London taxis plan anti-Uber gridlock

8 May 2014 Last updated at 13:22 By Dave Lee & Leo Kelion Technology, BBC News

London black-cab drivers are planning to cause gridlock in the city to protest against car service Uber.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association complains that Uber's drivers are using a smartphone app to calculate fares despite it being illegal for private vehicles to be fitted with taximeters.

Transport for London has declined to intervene, because it disagrees that there has been a breach of the law.

LTDA now plans to force the issue by holding the action in early June.

"Transport for London not enforcing the Private Hire Vehicles Act is dangerous for Londoners," Steve McNamara, LTDA's general secretary, told the BBC.

"I anticipate that the demonstration against TfL's handling of Uber will attract many many thousands of cabs and cause severe chaos, congestion and confusion across the metropolis."

TfL told the association last month that it believed Uber's vehicles were not strictly "equipped" with taximeters since there was not "some sort of connection between the device and the vehicle".

Rather, the app was merely making use of data about the distance travelled and time taken, which was not illegal in itself.

LTDA rejects this distinction and is now threatening to seek a judicial review.

"We have seen no evidence to suggest that Uber London Ltd are not fit and proper to hold a London private hire vehicle operator's licence, but no final decisions have been made whilst Uber's operating model is still under investigation," TfL told the BBC.

The dispute marks the latest in a series of clashes between Uber and the established taxi trade.

The firm is also facing restrictions on its operations in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Sydney and a number of US cities.

Disruptive drive

San Francisco-based Uber describes itself as a "pick-up" service that connects those needing a ride with a background-checked private driver, and takes a cut - typically 20% - of the fee.

It now operates in more than 100 cities across 30 countries, including Manchester where it launched this week.

The firm markets its service as offering "cutting-edge safety measures":

• allowing customers to see the name and photo of the driver before they arrive
• letting approved friends follow the journey on a live map
• providing an email of the route the car used, so that a client can challenge a driver who takes a roundabout journey

Fees are based upon data gathered by the driver's app and whether "surge pricing" is in effect because of heavy demand.

The five-year-old firm acknowledges that it can prove a disruptive force.

"Competition in my view is always good for the customer because it makes all of us up our game in terms of quality and service," Uber's general manager in London, Jo Bertram, said.

"On the driver side, we offer a much more flexible model that is very different from the old-school private hire industry, that allows them to work as independent business operators however and whenever they choose."

The LTDA said while the taximeter was the focus of its complaint, it had wider objections to the firm.

"Uber, funded by Google, Goldman Sachs and others, has a stated aim of challenging legislation that is not compatible with its business model," said Mr McNamara.

"This is not some philanthropic friendly society, it's an American monster that has no qualms about breaching any and all laws in the pursuit of profit, most of which will never see a penny of tax paid in the UK."

A spokeswoman for Uber said it rejected this characterisation of its business,

European battles

Other traditional taxi associations are also taking a stand against the firm in Europe:

• In Brussels a complaint resulted in a court setting a 10,000 euro ($13,920; £8,205) fine as the penalty for Uber drivers who continued to pick up customers without the necessary licences
• Berlin's taxi association has won a temporary injunction against the firm, but has chosen not to enforce the action to avoid the risk of having to cover lost fees if the ruling is later overturned
• French operators have convinced their government to propose banning the use of GPS-enabled apps by private car services including Uber. The government had previously made such companies wait 15 minutes before picking up a booking, but the country's Supreme Court ruled the move anti-competitive

Uber does, however, have support from the European Commission.

Vice-president Neelie Kroes has said her staff used the service to "stay safe and save taxpayers money", adding that European authorities should help the firm comply with standards rather than trying to ban it.

"We very much welcome her support and her comments," said Ms Bertram.

Have you used the Uber car service before? Do you object to Uber? You can send us your comments by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line 'Uber'.

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Hackers hit 1.3 million Orange users

8 May 2014 Last updated at 13:34

Hackers have stolen the personal data of 1.3 million customers from the French branch of mobile network operator and internet service provider Orange.

The hackers have access to names, email addresses and phone numbers.

Orange France has been aware of the hack since 18 April but delayed announcements to asses the damage.

Earlier this year, Orange saw the personal data of 800,000 of its clients stolen in a similar attack.

"For the people concerned, the data recovered includes their first names and surnames," an Orange representative said.

"In addition, depending on the information supplied, email addresses, mobile and fixed-line phone numbers, the identity of the person's internet operator and their date of birth, were also recovered."

Orange was not able to say whether the stolen data was encrypted, although the company has warned customers that the theft could be used to contact those concerned by email, SMS or phone, particularly for phishing purposes.

Customers have expressed their anger at the situation on the company's Facebook page and across Twitter.

An Orange representative said: "All necessary actions have been implemented to correct the relevant technical dysfunctions and to prevent any new illegitimate access to this data."

Phishing for data

Phishing is a process of acquiring sensitive information, such as passwords or bank details, by indirect means, often using social engineering techniques to deceive users.

A typical phishing email will provide a link to a cloned version of a legitimate website, which hackers can then use to harvest login details from unsuspecting individuals.

Some Orange France customers are now at more risk from these attacks than others - if you think you may be at affected, guidance from Get Safe Online suggests users should check that websites are secure before entering any private information.

Basic measures such as ensuring the padlock symbol in the address bar is visible when entering an alleged secure website could save many individuals from becoming victims of a phishing scam.

A similar instance of data theft within the telecommunications industry occurred in September 2013, which saw Vodafone Germany fall victim to a hacker who claimed to have stolen the personal data of two million customers.

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Nintendo says 'No' to gay characters

8 May 2014 Last updated at 10:28

Nintendo has said it will not allow gamers to play as gay characters in its life-simulation game Tomodachi Life.

A fan had launched a social media campaign urging Nintendo to allow same-sex relationships between characters in the game - modelled after real people.

Nintendo said it "never intended to make any form of social commentary" with the launch of the game.

Tomodachi Life has been a big hit in Japan and the firm is set to launch the game in the US and Europe in June.

"The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation," Nintendo of America Inc, said in a statement.

"We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary."

Missing out?

Tomodachi Life is one of the best-selling games on Nintendo's handheld 3DS gaming console.

Continue reading the main story

The ability for same-sex relationships to occur in the game was not part of the original game that launched in Japan"

End Quote Nintendo

The game, which was released in Japan last year, features a cast of "Mii" characters - personalised avatars of real players - living on a virtual island.

It allows users to populate their island with the "Mii characters of family, friends or anyone else you can think of".

Tye Marini, a gay 23-year old Nintendo fan from Arizona, had launched a campaign urging Nintendo to allow same-sex relationships.

He claimed that since his virtual avatar was not able to marry in the game, he would miss out on "exclusive content".

"I want to be able to marry my real-life fiance's Mii, but I can't do that," Mr Marini was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"My only options are to marry some female Mii, to change the gender of either my Mii or my fiance's Mii or to completely avoid marriage altogether and miss out on the exclusive content that comes with it."

Same code

AP quoted Mr Marini as saying that same-sex relationships were "more of an issue for this game because the characters are supposed to be a representation of your real life".

"You import your personalised characters into the game. You name them. You give them a personality. You give them a voice. They just can't fall in love if they're gay."

Meanwhile, Nintendo said "the ability for same-sex relationships to occur in the game was not part of the original game that launched in Japan".

"That game is made up of the same code that was used to localise it for other regions outside of Japan."

It said it had heard and "thoughtfully considered" all the responses posted on the campaign.

"We will continue to listen and think about the feedback. We're using this as an opportunity to better understand our consumers and their expectations of us."

New console

In a separate development, Nintendo's chief executive, Satoru Iwata, said the firm was looking to introduce a new game console for emerging markets.

The console, expected to be launched as early as next year, would be targeted towards consumers with lower incomes and less gaming experience, Mr Iwata told the Reuters news agency.

Emerging markets, such as China, are seen as key growth areas for game console makers.

Last month, Microsoft announced that its Xbox One console would go on sale in mainland China in September.

It is the first foreign company to announce the sale of consoles in the country after Beijing lifted a ban on such products in January.

Most analysts expect other console makers to follow.

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Minecraft Denmark replica 'attacked'

7 May 2014 Last updated at 13:13

A virtual replica of Denmark created to help educate children has been disrupted by "cyber vandals".

Small portions of it were blown up, despite a ban by its creators, the Danish Geodata Agency (DGA), on the use of "dynamite".

Large US flags were erected at the starting area, as well as red, white and blue "America" signs.

The state-owned agency believes the "vandalism" was to attract attention, and said the damage had been repaired.

Images showing the changes first appeared on the fan site minecraftforum.net posted by a user who wrote: "I americanlized [sic] the place a bit."

Chris Hammeken, chief press officer at the Danish Geodata Agency, told the BBC: "Only a minor area was destroyed.

Continue reading the main story

"It was the players who cleaned up the damage, replacing it with green grass and peace signs the following morning"

End Quote Chris Hammeken Chief press officer, Danish GeoData Agency

"The flags actually appeared right where the players start, so I think the people who put them there wanted to gain as much attention as possible."

Hidden 'dynamite'

"Minecraft is about building and rebuilding," said Mr Hammeken, who described the incident as part of Minecraft's "nature of play."

Buildings were destroyed using virtual dynamite - the use of which had been banned on the Danish server - after users discovered it could be detonated when hidden in mining carts.

"It was the players who cleaned up the damage, replacing it with green grass and flowers the following morning," said Mr Hammeken.

The city was not "hand-built" - the topographical data of Denmark was imported into Minecraft, which is also available as a free download on the DGA's website.

Those who download the data can upload it to their own private Minecraft server, which will provide a restored city and keep users free from attack.

The replica has already been downloaded over 220,000 times since the beginning of this month.

Virtual field trips

The DGA created the replica of Denmark in order to arouse interest in spatial data, with a particular emphasis on educating children.

Its website explains: "There are real addresses in the game, so it's possible to have a discussion of place names and their meanings."

The agency has also suggested using the replica as a way of taking students on virtual field trips.

"We've discovered children are more motivated to learn when they see something they're familiar with," explained Mr Hammeken, who said Minecraft had been used as an educational tool in Denmark for a long time.

It is not clear who the "vandals" were or why they targeted Denmark.

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LG launches chatty fridges and ovens

7 May 2014 Last updated at 14:58 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

A new LG text chat service allows fridge owners to see what food is inside as well as controlling other home appliances from the company.

The app can only be used to do this in South Korea, but LG said it planned to extend it to the US and other markets at a later date.

Samsung has already released air conditioners, fridges and washers that work with its rival Smart Home service.

But experts suggest such products may only appeal to a niche audience.

"I'm sure 10 years from now we will want more smart-aware appliances, but for now this represents a live beta-test," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.

"It's the equivalent of Ford building a concept car. It's about showing what can be done and seeing if there's an appetite for it."

Fridge photos

LG's HomeChat appliances communicate with their users via Line, a popular chat app in Asia, and are designed to understand natural language requests.

The refrigerator features an in-built wide-angle camera that takes a picture of its shelves' contents each time its doors are opened and closed.

Continue reading the main story

The more home control that can occur remotely the more chance that somebody can cause very severe mischief"

End Quote Dr Joss Wright Oxford Internet Institute

As a result, one of the requests it can handle is to provide the latest photo so its owner can check if they are missing an item while visiting a shop.

In addition, the fridge's Freshness Tracker software can provide information about items that have passed their expiration dates. However, this feature requires the user to have entered details about each product into the fridge when they were placed in it.

The washing machine can be remotely activated by texting it a message saying: "Start washing cycle," and real-time updates can be obtained by asking: "What are you doing?"

And the oven can asked for recipe suggestions and then be instructed to preheat the equipment to the appropriate temperature for the chosen selection.

Hacked homes

LG suggested text messaging smart appliances offered a "new level of convenience".

But Mr Green said the examples given sounded "gimmicky", adding that what consumers wanted was a greater level of automation rather than a new type of remote control.

"People love the idea of a fridge that reorders goods on its own - but the bottleneck there isn't the fridge manufacturer, it's the grocery providers," he said.

"In order for that concept to work, we need the items that we buy to become smarter themselves. They need RFID [radio-frequency identification] tags on them or something else that makes trackable what goes in or out of the fridge and freezer."

In the meantime, manufacturers of such smart devices may need to reassure potential customers about security concerns.

Data protection company Proofpoint reported earlier this year that it had discovered an internet-connected fridge had been hacked to send out spam emails.

There have also been reports of some smart TVs being vulnerable to hacks that might reveal information about their users' habits.

"It's the classic science-fiction nightmare story of somebody being able to hack in and control your cooker in the night," said Dr Joss Wright from the University of Oxford's Internet Institute,

"The more home control that can occur remotely the more chance that somebody can cause very severe mischief if they can get into it."

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Engineers build 'flying 3D printer'

7 May 2014 Last updated at 18:35

Engineers from Imperial College London have built autonomous "flying 3D printer" drones, which could protect people from nuclear waste.

The drones can "print" a sticky foam on dangerous objects before attaching themselves and lifting the hazard away.

The engineers hope that the drones will one day be capable of printing nests in treetops to enable them to rest and recharge before continuing.

But one roboticist is unconvinced about the device's 3D-printing capabilities.

Dr Mirko Kovac, director of the aerial robotics laboratory at Imperial College London, has been working on the project with a small team.

Bridging gaps

In a video demonstration, a quadcopter (a drone with four rotors) can be seen printing a sticky foam substance onto a small block, before flying away.

Continue reading the main story

The potential game changer in this application is their notion of using it to repair bridges."

End Quote Professor Noel Sharkey Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, University of Sheffield

A hexacopter (which has six rotors) then takes the quadcopter's place, landing on the sprayed object and waiting for the foam to set.

Then the hexacopter flies off, with the foreign object attached to its underbelly.

The researchers hope this process will be particularly useful for removing hazardous materials, such as nuclear waste.

According to the New Scientist, the quadcopter acts almost entirely autonomously and is guided by GPS. The foam is said to be made of polyurethane.

The project's abstract states that potential applications could include "ad-hoc construction of first response structures in search-and-rescue scenarios," as well as "printing structures to bridge gaps in discontinuous terrain".

Thomas J Creedy, a PhD student working on the project at Imperial College London, said in a statement: "This is an exciting first step in the lab's development of co-operative robotic systems for building structures inspired by the natural world."

Future potential

The robots are said to be inspired by swiftlets - birds that construct nests using their saliva.

Noel Sharkey, Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield, told the BBC he was not impressed with the 3D-printing capabilities but had high hopes for its future potential.

Having seen the video presentation, Prof Sharkey said: "This could hardly be called 3D printing, although it uses some of the components.

"However, the potential game changer in this application is their notion of using it to repair bridges and other construction works from the air."

On 24 June, 3D printing firm Deezmaker and aerial photography company Velocity Pigeon teamed up to create a less advanced flying 3D printer, which they claimed was a "world first".

Dr Kovac's drones will be demonstrated at the Imperial Festival in London on 9 and 10 May.

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Twitter ads get language targeting

8 May 2014 Last updated at 02:58

Social networking giant Twitter has introduced a new feature that will allow advertisers to target users on its platform based on their language.

It is being seen as the latest step by Twitter to attract more advertisers.

Advertising is the biggest source of revenue for Twitter - accounting for 90% of sales in the first quarter of this year.

The firm already lets advertisers target people by interest, keywords, gender, and geography.

"Advertisers can now target promoted tweets and promoted accounts in languages that their audience understands, while users are eligible to see highly relevant ads in their language," Nipoon Malhotra, group product manager - revenue at Twitter, said in a blog post.

Global reach?

Social networking platforms such as Twitter have seen their pace of growth slow recently.

Continue reading the main story

Language targeting can benefit marketers who want to reach a global audience with language-specific messaging"

End Quote Nipoon Malhotra Twitter

In its latest financial report, Twitter, which has 255 million active users, said the number of monthly users on the platform rose 5.8% in the first three months of the year, from the pervious quarter.

The growth rate was less than what most analysts had been expecting.

At the same time, there have also been concerns over the ability of such firms to translate their user base into money. In Twitter's case, it reported a net loss of $132m (£78m) for the latest quarter.

As a result, firms have been looking at ways to increase their revenues.

A large chunk of Twitter's users are outside the US and the firm said its new feature will help advertisers reach them.

"Language targeting can benefit marketers who want to reach a global audience with language-specific messaging, or who are in countries where large populations speak multiple languages."

The firm said the new feature will be available in 20 different languages.

Twitter said it uses a numbers of different signals to determine a user's language, including "the language selected in a user's profile settings and the languages that correspond to a user's activity on Twitter".

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Japan man held over 'printed guns'

8 May 2014 Last updated at 11:40

A 27-year-old man from near Tokyo has been arrested for allegedly possessing guns made with a 3D printer, according to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation.

Five guns, two of which could fire lethal bullets, and a 3D printer were seized from Yoshitomo Imura's home, police sources told broadcaster NHK.

The first arrest of its kind in Japan, officers acted after he had displayed 3D-printed guns online, sources said.

Mr Imura reportedly said he had not realised printing the guns was illegal.

No live ammunition was found.

The investigation was launched in February after officers were made aware of video footage of Mr Imura displaying newly printed weapons, the sources added.

Defense Distributed

Desktop 3D printers can be bought on the High Street for as little as £500, with more sophisticated models costing tens of thousands.

The world's first 3D-printed gun was successfully fired in the US in May 2013 by a group called Defense Distributed, who made the blueprints available online.

However, the United States Department of State quickly demanded the immediate removal of the blueprints from the group's website.

Printed gun parts were thought to have been found in the UK in October 2013, however the parts turned out to be spare components for a 3D printer.

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Tech firms warn of grave net threat

8 May 2014 Last updated at 11:54

More than 100 technology companies have written to the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC), opposing potential changes to net neutrality rules.

The FCC is considering allowing internet service providers (ISPs) to charge content providers to prioritise their traffic.

Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon warn that such a move represents a "grave threat to the internet".

One FCC commissioner has called for a delay to the vote, due on 15 May.

Net neutrality - the premise that all internet traffic should be treated equally - has been a cornerstone of the web for many years.

But with the growth of bandwidth-hungry services such as Netflix, ISPs have increasingly asked for the right to charge a fee for carrying such data at high speed on their networks.

A landmark court case in February, in which Verizon successfully challenged the FCC's right to stop it charging such fees, pushed the regulator into a major rethink of its rules.

Rather than enshrining the principle of net neutrality, leaked reports suggest the FCC will allow ISPs to strike such deals as long as they act "in a commercially reasonable manner".

In the letter, tech companies, ranging from three-person start-ups to the biggest names on the web, made clear their dismay at the feared U-turn.

"We write to express our support for a free and open internet," it said.

"The innovation we have seen to date happened in a world without discrimination.

"Instead of permitting individualised bargaining and discrimination, the commission's rules should protect users and internet companies on both fixed and mobile platforms against blocking, discrimination and paid prioritisation."

The letter urged the commission to "take the necessary steps to ensure that the internet remains an open platform".

Street protests

More than a million people have signed petitions to the FCC calling for it to abandon plans to allow a tiered internet.

A handful of protesters have gathered outside FCC headquarters in Washington, promising to camp there until the 15 May vote.

And a group of net firms and civil liberty groups have called on the FCC to reclassify broadband companies as "telecommunication services", which would give it the authority to impose net-neutrality rules on them.

One of the FCC's four commissioners, Jessica Rosenworcel, has called for the vote to be delayed by at least a month.

She said: "Rushing headlong into a rulemaking next week fails to respect the public response".

But an FCC spokesman said the vote would go ahead as planned.

"Moving forward will allow the American people to review and comment on the proposed plan without delay, and bring us one step closer to putting rules on the books to protect consumers and entrepreneurs online," he added.

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Met officers to trial body cameras

8 May 2014 Last updated at 16:11

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The cameras are designed to capture evidence at crime scenes such as incidents of domestic violence

Met Police officers are to start wearing cameras on their uniforms as part of plans to boost transparency and accelerate convictions.

The cameras are designed to capture evidence at crime scenes.

A trial will see 500 devices distributed to officers across 10 London boroughs. Firearm officers will also use them in their training.

But, Jack Hart from The Freedom Association says the move means "everyone is under suspicion".

The pilot scheme comes following criticism of the force over the death of Mark Duggan at the hands of armed officers.

The death of Mr Duggan, 29, in Tottenham, north London, in August 2011, sparked riots in the area that later spread across England.

'Speeds up justice'

Camden Borough is the first to start using the cameras, with further trials in Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Havering, Hillingdon and Lewisham.

Officers will store material from each incident and keep it on file for a month unless it is required for evidential purposes.

These devices will be shared amongst the Met's 31,000 officers.

A spokesman said the force first became involved with body cameras in 2007 when it worked with the College of Policing.

Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "Our experience of using cameras already shows that people are more likely to plead guilty when they know we have captured the incident.

"That speeds up justice, puts offenders behind bars more quickly and protects potential victims."

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Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe explains why he believes cameras will help improve policing

The Scotland Yard chief said video was a "compelling piece of evidence" and would help record situations which were previously "really hard to capture in writing", such as a frightened child at the scene of a domestic violence incident.

He also said the "mere presence of this type of video can often defuse potentially violent situations".

Victim's choice

"I believe it will also show our officers at their best, dealing with difficult and dangerous situations every day, but it will also provide clearer evidence when it's been alleged that we got things wrong," Sir Bernard continued.

"That has to be in both our own and the public's interest."

The force said officers taking part in the pilot must comply with guidelines about when cameras are to be used, but that they will not be permanently switched on and people would be informed if they were being filmed.

The commissioner added: "[We will] only put it on when we know there's a an incident running.

"If the victim wants it to be turned off it will be turned off, but the suspect doesn't have that right."

The debate over the more widespread use of body-worn cameras by British police comes after a jury at the inquest into Mr Duggan's death concluded in January that he had been lawfully killed by Met marksmen - a conclusion which prompted outrage from his family and supporters.

'Undermines trust'

None of the officers involved in the incident in London was wearing body cameras.

However, Mr Hart said: "No police officer will have their body-worn camera on continually because of the sheer amount of data storage required; which will open continual debates about whether or not a camera was deliberately turned off.

"To create a situation where both police officers and the public feel constantly under suspicion is not sensible and undermines trust in all sectors of society."

Some forces, including Hampshire, already use the cameras. They were first used by Devon and Cornwall Police in 2006.

Earlier this week, Bedfordshire Police said 60 body cameras would be used by front-line officers following a successful trial.

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