Concern over Facebook edit function

30 September 2013 Last updated at 08:51 ET

A new feature allowing Facebook users to edit their status updates may result in "stitch-ups", an expert has warned.

Previously, an update would have to be deleted and reposted with any changes, losing any comments or "likes".

But the new capability, introduced to help users correct spelling and grammatical errors, means posts can be modified, and their content changed.

Facebook users who liked or interacted with the original post are not notified of any changes made.

A spokesman for Facebook explained that the update was intended to help people address typos or auto-correct errors, but wouldn't comment on the potential vulnerabilities.

The capability to edit posts is already available on rival social networks, and Facebook has allowed its users to edit photo updates and their comments on other people's updates for some months.

'Real concerns'

However the lack of notifications means that users who may have liked an innocuous post, such as "I love my cat", could find their name beside a post which says something entirely different, or even offensive.

"The latest update from Facebook to allow editing of posts after they have been published raises some real concerns amongst individuals I know and business clients of mine," Kieran Hannon, director of social media consultancy eSocialMedia, told the BBC.

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The opportunity to 'stitch up' friends or foes on Facebook has increased dramatically"

End Quote Kieran Hannon Director, eSocialMedia

"A like or a comment made on a previously static piece of content is now open to misinterpretation - a fact that many less informed users are currently unaware of.

"The opportunity to 'stitch up' friends or foes on Facebook has increased dramatically."

Reducing errors

Updates that are modified are marked as edited.

A history of the edits made is available for users to view.

The editing facility comes after Facebook revealed more than half its users accessed the site on mobile phones, which are more prone to typing errors.

"It's unlikely this will have any impact beyond making it easier to correct spelling mistakes," said Matt Owen, of digital business specialists Econsultancy.

"If this update allows people to stay in control of their social profile, ultimately they will be happier with it and use the product more.

"It's a win-win for both Facebook and its users."

The new edit feature does not yet apply to company pages.

But Mr Hannon says he will be advising his business clients to be cautious.

"It is a concern that a brand could like or comment on a post that is later updated to something that undermines or potentially damages the company's brand," he said.

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Rail mobile broadband plan announced

30 September 2013 Last updated at 09:40 ET By Matthew Wall Technology reporter, BBC News

The rail industry plans to roll out "high-speed mobile broadband" across the busiest parts of Britain's rail network, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced.

By 2019, 70% of train passengers should have access to the faster technology, the Department for Transport added.

Passengers may be able to watch streamed videos on their mobiles, for example, if the plan to raise data capacity per train 25-fold succeeds.

The programme will be industry funded.

"Today's announcement marks the beginning of the end of poor coverage on our railways," Mr McLoughlin said.

A Network Rail spokesman added: "As an industry, we recognise that the limited availability of mobile communications on Britain's rail network is not good enough.

"If rail is to remain a preferred mode of transport, this must be addressed, which is why today's announcement is good news for the millions of people who travel by train each day."

Spare capacity

Network Rail is in the middle of a £1.9bn digital communications improvement programme that is upgrading both its fixed line and mobile infrastructure.

A new fibre optic network should be capable of handling up to 192,000 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) of data once the upgrade is complete in June 2014.

The Rail Safety and Standards Board has forecast that the telecommunications demand on Britain's railways could rise to 200Gbit/s by 2018, which would still leave plenty of spare capacity on the upgraded system.

"By increasing the number of mobile phone masts to fill gaps in signal coverage, and incorporating signal boosters inside train carriages, passengers will be able to benefit from our surplus data capacity," a Network Rail spokesman told the BBC.

Currently, train operating companies limit what kinds of material can be downloaded on to mobile devices because each vehicle only has access to 2.5 megabit per second (Mbit/s) of data which must be shared among its passengers. As a result the firms block access to video streaming services such as iPlayer and Netflix.

However, this could rise to 50Mbit/s per train after the upgrade, Network Rail said, allowing a change of policy.

The commercial details of how Network Rail, the mobile phone operators and train operating companies would pay for the additional upgrades, and how much passengers would be charged for high-speed mobile broadband, have yet to be thrashed out.

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Firm shows off translating glasses

30 September 2013 Last updated at 13:37 ET

Glasses that can translate a menu have been demonstrated by a major Japanese mobile operator.

NTT Docomo's wearable Intelligent Glasses can project an image of translated text over unfamiliar characters, the company said.

The spectacles also allow the wearer to view and manipulate virtual images.

The wearable technology was demonstrated at Ceatec 2013, a consumer electronics show in Japan.

NTT Docomo said that Intelligent Glasses could be a boon to tourists.

"Character recognition technology enables instant language translation for users travelling abroad and reading restaurant menus and other documents," NTT Docomo said.

Translated text

The glasses, which are still at a research stage, can show translated text in a user's first language, according to the company.

The head-mounted display can translate Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean languages.

Translation takes over five seconds for the prototype.

The technology can also turn flat surfaces into pseudo-touchscreens, NTT Docomo said.

A person can manipulate a virtual image in their field of vision using a ring that relays hand movements on the blank surface back to the glasses.

The spectacles also use facial recognition software to display personal details of a person who is in view, the company added.

The data is called up from remote servers using smartphones.

Wearable tech

Wearable technologies have "tremendous potential, but face a lot of hurdles", IDC consumer technology consultant Jonathan Gaw told the BBC.

"Small-bore applications like on-the-fly menu translation won't sell a pair of smart glasses on their own, but a large eco system of applications might," he said.

Smart glasses face immediate issues of size, weight and battery life, Mr Gaw said.

In the consumer world, fashion and social acceptability concerns also come into play, he added.

Some of the major technology companies are in the process of developing wearable technology.

For example, Google is developing head-mounted spectacles as part of the Google Glass project.

Developers are in the process of putting together applications for Google Glass.

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Grand Theft Auto Online server worry

30 September 2013 Last updated at 19:08 ET

The creator of Grand Theft Auto has warned there might be teething problems as its online version launches.

Last week Rockstar North admitted it was facing "unanticipated" pressure because sales of GTA 5 had been stronger than expected.

"We are working around the clock to buy and add more servers," its blog said.

But it added that matters could be "more temperamental than such things usually are" because using so many computers introduced their own issues.

In the online version of the 18-rated violent crime game, up to 16 players can interact simultaneously within a virtual environment and create personalised avatars.

It is included free with every copy of the GTA 5 console video game. According to one analyst's figures, more than 15 million units of the title had been sold by early last week.

"At a conservative estimate I would expect about two million players to log on to GTA Online within the first 24 hours," added Keza MacDonald, UK games editor for IGN.com, the video game and entertainment site.

"Rockstar has never done an online game of this scale before, so they are totally unproven in terms of their network infrastructure.

"And even the highly successful World of Warcraft at its peak didn't have as many people playing online at once as GTA is likely to have, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were problems."

Other bestsellers have faced issues after their servers failed to cope with demand.

Owners of Electronic Art's Sim City - which requires players to be logged into its servers to play - experienced waits of up to 30 minutes to get started and then sluggish gameplay when it went on sale in March.

EA later apologised and offered a free title to those affected as compensation. It said more people had logged on than it had expected, adding they then played differently to the way its testers had.

The previous year Activision Blizzard saw its servers for Diablo 3 come under severe pressure after its launch.

The term #error37 trended on Twitter after players were shown the code alongside a message telling them to wait and try logging on later. At one point the firm took its websites offline to reduce demand.

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YouTube announces music awards show

Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga and Eminem will play at the first YouTube Awards

YouTube is launching its own music awards show.

According to YouTube's official blog the YouTube Music Awards will be an "event honouring the artists and songs that you have turned into hits over the past year".

Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire, among others, will perform at the event in New York on 3 November.

Nominations will be chosen based on videos that have been watched and shared over the past year.

Users will then be asked to choose winners by sharing the nominees across social media.

The ceremony will be streamed live online with nominees for the awards being announced on 17 October.

YouTube claims to have one billion unique users to the site each month

In the days leading up to the event, nominees will share official music videos, covers, parodies, concerts, interviews and fan videos.

On the night itself artists and some of YouTube's most popular contributors, including Lindsey Stirling and Cdza, will take part in performances and musical collaborations around the world.

Shows will take place in Seoul, Moscow, London and Rio de Janeiro as well as the live event in New York.

The YouTube Music Awards will be hosted by American actor Jason Schwartzman.

Spike Jones, who directed Where The Wild Things Are as well as videos and documentaries for The Chemical Brothers and Bjork, will be the creative director of the event.

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Bafta opens awards up to online TV

1 October 2013 Last updated at 07:41 ET

TV programmes which are only broadcast online to UK audiences are to be eligible for 2014's Bafta's TV awards.

US-made shows such as Netflix's House of Cards and Breaking Bad will only be eligible for the international award as well as the audience award.

Bafta said the changes reflect "trends among the viewing public" for watching shows not broadcast on TV.

The academy added that the change ensured the awards would "remain relevant".

Continue reading the main story

Lizo Mzimba Entertainment correspondent, BBC News

---

The widely expected move by Bafta brings its TV awards criteria more into line with the US Emmys in the area of online viewing. But it doesn't go as far as America's biggest TV awards show in other areas.

As long as programmes are broadcast online, on network or on cable TV in the US, they're allowed to compete in the appropriate Emmy categories. So this year saw ITV's Downton Abbey, transmitted in America on PBS, up against the likes of Mad Men and House of Cards for outstanding drama. The ceremony also saw Downton's Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery taking on US talent in the big acting categories.

But the Bafta TV awards remain primarily a celebration of home grown television. Only British programmes, or co-productions with a significant UK connection, can compete in most categories. So we won't see Breaking Bad vs Broadchurch, or Arrested Development taking on Mrs Brown's Boys.

This is a primarily a rule change aimed at moving with the times in recognising how audiences consume content, while ensuring that the Baftas retain their unique character as one of TV's most prestigious awards ceremonies.

"We're in a golden era for storytelling and programme-making, with top-class shows being broadcast online as well as on digital and terrestrial television," said Bafta's chief executive, Amanda Berry.

"The latest update to our rules ensures we celebrate and reward the very best."

Emmy nominations

The comedy programme category has been expanded in another change to the rules, and will now be called Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme.

For 2014 it will include panel-led shows such as Have I Got News for You, chat shows and those featuring stand-up comedy to ensure "a more lively competition".

Earlier this year House of Cards became the first online show to be nominated in a major category at the Emmy Awards, where it was up for for 14 prizes including best drama.

It lost out to Breaking Bad, the finale of which was watched by 10.3 million people in the US on Sunday night.

Bafta's changes come into force for both the Television Craft Awards on 27 April 2014 and the Television Awards on 18 May, with entry for both open from 1 October to 3 December this year.

The Royal Television Society has told the BBC it will be addressing the issue in time for its 2013 awards, due to be handed out in March 2014.

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Lightning powers Frankenstein phone

1 October 2013 Last updated at 08:19 ET

Some 200 years after Mary Shelley used lightning to breath life into Frankenstein's monster, scientists have copied her idea to power a phone.

The proof-of-concept experiment was conducted at the University of Southampton in collaboration with Nokia.

The mobile firm warned users "not to try this at home".

Harnessing nature in this way could provide power sources where electricity is in short supply, said experts.

Huge step

Using a transformer, the team recreated a lightning bolt in the lab by passing 200,000 volts across a 30cm (11in) air gap.

"We were amazed to see that the Nokia circuitry somehow stabilised the noisy signal, allowing the battery to be charged," said Neil Palmer, from the University of Southampton's high voltage laboratory.

"This discovery proves devices can be charged with a current that passes through the air, and is a huge step towards understanding a natural power like lightning and harnessing its energy."

Lightning is a discharge of static electricity that occurs when there is an imbalance in the electrical charge between a cloud and the earth's surface.

On average three people die in the UK each year from lightning strikes, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa).

"We obviously aren't recommending people try this experiment at home, but we are always looking to disrupt and push the boundaries of technology," said Chris Weber, executive vice-president for sales at Nokia.

Finding new ways to charge mobile phones and extend battery life is one of the number one priorities for the mobile industry.

"It's certainly a striking idea," said Ben Wood, of analyst firm CCS Insight.

"Nokia has been among the forerunners of device-charging technology for some time. It's also very committed to caring for the environment. So it's perhaps not surprising that the company's involved in what might appear to be a wacky idea."

He thinks the concept might be useful in areas without reliable electricity.

"If you live in a remote village in India you might welcome the possibility of a communal device that charges phones."

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Symantec disables ZeroAccess bots

1 October 2013 Last updated at 09:19 ET By Tom Espiner Technology reporter

Symantec has disabled part of one of the world's largest networks of infected computers.

About 500,000 hijacked computers have been taken out of the 1.9 million strong ZeroAccess botnet, the security company said.

The zombie computers were used for advertising and online currency fraud and to infect other machines.

Security experts warned that any benefits from the takedown might be short-lived.

The cybercriminals behind the network had not yet been identified, said Symantec.

"We've taken almost a quarter of the botnet offline," Symantec security operations manager Orla Cox told the BBC. "That's taken away a quarter of [the criminals'] earnings."

The ZeroAccess network is used to generate illegal cash through a type of advertising deception known as "click fraud".

Communications poisoned

Zombie computers are commanded to download online adverts and generate artificial mouse clicks on the ads to mimic legitimate users and generate payouts from advertisers.

The computers are also used to create an online currency called Bitcoin which can be used to pay for goods and services.

The ZeroAccess botnet is not controlled by one or two servers, but relies on waves of communications between groups of infected computers to do the bidding of the criminals.

The decentralised nature of the botnet made it difficult to act against, said Symantec.

In July, the company started poisoning the communications between the infected computers, permanently cutting them off from the rest of the hijacked network, said Ms Cox.

The company had set the ball in motion after noticing that a new version of the ZeroAccess software was being distributed through the network.

The updated version of the ZeroAccess Trojan contained modifications that made it more difficult to disrupt communications between peers in the infected network.

Symantec built its own mini-ZeroAccess botnet to study effective ways of taking down the network, and tested different takedown methods for two weeks.

The company studied the botnet and disabled the computers as part of its research operations, which feed into product development, said Ms Cox.

"Hopefully this will help us in the future to build up better protection," she said.

Internet service providers have been informed which machines were taken out of the botnet in an effort to let the owners of the computers know that their machine was a zombie.

Resilient zombies

Although a quarter of the zombie network has been taken out of action, the upgraded version of the botnet will be more difficult to take down, said Ms Cox.

"These are professional cybercriminals," she said. "They will likely be looking for ways to get back up to strength."

In the long term, the zombie network could grow back to its previous size, security experts said.

"Every time a botnet is taken down, but the people who run it are not arrested, there is a chance they can rebuild the botnet," said Vincent Hanna, a researcher for non-profit anti-spam project Spamhaus.

The remaining resilient part of the network may continue to be used for fraud, and could start spreading the upgraded ZeroAccess Trojan, Mr Hanna warned.

Taking down infected networks is a "thankless task", according to Sophos, a rival to Symantec.

"It's a bit like trying to deal with the rabbit problem in Australia - you know you're unlikely ever to win, but you also know that you have to keep trying, or you will definitely lose," said Sophos head of technology Paul Ducklin.

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Delta gives pilots Microsoft tablets

1 October 2013 Last updated at 12:03 ET

American airline Delta is to equip 11,000 of its pilots with Microsoft Surface 2 tablets, in a bid to eliminate paper resources.

The recently launched Surface 2, which runs the Windows RT 8.1 platform, will provide crews with key charts and navigation tools via a customised app.

The tablets will replace the 17kg (2st 10lb) flight bags currently carried by pilots, reducing fuel consumption.

The company expects all its cockpits to be paperless by the end of 2014.

Delta had previously tested Apple iPads as potential Electronic Flight Bags (EFB), but has recently embraced Microsoft devices.

It equipped 19,000 of its flight attendants with Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones in August, which run on a Windows operating system.

Essential documents

The sight of pilots wheeling heavy cases through airports is a familiar one, but electronic alternatives have been around for decades.

Many commercial airlines now use tablets as EFBs, and the devices are even common among single-seat, or recreational pilots.

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• Pilots traditionally take on board heavy 'flight bags' containing all the information they need to safely fly the aircraft
• The bags contain thousands of documents, including:
• Aircraft and system manuals, maps, tech logs, weight and balance sheets
• Details of what cargo is being carried on board, and of the passengers
• Weather maps, and details of the arrival and departure airports
• Possible conflicts en route

Delta pilots had been using their own tablet devices in the cockpit, but now only the Surface 2 will be allowed - a move that has been unpopular with some employees, who vented their frustrations on online forums.

A Delta spokesman told the BBC that crews will be allowed to run personal applications on the Surface 2, as long as they use a separate profile.

Time saving

Delta's senior vice president, Capt Steve Dickson, said the Surface tablets would "minimise time spent looking for flight information", and allow pilots the "opportunity for greater situational awareness in the air and on the ground".

The tablets will feature a custom-built app called FliteDeck Pro, developed by aerospace technology company Jeppesen, a subsidiary of Boeing.

They will contain thousands of electronic documents, charts, navigational aids, checklists and other key reference materials.

A spokesman for Delta said the company chose the Surface 2 "because of its ease of integration into existing IT systems as well as training and communications programs".

Weight loss

Delta says it will roll out the device to pilots on its Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 fleets later this year, subject to approval by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The airline estimates the weight reduction resulting from the switch to a paperless cockpit will reduce fuel usage by 1.2 million gallons per year - leading to a reduction in carbon emissions of 26 million pounds (12 million kg).

Aviation consultant Chris Yates told the BBC the weight of flight bags "have been an issue for a while".

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EU hints at settlement with Google

1 October 2013 Last updated at 12:03 ET

The European Commission has indicated that new concessions offered by Google could end its long-running anti-trust investigation against the search giant.

Few details about the concessions were released, but they are believed to include measures to make it easier for web users to see results from Google's rivals.

The company was accused by rivals in 2010 of squeezing out competition.

If found guilty, Google faces huge fines.

"We have reached a key moment in this case. Now with significant improvements on the table, I think we have the possibility to work again," competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the European Parliament.

Own logos

In April Google suggested a package of concessions, including an offer to label its own services and to make it easier for people to use rival advertising services.

But the deal was rejected by rivals, who said it did not go far enough.

In a statement on Tuesday, Google's general counsel Kent Walker said: "Given the feedback the European Commission received on our first proposal, they have insisted on further, significant changes to the way we display search results."

"We've made the difficult decision to agree to their requirements in the interests of reaching a settlement."

The deal would allow Google's competitors to display their own logos next to their services and take up more space on Google's result pages.

It would also allow websites greater control over what parts of their sites appear in Google's results.

Mr Almunia said the commission would now give Google's competitors a chance to look at its proposals.

FairSearch, the umbrella group that is lobbying against Google, said that it had yet to see the details of the deal.

Thomas Vinje, legal counsel for the group, said in a statement: "It is essential that Google applies the same rules to its own services as it does to others when it returns and displays search results."

Rejected deal

Google dominates search in Europe, accounting for 80% of the market.

EU regulators have been investigating Google's business practices since 2010, following complaints from more than a dozen companies, including Microsoft and price comparison site Foundem.

The commission's investigation centred on four areas:

• the manner in which Google displays its own vertical search services compared with other, competing products
• how Google copies content from other websites - such as restaurant reviews - to include within its own services
• the exclusivity Google has to sell advertising around search terms people use
• restrictions on advertisers from moving their online ad campaigns to rival search engines.

A decision on the case could be made next spring, Mr Almunia said.

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