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Long lost plans aid computer rebuild

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 25 Juni 2014 | 23.58

25 June 2014 Last updated at 16:34 By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News

Detailed circuit diagrams for one of Britain's pioneering computers have come to light during a project to reconstruct the machine.

The 19 large-scale diagrams were drawn up when the first Edsac machine was being built just after World War Two.

Edsac was created at Cambridge University to help the institution's scientists analyse data.

The plans will aid the reconstruction project which started with only scant information about Edsac's innards.

Bug fix

Designed by Sir Maurice Wilkes, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (Edsac) was the first machine created specifically to act as a computational resource for experimentalists.

Unfortunately the post-war effort to create Edsac left relatively little information about how the original design changed as it was put together. Also, relatively little of the original machine's hardware has survived until the present day.

"Very few artefacts of Edsac remain," said Dr Andrew Herbert who is leading the reconstruction project. "However, these papers give a clue as to why a few, such as a chassis, do exist."

The diagrams were handed over to the reconstruction team by John Loker who started work as an engineer in the University of Cambridge's mathematical laboratory in 1959 - soon after Edsac was turned off for the last time.

"In a corridor there was a lot of stuff piled up ready to be thrown away, but amongst it I spotted a roll of circuit diagrams for Edsac," said Mr Loker. "I'm a collector, so I couldn't resist the urge to rescue them."

The diagrams languished until very recently when Mr Loker visited the National Museum of Computing and found out that Edsac was being reconstructed.

Mr Herbert said the diagrams are being used to ensure that the reconstruction is staying faithful to the original design.

"Thankfully, the documents confirm that the reconstruction we are building is basically correct," he said.

"They are giving us some fascinating insights about how Edsac was built and show that we are very much in tune with the original engineers," he added. "Both teams have been exercised by the same concerns."

The diagrams show how Edsac changed as it was put together and tested. During construction, circuitry was redesigned and the instruction set was improved to make the machine more reliable and easier to fix.

The reconstruction of Edsac is due to be completed in late 2015.


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Google's Nest unveils kit tie-ups

24 June 2014 Last updated at 05:05 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Google's Nest division is to allow its "smart" thermostats and smoke alarms to communicate with third party products.

Initial tie-ups include letting Mercedes cars and Jawbone Up wristbands turn the heating on, and allowing Lifx's wi-fi connected light bulbs to flash red if smoke is detected.

Nest's co-founder Matt Rogers told the BBC that users would have control over which link-ups were allowed.

But one expert warned that hackers might try to exploit the facility.

"You don't want to get woken up at 04:00 by a smoke alarm because of malicious activity," said Dr Ian Brown, from the Oxford Internet Institute.

"Google in general are very good as internet security goes, but it will be very interesting to see how long it might be before the first vulnerabilities are found in these systems."

Although Nest is opening up its application program interfaces (APIs) - the code that controls how the different software programs interact - to "anybody" via its website, Mr Rogers said steps had been taken to restrict rogue developers.

"We still have the ability to deactivate their accounts and basically delete all their integrations," he said.

"We have also put a limit in the developer programme of how far they can get without actually having to go through some approval processes.

"They can go up to 1,000 users without having to talk to us... but over that they have to get formal approval and go through a testing process."

Connected home

Google bought Nest for $3.2bn (£1.8bn) earlier this year despite the fact it only had two relatively niche products on sale.

The search firm's chairman Eric Schmidt described the acquisition at the time as "an important bet" on intelligent devices for the home that were "infinitely more useable" than existing kit.

Others are also making early steps into what is being called the "internet of things":

  • LG has released fridges and ovens that can be controlled by text messages
  • Samsung allows its Smart Home air conditioners, fridges and washers to be controlled remotely by apps on its smartphones and smartwatches
  • Apple has unveiled HomeKit - a suite of tools to allow devices running its forthcoming iOS 8 mobile operating system to control third party smart-home gadgets

Nest's devices can already be controlled by tablets and smartphones, but its latest move adds further options.

Mr Rogers said pre-arranged tie-ups meant Jawbone's Up wristband's motion sensor could now be used to detect when the owner wakes up in order to trigger the heating system.

He added that Chamberlain's new internet-connected garage door openers could then turn the Nest Learning Thermostat lower when the homeowner left for work.

And if they drove one of Mercedes Benz's new cars, he said, their vehicle would be able to turn the temperature back up again when it estimated they were 30 minutes away from returning.

In the case of the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm, Mr Rogers said the ability to make it cause Lifx's LED bulbs to flash red could serve as an alert if an owner was hearing impaired.

The initial line-up of firms linking their products to Nest's also includes Logitech, Whirlpool, the If This Then That (IFTTT) app, and Google itself.

Nest had previously promised not to force owners to share their data with Google, but they now have the option to do so.

"The way we think about building out this ecosystem is more than just about connectivity - it's about what are the things you use everyday, and how should they work together," added Mr Rogers.

Nest, however, was not yet ready to discuss how this strategy might apply to Dropcam's line-up of video, sound and window/door-motion sensors, which it is in the process of acquiring for $550m.


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Microsoft unveils Android phone

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

Microsoft has unveiled its first phone after completing its takeover of Nokia's handset division - and the device is powered by Android.

The operating system, developed by Google, is usually seen as a rival to Microsoft's own Windows Phone OS.

Microsoft said the Nokia X2 offered it a way to hook users into its cloud-based services, several of which come pre-installed as apps.

One expert said the alternative would have been leaving "money on the table".

"I still find it astounding that Microsoft is making Android phones, but there seems to be a steely determination to take a more open approach for the greater good of the whole company rather than just the Windows Phone platform," said Ben Wood, from the telecoms consultancy CCS Insight.

"If they don't do this, then someone else is going to get the business.

"I also think it's a reflection of the fact that Nokia's budget Asha line of feature phones was unable to compete with entry-level Android mobiles."

Microsoft completed its takeover of Nokia's handset division on 25 April at a cost of 5.4bn euros ($7.4bn; £4.4bn).

'App gap'

The X2 is the follow-up to the original X, launched in February before Nokia sold its mobile business.

The original model became the best-selling mobile in Pakistan and the third best-selling handset in India - according to market-research company GfK - as well as achieving strong sales in Russia, Kenya and Nigeria.

The new device features:

  • a slightly bigger 4.3in (11cm) screen
  • 1GB of RAM - double the amount of memory previously included
  • a more powerful battery
  • the addition of a front-facing camera for selfies

It will cost 99 euro ($135; £80) when released in July.

Microsoft's video chat app Skype, its Outlook email service and its OneDrive internet storage apps all come pre-loaded.

The firm is also promoting some of its other apps - including Bing Search, the Yammer business-focused social network and the OneNote idea jotting service - as optional free downloads for the device.

"The whole idea of bringing more people into Microsoft Cloud through these services is the very core of the strategy," Jussi Nevanlinna, vice-president of mobile phones product marketing at Microsoft, told the BBC.

"In fact we're ahead of other Android devices [in this respect].

"But I want to stress that Lumia remains our primary smartphone strategy and that Nokia X is a stepping stone to it."

Missing apps

The tile-based homescreen and ability to see apps displayed as a scrollable list on the X2 mirrors the Window Phone user interface, which might help encourage consumers to later make the leap to Microsoft's more expensive Lumia range.

However, Mr Wood said there was a risk that the users would instead switch to other Android models since Windows Phone still lags behind its rival in terms of the amount of third-party software it offers.

"That's the calculated risk that Microsoft is taking," he explained.

"The firm needs to rapidly close the app gap between the experience on an Android phone and the experience on a Windows Phone.

"But by going down this route it will at least inform Microsoft as to which apps it had better urgently get if it wants to secure people on the upgrade cycle."

Windows Phone now boasts over 250,000 apps including Instagram and Vine, which were high-profile absentees until November.

But several banking apps, games, video on-demand software, and apps used to control wearable fitness trackers - all available on Android - remain absent.

The Nokia X2 can run the bigger library of Android apps, but unless users hack the device they can only browse available software via the Nokia Store - which excludes some programs - rather than the more fully-stocked Google Play.


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Iraqis use 'off grid' messaging app

24 June 2014 Last updated at 17:02

Iraqis have been turning to an app which allows group messages to be sent between phones, without the need for an internet connection, in an effort to circumnavigate government restrictions.

About 40,000 users downloaded Firechat last week, compared with 6,600 over the previous few months, the company says.

The internet has been blocked in some Iraqi provinces, as authorities seek to prevent militants from communicating.

Access to social media sites has also been severely restricted.

Firechat allows users to take part in group chats with between two and 10,000 people, without the need for an internet connection.

Using a technology known as "mesh networking", messages can be sent to people within the immediate vicinity, as long as they too have the app installed. However, discussions are not private, and can be seen by anyone in the area.

The software is available for both Android and iOS devices, and has a range of roughly 70m (230ft). However, if enough people use the app, messages can travel over far greater distances, hopping between intermediary devices in a chain-like effect.

The app was heavily used in Taiwan earlier this year, when protesting students intent on occupying the parliament were faced with the threat of internet restrictions and limited cell coverage.

Firechat does not have access to the content of the messages.

Government ban

Over the past couple of weeks, Iraqis attempting to visit social media sites have been greeted by a message saying the Ministry of Communications has barred access.

The government has also ordered the internet to be completely shut down in some provinces, where Isis militants are active.

The move was taken after Islamist insurgents used Twitter to post a graphic image of a beheaded man, and to spread propaganda messages.

Richard Taylor explains how a mesh network works

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Richard Taylor explains how Firechat makes use of a mesh network

Firechat, which was launched three months ago by Californian firm Open Garden, says the app's popularity in Iraq is now second only to the US.

A spokesperson for the company said the number of users in Iraq might have been underestimated, as many were using virtual private networks (VPNs), which disguise activity, to access the app.

Psiphon, a system which allows users to circumvent internet censorship, told the BBC it had seen a "huge influx" in the numbers of those using its service in Iraq.


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Sky cars to be built in Tel Aviv

24 June 2014 Last updated at 18:08 By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

An elevated network of sky cars is to be built in Tel Aviv.

A 500m loop will be built on the campus of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) followed by a commercial network, according to skyTran, the company that will build it.

Two-person vehicles will be suspended from elevated magnetic tracks, as an alternative transport method to congested roads, the firm promised.

The system should be up and running by the end of 2015.

The firm hopes the test track will prove that the technology works and lead to a commercial version of the network.

The plan is to allow passengers to order a vehicle on their smartphone to meet them at a specific station and then head directly to their destination.

The vehicles will achieve speeds of up to 70km/h (43mph) although the commercial rollout is expected to offer much faster vehicles.

A number of skyTran projects are planned globally, including in India and the US, but will depend upon the success of the Israeli pilot.

SkyTran, based at the Nasa research park in California, hopes to revolutionise public transport.

Chief executive Jerry Sanders described the agreement to build a test track with IAI as a "breakthrough" for the project.

Joe Dignan, an independent smart city expert, said the system represented "a hybrid between existing infrastructure and autonomous vehicles".

"It will get the market in the mood for autonomous vehicles - it is not too scary, is cheaper than building out a train line and uses part of the urban landscape, 20 feet above ground, that isn't currently used."


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European bank 'hit by cyber-thefts'

24 June 2014 Last updated at 21:52

A security firm has reported uncovering evidence of cyber-thieves robbing more than 190 customers of a European bank.

Kaspersky Lab said it had detected a computer server in January being used to co-ordinate an attack that appeared to have snatched more than 500,000 euros ($700,000; £400,000) over the course of a single week.

The firm said it believed most of the victims were based in Italy and Turkey.

It said that it had alerted the authorities to the problem.

However, it added, the criminals managed to delete any evidence that could have been used to trace them before they could be identified.

The firm declined to identify the bank involved.

Unidentified malware

Kaspersky has codenamed the campaign Luuuk, and said that it believed a Trojan program was used to intercept financial data and allow fraudulent transactions to be made as soon as each victim logged into their online bank account.

But it acknowledged there were still gaps in its knowledge.

"On the command-and-control server we detected there was no information as to which specific malware program was used in this campaign," said Vicente Diaz, principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, in a statement.

"We believe the malware used in this campaign could be a Zeus flavour."

Zeus is the name given to a type of Trojan malware first detected in 2007, which allows data to be stolen from computers running the Windows operating system. It has been linked to previous bank thefts that ran into the millions of pounds.

Kaspersky said that it thought the way Zeus was used in this attack involved inserting rogue information into the bank's webpages when they were downloaded, allowing confidential data to be stolen.

It said that according to the computer logs it had obtained, the sums stolen from each account appeared to range from 1,700 euros to 39,000 euros.

While the detected computer server has now been shut down, the firm warned that it believed the thieves could strike again, adding that it planned to search for evidence of the Luuuk campaign continuing.

"This looks to be very significant - it's not so much the absolute amount reported to be stolen, but the speed at which it was taken out," Alan Woodward, an independent security consultant, told the BBC.

"The way you have to get this money into the real world involves sending it to real accounts and getting 'money mules' to take it out, so would require significant organisation."


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BBC apology over alerts sent in error

25 June 2014 Last updated at 12:23

The BBC has apologised after sending two test breaking news alerts in error to BBC News app subscribers.

The text of the alerts included "NYPD Twitter campaign 'backfires' after hashtag hijacked".

They were sent to millions of UK subscribers to BBC News alerts on iOS devices.

The BBC said it had not been hacked.

"We've been in the process of testing new functionality for our apps and a test message was sent in error this morning," a spokesman said.

"We apologise to our app users who were unnecessarily interrupted with the alert."

Push alerts for users of BBC News mobile apps, on iOS and Android, were introduced in July 2013.

App users receive alerts when there are major breaking news stories.


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Digital news 'catches up with papers'

25 June 2014 Last updated at 13:09

The amount of people using websites and apps to find out about the news has overtaken the number reading printed newspapers for the same purpose in the UK, according to the country's media watchdog.

Ofcom's annual News Consumption study indicates 41% of the population use the net to keep up-to-date with current affairs, while 40% read a paper.

But it suggests that TV remains the most popular source.

It said 75% accessed news this way.

While the net cannot yet claim the top spot, the study did suggest it was the fastest-growing medium.

Radio was the only other area that had an increase over the past year.

Ofcom suggested 36% of people in the UK tuned in to radio news, a modest rise from 35% in 2013. By contrast, the net leapt ahead from 32% to today's 41% figure.

Younger people

The figure for newspapers was unchanged over the period.

The watchdog said it believed that younger people were largely responsible for the surge in net use, with 60% of the 16-to-24 age group telling it they used Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and other sources to keep abreast of developments.

This may be in part because they spend more time on mobile devices than their older counterparts.

Ofcom noted its study indicated that 40% of younger people used a mobile phone for news and 15% used a tablet. The comparable statistics for the over-55s were 15% using phones and 7% tablets.

The organisation said that it surveyed 2,731 UK adults to form its conclusions.

One expert suggested the numbers needed to be viewed in this light.

"You have to be careful with surveys as what people say they do and what they actually do doesn't always match," said Ian Maude, of the consultants Enders Analysis.

"Right now there isn't any solid data on how much time is spent using mobile apps, though it should be available later this year.

"Even so, we can be sure that younger people increasingly get their news online, though it's not clear if or when the web and apps will overtake TV."

Mainstream brands

The report is the latest of its kind to highlight the challenge facing traditional media.

Recent figures by the National Readership Survey suggest the Sun newspaper, for example, shed one million readers over the past year, taking its current tally to about six million. The Sun's decision to put its online version behind a paywall has also caused its net readership to fall, bucking the wider trend.

Another study, published this month, by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism indicated that just 7% of those polled in the UK said they had paid for news in the past year.

However, it added that "mainstream" news brands still had huge appeal online for the audience, with the Daily Mail, BBC, Sky News, Guardian, Telegraph and the "local newspaper" category all appearing in their top 10 list of most used internet-based sources.


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US court backs mobile phone privacy

25 June 2014 Last updated at 16:10

The US Supreme Court has ruled police cannot search the digital contents of mobile phones of those arrested without a warrant.

The unanimous decision is a win for privacy advocates that argued searching mobiles was an unreasonable intrusion.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion that mobiles "hold for many Americans the privacies of life".

The high court had weighed appeals by two people convicted based on evidence found on their phones.

Both were convicted of crimes for which they were not initially arrested.

Continue reading the main story

Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple - get a warrant"

End Quote Chief Justice John Roberts

Under the fourth amendment to the US constitution, police and other government officials generally need to obtain a warrant from a judge before they can conduct a search.

A warrant requires evidence that a crime has been committed by the suspect.

Justice Roberts wrote in his ruling for the court that constitutional protection applied to the contents of mobiles, as they "differ in both a quantitative and qualitative sense from other objects that might be carried on an arrestee's person".

"Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans the privacies of life,'' he wrote.

"Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple - get a warrant."

More than 90% of Americans own at least one mobile, according to the Pew Research Center. More than 12 million people were arrested in the US in 2012, according to FBI statistics.

The Supreme Court had previously ruled that during an arrest, police do not need a warrant to empty a suspect's pockets and examine whatever they find in order to ensure officers' safety and prevent the destruction of evidence.

But Wednesday's decision rules the contents of mobiles do not fall under that rationale.

The case came to the US high court through two separate appeals.

In the first, prosecutors used video and photographs found on David Riley's smartphone to persuade a jury to convict him of attempted murder and other charges.

Riley had been driving on a suspended licence, and police found guns in his car and charged him with carrying a concealed weapon, then searched his phone.

In the second case, Brima Wurie was arrested on suspicion of selling crack cocaine. On grounds of "officer safety" police examined the call log on his mobile phone and used that information to determine where he lived.

When they searched that residence, with a warrant, they found crack cocaine, marijuana, a gun and ammunition.


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Researchers create goosebump sensor

25 June 2014 Last updated at 16:34 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

A research team has developed a sensor capable of measuring goosebumps on the human body in real time.

The device uses a stick-on transparent conductive polymer to quantify how big the bumps are and how long they last.

It works by recording a drop in the sensor's capacitance - its ability to store an electrical charge - caused by it being deformed by the buckling of the skin's surface.

The engineers say it could be used to study changes in people's emotions.

The work was carried out at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and details have been published in the Applied Physics Letters journal.

The article explains that the thin, flexible, square sensor, whose sides are about 2cm (0.8in) long, was tested on the arm of a subject who was asked to grab ice cubes to induce the reaction.

Although, by its nature, this involved a response to physical stimuli, the researchers noted that other scientists had previously shown that goosebumps could be used to deduce changes in a subject's emotional state brought on by music, movies and other causes.

"In the future, human emotions will be regarded like any typical biometric information, including body temperature or blood pressure," Prof Young Ho-cho told the journal.

Emotional triggers

Although more work needs to be done to correlate the measurements with specific emotional states, and only certain strong reactions might result in goosebumps, the journal still suggested the technology could ultimately be used to create kit to personalise adverts, music and other services based on the user's reactions.

Such an idea is not new.

At one time video games developer Valve experimented with developing a controller fitted with sensors to monitor players' physiological states, suggesting this could be used to change gameplay depending on whether it deduced they felt afraid, bored or engaged.

Film studios have long determined re-edits based on audience reactions to test screenings, and last year a UK-based movie-maker took the idea to its logical conclusion with Many Worlds - a film whose ending was determined by the brainwaves of a volunteer wearing a sensor-laden cap.

But one human-computer interaction expert expressed concern at the idea of a small, unobtrusive sensor being able to take such techniques mainstream.

"What perhaps I can see as the most cynical application of this is would be the maximisation of very pat emotional responses by the entertainment industry," said Dr Bernie Hogan, of the University of Oxford.

"They always want their products to give us these arousal responses. Now they can zero in on exactly the moment of the response and get rid of the messy details.

"This can only lead to more emotionally manipulative fluff."

One marketing consultant, however, proved more keen.

"This is the dream for many a modern marketeer who want people to not just buy product or a service but have an emotional engagement with their brand," said Simon Myers, a partner at Prophet.

"Whilst people might rightly be horrified at this development, there is one added benefit in that millions of dollars of advertising and communication spend could at last receive a proper customer-centric and very human audit."


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