Firm apologises for Amazon 1p glitch

15 December 2014 Last updated at 09:03

A Londonderry-based company has apologised for a software glitch that led to hundreds of items being sold for just 1p on Amazon.

The glitch affected prices between 19:00 GMT and 20:00 GMT on Friday and involved firms who use the tool Repricer Express.

The company's chief executive, Brendan Doherty, said he was "deeply sorry for the disruption".

Amazon said most orders were cancelled after the error was spotted.

The orders were placed on its Marketplace service, which allows third-party companies to trade on Amazon.

Repricer Express automatically changes the cost of items for sale on Amazon Marketplace "to keep listings competitive 24/7 without constant attention".

'Disappointed'

In a statement, Mr Doherty said Repricer Express would be investigating the cause of the problem and putting measures in place to prevent it happening again.

"We managed to get the problem resolved so that any new prices going to Amazon were correct within about an hour of the problem being reported," he said.

"It took a further few hours to get incorrect prices reverted to their original prices where possible. Amazon have assured us that seller accounts will not be penalised for this issue."

He said the firm was helping Amazon to minimise the number of orders with incorrect prices being sent out.

"We take a lot of pride in the levels of service we provide so everyone here is disappointed that our customers have experienced this issue," he said.

A spokesman for Amazon said they were reviewing the small number of orders that were processed and would be directly contacting any affected sellers.

Repricer Express has been operating for over 10 years, and has offices in Derry and New York.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Facebook ponders 'dislike' function

12 December 2014 Last updated at 12:54 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says his site is "thinking about" how to implement a way to dislike posts (Video credit: Facebook).

Facebook is thinking about adding a way to "dislike" posts on its site, founder Mark Zuckerberg has said.

Speaking at a Q&A session in California, he said it was one of the most requested features the social network receives from its users.

He said the site would need to find a way to make sure it did not become a way to demean people's posts.

According to Facebook's own figures, 4.5 billion "likes" are generated every day.

"One of things we've thought about for quite a while is what's the right way to make it so that people can easily express a broader range of emotions," Mark Zuckerberg told an audience at Facebook's headquarters.

"A lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives. Often people tell us that they don't feel comfortable pressing 'like' because 'like' isn't the appropriate sentiment.

"Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to say, 'That thing isn't good.' That's not something that we think is good for the world.

"The thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express."

Fake likes

Facebook's Like button has been criticised as being a method by which the social network collects data on its users' browsing habits.

The system has also come under fire due to a high volume of "fake likes" - when the popularity of a brand or piece of content is inflated artificially.

Facebook has moved to combat the trade of so-called "like farming" - businesses that, for a price, will provide a huge number of likes quickly. This will be via automated robots, or by a network of humans paid a tiny sum for each click.

An investigation by the BBC in July 2012 showed that a fake company, set up by the BBC, could gain thousands of "likes" - despite the fact that the company, which promised bagels via the internet, was quite clearly bogus.

On closer inspection, many of the "likes" appeared to come from accounts that were not real people. Hardly any of the "likes" originated from places like the UK or US - instead the majority originated in places such as the Philippines.

Facebook has initiated legal action against firms offering "fake likes" or other bogus business practices on the social network.

Nervous advertisers

Any enhanced method for expressing sentiment - particularly negatively - would be likely to make advertisers nervous, said Paul Coggins, chief executive of ad firm Adludio.

"Facebook's big concern is revenue," he told the BBC.

"They need to keep their advertisers happy. I would think it highly unlikely that they would come up with a button that says you can 'dislike'.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Rory Cellan-Jones explores the merits of Facebook advertising, by setting up a bogus bagel company online

"I think they will extend the success of the like button, which has been huge. Rather than have a quick yes-no, which is a bit black and white, my guess is that they'll probably look to do something with a bit more sentiment around it."

Mr Coggins suggested buttons which would indicate how a user feels, rather than a direct "dislike".

Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, said brands are now used to being openly criticised online.

"If brands do put something out which people don't like, they find out pretty quickly. It's been a force for good - advertisers know more about tone, or when they've gone too far."

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sony warns press over hacking leaks

15 December 2014 Last updated at 11:17

Sony Pictures has contacted some US news outlets in an attempt to limit the damage caused by the hacking of its internal computer system last month.

The studio, its letter informed them, "does not consent to your possession... dissemination, publication... or making any use of the stolen information".

Script details, salary data and private email correspondence have been leaked in the wake of the huge cyber attack.

A group calling itself Guardians of Peace has claimed responsibility.

It is believed that the attack was triggered by Sony's new film The Interview, a comedy that features a plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea has denied being involved in the attack, but has described it as a "righteous deed" that may have been carried out by its "supporters and sympathisers".

Variety, the New York Times and the Hollywood Reporter are among the publications understood to have been contacted by Sony's legal team.

A New York Times spokeswoman said its coverage would "take into account both the significance of the news and the questions of how the information emerged".

Some of the emails released have contained embarrassing exchanges about some of Hollywood's biggest stars, among them Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The producers of the new James Bond film Spectre have also confirmed that an early version of its script was stolen and "illegally made public by hackers".

George Clooney is the latest movie star to have had his personal emails disseminated, revealing he was personally stung by the critical reaction to his recent film The Monuments Men.

"I fear I've let you all down," the actor and director wrote in an exchange with Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal.

The revelation that Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were paid less than their male co-stars in American Hustle has also been widely reported.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is among those to have criticised the media's apparent complicity with the hackers, accusing it of being "morally treasonous".

According to Variety's Andrew Wallenstein, however, publishing the stolen data is "problematic but necessary" because it "is in the public domain" and "unavoidable".

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sydney siege brings Uber criticism

15 December 2014 Last updated at 11:25

Cab-ordering firm Uber has been criticised for increasing fares by up to four times normal rates during the hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia.

As the police cordoned off a wide area around the Lindt cafe where a gunman was holding staff and customers hostage, Uber's pricing algorithm raised prices as demand spiked.

Uber responded to the criticism by offering free journeys out of the city's central business district (CBD).

It also refunded some passengers.

But the rapidly expanding cab firm also tweeted that higher rates were still in place "to encourage drivers to get into the CBD".

In a blogpost on Sunday, Uber explained that "surge pricing is used to encourage more drivers to come online and pick up passengers from the area."

Twitter users had accused the firm of exploiting a potential terrorist situation for its own financial gain.

Minimum fares rose to A$100 (£53) at one point with one customer telling tech news site Mashable he'd been quoted A$145-185 for a journey from Sydney's CBD to the airport - a 13-mile journey that would normally cost about A$40-70 depending on the time of day.

Another customer said this was "almost price gouging at its worst".

Uber backlash

This is the latest in a run of negative news stories for Uber.

Taxi drivers in France have been blocking some roads around Paris and at airports in a protest against the firm.

Monday's demonstration came as France's Interior Ministry said it would ban UberPop, the company's car-pooling service, from 1 January.

And last week, Uber said it would suspend operations in Delhi, India, following the arrest of an Uber driver accused of raping a female passenger.

In response, the Delhi authorities banned all internet-based cab services.

Uber apologised for what happened and acknowledged that it "must do better".

There have also been taxi protests in other cities around the world with various governments threatening to legislate against the firm.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Amazon strikes hit German depots

15 December 2014 Last updated at 11:37

Strikes have begun at Amazon distribution depots in Germany in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Five of the online retailer's nine centres have reportedly been affected in what will be a three-day walk-out.

The strikes come in the run-up to Christmas, but Amazon said delivery schedules remained the same and that orders would be met.

The union Verdi wants Amazon staff to be part of the retail industry's collective bargaining structure.

Amazon designates the staff as logistics workers, but says they receive above-average pay for this sector.

The company employs about 9,000 staff in Germany.

Despite the disruption, Amazon said customers could order up until midnight on 21 December to get gifts in time for Christmas, or even on 23 and 24 December if they pay for "express" delivery. "We deliver reliably," an Amazon spokeswoman said.

Verdi has organised a number of strikes at Amazon since May 2013. In the past Amazon has drawn on other depots throughout Europe to help meet delivery schedules.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pirate Bay 'copy' goes online

15 December 2014 Last updated at 12:35

Isohunt, a website providing access to mostly pirated material, has cloned the database of its competitor, The Pirate Bay, after it was shut down last week.

The cloned site is online and fully functioning, according to users.

The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most visited websites, has been closed since a police raid in Sweden last week.

Isohunt, which was banned in the UK last month, says it made the move in order to "save the Freedom of information on the Internet".

If The Pirate Bay returns, the cloned site will be taken down, Isohunt added.

The Pirate Bay offered an expansive list of links to pirated content including films, TV shows and music.

The Swedish police carried out a raid near Stockholm last week, seizing servers from The Pirate Bay following an investigation which had lasted "years", the force said.

While its founders have already been convicted of copyright infringement offences and some have been jailed, the site has proved difficult to close down permanently.

In 2012, The Pirate Bay changed its structure to make itself more portable and easy to clone.

When he heard about the raid last week Peter Sunde, one of the site's original founders, said that he did not like what the site had become.

"The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old design," he wrote in a blog post.

Mr Sunde went on to criticise the explicit nature of the adverts which appeared on it.

"It never changed except for one thing - the ads. More and more ads were filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make these ads more distasteful they somehow ended up even worse."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSA spying prompts security changes

16 December 2014 Last updated at 11:02

Recent revelations about government-backed surveillance have prompted millions of people to do more to keep their data private, suggests a survey.

Many people now regularly change passwords or avoid certain websites or apps, said the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

It also found that 64% of the 23,000 people questioned are more worried about their privacy than a year ago.

About 83% said affordable access to the internet should be a human right.

The survey asked people in 24 countries including the US, UK, Australia and China, about their attitudes to personal data privacy and whether the information released by Edward Snowden had led them to change their habits.

The survey revealed that Mr Snowden's name was known to 60% of respondents and of that group, 39% had done more to protect their privacy in response to the information his leaks have revealed.

Of those, compared with a year ago, more than one-third were updating their passwords more frequently and 43% were taking greater steps to avoid websites and software that might put their data at risk.

'Enormous impact'

The CIGI think tank undertook the survey as part of work for the Global Commission on Internet Governance which is looking into the different ways that the net can be overseen and run.

In a separate analysis of the CIGI survey, security expert Bruce Schneier, said the information about NSA and GCHQ surveillance programs was having an "enormous impact" on people's behaviour.

The CIGI figures suggest, he said, that more than 750 million people around the world have been prompted to take steps to avoid being watched by the NSA.

He added it was likely that the steps that people did take made little difference to the NSA's ability to gather data on them or to defy the surveillance techniques of large firms.

"But it is absolutely extraordinary that 750 million people are disturbed enough about their online privacy that they will represent to a survey-taker that they did something about it," he said.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Microsoft rivals unite over data row

16 December 2014 Last updated at 11:44 By Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter, BBC News

Apple and eBay are among those supporting Microsoft's stand against handing over data stored in Ireland to the US government.

One year ago, prosecutors issued a warrant for emails stored by Microsoft in an Irish data centre, in connection with a drug-related investigation.

The tech giant refused to comply but was ordered by a judge to hand over the information in July.

Microsoft has now filed letters of support from a large number of allies.

These include tech firms Verizon, Amazon, Cisco and HP, as well as trade associations such as the US Chamber of Commerce, and Digital Rights Ireland.

Various news organisations such as CNN, the Guardian and the Washington Post are on board along with computer scientists from universities across the US including Harvard, Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Earlier this year, New York judge James Francis said that a warrant for online information was the equivalent of a subpoena and had to be obeyed.

Privacy rights

The firm and its supporters argue that the centre in Dublin is outside US jurisdiction, while the prosecutors claim that as the data itself is accessible by the firm from within the US, this does not apply.

"We believe that when one government wants to obtain email that is stored in another country, it needs to do so in a manner that respects existing domestic and international laws," wrote Microsoft's Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president of legal and corporate affairs, in a blog post.

"In contrast, the US government's unilateral use of a search warrant to reach email in another country puts both fundamental privacy rights and cordial international relations at risk."

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google threatened with £12m fine

16 December 2014 Last updated at 12:23

Google has been threatened with a fine of up to 15m euros (£12m) if it does not do a better job of protecting the privacy of Dutch citizens.

The threat was made by the Dutch data protection agency (DPA), which said Google had broken local laws governing what it could do with user data.

The search giant has been given until the end of February 2015 to change the way it handles personal data.

Google said it was "disappointed" by the Dutch data watchdog's statement.

"This has been ongoing since 2012, and we hope our patience will no longer be tested," Dutch DPA chairman Jacob Kohnstamm told Reuters.

Privacy change

The row has blown up over the way that Google combines data about what people do online in order to tailor adverts to their preferences.

Information about keywords in search queries, email messages, cookies, location data and video viewing habits are all used by Google to build up a profile on each of its millions of users.

Dutch laws said Google should tell people about this data-gathering activity and get permission from them before it was combined or analysed, said Mr Kohnstamm.

A Google representative said "We're disappointed with the Dutch data protection authority's order, especially as we have already made a number of changes to our privacy policy in response to their concerns.

"However, we've recently shared some proposals for further changes with the European privacy regulators group, and we look forward to discussing with them soon."

The Dutch DPA was one of a group of six European data regulators that looked at Google following changes made in early 2012 to unify its privacy policies around the world.

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Skype gets real-time translating tool

Instant translation of foreign languages on Skype has moved a step closer.

Microsoft's launched a test version of the Skype Translator which decodes conversations in Spanish and English in real time.

It means that during video calls people who speak those languages will be able to talk freely.

Gurdeep Pall from Microsoft says it follows more than 10 years of investment.

"Skype Translator will open up endless possibilities for people around the world to connect, communicate and collaborate," he said.

"People will no longer be hindered by geography and language."

It's been trialled on school children in Mexico City and Tacoma in Washington, one classroom speaking Spanish and the other speaking English.

They played a game called Mystery Skype where pupils from one school asked questions to try to work out which part of the world the other school was in.

The Skype Translator service is available in English and Spanish but Microsoft says it will eventually be available in more languages.

There are more than 40 instant messaging languages available to customers who have signed up via the Skype Translator page and are using Windows 8.1.

According to Microsoft more than 300 million people use Skype each month, totalling more than 2 billion minutes of conversation a day.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

23.43 | 0 komentar | Read More