Hawk-Eye 'can meet Fifa's needs'

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Lampard effort not given

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The inventor of Hawk-Eye has claimed he has goal-line technology that can make a decision within half a second.

The International Football Board (IFAB) has asked companies to present it with systems that confirm within one second whether or not a goal has been scored.

"Our system for football is easier than for cricket, technically," Paul Hawkins, whose system is used in cricket and tennis, told BBC Sport.

"Technology is not here to hurt anyone, it can only make things better."

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The IFAB, which determines the laws of football, has asked for goal-line technology ideas by the end of November and hopes to test them before its meeting in March.

The move follows incidents such as the one during England's 2010 World Cup finals match against Germany, when a Frank Lampard shot clearly went over the line but a goal was not given. England lost the match 4-1.

Hawkins, chief executive of Hampshire-based Hawk-Eye Innovations, added: "We will put our name into the hat.

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"It is good news [that goal-line technology is being considered] but it was pretty much inevitable.

"Fifa's approach will be sensible and I am confident we can deliver."

Hawkins, whose invention is also used in the BBC's television snooker coverage, stated that his system for football is similar to the ones in tennis and cricket. It uses multiple cameras to track the ball, video-framing and a signal being sent to the referee's earpiece.

He added that his company simulated 250 goal-line incidents and in them the referee was found to get 72% of decisions correct, the assistant referee was right in 76% of them, and the official behind the goal-line - a system being tested by Fifa at present - was correct in 81%.

The English Football Association had hoped to introduce Hawk-Eye in 2009 but Fifa president Sepp Blatter stopped goal-line technology experiments the previous year.

Blatter claimed there were problems with reliability and said the system was unsuitable for football.

Fifa had also tested a system using microchips in balls but this was dropped because it was thought to be too complex and not sufficiently accurate.

Hawkins said at the time he was "gobsmacked" by the decision and was "livid" because of the amount of money his company had spent.

"We have invested an awful lot of money and now we have no return on that," he had stated.

Fifa instead decided to have trials of the system in which an assistant referee stands behind the goal-line to determine whether the ball has gone over the line.

German company Cairos has a rival system to Hawk-Eye which uses a chip inside the ball.

Managing director Christian Holzer has pressed Fifa to use goal-line technology, saying his system is "100% accurate" and "adds fairness to the game".

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Football's rejection of goal-line tech

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Apple launches MacBook Air laptop

20 October 2010 Last updated at 17:06 ET By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Apple is cashing in on the popularity of its iPhone and iPad to boost demand for its oldest product, the Macintosh.

The company launched a revamped MacBook Air at an event dubbed "Back to the Mac" at its Cupertino headquarters.

The computer is seen as a marriage of what Apple has learned from desktop computing and mobile devices. Like the iPad, the Air will have no hard drive and rely on flash memory.

"It's like nothing we've ever created before," said Apple boss Steve Jobs.

"We see these as the next generation of MacBooks. We think all notebooks are going to be like this one day. We've been inspired by some of the work we have done on iOS and want to bring them back to the Mac," said Mr Jobs.

Analysts said the new product sends out a clear signal to the industry.

"This is a strong reminder to everyone out there that Apple is still in the PC business," said Michael Gartenberg, research director with Gartner.

"They are still making a lot of money in the PC business and if anyone thinks they are getting out of that business given the money they are making they are very mistaken."

On sale

The new MacBook Air is 0.11 inches thick at its thinnest point. Apple said the computer's battery life lets users surf the web for seven hours. In standby mode, the battery can last 30 days.

Models start at $999 and are now shipping.

In an overview, Apple said the Macintosh accounted for a third of the company's revenue or $22bn in the fiscal year that has just ended.

They sold 13.7 million Macs last year, which is three times the sales they had in 2005. The firm also cited research figures that showed Apple now controls 20.7% of the US consumer market and accounts for one in every five computers sold.

"The Mac company, if it were a standalone company, and we have no plans to do that, would be 110 on the Fortune 500 list," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief technology officer.

Other features

Apple also unveiled a new version of the Macintosh operating system, called Lion, to be released next summer.

The new OS is designed to take advantage of some of the features of the mobile iOS by bringing them to the desktop.

"Lion brings many of the best ideas from the iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones," said Mr Jobs.

The company revealed that Macs will soon have an application store mirroring the one that exists for the iPhone and the iPad.

A launchpad will make it easy to organise and launch apps in the new version of the operating system.

The store will open in 90 days.

FaceTime, which debuted on the iPhone 4 this summer, will bring video-chatting to Macs.

Also being updated is Apple's flagship software suite iLife. The new edition includes updates to iPhotos, iMovie, GarageBand, iDVD and iWeb.

With the refreshed iPhoto feature, it will be easier for users to email photos and turn pictures into books and cards.

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Rural broadband to survive cuts

20 October 2010 Last updated at 08:33 ET

The government will trial super-fast broadband in the Highlands, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Herefordshire, it announced in its Spending Review.

Next-generation broadband is among a handful of projects to survive the cuts, which will see �83bn wiped from public spending.

The BBC has agreed to contribute �300m towards the �530m total cost of funding rural broadband.

The rest of the money has been set aside from the digital switch-over.

Extending broadband services in rural areas is expected to benefit around two million households, including those in remote locations who currently struggle on dial-up speeds.

Speaking about the decision to trial next-generation broadband in rural areas, Chancellor George Osborne said: "It will help encourage the growth of our creative industries as a key part of the new economy we are seeking to build."

Fibre vote

Around a third of the UK is currently due to miss out of super-fast broadband because it is not regarded as economically viable to offer services in remote areas.

BT is trying to address the issue and recently agreed to roll out fibre optic services across the whole of Cornwall, part funded with EU money.

It has also set up a 'vote for fibre' project to identify areas where there is demand for such services.

However it will only consider roll-outs to areas with more than a 1,000 votes, meaning many rural communities will be too small to qualify.

Dr Charles Trotman, chairman of the Final Third First campaign, thinks it could create a new digital divide.

"Where do you find an exchange with a thousand people in a rural area? It is a good initiative but it has to be rethought or it will add to the urban/rural digital divide," he said.

Airwaves auction

Malcolm Corbett, chief executive of the Indepedent Networks Co-operative Assocation (Inca), a group of community broadband schemes, thinks local solutions will remain vital.

"With private sector investment limited to commercially attractive areas and public sector funding limited full stop, it's up to us to work together - private, public and community sectors, to make sure Britain creates the broadband infrastructure we need for the future," he said.

In the Spending Review 2010 document the government also revealed that it will hold spectrum auctions for next-generation mobile broadband in either 2011 or 2012.

The document said that at least 500Mhz of public sector airwaves will be released over the next ten years for new mobile services, including mobile broadband.

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RIM counters Apple tablet jibes

20 October 2010 Last updated at 06:47 ET

One of the CEOs of Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has hit back at Apple chief Steve Jobs' critique of the tablet market.

On Monday, Mr Jobs said that a raft of 7in tablet-computers would be "dead on arrival" when they hit the market to take on Apple's iPad.

But RIM's Jim Balsillie said his comments do not make sense "outside of Apple's distortion field".

RIM has said that it will launch a 7in-tablet known as the Playbook in 2011.

"For those of us who live outside of Apple's distortion field, we know that 7" tablets will actually be a big portion of the market," Mr Balsillie said in a company blog post.

"And we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience".

Apple's iPad does not support Flash, software commonly used to add animation, video or interactive elements to a web page.

"We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple," he wrote.

'Half truths'

Mr Jobs launched his salvo against other tablet during a conference call on Monday to announce the firm's financial results.

He listed a number of reasons why he believed the 10-inch iPad would dominate over 7in rivals, including pricing, the availability of apps and the resolution of the screens.

"These are among the reasons we think the current crop of 7in tablets are going to be DOA, Dead on Arrival," he said.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn't. It wasn't."

End Quote Iain Dodsworth Tweetdeck developer

"Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the seven-inch bandwagon with an orphan product. Sounds like lots of fun ahead".

Mr Balsillie also sought to counter Mr Jobs' assertion that the iPhone had outsold the Blackberry in its latest quarter.

RIM's last fiscal quarter ended on 28 August, while Apple's ended on 25 September.

"Industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months," Mr Balsillie wrote, adding that the iPhone had not performed so well in the previous quarter.

RIM shipped 12.1 million Blackberrys in its last quarter. Apple said that it had sold 14.1 million iPhones.

"As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story," Mr Balsillie said.

During the call, Mr Jobs also took aim at Google's Android operating system, calling it "fragmented" and said Google was wrong to characterise the software as "open".

"Google loves to characterise Android as open, and iOS and iPhone as closed," he said. "We find this a bit disingenuous and clouding the real difference between our two approaches."

Others, such as respected software devloper Joe Hewitt, have questioned Google's definition of openess.

Google has not formally responded to Mr Jobs's comments. However, Android-creator Andy Rubint tweeted a seemingly cryptic message in response that resembled a string of symbols.

The message is the code that allows anyone to download and use Android.

Others have also criticised Mr Jobs tirade.

Iain Dodsworth, the developer of the Twitter client Tweetdeck, refuted Mr Jobs' assertion that "the multiple hardware and software iterations [of Android phones] present developers with a daunting challenge."

Mr Jobs said the firm had recently said "they had to contend with more than 100 different versions of Android software on 244 different handsets".

"Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android?," tweeted Mr Dodsworth in response. "Errr nope, no we didn't. It wasn't."

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Microsoft bets on cloud services

19 October 2010 Last updated at 14:49 ET By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Microsoft has ramped up its battle with Google in wooing business customers with its next generation cloud-based product.

While the software giant dominates the office space with a 94% market share it has been facing increased competition from Google.

At a San Francisco event, Microsoft unveiled Office 365.

The product brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online.

This means instead of paying for packaged software and installing it on a PC or corporate server, Microsoft will host and deliver the software from its own giant data centres.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

This is really changing the way [Microsoft] make money via a subscription service and represents a big change in the way they sell things"

End Quote Ina Fried CNET.com

"We are at a pivot point in the adoption of cloud services," said Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft's Office division.

"Customers will get the best of everything we know about productivity, 365 days a year."

Microsoft said it has around 40 million customers using one of its cloud-based services.

"The desktop or on-premises services are still king, where customers run their own software and their own data centre," Chris Capossela, senior vice president at Microsoft told BBC News.

"That is still the vast majority of the industry but it is moving rapidly. Office 365 offers the opportunity for Microsoft to reach more of those small and mid-sized customers who don't have the people to run their own IT services and now we can say you don't need them."

For the smallest customer, Office 365 will be available for $6 per user a month. For larger enterprises, the service will include added features such as phone support, and will cost between $2 per user per month to more than $20 per user per month.

"This is a big deal for Microsoft," said Ina Fried from technology news site CNET.com.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We believe we will win by out-innovating our competitors and even by out-innovating ourselves,"

End Quote Chris Capossela Senior vice president, Microsoft

"They make most of their money from two products - Windows and Office. This is really changing the way they make money via a subscription service and represents a big change in the way they sell things.

"They only get paid when people upgrade and this product allows them to get paid on a more consistent basis," added Ms Fried.

'Head to head'

The battle for the office software market has intensified with Google offering its own suite of networked applications.

While a number of products like email and spreadsheets are free, businesses can also pay for premium versions. Google's share of the market has been estimated at 4%.

Other competitors include Salesforce and IBM.

Microsoft began offering its popular software as cloud services a couple of years ago in large part to respond to a trend championed by Google.

"We believe we will win by out-innovating our competitors and even by out-innovating ourselves," said Mr Capossela.

CNET's Ms Fried said: "This actually puts them more head to head with Google."

Providing Office as an online service will mean that Outlook exchange and document programmes that have been fixtures on business networks will now be accessible through smartphones, tablet computers and other gadgets used by a mobile workforce.

Jim Smith, a senior director of intranet services for Starwood Hotels, said moving to the cloud has really paid off.

"We have made tremendous savings especially in travel. We have over 1,000 hotels in our portfolio and it is virtually impossible for our senior leaders to travel to all these different properties.

"Now they can connect and collaborate remotely and share documents, calendars and have discussions and hold virtual meetings without having to buy that air ticket or take time out of the office," said Mr Smith.

Office 365 is available now in beta in 13 countries including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Japan, Mexico and Germany.

The product will go on sale next year.

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