China's Alibaba plans US online shop

11 June 2014 Last updated at 06:27

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is launching its first online marketplace in the US - 11Main.com - as it looks to expand its operations outside China.

The move comes ahead of Alibaba's share sale in the US, widely expected to one of the biggest by a technology firm.

Alibaba is China's biggest online retailer. The total value of goods sold on its platforms last year exceeded that on Amazon and eBay combined.

The portal 11Main.com will initially be open to customers by invitation only.

"We want the shops to represent the diversity of Main Street. Some shops are high-end boutiques and some are more vintage,'' said Mike Effle, president and general manager of 11 Main.

The site is being launched by Auctiva and Vendio, two of Alibaba's subsidiary companies acquired a few years ago.

Continue reading the main story

US e-commerce is crowded and relies on high marketing expenses to rise above the clutter"

End Quote Sucharita Mulpuru Forrester

Rapid growth

China's internet market has grown rapidly to become the world's largest with more than 600 million internet users.

Domestic companies, especially those which were early entrants into the sector, have benefitted from its fast-paced growth.

Founded 15 years ago by Jack Ma, Alibaba has gone on to become one the biggest internet firms in the world.

It generated revenues of 40.5bn yuan ($6.5bn; £3.8bn) in the nine months to the end of December 2013, making a net profit of $2.9bn.

Overseas expansion

Having tasted success at home, Alibaba has been looking to expand in overseas markets.

Its moves will be watched closely by investors as well as competitors such as Amazon and eBay.

However, Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst with Forrester, said it was likely to be tough for Alibaba to break into the already-crowded online shopping sector in the US.

"US e-commerce is crowded and relies on high marketing expenses to rise above the clutter," she said.

"The hope is high. We'll see if they live up to expectations."

But one of the vendors was hopeful the site would help her business attract new customers.

"We've been struggling with the ability to reach a large audience being a small business," Tiger Bachler, owner of Alys Grace - business selling upscale clothing and accessories - was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"We anticipate [11 Main] will be able to give us a wider audience with their marketplace expertise and marketing power."

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EU to probe Apple's tax affairs

11 June 2014 Last updated at 15:48

The European Commission is to open a formal investigation into Apple, Starbucks and Fiat in relation to tax arrangements with three EU countries.

The firms' respective arrangements with Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg will be investigated.

Announcing the move, tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta said that "fair tax competition is essential".

Last year, a US Senate investigation accused Ireland of giving special tax treatment to Apple.

The European Commission will look at whether the companies' tax affairs breach EU rules on state aid.

Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: "In the current context of tight public budgets, it is particularly important that large multinationals pay their fair share of taxes."

Countries in Europe cannot allow certain firms to pay less tax than they should, Mr Almunia added.

Sanctions

The investigations will focus on "transfer pricing", or whether the countries allowed the multinational firms to charge one part of the company over the odds for goods or services from another part of the company as a way of shifting profits.

Under Commission rules, companies must charge their subsidiaries market rates.

Sanctions for a breach of tax rules could include an attempt to claw money back from Apple, Starbucks and Fiat.

Apple said that it had not had "any special tax deal with the Irish government".

"We have received no selective treatment from Irish officials," the company said. "Apple is subject to the same tax laws as scores of other international companies doing business in Ireland."

The Irish finance ministry said Apple "did not receive selective treatment and there was no 'special tax rate deal'".

"Ireland is confident that there is no state aid rule breach in this case and we will defend all aspects vigorously," the Department of Finance said.

Last year's US Senate committee investigation revealed that Apple had been able to funnel profits into Irish subsidiaries or "ghost companies" that had no declared tax residency anywhere in the world, cutting billions from its tax bill.

The Senate committee hearing revealed that Apple designated its Irish entities as unlimited companies, which meant it did not have to publish annual accounts.

The Irish arrangement allowed Apple to pay just 1.9% tax on its $37bn in overseas profits in 2012, despite the fact the average tax rate in the OECD countries that make up its main markets was 24% last year.

In a 40-page memorandum, the Senate committee said: "Ireland has essentially functioned as a tax haven for Apple."

Starbucks' tax row

Coffee giant Starbucks has been embroiled in a tax controversy for a number of years.

In 2012, the multinational admitted that it had a special tax deal with the Dutch government which allowed it to transfer money to its Dutch sister company in royalty payments.

Starbucks said on Wednesday that its Dutch tax arrangements conformed with financial law.

"We comply with all relevant tax rules, laws and OECD guidelines and we're studying the Commission's announcement related to the state aid investigation in the Netherlands," a Starbucks spokesperson said.

The Dutch finance ministry said it was confident that its tax system was "robust".

"We are confident that the investigation by the EC will in the end result in the conclusion there is no state aid involved," a spokesman told the BBC.

Fiat 'compliant in Luxembourg'

The European Commission is also investigating the tax arrangements of Fiat's financial firm, Fiat Finance and Trade.

Fiat said that while its financial arm is headquartered in Luxembourg, the investigation is into the government concerned.

"We are compliant with all Luxembourg regulations," the company added.

Luxembourg has already riled the European Commission over the firm.

The Commission said on Wednesday that it was launching infringement proceedings against Luxembourg for giving only partial answers to requests for information about Fiat Finance and Trade tax rulings.

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Naughty Dog co-founder joins Oculus

11 June 2014 Last updated at 00:22

Jason Rubin, co-founder of the PlayStation games developer Naughty Dog, has joined Facebook's Oculus VR virtual reality unit.

Mr Rubin helped create the Crash Bandicoot franchise, and later served as president of another developer, THQ, before it collapsed last year.

He joins another games icon, Doom-creator John Carmack, at the business.

The appointment coincides with the E3 games expo, where both Oculus VR and Sony are showing off rival VR kit.

"The awe-inspiring tech Oculus is building is a portal into an incredible world that my daughter will one day consider to be normal, said Mr Rubin in a statement.

"The moment I put it on, I wanted to help define that future."

The Oculus headset works by filling nearly all a wearer's field of view with a video game powered by a connected computer, and then changing the viewpoint according to the way the player tilts their head.

The firm currently sells a test version of the hardware for $350 (£210).

In-house games

Oculus VR said Mr Rubin would head up its internal content creation initiatives, which will be based at five different locations in the US.

Programmers discussing the news on Oculus' own developer forums speculated that Oculus VR needed to make the move to jump start the sector.

"What is happening is that Oculus VR is playing it slow in order to create an ecosystem, not just the headset," wrote Arni Arent, a Reykjavik-based programmer who owns a copy of the machine.

"I don't think they're just waiting for 'content' to be made (a chicken and an egg problem) but they want to go much further in order to kick off the VR revolution."

Christine Arrington, senior games analyst at the IHS Technology consultancy agreed with this view.

"The investments that Oculus has got from Facebook give the business time," she explained.

"Virtual reality isn't something you want to launch with bad technology and no games - that's been tried many, many times before and it's always failed. Having the right technology and as many good games will be critical."

Facebook agreed to acquire Oculus VR in March for about $2bn.

Project Morpheus

The Facebook team got a further boost at E3 with news that Sega's forthcoming Alien: Isolation - a title based on Ridley Scott's sci-fi movie - is being developed with the Oculus Rift headset in mind.

Attendees at the show are able to try out part of the game on the headset.

Other third-party titles on show for the machine include Playful Corp's Lucky's Tale, a third-person platformer, and Superhot, a first-person shooter funded by a Kickstarter campaign.

In addition, Oculus has teamed up with Icelandic developer CCP to create the space shooter Eve: Valkyrie, which is also being previewed at E3.

Sony is also allowing invitees to try out three demos on its Project Morpheus headset at the expo:

• the dinosaur-themed Jurassic Encounter
• the racer Street Luge
• a PlayStation version of Eve: Valkyrie

Sony's machine features three processors of its own to supplement the power of the PlayStation 4, for which it is destined to be sold as an add-on.

"There are creative teams around the world working with us to define the future of gaming and entertainment," said Sony Computer Entertainment chief Andrew House about the hardware on Monday.

However, like Oculus VR, the Japanese firm has yet to announce a release date or price.

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WATCH: Rory Cellan-Jones is attacked by a shark while trying out Sony's Project Morpheus virtual reality headset

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Mozilla to sell '$25' smartphone

11 June 2014 Last updated at 17:36

Mozilla, the organisation behind the Firefox browser, has announced it will start selling low-cost smartphones in India within the "next few months".

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the firm's chief operating officer suggested the handsets, which will be manufactured by two Indian companies, would retail at $25 (£15).

They will run Mozilla's HTML5 web-based mobile operating system, Firefox OS.

The firm already sells Firefox-powered phones in Europe and Latin America.

The current handsets, which are sold via eBay, retail at £59.99 in the UK, or $69.99 in the US.

The announcement comes as mobile manufacturers increasingly attempt to break into emerging markets, where smartphones are less widespread, mainly due to their high costs.

Mozilla, which currently works with mobile manufactures ZTE and Alcatel, among others, has partnered with two of Indian based low-cost handset makers, Intex and Spice, to develop the low-price phones.

They will be powered by chips from Chinese company Spreadtrum.

"The platform will give us an edge in upgrading buyers from feature phones to smartphones while making it affordable for the mass market," said Intex's head of mobile business, Sanjay Kumar Kalirona.

Mozilla, which is a not-for-profit foundation, also announced a deal with Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest mobile phone operator, to support Firefox OS devices.

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Google behind Webdriver mystery

10 June 2014 Last updated at 12:55 By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

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The Webdriver Torso test videos on You Tube

Google has admitted it is behind the Webdriver Torso web account, an unlikely internet sensation which has mystified and delighted web users.

The mystery began when a series of seemingly pointless 11-second videos - all showing a series of blue and red rectangles - were uploaded in their thousands to YouTube.

Speculation was rife about who was behind the enigmatic postings and what they could mean.

Aliens and spies were mooted.

But now it seems that the reality behind the Webdriver Torso mystery is more mundane - it is one of many tests channels used by YouTube to ensure video quality.

The content of the video is meaningless, just a random set of sounds and visuals picked because they were easy to create, according to a YouTube source.

By comparing the uploaded video with the original file, the team is able to assess whether they are being uploaded in the same quality.

Mystery solved

In an official statement, Google said: "We're never gonna give you uploading that's slow or loses video quality, and we're never gonna let you down by playing YouTube in poor video quality.

"That's why we're always running tests like Webdriver Torso."

Its light-hearted statement echoes 1980s pop star Rick Astley's hit song Never Gonna Give You Up in reference to a recent Webdriver Torso video which showed the singer in silhouette.

That in turn is a reference to Rickrolling, one of the internet's most famous memes which linked people to a video of the singer via a masked link.

The Webdriver Torso mystery was finally solved by website Engadget following revelations that Webdriver was part of a network called ytuploadtestpartner_torso, which in turn was associated with social media accounts that name-dropped several Google employees based at its Zurich office.

Engadget confronted Google with its findings and the search engine confessed.

Not spies

Continue reading the main story

Perhaps we shouldn't relax just yet"

End Quote Stephen Beckett BBC Click

Wired magazine was the first to spot the Webdriver Torso phenomenon in February, as part of a feature on bizarre YouTube clips.

The technology press quickly became obsessed with the story, with a variety of theories postulated, including that the videos were part of an advertising campaign by aliens or a digital version of spies' numbers stations, used during the Cold War to decode messages.

Each of the almost 80,000 clips - uploaded over a seven-month period - followed the same pattern - 10 slides, each with a red rectangle, a blue rectangle and a computer-generated tone.

The BBC conducted its own investigation, led by BBC Click producer Stephen Beckett. He asked Google if it was behind the mystery at the end of May but, at the time, the firm declined to comment.

"I can't deny I'm not disappointed that we haven't discovered extra-terrestrial life, or cracked the communications of a clandestine spying ring," he said.

"While the truth may be a little more down to earth, with all the attention now is the perfect time for aliens and spies to start communicating discreetly via rectangles and Rick Astley memes. Perhaps we shouldn't relax just yet."

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Nintendo Wii U to get Zelda in 2015

10 June 2014 Last updated at 19:38 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Nintendo has confirmed its first Legend of Zelda video game for the struggling Wii U console.

The firm showed off a brief trailer for the action title - which it said would be released in 2015 - to coincide with the E3 games expo in Los Angeles.

It also provided more details about how new add-on physical toys called amiibos would interact with games including Super Smash Bros 4.

One industry watcher said Zelda should help improve the firm's fortunes.

"It's a very big one for fans," Christopher Dring, editor of the video games trade magazine MCV, told the BBC.

"If you look at the games sales figures, Zelda is not as big as Super Mario or Mario Kart, but the difference with Zelda is that many fans will buy the console for that game.

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WATCH: BBC's Richard Taylor gets an early glimpse of the new amiibo toys

"For people on the fence about buying the Wii U - and there are lots of them - it might tip them over. I just wish it was this year, I worry about the firm's line-up for this Christmas."

Nintendo swung to a financial loss last year after its new console - which features a touchscreen controller - missed the firm's own sales forecasts.

It originally projected that it would sell more than nine million Wii U machines over the year to 31 March 2014. In fact it sold just 2.72 million.

"Nintendo's software line-up has to be one of the best in its history to turn the company around," explained Brian Crecente, news editor at the video games news site Polygon.

"Third-party developers like EA, Activision and Ubisoft have retreated from the Wii U because there simply aren't enough consoles on the market to justify the expense.

"Earlier this week, the head of Ubisoft told me that his company has several Wii U titles that are completed but that he won't start selling them until there are more Wii U [consoles] on the market."

Freedom of choice

Nintendo is promising that the new open-world fantasy-themed Zelda game will mark a "clean break with the past" by letting players travel in the game wherever they want rather than forcing them to follow a set path and complete scenarios in a pre-determined order.

Its lead character Link is also putting in appearances in other titles due for release this year.

He'll first feature in Hyrule Warriors - a battlefield-set title that unites the swordsman with characters from the Dynasty Warriors series - due for release on 26 September.

He will then appear in Super Smash Bros 4 - a fighting game featuring Mario, Sonic and other video game icons - that will launch on the 3DS handheld on 3 October and the Wii U in time for the winter holidays period.

Nintendo revealed that players would be able to create characters in the game in their own image or that of a celebrity, and showed off an avatar of the rapper Ice-T as a somewhat incongruous example.

Previous versions of Super Smash Bros have been hugely popular, and the Japanese firm is throwing its marketing weight behind the title, allowing the public to try out a test-version at the Nokia Theatre in downtown LA over the course of E3.

"A lot is riding on the success of Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS," said Lewis Ward, a games analyst at the research firm IDC.

"If that game proves to be big hit, it's a system seller, and it could bend the hardware sales curve up appreciably for Nintendo by the end of this year."

Mario toys

Super Smash Bros 4 will also be one of the first games to be compatible with new toys - called amiibos - that contain NFC (near field communication) chips.

These can be used to store data about the player's progress and send the information to and from a Wii U through its controller. The firm said this would allow players to carry their customised settings and achievements to friends' homes.

Activision and Disney have had success with a similar concept for their Skylanders and Infinity franchises

"It's called the toy-to-life genre, and it's getting bigger and bigger," said Mr Dring.

"They are, however, expensive and parents don't always like spending the extra amount. But Nintendo seems to be making it a less essential feature than Disney and Skylanders, where you have to buy characters to unlock content."

Mr Crecente added: "I think amiibo could be a big hit for Nintendo, but it is hard not to wonder why Nintendo didn't do this a year or two ago."

Nintendo said other games to support smiibos would include Mario Kart 8, Yoshi's Woolly World - a forthcoming game based in a world made out of knitted wool - and the platformer Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

Other announcements about games due out next year included:

• Mario Maker - a title that allows the owner to design and play classic Super Mario Bros levels
• A Wii U Star Fox game - in which the console's gamepad screen will be used to provide the view from Fox McCloud's aircraft cockpit
• Splatoon - a four-on-four multiplayer title in which gamers compete to cover as much of an arena in their colour of paint as possible

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Google buys satellite firm Skybox

10 June 2014 Last updated at 20:48

Google confirmed it has purchased satellite firm Skybox Imaging for $500m (£300m).

"[Skybox's] satellites will help keep our maps accurate with up-to-date imagery," said Google in a statement.

It also said Skybox's satellites could be used to help expand internet access.

Founded in 2009, Skybox's satellites offer video images and stills at a resolution of just over 1m per pixel - which can track single cars travelling along a road.

The firm sent its first high-resolution satellite, SkySat-1, in to space last December.

It circles the Earth around 16 times a day, relaying 90-second black-and-white clips, permitting analysis of movement on Earth.

Skybox has said it plans to launch a total of 24 satellites.

Google's purchase of the satellite maker follows its acquisition of solar-powered drone maker Titan Aerospace in April.

The search engine giant and other technology firms, such as Facebook, are currently engaging in efforts to improve internet access globally through drones, balloons, and satellites.

The deal is still subject to approval and closing conditions.

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Amazon halts Lego Movie pre-orders

11 June 2014 Last updated at 13:01

Amazon has halted pre-orders of some Warner Bros films in the US, including The Lego Movie, in a pricing dispute.

A similar dispute with publisher Hachette has been ongoing since May.

Amazon's powerful grip on the online marketplace has seen it flex its muscles over contracts with suppliers.

The movie is available for pre-order on Amazon sites outside the US and can be purchased from Amazon Instant Video. Neither Warner nor Amazon responded to requests for comment on the dispute.

Shop elsewhere

In May Amazon removed the pre-order buttons for a number of book titles published by Hachette, including JK Rowling's new detective novel, The Silkworm.

Authors with the publishing house were quick to criticise the web giant.

"Amazon wants to control book buying, book selling and even book publishing," said James Patterson in a speech to independent booksellers.

In a statement on the Kindle forum, Amazon Books said: "When we negotiate with suppliers, we are doing so on behalf of customers."

It encouraged users to shop elsewhere while the row was ongoing.

"If you do need one of the affected titles quickly, we regret the inconvenience and encourage you to purchase a new or used version from one of our third-party sellers or from one of our competitors," the post read.

Amazon has a history of disputes with publishers and four years ago removed titles from publisher Macmillan during contract talks.

Experts estimate that Amazon controls about a 50% share of the book market - both electronic and physical - in the US.

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Feedly and Evernote cyber-attacked

11 June 2014 Last updated at 13:09 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

The news aggregator Feedly says it has come under a "distributed denial of service" attack from cyber criminals, which is preventing users from accessing its service.

"The attacker is trying to extort us money to make it stop," representatives of the company, which has 15 million users, said in a blog post.

"We refused to give in," they added.

On Tuesday, the popular online notes and web clippings service Evernote suffered a similar attack.

It is not yet known whether the two are linked, but Feedly and Evernote work closely together.

After coming under attack earlier on Wednesday, Feedly assured users their data was safe, and said it was working with its network provider to remove the threat.

On Tuesday, Evernote members were temporarily unable to synchronise their notes from one device to another while it continued.

The California-based company announced last month that it had more than 100 million users.

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are caused by what can be thousands of computers sending huge amounts of data to a target's servers in an effort to overwhelm them.

This sometimes involves hijacked PCs - whose owners may be unaware of their involvement - in what is known as a botnet.

This is not the first time Evernote has been compromised. In 2013 it said hackers had managed to access user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords.

However, it appears that the latest cyber-assault is more limited.

Spokeswoman Ronda Scott told the BBC that the cyber-assault, caused by an unknown perpetrator, began at 14:25 local time [22:25 BST] on Tuesday and had not yet ended.

"We continue to mitigate the effects of the attack, but have successfully returned Evernote to service," she added.

"As is the nature of DDoS attacks, there was no data loss, and no accounts were compromised."

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London taxi protest causes gridlock

11 June 2014 Last updated at 17:36

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Aerial footage showed gridlock in some parts of the capital

Thousands of taxi drivers brought part of central London to a standstill in protest at rival service Uber - a mobile phone app.

Cabbies gathered at Trafalgar Square at 14:00 BST for the hour-long protest.

The drivers are angry about what they regard as a lack of regulation of the use of apps such as Uber.

The app works out the cost of journeys and cab drivers say it is the same as using a taxi meter, which only black cabs are legally entitled to use.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) also said part of the demonstration was about highlighting the length of training - between four and seven years - that taxi drivers undergo before being licensed.

During the protest, roads were gridlocked around Parliament Square, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square.

Steve McNamara, from the LTDA, said: "We did not set out to cause disruption to Londoners.

"It is nothing to do with technology, some of the taxis have been using apps for years. The difference is all taxis have to operate legally, they [Uber] should have to apply for the same rules as everyone else."

He added that two drivers had been arrested and 10,000 drivers had attended the protest.

But Scotland Yard denied any arrests had been made and Transport for London estimated that about 4,000 drivers had taken part.

Despite the protest, Uber said it had seen the number of people downloading its app increase by 850% compared to last Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Police had imposed strict conditions on protesters, including limiting the protest to an hour, after they failed to meet officers to discuss their plans.

Ch Sup Pippa Mills said, "Those who took part in today's protest complied with the timings set by police.

"However, we would always encourage organisers to meet with us to discuss their plans in advance so that they can achieve their aims around protest and we can ensure that disruption to the broader community is minimised."

Steve Garelick of the GMB union said: "I can categorically refute the claim that police have contacted me about this protest."

BBC London 94.9's Anna O'Neill said Haymarket was brought to a standstill and at one point cabs were prevented from accessing Trafalgar Square.

Some motorists sat on the pavements as they waited for the protest to end.

David Batist, 28, said although he had received an email alert from TfL warning him about the potential disruption it had been worse that expected.

"I didn't expect this. I would've taken a different route, had I known. It's caused me quite a lot of disruption. I've had to cancel a meeting."

Black cab driver Bernie Doyle, 68, said: "If Paris, Milan and Berlin don't accept it why should we? I've been driving 42 years and I'm not about to see my trade go down the pan."

Stewart Rose, who has been been driving since 1971, said: "It's the beginning of the end for us. If Uber can do it what's going to stop other companies from getting this app?

"Why did they award them the licence before it went to court, they've done it the wrong way round."

Organisations including the Rail and Maritime Transport union, London Cab Drivers Club and Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) were represented at the protest.

Some in Trafalgar Square were heard chanting "Boris, Boris, Boris, out, out, out", while others beeped horns and held placards.

Uber launched in 2009 and operates in more than 70 cities across 37 countries.

While those opposed to it are concerned unlicensed drivers are being contacted via the app, with no checks on whether they are legitimate, Uber said "every driver meets all local regulations" and is vetted with insurance and background checks.

TfL is seeking a High Court ruling on whether the use of such an app is legal.

The protests in London follow similar demonstrations in Paris, Madrid, Rome, Milan and Berlin.

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