Science

Defiant Blackberry boss dismisses Nokia jibe

2011-02-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

Research In Motion's boss has dismissed suggestions that its Blackberry devices are no longer a major player

in the smartphone race.

Jim Balsillie told BBC News that the firm should not be written off.
It follows comments by Nokia's Stephen Elop, who said that the smartphone ecosystem was now a three horse race between Windows, Android and Apple.
"I don't know how you can say that we are not in the race," said Mr Balsillie at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
He said that Blackberry had experienced 70% growth last year and was the number one phone in the UK.
Figures from research firm Gfk show that the phone maker had 28.2% of the UK smartphone market in 2010.
However, the firm trails Google, Nokia and Apple in terms of market share, according to figures from Canalys.
"Are people writing us off? We have had huge growth in the last year. I wouldn't write us off," he said.
He was also keen to shake off RIM's business focussed image.
"80% of our subscribers are consumers."
Blackberry is forging a new link with younger, teenage consumers who are flocking to the handset because of Blackberry messaging.
Analysts have characterised 2011 as a year of transition for Blackberry as it moves away from its traditional business roots.
But for Mr Balsillie the greatest change is the move into larger devices.
"The biggest transition for us is that we are coming out with tablets," he said.
The firm announced its Playbook tablet device in September 2010.
In Barcelona, the firm also said that would be launching a 4G Playbook in the second half of the year. None of its tablets have yet hit shop shelves, but are expected in the coming weeks.
It has been a difficult year for RIM in countries such as Saudi Arabia and India, where governments want to gain greater access to the tight security system used for Blackberry's business users.
Mr Balsillie said the company's policy had not changed, despite significant growth amongst Indian consumers.
"We want to abide by local laws while also supporting our systems," he said.
RIM has always maintained that it cannot interfere with the encryption system set up to protect its business customers' messages.
It remained in talks with the government in India, said a spokesman.

'Johannes Kepler' space freighter launch delayed

2011-02-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

A technical problem prevented Europe's unmanned space freighter from launching to the space station on Tuesday.

The Johannes Kepler robotic truck was due to lift off from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket.
But with barely four minutes left on the countdown clock, the mission was called off by the rocket's operator.
Telemetry suggested the Ariane had a measurement fault in its fuelling system. A Wednesday launch has now been set for 1850 local time (2150 GMT).
At more than 20 tonnes, the European Space Agency (Esa) truck is set to become the heaviest payload an Ariane rocket has ever lifted into the sky.
The robotic ship will be delivering food, air, fuel, experiments and other equipment to the International Space Station (ISS).
Another key task for the freighter in the coming months will be to push the orbiting platform to a higher altitude.
The ISS has a tendency to lose height over time as it brushes through the residual atmosphere still present 350km above the Earth.
Johannes Kepler will dock with the rear of the platform and use its propulsive might to boost the station's orbit.
One consequence of Tuesday's postponement at the Kourou spaceport is that Nasa's shuttle Discovery will also now be delayed in its mission to the ISS.
The freighter and the shuttle use the same data relay satellites in flight, and mission managers will not permit the two ships to be en route to the station at the same time.
With Discovery due to launch only a day after Kepler docks at the ISS, any hold up in the freighter's schedule immediately impacts the shuttle's timeline, too.
A Wednesday launch for Kepler would have it docking with the ISS on 24 February, with a Discovery launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida then taking place on 25 February.
The Ariane missions that launch telecommunications satellites enjoy an extended "window" in which to get the rocket off the ground, meaning the vehicle can be held for a few minutes if a technical issue arises that can be solved easily. But because the freighter must chase down the over-flying space station, its launch opportunity is necessarily instantaneous. If it does not launch in the moment, its ability to catch the platform in orbit is lost for that day.

Click to play

An artist's impression of ATV2 Johannes Kepler flying over France

Down's syndrome DNA blood test 'better screening offer

2011-01-12T07:29:00.001-08:00

The blood test looks for foetal DNA

A DNA blood test for Down's syndrome could save nearly all pregnant women from invasive tests like amniocentesis, say experts.

Invasive testing takes place in 3% to 5% of pregnant women in the UK - some 30,000 women - and increases the risk of miscarriag

The new DNA blood test could bring this down to 0.1%, according to a study in the British Medical Journal.

Around one woman in every 100 who has an invasive test will miscarry.

Some faced with the dilemma choose not to go for a diagnostic test - which involves having a needle inserted into their bump to draw off a sample of placenta cells or some of the fluid that bathes the baby - particularly if their estimated risk of having a child with Down's syndrome is smaller than the chance of miscarriage.

“

The non-invasive DNA blood test could offer another option.

How it works

Babies with Down's syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21, causing physical and intellectual impairments.

As DNA can cross the placenta from the baby to the mother, the blood test can look for this extra chromosome.

Scientists believe it should be rolled out as a screening test in the future based on their findings.

The latest study - the largest to date, based on 753 pregnant women in Hong Kong, the UK and the Netherlands - shows that it could bring the number of invasive tests down significantly, by about 98%.

This is because current NHS screening has a "false positive" rate of about 5%, meaning 5% will be told they are carrying a baby with Down's when they are not.

If these women were given the DNA blood test instead, almost all invasive procedures could be avoided, according to the researchers.

For example, each year in the UK some 30,000 pregnancy women undergo invasive testing and around 10% of these end up with a diagnosis of Down's.

Doing a DNA blood test beforehand would mean fewer than 4,000 women would still need an invasive test.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides of King's College London, who led the research along with colleagues from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the test would be welcomed by many women.

"Some women, understandably, are fearful of invasive tests.

"This extra screen is non-invasive and would save many from needing further investigation.

"Our study shows it is feasible to use in clinical practice."

He said the test was still too expensive and needed further study before it could be rolled out to be used routinely - something that could take 10 years.

The ultimate goal is to make it 100% accurate so that invasive tests could be dispensed with completely.

Currently, three women in every hundred that test positive would not actually have a baby with Down's.

Professor Lyn Chitty of University College London has also been trialling Down's DNA blood tests.

She said: "I suspect there are many women who would welcome such a test and it may lead to a lot more women accepting the offer for screening."

But she said it would be important to counsel women about the shortcomings of test.

"As yet, the results are not accurate enough to inform important decisions, like whether to continue the pregnancy."

Testing for Down's syndrome

All pregnant women are offered screening for Down's syndrome
Screening entails an ultrasound scan of the baby and a normal blood test for the mum
From the results, experts can estimate a woman's risk of having a baby with Down's
Women at higher risk can then opt to go for an invasive diagnostic test that will tell them if their baby has Down's
There are two invasive diagnostic tests - amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling
Both involve inserting a needle into the womb to collect cells or fluid from around the baby
The new blood test could reduce the number of high risk women needing an invasive test by adding an extra level of screening

Experts claim to discover 'cause' of male baldness

2011-01-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

Nearly half of men experience some degree of baldness by the age of 50

Experts say they have discovered what they believe is the cause of male pattern baldness.

It is not simply a lack of hair, but rather a problem with the new hair that is made.

A manufacturing defect means the hair produced is so small it appears invisible to the naked eye, giving the classic bald spot or receding hairline.

The US team told the Journal of Clinical Investigation the fault lies with the stem cells that make new hair.

It may be possible to 'cure' male baldness by restoring the normal function of these cells, the experts hope.

Ultimately, they hope to be able to develop a cream that could be applied to the scalp to help the stem cells grow normal hair.

Using men undergoing hair transplants as guinea pigs, the University of Pennsylvania team compared hair follicles in bald patches and hairy areas of the scalp.

Although bald areas had the same number of hair-making stem cells as normal scalp, there were fewer of a more mature type, called the progenitor cell.

This difference means that hair follicles in bald patches shrink rather than disappear and the new hairs made are microscopic compared to normal hair.

Dr George Cotsarelis who led the research said: "This implies that there is a problem in the activation of stem cells converting progenitor cells in bald scalp.

"The fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bald scalp gives us hope for reactivating those stem cells."

Until now it has been unclear what the exact cause of male pattern baldness is, but experts believe the male hormone testosterone is involved and baldness also tends to run in families.

Are you bald? If so, what is your reaction to this research? You can send us your views and experiences using the form below.

Connect with Friends and Family Online

2010-12-30T05:56:00.000-08:00

Email and Messaging

How many times a year do we make that extra effort to get in touch with friends and family for a friendly greeting? This year, with the entire world's mind seemingly focused on things related to the economy, why not consider these alternative and inexpensive options to get you through?

Reach out and touch someone. So, you've got family from west coast to east coast and everywhere in between and on just about every continent. And if you're not careful, the chatty Cathy in your house—or Carl respectively—and that might be you—will have your phone bill rivaling that of the national debt.

Luckily, you can contact everyone you know on every continent and you can do it for FREE. How, you ask? Through this wonderful little thing I like to call "the Internet". Here are some wonderful ways to call, chat, video conference, etc.:

Instant Messaging (IM). What's so cool about IM? First, it's free to get the software, free to chat with friends, and if you've got a Webcam and a microphone, you don't even have to type. You can look at your friend or family member and chat just like you would in person via video conference. But with this option, unlike in person, you have the added benefit of not having to share your holiday cookies.
Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). The name sounds more complicated than it really is. There two VoIP options—you can go and purchase a monthly service plan and use your normal phone—or you can got the totally free route over the Internet with a microphone. That means you can talk with anyone, anywhere on earth, as long as they have a connected computer. How awesome is that? Catching up on the last 20 years (or more) with your best friend from grade school? Talking with Mom, Dad, uncles, aunts, cousins, sisters, brothers... and without fear of going broke? Priceless!

Free e-cards

To find e-cards simply type "free e-cards" or "e-greetings" into your favorite search engine—or you can try out one of these:

Blue Mountain
Hallmark—yes! They do e-cards too!
American Greetings

Say goodbye to stamps and hello e-greetings. Unlike "snail mail", electronic greetings or e-greeting are customizable and are another way to say, "I'm thinking of you". And it's super simple whether you're a novice or expert Internet guru. All you need is your list of email addresses and you're a few clicks away from sending your friends and loved ones personal greetings that are funny, cute, touching and interactive. And you can schedule the time when they go out—today, tomorrow, three weeks from now, whenever.

The mother of all family newsletters. If you're a newsletter writer, there is nothing better than having access to a computer with a good word processing program. With so much available (free) clip art options, along with your own photo library of digital images, you can create a newsletter that's the ultimate show-and-tell as to where you've been in the last year. Not only that? You can email it to friends and family members, no stamp required.

Even better? Consider creating a photo blog—simply send a link and they can point, click, and see and read the wonderful things you've been doing all year long.

If you are looking for a new computer to do all these wonderful things with, consider laptop and desktop PCs with Intel Inside® and stay connected.

Six foods that are making Americans fat

2010-12-29T06:08:00.000-08:00

Two out of three people in America today are either overweight or obese. That means every time you sit down in an airplane or a packed movie theater, more likely than not you’re going to wind up as the lean center of a fat sandwich. But as you look right and left and see nothing but heft, you can’t help but think, What happened?

How did we all get so darn fat?

Well, the simple answer is that we eat more calories. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that American men eat 7 percent more calories than they did in 1971; American women eat a whopping 18 percent more—an additional 335 calories a day! But the harder question is this: Why do we eat so many more calories? Are we suddenly more gluttonous? Do we have some kind of collective death wish? Is the entire country hellbent on qualifying for the next season ofBiggest Loser?

No. There’s an even crazier reason: It’s the food!

We’ve added extra calories to traditional foods, often in cheap, mass-produced vehicles like high fructose corn syrup. These new freak foods are designed not by chefs, but by lab technicians packing every morsel with maximum calories at minimum cost—with little or no regard to dietary impact. Indeed, Eat This, Not That! 2011 has uncovered the truth about some of your favorite fast food and grocery store items and how they're causing you to pack on unnecessary pounds. It’s enough to kill your appetite, which—in these cases, anyway—would be a good thing.

Bonus Tip: Don't miss our year-end walk down The Restaurant Hall of Shame: The 20 Worst Foods of 2010!

THE FAST-FOOD HAMBURGER
The great American staple. Don’t worry, burgers really do come from cows—but have you ever wondered how those giant chains process and distribute so much meat so cheaply? And . . . are you sure you want to know?

The Truth: Most fast-food hamburger patties begin their voyage to your buns in the hands of a company called Beef Products. The company specializes in taking slaughterhouse trimmings—heads and hooves and the like—that are traditionally used only in pet food and cooking oil, and turning them into patties. The challenge is getting this byproduct meat clean enough for human consumption, as both E. coli and salmonella like to concentrate themselves in the fatty deposits.

The company has developed a process for killing beef-based pathogens by forcing the ground meat through pipes and exposing it to ammonia gas—the same chemical you might use to clean your bathroom. Not only has the USDA approved the process, but it's also allowed those who sell the beef to keep it hidden from their customers. At Beef Products’ behest, ammonia gas has been deemed a “processing agent” that need not be identified on nutrition labels. Never mind that if ammonia gets on your skin, it can cause severe burning, and if it gets in your eyes, it can blind you. Add to the gross-out factor the fact that after moving through this lengthy industrial process, a single beef patty can consist of cobbled-together pieces from different cows from all over the world—a practice that only increases the odds of contamination.

Eat This Instead: Losing weight starts in your own kitchen, by using the same ingredients real chefs have relied on since the dawn of the spatula. (Here are the15 best dishes for quick and easy weight loss.) If you’re set on the challenge of eating fresh, single-source hamburger, pick out a nice hunk of sirloin from the meat case and have your butcher grind it up fresh. Hold the ammonia.

BETTY CROCKER'S BAC-O BITS
We’ve all been there before: A big bowl of lettuce or a steamy baked potato is set before us and the sudden desire for a bit of smoky, porky goodness pervades. We try to resist, but we grab for the bottle anyway: Mmmmm . . . bacon.

The Truth: Not quite. If it’s Bac-Os you grab for, just know that there’s not the slightest whiff of anything pork-like to be found in the bottle. So what are those little chips you’ve been shaking over your salads? Well, mostly soybeans. The bulk of each Bac-O is formed by tiny clumps of soy flour bound with trans-fatty, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and laced with artificial coloring, salt, and sugar. The result is a product that’s actually less healthy for your heart than the real thing!

Eat This Instead: Hormel makes a product called Real Bacon Bits, and as the name implies, it’s made with real bacon. And gram-for-gram, the real bacon actually has fewer calories than Betty Crocker’s Bac-Os. If Hormel can make a nutritionally superior product using real bacon, then why would you ever choose the artificial one that’s loaded with partially hydrogenated soybean oil?

PREMADE GUACAMOLE
When you buy bean dip, you expect it to be made from beans. And when you buy guacamole, it seems reasonable to expect it to be made from avocados. But is it?

The Truth: Most guacamoles with the word “dip” attached to the label suffer from a lack of real avocado. Take Dean’s Guacamole, for example. This guacamole dip is composed of less than 2 percent avocado; the rest of the green goo is a cluster of fillers and chemicals, including modified food starch, soybean oils, locust bean gum, and food coloring. Dean’s is not alone in this offense. In fact, this avocado caper was brought to light when a California woman filed a lawsuit against Kraft after she noticed “it just didn’t taste avocadoey.”

Eat This Instead: Avocados are loaded with fiber and heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. Trading the good stuff in for a bunch of fillers is cheating both your belly and your tastebuds. Either look for the real stuff (Wholly Guacamole makes a great guac), or mash up a bowl yourself. Scoop out the flesh of two avocados, combine with two cloves of minced garlic, a bit of minced onion, the juice of one lemon, chopped cilantro, one medium chopped tomato, and a pinch of salt.

Bonus Tip: Unlike packaged-food manufacturers, fast-food and sit-down restaurants don't typically rely on chemicals to enhance flavor. Instead, they pack in sugar and sodium, calorie counts be damned. Beware of The 10 Worst Fast Food Meals in America!

FRUIT ON THE BOTTOM YOGURT
It seems like the ideal breakfast or snack for a man or woman on the go—a perfect combination of yogurt and antioxidant-packed fruits, pulled together in one convenient little cup. But are these low-calorie dairy aisle staples really so good for you?

The Truth: While the yogurt itself offers stomach-soothing live cultures and a decent serving of protein, the sugar content of these seemingly healthy products is sky-high. The fruit itself is swimming in thick syrup—so much of it, in fact, that high-fructose corn syrup (and other such sweeteners) often shows up on the ingredients list well before the fruit itself. And these low-quality refined carbohydrates are the last thing you want for breakfast—Australian researchers found that people whose diets were high in carbohydrates had lower metabolisms than those who ate proportionally more protein. Not to mention, spikes in your blood sugar can wreck your short-term memory, according to a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Not what you need just before your urgent 9 a.m. meeting with the boss!

Eat This Instead: Plain Greek-style yogurt, mixed with real blueberries. We like Oikos and Fage brands—they’re jacked with about 15 to 22 grams of belly-filling protein, so they’ll help you feel satisfied for longer. And blueberries are another great morning add—scientists in New Zealand found that when they fed blueberries to mice, the rodents ate 9 percent less at their next meal.

Bonus Tip: Daily e-mails (or tweets) that contain weight-loss advice remind you of your goals and help you drop pounds, according to Canadian researchers. We're partial to our own Eat This, Not That! newsletter, and to the instant weight-loss secrets you'll get when you follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/davezinczenko).

TURKEY BACON
Pork bacon’s got a bad rap for wreaking havoc on your cholesterol. But is turkey bacon really any better?

The Truth: Stick with the pig. As far as calories go, the difference between “healthy” turkey bacon and “fatty” pig is negligible—and depending on the slice, turkey might sometimes tip the scales a touch more. Additionally, while turkey is indeed a leaner meat, turkey bacon isn’t made from 100 percent bird: One look at the ingredients list will show a long line of suspicious additives and extras that can’t possibly add anything of nutritional value. And finally, the sodium content of the turkey bacon is actually higher than what you’ll find in the kind that oinks—so if you’re worried about your blood pressure, opting for the original version is usually the smarter move.

Eat This Instead: Regular bacon. We like Hormel Black Label and Oscar Mayer Center Cut bacon for some low-cal, low-additive options.

REDUCED-FAT PEANUT BUTTER
Nothing makes a PB&J feel less indulgent like a scoop of low-fat Jif. It’s low fat, so it must be better for you . . . right?

The Truth: A tub of reduced-fat peanut butter indeed comes with a fraction less fat than the full-fat variety—they’re not lying about that. But what the food companies don’t tell you is that peanut oil—the fat in peanut butter—is a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat that can actually help fight weight gain, heart disease and diabetes! Instead, they’ve tried to cash in on the “low-fat” craze by replacing that healthy fat with maltodextrin, a carbohydrate used as a filler in many processed foods. This means you’re trading the healthy fat from peanuts for empty carbs, double the sugar, and a savings of a meager 10 calories.

Eat This Instead: The real stuff: no oils, fillers, or added sugars. Just peanuts and salt. Smucker’s Natural fits the bill, as do many other peanut butters out there. We especially like Peanut Butter & Co. Original Smooth Operator and Original Crunch Time.

Drug row sets Pakistan scientists against ministries

2010-12-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood and infected bodily fluids

Efforts to produce a cheap local version of a hepatitis B drug have ground to a halt in Pakistan amidst a row between a leading scientist and senior officials from two government ministries.

Officials claim to have evidence that scientists involved in the drug's production have cut corners in carrying out trials, abused resources and misused research funds.

But two of the scientists said they feel they are being deliberately prevented from launching the drug, interferon, because it could undermine the lucrative contracts for supplying it currently held by international pharmaceutical companies.

Viral hepatitis B is endemic in Pakistan, with an estimated seven million people infected,according to research published by the Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences in 2009.

The government's claims relate to scientists at the Centre for Applied Molecular Biology (CAMB) in Lahore. The ministry of science and technology commissioned an audit of the centre, carried out by a committee of officials and external auditors, according to sources.

The ministry referred the findings to the Federal Investigation Agency this month (8 December) which will decide whether to proceed with charges. In the meantime, the centre's accounts have been frozen.

Meanwhile, officials in the ministry of health said they are refusing to approve use of interferon produced by CAMB because of alleged irregularities in the clinical trials.

And, in a separate development, an independent petitioner, Batish Mahmood Tipu, filed a petition in the High Court this month (13 December) which has led to the court issuing notices to both ministries.

The notices require them to explain before the court why they are not allowing the use of locally produced interferon that, according to the petitioner, costs 70 Pakistan rupees (around 82 US cents) per injection, compared with the imported version, which costs around US$11.

CAMB trains molecular biologists and specialises in recombinant DNA technology. The centre has a good record of achievements related to Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) rice, Bt cotton and Bt pesticide formulations. It has obtained more than ten patents.

The centre received regular funding from the ministry of science and technology for the interferon project and, from 2004 onwards, it also received financial support from Pakistan's Higher Education Commission (HEC).

CAMB also received prize money of US$100,000, in 2008, from the Islamic Development Bank for its outstanding contribution to molecular biology.

Clinical trials criticised

Sheikh Riazuddin, one of five scientists targeted by the government's investigation, was director of CAMB from its establishment in 1985 until June 2009.

Riazuddin was working on a project entitled 'Local Production of Interferon', headed by Javed Akram, a professor at Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, which began in 2000.

According to Riazuddin phase III clinical trials of the local version of the drug were conducted at Jinnah Hospital, a teaching hospital of the Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, and it was ready for final approval in December 2008.

By January 2009, CAMB had patented the drug and produced 100,000 vials of it — which have still not been used.

Sources from the ministry of health said they have not approved the drug because of the omission of two key stages normally conducted in clinical trials: phase I (laboratory testing of the drug) and phase II (safety testing on humans).

But Riazuddin said these stages are not necessary in the case of a 'biosimilar' drug — an exact copy of a drug for which these trials have already been conducted.

Rauf Khalid, drug registration controller of the ministry of health, toldSciDev.Net: "The approval of hepatitis interferon for commercial release can only be granted when CAMB completes all the requirements, including tests, and shows the capability of its production facilities".

The ministry of science and technology's audit committee, whose findings have not been made public, has, according to sources, found among other alleged irregularities that Riazuddin had been using CAMB facilities, such as transport and phone, even after he had left the organisation.

The committee has also said it can find no satisfactory answer about where the bulk of the prize money from the IDB has gone.

Khalid Siddiqui, joint secretary of the ministry of science and technology, said: "Irregularities have taken place at CAMB for the last many years and all the findings by our committee have formally been sent to the Federal Investigation Agency for verification.

"We respect them [the CAMB scientists] as researchers but any irregularities identified by the fact-finding committee have to be dealt with according to law."

Allegations have 'no substance'

Riazuddin confirmed to SciDev.Net that he has been contacted by the [FIA] which informed him that it had received a case against him involving corruption, to the tune of millions of rupees, and misuse of authority — charges he denies.

"There is no substance in the allegations," he said.

He agreed that, even after leaving CAMB, he continued to direct the team and spent most of his time at CAMB.

"I did that not for my sake but to see my brainchild become a reality. I assumed if I do not look after the research I started, that might vanish, rendering many years' effort futile."

Riazuddin and Akram claimed that there have been government moves to try to block the development and production of their drug.

"Some sections in the ministry of science and technology and in the health ministry are playing into the hands of multinational companies who do not want a local launch of this medicine as Pakistan is importing hepatitis drugs worth Rs 4 billion (around US$47 million) annually from those multi-nationals," Riazuddin said.

"This all is to force us into saying goodbye to the local production of interferon," Akram told SciDev.Net.

"At every step, from release of funds to the approval stages, we faced bureaucratic hurdles so much so that we felt that they do not want local production of hepatitis interferon," Akram added.

Anwar Nasim, patron of the Pakistan Biotechnology Information Centre (PABIC), told SciDev.Net: "It is not shocking to know about corruption allegations in research when the menace of corruption is all around us. An external investigation by the FIA would soon help us know who was in the wrong — the ministry or the researchers".

Global flu warning after UK hit

2010-12-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

Experts are urging people to have the vaccine in the UK to protect them against flu viruses

There has been a well-publicised surge of cases in the UK during December with swine flu appearing to be the dominant of the three strains circulating.Northern hemisphere countries are being told by health experts to brace themselves for flu outbreaks.

But the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned much of the rest of Europe was also beginning to see increases too.

Meanwhile, parts of the US and Canada have reported higher levels.

Many of those being infected are younger age groups. This is because elderly people have some immunity to swine flu, most probably because of exposure to a similar strain many years ago.

In the UK, the number of people who have died with all types of flu this winter hit 27 this week after another 10 deaths.

The volume of patients going to their doctor with flu-like illnesses also rose, more than doubling to 87.1 per 100,000 in the past week.

Children

Cases have been highest in children aged between five and 14, followed by children under four and then those aged between 15 and 44.

But the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said a very large outbreak was "not likely".

The situation has led to a rise in patients in intensive care beds and also in those using the NHS's phone hotline, NHS Direct.

Health experts said most people with flu would be able to "self-care" by taking plenty of rest, drinking fluids and taking pain relief.

However, those with severe symptoms are being advised to consult their doctor.

Professor John Watson, an expert in respiratory disease at the HPA, said: "The level of flu activity we are currently seeing is at levels often seen during the winter flu seasons.

"Recent research conducted by the HPA has suggested that a very substantial wave of activity associated with the pandemic strain is not likely."

In the UK at-risk groups are being urged to come forward for vaccinations. The numbers getting immunised are still too low, doctors have said.

The rates being seen elsewhere in Europe are not as high as in the UK, but the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said there was evidence that the winter flu epidemics were "starting".

Russia and the Ukraine are thought to be the worst hit outside the UK.

New solar fuel machine 'mimics plant life'

2010-12-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

In the prototype, sunlight heats a ceria cylinder which breaks down water or carbon dioxide

The machine uses the Sun's rays and a metal oxide called ceria to break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels which can be stored and transported.A prototype solar device has been unveiled which mimics plant life, turning the Sun's energy into fuel.

Conventional photovoltaic panels must use the electricity they generate in situ, and cannot deliver power at night.

Details are published in the journal Science.

The prototype, which was devised by researchers in the US and Switzerland, uses a quartz window and cavity to concentrate sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide, also known as ceria.

Ceria has a natural propensity to exhale oxygen as it heats up and inhale it as it cools down.

If as in the prototype, carbon dioxide and/or water are pumped into the vessel, the ceria will rapidly strip the oxygen from them as it cools, creating hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide.

Hydrogen produced could be used to fuel hydrogen fuel cells in cars, for example, while a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be used to create "syngas" for fuel.

It is this harnessing of ceria's properties in the solar reactor which represents the major breakthrough, say the inventors of the device. They also say the metal is readily available, being the most abundant of the "rare-earth" metals.

Methane can be produced using the same machine, they say.

Refinements needed

The prototype is grossly inefficient, the fuel created harnessing only between 0.7% and 0.8% of the solar energy taken into the vessel.

Most of the energy is lost through heat loss through the reactor's wall or through the re-radiation of sunlight back through the device's aperture.

But the researchers are confident that efficiency rates of up to 19% can be achieved through better insulation and smaller apertures. Such efficiency rates, they say, could make for a viable commercial device.

"The chemistry of the material is really well suited to this process," says Professor Sossina Haile of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). "This is the first demonstration of doing the full shebang, running it under (light) photons in a reactor."

She says the reactor could be used to create transportation fuels or be adopted in large-scale energy plants, where solar-sourced power could be available throughout the day and night.

However, she admits the fate of this and other devices in development is tied to whether states adopt a low-carbon policy.

"It's very much tied to policy. If we had a carbon policy, something like this would move forward a lot more quickly," she told the BBC.

It has been suggested that the device mimics plants, which also use carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to create energy as part of the process of photosynthesis. But Professor Haile thinks the analogy is over-simplistic.

"Yes, the reactor takes in sunlight, we take in carbon dioxide and water and we produce a chemical compound, so in the most generic sense there are these similarities, but I think that's pretty much where the analogy ends."

The PS10 solar tower plant near Seville, Spain. Mirrors concentrate the sun's power on to a central tower, driving a steam turbine

Daniel Davies, chief technology officer at the British photovoltaic company Solar Century, said the research was "very exciting".

"I guess the question is where you locate it - would you put your solar collector on a roof or would it be better off as a big industrial concern in the Sahara and then shipping the liquid fuel?" he said.

Solar technology is moving forward apace but the overriding challenges remain ones of efficiency, economy and storage.

New-generation "solar tower" plants have been built in Spain and the United States which use an array of mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto tower-mounted receivers which drive steam turbines.

A new Spanish project will use molten salts to store heat from the Sun for up to 15 hours, so that the plant could potentially operate through the night.

10 Cool Things to Do with a Laptop

2010-12-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

Desktop or Laptop?

Productivity Tips

Some of us take our laptop computers with us everywhere: to work, to school, to the local coffee shop, and even on vacation. With computing power available to us at all times, it's tempting to work even when we should be enjoying the beach or taking a well-deserved break at home. With a little bit of thought, however, there are plenty of things you can do with a laptop that will actually end up improving your leisure life instead of draining it away. In this article, we'll introduce you to a few ideas that can help you get the most from your laptop.
1. Watch movies while traveling. With a DVD drive on your laptop, you have everything you need to take movie entertainment with you when you travel, on your work commute, or out on the porch. Just buy or rent a movie you like, and pop it into the drive. The movie will start automatically. Just remember to wear earphones to avoid annoying your fellow passengers or others in the vicinity.
2. Connect to your wireless network. Being able to access the Internet as well as printers, shared files like music or video, and other resources at home is a great convenience. The combination of a laptop and a wireless network is all you need. See our article "Build a Home Network" to learn how to get started building the network and "Share Files Between Computers" to learn how to share printers and files over the network once you've built it.
3. Play games anywhere. Computer games are a great pastime, and laptops let you take them with you. Laptops are certainly not the only way to play games on the road, but they're a great option, and there are plenty of choices for every taste, from puzzles to shoot-em-up adventures. See "Your Many Options for Mobile Gaming" for more information.
4. Catch up on the news. Using an RSS (rich site summary) newsfeed reader, you can subscribe to free news services and other Web-based content that will automatically download to your computer so you can read it at your leisure. Depending on the RSS reader you choose, downloading can occur even when you're not connected to the Internet, so you can catch up whenever you have a spare moment. For more information, see the RSS Primer at www.whatisrss.com.

5. Answer email on the train, plane, or passenger seat of a car (don't try this while driving). Most people who work in an office environment get so much email that it's challenging to keep up with it all. Reading and responding to those messages on the go helps get that task out of the way, and with most email programs you don't even need to be connected to the Internet to respond to messages. When you press the Send button, the message will go to your emails outbox and send automatically when you're connected later.
6. Do maintenance wherever you are. OK, this one is boring, but most of the maintenance jobs you really need to do on your computer take quite a bit of time unattended. In other words, the computer needs a lot of time to do the job, but you can be doing something else while it churns away. For more information about the kinds of regular maintenance you should be doing, see "Regular Computer Maintenance".
7. Build music playlists on the go. If you use an MP3 player to listen to music while you're in the car, exercising, or even at work, you already know that playlists make your world better, because you don't need to manually select songs or just listen to whatever comes up in a random "shuffle" mode. Being able to make playlists when you have some spare down time while traveling, commuting, or wherever is a great convenience, and you can load them to your MP3 player on the spot.
8. Download pictures from a digital camera or digital video camera. When you're on vacation or at a family event, gathering everyone around the tiny viewfinder screen on your camera to look at the pictures or video you just took isn't a very good experience. By synchronizing the camera with your laptop, you can share the pictures and videos much better, and even email copies to other people on the spot. A laptop also comes in handy when you run out of space on your camera or digital video camera. Traditional laptop hard drives store much more information than a memory card so you can download your photos, erase your memory card and start over.
9. Work from the backyard. Ah, the good life-sipping lemonade (or your beverage of choice) while you catch up on work, browse the Web, or play a game is a great way to take advantage of a nice day. Stay in the shade, though, because laptop screens are notoriously hard to read in direct sun. And be careful by the pool!
10. Give presentations on the road. Using a program like Microsoft Office PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress, you can create great-looking presentations to show clients, students, and others. This is a great capability for salespeople, realtors, public speakers, teachers, or anyone else who needs to create dynamic presentations.
For unleashed computing, look for laptops with Intel Inside®.

Reasons to Go Wireless

2010-12-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

Wireless

For years, wires have been holding us down. Want to make a phone call? Go to the room where the phone is. Want to show someone your new vacation video? Better burn it to DVD first. Have a fun new song to share? Again, burn it to a CD.
For many people, all those hassles are a thing of the past, and they could be for you, too. The solution: Unleash yourself from wires completely. That's right—go wireless.
Wireless networking at home
With more people moving to laptops instead of using bulky desktop computers, the wireless home network is becoming quite easy to accomplish. With all your computers getting wireless Web access through a router, you're no longer tied to a particular spot. Now, if you want to email someone from the couch, you can. Want to bring the laptop to the kitchen so you can try out that new recipe, or browse sports scores in bed? It's easy.
But you don't just get Web access throughout the home—you get access to all your peripherals. Share a printer. Share files. It matters less and less where your "stuff" actually is when you can access it from wherever you are.
The most common example of this is probably the wireless entertainment system. Using a computer set up as a media center (connected wirelessly to the home network) and a Bluetooth remote control, you can download and stream videos, music and photos from your computer to your television and stereo.
One reason to go wireless not yet mentioned is probably the most obvious advantage: no wires! Your office and desktop will be that much neater and simpler.
These aren't all the reasons to go wireless, of course, but hopefully this has been enough to whet your appetite and introduce you to the possibilities going wireless has to offer. So take the chance. Cut yourself free from the cords and cables holding you in place. Go wireless and experience the freedom. You won't look back.

Physicists burst bubble mystery

2010-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

The high-speed footage shows that a bursting bubble will create a perfect ring of "daughter bubbles"

With the help of high speed video, scientists have discovered that there is far more to bursting bubbles than meets the eye.

Under the right conditions, a bursting bubble on a liquid surface does not simply vanish, but creates a perfect ring of tiny "daughter bubbles".
This occurs as the ruptured bubble retracts into the liquid, forming a doughnut shape of trapped air.
You may see a ring of "daughter bubbles" while washing up The scientists reported their discovery in the journal Nature.
In the paper, the team described a "bubble-bursting cascade".
"When one of these daughter bubbles ruptures, a ring of even smaller bubbles forms," the researchers wrote.
Eventually, the daughter bubbles are sufficiently tiny that they rupture to form sharp "jets" that propel small aerosol droplets into the atmosphere.
James Bird from Harvard University, who led the research, explained that his main interest was in the fundamental physics of how bubbles behave. But his discovery could eventually help to fine-tune many manufacturing processes.
"Where small bubbles are detrimental, such as in glass manufacturing, our results provide insight into how the parameters might be tuned to reduce the daughter bubbles," Dr Bird explained.
'Pop science' He said that he happened upon the popping phenomenon accidentally while "playing around in the lab late one night".
"My colleague Laurent and I were trying to see if bubbles behaved like drops when they contacted a surface," he told BBC News.
"Our intended goal failed completely, but instead we were staring at popping hemispherical soap bubbles [and] we noticed this ring of daughter bubbles that neither of us could explain."
High speed footage captured the bursting "cascade" The scientists pointed that the finding could even have implications for health research - aerosol droplets from bursting bubbles have been implicated in the transmission of diseases in swimming pools and hot tubs.
They are also thought to be involved in the exchange of material and heat between the ocean and the atmosphere, so these results could help shed light on those processes.

Pledge to stop mother-to-baby HIV spread

2010-05-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

The virus can spread from mother to baby

A campaign is being launched to try to enlist public support to ensure no more children are born with HIV by 2015.

It is the work of the Global Fund, which uses donations from governments to fight HIV, TB and malaria.
The Born HIV Free campaign comes at a critical time, with the fund seeking donations of up to $20bn over the next three years.
It recognises this will be a battle, as governments deal with the aftermath of the Greek financial crisis.
HIV can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, labour or breast-feeding.
This type of transmission has been almost wiped out in countries such as the UK, because pregnant women who test positive for the virus that causes AIDS can be treated with drugs.
Other measures - such as giving birth by caesarian section - help stop HIV being transmitted to the baby.
But in developing countries, 430,000 children are born with HIV every year.
International effort
The Global Fund already channels more than half of international resources used to prevent mothers passing on HIV.
It believes that the goal of ending this type of HIV transmission by 2015 is achievable - if governments feel they can pledge money with the support of their electorates.
Its executive director, Professor Michel Kazatchkine, said: "We can win this battle against Aids if we get the funding we require.
"This campaign is intended to encourage people to sign up in support of the Global Fund, and to show their leaders that there is strong public support to continue and increase funding for its mission."
Endorsement
The campaign has been overseen by the French first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who is an ambassador for the Global Fund.
Her voice urges people to lend their support in a series of films, with music by Amy Winehouse and U2, which are being promoted on the internet.
The logo has adapted the visual imagery of the red ribbon - long associated with AIDS awareness - to symbolise a mother and child.
The US is the biggest donor to the Global Fund. The UK has pledged or contributed $1.1bn since the fund began in 2002. France is the largest European contributor.
The next round of donations will be confirmed at a crucial meeting in October, chaired by the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
Insiders at the Global Fund are waiting to hear how the new coalition government in the UK will respond to the request for commitments.
They say they have previously had "promising noises" from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on global health issues.
The editor of the Lancet medical journal, Dr Richard Horton, said: "An early indication that our government will support the Global Fund is really important.
"It's something that has worked - because the money has been spent on drug treatment and bed nets.
"Another pressing issue is taking a serious look at the Department for International Development.
"There is genuine concern that a lot of money has been spent on development aid - without always getting a clear return.
"There needs to be accountability at this time of financial stringency."

Black hole 'hurled out of galaxy'

2010-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

The red circle indicates where a black hole may be

A supermassive black hole may have been observed in the process of being hurled from its parent galaxy at high speed.

The finding comes from analysis of data collected by the US Chandra space X-ray observatory.
However, there are alternative explanations for the observation.
The work, by an international team of astronomers, has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Normally, each galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its centre.
Given that these objects can have masses equivalent to one billion Suns, it takes a special set of conditions to cause this to happen.
High-speed exit

The authors believe this could be the result of the merger of two smaller black holes.
But there are alternative explanations for the bright X-ray source; it could also be a Type IIn supernova, or an ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) with an optical counterpart (which could represent several phenomena).
Simulations using supercomputers suggest that when this happens, the larger black hole that results is shot away at high speed.

Black holes may be expelled from their host galaxies after mergers However, this depends on the direction and velocity at which the two black holes are rotating before their collision.
Marianne Heida of the University of Utrecht used data in the Chandra Source Catalogue to compare hundreds of thousands of sources of X-rays with the positions of millions of galaxies.
The material that falls into black holes heats up dramatically on its final journey, which often means that black holes are strong X-ray sources.
X-rays are also able to penetrate the dust and gas that obscures the centre of a galaxy, giving astronomers a clear view of the region around the black hole, with the bright source appearing as a star-like point.
Looking at one galaxy in the Catalogue, Ms Heida noticed that the point of light was offset from the centre and yet was so bright that it could be associated with a supermassive black hole.
Ms Heida said: "We have found many more objects in this strange class of X-ray sources. With Chandra we should be able to make the accurate measurements we need to pinpoint them more precisely and identify their nature."

'Historic' day as first non-Latin web addresses go live

2010-05-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

Egypt's Ministry of Communications is amongst the first live web addresses

Arab nations are leading a "historic" charge to make the world wide web live up to its name.

Net regulator Icann has switched on a system that allows full web addresses that contain no Latin characters.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to have so-called "country codes" written in Arabic scripts.
The move is the first step to allow web addresses in many scripts including Chinese, Thai and Tamil.
More than 20 countries have requested approval for international domains from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).
It said the new domains were "available for use now" although it admitted there was still some work to do before they worked correctly for everyone. However, it said these were "mostly formalities".
Icann's senior director for internationalised domain names, Tina Dam, told BBC News that this has been "the most significant day" since the launch of the internet, adding that "it's been a very big day for Icann, more so for the three Arabic countries that were the first to be introduced".
Icann president Rod Beckstrom described the change as "historic".
Read right The introduction of the first web names using so-called country code top-level domains (CCTLDs) is the culmination of several years of work by the organisation.
Previously, websites could use some non-Latin letters, but the country codes such as .eg for Egypt had to be written in Latin script.
The three new suffixes will allow web addresses to be completely written in native characters.

The first country codes:

Egypt: مصر
Saudi Arabia: السعودية
United Arab Emirates: امارات

Source: Icann

"All three are Arabic script domains, and will enable domain names written fully right-to-left," said Kim Davies of Icann in a blog post.
One of the first websites with a full Arabic address is the Egyptian Ministry of Communications.
Egypt's communication and information technology minister Tarek Kamal told the Associated Press that three Egyptian companies were the first to receive registrar licences for the '.masr' domain, written in Arabic.
Mr Kamal described the development as a "milestone in internet history".
Masr means Egypt in Arabic.
Some countries, such as China and Thailand, had already introduced workarounds that allow computer users to enter web addresses in their own language.
However, these were not internationally approved and do not necessarily work on all computers.
Ms Dam explained that the change was "not about shutting non-Arabic or non-Chinese speakers out of the internet.
"It's about including that large part of our world into the internet today."
She said there had previously been a risk the internet might have started to split.
"The chances are people would start creating their own internets, where it was only in Chinese, Arabic, Thai or whatever," she said.
Icann warned that the internationalised domain names (IDNs), as they are known, would also not work on all PCs immediately.
"You may see a mangled string of letters and numbers, and perhaps some percent signs or a couple of "xn--"s mixed into the address bar," said Mr Davies. "Or it may not work at all."
Previously, Icann has said that people would have to update the software on their computers to view the domains.
"Computers never come with the complete set of fonts that will allow it to show every possible IDN in the world.
"Often this is fixed by downloading additional language packs for the missing languages, or specifically finding and installing fonts that support the wanted languages."
Global access When Icann first announced its plans for non-Latin web names it said it was the "biggest change" to the net "since it was invented 40 years ago".
"Over half the internet users around the world don't use a Latin-based script as their native language," said Mr Beckstrom at the time.
"IDNs are about making the internet more global and accessible for everyone."
Icann said it had received 21 requests for IDNs in 11 different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Tamil and Thai.
Website owners in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will now be able to apply for web addresses using the new country codes.

2010-04-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

World's 2010 nature target 'will not be met'

Threats to biodiversity, such as habitat loss, are still on the increase

The world's governments will not meet their internationally-agreed target of curbing the loss of species and nature by 2010, a major study has confirmed.

Virtually all species and ecosystems show continued decline, while pressures on nature are increasing, it concludes.
Published in the journal Science, the study confirms what conservationists have known for several years.
The 2010 target was adopted in 2002, but the scientists behind this study say implementation has been "woeful".
"Our analysis shows that governments have failed to deliver on the commitments they made in 2002," said research leader Stuart Butchart, from the UN Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre (Unep-WCMC) and BirdLife International.
"Biodiversity is still being lost as fast as ever, and we have made little headway in reducing the pressures on species, habitats and ecosystems."
Unep chief scientist Joseph Alcamo added: "Since 1970, we have reduced animal populations by 30%, the area of mangroves and seagrasses by 20% and the coverage of living corals by 40%.
"These losses are clearly unsustainable."
Growing gap The study combined more than 30 indicators of how species and ecosystems are changing.
These encompass plants and animals from land and sea.
Very few of the indicators gave any hint that biodiversity loss was decreasing at all.
Meanwhile, measures of threat - such as loss of habitat, climate change and colonisation by harmful non-native species - were virtually all increasing.
Policies to restrict the threats to biodiversity are simply not up to the job, the authors argue.
"Although nations have put in place some significant policies to slow biodiversity declines, these have been woefully inadequate, and the gap between the pressures on biodiversity and the responses is getting ever wider," said Dr Butchart.
While about 12% of land is now under some kind of protection, not all of it is effectively managed.
And less than 1% of the world's oceans is protected.
'No excuse' Conservationists hope that laying the sheer scale of the issue before governments will induce them to take tougher steps in the near future.
"We can no longer use the excuse that we don't know enough about the loss of diversity of life on our planet," said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of the Species Programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"The role of governments is paramount; but the magnitude and rate of loss of biodiversity means that everyone, from individuals to businesses, must act now to save all life on Earth before we reach breaking point."
Governments will review their failure to meet the 2010 target, and probably set new ones, at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) summit in Nagoya, Japan, in October.
New targets are likely to be directed at stemming the threats to biodiversity, such as unsustainable agriculture, pollution and the growing scale of cities and transport networks.
"World leaders faced the economic crisis head on," noted Simon Stuart, head of IUCN's Species Survival Commission.
"We need that same level of investment and commitment for the environment."

Web hit by hi-tech crime wave

2010-04-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hi-tech thieves trawl social network sites for information about victims

Hi-tech criminals are racking up more than 100 attacks a second on the world's computers, a survey suggests.

While most of these attacks cause no trouble, the Symantec report suggests that one attack every 4.5 seconds does affect a PC.
The wave of attacks was driven by a steep rise in malicious software in circulation, said the annual report.
The number of malware (malicious software) samples that Symantec saw in 2009 was 71% higher than in 2008.
Crime family
This meant, said Symantec, that 51% of all the viruses, trojans and other malicious programs it has ever seen were logged during 2009. In total, Symantec identified almost 2.9 million items of malicious code during that 12 month period.
The steep rise in malware was driven largely by the growing popularity of easy to use toolkits that novice cyber criminals are using to turn out their own malware, said Tony Osborne, a technology manager for the public sector at Symantec.
Some of the kits were available for free, said Mr Osborne but others cost a lot of money. One, called Zeus, was available for around $700 (£458) and many had become so successful that their creators now offer telephone support for those who cannot get them to work.
During 2009, Symnatec say more than 90,000 variants of the Zeus kit and it was responsible for the growth of one of the most prolific malware families during the year.
Zeus relies on spam to lure people to websites where victims will be tricked into installing malicious code or which sneaks on to a computer via a known vulnerability.
Often, said the report, this can help criminals set up botnets - networks of hijacked home PCs that can be used to send spam or plundered for lucrative personal data. In 2009, Symantec saw almost seven million distinct PCs that were members of botnets.
There was one very simple reason that novices bought and used the kits, said Mr Osborne.
"It's all about money," he said.
Established gangs were also showing no signs of holding back in their attempts to steal saleable information.
"Why would they?" he said. "It's easy money and it's very hard to catch people."
"It's become a day job for a lot of people," he said.
There was evidence, suggests the report, that professional cyber criminals were tuning their tactics to try and get better results. Many now scour social network pages for details about employees inside companies and craft their spam and other messages to capitalise on the details they can gather.
The continuing growth of hi-tech crime meant that many developing nations were starting to suffer significant numbers of attacks. Brazil and India were becoming hot spots of cyber crime, said Mr Osborne.
This was because, he said, the infrastructure in those nations was rapidly improving as people move to broadband and use the web for more and more of their daily lives.
"Those are the places where education and understanding about security are taking a while to catch up," he said.

Apple reveals new iPhone features

2010-04-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

iAd pits Apple against search and advertising giant Google

Apple has shown off some of the 100 new features to be included in the iPhone operating system later this year.

The update includes a mobile advertising platform called iAd that will be used to place adverts in applications made by third parties.
Apple founder Steve Jobs also showcased a long-awaited multi-tasking feature, which will allow users run more than one program at a time.
The feature is already included in many other smartphones.
iAd marks Apple's first foray into a potentially lucrative new market, and pits it directly against Google's search engine advertising model.
Apple will allow external developers to pocket 60% of ad revenue from iAd.
The Apple boss said the iPhone OS 4.0 update will be released first for the iPhone and iPod touch, and then the iPad, later this year.
'Ad-sense'
Apple boss Steve Jobs gave a demonstration of the multi-tasking feature showed the online radio station Pandora running in the background playing music while a user could either read news online or deal with email.

Apples believes advertising inside applications is the future

"We weren't the first to this party but we're going to be the best," he said.
Some of the other features unveiled at the presentation at Apple's headquarters in California include being able to create specific folders to store third party applications downloaded from iTunes, enhanced mail, which will gather e-mail from multiple accounts into one "unified" inbox and iBooks, which is already on the iPad.
Mr Jobs said mobile users spend more time inside applications than searching the internet.
Therefore it made sense to have adverts within the applications - or apps as they are commonly known.
"It's very clear that [Mr] Jobs believes that ads in the context of apps makes more sense than generic mobile search," said Tim Bajarin at consulting company Creative Strategies.
Mobile sales
Apple's move into mobile advertising was widely expected after it bought Quattro Wireless mobile advertising network for almost $300m (£196m) in January.

Multi-tasking is a long awaited feature

Analysts say revenue from mobile advertising will jump dramatically this year.
"It has huge potential to really change mobile commerce," said Van Baker, Vice president of research at Gartner.
"The evidence so far is that very few transactions really happen in this space. Mobile is used to compare prices, find restaurants, movie times and the like but very little in the way of commerce."
Apple bought mobile ad company Quattro after failing to buy the market leader AdMob, which was purchased by Google.
In a slight to the search giant, Mr Jobs said "Google came in and snatched them (AdMob) because they didn't want us to have them".
Google's deal is currently being investigated by US regulators.
iPad demand
During the packed press event, Mr Jobs revealed that to date Apple has sold 50m iPhones. That number rises to 85m when the iPod touch is included.
Mr Jobs also gave an update on the iPad, which went on sale in the US only at the weekend. It is expected in stores in the UK and part of Europe, as well as Canada and Australia at the end of the month.
Apple said it had sold 450,000 iPads as of 8 April. Mr Jobs added that 600,000 electronic books and 3.5m applications had been downloaded for the iPad in the previous five days.
"We're making them as fast as we can," Mr Jobs said. "Evidently we can't make enough of them yet so we are going to have to try harder."

Apple iPad hits shops in America

2010-04-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

The first customers to come through the doors of the Apple store were counted down by shop assistants

Apple's latest product, the iPad tablet computer, has gone on sale in America.

The first generation model has wi-fi but not 3G connectivity, and unlike other tablet devices, it is not yet available outside the US.
The New York Apple store in Manhattan opened its doors to a 500-strong crowd at 0900 EST (1400 BST).
Queues for the new iPad were considerably smaller than the crowds which gathered for the launch of the iPhone in 2007, according to reports.
However people had travelled to the US from around the world to purchase a device.
'Huge hit for some'

A relatively small crowd camped overnight in New York

Apple took pre-orders online but some early adopters began queuing outside stores the day before its release.
The company's co-founder Steve Wozniak joined a queue outside an Apple store in California on Friday evening.
He said he had pre-ordered the device, which is retailing in the US at $499 - $829 (£328 - £545). European prices have not yet been announced.
"It's going to be a huge hit among a very small section of the public - Mac lovers and early adopters," said the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.
"The bigger question is whether there is that big a market between the smartphone and the laptop for it to fill," he said.
"Newspapers and magazines are certainly hoping so but the jury's still out."
In Palo Alto, California, tech expert and former Microsoft "technology evangelist" Robert Scoble, who spent the night outside a store with Chatroulette creator Andrey Ternovskiy, said there were only around 30 in the queue.
Greg Packer and Cheline Lundin are reported to have been the first in line in New York and Chicago respectively. Mr Packer began his wait outside Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Apple store on 30 March.
The device appealed to him because it is "like a mini laptop," he said in a YouTube clip.
AFP reported 15 people waiting outside the Apple store in New York on Friday afternoon, including a mother, daughter and grandmother.
Mother Jeanney Mullen said she was planning to buy one for herself and her 11 -year-old daughter Giovanna.
Her own mother had come along to buy a third for Ms Mullen's boss, as store customers were limited to two devices each.
Mixed reviews

iPad or iFad? Apple set for launch

However not everybody shares their enthusiasm.
Journalist and sci-fi author Cory Doctorow has attacked the iPad for being too locked-down.
"Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realisation that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals," he wrote on website Boing Boing.
While Apple has pitched the iPad as a "third" device between a phone and a PC, the tablet does not synchronise easily with the two according to Ian Fogg, an expert analyst at Forrester.
"Apple has left too much in the hands of consumers to transfer and manage manually," he wrote in a blog post.
"Tethered sync is a 20th Century product feature."

Opposition mounts to UK's Digital Economy Bill

2010-03-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

The plan to cut off persistent pirates has proved controversial

The government has published a new draft of a controversial clause in the Digital Economy bill, in an effort to ease its progress through parliament.

The Liberal Democrats said they will oppose any plans to rush the Digital Economy bill into law.
The bill faces its second reading in the House of Commons next week.
Critics say the bill is unnecessarily draconian, particularly plans to cut off persistent net pirates and grant powers to block access to some sites.
Clause 18 has proved one of the most controversial aspects of the bill.
Originally it outlined how the government intended to future-proof the legislation by granting it the power to deal with other methods of copyright infringement, including the right to block access to websites, without the need for further legislation.
The new clause steps back from this, granting "limited power to propose regulations in the future".
It would "allow copyright owners to apply for court injunctions requiring service providers to block access to specified internet locations providing access to copyright infringing material".
But, before such injunctions could be carried out, the Secretary of State would have to consult "widely with industry", said a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
He or she would also need to be satisfied that the new form of copyright theft was having a serious affect on the industry, of equivalent severity to the current trend for file-sharing via peer-to-peer networks, he added.
It is estimated that in 2007, one billion music tracks were shared illegally. More than half of all net traffic in the UK is believed to be content being shared illegally.
'Undemocratic'
It is widely expected that the Digital Economy bill will enter the so-called "wash-up" process.
This sees remaining government legislation speeded up ahead of a general election.
The Liberal Democrats have called for the bill in its present form to be scrapped and re-introduced in the next parliament.
The Open Rights Group, which has orchestrated a campaign against the bill, said any attempt to rush the legislation through would be "undemocratic".
"It is outrageous to circulate the text of a clause days before it is due to be debated," said spokesman Jim Killock.
"There will be no scrutiny and it will be rushed through the day after. This is no way to make serious, wide-ranging laws," he added.
The fate of the bill will rest with MPs.
"A rising number of MPs, including the speaker of the House of Commons himself, are concerned about the lack of scrutiny and the future of the bill is by no means certain," said Mr Killock.
Some 20,000 people have written to their MPs voicing their opposition to the bill.
Hundreds protested outside parliament last week and campaigners are planning a series of advertisements designed to block its progress.
The Stop the Digital Economy Bill campaign is being organised by the Open Rights Group and digital campaigners 38 Degrees.
They have raised £20,000 to run ads in national newspapers and websites on 6 April.
That is the day when Gordon Brown is expected to announce the general election and also the day when the digital economy bill is due to be debated in the House of Commons.

French pirates 'dodge' tough laws

2010-03-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

The study suggests pirates are changing their habits

Some forms of piracy are on the rise in France despite the passing of a tough anti-piracy law, suggests a study.

In late 2009, France adopted a "three-strikes law" which means persistent pirates can be thrown offline.
A small-scale study shows that some French people are changing their habits and getting pirated music and movies from sources not covered by the law.
Overall, found the study, illegal behaviour has increased by 3% since the law was passed.
The anti-piracy legislation was passed in October 2009 and means that those suspected of sharing pirated material online, such as movies and music, will be warned to stop or face action.
Persistent pirates who ignore the warnings will be cut off for up to a year if a panel of judges backs a call for disconnection. Alternatively, pirates can be fined or given a prison sentence.
Despite being passed in October, the law is not yet being enforced.
A preliminary study of more than 2,000 net users in Brittany by researchers Sylvain Dejean, Thierry Penard and Raphael Suire from the Marsouin unit at the University of Rennes suggests many people have changed their behaviour following the passing of the law.
The Hadopi law, named after the agency set up to police net connections, only covers piracy committed by file-sharing systems. In response, suggests the study, pirates have turned to streaming services and download sites use of which is not covered by the legislation.
The study showed that use of peer-to-peer (P2P) or file-sharing services fell among those questioned 17.1% to 14.6% since October. By contrast, the use of sites and services not covered by the Hadopi law grew by 27% over the same period.
Download services are relatively straight-forward to police as they tend to use centralised servers but, said the report, it was also seeing greater use of virtual servers and closed forums to swap pirated material.
The survey also pointed out that the vast majority of net users, 70%, do not engage in any piracy at all. However, half of those who said they were regular buyers of digital content also said they pirated material too.

Beta-blockers 'cut cancer spread'

2010-03-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

A radiologist studies mammograms

Blood pressure drugs may be able to reduce the ability of breast cancer to spread around the body, researchers have told a European conference.

A joint UK and German study found that cancer patients taking beta-blockers had a lower risk of dying.
The drugs may block hormones that trigger the spread of cancer cells.
However, experts stressed that more evidence from bigger studies would be needed before the drug could be given as part of routine treatment.
Breast cancer, which affects more than 30,000 people in the UK each year, is most easily tackled when tumours are confined to the breast only.
When cancer cells migrate to other parts of the body, and start growing, a process known as metastasis, the likelihood of successful treatment begins to fall.
The biological processes which trigger metastasis are still not fully understood.
The latest research, presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona, builds on earlier laboratory studies which suggest that the ability of cancer cells to increase in number and spread is boosted by the presence of stress hormones.
Beta-blockers attach themselves to the same receptors on cancer cells used by these hormones, potentially reducing their ability to stimulate the cell and trigger spread.
They are already taken by approximately two million people in the UK.
To test this theoretical cancer-fighting ability, Dr Des Powe, from Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, in collaboration with Professor Frank Entschladen from Witten University in Germany, looked at three groups of breast cancer patients, a total of 466 people.
The first group had high blood pressure, also called hypertension, and were taking beta-blockers, the second had high blood pressure, but were taking something different for it, while the third had no blood pressure problems.
In the 43 who were taking beta-blockers, there was a significant reduction in both cancer metastasis, and new tumours within the breast. Overall they had a 71% lower chance of dying from breast cancer compared with the other groups.
Small-scale research
Dr Powe said: "It is reasonable to speculate, therefore, that some non-hypertensive women with breast cancer will respond favourably to beta-blocker treatment, though doses and side-effects would need to be investigated in clinical trials."
However, he said that the study was "relatively small" and its results would need to be reproduced in a larger group of patients.
"We are very encouraged by these first results which have already shown that by using a well-established, safe and cost effective drug, we can take another step on the road towards targeted therapy in breast cancer."
Meg McArthur, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, welcomed the findings: "Although this is early stage research, these results show that beta blockers could play a role in reducing the risk of metastatic breast cancer. This is a positive step forward as it could potentially lead to survival improvements for people affected with this condition.
"However, as the study is quite small, we would like to see further research in this area."

Sensors turn skin into gadget control pad

2010-03-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

The sensors can spot many different locations on the arm

Tapping your forearm or hand with a finger could soon be the way you interact with gadgets.

US researchers have found a way to work out where the tap touches and use that to control phones and music players.
Coupled with a tiny projector the system can use the skin as a surface on which to display menu choices, a number pad or a screen.
Early work suggests the system, called Skinput, can be learned with about 20 minutes of training.
"The human body is the ultimate input device," Chris Harrison, Skinput's creator, told BBC News.

Sound solutionh

He came up with the skin-based input system to overcome the problems of interacting with the gadgets we increasingly tote around.
Gadgets cannot shrink much further, said Mr Harrison, and their miniaturisation was being held back by the way people are forced to interact with them.
The size of human fingers dictates, to a great degree, how small portable devices can get. "We are becoming the bottleneck," said Mr Harrison.

A finished device would be far smaller than the bulky prototype

To get around this Mr Harrison, a PhD student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon and colleagues Desney Tan and Dan Morris from Microsoft Research, use sensors on the arm to listen for input.
A tap with a finger on the skin scatters useful acoustic signals throughout the arm, he said. Some waves travel along the skin surface and others propagate through the body. Even better, he said, the physiology of the arm makes it straightforward to work out where the skin was touched.
Differences in bone density, arm mass as well as the "filtering" effects that occur when sound waves travel through soft tissue and joints make many of the locations on the arm distinct.
Software coupled with the sensors can be taught which sound means which location. Different functions, start, stop, louder, softer, can be bound to different locations. The system can even be used to pick up very subtle movements such as a pinch or muscle twitch.
"The wonderful thing about the human body is that we are familiar with it," said Mr Harrison. "Proprioception means that even if I spin you around in circles and tell you to touch your fingertips behind your back, you'll be able to do it."
"That gives people a lot more accuracy then we have ever had with a mouse," he said.
Early trials show that after a short amount of training the sensor/software system can pick up a five-location system with accuracy in excess of 95%.
Accuracy does drop when 10 or more locations are used, said Mr Harrison, but having 10 means being able to dial numbers and use the text prediction system that comes as standard on many mobile phones.
The prototype developed by the research team sees the sensors enclosed in a bulky cuff. However, said Mr Harrison, it would be easy to scale them down and put them in a gadget little bigger than a wrist watch.
Mr Harrison said he envisages the device being used in three distinct ways.
The sensors could be coupled with Bluetooth to control a gadget, such as a mobile phone, in a pocket. It could be used to control a music player strapped to the upper arm.
Finally, he said, the sensors could work with a pico-projector that uses the forearm or hand as a display surface. This could show buttons, a hierarchical menu, a number pad or a small screen. Skinput can even be used to play games such as Tetris by tapping on fingers to rotate blocks.
Mr Harrison would not be drawn on how long it might take Skinput to get from the lab to a commercial product. "But," he said, "in the future your hand could be your iPhone and your handset could be watch-sized on your wrist."

Skinput turns the forearm and palm into a gadget control surface. Video courtesy of Carnegie Mellon.

China steams ahead on clean energy

2010-03-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Projects like Donghai Bridge wind farm in Shanghai have pushed China ahead

China overtook the US during 2009 to become the leading investor in renewable energy technologies, according to a new analysis.

Researchers with the Pew Charitable Trusts calculate that China invested $34.6bn (£23.2bn) in clean energy over the year, almost double the US figure.
The UK emerges in third place among G20 nations, followed by Spain and Brazil.
The most spectacular growth has come in South Korea, which saw installed capacity rise by 250% in five years.
Globally, investment has more than doubled in the last five years, Pew finds, with the recent economic turmoil generating only a slight dip.

TOP FIVE INVESTORS 2009

China - $34.6bn

US - $18.6bn

UK - $11.2bn

Spain - $10.bn

Brazil - $7.4bn

"Even in the midst of a global recession, the clean energy market has experienced impressive growth," said Phyllis Cuttino, director of Pew's campaign on climate change.
"Countries are jockeying for leadership.
"They know that investing in clean energy can renew manufacturing bases, and create export opportunities, jobs and businesses."
The US still holds a marginal lead in the total amount of installed capacity, but will be overtaken by China during the course of this year if existing trends continue.
Diversification nation
China's target of having 30GW of installed renewable capacity in place by 2020 will soon be exceeded through wind alone, and new targets are in the process of being set.
"The government has taken a strategic decision that diversifying its energy supply should be a national priority," commented Steve Sawyer, secretary-general of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), who was not involved in the Pew report.

FASTEST GROWERS

South Korea - 249%

China - 79%

Australia - 40%

France - 31%

India - 31%

(growth in installed capacity over last five years)

"It is now the world's leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic cells, and more wind turbines are made in China than anywhere else."
However, China's use of fossil fuels is also expanding fast.
So far, renewables account for a small share of its energy supply, although the overall target is a 15% share of total energy by 2020.
Wind was the dominant sector in most of the high-investing countries, the exceptions being Spain, Germany and Italy where solar technologies commanded a majority share.
US investment fell by 40% during from 2008 to 2009.
"The US's competitive position is at risk in the emerging clean energy economy," said Ms Cuttino.
Spain's investment also dropped due to the recession, following several years of rapid increases driven by the desire to cut greenhouse gas emissions very quickly in order to reach its Kyoto Protocol target.
Pew notes that the UK achieved its third place through "large offshore wind deals, backed by the government", and by being "at the forefront of marine energy investments."
Pew based its analysis on the database maintained by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the international analysis and consultancy group.

Chinese web users boycott Google

2010-03-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Baidu is China's biggest search engine with 60% market share

While some gathered outside Google's head office in Beijing in support of its decision to end censorship, other Chinese citizens have expressed anger.

Comments left on Chinese website sina.com.cn include "Google, out of China" and "Go away, we have Baidu".
Internet and mobile company TOM Online, which is run by Hong Kong's wealthiest man Li Ka-shing, said that it would stop using Google.
The companies have an agreement which will not be renewed, claimed TOM.
A Google spokesperson insisted that the firm would fulfil existing contractual obligations.
"I think Chinese people are offended by Google's action," said BBC journalist Jasmin Gu, who is based in China.
"It has aroused nationalistic fervour. Many people choose to stop using Google and support Chinese search engine Baidu."
Google's decision to move its search facility to servers in Hong Kong, from which it can legally operate an unfiltered service, was branded "totally wrong" by a government official speaking to the country's official news agency Xinhua.
However some people on the mainland are pleased to be getting less restricted search results.
"I welcome the move and support Google because an uncensored search engine is something that I need," blogger Zhou Shuguang (who blogs as Zuola) told news agency AP.
Google has published a chart detailing which of its services are accessible in mainland China.
Latest results for 23 March suggest that YouTube and Blogger were completely blocked.
Google docs and photo tool Picasa were partially blocked but web search and images were running at full capacity, says the report.