For SMS, the system works by sending out a mass cell broadcast (SMS-CB) to all handsets in a designated area.
3G cellphones are compelled by Japanese law to include SMS-CB technology. However, many foreign-made phones do not currently support it.
The message accompanying Apple's new feature reads: "The earthquake early warning/alert. When the setting is on, your battery life may be reduced."
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs sent an email to Japanese employees immediately after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami offering help and support if they or their families were affected by the disaster.
Shares in Hewlett-Packard have fallen sharply on news that it is buying UK software firm Autonomy and may sell its PC business.
HP's future plans also include no longer selling smartphones and tablet computers and refocusing on selling software.
HP shares fell 20% in Friday trading to $23.64.
HP's �7.1bn ($11.7bn) offer for Autonomy, accepted by Autonomy's board, is 64% above the firm's market value.
HP's PC business is the world's largest, but by the end of next year, HP computers could be sold under another company's name.
'Strong starting point'
Analysts say the move underscores Apple Computing's dominance in smartphones and tablets with its iPhone and iPad products.
"Apple single-handedly knocked HP out of the PC, smartphone and tablet business," said Gleacher & Co analyst Brian Marshall.
The new strategy means that HP, which will continue to sell servers and other equipment to business customers, will follow the path taken by IBM in 2005, sidelining PC hardware in favour of more profitable software and services.
Chief executive Leo Apotheker had big ambitions for the consumer market. He wanted HP to become "as cool as Apple", challenge the iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones of this world with his Touchpads and Pre phones.
To Mr Apotheker's credit, he quickly realised that he could not out-apple Apple.
HP is leaving the PC business with its razor-thin margins to focus on highly profitable computing for businesses instead.
This is where the purchase of UK software firm Autonomy fits in.
Companies have one big IT problem right now: how to process, store and understand the rapidly growing data deluge that is flooding in from ever more connected devices and web services.
Autonomy has been pushing hard in this field of "business intelligence" and "business analytics". It will be Mr Apotheker's challenge to integrate successfully such a big new division with HP's other software offering.
Analyst Milan Radia at Jefferies said the deal gave HP an "exceptionally strong starting point" in the enterprise software market.
"Today, software accounts for only about 2% of HP's revenue," he said. "By way of comparison, IBM's software journey only commenced in 2001 with a $1bn acquisition, followed by a series of major transactions."
Forecast trimmed
Autonomy was set up by researchers at Cambridge University and specialises in pattern-recognition technologies.
HP will pay 2,550 pence per share, compared with a closing price in London on Wednesday of 1,558p.
The implied valuation of the company is equivalent to 47 times the pre-tax profits earned by Autonomy in the 12 months to June this year.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, HP announced quarterly results that were largely in line with expectations, with revenues of $31.2bn (�18.9bn), up 1.6% from a year earlier.
HP trimmed its maximum full-year forecast from $130bn to $127.6bn, echoing a similar reduction by Dell on Tuesday.
Google is expanding its Street View service into some of the world's most remote places.
It will photograph the Amazon and Rio Negro Rivers of northwest Brazil in partnership with charity Foundation for a Sustainable Amazon (FAS).
Google will train local people to collect images, and will leave behind equipment so work continues long-term.
Pictures will be stitched together so users can explore 360-degree panoramics of the area.
FAS approached Google two years ago with the plan to digitize high-quality images from the Amazon basin to demonstrate the effects of poor global sustainability efforts and widespread deforestation on the landscape.
End QuoteMaria do Socorro da Silva MendoncaLocal resident
FAS project leader Gabriel Ribenboim said: "It is very important to show the world not only the environment and the way of life of the traditional population, but to sensitize the world to the challenges of climate change, deforestation and combating poverty."
For Google, the project represents the biggest challenge for their Street View equipment, which was first designed to work over well-maintained, modern roads.
Google's engineers will use the Street View "trike", originally developed to reach off road areas - such as Stone Henge and Kew Gardens.
"We'll pedal the Street View trike along the narrow dirt paths of the Amazon villages and maneuver it up close to where civilization meets the rainforest," Google described in a blog post.
"We'll also mount it onto a boat to take photographs as the boat floats down the river."
In addition to the street-level pictures, it will use technology developed to photograph business premises in the US to take images within buildings and community centres along the river.
Google hopes doing so will give a "sense of what it's like to live and work in places such as an Amazonian community centre and school".
The project will start in the town of Tumbira, where the California-based company has attracted much attention.
Residesnt Maria do Socorro da Silva Mendonca had never heard of Google, but is excited by the project.
"I don't know anything about the Internet," the 40-year-old mother told AP.
"I think it is wonderful because our community was never published anywhere, not even [big Brazilian city] Manaus.
"Nobody knows we are here."
Google's Street View service was launched in 2007, at first just covering a few US cities.
HP also said it was considering a sale of its personal systems group, which includes the world's biggest PC-making business, and that it will discontinue its webOS devices.
The webOS operating system is used in its tablet computers and smartphones.
The move marks a significant U-turn for the company, which announced in a March strategic review that it would integrate webOS into all of its future hardware.
HP had launched its Pre tablet computer as a competitor to the iPad and devices based on Google's Android operating system.
However, webOS failed to gain traction with reviewers, or with operators and retailers.
Mark-up
Autonomy's board has accepted HP's offer to buy the firm, and founder Mike Lynch, who owns 8.2% of the stock, has pledged to vote for the deal.
The UK firm was founded by researchers at Cambridge University, and specialises in pattern-recognition technologies.
Mike Lynch told the BBC: "HP understands the special culture we have. This is about building Autonomy. It will be a positive thing for Cambridge and the UK."
The agreed price of 2550p represents a 78% mark-up on its closing price in London on Wednesday of 1429p.
It is equivalent to 47 times the pre-tax profits earned by Autonomy in the 12 months to June this year.
As news of the acquisition and strategic shake-up leaked out, HP briefly went from being the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index of leading shares, to the only gainer at lunchtime.
The company's share price jumped 15% as the news broke on the Bloomberg newswire, before giving up nearly all of the gains as trading progressed into the afternoon.
HP's shares eventually ended the day 7.6% down, confirming it as the worst performer on what was a dreadful day for the markets.
That came on top of a 3.9% fall on Tuesday that was prompted by a warning from rival Dell that it expected demand in the US market to weaken in the coming months.
The news follows long-running rumours that chief executive Leo Apotheker, who recently joined from German rival SAP, wanted to refocus the company away from its traditional hardware business towards its smaller but much more profitable software lines.
On the sale of its PC business, HP said it "will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation... from HP through a spin-off or other transaction".
IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain.
The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work.
Researchers believe that that by replicating that feature, the technology could start to learn.
Cognitive computers may eventually be used for understanding human behaviour as well as environmental monitoring.
Dharmendra Modha, IBM's project leader, explained that they were trying to recreate aspects of the mind such as emotion, perception, sensation and cognition by "reverse engineering the brain."
The SyNAPSE system uses two prototype "neurosynaptic computing chips". Both have 256 computational cores, which the scientists described as the electronic equivalent of neurons.
One chip has 262,144 programmable synapses, while the other contains 65,636 learning synapses.
Man machine
In humans and animals, synaptic connections between brain cells physically connect themselves depending on our experience of the world. The process of learning is essentially the forming and strengthening of connections.
A machine cannot solder and de-solder its electrical tracks. However, it can simulate such a system by "turning up the volume" on important input signals, and paying less attention to others.
IBM has not released exact details of how its SyNAPSE processor works, but Dr Richard Cooper, a reader in cognitive science at Birkbeck, University of London said that it likely replicated physical connections using a "virtual machine".
Instead of stronger and weaker links, such a system would simply remember how much "attention" to pay to each signal and alter that depending on new experiences.
"Part of the trick is the learning algorithm - how should you turn those volumes up and down," said Dr Cooper.
"There's a a whole bunch of tasks that can be done just with a relatively simple system like that such as associative memory. When we see a cat we might think of a mouse."
Some future-gazers in the cognitive computing world have speculated that the technology will reach a tipping point where machine consciousness is possible.
However, Dr Mark Bishop, professor of cognitive computing at Goldsmiths, was more cautious.
"[I] understand cognition to be something over and above a process simulated by the execution of mere computations, [and] see such claims as verging on the magical," he said.
IBM's work on the SyNAPSE project continues and the company, along with its academic partners, has just been awarded $21m (�12.7m) by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Hackers have launched another attack on a transport agency that cut off mobile phone services at San Francisco stations last week to prevent protests.
Hacking group Anonymous announced on Twitter that the private data of 102 Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) police officers had been leaked.
The group claimed responsibility on Monday for disabling Bart's marketing website, myBART.org.
Bart police have been criticised for shooting dead a homeless man in July.
Officers said the man lunged at them with a knife, but the killing has caused public anger.
Violation of free speech?
Bart attempted to stop customer protests at some of its train stations on 11 August by disconnecting its mobile transmitters and halting phone services for its passengers.
Push the wrong buttons and we will exploit what needs to be released to the public"
End QuoteHacker group Anonymous
On Wednesday, Anonymous announced through its Twitter account that the Bart police union website had been breached. It was not immediately clear if Anonymous did it.
The hacker group also supplied a link in the tweet where Bart officers' home addresses, emails and passwords could be found.
Bart deputy police chief Daniel Hartwig said he had been made aware of the breach.
Bart interim general manager Sherwood Wakeman said in a prepared statement: "We are deeply concerned about the safety and security of our employees and their families."
Anonymous has called for the Bart police force to disband over the 3 July shooting of the homeless man, and another fatal police shooting in 2009.
Shortly after the police data was leaked, Anonymous posted a message on Tumblr.com saying: "Push the wrong buttons and we will exploit what needs to be released to the public."
The Federal Communications Commission has said it is investigating whether Bart had the right to stop mobile phone services for its passengers.
Bart said on Monday that the company "accommodates expressive activities that are constitutionally protected by the first amendment to the United States constitution".
But some legal commentators have said Bart's move to block mobile phone use was a violation of free speech under the first amendment of the US constitution.
Its actions have been compared to Arab governments' attempts this year to shut internet access in response to mass demonstrations.
Last week, the UK government said it was exploring whether to turn off social networks or stop people texting during social unrest, following the recent riots there.
TalkTalk and its Tiscali UK subsidiary have been fined �3m for incorrectly billing more than 65,000 customers for services they had not received.
The largest fine regulator Ofcom has given to a telecoms firm, it follows an investigation into the two businesses that started in July 2010 as a result of more than 1,000 complaints.
Ofcom said the fine reflected "the seriousness" of their actions.
TalkTalk said it was "disappointed at the scale of the fine".
The company, which bought Tiscali UK in 2009, blamed the billing errors on the amalgamation of the Tiscali UK business.
It has since paid more than �2.5m in refunds and goodwill payments to affected customers.
As a result of this action, and other measures by TalkTalk to rectify the problems, Ofcom said the fine was less than otherwise might have been the case.
Ofcom receives three times fewer calls about TalkTalk than they did at the height of the Tiscali integration"
End QuoteDido HardingTalkTalk chief exectuive
'Significant progress'
In its ruling, Ofcom said TalkTalk and Tiscali UK wrongly issued bills to 62,000 customers, in particular those who had closed accounts, between 1 January and 1 November 2010.
Ofcom said it contacted both businesses in November 2010, setting them a deadline of 2 December 2010 to "take steps to sort out their billing problems".
However, while it said TalkTalk and Tiscali UK "did take some important steps to comply with the rules", almost 3,000 more of their customers were still incorrectly billed between 2 December 2010 and 4 March 2011.
TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding said: "Last year I recognised that we needed to invest in our systems, processes and customer services �and we are making significant progress.
"Ofcom receives three times fewer calls about TalkTalk than they did at the height of the Tiscali integration, and our five million customers are more loyal and more satisfied than they were 12 months ago."
In April this year, Ofcom said that TalkTalk was the most complained about telecoms firm for landline and broadband services.
TalkTalk phased out the Tiscali UK brand in 2010, switching users to services offered under its own name.
A Cheshire man who was jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder during last week's riots is to appeal against his sentence, his solicitor has said.
Jordan Blackshaw, from Marston, was jailed for four years at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, along with Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, from Warrington.
Blackshaw's solicitor said his 21-year-old client and his family were "somewhat shocked by the sentence".
The judge said on Tuesday he hoped the sentences would act as a deterrent.
He also praised the swift actions of the police.
Blackshaw and Sutcliffe-Keenan pleaded guilty under sections 44 and 46 of the Serious Crime Act to intentionally encouraging another to assist the commission of an indictable offence.
The Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Carlile, president of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said he was "surprised" by the sentences.
'Started as a joke'
He added: "The Chester sentence was handed out by a very experienced and highly regarded judge who was reflecting the views of the community he serves.
"But the sentences are heavy, and there are no guideline cases for judges to work from for this situation.
"I would expect the court of appeal to be asked very soon to provide a guideline case or cases so that judges can provide consistent, if severe, sentences around the country."
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Residents in Northwich expressed mixed views about the sentencing of the two men
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The prosecution said Blackshaw had created a Facebook event called "Smash d[o]wn in Northwich Town", intended for the receipt of the "Mob Hill Massive Northwich Lootin".
The page said people should meet on 9 August, between 13:00 and 16:00 BST, "behind maccies" - thought to be McDonald's in Northwich town centre.
Chris Johnson, of Moss Haselhurst solicitors in Winsford, said: "It was something which was started as a joke by Jordan.
"Obviously it was rather misplaced and misguided.
"We are not aware of anyone taking up the call that they made.
"Northwich, as far as we understand, has remained peaceful."
'Over the top'
There has been criticism from MPs, barristers and campaigners that the sentences handed down to some of those involved in riots across England have been too severe.
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said sentences "should be about restorative justice", not retribution, while Labour MP Paul Flynn said the government was "throwing away sentencing rules".
And leading criminal barrister John Cooper QC said he believed some sentences were "over the top" and likely to be overturned by the Court of Appeal.
But Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has said "exemplary sentences" are necessary and that people need to understand the consequences of rioting, looting and disorder.
Tactile feedback technology could give keyhole surgeons a virtual sense of "feeling" tumours while operating.
A Leeds University study has combined computer virtualisation with a device that simulates pressure on a surgeon's hand when touching human tissue remotely.
This could enable a medic to handle a tumour robotically, and judge if it is malignant or benign.
Cancer specialists hope the new system will help to improve future treatment.
In current keyhole procedures, a surgeon operates through a tiny incision in the patient's body, guided only by video images.
Using keyhole techniques, as opposed to major invasive surgery, helps improve healing and patient recovery.
However, surgeons can't feel the tissue they are operating on - something which might help them to find and categorise tumours.
"The tactile feedback, the texture, the stiffness of tissue is taken away in laparoscopic surgery," said Dr Rob Hewson, co-superviser of the study.
Hard tissue
The team of undergraduates at Leeds University has devised a solution that combines a computer-generated virtual simulation with a hand-held "haptic" feedback device.
The system works by varying feedback pressure on the user's hand when the density of the tissue being examined changes.
You can actually feel the response forces you would have felt on your hand"
End QuoteEarle JamiesonLeeds University
"You move the device around and, just like your computer mouse, it moves around the virtual 3D surface," engineering student Earle Jamieson told BBC News.
"The computer sends a signal to the device to tell it the force you are applying. You can actually feel the response forces you would have felt on your hand."
In tests, team members simulated tumours in a human liver using a soft block of silicon embedded with ball bearings. The user was able to locate these lumps using haptic feedback.
Engineers hope this will one day allow a surgeon to feel for lumps in tissue during surgery.
"Three or four surgeons tried an early version of our system, and thought it was potentially very useful," said Mr Jamieson.
"They are so used to using only visuals, they found it strange to be able to feel for something."
The project has just been declared one of four top student designs in a global competition run by US technology firm National Instruments.
However, Dr Hewson believes the work is still a long way from full medical use.
"There are a lot of technical challenges to overcome before this can be integrated into surgical devices."
The ban on the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 across Europe has been temporarily lifted while a court looks at whether the original ruling was appropriate.
The ban was brought in in Germany following a patent dispute with Apple. It accused Samsung of "slavishly" copying the design of its iPad.
But questions were raised over whether the Dusseldorf court had the right to instigate an EU-wide ban.
The ban still holds in Germany.
The Netherlands was always exempt as Apple sought to pursue broader claims there, largely because the country's ports are where many technology companies import their goods into the EU.
The overturning of the ban was originally reported by Webwerld, a Dutch IT news site.
Apple 'overreaching'
Patent law blogger Florian Mueller confirmed that the Dusseldorf court where the injunction was lodged had lifted the ban until a court hearing later this month.
"Apart from the immediate commercial benefits that this provides to Samsung, it's an unpleasant situation for Apple," he wrote.
Should the court really find that the Dusseldorf court didn't have personal jurisdiction over a Korean company, this would reinforce a lot of peoples' impression that Apple's enforcement of design-related rights is, even though understandable to a certain degree, overreaching in some areas."
Apple is also facing accusations that the document that helped it gain the original injunction on sales of the Galaxy Tab in Europe appears to misrepresent the device's similarity to the iPad.
A side-by-side comparison of the two tablets features a "squashed" picture of the Galaxy Tab, making it look identical in size and shape.
There are currently a huge number of patent disputes among smartphone and tablet makers.
The Galaxy's Australian release has been delayed because of a similar lawsuit.
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