Written By Unknown on Kamis, 16 April 2015 | 23.34
The campaign hit its fund-raising target in less than a week
Sam Griner has gone from success kid to success kidney.
As a toddler, Sam was snapped on a beach with a determined expression and one fist clenched - an image that spawned the well-known "success kid" meme.
The image has been used widely online by people seeking to celebrate happy moments, small victories and good days.
Now eight, Sam's net fame is being used to raise cash for a kidney transplant for his father.
Sam's father Justin fell ill in 2006 and suffered total kidney failure in 2009. He has been on dialysis ever since. Mr Griner's mother died from the same disease.
In a week, the fund-raising campaign has won pledges of more than $93,000 (£63,000) - far more than the $75,000 needed to pay for the medical procedure.
Health insurance is covering some of the costs of Mr Griner's treatment but the family needs extra cash to pay for the operation and care to help him recover afterwards.
The Griner family are also using the fund-raising page to look for people who are a good tissue match and willing to donate a kidney.
In an interview with the Daily Dot, Sam's mother said a transplant was the only way to save her husband's life.
Ms Griner said she was initially sceptical about using her son's internet fame to raise money but realised it could be a good way to highlight the cause.
"We're the parents of 'Success Kid' for goodness' sake," Ms Griner told the news site. "If anyone understands the power, the mass, and goodwill of the internet, it's those of us lucky to experience it daily."
Other net famous people have also used their appearance in memes to raise cash for good causes. Laina Morris, better known as the face of the overly-attached girlfriend meme, has used her YouTube channel to highlight charities needing cash.
Watson Health tries to make sense of health data from smartphones and fitness trackers
IBM has launched a health unit to make sense of the wealth of data created by the boom in fitness trackers and apps.
Watson Health aims to create "a secure, cloud-based data sharing hub" that can feed analytic technologies, it said.
It could provide diagnoses or health alerts which could also be sent to doctors, carers, or insurers for example, with the user's permission.
IBM has teamed up with Apple and wants to launch "new employee health and wellness management solutions".
The company says it is buying two firms to help with its goal: Explorys which has one of the largest healthcare databases in the world and Phytel that works with digital medical record systems to reduce hospital readmissions and automate communications.
IBM says it wants to provide "individualised insights and a more complete picture of the many factors that can affect people's health".
Privacy concerns
There has been concern over personal technology being used to help diagnose an individual's condition.
In the US, some apps that claimed to diagnose cancer, for example, have been criticised by the Federal Trade Commission.
There is also concern over the sharing of health data. Companies including Jawbone are talking to firms about how personal fitness trackers could be used to monitor a workforce.
Data collected from fitness trackers is being used by employers, insurers, and health professionals
Christopher Coughlan, a UK solicitor who has written on the subject advises bosses considering such a move to be careful:
"If you rely on consent it must be freely given. This means a worker must be able to say 'no' without a penalty being imposed and must be able to withdraw consent once given.
"A person is more likely to be in this position at the recruitment stage than when they are employed."
Insurers are also interested in monitoring customers. UK health insurance firm Vitality is incentivising policy-holders to take up a more active lifestyle by offering rewards for certain tasks that can be tracked through personal fitness devices.
GP welcomes move
GP Dr Ellie Cannon welcomed the move by IBM:
"It is always difficult to gauge how much exercise or calories a patient is describing and this is an accurate way to know.
"On a larger scale... the data could provide evidence to back up or dispute well-known health claims such as how much sleep we need or which exercise is most effective."
That could be aided by Apple's announcement today that its ResearchKit software that helps gather health data from iPhones is now available to anyone.
It's already been used to develop apps to study asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson's disease, says Apple.
A group of Indian technology and internet companies have pulled out of Facebook's Internet.org initiative, fearing it threatens the principle of "net neutrality".
This is the principle that all websites and apps should be equally accessible.
Travel portal Cleartrip.com and media giant Times Group both announced they would be withdrawing from the service, citing competition fears.
But Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg defended Internet.org's aims.
The service aims to extend internet services to the developing world by offering a selection of apps and websites free to consumers.
Participating publishers pay the data costs charged by telecoms firms.
But many companies fear this distorts the market and makes it harder for small companies to get their products seen by the public.
Currently, Indian visitors to Internet.org can access nearly 40 stripped-down services, including job, healthcare, news and education sites.
'Level playing field'
Times Group blogged that it was appealing "to all publishers to jointly withdraw from Internet.org" and said that the Times of India newspaper would also withdraw "if its direct competitors - India Today, NDTV, IBNLive, NewsHunt, and [the] BBC - also pull out".
The BBC has yet to respond to the call.
A Times Group spokesman said: "We support net neutrality because it creates a fair, level playing field for all companies - big and small - to produce the best service and offer it to consumers.
"We will lead the drive towards a neutral internet, but we need our fellow publishers and content providers to do so as well, so that the playing field continues to be level."
Cleartrip said the debate around net neutrality had given it "pause to rethink" its approach to Internet.org.
"What started off with providing a simple search service has us now concerned with influencing customer decision-making by forcing options on them, something that is against our core DNA," wrote Subramanya Sharma, Cleartrip's chief marketing officer.
In India, the issue hit the headlines this week after telecoms provider Bharti Airtel said it would allow mobile app developers to pay data charges enabling users to access the apps for free.
Start-up developers with little funding could therefore be at a commercial disadvantage, tech firms argue.
'Not in conflict'
Facebook launched Internet.org in India in February after partnering with Indian telecom carrier Reliance Communications.
India has the world's third-largest internet population and is the first Asian country to get the service.
Mr Zuckerberg defended the initiative in an article for the Hindustan Times newspaper, saying: "Net neutrality is not in conflict with working to get more people connected.
"We will never prevent people accessing other services, and we will not use fast-lanes."
The lower bins on the right can hold six pieces of hand luggage stowed on their side
Boeing has shown off its "space bins" that can hold 50% more luggage than existing designs.
The company says the new overhead compartments will allow passengers to store more hand luggage on its side.
The bins will be fitted to some 737 aircraft from the end of this year, the company said.
The new design will mean a 2in (5cm) reduction in headspace for passengers, it said, but air vent and light controls will be easier to reach.
The loss of headroom may be of some concern to taller passengers, some of whom already struggle with the amount of legroom in economy seating.
The new bins can be retrofitted to any of the "Next-Generation" 737s, of which 5,000 are currently in service.
Boeing says the balance of the bins has been shifted so they close without the need for a catch or the "bin assist mechanism" currently in use.
Travel writer Simon Calder told the BBC: "For the long-suffering passenger, this is mostly good news. By charging for luggage, the low-cost airlines have incentivised us to take everything on board.
"And guess what? There isn't enough room, so we've had to check in stuff at the gate.
"So this should help with that problem."
Boeing said the bins should speed up boarding and that "passengers will benefit from decreased anxiety about finding space for their carry-on bag when boarding a flight".
Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Airlines are the first two operators to place orders for the bins for their 737 fleets.
Google pitches its shopping service as a "matchmaker" between products and customers
The European Union has filed a complaint against Google over its alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
The competition commissioner said she had issued a "statement of objections", stating that the firm's promotion of its own shopping links amounted to an abuse of its dominance in search.
Margrethe Vestager said Google now had 10 weeks to respond.
The firm said it "strongly disagreed" with the allegations and looked forward to making its case.
Ms Vestager also revealed that she had launched an investigation into whether the way Google bundled apps and services for its Android operating system was unfair.
And the commissioner said the EU would continue to monitor other activities by Google that its rivals had complained about.
It follows a five-year investigation into the company and marks the start of a formal legal process that could ultimately lead to billions of euros of fines.
Google accounts for more than a 90% of EU-based web searches.
'Preferential treatment'
The European Commission has investigated the antitrust allegations - made by Microsoft, Tripadvisor, Streetmap and others - since 2010.
Among their complaints was an objection to Google placing adverts from its Shopping service ahead of others' links in relevant searches.
The EU has objected to the way Google promotes results from its own shopping service
Ms Vestager said the Commission's preliminary findings supported the claim that Google "systematically" gave prominence to its own ads, which amounted to an abuse of its dominant position in search.
"I'm concerned that Google has artificially boosted its presence in the comparison shopping market with the result that consumers may not necessarily see what's most relevant for them, or that competitors may not get the the commercial opportunity that their innovative services deserve," she told a press conference in Brussels.
Ms Vestager said that she was not seeking a wider redesign of Google's search results or asking it to change its algorithms.
But she added that the case could set a precedent that would determine how the EU handled other complaints about Google favouring its own mapping, hotels and flights services.
Google has rejected the idea its Shopping service distorts the market.
"While Google may be the most used search engine, people can now find and access information in numerous different ways - and allegations of harm, for consumers and competitors, have proved to be wide of the mark," wrote its search chief Amit Singhal on the firm's blog.
"It's clear that: (a) there's a ton of competition - including from Amazon and eBay, two of the biggest shopping sites in the world and (b) Google's shopping results have not the harmed the competition.
"Any economist would say that you typically do not see a ton of innovation, new entrants or investment in sectors where competition is stagnating - or dominated by one player. Yet that is exactly what's happening in our world."
Many of Google's rivals welcomed the EU's action.
"Google's abuse of dominance distorts European markets, harms consumers, and makes it impossible for Google's rivals to compete on a level playing field," said lobbying group Icomp.
"We see this statement of objection as a crucial first step towards ensuring that European consumers have access to vibrant and competitive online markets."
Google suggests that services including eBay ensure it does not distort the shopping search market
Android inquiry
The EU has also launched a separate investigation into Google's Android operating system, used by smartphones and tablets, which will focus on three topics:
claims that Google requires or incentivises manufacturers to pre-install its own search engine, apps and other services and exclude rival products
allegations that Google unfairly insists its services are bundled, meaning some cannot be pre-installed without including the others
complaints that the firm is hindering manufacturers from developing alternative versions of Android, which is open source. These are commonly known as "forks", with Amazon's Fire OS and Xiaomi's Mi being two examples
"These issues are distinct from the Google comparison shopping case and the investigations will of course be different," Ms Vestager said.
Google says the way it distributes its apps ensures that Android smartphones offer a "great" experience
In response, Google stressed that Android devices could be offered without its services.
"It's important to remember that [our partner agreements] are voluntary - you can use Android without Google - but provide real benefits to Android users, developers and the broader ecosystem," said lead engineer Hiroshi Lockheimer.
"Our app distribution agreements make sure that people get a great 'out of the box' experience with useful apps right there on the home screen. This also helps manufacturers of Android devices compete with Apple, Microsoft and other mobile ecosystems that come preloaded with similar baseline apps."
Complex subject
Google could ultimately face huge fines and be ordered to reshape its business in Europe because of the shopping complaint.
Some searches cause Google Shopping's ads to be offset to the side of the screen
In recent years, the Commission has imposed antitrust penalties on other tech giants, ordering Intel to pay €1.1bn (£793m; $1.2bn) in 2009, and Microsoft €516m in 2013.
However, Ms Vestager said she was "open" to Google's response, and would listen to its case before deciding how to proceed.
One independent expert said that the matter could take years to resolve.
"I can't see that this will be a fast process given the complexity of the subject matter, what's at stake and the likely level of the fine," said Paul Henty, a lawyer at Charles Russell Speechlys who has previously worked for the European Commission.
International inquiries
The EU's investigation is not the only one Google is facing.
Investigators at India's Competition Commission delivered a report last week after carrying out a three-year probe into claims of unfair business practices.
Their counterparts in Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan and Canada have also opened investigations.
However, the US Federal Trade Commission dropped its own probe at the start of 2013 after Google made several non-binding commitments.
Daenerys Targaryen, portrayed by Emilia Clarke, appears in a scene from series four of Game of Thrones
Games of Thrones broadcaster HBO has sent "take down" notices to Periscope, the live-streaming video app owned by Twitter, after users of the app broadcast episodes of the hit show on Sunday night.
HBO also said Saturday's online leaks of four episodes had come from within a group that had received preview DVDs.
Twitter maintains that the Periscope app complies with US copyright law.
But HBO indirectly criticised the video streaming company.
"In general, we feel developers should have tools which proactively prevent mass copyright infringement from occurring on their apps and not be solely reliant upon notifications," HBO said in a statement.
Periscope's terms and conditions make it clear that users should respect intellectual property rights, but the app currently only reacts to copyright infringement allegations rather than trying to prevent them happening in the first place, HBO believes.
The long-awaited series five of Game of Thrones aired in the US on Sunday and in Europe on Monday.
Copyright infringement has been a huge issue for HBO.
Episodes of the first four series of Game of Thrones were illegally downloaded more than seven million times between 5 February and 6 April this year, according to piracy specialist Irdeto, as marketing for the new series ramped up.
This was a 45% increase on the same period last year, the company said.
But over the history of the series, illegal downloads had run into the "hundreds of millions", Ernesto Van der Sar, of the Torrentfreak news website, said.
And the first episode of the new series had been downloaded up to five million times, he said.
"In my view, Periscope is a non-issue [for Game of Thrones] because the show is already posted online at very high quality on several other services," he says.
"But mobile live streaming could be more of an issue for live sporting events like football matches."
Segway was founded in 2001 but has since struggled to become profitable
Chinese vehicle maker Ninebot has bought iconic US rival Segway, the company announced on Wednesday.
The Beijing-based firm did not disclose the amount of the acquisition, but did say that it received $80m (£54m) in funding from smartphone maker Xiaomi and investment firm Sequoia Capital.
Ninebot also makes two-wheeled electric vehicles, designed for standing riders, that resemble Segways.
Segway had sought an import ban against Ninebot in the US in September.
The Chinese company was one of several that Segway had accused of infringing on its patents.
In a statement, the companies said that both brands would continue to operate under their existing names.
"It [the acquisition] creates a development opportunity for the short-distance transportation industry, which the combined company will lead by widely applying a series of technologies, such as electric driving, mobile internet and human-computer interaction on future products," said Ninebot chief executive Lufeng Gao.
Segway was founded by Dean Kamen in 2001 with much fanfare, but struggled to become profitable.
It was bought by Summit Strategic Investments for an undisclosed amount in 2013.
Wireless systems used by passengers on planes in the US could be hacked to access flight controls, a federal watchdog agency has warned.
A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it is one of several emerging security threats not being dealt with properly.
It comes as air traffic control is modernised to use satellite technology.
The US Department of Transportation said it was "committed to strengthening capabilities against evolving threats".
GAO investigators spoke to cyber security experts who said onboard firewalls intended to protect avionics from hackers could be breached if flight control and entertainment systems use the same wiring and routers.
One expert told investigators "a virus or malware" planted on websites visited by passengers could provide an opportunity for a malicious attack.
Michael Huerta from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees airspace, agreed with the GAO's findings and said it had begun working with government security experts to make the changes needed.
"This threat will continue to evolve and it is something that needs to be at the forefront of our thinking," he told a Senate oversight panel.
Congressman Peter DeFazio said: "FAA must focus on aircraft certification standards that would prevent a terrorist with a laptop in the cabin or on the ground from taking control of an airplane through the passenger wi-fi system."
The Department of Transportation said the FAA was "committed to strengthening our capabilities to defend against new and evolving threats with a high degree of urgency".
Huawei announced its new smartphones in London, far from its Shenzhen-based headquarters
Huawei has unveiled its latest flagship phones with cameras that it says are capable of creating "professional" looking photos and videos.
The firm said a mix of an advanced sensor and optical image stabilisation tech offered superior night photos and the ability to create "light painting" effects with real-time previews.
The Chinese company is pitching its P8 handsets as "premium" options.
But one analyst said the firm still had a "mountain to climb".
The Shenzhen-headquartered company impressed many reviewers with the design of a smartwatch unveiled at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress in February, which one tech blog described as "the surprise hit" of the trade fair.
The phone is capable of photo effects including light paintings and long low-light exposures
However, Ben Wood, from the tech consultancy CCS Insight, said Western consumers still perceived it as being a "value-for-money brand".
"Huawei's challenge is how to differentiate a great-looking device from the sea of similar smartphones," he added.
"Apple's vice-like grip on the high-end smartphone market has effectively locked out all rivals, with the possible exception of Samsung, which is having to make an eye-watering marketing investment to attract consumers to its new products."
White-colour pixels
The new Android-powered phones, which were unveiled in London, come in two sizes - the basic P8 with a 5.2in screen (13.2cm) and the P8max with a larger than normal 6.8in (17.3cm) display.
Both feature a 13 megapixel rear camera whose image sensor includes pixels dedicated to measuring white light as well as the more common red, green and blue colour pixels.
The firm says this delivers improved images in high contrast and low light situations.
In addition, the handset features what the firms claims to be a "best-in-class" stabilisation component that minimises camera shake.
Huawei suggests that its phones take richer-coloured photos than Apple's iPhone 6
This allows its shutter to be kept open for longer, helping capture sharp images in dim light.
It also permits the device to be put into light-painting mode while operated freehand, letting users draw inside a photo as it's taken by quickly shining light from a small torch across their view.
Although this function is available to other smartphones, Huawei says it is unusual in being able to provide a live preview of what the shot look likes, making it easier to achieve the light-based doodles.
In addition, four P8 phone can be linked together to provide a multi-cam filming system, allowing users to record video footage containing changes in view.
Huawei was keen for its phones to viewed as viable alternatives to much more bulky and expensive cameras, at least in some situations
Sony pioneered a similar built-in option in its Xperia handsets last year.
Knuckle sensors
Although another Chinese handset-maker - Xiaomi - has captured many headlines of late, Huawei ended last year with a bigger market share.
It accounted for 6% of global smartphone shipments at the close of 2014, according to CCS Insight.
That put it in fourth position behind Lenovo, another Chinese manufacturer, whose figures have been boosted by its recent takeover of Motorola.
Huawei boasted of its handset being able to distinguish knuckle taps from finger controls
"Huawei's new camera technology is impressive and it's invested a lot in the associated software to make it quick, but my concern is that for most consumers the cameras on their smartphones are already good enough," said Mr Wood.
"But there is another feature that's interesting: the knuckle sense technology that you to double-tap the screen with your knuckle to take a screenshot - that's going to appeal to the Snapchat generation wanting to capture pictures before they disappear."
Hitler apology
Huawei's smartphone launch coincided with that of a lesser-known Chinese manufacturer LeTV.
Its new device, Le Max, is the first handset to feature a USB-C port.
The facility allows the device to be connected and charged with a reversible cable - similar to Apple's Lightning connector.
LeTV apologised after an advert for its new phone linked Hitler and Apple's brands
The announcement has been overshadowed by the fact the firm's chief executive recently apologised after commissioning an advertising campaign featuring a cartoon of Hitler with Apple's logo in the place of a swastika on his armband.
Jia Yueting acknowledged that the image was "insensitive and wrong" after posting a still on Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service.
The ad now features a cartoon king instead. Apple has not commented on the affair.
Search the term "CEO" in Google Images and the first picture of woman you get is a picture of Barbie in a suit.
This "gender bias" has become apparent after a paper was published showing that many image searches for specific occupations favour men or women.
The authors of the report say they have found "stereotype exaggeration and systematic underrepresentation of women in search results".
They have also identified the "sexy construction worker problem".
This is where female construction workers in their search results "tended to be sexualised caricatures of construction workers" who the researches said were "almost certainly not engaged in the profession they portrayed".
Image caption:These are the first results you get if you search on Bing
Although the paper focuses on gender representations, the same search also shows that most of the men (and Barbie) are white.
The image of Barbie that appears is actually one from spoof news site The Onion, which jokingly reports on Mattel being criticised for encouraging "young girls to set impractical career goals".
Other search engines, such as Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo also return all-male results on the first page.
The BBC's own picture archive, which is used by journalists across the organisation, can show results in a variety of different orders.
With the search prioritising newest picture first, multiple images of the CEO of McDonald's Japan - Sarah Casanova - appear.
Obviously the priorities for this search a different, with recency being the focus, however in the first 20 pages of results, you also see PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, CEO of the International Culinary Center, Dorothy Cann Hamilton and international leaders such as Angela Merkel.
The report's authors, Matthew Kay and Sean A Munson from the University of Washington and Cynthia Matusek from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, say that the minority gender for any given occupation, whether that is a man or a woman, are usually portrayed "less professionally" than the majority gender for that role.
They claim this fits with how people also perceive results to be better when they match a stereotype they already hold - for example men making for better construction workers.
Although fairer representation may improve the real-world balance of genders in different occupations, the report recommends "balance" when it comes to the algorithms search engines use.
The authors say results which support "socially desirable outcomes" may not accurately represent either the available images, or the "real-world" numbers of men and women in different careers.
Google has declined to comment, while Mattel has yet to respond to Newsbeat's request.
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