communication with Chinese consumers and strengthen oversight of authorised resellers.

Earlier this year, Mr Cook said he expected China to replace North America as Apple's largest source of revenue.

China is currently Apple's second-largest market, with more than 17,000 outlets selling its products.

The company says it has eight stores in mainland China, with another three in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong.

'Incomparable arrogance'

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) first criticised Apple on 15 March on a show about consumer rights and safety.

The program accused Apple of failing to offer new replacement iPhones if major repairs are needed during a one-year warranty.

Continue reading the main story

Here we have the Western person's sense of superiority making mischief"

End Quote People's Daily

Following on from that, the state's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, portrayed Apple as the latest Western company to exploit Chinese citizens.

Last week the paper ran an editorial headlined: "Strike down Apple's incomparable arrogance".

"Here we have the Western person's sense of superiority making mischief,'' the paper wrote. "If there's no risk in offending the Chinese consumer, and it also makes for lower overheads, then why not?''

However, some observers in China called it hypocrisy that the paper often does not feature incidents where Chinese companies have been named as part of food safety scares, environmental violations or corruption scandals.

Apple will now offer full replacements of iPhone 4 and 4S models, and a one-year warranty will start from the date of replacement.

It will also allow customers to offer feedback directly, Mr Cook said.

Apple is not the first foreign company to come under pressure from Chinese media.

Last year, CCTV featured McDonald's and Carrefour for food safety violations. The companies later apologised.

Most recently, the parent company behind KFC, Yum, apologised after reports that chicken from some of its suppliers had excess amounts of hormones and drugs.

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'Disruptive' Ouya console launches

28 March 2013 Last updated at 07:45 ET

A new games console which industry experts say could disrupt the industry has begun shipping to customers.

The Ouya costs $99 (£65) and runs on Google's Android operating system.

Games on the system will be a fraction of the cost of traditional console games, more comparable to those found on mobiles and tablets.

However, it may struggle to muscle in on a market dominated by big players such as PlayStation and Xbox, one analyst predicted.

The Ouya was financed using crowdfunding website Kickstarter, where it attracted over $8m (£5.3m) in funding from 63,416 backers.

The company has begun sending out consoles to the first supporters of the project - while other interested gamers can pre-order the device.

Indie movement

The Ouya will look to capitalise on a growing popularity for cheap, often independently produced games.

Mobile devices have eaten into the handheld gaming market, attracting millions of casual gamers who are not prepared to invest in bespoke gaming devices, but are still keen to dabble in gaming.

While traditional platforms, such as Nintendo's DS or Sony's PlayStation Vita, have titles costing in the region of £30-£40, games downloaded from app stores are considerably cheaper, and often free.

Developers on these newer platforms are instead looking to other monetization methods, such as in-game upgrades.

The Ouya is the first major attempt to bring that same kind of disruption to the home gaming industry, says gaming analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, from IHS.

"The space of TV gaming is getting to that point where it's the one area that hasn't been significantly disrupted," he told the BBC.

"Ouya will get other companies involved in the space, looking at it more intently.

"It will get the existing console companies to be more aggressive in their business models, opening up their distribution channels."

Hotting up

While Ouya is the first major launch of this style of gaming device - it will soon have plenty of company.

Gamestick, a UK-based firm, is also developing its own Android-based console.

Nvidia, traditionally a manufacturer of high-end graphical hardware, announced its Project Shield console at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

Perhaps an even greater threat comes from Valve, the PC gaming giant which confirmed it was to make its own "Steambox" - a console utilising the already massively popular Steam network to deliver games.

But Ouya is the first, and likely to be the cheapest.

The console, a small cuboid, can be opened up and upgraded if users wish. It uses off-the-shelf components, minimising manufacturing costs.

Speaking to the BBC in January, Ouya chief executive Julie Uhrman said her device will allow smaller players to get stuck into the home gaming industry.

"Console gaming had traditionally been closed to new entrants," she said.

"That's made it very difficult for small developers to bring titles to the television, and really expensive for gamers [to play]."

However, IHS's Mr Harding-Rolls said the console may struggle in its early days if the quality of titles does not meet expectation.

"It's obviously creating a lot of developer interest, as are others in this space, not just the Ouya," he said, adding that some games may just be direct copies of mobile games.

"I think there will be in the first case a lot of porting that goes on which will not necessarily show off the best capabilities of the device."

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Microchip 'could help cut obesity'

28 March 2013 Last updated at 19:44 ET By Neil Bowdler BBC News

UK-based scientists have designed an 'intelligent' microchip which they claim can suppress appetite.

Animal trials of the electronic implant are about to begin and its makers say it could provide a more effective alternative to weight-loss surgery.

The chip is attached to the vagus nerve which plays a role in appetite as well as a host of other functions within the body.

Human trials of the implant could begin within three years, say its makers.

The work is being led by Prof Chris Toumazou and Prof Sir Stephen Bloom of Imperial College London.

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"Start Quote

The chip will tell the brain don't eat any more - the gut's full of food and you don't need to eat any more "

End Quote Prof Sir Stephen Bloom Imperial College, London

It involves an 'intelligent implantable modulator', just a few millimetres across, which is attached using cuff electrodes to the vagus nerve within the peritoneal cavity found in the abdomen.

The chip and cuffs are designed to read and process electrical and chemical signatures of appetite within the nerve. The chip can then act upon these readings and send electrical signals to the brain reducing or stopping the urge to eat.

The researchers say identifying chemicals rather than electrical impulses will make for a more selective, precise instrument.

The project has just received over 7m euros (£5.9m; $9m) in funding from the European Research Council.

A similar device designed by the Imperial team has already been developed to reduce epileptic seizures by targeting the same vagus nerve.

"This is a really small microchip and on this chip we've got the intelligence which can actually model the neural signals responsible for appetite control," Prof Toumazou told the BBC.

"And as a result of monitoring these signals we can stimulate the brain to counter whatever we monitor.

"It will be control of appetite rather than saying don't eat completely. So maybe instead of eating fast you'll eat a lot slower."

He said initial laboratory trials had already demonstrated proof of concept.

Prof Bloom, who heads Imperial's diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism division, said the chip could provide an alternative to "gross surgery".

"There will be a little tiny insert and it will be so designed as to have no side effects, but restrict appetite in a natural way.

"As far as the brain is concerned, it will get the same signals from the intestinal system as it normally gets after a meal, and these signals tell it don't eat any more - the gut's full of food and you don't need to eat any more."

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He claimed that unlike gastric banding, the chip would reduce both consumption and hunger pangs, and was therefore more likely to be effective.

Nerve blocks

The vagus nerve regulates a plethora of functions in the body, controlling the way we breathe, our heart rate, the secretion of acids in the digestive system and the contraction of the gut.

It also feeds back information to the brain on how various body systems are operating.

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"Start Quote

We need simpler cheaper more regularly available procedures, and unlike some operations for obesity, it's reversible - that's another advantage"

End Quote Dr Tony Goldstone MRC Clinical Sciences Centre

The Imperial team are not the only group working on vagus nerve implants to try to tackle obesity. US company EnteroMedics have developed an implant which intermittently blocks the vagus nerve using electrical impulses.

Recently published data from a clinical trial of the 'VBloc' device, involving 239 patients, showed more than half of those using it had lost at least 20% of their excess body weight - although the company said results were not as good as had been expected.

Another US company, IntraPace, has European approval for its Abiliti device which also uses vagus nerve stimulation to try to reduce food consumption.

Dr Tony Goldstone, senior clinician scientist and expert on obesity at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, said the Imperial project represented an "exciting and novel approach".

"The use of vagus nerve stimulation has not entered the mainstream yet and the results from gastric pacemakers or vagus nerve stimulation have been mixed, but I think this might be a novel approach worthy of exploration.

"Not everyone undergoing bariatric surgery loses weight, particularly with gastric banding, so other procedures might be of benefit.

"We need simpler cheaper more regularly available procedures, and unlike gastric bypass and some other operations for obesity, it is reversible - that is another advantage."

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Scientists create robo-ant colony

28 March 2013 Last updated at 21:09 ET By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

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On its own, each robot would 'just get lost' but as a colony they can navigate

Scientists in the US have built and tested robotic ants that they say behave just like a real ant colony.

The robots do not resemble their insect counterparts; they are tiny cubes equipped with two watch motors to power the wheels that enable them to move.

But their collective behaviour is remarkably ant-like.

By being programmed simply to move forward toward a target and avoid obstacles, the robot colony finds the fastest way through a network or maze.

The secret, the researchers report in the open access journal Plos Computational Biology, is in their ability to take cues from one another - just like an insect swarm.

"Each individual robot is pretty dumb," said Simon Garnier from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, lead researcher on the study. "They have very limited memory and limited processing power."

"By themselves, each robot would just move around randomly and get lost... but [they] are able to work together and communicate."

This is because, like ants, the robots leave a trail that the others follow; while ants leave a trail of chemicals - or pheromones - that their nest mates are able to sniff out, the robots leave a trail of light.

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"Start Quote

You don't need something as complex as choice to get some of the behaviour you see in ants"

End Quote Dr Paul Graham University of Sussex

To achieve this, the researchers set up a camera to track the path of each robot. A projector connected to the camera then produced a spot of light at regular intervals along their route, leaving a "breadcrumb trail" of light that got brighter every time another robot tracked over the same path.

Dr Garnier explained: "[The robots each] have two antennae on top, which are light sensors. If more light falls on their left sensor they turn left, and if more light falls on the right sensor, they turn right."

"It's exactly the same mechanism as ants."

The researcher explained how both the robots and ants worked together, describing their navigation skills as a "positive feedback loop".

"If there are two possible paths from A to B and one is twice as long as [the other], at the beginning, the ants [or] robots start using each path equally.

"Because ants taking the shorter path travel faster, the amount of pheromone (or light) deposited on that path grows faster, so more ants use that path."

Learning from nature

Continue reading the main story

Superorganisms

• There are an estimated 20,000 species of ants in the world
• Ant colonies have structured social system, with different castes - worker, soldier, queen and drone - all of which carry out specific tasks for the colony
• Ant colonies are sometimes referred to as "superorganisms" because ants appear to operate as a single entity

There are many other research and engineering projects that take inspiration from nature to solve problems or design robots, as Dr Paul Graham, a biologist from the University of Sussex, explained.

"The classic example," he said, "is the way in which we design information networks to move packets of data around.

"Ants don't have someone in charge telling them where to go, so you can [mimic this].

For instance - in a complex network, there may be a junction with different possible routes that packets [of data] could take. Packets would leave messages for each other at the junction to give information about which routes were quick."

This, he explained, is the basis of an algorithm called ant colony optimisation which has already been used in telecoms networks.

And although Dr Graham doesn't see an immediate practical use for these particular robotic insects he says the study demonstrates an important and interesting piece of biology.

"Lots of animal behaviour gets described using words like 'choice'.

"This shows that you don't need something as complex as choice to get some of the behaviour you see in ants.

"And these things look pretty cool, too."

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Amazon buys book recommendation site

28 March 2013 Last updated at 23:57 ET

Online retailer Amazon has said it will buy Goodreads, a book discovery and recommendation website.

San Francisco-based Goodreads was founded in 2007, has 16 million members and is one of the most prominent online communities for readers.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and it is expected to be completed in the next quarter.

Amazon's electronic book service competes against a number of rivals including Google and Apple.

Goodreads is a social network for readers, where they can recommend, review and discover books. Users can also buy books from online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

"Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading," Russ Grandinetti, vice-president for Kindle content at Amazon, said in a statement.

Goodreads co-founder, Otis Chandler, said the deal would allow the company to move faster in bringing its user experience to more people around the world.

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Apple denied iPad Mini US trademark

31 March 2013 Last updated at 07:34 ET

Apple has been denied a trademark for the popular iPad Mini by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The trademark application for the tablet was turned down because the name was "merely descriptive" and did not create a unique meaning, it said.

But Apple still has until July to persuade the Patent Office that the smaller tablet differs sufficiently from its iconic sibling.

Apple has been involved in a series of patent disputes with rival firms.

It won a landmark case against Korea's Samsung last year but this month, a judge in the US ordered the $1bn (£660m) in damages awarded to Apple be cut by 40% and set a new trial to assess the level of damages.

The award was the biggest in a series of global legal fights between the two companies over patents.

The Patent Office issued the letter in January, although it has only just emerged.

In it, it said the "applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant's goods".

The terms "mini" and "pad" and the prefix "i-" were all descriptive, it decided.

Neither as individual terms nor as a composite result - iPad Mini - did they "create a unique, incongruous, or non-descriptive meaning in relation to the goods being small handheld mobile devices comprising tablet computers capable of providing internet access".

In its last quarter to January, Apple said that it sold a record 22.9 million iPads and iPad Minis.

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'Petaflop' supercomputer shuts down

1 April 2013 Last updated at 05:50 ET

A US supercomputer called Roadrunner has been switched off by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The machine was the first to operate at "petaflop pace" - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second - when it launched in 2008.

It has been used to model viruses and distant parts of the universe, as well as in nuclear weapons research.

It remains one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, but has been replaced by something even faster.

"Roadrunner got everyone thinking in new ways about how to build and use a supercomputer,'' said Gary Grider, from the Los Alamos National Laboratory high performance computing division, in a statement.

"Specialised processors are being included in new ways on new systems and being used in novel ways. Our demonstration with Roadrunner caused everyone to pay attention.''

Its replacement, the Cielo, has been used by the weapons research lab since 2010. While Roadrunner cost $121m (£79m) to develop, Cielo cost $54m (£35m) and is a faster operator, according to the lab.

Roadrunner was developed by computer giant IBM.

The huge machine includes 12,000 modified versions of the processor originally designed for the Sony Playstation 3, and 92km (57 miles) of fibre optic cable, housed in 288 refrigerator-sized cases.

It was shut down on Sunday 31 March and will be dismantled this month after some experiments are carried out on its operating system, said the laboratory.

"Even in death, we are trying to learn from Roadrunner," said Mr Grider.

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Cat Video Festival returns to US

1 April 2013 Last updated at 07:51 ET

A second festival dedicated to celebrating internet videos of cats is due to take place in Minnesota in August 2013.

Some 10,000 people gathered at the inaugural event last summer, hosted by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

This year's attendees are once again invited to nominate their favourite feline-themed viral videos to be played on a big screen at the event.

The festival will also now come to Brooklyn, New York, later in the year.

The video judged the best at last year's festival featured a cat called Henri, described on his own website as "the world's first and foremost feline philosopher".

Director Will Bradon described the award as "a great honour" and is planning to unveil new material at the 2013 event.

Short videos of "cute" animal behaviour are often popular on video websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, but cats seem to be a perennial favourite.

A one minute film of a cat "hugging" its kitten uploaded in May 2011 has been seen more than 50 million times on YouTube since it went viral after being posted on social news website Reddit.

"I think [cats] are easier to anthropomorphise and harder to herd," said Plymouth University Professor Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine, in an interview with website knowyourmeme.com on the reason why cats are such an internet hit.

"There's something secretive about them. When I was a child I used to imagine that all our local cats met up every night after dark to plot schemes against the grown-ups... One would never imagine this of dogs."

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Court rules against digital reseller

2 April 2013 Last updated at 07:51 ET

A company which allowed customers to resell their digital music "second hand" breached copyright, a US judge has ruled.

ReDigi billed itself as the first legal way to resell music bought online - but soon provoked the ire of record labels.

It was sued by Capitol Records in January 2012, and on Monday a New York judge said ReDigi was making unauthorised copies of music.

The ruling could have broad implications for digital reselling.

Unlike physical music CDs, Judge Richard Sullivan ruled that the "first sale doctrine" did not apply.

The doctrine is a long-established rule which allows the reselling of goods to a new owner. In other words, selling a CD once you no longer want it.

But in the digital world, where duplication is much easier, the first sale doctrine was not appropriate, the judge said.

"It is simply impossible that the same 'material object' can be transferred over the internet," he wrote in his ruling.

"ReDigi facilitates and profits from the sale of copyrighted commercial recordings, transferred in their entirety, with a likely detrimental impact on the primary market for these goods."

ReDigi argues that their system means the original download is removed from the seller's computer.

The company asks users to download proprietary software, which verifies if a file was bought legally. If the song checks out, it is then erased from the seller's hard drive and uploaded to ReDigi's computer servers.

ReDigi's software is designed to prevent sellers from reinstalling a sold song to their computer, and offers users the chance to check their libraries for illegal music.

But the judge said: "It is beside the point that the original phonorecord no longer exists. It matters only that a new phonorecord has been created."

Wider impact

The notion of being able to sell on your unwanted digital goods is a concept that has caught the eyes of, among others, Amazon and Apple.

Both companies have been granted patents relating to the selling or transferring of digital goods - but while both offer cloud storage services for music, neither has yet set up a reselling function.

"Both Amazon and Apple have been working on patents, which are insurance policies for both of them in my view," said Joe Wikert from O'Reilly Media, speaking to Reuters.

"They have been sitting on the sidelines watching the ReDigi case."

Mr Wickert added that the ruling was "not a good first step" for the digital reselling industry.

Capitol Records, whose catalogue includes Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me and The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, sought $150,000 (£99,000) for each infringement.

The judge did not set an amount for damages, instead inviting both firms to submit statements regarding the next steps in the case.

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Google faces European privacy probe

2 April 2013 Last updated at 10:06 ET

Six European data protection agencies are contemplating legal action over Google's privacy policy.

The threat comes as a four-month deadline to change the policy expires with Google making "no change" to the policy.

Google's perceived failure to act is being looked in to by data watchdogs in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK.

In a statement, Google said its privacy policy "respects European law".

'Full engagement'

In late October 2012, a European Commission working party reported that Google's privacy policy did not meet Commission standards on data protection.

The report said Google should do more to let users see what information was held about them, provide tools to manage this data and take more care to ensure it did not store too much data about users.

The investigation was kicked off by Google's decision to update its privacy policy so it had one set of guidelines for every service it ran.

Google was given four months to comply with the working party's recommendations to bring the policy into line with European law.

"After this period has expired, Google has not implemented any significant compliance measures," said French data watchdog CNIL in a statement. CNIL headed the probe into the privacy policy.

In addition, said CNIL, Google was warned about the potential for action on 19 March in a meeting with officials from six data watchdogs. "No change," was seen following this meeting, said CNIL.

As a consequence, all six data protection bodies were now opening new investigations into Google and how it handled privacy. The UK's Information Commissioner confirmed it was looking at whether the policy complied but said it could not add further comment because the investigation was ongoing.

A Google spokesman said: "Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services."

"We have engaged fully with the DPAs involved throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward," added the spokesman.

News of the action comes as Google's privacy director, Alma Whitten, steps down from her job. Ms Whitten was appointed as the search giant's first privacy director in 2010, following a series of mistakes by Google that had led to user data being exposed.

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