Search engine told to take action amid mounting concern that US firms such as Facebook and Google have inadequate privacy provisions

The UK Information Commissioner's Office has ordered Google to destroy personal data that was collected from British home wireless networks in 2008.

But the ICO says it will take no action against the company, bringing condemnation from the pressure group Privacy International, which says the ICO is "10 steps behind the game" in monitoring privacy intrusions and breaches by US companies operating in the UK.

The row comes amid concern over the erosion of British individuals' control of personal data held by US companies, which has been highlighted at the social networking site Facebook, with about 450 million users worldwide. Campaigners are urging users to quit the site from 31 May in protest at its continual revision of its privacy policy which makes it harder for users to limit the spread of information about themselves.

Google admitted last week that it collected Wi-Fi data from millions of homes and businesses around the world while it was taking pictures for its Street View product. The collection came to light following enquiries in Germany.

Simon Davies, the director of Privacy International, said: "Google is going to be the target of a criminal prosecution somewhere in the world for this. But if the evidence is destroyed, there's no way to examine whether a crime has been committed." The Irish Data Protection Authority has also ordered Google to delete the data collected while getting Street View pictures.

The ICO said: "It appears that while not all information collected necessarily identified individuals, there has been some unnecessary and excessive collection and storage of personal data."

However, because Google said it was unlikely that anything other than fragments of content had been collected, "there does not seem to be any reason to keep the data concerned for evidential purposes".

Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, defended his company's record on privacy, saying it has the "most consumer-centric privacy policy of any service online".

Speaking at Google's annual Zeitgeist Europe forum, Schmidt said: "We are not in any sort of denial or lack of understanding of how important this question is. Society as a group has not decided what is appropriate and what is not appropriate in the privacy sphere, and each society and group will differ."

He repeated that the Street View problem involved a small amount of fragmented data that was not used and he confirmed that "changes have been made" to Google's procedures to ensure privacy issues are discussed "well ahead of time. It's an absolute mistake to think about this the week before a product comes out".

Facebook's users are meanwhile showing increasing concern about its repeated rolling back of privacy provisions.

More people are searching for details on how to delete their account although some have complained that when they leave the site their data is not deleted.

A growing number are signing up at a site called QuitFacebookDay.com, which urges people to delete their profiles permanently.

"For a lot of people, quitting Facebook revolves around privacy," says a statement on the site by Matthew Milan and Joseph Dee, who are web designers based in Toronto. "This is a legitimate concern, but we also think the privacy issue is just the symptom of a larger set of issues. The cumulative effects of what Facebook does now will not play out well in the future."

Richard Allan, director of policy for Facebook, responded: "We know that people inside Facebook are taking that [criticism] very seriously with the concerns that people have been expressing."

Allan indicated that the company may try to make it simpler for people to control the privacy settings on their accounts which have 50 different settings with a total of 170 options.

The ICO says it will investigate any complaints about Facebook's revised policy, but that none have been made so far. It said it was satisfied that Facebook does delete data when a profile is completely removed but that some people make their profile "dormant", meaning it can be revived at a later date.

Davies commented: "Facebook's privacy has been in slow corrosion mode for three years. Its ethical compass has slipped at the same rate as Google's."

Last week the European commission's data protection working party wrote to Facebook saying that its recent changes, which made previously private information publicly viewable by default, were unacceptable. The letter said: "Providers of social networking sites should be aware that it would be a breach of data protection law if they use personal data of other individuals contained in a user profile for commercial purposes if these other individuals have not given their free and unambiguous consent."

Allan said that Facebook will respond to the letter presently.

Davies urged the ICO to investigate Google's use of systems to collect data about wireless networks more closely.

In its blogpost, Google said: "In 2006 an engineer working on an experimental project wrote a piece of code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast Wi-Fi data. A year later our mobile team included that code in their software although the project leaders did not want, and had no intention of using, payload data." However, said Davies, "code doesn't just get mixed with the main system like raspberry cordial. Someone must know how it got there. There's more to this than meets the eye".

Secure surfing

Facebook: Go to your profile settings: you'll see there are settings for your profile, contact information, applications and visibility in Google searches. As there are 150 possible options for the 70 tabs, it's impossible to give a one-size-fits-all recommendation. Just ask yourself: is there anything here that I don't want shared with the world? If so, limit its visibility to "friends" and be careful who you befriend. You can even limit which friends see specific information handy if you have too many distant "friends" who actually aren't.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is offering $68.2m to buy up publicly-traded Global IP Solutions, a San Francisco-based company which sells technology used to deliver voice and video over IP networks. Google is a long-time Global IP Solutions customer. Other customers include include Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), which licenses the technology to power voice chat on Yahoo Messenger, as well as Nortel, Samsung and AOL (NYSE: AOL). In a release, Global IP Solutions says it expects to continue to support its current customers but doesn't offer specific details about where it will fit at Google, saying simply that it will "continue to enhance and extend our products and technology."


Photo by Carlos Luna on Flickr. Some rights reserved

One big hint: Last month, Global IP Solutions said it was introducing new technology that makes it simple for Android developers to integrate video conferencing and chat into their apps.

The deal needs to be approved by the owners of 90% of Global IP Solutions' stock, but the companies say they already have the support of shareholders who own more than 50% of the company, including backer Kistefos Venture Capital. Google is offering a 142% premium to Global IP Solutions' stock price in January, when the company disclosed there had been "strategic interest from a potential buyer" and a 27.5% premium to its price last week.

This is the second acquisition in Google's recent 15-company shopping spree that is related to VOIP. In November, Google bought up VOIP provider Gizmo5 for a reported $30m in order to improve Google Voice.

It's better to stop surveillance control because it is the people who really want to be free

For 10 years I've been part of what the record and film industry invariably call the "information wants to be free" crowd. In all that time, I've never heard anyone apart from an entertainment executive use that timeworn cliche.

"Information wants to be free" (IWTBF hereafter) is half of Stewart Brand's famous aphorism, first uttered at the Hackers Conference in Marin County, California (where else?), in 1984: "On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other."

This is a chunky, chewy little koan, and as these go, it's an elegant statement of the main contradiction of life in the "information age". It means, fundamentally, that the increase in information's role as an accelerant and source of value is accompanied by a paradoxical increase in the cost of preventing the spread of information. That is, the more IT you have, the more IT generates value, and the more information becomes the centre of your world. But the more IT (and IT expertise) you have, the easier it is for information to spread and escape any proprietary barrier. As an oracular utterance predicting the next 40 years' worth of policy, business and political fights, you can hardly do better.

But it's time for it to die.

It's time for IWTBF to die because it's become the easiest, laziest straw man for Hollywood's authoritarian bullies to throw up as a justification for the monotonic increase of surveillance, control, and censorship in our networks and tools. I can imagine them saying: "These people only want network freedom because they believe that 'information wants to be free'. They pretend to be concerned about freedom, but the only 'free' they care about is 'free of charge.'"

But this is just wrong. "Information wants to be free" has the same relationship to the digital rights movement that "kill whitey" has to the racial equality movement: a thoughtless caricature that replaces a nuanced, principled stand with a cartoon character. Calling IWTBF the ideological basis of the movement is like characterising bra burning as the primary preoccupation of feminists (in reality, the number of bras burned by feminists in the history of the struggle for gender equality appears to be zero, or as close to it as makes no difference).

So what do digital rights activists want, if not "free information?"

They want open access to the data and media produced at public expense, because this makes better science, better knowledge, and better culture and because they already paid for it with their tax and licence fees.

They want to be able to quote, cite and reference earlier works because this is fundamental to all critical discourse.

They want to be able to build on earlier creative works in order to create new, original works because this is the basis of all creativity, and every work they wish to make fragmentary or inspirational use of was, in turn, compiled from the works that went before it.

They want to be able to use the network and their computers without mandatory surveillance and spyware installed under the rubric of "stopping piracy" because censorship and surveillance are themselves corrosive to free thought, intellectual curiosity and an open and fair society.

They want their networks to be free from greedy corporate tampering by telecom giants that wish to sell access to their customers to entertainment congloms, because when you pay for a network connection, you're paying to have the bits you want delivered to you as fast as possible, even if the providers of those bits don't want to bribe your ISP.

They want the freedom to build and use tools that allow for the sharing of information and the creation of communities because this is the key to all collaboration and collective action even if some minority of users of these tools use them to take pop songs without paying.

IWTBF has an elegant compactness and a mischievous play on the double-meaning of "free," but it does more harm than good these days.

Better to say, "The internet wants to be free."

Or, more simply: "People want to be free."

Nikon's new Coolpix digital camera looks smart and is easy to use, but it produces mixed results

Nikon's new Coolpix S3000 is a lovely little camera, very easy to use, and reasonably priced at 109.99 or less. I liked it a lot, until it came to viewing the pictures. The results were mixed, but disappointing compared with the two Nikon digital cameras I actually own an older, bulkier Coolpix 5600 and a D40 DSLR.

The Coolpix S3000 follows the style established by Canon's Digital Ixus line, the Pentax Optio, and earlier Nikons such as the Coolpix S220. In other words, it's thin and flat when you carry it around, but the lens comes out when you turn it on.

The S3000 looks just last year's S220, but provides a moderate advance in specification. You get a 4x optical zoom instead of a 3x zoom, a 2.7in LCD screen instead of 2.5in, and 12 megapixels instead of 10. Both cameras include Nikon's Smart Portrait software. This offers face-priority focusing, will take the shot when the subject smiles, and is "blink proof" it takes two images and automatically saves the one with the eyes open. It also has a bright focusing light on the front and, unlike many small cameras, doesn't seem to produce a "red eye" effect with flash.

The zoom covers 27mm to 108mm, in terms equivalent to a 35mm camera, so you get a usable wide-angle. However, I found it almost impossible to frame pictures precisely. You can push a little lever to make the motorised lens zoom in or out, but you can't make it stop where you want it.

I also missed having an optical viewfinder. Using the LCD in sunlight, it can be hard to see exactly what's in the frame, and you can't keep the camera still by holding it against your face. I wasn't happy with the sharpness of some pictures either because the focusing wasn't quite right (sometimes it was a long way off), or I moved the camera slightly (despite the built-in "electronic vibration reduction"), or the sensor/software combination didn't resolve enough detail. (The S3000's 1/2.3 sensor is small 11mm in diameter but respectable by compact camera standards.)

It didn't help that the S3000 tended to overexpose, leading to a loss of highlight detail and a corresponding lack of colour saturation. But flash shots showed the lens was capable of producing sharp pictures, and pictures taken in slightly overcast conditions showed good colour.

To be fair, it's very easy to use exposure compensation on this camera, and you can set an option for Vivid Color instead of Standard Color. But it's a point-and-shoot camera, and I suspect few users will experiment with the menu options, even if they know what's where.

The S3000 comes with a small removable lithium-ion battery, which is charged inside the camera via a USB cable that fits into a mains plug (supplied) or into a computer. Nikon reckons a charge should provide about 220 shots. If you want to recharge a battery outside the camera, you can buy a separate MH-63 charger.

The price does not include a slipcase or an SD card for photos, but the S3000 has enough internal memory for about a dozen photos at the maximum resolution of 4,000 x 3,000 pixels. These 12MP photos typically take up 2.5-3.0MB each, which is twice as much as snaps taken with my 6MP (3,000 x 2,000 pixels) Nikon D40, but in this case, bigger isn't better.

Pros: Well made; very easy to use; 4x glass lens starts at 27mm wide-angle; good results with flash; available in different colours; reasonably priced.

Cons: Picture quality can be disappointing; no optical viewfinder; no fine control over zooming; SD card costs extra.

Nikon.com

Hard data

CCD sensor size: 1/2.3in (6.16 x 4.62mm; 0.28cm )

Effective pixels: 12m Pixel density: 42MP/cm

Maximum resolution: 4000 x 3000 pixels

Lower resolution options: 3968 x 2232 (16:9 widescreen), 3264 x 2448, 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480 Movie formats: 640 x 480, 320 x 240 ISO range: 80-1600 (auto); 80-3200 (manual)

Accessories included: USB/charging cable with mains plug; audio-video cable; software on CD-Rom Dimensions: 94 x 56 x 19 mm (3.8 x 2.2 x 0.8 inches)

Weight (with battery): 116g (4.1 oz)

All formats; 39.99; cert 16+; Ubisoft

Now that we've become used to the concept of the franchise reboot, Ubisoft has thrown a curveball with what can best be described as a deboot. 2008's unsubtitled Prince of Persia was a reboot, adding a female djinn who saved you from ever dying and a complex fighting mechanic; The Forgotten Sands dumps both and returns to the PoP format of yore.

This time around, the nameless Prince, visiting his brother Malik's city, walks into a full-scale invasion, thwarted when Malik releases King Solomon's zombie army, which then proceeds to swamp the city, while Malik becomes possessed by their demon-leader. Cue classic Prince of Persia platform-style action: the Prince can run along and up walls, swing from poles, slide down banners using his knife as a brake and so on, which is just as well since he must get to countless seemingly inaccessible places.

Mechanical puzzles abound, most of which are very good indeed (that is, challenging but not baffling), the level design and graphics (at least on the next-gen consoles) are simply stunning. The Prince's swordfighting has been dumbed down since his last outing, but he still has some nifty moves and the more enemies he kills, the more special attacks and upgrades he gains.

As the game progresses, the gameplay cleverly acquires extra dimensions, with the Prince becoming able to freeze water (turning jets into poles on which he can swing), leap great distances using enemies or vultures as a sort of magnet, and rebuild missing bits of the environment. The classic Prince of Persia blades, spiked poles and traps are present and correct, leaving you thankful that the Prince, as ever, can rewind a period of time (using the energy that his special attacks also consume).

Disappointingly, the boss-battles are too easy and consequently utterly lame, and you don't have to use much strategy when fighting, although there are enemies which summon extra zombies (so must be dealt with first). The storyline is a bit flat, and the Prince somewhat lacking in personality, but the focus of the game death-defying athleticism which out-Laras Lara Croft is so well executed that you feel inclined to gloss over such flaws. It also bucks the trend towards short single-player experiences, which is just as well since it has no multiplayer element.

With no credible new Tomb Raider instalment on the horizon, The Forgotten Sands provides action-adventure game fans with the fix they will have been craving. It's a judicious mix of the inventive and the familiar.

Rating: 4/5

Interphone study was delayed for years because scientists failed to agree on its findings

Publication of a landmark study into mobile phones and brain cancer was delayed for years because scientists failed to agree on its findings and whether to issue a warning about excessive use of the devices, the Guardian has learned.

The World Health Organisation's Interphone report [pdf] was due to be published in 2006, but was held up until today because scientists from 13 countries interpreted the results differently.

In the study, more than 5,000 men and women with brain tumours, and a similar number of healthy controls, were interviewed about their mobile phone use. Scientists then looked at whether those who had been diagnosed with tumours used their phones more.

The interviews found no solid evidence that mobile phones increased the risk of brain tumours, but pointed to a slightly greater risk among those who reported using mobile phones the most.

According to the study, the 10% who used their phones the most, racking up at least 1,640 hours of calls, had a 15% greater risk of meningioma and were 40% more likely to develop glioma. These are the two most common brain tumours, although still exceptionally rare, affecting less than seven in 100,000 people in Britain.

The most frequent mobile phone users were also more likely to have a tumour on the same side of their brain as the ear they put their phone to, the study found.

There were disagreements about the severity of flaws in the study, some of which could have led to an artificial rise in cancer risk among the most frequent users. People are poor at remembering for how long they have been on the phone, and only slightly better at remembering how many calls they made. Some participants claimed they used mobiles for more than 12 hours a day, a figure that skewed the results but is unlikely to be true.

Another confusing aspect of the study was that it appeared to show that modest use of a mobile phone actually reduced the risk of brain cancer. The effect may be false and due to volunteers in the control group being healthier than the general population or otherwise unrepresentative.

"We had to find a version everyone could live with," said a researcher. Two appendices that were published online, but not with the main Interphone study, claim the risk of tumours may be higher than the report claims.

As yet, scientists know of no mechanism by which mobile phone radiation could cause cancer. Unlike x-rays, mobile phone radiation is non-ionising, and is too weak to break apart DNA, which is necessary to induce other cancers. Scientists concede, however, that there may be unknown effects that trigger cancer, or that mobile phone radiation speeds the growth of existing brain tumours.

Patricia McKinney, an epidemiologist at Leeds University who led the northern UK part of the study, said: "This research has not shown evidence of an increased risk of developing a glioma or meningioma brain tumour as a result of using a mobile."

In the report, the Interphone study group writes: "There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma, and much less of meningioma, at the highest exposure levels ... However, biases and errors limit the strength of the conclusion we can draw and prevent a causal interpretation."

Last month, scientists launched another large study into mobile phones and health. The Cosmos study will follow 250,000 people for more than 20 years to look at cancer and other illnesses.

This article was amended on 18 May 2010. The original described both meningioma and glioma as cancers. This has been corrected.

How worthwhile is this mass iPad bet for publishers? GQ publisher Pete Hunsinger has revealed that its Men of the Year edition in December only sold 365 copies, and at $2.99 each.

Mashable points out that totals $1,091.35 in sales, and while Hunsinger reckons "This costs us nothing extra: no printing or postage" - he forgot to mention how much that developer time cost.

"Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation," he told MinOnline.


Photo by Christian Steen on Flickr. Some rights reserved

It's not encouraging that Cond Nast has got off to such a slow start, though sales of both iPad and iPhone apps have picked up.

Cond Nast has been building up to the iPad for months, speculating that the 'luxury' device will be a good fit for its high-end lifestyle/fashion/tech publications from Vanity Fair to Wired. Glamour, the New Yorker and Wired are all due to launch over the next few months.

The Vanity Fair iPad app debuted last week in the US for $4.99 - the same price as the print version - but will drop to $3.99 for next month's edition.

Wired has been slightly more problematic. Developers had spent months building an ambitious version of the app with Adobe, only to be caught up in the Flash versus HTML5 war which means rebuilding the app to suit Apple.

Next attack could come down fibre optic cable, warn experts
Russia seen as potential partner in missile defence against Iran

The world's most powerful military alliance is increasingly vulnerable to attack by unconventional weapons and cyberwarfare in particular, Nato governments were warned today.

"The next significant attack on the alliance may well come down a fibre optic cable", according to a draft new Nato "strategic concept". There are unacceptable "serious gaps" in Nato's cyber defences, it warns.

The warnings are contained in a report by a group of high-level experts chaired by Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state. They will provide the basis for an agreement due to be signed by Nato leaders at a summit in Lisbon in November.

Senior Nato military officials and diplomats say they are concerned about the lack of co-ordinated planning against cyber attacks. They are wrestling with the prospect of member states asking for help under article five of the Nato treaty, originally designed to provide mutual assistance to an ally faced with a conventional military attack.

Asked whether a cyber attack or the cutting off of energy supplies also cited in the report would in future be considered a military attack, the paper dodges the issue by stating that whether Nato's article five would be triggered would depend on "the nature, source, scope, and other aspects of the particular security challenge". Article five was invoked for the first, and so far only, time after the September 2001 attacks on the US. Three years ago, Estonia appealed to its Nato and EU partners for help against cyber attacks it linked to Russia.

"Already, cyber attacks against Nato systems occur frequently, but most often below the threshold of political concern," says the Albright report. "However, the risk of a large-scale attack on Nato's command and control systems or energy grids could readily warrant consultations ... and could possibly lead to collective defence measures under article 5."

Effective cyber defence, it continues, "requires the means to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from attacks".

The most probable threats to Nato allies in the coming decade were unconventional, more volatile, and less predictable, according to the report. Three stand out, it says an attack by ballistic missiles from a rogue state, strikes by international terrorist groups, and cyber assaults of varying degrees of severity.

Other threats that pose a risk include disruptions to energy and maritime supply lines, the harmful consequences of global climate change, and financial crisis.

The report also recommended that Nato's new strategic concept should endorse "constructive re-engagement" with Russia, which should be embraced as a potential partner in a missile defence system directed principally at Iran. Nato must also win the war in Afghanistan and assure the security of its 28 members.

The report distances itself from some countries, notably those from eastern Europe, which enthusiastically backed Nato membership for Ukraine and Georgia, a prospect strongly opposed by Russia. Although the report reiterates Nato's "open door" policy, it says only that the allies "should make regular use of the Nato-Ukraine and Nato-Georgia commissions to discuss mutual security concerns and to foster practical co-operation".

It also states that "as long as nuclear weapons remain a reality in international relations, the alliance should retain a nuclear component to its deterrent strategy at the minimum level required by the prevailing security environment".

In a reference to US tactical nuclear weapons based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, it says: "Under current security conditions, the retention of some US forward-deployed systems on European soil reinforces the principle of extended nuclear deterrence and collective defence."

Interplanetary cruise of Japan's solar-powered 'sail craft' aims at deeper knowledge of Venus

Japan hopes to turn the wildest fantasies of science fiction into reality today with a "space yacht" that will draw on the power of the sun to take it to Venus and, perhaps, far beyond.

A Mitsubishi H-2A rocket carrying Ikaros (an acronym for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun) is set to blast off from Tanegashima island in south-west Japan at 6.44am local time.

The long-awaited launch is seen as part of a mission that could change the course of interplanetary exploration.

If it is successful, Ikaros will be carried through deep space at high speed with the help of a 20-metre sail, propelled by the pressure from solar particles.

The flexible membrane sail, which at 32.5 micrometers is about half the thickness of a human hair, is covered with thin-film solar panels that will create a hybrid of electricity and pressure, according to Jaxa, the Japanese space exploration agency.

Solar photons will bounce off thousands of tiny mirrors to give Ikaros the thrust it needs to complete manoeuvres such as rotating and hovering.

"This will be the world's first solar-powered sail craft employing both photon propulsion and thin-film solar power generation during its interplanetary cruise," Jaxa said on its website.

Although the name of Japan's craft may give rise to anxiety (Icarus, the figure from Greek mythology, having fallen into the sea after flying too close to the sun) Jaxa officials say they are confident the high-tech version will stick to its planned trajectory.

The craft will spend a few weeks rotating before unfurling its sail. If all goes to plan, the craft will use draw on the energy provided by the sun's photons to gather speed during its six-month journey. Experts believe that by developing hyper-powerful sails drawing on laser light instead of sunlight, solar yachts could one day reach speeds of 500,000mph.

After passing Venus, Ikaros is expected to continue its voyage for three years towards the far side of the sun, although contact is likely to be lost after a year.

Jaxa officials say that, if the technology proves viable, they could send a similar craft, Akatsuki, to Jupiter by 2020.

That mission could deepen our understanding of how Venus, thought to have once resembled Earth, became the mysterious, cloud-covered, planet of today. The probe is equipped with instruments that will observe the planet's atmosphere from distances of between 186 miles and 49,710 miles.

"Once we can explain the structure of Venus, we will be able to better understand Earth," said Akatsuki's project scientist, Takeshi Imamura. "For example, we may discover the reasons that only Earth has been able to sustain oceans, and why only Earth is abundant in life."

The $16m project will be the first to deploy the new technology deep in space. Previous space yachts have achieved no more than orbiting Earth, while Nasa and Europe's space agency appear to have resigned themselves to losing out to Japan in the race to test solar sails in outer space.

Oscar-winning film director Scott Hicks wishes that he could use his iPhone when travelling to foreign lands

What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life?
My favourite is my Gator which, if you're not familiar with it, is a six-wheel independent transmission all-terrain vehicle that I use at my vineyard. It has a light footprint, huge fat tyres, and it's endless fun. In springtime, we're dogged with kangaroos which come out of the bush and nibble the new vine shoots. Because we don't want to shoot them, I get my Gator out and go up and down the rows chasing kangaroos. There's no more contemplative experience than watching kangaroos bouncing along in front of you.

When was the last time you used it, and what for?
I used it last weekend when my family came up camping at the vineyard. I took my grandsons for a spin.

What additional features would you add if you could?
I would put on a klaxon horn that did a fanfare. I think that would be quite a feature. Something really grand announcing your presence. That would teach the roos a lesson.

Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time?
Absolutely not. It's now 10 years old and it's as good as the day I bought it. Barring disaster, I think it'll still be going strong.

What always frustrates you about technology in general?
Built-in obsolescence. The minute you buy something, it's already out of date. With most hi-tech products, it's all built-in. You just know that with the iPad they already know what the better ones are going to be like. But they have to sell it in layers.

Is there any particular piece of technology that you have owned and hated?
Beyond a potato peeler? I've got to admit, I'm struggling with my iPhone. It's a glorious thing, but because I travel a lot I've found it very difficult in the US with the network restrictions on it. It's locked into a telephone company. That's been a real shame; the idea of getting it was getting something that would work wherever I go, but the US is a huge stumbling block to that.

If you had one tip about getting the best out of new technology, what would it be?
You have to have my eldest son at your beck and call. I pay him a retainer because he's a technological genius. He can troubleshoot me wherever I am, take over my computer with terrifying software, and I just sit and watch things moving on my own desktop.

Do you consider yourself to be a luddite or a nerd?
A born-again luddite. I'm definitely not a nerd. I'm competent with what I need to do, for the most part, but I do find myself hankering for simpler technologies.

What's the most expensive piece of technology you've ever owned?
Apart from a car, I guess it would be two Leica 35mm cameras. I expect someday my grandchildren will be using them. I love the old range-finding focus technology: the images are stunning.

Mac or PC, and why?
It can only be Mac. Otherwise I'd be completely in the dark. Macs help you to blunder your way around. The great bugbear with modern tech is that usually the instructions are inside the actual thing. There's no manual any more. You have to be able to use the thing in order to find out how to use it. It's very frustrating.

Do you still buy physical media such as CDs and DVDs, or do you download? What was your last purchase?
I do download, but I'm one of that dying breed that has to own the physical object too. Funnily enough, the last CD I bought was the soundtrack to [my 2009 film] The Boys Are Back. My youngest son's band is on it, and I wanted to get that track to somebody.

Robot butlers a good idea or not?
I think if it was modelled on Stephen Fry's Jeeves, with the voice, that could work. My wife for my birthday gave me a clock which wakes you up with the Jeeves character in those dulcet tones laced ever so slightly with contempt. A whole robot ... as long as you could turn it off.

What piece of technology would you most like to own?
I need a Tardis. Something I could just step into and be somewhere else. Enough of all this travel. Just a Tardis. That would be fantastic.

The Boys Are Back, directed by Scott Hicks, is out on DVD on Monday

Machine with flashing eyes and plastic pigtails presides over wedding of Kokoro employee and robotics professor

Almost everyone stood when the bride walked down the aisle in her white gown, but not the wedding conductor, because she was bolted to her chair.

The nuptials at this ceremony were led by I-Fairy, a 4ft seated robot with flashing eyes and plastic pigtails. The wedding today was the first to be led by a robot, according to the manufacturer, Kokoro.

"Please lift the bride's veil," the robot said in a tinny voice, waving its arms in the air as the newlyweds kissed in front of about 50 guests.

The ceremony took place at a restaurant in Hibiya Park, central Tokyo. The I-Fairy wore a wreath of flowers, and wires led out from beneath it to a black curtain nearby where a man crouched and clicked commands into a computer.

Japan has one of the most advanced robotics industries in the world, with the government actively supporting the field for future growth. Industrial models in factories are now standard, and recently companies have been making a push to inject robots into everyday life.

Honda, the car manufacturer involved in artificial intelligence research, already makes a walking child-shaped robot, and other firms have developed them to entertain the elderly or play baseball.

Kokoro, whose corporate goal is to "touch the hearts of the people", makes giant dinosaur robots for exhibitions and lifelike android models that can smile and laugh.

The company is a subsidiary of Sanrio, the 50-year-old "small gift, big smile" company, which owns the rights to Hello Kitty and other Japanese characters.

Today's bride, Satoko Inoue, 36, who works at Kokoro, said: "This was a lot of fun. I think that Japanese have a strong sense that robots are our friends. Those in the robot industry mostly understand this, but people mainly want robots near them that serve some purpose."

Her new husband, Tomohiro Shibata, a 42-year-old professor of robotics at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in central Japan, said: "It would be nice if the robot was a bit more clever, but she is very good at expressing herself."

The I-Fairy sells for about 6.3 million yen ( 46,000), and three are in use in Singapore, the US and Japan, according to a company spokeswoman, Kayako Kido.

The robot has 18 degrees of motion in its arms, and mainly repeats preprogrammed movements and sounds.

A new data point about the state of YouTube, which has a fondness for using anniversaries to release them. On the eve of its fifth birthday, the site says in a celebratory blog post that it is now getting more than two billion views a day. That's up from the one billion-plus daily views YouTube said it was getting back in October, when it was marking three years in Google's fold.

No mention among the cheering, of course, of the $1 billion Viacom lawsuit, which has led to some less than pretty revelations about how the site may have attained some of its early growth - or whether YouTube is actually profitable yet. Some analysts have said however that YouTube could start contributing to Google's bottom line this year.

Popular peer-to-peer platform found liable for infringing copyright of America's four major labels

US record labels have claimed another victory in their war against filesharing, winning a major court case against LimeWire. On Tuesday, a federal court ruled against the popular peer-to-peer platform, finding LimeWire's owners personally liable for copyright infringement.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the four major US labels, brought the case against LimeWire in August 2006. Almost four years later, the service is still perhaps the most popular software for exchanging files allowing users to search each other's music libraries for songs they would like to share. According to CNET, LimeWire has been downloaded more than 200m times including 340,000 downloads last week. A survey by the NDP Group found that LimeWire was used by 58% of people who have downloaded music from a peer-to-peer network in the last year.

Like Napster (and AIMster and Grokster) before them, LimeWire's owners denied they were responsible for the legality of files shared by their users. Unlike Napster, LimeWire does not host any shared files on their own servers the material is distributed among users. But Judge Kimba Wood was not convinced by the argument. "The evidence demonstrates that [LimeWire] optimised [their] features to ensure that users [could] download digital recordings, the majority of which are protected by copyright," she said.. "[Lime Wire] assisted users in committing infringement."

In a summary judgment, Wood ruled that LimeWire founder Mark Gorton, as well as parent company Lime Group, had committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition, and induced copyright infringement. By finding Gorton personally responsible, Wood's decision will be particularly terrifying to other "edge case" entrepreneurs. In other words, Facebook's owners had better make sure people don't start uploading illegal MP3s.

The court has not yet determined the issue of monetary damages, though the RIAA has claimed they are owed up to $150,000 for every infringing work. With millions of files in question, that number could become huge. "[LimeWire] thumbed its nose at the law and creators," the RIAA's chairman said. Labels will now likely move for an injunction against LimeWire, forcing the service to go offline.

According to George Searle, chief executive of LimeWire, the company "remains committed to developing innovative products and services for the end-user and to working with the entire music industry, including the major labels, to achieve this mission".

Exchange 2010 offers an improved user experience, but it still doesn't offer full functionality in all browsers

Running Exchange and thinking about upgrading to 2010? There's a myriad of new stuff in the latest version of Microsoft's enterprise mail and calendar app including greater mailbox resilience, higher availability and simplified compliance.

However, what's really improved is the user experience. You don't have to search very hard to find that one of the biggest grumbles about Exchange has been the pitiful cross-browser support for its webmail client, Outlook Web Access (OWA). With full drag-and-drop and right-click functionality only available in recent versions of Internet Explorer, it's been a very unattractive option for Mac users or, indeed, anyone who prefers or has to use a browser other than IE.

The biggest advance in Exchange 2010 is that finally OWA works properly in more, but not all, browsers. It offers all the functionality in Firefox on Mac or Windows, Safari for Mac and Chrome for Windows but not Safari for Windows, nor Chrome on the Mac, nor in Opera. In those cases, you'l l see the same Light client as Exchange 2007.

If you like threaded conversation views, you'll love OWA 2010 as they're on by default; and if you're syncing with a Windows Mobile device, you'll get threaded emails there, too. Fortunately, for those of us who don't like it, you can turn it off and you can specify it on or off for each folder.

For an admin, the new OWA client also lets you manage users, roles and groups under the options tab, meaning that if you're away from base you won't have to log on to the server remotely. Users too can do more for themselves via OWA, including joining public groups and wiping a device paired via ActiveSync if it's lost or stolen.

OWA can also handle voicemail and texts, and by adding Office Communications Server to your Exchange infrastructure, your users can communicate via instant messaging in the OWA client.

On the downside, the default theme for OWA 2010 is hideous a bilious yellow with two-dimensional buttons that feels like a step back from the elegant default blue theme of OWA2007. Out of the box it does have a couple of other themes, including an ugly Zune one, but for now only an admin can change the theme, and only for all users. However, SP1 a beta of which will be available in June promises to restore the choice of themes to individual users.

Under the hood, Exchange 2010 is only 64bit and demands Windows Server 2008, so it's a significant upgrade if you've skipped Exchange 2007. Also, it doesn't run on Small Business Server, as Exchange 2007 does, so that's not an upgrade path for a smaller company. However, you'll spend less time nagging your users to keep their mailboxes under control as 2010 can use cheaper storage than previous versions required and also lets users have much bigger folders.

That's just scratching the surface. At the end of the day it's a big upgrade in terms of functionality, user experience and hardware requirements, and no IT admin embarks on such a move lightly. However, if you gave 2007 a miss and your hardware is creaking, now is as good a time as any to make the jump.

Pros: vastly better user experience; more self-service options for users, reducing the load on a help desk; less exacting storage requirements

Cons: Ugly and hard to change OWA default theme; requires Windows Server 2008 and 64bit hardware

Microsoft Exchange online

Oracle chief Larry Ellison says he is already turning around Sun, but can a software maker figure out the hardware world?

In the movie Iron Man 2, Larry Ellison makes a cameo appearance as a billionaire, playboy software magnate. It is a role he knows well. He is playing himself chief executive of Oracle, one of Silicon Valley's most enduring, successful and flamboyant figures.

At the age of 65, he is undertaking one of the biggest challenges of his career, and it's not playing Hamlet on Broadway. Oracle, the company Ellison founded three decades ago and built into dominant force in the software industry, is making a go at hardware with the acquisition of money-losing Sun Microsystems.

This is not entirely unlike MIT deciding to field a competitive football team, but Ellison being Ellison, he could not be less worried. "We have a wealth of technology to package into systems," said Ellison, who won the America's Cup in February. "I see no reason why we can't get this to where Sun under Oracle should be larger than Sun ever was."

In a rare interview he discussed his turnaround efforts at Sun so far, revealed plans to buy additional hardware companies and detailed new products that will launch in the near future. And he did so with his usual in-your-face style heaping all manner of abuse, for example, on Sun's previous managers.

During the 1990s, Sun prospered by selling high-end computers at top dollar to large corporations and dotcom startups. Its business peaked in 2001, then slid with the collapse of the internet boom and never recovered, though the company is still widely respected for its technological prowess and the brain power of its engineering staff.

Sun came into play in November 2008 after IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano made an overture to buy it. Oracle, which had been strictly a software maker, unexpectedly jumped in to outbid IBM by just 10c a share, paying a total of $5.6bn ( 3.8bn)in cash.

Now Ellison says he is going to rebuild Sun's hardware business by using a strategy that helped IBM prosper in the 1960s selling computer systems built with standardised bundles of hardware and software.

Plenty of skeptics doubt Ellison can pull it off. Sun lost $2.2bn in its last fiscal year as an independent company. Conventional wisdom holds that he will end up divesting the company's hardware business.

Ellison has a pretty good track record when it comes to predicting where the industry is headed. Besides innovating the wildly lucrative relational database that bears Oracle's name, Ellison was quicker than most in creating software that works with both internet technology and the widely used Linux operating system.

He also started buying up smaller software makers in 2003 when critics said his consolidation strategy was doomed to fail. It hasn't. "People have lost a lot of money second guessing Larry about IT strategy," said Dave Roux, co-founder of Silver Lake, the world's biggest private equity firm focused on technology, in which Ellison was an original investor.

"He's a very thoughtful and reasoned observer of the big tectonic forces that kind of go rippling through the industry," said Roux, who worked for Oracle before setting up Silver Lake.

Ellison has maintained his status as the leader of a powerhouse in the topsy-turvy, protean technology world. IBM, which pioneered business computers, nearly collapsed in the 1990s, but then recovered as it aggressively expanded in services and software. Ellison's close friend Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple, only to return a decade later to resurrect his company with the iPod. Meanwhile, Google has replaced Microsoft as the "ubertech company" and occasional villain.

Although his products are used by businesses only and not nearly as recognisable as Apple's Macs or Google's search engine, they've made Ellison the world's sixth-richest man, worth an estimated $28bn, according to Forbes. Oracle counts the bulk of the world's major corporations as customers, and the company's market value now tops that of Hewlett-Packard, the world's top maker of personal computers.

Ellison says he has already stopped the carnage at Sun, less than four months after the sale closed in January.

"Their management made some very bad decisions that damaged their business and allowed us to buy them for a bargain price," he told Reuters. He added that he expects profit from Sun's operations to boost Oracle's earnings in the current quarter, which ends May 31.

The integration has proceeded swiftly, says Ellison, because a protracted antitrust review in Europe gave Oracle time to draw up an exhaustive plan for resuscitating Sun. In typical Ellison fashion, he took a hands-on approach to the integration, choosing to meet directly with technical managers at Sun as often as four days a week to diagnose its problems, rather than delegating the work to underlings.

Mark Barrenechea, a former Oracle executive who used to sit in on weekly engineering meetings with Ellison and is now CEO of specialty computer maker Silicon Graphics, says this is what Ellison does best.

"He doesn't write the code. He doesn't solder resisters onto motherboards. But he understands how all the pieces fit together and how he wants the building to look," Barrenechea said.

FIRST LOOK: The brand new 'cinematic' trailer from Ubisoft's forthcoming Persian adventure looks staggering

Due out later this month, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is perhaps the most eagerly awaited PoP title for five years.

Returning to the storyline begun in 2003's masterful Sands of Time, the prince must now save his brother's kingdom from an apocalyptic force. Ubisoft is promising epic battles, an intriguing new set of elemental powers and of course, lots more acrobatic mayhem and here we have the brand new trailer...

It is, quite frankly, staggering. Astonishingly detailed desert environments, intricate character modelling, utterly fluid animation. Jerry Bruckhiemer, producer of Disney's movie adaptation of Sands of Time (also due out at the end of May) said recently: "I really believe in the next 10 years you won't be able to tell the difference between movies and games. Games will be so realistic."

Okay, so none of it is in-game (and naturally, earlier game footage trailers don't impress quite as much, visually), but even as a piece of CGI it's incredible stuff, regularly tricking the eye into perceiving photographic realism. I'm not sure I believe Bruckhiemer I'm not sure I even want to. But I know I want to see more of this game, and I thought I wouldn't be excited by this franchise again.

How about you?

The US president is sadly out of touch with technology

Oh, Obama, we thought you were cool. Or rather, with your Twitter campaign and your BlackBerry, we thought you were a geek like us. So how could you say this, at a graduation speech at Hampton University? "With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations none of which I know how to work information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation."

Obama gave the Queen an iPod last year, so if he doesn't know how to work one he really should ask her for a lesson. After an aide has dialled her number for him on a newfangled telephonic communication device, of course.

Sadly, his focus on consoles panders to a popular belief that games are pointless. That, unlike novels, newspapers, sculpture, classical dance or opera, they are a waste of time. It's rubbish, of course. There are worthless novels and highly intelligent games. But as Cicero knew a politician can't go wrong exclaiming, "O tempora, O mores!" decrying modern times and declaring that things were better in the past.

But, maybe, underneath Obama's confused statement there's a grain of truth. Winifred Gallagher's recent book Rapt says we're suffering because so many forms of entertainment are squabbling for our attention. With Twitter, Facebook, IM, RSS, email, our world is constantly beeping.

In fact, what games do better than almost any other medium is to hold our attention. I've never listened to opera for four hours straight without noticing the time, but that happens frequently with a great game. Perhaps the growing popularity of games is partly a desire for the focus we've otherwise lost.

Want to be a better street fighter? Ryan Hart answers your questions about Capcom's fighting game series...

Last week we invited you to put your Street Fighter questions and problems to European Street Fighter champion, Ryan Hart (who last week won Paddy Power's SFIV challenge). Here are his in-depth responses.

If you have any queries that haven't been covered, especially about the newly released Super Street Fighter IV, add them to the comments section, and we'll pass them on to Ryan!

"I've been playing SF since the first arcade machine came out but only recently got my hands on the top of the range arcade stick. While the Xbox pad sucks for SF I'm still having trouble getting used to the stick - do you have any tips for those making the switch? I usually play as Chun-Li, Sakura and Ryu but look forward to getting back in to using Guy and Ibuki in SSFIV"
djpray2k

When making the switch from pad to stick, getting your movement up to scratch is important, so I'd say to work on this. Use the training mode to practice your combos, this will get your fingers used to reaching for the larger buttons in their respective locations on the stick face. The more you use it, the more you'll adjust.

Try to choose a character that doesn't require complex commands frequently. Maybe start out with a charge character just to get used to the feeling of holding a stick. Then gradually advance from there. Later on, if you find you prefer the stick with some characters and the pad with others, try to look at what it is you find more comfortable on pad. If it's something that you find more demanding on the stick, use that as a way of improving your stick skills. The challenging aspects are what make it fun!

"I have a question about combos. I main as E Honda. I know his sumo head butt can be cancelled into his super Onimusou. If I am *right next* to the opponent I can usually pull this triple head butt move off. But if there is any distance between Honda and the other character I can never seem to get the timing right but I can't work out if I am being too fast or too slow! Any tips on cancelling?"
JenniferRuth

Super Onimusou? I think you mean Super Killer Head Ram? In any case, as this is a charge move, it can only be done close, as once you release the backwards charge in order to do the first sumo headbutt, you lose the charge for the super as well.

"Is there any way to make Abel a useful character instead of his usual overly slow, frustrating, French waste of space?"
timthemonkey

Yes, Abel is a very good character, but he requires patience as he does not have a projectile to fight a long distance game, and can't get in to play his close combat game easily. On the ground however, he does have a number of tools to help him get close. One of his best moves is his forward and medium kick then forward to dash, after which you have a few options. Two other moves which can help you get stuck in are his EX change of direction and his Marseilles Roll. The former can absorb one hit from an opponent and still continue moving forward, meaning if you predict a fireball, for example, you will be able to perform the EX change of direction, go through the fireball and then strike the opponent. After lots of practice this can be done on reaction.

If your opponent uses a lot of pokes from a distance, you may be able to hit his attack with a standing light kick or a crouching medium punch or crouching medium kick which you can then link into a change of direction.

Additionally his crouching hard kick has good range and can surprise opponents who are prioritising movement over a low guarding position as both cannot be done at the same time.

His best strategy is to get the opponent down and try to keep them down. With Abel, this is best done by using his Marseilles roll and his crossup game with his air medium kick. When you get the opponent down, use the roll and time it in a way that it becomes difficult for your opponent to know which side you will end up on. This makes things difficult for their defence. In the crossup game, once you land a crossup medium kick, you can go into a combo from his crouching medium punch.

If they block it, alternatively you have the tornado throw and the regular throw which isn't as demanding. A crouching light kick string will get an opponent who tries to stand guard or jump away. If they dash back then you have forward and medium which will catch some backdashes, and also a crouching medium punch into a combo will be useful here too. For anti-air, his good moves are jumping hard punch and crouching medium kick.

Lastly, don't forget that his ultra (Soulless) can be used as a long range tool to go through projectiles, and his new ultra in Super Street Fighter IV (Breathless) covers over half the screen, can be cancelled at will, can be held for delayed execution, is extremely fast and cannot be blocked. So Abel will be even stronger with this new weapon.

"Now I'm a half decent SFIV player (shut up Umboros). I can hold my own online with most people, and I've beaten the game on the hardest mode, with most characters. So why oh why can't I do the trial challenges? Even on the easy level, I can only get most characters up to the 3rd challenge. Is then any special method to these?"
JimBob78

The trials are not easy and many of these combos could take many days of practice to complete. Some combinations here are designed to challenge even the most technical of players. My advice here would be to breakdown the exact part of the combo you find most difficult and work out what you are having trouble with. Maybe even just practice this section separately until you see improvements, then go back and retry the combo all together.

"What are the best options for playing a ground game and mixing up strategies to confuse opponents? It's always tempting to jump in to start a combo on Street Fighter, but if your opponent blocks it leaves vulnerable. Getting past Ken when he's throwing fireballs usually results in a dragon punch to the face, how can you deal with these tactics and keep the opponent off guard?"
Umboros23

In Street Fighter and just about any fighting game being safe is a key factor in survival, and it must be prioritised. This fact is not really focused on, but combos are often a case of how good your reactions are. For example, if you jump over Ryu as he does a fireball it's down to your reactions whether you can capitalise on this opening and pull off your combo.

However, this also goes slightly deeper than simply jumping projectiles. Combos can also be used in block strings (which is a succession of moves that keep the opponent frozen in the block position after the first hit has been blocked). This is important as it applies pressure to the opponent, builds your super meter and helps to create openings.

Now, if you notice that one of your attacks has hit, you may be able to link this to another move and create a combo, but as mentioned earlier, it's all down to your reflexes whether or not you are fast enough to capitalise on this opening or not. This usually takes practice and gets easier with experience.

On the ground, it's important to understand your character's best tools to combat the opponent's ground tools. This is one thing that the training mode in Street Fighter IV is very good for. You can set the opponent to record and have him repeatedly perform moves you find tricky to get by. You can then playback your recording and then use your own character to see what beats the opponent's moves.

For Ken's fireball, you can simply stay back, jump over them all and none of them will hit you. Another method is to use the focus attack dash forward to go through the fireball which will give you the advantage if done with the right timing. Also depending on your character, there are a number of moves you may be able to do go through fireballs, so test these out too.

"This is more a history question but, long ago in my formative years down the local arcade, all the best players used to play with Guile for their serious matches, I even seem to remember a combo that froze the opponent, but that's by the by, anyway, these days I see very few play with Guile. Has he been deliberately weakened or is it just that everyone else has been improved?"
koolherc

In some areas Guile has stayed the same, and in others he has weakened. He is still a very good and playable character and shouldn't be underestimated in any version. In Super Street Fighter IV, he has new combos and a new ultra and is definitely stronger than in the predecessor.

By the way, Guile's handcuffs, which I believe you were referring to, was so funny. If the handcuffs were not removed before the time ran out, resetting the machine was the only way to get things back to normal. I still remember a guy walking in to the local cab station where we played, putting his 20p in, doing handcuffs on someone then walking out while everyone's credits were in the machine and no one knew how to undo the cuffs.

"With Ken's buffs in Super, are you going to be breaking him back out in tournaments or chancing out a new character?"
Owwmykneecap

Yes I will be keeping Ken in my arsenal of top characters and I will also be adding some new ones too.

"Where exactly do you look on the screen? Do you focus solely on the opponent or take in the screen as a whole?"
sunsetbeach

I focus on everything but not all the time. There are just so many factors to account for. My attention is divided and everything is broken down based on priority. For example, on Super Street Fighter IV as the clock is relatively slow, the time clock does not need to be checked regularly. However, as your opponent is moving all the time, your eyes need live updates constantly to keep up with their movements and to judge spacing, movement, etc, on the screen. The super meter of both you and your opponent is also important, as this can determine the next move or even next few moves. In some cases, I even think about what the opponent will do in a few moves once he has the super. When you are planning ahead, you need to take the health and time into account as well. But generally, as long as you keep a good eye on the main things your opponent and all gauges it should be okay.

"I was hoping to pick up Ibuki because I loved her in 3rd strike and never really found a main in SFIV. I was looking for a good way to combo after her kunai vortex; I know you can hit the c.jab (c.jab, s.jab, s.mk spinkick or whatever) but more often than not, it seems very punishable, even on hit. Any advice on getting the combo or making it safe on block? And any other general advice on someone looking to pick her up?

Also, are you planning on keeping Sagat as your main, or are you tempted by the new cast members?"
Kanped

After you land a combo with her spinkick, you have the advantage. Standing medium kick should beat most of the opponent's options bar the dragon punch or things which are invincible on startup. Another suggestion would be to end your combos with the neck breaker so that you floor the opponent and have a chance to set them up again. At least this way you won't have to feel like you're on a back foot even after landing a combo. Getting the opponent down and keeping them down is key so try out neck breaker combos and then see if that improves things.

As for Sagat, I'm in a bit of a dilemma right now. I'm picking up other characters who appear to be more fun than Sagat, but I'm not sure if I will drop him as main just yet. We will have to see at a later stage but it is possible. The new cast are very fun, different and interesting.

"What's the best strategy for fighting against Sagat online? I always meet fireball spammers and when I try and jump to get close, I'm met with a flying knee or uppercut.

Also, what type of controller do you use? Is the joystick really worth the money? I'm still on the PS3 pad."
cameroon95

When you fight against Sagat online it's important to take him out of his comfort zone, which is usually with you at the back of the screen. Try moving close to him (by blocking tiger shots then walking forward) but not right next to him: you need a range where, if he does a tiger shot, you can jump it and combo him. It's not to say that you will necessarily do that, but having that added as an extra option will make you more of a threat.

When you are both at the back of the screen, he can throw tiger shots all day and even if you jump over them you're out of range to inflict any damage, so try getting close and this extra pressure will force Sagat to change his gameplay. If he continues to spam tiger shots even up close, take advantage and jump in for a combo and take the most you can. Once you get close, Sagat will get wary of your range, he may try a jump in on you so make sure you have a solid anti-air move you can use against him. If he tries to move back to make more space then move in once again until he is in the corner with nowhere to run, then you can get the party started.

As for sticks, I'm currently using a number of option to try and find the best one, so this is to be continued. Generally, the most preferred sticks for Street Fighter IV are made by Hori and Madcatz.

"Can Ryan give us any tips about how and when to use the focus attack? I rarely if ever use it and it's clearly a major gap in my game at the moment, but I'm never sure when to whip one out. I mostly play Ken and Vega and I only ever do it as Ken to dash cancel through fireballs or cancel a bodged dragon punch. With Vega I only use it if I'm cornered and can't think of anything else to do, or to cancel a claw roll. I never actually hit anyone with it!"
BeardOfBees

People generally want to attack before being attacked on fighting games, so if you use block strings on your opponent they will want to attack you once you leave an opening here is when you can aim for a focus attack to eat up their attempted offence. When you play, keep a close eye on what your opponent uses. For example, against a shoto, if you notice that they use crouching medium sweep into fireball on the ground you can focus the crouching medium kick and then release the focus to attack them before their fireball is released. This will result as a counter hit on their attempted fireball. Try walking into their crouching medium kick fireball and go for it!

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had his passport confiscated when he returned to his native Australia last week, according to The Age.

Arriving at Melbourne, immigration staff told Assange his passport was looking worn and would be cancelled. Thirty minutes after his passport was returned to him, a police officer then searched his bags and questioned him about his computer hacking offences he committed in 1991 when he was a teenager.


Julian Assange, left, speaking at the 26th Chaos Communication Congress in January this year. Photo by andygee1 on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Despite the search, Assange was then told his passport is still classified as 'normal' on the immigration database and could therefore travel freely.

Speaking on Australia's Dateline show, Assange said he is wary of travelling in Australia, where he was born, because of information that has been published on Wikileaks.

Assange had been told that the publication of a proposed blacklist of banned sites has been referred to the Australian Federal Police, who were investigating how it was leaked and then published on Wikileaks, though AFP told the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that the case had been dropped.

Looking at the site, it's hard to believe there are many countries where travel is not a problem. Some light reading from the front page:

CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe
US Intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks
Cryptome.org takedown: Microsoft Global Criminal Compliance Handbook

Film studios' injunction granted by German court means that BitTorrent site has no internet connection (updated)

The Pirate Bay has (briefly) vanished beneath the internet waves again, after several Hollywood film studios won an injunction against its bandwidth provider CB3ROB via a court in Hamburg.

Update: the site is back up, though it's not clear who the carrier is: traceroute doesn't resolve, and there's nothing in the name servers to indicate who's hosting it - probably for good, injunction-related reasons.

The injunction (which Torrentfreak says was granted without an oral hearing) prohibited CB3ROB from "connecting The Pirate Bay website and its servers to the internet".

A Pirate Bay source told TorrentFreak that it is already working on a backup solution to bring the site online; the servers themselves haven't been touched (or moved) rom their well-guarded - and highly secret - location; they simply need to be routed through another provider.

That will be hard on both Pirate Bay and CB3ROB - the latter being sympathetic to the Pirate Bay's position on copyright, backing the Pirate Party in the Netherlands (here's a translation of CB3ROB's page on the Pirate Party manifesto).

The Pirate Bay's four co-founders were sentenced to a year in jail and a $3.6m fine in April 2009 after being found guilty of assisting the distribution of illegal content online. Charges against the site, which allows web users to access music, movies and TV shows without paying for them and claimed 22 million users during February, were brought by a consortium of media, film and music companies led by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

A Stockholm court found the four defendants guilty of making 33 specific files accessible for illegal sharing through The Pirate Bay, which means they will have to pay compensation to 17 different music and media companies including Sony BMG, Universal, EMI, Warner, MGM and 20th Century Fox. It is not known whether the reparations have yet been paid.

A Whois search on thepiratebay.org presently shows that it has no connection - the name servers (which provide the lookup for the domain) point recursively to thepiratebay.org, while the traceroute (to the address 194.71.107.15 - assigned to The Pirate Bay) fails at Level 3 hosting.

This is surely not the end of The Pirate Bay - but it may be forced to increasingly desperate measures to keep the site online as film companies keep pursuing it to new territories.

[Update: A note to commenters: the music and film industries ceased saying some time ago that there is a 1:1 correlation between illicit downloads and 'lost' sales. They use what's called a "substitution factor" which suggests 1 lost sale per 10 downloads. Arguably, that's high - you could argue it should be more like 1 per 100 - but please don't misattribute such things when there are published reports just a web search away.]

Apple appears to have run out of its stock of iPads for British customers, even though it will not start shipping the device this side of the Atlantic for two weeks.

The Californian company said just over a week ago that the iPad would go on sale on May 28 in the UK starting at 429 for the basic version with the top of the range 64GB device with both Wi-Fi and 3G network access costing 699. It opened up pre-orders on May 10.

But eager iPad owners visiting its website over the weekend were being warned that if they ordered an iPad now it would ship "by June 7th".

The delay is believed to have been caused by Apple running out of its initial supply of devices in just three days, with pre-orders being far higher than the company originally forecast.

Market research firm GfK NOP, whose pronouncements about the retail sector are well regarded, estimates that Apple will sell more than 2m iPads in the UK. It has carried out research that suggests around 5% of British consumers intend to buy an iPad.

Those gadgets fans who had registered for an iPad by the middle of last week are expected to receive their device on May 28, but anyone who has bought it more recently is likely to face an increasingly lengthy wait.

Apple has already delayed the launch of the iPad in the UK once, blaming "surprisingly strong" demand in the US, where it sold more than a million in the first month.

The device is already a faster seller than the iPhone in the US. It took 74 days for Apple to shift a million of its first mobile phone. It sailed past that milestone with the iPad in just 28 days.

There is also concern that shipments of the iPad could be further delayed if the cloud of ash spewing from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland causes further disruption to international flights.

Find out his attitudes to porn, and what he thinks Bob Dylan would think of Apple, the company, if he were 20 now

Steve Jobs on the cover of Time. Getting an interview with him turns out to be easier via email. Photo by kevinspencer on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Want to know Steve Jobs's thoughts on the role of the iPad, Flash, porn (yes, that word), and what Bob Dylan would think of Apple, the company, today?

Look no further than Ryan Tate's email back-and-forth with him - which shows that the chief of Apple is, if nothing else, not unwilling to indulge in some email sparring with completely random strangers. Though Ryan Tate of Gawker (for it was he) is more than just random; he's also employed by Gawker Media, which owns Gizmodo, which Apple doesn't like because.. oh, just read about it.

"If [Bob] Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company? Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with 'revolution'? Revolutions are about freedom", Tate wrote after seeing an iPad advert.

Three hours later, Jobs replied: "Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. [We think he means viruses and malware.] Freedom from programs that trash your battery. [We think he means Adobe's Fl*sh.] Freedom from porn. [We think he means.. er, porn.] Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin' [for younger readers: this is a Bob Dylan reference; Dylan is one of Jobs's favourite musicians], and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."

There follow an argument about Flash, batteries, Objective-C, porn ("you might care more [about not having it] when you have kids", remarks Jobs), whether Apple has a private police force that kicked in a Gawker person's doors ("You are so misinformed," Jobs retorts. "No one kicked in any doors. You're believing a lot of erroneous blogger reports").

Jobs concludes: "Microsoft had (has) every right to enforce whatever rules for their platform that they want. If people don't like it, they can write for another platform, which some did. Or they can buy another platform, which some did.

"As for us, we're just doing what we can to try and make (and preserve) the user experience we envision. You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure."

And then a final, very Jobs-ish little parting shot:

"By the way, what have you done that's so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others [sic] work and belittle their motivations?"

An interesting question which we'll leave hanging. But truly, the tendency of Jobs to reply to emails from all over the place show that he's taking an intriguing approach to that chief executive/customer interaction stuff. Plus the not-sleeping thing - most of the emails were sent after midnight California time.

Hell, next you know he'll be turning up on Twitter. (Meanwhile there are plenty of blogs devoted to recording his email replies; this Tumblr one seems one of the best.

Meanwhile, if you want to email Jobs, his email is hardly a secret. (Finding it is your initiative test.) If you get an answer, do share. But think of a useful question first..

'I pulled off into an unknown backstreet and drove in that urban style first pioneered by Jack Regan in The Sweeney'

How do you test a car? One way, obviously, is to put on a helmet and take it round a racetrack at maximum speed. On the whole, I tend to avoid this approach, partly because I don't possess a helmet, and partly because I don't have access to a racetrack. So my compromise position is just to drive it as I would my own car.

Yet every now and then fate places us in situations that provide a far more severe test than any circuit could offer. Such were the circumstances on one of the first sunny days of spring this year. I had to get to the funeral of an old friend, Elspeth, on the East Sussex coast. She was a stickler for good taste, was Els, not least in cars, so I don't know what she would have made of the brightly coloured Mazda 3 Sport that I set out in.

Come to that, before the journey, I wasn't quite sure what I made of it, either. With all its various tapers and indents, it looked a bit like one of those hatchbacks that someone with too much time on their hands had customised in their backyard.

And judging by the alarmed expression of another friend, who we picked up on the way, it clearly wasn't the most appropriate vehicle for the occasion. Still, at least it would get us there.

Or so I thought. In my anxiety, I had forgotten about south London, that vast traffic jam masquerading as half a city. After sitting stationary on the Old Kent Road for 30 minutes, I realised that radical action was called for. The nifty little satnav was telling us that we were due to be 15 minutes late, so I pulled off into an unknown backstreet and drove in that urban style first pioneered by Jack Regan in The Sweeney. It was like slipping through a wormhole. For all I knew, I could have emerged in Romford. But miraculously we found ourselves, sometime later, on the M20 conducting a close study of the location of speed cameras.

The Mazda 3 proved itself commendably adept at negotiating this section of the trip. But according to the satnav, we were still going to arrive eight minutes after the ceremony had begun. We were now in an episode of 24, with the clock counting out impending disaster.

Next came the traffic-laden single carriageway to the coast. The Mazda 3 doesn't boast the most powerful acceleration, but it had enough to overtake when it mattered, which was practically all the time.

We eventually drew up with 10 seconds to spare. It wasn't ideal preparation for the draining emotions to come, but I think Els would have been amused by the drama. The Mazda 3: it will get you to the church on time.

Mazda 3 Sport

Price 20,380
Top speed 132mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 8.2 seconds
Average consumption 50.4mpg
CO2 emissions 149g/km
Eco rating 6/10
Bound for The brink
In a word Lively

Ofcom report reveals users of sites such as Facebook have become more savvy about online security and are reluctant to reveal details online

UK internet users have become significantly more cautious about how much personal information they reveal on social networking websites such as Facebook, according to a report by media regulator Ofcom.

The twice-yearly report, a survey of the internet habits of 1,824 people aged 16 and over, found that since 2007 users have become more savvy about online security and are now more reluctant to provide personal information online.

Ofcom's report found that 80% of those surveyed who have a social networking website are likely to only allow friends or family to see it. This is a significant seachange in attitude compared to 2007 when just 48% of those surveyed took such steps.

The report has been published in a climate where the practices of social networking sites Facebook in particular have come under scrutiny for privacy and security practices. Earlier this month, EU data protection officials called Facebook's latest privacy changes "unaceptable" and the world's biggest social networking site has been embroiled in a controversy over "panic buttons" for child users.

Almost half of adult internet users in Scotland say they have set up a social networking profile compared with 46% in Wales, 44% in England and 31% in Northern Ireland.

However, about a quarter of internet users say they "lack confidence" in installing filtering software or security features.

The report found that the Scottish were the least likely to worry about entering personal details online with 50% "happy" to enter their home address details on the internet, compared with 23% in Wales and Northern Ireland. More than 40% of Scottish adult internet users are also happy to enter credit card details.

When it comes to trust in media, just 31% of internet users believe web content to be "reliable and accurate". This compares to about 50% of adults that trust television and radio content. However, news sites are trusted by 58% of web users.

Adults in Scotland say they use the internet at home the most at 10.6 hours per week, with adults in England at 8.3 hours per week and those in Wales at 6.8 hours per week. Adults in Northern Ireland say they use the internet at home the least at 6.5 hours per week.

Jaron Lanier's new book is not a Luddite rant but a reasoned attack on the prejudices of web culture

"You Are Not A Gadget", the new book by Silicon Valley luminary Jaron Lanier is, he says, fundamentally a book about spirituality. He is at pains to stress that humans are not machines, though the digital revolution has developed the habit of assuming we are. So, he advises, "We should assume supernatural specialness to people."

Supernatural? Specialness? Spirituality? It seems misplaced language for the man who coined the term "virtual reality" and is routinely included on lists of leading public intellectuals. Is it anything more than West Coast hippie-speak?

Lanier's central complaint can be stated in more humdrum terms: software design is, for the most part, dehumanising. Think of websites like this one. They routinely play host to trolls, individuals who post abuse behind veils of anonymity. Lanier believes the problem is not anonymity per se, which is sometimes necessary to protect people, but transient anonymity, which removes the personal consequences of posting. He does not mean that people should be fined for, say, threatening an airport with destruction. He means that anonymous posters collude with a web 2.0 culture that doesn't treat people as people, but as the mindless generators of fragments of stuff.

"Don't post anonymously unless you really might be in danger," he advises, because you dehumanise yourself too. And it must be a principled stance you take. Everyone has an "inner troll". No-one, given the right circumstances, can otherwise resist the pleasures of "drive-by anonymity". It's a serious issue, he believes. Two factors came together to allow the rise of Nazism in 1930s Germany: economic humiliation and adherence to a collectivist ideology. "We already have the ideology in its new digital packaging, and it's entirely possible we could face dangerously traumatic economic shocks in the coming decades."

Indeed, the new ideology is already entrenched. Web 2.0 culture is embedded in the most celebrated internet phenomena of our times: Open source, Wikipedia, Facebook. Wikipedia, for example, aims to be a single book containing all knowledge. It lacks the context that informs reader discernment, and the authorship that informs reader trust. Compare that with a lesson of history: societies that follow a single book are totalitarian. "Any singular, exclusive book, even the collective one accumulating in the cloud, will become a cruel book if it is the only one available." Our civilisation is built on libraries and authors, not portals and fragments. Web 2.0 puts both of the former under threat.

Or consider Facebook. It segments people: you're defined by your relationship status, gender, age, location and so on. More importantly still, you have no option other than to present yourself in ways the interface allows. Again, that's dehumanising. You are locked-in by the design and this is a site used by 40% of all internet users, and counting.

At base, what Lanier believes technologists distrust are notions of quality, of meaning, of mystery. They believe the reductionist models of consciousness that sees the brain as a computer. This has two consequences. First, it interprets experience is the processing of bits, which means "you hope to become immortal by getting uploaded onto a computer." Second, it treats people as computers too, who will one day be ousted by superior computers. "The ideology has encouraged narrow philosophies that deny the mystery of the existence of experience."

Individuals like Larry Page, one of Google's founders, expect the internet to come alive quite soon, Lanier reports. (Google's website already says it was "brought to life in September 1998.") Such personal details could be ignored as eccentricities, except that the people who hold them wield power. Their missionary preference for machinism over humanism is imposing limits on the world in which we live. "If a church or a government were doing these things, it would feel authoritarian, but when technologists are the culprits, we seem hip, fresh, and inventive."

He's no Luddite. Rather, "Enlightened designers leave open the possibility either of metaphysical specialness in humans or in the potential for unforeseen creative processes that aren't explained by ideas like evolution that we already believe we can capture in software systems." So, he prefers a mysterious view of life over a materialist one, not out of any prior metaphysical conviction, but simply because it works works in terms of enlarging, not restricting, our humanity. It's a pragmatic advocacy of a religious attitude to life, and no doubt shaped by his Californian context. But it's a strikingly religious attitude, no less.

Promise to bring superfast internet to two-thirds of UK
BT announces profit of just over 1bn for the year

BT today pledged to bring the next generation of high-speed broadband internet access within the reach of two-thirds of British homes within the next five years. The move will cost 2.5bn and extend its scope beyond that of bitter rival Virgin Media, which covers half of the UK.

Unveiling a return to profit, BT also announced plans to offer cut-price access to Sky's premier sports channels as part of a 200m revamp of its BT Vision service. Following regulator Ofcom's ruling last month that the satellite broadcaster must reduce the price it charges rivals for access to Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, BT intends to offer both plus ESPN to its customers for under 20 per month in time for the next Premiership football season.

"We want to offer Sky Sports to our customers. We know it is a hole in our proposition at the moment. We know some customers do not come to us because we have not got Sky Sports and now we have access to it," said BT Retail chief executive Gavin Patterson. "I am not going to tell you exactly what the proposition is going to be, but it is going to be sharp and under 20."

There are fears, however, that Sky will use the leeway it has under Ofcom's ruling from last month to move some key football games away from Sky Sports 1 and 2. At the weekend, for instance, the crucial Manchester United game was shown on Sky Sports 3, which is not part of the regulator's deal and would not be available to BT Vision customers.

BT group chief executive Ian Livingston warned Sky that such behaviour would not be tolerated and that it would complain to the regulator if the satellite broadcaster attempted to "game" the system. "If they do use Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports 4, that would lay those channels open to exactly the same remedies as Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2," said Livingston. "I think the phrase is there should be 'no material movement' in the content and we will be keeping a very close eye on them."

BT also announced plans to launch an online gaming service in the UK, having taken a 2.6% stake in a Silicon Valley internet firm called OnLive, founded by former Apple executive Steve Perlman. OnLive has created an on-demand gaming service which allows customers to play the latest video games titles through their broadband connection without needing an expensive gaming console such as an Xbox 360.

It is part of BT's attempt to expand its business after a disastrous year in 2008 and a year of cost-cutting and writedowns in 2009. BT announced that its cuts helped it claw its way back into the black, making a pre-tax profit of just over 1bn in the year ending in March, compared with a loss of 244m a year ago. The previous year's plunge into the red was caused by writedowns to the value of BT's IT business, Global Services, which had made wildly over-optimistic profit projections.

Livingston said the improved performance demonstrated the credibility of BT's turnaround plan. "What we wanted to do was create some solid foundations and they are a lot more solid today."

BT's core business is still in decline, with revenues down 2% to 21bn for the whole year. But while the company expects that trajectory to continue into 2011, with annual revenues for this year expected to be 20bn, from then on it expects to see a return to growth, powered by new products such as high-speed broadband and BT Vision.

BT announced that it would pump an extra 1bn into its fibre-optic rollout, pushing the network to roughly two-thirds of the UK 16m homes by 2015. A quarter of those homes will get speeds of 100Mb per second. BT has yet to launch a 100Mb per second service, but earlier this year started selling BT Infinity, which runs at 40Mb. It expects 4m homes to have access to this service by the end of the year.

Shares in BT rose by more than 10% as BT said the increased investment in fibre optics could be managed within current spending plans and that BT Global Services would make more cash than it spent in two years' time. But some in the City were sceptical about the figure: in a note, HSBC reckoned the fibre-optic rollout would cost 3.5bn to 4bn.

On this week's programme, we look back on the past 14 days of politics, and the uncomfortable love triangle that unfolded between the three main party leaders. Their allegiances flipped faster than the MP housing market, and we've been watching it all on the web.

So to what extent has the UK general election of 2010 been a digital election? Discussing this are the Guardian's new media correspondent, Jemima Kiss, and Matthew McGregor from Blue State Digital, the team that orchestrated the Obama new media campaign.

We also have a dispatch from the front line of online crime: Joseph Menn, the author of Fatal System Error tells us about his research into cybercrime that could end up bringing down the web.

And in the week that the iPad's UK pricing plan was unveiled, we take a look at one of Apple's most persuasive competitors, the JooJoo Tablet, with the CEO of Fusion Garage, Chandra Rathakrishnan. Originally this device was to be released as the CrunchPad as a pet project of TechCrunch's Michael Arrington but the relationship fell apart and lawsuits seem likely.

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Website run by academics and activists aims to improve communication and negotiation between warring lands

Syrians and Israelis are crossing one of the Middle East's great divides to co-operate in cyberspace to explore ways to advance peace between their countries.

The groundbreaking OneMideast.org website aims to bring together prominent Israelis and Syrian bloggers, academics and experts seeking ways to break the stubborn impasse in negotiations.

It will host the first Syrian-Israeli public online dialogue of its kind a remarkable step for two countries which have been in a state of war for more than 60 years. The border between them a UN-monitored ceasefire line on the heavily fortified Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967 is closed. Nationals from each country are banned from visiting the other; there are no direct communications. But the authorities in Damascus have tolerated previous ad hoc internet exchanges and are thought to be happy with the launch of this permanent platform.

"It is the first time there's been an organised effort on a specific issue between two enemies, and not only between Syria and Israel," said Camille Otrankji, a Canadian-Syrian who is helping run the website. "This is an experiment. We hope it will take things a step further."

Yoav Stern, an Israeli organiser of the site, sparked intense interest in both Syria and Israel when he reported on Syrian blogging in Ha'aretz, Israel's leading liberal Hebrew-language daily. "We are used to looking at each other in demonic terms," he said. "This is different."

For the last year, academics, political analysts, journalists, businesspeople and consultants from both sides have been debating the issues in a private online forum. They produced a list of all possible objections to peace from both sides and voted for the 20 most commonly encountered in Syrian and Israeli societies. The group then produced effective counter-arguments to each of them.

Despite the emnity between the neighbours, negotiations between them have come tantalisingly close to a deal three times during the last 20 years before obstacles emerged to scuttle the process. Syrian officials say that 85% of the problems, including crucial security arrangements, were solved in negotiations with four Israeli leaders from Yitzhak Rabin to Ehud Barak. Turkey mediated four more rounds of inconclusive talks in 2008.

Still, many analysts believe Syria would never sign a peace agreement with Israel even if it secured the total return of the Golan Heights unless it was part of a comprehensive peace settlement that included the Palestinian issue.

Syria is nervous about unofficial peace initiatives, such as one involving a retired Israeli diplomat and an American-Syrian businessman who proposed turning the Golan into a nature reserve. "We are making sure that these are not negotiations," insisted Otranjki. "This is a communications exercise." The organisers want to avoid the experience of Syria Comment,

a respected US-based specialist website that has been targeted by pro-Israeli bloggers seeking to pressure the Obama administration not to continue its cautious dialogue with President Bashar al-Assad.

The next step is for OneMideast.org to invite experts and opinion formers from both countries to discuss the peace process and to submit constructive feedback for publication on the site.Israeli media reported yesterday that Assad had turned down an offer from the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, under which Israel would return the Golan if Syria severed its ties with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Selling iPhone helps group make 8.7bn
2.3bn wiped off value of Indian operations

Vodafone predicted a return to growth on the back of the rising popularity of smartphones and its deal to sell the iPhone in Britain and Germany.

After three years of declining revenues, Vodafone cheered investors by announcing a doubling of annual profits to 8.7bn and predicting that it will generate up to 7bn of cash this year, allowing it to boost payouts to shareholders.

The company's promise to increase dividends by at least 7% annually over the next three years helped offset news that it had wiped a quarter 2.3bn off the value of its Indian operation due to intense competition in the sub-Continent.

When Vodafone bought control of India's third largest mobile phone company in 2007 there were six nationwide players. There are now a dozen. While it has since signed up more than 100 million customers and become the nation's number two player, Vodafone has been forced into a fierce price war, which has slashed margins.

The cost of operating in the country looks set to increase further when the authorities auction licences to run 3G services. Prices could run into the billions and the Indian authorities have suggested that companies such as Vodafone could pay even more for the spectrum they already have.

Chief executive Vittorio Colao, however, sent the Indian regulator a stark warning that cash today means slower growth tomorrow.

"Spectrum should not be seen as something that the government can use to squeeze money out of private capital," he said. "Spectrum is the fuel for future economic development. If you see it that way, every time you take money out of investment you take money out of future GDP growth."

The company's problems in India have caused some analysts to question whether Vodafone should remain in the country. But Colao was adamant that "India is a market that when you look at it, all the projections in terms of GDP, population, wealth creation, emergence of a middle class and opportunity for data are very positive. It is a country that, from an industrial point of view, one wants to be in."

Vodafone announced that while revenues were up 8.4% to 44.5bn, after stripping out acquisitions and foreign exchange movements, they actually declined by 2.3%. The trend has been improving over the year in the last quarter group service revenues were down just 0.2% so Vodafone expects to return to growth in the current financial year.

In Europe, Vodafone has been battling against fierce competition in mature markets, regulatory price cuts and the switch from high-margin voice traffic to lower margin data traffic. There has been concern that as smartphone usage takes off, it will lead to an explosion in traffic, which will require increased capital expenditure but bring little actual increase in revenues as many people are on flat-rate data tariffs.

"There is a lot of concern, I think to some extent unjustified, that the move from voice to data will be an unprofitable move for our industry," Colao said yesterday. "But what I am saying is if companies like ours continue to invest, continue to upgrade the network and quite frankly continue to be more efficient, that switch [from voice to data] can happen at the same level of profitability.""I think in the very long term people will end up spending more on their smartphones because they will be doing more and more stuff. But already today it is not - from a cash perspective - worsening our profitability."

Just 11% of Vodafone's European customers, meanwhile, have a smartphone and the company plans to increase that to 35% by 2013. At least some of that increase will come from the iPhone, which Vodafone started selling in the UK in January and will start stocking in Spain and Germany over the summer. In the UK, where Vodafone endured two years in which O2 had the Apple device exclusively, finally being able to sell the phone has halted a two year long exodus. In the three months to end March, more customers kept their mobile phone number and moved over to Vodafone UK than took their number and left, the first time Vodafone has been a net 'porter' of numbers for two years.

"This I can say is probably down to the iPhone," Colao said. "In the sense that the negative in the last two years was linked to the iPhone: personally I heard a lot of people say 'I would love to stay with Vodafone but I want an iPhone'. That was a problem and now it is not any more."