Google to build self-driving cars

28 May 2014 Last updated at 03:00 By Jack Stewart BBC World Service Radio, Los Angeles

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Google exhibits its new self-driving cars

Google is to start building its own self-driving cars, rather than modifying vehicles built by other manufacturers.

The car will have a stop-go button but no controls, steering wheel or pedals.

Pictures of the Google vehicle show it looks like a city car with a "friendly" face, designed to make it seem non-threatening and help people accept self-driving technology.

Co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the plans at a conference in California.

"We're really excited about this vehicle - it's something that will allow us to really push the capabilities of self driving technology, and understand the limitations," said Chris Urmson, director of the company's self-driving project.

He added that the cars had the ability to "improve people's lives by transforming mobility".

But some researchers working in this field are investigating potential downsides to driverless car technology.

They believe they could make traffic and urban sprawl worse, as people accept longer commutes as they do not have to drive themselves.

Flexible windscreen

The BBC was given access to the Google team to talk about the secret project, and see early renderings of the car.

It looks almost cartoon-like, it has no traditional bonnet at the front, and the wheels are pushed to the corners.

It will seat two people, propulsion will be electric, and at the start it will be limited to 25mph (40km/h) to help ensure safety.

The most significant thing about the design is that it does not have any controls, apart from a stop/go button.

For early testing, extra controls will be fitted so one of Google's test drivers can take over if there is a problem.

The controls will simply plug in, and Mr Urmson believes that over time, as confidence in the technology grows, they will be removed entirely.

The front end of the vehicle is designed to be safer for pedestrians, with a soft foam-like material where a traditional bumper would be, and a more flexible windscreen, which may help reduce injuries.

The vehicle will use a combination of laser and radar sensors along with camera data to drive autonomously.

It will depend on Google's road maps, built specifically for the programme, and tested on the company's current fleet of vehicles.

Ready in a year

Google recently announced that its self driving cars had covered 700,000 miles of public roads in autonomous mode, and that they were now tackling the tricky problem of busy city streets.

The company plans to build a fleet of around 200 of the cars in Detroit, with the hope of using them as an autonomous technology test bed.

"We'll see these vehicles on the road within the year," says Mr Urmson.

Advocates claim that autonomous cars have the potential to revolutionise transport, by making roads safer, eliminating crashes, and decreasing congestion and pollution. In the year to June 2013, more than 23,500 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents in the UK, according to government figures.

Ron Medford, previously the deputy director of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and now the safety director for the self-driving car team at Google, believes that number could be drastically reduced by removing the chance of driver error.

"I think it has the potential to be the most important safety technology that the auto industry has ever seen," he said.

But Sven Beiker, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford, cautions that driverless cars may still require human input in extreme circumstances and that people may forget how to operate their vehicles if they do not do it regularly.

This could be particularly dangerous in an emergency situation where the computer does not know how to react, and asks for input from a human who may not have been paying attention, he warned.

"You will not be able to fiddle around looking for the instruction manual in the glove box that you've never looked at before," he said.

He equates it to people who drive automatics forgetting how to easily drive a car with a manual gearbox.

Listeners in the UK can hear more on the potential of driverless cars on Frontiers on BBC Radio 4 on Wed 4 June.

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Game stunt causes office evacuation

28 May 2014 Last updated at 17:20

Watch Dogs' publisher has apologised after a publicity stunt for the video game backfired, causing an office evacuation and the deployment of an Australian bomb squad.

Ubisoft had sent a copy of the game inside a safe that beeped when staff at news site Ninemsn tried to open it.

The Sydney-based journalists became concerned when they called other newsrooms and found none had received a similar delivery.

The site does not cover video games.

After the firm called the authorities, a police rescue unit and four police cars were sent to the office on Australia Square, in the city centre.

Staff working on the floor to which the safe had been delivered were sent home early, while officers first scanned the metal box and then took it to the building's basement to force it open.

Ninemsn - which is part-owned by Microsoft - condemned the idea, calling it "misconceived".

"There was a bunch of reasons this ended up looking weird," said its publisher Hal Crawford.

"The PR company no doubt got carried away with their creativity and ended up sending us something the bomb squad had to open up."

France-based Ubisoft later said it had taken precautions to avoid a similar situation in the future.

"As part of a themed promotion for Watch Dogs, our team in Australia sent voicemail messages to some local media alerting them that they'd receive a special package related to the game," it said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the delivery to Ninemsn didn't go as planned, and we unreservedly apologise to Ninemsn's staff for the mistake and for any problems caused as a result."

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Valve delays Steam Machine to 2015

28 May 2014 Last updated at 12:47 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Valve has delayed the launch of its Steam Machine video games PCs until next year at the earliest.

The US-based firm said it needed more time to work on the system's controllers, which feature two haptic-feedback trackpads.

The announcement is also likely to impact the 14 third-party manufacturers planning to sell their own Steam Machine hardware.

However, one industry watcher suggested Valve had taken the right decision.

"It is targeting a very demanding demographic with the Steam Machine platform, and the controller is one of the key features designed to address the impression that PC gaming can be slightly inaccessible," said Ed Barton, a gaming analyst at consultants Ovum.

"It's a very ambitious concept to try to replicate the accuracy of a mouse input with the controller's two circular touchpads - and if it doesn't work, the platform would likely struggle to get off the ground."

Living-room games

Valve is best known for developing games including Half Life, Dota 2 and Left 4 Dead, as well as having created Steam, a service that includes the bestselling marketplace for PC games and contains vibrant community forums.

The company, based in Bellevue, Washington state, announced last September that it also intended to create its own games-focused Linux-based operating system, called SteamOS, in addition to a few hundred prototype machines to test it on.

It said the machine was intended to be plugged into a TV and used with its new controller that would provide vibration feedback to deliver "in-game information about speed, boundaries, thresholds, textures, action confirmations, or any other events about which game designers want players to be aware".

The idea, it said, was to take PC gaming into the living room in 2014 - a place previously dominated by consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Others would ultimately make the machines sold to the public.

However, a blog by developer Eric Hope has now asked consumers to be patient while the firm continued to work on the project.

"We're now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers," he wrote.

"It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better.

"Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014."

Lost advantage

The blog refers to delays to "our in-development Steam Machines" - and it is not clear if this reference means that the launches of third-party Steam Machines will also be postponed until the controller is available,

Several of the companies involved have already announced provisional specifications, including the amounts of memory, types of processor and prices they intend to charge.

The manufacturers are not able to speak to the press about the project, but the BBC understands they are unlikely to proceed until the controller is ready.

There are currently 474 Linux-compatible games available on the Steam platform, and there had been an expectation that Valve would announce further high-profile titles to coincide with the launch.

Mr Barton said the delay could make that tally seem less impressive.

"If the Steam Machines were coming out at the end of 2014 you could argue they would have a significant advantage over the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Wii U in terms of the sheer number of games that would be available," he said.

"Coming out a year later not only means more of those consoles will have been sold, but also presumably that they will have more exclusives and cheaper games available to them.

"But Valve would argue that it needs to get its hardware right or it wouldn't be competitive anyway."

However, the news does appear to have frustrated some potential buyers.

"I agree that if they need more time to get a finished product, they should indeed take it, but going from early 2014 to mid 2014 to Q4 2014 and then to 2015?" wrote one gamer on Valve's Steam Universe forum.

"I've been a PC gamer for about nine years and I'm a fan of gaming in the living room, replaceable parts, high-end specs, so the notion of a PC console is exciting, but I literally would've bought a console for my entertainment area instead if I knew the timeline would just be constantly delayed."

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Amazon steps up publisher spat

28 May 2014 Last updated at 13:43

Amazon has said a dispute with publisher Hachette, which has led to price increases and a block on pre-orders, will not be resolved soon.

The two companies are locked in discussions about how to share profits on e-books.

The row will affect US sales and delivery times of books by authors such as JK Rowling.

The retail giant suggested customers used "one of our competitors" to get hold of titles more quickly.

'Not optimistic'

In an uncharacteristically lengthy statement, Amazon said: "We do business with more than 70,000 suppliers, including thousands of publishers.

"One of our important suppliers is Hachette, which is part of a $10bn [£6bn] media conglomerate. Unfortunately, despite much work from both sides, we have been unable to reach mutually acceptable agreement on terms.

"Even more unfortunate, though we remain hopeful and are working hard to come to a resolution as soon as possible, we are not optimistic that this will be resolved soon."

The row concerns the profits made by both publishers and Amazon on books sold digitally.

The two companies are renegotiating the deal, which is likely to lower the price of e-books and hurt the profit margins of publishers.

According to James McQuivey, an analyst for Forrester Research, blocking pre-orders not only hurt early sales, but stopped a vital advertising opportunity - the bestseller list.

"You really have to sell a lot of copies on Amazon, and the pre-sale does that," he told the BBC.

"It looks fabulous - it gets into the New York Times bestseller list, and all that looks wonderful."

'Ability to survive'

Amazon's statement made reference to a deal struck with Macmillan in 2010, which followed a period when Amazon removed the "buy" button from pages offering Macmillan titles.

Authors and other publishers had criticised Amazon for using its power as the biggest player in books in this way.

In a letter to authors, Hachette chief executive Michael Pietsch wrote: "Please know that we are doing everything in our power to find a solution to this difficult situation, one that best serves our authors and their work, and that preserves our ability to survive and thrive as a strong and author­-centric publishing company."

The Authors Guild, a US organisation that represents authors, described the tactics as "bullying".

But Amazon has dismissed the comments, and others like it, as "narrow-minded".

It said: "A retailer can feature a supplier's items in its advertising and promotional circulars, 'stack it high' in the front of the store, keep small quantities on hand in the back aisle, or not carry the item at all, and bookstores and other retailers do these every day."

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LG unveils laser-focus smartphone

27 May 2014 Last updated at 18:58

LG's new flagship smartphone is the first to feature laser-assisted autofocus to help take sharp photos.

The South Korean firm announced the feature at the global launch event for the G3 handset, held in London.`

The technology is designed to let the Android-powered device's camera focus in dim light conditions and quickly lock onto moving objects.

Experts praised the innovation, but suggested its effect on the firm's global sales ranking would be limited.

"Handsets are becoming harder to identify just from the way they look," said Jasdeep Badyal from the telecoms consultancy CCS Insight.

"A device needs to have some standout features so that when a consumer goes into a store the retailer can explain what makes it different from other smartphones.

"But it will still be a difficult battle for LG, particularly because of the bigger marketing budgets that Samsung, Apple and Sony have."

LG nearly doubled its handset sales to consumers from 2.6 million smartphones in 2012 to 4.6 million in 2013, according to tech research firm Gartner.

However, over the same period the South Korean's smartphone market share only rose from 3.8% to 4.8%, with it remaining in fourth place behind Samsung, Apple and Huawei.

Laser-assisted phone

The G3 features a 5.5in (14cm) screen with 538 pixels per inch making it bigger and higher resolution than both its predecessor, the G2, and Samsung's S5.

LG compared the "quad HD" branded screen as offering a similar level of detail to a high quality art book and added that it had taken steps to limit the extra toll this upgrade would take on battery life.

However the device's main 13 megapixel rear camera has a lower resolution than Samsung's.

But the camera is enhanced by the Laser Auto Focus function, which LG said allowed it to focus in 0.276 of a second - faster, it said, than a human's brain signals take to reach their hand.

It works by sending out a low-powered laser beam that allows the device to measure its distance from the photo's subject more accurately than "phase detection" - the analysis of contrast and the focus-assist lamps used by some other devices.

'Game-changing'

"I remember Sony's early attempts at laser-guided autofocus, over a decade ago, said Jon Devo, technical writer at Amateur Photographer magazine.

"It was also referred to as 'Hologram AF' and worked similarly to how an auto focus-assist beam on modern digital cameras works.

"One of the advantages of having an assist beam or laser is that it can help focus in extremely low light and even in total darkness, although the method was typically slow.

"If the LG G3 can do that effectively and at speed, it could be a game-changing feature in mobile phone photography."

Selfie trigger

Other innovations announced by LG included the ability to trigger a photograph by making a hand gesture at the phone, which triggers a short countdown before the shot is taken.

The firm suggested that this made the device ideal for "selfies".

However, it will face competition from Huawei for this accolade.

The Chinese firm unveiled its P7 handset last month, which features an 8MP front camera - significantly more than the 2.1MP in LG's machine.

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Spotify latest to be hit by hack

27 May 2014 Last updated at 19:21

Music-streaming service Spotify has become the latest high-profile technology company to be hit by a security breach.

The Swedish firm said no financial data had been accessed, and there was no "increased risk".

A portion of its 40 million users will need to re-enter, but not change, their log-in credentials.

Furthermore, all users of its Android mobile app would be forced to upgrade "over the next few days".

"We've become aware of some unauthorised access to our systems and internal company data," chief technology officer Oskar Stål wrote on the firm's website.

"Our evidence shows that only one Spotify user's data has been accessed and this did not include any password, financial or payment information.

"We have contacted this one individual. Based on our findings, we are not aware of any increased risk to users as a result of this incident."

'Proof-of-concept'

While the breach was small in scale, Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer at security firm Tripwire, said it could hint towards a troubling problem for the streaming firm.

"Had this been as simple as one user over-sharing their login credentials, it would not warrant an all-user notification," he said, in an email.

"Given that Spotify claims that only one user's data has been compromised, I suspect this was achieved via a re-usable, broadly applicable attack method perhaps affecting older versions of the Spotify app.

"My guess would be that someone demonstrated a proof-of-concept attack for the Spotify team and that constitutes the single known affected user."

News of the breach comes a week after auction site eBay told all of its users to change their passwords.

Again, no financial data was believed to have been taken - but other personal data, such as home addresses, was accessed.

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China to 'clean up' messaging apps

28 May 2014 Last updated at 02:40

Chinese authorities have launched a campaign to "eliminate" malpractice on instant messaging services.

They allege that some people have used such services "to distribute illegal and harmful information, seriously undermining public interests".

China has said suspects arrested in recent anti-terror sweeps shared their knowledge of making explosives via chat services and text messages.

Instant messaging apps have become hugely popular in China.

One of the biggest ones, WeChat, boasts more than 800 million users.

Over the past few years social media platforms have gained popularity among Chinese internet users keen to voice their opinions and share unfiltered information.

Continue reading the main story

We will firmly fight against infiltration from hostile forces at home and abroad"

End Quote China's state internet information office

However, this has resulted in increased scrutiny and censorship by the authorities.

China even introduced a law to allow the government to imprison microbloggers, and dozens were arrested last year.

Subsequently, many users have ditched social media platforms in favour of mobile messaging services.

'Hostile forces'

China's state-owned media agency, Xinhua, reported that the latest campaign will "target public accounts on instant messaging services, which can spread information on a large scale and mobilize followers".

It will crack down on those spreading rumours and information relating to violence, terrorism and pornography.

Those using instant messaging services for fraud will also be targeted.

"We will firmly fight against infiltration from hostile forces at home and abroad," Xinhua quoted China's state internet information office as saying.

Seven firms offering instant messaging services, including WeChat, Momo, Mi Talk and Yixin, have agreed to co-operate with the authorities and launch internal inspections, Xinhua said.

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Skype to get 'real-time' translator

28 May 2014 Last updated at 06:23

Microsoft has unveiled a "real-time" language translation feature for its internet phone service Skype.

Chief executive Satya Nadella said the firm would launch a test version of the service, dubbed Skype Translator, for Windows 8 later this year.

The move comes as competition in the internet-based phone service sector has been rising, forcing firms to look at ways to attract more users.

According to Microsoft, Skype currently has 300 million monthly users globally.

"It is going to make sure you can communicate with anybody without language barriers," said Mr Nadella, who took over as chief executive in February.

The firm did not say if the service will be offered for free or if the users will have to pay a fee.

'Decades of work'

Continue reading the main story

It is early days for this technology, but the Star Trek vision for a Universal Translator isn't a galaxy away"

End Quote Gurdeep Pall Skype

Microsoft had first showcased the technology nearly two years ago during a presentation in China.

At the time, the firm published a blog saying that researchers at Microsoft Research and the University of Toronto had made a breakthrough in reducing the error rate in speech recognition by over 30%.

It said it achieved this by using a technique called Deep Neural Networks, which is patterned after human brain behaviour and allows researchers to train more discriminative and better speech recognisers than previous methods.

"As we add more data to the training we believe that we will get even better results," it had said.

On Tuesday, Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president of Skype said the latest feature was a result of "decades of work".

"We've invested in speech recognition, automatic translation and machine learning technologies for more than a decade, and now they're emerging as important components in this more personal computing era," he said.

"It is early days for this technology, but the Star Trek vision for a Universal Translator isn't a galaxy away, and its potential is every bit as exciting as those Star Trek examples."

Wide ranging applications

Microsoft bought Skype in May 2011 for $8.5bn (£5.2bn) - making it the firm's biggest acquisition at the time.

However, it has been facing increasing competition from a multitude of rivals, including Google Hangouts, Apple's Facetime, Blackberry's BBM, Tango and Viber.

Manoj Menon, managing director at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said that once launched, the new feature could have wide ranging applications in sectors such as education and tourism.

He added that the translation feature may also help Microsoft to integrate Skype with its office social network site Yammer.

Microsoft bought Yammer - which operates like Facebook for communication within companies - for $1.2bn in 2012.

"Microsoft has acquired some great assets such as Yammer and Skype over the past few years," Mr Menon said.

"The ability to integrate these together will help unlock their value and the translate feature is a wonderful step in that direction."

Skype has also been taking other steps to try and attract more users.

Last year, it confirmed that it had developed technology for 3D video calls. But it has said it could be many years before the technology is launched.

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Cloud firm reports surge in profits

28 May 2014 Last updated at 12:00

Cloud computing firm Iomart has reported a surge in revenues and profits, driven by organic growth and the impact of acquisitions.

The Glasgow-based company saw revenues climb by 29% to £55.6m in the year to the end of March, with its hosting business growing by 40% to £44.7m.

Adjusted pre-tax profit rose by 37% to £14.6m.

Iomart said it was well placed to deliver a wider range of cloud services to its customer base.

During the year, Iomart increased its European footprint and dedicated server expertise by buying Hampshire-based Redstation for a maximum consideration of £8.1m.

'Long-term opportunity'

It also acquired a major presence in the cloud backup and disaster recovery market through the acquisition of Backup Technology Holdings for £23m.

The company also confirmed it had completed the fit-out of about 600 racks of data centre space in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Iomart now owns and operates data storage centres in eight locations throughout the UK, including Glasgow, London, Manchester and Nottingham.

Chief executive Angus MacSween said: "We continue to believe in the long-term opportunity for Iomart as IT spending moves towards the 'cloud', as networks and connectivity expand and mobility increases."

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Panasonic recalls computer batteries

28 May 2014 Last updated at 14:56 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Panasonic is recalling more than 43,000 laptop battery packs after three of them overheated and caught fire.

It said that two of the accidents occurred in Japan this year and the other was in Thailand in 2013.

The batteries were sold to Asia-based consumers with two types of laptops - Panasonic's CF-S10 and CF-N10 series - between April and October 2011.

However, the company has also announced a separate recall in Europe as a safety precaution.

This second callback involves an unspecified number of battery packs sold with its Toughbook CF-H2 tablets between June 2011 and May 2012.

"Because of a manufacturing problem, these particular battery packs may overheat and, in rare instances, cause the notebook to ignite," it said in a statement.

Jan Kaempfer, a spokesman for Panasonic, told the BBC that the firm was not aware of any cases in which the tablets' batteries had caught fire and that the move was simply a "precautionary measure".

Conductive materials

Panasonic said that no-one had been hurt in any of the Japanese or Thai incidents.

It added that it believed the problem might have been caused by conductive materials getting stuck to the batteries' seals, causing them to smoke and catch light after repeated charges.

The announcement comes about six weeks after Sony announced a recall of its Vaio Fit 11A laptops because their non-removable battery packs - also manufactured by Panasonic - posed a fire risk.

However, Mr Kaempfer said that this was unrelated to the latest recall.

Although Panasonic manufactures an adapted type of laptop battery to power Tesla's electric cars, Mr Kaempfer stressed that the batteries involved in the two recalls were different from those used by the US carmaker.

Panasonic reported its first annual profit in three years last month, thanks in part to growing demand for its vehicle batteries.

The Japanese firm is not the only manufacturer to face such a problem in recent months.

In March, Lenovo recalled 117,732 batteries for its ThinkPad laptops, while Summer Infant has had to recall about 800,000 batteries for its baby monitors after it received about two dozen reports of them overheating and smoking.

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