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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Blackberry problems spread to US

12 October 2011 Last updated at 10:29 ET

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BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat listeners described how the crash affected them

Problems with the Blackberry smartphone system appear have to spread to the United States.

Users began to report loss of services on Wednesday, with many turning to Twitter to complain about their lack of email.

The latest development follows two days of sporadic blackouts across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Blackberry's owner, RIM, said that the earlier problem was caused by core and back-up switch failures.

As news of the failure in the US spread, one user tweeted: "What is the status here in the USA? I am in New York and there seems to be no email service."

Another, who lives in Texas, wrote: "My #blackberry is not working! I can dial out that's it. What's up?".

'Data backlog'

Blackberry had earlier declared services to be "operating normally", only to be contradicted by frustrated users.

Many called on the phone firm to "sort out" the problems and get the network running again.

RIM acknowledged that it was still experiencing problems and apologised for the inconvenience.

"The messaging and browsing delays... in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure," a company statement said.

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"Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested.

"As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible."

The blackouts have left millions of users without email, web browsing and Blackberry Messaging (BBM) services.

The cause is believed to be due to server problems at RIM's Slough data centre.

Blackberry users around the world began reporting problems with their handsets mid-morning on 10 October and at 14:42 BST, Blackberry UK sent out a tweet which said: "Some users in EMEA are experiencing issues."

The "issues" left many Blackberry owners only able to text and make calls.

'Harsh criticism'

Many corporate customers said they had not lost service, suggesting that the problem was with Blackberry's BIS consumer systems, rather than its BES enterprise systems.

BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones looks at what caused the worldwide crash

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BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones: "Blackberry has so many high profile users who are complaining about the crash"

"Blackberry runs two infrastructures," explained Simon Butler, a Microsoft Exchange consultant at Sembee.

"The understanding I have is that the BIS service has crashed.

"The business side runs on a different set of servers, although enterprise Blackberrys can still use messenger and the consumer services, so they are also affected," said Mr Butler.

Such a major failure will still come as unwelcome news to Blackberry's owner RIM, which has been losing market share to smartphone rivals - in particular Apple's iPhone.

Many corporate clients have switched to the device after Apple made a concerted effort to improve its support for secure business email systems.

Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said RIM would have to resolve the problem quickly.

"The current situation with the Blackberry outages couldn't come at a worse time for RIM, following some harsh criticism in recent months," he said.

Such crashes may lead RIM and others to "re-evaluate their reliance on centralised servers and instead look to investing in more corporately controlled servers", he added.

But he thinks customers will stick with the firm despite current frustrations.

"It will take more than just a couple of collapses to persuade loyal consumers of Blackberry services to look for alternatives," he said.

Many of those complaining about the crash said on Twitter that they could not live without access to BBM.

iPad turned into Braille keyboard

12 October 2011 Last updated at 08:59 ET

A team of US researchers has devised a way for people with impaired vision to use the touchscreen of an iPad as a Braille keyboard.

It turns some previously fundamental thinking about how to make technology accessible to blind people on its head.

Instead of using a keyboard or mechanical writer, users type directly onto the flat glass.

The inventors used a novel design for the keyboard to overcome the lack of tactile features.

Smart keyboard

"Instead of having fingers that find the buttons, we built buttons that find the fingers," said Stanford's Sohan Dharmaraja, one of the researchers on the project.

Users place eight fingers on the screen and the keyboard appears. Shaking the device activates a menu, and further interaction is achieved by regular touch gestures.

Mr Dharmaraja, alongside team-mates Adam Duran - an undergraduate from New Mexico University - and assistant professor Adrian Lew, came up with the idea during a boffin's X-Factor-style contest.

The competition, organised each year by Stanford University, challenges students to come up with some innovative future computing ideas over their summer break.

In demonstrations Mr Duran typed out a complicated mathematical formula and the chemical equation for photosynthesis.

But it also offers a solution for more basic problems.

"Imagine being blind in the classroom, how would you take notes? What if you were on the street and needed to copy down a phone number? These are real challenges the blind grapple with every day," said Prof Lew.

There are some obvious benefits to using touchscreen technology over traditional Braille writers.

"Current physical note takers are big and clunky and range from $3,000 (�2,000) to $6,000 (�4,000). Tablet PCs are available at a fraction of the cost and do so much more," said Mr Dharmaraja.

Promising development

As part of the project, the students had to learn Braille. The system, originally developed for the French military, is made up of six dots arranged in various patterns. They are read by people's fingertips.

But the system can seem outdated in a modern era where touchscreens are ubiquitous.

Accessible touch screen devices such as the iPad offer a huge range of possibilities for developers and for blind and partially sighted people," said Robin Spinks, the Royal National Institute for Blind People's manager of digital accessibility.

"This prototype Braille keyboard for touch screen devices represents a very promising development, and RNIB look forward to being able to test it with our members in the future," he added.

It may be some while until the Stanford project is turned into a commercial reality but the team are determined.

"Who knows what we will get because of this device. It is opening a door that wasn't open before," said Mr Dharmaraja.

Sony offers 'smoking' TV checks

12 October 2011 Last updated at 06:10 ET

Sony is to offer free safety checks on several of its TV models after a number of sets started smoking.

The company warned that a component used in eight different versions of its Bravia televisions may be faulty and could, in rare cases, overheat.

However, it stopped short of issuing a full recall.

Instead Sony said that anyone who was concerned could request an engineer come to their home for free to inspect their TV.

The models affected are all LCDs, sold in Europe since June 2007.

They are: KDL-40D3400, KDL-40D3500, KDL-40D3550, KDL-40D3660.

KDL-40V3000, KDL-40W3000, KDL-40X3000, KDL-40X3500.

Some 1.6 million of the TVs have been sold worldwide; 630,000 of them in Europe.

Reports of overheating sets have so far all come from Japan.

The company said that the televisions were not at risk while they were switched off.

It warned owners to be aware of any unusual noises, smells or smoking coming from their Bravia.

Anyone noticing those symptoms should unplug the power cable and stop using the set immediately, said a Sony statement.

Details on how to find a set's model number were published on the company's website.

Ultrasound used to heal fractures

11 October 2011 Last updated at 21:03 ET By Eleanor Bradford BBC Scotland Health Correspondent

Patient's leg fitted with equipment to use ultrasound

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Ultrasound technology has been shown to speed up recovery for patients with broken bones

Doctors in the Scottish city which pioneered the use of ultrasound to scan the body are now using it to heal broken bones.

Orthopaedic surgeon Angus MacLean has been using the technology at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary's fracture clinic.

It has been shown to speed up recovery times for patients with severe fractures by more than a third.

Ultrasound was first developed as a diagnostic tool in Glasgow in the 1950s.

Mr MacLean said: "We use it for difficult fractures, the ones with problems with healing, and it's a very simple, painless treatment that we can give.

"It's a very interesting scientific development and there's good evidence that it just vibrates the cells a little which then stimulates healing and regeneration in the bone."

A team of specialists, led by Professor Ian Donald, produced the first images of the body using a technology adapted from sonar at Glasgow's Western Infirmary.

It has become one of the most common medical technologies in the world.

"Start Quote

My leg healed after four months and I'm looking to go back to work within eight months"

End Quote Gary Denham Patient

But it is only now, 50 years later, that its potential for aiding the healing process is being unlocked.

Apprentice engineer Gary Denham was offered ultrasound treatment after he fell 20ft (6m) from a water tank and broke his ankle into eight pieces.

"It's got a wee strap and that goes round where the break was," he explained.

"I put some gel on the probe and then I just put the probe inside the strap and then just basically leave it for 20 minutes. There's no sensation at all, it's completely painless."

Mr Denham's injury was so severe that there was a chance it would never heal and might eventually have to be amputated.

After ultrasound treatment, he was back on his feet within months.

He added: "I'd never heard of it before, but my leg healed after four months and I'm looking to go back to work within eight months."

Because of the costs involved - around �1,000 per patient - ultrasound is only being used on complex fractures at Glasgow Royal Infirmary but Mr Denham's doctor, Mr MacLean, is very happy with the results.

"Before we used ultrasound I would expect to see this kind of injury healing with some difficulty, and some of them don't heal at all," he said.

"Even if they do heal, it can take between six and 12 months and patients have ongoing pain during that time.

"The evidence suggests that ultrasound speeds things up by about 40%, but the main interest for me is to use it to make sure the bone heals rather than the bone not 'knitting' together which then leads to serious problems."

The technology is similar to that used on pregnant women.

Ultrasound waves are used at a slightly different frequency and a slightly different pulse. Research suggests this encourages cells to remove bacteria, stimulates the production of new bone cells and encourages those cells to mature more rapidly.

It is expected the cost of using ultrasound to treat fractures will reduce over time, making it a cheap way to speed up the healing of common fractures as well as complex ones.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Families offered bar on web porn

11 October 2011 Last updated at 02:31 ET

Four leading web providers are to offer customers the option to block adult content at the point of subscription.

BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin will offer the protection for smart phones, laptops and PCs.

It comes as David Cameron is set to meet industry representatives amid concern over sexualisation of children.

The prime minister will also launch Parentport - a website to help parents complain about inappropriate content.

And he will back a ban on billboards displaying risque images near schools.

The new measures, aimed at helping parents protect their children from internet porn and other explicit sites, follow a report earlier this year by the Mothers' Union charity.

The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said the industry was a bit wary of these plans as it did not want to be seen as censors.

He added web providers currently offer packages which enable certain websites to be filtered out however this was an "imprecise art".

Pop videos

Mothers' Union's head, Reg Bailey, warned that childhood was being wrecked by the "commercialisation and sexualisation" of children on TV, amongst advertisers and on the web.

Mr Cameron is due to meet Mr Bailey at the Downing Street summit later, at which he will also urge companies not to use children to market goods to other children.

The changes proposed in Mr Bailey's review include restricting steamy pop videos to older teenagers and later television slots and covering up magazines on shelves that feature sexualised images.

In a letter to Mr Bailey in June, the prime minister wrote: "As you say, we should not to try and wrap children up in cotton wool or simply throw our hands up and accept the world as it is.

"Instead, we should look to put 'the brakes on an unthinking drift towards ever greater commercialisation and sexualisation'."

Mr Cameron added that he welcomed recommendations to make it easier for parents to block "adult and age-restricted material" across all media.

He also said he supported banning the use of children to market goods to other children.

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom said the launch of Parentport would make it easier for parents to complain about material they had seen across the media, communications and in retail.

It said the website had a "have your say" section where parents could give informal feedback and comments and also offered advice on keeping children safe online.

Chief executive Ed Richards, said: "Seven UK media regulators have come together to develop a single website, with a single aim - to help protect children from inappropriate material.

"Each regulator shares this common purpose and is committed to helping parents make their views and concerns known."

Do you welcome this decision? Have you encountered difficulties when trying to protect your children from internet porn? Send us your stories using the form below.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Blackberry crashes across Europe

10 October 2011 Last updated at 10:45 ET

Millions of Blackberry owners across Europe, the Middle East and Africa have been left without services following a server crash.

Owners of the smartphones were unable to browse the web, send email or instant messages.

The problem appears to have originated in a datacentre in Slough which handles Blackberry services for the affected regions.

Blackberry UK said it knew about the problem and was "investigating".

In a tweet sent around 14:42 BST, the company said: "Some users in EMEA are experiencing issues."

A subsequent statement said Blackberry was: "working to resolve an issue currently impacting some Blackberry subscribers in Europe Middle East and Africa."

It apologised for the inconvenience that the ongoing problem was causing its customers.

Earlier on 10 October mobile operators in the UK, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar and other nations pointed the finger at Blackberry owner RIM when replying to tweets from customers complaining about the problems.

The first signs of trouble emerged about 11:00 BST but seemed to have escalated with tags about Blackberry and its BBM service trending on Twitter.

The only functioning service on Blackberry seemed to be text messaging, prompting many users to voice their frustration online.

In an early report, The Daily Telegraph quoted one Twitter user as suffering "serious Blackberry outrage".

Others lamented the loss of the free BBM network saying they did not know what to do without it.

Cyber attack tests for Olympic IT

10 October 2011 Last updated at 10:52 ET

Simulated cyber attacks will be carried out on the computer systems running London's 2012 Olympic Games.

A series of worst-case scenarios are to be played out in March and May, just months ahead of the Games' opening.

They include a massive denial of service attack on the official website, and a virus getting onto organisers' computers.

Despite the extensive planning, Olympic bosses say they are unaware of any specific threat.

The computer networks used to record scores and feed information to the public and media have been in development for years.

A control centre, where operations will be co-ordinated from, was opened on Monday in Canary Wharf.

Its permanent staff of 180 workers are already doing dry runs of sporting events, as they try to identify and fix problems.

But one of the biggest fears around the Olympics is not a crashed server or power outage, but a deliberate attack by cyber criminals.

During the period of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China was subject to about 12 million online attacks per day.

The UK has learned lessons from its predecessor, said Gerry Pennell, chief information officer for London 2012.

"The approach of the website is a distributed one. That minimises the DDoS attack route," he explained.

"Another key principle is to keep mission-critical games systems quite isolated from anything web-facing. So very much partitioned and separated, thus making it hard for an external attack to succeed."

Security testing on the system will be carried out in a specially isolated version of the Olympic network, using an in-house team of pretend hackers.

"We simulate past competitions and we have a shadow team of about 100 people coming and creating problems - injecting viruses, disconnecting PC servers," said Patrick Adiba from Atos, the company managing the games' IT systems.

"We are using a simulation system so it doesn't really matter if we corrupt the data. We simulate the effect and see how people react."

Mr Adiba said that his company was constantly looking for information on potential threats to the Olympic Games.

"We have our own system within Atos to see the evolution of cyber crimes, and we have contact with relevant authorities to share knowledge and information about what may happen."

Emerging threat

Since the last Olympic Games, the nature and scope of cyber threats has changed substantially.

A series of hacks and website takedowns - orchestrated by Anonymous and LulzSec - has hit organisations including Sony, HB Gary, and the UK and US governments.

More complex attacks, such as the Stuxnet worm, which targeted Iran's nuclear industry, highlighted the sophistication of politically motivated hackers.

Such threats have been taken into account by designers working on the Olympic systems, according to Gerry Pennell.

"Our architecture was largely decided before [those things] happened," said Mr Pennell.

"Having said that, [those sort of attack] were well understood before those very high-profile incidents."

In April, former Home Secretary David Blunkett warned that the Olympics could be hit by "devastating" cyber attacks if more was not done to boost the country's IT defences.

Since becoming prime minister, David Cameron has repeatedly stressed his commitment to protecting the country from cyber attacks.

The UK is due to host a global summit to discuss the problem, beginning 1 November.

Samsung delay is 'Jobs tribute'

10 October 2011 Last updated at 04:10 ET

Samsung has postponed the launch of its Nexus Prime smartphone as a mark of respect to Steve Jobs.

The company said it would be the wrong time to introduce the device while the world was still paying tribute to the Apple co-founder, who died last week.

It had planned to unveil the Nexus Prime in San Diego on 11 October.

Samsung enjoys a close relationship with Apple, as one of its component suppliers. However, the firms are also suing each other for patent violations.

Courts in 10 countries have been asked to adjudicate an apparently tit-for-tat series of intellectual property claims.

Each company has accused the other of using their patented technology, without paying to license it.

In addition Apple has also accused Samsung of copying the overall look and feel of its iPad tablet, in its Galaxy Tab 10.1.

To date, the US company has fared best in court:

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is currently banned from sale in Germany.

A ban on sales of Samsung smartphones is due to come into effect in the Netherlands in October.

Samsung has postponed its tablet launch plans in Australia while its legal battle there is ongoing.

A ruling is expected this week in the Australian row and is also due shortly in the US where Apple is suing Samsung.

Prime candidate

Samsung's Nexus Prime is the latest in a series of smartphones produced by the Korean company, running Google's Android operating system.

It will be the first commercially available device to run the new version of Android known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

The open-source platform has proved hugely successful for Samsung, which is now second only to Apple in the global smartphone race.

According to data from Nielsen, in August 2011, Apple held 19.25 of the market, while Samsung handsets accounted for 16.2%.

Despite the fierce competition, both on the high street and in the courts, Samsung makes a great deal of money from Apple, supplying parts for many of its devices, including screens for its smartphones and tablets.

The two companies are said to have agreed a components deal in February worth $7.8bn (�5bn).

Friday, October 7, 2011

Telcos can challenge piracy law

7 October 2011 Last updated at 07:37 ET

BT and TalkTalk will launch a fresh challenge against the controversial Digital Economy Act.

The companies have been granted permission to appeal against a High Court ruling that upheld most of the anti-piracy law.

Like many service providers, they believe that the law unfairly compels them to police users' behaviour.

The government has said it wants to protect the creative industries such as music and film making.

The Digital Economy Act had been subject to an ongoing legal challenge since it was passed during the wash up period before the last general election.

Creative industries have expressed dismay and the latest ruling. John McVay, chief executive of production body PACT, responded on behalf of music, TV and film companies.

"Naturally, we are disappointed at this further delay. However, we respect the decision and are pleased that the appeal hearing will be fast tracked because, in the meantime, online piracy continues to wreak havoc on the legitimate market, threatening jobs and livelihoods," said Mr McVay.

Punishing pirates

Under the provisions of the Digital Economy Act, ISPs would be compelled to send out warning letters, at the behest of rights holders such as film and record companies, warning about illegal downloading.

The act also allows for sanctions, known as "technical measures", which could include disconnection.

However, the exact nature of technical measures and the circumstances under which they could be imposed are not explicitly laid out in the law.

Two of the UK's largest ISPs, BT and Talk Talk, have been leading the counter-attack against the law.

Together, they secured a judicial review, only to have most of their objections dismissed.

The only aspect of the companies' complaint to be upheld involved who covered the cost of checking rights holders' claims and sending out enforcement letters.

Website blocking

At the same time, political machinations around the Digital Economy Act have continued.

The Liberal Democrats voted, at their party conference in September, to repeal large parts of the legislation.

Julian Huppert MP, chairman of the party's Technology Policy Working Group said: "Tackling piracy is important, but it shouldn't be seen as an end in itself. It's more important to create conditions that reward innovation and talent, and ensure that creators get the benefits of their work.

"The Digital Economy Act fails to do that; worse, it sorely lacks a convincing evidence base and real democratic legitimacy."

The government has also dropped plans to block access to websites which host copyright infringing material, despite the act giving them powers to do so.

Instead, it is likely that rights holders will be encouraged to take action against ISPs themselves using different laws.

In July, BT was ordered to block the website Newzbin2 because it provided links to pirated films.

That case was brought under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, rather than the Digital Economy Act.

Motorola sued over mobile patents

7 October 2011 Last updated at 05:53 ET

Motorola is being sued in a patent row by a company partly bankrolled by Google - which wants to buy Motorola.

Intellectual Ventures is taking legal action over six patents, all of which are used in Android smartphones produced by Motorola.

The lawsuit has been filed, said Intellectual Ventures, after talks over a licensing deal broke down.

Patent experts said the case was "concerning" and cast doubt on Google's ability to defend Android partners.

Intellectual Ventures, set up by Microsoft's former chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold, has built up much of its pool of about 35,000 patents by buying intellectual property from inventors. It then generates money for investors by signing licensing deals with hi-tech firms that use the patented technologies.

The company has accused Motorola Mobility of using its technology to perform file transfers, updates and remote data management and other functions on some of its smartphones.

In a statement, Intellectual Ventures said it had been in discussion with Motorola since January 2011 but the talks had failed to produce an agreement.

"We have a responsibility to our current customers and our investors to defend our intellectual property rights against companies such as Motorola Mobility who use them without a license," it said. It is now seeking a trial and unspecified damages.

Ironically, a separate licensing deal negotiated in late 2010 revealed that Google was one of dozens of firms that put cash into Intellectual Ventures' investment funds.

This is not the same fund that is being used to take legal action against Motorola, but one expert said the case raised questions about Google's ability to help its partners.

Patent expert Florian Mueller said Google's backing of Intellectual Ventures was an "own goal" and said that its failure to defend Android partners was "inexcusable".

This failure was particularly acute in the case of Motorola Mobility, he said, as in mid-August Google put down a $12.5bn (�8bn) bid to acquire it.

Neither Motorola Mobility nor Google has commented on the case.

World News | Latest News

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Blackberry problems spread to US

iPad turned into Braille keyboard

Sony offers 'smoking' TV checks

Ultrasound used to heal fractures

"Start Quote

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Families offered bar on web porn

Monday, October 10, 2011

Blackberry crashes across Europe

Cyber attack tests for Olympic IT

Samsung delay is 'Jobs tribute'

Friday, October 7, 2011

Telcos can challenge piracy law

Motorola sued over mobile patents

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