The Dark Side of the App Store

Something great happened on July 10, 2008. The Apple App Store was born. Only six years down the road more than 60 billion apps were downloaded through the platform, making it one of the largest stores in history.

As Apple & Google are about to launch their app stores for the largest untapped screen in our homes, it’s worth pausing for a moment to address its dark side and understand the magnitude of its impact on our lives.

Is Apple the Supreme Court of our digital lives?

According to Nielsen, 89% of our time on media is spent via the use of apps. While apps occupy an enormous part of our digital lives, we remain indifferent to the fact that such an integral part of our online experience is entirely controlled by two companies: Apple and Google. Two companies decide what we do online, where we spend our time and who will be able to provide us with our sought-after content.

In their guidelines Apple states that the company “will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, ‘I’ll know it when I see it’. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.”

Where exactly is this line and which behaviors, according to Apple, are relegated to a place across it? Where will the line be in five years? As it currently seems, Apple has claimed a seat on the Supreme Court of our digital lives.

Both the Apple and the Google app stores control the flow of information. With every passing day, they tighten their grip over the content and delivery of our information. While this reality might seem harmless to many at the moment, in a few years time this could become a real threat over our freedom of speech and our freedom to create.

Is Apple the Supreme Court of our digital livesAnd it’s already happening: Consider the example of a company named Tawkon which created an app that tells you when your phone is emitting high radiation so users can stay safe. Apple rejected this app. When Tawkon founders asked Steve Jobs for an explanation, he simply replied “no interest.” Why would Apple block something that is good for us? I have a gut feeling that with the low cellular coverage in the US 4–5 years ago, Steve didn’t want his customers to stop using the phone because technically it is always emitting high radiation! This app could potentially harm the carriers that have lucrative partnerships with Apple.

Another interesting example is the blocking of bitcoin wallet apps, a policy which was only recently changed. Too late for bitcoin. The average user would much prefer using ApplePay. Blocking bitcoin wallets halts the spread of usage while Apple is building their ApplePay strategy, allowing them an unfair advantage. The ecosystem survives and we are trapped.

Again and again, Apple rejects apps not on the basis of malicious activity, but on the basis of pure capital gain.

We are willingly giving Apple and Google full control over our digital lives
The app stores are fun, endless, constantly updating and truly quite amazing. I love discovering new apps every Thursday when the Featured list is updated. The best part about it is the ease with which the app store works in enabling users to discover, purchase and install new apps. Just place your thumb on the screen and it’s already on its way.

Apple and Google have focused their strategies on creating a population of habitual app-store users. After all, no matter what you need, “there’s an app for that!” Getting us hooked on this experience is exactly what they want because with each purchase we make from their store, they extract an astounding 30% commission.

A 30 percent commission is an outrage (speak now or forever hold your peace)
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that 60 billion apps have been downloaded until today (and that’s just on iOS). While a high percentage of them are free apps, this is nevertheless a huge market from which to reap 30% commission.

Of course, Apple and Google only aim to enlarge this market and their share within it. In fact, they would much rather prefer we stop using the Web and only use apps. They get their 30%, further tighten their grip over our digital freedom, and in return we get ease. What many don’t realize is that this ease we are so used to can also be available in an open format that is not so heavily controlled by our digital overlords.

The TV is Changing, We must keep our eyes open for Apple’s long term strategy behind the app store.
Some day in the near future, Apple will hold an event announcing the opening of AppleTV to developers. Probably they will bring some developers on stage to talk about how amazing it is to port their successful iPhone games and apps on to the big screen. They will praise Apple and try to convince fellow developers that this is the next big thing that they all should be working on. And it probably is—when push comes to shove, we are talking about the last un-stored screen. While it is a huge opportunity for developers, we must keep our eyes open for Apple’s long term strategy behind the app store.

Apple is poised to control the TV. I hope that the new AppleTV will have a fully functioning browser so we can still enjoy the Web freely and to the fullest. Unfortunately, I am not so optimistic. After all, it did take Apple four years to make a decent browser for the iPhone. You can probably guess why.

The Web should be free and accessible for everyone.
Unlike the app-stores of our digital overlords, the Web does not filter or restrain our content. No single entity controls what goes online and what does not. Anyone can take a computer, plug it to the wall, and define it as a server. Without a court order, no one can take that away from you.

It goes without saying that Apple and Google should be transparent regarding their policy for refusing apps. While it is well within these companies’ right to seek maximum profit without the need to ascribe to any higher moral ground, it is important to remember that we as consumers also have the right and power to choose. We should continue fighting for an open app store and not accept their app regime as ironclad.

In March, James Robinson wrote “2013 was the first year that Americans spent more time online on mobile devices than on computers, and as mobile devices become our primary point of interaction, the online experience will gradually become synonymous with being inside an app. It’s just like the Internet, but reimagined as a branded experience and with new, less democratic power structures, like Apple, Google and Facebook ruling the information roost like the Chevron, Exxon and BP of the world wide web.”

2015 Chevrolet Volt

Check out this chevrolet that travels 340miles on less than 7 litres of gas an uses electricity as an option for gas

India's capital sets new rules for Uber, other taxi operators

Taxi firms including Uber, the online cab-hailing company banned in New Delhi, will have to install panic buttons if they are to operate in India's capital under new rules framed after allegations that a driver for the U.S. firm raped a passenger.

The transport office of Delhi earlier this month ordered San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc to stop its services following the incident, which reignited the debate on women's safety in India.

Uber, through its apps, plays matchmaker between passengers and drivers for a fee. But the Delhi government now wants all taxi operators, including aggregators such as Uber, to have a fleet of taxis running on clean fuels and fitted with tracking devices and emergency buttons.

"The licensee shall ensure the facility of a panic button in the radio taxi so that in case of any distress, the signal is transmitted to the control center of the licensee and therefrom, to the nearest police station/police control room," Delhi's transport office said on its website.

Uber also faces bans or legal action in several countries including Spain, Thailand and the United States. Authorities' common complaint is that Uber's service includes unchecked private vehicle owners.

The company, valued at about $40 billion, said it does not agree with the guidelines and will continue talks with the transport office.

"These regulations don't work for tech companies like Uber," a spokesman told Reuters. "You tell me if trying to force fit existing regulations for "radio taxis" to a disruptive technology company makes sense?"

Uber has an estimated 3,000-5,000 drivers registered with it in Delhi but it was not clear how many of their cars run on clean fuels in the city. It is mandatory to use compressed natural gas in Delhi unless the car has a pan-country license.

Delhi Transport Department Special Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Gangar said they have already impounded 93 taxis, including of Uber, for abusing the exemption by plying national-permit cars mainly within Delhi.

Saharan solar project to power Europe

A solar energy project in the Tunisian Sahara aims to generate enough clean energy by 2018 to power two million European homes. watch here

BRIEF-Advanced Stabilized Technologies: C2SAT delivers first prototype to Israel Aerospace Industries

Advanced Stabilized Technologies Group AB :

* Says C2SAT delivers first prototype to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

* Says regular deliveries are expected to last at least until 2017

RPT-As 'Interview' takes streaming plunge, Hollywood tests waters

Consumers paid $15 million in just four days to watch "The Interview" from the comfort of their couches, building expectations that other hot, new films might also make their debut online.

But Hollywood is not quite ready to give that to viewers, experts say. Even so, Sony Pictures' initial success streaming its controversial comedy will add momentum to the industry's slow adoption of same-day theater and video-on-demand (VOD) release.

The experiment, a last-ditch effort by the unit of Sony Corp to keep "The Interview" alive despite a cyberattack on the studio and threats to movie theaters, has shown the technology works and people like it.

That outcome could embolden studios to shorten wait times between theatrical release and VOD and put more small films on same-day distribution. New platforms could muscle their way into movie streaming after seeing a relative VOD novice such as Google Inc.'s YouTube Movies score with "The Interview."

Two big obstacles stand in the way of a rush to emulate distribution of "The Interview": close ties that have developed over the years between movie theaters and Hollywood studios, and the fact that movies still make a lot of money in theaters.

"The vast majority of revenues will still be generated three or five years from now at the theater," said Hal Vogel, the chief executive of Vogel Capital Management.

Analysts are uneasy about reading too much into the online success of a comedy that is now in a class of its own because the movie triggered a cyberattack that the U.S. government blames on North Korea.

But studios have experimented with shortening the so-called "theatrical window", which now averages three months and 14 days compared with nearly six months back in 1997.

"You look over the next five, 10 years you're going to see a lot of change," said Daniel Ernst, an analyst at Hudson Square Research. "You're already seeing the windows change and a lot of the windows that exist don't make sense to consumers, let alone digital natives."

BIGGER CUT FROM STREAMING

Studios do normally take a bigger cut from online purchases, about 70 percent of the revenue, compared with 50 percent when they show in a movie theater. Sony has not disclosed the terms for "The Interview."

But it is hard to know how good of a business VOD could be because studios do not typically say how much they earn from streaming over sites or on cable.

"There's not transparency in the same way there is on box office," said Phil Contrino, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com. "Normally, we don't even hear about what VOD releases do... I'm sure that will change, hopefully soon."

Aside from "The Interview," studios have stuck to small-budget movies for same-day releases in theaters and on-demand. They include dramas such as "Snowpiercer" from The Weinstein Company's Radius-TWC division, and "Margin Call" and "Arbitrage" from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp's Roadside Attractions.

The low-budget "Arbitrage" grossed about $8 million at U.S. theaters but took in $14 million over VOD.

Theater chains objected in 2011 when Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures planned to sell comedy "Tower Heist" through video on-demand just three weeks after its debut in theaters. Universal dropped the idea.

But the idea keeps hovering, especially as teens and young adults go to the movies less, according to recent studies from Nielsen and the Motion Picture Association of America.

"In March will be CinemaCon, the theater owners' convention where the studios and the theaters will be and you bet this will be a big topic," said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst at tracking firm Rentrak.

Fortunately for the industry, 2015 is expected to be a great year for the movie theater experience, with big films such as the new "Star Wars" installment, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and the seventh "Fast & Furious" movie all targeting young viewers.

But projections may begin to change after the consumer experience with "The Interview".

"It all goes back to consumer expectations, and what are you creating if you start telling people you can't get them (movies) in your home quicker?" Contrino said.

Pawel Dobosz buys 250,000 shares of Internet Union

Internet Union SA :

* Pawel Dobosz, the chairman of the company's management board, buys 250,000 of the company shares for 200,000 zlotys ($56,400) Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: ($1 = 3.5440 zlotys) (Gdynia Newsroom)

Pawel Dobosz buys 250,000 shares of Internet Union

Internet Union SA :

* Pawel Dobosz, the chairman of the company's management board, buys 250,000 of the company shares for 200,000 zlotys ($56,400) Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: ($1 = 3.5440 zlotys) (Gdynia Newsroom)

India working to fix e-commerce payments post-Uber case

U.S. taxi-hailing company Uber Technologies violated Indian regulations by "bypassing" rules when it used an overseas gateway to conduct transactions in the country, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said in a television interview.

The central bank is working to set a legal framework for the use of advanced e-commerce technologies but in the meantime no one can treat the absence of a solution as an excuse to violate Indian rules, Rajan told NDTV television.

"We are willing to work to try and solve the problem, in fact we have some solutions which are coming up on doing low value transactions without too much 'jhanjhat' (hassle) as they call it," Rajan said in the interview telecast on Friday night. "But the point is you cannot violate regulations."

Earlier this year, local taxi companies complained that Uber - which directly processed payments using a customer's stored credit card information - was not following India's two-step verification for all e-commerce transactions.

In August, the RBI instructed that by Oct. 31, all transactions done with domestic credit cards had to follow the two-step verification process.

After the RBI order, Uber changed its payment method and partnered with an India-based virtual wallet provider, Paytm.

"One of the things we need to do to avoid crony capitalism is have rule of law. So our point was obey our regulation, we will work with you to fix it, to make it more useful for you," Rajan said.

Uber did not respond to request for comment on the governor's remarks.

At present, Uber is not operating in New Delhi. On Dec. 8, the Indian government banned Uber from operating in the capital after one of the company's drivers was arrested for allegedly raping a female passenger.

When will man become machine?

"I think the development of full artificial intelligence [AI] could spell the end of the human race."

Professor Stephen Hawking's verdict on AI in a recent BBC interview wasn't exactly good news for the rest of us.

"Once humans develop AI it will take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded," he said.

Machines can already "outlive" the humble human many times over, according to tech editor, investor and author Michael S Malone who grew up in Silicon Valley.

"Every living thing has one billion heartbeats in its lifetime," he told the BBC.

"The modern micro processor goes through the equivalent of 5-10 billion operations per second.

"These devices are essentially immortal. Just in the time you own your phone the micro-processor is going through almost all of human existence in terms of digital heartbeats."

So might machines contain the secret of eternal life?

Wriggle room
Open worm

The Openworm project has mapped the 302 neuron connections inside the brain of a tiny roundworm
Scientists working on a project called OpenWorm recently mapped the 302 neuron connections which make up the small brain of a tiny roundworm - the 1mm long Caenorhabditis elegans (humans have approximately 60 trillion synapses, or connections, between 100 billion neurons), and replicated them in the form of software.

The "brain" programme was then put into a simple robot made of Lego containing motors, a sonar sensor and touch sensors.

The robot itself was not actually programmed to "do" anything - but it did.

"It is claimed that the robot behaved in ways that are similar to observed C. elegans," wrote journalist Lucy Black.

"Stimulation of the nose stopped forward motion. Touching the anterior and posterior touch sensors made the robot move forward and back accordingly. Stimulating the food sensor made the robot move forward."

Ms Black went on to ask some philosophical questions about what had been created.

"Is the robot a C. elegans in a different body or is it something quite new? Is it alive?"

'Silicon immortality'
And that's just one microscopic worm... what happens when it's our turn?

Artificial heart

The first recipient of an artificial heart begged to be allowed to die
Mr Malone is fearful.

If Moore's Law - the doubling of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits every year, coined by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore - continues, the computers of 2030 will have as much power as the human brain, he believes.

"Then you get into this world of Ray Kurzweil [Google's director of engineering] - the singularity - at a certain point we will just map our brains into a computer and that will give us a kind of silicon immortality," he reasons.

"I wonder if the first person who maps their brain into a computer, if the first message they send back will be "pull the plug".

"What happens to consciousness, to selfhood, when your brain leaves your body and inhabits a silicon-based machine in the corner? What are you? Are you human? What happens if you can live forever but have no physical self?"

There are worrying precedents for what happens when man swaps some of his biological parts for computer or mechanical equivalents.

In 1982 a dentist from Seattle called Barney Clark became the first human recipient of an artificial heart.

He survived for 112 days but was so ill and depressed that he begged to be allowed to die, reported Wired.

Fighting fate
So perhaps we are not emotionally ready to make that leap into the machine - but Mr Clark's experience has not deterred some of Silicon Valley's heavyweights from fighting back against mortality.

"We have this strange combination of acceptance and denial - I would prefer our mode was more one of fighting... Fighting death, fighting decline," serial tech entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel told the BBC.

solar flare

A solar flare in 2001 captured by NASA.
"It's true that death may be natural but it's also natural that we should fight death."

But let's not forget that nature itself has a habit of fighting back.

In 1859 the biggest solar storm on record took place. Called the Carrington Event after astronomer Richard Carrington, the solar flare was so powerful that there were reports of telegraph pole wires melting and causing fires.

It is not known how regularly flares of this size occur or if there will be another - but the consequences for 21st century Earth would be utterly life-changing.

"If we had one now it would take out every chip in the world," says Michael Malone.

"If that happened civilisation would sort of stop."

North Korean Internet, 3G mobile network "paralyzed" - Xinhua

North Korea's Internet and 3G mobile networks were paralyzed on Saturday evening, China's official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The network had not returned to normal as of 2130 local time, Xinhua reported, citing reporters in the country that had confirmed the situation over fixed telephone systems.

The report comes after the North Korean government called Obama a "monkey" and blamed the U.S. for enduring instability in the country's internet infrastructure, after the U.S. blamed North Korea for hacking attack on Sony Studios.

Germany plans electric car motorway charging stations - document

Germany plans to expand the network of charging stations for electric cars across the country to help boost lacklustre demand, a Transport Ministry paper seen by Reuters showed.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government wants to bring 1 million battery-powered vehicles onto the roads of Europe's largest economy by the end of the decade.

But high vehicle costs and drivers' concerns about infrastructure and limited battery range have held back sales in Germany to just 24,000 models out of a market of about 3 million cars, according to government data.

Germany currently only has about 100 quick service charging points for electric cars, allowing drivers to recharge batteries in less than an hour, and about 4,800 charging stations running on alternating current, according to the Transport Ministry.

"We will set up quick service charging stations along the motorways across Germany," Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt was quoted by regional newspaper Passauer Neue Presse as saying in an interview published on Saturday.

The Transport Ministry paper said German motorway services operator Tank & Rast GmbH was due to set up quick service charging stations and parking spots at its 400 sites by 2017.

The Berlin-based government will shoulder some of the costs of installing cables and related construction projects, the document showed.

Sony works for 3rd day to restore PlayStation after attack

Sony Corp worked for a third day on Saturday to restore services to its PlayStation online gaming network after a Christmas Day cyberattack shuttered access to some customers, including holiday recipients of new game consoles.

"If you received a PlayStation console over the holidays and have been unable to log onto the network, know that this problem is temporary and is not caused by your game console," Sony executive Catherine Jensen said in a Saturday posting on the company's U.S. PlayStation blog.

She said the problems were the result of "high levels of traffic designed to disrupt connectivity and online game play," a technique widely known as a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS.

It was Sony's second recent high-profile encounter with hackers after an unprecedented attack on its Hollywood studio, which Washington has attributed to the North Korean government and linked to the release of the low-brow comedy "The Interview."

Sony spokeswoman Jennifer Clark declined to say how many of PSN's 56 millions users could not gain access to the network.

Customer response was mixed to requests from Sony's Twitter support account to be patient.

One person tweeted: "You keep repeating this same line like a parrot. WHAT exactly is the team doing?"

"That's OK. We know you're trying your best," another said via Twitter. "We all hate the hackers that did this."

A hacker activist group known as Lizard Squad said it was responsible for the PSN outage as well as delays on Microsoft's Corp's Xbox network; Microsoft quickly fixed the problem.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of security software maker F-Secure, said he knows of no reasonable motive for attacking Sony or Microsoft.

"The attackers have no motive whatsoever for their DDoS attacks against Sony or Microsoft," he said.

The group has claimed responsibility for previous cyber attacks, including ones on PSN in early December and August.

The attack in August coincided with a bomb scare on a commercial jet in which Lizard Squad tweeted to American Airlines that it heard explosives were on board a Dallas-to-San Diego flight carrying an executive with Sony Online Entertainment.

Sony has been the victim of some of the most notorious cyberattacks in history. Besides the breach at its Hollywood studio, hackers stole data belonging to 77 million PlayStation Network users in 2011.

North Korea blames U.S. for Internet outages, calls Obama 'monkey'

North Korea called U.S. President Barack Obama a "monkey" and blamed Washington on Saturday for Internet outages it has experienced during a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures.

The National Defense Commission, the North's ruling body chaired by state leader Kim Jong Un, said Obama was responsible for Sony's belated decision to release the action comedy "The Interview", which depicts a plot to assassinate Kim.

"Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest," an unnamed spokesman for the commission said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, using a term seemingly designed to cause racial offense that North Korea has resorted to previously.

In Hawaii, where Obama is vacationing, a White House official said the administration had no immediate comment on the latest North Korean statement blaming the United States for the Internet outages and insulting the president.

Sony canceled the release of the film when large cinema chains refused to screen it following threats of violence from hackers, but then put it out on limited release after Obama said Sony was caving in to North Korean pressure.

Obama promised retaliation against North Korea, but did not specify what form it would take.

North Korea's main Internet sites suffered intermittent disruptions this week, including a complete outage of nearly nine hours, before links were largely restored on Tuesday.

But its Internet and 3G mobile networks were paralyzed again on Saturday evening, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, and the North Korean government blamed the United States for systemic instability in the country's networks.

Dyn Research, a U.S. firm that monitors telecommunications infrastructure, said on Saturday that North Korea's Internet access had been restored after a national outage that lasted more than five hours.

Jim Cowie, Dyn's chief scientist, said it was a "sharp" outage that appeared to immediately sever access across the nation, and the restoration also appeared to be equally fast.

"It could have been something as routine as maintenance or it could have been a continuation of the things we saw in the past week, which looked more like attacks," Cowie said.

In its statement on Saturday, the North again rejected an accusation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, and demanded the United States produce evidence for its allegation.

The National Defense Commission also dismissed U.S. denials of involvement in North Korea's Internet outages.

"The United States, with its large physical size and oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would, has begun disrupting the Internet operations of the main media outlets of our republic," it said.

In a separate commentary, the North denied any role in cyberattacks on South Korea's nuclear power plant operator, calling the suggestion that it had done so part of a "smear campaign" by unpopular South Korean leaders.

A South Korean official investigating the attacks this week, which led to leaks of internal data from Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, said Seoul was not ruling out North Korean involvement.

"The South Korean puppet authorities are working hard to link this case with (us), though the truth about it has not been probed," Minju Joson, the official publication of the North's cabinet, said in a commentary carried by KCNA.

Tizen TV no substitute for Samsung's long-awaited answer to Android

Global smartphone leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is planning a new product launch next year based on its own Tizen operating system, the South Korean giant's strategic push to free itself from Android and blaze its own software path.

But after years of development and a handful of Tizen-powered smartwatches and cameras, the only product confirmed for a 2015 launch so far is a TV set.

While that may impress designers of smart homes, Samsung's failure to release a handset based on its own operating system is fuelling scepticism about its ability to build a meaningful software alternative to Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android in the all-important mobile sector.

"To be honest the software that Samsung has made on its own so far have not been very good ... I have not yet seen anything to suggest that Samsung has become competitive in the software space," said Lee Min-hee, analyst at brokerage IM Investment and Securities.

Developers say that until there is a meaningful user base for Tizen they will have little incentive to make innovative software applications for the system, deemed crucial if Samsung is to convince wary consumers to try it out.

"I see it (Tizen) as very similar to Android but without the gigantic user base," said Brazil-based Eduardo Ribeiro, founder of app developer Kazoowa.com. "With that, it is hard to find benefits in developing for Tizen."

Samsung's communications on the new system have only raised doubts further.

The company announced and then scrapped plans for a Tizen phone launch in Russia during the third quarter, citing the need to "further enhance the Tizen ecosystem".

Meanwhile source-based media reports have suggested for some time that a Tizen phone launch is imminent in India. In the latest example, the Korea Economic Daily on Friday said a low-end Tizen smartphone would debut in India on Jan. 18, citing an unnamed company source. Samsung declined to comment on the report.

"We have supported the Tizen platform for a long time and believe Tizen to be a good alternative mobile platform for consumers," the company said.

SOFTWARE STRUGGLES

Analysts say Tizen will struggle to make a dent in the smartphone world. Android and iOS had a combined 95.8 percent market share in July-September, according to Gartner, with Microsoft Corp's Windows platform trailing as a distant third at 3 percent. Samsung smartphones currently operate on Android.

"It has been really tough for any other operating system to position itself against iOS or Android ... So for Tizen to succeed, it will need to bring a very compelling proposition to the market," said Kiranjeet Kaur, an analyst at research firm IDC.

Samsung has more than 40,000 software development employees globally but its apps and content services have failed to stand out from the crowd, and the firm is winding back some projects.

The company on Friday said its ChatON messaging app - one of Samsung's more recognizable services - will be shut down in February.

Earlier this month it disbanded its media solution center in South Korea that was responsible for developing and launching software and content-related services.

Samsung's ability to support Tizen in the smartphone world also may be diminishing, with the firm's global market share down annually for the third consecutive quarter in July-September, amid intensifying competition from Chinese rivals.

Still, the tech giant is expected to press on with Tizen, particularly in the growing smart-home sector where the operating system's ability to run on devices with low computing power could be a big advantage.

Plans for the launch of a Tizen-powered television next year, revealed by a senior Samsung executive last week, would be a welcome addition to the smart-home business. Samsung declined to elaborate on the launch.

Samsung told Reuters in a statement it remained "committed to developing the Tizen ecosystem with a wide range of Tizen-based product categories".

YouTube's release of 'The Interview' a chance to show off paid video chops

Google Inc's decision to screen Sony Pictures' film "The Interview" may help legitimize its YouTube platform as a serious rival to paid video streaming services, Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.

Sony Pictures made the controversial film available online on Wednesday, expanding distribution of a comedy that triggered a destructive cyberattack against the company that has been blamed on North Korea. The studio reversed its decision to halt the movie's release after it was criticized for self-censorship.

"This is a huge opportunity for YouTube to show the world that it can be used to release professional content and content that is paid for as most people think YouTube is for free content," said James McQuivey, an analyst who covers the disruption of digital platforms at Forrester Research.


"The message from YouTube is really to other studios, that 'Look, we're in the big time now, we can do this, we're not afraid (of hacks) and we have a massive audience.'"

The release of "The Interview," one of the highest-profile films to be released digitally on demand so far, comes at a pivotal time for the Internet search company.

In recent years, YouTube has tried to leaven its image as an Internet repository of home-made videos and move toward more professionally produced content to expand its business. Last month, it launched YouTube Music Key, a paid ad-free service.

YouTube does not disclose its content sales, but despite being one of the most heavily visited destinations for video on the Internet with over 1 billion viewers each month, analysts say YouTube has lagged the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Apple in paid content offerings.

One risk for Google is that YouTube could become the target of Sony's hackers, though security analysts said the company is viewed to have strong cyber defenses. Google has an "enormous" infrastructure that is well-tested in fighting off denial of service attacks and other threats," said Barrett Lyon, principal strategist with F5 Networks and an expert in Internet network security.

"I wouldn't imagine seeing 'lights-out' out at YouTube."

The movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco in a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spurred the cyberattack against Sony Pictures.

In addition to YouTube Movies, Google Play, and Microsoft's Xbox Video, the comedy will be available on a dedicated website, www.seetheinterview.com, to rent for $5.99 or buy for $14.99, Sony Pictures said on Wednesday, a day after agreeing to release it at some 200 independent theaters. No cable or satellite TV operator has yet agreed to make "The Interview" available through video on demand (VOD).

Apple's iTunes store was noticeably not on Sony's list.

"If I were at Apple, I would think twice about re-inviting hacking troubles, which is so embarrassing especially when you're about to get into personal health and Apple Pay. You really want to show people you can preserve their information," McQuivey said.

"In the case of Google, they have probably been attacked so many times that the threat of being attacked again is so modest or minor in their consideration that they didn't think twice about this."

U.S. judge rejects HP settlement in Autonomy shareholder case

A federal judge on Friday rejected Hewlett-Packard Co's (HPQ.N) proposed settlement of shareholder litigation involving the information technology company's botched acquisition of Autonomy Plc.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco wrote that the settlement may not have been fair for shareholders because it broadly released HP from liability for events unrelated to Autonomy.

"The shareholders appear to be relinquishing a whole universe of potential claims regarding HP governance and practices," Breyer wrote.


Shareholder attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.

“While HP is disappointed the Court did not approve the settlement as submitted, the Court recognized that a settlement releasing the HP directors and officers from Autonomy-related claims ‘represents a fair and reasonable resolution of the litigation,’" HP said in a statement. "HP remains committed to holding the architects of the Autonomy fraud accountable.”

HP announced a $8.8 billion writedown in November 2012, just over one year after buying Autonomy, and linked more than $5 billion to accounting fraud and inflated financials by Autonomy executives. The British company and its executives have denied any wrongdoing.

Under the terms of the settlement reached earlier this year, shareholder attorneys agreed to drop all claims against HP's current and former executives, including Chief Executive Meg Whitman, board members and advisers to the company.

HP, in turn, agreed to some governance reforms. The company also said it would pursue claims against former Autonomy executives, including Chief Executive Michael Lynch.

The case is In re: Hewlett-Packard Co Shareholder Derivative Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 12-06003.

Exclusive: Google aiming to go straight into car with next Android

Google Inc (GOOGL.O) is laying the groundwork for a version of Android that would be built directly into cars, sources said, allowing drivers to enjoy all the benefits of the Internet without even plugging in their smartphones.

The move is a major step up from Google's current Android Auto software, which comes with the latest version of its smartphone operating system and requires a phone to be plugged into a compatible car with a built-in screen to access streaming music, maps and other apps. The first such vehicles will debut in 2015.

Google, however, has never provided details or a timeframe for its long-term plan to put Android Auto directly into cars. The company now plans to do so when it rolls out the next version of its operating system, dubbed Android M, expected in a year or so, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the plans publicly.

"It provides a much stronger foothold for Google to really be part of the vehicle rather than being an add-on," said Thilo Koslowski, vice president and Automotive Practice Leader of industry research firm Gartner, who noted that he was unaware of Google's latest plans in this area.

If successful, Android would become the standard system powering a car's entertainment and navigation features, solidifying Google's position in a new market where it is competing with arch-rival Apple Inc (AAPL.O). Google could also potentially access the valuable trove of data collected by a vehicle.

Direct integration into cars ensures that drivers will use Google's services every time they turn on the ignition, without having to plug in the phone. It could allow Google to make more use of a car's camera, sensors, fuel gauge, and Internet connections that come with some newer car models.

Analysts said Google's plan could face various technical and business challenges, including convincing automakers to integrate its services so tightly into their vehicles.

Google declined to comment.

Technology companies are racing to design appliances, wristwatches and other gadgets that connect to the Internet. Automobiles are a particularly attractive prospect because Americans spend nearly 50 minutes per day on average on their commute, according to U.S. Census data.

Apple unveiled its CarPlay software in March and Google has signed on dozens of companies, including Hyundai, General Motors Co (GM.N) and Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), for its Open Automotive Alliance and its Android Auto product.

Android Auto and CarPlay both "project" their smartphone apps onto the car's screen. Many of the first compatible cars are expected to be on display at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.

By building Android into a car, Google's services would not be at risk of switching off when a smartphone battery runs out of power, for example.

"With embedded it's always on, always there," said one of the sources, referring to the built-in version of Android Auto. "You don't have to depend on your phone being there and on."

By tapping into the car's components, Google could also gain valuable information to feed its data-hungry advertising business model. "You can get access to GPS location, where you stop, where you travel everyday, your speed, your fuel level, where you stop for gas," one of the sources said.

But the source noted that Android would need major improvements in performance and stability for carmakers to adopt it. In particular, Android Auto would need to power-up instantly when the driver turns the car on, instead of having to wait more than 30 seconds, as happens with many smartphones.

Automakers might also be wary of giving Google access to in-car components that could raise safety and liability concerns, and be reluctant to give Google such a prime spot in their vehicles.

"Automakers want to keep their brand appeal and keep their differentiation," said Mark Boyadjis, an analyst with industry research firm IHS Automotive. "Automakers don't want to have a state of the industry where you get in any vehicle and it's just the same experience wherever you go."

BRIEF-Hengxin Mobile Business to invest 147.9 million yuan in Saida Technology

Hengxin Mobile Business Co Ltd

* Says signs deal to invest 147.9 million yuan ($23.87 million) in Anhui-based Saida Technology

WRAPUP 4-Sony's 'Interview' draws U.S. moviegoers who trumpet free speech

"The Interview," the Sony Pictures film about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, opened in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States on Christmas Day, drawing many sell-out audiences and statements by patrons that they were championing freedom of expression.

Co-directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who also co-stars in the low-brow comedy with James Franco, surprised moviegoers by appearing at the sold-out 12:30 a.m. PT (0830 GMT) screening of the movie at a theater in Los Angeles, where they briefly thanked fans for their support.

Sony Pictures this week backtracked from its original decision to cancel the release of the $44 million film after major U.S. theater chains pulled out because of threats by the group claiming responsibility for a destructive cyberattack on Sony last month.

The United States blamed the attacks on North Korea.

Movie theater managers and patrons alike said they believed there was nothing to fear, and the initial screenings on Thursday were uneventful.

The audience at the first screening of the film in New York City, at the Cinema Village in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, remained silent during a scene showing the death of Kim Jong Un in the downing of his helicopter.

Matt Rosenzweig, 60, of Manhattan, said the moments that drew the most applause had to do with the idea of acting against censorship rather than animosity toward North Korea.

The film is available online in the United States on Google Inc's Google Play and YouTube Movie and to customers of Microsoft's Xbox Video, as well as on a Sony website, www.seetheinterview.com. It can be seen in Canada on the Sony site and Google Canada's website.

A Sony spokeswoman on Thursday said she had no figures on the number of downloads so far or on how well the movie was doing at the box office.

A spokesman for Microsoft also said he had no information yet on downloads and declined to say if the company had taken any special security measures or stepped up customer support.

"Of course, it's safe to say holiday season is always a very busy time of year for any consumer electronics company," Sean McCarthy, general manager of Microsoft's Xbox Product Services, wrote in an email. "So we work hard to ensure the stability of our infrastructure when so many consoles are activating for the first time."

RAUCOUS APPLAUSE

Cinema Village manager Lee Peterson, who declined to provide details of security precautions, said the New York Police Department planned to have officers outside the theater. He said he had also heard from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

There was no visible police presence outside or inside the Cinema Village for the first screening.

In Los Angeles, where the film drew a sell-out crowd for the 12:30 a.m. showing, people who held cups of warm cider as they waited for the theater to open said they came to show support for freedom of speech and freedom of choice.

The movie, which is playing in theaters in major metropolitan areas as well as in smaller cities ranging from Bangor, Maine, to Jasper, Indiana, features Rogen and Franco as journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader.

Sony decided to release the film after U.S. President Barack Obama, as well as such Hollywood luminaries as George Clooney and Republicans and Democrats in Washington, raised concerns that Hollywood was setting a precedent of self-censorship.

In Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, where the first screening at 11:45 a.m. PT was only half full, some filmgoers were blunt about their reasons for attending.

"You need to stand up for these things," said Dennis Lavalle, an acting teacher who came with his daughter. "And I am not going to let a country that regularly depicts in video the nuclear Armageddon of this country and that's OK, and we can't make a satirical picture about something that is not going to happen."

MOVIE FANS HAPPY

The audience in Manhattan exited the theater to a throng of network TV cameras and a crowd of people lined up for the next showing.

"It was more serious, the satire, than I was expecting," said Simone Reynolds, who saw the film while visiting from London. "There's a message for America in there too about America's foreign policy."

North Korea has called the film an "act of war."

Most fans simply called "The Interview" a funny movie.

Ken Jacowitz, a 54-year-old librarian from the New York borough of Queens, called it "a funny film made by funny people." He had a message for North Korea and the hackers: "You have given this movie whole new lives."

Wow, what's This Kia?

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Mars has gas, and Curiosity finds organic matter -- fuzzy signs of life?

Lol, we might soon discover we have brothers on mars. See for urself

Wire the desert: The next generation of smart cities

You have seen palm city, world island and the burj al arab hotel,
see abu dhabi"s next world wide project here

'Angry' Snapchat embroiled in Sony Pictures hack

Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel has said he is "devastated" and "angry" that plans for his messaging app were leaked as part of the Sony Pictures hack.

Details of future ideas and strategy were outlined by Mr Spiegel in emails to Michael Lynton, a Sony executive who sits on Snapchat's board.

Also included were details, including financial data, on previously unpublicised acquisitions.

"I felt like I was going to cry all morning," Mr Spiegel said in a memo.

"I went on a walk and thought through a couple things."

'Huge hug'
Mr Spiegel later shared on Twitter the emotional note he sent to Snapchat's employees, entitled Keeping Secrets.

"I've been feeling a lot of things since our business plans were made public last night," he wrote.

"Definitely angry. Definitely devastated.

Snapchat
Acquisitions made by messaging app Snapchat have been made public
"I want to give you all a huge hug because keeping secrets is exhausting.

"Keeping secrets means coming home late, after working all day and night. Curling up with your loved ones, hanging out with your friends, and not being able to share all of the incredible things you're working on. It's painful, it's tiring."

The leak detailed big ambitions for the popular app which allows users to send messages - images or video - that disappear after a short period of time.

According to the emails, the company purchased Vergence Labs, an eyewear company that produced a product comparable to Google Glass.

Snapchat also spent millions on Scan.me, a firm specialising in QR codes and advertising platform iBeacon.

'Undetectable' threat
Mr Spiegel's staff memo does not comment on the acquisitions, nor does it suggest the company planned to take any legal action against Sony or any other party.

Sony Pictures' legal woes are beginning to mount after the hack attack that has seen it cancel plans to release The Interview, a comedy about North Korea.

Vergence Labs glasses model
Snapchat acquired Vergence Labs, a company that makes a Google Glass-like product
Earlier this week, two former Sony Pictures employees filed a lawsuit accusing the company of not properly securing private data.

Around 15,000 employees had personal information, including social security numbers, leaked following the hack.

Sony Pictures said the attack was "unprecedented", and that the threat was "undetectable by industry-standard antivirus software".

Mr Spiegel has said he will spend some time being "angry and upset" before getting back to work.

"It's not fair that the people who try to build us up and break us down get a glimpse of who we really are.

"It's not fair that people get to take away all the hard work we've done to surprise our community, family and friends."

Deal forcing Microsoft to offer browser choices ends

A requirement for Microsoft to offer new Windows users in Europe a choice of web browsers has ended after five years.

Called the browser ballot, it gave non-Microsoft browsers as much prominence on Windows as Internet Explorer (IE).

The requirement was drawn up in 2009 after Microsoft's rivals complained the software giant's bundling of IE with Windows gave it an unfair advantage.

About 70% of people used IE in 2009 but its market share has since declined.

Estimates from browser analysis companies suggest that IE is now used by between 20 and 25% of all people going online from a desktop PC. Google's Chrome browser, first released in 2008, is the most popular with a 50% share and about 20% of people use Firefox.

The browser ballot was only seen in Europe on new PCs running Windows XP, Vista and 7 and on machines where a fresh copy of those versions of Windows was installed.

The European Commission said offering people a choice of browser had proved successful and that in its first eight months 84 million browsers were downloaded via the choice screen.

Microsoft was threatened with heavy fines if it did not properly implement and maintain the ballot. It was hit with a 561m euro (£441m) fine in March 2013 because it failed to include the ballot screen on Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for 14 months.

The browser choice system was agreed on 16 December, 2009 and was first seen on copies of Windows in March 2010.

News about the ending of the ballot emerged from a service update Microsoft posted to its support site. In that note it gave advice to system administrators about how to turn off the ballot screen.

Whodunnit? The Mystery of the Sony Pictures Hack

It has become the whodunnit that is gripping Hollywood without a penny being spent on production.

Now The Mystery of the Sony Pictures Hack - which already had all the ingredients for a major Hollywood film - has taken a new twist as the movie at the heart of the row is pulled.

That raises a whole host of questions but the key one - who was behind the attack - remains unanswered.

To help get to the bottom of the mystery, the BBC turned detective and considered the evidence.

What we know so far:

What isn't in doubt, despite Sony's desire to write a script where it wakes up and it was all a bad dream, is that the film giant's internal computer system was hacked in November.

The group responsible called itself The Guardians of Peace and warned that if its demands were not met, secret data would be "shown to the world". Crucially though it did not outline its demands.

A number of as-yet unreleased films popped up on online download sites. The Interview, a comedy featuring a plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, was not among those released.

The hackers also released the salary and social security numbers of thousands of Sony employees - including celebrities.

Following threats of 9/11 style incidents at any cinema that screened the film from the group behind the hack, Sony announced that it was cancelling the release of the movie altogether.

Who are the prime suspects?
A nation state, most likely North Korea
Supporters of North Korean regime, based in China
Hackers with a money-making motive
Hackers or a lone individual with another motive, such as revenge
The case for North Korea:

The leadership made no secret of its anger at the imminent release of The Interview
The case for North Korea being behind the attack seems, at least on the face of it, to be a compelling one.

It has a motive and a history of hacking.

Its leadership certainly did not disguise its anger about the forthcoming Sony film The Interview.

In fact, it described the film as "an act of terrorism".

And rather like a robbery being pinned on a local criminal who has a history of similar offences, North Korea has form.

Many are pointing the finger of suspicion firmly towards the crime Unit 121 of North Korea's General Bureau of Reconnaissance, described by some commentators as the country's most elite hacking unit.

And shortly after news that the film was pulled, the New York Times ran an article quoting an unnamed government source as saying it believed that attack to be state-sponsored with the North Korean government involved.

The case against:

t might not be the most compelling evidence but it is worth noting that North Korea denied that it was behind the attack, saying instead that it was the work of someone sympathetic to its cause. It hardly ever bothers to deny such claims.

North Korea is not averse to a bit of hacking but many say that the history of this particular crime does not fit with its modus operandus.

Its usual target is South Korea where attacks such as one launched in March 2013 have taken down internal networks.

Blogger Marc Rogers drills down into the details of this particular hack.

He concludes that the fact that the code was written on a PC with Korean locale and language actually makes it less likely North Korea is the source.

He points out that they do not speak traditional Korean in North Korea, they speak their own dialect and traditional Korean is forbidden.

"Let's not forget also that it is trivial to change the language/locale of a computer before compiling code on it," he writes.

He also points out that the the hackers are very net and social-media savvy. "That and the sophistication of the operation, do not match with the profile of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)."

But perhaps his most compelling piece of evidence is the fact that the attackers only latched onto The Interview connection after the media suggested that North Korea might be linked to the attack.

So if not North Korea then who?

In his blog, Mr Rogers writes "I would find the presence of Chinese far more plausible" and others also think that Chinese hackers, possibly recruited by North Korea, are a far more likely source of the malware.

Other think it may be hackers out to make some money.

When the hack was first reported there was little to suggest a monetary motive but actually the hackers emailed five top Sony Pictures executives on November 21, days before they began leaking the files, and demanded money.

Sean Sullivan, a senior researcher at security company F-Secure, believes extortion could be the motive behind the hack.

"That is a lot more credible than a nation state," he told the BBC.

For him, the real test will be what the hackers do next.

If the pulling of The Interview was their primary motive, things should quieten down but if there are more data dumps, then he thinks everyone should pretty much dismiss North Korea as the source.

"I would even bet they dump The Interview on to a torrent site unless Sony puts some money in a brown paper bag," he said.

Like Mr Rogers, he does not rule out the involvement of Chinese hackers.

"It is far more likely that North Korea would have recruited Chinese hackers who both wanted to make some money and cause Sony pain," he said.

If the sorry tale were to be turned into a Hollywood movie and, given the times we live in, it almost certainly will - although probably not made by Sony - a better plotline might be anonymous hackers intent on revenge.

To understand how this might be a possibility requires a bit of a trawl through the history of Sony and hacking.

Its battle with hackers began in 2005 when its music division installed software which modified computer operating systems to prevent CDs being copied. It continued in 2010 when Sony took on teenaged hacker George Hotz who jailbroke his PlayStation 3 and released the code.

Its most high-profile attack happened in April 2011 when hacking group Anonymous launched a campaign to bring down the PlayStation Network. The attackers gaining access to the personal information of more than 77 million users. The hack cost Sony at least $171m.

As Chester Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at Sophos, put it in an interview with Gizmodo. "Sony's been raising the ire of hackers for as long as I can remember, so you have to think that they've known they're a serious target."

For Mr Roberts, the most obvious suspect, like many of the best whodunnits, may be far closer to home.

"My money is on a disgruntled (possibly ex) employee of Sony," he concludes.

Will the case ever make it to court?
It is debatable whether those responsible for the attack will ever be brought to justice. The US government has said that, if the hackers do turn out to be North Korean, it will be very difficult to prosecute them.

And while many may speculate on other suspects, hard evidence is proving elusive.

"The jury is out - North Korea is definitely a suspect. It had opportunity and the means but to convict them you need more evidence," said security expert from the University of Surrey Prof Alan Woodward.

What everyone does agrees is that the ripple effects from the attack will be felt long after the commentators have stopped asking who is to blame.

Sony Pictures faces a long road to redeeming its reputation and gaining back the trust of Hollywood.

America faces the hardest of questions about whether, by withdrawing the film, is has given into threats in a way it usually refuses to do.

And the IT bosses of corporations around the world may just as well cancel all their Christmas leave as chief executives demand immediate reviews of their security procedures in a desperate attempt to make sure they never fall foul of similar embarrassing leaks.

For Mr Sullivan the hack represents a good moment for corporate America to scrutinise its security arrangements. While it might seem easy to blame a nation state it is time to sit up and acknowledge that this could have happened to any number of firms.

He hopes there will be " a decent post-mortem".

Until then though The Most Mysterious Case of the Sony Hack will remain like Charles Dickens' final novel - The Mystery of Edwin Drood - unfinished.

Apple 'failing to protect Chinese factory workers'

Poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories which make Apple products has been discovered by an undercover BBC Panorama investigation.

Filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken.

It found standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories.

Apple said it strongly disagreed with the programme's conclusions.

Exhausted workers were filmed falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at the Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.

One undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off.

Another reporter, whose longest shift was 16 hours, said: "Every time I got back to the dormitories, I wouldn't want to move.

"Even if I was hungry I wouldn't want to get up to eat. I just wanted to lie down and rest. I was unable to sleep at night because of the stress."

'Continuous improvement'
Apple declined to be interviewed for the programme, but said in a statement: "We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions.

"We work with suppliers to address shortfalls, and we see continuous and significant improvement, but we know our work is never done."

Apple said it was a very common practice for workers to nap during breaks, but it would investigate any evidence they were falling asleep while working.

It said it monitored the working hours of more than a million workers and that staff at Pegatron were averaging 55 hours a week.

Continue reading the main story
Find out more
Panorama
Watch Panorama: Apple's Broken Promises on BBC One on 18 December at 21:00 GMT or later on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer
The poor conditions in Chinese factories were highlighted in 2010 when 14 workers killed themselves at Apple's biggest supplier, Foxconn.

Following the suicides, Apple published a set of standards spelling out how factory workers should be treated. It also moved some of its production work to Pegatron's factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.

But Panorama's undercover reporters found that these standards were routinely breached on the factory floor.

Overtime is supposed to be voluntary, but none of the reporters were offered any choice. In addition to the excessive hours, one reporter had to attend unpaid meetings before and after work. Another reporter was housed in a dormitory where 12 workers shared a cramped room.

Apple says the dormitory overcrowding has now been resolved and that it requires suppliers to retroactively pay workers if it finds they haven't been paid for work meetings.

Pegatron said it was carefully investigating Panorama's claims and would take all necessary action if any deficiencies were found at their facilities.

"Worker safety and well-being are our top priorities. We set very high standards, conduct rigorous training for managers and workers, and have external auditors regularly visiting our facilities to find areas for improvement," a statement said.

Dangerous conditions
Panorama also travelled further down Apple's supply chain to the Indonesian island of Bangka.

Apple says it is dedicated to the ethical sourcing of minerals, but the programme found evidence that tin from illegal mines could be entering its supply chain.

It found children digging tin ore out by hand in extremely dangerous conditions - miners can be buried alive when the walls of sand or mud collapse.

Rianto
Rainto, 12, said he was worried about landslides
Twelve-year-old Rianto was working with his dad at the bottom of a 70-foot cliff of sand. He said: "I worry about landslides. The earth slipping from up there to the bottom. It could happen."

Panorama tracked down a gang who collect tin from the area where Rianto was working. One of them said they sold tin to a smelter on Apple's list of suppliers.

Johan Murod, who runs one of the smelters on Apple's list, said 70% of the tin that is exported comes from the small-scale mines.

"At the smelter there's everything from both large and small scale mines. It's all mixed. There's no way to know what is legal and what is illegal."

Apple says it is a complex situation on Bangka with tens of thousands of miners selling tin through many middle men.

"The simplest course of action would be for Apple to unilaterally refuse any tin from Indonesian mines. That would be easy for us to do and would certainly shield us from criticism.

"But that would also be the lazy and cowardly path, since it would do nothing to improve the situation. We have chosen to stay engaged and attempt to drive changes on the ground."

Russia considers building its own space station: RIA

Russian state space agency Roscosmos is considering building its own space station, RIA news agency quoted its chief as saying on Monday, underlining how international tensions are affecting space cooperation.

Such a project would rival the International Space Station (ISS), an orbiting laboratory that involves 15 nations including Russia and the United States. Moscow has cast doubt on the ISS's long-term future as ties with Washington plummet over Ukraine.

"I confirm we are considering such an option. This is a possible direction of development," RIA quoted Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko as saying when asked about whether Russia has plans to develop it own space station.

He said such a space station could become a key part of Russian missions to the Moon.

It is not clear how such a project would be financed as Russia is widely expected to enter recession next year and the economic crisis is aggravated by Western sanctions over Russia's policy in the Ukraine crisis.

Washington wants to keep the $100 billion ISS in use until at least 2024, four years beyond the previous target. But a Russian government official said in May that Moscow would reject Washington's request to prolong its operations.

The Russian space station Mir, launched by the Soviet Union in 1986, operated until 2001 and President Vladimir Putin is now seeking to reform Russia's once-pioneering space industry after years of budget cuts and a brain drain that led to a series of embarrassing and costly failed launches in recent years.

Meet the U.S. Navy's spy 'fish'

Silent Nemo, an underwater robot, is being tweaked to go into hostile waters to spy on enemies and protect U.S. ships.
view here

Sony demands halt to reporting from leaked documents

Sony Pictures Entertainment told certain news organizations on Sunday to stop publishing information contained in documents stolen by hackers who attacked the movie studio's computer network last month, three media groups reported.

The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety published stories reporting that they had each received a letter from David Boies, an attorney for Sony, demanding that the outlets stop reporting information contained in the documents and immediately destroy them.

The studio "does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use" of the information, Boies wrote in the letter, according to the New York Times report.

A Sony spokesman had no comment on the reports. Representatives for Variety and The Hollywood Reporter could not immediately be reached via email on Sunday.

New York Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said: "Any decisions about whether or how to use any of the information will take into account both the significance of the news and the questions of how the information emerged and who has access to it."

A spokesman for Boies confirmed he sent a letter to certain media outlets on behalf of Sony but declined to discuss details.

Disclosures from the internal documents have caused turmoil at the studio, a unit of Japan's Sony Corp, and shed light on internal discussions key to the company's future. For instance, the unidentified hackers have released troves of documents that include employee salaries and financial information, marketing plans and contracts with business partners.

In addition, the documents that have emerged included an exchange in which Co-Chairman Amy Pascal joked about President Barack Obama's race. After media outlets reported that, Pascal subsequently issued a public apology for "insensitive and inappropriate" emails.

Pascal is scheduled to meet this week with civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, whose spokeswoman says he is weighing whether to call for her resignation. Pascal did not respond to a request for comment, and a Sony spokeswoman declined to comment on Pascal's future.

Sony, in a memo to staff seen by Reuters on Dec. 2, acknowledged that a large amount of data was stolen by the hackers but has declined to confirm specific documents.

Over the weekend, a message claiming to be from the Guardians of Peace, a group that says it carried out the cyber attack on Sony, warned of additional disclosures.

"We are preparing for you a Christmas gift," said the message posted on a site for sharing files called Pastebin. "The gift will be larger quantities of data. And it will be more interesting."

Watch the latest trailer for 'Mad Max: Fury Road'

2016 BMW 6-series facelift debuts ahead of Detroit auto show

Subtle changes inside and out for Munich's coupes

BMW has made a number of changes to its 6-series cars inside and out, and will present the revised lineup at the Detroit auto show next month. The 2016 BMW 6-series cars are scheduled to go on sale during the second half of 2015, and all three model variants -- the convertible, the coupe, and Gran Coupe four-door sedan -- will feature slightly updated styling elements.

When it comes to the exterior, BMW has modified the corporate kidney grille and the the front and rear aprons, with the grille now featuring nine vertical bars instead of 10 (we did say slightly updated). In an effort to further improve aerodynamics, BMW has also redesigned the side mirrors with integrated side marker lights. The biggest visual changes to the Gran Coupe are new window surrounds for the rear windows and restyled badging which appears at the base of the C-pillars.

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13 Incredibly Adorable Holiday Tips From Your Cute Pets

1. “Nothing gets the holiday feels flowing quite like some good old CHRISTMAS LIGHTS, AMIRITE?”

view more here

UK to send hundreds of troops to Iraq - newspaper

Britain will send hundreds of troops to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces in Iraq, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told The Daily Telegraph newspaper on Saturday, in a bid to step up the battle against Islamic State fighters.

U.S President Barack Obama has already authorised the deployment of over 3,000 troops to the country and the top U.S commander guiding the coalition effort said earlier this week that allies would send about 1,500 additional troops.

Fallon said troops in the "very low hundreds" would be sent next month.


He said that following air strikes by U.S.-led forces including Britain, Islamic State had changed its methods, moving away from use of large formations in open space.

"They are increasingly tucked away in towns and villages. That means they have got to be rooted out by ground troops.

"This has to be done by an own-grown army, not by western groups."

On Saturday, Islamic State fighters killed at least 19 policemen in a town in Western Iraq, as the group continues to seize territory in the region, despite aerial strikes.

Fallon told the newspaper that the exact number of Britons to be sent had not been finalised but that one of four teams would provide training in a Kurdish area and the remaining three in locations nearer to Baghdad.

"A key skill we are going to be helping with is counter-IED (improvised explosive devices), particularly vehicle explosive devices which the Iraqi army hasn't come across for some time," Fallon was quoted as saying.

Air strikes, clashes near two eastern Libyan oil ports

Forces loyal to Libya's recognized government conducted air strikes on targets on Saturday near the eastern oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Es-Sider to stop an advance by a rival force towards the facilities, officials said.

The oil ports, two of Libya's biggest, accounting for more than 300,000 barrels a day of exports, were working normally, an oil official said.

The North African country is caught in a conflict between two competing governments, parliaments and chiefs of staff, allied to armed factions, part of turmoil three years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi.


Saqer al-Joroushi, an air force commander allied to Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, said his aircraft had attacked positions near Sirte, a costal city in central Libya.

He said a rival force from Misrata, a coastal city west of Sirte and the ports, had advanced towards the terminals with a large number of vehicles. "We bombed them to stop them from entering the ports," he said.

Tripoli-based al-Nabaa television said a force it said had been mandated by the General National Congress (GNC), a rival assembly based in Tripoli since a group called Libya Dawn seized the capital in August, had started an operation to take the ports.

It quoted the head of the force, adding that two people had been killed in clashes near Es-Sider port. Websites close to Libya Dawn also said such an operation had started.

Thinni has been forced to work out of the east since Libya Dawn seized the capital Tripoli after a one-month battle, setting up its own cabinet and reinstating the previous assembly, the GNC.

The House of Representatives, elected in June, is also working out of the east.

Both governments have sought to control the oil facilities, the country's only source of income. Last month, Libya Dawn took over the southern El Sharara oilfield, one of the country's biggest, after a rival force from Zintan allied to Thinni had withdrawn.

Thinni said last week his government were trying to control the oil revenues by setting up a payment system outside the central bank in Tripoli.

Xiaomi's India smartphone ban exposes wider patent risk

The court order that banned Chinese mobile maker Xiaomi from selling its phones in India has halted its breakneck expansion into the world's fastest growing major smartphone market and could be just the start of a string of patent challenges.

Xiaomi Technology only started selling in India in July and quickly became the country's fastest growing smartphone brand; with minimal marketing, it is already outselling even low-cost smartphones running Google's Android One.

Hugo Barra, the former Google executive now leading Xiaomi's international operations, told Reuters in November how rapidly the country had taken to his brand.

All it took was a single Facebook post to draw dozens of superfans to a California Pizza Kitchen in Mumbai to meet him, he said.

"It was far more than we expected. The community has really, really embraced us," he said.

And then came Wednesday's court order to stop selling, after a patent infringement case was filed by telecom equipment maker Ericsson. The ban will last until at least Feb. 5, when the Delhi court hears the case again.

But that is unlikely to be the end of the young company's battle over intellectual property (IP) rights.

Sources close to Xiaomi say its leadership has privately acknowledged for years its vulnerability to patent entanglements. The higher risks of IP litigation in Western markets even played a role in shaping Xiaomi's strategy of expanding in India and Southeast Asia, the sources said.

Xiaomi said in a statement that "it isn't easy" to build up a patent portfolio as a start-up company, but it aims to have filed 8,000 applications by 2016.

On its home turf, Xiaomi has already been dogged by IP controversies with other Chinese firms, mostly over content rights for its streaming TV service.

As its smartphone business, already number one in China, continues to grow, however, industry analysts expect greater pressure at home, particularly since two of its fiercest handset rivals, Huawei and ZTE Corp, are among the top telecom patent holders in China.

GROWTH SETBACK

Until it is lifted, the ban in India will be particularly hard on growth prospects. In a country where just one in 10 people use smartphones, the potential is vast. The market grew 82 percent in the third quarter, while China expanded at a relatively modest 10.8 percent, according to research firm IDC.

Barra posted a message on the company's website on Friday apologising to fans.

"Rest assured that we're doing all we can to revert the situation," he wrote. "Stay tuned for more information."

In China, Xiaomi already outsells Apple and Samsung Electronics in smartphones, and it became the world's third-largest vendor as of October, though it is little known outside Asia.

Unlike Apple, which introduces a new iPhone just once a year, Xiaomi rolls out updated models frequently, usually in small batches that sell out in seconds. It sells only online, and with minimal advertising, relying on word of mouth to build anticipation for each new launch.

In India, Xiaomi initially imported 10,000 devices a week but soon had to ramp that up to 60,000 to 100,000 to meet demand, India business chief Manu Jain told Reuters before the sales ban. It has chartered flights four times to rush in fresh supplies.

Jain did not respond to a request for comment on the business impact after the order.

Rushabh Doshi, an analyst at technology research firm Canalys in Singapore, said the ban would "leave a gap in the market, to be quickly filled by local or international vendors looking to increase market share".

The court case will also make phone vendors wary about their current patent portfolio and require them to step up their spending on research and development, he added. ($1 = 62.3550 Indian rupees)

Alleged UK hacking of Belgian telecoms firm was far-reaching-reports

Hacking of computers at Belgian telecoms firm Belgacom, alleged to have been carried out by a British spy agency, was more far-reaching than previously thought and went undetected for more than two years, according to reports published on Saturday.


News of the intrusion into Belgacom's networks first broke late last year when Belgium asked Britain, its NATO and European Union partner, to respond to allegations that its intelligence service was responsible.

Belgian newspaper De Standaard, Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad and The Intercept, a website that regularly reports on documents leaked by former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden, published detailed accounts on Saturday of how the scheme is alleged to have worked.

"In its digital attack on Belgacom, the British secret service was able to intercept more communications than was previously realised," De Standaard said.

It said British surveillance agency GCHQ got into the network in 2011 by hacking three employees and was then able to "poke around undisturbed" in the network of Belgacom and subsidiary BICS for two-and-a-half years.

"The security service was thus able to intercept communications from Belgacom's individual clients, from NATO and the EU, as well as from clients of hundreds of international telecoms providers. It is an unprecedented violation of the privacy of anybody who used a mobile telephone," it said.

The Intercept, financed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, said its reporting was based on documents from Snowden, who is currently living in Russia, and interviews with sources familiar with the investigation at Belgacom.

It said the malicious software found on Belgacom's systems was one of the most advanced spy tools ever identified by security researchers, who called it "Regin".

Belgacom, Belgium's dominant telecoms provider, was seen as a top target by the British spy agency because it plays an important role in Europe and has partnerships with hundreds of telecommunications companies across the world, it said.

Citing a GCHQ document from 2011, the website said the British spy agency hacked into the computers of three Belgacom engineers, gaining access to the firm's networks for surveillance purposes. Later, GCHQ obtained data being sent between Belgacom and other operators, it said.

The hack was not detected until 2013, when Belgacom said it had improved security and removed an unknown virus from its systems and that there was no indication of any impact on customers. It did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

GCHQ has previously declined comment on the allegations.

Hackers vs James Bond: 'SPECTRE' script stolen in Sony attack

Early villains have emerged in the next James Bond film "SPECTRE": hackers who stole a version of the screenplay as part of a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

Producers of the James Bond films said they learned on Saturday morning that an early version of the "SPECTRE" script was among material stolen and made public by hackers who infiltrated computers at the Sony studio.

"Eon Productions is concerned that third parties who have received the stolen screenplay may seek to publish it or its contents," Eon said in a statement, while warning that the script is protected by U.K. copyright laws.


"SPECTRE," starring Daniel Craig as 007, is set for release on Nov. 6, 2015. Filming began this month after producer Barbara Broccoli and director Sam Mendes unveiled the title, cast and new car, but little about the plot.

"I was so excited to tell this story but to explain why, I would have to tell you the plot and I can't do that," said Mendes at the presentation in England, a reminder of Sony's might in the movie world.

The Bond franchise is one of the most lucrative for Sony Pictures and the last installment "Skyfall" brought in $1.1 billion worldwide, more than any other Bond film.

A Sony spokesman said news reports that the cyberattack forced the studio to stop production on films, including "SPECTRE," were wrong.

"Productions are still moving forward," Robert Lawson told Reuters.

Hackers launched an attack on the Sony Corp. entertainment arm on Nov. 24, disabling the computer network and stealing and leaking a trove of sensitive information in the most severe cyberattack on a company on U.S. soil. The identity of the hackers has yet to be determined.

Instagram now bigger than Twitter

Instagram has told Newsbeat it has the potential to "change the world" as it announced it has overtaken Twitter with 300 million users.
The company's CEO Kevin Systrom described the milestone as "exciting" and said the company would "continue to grow".
Twitter claims to have 284 million users accessing the network each month.
Facebook, which boasts 1.35 billion monthly active users, bought Instagram in 2012.
Speaking to Newsbeat ahead of the announcement, Kevin Systrom said: "Instagram is about seeing a live pulse of the world right now, it's not just about taking a photo of a cute baby or a cute dog."
Instagram is also introducing verified accounts similar to the blue tick symbols used by Facebook and Twitter.

Newsbeat understands regular users who have been impersonated could be verified, alongside celebrities, sports stars and brands.
"We want to be all about authentic users and you making sure that you know you're following real people not bots, not spam accounts, not fake accounts." Mr Systrom added.
In an attempt to get rid of fake accounts or those breaking the company's rules, Instagram said it is deleting "spammy" accounts.
The company has warned that some users may find they have fewer followers as a result.
Instagram's co-founder hinted the company would soon be adding new features based around specific events.
"You're literally getting a view of what's happening in the world right now.

"What we need to do is figure out how to take the fact that everyone's contributing in the world and broadcast that more globally.
"If you're interested in what's happening at the World Cup, you can peer in, see the football players and see what they're thinking and doing before they go onto the field.
"Those are the types of things that I want to enable over the next year."
Since it was set up by co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010, Instagram has grown rapidly.
In February 2013, the company announced it had reached 100 million active monthly users.
Recently Instagram introduced advertising, with "sponsored posts" allowing brands to reach the app's growing number of users.
"Early on I would review and approve every single ad before it went on," Kevin Systrom said.