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Microsoft files EU Android complaint

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 10 April 2013 | 23.58

9 April 2013 Last updated at 07:08 ET

Microsoft has accused rival Google of pushing Android handset makers to use its applications such as YouTube and Maps.

Along with Oracle, Nokia and 14 other tech firms, Microsoft has filed a complaint with the European Commission.

The group, known as FairSearch, argues that Google is abusing its dominance of the mobile market.

In response to the filing, Google said: "We continue to work co-operatively with the European Commission."

Trojan horse

"We are asking the commission to move quickly and decisively to protect competition and innovation in this critical market," said Thomas Vinje, Brussels-based counsel for FairSearch.

"Failure to act will only embolden Google to repeat its desktop abuses of dominance as consumers increasingly turn to a mobile platform dominated by Google's Android operating system," he added.

Android is now the dominant mobile operating system, accounting for 70% of the market, according to research firm Gartner.

The complaint describes Google's Android operating system as a "trojan horse", offered to device makers for free. In return they are "required to pre-load an entire suite of Google mobile services and to give them prominent default placement on the phone," the complaint reads.

Privacy policy

Google is also under fire for its common user privacy policy which groups 60 sets of rules into one and allows the company to track users more closely.

Last week six European data protection agencies, including the UK and France, threatened legal action if Google did not make changes to its policy.

In October a European Commission working party said its privacy policy did not meet Commission standards on data protection.

It gave Google four months to comply with its recommendation.

Google maintains that the new policy "respects European law".

Microsoft itself is no stranger to EC scrutiny. In March it was fined 561 million euros (£484m) for failing to promote a range of web browsers in its Windows 7 operating system.


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4G mobile broadband speeds to double

9 April 2013 Last updated at 07:26 ET

Faster speeds for the latest version of mobile technology are being made available in several UK cities.

EE, owner of Orange and T-Mobile, says its fourth generation (4G) broadband speeds should double to more than 20Mbps.

The faster services will be available in 10 cities where 4G has been introduced including Cardiff, London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

But some experts have warned bills for data could soar with faster browsing.

Average speeds on the EE network currently range between 8Mbps and 12Mbps but this should rise to more than 20Mbps.

Since launching 4G in 2012, EE said it had seen a "huge shift" in the way people used mobile phones.

This included an increase in the number of consumers using video, maps and sat-nav tools.

EE said the faster speeds would allow people to upload or download pictures in high definition with greater resolution and view and share videos without delay while on the move.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at comparison site uSwitch.com, said with speeds now seven times faster than 3G, it could convince more mobile users to move to 4G.

But he added that the new speeds could be a "double-edged sword" for mobile users worried that their data bills could soar with faster browsing.

The 10 cities where 4G speeds will be doubled by EE include Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.

The service is now available in 50 towns and cities across the UK, and was recently extended to the rural Northern Fells in Cumbria.

EE was the first company to offer a 4G network in the UK and others are expected to follow suit in the coming months.


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Camera takes 3D pictures with lasers

9 April 2013 Last updated at 07:43 ET

A camera able to create 3D images up to one kilometre (0.62 miles) away has been developed by a team in Edinburgh.

Physicists at Heriot-Watt University developed a technique which uses lasers to scan almost any object.

With extra research, the camera's range could extend to 10km (6.2 miles), the team said.

It will primarily be used to scan objects such as vehicles - but is unable to detect human skin.

The reason is that skin does not reflect the laser in the same way as most other objects - meaning for those wishing to evade the camera's gaze, stripping naked is an option.

Beyond capturing images of objects, the technology could also be used to keep track of the movement of rocks, or foliage growth.

Highly accurate

The camera works, the team explained, by bouncing lasers off distant objects, and measuring the time it takes for the light to travel back to the detector.

The camera is able to record its subject to an accuracy of one millimetre.

With further modifications to the system's image-processing software, the team said it believed the same technology could be used to measure an object's speed and direction.

"Our approach gives a low-power route to the depth imaging of ordinary, small targets at very long range," said Aongus McCarthy, a research fellow at Heriot-Watt.

Mr McCarthy added: "It is clear that the system would have to be miniaturised and made more rugged, but we believe that a lightweight, fully portable scanning depth imager is possible and could be a product in less than five years."


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UK Lulzsec hacker pleads guilty

9 April 2013 Last updated at 10:30 ET

A 26-year-old man has pleaded guilty to one count of computer hacking as part of a group known as Lulzsec.

Ryan Ackroyd, from South Yorkshire, admitted to being part of the group, whose targets included the NHS and the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

He will not face trial on another count of operating a "denial of service attack" (DDoS), which will lie on file.

He and three others on similar charges will be sentenced next month.

Mustafa Al-Bassam, 18, from Peckham, south London, and Jake Davis, 20, from Lerwick, Shetland, have also now pleaded guilty to hacking and launching cyber-attacks.

Ryan Cleary, 21, of Essex, pleaded guilty in June last year to six counts, including hacking into US air force agency computers at the Pentagon.

Ackroyd was due to stand trial charged with taking part in a string of cyber-attacks, but today pleaded guilty to one charge of carrying out an unauthorised act to impair the operation of a computer, contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977.

'For the lulz'

Lulzsec emerged as a splinter-group of the Anonymous hacking collective in May 2011.

The name stood for Lulz Security - in which "Lulz" is derived from the popular internet term "lol", meaning "laugh out loud".

The group's members employed techniques to flood websites with high traffic - known as DDoS attacks - in order to render them unusable.

Lulzsec claimed to have attacked News International, owner of the Sun newspaper website, on which a false story was planted suggesting that the newspaper's owner, Rupert Murdoch, had died.

In the US, the group was credited with attacking the website of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Lulzsec had previously posted a story on American broadcaster PBS's website, suggesting that deceased rapper Tupac Shakur was in fact alive.


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Google runs fibre to Austin, Texas

9 April 2013 Last updated at 13:12 ET

Google has confirmed that it will be extending its super-fast fibre broadband service to Austin, Texas.

Currently the search giant has limited its roll-out to Kansas City, where residents can get up to one gigabit per second speeds for $70 (£44) per month.

In December Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the firm was looking for new cities to expand into.

On its website announcing that fibre was coming to Austin, it invited people to sign up for the service.

The announcement was made by Google, along with Mayor of Austin Lee Leffingwell. Google said it planned to start connecting homes by mid-2014.

Dark fibre

On its blog Google said that it had chosen Austin because the city was "a mecca for creativity and entrepreneurialism, with thriving artistic and tech communities".

Currently Google is offering its fibre service in Kansas City, which straddles the border between the states of Kansas and Missouri, and its environs.

"We're sure these folks will do amazing things with gigabit access and we feel very privileged to have been welcomed to their community, said Milo Medin, vice-president of Google Fiber.

The gigabit service is likely to be offered with the same tariffs as in Kansas, with no installation charge. This package also comes with 1TB (terabyte) of storage on Google Drive.

Alternatively subscribers can opt for a broadband plus TV service at a price of $120 (£75).

The third option is to pay a one-off $300 (£189) installation fee in return for free broadband at speeds of 5Mbps.

Steven Hartley, an analyst with research firm Ovum, thinks the move will give US incumbent broadband operators cause to sit up and take notice.

"Google has a long way to go before it becomes a nationwide ISP but clearly it feels that the Kansas experiment was a success and it is in a position to cherry-pick its locations," he said.

Google's Fiber project was first announced in 2010. Interest in the idea was huge with more than 1,000 towns and cities applying to be part of it.

Kansas City was the eventual winner and services began rolling out in November 2012.

Google is able to make the foray into broadband installation because it has been buying up so-called dark fibre from telecoms firms in the US in order to link up its data centres which are dotted around the country.

It has also been investing in cheap fibre that has been laid by companies that have subsequently gone bankrupt before completing roll-outs.


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Science 'javelins' spear big glacier

9 April 2013 Last updated at 19:56 ET Jonathan AmosBy Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Vienna

UK scientists have developed an air-dropped projectile to put instruments in some of the most inaccessible places in Antarctica.

Twenty-five of the "javelins" are currently sticking in Pine Island Glacier (PIG), one of the continent's biggest and fastest-moving ice streams.

The PIG has many deep crevasses that are too dangerous to traverse.

The British Antarctic Survey's spears have been equipped with GPS to track the PIG's progression towards the sea.

"Our javelins mean we can now instrument areas that were previously out of reach," said Dr Hilmar Gudmundsson.

"And in Pine Island Glacier, we are monitoring the region of Antarctica where the greatest changes are taking place," the BAS glaciologist told BBC News.

The slender javelins are very similar to "sonobuoys" - the floating instruments that are dropped from aeroplanes to study the oceans.

Like sonobuoys, the new BAS projectiles are released down a tube and exit from the belly of an aircraft.

They fall rapidly towards the ice, using a 20cm-wide parachute to stabilise their descent.

When javelins hit the surface, they are travelling at about 50m per second (120mph) and have had to be engineered to withstand the high g-forces associated with a very rapid deceleration.

Small fins, or ice brakes, fitted to the sides of the spears prevent them from driving too deep.

This ensures the tail of the javelin containing its satellite communications antenna sticks upright above the snow and is able to relay the GPS data back to BAS.

Ice javelins

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"The javelins need to go to a certain depth so that they don't get blown over by the wind. On the other hand, the mast must be sufficiently tall that it doesn't get buried by snow," explained Dr David Jones, who leads the technical development on Project Javelin.

"Machining these fins so that they could stop the devices going in any deeper than one metre but at the same time not introduce any aerodynamic instabilities in flight - that was a huge task."

Part of the solution was incorporating a series of holes in the fins.

Ice javelin tested in wind tunnel

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Wind tunnel tests led to the most stable javelin configuration

The team spent a lot of time perfecting the design, even conducting experiments in a vertical wind tunnel.

Ice javelins

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"These are generally used for indoor skydiving," Dr Jones said.

"The one we used was originally built to test parts for Concorde and then became a recreational centre; and we asked if we could have it back for a little bit more science."

Initial drop trials of the battery-powered javelins at Scar Inlet on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula proved successful in January.

This led the team then to release 33 of the devices over the PIG. A high proportion, 25, survived the violent emplacement and return daily data. BAS expects a two-year lifetime for the devices.

The PIG is one of the most intensively studied areas of Antarctica because it drains something like 10% of all the ice flowing off the west of the continent, making a significant contribution to global sea level rise.

In recent years, satellite and airborne measurements have recorded a marked thinning and a surge in velocity.

A zone of particular interest to scientists is just upstream of the grounding line, where the ice flowing off the land starts to float out over the ocean.

But this zone is precisely where the crevasses are most extensive, making it extremely difficult for researchers to get in and set up instruments.

"That's where you want to be, so to have sensors there now is just fantastic," Dr Gudmundsson told BBC News.

"The javelins will provide us with a dataset with which we can validate our numerical models. And it's with the numerical models that we will be able, hopefully, to address the question: what will happen at Pine Island Glacier in 10 years' time, in 20 years' time, in 30 years' time, in a 100 years' time?"

Project Javelin was presented here in Vienna at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly. The development was funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


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North Korea blamed for cyber-attacks

10 April 2013 Last updated at 07:11 ET

South Korea has accused North Korean spies of masterminding a series of high-profile cyber-attacks last month.

Tens of thousands of computers were made to malfunction, disrupting work at banks and television broadcasters in the South.

Investigators in Seoul said they had discovered some of the code involved was identical to that used in malware previously linked to Pyongyang.

The allegation adds to growing tension on the Korean peninsula.

On Tuesday North Korea told foreigners in the South to "work out measures for evacuation" to avoid becoming involved in a "thermonuclear war".

Seoul's foreign minister subsequently said that there was a "considerably high" risk that its neighbour might fire a ballistic missile at it over the coming days.

North Korea has not commented on the cyber-attack accusation.

Cyber-evidence

About 48,000 PCs and servers in the South were struck on 20 March.

The assault shut down computer networks at TV stations KBS, MBC and YTN, and halted operations at three banks - Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju.

Investigators in Seoul reported their initial findings suggested North Korea's military-run Reconnaissance General Bureau had been responsible.

A spokesman announced that 30 out of 76 programs recovered from affected computers were the same as those used in previous strikes.

In addition he said that 22 of the 49 internet protocol (IP) addresses involved in the incidents matched those used in attacks blamed on the North over the past five years.

The recent assaults shortly followed a South Korea-US joint military exercise, but it was suggested they had been long in the planning.

"The attackers gained control of personal computers or server computers within the target organisations at least eight months ago," a government statement reported in the Korea Herald said.

"After maintaining monitoring activities [they] sent out the command to delete data stored in the server, and distributed malware to individual computers through the central server."

South Korea's Financial Services Commission added that no bank records or personal data had been compromised.

'Outdated system'

Previous cyber-intrusions blamed on Pyongyang include attempts to block access to the website of South Korea's presidential office and other government departments, and hacks of computers at Nonghyup bank and the Joonang Ilbo newspaper.

In turn, North Korea has accused both the South and the US of preventing users from being able to visit its official media sites - the Rodong Sinmun newspaper and the Korean Central News Agency - earlier this year.

It has led some commentators in the South to criticise the state of their cyber-defences bearing in mind the public there is much more reliant on the internet than citizens in the North.

"South Korea cannot cope with unpredictable and sophisticated provocations from North Korea with a bureaucratic, rigid mindset," wrote Chae In-taek in the Joonang Ilbo.

"National security cannot be assured through an outdated system. We must come up with an innovative security system fast."


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Top porn sites 'pose malware risk'

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Wal-Mart video IDs reset after theft

10 April 2013 Last updated at 08:35 ET

US video streaming service Vudu has become the latest site to reset its user passwords after a security breach.

Unusually, the action was taken following the theft of several hard drives rather than a hack attack.

The Wal-Mart-owned business said the disks contained names and other personal details about its customers.

It added that passwords saved onto the drives were stored in a scrambled form and that it only saved the last four digits of credit card numbers.

However, the company - based in Santa Clara, California - acknowledged that customers' email and home addresses, account activity and dates of birth were on the equipment taken from its offices on 24 March.

"While the stolen hard drives included Vudu account passwords, those passwords were encrypted," chief technology officer Prasanna Ganesan wrote in an email sent to users.

"We believe it would be difficult to break the password encryption, but we can't rule out that possibility given the circumstances of this theft. So we think it's best to be proactive and ask that you be proactive as well."

The firm said that its subscribers should change any password that matched the one they used on Vudu. It also warned them that they might receive spam emails and offered to pay for a one-year subscription to an identity protection service.

Some users complained on the firm's Facebook page about the fact that Vudu had waited more than a fortnight before notifying them.

"I feel this information should have been shared on the 24th or 25th at the latest," wrote Andrew Bennett.

"While I appreciate the notice, the two weeks since the theft would have allowed ample time to utilise any useful info and discard the rest."

However, Vudu suggested it had needed time to look into the incident.

"We notified law enforcement immediately when the break-in was discovered, and have worked closely with them on the investigation," a FAQ posted to the firm's site stated.

"We have also worked to reconstruct the information that was included on the drives to ensure we had an accurate assessment."


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Hackers steal unreleased video game

10 April 2013 Last updated at 10:41 ET

Ubisoft has halted sales of PC video games from its online store after hackers discovered a way to download titles without paying.

It has confirmed an unreleased game - Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - was among the software copied from the servers running the firm's Uplay service.

The breach was discovered after a video clip showing in-game footage was posted to YouTube.

The France-based company said its engineers were working on the problem.

"We are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it quickly," said a spokesman.

"Uplay's PC download service will be unavailable until the problem is fixed, but no personal information was compromised and all other Uplay services remain available."

Piracy sites

Ubisoft launched its Uplay service in 2009, initially offering online access to its own titles but later expanding its range to include games from Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Warner Bros Interactive and others.

Users are offered rewards - such as extra weapons or characters - as an incentive to use the service. It competes against rival platforms including Valve's Steam, EA's Origin and Activision Blizzard's Battle.net.

News site Gameranx was first to reveal that hackers had discovered a way to breach its security and download games free of copyright protection.

"The hackers developed a piece of software which tricks the Uplay executable into believing that the user has ownership over games that they do not own," wrote Ian Miles Cheong.

"It is possible to acquire the direct download link for the game and play it offline, thereby bypassing the Uplay DRM [digital rights management protection]."

He added that a playable version of Blood Dragon - a science fiction spin-off from last year's Far Cry 3 - had become available as a consequence and had subsequently been posted on several file-sharing sites.

This is not the first problem Ubisoft has experienced with its service.

Last year the firm had to release an emergency patch after reports that the Uplay web browser plug-in left users vulnerable to having their PCs hijacked.


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