UK first to get Blackberry 10 phone

30 January 2013 Last updated at 11:01 ET

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The BBC's Mark Gregory looks at Timeshift and Blackberry Balance on the new Z10 handset

The first two handsets powered by the new Blackberry 10 operating system have been unveiled.

The Z10 is controlled via a 4.2in (10.7cm) touchscreen while the Q10 has a smaller 3.1in (7.9cm) screen and physical keyboard.

The UK will be the first to get the Z10 where it will launch on Thursday.

Its appeal could determine whether the firm - which has switched its name from Research In Motion to Blackberry - has a long term future.

The new operating system had originally been due for release last year. Canada and the UAE will get the Z10 in February and the firm said it should go on sale in the US in March.

"Two years ago we had to make a very serious decision," chief executive Thorsten Heins told a press conference in New York.

"Adopt someone else's platform or build a whole new one from ground up for Blackberry. And we made the tough call to go it alone.

"Bringing an entirely new platform to the market and ushering this company through a really difficult transition took careful planning and we absolutely knew it was risky."

Shrinking share

According to data from IDC, Blackberry devices used to account for just over 19% of global smartphone shipments at the start of 2010 - but it suggests that figure had dropped to less than 4% by the end of last year.

"The devices are probably the firm's last attempt to make in impact in this market," Alexander Peterc, technology analyst at BNP Paribas, told the BBC.

"The firm's market share has fallen because they haven't had a product launch in a year and a half. BB7 - the previous system upgrade which was just incremental - was, let's say, a failure.

"They still have a following in enterprise where they will probably find a reliable source of revenue for the next 12 months but it's also crucial for them to generate at least a half-decent amount of traction with consumers."

Touchscreen keyboard

The new user interface allows up to eight apps to run simultaneously, four of which can appear in small windows on the same screen - something the firm describes as "true multitasking".

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Michelle Fleury spoke to chief executive Thorsten Heins, and looked at the Blackberry 10's 'hub' feature

During a demonstration executives said the intention was to let users "flow" through applications using swipes and other gestures rather than copy the "in and out" nature experienced when navigating rivals' devices.

For example BB10's Hub - which brings together emails, texts and other notifications - can be accessed by swiping up and then to the right from any app. The user then needs to reverse the gesture to return to where they were.

The BBM messaging app can now make audio and video calls as well as being able to share what is on one person's screen with the other user's device.

The Z10 is not RIM's first to feature a touchscreen keyboard, but it has adopted new features to attract users more used to physical buttons.

These include a feature which learns the words and phrases the owner most often types and then uses this to suggest words which float above the keyboard and can be flicked into place.

It will also learn to anticipate and correct frequently made mistakes - such as if the user often hits the letter C when they mean to tap space.

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Blackberry head of software Vivek Bhardwaj demonstrates the new BBM video feature

"The new keyboard is the jewel in the crown and Blackberry has mastered the experience," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager at IDC.

"The browser, one of the weakest features on the old Blackberry devices, is now an enjoyable experience.

"This is not a new Blackberry device, this is a completely new Blackberry experience. For the first time the traditional keyboard Blackberry users will it find easier to type on a touchscreen."

The handsets also include a mix of features designed to make them appeal as a crossover business-personal machine.

Blackberry Balance sets up a "work perimeter" on the phones so that data belonging to the user's employer can be limited to approved apps, while photos and other personal information can be used across a wider range of software.

Companies are also given the option of being able to remotely wipe sensitive files.

Meanwhile the in-built Pictures app includes a facility called Timeshift designed to ensure everyone has their eyes open in group photos.

It involves the user taking several pictures in a row and then scrolling through the shots to select the best frame.

Tough competition

Blackberry said it had secured more than 70,000 additional apps for its Blackberry World app store including Skype, Angry Birds, Facebook and Whatsapp.

In addition it offers music, TV shows and movies. However, there is no official YouTube app.

But some analysts suggested its efforts might have come too late to make much headway against the most popular smartphone platforms: Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

"Blackberry continues to face the twin demons of consumer-driven buying power and a chronic inability to appeal to mature market consumers," said Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum.

"There is nothing in what we've seen so far of BB10 that suggests it will conquer the second of these demons, and the first is utterly out of Blackberry's control.

"We don't expect a speedy exit from the market; with no debt, 80 million subscribers and profitability in the black in at least some recent quarters, the company can continue in this vein for years. But its glory days are past, and it is only a matter of time before it reaches a natural end."

Blackberry's shares fell more than 6% following the launch.

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S Korea satellite 'communicating'

30 January 2013 Last updated at 21:50 ET

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The BBC's Lucy Williamson says the launch will be met with relief in Seoul

South Korea says the satellite launched on Wednesday has made contact with a ground station and is sending data.

The launch was South Korea's first successful attempt to put a satellite into orbit using its own rocket.

The satellite, which collects climate data, made contact at 03:27 on Thursday (18:27 GMT on Wednesday).

The launch - which came weeks after North Korea successfully put its own satellite in orbit - had been delayed twice due to technical reasons.

President Lee Myung-bak praised what he called a "first step towards opening an era of space science in earnest".

"We should make this an opportunity to elevate national power by a notch."

The rocket, which blasted off from the Naro Space Center at 16:00 (07:00 GMT) on Wednesday, was built in partnership with Russia. Two previous launches in 2009 and 2010 had failed.

South Korea now plans to develop a fully home-made three-stage rocket.

There has been no reaction yet from North Korea, which was condemned by the UN last week for its rocket launch - seen as a banned test of missile technology.

"The North should not see it [the South Korean launch] as a threat because they too can enjoy the same transparency with regard to the programme that the rest of us have, which is a far cry from how the DPRK [North Korea] behaves," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

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Ticketmaster dumps 'hated' Captcha

30 January 2013 Last updated at 08:45 ET

The world's largest online ticket retailer is to stop requiring users to enter hard-to-read words in order to prove they are human.

Captcha - which asks users to type in words to prove they are not robots trying to cheat the system - is used on many sites.

But Ticketmaster has moved to ditch it in favour of a simpler system.

It means users will write phrases, such as "freezing temperatures", rather than, for example, "tormentis harlory".

Captcha stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, and was first developed at Carnegie Mellon university in 2000.

For sites such as Ticketmaster, Captcha is used to make sure robots are not used to buy up tickets automatically.

'Most hated'

As these robots have become more sophisticated, Captcha has had to become more advanced in order to stay effective. But in the process, it has become more difficult for humans to understand.

"It is generally speaking the one of the most hated pieces of user interaction on the web," said Aaron Young, from user experience consultancy Bunnyfoot.

Continue reading the main story

It is generally speaking the one of the most hated pieces of user interaction on the web"

End Quote Aaron Young Usability expert

"The major problem with them is that it's not unusual for several attempts to be needed.

"So when people see them again on different websites they have negative expectations."

He told BBC News: "It's not going to be immediately extinguished. It's evolving into something easier."

A move away from Captcha would also be good news for users with accessibility difficulties, Mr Young added.

"Captcha has a spoken command, which meets to some degree the accessibility challenge, but it's still not ideal."

'Satisfaction'

Ticketmaster is now using software created by New York start-up Solve Media, a similar service that asks for well-known phrases, or simple multiple choice questions.

Solve Media's system can be used for advertising as well as user verification - and uses a combination of digital cues to work out whether a person is real or not.

Trials of the new system had shown positive signs, Ticketmaster said.

"We're starting to see an uptick in fan satisfaction," said Kip Levin, Ticketmaster's executive vice president of eCommerce.

"We're happy with what we've seen from a security standpoint as well."

He added that the average time to solve a Captcha puzzle was 14 seconds, while the new system was taking users an average of seven seconds to figure out.

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British army stages huge virtual war

30 January 2013 Last updated at 09:52 ET By Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter, Warminster

The British army has conducted its largest virtual battle simulation, involving 220 soldiers.

The experiment was carried out at the Army's Land Warfare Centre in Warminster, Wiltshire.

The two-hour scenario saw soldiers on computers completing virtual missions in a fictional French town.

The Army says the simulation will help it to find out which resources it needs to invest in, once it takes control of its own budget in April 2013.

"The aim is to understand how various changes have an impact on the speed at which command can respond," said Col Tim Law, assistant head of army force development.

"We're trying to determine exactly what we need to fight and win the wars of tomorrow."

Virtual clutter

By altering variables, like the number of troops on the ground and the amount of surveillance and communication available, the simulation had provided essential data about what was the most useful in a battle situation, Col Law said.

Combining virtual simulations and training exercises on the ground has already indicated ways logistics can be improved.

Each company in Afghanistan was provided with three Intelligence Corps personnel, but there remained uncertainty as to where they were best placed - out in the field or back at base, Col Law said.

Continue reading the main story

We're pushing the edges of realism and scale"

End Quote Dr Nigel Paling Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

"We have already determined in this experiment that it's better for them to be at battlefield HQ, feeding information down the line and planning ahead," he added.

Urban Warrior 5, as the project is called, has cost about £1m to develop and was built with VBS2 software, which is also used commercially by the games industry to create virtual worlds.

Lovelle - the name of the fictional town in the simulation - was a replication of a town in France where the training exercise had been carried out in real life, said Col Law.

"But with virtual we can add 'clutter'," he said. "Like trees and civilians."

There were inevitably comparisons with Activision's Call of Duty series, but Urban Warrior 5 was not a game, said Dr Nigel Paling, science advisor with the UK government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

"We have tailored commercially available software, but we're pushing the edges of realism and scale," he told the BBC.

"In Call of Duty buildings don't 'rubble-ise'. We have recreated actual weapon effects."

Unlike real life however, soldiers in the game are able to regenerate if killed.

"This is not about killing people," said Col Law, "It's about winning the battle."

War games

Lt Col Charlie Barker, chief of staff at Urban Warrior 5C, is unequivocal that Call of Duty would not have been a viable - if more economic - alternative.

"It would be like trying to do 120mph in the fast lane on a bicycle," said Lt Col Barker.

However, Col Law admitted virtual environments had their limits.

"The problem is that all you have is the screen," he said.

"In reality your unit would be shouting, 'Look out, over there,' - situation awareness isn't entirely visual."

Further simulations involving different troops will be run until June 2013, after which all the data will be analysed.

"The Army is seeking to modernise and define its direction in the future," said Col Law - although he admitted this was a challenging task.

"We are noting that current events show how unpredictable this will be," he added. "It's a bit like nailing jelly to the wall."

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Sensors envisage stroke recovery

30 January 2013 Last updated at 19:32 ET By Eleanor Bradford BBC Scotland Health Correspondent

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The system gathers data from patients and lets them see how their movement is affected

Academics and designers have come up with a device to help people recover from the physical effects of a stroke.

Envisage uses motion sensor technology to show patients whether or not they are doing their rehabilitation exercises correctly.

It was created by a team from the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Strathclyde.

Focus groups suggested stroke survivors needed a way to keep motivated during the long road to recovery.

Linda Gordon, who had a stroke last year, said: "I think it's been a great thing, it's been really good."

At the age of 54, Ms Gordon is only one year older than BBC presenter Andrew Marr, who suffered a stroke earlier this month.

She lost the use of her right arm and leg - and has had to learn to walk again.

Reflective balls

Ms Gordon describes the after-effects of the stroke as "devastating".

"My mother had strokes, but you don't think it'll happen to you," she said. "You just don't."

Continue reading the main story

Patients like to be able to see where they're going wrong"

End Quote Gillian Sweeney Occupational therapist

Ms Gordon was the first patient to be enrolled on the Envisage trial, taking place in Lanarkshire stroke clinics.

Small reflective balls are placed on her leg and thigh, allowing motion sensor cameras to capture her precise movements and show them on screen.

A "swingometer" at the side of the screen moves into red if her position is wrong and green if she is doing an exercise correctly.

Occupational therapist Gillian Sweeney explained: "Occupational therapists and physiotherapists have always used verbal feedback and mirrors in therapy sessions.

"This technology allows us to wind it back and play it to the patient.

"Patients like to be able to see where they're going wrong and to get advice on how to correct that."

About 30 patients have used the Envisage programme so far.

Patients' homes

It is hoped that larger-scale studies will follow and the technology will eventually be a standard part of stroke rehabilitation.

Research fellow Dr Anne Taylor, from the Glasgow School of Art, said: "What a lot of therapists said before is that therapy can be very prescriptive, very instructive.

"They're telling the patient what they have to do, whereas hopefully the use of the visuals will allow an interaction where the patient takes more ownership.

"The aim is to use it in patients' homes eventually."

Ms Gordon's long recovery continues and she is now concentrating on trying to get more movement in her arm.

"I just need to learn to be patient," she said. "I was so naive. I thought I'd be back at my work in a couple of months.

"Now I've spoken to people who say it takes two years to recover. It's just a slow process."

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Experts warn of cloud snooping

31 January 2013 Last updated at 06:10 ET By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

Leading privacy expert Caspar Bowden has warned Europeans using US cloud services that their data could be snooped on.

In a report, he highlights how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendment Act (FISAAA) allows US authorities to spy on cloud data.

This includes services such as Amazon Cloud Drive, Apple iCloud and Google Drive.

He told the BBC this heralded a new era of "cloud surveillance".

Foreign policy

Mr Bowden, former chief privacy adviser to Microsoft Europe, made a name for himself as a privacy advocate when the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) came into force in the UK in 2000.

Parliament accepted some of the amendments proposed by Mr Bowden as the then director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.

Now he has turned his attention to US legislation and has co-authored the Fighting Cyber Crime and Protecting Privacy in the Cloud report which was recently presented to the European Parliament.

In it he said that FISAAA "expressly permits purely political surveillance", so that anyone with stored information relating to US foreign policy could find themselves of interest to the US authorities.

"Anyone who, for example, belongs to a campaign group which may oppose some aspect of US foreign policy, whether it be the Iraq war or climate change," he said.

The FISAAA was originally drafted in 2008, and was recently renewed until 2017. It was added on to existing legislation to take account of cloud computing, which was just emerging as a means of data storage.

"What's amazing is that nobody really spotted it for four years," said Mr Bowden.

"When FISAAA was extended to cover cloud computing, encrypting data to and from the cloud becomes irrelevant so it is surprising that nobody noticed this," he added.

Tiny supercomputer

Adam Mitton, a partner at law firm Harbottle & Lewis, agreed that the FISAAA could be a threat to privacy but questioned how much it was used.

"In theory there is a clear threat to the privacy of European citizens, but in reality the fact that it is obscure suggests that the threat isn't as great as it might be perceived," he said.

"If it was being used by an authority and having an impact on individual citizens, I think that the source of the information would come to light. The legislation is now five years old and I'm not aware of any case that has relied on it," he added.

Storing data in the cloud is becoming hugely popular not just for consumers who use it to keep photographs and other personal data safe but for businesses which are increasingly using cloud services to offer back-end processing power.

Under the FISAAA, US cloud providers can be compelled to release data from any citizen living outside of the US.

"The fibre-optic cable that carries the data is split and a miniature supercomputer scans all the data in real-time with any material of possible interest being instantly copied to the NSA [National Security Agency]," said Mr Bowden.

The court order is made in secret and remains secret - meaning it would not show up in things such as Google's transparency reports, which aim to document data requests from governments around the world.

"We have long known that the Americans can spy on foreign data but FISAAA extends this to reach inside the data centre. It allows the authorities to enact surveillance on a mass scale because it is wired into the infrastructure," Mr Bowden said.

A hearing on the European Parliament's findings of the report is due next month.

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Man charged over online 'sextortion'

31 January 2013 Last updated at 06:42 ET

A man who is said to have blackmailed more than 350 women after convincing them to strip off in front of their webcams has been arrested in the US.

Prosecutors said Karen "Gary" Kazaryan, 27, had hacked into hundreds of Facebook, Skype and email accounts to obtain naked or semi-naked pictures.

It is alleged he threatened to post the nude images of victims publicly unless they removed their clothing on camera.

If convicted, he could receive a maximum jail sentence of 105 years.

A press statement from the US Department of Justice detailed the charges against Mr Kazaryan, of Glendale, California.

Mr Kazaryan is said to have gained unauthorised access to hundreds of women's accounts, changing their passwords to prevent them from getting access.

"Once he controlled the accounts, Kazaryan searched emails or other files for naked or semi-naked pictures of the victims, as well as other information, such as passwords and the names of their friends," the statement said.

"Using that information, Kazaryan posed online as women, sent instant messages to their friends, and persuaded the friends to remove their clothing so that he could view and take pictures of them."

Skype capture

US authorities said they had found about 3,000 pictures of nude or semi-nude women on Mr Kazaryan's computer.

Some of the images had been taken from online accounts, while others had been captured by Mr Kazaryan himself on Skype, they alleged.

"When the victims discovered that they were not speaking with their friends, Kazaryan often extorted them again, using the photos he had fraudulently obtained to again coerce the victims to remove their clothing on camera," the statement said.

The FBI said on some occasions Mr Kazaryan had gone through with his threat to publish the sensitive images.

He now faces 30 charges - 15 counts of computer intrusion, and 15 counts of aggravated identity theft.

The FBI described the alleged blackmail as "sextortion".

Shower trick

In recent years, hackers have concocted ever more devious ways to coerce victims, or to spy on them unawares.

Writing in the Naked Security blog, Sophos researcher Graham Cluley recounted prior incidents.

In 2011, a Southern Californian man was sentenced to six years in prison for hacking into more than 100 computers - often posing as targets' boyfriends in order to obtain pictures.

Luis Mijangos, 32, said: "To all the victims I want to say that I'm sorry. I'm ready to do the right thing and stay out of trouble."

In July last year, Trevor Harwell, 21, was given a year-long jail sentence for setting up a ruse in which he convinced women that they needed to "steam" their webcams in order to fix a fault.

The easiest way to do this, Mr Harwell's "error" message explained, was by setting up the webcam near a shower.

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'China hackers' attack NY Times

31 January 2013 Last updated at 08:43 ET

Hackers from China have "persistently" infiltrated the New York Times for the last four months, the US paper says.

It said the attacks coincided with its report into claims that the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune.

The hackers used methods which have been "associated with the Chinese military" to target the emails of the report's writer, the paper said.

China's foreign ministry dismissed the accusations as "groundless".

"To arbitrarily assert and to conclude without hard evidence that China participated in such hacking attacks is totally irresponsible," said spokesman Hong Lei.

"China is also a victim of hacking attacks. Chinese laws clearly forbid hacking attacks, and we hope relevant parties takes a responsible attitude on this issue."

Beijing has been accused by several governments, foreign companies and organisations of carrying out extensive cyber espionage for many years, seeking to gather information and to control China's image.

'China-based subterfuge'

According to the Times, the hackers first broke into their computer system in September, as the report on Mr Wen was nearing completion.

The report, which was dismissed as a "smear" by the Chinese government, said Mr Wen's relatives had amassed assets worth at least $2.7bn (£1.7bn) through business dealings. It did not accuse the Chinese premier of wrongdoing.

China is sensitive about reports on its leaders, particularly when it comes to their wealth.

Continue reading the main story

• China was widely believed to be the source of major cyber attacks between 2006 and 2011 targeting 72 organisations including the International Olympic Committee, the UN and security firms
• In 2011, Google said hackers based in Jinan province had compromised personal email accounts of hundreds of top US officials, military personnel and journalists
• South Korea blamed Chinese hackers for stealing data from 35 million accounts on a popular social network in July last year
• Chinese-based computers seized "full functional control" of computers at Nasa in 2011, the US body said
• In 2011 US media reported that Chinese-based hackers were suspected of a "significant" cyber attack on defence firm Lockheed Martin.
• Coca-cola says its systems were breached in 2009 by Beijing-backed hackers, while it was trying to buy China's Huiyuan Juice Group
• The US Pentagon said it was hacked by the Chinese military in 2007
• China says hacking is illegal under its laws and that it is a victim of such attacks itself

The New York Times said the hacking initially focussed on the computers of David Barboza, the paper's bureau chief in Shanghai who wrote the report, and one of his predecessors, Jim Yardley.

Internet security firm Mandiant, which was hired by the Times to trace the attack, followed the hackers' movements for four months, to try to establish a pattern and block them.

The hackers installed malware which enabled them to access any computer using the New York Times network, steal the password of every employee, and access 53 personal computers, mostly outside the Times offices.

They found the hackers began working for the most part at 08:00 Beijing time. They have not been able to establish how exactly the hackers broke into the system, but believe it may have been through a so-called spear-phishing attack, where an employee clicked on an email or link containing malicious code.

The security firm found that in an attempt to hide the origin of the attack, it had been routed through computers in US universities which, the paper said, "matches the subterfuge used in many other attacks that Mandiant has tracked to China".

The Times said experts had found that the attacks "started from the same university computers used by the Chinese military to attack United States military contractors in the past".

Mandiant's chief security officer, Richard Bejtlich, said that "if you look at each attack in isolation, you can't say, 'This is the Chinese military'," but that the similar patterns and targets of the attacks indicated a connection.

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The BBC's Damian Grammaticas: "On the day it (NY Times) published, its computers came under attack"

"When you see the same group steal data on Chinese dissidents and Tibetan activists, then attack an aerospace company, it starts to push you in the right direction," he said.

The paper said no personal data of staff or customers was stolen and that no attempt was made to shut down its website.

"They could have wreaked havoc on our systems," said chief information officer Marc Frons. But he said what they appeared to be looking for were "the names of people who might have provided information to Mr Barboza".

There was also no evidence that sensitive emails or files on the Wen family had been accessed, or that the intruders had sought information unrelated to the Wen family, the paper said.

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EA denies games encourage violence

31 January 2013 Last updated at 09:12 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

The boss of Electronic Arts (EA) has denied there is any link between video game content and "actual violence".

John Riccitiello spoke out on the subject during a conference call with bank analysts following his firm's latest earnings forecast.

But he acknowledged that his industry did face a "perception issue".

The topic has become the focus of political debate in the US following shootings in a Connecticut school and a Colorado cinema.

After the incidents, the National Rifle Association (NRA) - which itself had been accused of culpability - said the video game industry sowed "violence against its own people".

Republican congresswoman Diane Franklin subsequently proposed a sales tax on violent titles, saying the money should be used to "finance mental health programs and law enforcement measures to prevent mass shootings".

Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader went further, accusing games publishers of being "electronic child molesters" and demanded regulation.

Research studies

Vice President Joseph Biden was recently tasked with heading an inquiry into the causes of gun violence and specifically looked at the issue of computer games.

He concluded: "There is no hard data as to whether or not these excessively violent video games in fact cause people to engage in behaviour that is antisocial, including using guns."

However, during an online video interview, he also referred to a 2008 research paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

It said that a study of US and Japanese youth had suggested playing violent video games was "a significant risk factor for later physically aggressive behaviour".

The research team behind the report also published a follow-up paper in 2010, in the American Psychological Association's journal, saying there should be "public education" so parents and schools could address the issue.

But the vice president said the studies had not made "the next connection" - that game playing actually led to violent acts - and concluded that more research was needed.

Wrestling with critics

As well as being EA's chief executive, Mr Riccitiello also chairs the US's Entertainment Software Rating Board - which decides what age guidance and warnings should go on games packaging - and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) lobby body.

He said his industry had been "stunned and horrified" by the recent shootings but denied it had had a role in these or other attacks.

"There's been an enormous amount of research done in the entertainment field about looking for linkages between entertainment content and actual violence, and they haven't found any," he said.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars of the research has been done [and] has been unable to find a linkage because there isn't one.

"Now, having said all that, and with all, if you will, humility about the world we live in, we understand that while there may not be an actual problem, given all the finger pointing going on in the press, there appears to be the perception of a problem, and we do have to wrestle with that."

He added that other members of the ESA were also ready to "step up" to tackle the issue.

His comments follow other calls for the video games industry to do more to engage in the debate.

The PC-games-focused site Rock Paper Shotgun recently published an editorial suggesting those involved in the industry had tried to avoid discussing the issue in order to avoid fuelling the cause of critics with "knee-jerking agendas". But it added it was "irresponsible" not to try to convince the NRA and others that they were wrong.

"There is no-one who needs to know about the effects of video game violence more than gamers themselves," the site's co-editor John Walker told the BBC.

"So far all studies have shown that games do not cause a person to become violent, but that doesn't mean we should become blase about it or dismiss it out of hand.

"Gamers and producers need to frequently talk about the subject and be seen to openly discuss both the positive and negative effects gaming may have."

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No phone plans, Facebook insists

31 January 2013 Last updated at 09:17 ET

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has strongly denied the social network is planning to release its own phone.

In an effort to dispel long-running rumours, Mr Zuckerberg said releasing a Facebook phone was "not the right strategy".

"We need to make Facebook really good across all of the devices [that people use]," he added.

His comments came as his company announced a sharp drop in profits - but an increase in revenue.

The company made a profit of $64m (£41m) in the final three months of last year, compared with $302m a year earlier.

But it has seen an increase in revenue coming from mobile advertising - an area investors see as one of the company's biggest challenges.

The company said that 23% of its advertising revenue now came from mobile.

"More people are starting to understand that mobile is a great opportunity for us," Mr Zuckerberg said in a conference call to discuss earnings, as quoted by Seeking Alpha.

"It allows us to reach more people.

Continue reading the main story

Mark Zuckerberg probably believes that every phone is a Facebook phone"

End Quote Stuart Miles Pocket-lint

"We have more engagements from the people who we reach, and I think we'll also be able to make more money for each minute people spend with us on their mobile devices."

'Keep pushing'

However, Mr Zuckerberg went on to tell investors that a phone did not fit into Facebook's plans.

"People keep on asking if we're going to build a phone," he said.

"And we're not going to build a phone... it's not the right strategy for us.

"The big thing for us is we've one billion people using our products and we need to make Facebook really good across all of the devices that they use - and we're going to keep on pushing to get kind of more integrated with the system."

Stuart Miles, from UK gadget blog Pocket-lint, told the BBC that any Facebook phone would be unlikely to succeed.

"If a Facebook phone was launched tomorrow, would you buy it? You wouldn't," he said.

"I think there's a sense where Mark Zuckerberg probably believes that every phone is a Facebook phone.

"The mobile apps work - you don't get phones now that can't get Facebook, so they just don't need to make their own."

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