App helps boycott of Russian goods

2 April 2014 Last updated at 12:32 By News from Elsewhere... ...media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring

A smartphone app to help identify - and boycott - goods made in Russia is becoming popular among Android users in Ukraine, it appears.

The app, called Boycott the Occupiers, says it can find out where a product is made - whether in Ukraine, Russia or elsewhere - by scanning the product barcode with the phone's camera. It has already been installed between 10,000-50,000 times.

"The app will advise you if you should buy the product or boycott it," the app description says on Google Play. But the Gazeta.ru website, which is often critical of the Kremlin, quotes experts warning it could "lead to increased tensions between Moscow and Kiev".

The app claims it can also detect Russian companies trying to appear to be Ukrainian or Western, such as the fashion brand Carlo Pazolini or the Greenfield tea merchant.

Russian media analyst Anton Nosik tells Gazeta.ru the app will "cause huge damage to Ukraine's image in Russia". But he adds: "From the point of view of Russian policy in Crimea, it's a godsend!"

Meanwhile, Russian MP Oleg Mikheyev says: "I would advise the smart alecs who make these apps to stop buying Russian gas and other fuels."

Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.

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LinkedIn email addresses exposed

2 April 2014 Last updated at 11:04

The email addresses of LinkedIn users can easily be exposed via a web browser add-on tool, it has been revealed.

Sell Hack is available as a free extension to the Chrome browser that, once installed, will pop up a "hack in" button on LinkedIn profiles.

Users can then find the email address associated with the account even if they are not connected.

LinkedIn said it was taking legal action over the plug-in and advised users to uninstall it.

Since receiving a cease and desist letter from LinkedIn, SellHack has disabled the plug-in. "We are building a better product that does not conflict with LinkedIn's terms of service," it said on its blog.

Previously it had insisted that the tool was created for marketing professionals and that all data is publicly available.

On its website it said: "We just do the heavy lifting and complicated computing to save you time, We aren't doing anything malicious to LinkedIn."

But the social network for professionals did not agree.

"We are doing everything we can to shut Sell Hack down. On 31 March LinkedIn's legal team delivered Sell Hack a cease-and-desist letter as a result of several violations," a spokesman told the BBC.

"LinkedIn members who downloaded Sell Hack should uninstall it immediately and contact Sell Hack requesting that their data be deleted."

He said that members should "use caution" before downloading any third-party extension or app.

"Often times, as with the Sell Hack case, extensions can upload your private LinkedIn information without your explicit consent," he said.

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US Navy tests robot fire-fighters

2 April 2014 Last updated at 13:00

Fire-fighting robots designed to withstand intense heat are to be tested by the US Navy this summer.

The Shipboard Autonomous Fire-fighting Robot (SAFFiR) has been built by engineers at Virginia Tech and other US universities.

The robots are expected to perform a variety of tasks - balancing, turning valves, picking up and dragging a fire hose and jetting water on the fire.

They also have a vision system to search for survivors.

"The human-sized autonomous robot is capable of finding and suppressing shipboard fires and working seamlessly with human fire-fighters," says the Office of Naval Research's website.

Such a machine should be "able to withstand higher heat for longer periods than human fire-fighters," it adds.

Two versions of the robot, made by researchers at Virginia Tech and the universities of California, Los Angeles and Pennsylvania, will be tested on board the decommissioned USS Shadwell.

The ship is regularly set on fire to test new equipment.

One robot will be about 5ft (1.5m) while the other will be slightly taller and more advanced.

Synthetic soldiers

Robots are increasingly finding their way into the military. The Pentagon's Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has a range of battlefield robots and is also working on ways to enhance soldiers' abilities with exoskeletons and uniforms made of smart materials.

This week it announced a new unit devoted to researching the intersection between biology and engineering.

It will look at creating man-made super-materials, renewable fuels and solar cells.

But it has led some commentators to ask if, longer term, the military will also try to create artificial life.

"It makes you think: Why bother with mechanical robots when you can engineer fake human replicants to fight your battles?" asked Meghan Neal. a journalist at Motherboard - a website dedicated to future technologies.

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BT criticised over rural broadband

1 April 2014 Last updated at 00:05 By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

The government and BT are under fresh attack for the way the rollout of the UK's rural broadband is being handled.

A committee of MPs said that many of the maps released lacked sufficient detail about coverage and the speeds that would be provided. It also questioned the costs involved.

It added that it had heard allegations that BT had been able to "kill the competition" by altering its own plans.

Both the company and the government have defended their record.

"It is... frustrating that the committee continues to try and pick holes in the programme," said a spokesman for the firm.

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Margaret Hodge said BT was acting in a "secretive" manner

"BT is delivering value for money and the National Audit Office acknowledged there are 'robust' processes in place to ensure that. As for maps, most councils have published coverage maps with our support. More detailed data will be released by them in due course once surveys have been completed and we know for sure that we are going to an area."

Communications minister Ed Vaizey highlighted that the regulator Ofcom had recently ranked the UK's provision of broadband ahead of other countries.

"Britain has the best superfast broadband of all five leading European economies," he said.

"The government's nationwide broadband rollout is ahead of schedule; multiple robust safeguards are already in place to ensure value for money, and thousands of homes and businesses up and down the country are already getting the benefits."

'Monopoly position'

By 2015, the government will have given a total of £490m in grants to English local authorities and administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to subsidise the infrastructure needed to improve rural broadband.

Its goal is that by 2015 all UK premises can experience at least two megabit per second downloads and that 90% of premises can access "superfast" downloads of at least 20Mbps.

The councils and administrations have to match the cash with their own funds and pick a contractor. The firm then adds cash of its own, which it can later recoup through customer fees.

Nine firms initially showed interest, but the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (Pac) warned last year that taxpayers faced being "ripped off" after BT won the first 26 bids put out to tender.

Since then BT has secured all of the 18 further contracts offered. The committee said that placed the company in a "monopoly position" meaning officials could never be sure if they had got value for money.

Pac also raised concern that the maps published by local bodies showing where broadband would be offered often lacked detail.

It said this made it hard for other organisations to work out where they could pursue their own independent schemes to fill gaps in BT's coverage or offer faster speeds.

Pac said the government should therefore work "urgently" alongside local bodies to make it possible for homes and businesses to carry out searches based on their full postcodes that revealed whether they were covered and the intended speed of service.

The committee noted it had heard allegations that BT had taken advantage of the "inadequate" information it had originally provided; both to expand into areas that rivals had subsequently shown interest in, and to refuse to boost speeds to at least one village that it declared too expensive to cover after winning a contract.

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (Inca) - which represents smaller internet providers - has highlighted cases in Wiltshire and Lancashire where it said community schemes had been cancelled or put at risk by BT "overbuilding" its projects.

"Government and local authorities must make sure that alternative schemes, pulling in additional private sector and community funding, are supported not stymied," Inca's chief executive Malcolm Corbett told the BBC.

"Allowing BT to use state funding to undermine competitors is not in the interests of rural communities, nor the UK as a whole."

Subject to change

But a spokesman for BT explained any changes in its plans as being the result of the surveys it carried out after being awarded the contracts.

"The fibre broadband programme is constantly evolving, and there is no definitive rollout plan until we complete detailed survey work in each locality," said a spokesman.

"This means that plans will undoubtedly change. For example in Cornwall, we originally said we'd be able to connect 85% of the county, but we now expect to get to around 95-97%.

"That could happen in other areas too, but we can also encounter obstacles in certain locations, like blocked ducts or lack of available power, which makes the cost of deploying fibre prohibitive."

A further £500m of taxpayers' funds has been earmarked to enhance coverage after 2015.

Before that happens Pac has urged the government to analyse and publish details of this round's deployment costs to help local authorities be better informed .

The committee also suggested work be done to address a "lack of competitive tension" in the tendering process.

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NSA-backed code aided spying efforts

1 April 2014 Last updated at 13:57

The US National Security Agency persuaded web-encryption company RSA to develop a more vulnerable random-number generator to make it easier to spy on businesses, Reuters has reported.

The news agency reported research suggesting the software had made reading companies' encrypted messages about 65,000 times easier.

RSA said it should "have been more sceptical of NSA's intentions".

The NSA declined to comment on any collaboration with RSA.

The research followed the description of a project to undermine commercial encryption systems in papers leaked by former NSA systems administrator Edward Snowden, published in late 2013.

Proving unpopular

RSA chief technology officer Sam Curry told Reuters it had trusted the NSA because of the agency's role in securing communications and critical infrastructure for the US government.

He added the NSA-inspired random-number generator had been removed from its product line after proving unpopular with customers.

In December 2013, Reuters reported the NSA had paid RSA $10m (£6m) to insert a flaw or "backdoor" into another, more widely used, software module that also generated random numbers to help with encryption.

At that time, RSA "categorically denied" that accusation and said it had not signed any secret deal with the NSA.

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University wins $1.5bn patent suit

1 April 2014 Last updated at 17:02

A federal judge has ordered US chip maker Marvell Technology Group to pay $1.5bn (£900m) to Carnegie Mellon University for infringing two hard-disk patents.

The university had been seeking damages of up to $3.7bn, and a jury had previously awarded it $1.1bn.

Marvell said it planned to appeal.

In her summing up, the judge said the "enhanced damages" were justified because it had deliberately copied the university's patents.

"This award is sufficient to penalise Marvell for its egregious behaviour and to deter future infringement activities," wrote Nora Barry Fischer.

She rejected the university's request to triple damages, saying that would "severely prejudice" Marvell and perhaps threaten its survival.

K&L Gates, the law firm representing Carnegie Mellon University told the BBC: "We are reviewing Judge Fischer's latest opinion and are pleased that the court addressed both Marvell's continuing and wilful infringement.

"We understand that Marvell intends to appeal, and we look forward to the federal circuit vindicating Carnegie Mellon University's intellectual property rights just as Judge Fischer did."

Real-world chips

The case concerned patents issued in 2001 and 2002 that relate to how accurately hard-disk drives detect data stored on the drives.

Carnegie Mellon said at least nine Marvell chip boards incorporated the patents, amounting to billions of chips worldwide.

In 2009 it sued the chip maker and it later emerged the company had been aware it had been infringing the patents for at least seven years prior to the legal action.

Marvell had said the technology described in Carnegie Mellon's patent was "so complex that it cannot be implemented in real-world silicon chips".

The initial award of $1.17bn in December 2012 was the third largest ever in a patent case at the time.

Patent lawyer Andrew Alton said: "Lots of very significant technology has come out of universities and it is not unusual for them to enforce them.

"Neither are massive pay-outs unusual." he said.

The appeal will, according to Mr Alton, be heard by a more specialised patent court, which should be able to rule on both whether the patents were infringed and whether the awarded damages were proportionate.

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Hull launches local digital currency

1 April 2014 Last updated at 20:41

A virtual currency designed to be a "local digital currency", has been launched by Hull City Council.

In the form of digital "tokens", HullCoins can be used to pay council tax and for goods and services from firms signed up to the scheme.

Hull City Council said it hoped the scheme would eventually be extended to the major supermarket chains.

David Shepherdson, from the City Council, said HullCoins would have "a social purpose".

'Digital wallets'

He said: "We'll be generating digital tokens which we will distribute into the local economy with our partners, the majority of whom will be charities, community groups and local enterprises.

"They will then be used as a charitable payment or as a way of recognising people's community activity."

HullCoins would be paid into "digital wallets" on people's smart phones or computers and could be used as an alternative to cash at participating businesses, Mr Shepherdson added.

While several UK towns and cities such as Oxford, Bristol, Lewes and Totnes have set up local currencies alongside sterling, Mr Shepherdson said he believed HullCoins would be the "first local digital currency".

Paul Spooner, from the Max Life youth project in Hull, which runs a cafe signed up to the HullCoins scheme, said it would be "an excellent tool" to help give a boost to young people involved in voluntary work.

"It recognises the effort young people often put into their own self-development and into helping out other people as well," he said.

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Pay via mobile number starting soon

2 April 2014 Last updated at 11:48

Consumers will be able to use mobile phone numbers to make bank payments from 29 April, it has been announced.

The changes mean that account-holders will be able to pay friends, family or traders without having to ask for their bank details.

Instead, they will only need to ask for their mobile number, according to the Payments Council.

However both parties will have to register to use the service, known as Paym - pronounced "Pay Em".

Customers can register in advance, from Wednesday 2 April.

The Payments Council, which supervises banking transactions in the UK, has rejected fears about fraud.

Neil Aitken, from the Payments Council, told BBC Radio 5 live that the system was secure.

"The only thing that people would be able to do if they got your mobile number is pay you - it will be integrated in to your existing banking app so it's password protected," he said.

Those wishing to make payments via mobile phone numbers will still need to use their banking apps, which require customers to log on to their accounts.

Account-holders will need to visit their own bank's website for more details.

Similar systems have already been introduced by Barclays and RBS NatWest.

How will it work?

Customers of the following banks can now register to link their mobile number with their bank account: Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Cumberland Building Society, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, Santander and TSB.

Other banks - including NatWest, RBS and First Direct - will join the scheme later in the year.

People who wish just to receive money - as opposed to paying it - will still be able to use the system, even if their phone is not a smartphone, or they do not use mobile banking.

• To send money, a user will have to log into their bank's mobile banking app, using a pass code as normal.
• They will then have to select the recipient of the payment, using their existing contacts or by typing in that person's mobile phone number.
• After confirming the name of the recipient, they will have to check the amount being paid, type in a reference for it (such as "dinner"), and then press send.
• A confirmation message will then be sent to them.

Current levels of security will apply and payments will not be possible without an app's pass code being entered.

Further information is available from a new website, run by the Payments Council.

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Tinder singles spammed by game bots

2 April 2014 Last updated at 12:59 By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Dating app Tinder's members have complained of being spammed by fake profiles that urge them to download a video game.

The accounts appear to be controlled by bots - automated software - that uses a variety of names and photos.

They respond to users' greetings and then engage in a brief conversation before recommending the app and providing a download link.

Tinder told Techcrunch news site it was taking steps to remove the accounts.

But one security expert said it would be difficult for the firm to stamp out such abuse of its service.

Internet Gaming Gate (Igg), the China-based company that publishes the game in question, could not be reached for comment.

Spam evolves

Tinder is a free-to-use smartphone app that has seen rapid growth since it launched 18 months ago.

People sign up by giving the app permission to access their Facebook account, from which Tinder obtains pictures and information about their interests.

Members then select profiles they find attractive. If two people pick each other they can begin messaging each other.

At the end of February Tinder's founder, Sean Read, said that the service was generating about 10 million such introductions each day, and that each active user was logging in about seven times over the 24-hour period.

This highly engaged user-base presents a tempting target to spammers who now struggle to avoid email junk folders.

"Spam is becoming a lot more sophisticated, and to be effective it has to be targeted," explained Alan Woodward, an independent security consultant.

"Whittling the process down to writing a unique message for each user would be impractical, so what they try and do is target communities of like-minded people.

"People looking for love is a classic example of such a group. There's already a lot of scams and spam targeting people on dating websites, and this is a natural extension of that."

'Play with me'

Screenshots posted to Twitter indicate that the conversation used by the bots follows the same pattern.

After the Tinder member contacts the fake account the software initially says "hey :)".

It then asks what the user is doing and replies to the response saying: "I'm still recovering from last night :) Relaxing with a game on my phone, castle clash. Have you heard about it?"

Whatever reply the user provides, it prompts the bot to send them a link with an address beginning www.tinderverified.com/ - which appears to be an attempt to make the URL appear trustworthy.

The bot then ends the conversation by saying, "play with me a bit and you just might get a phone number".

David Short, from Raleigh, North Carolina, said he had been repeatedly targeted.

"The Castle Clash bots are beyond annoying, giving you false hope of a potential match," he told the BBC.

"It's happened three or four times since I've started, and has me second-guessing girls that are 'too attractive'. At this point, I'm pretty addicted to Tinder, but if they start popping up more and more, it may deter me from using it on a regular basis. "

Facebook fakes

This is not the first time bots have been used to fool Tinder users.

Last year cybersecurity firm Symantec highlighted how fake accounts were attempting to convince members to reveal their credit card details.

Tinder lets matched users to block each other, allowing affected accounts to break contact with the bots. But Mr Woodward noted that this would not prevent the victims from being targeted again.

"If anybody can sign up anonymously it's impossible to prevent this," he said.

"Tinder is trying to outsource trust to Facebook, but it's just as easy to sign up to the social network with fake details as anything else."

Facebook reported in February that it believed between 4.92 million and 14.76 million of its accounts were "undesirable" fakes created for spam or other purposes that violated its terms of service.

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Amazon launches TV streaming device

2 April 2014 Last updated at 17:25

Amazon has launched an internet-connected TV set-top box as it vies with Apple and Google to gain a share of the lucrative television market.

Dubbed Amazon Fire TV, the device is a small black box similar to Apple TV. It will cost $99 (£59) and is available immediately in the US.

It will allow consumers to stream content from Amazon's library, as well other video-on-demand services, directly to their TVs.

The device can also be used for gaming.

"People play games on tablets but they want to play on TV," said Amazon's David Larsen.

The firm has formed partnerships with gaming firms such as Sega, EA, Disney and "thousands of games" will be available next month. It is also setting up Amazon Games Studios to build bespoke games.

Users can buy a games controller, dubbed Voila, which looks very similar to an X-box controller.

Continue reading the main story

• The global market for OTT TV devices (comprising IP-enabled TVs, Blu-ray players, digital media adapters, games consoles and set-top boxes and DVRs) is set to grow 19% in 2014 to reach over 325 million units sold

• Although digital media adapters (DMA) such as Apple TV and Roku are only expected to make up 7% of overall OTT TV device sales in 2014, the DMA market is expected to be one of the fastest growing categories this year with sales set to grow 24%

• Apple leads the market followed by Roku and Google and, collectively, the three brands account for close to 70% of global DMA sales

• DMA adoption is most advanced in the USA where close to one in five households are expected to own a dedicated media streaming device by the end of 2014.

Data from Strategy Analytics

The move puts Amazon in direct competition with Apple TV and Google's Chromecast as all try to find a way into the living room.

The box comes with a Bluetooth-enabled remote, which means it does not have to be pointed at the TV to work.

Despite lots of content deals with the likes of Hulu and ESPN, there are some big content providers missing from the list including HBO, despite the makers promising an "open eco-system".

Box battle

Currently there are three main ways that consumers can stream video-on-demand services such as the BBC's iPlayer and Netflix to their TVs:

• a dongle
• a set-top box
• a games console

Roku leads the field when it comes to net-connected set-top boxes. Meanwhile Apple has shipped an estimated 13 million of its set-top boxes and last year Google entered the fray with a $35 (£21) dongle that plugs into a television's HDMI port and allows users to stream content from smartphones, tablets and computers.

"Amazon's move is essentially the final piece in a three-way battle between America's internet heavyweights for tomorrow's TV screen," said David Watkins, an analyst with Strategy Analytics.

"It's like Dr Pepper challenging Coke and Pepsi's empire. Apple's there already, Google joined last year, now all will be up against the incumbent pay TV providers.

"To thrive, however, they'll probably have to do partnership deals as Apple has been trying."

Amazon has a lot of its own content to put on such a device though.

"It makes sense for Amazon to try to tie everything in to its eco-system and is the logical next step after the success it has had with the Kindle," said Ovum analyst Jonathan Doran.

Recent research from research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) revealed that Kindle owners spent, on average, $443 (£266) a year more than the Amazon shopper who does not own a Kindle.

Now Amazon is looking to do the same with video.

In 2011 Amazon released its Instant Video service, and it has invested huge amounts to create a large catalogue of movies and TV shows. The service is offered to Amazon Prime customers for free instant streaming.

Amazon Prime currently has more than 10 million users worldwide, with the bulk in the US, according to the Strategy Analytics consultancy.

Last month the firm put up the price of Prime from $79 to $99 per year. Subscribers can rent a Kindle e-book each month, access its video library and obtain free one-day shipping on items sold via the Amazon website.

Online viewing

Although it makes sense for companies to gain a share of the on-demand video market it is not always good news for consumers, according to Mr Doran.

"There can be too many things to choose from and I have yet to see one device where you can do everything," he said.

"People have to keep chopping and changing between devices to get different content."

The nature of how people view video content was changing, said Jay Fulcher, chief executive of online video tech specialists Ooyala.

"Over a quarter of online video viewing is happening on a mobile or tablet, that platform has become mandatory for content publishers," he said.

"All of the technology companies are building infrastructure to connect to the new economy forming around television so that people can watch what they want, when they want in a seamless way."

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