Warhol works found on Amiga disks

24 April 2014 Last updated at 12:24

A dozen previously unknown works created by Andy Warhol have been recovered from 30-year-old Amiga disks.

The art experiments were produced in 1985 by Warhol under commission from Commodore - creator of the Amiga computer.

Commodore paid the artist to produce a series of works to aid the launch of the Amiga 1000.

A painstaking three-year project was required to recover the images which were saved in an obscure data format.

Lost format

The digital images were discovered and recovered by staff and students who are members of Carnegie Mellon University's computer club.

The club was enrolled in the attempt to find and restore the images by self-confessed Andy Warhol fanatic and artist Cory Arcangel. He noticed Warhol's involvement in the Commodore Amiga launch thanks to a video uploaded to YouTube of the 1985 event.

At the launch news conference, Warhol used the Amiga's graphics program to paint a portrait of Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry.

Arcangel wondered if Warhol had produced any other works with the Amiga and contacted the Andy Warhol Museum in 2011 to get permission to search its collection.

The search turned up an Amiga computer and lots of floppy disks and led Arcangel to approach Carnegie Mellon for help in cataloguing what was on the storage media. At that time it was not known if any Warhol works were on the old disks.

Magnetic imaging tools were used to copy data on the disks so no damage was done to the original floppies. Examination of the copied data revealed several files that had titles such as "campbells.pic", "flower.pic" and "marilyn1.pic" that were reminiscent of Warhol's best-known works.

The recovery project was initially thwarted from viewing the actual images as the data was saved in an obscure format that modern Amiga emulators could not read.

Reverse engineering of the format helped to recover the images many of which turned out to be signed electronic facsimiles of Warhol's more famous creations. In total 18 images were recovered, a dozen of which are signed by Warhol.

"What's amazing is that by looking at these images, we can see how quickly Warhol seemed to intuit the essence of what it meant to express oneself, in what then was a brand-new medium: the digital," said Arcangel in a statement.

The discovery and recovery project has been filmed for a documentary that will be shown on 10 May at a public lecture at the Carnegie Library lecture hall in Pittsburgh. Soon afterwards, the documentary will be put online at http://nowseethis.org/.

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A new kind of tech bubble

23 April 2014 Last updated at 16:21

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A new kind of tech bubble

We've heard a lot lately about the bursting of the tech bubble, but scientists at Bristol University believe their bubble technology could have a profitable future.

Their system for producing bubbles onto which images can be projected and which release a scent when burst will be unveiled at a major conference on human-computer interfaces this weekend.

The video demonstration of what is described as a "chrono-sensory mid-air display system" shows how bubbles of varying sizes can be created, then tracked so that images can be projected on them.

The man leading the project is Professor Sriram Subramanian from the computer science department at Bristol, for whom I have one nagging question - what on earth have bubbles got to do with human-computer interfaces?

He explains that his team's primary interest is in different kinds of display surfaces for information. "We are interested in creating new and exciting experiences for people. Think about your laptop or phone - you can't put your finger through the screen." Whereas his bubbles deliver short-term messages which disappear when popped but leave behind a longer term scent.

The technology has already attracted interest from shopping malls. The professor imagines a future where a bakery chain releases bubbles containing the scent of sausage rolls to entice people into their stores - although it sounds to me as though that could turn into an olfactory nightmare, with different scents competing for shoppers' attention.

Another idea involves an educational use. "There's an iPhone game which involves bursting bubbles to learn maths - we could project numbers onto different bubbles, so the children would have to burst the right bubble."

He also sketches out ideas for what he calls an ambient notification system - for instance, a bubble that would float around your office every now and then with a number showing how many unread emails are in your inbox. "You could go even further. If we encode each category of email with a different scent, the smell would tell you vaguely how many emails you had from family as opposed to work-related ones."

The SensaBubble, as it has been named, will be unveiled in Toronto at CHI2014, a conference of scientists working on new interfaces between computers and humans. The conference's preview video gives some idea of the breadth of new ideas emerging, as researchers look beyond the traditional model of keyboard, screen and mouse. And you can see more of the Bristol team's work in this area on their YouTube channel.

Professor Subramanian describes how a visit to a Disney theme park involves a lot of interaction with technology but "you almost never notice the technology, it's such a fun experience". This is the new frontier for computer science - making our interactions with machines such fun that the technology just disappears.

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Facebook earnings surge on mobile ads

24 April 2014 Last updated at 11:03

Social networking giant Facebook has reported profits of $642m (£383m) during the first quarter of 2014, beating analyst expectations.

The firm said that a surge in mobile advertising helped push revenues 72% higher, to $2.5bn in the January-to-March period.

Mobile now makes up 59% of advertising revenue, from 30% a year ago.

Facebook also announced chief finance officer David Ebersman will be stepping down after five years at the company.

Mr Ebersman, who will remain with the company until September, said he plans to return to the healthcare industry.

He will be replaced by David Wehner, Facebook's vice president for corporate finance and business planning, and the former chief financial officer at games company Zynga.

Continue reading the main story

"Facebook's business is strong and growing, and this quarter was a great start to 2014," said founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.

"We've made some long term bets on the future while staying focused on executing and improving our core products and business. We're in great position to continue making progress towards our mission."

Shares of Facebook rose as much as 4.3% in after-hours trading.

Mobile push

Continue reading the main story

Richard Taylor North America Technology Correspondent

---

Facebook trounced Wall Street estimates last quarter in light of a hugely successful push into mobile.

This time around it has again outperformed expectations, driven by impressive ad revenue - the backbone of its business.

Looking ahead, the social network has a promising outlook on this front too. It is seeking to monetise its social photo-sharing service Instagram, and has already begun drawing in additional revenues from its recently-introduced video ads.

An extra boost would come from the launch of a rumoured soon-to-launch advertising network, to help it better compete against Google and Twitter for ad spend.

What these results don't reflect is the social network's acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp for a staggering $19bn, or its more recent $2bn purchase of virtual reality startup, Oculus Rift; neither deal has yet closed.

Although many remain unconvinced that Facebook will see a decent return on investment on WhatsApp (despite this week's news it now has 500 million users),

Facebook's diversification is a recognition that it needs to spread its risk and retain a broader portfolio as the growth in its core social network slows.

Mark Zuckerberg is keen to ensure that as other platforms emerge, his company is in pole position to capitalise.

The firm said it reached 1.28 billion users during the period, with more than a billion of those accessing the site through a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet.

The company has taken steps to further grow its mobile business - which barely used to generate any advertising revenue a few years ago - by expanding its product offerings.

This includes launching the Facebook Messenger service and news application Paper.

Facebook also bought photo-sharing application Instagram in 2012 and recently agreed to buy mobile text messaging service WhatsApp for $19bn.

As an increasing number of consumers switch to accessing services such as facebook on handheld or potable devices, spending on digital and mobile advertising is expected to rise even further.

According to research firm eMarketer, global digital ad spending rose 14.6% to $119.8bn in 2013.

It is estimated to increase another 14.8% this year to $137.5bn.

For mobile, global advertising grew 105% to about $18bn last year and is projected to grow another 75.1% this year to reach $31.45bn.

According to some forecasts, Facebook is expected to capture an even bigger slice of the mobile and digital advertising market this year, trailing only Google which accounts for the bulk of market share.

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NYPD Twitter campaign 'backfires'

23 April 2014 Last updated at 12:28

A plan by the New York Police Department to use Twitter to boost its image seems to have backfired.

Users were asked to tweet a photo of themselves with officers and add the hashtag #myNYPD as part of a social media campaign.

But instead of a steady stream of friendly photos, the hashtag was quickly adopted by users posting images of possible police aggression.

The NYPD said: "Twitter provides an open forum for uncensored exchange."

The original tweet was posted on the NYPD's Twitter feed on Tuesday. Featuring two smiling officers and a member of the public, it encouraged users to send in similar photos.

But while several people did so, the hashtag was also picked up by others who used it to identify tweets containing photos of the NYPD in more hostile situations.

By Wednesday, the hashtag had become one of Twitter's top trending terms.

One photo showed a man being pushed down on to a car bonnet. It was from March 2013 and followed protests in Brooklyn over the death of 16-year-old Kimani Gray who was shot by police.

The protest group Occupy Wall Street tweeted an image of an NYPD police officer advancing towards a crowd with a baton raised.

Many of the photos appeared to be taken by professional photographers at incidents in New York City rather than users' own images.

One from the Associated Press showing a man being held down on the floor by two officers appeared in several tweets.

The NYPD issued a statement on Tuesday evening in response to the activity: "The NYPD is creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community. Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue good for our city."

Other Twitter interactions that have backfired include US Airways posting an explicit photo in response to a customer's tweet and McDonald's using a hashtag to highlight its farmers that quickly got taken over by people sharing their bad experiences of the burger chain.

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Robot portable printer secures cash

23 April 2014 Last updated at 14:28 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

An Israeli start-up plans to release a printer early next year that is small enough to fit inside its owner's pocket but works with any-sized paper.

Zuta Labs is proceeding with the project after raising over $435,000 (£260,000) via a crowdfunding site.

Rather than feeding paper through a machine, the project fits an ink cartridge to a small robot that crawls over a document to create it.

However, its relatively slow speed may limit its appeal.

The current prototype can only print about one page per minute in greyscale and offers a significantly lower resolution than traditional desktop inkjets.

But the Jerusalem-based engineers said they hoped to make improvements before the first devices shipped to backers of the Kickstarter campaign in January.

"We can now order smaller and stronger engines to make it move faster," Tuvia Elbaum, the firm's chief marketing officer, told the BBC.

"The resolution is very low because we are using an old cartridge, but we are talking to several manufacturers to use smarter and newer versions of smaller cartridges."

Print and run

The Pocket Printer features several wheels in its base to let it turn and drive in different directions. The team says the final product will be controlled by a PC or smartphone via Bluetooth, but the current prototype still needs a wired connection.

The engineers plan to cover the internal mechanism with a smooth tear-shaped plastic skin, and said the device would be 10cm (3.9in) tall, 11.5cm (4.5in) wide, and weigh 300g (0.7lb).

"It's for someone who wants to print one, two or three pages on the go," added Mr Elbaum.

"A memo, a small contract, notes or even an e-ticket before a flight.

"Way further along the roadmap we want a colour version and we want it to print on different surfaces - people have asked for tiles, T-shirts and walls, which would require different types of ink."

He added that it was likely to cost $240 (£140) when it went on sale to the public in 2015.

Education opportunity

One observer suggested the firm should rethink its business strategy, bearing in mind other manufacturers already offered portable colour printers at lower prices, albeit ones that were more bulky and limited to certain paper sizes.

"I personally can't see an effective use case that you would have above and beyond what is already available - boarding passes and stuff like that are moving to the phone," said Stuart Miles, founder of gadget review site Pocket-lint.

"It reminds me of the turtle printers that were around for BBC Micro computers all those year ago, which you would program and off they'd go - and I think it would have more sense to target it at an education market."

Jason Fitzpatrick, director of the UK's Centre for Computing History, agreed with this analysis adding that schools were actively seeking modern equivalents to the Valiant Turtle and BBC Buggy to help them teach children how to use Raspberry Pi computers.

"When you can do a bit of programming and make it control something in the real world, everything sort of opens up," he said.

"Having another device that you could mess about with would be great.

"But you can already buy small printers that print things like business cards and labels, and there are other alternatives out there that fulfil mobile users' needs."

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Game-maker Zynga in widening loss

23 April 2014 Last updated at 22:29

Troubled online game-maker Zynga reported a first-quarter loss of $61m (£36m).

That compares to a $25m loss just a quarter earlier and a profit of $4m during the same period last year.

Zynga also said founder Mark Pincus, who has already stepped down as chief executive officer, would leave his role as chief product officer, ending his executive duties at the firm.

Mr Pincus will remain as chairman of the company's board.

Despite the widening loss, shares in the firm increased more than 4% in after hours trading, as the declines were not as steep as some investors feared.

"We have established a strong base for 2014 and believe we are pacing well for a year of growth," said Zynga chief executive Don Mattrick.

Recovery efforts

Zynga was once an unstoppable force in internet gaming, as the firm used its close relationship with Facebook to promote games like Farmville and Words with Friends.

However, the firm was hurt by its slow expansion into mobile games, as well as its purchase of Omgpop, the firm behind the game Draw Something, for $180m.

The company has reduced staff numbers to cut costs, and Mr Mattick, who was brought in just under a year ago, recently announced a series of management changes.

Zynga said it wasn't expecting a return to profitability soon and projected it would continue to lose between $65m and $75m next quarter.

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Apple profits beat expectations

23 April 2014 Last updated at 23:23

Technology giant Apple reported profits of $10.2bn (£6.1bn) after selling 43.7 million iPhones during the three-month period ending 29 March.

Apple also announced plans to buy an additional $30bn of its stock back from shareholders and to increase its quarterly dividend by 8%.

It also said it would split its stock for the first time in nine years.

The moves are meant to appease investors as the firm reports slowing revenue growth.

Continue reading the main story

Apple chief executive Tim Cook warned Wall Street back in January that this would be a disappointing quarter. However, in the end that pessimism proved somewhat unfounded.

Even though the tech giant lacked any significant new driver to move the earnings or revenue needle, the performance of iPhone sales will silence critics who have suggested the new handsets are not innovative enough for consumers.

However, the iPad has underperformed - providing succour to suggestions to that the tablet needs to be a more capable Mac-like device if it is to replace the traditional PC and return to reinvigorated growth.

If the boost to Apple's share price is to be maintained, much will depend on announcements later this year.

Quite aside from rumours of a new, bigger iPhone 6 "phablet", speculations abounds about a fitness-centric "iWatch" and a significant update to Apple TV.

Typically the Silicon Valley giant has remained tight-lipped, except to signal it will "absolutely" enter new product categories soon.

As the smartphone and tablet market mature, it needs to resurrect its reputation not just for incremental innovation but for outright disruption - reassuring investors that, yet again, it has the vision and strategy to execute on "the next big thing".

Shares in the firm surged more than 7% in after-hours trading, as investors also welcomed news of the seven-for-one split, which is set to take effect in June.

Christmas in February

The strong iPhone sales surprised analysts, who had been expecting a sharper decline in post-holiday buying.

Sales of Apple's iPhone - which is the company's most popular product, contributing to more than half of its revenue - decreased by 14% from last quarter, as users await new models.

However, they were up 17% compared to the same period earlier.

"We're very proud of our quarterly results, especially our strong iPhone sales and record revenue from services," said chief executive Tim Cook in a statement.

On a conference call to discuss earnings, Mr Cook added that it was Apple's biggest non-holiday quarter ever.

He said that Apple has acquired 24 companies in the last 18 months in order to expand its research and development into new features and products.

Apple has faced stiff competition from rival Samsung, which sells cheaper smartphones that mostly run Google's Android operating system.

Also on the call, Mr Cook and new chief financial officer Lucas Maestri sought to reassure investors about iPad sales, which fell 16% - the steepest drop ever for the device.

Mr Maestri and Mr Cook chalked it up to how sales were calculated, while Mr Cook also noted that the iPad is the fastest selling product in Apple's history, with more than 210 million in total sold since launching in 2010.

Total sales of Apple's once-popular iPod music player continued to decline sharply, falling to just 2.8 million units during the second quarter - a 54% decrease from the previous three-month period.

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Essex road has slowest UK broadband

By Amelia Butterly Newsbeat reporter

24 April 2014 Last updated at 11:39

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Two streets, one in Wales and another in Essex, have been found to have the slowest broadband speeds in the UK, according to a new report.

Wheatley Road in Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex, and Erw Fawr in Henryd, north Wales, both had an average download speed of 0.60 megabits per second.

That is 30 times slower than the UK national average, according to the comparison site which did the research.

Loundes Road in Unstone, Derbyshire had the fastest speed according to uSwitch.

Spencer Kelly from BBC Click explains why your broadband speeds may be slow

Its research found that 15% of UK residents have access to a broadband connection of 30Mbps or higher, the speed at which the connection is described as "superfast" by the EU.

Communications watchdog Ofcom recently reported that one in four UK residential fixed broadband connections was "superfast".

They say the proportion of superfast connections rose from 5% in November 2011 to 25% in November last year.

Average superfast connection speeds have also continued to rise, Ofcom said, reaching 47.0Mbps by November 2013, an increase of 47% since May 2010.

Test your broadband speed with BBC iPlayer

According to the report from uSwitch, people on the two slowest streets would have to wait more than 15 hours to download an HD-quality film.

Meanwhile, those on Loundes Road, the fastest, could download the same movie in less than 10 minutes.

The research from uSwitch is based on almost 1.9m speed tests run by broadband users on the comparison website over a six-month period.

In order for a street to qualify for inclusion in the lists above, tests from at least 30 unique IP addresses were required.

In response to the survey, an Ofcom spokesperson said: "Ofcom's own research shows growth in superfast broadband and a rise in average speeds which is testament to the investment in the sector. But the benefits are not shared evenly across the UK.

"There is more work needed to deliver wider availability of broadband and superfast broadband, particularly in rural communities but also in some locations within cities to enable wider access to fast internet."

Earlier this year the government announced how £250m set aside to improve broadband services in remote areas would be spent.

The money will be divided between local councils and each will have a month to work out how they will spend it to ensure superfast broadband is available to the majority of homes.

The government has been criticised for how it has handled the rollout so far.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

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Cyber gang leader jailed for scam

24 April 2014 Last updated at 15:04

The leader of an internet gang which stole £1.25m from banks has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Tony Colston-Hayter, 48, led the gang which used a "Trojan horse" device to hijack computers at branches of Barclays and Santander.

They also stole credit and bank card details from about one million intercepted letters and used the money to buy Rolex watches and jewellery.

Nine others were also sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for the scam.

Judge Juliet May QC told Colston-Hayter: "There is no doubt in my mind that you played a key operational role in taking forward and implementing these plans."

The court heard his life - he had once been a well known Acid House promoter and had appeared on the Jonathan Ross show - started to go wrong after he began abusing Class A drugs.

The judge told him: "I gather you've taken just about every kind of mind altering substance over the years."

The court heard that the "sophisticated and organised" attack on the banking system happened in 2012 and 2013.

A device known as a keyboard video mouse (KVM) was used to switch access and control Barclays and Santander bank accounts remotely.

The KVM device was used to make 128 transfers worth about £1.25m to accounts set up to launder the stolen cash.

The group accessed Barclays' IT system when Darius Boldor, 34, walked into a branch in Swiss Cottage, north London, on 4 April last year.

Three months later, Dean Outram, 32, went into the Lewisham branch of Barclays and illicitly gained access to its computers, stealing £90,000.

Two months after that, he managed to access Santander's IT system by fitting a KVM switch into a bank computer at one of its branches in Surrey Quays, south-east London.

The court heard that Lanre Mullins-Abudu, 25, and another man tried to hack into Santander's banking system to steal what police warned would have been "substantial funds".

This cyber attack was thwarted when police raided an address in Hounslow, west London, and arrested Mullins-Abudu and nine others. Outram was arrested nearby after he left the bank.

As well as the cyber attacks, the gang used about 500 stolen or intercepted bank and credit cards to go on expensive shopping sprees.

They got the details by using a sophisticated device which "spoofed" genuine bank numbers, phoned customers and tricked them into handing over their personal details and pin numbers.

Victims of their scams included London Metropolitan University and the University of Portsmouth.

The men jailed were:

• Lanre Mullins-Abudu, 25, of Putney, for eight years
• Steven Hannah, 53, from Marylebone area, for five years, 10 months
• Tony Colston-Hayter, 48, from Marble Arch area, for five-and-a-half years
• Darius Valentin Boldor, 34, from near Sloane Square, south-west London, for two years six months
• Dean Outram, 32, Kensal Green, north-west London, for three years
• Adam Raeburn Jefferson, 38, of Milton Keynes, for one year and four months, suspended for two years
• Segun Ogunfidodo, 27, of White City, west London, for nine months, suspended for two years
• Dola Leroy Odunsi, 29, of Abbots Langley, near Hemel Hempstead, for nine months, suspended for two years
• James Lewis Murphy, 39, of Ebury Bridge Road, south-west London, for six months; however, the sentence has already been served in custody
• Martin Thane, 32, west Brompton, south-west London, was previously sentenced to six months conditional discharge, and ordered to attend a rehabilitation clinic for six months

Four others are to be sentenced in June for charges including conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.

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US to propose 'fast lane' net rules

24 April 2014 Last updated at 13:59

The US government may be about to propose new rules which would allow net providers to charge more for some services to be carried on its networks.

According to US reports, the Federal Communications Commission will allow a fast lane for data-heavy services when new rules are published in May.

If true it would undermine the net neutrality principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally.

The Federal Communications Commission said the reports were "flat out wrong".

Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources saying that the FCC is planning to allow internet service providers (ISPs) to offer a fast lane into people's homes for content providers willing to pay for it.

It would mean that ISPs such as Comcast and Verizon would be able to charge companies such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney or Google different amounts for priority services.

The reports claim that although ISPs would be prohibited from blocking or discriminating against online content, they would be able to strike special deals as long as they acted in a commercially reasonable manner.

Increasingly the biggest US ISPs are keen to charge for data-hungry services such as Netflix, and ISP Verizon recently won a court case in which it successfully challenged the FCC's right to stop it.

The case forced the FCC to rethink its rules but chairman Tom Wheeler was quick to deny the reports that it was about to do a major U-turn.

He said: "There are reports that the FCC is gutting the Open Internet rule. They are flat out wrong.

"Tomorrow we will circulate to the Commission a new Open Internet proposal that will restore the concepts of net neutrality consistent with the court's ruling in January.

"There is no 'turnaround in policy'. The same rules will apply to all internet content. As with the original Open Internet rules, and consistent with the court's decision, behaviour that harms consumers or competition will not be permitted."

Unnecessary tolls

Free Press, a group which advocates an internet where all traffic is treated equally, is convinced that the FCC is on the verge of a U-turn and warned that would be a disaster for consumers.

"Giving ISPs the green light to implement pay-for-priority schemes will be a disaster for start-ups, non-profits and everyday internet users who cannot afford these unnecessary tolls," said chief executive Craig Aaron.

Most experts predict that if content providers are forced to pay extra fees to get their services on the network, those costs will be passed on to consumers.

The story behind the need for new rules is complex and ISPs are already starting to charge some data-hungry services extra.

In February Netflix agreed to pay a new fee to ISP Comcast in order to end a slowdown that subscribers were experiencing on its online video site.

At the time Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings was outraged by the fee and published a blog post arguing for much stronger net neutrality rules.

"If this kind of leverage is effective against Netflix, which is pretty large, imagine the plight of smaller services today and in the future," he said.

"Without strong net neutrality, big ISPs can demand potentially escalating fees for the interconnection required to deliver high quality service."

While the concept of an open and equal internet is likely to elicit near-universal support from citizens, regulators and others, what it means in practice is more complicated, said Analysys Mason analyst Nico Flores.

"The internet might evolve to a model similar to pay TV, in which carriage negotiations lead to confidential commercial agreements between the parties, occasional 'blackouts' and a different set of content offerings available through each operator," he said.

Switch provider

For their part ISPs argue that Netflix members account for about 30% of peak net traffic and say it is perfectly fair to ask it and similar data-hungry services to help pay for delivering this to consumers.

The debate takes on greater resonance in the US because many net users have little choice about which operator they can use and, because services are bundled, it is often difficult to switch providers.

Europe is currently fighting its own battle to enshrine the principles of net neutrality in law.

At the beginning of the month the European Parliament voted to restrict ISPs from charging services for faster network access. It has some more legislative hurdles to cross yet but could become law by the end of the year.

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