Overnight news online 12-05-2013 | ScienceTe

Netflix, which was created in the United States and is now available in 41 countries, has to-date focused on English-speaking markets in Europe such as Britain, the Netherlands, and the Nordics, although rumors of their arrival in France have been recurrent for years.

"Netflix wanted information about the legal conditions that would affect its potential arrival in France," an official at the president's office said, adding that the executives were also visiting Germany and other European countries.

Netflix sells monthly subscriptions that allow users to watch television series and movies via the Internet on their televisions, tablet computers and mobile phones.

The service poses a challenge to traditional television companies that rely on advertising as well as pay-TV operators, and has been criticized by telecom companies for overloading their broadband networks with traffic.

If Netflix were to launch in France, it would face a complex system of rules on when movies can be released in different formats such as in cinemas or on DVD. The framework, which dates back decades, is aimed at protecting French movie producers and cinemas, and does not affect TV series.

Under current rules, a film cannot appear in an on-demand video service that is bought as a monthly subscription until three years after its debut in cinemas.

But if a consumer rents the video of the same film using his set-top box, for example, it would be available four months after its premiere.

The long delays for movies by subscription have so far crippled attempts to launch video streaming services in France. Vivendi's Canal Plus, France's largest pay-TV service, created one in 2011 called Canal Play Infinity that has attracted few users.

A recent study commissioned by the French culture ministry recommended shortening the delays, and discussions are ongoing with content owners and media companies.

The official said Netflix executives used the meeting in Paris on Wednesday to ask questions about the local rules to "better understand the French system".

Netflix was not reachable for comment outside of business hours at their California headquarters.

HP's statement came after the Unite union said it had attended a meeting where managers were outlining their plans to cut jobs at the group's sites in Bracknell, Sheffield and Warrington by next year.

The union said HP, which employs between 15,000-20,000 people in Britain, blamed falling demand and reorganization for the job losses.

A HP spokeswoman confirmed the number of job cuts but declined to comment on which locations they would hit. She said the company wants to complete the process by the end of January next year.

A spokesman confirmed the effort was being headed up by Andy Rubin, who was previously in charge of the Android operating system.

The spokesman was unwilling to discuss what kind of robot was being developed.

But the New York Times reports that at this stage Google does not plan to sell the resulting product to consumers. Instead, the newspaper suggests, Google's robots could be paired with its self-driving car research to help automate the delivery of goods to people's doors.

It notes the company has recently begun a same-day grocery delivery service in San Francisco and San Jose, called Google Shopping Express.

That would pitch the initiative against Amazon's Prime Air Project, which envisages using drones to transport goods to its customers by air.

"Any description of what Andy and his team might actually create are speculations of the author and the people he interviewed," said Google of the NYT article.

One UK-based expert welcomed the news.

"This is a clear sign that days of personalised robotic technology entering the mainstream market is imminent," said Prof Sethu Vijayakumar, director of the Robotics Lab at the University of Edinburgh.

"Movement and sensing systems for robotics technology have made great strides. Now, with mainstream companies like Google taking up the challenge, other elements such as robust software integration, standardisation and modular design will pick up pace." The search giant's robotics project is based in Palo Alto, California, and will have an office in Japan - one of the world's leading nations in the field.

Speaking to the NYT, Mr Rubin said Google had a "10-year vision" for bringing the effort to fruition.

"I feel with robotics it's a green field," he said.

"We're building hardware, we're building software. We're building systems, so one team will be able to understand the whole stack." The companies acquired by Google to jumpstart its effort are:

Autofuss - a San Francisco company that employed robotics to create adverts. It has worked on several campaigns for Google's Nexus-branded products. Bot & Dolly - a sister company to Autofuss that specialised in precise-motion robotics and film-making. Its systems were used to make the film Gravity.

The Falcon 9 booster thundered into the skies over Florida at 5:41 p.m. in the private space contractor's first attempt to put a satellite into a stationary orbit around Earth -- a flight the company has called its "most challenging mission to date."

The SES-8 satellite will relay signals to and from the South Asia and Asia Pacific regions from 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) above the Earth's surface. Its first planned launch on November 25 was scrubbed when controllers received questionable readings from the liquid oxygen system in the first stage; the second, on November 28, was called off after finding oxygen in the engine igniter fluid, the company said.

Watsa earlier this year sought partners in a $4.7 billion bid to take BlackBerry private. But his company, Fairfax Financial, then opted for a lead role in a $1 billion note offering to provide the Canadian company with money to fund a turnaround.

John Chen, a turnaround specialist with Sybase in the late 1990s, was brought in as interim CEO.

"John's committed for the long haul, he's an exceptional leader, he's going to do very well," Watsa told Reuters in a telephone interview from his Toronto office, where he described BlackBerry as an iconic company that deserves to succeed.

BlackBerry virtually invented the idea of on-the-go email, but lost its stranglehold on the market as rivals brought out more consumer-friendly devices like Apple's iPhone and phones using Google's Android software.

BlackBerry's struggles before Chen took over on November 25 were well documented, and analysts had already described the changes Chen was making as going beyond what would be expected from an interim appointment.

"In any of my investments we always look at the leadership, in this case it's John Chen, he's an outstanding leader," Watsa said, adding that Chen had already made "some very significant changes" at BlackBerry.

Watsa said the injection of cash from the new note meant BlackBerry was well financed. "It's got lots of cash, it has a long runway for John to make sure that the company is successful," he said. "We take the long-term view, we don't worry about quarter by quarter."

"Companies are built over time, they're built by good people working together under the leadership of a very good leader."

The failure to press ahead with the $4.7 billion takeover could be seen as a black mark on the resume of Watsa, who was on the right side of the U.S. housing crash in 2007 and 2008 and also won big in Tokyo's 1990 market collapse.

"You never look back, you deal with the hand that you have, there's no use looking at whether you can get four aces or a flush, you deal with the hand that you have," he said.

Meeting the Ukrainian delegation, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said their country needed "stability and order", in the two sides' first high-level talks since Kiev pulled out of a planned trade alliance with the European Union, provoking mass protests.

Prime minister Mykola Azarov also accused the opposition of trying to provoke violence, and tension remained high in Kiev with protesters confronting ranks of black-helmeted riot police in front of President Viktor Yanukovich's main offices after his government's U-turn in trade policy back towards Russia.

The crisis has again exposed a tug-of-war playing out in Ukraine, which has oscillated between the EU and former master Moscow since the "Orange Revolution" nine years ago which overthrew the post-Soviet political order.

The leader of the far-right nationalist party, Svoboda, announced a march on Wednesday to the interior ministry, but no clashes between protesters and riot police were reported.

With foreign ministers from the OSCE human rights watchdog arriving in Kiev for a two-day meeting from Thursday, Azarov tried to project an image of being in control in the absence of Yanukovich, who has gone to China for an official visit.

Urging all political forces to avoid a further escalation of tension, Azarov said: "Everybody must realize that the country's constitution and laws are in force, nobody is allowed to violate them ... All those who are guilty of illegal acts will answer for them".

Azarov later accused the opposition of trying to stir up trouble. "We know there are 2,500 fighters who are being used as a force with which to provoke law enforcement structures to resist. We are showing that we do not use force, but the opposition does use force," he told the visiting secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland.

Despite the turmoil, Yanukovich flew to China on Tuesday and Chinese state media said he was visiting the Terracotta Warriors archaeological site and an aircraft factory in Xian.

Beijing has already provided Ukraine $10 billion in loans, but Kiev needs billions more next year for gas bills and debt repayments. China's foreign ministry made a noncommittal response to a query whether Beijing would provide any more aid to Ukraine.

Beijing's decision to declare an air defense identification zone in an area that includes disputed islands has triggered protests from the United States, Japan and South Korea and dominated Biden's talks in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals Japan and China.

Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping he believed Xi was a candid and constructive person.

"In developing this new relationship, both qualities are sorely needed," Biden said during a meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"Candor generates trust. Trust is the basis on which real change, constructive change, is made."

Xi said the international situation and regional landscape were "undergoing profound and complex changes".

"Regional issues keep cropping up and there are more pronounced global challenges such as climate change and energy security. The world is not tranquil," he added.

Neither made any mention of the air defense zone in remarks before reporters. Biden flies to Seoul on Thursday.

As Biden arrived, the official English-language China Daily said in a strongly worded editorial that he "should not expect any substantial headway if he comes simply to repeat his government's previous erroneous and one-sided remarks".

"If the U.S. is truly committed to lowering tensions in the region, it must first stop acquiescing to Tokyo's dangerous brinkmanship. It must stop emboldening belligerent Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to constantly push the envelope of Japan's encroachments and provocations."

Under the zone's rules, all aircraft have to report flight plans to Chinese authorities, maintain radio contact and reply promptly to identification inquiries.

U.S., Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have breached the zone without informing Beijing since it was announced on November 23.

Japanese and South Korean commercial carriers have also been told by their governments to ignore the rules. Three U.S. airlines, acting on government advice, are notifying China of plans to transit the zone.

China has repeatedly said the zone was designed to reduce the risk of misunderstandings, and stressed that since it was set up there had been no issues with freedom of flight for civilian airlines.

Under the proposal backed by Republican Governor Scott Walker, about 72,000 people now due to be shifted from Wisconsin's BadgerCare Medicaid program on January 1 would be allowed to stay on until the end of March.

The healthcare.gov website for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, had a rocky start on October 1. Wisconsin officials said only 877 residents were able to sign up for the federal healthcare exchange that month.

Last weekend, federal officials said the site was performing markedly better after a self-imposed deadline to fix the portal.

Walker called a special session to consider the delay, which would give the BadgerCare recipients more time to enroll in the federal marketplace for health insurance.

Wisconsin state representatives are expected to vote Wednesday on the proposal. If approved by the state Assembly, state senators could vote on the delay later in December. Republicans hold a majority in both sides of the legislature.

"The federal government failed to get its website fully operational, and it is irresponsible to force some Wisconsinites to pay the price for the federal government's failure," Walker said in a statement announcing the session.

Wisconsin was one of 36 states that chose not to create a state exchange, instead relying on the federal government to create an exchange where people can shop for health insurance.

Walker's state budget signed in June tightened the income qualifications for BadgerCare to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, from 200 percent, pushing 72,000 people toward the federal health insurance program.

In a Monday blogpost, Google outlined key features and pricing for "Compute Engine," part of a broader service that vies with Amazon's AWS in providing storage and computing power to corporate clients as in-house datacenters are gradually phased out.

It will lower prices 10 percent on most standard services, and 60 percent on high-end data storage. Google said the service was now "generally available," signaling that it meets internal standards and is ready for a wider rollout.

The prototype contains removable sensors that monitor heart and skin activity to provide an indication of mood levels.

The aim was to find out if wearable technology could help prevent stress-related over-eating.

Mood data was provided to the wearer via a smartphone app in order to highlight when "emotional eating" was likely to occur.

A team from Microsoft's visualisation and interaction research group embedded an electrocardiogram and electro-dermal activities sensors as well as a gyroscope and accelerometer in the bra.

In their paper, the researchers say using a bra "was ideal because it allowed us to collect EKG [electrocardiogram] near the heart".

Efforts to create a similar piece of underwear for men worked less well, largely because the sensors were located too far away from the heart.

The women testing the technology reported their emotions for about six hours a day over a period of four days.

"It was very tedious for participants to wear our prototyped sensing system, as the boards had to be recharged every three to four hours," Microsoft senior research designer Asta Roseway said.

Electric shock Wearable technology is increasingly being used to monitor a range of health conditions.

Last month saw the release of a Twitter-connected bra, that tweeted every time it was unhooked to encourage women to self-examine their breasts.

And last year a patent was awarded to a US firm that was working on a wearable device that analysed breast heat in order to detect cancer.

The number included the 700,000 units sold through in Europe and Australasia launching on November 29, Sony said in a statement.

Owner Gholam Dolatmardian struggled to raise the funds to keep going but finally succumbed to the inevitable, laying off his 100-strong workforce and closing the doors of the once prosperous factory.

The prospects for a revival of his business and those of thousands of others may depend on an interim nuclear accord reached between Iran and world powers last week. The deal has allowed those Iranians seeking greater foreign contact and the economic opportunities it brings to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in years.

But Iranians' enthusiasm about the accord has been tempered by its complexity and expected gradual implementation, which puts off relief from restrictions on banking, trade and international travel that ordinary Iranians seek most.

After a decade-long standoff, Iran has agreed to curb elements of its nuclear activities in exchange for limited relief from economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies, opening the way for a possible broader agreement that could end Iran's long isolation.

"I don't know whether the sanctions will be lifted soon, but of course it is my dream to reopen my factory," Dolatmardian said by phone. "It was a family business and I want my children to continue it."

He inherited the factory from his father, like his father before him. But he closed it in 2011, when sanctions prevented him from obtaining letters of credit or wiring money to European suppliers. He sold off properties to pay his employees before eventually shuttering the 35-year-old factory.

Last week's diplomatic breakthrough led him to wonder about restarting the business, but for now he faces the same obstacles of accessing the global banking system.

U.S. anti-money laundering legislation is still in place, making it difficult for banks that have any U.S. business to maintain ties with Iran. As a result, Iranian firms will continue to find it difficult to obtain letters of credit or conduct international bank transfers.

So while Iranian businessmen may sense a lucrative investment opportunity around the corner, many are still taking a wait-and-see approach.

Ahmad Hakimzadeh, who runs an import-export company in the northwestern city of Tabriz, said he has already received calls from Western companies about resuming business relations which they had broken off under pressure from sanctions.