Photoshop moves to subscription

7 May 2013 Last updated at 06:45 ET

Adobe is introducing a subscription model for many of its most popular programs, including Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Up to now, customers had perpetual access by paying a single fee for Adobe's Creative Suite.

From next month, continuing access to the programs, either individually or as a whole, will demand a monthly fee.

Standalone versions will still be available but will not be upgraded.

The change was announced at Adobe's annual Max conference, at which it details the latest updates to its products.

'Company free from upgrade cycle'

Adobe spokesman Scott Morris said the move to a subscription system would free the company from its traditional 18 to 24-month upgrade cycle. From June, he said, improvements would be released as they became available.

At Max, Adobe said the standalone version of its Creative Suite, which bundles together 16 programs, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition, Dreamweaver and Premiere, would be frozen at version 6. Bug fixes would be made available for this version but new features and enhancements would not. Currently, the standalone version of Creative Suite 6 costs about £1,800 from Adobe.

Those who want to keep up with upgrades and changes to Creative Suite would have to take out a subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud - a web-based system through which customers can manage what they do with the different tools. In return, customers get access to the software as well as an online storage system and project management tools.

In the UK, access to all programs in the Creative Cloud costs £47 a month provided customers agree to pay for at least a year. If customers opt to pay month-to-month the cost is £70. Access to individual applications costs just under £18 a month if customers sign up for a year.

'500,000 subscribers for Creative Cloud'

Discounts would be available for those that signed up before 31 July, Adobe said.

"Customers have to come to terms with the end of perpetually licensed software," IDC analyst Al Hilwa told the Associated Press.

The move to a subscription model is the culmination of a long experiment by Adobe to see if customers would pay monthly for access. Adobe said it now had 500,000 subscribers for Creative Cloud after running a pilot programme for a year.

Adobe is the latest in a number of large software firms that have moved to a cloud-based or subscription model. Microsoft has also introduced Office 365, a subscription version of its set of office productivity programs.

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Google's Russian test-case fails

7 May 2013 Last updated at 06:50 ET

A test-case brought by Google to challenge tough Russian laws on internet content has failed.

The case related to a video clip uploaded to Google-owned YouTube, which portrayed, using a blunt razorblade and fake blood, a woman cutting her wrists.

Russian regulators demanded the clip be removed, saying it provided information about how to kill oneself.

Google complied - but in February it filed an appeal, which has now been rejected by a Moscow court.

The search giant argued the clip was intended as entertainment rather than to promote actual suicide.

In response to the ruling, Google said: "We do not believe the goal of the law was to limit access to videos that are clearly intended to entertain viewers."

Google added it would "review the decision and consider our options".

Ukrainian Darina Snegova, 20, who made the video, told the Wall Street Journal the clip had been intended as an example of how make-up could be used.

'Protecting children'

The clip, entitled "Video lesson on how to cut your veins", was deemed by Russian regulators to break strict new rules on web content thought to be harmful to children.

The rules, an amendment to Russia's Information Act, came into force in November and related to web posts showing drug use, suicide or child sex abuse. They allow the Russian regulator to request content it deems to promote any of these be immediately removed from the web.

Google said it had received 114 requests to take down content in Russia in the second-half of 2012, up from just six for the first half of the year.

According to the company, 107 of those requests were directly related to the new law.

The Russian government insists the law is about protecting children but its ever-growing blacklist has caused controversy with human-rights groups who argue it has increased censorship.

Blogging platform LJRossia has been targeted, as has a Russian version of discussion forum 4chan.

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Twitter use defeats distance barrier

7 May 2013 Last updated at 12:32 ET

Twitter is eliminating distance and helping people stay in touch with distant friends and acquaintances, suggests a study of the social network.

The study analysed 1.5 billion tweets sent by 70 million users in one month to work out where people were.

On average, it found, people who mentioned or retweeted each other's messages were 750 miles apart.

The study also revealed that people tweeting each other the most tended to be the furthest apart.

The study, by Kalev Leetaru and colleagues at the University of Illinois, did not look at the textual content of tweets but attempted to work out where 70 million users of the service were located last October and November when they sent them.

Then Mr Leetaru and his co-researchers plotted who was communicating with whom to get a sense of the geographic distances dividing people who regularly chat via the microblogging service.

The study, published in the online journal First Monday, found that, on a typical day, the average tweet is just nine words long and 85% of those messages originate with just 15% of users.

Indifference to location

It found that Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, was the city where most geographically tagged tweets originated, with New York in second place. On average, it also showed, 750 miles separated people who mentioned or forwarded each other's messages.

The study also revealed a curious quirk of Twitter users: those who are further apart seem to be sending more messages to each other. People geographically close to each other generally send quite a few messages to each other, but if the total reaches more than nine messages a month that generally means they are talking to someone much more distant.

This indifference to location also ruled when it came to news sources or stories that were of interest. The sources people turned to or the items they forwarded to followers were rarely directly connected to where people lived.

"In the social media era, location plays a far lesser role in who we talk to, what we talk about, and where we turn for information," the authors wrote.

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Electronic Arts sees brighter 2014

7 May 2013 Last updated at 20:41 ET

The video game maker Electronic Arts (EA) has reported lower profits, as weakness in packaged games sales dented profits.

For the three months to the end of March, net income fell 19% to $323m (£208m), from the same period a year ago.

EA said customers had held back buying until the latest consoles from Sony and Microsoft are released later this year.

But the company expects higher revenues in its next financial year of $4bn.

Like the rest of the games industry, EA is struggling as more players switch to casual games on mobile devices such as Angry Birds.

It has also been a turbulent time internally for Electronic Arts recently. John Riccitiello, who had been chief executive since 2007, resigned his position in March after the latest in a series of profit warnings.

Some products had problems as well. Many users found that the latest game in the popular SimCity franchise was unplayable for a time as a consequence of its reliance on external computer servers which initially struggled to meet demand.

Lay-offs

Meanwhile, the second-largest games maker has also been cutting costs and laying off employees.

As consumers increasingly move towards mobile and web-based games, Electronic Arts has been axing staff at its console business. Nonetheless, it said it was preparing for the new versions of Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox expected later this year.

Sales from its online games grew 45% in the three months to the end of March to $618m, more than the sales of packaged console games.

Total revenue fell to $1.2bn in the quarter from $1.37bn a year ago.

Electronic Arts shares rose 7% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

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App taps clues to your happiness

7 May 2013 Last updated at 22:51 ET

Researchers at Cambridge University have developed an app that tries to track happiness by combining smartphone data with users' perception of mood.

EmotionSense collects information about where users are, how noisy the environment is and whom they are communicating with.

It then combines this data with the user's own report about mood.

The app is part of a project to see how mobile phones can be used to improve health and wellbeing.

Emotional state

Mood-tracking apps already exist but the team from the Cambridge Computer Laboratory think this is the first time that user-input data and phone information sources have been combined.

"Most other attempts at software like this are coarse-grained in terms of their view of what a feeling is," said Dr Jason Rentfrow, a senior lecturer in the department of psychology at Cambridge University.

"Many just look at emotions in terms of feeling happy, sad, angry or neutral. The aim here is to use a more flexible approach, to collect data that shows how moods vary between people. That is something which we think is quite unique to the system we have designed," he said.

When the app is opened for the first time, a sensor that tells the researchers what time of day it is is unlocked. The app spends roughly a week collecting data from this sensor and testing it against the user's emotional state.

'Journey of discovery'

At the end of this, the user is asked to complete a short life satisfaction survey, which unlocks a new sensor.

It takes about eight weeks to unlock all the sensors, which include gauging how sociable someone is dependent on how many texts they send or calls they make, their movements, location and how much they are interacting with their mobile phones.

It has been designed as "a journey of discovery" for the user to give them a step-by-step guide to what might be influencing their mood swings, said lead researcher Dr Neal Lathia.

"This helps us understand both how a person perceives things and how they are actually behaving," he said.

Therapeutic tool

"They may say that they are feeling happy but they may have stopped communicating with friends, for example. This is all about building a bridge between the two sources of data."

The system that allows users to input their own data about how they are feeling has been designed by psychologists.

At different times of the day, the app sends the users a notification asking them about their mood. Users are asked to input their mood on an "emotion grid" that has two axes. The first charts negative to positive feelings while another charts activity.

It is hoped the app can be used by doctors as a therapeutic tool as well as by individuals to work out the times that they are most stressed, for example.

Explicitly consent

"Most people who see a therapist only have an appointment once every fortnight," said Dr Lathia.

"Many, however, keep their phones with them most of the time. In terms of sheer presence, mobiles can provide an ongoing link with a person," he said.

The code used to collect sensor data is being made publicly available to allow other researchers to conduct their own experiments.

Initially the app will be available only for Android phones but the team is working on a version for other smartphones.

Users must explicitly consent to their data being used by members of the team, although it will not be made available more widely.

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Fresh cyber-monitoring move planned

8 May 2013 Last updated at 08:39 ET

Fresh proposals to investigate crime in cyberspace are being promised, after the so-called "snoopers' charter" was dropped from the Queen's Speech.

The measures to be brought forward would help protect "the public and the investigation of crime in cyberspace".

The main plan is to find a way to more closely match internet protocol (IP) addresses to individuals, to identify who has sent an email or made a call.

The Communications Data Bill was dropped after opposition from Lib Dems.

That bill, which proposed internet companies be obliged to store for a year details of all Britons' online activity, was blocked by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who said it went too far.

The Home Office has, however, said action is needed to reflect the fact criminals are increasingly using internet phone calls, or social-media sites to communicate.

Instant messaging

In the briefing notes on the Queen's Speech, the government makes clear it remains "committed to ensuring that law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the powers they need to protect the public and ensure national security".

Continue reading the main story

With the Data Communications Bill kicked into the long grass there remains the vexing question of the £405m the government has spent since May 2010 on what is known as the Communications Capabilities Development Project.

The Home Office insists that this money is unrelated to the unsuccessful and heavily criticised bill, saying instead it has gone on "sustaining and enhancing existing capabilities".

A written response to questions posed by Conservative David Davis revealed that £50m went on consultants, but the government said it couldn't go into more detail without "compromising national security".

What it does reveal, though, is the government's determination to increase surveillance powers to take account of new technologies such as social media, web mail and internet phone calls.

The "snooper's charter" may be dead but the problem of how to access data in the digital age has gone nowhere.

Digital forensics expert Prof Peter Sommer is in no doubt there will be a successor to the snooper's charter but he thinks that the next incarnation of the bill may be a more targeted one - with the government asking firms such as Facebook and Google to preserve data of "people of interest to the police" rather than that of the whole population.

What he and others hope is that next time around there is more consultation with industry to ensure that any new bill is workable and fair.

"These agencies use communications data - the who, when, where and how of a communication, but not its content - to investigate and prosecute serious crime," it says.

"Communications data helps to keep the public safe - it is used by the police to investigate crimes, bring offenders to justice and to save lives.

"This is not about indiscriminately accessing internet data of innocent members of the public."

The proposals to be brought forward would address the fact the police - who can already tell when, where and who made a mobile phone call or sent a text message - cannot always trace the origin of an email, a message sent via instant messaging or a phone call made over the internet.

The government says one of the problems is IP addresses are shared between a number of people, or devices.

"In order to know who has actually sent an email or made a Skype call the police need to know who has used a certain IP address at a given point in time," it says.

They government says it is "looking at ways of addressing this issue... it may involve legislation".

International action

There have been questions raised about how, or whether, it might be possible to achieve the goal of matching IP addresses more closely to devices or individuals.

"The problem stems from the way that the fixed internet has been designed," said Prof Rahim Tafazolli, director of Surrey University's Centre for Communications Systems Research.

"Many people can share a single IP address and the IP address may be dynamic - meaning there's a new address issued each time they log on - while a communication traverses across different networks. It can be difficult to link all these addresses and trace them back to the origin.

"One possible solution would be to find a way to associate a person's internet use with a fixed and unique number such as their mobile number or a device's MAC [media access control] address.

"But that would require changes in the way addresses are allocated on the internet and changes would need to be adopted internationally because we couldn't just change it in the UK."

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Windows 8 update timing revealed

8 May 2013 Last updated at 09:05 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Microsoft has announced it will offer a preview version of its first major update to Windows 8 next month.

The news comes amid growing criticism of the software's user interface.

Microsoft said the revision to the operating system (OS), codenamed Windows Blue, would be released at Build, a three-day developers event in San Francisco starting on 26 June.

However, while the company said it had listened to "feedback", it has still not disclosed what changes are planned.

Microsoft added that a final version of Windows Blue would be released before the end of the year, and highlighted that it had already sold more than 100 million licences for the system.

FT accusation

The Verge, ZDNet and other tech blogs have reported that the update could mean Microsoft reversing its decision to remove the start button from the system's desktop environment.

They also suggested it would give users the option of booting their PCs directly into Windows 8's desktop mode rather than having to visit the tile-based Start menu screen first.

On Tuesday the Financial Times ran a front-page story suggesting that a U-turn over key elements of Windows 8 would mark "one of the most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market consumer product since Coca-Cola's New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago".

This was a reference to the beverage makers' decision to launch and then abandon a new version of its fizzy drink.

The FT's article followed a news briefing given by Microsoft to mark the first six months of Windows 8.

The tech company has issued a statement taking issue with the report.

"It is unfortunate that the Financial Times did not accurately represent the content or the context of our conversation about the good response to date on Windows 8 and the positive opportunities ahead on both Windows 8 and Windows Blue," it said.

"Our perspective is accurately reflected in many other interviews on this topic as well as in a Q&A with [chief financial officer] Tami Reller posted on the Windows blog."

The FT told the BBC it stood by its story.

Confused

More than 1.5 billion devices used Windows 7 and earlier versions of the system at the time of Windows 8's launch, making the OS both the most popular of its kind and one of the company's key sources of revenue.

However, Microsoft was aware that sales of tablets and other touch-controlled devices had been growing at a much faster rate than PCs.

This helped prompt it to introduce a new start screen, initially dubbed "Metro", containing resizable tiles that could be tapped and swiped to launch and navigate apps.

Users can still switch to a more traditional desktop mode by clicking on an icon, but the environment lacks the start menu button offered since Windows 95.

This caused some people to become confused about how to shut down their PC and carry out other tasks. Several third-party developers subsequently released their own software allowing users to restore the facility.

"Many people have recoiled in horror at Windows 8 because it is such a stark change over what they had become used to over the past 15 or so years," Chris Green, principal technology analyst at consultants Davies Murphy Group Europe, told the BBC.

"Unless you are using it on a brand-new computer or laptop with a touchscreen display it's not as intuitive to use as Microsoft makes out - and these are still premium-priced products."

Since businesses traditionally wait until at least a major service pack has come out before updating their computers to a new OS, the major impact of the changes has mostly been limited to consumers.

But Mr Green added that it would be a worry for Microsoft if companies now opted to skip Windows 8 in the same way many had previously decided not to install Windows Vista.

"Microsoft wouldn't necessarily miss out on revenue from their largest blue-chip customers because they pay an annual subscription fee for access to its tech whether they use it or not," he said.

"But it's the mid-sized companies - who buy computers and software as they need it - which is where the big money and margins are."

Touchscreen focus

Microsoft has acknowledged that "there is a learning curve [to Windows 8] and we can work to address that," but it also points out it has sold a similar number of licences for the OS as were achieved over the first six months of Windows 7's life.

"It's too early to say that it's flopped," said Benedict Evans, a digital media specialist at research firm Enders Analysis.

"However, there's clearly a lot of pushback from consumers and corporates about the radical change the firm wants to make in the user interface.

"The broader issue is that Microsoft is building an operating system designed with a touchscreen in mind. That's essential for its future because computing is shifting to tablets and mobile, where Microsoft has been irrelevant."

"What in effect they've done is compromise the desktop experience to create a great tablet and mobile experience. The problem is that it's the desktop buyers that pay for everything right now."

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New laws are planned for faulty apps

By Jonathan Blake
Newsbeat Technology Reporter New laws should make it easier to get a refund for faulty apps, films and music

The government has announced planned new laws making it easier to claim a refund for faulty apps, music and films bought online.

Measures included in the Queen's speech are designed to give consumers protection.

The changes are designed to allow people to claim compensation for digital content which doesn't work.

Consumer minister Jo Swinson said said the government wants to "make sure the law is fit for the 21st century."

The proposed changes to the law are intended to make it clear that people are entitled to:

• Compensation if a game bought online is repeatedly inaccessible or it keeps freezing
• A replacement or money back for apps which continually freeze or have constant bugs
• A replacement or money back for a film streamed online which is unwatchable

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills claims more than £1bn was spent on films, music and software online in 2012.

The government estimates that more than 16 million people experienced at least one problem with digital content in 2011.

Ministers say changes will give consumers greater confidence in knowing their rights when they buy things online.

Currently there are eight different pieces of legislation covering consumer rights.

The Department for Business acknowledges that changes are needed, admitting that consumer law in the UK is "unnecessarily complex, overlapping and confusing".

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

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Syrian internet back after blackout

8 May 2013 Last updated at 11:10 ET

The internet in Syria appears to have returned after a nationwide blackout knocked the country offline for more than 19 hours.

Monitoring company Renesys noted signs of activity at around 14:30 GMT (17:30 local time) on Wednesday.

Local state-run media had reported earlier that a "fault in optical fibre cables" was to blame for the blackout.

However, experts dismissed this explanation as "unlikely".

David Belson, of Akamai, said: "Our monitoring shows that Syria's international internet connectivity is through at least four providers, and published submarine cable maps show connectivity through three active cables.

"As such, the failure of a single optical cable is unlikely to cause a complete internet outage for the country."

Syria last experienced a shutdown for three days last November. Activists say the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is attempting to "silence" rebel communications.

Immediate drop

The Syrian government blamed that incident on "terrorists", but internet experts said it was more likely that the regime had shut down the web.

The government has been fighting a bloody internal conflict for two years.

Activists suggested at the time of the previous internet shutdown that the regime might have been planning a major offensive, or that it might have been attempting to prevent rebels from using the internet to co-ordinate themselves and communicate with the wider world.

However, neither theory was substantiated.

US web companies, including Renesys and Akamai, logged the latest blackout late on Tuesday.

Google, which monitors connections to its network of services, such as YouTube and Gmail, also noted an almost immediate drop on Tuesday.

'Deliberate attempt to silence'

Syrian residents confirmed the blackout, but said mobile phones and landlines were still able to work normally.

A digital rights campaign group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the internet was a vital resource for activists in the country.

"We're deeply concerned that this blackout is a deliberate attempt to silence Syria's online communications and further draw a curtain over grave events currently unfolding on the ground in Syria," it said in a statement.

"While heavily censored, monitored and compromised, the internet has served as an important window connecting the world at large to Syria, and one way that international observers could connect with individuals on the ground in that country.

"A number of activists on the ground in Syria have access to internet via satellite links, which can connect them to the internet but carries a high risk for detection, which can be life-threatening."

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Robots sniff out body stench

8 May 2013 Last updated at 12:06 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Two robots that warn users if they suffer from bad body odour have been unveiled in Japan.

One resembles a woman's head and ranks the operator's breath, declaring an "emergency" if it falls into the worst category.

The other looks like a dog and growls when confronted with stinky feet.

The machines take advantage of commercially available sensors, highlighting how far the tech has evolved.

They were developed by the Fukuoka-based company CrazyLabo and the Kitakyushu National College of Technology.

However, artificial olfaction sensors - or electronic noses - have been commercially available since the early 1990s when UK-based researchers brought one of the first products to market.

Chemical fingerprint

Details of the latest machines were revealed by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

It reported that when a subject breathes into the mouth of the humanoid robot, named Kaori, its responses ranged from "it smells like citrus" to "there's an emergency taking place that's beyond the limit of my patience."

The dog robot, called Shuntaro, nods its head while analysing the smell of a user's feet. If the odour is not too strong it nestles up to the subject and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony plays out of its speakers.

If the feet smell stronger, it makes a growling sound. If they reek it appears to collapse and pass out.

The robots rely on gas sensors capable of creating a chemical fingerprint that can be matched to specific odours. The data is processed by embedded computers that in turn control the machines' responses.

They mark the first products to be announced by CrazyLabo, which says it now plans to make money from renting them out to events.

The company's president, Kennosuke Tsutsumi, says he was inspired to create the machines by complaints from his family about his own body odour.

Alternative to humans

Biomedical Sensors Laboratory at the University of Warwick says it was the first to develop a "commercial" electronic nose in a project it worked on with Neotronics, a gas detection specialist.

The work, funded by the brewer Bass, was designed to find a way to detect contaminants in the brewing process as an alternative to using human sniffers.

"How far have we gone downhill?" joked Dr James Covington, head of the lab, when he heard of the latest development.

"When we started, the sensors weren't sensitive enough or selective enough, but things have moved on," he added.

"Sensing materials are getting better, substrates are getting better, processing power is going up.

"The two main driving forces for research are military - people want to be able to detect chemical warfare agents - and environmental monitoring."

Cancer diagnosis

He added that although the medical industry was not a major source of research funding, several companies were working to take advantage of advances.

A Dutch company, Enose, is developing Aeonose, a smell-based diagnostic kit designed to help screen for tuberculosis, asthma and throat cancer.

The US-based Alpha Szsenszor is working on equipment to study human breath to detect lung cancers and other diseases.

And the University of Bristol has been working on a project called Odour Reader, which analyses vapour collected from patients' stool samples to help diagnose causes of diarrhoea.

Even so, current technologies are still less sophisticated than the human nose.

The human olfactory system contains about 100 million receptors that make use of approximately 350 million different types of protein. By contrast, electronic noses typically use 32 or fewer chemical-based sensors housed in a basic chamber.

Government approval

Still, Dr Covington said the technology was mature enough to mean smell-based sensors were likely to come to smartphones by the end of the decade. He noted the Tricorder Xprize - sponsored by smart device chip-maker Qualcomm - was helping to spur on development of the doctor-on-a-phone concept.

"If you can breathe on the machine it will be able to tell you if you've got bad breath, but it might also help you monitor something like Crohn's disease," he said.

"One of the issues is that for certain applications, if you want to put the gas sensors on a phone, you would have to get approvals from government agencies.

"But I've already seen plug-in prototypes for a number of applications."

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