'Transformer' robot made at MIT

4 December 2012 Last updated at 08:25 ET

It may not look like a character from the Transformer franchise, but a tiny robot made in the US is able to change shape.

Built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it uses magnets to mimic molecules that fold themselves into complex shapes.

The research could lead to robots that could be reconfigured to perform many different tasks.

But one expert said a lot of work was still needed.

Part-funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research was presented at the 2012 Intelligent Robots and Systems conference.

"It's effectively a one-dimensional robot that can be made in a continuous strip, without conventionally moving parts, and then folded into arbitrary shapes," said one of the researchers, Neil Gershenfeld, head of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms.

To fold itself into a new shape, the device uses an "electro-permanent" motor - similar to the electromagnets used in scrapyards to lift cars.

It is composed of pairs of a powerful permanent magnet and a weaker magnet with a magnetic field that changes direction when an electric current is applied.

The magnetic fields of each magnet either add up or cancel each other, making the robot move.

Research race

The prototype comes a year after the same team published a theory it was possible to create any 3D shape by folding a sufficiently long string of subunits.

Jeremy Pitt, deputy head of the Intelligent Systems and Networks Group at Imperial College London, said it would be challenging for such a robot to work alongside artificial-intelligence machines, but the technology could have many real-world applications.

"It is a fascinating example of what happens when mathematical proof, that an arbitrary 3D shape can be built from a sufficiently long string, meets engineering innovation - the miniaturisation of motors and magnets and the minimisation of power consumption," he said.

"There is going to be an interesting research race between groups trying to create reconfigurable structures out of such chains and those trying to build them out of independent self-assembling units."

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Berners-Lee warns of net threat

4 December 2012 Last updated at 12:28 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Sir Tim Berners-Lee - inventor of the world wide web - is the latest voice to raise concerns about a meeting of communication tech regulators in Dubai.

He spoke of concerns that some attendees would push for a UN agency to "run the internet" rather than leaving it to groups already "doing a good job".

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf has also highlighted the issue on Google's site.

But the UN agency itself is playing down suggestions of a power-grab.

Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU), said ahead of the event: "There is no need for the ITU to take over the internet governance."

Internet governance

The United Arab Emirates is playing host to 193 countries at World Conference on International Telecommunications (Wcit).

They aim to revise a telecommunications treaty which has not been overhauled since 1988.

The ITU has said there was a need to address the fact technologies like the internet were not properly addressed by the current regulations, and that more efforts must be made to change the fact that "two-thirds of the world's population" did not have access to the net.

Among the proposals being considered is a clause put forward by Russia which says: "Member states shall have equal rights to manage the internet, including in regard to the allotment, assignment and reclamation of internet numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources and to support for the operation and development of basic internet infrastructure."

This has been interpreted by some as a starting point for domain name regulator Icann, the Internet Engineering Task Force and other organisations that oversee the internet's technical specifications to be forced to be pass at least some of their powers to another body such as the ITU.

Sir Tim is director of a standards body himself - the World Wide Web Consortium. He said that governments can already influence changes but should resist further interference.

"I think it's important that these existing structures continue to be used without any attempt to bypass them," he said.

"These organisations have been around for a number of years and I think it would be a disruptive threat to the stability of the system for people to try to set up alternative organisations to do the standards."

Accelerating access

Sir Tim also indicated that there was no need to create new internet-specific sections to an international treaty in order to improve access.

"It seems that at the moment the growth of the internet is spectacular and the developing countries have the highest growth rate.

"A few years ago we started [World Wide] Web Foundation worrying that connectivity was relevant, but now today connectivity is clearly becoming ubiquitous - we need to look at other concerns such as net neutrality and whether governments spy on the internet and whether they block it.

"A lot of concerns I've heard from people have been that, in fact, countries that want to be able to block the internet and give people within their country a 'secure' view of what's out there would use a treaty at the ITU as a mechanism to do that, and force other countries to fall into line with the blockages that they wanted to put in place."

However, Sir Tim added that resistance to such an idea by other nations would mean the problem could be avoided.

The ITU's leader has said he intends to prevent any measure being put to a vote, and that proposals must be agreed, instead, by consensus.

The US has already made clear that it would block any attempt by Russia or another country to make changes to internet governance.

"We will actively oppose the Russian proposal," said Terry Kramer, the US ambassador to Wcit, last week.

"We have had good working relationships with our Russian colleagues, but the proposal that actually came out, to us, was shocking."

The US is now pressing for there to be no reference to the internet in the treaty.

Human rights

Early discussions at Wcit have included a debate over an internet-related clause championed by Tunisia.

It said the revised treaty should contain a clause committing member states to protecting freedom of expression on the net including "the freedom of online peaceful assembly".

The ITU said the text sparked a "vigorous debate", but was deemed unnecessary since such the issue was already addressed by human rights treaties which take precedence over whatever would ultimately be included in the communications agreement,

The conference continues until 14 December.

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Huawei denies US 'threat' claims

4 December 2012 Last updated at 17:04 ET By Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent

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BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones travelled to China to find out more about the company and to meet its senior director in Shenzhen

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has hit back at US politicians who labelled it a security threat.

A senior executive told the BBC that Huawei should not be treated unfairly just because it was Chinese.

In October the United States House Intelligence Committee warned US companies against dealing with Huawei and another Chinese telecoms firm, ZTE.

A report by the committee asked whether the firms were too close to China's Communist Party and its military.

It also suggested their products and services could pose a long-term security threat to the United States.

But a Huawei board member, Chen Li Fang, told the BBC the company, now number two in the telecoms equipment industry, was focussed on delivering secure products.

"We totally understand concerns about cybersecurity," she said. "But if any congressman or woman raises concerns or fears because a company originates in a particular country, I don't think that would be fair."

Profile raising

Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former officer in China's People's Liberation Army, has grown rapidly and now employs more than 140,000 people around the world.

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Chief Engineer Gabor Schreck gave the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones a tour of Huawei's manufacturing facility in Songshan Lake, Shenzhen

Its main focus has been building a powerful position in the telecoms infrastructure industry, making equipment for the rollout of 3G and 4G networks. But it is also expanding into other areas, from mobile broadband dongles to smartphones and tablet computers.

Chen Li Fang, a Huawei veteran known at the company as Madam Chen, said the company was determined to make itself better known, and saw itself as a model for other Chinese companies.

"Huawei might not be famous now," she said. "But three billion people are using our products either directly or indirectly."

British welcome

While the company has met with suspicion in the United States, it has been welcomed in the UK.

In September Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei, visited Downing Street after announcing a £1.3bn investment in the firm's growing UK operation. The Prime Minister David Cameron said the investment showed the UK was "open for business".

However the BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera says the UK's Intelligence and Security Committee, chaired by former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, is currently looking at Huawei to try and understand what the risks might be and assess what measures have been taken to deal with them.

"The UK's relationship with Huawei has been a sensitive issue for a number of years," he said.

"But British officials argue they have found a way to work with Huawei and establish a working level of trust."

The Chinese firm has been working with BT for more than a decade on the rollout of its broadband network.

In China the accusations against Huawei have been met with anger, and suggestions that the US is simply trying to protect its own position in the telecoms industry against competition.

Qu Jian, of the China Development Institute, a think tank based in Shenzhen, said it fitted into a long-term pattern of protectionism.

"Since World War II, we've seen the US treating foreign companies just like this," he said.

"Every 20 years there's a big movement of manufacturing. In the 1960s it was to Japan, in the 1980s to South East Asia, and for the last 10 years to China. And every time there's a dispute between the new manufacturing base and the United States."

But with China suspected of being the place where many of the world's cyber-attacks originate, suspicions linger about its most powerful telecoms business - and not just in the United States. Australia barred Huawei from a role in building its national broadband network, citing the importance of maintaining the security of its vital infrastructure.

'Lack of trust'

The company's executives hope that eventually they will be able to overcome these suspicions.

Ron Raffensperger, an American who worked across the global telecoms industry for 30 years before taking up a senior engineering role at Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters, said: "It's all based on misunderstandings and a lack of trust.

"There's a reason so many of the companies around the world use us, and it's not because we're cheap, it's because we do really good stuff."

But, with the report from Sir Malcom Rifkind's committee expected before Christmas, Huawei can expect its policies and practices to be under the spotlight for some time to come.

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Netflix gets Disney film rights

5 December 2012 Last updated at 06:32 ET

Netflix users in America will be able to view new Disney films first after their cinema run, the firm has announced.

The deal, which begins in 2016, will include new movies from Marvel and Pixar Animations, both owned by Disney.

Disney is also purchasing the Star Wars franchise from Lucas Films although the first new Star Wars episode is due out before the deal begins.

Netflix share prices rose by 14% following the announcement.

The rights to show the films first are currently held by a US subscription TV channel called Starz, which also has first-run rights to Sony studio releases including those by Columbia and Tri-Star.

"It's a bold leap forward for internet television and we are incredibly pleased and proud this iconic family brand is teaming with Netflix to make it happen," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix.

The service has also acquired the pay-TV rights to new Dreamworks productions, in a deal which begins next year.

While the cost of the Disney rights have not been made public, some analysts have voiced concern over whether Netflix can afford the investment.

"These costs are going to sink Netflix," Michael Pachter from Wedbush Securities told Associated Press news.

The majority of Netflix's 30 million global subscribers watch their movies via the Sony PlayStation 3, according to both firms.

"PS3 is our largest TV-connected platform in terms of Netflix viewing, and this year, at times, even surpassed the PC in hours of Netflix enjoyment to become our number one platform overall," said Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix in a Sony blog post.

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New EU-US crackdown on child porn

5 December 2012 Last updated at 07:20 ET

The EU and US authorities have launched a "global alliance" to combat child sexual abuse online.

The launch in Brussels drew in 48 countries pledging to unite their efforts against paedophile networks.

Studies cited by the EU Commission say at least one million child pornography images are now on the internet and about 50,000 more are added annually.

Much remains to be done, officials said in Brussels, despite dozens of arrests in global anti-paedophile operations.

The participating countries aim to boost joint efforts to:

• Identify and protect child victims
• Investigate cases and prosecute offenders
• Increase awareness of risks for children online
• Reduce the availability of child pornography online.

Along with the 27 EU member states and the US, the alliance includes: Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Nigeria, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmstroem, said "our responsibility is to protect children wherever they live and to bring criminals to justice wherever they operate.

"The only way to achieve this is to team up for more intensive and better co-ordinated action worldwide."

Her words were echoed by US Attorney General Eric Holder, who said "threats to our children continue to grow and evolve" and "no single nation will be able to address these challenges".

"We're laying the foundation for a more effective international legal framework, to shut down exploitative online enterprises," he told a joint news conference in Brussels.

Global enforcement

Ms Malmstroem said Russia had been invited to join the alliance but had not yet agreed to do so. She said she was hopeful that Russia would join, and she had discussed the issue with the Russian justice authorities.

The US Department of Justice says its biggest crackdown on a global paedophile network so far happened last year, with Operation Delego, in which 72 suspects were charged in the US and more than 500 others investigated worldwide.

The suspects were linked to a private, members-only online bulletin board called Dreamboard, used to exchange images of child sexual abuse.

In Operation Delego the US authorities co-operated closely with EU crime-fighters, including the justice agency Eurojust and police agency Europol.

In January 2013 a new EU unit at Europol in The Hague, called The European Cyber Crime Centre, will start operations, focusing on tackling child sexual abuse online.

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Record EU fine for TV makers

5 December 2012 Last updated at 07:36 ET

The European Commission has imposed a record 1.47bn-euro ($1.92bn; £1.19bn) fine on a number of TV makers for price-fixing.

EU regulators fined the firms for fixing prices of TV and computer monitor cathode-ray tubes for a decade.

Dutch-based Philips faces the biggest penalty of 313.4m euros, followed by LG Electronics with 295.6m.

Other members of the cartels included Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, and Technicolor.

Taiwanese firm Chunghwa Picture Tubes escaped a potential 17m-euro fine for blowing the whistle on the cartel.

"These cartels for cathode ray tubes are 'textbook cartels': they feature all the worst kinds of anticompetitive behaviour that are strictly forbidden to companies doing business in Europe," said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

The two cartels operated worldwide between 1996 and 2006, the commission said in a statement, and were "among the most organised cartels" it has ever investigated.

"For almost 10 years, the cartelists carried out the most harmful anti-competitive practices, including price fixing, market sharing, customer allocation, capacity and output coordination and exchanges of commercial sensitive information", the commission said.

Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) were an important component of TV and computer screens, accounting for 50% to 70% of their price.

The firms involved held what they called "green meetings" across Asia and Europe to discuss price-fixing tactics, so-called because they were often followed by a round of golf. Lower-level meetings were called "glass meetings".

Recipients of documents relating to such meetings were asked to destroy them after reading.

"The cartelists were trying to address the decline of the CRT market in a collusive way, to the detriment of consumers", the commission said.

Producers avoided price competition by controlling their production capacity.

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Nexus and Kindle clinch new deals

5 December 2012 Last updated at 07:59 ET

Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle tablets are involved in new deals that highlight how content, rather than tech specs, are helping drive device sales.

The UK's Times newspaper is subsidising the cost of the Nexus as part of its digital editions bundle.

Amazon is launching an "all-you-can-eat" media subscription offer targeted at children in the US.

One analyst said the moves might help the devices challenge the iPad's "richer app ecosystem".

Apple's share of worldwide tablet shipments dipped from about 66% to 50% between the April-to-June quarter and the July-to-September period, according to data from IDC.

By contrast the Kindle and Nexus devices' share grew. Investors will watch to see how that trend is affected in the current period following the launch of the iPad Mini.

Bundle discount

The Times is promoting its Nexus 7 Digi Bundle - which gives online access to The Times and Sunday Times papers - by offering the 32GB version of the tablet for £50, on top of the price of its standard package, rather than the £199 it is sold for in shops.

The deal involves an 18-month commitment to the paper, bringing the total cost to £299 for the period.

It is notable that the firm picked Google's tablet, bearing in mind News International's chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, had previously described the firm as a "parasite" for offering his papers' content in its news search listings.

One analyst suggested the deal would prove an "eye-catching" boon to the firm in the run-up to Christmas - a time when many families are considering buying a tablet.

"In the long term there's no question a significant proportion of media will shift onto tablets, and that's a threat to print publications as it allows people to consume content in situations [where] they would have only have read print in the past," Benedict Evans, tech expert at Enders Analysis, told the BBC.

"So the Times is trying to create a habit-making link here. But you also need to recognise the Times has an established 'customer acquisition cost' and has a long tradition of using free gifts to secure sales."

Google confirmed it had not entered into a formal arrangement with News International to support the promotion.

Child-friendly content

Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited service charges a monthly fee for access to book, game and educational apps; movies; and TV shows.

Disney, DC Comics, Nickelodeon and the team behind Sesame Street are among the publishers that have allowed their content to be included.

The product is focused at children aged between three and eight and will promote content depending on their gender and age.

It costs about $5 (£3) per month per child, although there is a discount for members of the Amazon Prime programme.

Amazon had previously told the BBC it sold its hardware "at cost" meaning it only makes money by selling content to users and tempting them to make further purchases from its site.

The firm said it had no details about if or when the service would launch outside the US. However, one analyst believed such deals would become more common.

"Android tablets have become commoditised hardware with no one de facto source of content, so it will be media deals that will help push specific devices into the hands of consumers," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group.

"So far this trend hasn't had too much impact on Apple, which predominantly sells rather than rents content - it's sales are doubling annually even though its share of the overall market has fallen.

"But if its sales started to be cannibalised, I believe Apple's strategy would switch overnight."

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Microsoft expands social network

5 December 2012 Last updated at 08:35 ET

Microsoft has opened up to the wider public its version of a social network, which allows users to share content in an online gallery similar to Pinterest.

Socl - pronounced "social" - allows users to create visual posts. It is powered by Microsoft's search engine Bing.

It has been in private beta test mode for a year and in May was given a low-key launch, aimed mainly at students.

Now anyone with a Facebook or Microsoft account is able to sign up.

Socl was developed by Microsoft's Fuse Labs unit as a "research project... focused on the future of social experiences and learning".

On the website, Microsoft made it clear that it did not intend to go head to head with Facebook or other social networks.

"Socl is an experimental research project with a minimal set of features," it said.

As part of the wider launch, Microsoft has redesigned the homepage of the website.

Users are invited to create "rich, visual collages" based on interests. The posts can be shared on Facebook or Twitter.

Regional interest

There is a People hub, which allows users to discover other profiles and posts, and a Me page that displays their own.

Users can also create video parties, for which they can make a playlist, watch online videos or chat with others.

Richard Edwards, an analyst at research firm Ovum, said that, while the Western world was saturated with social sites, other regions were "ripe for a new type of social network".

Currently the site is most popular in India, according to Google Trends, which monitors search terms around the globe.

Google Trends also maps interest in the site and its data suggests that it peaked mid-year but has since died off, which may throw light on why Microsoft is relaunching the site.

"When it launched in May, Facebook was IPO-ing [initial public offering, of shares] and shortly afterwards Microsoft acquired Yammer so perhaps it didn't want to confuse the market with too many social networks," said Mr Edwards.

Its relaunch could be tied into future products.

"It seems to be geared to tablet devices. There are also rumours that Microsoft could be bringing out an Xbox-style device. The plans for Socl could be linked to as yet unannounced parts of its strategy," said Mr Edwards.

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Chancellor announces fibre cities

5 December 2012 Last updated at 09:25 ET

Chancellor George Osborne has named a new raft of cities that will benefit from government-funded super-fast fibre networks.

In his Autumn Statement he revealed that 12 smaller cities will benefit from a share of a £50m funding pot.

Ten larger cities were announced earlier and are sharing £114m.

The chancellor also revealed that he expected the Treasury to make £3.5bn from the forthcoming 4G spectrum auction.

The cities chosen by the government are: Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, York, Newport, Aberdeen, Perth and Londonderry.

The plan is to offer speeds of up to 100Mbps (megabits per second) to both homes and businesses.

Cities are already benefitting from beefed-up broadband provided by commercial players.

BT is starting to roll out services offering speeds of up to 330Mbps while Virgin Media has turned its city-centric cable network up to 120Mbps.

In October both BT and Virgin launched a legal challenge against Birmingham City Council's plans to build a super-fast broadband network.

The council had successfully applied for European Commission State Aid funding for the scheme, but Virgin Media argued that there is "significant overbuild" with its current network.

There are no details yet about how the money will be split.

The plan is to have networks up and running by 2015, the year the government has targeted to make the UK the fastest broadband nation in Europe.

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Swimming robot reaches Australia

5 December 2012 Last updated at 10:27 ET

A self-controlled swimming robot has completed a journey from San Francisco to Australia.

The record-breaking 9,000 nautical mile (16,668km) trip took the PacX Wave Glider just over a year to achieve.

Liquid Robotics, the US company behind the project, collected data about the Pacific Ocean's temperature, salinity and ecosystem from the drone.

The company said its success demonstrated that such technology could "survive the high seas".

The robot is called Papa Mau in honour of the late Micronesian navigator Pius "Mau" Piailug, who had a reputation for finding ways to navigate the seas without using traditional equipment.

"During Papa Mau's journey, [it] weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination in Hervey Bay, near Bundaberg, Queensland," the company said in a statement.

Some of the data it gathered about the abundance of phytoplankton - plant-like organisms that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and provide food for other sea life - could already be monitored by satellite. However, the company suggested that its equipment offered more detail, providing a useful tool for climate model scientists.

Ongoing travels

Liquid Robotics still has a further three robots at sea. A second is due to land in Australia early next year. Another pair had been heading to Japan, but one of them has suffered damage and has been diverted to Hawaii for repair.

Each robot is composed of two halves: the upper part, shaped like a stunted surfboard, is attached by a cable to a lower part that sports a series of fins and a keel.

They do not use fuel but instead convert energy from the ocean's waves, turning it into forward thrust.

Solar panels installed on the upper surface of the gliders power numerous sensors that take readings every 10 minutes.

Mixing electronics and water might sound like a risky idea - but Dr Jeremy Wyatt, from the school of computer science at the University of Birmingham, said there was good reason there was so much interest in marine robotics.

"The ocean is a very big place and therefore a safe place to test autonomous robots - these Wave Gliders move slowly and have a low risk of bumping into other objects," he said.

"There are also autonomous sailing competitions in which craft plot their journey completely independently - unlike the Wave Gliders which autonomously follow a prescribed route - and there are a variety of types: robots which bob on the ocean surface, gliders and even fully autonomous submarines which plan their own routes and dive to collect data.

"We are reaching a tipping point in that the technology is becoming so cheap that it's now a much cheaper to use a robot to gather data than to pay for a manned ship to be at sea for months at a time."

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