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Tech Weekly podcast: CES roundup and Microsoft's Robbie Bach

Bobbie Johnson, Scott Cawley — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:01:42 GMT

In today's instalment of this special series of Tech Weekly podcasts from two of the world's top technology shows:

Bobbie Johnson straps on his shades and slips on his best gambling shoes to visit Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show – which promises to deliver all manner of weird, wonderful and whizzy gadgets over the next few days.

There'll be everything from big TV screens to tiny projectors, and run the gamut from gas-guzzling supercars to the greenest technologies around.

Technology writer Will Head and Kat Hannaford, the news editor of T3.com, join Bobbie to discuss the gadgets that have tweaked their interest during their snek preview of the show.

Plus Bobbie also speaks to Robbie Bach, Microsoft's president of entertainment and devices. He's the man in charge of the Xbox and Zune, so he discusses Microsoft's recent hardware failures, and the effects of the recession.

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WoW addiction causes drop-outs

Aleks Krotoski — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:59:54 GMT

Am I missing something? Did I get off the train before the reality police came on board to check my ticket? Or am I simply deluded when I say that I don't think online games cause college students to drop out any more than, say, binge watching The Sopranos (or The Wire or M*A*S*H or Thirtysomething or Friends or whichever series traps students in front of the TV nowadays) or hanging out at the local caf making 'zines at four o'clock in the morning every night wired on bottomless cups of black coffee and spouting pretentious philosophical overtures (oh my misspent youth)? According to several people quoted in an article in The Guardian on Monday, including a representative of the US Federal Trade Commission and a student advisor at University of Minnesota Duluth, my attitude towards online gaming and academia would suggest that I am a few tools short of a box. Here's a choice

CES: Microsoft executive Robbie Bach hints at cutbacks

Bobbie Johnson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:55:39 GMT

Senior Microsoft executive Robbie Bach has hinted that there may be cutbacks as the Seattle software giant looks to tighten its belt during the recession.

Over the past week there has been growing speculation that Microsoft is preparing to make significant job cuts, as it prepares to scale down a variety of projects in the face of the current financial crisis.

Talking to the Guardian at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Bach – who heads up Microsoft's entertainment division – sidestepped questions about future cuts. But he did admit that the Seattle software giant was looking at ways it could improve its efficiency during a recession.

"I'm not going to comment on all the rumours," he said. "But I think we're doing what everybody does: we look at our resource and say, 'do we have it deployed in the right way?'."

"If there's a more efficient, better way to deploy them – working on different projects, moving them around – then we'll do that."

Among the divisions which could be hit hardest is the group run by Bach, which contains a portfolio of products such as gaming, music and mobile phones.

While gadgets like the Xbox 360 and Windows Mobile have proved relatively popular, Bach's division has only just started making a profit after billions of dollars of investment over the past decade – leaving it vulnerable to cutbacks.

And other incidents have not helped the cause, either. Just last week, thousands of the company's Zune music players broke down after being struck by a bug caused by the fact that 2008 was a leap year. Anxious customers were left stranded, but the problem eventually righted itself automatically just a day later.

Bach said that the episode was no reflection on Microsoft – despite coming in the wake of a string of technical problems with the Xbox 360 console, which were blamed on rushed design and poor manufacturing and led to a hardware recall costing more than $1bn.

"The truth is if you look across any technology product, if you're in this space you're going to have things like this come up," he said.

"Sony's had things like this come up, Apple's had things like this come up, we've had things like this come up. The thing people will judge you on over time is how effectively you deal with it."

However, despite optimism that his division was on the right track, Bach admitted that even supposedly "recession-proof" industries such as videogames were also feeling the pinch.

"Recession-proof is probably a misnomer – because no matter what business you're in, what's going on now has some affect on your industry."

"In the short term we have to be careful how we spend our money ... [but] we'll absolutely see it through to the other side. We view this as a long-term business we're building."

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CES: Steve Ballmer unveils Microsoft's Windows 7

Bobbie Johnson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:46:44 GMT

Steve Ballmer took the stage to deliver his first keynote speech to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last night, unveiling more details of Windows 7 – as had been widely expected.

Ballmer, who was speaking at the event for the first time, also announced that a preview version of Windows 7 would be available for download by the end of this week.

During the speech, Microsoft demonstrated some new tricks, as well as claiming that the new version of Windows will have extensive support for touchscreens and a number of improvements over its predecessor, Vista.

In what seemed a veiled reference to that system – which was widely criticised for being incompatible with millions of add-ons when it launched – Ballmer said the company was putting extra emphasis on delivering a useable product.

"We're putting in all the right ingredients: simplicity, reliability and speed," he said. "And we're working hard to get it right and to get it ready."

It was Ballmer's first major industry speech since the retirement of traditional CES headliner Bill Gates, and details of what the company was set to announce had been widely circulated ahead of the event.

Most of the announcements were minor product tweaks, including deals with Facebook, the addition of new services for the Xbox 360 games console, and improved connections between Microsoft products and cars made by Ford.

Among the more significant changes, however, was a new distribution deal with computer manufacturer Dell. The deal will see a slew of Microsoft products – including Windows Live search – pre-loaded onto all consumer machines from the Texan PC maker.

The move was trumpeted by Microsoft as a victory over Silicon Valley rival Google, which previously had a similar deal with Dell. However, it was not the only announcement targeted at one of Microsoft's rivals.

The news that the forthcoming version of the company's Internet Explorer web browser for mobile phones would support Adobe's Flash system was a clear shot at Apple, which has refused to add support for it to the iPhone.

In a relatively downbeat and low-key presentation, Ballmer referred several times to the recession and the current struggles faced by most large corporations. But despite the current outlook, he suggested that technology companies were better placed to ride out the storm than those in some other industries.

"We may be tempted to temper our optimism and scale back our ambitions, but no matter what happens with the economy or how long this recession lasts, I believe our digital lives will only continue to get richer," he said.

"There really is no turning back from the connected world, and the pace of the technological advance bringing people closer together."

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Analysis: Steve Ballmer's keynote speech at the CES

Bobbie Johnson, Elliot Smith — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:12:05 GMT

Bobbie Johnson takes a look at the Microsoft CEO's debut keynote address at the 2009 CES in Las Vegas

Taxpayers targeted by email scam

Harriet Meyer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:02:40 GMT

Taxpayers are being targeted by thousands of fraudulent emails claiming to come from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as the self-assessment deadline draws closer.

Small business owners and the self-employed are being sent fake "phishing" emails to try to trick them into handing over their bank or credit card details, claiming they are owed a tax rebate, in what HMRC is describing as "the most sophisticated and prolific scam" it has dealt with.

Taxpayers who fall for the fraud risk having their financial details sold to organised criminal gangs and the possibility of having money stolen from their bank accounts.

HMRC said it was receiving around 500 of these emails each day, which had been forwarded by consumers. The messages are being sent out by fraudsters in the run up to the 31 January deadline for self-assessment forms, at a time when many taxpayers will be due a rebate. Taxpayers are also being asked to call a phone line to leave their details. Those who do so will hear a ringing tone, but are being charged up to £6 a minute as they hold for a reply.

HMRC urged people to be on guard for scam emails trying to gather personal information and bank details, and said consumers should regard with suspicion any email claiming to offer them a tax refund.

"We only ever contact customers who are due a refund in writing by post," said a spokesman for HMRC. "We never use emails, telephone calls or external companies in these circumstances, and it is very important that anyone receiving it does not reply or provide any personal details whatsoever."

Since last April HMRC has been forwarded 11,000 fake emails received by taxpayers, but the problem has grown significantly this month. The message typically tells the recipient they are due a tax refund and asks for their details so a refund can be paid. They are sent from false addresses such as refundtax@hmrc.gov.co.uk and TaxRefund@hmrc.gov.uk.

HMRC has so far had fake websites taken down in Austria, Mexico, the US, Thailand and Japan as it attempts to stamp out the fraud.

"We are liaising closely with those agencies working to close down and prosecute those behind the scams," said a spokesman. "We have an address on our website to which such attempted frauds should be reported - if you are in any doubt about a communication claiming to be from HMRC please contact us."

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Before you sell your computer, smash the hard drive, says Which?

Charles Arthur — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:58:39 GMT

The only surefire way to stop criminals stealing data from secondhand computers is to destroy the hard drive, a study by Which? Computing magazine has warned.

Even though people think they have wiped data from machines before they sell them on auction sites or put them onto rubbish tips, the files remain on the hard drives – and can contain vital information such as bank details and other personal data sufficient for identity theft. They can be recovered using specialist software that is widely available.

The magazine recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers which it bought from the auction site eBay – demonstrating that normal deletion is insufficient to remove the data.

Criminals source used computers in order to find such useful data, the magazine warned. "PCs contain more valuable personal information than ever as people increasingly shop online, use social networking sites and take digital photos," said Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? Computing. "Such information could bring identity thieves a hefty payday."

One Which? reader, Alexander Skipwith, had to pay £100 to get his hard drive back from a man purporting to be in Latvia: he emailed Skipwith with a personal photo to show that he had access to his hard drive, which contained bank statements and a mortgage application. Skipwith had previously been told that his faulty hard drive would be wiped of personal information when it was replaced by a computer manufacturer.

The problem was highlighted last August when a computer with bank account numbers, mothers' maiden names and signatures of 1 million American Express, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland customers that previously belong to Mail Source, a data processing company, was sold on eBay. The account details were discovered by the buyer, an IT manager from Oxford. Two days later police made an arrest in a separate case over individuals' details from Charnwood Borough Council sold on a computer on eBay.

The problem lies in the way that hard drives store information. An index file on the hard drive, written by the computer processor, stores and updates a listing of where on the physical hard drive each file is located. When the user "deletes" a file on their system, the index entry is removed – but the file itself, with its data, remains. Sophisticated tools are able to find the files themselves and recover that data – which can be incredibly detailed, including a user's browsing and email history.

While that can be useful in situations where there is a hard drive "crash" – allowing the recovery of some or all files – it can be disastrous if the drive falls into the wrong hands.

Dr Andrew Jones, head of computer security at BT Exact, told the Guardian last August that the process bypasses the normal checks on what you can view: "It's like [computer game] The Sims: instead of going through the front door, you take the roof off and you look down on the drive from above." Encrypting the drive during use can offer some protection.

Which? Computing recommends using a hammer to be absolutely certain of destroying the data. (The US Pentagon recommends shredding them, although this is requires specialist equipment.) But there is also software available online which will overwrite the entire hard drive with 0s. This does have the advantage that the computer will retain some of its value – while not being quite as valuable to villains.

HOW TO SECURE YOUR DISK
1 Use encryption. Vista Ultimate has BitLocker; Mac OSX has FileVault. There is also TrueCrypt, which is free and cross-platform.

2 Use secure erase programs such as blancco; for a list, see howtowipeyourdrive.com.

3 When you've finished with your computer, securely wipe it and then reinstall the operating system from scratch. Or remove the hard drive and smash it with a hammer.

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Chatterbox Thursday

Greg Howson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:45:00 GMT

Chatterbox Thursday

Games

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Ballmer's CES debut: the post-match report

Bobbie Johnson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:04:36 GMT

While that Steve didn't turn up at Macworld, the other big one has just started his keynoting career: I've just stepped out of the hall where Steve Ballmer's had his first bash at being the main event at CES.

It started off well, with a few jokes (Jerry Yang keeps asking to be his Facebook friends, he jokes) and a little tribute to Bill Gates, who's off saving the world and all that.

He made a nod to the Gloomy Economic Climate, largely by saying it didn't matter so much if you were an innovative company.

But then, after doing the usual CES routine (that is: talking about how the world and its citizens are now connected through technology) he started ripping through a series of pretty-much-as-expected announcements.

So: Windows 7 beta is available now for developers, and will be globally available on Friday.

Windows Live will be integrating with Facebook – through Facebook Connect – and Microsoft is now in a partnership with Dell to pre-install a whole bunch of Windows Live stuff on their consumer PCs (edging out Google, which a Microsoft spokesman was very pleased about earlier on today when I spoke with him).

Ballmer doesn't do any demos himself, instead handing the work over to a series of other presenters: first a perky demo lady came on and showed us around a few aspects of Windows 7 (multitouch; exposing your desktop with one move – sound familiar?).

And then, slightly bizarrely, we're treated to a performance by Tripod – a comedy singing trio with a schtick straight out of Flight of the Conchords – who warble a little tune about ignoring your girlfriend because you're obsessed with playing Xbox.

Talking of Xbox, it was then time for Robbie Bach, who showed off a few new Xbox services, trailed Halo 3 and took the reins from Ballmer. At one point his wireless controller looked borked, but he recovered, before going on to get whupped by a little girl.

By this point, Ballmer – usually a ball of energy who can keep crowds entertained merely by letting them watch as his head changes colour as excitement level increases - had been off the stage for AGES.

***

Finally he does return, to tell us about the way that computing's going to develop – more integration, devices that understand each other and the internet, and smarter software.

Sidenote: Ballmer has really big hands. I mean big. Like snow shovels. Maybe that's why he can't do demos.

"There are really a lot of exciting things going on," he says, before introducing another presenter – Janet from Microsoft Research, who talks about stuff that the company's working on in the labs.

"Despite the economy, I hope you'll agre with me that our industry has an incredible, incredible opportunity ahead of us," he says to wrap up. "It's been my pleasure to be here with you today."

Overall, then? I think a C plus is the absolute best I can muster. I'm happy to admit that I was waiting for a moment of pure Ballmer mania – the man is like a human cannonball when it gets going. But it wasn't to be, - not a great departure from Bill Gates in the past, but not playing to the man's strengths.

I'm happy to admit I was waiting for a moment of pure manic madness – the man is like a human cannonball when he gets going. Would have been nice to see it – as well as some more of the innovation he said Microsoft would be relying on.

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Protecting your privacy online

Jack Schofield — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:17:32 GMT

I've come across a few news items recently re privacy issues, such as Phorm, and perhaps of more concern, the proposals suggested for government legislation to allow the monitoring of internet traffic. What can we as individuals do to protect our privacy?
Peter McCutcheon

Phorm involves rerouting all traffic from the ISPs that adopt it, whether users opt out or not, and if that isn't illegal, it should be. There are ways to nullify the attempt to use Phorm for advertising purposes, such as the Firephorm add-on for Firefox. However, that doesn't stop your internet sessions going via Phorm's WebWise/PageSense/ProxySense system. Ultimately, the best choice is to change your ISP to one that does not use Phorm or any similar service.

Another way to avoid Phorm - and to protect your privacy - is to access the internet via an encrypted proxy server. If your datastream is encrypted, it doesn't matter if your ISP uses DPI (deep packet inspection). A search for secure anonymous browsing will find plenty of services. It's about five years since I looked into this area, but the sites I tried at the time, such as Megaproxy and IDzap, are still going. I found Megaproxy's paid-for service worked best, but there's a good list of options at IP Info. However, bear in mind that, although your ISP won't be able to see what you are doing, the firm that decodes your datastream and accesses the net on your behalf can. It boils down to who you trust.

Anonymous internet services usually set up a "clientless VPN" (virtual private network) service that works through the web browser, so check if they also encrypt email. Lots of businesses now use VPNs for secure access across the net, including the Guardian, so encrypted traffic must be very common.

Anonymous surfing services often make you agree not to use them to do anything illegal, send spam etc. Some also prevent you from downloading files using automated downloaders.

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Is the real Steve-note 09 coming next month?

Jack Schofield — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:41:43 GMT

The Macworld keynote delivered by Apple's head stand-in Phil Schiller turned out to be a snoozeathon, or as Reuters put it: Apple disappoints - no Jobs, big news at Macworld ("with no dramatic products or master pitchman Steve Jobs, the company's final Macworld performance disappointed Wall Street.")

As a BBC reporter tweeted at the time: "Oh dear. It's Garageband 09 next! No wonder Jobs pulled out of this one!"

But John Paczkowski, at The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital, had a quote from someone who thinks differently:

"[The] Macworld keynote was underwhelming as expected," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. "The lack of significant announcements adds clarity to Steve Jobs' absence. We believe he remains the primary spokesman and active leader of Apple."

In other words, this wasn't a transfer of power: El Jobso is going to give the real keynote later, and he'll use it to announce the things that Schiller wasn't allowed to unveil -- Snow Leopard, the new Mac Mini, the Daily Mail's iPhone Nano (out by Christmas!) and, ideally, the MacBook Wheel ("One more thing…"). Either that or a special 25th Anniversary Macintosh, because if you paid $7,500 for the 20th Anniversary version, the massive 2GB hard drive is probably filling up.

The Mac's 25th anniversary is on January 24, but perhaps that's too soon. On the other hand, Apple is losing money by having an old turkey like the Mac Mini hanging around, so Jobs won't want to leave it too long. February? When do you think?

Apple

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YouChoose: Technology videos we love

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:31 GMT

Roll out the barrel | Your car really stinks. It should? | New from Apple: ﬂying iPods!

The readers' alternative top websites for 2009

Thanks to everyone who contributed — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:31 GMT

Our list of top 100 sites brought plenty of readers' suggestions. Here are some of the best

Letters and blogs: January 8 2009

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:30 GMT

There's more than 100 ... | Snow Leopard's spots | Don't call me | A real puzzler

Bruce Schneier: Tigers use scent, birds use calls – biometrics are just animal instinct

Bruce Schneier — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:30 GMT

Biometrics may seem new, but they're the oldest form of identification. Tigers recognise each other's scent; penguins recognise calls. Humans recognise each other by sight from across the room, voices on the phone, signatures on contracts and photographs on drivers' licences. Fingerprints have been used to identify people at crime scenes for more than 100 years.

What is new about biometrics is that computers are now doing the recognising: thumbprints, retinal scans, voiceprints, and typing patterns. There's a lot of technology involved here, in trying to both limit the number of false positives (someone else being mistakenly recognised as you) and false negatives (you being mistakenly not recognised). Generally, a system can choose to have less of one or the other; less of both is very hard.

Biometrics can vastly improve security, especially when paired with another form of authentication such as passwords. But it's important to understand their limitations as well as their strengths. On the strength side, biometrics are hard to forge. It's hard to affix a fake fingerprint to your finger or make your retina look like someone else's. Some people can mimic voices, and make-up artists can change people's faces, but these are specialised skills.

On the other hand, biometrics are easy to steal. You leave your fingerprints everywhere you touch, your retinal scan everywhere you look. Regularly, hacker s have copied the prints of officials from objects they've touched and posted them on the internet. We haven't yet had an example of a large biometric database being hacked into, but the possibility is there. Biometrics are unique identifiers, but they're not secrets.

And a stolen biometric can fool some systems. It can be as easy as cutting out a signature , pasting it on to a contract and then faxing the page to someone. The person on the other end doesn't know that the signature isn't valid because he didn't see it fixed on to the page. Remote logins by fingerprint fail in the same way. If there's no way to verify the print came from an actual reader, not from a stored computer file, the system is much less secure.

A more secure system is to use a fingerprint to unlock your mobile phone or computer. Because there is a trusted path from the fingerprint reader to the stored fingerprint the system uses to compare, an attacker can't inject a previously stored print as easily as he can cut and paste a signature. A photo on an ID card works the same way: the verifier can compare the face in front of him with the face on the card.

Fingerprints on ID cards are more problematic, because the attacker can try to fool the fingerprint reader. Researchers have made false fingers out of rubber or glycerin. Manufacturers have responded by building readers that also detect pores or a pulse.

The lesson is that biometrics work best if the system can verify that the biometric came from the person at the time of verification. The biometric identification system at the gates of the CIA headquarters works because there's a guard with a large gun making sure no one is trying to fool the system.

Of course, not all systems need that level of security. At Counterpane, the security company I founded, we installed hand geometry readers at the access doors to the operations cent re. Hand geometry is a hard biometric to copy, and the system was closed and didn't allow electronic forgeries. It worked very well.

One more problem with biometrics: they don't fail well. Passwords can be changed, but if someone copies your thumbprint, you're out of luck: you can't update your thumb. Passwords can be backed up, but if you alter your thumbprint in a n accident, you're stuck. The failures don't have to be this spectacular: a voice print reader might not recognise someone with a sore throat, or a fingerprint reader might fail outside in freezing weather. Biometric systems need to be analysed in light of these possibilities.

Biometrics are easy, convenient, and when used properly, very secure; they're just not a panacea. Understanding how they work and fail is critical to understanding when they improve security and when they don't.

• Bruce Schneier is BT's chief security technology officer: schneier.com

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Ask Jack: January 8 2009

Jack Schofield — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:29 GMT

Aphasia writer

My wife has had aphasia since her stroke, and she often struggles to get more than the first one or two letters of a word exactly right. We're using Open Office's predictive text, which helps, but is there a better solution?
Tim Jones

JS: There are several programs that are designed for people with physical impairments or severe dyslexia that should be more useful than Open Office's predictive text or Microsoft Office's AutoComplete. Two that are often used in British schools are Don Johnston's Co:Writer, £149 and Penfriend Ltd's Penfriend, £90. Penfriend will predict the next word and offer a menu selection without the user typing even one letter.

Another option is VK TypeHelp, described as an "adaptive predictive typing assistant". I would look at Co:Writer first as it is the one listed on the Aphasia Now website.

Otherwise, I would suggest contacting a local aphasia self-help group and finding out what they recommend. Speakability may be able to put you in touch with one (email speakability@speakability.org.uk or you can call free on 080 8808 9572).

Protecting your privacy

JS: Phorm involves rerouting all traffic from the ISPs that adopt it, whether users opt out or not, and if that isn't illegal, it should be. There are ways to nullify the attempt to use Phorm for advertising purposes, such as the Firephorm add-on for Firefox. However, that doesn't stop your internet sessions going via Phorm's WebWise/PageSense/ProxySense system. Ultimately, the best choice is to change your ISP to one that does not use Phorm or any similar service.

Anonymous surfing services often make you agree not to use them to do anything illegal, send spam etc. Some also prevent you from downloading files using automated downloaders.

Tracking disks

The Windows Task Manager provides information on CPU and memory use. Is there a way of analysing disk use? It is sometimes alarming to see the disk light coming on for no apparent reason.
George Halahan

JS: Sysinternals has a page full of free programs, File and Disk Utilities, but the results from drive analysis programs are usually too detailed for ordinary use. With XP I use AnVir Task Manager Free, which tells you everything you need to know about what is happening in Windows. It puts three meters in the Systray, and hovering over those shows CPU use, memory use and "disk load". You can also view the details in a spreadsheet-type table.

Vista, however, has a great Computer Management Utility. Run the Windows Task Manager, go to the Performance tab and click the Resource Monitor button. This shows CPU, memory, disk and network use. The disk section tells you what's reading from and writing to the drive.

Windows for netbooks

At some stage, usually later in a computer's life, there is no alternative to a complete OS reinstall. I can't see how this can be possibly be done for netbooks running Windows XP, even if rescue CDs were provided.
H Johnson

JS: Do a web search and you will find that plenty of people have found ways to install Windows XP, Vista etc on netbooks without a CD drive, and there is an example at Liliputing. However, you can reinstall the operating system from an external hard drive used for backups, and many netbook buyers will already have one for their laptop or desktop PC. Some users have or will buy a USB CD-R drive to install software and do backups.

Otherwise, times have changed since Windows 95/98/SE benefited from a reinstallation after 18-24 months. I have a 1983 laptop and a 1985 desktop running Windows XP Pro, and both are still fine.

Backchat

• Johan van Slooten wanted either a DAB or a Wi-Fi radio for full stereo, and I suggested Revo's iBlik RadioStation. Tom Wilson says that he avoided the cost by connecting his digital Freeview box to his hi-fi.

Freeview has a good range of UK stations, but no internet radio stations.

• Get your queries answered by Jack Schofield, our computer editor, at jack.schofield@guardian.co.uk.

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Nanofluid technology could improve efficiency of heat transfer in homes

Michael Pollitt — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:29 GMT

Are you facing some hefty fuel bills this winter? Professor Richard Williams of the University of Leeds may have a possible answer to those rising costs. But the development of his innovative nanofluid technology (Tiny tubes could bring big savings on fuel bills, 13 April 2006) for improved heat transfer is taking longer than he originally hoped.

Add carbon nanotubes (an arrangement of carbon atoms more than 50,000 times thinner than a human hair) to liquid, and they'll disperse to form a "nanofluid". Williams's interest lies in the thermal conductivity properties of this mixture: the nanotubes could make a 10% difference to the efficiency of transferring heat from the boiler to your radiators.

The nanofluids transfer heat at a higher rate than ordinary fluids (for example, water) which allows for more efficient heating or cooling while reducing energy consumption. Over the past two years, Williams has carried out more scientific research into the phenomenon. "The most significant area that we have been exploring relates to how tiny clusters of particles cause heat to be transferred more effectively compared with fully dispersed nanodispersions. Many of these effects can be explained using conventional physics but a range of variables need to be accounted for."

Although domestic central heating remains of interest, Williams has since concentrated on industry as a quicker route to market. "We have been working with various partners to evaluate industrial applications including thermal transfer for transportation and computer cooling applications," he says.

Finding exactly the right nanofluids for car engines to computers is important as, even in flowing liquids, the particles can clump together, thanks to van der Waals forces - that is, attraction between molecules. In addition, carbon nanotubes cost thousands of pounds per kilogram, although you only need a tiny percentage by volume. "We have been developing fluid formulations that perform at low and high temperatures," says Williams.

This complex area is subject to patent applications, so he won't discuss specific details of the work. However, suitable nanofluids may be made from carbon nanotubes or metal oxides along with water, glycol (antifreeze), and mineral oil with other additives.

The practicalities of scaling up from the laboratory bench to 200-litre test batches have also slowed progress. But this hasn't deterred Williams and his colleague Professor Yulong Ding from establishing a spin-out company, Dispersia.

Backed by venture capital and a regional grant, they've managed to attract development collaborations in the automotive and power electronics fields. While all this looks promising, it'll be a while before your central heating system receives that energy-efficiency boost.

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Charles Arthur: Record sales can't get music companies off the hook

Charles Arthur — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:28 GMT

Five years ago the BPI, the UK record labels' trade body, had some gloomy news: only one-third of the music acquired in the country the previous year came through legitimate channels. One third went in pirate discs, and the other through illicit downloads. Hearing the news at the time, I observed to Peter Jamieson, then head of the BPI, that his members' business was doomed. How could it survive being eaten by ever-cheaper CD-Rs and the ever-faster rise of the internet?

Half a decade later, my forecast hasn't entirely been validated. The BPI put out a happy press release yesterday saying that the albums market didn't do as badly as had been predicted. Instead of the double-digit declines "which some analysts had forecast", there was "a modest volume decline of just 3.2%" in 2008 - and that singles sales grew by 33%, helped by downloads. For singles it was, the BPI says, "the biggest sales year on record in unit terms."

That's so clever. See what they did? They turned a fall into an upturn, and made you forget to ask: "So, album volumes declined. But what about the value of albums sold? How did that fare?" Because albums, not singles, are where the labels really make their money - and with big blockbuster albums in particular.

So I went and asked. The numbers above come from the Official Charts Company rather than the BPI's members, so don't have the sales value. But digging back, the BPI provided statistics which showed that trade deliveries of albums fell in 2007 to the same level as 1994, as did the total market value of trade deliveries, even including music DVD sales, which only began in 2002.

That's hardly encouraging. Then you look at retail sales, and things are cliff-edge bad. From 2004 (the furthest back the BPI could find figures for in a hurry) to 2007 (the most recent full figures) the value of retail sales of albums fell from £1.76bn to £1.2bn, and the whole market value (singles, albums, digital and music DVDs) from £1.95bn to £1.39bn. That's a 29% fall, or a compound 8% each of those four years. And that's excluding 2008, where as the BPI already told us, fewer albums were sold.

It's starting to look like a rout. And there are even more discouraging signs. The death of Zavvi and Woolworths, the former a prime source of at least a bit of musical serendipity - you're looking for one thing but you find a different album which, because of its cover or proximity to an artist you like, catches your eye - means that supermarkets will have an ever-tighter grip on physical CD sales. In 2000, the BPI notes, independent retailers, specialists and "multiples" sold 86.4% of albums in the UK; by 2007, that was down to 67.7%. The rest was with supermarkets (13.6% in 2000, 24.5% in 2007) and online retailers (zero, by my calculation, in 2000, 7.7% in 2007).

Clearly, supermarkets, whose range is limited to those CDs that sell as quickly as baked beans, are going to squeeze the life - and variety - out of the CD. It's what they do to everything they sell. If you've got a hit, then Hallelujah. Otherwise, forget it.

The problem that the music industry still faces is persuading people to pay for its digital-only products. But there are signs that it is beginning to win - even if, in the process, it is having to accept that life in the digital world won't be nearly as well-paid or profitable as it was in the physical one.

What the music industry really needs, then, is to encourage us to buy digital downloads like they were going out of fashion. Amazon's MP3 offering, and soon Apple's DRM-free offerings, will tempt people more than ever. The BPI needs to hope for a digital future - because the physical past has died.

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Newsbytes: January 8 2009

Jack Schofield — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:28 GMT

Crime watch

Police forces in England and Wales have published colour-coded maps showing recorded crime levels.

Child tracker

Get your child to wear a NuM8 from Lok8u Ltd (£149.95 plus a monthly subscription) and you can track them using GPS.

Parental chatbots wanted

The US defence department wants to develop "virtual parents" which will chat to children while their real parents are on duty.

Finger substitute

The QDOS Jet Pen (£19.99) emulates a finger for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch users.

Skype going Boingo

Skype's next software will enable access via more than 100,000 Boingo Wi-Fi hotspots, starting with Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac.

Snap up a flashy Legria

Canon will start shipping a new range of Legria HF S high-definition flash memory camcorders in April.

Xbox 360 update

Microsoft says sales of Xbox 360 games consoles have reached 28m worldwide.

Cheaper net radio

UK company Frontier Silicon is launching Venice 6 receiver chips and software that it claims will enable low-cost internet radios.

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Technophile: Asus Bamboo laptop

Lesley Smith — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:08:27 GMT

There is a holy grail in laptop computing, a magical combination of processor power, battery life, portability and size, which numerous companies have been trying to find. There are desktop replacements that tick the power box but weigh a ton, and ultra-portables (AKA lilliputers, AKA netbooks) that err on the too-small side, many not even featuring full-sized keyboards or with the power to do more than basic tasks.

Asus is becoming known for its netbooks, having kicked it all off with its Eee last year. The Bamboo is a step up: a lightweight laptop with a Core 2 Duo processor, 12.1in screen, full-sized keyboard and Vista Home Premium. But it didn't stop there, deciding to make the laptop as green as possible, no more noticeably than by encasing the entire machine in bamboo. As well as making the laptop even lighter, it also gives it a stylish feel. Even the trackpad is bamboo - however, that's a touch too far: the buttons are sticky and difficult to use.

The mix of metal and wood works quite well, with the bamboo absorbing some of the excess heat that computers always produce, while the metal makes the keyboard and screen stand out. The result is a designer feel - for which you'll pay: the price tag is £1,349, which includes a matching mouse, sleek leather case and a promotional Filofax.

Inside, the Bamboo has everything you'd expect from a larger laptop: a DVD drive; 8-in-1 card reader; Nvidia GeForce 9300M graphics card; Wi-Fi; a built-in webcam; fingerprint recognition; and a choice of hard drive size (from 160GB to 320GB). This is what makes the Bamboo so startling: that something so small can be that powerful. The fingerprint scanner is a nice touch, but in practice is awkward to use and doesn't always recognise your fingerprint.

And the battery life isn't spectacular. At full power I got just under an hour of work done before needing to recharge. But the Bamboo can handle Vista's more memory-intensive features quite nicely and the keyboard is a joy: the keys are the same as those on a 15in laptop, so there's no fear of cramp or RSI.

Yes, it's expensive. But the Bamboo is a beautiful little machine. You could buy a powerful PC for half the price but if you want to stand out there is nothing quite like it on the market. It's not the holy grail - the battery life being the signal failure - but the thing about the holy grail is you keep on looking for it, don't you?

Pros: Stylish, environmentally friendly, lightweight and powerful

Cons: Sticky trackpad button and short battery life

uk.asus.com

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