BiSTech

Facebook launches friend-tracking feature

2014-04-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Facebook on Thursday rolled out a "Nearby Friends" feature, which uses location information to let users know which friends are near them in the real world. Read on for more stats about Facebook, which turned 10 in February.

Your phone always knows where you are. And now, if you want, your Facebook friends will always know where you are, too. Facebook is introducing a mobile feature called Nearby Friends that taps into that steady stream of location information so friends can track each other in real time.

The idea is to make it easy for people to meet up in real life, so they can have conversations in person instead of comment threads, temporarily replacing Likes and LOLs with eye contact and actual laughter. A live meet-up is also an excellent opportunity to grab a selfie with your pal and upload it to the Facebook owned Instagram.

In a refreshing change, the new Nearby Friends feature is notturned on by default.

Friends will not be able to see where you are unless you decide live-tracking is something you want in your life and visit Facebook's settings to turn it on. Making a potentially invasive new feature opt-in suggests Facebook hasperhaps learned from some of its past mistakes and privacy problems.

You can choose to share your general location with all your Facebook friends, close friends or a customized list of people you feel most comfortable with. Further minimizing the potential stalking factor, your location is only shared with other people who are also using the feature and who have chosen to share their location with you.

When turned on, Nearby Friends shows a list of approved Facebook friends who also use the feature and shows their approximate location. A push notification can tell you how many of your friends are nearby. Open the app to see a list of pals, the neighborhood or city where they are, how many miles away that is from your current location, and a time stamp of when they where there.

There is an option to share your exact location with specific friends, which can be handy for coordinating large groups at concerts or finding someone in a crowded area. Your friends will see a little image of your face on a map for a set period of time.

Nearby Friends will be available on Facebook's iOS and Android apps, but will only work for select locations at first.

Facebook, Instagram and many other apps already include features that let people "check-in" to locations, but those location features are different because you decide if and when to share each specific location. You might check into a Starbucks downtown, but never into your home or other spot you'd rather keep private. Nearby Friends is continuously gathering details about where you are in the background instead of waiting for a manual check-in.

This is not the first time an app has used location information to physically connect friends. Similar apps such as Highlight, which got a flurry of attention in 2012, mapped out the locations of nearby strangers. Facebook also purchased a startup in 2012 called Glancee that also connected strangers. That technology evolved into this new, more private feature.

If you turn on the Nearby Friends feature, Facebook starts collecting data on your exact location and keeps details on where you've been in the past, not just places where you've used its app to check in. It also collects location information even when the Facebook app is closed.

But you can turn off this location history in the Facebook app's settings. It's possible to delete individual locations from a history, or clear

Google under fire from European media tycoon

2014-04-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

The boss of one of Europe's largest media companies has strongly criticised Google in an open letter printed in a German newspaper.

Mathias Dopfner, chief executive of Axel Springer, says his company is afraid of Google and its power.

He also asks in the letter, addressed to Google boss Eric Schmidt, whether Google intends to create a superstate where anti-trust and privacy laws don't apply.

Google has not commented on the letter.

“Start Quote

With the exception of biological viruses, there is nothing with such speed, efficiency and aggressiveness that spreads like these technology platforms”

Mathias DopfnerCEO Axel Springer

Axel Springer publishes more than 200 newspapers and magazines including German papers Die Welt and Bild. It also has a significant online presence and television and radio interests.

Mr Dopfner's letter was published in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper - which is not published by his company - in response to a column by Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt.

Mr Schmidt's column had referred to the advertising relationship between Axel Springer and the search company. He described how the relationship had been challenging at times but how now they had "walked down the aisle" and signed a multi-year deal.

Mr Dopfner acknowledged that he was pleased at the marketing relationship between the two companies and an admirer of Google's entrepreneurial success but went on to say that the company had little choice but to engage with Google as "we know no search engine alternative to increase our online reach".

Global monopoly

The company makes 62% of its profits from digital business, he said, and the internet is a great opportunity, but he explained that he was concerned about the role Google plays online.

He referred to a long-running dispute between Google and the European Commission, which involved accusations that the search company gave favourable treatment to its own products in search results.

Mr Dopfner said the resulting agreement between the two parties was not a compromise but instead the Commission had "sanctioned the introduction of a business model, which in less honourable circles is called extortion".

Mathias Dopfner was very critical of Google's wide reach in his letter

He said the agreement would still allow Google to discriminate against competitors in search results. At the time Google said its proposals to change the way search results were ranked were fair and wide-reaching.

Mr Dopfner went on to say in the letter that large technology companies like Google are far more powerful than people realise.

"With the exception of biological viruses, there is nothing with such speed, efficiency and aggressiveness that spreads like these technology platforms, and this also lends its creators, owners and users with new power."

He compared the company to the state monopolies that ran the German postal and telecoms services: "Today there is a global network monopoly. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that there are transparent and fair criteria in Google's search results."

Superstate

Mr Dopfner's comments were not just restricted to Google - the founder of social network Facebook also came under fire. He explained that he'd been at a conference when someone asked Mark Zuckerberg how Facebook stored data and protected users' privacy.

"And Zuckerberg said: 'I do not understand your question. Those who have nothing to hide, have nothing to fear.'

"Again and again I had to think about this sentence. It's terrible. I know it is certainly not meant that way. This is a mindset that was fostered in totalitarian regimes not in liberal societies. Such a sentence could also be said by the head of the Stasi or other intelligence service or a dictatorship."

Turning his attention to Google founder Larry Page, Mr Dopfner said: "He dreams of a place with no privacy laws and without democratic accountability."

Referring to comments Mr Page had made about the company wanting to develop ideas but being unable to because they were illegal, Mr Dopfner said: "Does this mean that Google is planning to operate in a legal vacuum, without the hassle of anti-trust and privacy? A kind of superstate?"

He finished the letter with a warning to Google that in the history of economics monopolies do not survive long.

NASA and Google Do the Tango

2014-04-18T17:19:00.004-07:00

NASA is testing Google's Project Tango smartphones on self-propelled satellites for use in conducting a variety of tasks inside the ISS -- and perhaps eventually outside the station as well. The Spheres have their own power, computing and navigation equipment. The Tango phones will give them additional functionality, including real-time transfer of data to mission control on Earth.

Google's Project Tango smartphone, which is jam-packed with sensors, soon will be used in the International Space Station.

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration will swap out the smartphones it has used on two volleyball-sized free-flying satellites since 2011 with the Tango devices.

NASA, which announced the Tango tie-in back in February, has flown modified Tango phones several times on an aircraft that can simulate microgravity by taking a parabolic flight path. The phones' motion-tracking and positioning code was rewritten so it could work in the microgravity environment on the ISS.

Windows Phone 8.1 Becomes Available to Devs and Risk Takers

2014-04-18T17:15:00.003-07:00

Microsoft has been seriously lagging in the mobile market, but Windows Phone 8.1 -- available to devs and consumers willing to scotch their warranties -- appears to be as feature-rich as Android and iOS. In at least one important respect, it may surpass them. WP 8.1 has a digital assistant, Cortana, who seems considerably more capable than Siri or Google Now.

After an 18-month lull, Windows Phone took a step closer to an upgrade on Monday as Microsoft released version 8.1 of the operating system to developers.

Unlike most developer versions of software, however, consumers can download and run the latest edition of Windows Phone on their mobile device -- as long as they're willing to void its warranty until their carrier OKs the upgrade.

Although developers and brave consumers can get their hands on Windows Phone 8.1 this week, it will be a few months before its fortunes in the market can be determined.

Facebook to discontinue messaging feature in mobile app

2014-04-10T17:05:00.003-07:00

Users of Facebook’s mobile app users will soon need a separate app to message friends, a Facebook spokesman said Wednesday.

Now, Facebook users can send messages from within its main app, but the spokesman said that feature will soon be discontinued.

The move, which Facebook hopes will increase use of its separate mobile-messaging app, is part of Facebook’s strategy of rolling out multiple apps offering different features of its core product.

Facebook now has seven mobile apps, including photo-sharing app Instagram. In January, it launched Paper, an app that aggregates and curates news stories. Facebook also acquired mobile messaging service WhatsApp in February, for $19 billion in cash and stock.

Charge your phone in 30 seconds? A new start-up says it can

2014-04-10T16:59:00.003-07:00

Struggling to get through the day without charging up the smartphone?

StoreDot Ltd., a Tel-Aviv based start-up, says it hopes to at least make the charging process faster–unveiling Monday a prototype charger that promises to take you battery from a tiny sliver of red to 100%, all in about 30 seconds. See the company’s demo video here.

StoreDot was born out of the nanotechnology department at Tel Aviv University and developed its prototype for Samsung’s Galaxy 4. It unveiled the device at Microsoft's Think Next conference in Tel Aviv. StoreDot says it plans to make chargers for other smartphones, too.

StoreDot has been developing biological semiconductors, made from naturally occurring organic compounds called peptides, or short chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The technology can be used, among other things, to speed charging times, the company says.

New app looks to give smartphone owners the ability to text without service or Internet

2014-04-10T16:56:00.002-07:00

Oct. 24, 2013: This file photo shows a youth checking his smartphone in Glenview, Ill.AP/FILE

A new mobile messaging application called FireChat is empowering nearby smartphone users to stay in touch even when there's no cellular service or Internet connection.

In just two weeks since its release on the iPhone, FireChat already has provided a flicker of hope for people pining for more effective, secure and affordable ways to communicate. That's because the free messaging app harnesses a technology called wireless mesh networking, which might someday allow a myriad of devices to connect like links in a chain.

The technique might someday be used to tie together thousands of devices with built-in radios and make it possible to be online without having to pay for the access. It could also enable online communications in remote areas or disaster zones without Wi-Fi or cellular signals. Furthermore, the conversations in these so-called "off-the-grid" networks can't be easily hacked into by spies and mischief makers or shut down by governments trying to stifle free speech.

"We trying to create networks built by the people for the people," said Micha Benoliel, CEO of Open Garden, maker of the FireChat app.

Open Garden, a San Francisco startup with just 10 employees, is taking another step toward its ambitious goal with Thursday's release of a FireChat app for Android phones.

FireChat could be an even hotter commodity on Android given the demographic differences between that platform's user base and the typical iPhone owner. The app already has been installed on more than 1 million iOS devices.

Many smartphones running on Google Inc.'s free Android software are cheaper than Apple Inc.'s iPhone. That has made Android phones the top-selling mobile devices in less affluent countries, including in regions where Internet access is inadequate or expensive.

Google is among the big Internet companies intrigued with mesh networking's potential to bring more of the world online.

Sundar Pichai, Google's executive in charge of Android, has touted mesh networks as a way to connect wearable computers, such as the company's Glass eyewear. Mesh networks also could be used to bring a wide variety of everyday appliances online, helping to build an Internet of things instead of just websites.

FireChat's reach so far is limited. When connecting off the grid, iPhone app users have only been able to send text and photos to other FireChat users within a range of 30 to 100 feet.

Later this year, Open Garden plans to upgrade FireChat's iPhone app so off-the-grid users will be able to hopscotch through a daisy chain of devices to extend the reach of a local network. If this works, a FireChat user sitting in the right-field bleachers of a baseball game would be able to text with a friend on the other side of the stadium if enough other iPhone users in the ballpark also are on FireChat.

This extended range will be available immediately on FireChat's Android app because Open Garden released a mesh networking app for that operating system nearly two years ago.

FireChat's iPhone app piggybacks on an often overlooked feature called the Multipeer Connectivity Framework that Apple Inc. included in its latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, released last September. Apple says more than 80 percent of people using its mobile devices rely on iOS 7.

For now, Android phones and iPhones with the FireChat app won't be able to engage in off-the-grid conversation. Open Garden, though, believes it will eventually be able to make mesh networking work on phones running on different operating systems.

As the mesh networking software improved, Benoliel realized Open Garden needed to come up with application to demonstrate what the technology could do. In that practical sense, FireChat is similar to the word processing and spreadsheet programs that Microsoft released decades ago to help broaden the appeal of its Windows operating system for personal computers, said Christophe Daligault, Open Garden's marketing chief.

FireChat's development was driven by the popularity of other mobile messaging apps such as Snapchat and WhatsApp that enabled smartphone users to text and send pictures to their friends and family without having to pay smartphone carriers.

Like texts and photos sent on Snapchat, nothing transmitted through FireChat is saved. All content evaporates once the app is closed. FireChat also allows all its users to remain anonymous, another feature that is becoming popular on a variety of mobile messaging apps, such as Wickr and Rumr.

There still aren't enough people using FireChat to ensure users will find someone nearby to message. To pique people's interest in the app, FireChat offers an "everyone" option that allows users to enter a digital chat room with up to 80 other random users located in the same country. This option requires a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

Dailigault concedes FireChat's chat room isn't as high-minded as mesh networking.

"We are finding a lot of people are using it when they are just looking for something to do for a few minutes," Dailigault said. "Some of the discussions there are turning out to be more interesting than anything they can find on Facebook."

Samsung Gear Fit is a stylish hybrid of smart watch and activity tracker

2014-04-10T16:50:00.001-07:00

The Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone (L), Gear 2 smartwatch (C) and Gear Fit fitness band are displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.REUTERS

One of the three new second-generation Samsung smart watches, the Gear Fit ($200) is a creative and stylish departure from the original Galaxy Gear. It's just as much an activity monitor as it is a smart watch, and it has a markedly new look—slimmer, sleeker, and lighter at .8 ounces than even even the relatively petite Pebble Watch (1.4 ounces).

It’s also, well, pretty. The vivid, slightly curved AMOLED 1.84-inch color display pops against the black watchband. You can change the background color, design, and watch face to suit your mood, or your outfit, and you can buy additional swappable watchbands in orange, red, blue, green, or gray, too. This attention to aesthetics is likely a nod to women (and plenty of men, for that matter) who think of smart watches as bulky and ugly.

That said, the Fit won't do as much as heftier, pricier smart watches; you won't be making calls or taking photos with it. But when connected to a compatible phone, it does notifications: a brief vibration alerts you to incoming e-mails, calls, texts, and updates from a variety of third-party apps. The Fit lets you control media on your Samsung phone. You can also reject incoming phone calls with a swipe on the watch. Most important, though, are its activity-monitor features. The Gear Fit has a built-in heart-rate monitor, pedometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope, with which it tracks several kinds of exercise activities.

When Samsung announced its new Gear smart watches back in February, the company also said they would run not on Android, as did the original Galaxy Gear, but on Tizen, a mobile OS it had a hand in developing. The company told us Tizen will bring "improvements in battery life over the first version and a large app ecosystem, thanks to the open SDK [software development kit] we'll be releasing in March."

We got a preview sample of the Gear Fit into our hands (and on our wrists). We'll lab-test battery life and other features when we purchase one. Meanwhile, here are our impressions.

Activity monitoring

The Fit claims that it tracks walking, running, hiking, and road biking (the latter is unique to the Fit among activity trackers we've tested), thanks to the integrated accelerometer and gyroscope. Other basic workouts, such as riding a stationary bike, spinning, strength training, yoga, and swimming are not options, at least for now. (A nice thing about smart devices is that they can evolve through firmware updates, but Samsung hasn't yet indicated what it might add.)

To try out the tracking, we first did a quick walk around our office's atrium. The distance-recording feature appeared to be accurate. And the pedometer feature also appeared accurate (within 2 percent) when we did a short 200-step check. We noted that the watch didn't restrict or interfere with hand or wrist movement during exercise and stretching. Your fitness info is uploaded to the phone at regular intervals that you specify: transfer/sync intervals are 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours, or 3 days. The Fit can also display your progress without connecting to another device, which only a few other trackers can do.

Check our lab-tested reviews of six smart watches, including the original Samsung Galaxy Gear.

The Gear Fit also features an infrared heart-rate monitor on the underside of the watch. We had to keep very still for the Gear Fit to take an individual heart-rate reading (we could walk normally for continual heart-rate monitoring). And make sure the watch is snug to your wrist; the monitor under-reported our heart rate when we wore the Fit loosely. Unfortunately, the Fit traps sweat when it's tight, which could lead to irritation.

Ease of use

Setting up the Gear Fit was an easy matter. Once fully charged, it paired quickly via NFC with a Samsung Galaxy S 5 smart phone. It's also compatible with the S 4 and S3, Note 3, and numerous other Samsung phones and only Samsung phones, which is certainly a limitation. When we went out of Bluetooth range, the connection dropped, of course—but the Fit keeps on monitoring, and it reconnects on its own as soon as you're back within range. You'll set up a simple user profile before starting to monitor activities.

True to its name, the Fit fits nicely on the wrist, thanks to the slightly curved, oblong display. We found reading the display a bit awkward at first, since it's perpendicular to your eyes when you lift your wrist to view it. The touchscreen is responsive to swipes and taps, and the interface is nice and simple.

Check our review of the new Samsung Galaxy S 5 smart phone.

The display stays off most of the time (to conserve battery life, we’d assume). It’s supposed to turn back on when you lift your arm to look at your wrist, but that doesn’t always work; we often had to use the power button to turn it on. That said, battery life seems pretty decent: the Fit only needed a new charge every two or three days, even when we used it heavily.

Bottom line

By paying attention to style, fit, price, and ease of use, Samsung has made the Gear Fit a more mainstream-friendly smart watch than we've seen so far. And by focusing on fitness features, the Gear Fit has a more obvious reason to exist than most other smart watches too.

The Fit's software is in its infancy, though it has a lot of room for growth. Apps that fully utilize the Gear Fit’s accelerometer and display could make an even better hybrid activity monitor-smart watch. We’d like to see apps, similar to RunKeeper, use the Gear Fit as a way to display activity data such as exercise time, lap time, and distance run, and control functionality such as pause and stop.

The heart-rate-monitoring feature works for simple individual readings when fit correctly. But inconsistencies in heart-rate accuracy of a loosely fit Gear Fit and previous infrared heart-rate monitors we've tested during active exercise raises concerns that Wrist Infrared Heart Rate Monitor technology may need to be improved

Navy eyes 3D printing in future to create combat drones aboard ships

2014-04-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

A technician at Belgian company Materialise, the biggest 3D printer in Europe, operates a laser sintering machine that uses high-powered lasers to fuse particles of plastic, layer by layer, to create 3D objects, at the company's headquarters in Leuven.REUTERS

National Harbor, Md. – A U.S. Navy carrier in the perhaps not too distant future will have the ability to create everything from replacement parts to organs to miniature combat drones with 3-D printers, Navy officials say.

Advances in additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, are happening so quickly that ideas for its uses have outstripped the Navy's ability to get into places where officials know they want it -- aboard ships at sea.

"There are significant safety concerns," Lt. Ben Kohlman of the Chief of Naval Operations' Rapid Innovation Cell said on Tuesday during a presentation at Sea Air Space 2014. "The powder that's used in the aluminum or titanium is highly flammable."

And there is also figuring out where such a shop would go on a ship. Right now, 3D printing is done at shops on land – not a "dynamic environment" like a ship at sea, Coast Guard Commander Tyson Weinert said.

More: Is 3D Printing the Key to Jumpstarting American Manufacturing?

"They can't be subjected to the pitch, the roll, the yaw [of a ship], so now you've got those forces acting on a printer," he said. "What is the tolerance for that, how will the printer itself react to those other forces? You can try to manage the center of gravity as best you can, try and get the safest sot with the minimal amount of movement, but what is the trade off? What is on the ship already ... versus where will the printers have to go? So that is a whole design process in itself."

However, it's only a matter of time before these printers reach the sea, Navy officials said. And its uses could go far beyond printing a specialized bolt.

Thomas Campbell, a research associate professor with the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, said a California-based company, Organovo, expects to print "a living human liver" later this year.

"As opposed to rushing a soldier, or war fighter, or sailor to [a land-based hospital] if you have an emergency, just print the organ right on the ship, do the surgery right on the ship, save the human's life and not have to disrupt the service," Campbell said.

Cartilage will be printable in the same way, he said.

The Army is already using 3D printers in combat. The Army's Rapid Equipping Force deployed to Afghanistan with 3D printers. Engineers have worked with units in Afghanistan to develop solutions to combat problems without having to ship parts into Afghanistan. The printer produces them in country.

College and even high school students already are manufacturing small flying drones using off-the-shelf 3D printing systems, Campbell said.

Kohlman said he could imagine the benefits of a carrier having the ability to mass produce them should it come up against an enemy with a robust anti-aircraft system.

"What if the carrier could just print hundreds and hundreds of these drones and saturate the airspace and totally destroy their radar stations," he said.

"It may not be ready for ships yet, but those processes absolutely have to be figured out," Campbell said.

New report claims frequent Twitter users are more likely to cheat on their partner

2014-04-10T16:14:00.005-07:00

If your significant other is on twitter constantly, you may want to listen up.Frequent twitter users are more likely to cheat, break up or get divorced, according to a new report.

"Facebook may not pose any kind of threat for someone celebrating their 50th anniversary, " University of Missouri doctoral student Russel Clayton toldYahoo.com. "But for Twitter, it didn't matter if you had just gotten in a relationship or if you’d been married for several years

— people were still experiencing conflict with their partner and that was leading to these unfortunate negative outcomes.”

The future doc's advice? Share social networking accounts in order to reduce potential conflict. In other words, social media is the death of love -- well, sort of.

There's an app for everything is not just an expression, it's become reality.Mashable.com compiled a list of apps that can help you kick your bad habits, including smoking.

For example, the Quit It app, which is "a free iOS app that helps you break the habit by giving you astonishing stats. It tells you how much money you're saving by not buying packs, how much tar you're not consuming and how many cigarettes you've managed to not smoke." Now that's what we call a smoking hot app.

The bionic olympics are coming in 2016! A competition called the Cybathlon will allow athletes with technologically advanced prosthetics to compete against each other in October 2016 in Switzerland, Military.com reports. According to the official website, "the competitions are comprised by different disciplines that apply the most modern powered knee prostheses, wearable arm prostheses, powered exoskeletons, powered wheelchairs, electrically stimulated muscles and novel brain-computer interfaces." This competition is the first of its kind and we can't wait to see more.

Diana Falzone is a FoxNews.com contributor. You can follow her on Twitter @dianafalzone.

2 ways Facebook could fix its top privacy risk

2014-04-10T16:11:00.003-07:00

Facebook has gotten some praise lately for experimenting with a new feature, known as Privacy Checkup, which reminds users who have been posting public status updates on their wall for a long time that they have been doing so. A status update whose audience is set to public is a privacy risk because it can be read by virtually anyone on the Internet.

Julia Horwitz, Consumer Privacy Counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, is unimpressed, saying that the feature is "an evasive maneuver." "Facebook won't make any changes in its collection or treatment of user data," she continued in an e-mail to Consumer Reports. "The program might be more accurately called 'Publicity Check-Up.'"

Where Privacy Checkup falls short

I have my doubts about the value of Privacy Checkup. As I explained in a recent post here, among the many privacy risks inherent in using Facebook, public status updates are by far the biggest, a main reason being that commercial data brokers such as Social Intelligence gather and report the contents of such updates to employers, insurers, and government agencies.

Reminding users that they have been posting publicly for a long time, which is what Privacy Checkup does, is like alerting someone to a banana on the ground after they have slipped on it. By the time you remind them, the damage has already been done.

Find more tips and information in our guide to online security.

The essential problem with Facebook’s in-line audience selector is that it too easily lets you slip back into repeatedly posting publicly without realizing it. That’s because every time you change the in-line audience selector to Public—even if you intend it for just one status update—it remains set to public for all subsequent status updates unless and until you realize that. If this weren’t the case, there would be little need for a reminder feature such as Privacy Checkup.

How to fix it

Facebook could easily fix this problem in either of these ways.

• Alter the status in-line audience selector’s behavior so that after a user has changed it to public for a single update, for at least the next couple of updates it explicitly asks them something such as, “Are you sure you want to continue sharing this and all future status updates with the public?”

• In Facebook’s Privacy Settings, make the value that the user has set for “Who can see my future posts?” (e.g. Friends) actually stick as the default audience setting for all future status updates, even if the user temporarily overrides it for individual updates by using the in-line audience selector.

Facebook seems to have become more aware of users’ privacy concerns lately. To really help its users avoid unintended public postings, it should adopt one of these fixes, or something equally effective

Scientists trying to create human heart with 3D printer

2014-04-10T16:06:00.002-07:00

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It may sound far-fetched, but scientists are attempting to build a human heart with a 3D printer.

Ultimately, the goal is to create a new heart for a patient with their own cells that could be transplanted. It is an ambitious project to first, make a heart and then get it to work in a patient, and it could be years -- perhaps decades -- before a 3D printed heart would ever be put in a person.

The technology, though, is not all that futuristic: Researchers have already used 3D printers to make splints, valves and even a human ear.

So far, the University of Louisville team has printed human heart valves and small veins with cells, and they can construct some other parts with other methods, said Stuart Williams, a cell biologist leading the project. They have also successfully tested the tiny blood vessels in mice and other small animals, he said.

Williams believes they can print parts and assemble an entire heart in three to five years.

The finished product would be called the "bioficial heart" -- a blend of natural and artificial.

The biggest challenge is to get the cells to work together as they do in a normal heart, said Williams, who heads the project at the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, a partnership between the university and Jewish Hospital in Louisville.

An organ built from a patient's cells could solve the rejection problem some patients have with donor organs or an artificial heart, and it could eliminate the need for anti-rejection drugs, Williams said.

If everything goes according to plan, Williams said the heart might be tested in humans in less than a decade. The first patients would most likely be those with failing hearts who are not candidates for artificial hearts, including children whose chests are too small to for an artificial heart.

Hospitals in Louisville have a history of artificial heart achievements. The second successful U.S. surgery of an artificial heart, the Jarvik 7, was implanted in Louisville in the mid-1980s. Doctors from the University of Louisville implanted the first self-contained artificial heart, the AbioCor, in 2001. That patient, Robert L. Tools, lived for 151 days with the titanium and plastic pump.

Williams said the heart he envisions would be built from cells taken from the patient's fat.

But plenty of difficulties remain, including understanding how to keep manufactured tissue alive after it is printed.

"With complex organs such as the kidney and heart, a major challenge is being able to provide the structure with enough oxygen to survive until it can integrate with the body," said Dr. Anthony Atala, whose team at Wake Forest University is using 3D printers to attempt to make a human kidney.

The 3D printing approach is not the only strategy researchers are investigating to build a heart out of a patient's own cells. Elsewhere, scientists are exploring the idea of putting the cells into a mold. In experiments, scientists have made rodent hearts that beat in the laboratory. Some simple body parts made using this method have already been implanted in people, including bladders and windpipes.

The 3D printer works in much the same way an inkjet printer does, with a needle that squirts material in a predetermined pattern.

The cells would be purified in a machine, and then printing would begin in sections, using a computer model to build the heart layer by layer. Williams' printer uses a mixture of a gel and living cells to gradually build the shape. Eventually, the cells would grow together to form the tissue.

The technology has already helped in other areas of medicine, including creating sure-fitting prosthetics and a splint that was printed to keep a sick child's airway open. Doctors at Cornell University used a 3D printer last year to create an ear with living cells.

"We're experiencing an exponential explosion with the technology," said Michael Golway, president of Louisville-based Advanced Solutions Inc., which built a printer being used by Williams' team.

Navy tests ‘smart’ helicopter rocket launchers

2014-04-10T15:59:00.002-07:00

The U.S. Navy has begun testing “smart” rocket launchers aboard MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, officials said.

The San Diego-based Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 15 is evaluating 22 of the new digital rocket launchers, which were delivered last month as part of a two-year rapid deployment program, according to Capt. Al Mousseau, who manages the service’s Direct and Time Sensitive Program Office.

“There’s a lot of opportunity here,” Mousseau said on Wednesday during a presentation at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference in National Harbor, Md. The service plans to integrate another 30 systems onto MH-60S choppers over the next year, he said.

Each of the launchers is capable of firing 19 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rockets made by BAE Systems Plc, Mousseau said. That’s almost triple the capacity of current seven-tube launchers found on AH-1 Cobras and UH-1 Hueys, he said.

Engineers, technicians and contractors at Indian Head, Md., outfitted existing launchers with new digital electronics hardware that allows pilots to fire the “smart” rockets from specific tubes, Mousseau said. The eventual goal is for the launchers to be able to carry a mixed load of guided and unguided weapons, he said. [More:Marine Corps Scraps Tracks for Amphibious Combat Vehicle]

The Navy began the rapid deployment program in 2012, Mousseau said. The acquisition effort, which began with the Army, is estimated to cost less than $100 million and overcame numerous developmental challenges, such as figuring out how to make the electronics withstand the type of vibrations found on ships and aircraft, he said.

The APKWS converts a 2.75-inch Hydra rocket into a “smart” munition by adding a semi-active laser guidance and control mid-section. It’s a low-cost option for precision strike, costing less than $30,000 apiece — roughly a third of the price tag of an AGM-114 Hellfire missile made by Lockheed Martin Corp. While not as powerful as the Hellfire, the APKWS is effective at soft, light targets such as wheeled vehicles and small boats. [More: Boeing Built Marines an Osprey Jeep with NASCAR Connection]

In addition to the Navy and Marine Corps rotorcraft, BAE has also tested the weapon on the Army’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and OH-58 Kiowa scout chopper, among other aviation platforms, according to David Harrold, director of precision guidance solutions and electronic systems at the company.

The company expects to receive another Navy contract for the system later this year, Harrold said. It also expects to announce its first foreign military sale of the system in coming months, he said.

US card thief faces lengthy jail term

2014-04-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

The US government is seeking to make the gang members repay the cash they stole

A key member of a gang that traded stolen and fake credit cards could face years in jail after pleading guilty to racketeering charges.

Cameron Harrison of Georgia, US, was part of a large card fraud ring centred around the Carder.su website. About $50m (£30m) in losses have been attributed to the group that used the Carder.su site.

The group was broken up by US law enforcement in 2012 and so far, 55 of its members have been charged.

The ring leaders of the group, which was run via Russia, are still believed to be at large.

The case is believed to be among the first to use racketeering laws against cybercriminals. Before now the laws were used against members of more traditional organised crime groups.

Harrison, aka Kilobit, joined the group in 2008 and was instrumental in helping it steal credit cards, IDs and engage in financial fraud.

Documents filed by the US Department of Justice against Harrison show that he has been indicted under two counts of racketeering and one of making and selling fake ID documents.

US guidelines suggest he will face decades in prison when he is sentenced later this year because those rules inflate prison terms if a crime affects more than 250 victims or involves losses higher than $50m.

The US government is also seeking to make Harrison and other former Carder.su members pay $50m in restitution to the four credit card firms they stole from - Visa, Discover, American Express and MasterCard

Hard disk pioneer Stuart Parkin wins Millennium Prize

2014-04-10T15:29:00.001-07:00

Prof Parkin took advantage of electrons' spin to make cheap storage possible

A British scientist whose work made it possible for hard disks to radically expand in size has been awarded the Millennium Technology Prize.

Prof Stuart Parkin developed a type of data-reading head capable of detecting weaker and smaller signals than had previously been possible.

The innovation allowed more information to be stored on each disk platter.

The foundation behind the award said he had made Facebook, Google, Amazon and other online services possible.

"Parkin is a leading innovator in the field of spintronics, which relies on the magnetic spin of electrons rather than their charge to store bits and is one of the most successful fields of nanotechnology yet," said Technology Academy Finland.

"[His] innovations have led to a huge expansion of data acquisition and storage capacities, which in turn have underpinned the evolution of large data centres and cloud services, social networks, music and film distribution online."

Previous winners of the one million euro ($1.38m; £824,000) award - which is announced every other year - include web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and the Linux operating system kernel developer Linus Torvalds.

Those selected are judged to have invented something that either has changed or has the power to change people's lives for the better, ideally on a global scale.

Sensitive detector

Prof Parkin's field of expertise is a branch of physics called spintronics - or spin electronics.

In this case, the word "spin" refers to a quantum mechanical property of an electron that can be likened to a planet turning around its axis.

The professor says hard disks are able to store roughly 1,000 times more than they would have been without the use of spintronics

Just as planets can rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise, electrons are said to be able to spin up or down - an action that sets up a magnetic field.

The analogy is not perfect, but in short the phenomenon can be exploited to store bits of data on atomically-thin magnetic structures.

Prof Parkin made this possible by building on the observations of two Nobel Prize winners - Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg - to create a highly sensitive detector capable of discerning small magnetic fields at room temperature.

"The spin valve sensing device allowed one to detect much tinier magnetic fields and therefore smaller magnetic regions in a magnetic disk drive," he explained to the BBC.

"The information in a disk drive is basically stored as magnetic regions in a very thin magnetic film.

"So, now we could detect much smaller regions than was possible before, in fact about 1,000 times smaller because of the extreme sensitivity of the spin valve sensing device."

The work was carried out for IBM, and the firm commercialised the technology in 1997. It soon became an industry standard, allowing disk capacity to quadruple roughly once a year for several years.

That not only made it possible to store more information in computers but also meant it became affordable to build giant data centres.

"The modern world is sustained by our ability to store all our information in magnetic disk drives essentially in the cloud, so that you can instantaneously carry out Google searches, instantly stream music and movies," added Prof Parkin.

"None of those things would be possible without the immense capacities of magnetic disk drives at the very low cost that is possible today... thanks to this spintronic sensing device."

Racetrack memory

The professor continues to work for IBM, and is hoping to spearhead a further storage revolution with an experimental technology he is developing for the firm called Racetrack memory.

Prof Parkin is currently working on a new type of storage codenamed Racetrack memory

The goal is to exploit spintronics to create a new type of storage that would consume less energy than magnetic disk drives but be as high-performing as solid-state flash memory - a more expensive alternative.

"By building a three-dimensional device with tiny nanoscopic wires in which a whole series of magnetic regions are raced to and fro, it can increase the storage capacity of conventional solid-state memory 100-fold," he said.

"It would be as fast and reliable as conventional solid state memories but would be as cheap and capacious as a magnetic disk drive - basically containing the best of both worlds."

While the professor is keen to highlight how his work has made it possible for the internet to offer vast amounts of information and entertainment, he acknowledges that the technology has also been used for more controversial purposes - including the storage and analysis of large amounts of information about the public by cyber-spy agencies.

Even so, he said he had few regrets.

"Of course it's a concern if people misuse data if they can," he said.

"It's like any scientific discovery or development - it can be used for good and sometimes used for bad.

"In my mind the goodness certainly outweighs any downside. The discoveries that can be made possible and the knowledge that can be gained by having access to the information certainly outweigh any negatives in my mind."

France Bans Mobile Phones During Cabinet Sessions

2014-04-10T15:20:00.001-07:00

Today in international tech news: France bans mobile phones during cabinet sessions; HP coughs up nine figures to make a bribery fiasco go away; a Swiss-built, solar-powered plane may fly around the globe; and Canada shuts down its online tax-filing service amid security fears.

French President Francois Hollande has imposed a ban on mobile phones during cabinet sessions, forcing ministers to leave their devices at the door.

The move is designed to help "focus on what we must do," a spokesperson said, and will ensure that government folk "talk and listen to what is said and will no longer be able to tap away at this magnificent tool."

French politicians have indeed been caught fiddling on devices when they should be, you know, executing the will of the people: Two French Members of Parliament last year were photographed playing Scrabble on devices during a gay marriage debate.

Of course, France is far from the only country where politicians have become distracted by phones, tablets and the like. China, for instance, recently prohibited officials at the National People's Congress from having smartphones. India, for its part, has had a problem with MPspeeking at porn in Parliament.

Facebook Mixes Up Mobile Messaging

2014-04-10T15:16:00.003-07:00

Facebook may have gummed up its messaging works by killing the feature that lets users send messages directly within its mobile app. Instead, they must go to its dedicated Messenger app, which many consider a pain. The goal most likely is to increase mobile advertising revenue. "From now on, every feature that we see is going to be driven by money," said social media expert Lon Safko.

Facebook is ditching the private messaging function in its main mobile application in favor of having the entire messaging experience take place inside the dedicated Messenger app.

The company launched the dedicated messaging app on iOS and Android in 2011, and later debuted it on Windows Phone.

Facebook redesigned the app in November, with a focus on aiding those who want to be reachable at all times. The company made the app faster, mobile focused, and easier to contact friends and important contacts.

Users get replies 20 percent faster through Messenger than on Facebook, said Facebook spokesperson Arielle Aryah.

It makes sense for Facebook to focus its resources on the fast, reliable messaging experience through Messenger, she told TechNewsWorld.

Europe First

Facebook has started to notify users in some European countries that they no longer will be able to send messages through the main Facebook app, and urging them to download Messenger. They will need to do so within the next couple of weeks. There's no announced timeline for a rollout in other regions as yet.

Those with an older or underpowered Android device with a version of Android too old to run Messenger, mobile Web users, and those who use Facebook's recently launched news app Paper will not be forcedto use Messenger for now. There is no version of Messenger for tablets as yet.

Those who already have Messenger installed cannot exchange messages in the Facebook app; instead, tapping the messages tab takes them to Messenger.

Facebook reportedly has planned the move at least since November.

Having messaging exist in the Facebook app meant there was more friction in replying to messages, and having a dedicated app would provide a more focused experience, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said at the time.

Mobile Strategy

The messaging shift appears to be part of Facebook's strategy to increase usage of its standalone applications. It currently has seven mobile apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp -- which it acquiredfor US$19 billion earlier this year -- and an app for managing Pages.

The company is battling other messaging services such as Kik and WeChat for attention in certain regions.

There are some advantages to users in having a separate messaging app. It has additional features that were not available through the main Facebook app. For instance, users may find it easier to communicate within groups and share their locations or photos.

The app lets users see which of their friends have viewed their messages and to quickly switch between conversations. The company recently added a feature allowing users to place free calls.

"In a messaging app, you'll be able to layer in some features that will allow you to control what you do in messaging different groups of people, managing conversations and threads, going back and looking at threads, that would be inherent to a native messaging app versus messaging inside of Facebook," Gordon Owens, digital marketing professional at GO Digital WSI, told TechNewsWorld.

"They're trying to make the features more robust, but I think by doing this it does make it less convenient," social media expert Lon Safko told TechNewsWorld.

"They're trying to both drive and force people to stay in the Facebook environment," he explained. "They don't want you going off on a side app or going over to one of their competitors. ... If it forces you to stay inside of Facebook, you're a captive audience."

Taking Up Space

Among the criticisms of Facebook's move are complaints that the Messenger app is not good enough, that users don't want another app taking up valuable real estate on their phone's screen, and that the change makes the Facebook experience on mobile more disparate and difficult.

"I'm sad to see the ability to message somebody right on Facebook go away. I'm more likely to message someone than if I have to jump over to another app," GO Digital's Owens said.

"When you're using a smartphone, you have a pretty small screen," noted Safko. "Having multiple apps is going to clutter things up. When you have clutter, ease of use becomes more difficult."

Revenue and Attention

In the end, the reasons for the move could boil down to two things: revenue and user attention.

"There's something about that that's either going to keep people on the one app, keep the people away from competitors, give you the opportunity to add in advertising where it wasn't before, or increase the advertising that is currently there in a certain kind of a way," Safko said.

"I'm sad to see this transition happen to the social media industry," he concluded, "because before when a feature was added, it was because they wanted to add more benefit to the customers. From now on, every feature that we see is going to be driven by money."

Which phones do world leaders use?

2014-03-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Apple and Samsung are hoping for some powerful customers as BlackBerry goes into decline. Could even Obama switch?

Barack Obama kept his beloved BlackBerry when he became president despite objections from the secret service. Photograph: Charles Ommanney/Getty Images

For years, the well-connected world leader would use nothing but aBlackBerry to get their email on the move – and it is still Barack Obama's phone of choice. He uses a model specially enhanced by the US National Security Agency. But the news earlier this month that the White House Communications Agency is testing other phones, including models bySamsung and LG, sent shivers through fans of the struggling Canadian smartphone company, which has just announced an annual loss of $5.8bn.

For a world leader, security is much more than just having a passcode on your phone; it also means protecting it against attempted incursions from all the amateur and professional hackers, and more importantly spy agencies, who want to know to whom, when, what and where you have been speaking and reading. For a country's leader to have their phone eavesdropped is the ultimate failure of their national spy agency, and a huge loss of face. With enhancements, BlackBerry has been the spy agencies' phone of choice to guard against that so far. Now, though,Apple and Samsung – the two largest makers of smartphones – are starting to knock on the security services' doors.

And what if BlackBerry goes away? Though it may have pulled out of a death spiral, BlackBerry's position as the phone of choice for top executives is less clear – and Apple has been touting (pdf) ever-improving security on its iPhone, which has been edging out BlackBerrys even in financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, once a redoubt for the keyboard-reliant phones. Yahoo, Pfizer and Halliburton have all said sayonara too.

As rival devices improve their security, it could only be a matter of time before Apple or Samsung becomes the US leader's phone – perhaps not during Obama's presidency, but in his successor's. Though the White House press secretary has insisted that "the executive office of the president is not participating in a pilot programme" to replace Obama's BlackBerry, it might only be a matter of time – though if Hillary Clinton succeeds him, her well-known affinity for it could extend its survival just a little longer.

Facebook buys UK maker of solar-powered drones to expand internet

2014-03-28T17:20:00.001-07:00

Mark Zuckerberg has plans to expand broadband coverage using unmanned high-altitude aircraft, satellites and lasers

Just 16% of Africa’s population used the internet last year, compared with 75% in Europe. Photograph: Yannick Tylle/Corbis

Facebook has bought a Somerset-based designer of solar-powereddrones for $20m (£12m) as it goes head-to-head with Google in a high-altitude race to connect the world's most remote locations to the internet.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, has unveiled plans to beam broadband connections from the skies, using satellites, lasers and unmanned high-altitude aircraft designed by the 51-year old British engineer Andrew Cox.

His Ascenta consultancy will become part of Facebook's Internet.org not-for-profit venture, joining a team of scientists and engineers who formerly worked at Nasa and the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

Facebook is building its Connectivity Lab as a direct challenge to Google's Project Loon, which is launching high-altitude balloons over New Zealand and hopes to establish an uninterrupted internet signal around the 40th parallel of the Earth's southern hemisphere.

The race to put the first man on the Moon was led by the US and Russian governments, but today it is private companies – the cash-rich digital corporations of Silicon Valley – that are driving the sub-space race. The ambition is to connect the billions of people who currently have no access to the world wide web.

"In our effort to connect the whole world with Internet.org, we've been working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky," Zuckerberg wrote on his blog. "Today, we're sharing some details of the work Facebook's Connectivity Lab is doing to build drones, satellites … and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone."

With 1.3 billion users, Facebook has already reached a large number of the estimated 3 billion people who use the internet. Connecting the other 4 billion will hugely expand its potential user base.

In what the Internet.org website describes as "one of the greatest challenges of our generation", engineers are trying to solve the problem of beaming fast, responsive internet signals to and from the Earth's surface from heights of 20,000 metres.

Facebook is exploring the potential of two types of craft – satellites, which could be used in remote rural locations from the Highlands of Scotland to the Amazon basin, and drones, which would fly over suburban areas.

Yael Maguire, an Internet.org engineer, explained: "In suburban environments we are looking at a new type of plane architecture that flies at 20,000 metres, at the point where the winds are the lowest. It's above commercial airlines, it's even above the weather. They circle around and broadcast internet down but significantly closer than a satellite."

Invisible infrared laser beams, which can carry large amounts of information at high speeds across space using free-space optical communication technology (FSO), will connect the satellites to each other and to receivers on the surface of the Earth.

The plans may sound like science fiction, but Jon Excell, the editor of The Engineer, said the use of sub-space drones as an alternative to satellites was already a credible technology.

"A lot of people have looked at this area," he said. "Satellite launches are just phenomenally expensive. Solar-powered craft are a lot cheaper because you don't have to launch them into space. They are also much easier to maintain. Satellites stay in orbit until they stop working, but these craft can be brought back down and repaired if anything goes wrong."

Just 16% of Africa's population used the internet last year, compared with 75% in Europe, but the drones and balloons being sent into space could soon bring it to areas where individuals do not yet have electricity or computers. Even in areas where there are no masts, however, the mobile phone is nearly ubiquitous. One in five people already own a smartphone.

BlackBerry developer: 37% of app downloads are for BB10 devices

2014-03-28T17:16:00.001-07:00

The troubled smartphone maker has a new challenge on the horizon, with data from its biggest developer showing that apps are far more popular on its poorer selling BB10 handsets

The BlackBerry Z10 was launched in January 2013 - so how much is it used by people who download and buy apps? Photograph: Mast Irham/EPA

Blackberry's developer community have the best overview of how its users are reacting to the ongoing financial drama at the company.

Hong Kong-based S4BB is the biggest Blackberry app developer, by some estimates its apps comprise one-third of all those available in the BlackBerry app store.

The company's handset sales and revenues have plummeted to seven-year lows, and customers seem to be rejecting the firm's touchscreen handsets that run the BB10 operating system.

Only 1.3m BB10 devices were sold in the first three months of 2014, compared to 3.4m of the older phones running BB7, with more customers still choosing the more familiar fixed-keyboard model.

S4BB's chief executive Patrick Kosiol told the Guardian that when it comes to apps, at least, BB10 is working well - and there's no drop off in sales compared to six months ago.

"They have not moved up by much, but also not moved down even though BlackBerry's market share was sliding a bit on the consumer side," Kosiol said. The explanation is that market share is about sales, not installed base.

Data shared with The Guardian shows the comparative share of app downloads and sales. S4BB has a lot of free apps and paid-for apps, but what's clear is that BB10 makes up a significant amount of both.

The popularity of apps on BB10 (which runs the Z10, Q10, Q5 and Q30 phones) is borne out by two set of data from Kosiol:

Top 5 popular devices 6 months ago: Z10 (17%), 9900 (12%), 9320 (11%), Q10 (10%), 9790 (6%)

Top 5 popular devices now: Z10 (42%), Q10 (18%), Q5 (8%), Z30 (8%), 9900 (5%)

In other words, BB10 devices have gone from being 27% of the top five devices, to 76%. (The figures don't add up to 100% because it's only the top five devices.)

Top 5 countries 6 months ago: Indonesia (43%), South Africa (9%), UK (9%), Canada (8%), US (7%)

Top 5 countries now: Indonesia (24%), Canada (11%), US (9%), Saudi Arabia (8%), UK (7%)

On this data, Indonesia remains a core market for the company, and this is borne out by its geographical revenue split, though Canada and Saudi Arabia are undergoing a revival of Blackberry app use. (Counterintuitively, the trends in BlackBerry's geographical revenues show that, perhaps, Europe is still its biggest source of revenue.)

BlackBerry revenues by geographical area, as percentage. Photograph: BlackBerry

What does Kosiol think of BlackBerry's new focus on corporate customers? How will that affect his business?

"Firstly, BlackBerry needs to return to profitability as soon as possible. Without profitability it’s hard to compete in any market. That counts for BlackBerry as well as for us as independent app creators. I believe in John Chen and his strategy, and all the dedicated folks of Team BlackBerry.

"In our view, the change in focus does not have a negative effect on our business - on the contrary, I believe the sharpened focus on the key strengths BlackBerry devices bring to the table will benefit the brand and its image worldwide."

He adds: "Obviously, we at S4BB Limited are mainly targeting consumers, and in most parts of the world consumers are very brand-sensitive. A stronger BlackBerry brand - even with a strong focus on enterprise and security - will benefit the consumer business in the long term by offering a very distinct differentiation to other platforms and devices.

"All in all, I believe focusing on corporate markets is good for BlackBerry’s business from a financial and branding standpoint, and it will have a positive affect on our business as app creators. We expect a lot from the upcoming BlackBerry Z3 launch and believe it will drive revenue on our (consumer) side significantly."

20 best Android apps and games this week

2014-03-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

Me Comics, NBA 2K14, Photowall for Chromecast, Star Wars: Assault Team, Readly, Timehop and more

Me Comics helps kids provide narration for digital comics.

It's time for this week's roundup of the best new Android apps and games. This week sees a mixture of comics, photo-slinging, magazines, basketball, Star Wars and golfing-themed Flappy Birdity.

Prices are correct at the time of writing, with “IAP” indicating whether in-app purchases are used within the app or game. Looking for iPhone and iPad apps instead? That roundup will be published on Monday morning.

APPS

Me Comics (Free + IAP)

Aimed at children, this is a collection of digital comics including Transformers, My Little Pony, The Beano and several Disney brands. Parents buy individual issues or bundles via in-app purchases, then children read them and record their own dialogue and sound effects.

Photowall for Chromecast (Free)

Released by Google just in time for the launch of its Chromecast dongle in the UK, this is described as an "experiment". The idea: you install the app, take a photo, then sling it to your Chromecast-equipped TV. Friends do likewise, then the resulting "photowall" is turned into a YouTube video. Why? It's an experiment...

Readly (Free)

Available in Sweden for a while, Readly has now crossed the North Sea to the UK. It's essentially a Netflix or Spotify-style service for digital magazines: you pay a £9.99 monthly subscription for unlimited access to 114 mags. IPC, Haymarket, DC Thomson and Time Out are among the partner publishers at launch.

Timehop (Free)

This is a fun idea: an app that aims to take you back to "celebrate the best moments of the past". Your past, obviously: it jumps back in time and pulls in your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Foursquare activity to play back what you were doing (for example) a year ago.

Link Bubble (Free)

Link Bubble is a more useful app: a mobile browser designed to fit neatly around your app behaviour. The idea: when you click on a link within an app, the web page is loaded in the background then pops up when it's ready. Link Bubble also makes moving between Android apps a bit smoother, and plays nicely with read-it-later services like Pocket too.

Reactr: Messenger + Reactions (Free)

More social fun, here, albeit in an app guaranteed to make readers of a certain age and disposition boggle. It's an app built entirely for sending photos and videos to friends, then getting sent back their reaction to it – shot using their front-facing camera. A novelty, yep, but the kind that might catch on.

iPegs - Form Builder Pro (Free)

Swinging back to the useful end of the apps spectrum, iPegs does what it says in the subtitle: builds forms on your device, whether you're conducting a survey, taking a register or filling in a timesheet. It puts results into charts, and can even be used to digitally sign and date-stamp documents.

Facets (£0.99)

Finally: wallpapers. 365 of them, to be specific, all created by an Australian artist called Justin Maller, who spent a year creating a different image every day. And yes, there are lots of wallpaper apps on Android, but the images here are genuinely the kind of thing you might want on your homescreen – a much rarer quality.

GAMES

NBA 2K14 (£5.74 + IAP)

2K Games has finally brought its latest mobile basketball sim to the Google Play store, promising spiffing graphics, licensed players and teams, and a thumping soundtrack. There's also a choice of two control methods, including a 'one-finger' mode built for touchscreens.

Star Wars: Assault Team (Free + IAP)

There are a fair few Star Wars games available, including the excellent Tiny Death Star and two Angry Birds Star Wars games. This newest title, from LucasArts, is a turn-based card-battling game featuring a host of heroes and villains from the Star Wars universe, with solo quests and player-v-player online battling.

Epoch.2 (£1.39 + IAP)

The first Epoch game was marvellous, but now it's got a "post-apocalyptic robot combat" sequel. You play robot Epoch, stuck in the middle of a planet-wide robowar (no, not Google's robots versus Facebook's drones) searching for a mysterious princess. Impressive graphics and frenetic action make it hard to put down.

Captain America: TWS (Free + IAP)

Superheroes have proved to be more fertile ground for Android gaming in recent times. This latest game from Gameloft focuses on Captain America and his S.H.I.E.L.D. Strike Team: a tactical combat game starring several Marvel villains, and some striking comic book-like visuals.

Castle Doombad (£1.82 + IAP)

Yes, there are lots of tower defence games for Android, but developers keep managing to come up with new spins on the genre. This is the work of Adult Swim: a game that sees you playing an evil mastermind trying to fend off heroes who want to rescue a kidnapped princess. Your job is to place traps and monsters to ensure they fail, in a cartoonish slice of fun.

Golfy Bird (Free)

If this has you worrying about a golf-themed Flappy Bird clone... well, it kind of is that, but done by Noodlecake Studios, a talented and respected developer. The game applies Flappy Bird's gameplay onto the courses from Noodlecake's Super Stickman Golf 2 game, produced as part of an industry-wide Flappy Jam game jam. It's very fun.

Neon Commander (Free + IAP)

Here's an inventive, modern take on Space Invaders, with the twist that you're using a plasma shield to bounce bullets back at the fleet of alien invaders. Developer HeroCraft describes it as a cross between Pong, Breakout and Arkanoid (the latter two being similar, of course). There's neon all over the shop, too.

Globlins (Free + IAP)

This puzzle game comes from Cartoon Network, and stars more aliens – this time of the brainwashing variety. Your job is to explode grids full of "Globlin-infested brains", with 60 levels to work through, and a decent amount of care put into the puzzle design. In-app purchases are used for power-ups, so parents will need to have The Talk with children playing it alone.

DJMax Technika Q (Free + IAP)

The DJMax games are new to me, but they appear to have a healthy following from their arcade and console versions. This new mobile outing is an entertaining music rhythm game, with social rankings and more than 50 songs to tap along to.

Little Big Adventure (£2.49)

Talking of old games, this is a brand new port of 1994 PC game Little Big Adventure. It may leave some modern gamers cold, but will bathe fans in a warm glow of nostalgia as they return to explore the virtual world of Twinsen. Action and RPG elements are well-honed to give it genuine depth.

Red Bull Racers (Free + IAP)

Here's something thoroughly modern: a branded driving game, released to promote Red Bull's various racing sponsorships. Tight turns and sticking to the track are part of it, but the real fun comes from the jumps and loops. You wouldn't see that in Formula 1...

Noah Should (Free)

Finally, perhaps the most characterful game of this week on Android: a game all about Noah and his ark, albeit not based on the new film. You catch animals, fill up the boat and unlock new powers and vessels. Bags of charm, and no little challenge.

Those are our picks, but what have you been enjoying on Android this week? Post your recommendations (or feedback on these) in the comments section.

Microsoft announces privacy changes in wake of blogger's email search

2014-03-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Revelation that Microsoft had searched email and instant messages caused outrage among customers

The change in policy comes after Microsoft revealed it had searched a blogger’s email and instant messages Photograph: Bogdan Cristel /Reuters

Microsoft announced an overhaul of its customer service agreement Friday in the wake of angry reactions to the news that it had searched a blogger’s email account in an attempt to discover the identity of an employee leaking its software.

“Effective immediately, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property from Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer’s private content ourselves. Instead, we will refer the matter to law enforcement if further action is required,” general counsel Brad Smith said in a blogpost.

Smith said in the coming months the company would incorporate the change in its customer terms of service, so that it’s clear to consumers and binding on Microsoft.

Civil rights advocates reacted positively to the news. “Wow. An impressive change in policy re: email searches from Microsoft after criticism last week. Will Google follow?” Christopher Soghoian, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) principal technologist, said on Twitter. In a second tweet, he added, “Microsoft's legal team (and their privacy team who were involved in discussions) deserve serious praise for this change in policy. Bravo.”

The change comes after Microsoft revealed it had searched a blogger’s email and instant messages and, allegedly, found correspondence with Alex Kibkalo, a Russian native who worked for Microsoft as a software architect. Kibkalo was arrested in Seattle last week, and is accused of leaking Windows 8 to the unnamed tech blogger.

The revelation caused outrage, and Microsoft acted to tighten up its privacy rules. But its latest move goes much further.

“It’s always uncomfortable to listen to criticism. But if one can step back a bit, it’s often thought-provoking and even helpful. That was definitely the case for us over the past week. Although our terms of service, like those of others in our industry, allowed us to access lawfully the account in this case, the circumstances raised legitimate questions about the privacy interests of our customers,” Smith wrote in the blog post.

“In part we have thought more about this in the context of other privacy issues that have been so topical during the past year. We’ve entered a “post-Snowden era” in which people rightly focus on the ways others use their personal information. As a company we’ve participated actively in the public discussions about the proper balance between the privacy rights of citizens and the powers of government. We’ve advocated that governments should rely on formal legal processes and the rule of law for surveillance activities.

“While our own search was clearly within our legal rights, it seems apparent that we should apply a similar principle and rely on formal legal processes for our own investigations involving people who we suspect are stealing from us.”

Smith said Microsoft had reached out to advocacy groups the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to help identify “best practices from other industries and consider the best solutions for the future of digital services.”

“We hope that other companies will join in as well. Ultimately, these types of questions affect us all, and they will benefit from even more of the thought-provoking discussions that the events from last week have encouraged,” Smith said.

Google overtakes Intel as world's biggest 'dealmaker'

2014-02-15T14:56:00.001-08:00

Google has made more deals than any company in the world over the past three years, according to Bloomberg
Photo: AFPBy Sophie Curtis

From buying a digital thermostat developer to selling a mobile phone business, Google has executed more deals than any company in the world over the past three years.

Including acquisitions, investments and divestments, Google has been involved with 127 deals in the past three years -- more than double the number from January 2008 to 2011, according to data complied byBloomberg. Intel, which led the previous three-year period with 104 deals, fell to third with 121 transactions.

Google has ramped up its acquisition process since the appointment of Larry Page as chief executive in 2011. Under his leadership, the company has used its vast cash resources, which totalled $58.7bn (£35.4bn) in the company's most recent financial results, to invest in connected devices, business services and mobile applications.

The mergers and acquisitions group, led by Don Harrison, has reportedly expanded by at least 50pc in the past two years, and Google Ventures has become a big start-up spender, while a new group called Google Capital backs later-stage companies.

“It is absolutely starting to feel like a deal machine,” said Maha Ibrahim, a partner at venture firm Canaan Partners, which has co-invested with Google Ventures and Google Capital. “Because they have such a diverse base of interests, you see these acquisitions coming out of left field that have very little to do on the surface with the ad business.”Major deals involve the acquisition of digital thermostat maker Nest Labsfor $3.2bn, mapping software provider Waze for almost $1bn, robotics firm Boston Dynamics for an undisclosed sum, and London-basedartificial intelligence developer DeepMind for a reported £400m.

Google's venture arm was also involved in the two biggest private funding rounds for US technology companies in 2013 -- online questionnaire service SurveyMonkey (which raised about $444m in January 2013) and taxi-booking app Uber, (which raised $361.2m in August).

Meanwhile, Google agreed to sell its Motorola handset business to Lenovo last month for $2.91bn, while retaining key patents valued at $5.5bn. Google also sold off Motorola’s set-top box business for $2.24 billion last year.

Although Google was the biggest dealmaker by volume over the three years, it was outshone by other companies in terms of money spent. The total value of Google’s deals was $17.6bn during the period, trailing companies such as General Electric at $19.9bn and Blackstone Group LP at $62.3bn.

Mobile phones 'pose no health risk' according to report

2014-02-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

UK research group publishes its final report which shows no evidence of health risks linked to mobile phone use
The report found that there is no evidence that the use of mobile phones leads to an increased risk of cancerBy Lucy Kinder

There is no evidence of mobile phones causing any health risks according to the UK’s largest programme of research into the possible link.

Following 11 years of research, the mobile telecommunications and health research programme (MTHR) has published its final report on the matter.

It found that there is no evidence that the use of mobile phones leads to an increased risk of cancer.

It also found that there was no evidence that exposure to mobile phone base station emissions during pregnancy affects the risk of developing cancer in early childhood.

Professor David Coggon, the chairman of MTHR, said “When the MTHR programme was first set up, there were many scientific uncertainties about possible health risks from mobile phones and related technology."This independent programme is now complete, and despite exhaustive research, we have found no evidence of risks to health from the radio waves produced by mobile phones or their base stations.

"Thanks to the research conducted within the programme, we can now be much more confident about the safety of modern telecommunications systems."

The £13.6 million MTHR programme has been jointly funded by the UK government and the telecommunications industry.

Throughout its existence, the programme has been overseen by an independent committee to ensure that none of the funding bodies could influence the outcomes of the research.

Despite the findings, Professor Coggon warned that there are still some questions to be answered about the impact of mobile phone use on health.

He said: "There is less uncertainty linked to mobile phone use now so we have much less reason to be worried.

"However you cannot rule out the posibility either that something might happen in the long term but not be manifested in the early years of mobile phones, or that there us something subtler that doesn’t show up in the studies that have been done up until now."

The MTHR has provided funding to set up a new study which will look at long-term mobile phone use.

The COSMOS study will follow 100,000 long-term mobile phone users to see if there are any delayed adverse effects linked to mobile phone use.

.

Japanese online shopping giant buys Viber for £540m

2014-02-15T14:36:00.002-08:00

The Japanese online shopping firm which owns Play.com has bought free call and text message app Viber in a deal worth £540m

By Matthew Sparkes

The Japanese online shopping firm which owns Play.com has bought free call and text message app Viber in a deal worth £540m.

Rakuten only owns the Canadian company behind the e-reader Kobo but also operates a large e-commerce store in the Japanese market. Rakuten said in a statement that it made the purchase to "strengthen its global platform" and help it in its goal to become the "number one internet services company".

The company has been building what it calls the "Rakuten Ecosystem" which brings together the various services offered by the company and gives a common account to users across all of them, offering a rewards program for purchases.

It is thought the Viber could be used to bolster this offering and also provide new segment of users to tap into. Cyprus-based Viber claims to have 280m registered users around the world, 100m of whom are active each month. It is also expanding rapidly into emerging markets.

Viber allows users to send text messages, make phone calls and share photographs free of charge across mobile devices and desktops and is particularly popular in the Middle East.

Last year officials in Saudi Arabia threated to ban services such as Viber and Skype unless the telecoms companies that own them allowed conversations to be monitored by the government.

The move to monitor the sites by the government in Saudi Arabia comes amid an explosion in social media use in the country. Saudi Arabia has the highest take up of Twitter in the world, and also one of the most conservative governments.