First Firefox smartphones revealed

23 January 2013 Last updated at 07:06 ET

Mozilla has published details of the first smartphones to be powered by its Firefox operating system.

Two handsets are to be made by a small Spanish firm called Geeksphone and will be targeted at developers ahead of the system's formal launch.

The platform is based on the HTML5 web programming language and is being marketed as offering software writers more "freedom" than alternatives.

However, it faces competition from other soon-to-be-released systems.

Blackberry 10, Ubuntu, Tizen and Sailfish are all due for release for smartphones before the end of 2013, joining a market already occupied by Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry 7 and Symbian among others.

One analyst said he did not believe there was enough room in the market for all to survive.

Low and high-end

The two new handsets are codenamed Keon and Peak.

Keon is the more basic model, including a 3.5in (8.9cm) screen, a 3MP (megapixel) camera and Qualcomm's low-end Snapdragon S1 processor.

Peak has a bigger 4.3in display, an 8MP camera and a more powerful Snapdragon S4. Mozilla noted this was probably "slightly faster" than the first generation devices that would be marketed to the public.

It added that Geeksphone's phones would be made available for sale next month, but did not provide a price.

It said that when devices went on general sale they would be cheaper than many alternatives and would be targeted at emerging markets.

Open source

The Mozilla Foundation already uses the Firefox brand for its web browser - an offshoot of the 1990's Netscape Navigator product. The software is developed by a community of volunteers and is run as an open source project, meaning its code is accessible to others allowing them to make their own modifications.

The same principles are applied to the operating system and Mozilla highlights the fact that coders can market their apps through their own websites or any store they wish in addition to the organisation's own marketplace.

It adds that the lightweight nature of the system means that apps should run smoothly and offer "optimal battery life" on low-end devices.

However, one analyst questioned whether this would make Firefox OS stand out, bearing in mind developers were already free to offer web apps for most other devices, and in the case of Android could also sell native apps outside Google's own Play store if the user adjusted their settings to accept them.

"What Firefox is trying to do is make the web the app store and bring the openness of the web to phones," said Nick Dillon, senior analyst at the consultants Ovum.

"But the question is what does this offer over a cheap Android phone to a consumer looking to buy a low-end handset?

"On Android you got Google services pre-installed and the 700,000 apps in its store but Firefox OS isn't going to have these so will have reduced functionality."

Native or not?

If Firefox OS is a success it should help drive the creation of HTML5 apps, which by their nature should work on any smartphone.

In theory this works to developers' advantage as they can write a single program and then offer it across a range of platforms.

However, many view the language as a "work in progress" when it comes to mobile and believe that for the time being native apps - those coded for a specific platform - offer advantages.

"Applications that require more processing power and the full capabilities of a phone - games for example - lend themselves more to native applications," said Mr Dillon.

"Although HTML5 has come a long way there are still gaps, like for notifications, that have not been fully standardised across all browsers - so if you are building an app that can alert users to the fact they have received a new message, it's easier to do in a native app if you want to ensure a consistent experience.

"The trade-off, of course, is that it will take more time and effort to make the app for each platform."

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Sky Broadband struggles with demand

23 January 2013 Last updated at 09:51 ET

Sky has acknowledged that some of its customers are experiencing slow internet speeds as a consequence of it signing up new subscribers.

The firm said that it was working to boost capacity at telephone exchanges in the worst hit areas.

The news coincided with the launch of Sky Go Extra - a service allowing users to download movies and TV shows so they can be watched offline.

One expert said the product might add to the strain.

Sky Go Extra still works at slow internet speeds - however, Sky's other streaming services rely on the user having a 2 megabit per second connection. Some subscribers have complained their download speeds have fallen below this level at peak times.

A Sky spokeswoman apologised for the problems.

"Following a combination of an underlining increase in network traffic as well as a high rate of new customer additions, we are aware of capacity issues in a small number of exchanges," she said.

"We are working on adding new capacity to those exchanges as quickly as we can. We apologise to all customers who have been impacted by this issue."

She confirmed a report by The Register that users in Doncaster, North Wales and Bristol were among those affected, but declined to be more specific or name other locations.

However, the firm has provided an online postcode checking facility for its subscribers to check if their local exchange has been flagged as having an issue.

Sky also indicated that less than 5% of its broadband customer base used the affected exchanges.

'Unlimited downloads'

Andrew Ferguson, editor of the Thinkbroadband news site noted that Sky had recently run a major promotion highlighting the fact it did not place "fair use" caps on the amount of data its customers use.

As a result, he said, the firm had probably attracted subscribers who downloaded significantly more than the average 23 gigabytes per month consumed by the average UK broadband user.

"Sky had this problem last year in some of its exchanges, and it's definitely not the only service provider to have experienced this problem," he told the BBC.

"It's very much related to the firms' promotional activities. Sky has also been pushing its fibre products recently - they offer higher speeds and people who sign up generally use more data afterwards."

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DNA 'perfect for digital storage'

23 January 2013 Last updated at 13:03 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Scientists have given another eloquent demonstration of how DNA could be used to archive digital data.

The UK team encoded a scholarly paper, a photo, Shakespeare's sonnets and a portion of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech in artificially produced segments of the "life molecule".

The information was then read back out with 100% accuracy.

It is possible to store huge volumes of data in DNA for thousands of years, the researchers write in Nature magazine.

They acknowledge that the costs involved in synthesizing the molecule in the lab make this type of information storage "breathtakingly expensive" at the moment, but argue that newer, faster technologies will soon make it much more affordable, especially for long-term archiving.

"One of the great properties of DNA is that you don't need any electricity to store it," explained team-member Dr Ewan Birney from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) at Hinxton, near Cambridge.

"If you keep it cold, dry and dark - DNA lasts for a very long time. We know that because we routinely sequence woolly mammoth DNA that is kept by chance in those sorts of conditions." Mammoth remains are many thousands of years old.

The group cites government and historical records as examples of data that could benefit from the molecular storage option.

Much of this information is not required every day but still needs to be kept. Once encoded in DNA, it could be put away safely in a vault until it was needed.

And unlike other storage media presently in use such as hard disk-drives and magnetic tapes, the DNA "library" would not demand constant maintenance.

In addition, the universality of the life molecule means there would probably never be a backwards-compatibility issue where the technology of the day was incapable of reading the vault's archives.

"We think there will always be DNA-reading technology so long as there is DNA-based life around on Earth, assuming it is technologically sophisticated of course," Dr Birney told BBC News.

This is not the first time that DNA has been used to encode the sort of routine information we keep on our computers.

Last year, for example, an American group published the results of a very similar experiment in Science Magazine. The Boston researchers laid down a whole book in DNA.

The EBI study uses slightly different techniques to achieve its goals, but has also looked deeper into some of the issues of scalability and practicality.

Underpinning all these approaches is the exploitation of the nucleobase sequence at the heart of DNA.

The helical molecule is famously held together by four chemical groups, or nucleobases, which, when arranged in a specific order, carry the genetic instructions needed by a living organism to build and maintain itself.

The EBI storage system uses the same four "letters" but in a completely different "language" to the one understood by life.

To copy a computer file, such as a text document, the binary digits (zeros and ones) that would ordinarily represent that information on a hard drive first have to be translated into the team's bespoke code. A standard DNA synthesis machine then churns out the corresponding sequence.

But it is not one long molecule. Rather, it is multiple copies of overlapping fragments, with each fragment also carrying some indexing details that identify where in the overall sequence it should sit.

This builds redundancy into the system, meaning that if some fragments become corrupted, the data will not be lost.

Again, the same standard equipment used in molecular biology labs to read the DNA of organisms is used to pull out the information so that it can be displayed on a computer screen once more.

For its experiment, the EBI team encoded a 26-second snippet of Martin Luther King's classic anti-racism address from 1963, a ".jpg" photo of the EBI (see right); a ".pdf" of the seminal 1953 paper by Crick and Watson describing the structure of DNA, ".txt" file containing all of Shakespeare's sonnets; and a file about the encoding system itself (a total equivalent on a computer drive to about 760 kilobytes).

Physically, the DNA carrying all that information is no bigger than a speck of dust.

Team member Nick Goldman said the molecule was an incredibly dense storage medium. One gram of DNA ought to be able to hold about two petabytes of data, he added - the equivalent of about three million CDs.

Dr Goldman addressed the concern some people might have that artificial DNA code could somehow go wild and end up in the genome of another living organism.

"The DNA we've created can't be incorporated accidently into a genome; it uses a completely different code to what the cells of living bodies use," he explained.

"And if you did end up with any of this DNA inside you, it would just be degraded and disposed of. It really has no place in a living being."

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

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Apple revenues miss expectations

24 January 2013 Last updated at 00:33 ET

Computing giant Apple has reported flat profits and record revenues that still fell short of market expectations.

Net profit came in at $13.1bn (£8.7bn), unchanged from a year earlier due in part to higher costs associated with new product launches.

Revenue was up 18% at $54.5bn, thanks to record sales of iPhones and iPads, the company said.

But Apple shares fell in after-hours trading, as sales of the iPhone in particular disappointed.

Continue reading the main story

After seeing Apple's shares plunge nearly 30% - a move based almost entirely on sentiment rather than hard information - investors finally have some data to assess. Apple's Tim Cook said he was thrilled by results showing his firm's best ever revenue. The superlatives kept pouring out during the analysts' conference call - best ever iPhone and iPad sales, record music and app sales, growth in iPhone sales in China in the triple digits - and a cash pile of $137bn.

But, strange as it might seem, all of that evidence that Apple continues to be a phenomenal money-making machine may not be enough for Wall Street, which had expected even more. The big worry will be about iPhone sales which analysts had expected to be about 2 million higher.

Tim Cook was pressed on whether the firm had got the right sized screens, and on rumours that orders for new component supplies had been cut. He insisted Apple had got the best screens in the ideal size and that a complex supply chain made the rumours about cuts meaningless.

But the real problem for Apple is not the numbers but the fear amongst investors that its best days may be over, that it will never find another innovation to match the iPhone or iPad. Tim Cook insisted his firm was working on some "incredible stuff" but Wall Street will want to see it before it starts buying the shares again.

Shares in the firm have fallen almost 30% since September over concerns the company may be losing its edge over increasingly confident competitors.

The company's products are facing a growing challenge from Samsung and other makers of Android-based devices.

Some analysts have said Apple is not competitive on price in key emerging markets where many cannot afford their products and other firms sell smartphones at much lower prices.

However, as well as a rival, Samsung is also a supplier to Apple. Its shares fell 1.7% on the news of the disappointing iPhone sales.

LG, which provides displays for Apple products, fell 3.1%, and Hon Hai, which assembles iPhones and iPads, dropped 3.2%.

'Thrilled'

Apple said it sold 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, up from 37 million a year earlier, and 22.9 million iPads, compared with 15.4 million in the same period in 2011.

Many analysts had expected iPhone sales, following the release of the iPhone 5 in September, to break the 50 million mark.

"We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54bn and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive.

"We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world."

Analysts took rather a different view.

"The revenue number is dismal as far as what the expectations were," said Jeff Sica at Sica Wealth Management. However, he added that Apple was suffering from a "curse of high expectations".

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Sony fined over PlayStation hack

24 January 2013 Last updated at 03:01 ET

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Simon Entwistle, Information Commissioner's Office, told the BBC that Sony "could have done more"

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has been fined £250,000 ($396,100) following a "serious breach" of the Data Protection Act.

UK authorities said a hack in April 2011 "could have been prevented".

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) criticised the entertainment giant for not having up-to-date security software.

Sony told the BBC it "strongly disagreed" with the ruling and planned to appeal.

"Criminal attacks on electronic networks are a real and growing aspect of 21st century life and Sony continually works to strengthen our systems, building in multiple layers of defence and working to make our networks safe, secure and resilient," a spokesman for the firm added.

The company had previously apologised for the hack which saw its PlayStation Network knocked offline for several days. In May 2011 company executives bowed in public and offered users free games to show their remorse.

'Not good enough'

The ICO's report said technical developments had led to user passwords not being secure - leaving data such as names, addresses, dates of birth and payment card information at risk.

"If you are responsible for so many payment card details and log-in details then keeping that personal data secure has to be your priority," said David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection at the ICO.

"In this case that just didn't happen, and when the database was targeted - albeit in a determined criminal attack - the security measures in place were simply not good enough."

Since the hack, which angered gamers who wanted to play over 2011's Easter weekend, Sony has said it has rebuilt the PlayStation Network system to be more secure.

But the ICO said the fine reflected the severity of the security lapse, adding that it was among the most serious it had ever seen.

"There's no disguising that this is a business that should have known better," Mr Smith added.

"It is a company that trades on its technical expertise, and there's no doubt in my mind that they had access to both the technical knowledge and the resources to keep this information safe."

One positive from the hack, Mr Smith said, was that polls conducted after the breach suggested a greater awareness of the risks in handing over personal data.

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Nokia swings back into profit

24 January 2013 Last updated at 08:07 ET

Nokia, the struggling mobile phone maker, swung back into profit in the last three months of 2012.

But Nokia said the trading outlook was tough and that no dividend would be paid, the first time in 20 years that shareholders have missed out.

Pre-tax profit for the quarter was 375m euros (£316m), against a 974m-euro loss last year.

Nokia said it sold 15.9 million smartphones in the quarter, down from 19.6 million a year earlier.

Paying no dividend would help the company preserve cash, and ensure "strategic flexibility", Nokia said in a statement. The rate at which Nokia was burning through cash as it invested in new products had been a worry for investors.

The company finished 2012 with net cash of 4.4bn euros, down 22% from a year earlier.

Nokia has fallen behind in the smartphone race against rivals Samsung and Apple.

However, the Finnish company has recently flagged that its turnaround strategy was starting to work and that sales of its new Lumia phones were strong, contributing to a 70% rise in Nokia's share price in past months.

The company sold 86.3 million devices during the quarter, including 4.4 million Lumia smartphones, its new flagship product developed with Microsoft - figures which it had flagged earlier this month.

"We are very encouraged that our team's execution against our business strategy has started to translate into financial results," chief executive Stephen Elop said. That strategy has involved announcing almost 20,000 job losses.

Nokia's market share reached more than 50% before rivals began eating into its business.

Ben Wood, a research analyst at CCS Insight said that on the face of it, this was positive for Nokia in isolation.

"But you have to take the 4.4m Lumia smartphones that they sold in the context of the 48m that Apple announced last night, and you can see that they have a long journey ahead."

On Wednesday, Apple said it had sold 47.8 million iPhones during the final quarter of 2012.

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Twitter boss tweets first video

24 January 2013 Last updated at 08:08 ET

Twitter boss Dick Costolo has posted the first video tweet, demonstrating how to make steak tartare in six seconds.

He posted the embedded video using an app from start-up Vine, which Twitter bought last year.

In keeping with the micro-blog's ethos, Vine is designed to enable users to post videos no longer than six seconds.

They will also be able to follow other Vine users and search for clips from people they know.

It is expected to be available initially as a standalone app from the Apple store.

"Video will be the next new front in the battle to add more functionality to social platforms," said Adrian Drury, lead analyst with research firm Ovum.

"In a way it is surprising that it has taken this long to integrate micro-video blogging," he added.

"This is Twitter's first effort and we see it as an early experiment and it will be interesting to see how consumers respond."

IDC analyst Alys Woodward said: "I'm not convinced that the steak tartare video was the best example they could have used, as six seconds is too short to give enough information on how to cook anything."

She added: "Twitter needs to ensure it can prevent offensive videos from being widely shared and I haven't found any evidence that Vine does that."

Annoying?

Some critics have pointed out that the video, in its current form, plays continuously in a loop, which could become irritating.

"I would welcome one in every 10 or 15 tweets having a video element but a cascading stream I would find pretty annoying," said Mr Drury.

"Twitter will see how people respond and if users don't like it presumably they will change it," he added.

Vine has already launched a Twitter page but has so far published no tweets.

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Wipeout veterans create new studio

24 January 2013 Last updated at 09:47 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

A group of video games developers from Sony's defunct Liverpool operation have created a studio in the city.

Sawfly Studios told the BBC it planned to release its first game - targeted at smartphones and tablets - within the next couple of months.

About 100 people lost their jobs when Sony closed what was one of the UK's oldest games developers last August.

The unit was responsible for the Wipeout racing series, but dated back to 1984, when it was called Psygnosis.

Four of its former employees are involved in the new business - two designers, a programmer and an artist - but they said they might take on other ex-Sony Liverpool Studio workers once they had launched their initial title.

"Most people have already been hired, but there still a few that are looking for work," said Sawfly's managing director Mike Humphrey.

"The closure of the studio came as a bit of a shock and the artists in particular have had to spend time creating their portfolios and getting them out in the world to show what they are capable of doing.

"We want to grow our studio over the coming years and to take on experienced, talented people - and the workers at Liverpool Studio were exactly that. So if the opportunity arises we'll definitely be looking to grow in the city."

Racing experts

Sawfly is currently working on a project commissioned by the US-Canadian publisher Riptide Games, the details of which are still under wraps.

In addition Sawfly said it was in discussions to work on other publishers' titles and planned to develop its own intellectual property.

Under Sony, the studio's workers had specialised in racing games, including Formula 1, Motorstorm and their last release Wipeout 2048.

But Mr Humphrey said their current project marked a "change of direction" into another genre.

He added it was much easier to make decisions now the designers were not involved with a big corporation.

But he stressed that while Sony's action had been a surprise, there was no "ill will" towards the company - rather a recognition that few jobs in the industry were as safe as they used to be.

Industry turmoil

The games sector is currently in a period of transition.

New consoles from Sony and Microsoft are expected later this year following the recent launch of Nintendo's Wii U.

But the relatively expensive titles for such machines are facing competition from cheap and free-to-download games for smartphones and tablets. The upcoming launch of Valve's Steam Boxes - which aim to make it easier for PC titles to be played on TVs - poses another potentially disruptive challenge.

Meanwhile, the rise of gaming on web-based social networks appears have gone into reverse as users spend less time visiting sites like Facebook on PCs and more time using mobile devices where they tend to prefer standalone apps.

Against this backdrop Sony is not the only firm to have enforced cutbacks.

In recent months EA has also closed its PopCap Dublin studio, Zynga shut its Japan unit, and Eurocom - the Derbyshire firm behind several James Bond and Harry Potter games - went out of business.

Most recently THQ - the California-based 23-year-old publisher and developer - collapsed.

Although many of its divisions have been sold on, the firm confirmed on Wednesday that its Vigil Games unit had failed to find a buyer and had been shuttered. The subsidiary was responsible for the Darksiders franchise.

"I think the truth is the industry is changing under our feet and none of us really know where it will settle," said Mr Humphrey, reflecting on the latest developments.

"The advantage of being the size we are now with Sawfly is that we can adapt quite quickly to a changing market. Obviously if you're a large studio with 100 or 300 employees, you cost a lot every month [to run] - just changing direction can be crippling.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the industry continues to change and I have no idea where it will end up - but I feel we're now in a good position to weather the storm."

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Sun owner buys football rights

By Jim Taylor
Newsbeat reporter

The newspaper group which owns The Sun and The Times has struck a deal to show Premier League highlights online and on mobiles and tablets.

From next season, News International has the rights to show clips of all 380 games on any day of the week.

Premier League 2013/14

Continue reading the main story

• Sky - 116 live games
• BT - 38 live games
• BBC - highlights on Match of the Day
• News International - internet and mobile highlights

For most matches goals will be available to watch on a mobile app almost immediately.

For matches which kick off at 3pm on Saturdays, the highlights won't be available until after 5pm.

The deal replaces similar web and mobile agreements with Yahoo! and ESPN, though News International hasn't said whether it will charge for the content.

BSkyB, part owned by News Corporation, has also held on to the rights to show games on a delayed basis for the next three seasons.

The UK Long-Form Linear Package gives the broadcaster delayed rights to show 226 Premier League matches per season.

There are also lots of Twitter accounts which link to illegal content on other video sites.

Max Whicher, Chelsea fan

Max says he jumps online if he hears about a great goal or a controversial moment.

"I just scour the internet, put it into Google and see what the hype's about."

He says he doesn't bother watching Match of the Day any more.

"I don't have the time for it. It's a long programme and it's best just to find the highlights straight away.

"If it's really amazing I'll go and find it in higher definition, there's always something out there."

Peter Storry, Liverpool fan

Peter uses the ESPN goals app, which operates under the deal which News International has bought from next season.

"Soon after the game finishes, all the goals and highlights from the games are on there. It's a good app if you're busy."

But he says there'll always be a place for shows like Match of the Day.

"It's still a good programme, especially for people who don't have Sky.

"Some people still like sitting at home and watching Mach of the Day, it's a bit of a ritual, but other people will be out so don't have time to watch it."

Sam Castleton, Brighton fan

Sam is not a fan of the pundits on Match of the Day and prefers to go online. He said: "I'll find a website where I can watch, like Yahoo!

"It's just the highlights I'm interested in really and I can't stand the outrageously stupid comments on Match of the Day."

On Match of the Day, the BBC said: "The MoTD offering is unique and very popular with audiences, with its insight and analysis of all the day's play. It remains a focal point for all football fans."

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

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MIT solicits Swartz probe suggestions

24 January 2013 Last updated at 10:25 ET

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has begun soliciting input from the university's "community" into its review into the suicide of internet activist Aaron Swartz.

The site allows staff, students past and present and their parents to submit questions to MIT's investigation team.

Mr Swartz, 26, was found hanged earlier this month.

He was accused of illegally downloading academic documents using MIT networks, a charge many had said was unfair.

Suggestions on the site include: "What support, if any, does MIT offer for students undergoing federal investigations or criminal charges? If none, why not?"

MIT has said its review will be complete in "a few weeks".

It will be a chance to rebuild its reputation following heavy criticism over its role in Mr Swartz's arrest and subsequent treatment.

According to police reports of his arrest, Mr Swartz was first reported to the authorities by an employee at MIT's IT department.

MIT told officers more than 70GB of data had been downloaded from JStor, a subscription service that offers academic journals.

If convicted, Mr Swartz could have faced up to 35 years in prison.

He also might have had to pay a fine of more than $1m (£630,000).

Reddit help

Following the death, MIT president L Rafael Reif praised the "brilliant creativity and idealism" of Mr Swartz, who had been an early developer of Reddit, a community news website.

"It pains me to think that MIT played any role in a series of events that have ended in tragedy," he said in a statement.

"Now is a time for everyone involved to reflect on their actions, and that includes all of us at MIT."

Away from the MIT investigation, digital rights campaign group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) invited Reddit users to weigh in with their thoughts on what it has named Aaron's Law.

The EFF said it hoped to reform the Computer Fraud and Misuse Act in the wake of Mr Swartz's prosecution and subsequent suicide.

It also wants to clarify the legal definition of what it means to have obtained "unauthorised access".

Others have defended the authorities' actions in prosecuting Mr Swartz.

In one blog post, Orin Kerr, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, wrote the actions of the prosecutors had been "based on a fair reading of the law".

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