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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Facebook adds Skype video chat

6 July 2011 Last updated at 15:23 ET

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Mark Zuckerberg: "This type of thing is only possible because of the social infrastructure that already exists"

Facebook has announced a partnership with Skype to add video chat to the social networking site.

The move is likely to be seen as a shot across the bow of Google, which recently launched a Facebook rival, Google+, also featuring video calling.

This is not the first time Facebook and Skype have teamed up - they already share some instant messaging tools.

Skype is in the process of being bought by Microsoft, which is a major shareholder in Facebook.

The new video-call service was launched by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who also revealed that the site now had more than 750 million users.

However, he said that the total number of active users was no longer a useful measure of the site's success.

Instead, the amount of sharing - of photographs, videos and web links - was a better indication of how people engaged with the site, explained Mr Zuckerberg.

One to one

At launch, Facebook's video chat service will only be able to connect two users face-to-face, whereas Google's system allows group video calls, known as Hangouts.

Coming hard on the heels of Google+, Facebook's Skype offering is likely to be compared to its rival's Hangout feature. That product allows up to ten people to chat at any one time, while the Facebook/Skype video chat feature facilitates just one-on-one video chatting.

Skype did hint that there will be added features in future, but Google has stolen the lion's share of the headlines and Facebook will not enjoy being seen as following in its footsteps.

At the launch in California, Mark Zuckerberg was reluctant to get involved in a tit for tat comparison but he did say that he saw such products as part of the narrative that in future companies which have not traditionally looked at social networking will be layering it on top of all their products.

Read more from Maggie

Mr Zuckerberg said that it was likely that other "premium" Skype functions would be added in future.

He also appeared to offer a back-handed compliment to Google+, saying that its creation was a vindication of Facebook's vision for the social web.

Industry analysts welcomed the announcement.

"Advertisers love anything that keeps users on Facebook for longer and that is something Facebook has been brilliant at - keeping people engaged with the platform for increasingly longer periods of time," Susan Etlinger of the Altimeter Group told BBC News.

"It stands to reason that the longer you are on Facebook, the happier advertisers will be."

In California, Skype chief executive Tony Bates welcomed the partnership, calling it a "long-term relationship" that could benefit both companies.

At one point he had to correct Mr Zuckerberg on the subject of Skype's ownership, reminding him that the Microsoft deal was not yet complete and still had to be cleared by regulators.

The tie-in was announced a week after Google announced its own social networking service, Google+.

"The two companies built these products separately and independently over a number of months but they will be compared directly," said Ben Parr, editor-at-large of social media blog Mashable.com.

"They are going to be in more heated competition in the next year or so and you are going to hear a lot about who is going to win the social networking war - how does Google catch up, how does Facebook respond. This story isn't going away."

Obama to face Twitter 'town hall'

6 July 2011 Last updated at 12:04 ET

US President Barack Obama is to hold his first Twitter "town hall" meeting, where he will answer questions posed by users of the micro-blogging website.

He is expected use a live webcast to answer questions, submitted via tweets containing the hashtag #AskObama, on issues from jobs to the economy.

It will be held at the White House, streamed live on Twitter and moderated by Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey.

A panel of users will re-tweet questions to choose those to be asked.

'Real-time' event

Roughly 30 of more than 2.2 million Twitter users who follow the White House account have been invited to the East Room for Wednesday's event.

While these question-and-answer sessions are usually known as "town hall" meetings in the US, this even is being called a "Tweet-up" by the Obama administration.

"The purpose of doing this event is to try to find new opportunities to connect with Americans around the country," said White House Director of Digital Strategy Macon Phillips.

Mr Phillips added that the Obama administration was particularly interested in taking advantage of the "real-time nature of Twitter to actually have a conversation and a set of questions that evolves" as the president speaks.

Thousand of questions have been submitted since late June, Mr Phillips said.

Twitter said it would publish data about the event's online level of engagement once the digital town hall meeting had finished.

In April, the president held a similar Facebook event at that social media giant's headquarters in California. A YouTube town hall was also held at the White House in February.

The Obama administration often uses Twitter to break news and as a platform to connect with the site's users.

Ofcom draws up UK broadband map

6 July 2011 Last updated at 08:20 ET

An interactive map, created for the telecoms watchdog Ofcom, has revealed the state of broadband around the UK.

It shows that 68% of homes had a fixed connection with an average speed of 7.5Mbps (megabits per second).

Residents of Luton and Newtonabbey were most likely to have access to superfast broadband (over 24Mbps).

But 14% of connected households remained in the slow lane with speeds of less than 2Mbps.

The clickable map allows people to see what take-up and speed is like in their area.

"We are now developing a clear picture of the UK's fixed broadband infrastructure and how it delivers for consumers," said Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards.

"We hope that this information will stimulate further rollout of broadband infrastructure and better performance for households and businesses."

Cash for connections

Ofcom hopes that the data will be useful to local authorities as they bid for money to bring faster services to their areas.

The government has set a target of making the UK the best place for broadband in Europe by 2015.

Both BT and Virgin are expanding their superfast broadband networks and some extra government money (�830m) has been made available to stimulate roll out to areas that might otherwise be considered not economically viable.

The map ranks each area according to four criteria:

availability of superfast broadband (defined as speed above 24Mbps
average broadband take-up
average speeds
percentage of homes with less than 2Mbps

Areas have been colour coded, with green ranking highest and red lowest.

Slow burn

Brighton and Hove had the highest take-up of broadband services with 80% of residents connected.

People in Edinburgh enjoyed the fastest average speeds of 10.1Mbps.

Northern Ireland had a high availability of superfast broadband - 97%, although there was no indication of how many people were using the faster services.

Some experts claim that take-up of fast broadband services has been slow.

Sebastien Lahtinen, co-founder of broadband news site ThinkBroadband believes that Ofcom should have included more data.

"The mapping of broadband take-up data is quite interesting, although I would like to see more exploration of other data sets (population age, income, etc.) which should be available as it's the correlation between these different factors which would be quite helpful in identifying trends.

More details on the reasons for lack of take-up would also be helpful," he said.

Mobile 'roaming' fees set to fall

6 July 2011 Last updated at 06:31 ET

New rules aimed at reducing the price gap between using a mobile phone at home and elsewhere in the EU have been proposed.

The European Commission wants to cut "roaming" costs - when calls are made or received, text messages sent or data downloaded when travelling in Europe.

New, lower price caps could come into force in stages to July 2014.

By then, mobile phone customers would also be able to separate their national and overseas contracts and shop around.

They would still be able to use their same phone number, but could switch to a separate operator when in another country for a cheaper deal for surfing the web or downloading music or photos.

How to keep phone costs low

The European Commission is planning to cut costs for mobile users, but what more can be done to keep bill costs low?

Turn off data roaming. If you switch off the service on your phone which allows you to check e-mails or access websites when you are away from your home network, it will prevent you racking up big bills.

Consider buying a local Sim card. This can be even more useful when travelling outside Europe, although you will need to let people know your new, temporary number.

Consider texting. It can be cheaper and you can easily control the size of the text, rather than worrying about how many minutes you have been speaking for.

Call less.

At present, mobile users can buy a Sim card local to the country in which they are travelling, but this means they are on a different phone number to usual.

The Commission hopes that more "virtual" operators, which do not have their own networks, would enter the roaming market. The extra competition would then be expected to push down prices.

'Outrageous margins'

In the meantime, proposals have been published that would extend the level of price caps on calls and text messages for those travelling in Europe.

Current EU roaming price caps will expire at the end of June 2012. The authorities fear that without putting more plans in place, prices could pick up to pre-2007 levels.

For example, there is currently a cap of 35 euro cents (31p) a minute on calls made, excluding VAT. The proposals would see this falling steadily to 24 cents (22p), by July 2014.

There is currently no cap per megabyte on downloading data, but this would be limited to 50 cents (45p) per megabyte by July 2014, under the Commission's plans.

One megabyte is the equivalent of downloading 100 e-mails without attachments, less than an hour of internet browsing, one minute of downloading music or a few seconds of video downloading.

A more general cap is in place at present to avoid so-called bill shocks. Operators are compelled to place a 50 euro (�45) cap on users' data consumption in order to avoid unexpectedly high bills. Customers who wish to continue their data roaming can request to have the limit removed.

"This proposal tackles the root cause of the problem - the lack of competition on roaming markets - by giving customers more choice and by giving alternative operators easier access to the roaming market," said Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda.

"It would also immediately bring down prices for data roaming, where operators currently enjoy outrageous profit margins."

'High bills'

The Commission hopes the proposals will be given the go-ahead by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers by next year.

Ultimately, by 2015, the Commission would like to see prices for anyone making a call across the EU to be similar to making domestic calls.

Price regulation was introduced in 2007 by the then commissioner for information, society and media, Viviane Reding.

Since then, the maximum call charge has been reduced by approximately 6% per year.

A group of UK mobile operators - O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile - attempted to challenge the Commission's price-cutting agenda, taking their case to the European Court of Justice.

However, their complaint was dismissed in June 2010.

The new price caps are planned to be in place until 30 June, 2016, when the Commission hopes that extra competition makes them redundant.

Huffington Post starts UK edition

5 July 2011 Last updated at 19:00 ET

The US blog-led news site The Huffington Post is launching its UK edition on Wednesday.

It launched a Canadian version in May, but the UK edition will be the first one outside North America.

The Huffington Post was set up by Arianna Huffington in 2005 and bought by AOL earlier this year for $315m (�222m).

Ms Huffington remains the president and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Media Group.

The Huffington Post features a combination of its own journalism, articles aggregated from other news sites, blogs and user-generated content.

When AOL bought the site, Ms Huffington said that one of the most exciting things about the sale was that it would allow them to launch international sites much more quickly.

She is expected to address a launch event on Wednesday, which will also feature former Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie, spin doctor Alastair Campbell and civil rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti.

The Huffington Post is also planning to launch a French edition.

AOL recently cut 900 jobs as it attempted to integrate the Huffington Post with its existing workforce.

It is expected that the UK edition will mainly be staffed by the employees who previously produced AOL's UK news pages.

3D DIY chocolate printer debuts

5 July 2011 Last updated at 10:08 ET

Chocolate lovers may soon be able to print their own 3D creations thanks to work by UK scientists.

A 3D printer that uses chocolate has been developed by University of Exeter researchers - and it prints layers of chocolate instead of ink or plastic.

Although still a prototype, several retailers have already expressed interest in taking on the device.

3D printing using plastic and metal is already widely used in industry to speed up design work.

Lead scientist Dr Liang Hao told BBC News that chocolate printing, just like any other 3D printing technique, starts with a flat cross-section image - similar to that produced by ordinary printers turning out images.

"Then you do a 3D shape - layer by layer, printing chocolate instead of ink, like if you were layering 2D paper to form a 3D shape," he said.

Once a layer is completed, it solidifies, and the machine moves on to the next layer.

Shape and taste

There have been other attempts to develop so-called "food printers" - in 2010, researchers from Cornell University in the US used liquefied foods as inks in a specially designed machine.

Dr Richard Hague from Loughborough University told BBC News that the Exeter creation is a step towards manufacturing a device able to print flawless 3D objects that taste good.

Getting the printing process right involves careful control of key parameters, such as temperature.

Once the prototype becomes a finished product, it may find a role in the restaurant and food preparation industry.

And some companies are already expressing interest.

"Obviously, it's chocolate, so it is hugely appealing," said Joanna Grant from UK online gift retailer findmeagift.co.uk.

But what is even more appealing, she added, is that customers will be able to design any object on a computer before hitting the print button.

"We could do things like 3D faces, for instance - the possibilities are enormous on a commercial aspect."

Social networks

Besides producing 3D chocolate, Dr Hao's team wants to go a step further - and take their printer into cyberspace.

He said the next step would be creating a chocolate-oriented website.

"Now we have an opportunity to combine chocolate with digital technology, including the design, digital manufacturing and social networking.

"Chocolate has a lot of social purpose, so our intention is to develop a community and share the designs, ideas and experience about it."

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

New alliance to fight cybercrime

5 July 2011 Last updated at 12:59 ET

The International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) has been set up to fight cybercrime on a global scale.

Launched in London on Tuesday, the new body unites governments, international businesses and law enforcement agencies, including Europol.

Major security companies such as McAfee and Trend Micro have also signed up.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has welcomed the alliance.

"Our government has already injected an additional �650m to help improve our national infrastructure and protect against cybercrime, but the very nature of this threat calls for more than a national response; it demands a truly global response and that is what the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance is all about," he said.

The prime minister added that besides forming relationships between businesses, governments and law enforcement officers all over the world, the new not-for-profit organisation, chaired by former Home Secretary David Blunkett, will also be investing in training, as well as building an international exchange of expertise.

"ICSPA's goal is to improve international law enforcement capability and capacity to help protect businesses and their customers against this unprecedented threat," Mr Cameron said.

"Start Quote

Cyber crime is a truly global problem and to tackle it we need strong partnership between countries and across private and public sectors"

End Quote James Brokenshire Crime Prevention Minister

Funding for the alliance is expected to come from the EU and a number of governments.

Key threats

Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said that although the internet has brought great opportunities for individuals and businesses, it has also enabled criminals to operate "across national boundaries".

"Cybercrime is a truly global problem and to tackle it we need strong partnership between countries and across private and public sectors," he said.

In 2010, the government said that cybercrime and terrorism were among the key dangers to UK security.

One of the primary goals of the new body is to provide help to the countries that need most assistance, such as China.

"You've got to go beyond Europe. We need to make sure this doesn't turn into an all-English club," said Rik Ferguson, director for security research at Trend Micro.

"For a country like China, where infrastructure is being abused, there's no reason why they would not become a big part of ICSPA."

UK to follow US on piracy policy

5 July 2011 Last updated at 11:21 ET

The UK could soon be following the US by blocking websites that pirate movies and music.

The warning came from communications minister Ed Vaizey in a speech to a conference in London.

In his speech Mr Vaizey said that a voluntary code of practice being drawn up by US ISPs and content owners could be a "game-changer" in other countries.

Many other nations are looking at site blocking to prevent illegal streaming of films, music and sports events.

The change of tactic comes as experts see pirates choose websites that stream content over traditional file-sharing networks.

Odd attitude

Mr Vaizey struck a bullish note in his keynote speech at the Intellect Consumer Electronics conference.

"If people are streaming live football without permission we should look at ways we can stop them," he said. "People have the right to earn money from content they create."

He remained tight-lipped on what came out of last week's meeting between ISPs and content providers to discuss website blocking, but hinted that the US may be leading the way.

"A voluntary agreement may come out of the US and if that does happen it could be a game-changer," he said.

In a dig at ISPs, he said he found "their attitude odd", especially BT and TalkTalk's failed legal challenge to the Digital Economy Act (DEA).

The DEA is aimed mainly at preventing piracy via peer-to-peer file-sharing but as people move away from that route, it also makes provision to block access to some websites.

It allows content providers to apply for an injunction against ISPs that do not restrict access to illegal streaming sites.

The Motion Picture Association has done just that, taking BT, the UK's largest consumer ISP, to court over linking to members-only index site Newzbin.

The MPA wants BT to block Newzbin with the same system that stops access to sites hosting child sex abuse images.

The members-only website aggregates a large amount of the illegally copied material found on Usenet discussion forums.

The case is due to be heard next week.

Free speech

Another conference speaker Neil Berkett, the chief executive of Virgin Media, said there was no current agreement between UK content providers and ISPs.

"We still have a way to go to create an environment where the two sides see eye-to-eye," he said.

"How do you ensure that content is protected in an age where a whole generation thinks that stealing is just fine?" he asked.

"Beating them over the head with a stick is not a good start. What is needed is models that encourage people to change their behaviour, subscriptions that are cheap enough so that people think 'I'm better off getting a full array of quality music' ", he said.

The US government has pledged to pursue those who link to illegal streaming sites, including extraditing individuals from other countries.

The issue has attracted some high-profile critics, such as Google chairman Eric Schmidt.

He vowed that the search engine would fight any attempts at web blocking. He warned that putting blocking measures into legislation would set a dangerous precedent for censorious governments around the world who might be tempted to use it as a political tool.

Mr Vaizey said that critics of website blocking displayed a degree of hypocrisy.

"They [the US government] have been tough but if they took down a website linking to fake handbags no-one would bat an eyebrow," he said. "As soon as it is a site sharing music it becomes an issue about freedom of speech."

Apple to decide on Google+ app

5 July 2011 Last updated at 07:49 ET

Google has asked Apple to approve a mobile version of its social networking site + (Plus) for iPhones and iPads.

The news that it had submitted an iOS app was revealed by a Google employee, writing on her personal page.

For + to succeed alongside Facebook and Twitter, it will need to reach as many mobile devices as possible, according to industry watchers.

However, Apple exercises strict control over what can run on its platform and has blocked Google apps in the past.

If the search giant fails to get a "native" app approved, it may find itself restricted to a browser-based web application, as it has been for other Google services on iOS.

"There are two good reasons for getting a native app," said Torsten Stauch, chief technology officer at AppShed.

"The first is the exposure you get from being on the App Store.

"The other is the push alerts. You really need that to make the user start the app and engage with it," he said.

Rejected

Google has not commented of the app submission officially. However, employee Erica Joy posted on her Google+ page: "For my iPhone using friends: the Google+ iPhone app has been submitted to the App store (no not today, sometime prior to today) and is awaiting approval."

In the early days of its App Store, Apple rejected two Google applications - Voice and Latitude.

The company said that, in the case of Voice, it replicated one of the iPhone's core functions - something which broke the App Store's terms of use.

Apple's rules were later relaxed, following an investigation by the US Federal Communications Commission.

Invite only

Google+ is launching into a competitive social networking market, where market leader Facebook has an estimated 700m users worldwide.

The new service is currently in a closed, invitation-only test mode.

Technology journalists who have tried it have praised some of the innovative features, including Circles, which allows users to drop their contacts into categories such as work or friends.

A mobile version is already available for Android smartphones.

Extending that experience to Apple products will be important, but not a deal-breaker, according to social media consultant Rax Lakhani.

"Mobile is essential to Google+. But if Apple does not approve the app straight away, there is still the web app.

"I think a lot of people, even on the iPhone, do not have the apps, even for Facebook and Twitter. The mobile web experience is just as good, if not better than the apps."

Baidu, Microsoft in search tie-up

4 July 2011 Last updated at 20:30 ET

Baidu, the biggest web company in China, will partner with Microsoft to provide English-language search results.

English search queries will be directed from Baidu to Microsoft's Bing search engine, the Chinese company said in a statement late on Monday.

Baidu dominates search in China with more than 75% of the market.

The move is aimed at increasing Microsoft's small web presence in the biggest internet market in the world.

Baidu said that it expected the service to start later this year.

The two firms have already co-operated on mobile platforms and page results.

Some analysts say this partnership is aimed at taking market share from Google, which has already retreated from the Chinese market because of a censorship spat with the government.

Despite that Google is still the second biggest search engine in China.

"The co-operation between Baidu and Microsoft will further strengthen Baidu's dominance in China's search engine market, and will also make Google's business in China more difficult," said Dong Xu, an analyst with Analysys International.

World News | Latest News

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Facebook adds Skype video chat

Obama to face Twitter 'town hall'

Ofcom draws up UK broadband map

Mobile 'roaming' fees set to fall

How to keep phone costs low

Huffington Post starts UK edition

3D DIY chocolate printer debuts

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

New alliance to fight cybercrime

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UK to follow US on piracy policy

Apple to decide on Google+ app

Baidu, Microsoft in search tie-up

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