Facebook brings autoplay ads to UK

21 May 2014 Last updated at 12:23 By Kevin Rawlinson Technology reporter

Facebook is introducing automatically playing video adverts to the UK.

The social network initially trialled the features in the US and the first ads are expected to play in Britain within weeks.

They will run without sound unless clicked on and, on mobile devices, will load only over wi-fi.

Facebook will hope to continue its recent success in increasing ad revenues, having seen a significant rise in the past 12 months.

The company said on Wednesday that it would be introducing the ads with a "limited group of advertisers" in the selected countries, including the UK, Australia and France.

It is also unveiling the feature, called Premium Video Ads, in Brazil, Canada, Germany and Japan. But Facebook did not reveal the companies that would be advertising.

Tentative

Facebook said the introduction would be tentative and, while the first ad could appear in June, most would not run until later as it attempted to control quality.

"We'll roll out Premium Video Ads slowly and monitor how people interact with them," said Facebook in a statement.

"This limited introduction allows us to concentrate our efforts on a smaller number of advertisers with high-quality campaigns."

Each video advert will be 15 seconds long and will start playing without sound as it appears on the screen.

The ads will stop playing if users scroll past them. But, if people tap or click on the video, it will expand into a full-screen view and sound will start, Facebook said.

Facebook's figures for the first quarter of 2014 showed it made $2.27bn (£1.34bn) from advertising, an 82% increase on the same quarter last year.

And it said that mobile ads, which have generated very little return until recently, represented about 59% of the company's total advertising revenue for the quarter.

That was up from about 30% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2013.

Jeremy Arditi, UK managing director of online video ad tech company Ebuzzing, said it was a good move for Facebook.

But he said: "Most online video ads annoy people and interrupt their browsing experience," adding that industry estimates indicated that "around 60% of online video ads don't get seen".

He pointed out that there was an element of risk to brands, which could conceivably end up appearing next to inappropriate content posted by other users.

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FBI 'could hire hackers on cannabis'

21 May 2014 Last updated at 11:41 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

The FBI has reportedly said it is "grappling with the question" of whether to hire cybersecurity experts who use cannabis.

The US agency's current policy prohibits anyone working for it who has used cannabis in the past three years.

However, its director James Comey has acknowledged that this is complicating its efforts to recruit hacking experts, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It said he made the announcement at a conference in New York.

"I have to hire a great workforce to compete with those cybercriminals, and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview," the newspaper quoted him as saying at the White Collar Crime Institute's annual meeting.

It added that when one attendee asked how a cannabis-using friend interested in working for the bureau should now act, Mr Comey replied: "He should go ahead and apply."

Unlike the FBI, the UK's National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU)'s vetting policy does not make specific reference to cannabis, but does have a wider anti-drugs rule.

"Whilst previous drug taking is not necessarily a barrier to employment provided people are open about it, applicants are told not to apply if they have taken illegal drugs in the preceding 12 months," said a spokeswoman for the National Crime Agency, of which the NCCU is a division.

"Before joining all new entrants have to undertake a drugs screening test before appointment is confirmed.

"Once employed, individuals are subject to NCA policies including random and intelligence-led 'with cause' substance testing. Certain high-risk posts require individuals to take more regular testing as a role requirement."

One expert thought it was sensible to review such anti-drugs policies.

"The sort of hackers that you want to hire tend to be young, the young tend to have bad habits such as smoking marijuana, and over time you'd expect them to do this less," Dr Richard Clayton, from the University of Cambridge's Computer Laboratory, told the BBC.

"But equally, I believe the FBI and the National Cyber Crime Unit have more problem recruiting people because of the salaries they pay, which compare poorly with the salaries available in the private industry."

Criminal hires

The UK's Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC Two's Newsnight programme in November that the NCCU might hire convicted hackers despite a current ban against recruits with a criminal record.

"The conviction would be examined in terms of how long ago it was, how serious it was, what sort of sentence had followed. So I can't rule it out," he said.

But Dr Clayton said he was concerned how this might be implemented.

"We like to send out the message that hacking is very bad and that if you get caught it can ruin your life," he said.

"But it's a problem if you then say, 'If you get caught we might let you serve a few months in jail and then give you a nice cushy job.'

"Perhaps we might want to have some sort of 'we won't hire you until your conviction is at least five years old' sort of policy."

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Netflix to expand across Europe

21 May 2014 Last updated at 06:08 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Netflix has announced plans to expand to a further six European countries before the end of the year.

The TV and movie streaming service intends to launch in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The US-based firm has 48 million subscribers in over 40 countries.

One analyst said the success of the latest rollout might depend on how much content was dubbed into local languages.

"Germany potentially could be quite a difficult market as it has low pay-TV penetration and seemingly low willingness to pay," said Ian Maude from the media consultancy Enders Analysis.

"One thing I'm curious to see in Germany is whether or not it has dubbed a lot of the show for the market because - while French TV has a lot of subtitling - in Germany foreign language movies and TV shows are generally voiced over, and that can be quite an expensive process."

Germany's large number of broadband users - the fourth biggest such population in the world - makes it a potentially lucrative market.

However, Netflix will have to compete against video-on-demand incumbents including Sky Deutschland's Snap, Vivendi's Watchever, ProSiebenSat.1's MaxDome and Amazon Instant Video.

In France, it faces the prospect of competing against a rival that owns the rights to a series branded a "Netflix exclusive" in other territories: Vivendi's CanalPlay owns the domestic rights to the second season of the drama House of Cards in the country.

Netflix also must contend with the fact that French audiovisual laws require local broadcasters to invest significant sums in domestic content. However, Les Echos newspaper has suggested Netflix might get around this by basing the service in Luxembourg.

For now, the firm has only said it would provide "further details, including pricing, programming and supported devices at a later date".

'Figure out stuff'

California-based Netflix reported profits of $53m (£32m) in its most recent quarter.

Continue reading the main story

We're going to learn as we go"

End Quote Reed Hastings Netflix chief executive

Despite previous international launches - including the Netherlands last year and the UK in 2012 - the firm's revenue is mostly generated by US subscribers.

Netflix's most recent figures stated that it had 11.8 million members paying for streaming content outside the US at the end of March but about three times that figure within the country.

The firm has previously said that it became profitable in Canada within two years of launch, but has not released similar information about its other foreign ventures.

However, chief executive Reed Hastings recently said the company recognised that it must tailor the content it provided to each audience.

"We've seen tremendous success in the Netherlands, where we launched six months ago, and that, I think, encourages us about being able to figure out the right programming formula in each nation," he told bank analysts in April.

"We're going to learn as we go. If we're very fortunate, we'll have programmed it completely correctly from day one.

"More likely, we'll figure out some stuff's working, some stuff's not; we'll adjust the formula."

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Wolfenstein has first German release

20 May 2014 Last updated at 17:21 By Kevin Rawlinson Technology Reporter

The cult game Wolfenstein, in which players battle a Nazi regime, has been released in Germany for the first time.

Developers have had to censor the game to comply with German laws banning the use of Nazi imagery.

The publishers said that, as in previous instalments, the PC version of the game would be geo-locked to exclude players in Germany.

The publishers are not thought to have placed similar restrictions on the versions for other platforms.

Pete Hines, the head of PR for Wolfenstein publisher Bethesda Softworks, confirmed Tuesday's release of the New Order was the first time a Wolfenstein game was being sold in Germany.

He said: "In Germany, we've removed all Nazi symbols and references. Unlike films and other works of art, video games in Germany are forbidden to use such symbols and references as they are classified in Germany as toys and not media art."

The illegal display of Nazi imagery is punishable by three years in prison in Germany. The game is also being censored in Austria.

Highly sensitive

The series, which has been running since 1981, is highly sensitive in Germany because it features imagery that clearly evokes Adolf Hitler's regime. The version released on 20 May is set in 1960 and imagines that the Nazi leadership were victorious over the Allied forces in World War Two.

The player takes the role of an American war hero who leads a counter-offensive.

Speaking last month, Mr Hines revealed the censorship of the German version, saying: "They have a thing about Nazis there."

In an interview on gaming website Gamespot he said Germany was "a little touchy" about Nazi-linked imagery, adding: "And so [the Nazis] are called The Regime in Wolfenstein in Germany... it's completely stripped of all the constitutionally banned content."

The developers faced questions from fans who were surprised that the latest instalment has no multiplayer feature.

Asked why, Mr Hines said: "For a lot of other publishers, that would probably be a trickier question to answer, but Bethesda stands defiantly in support of single-player stuff.

"Fallout 3, Skyrim, Dishonored, Evil Within, Wolfenstein, we believe that if multiplayer fits and it's part of what you're trying to create, you should absolutely do it. But, if it's not, for God's sake leave it out. Stop shoehorning into stuff that has no business being there."

He added that the latest version of the game would be a departure from the "mysticism" that was prevalent in the previous game.

Speaking to a live audience on the Gamespot website, Mr Hines compared the Wolfenstein series to the Batman films, saying that the "grittier" New Order instalment was the "Dark Knight reboot of Wolfenstein".

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Microsoft unveils larger Surface Pro

20 May 2014 Last updated at 18:29 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

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Michelle Fleury tries out Microsoft's new tablet, the Surface Pro 3

Microsoft has unveiled the Surface Pro 3 - a bigger-screened, faster Windows 8 tablet than its predecessor.

The new model features a 12in (30.5cm) touchscreen, 38% larger than before.

The firm boasted that at 9.1mm (0.36in) thick - without an optional clip-on keyboard - it becomes the "thinnest PC" to be powered by one of Intel's higher-end Core processors.

One analyst said he believed there was pent-up demand for such a device in the corporate world.

However, the platform has previously been outsold by rivals.

"The question that needs to be asked and answered is, 'Why hardware?'" said chief executive Satya Nadella at the launch event in New York.

"We clearly are not interested in building refrigerators or toasters. We are not building hardware for hardware's sake.

"We are not interested in competing with our OEMs [original equipment manufacturers].

"In fact, our goal is to create new categories and spark new demand for our entire ecosystem. That's what inspires us and motivates us with what we are doing in our devices and hardware."

According to research firm IDC, Apple, Samsung, Asus, Lenovo and Amazon have each outsold Microsoft with their tablets.

IDC says that the Surface platform as a whole accounted for just 1.5% of global tablet shipments - representing about 640,000 units - over the first three months of the year, down from a 1.8% share for the same period in 2013.

However, Microsoft is marketing the machine as being a "laptop replacement" - comparing it on stage to one of Apple's lightweight laptops rather than the iPad - and IDC research director John Delaney suggested it should be judged on those terms.

"To talk about it having a small percentage of the tablet market partly misses the point, because it's designed to appeal to PC buyers," he told the BBC.

"I think there's pent-up demand for something that does the job of a PC, that's light and thin, and that's cheaper than something like the MacBook Air. If the Surface Pro 3 also delivers good battery life, then that's a package that could resonate with a lot of buyers

"We're also seeing enterprises looking to replace at least some of their PCs with a portable touchscreen product that's compatible with their existing Microsoft applications and infrastructure software. That's another market to which the Surface Pro 3 could appeal."

The basic Surface Pro 3 will cost $799 (£475), compared with the low-end MacBook Air that costs $899.

Microsoft says the battery life is "up to nine hours", 10% more than the Surface Pro 2.

RT no-show

Rumours that Microsoft would unveil a Surface Mini - powered by its Windows RT operating system - proved unfounded.

The RT side of the Surface business has previously struggled, with Microsoft having at one point to write-down the value of unsold stock by $900 (£534m) after it introduced an unplanned price cut.

Windows RT tablets run on ARM-based chips - giving them longer battery life but a smaller library of compatible software than machines using Intel or other x86 processors.

Adobe's image editing software Photoshop - which was shown off at the launch running on the Surface Pro - is one of RT's notable missing applications.

One industry watcher said he would not be surprised if Microsoft now decided to focus its Windows hardware efforts exclusively on its newly acquired Nokia handset business and the Surface Pro line-up.

"I think the RT experiment has now passed," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, a tech consultancy.

"Bringing ARM and RT together really hasn't worked, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was phased out."

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China bans Microsoft Windows 8

20 May 2014 Last updated at 18:45 By Kevin Rawlinson Technology reporter

China has banned the use of Microsoft's latest operating system on government computers.

Beijing issued the restriction as part of a decree about the use of energy-saving products.

But official news agency Xinhua said security concerns related to foreign operating systems had led to the move.

Microsoft said it was surprised, but insisted it would continue to provide older versions of its software to the Chinese authorities.

Xinhua said Beijing had felt compelled to act after Microsoft ended security support for its Windows XP operating system, which is still widely used in China.

"The Chinese government obviously cannot ignore the risks of running OS without guaranteed technical support," it reported.

"It has moved to avoid the awkwardness of being confronted with a similar situation again in future if it continues to purchase computers with foreign OS."

A Microsoft spokesman said the government's procurement department had posted a notification online barring Windows 8 from bidding for public sector deals.

The spokesman said: "We were surprised to learn about the reference to Windows 8 in this notice.

"Microsoft has been working proactively with the Central Government Procurement Centre and other government agencies through the evaluation process to ensure that our products and services meet all government procurement requirements.

"We have been and will continue to provide Windows 7 to government customers. At the same time we are working on the Window 8 evaluation with relevant government agencies."

Local Linux

Xinhua reported that the ban covered all desktops, laptops and tablet PCs purchased by central state bodies. The measure only targets computers used by government offices, while the personal computer market is expected to stay unaffected, the agency reported.

The news agency suggested it could prove to be an opportunity for local Linux-based alternatives - including Kylin and StartOS - to gain ground.

"China's decision to ban Windows 8 from public procurement hampers Microsoft's push of the OS to replace XP, which makes up 50% of China's desktop market," said data firm Canalys.

Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer reportedly told employees in 2011 that, because of piracy, the firm earned less revenue in China than in the Netherlands, even though demand matched that of the US.

Microsoft ended support for the 13-year-old Windows XP last month in a bid to encourage the adoption of newer, more secure versions of Windows.

This has potentially left XP users more vulnerable to viruses and hacking.

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World's first gaming mag may close

21 May 2014 Last updated at 00:24 By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Computer and Video Games (CVG), which in 1981 was the world's first magazine dedicated to gaming, is facing closure.

The title, which has been online-only since 2004, may stop publishing at the end of a 45-day consultation period that began on 14 May, sources said.

However, its publishers Future are also believed to be looking into selling off the brand.

The magazine is behind the gaming industry's Golden Joystick Awards, a yearly event held since 1983.

In a statement, Future said: "We are currently exploring various options around how to evolve the CVG brand in particular and the market leading Future Games portfolio in general, in order to keep successfully meeting the needs of our consumers."

'Everything changed'

The first issue, published in November 1981, billed itself as the "first fun computer magazine" and cost 75p.

Its cover story was about Space Invaders, while a competition gave readers the chance to win a Vic computer, an 8-bit home computer made by Commodore.

The monthly magazine stopped publishing in 2004, with the focus turning to its website which had been up-and-running since 1999.

In 2008, Future re-launched the printed magazine as a bi-monthly title, but it stopped publishing in 2009.

As well as CVG, Future also owns other prominent gaming brands, including GamesRadar and PC Gamer.

Future recently launched a separate games website, Kotaku UK - a localised version of the already established Kotaku gaming news site owned by US firm Gawker Media.

Continue reading the main story

Veteran games journalist Rik Henderson, from Pocket-Lint, said if CVG is closed it will be missed by many.

"Everything in video gaming changed when CVG first hit the shelves," the former GamesMaster presenter said.

"Everything else around that time was either a dedicated machine-specific magazine, or there were small games sections in general computing magazines.

"There was nothing really saying 'look at this world of gaming'."

'Big legacy'

Early issues of the magazine were seen as being instrumental in helping small-time games developers to get their titles out there, said Mr Henderson - a trend that he thought was beginning to re-emerge as apps and mobile gaming have taken off.

But he argued that in a global, online publishing market, the brand's strength did not extend far enough.

"Something had to give," he said.

"Future have quite a portfolio of games websites, but everyone's fighting for a very small pot of advertising.

"CVG does really well - but it just didn't fit in that portfolio."

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

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Trip Advisor 'fake reviews' probed

21 May 2014 Last updated at 11:39

Travel-rating service Trip Advisor is being investigated in Italy over concerns the site is not doing enough to prevent fake reviews.

The Italian competition authority said it had had complaints from consumers and businesses about the website.

It has launched a separate investigation to see if agreements booking sites Expedia and Booking.com hold with hotels are preventing consumers from getting better deals.

Trip Advisor has defended its business.

"It is important to note that Trip Advisor fights fraud aggressively and we are confident in our systems and process," said a spokesman.

"Every single review goes through our tracking system, which maps the how, what, where and when of each review.

"Unfortunately every major service industry has to confront the challenge of fraud, but ultimately, if people didn't find the reviews on our site helpful and accurate they wouldn't keep coming back."

Expedia said it was "convinced it is acting in full compliance with all applicable laws". Booking.com has yet to comment.

Trip Advisor is a highly influential site, where a volume of positive or negative reviews can strongly affect tourism businesses.

The Italian competition authority will try to establish whether Trip Advisor has sufficient measures in place to detect reviews made by people who had not visited the place in question.

The watchdog also said it was looking at whether Trip Advisor did enough to distinguish between content submitted by travellers and posts paid for by hotels and other travel businesses.

'Limit competition'

In a separate investigation, booking websites Expedia and Booking.com are to be investigated over clauses they put in place for hotels that are listed on the sites.

"The analysis centres on clauses applied by Booking and Expedia that prevent hotels from offering better prices and conditions through other online services and, generally, any other booking system (including hotels' own websites)," the watchdog said.

"The authority believes the use of such clauses by the main two platforms on the market may significantly limit competition."

The announcement comes in the same week that Italy launched an investigation into Google, Apple, Amazon, and games publisher Gameloft over "free-to-play" games.

The watchdog said it had concerns that the games did not make it clear how much it may cost to progress in the game.

"Consumers could wrongly believe that the game is entirely free and, in any case, that they would know in advance the full costs of the game," the watchdog said.

"Moreover, insufficient information seems to be provided to consumers about the settings needed to stop or limit the purchases within the app."

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UK reacts to 'right to be forgotten'

21 May 2014 Last updated at 14:09

The UK's data privacy watchdog has said that it would focus on "evidence of damage and distress to individuals" when reviewing complaints about Google and others' search results.

The Information Commissioner's Office's blog post is its first official response to last week's "right to be forgotten" EU ruling.

The ICO will be responsible for resolving complaints in cases where a search firm refuses to remove links.

It noted such action was months away.

"This judgment was only made last week, and the companies will need some time to work out how they're going to handle this," wrote David Smith, the body's director of data protection.

"We won't be ruling on any complaints until the search providers have had a reasonable time to put their systems in place and start considering requests."

Ruling backlash

The Court of Justice of the European Union set a legal precedent on 13 May when it ruled that a user had the right to have links to web pages about him removed from Google's results because the passage of time had made them "irrelevant".

The Spanish man had complained that Google's links to an auction notice of his repossessed home infringed his privacy.

The takedown demand only applied to search results and not the web page containing the notice itself.

But the court added that others had a similar right to have search results deleted "unless there are particular reasons, such as the role played by the data subject in public life" that would justify keeping the links online.

The court noted that if search engines refused to comply, it would be up to local authorities - such as the ICO - to force their hand.

Google said the ruling was "disappointing" and that it needed time to "analyse the implications".

But Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, has attacked the judgement, calling it "wide-sweeping internet censorship", adding that it would be difficult for search firms to determine what should be removed,

Forget-me guidelines

The ICO acknowledged the "right to be forgotten" would be difficult to implement.

"It is important to keep the implications in proportion and recognise that there is no absolute right to have links removed," wrote Mr Smith.

"Our concern remains how this can be achieved in practice and how to set reasonable expectations for the public about how such a right can operate."

He added that the ICO and other data protection authorities would need to issue guidance, and said that the organisation planned to discuss the matter with its European counterparts at the start of next month.

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eBay makes users change passwords

21 May 2014 Last updated at 15:15 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Online marketplace eBay is forcing users to change their passwords after a cyber-attack compromised its systems.

The US firm said a database had been hacked between late February and early March, and had contained encrypted passwords and other non-financial data.

The company added that it had no evidence of there being unauthorised activity on its members' accounts.

However, it said that changing the passwords was "best practice and will help enhance security for eBay users".

The California-based company has 128 million active users and accounted for $212bn (£126bn) worth of commerce on its various marketplaces and other services in 2013.

It said it would be contacting users to alert them of the issue via email, its website, adverts and social media.

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Rory Cellan-Jones: EBay has advised customers to change passwords

Stolen credentials

A post on eBay's corporate site said that cyber-attackers accessed the information after obtaining "a small number of employee log-in credentials", allowing them to access its systems - something it only became aware of a fortnight ago.

"The database... included eBay customers' name, encrypted password, email address, physical address, phone number and date of birth," it said.

"However, the database did not contain financial information or other confidential personal information.

"Extensive forensics subsequently identified the compromised eBay database, resulting in the company's announcement today."

Although the firm also owns the PayPal money transfer service, it said that the division's data was stored separately, encrypted and that there was no evidence that it had been accessed.

It added that any members who used the same login details used on eBay for other sites should also update them.

EBay has not provided any information about the kind of encryption it used.

One expert said there was still a concern that the hackers might be able to make use of their haul.

"We all know that given enough time hackers can crack some encrypted password files," said Alan Woodward, an independent security consultant.

"The slightly worrying aspect of this is that the hackers have a nice neat list of personal information, which can be used to steal identities or even help them get around other systems though password reset scams."

Password Tips

Security expert Alan Woodward offers this advice:

• Don't choose one obviously associated with you: Hackers can find out a lot about you from social media so if they are targeting you specifically and you choose, say, your pet's name you're in trouble.
• Choose words that don't appear in a dictionary: Hackers can precalculate the encrypted forms of whole dictionaries and easily reverse engineer your password.
• Use a mixture of unusual characters: You can use a word or phrase that you can easily remember but where characters are substituted, eg, Myd0gha2B1g3ars!
• Have different passwords for different sites and systems: If hackers compromise one system you do not want them having the key to unlock all your other accounts.
• Keep them safely: With multiple passwords it is tempting to write them down and carry them around with you. Better to use some form of secure password vault on your phone.

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Rory Cellan-Jones looks at ways to manage strong online passwords

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