Skype confirms 3D video calls are under development

Skype said that limitations with current 3D technologies had stopped it launching the feature

Skype has confirmed it has developed 3D video calls.

The news was revealed by a senior executive in an exclusive interview with the BBC to mark Skype's 10th anniversary.

There had been speculation about the possibility after the firm posted an advert in April saying it wanted to find a way to create "body-doubles"for workers unable to travel to meetings.

However, the executive warned it could be many years before the tech launched.

"We've done work in the labs looking at the capability of 3D-screens and 3D-capture," said Microsoft's corporate vice-president for Skype, Mark Gillett.

"We've seen a lot of progress in screens and a lot of people now buy TVs and computer monitors that are capable of delivering a 3D image.

Mark Gillett joined Skype in 2010 ahead of its takeover by Microsoft

"But the capture devices are not yet there. As we work with that kind of technology you have to add multiple cameras to your computer, precisely calibrate them and point them at the right angle.

"We have it in the lab, we know how to make it work and we're looking at the ecosystem of devices and their capability to support it in order to make a decision when we might think about bringing something like that to market."

3D indifference

A decision by Skype to support 3D could provide a boost to device-makers at a time the format has shown signs of flagging.

Disney's ESPN division recently announced it was dropping a 3D channel and the BBC has said it would end a two-year experiment with the extra dimension after the broadcast of the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode in November.

In addition, retailer John Lewis has said it has seen dwindling consumer interest in the technology, despite the fact that 3D had become a standard feature on many higher-end displays.

However, there are those who champion the standard. They include James Cameron - the movie director behind Avatar - who recently told the BBC it was "inevitable" that all entertainment content would eventually be made in 3D once special glasses had stopped being needed "because that's how we see the world".

Hollywood director James Cameron says all forms of entertainment will eventually be 3D

Mr Gillett said he agreed with Mr Cameron's claim, but warned 3D video chats would take longer to catch on than other uses.

"I can imagine a day when you have a 3D-cellphone screen that doesn't need 3D-glasses to use it," he said.

"It's less clear to me that we're close to having 3D cameras on cellphones.

"We're in the first year of your TV at home potentially having a camera attached to it, but we're several years away from the cameras capturing 3D in that context.

"You'll see much more penetration of 3D on TVs, on computers and ultimately in smartphones, probably, ahead of seeing it for sending a video call."
PS4 support?
In the meantime Mr Gillett said Skype was exploring how to offer 1080p "super-high definition" video call resolution to other devices apart from the forthcoming Xbox One video games console.

Since the standard would require extra processing power, he added that tablets and laptops were set to gain the facility ahead of smartphones.

Skype runs on the PlayStation Portable and Vita handheld consoles, but has not been announced for the PS4

And he would not rule out the software coming to Sony's PlayStation 4 which will compete with Microsoft's machine.

"We've worked with Sony for a long time," he said. "Skype ships today on the PlayStation Portable amongst other cross-platform devices that we deliver to, and for the last few years we've also been shipping versions of Skype that run on Sony TVs.

"We're obviously not party to their pre-release [PlayStation] hardware road map [but] we're committed to cross-platform."

Mr Gillett would not comment on leaked documents suggesting the US National Security Agency had been able to spy on Skype video calls since July 2012.

The Guardian quoted one memo as saying: "The audio portions of these sessions have been processed correctly all along, but without the accompanying video. Now, analysts will have the complete 'picture'."

Microsoft previously declaredthat any changes it has made to Skype's systems since acquiring the business in 2011 "were not made to facilitate greater government access".
'Fight hard'
Mr Gillett did say that the takeover had resulted in several advances including the integration of Skype into Microsoft's Outlook email service and its forthcoming Windows 8.1 operating system.

However, Taavet Hinrikus, Skype's first employee and its former marketing director, told the BBC he was not convinced.

Skype says it is working to boost the video resolution available on laptops and other devices

"It's unfortunate, but the company has lost focus on product and delighting its users and instead has been busy with corporate restructuring and being bought and sold," he said.

"Skype should refocus itself on providing the best communication tools and fight hard for mobile.

"Today companies like Whatsapp, Viber and others are leaders in the mobile communication space - that's something that Skype has to fight hard to get back."

Google executive Hugo Barra poached by China's Xiaomi

Hugo Barra was the face of Google's Android platform

 

One of Google's top executives is leaving the company to join up-and-coming Chinese firm Xiaomi.

Hugo Barra was vice president of product management for Google's mobile platform Android, and had been at the company since 2008.

 

Google confirmed his departure from the company, stating that it wished him well.

"We'll miss him at Google and we're excited that he is staying within the Android ecosystem," a spokesman said.

 

Lucrative investments

 

Mr Barra took to social network Google+ to discuss his departure.

"After nearly five and a half years at Google and almost three years as a member of the Android team - the most amazing group of people I've ever worked with in my life - I have decided to start a new career chapter," he wrote.

"In a few weeks, I'll be joining the Xiaomi team in China to help them expand their incredible product portfolio and business globally — as vice president, Xiaomi Global."

Xiaomi is a Beijing-based company that makes smartphones and other consumer electronics. They described the hiring of Mr Barra as "exciting news".

Since releasing its first handset in 2011, the company has enjoyed huge growth - now valued at $10bn (£6.5bn) thanks to two lucrative investment rounds.

Critics have accused the company of lacking in innovation and copying ideas from Western competitors.

 

Brin split

 

Mr Barra's departure coincides with reports Google's co-founder Sergey Brin is "living apart" from his wife.

News site All Things Digital wrote that Mr Brin was involved with a female Google employee who had previously had a relationship with Mr Barra.

A source told the BBC the departure was unrelated to personal issues, adding that Mr Barra had been discussing his move with Xiaomi for some time.

Mr Brin, who founded Google with Larry Page, married Anne Wojcicki in 2007. The couple have two children.

She is the chief executive of 23andMe, a biotech firm in which Google has invested $10m (£6.5m).

A spokesman for the couple told Reuters that "they remain good friends and partners" and have not yet legally separated.

Ms Wojcicki's sister, Susan, is also at Google as senior vice president in ads and commerce.

It was in Susan's garage that Mr Brin and Mr Page began their search empire, which is now worth more than $70bn, in 1998.

Looking for a smart QWERTY Android phone? Droid 5 could be it

     Is there still a market for higly capable Android phones with slideout QWERTY keyboards? Few besides Motorola must think so. Leaked photos of the alleged Droid 5 for Verizon indicate not everyone wants to use a software keyboard.

 

 

Fans of the original Motorola Droid and Droid 4 handsets — and their slideout QWERTY hardware keyboards — will be happy to see the latest leaked images of what’s being called the Droid 5.  on a Chinese web forum showing off an updated Droid from Motorola that brings back a 5-row keyboard to supplement on-screen typing.

The reported device is estimated to have a 4.3-inch to 4.5-inch display, support Verizon’s LTE network and wireless charging. Verizon has backed the Qi standard, so it’s a safe bet that any Qi charger will work with this phone if it comes to market.
No other information is available on the phone, but one only has to look at the new Motorola Droid Ultra line and the Moto x to take an educated guess. All four of those phones share nearly the exact same hardware internals: A dual-core processor with quad-core GPU, 10 Megapixel camera, Android 4.2.2 and various Motorola-specific features such as Touchless Notifications and Active Display.
These and other related features are meant to help Motorola’s newest handsets stand apart from a crowded Android handset market. So too would a QWERTY keyboard, but it doesn’t make much sense for Motorola to abandon its newest features on similar handsets.

Sony names PlayStation 4 launch dates

Shoppers in the US and Canada will be the first to be able to buy the PS4 from stores..

 

 

Sony has announced the launch dates for its PlayStation 4 console.

The next-generation games machine will become available in North America on 15 November and Europe on 29 November.

Its rival Microsoft has only said that the Xbox One will go on sale some time the same month.

Experts suggested that the latest revelation might help gain the Japanese firm headlines, but that it would be software that ultimately decided which company came out on top.

"Sony has made fantastic progress as it prepares to release the PS4, but the console still lacks a show-stopping exclusive game," said Rob Crossley, associate editor at the Computer and Video Games news site, following the announcement at the Gamescom trade fair in Cologne.

"That will certainly come eventually, but some might argue the most crucial time is now.

"Sony's press conference once again demonstrated the company has an enviably deep and meaningful relationship with the indie developer community... but Sony executives will no doubt be feeling uneasy as the list of major Xbox One exclusive games continues to grow."

Lewis Ward, a games expert at the consultants IDC, agreed that at this point the launch date was of limited importance.

"If it turns out that the PS4 goes on sale a week before the Xbox One, for example, then clearly Sony will have time to itself to make some hay," he said.

"But until we know when Microsoft is going to land I'm not sure what putting the date out there does much beyond making a news story - it won't change people's buying intentions."

Sony said there had already been more than one million pre-orders of its new console worldwide. It added that a total of 32 countries would be able to buy the PS4 during the Christmas holiday season.

A "re-imagined" Shadow of the Beast was announced as an exclusive for the PS4

 

Vita price cut

 

Previously unannounced PS4 titles unveiled in Germany included:

• Shadow of the Beast - a reboot of the 1980s Commodore Amiga title - as a Sony exclusive
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, a post-apocalyptic game from the UK-based developers of cult title Dear Esther
• Minecraft, the landscape-building title which has already been a hit on the Xbox 360 and PCs

Sony also announced a price cut to its handheld console, the PlayStation Vita.
It said the "wi-fi only" version of the device would now cost $199 (£127) excluding tax - a $50 reduction. It also promised cheaper memory cards.
Similar cuts are being made in Europe. Retailers in the UK are now listing the model for about £170 including bundled games. The machine's price was reduced earlier in the year in Japan.
"The handheld business has not been performing well, but I think a $50 cut will push up Vita sales significantly," said Mr Ward.
"But the real driver over the long term will be must-have games and the choice is still thinner than some consumers would want."

 

Ebay users hit by site problems

Ebay users are having problems with the site.

 

 

 

Ebay users are reporting issues using the auction website following scheduled maintenance carried out earlier today.

Some users are complaining of log-in failures or problems using the service once they have accessed their accounts.
A spokesperson for the site told the BBC issues had been occurring since around 08:00 BST but added that they were "intermittent".
Site users had been warned in advance that the maintenance would cause disruption, he added.
However the work had taken longer than anticipated, eBay said in a statement.
"We are sorry that intermittent problems with eBay have continued for longer than planned. We are working hard to resolve the issue, and will provide a further update soon," the firm said.
Hundreds of individuals and businesses have been tweeting about the service disruption.
"Anyone else having problems with eBay this morning? Keeps telling me my ID is incorrect (it isn't) and not allowing me to log in. Grrr!" said author Anne Mitchell
"Anyone else having problems with eBay today, First it's down & then it's up, then logins fail or pages don't work," tweeted hockey shop owner Ken Abbott.

Syria crisis: UN inspectors renew chemical attack probe

The UN team spoke to witnesses and survivors in Muadhamiya

UN chemical weapons inspectors are due to start a second day of investigations into last week's attacks in the suburbs of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The UN team came under sniper fire as they tried to visit an area west of the city on Monday.

The US and its allies are considering military strikes on Syria, although Russia - Syria's ally - has warned against this.

Both the Syrian government and rebels have blamed each other for the attacks.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals it supports in the Damascus area had treated about 3,600 patients with "neurotoxic symptoms" last Wednesday, of whom 355 died.

In the most forceful US reaction yet, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday there was there was "undeniable" evidence of a chemical attack.

US officials said there was "little doubt" that President Bashar al-Assad's government was to blame.

UN inspectors spent nearly three hours in the western district of Muadhamiya on Monday where they visited two hospitals and interviewed survivors, eyewitnesses and doctors.

A UN spokesman said they had collected some samples.

Earlier in the day, the UN convoy came under fire by unidentified snipers and was forced to turn back before resuming its journey.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the shooting and asked the UN team in Syria to register a complaint.

With Frontback, there are two sides to every iPhone photo

Depending on who you talk to, Frontback, an iPhone app for snapping a pic from both your front and back cameras, is either the next novel idea in mobile photography or something too basic, too obvious to make it as a standalone app.
Launched one month ago, the Frontback app is exactly as it sounds. The application, which has been downloaded around 200,000 times, walks you through a three-step process where you take a pic with your back-facing camera, then one with your front-facing camera, and then save or share the composite image with friends or followers.
Simple though it may sound, Frontback has a few key early-adopter fans like Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey and his parents, former TechCrunch reporter and current Google Ventures partner M.G. Siegler, and YouTube star Justine Ezarik, better known by her Internet handle iJustine. The application also counts as adviser Instagram's former lead designer Tim Van Damme.

Coffee, wine, cheese: How much can pregnant women have?

 

Pregnant women face a lot of do's and don'ts when it comes to food and drink, as in other areas of life. Working out where to draw the line is not always easy - though having a good head for statistics can help.

"When I first found out I was pregnant, I really wanted to have a cup of coffee. It was first thing in the morning. And then I thought all of a sudden, 'Oh my gosh - am I even allowed to have one cup of coffee?'" recalls Emily Oster, an associate professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
She turned to the internet and found, not surprisingly, that there was no consensus. Then she found that even books disagreed... and her doctor didn't always agree with the books.
Some writers said pregnant women should avoid coffee completely. Others advised drinking no more than two cups. Yet others drew the limit at three.

"I've read books that said six. And so I felt like there must be an answer to this," says Oster.

"The answer isn't both zero and six. Surely there is an actual number in here, and I wanted to try to understand both why there's so much disagreement but also really what is the right decision."

Using her statistical training, Oster decided to review the medical literature herself.

It is fine to have two cups a day, she concluded. But she describes herself as "more of a two-to-four cups a day coffee lady" - and at this level, she says, the evidence appears to be mixed.

"Early on I felt terrible, and I was not really able to have any coffee which was very sad for me, but once I got into the second and third trimester and I was feeling better, I often had three cups a day and I felt comfortable with that.

"When you look at more - at six or eight cups of coffee - there is some more evidence that that might be risky."

Oster, now the proud mother of a healthy two-year-old girl, has gathered together her work in a book, Expecting Better. She hopes that where the evidence is mixed, readers can consider the facts and make their own decision, based on what they are personally comfortable with.

It is difficult to draw firm conclusions, she says, because most of the studies are not randomised - it wouldn't be fair to divide pregnant women under study into two random groups and ask one group to drink coffee and the other to drink none.

Consequently, Oster says, the people involved in the studies differ in many ways that could affect the course of their pregnancies, not just in their coffee-drinking habits.

"The big issue is that caffeine consumption correlates very strongly with how nauseous you are. A lot of pregnant women are very sick, especially early on - the women who are sicker tend to drink less coffee.

"But we know that being sick is a sign of a healthy pregnancy. And so when we see that women who drink less coffee also have more successful pregnancies we don't really know if that's just about coffee or whether it's really a confounding factor from this nausea."

But coffee was just one item on a long list of forbidden, or semi-forbidden, items that Oster wanted to investigate.

Alcohol for example.

Some health services, like the National Health Service in England, recommend that women avoid alcohol altogether in pregnancy, but Oster says she decided that on the available evidence, she felt comfortable having three glasses of wine - in total - in the first trimester, and then half a glass three or four times a week in the second and third trimester.

"One thing that comes out very quickly, which is very important to emphasise, is that heavy excessive drinking in pregnancy is very dangerous. That's something you see very clearly in the data.," Oster says.

"But when I looked at the evidence on having an occasional drink - a couple of drinks a week maybe in the first trimester, up to a drink a day in later trimesters - I found that the evidence suggests that is safe.

"We don't have large randomised trials, but we do have a lot of high-quality studies which show that the children of women who drink occasionally have very similar outcomes to the children of women who abstain."

This is not the view of the UK's National Health Service.

Dr Vivek Muthu, director for healthcare at the Economist Intelligence Unit and chief executive of the healthcare evidence consultancy, Bazian, says the evidence suggests that even a low alcohol intake can risk damaging the developing foetus.

"Therefore the best and simplest advice which the NHS gives out is not to drink at all," he says.

And while the risk of damage might be lower the less alcohol the pregnant mother drinks, that doesn't mean, Muthu says, that the magnitude of the damage will be lower.

"The consequences could be just as bad as with higher levels of intake, and could result in permanent and severe physical and mental disability," he says.

He adds: "There are additional difficulties around defining from the evidence what a 'low intake' would be in terms of units of alcohol, and how this might be interpreted by different people in practice."

But of course there are many other things pregnant women are told to avoid.

"One of the things I found overwhelming about the food list was that it was just so long," Oster says.

"There were so many things to not eat. I was carrying it around trying to sneak it out during lunch so people wouldn't know I was pregnant. What I came to think was, 'Look I need to understand why these foods are restricted, so I can at least have some sort of framework for understanding what's really going on.'"

Maybe the fig would be OK...

Oster reviewed the last 15 years of data from the US Center for Disease Control on listeria outbreaks.

The evidence on unpasteurised milk and cheese was clearer than on other "banned" foods, Oster says.

"I found that about 20% of those outbreaks can be linked to unpasteurised cheese; about 10% to deli turkey. But there's one outbreak linked to ham; there's one outbreak linked to cantaloupe [melon]; one outbreak linked to celery; one to beansprouts - there are many things like this. And I came to think for a lot of these things there's kind of no way to predict.

"So I decided that on the occasion when I wanted ham, that was OK."

Much of the information pregnant women receive is over-simplified in Oster's view. Doctors just don't have time to explain things in detail, and help patients think through the decisions.

"And so I came to think that maybe it's time for women to understand these decisions - really think through the details carefully for themselves - and that that will ultimately improve the quality of medical care," she says.

"Then you can come into your doctor and say, 'Look, now I understand what's going on, let's talk about how this applies to my particular situation.'"

That, she says, is when "really productive conversations" can happen.

Makerbot Digitizer: Desktop 3D scanner goes on sale

The device takes around 12 minutes to scan a small, simple object

 

A desktop device that can quickly scan objects so they can be replicated using a 3D printer has gone on sale.

The Makerbot Digitizer, which costs $1,400 (£900), will be shipped to the first buyers in October.

Demand for the machine appeared to overload the company's store when it went on sale on Thursday evening.

The Digitizer is the latest product looking to bring 3D printing to mainstream technology users - but experts are sceptical.

The machine is designed to allow the replication of objects without any need for the user to learn any 3D modelling software or have any other special expertise.

It works by pointing several lasers at the object and detecting contours in the surface.

It also allows users to upload their 3D designs directly to Thingiverse, a website where 3D designs can be shared.

 

No hamburgers

 

The time it takes to scan an object varies, but one demonstration involving a small gnome was said to take around 12 minutes.

"The MakerBot Digitizer is for early adopters, experimenters, and visionaries who want to be pioneers in Desktop 3D Scanning," the company says.

"This includes, but is not limited to, architects, designers, creative hobbyists, educators, and artists."

However, Makerbot has made it clear that the scanner is not suitable for intricate designs and that users should not expect "too much" from the machine.

"Expectations should be realistic," the machine's FAQ page reads. "You will not be able to, for example, scan a hamburger and then eat the digital design."

It adds that objects that are shiny, reflective, and fuzzy are not well suited to scanning.

Despite the industry's hopes that 3D printing will be hugely popular in the near future, others have dismissed home 3D printing as something of a gimmick.

"Appearances have become completely unhinged from reality when it comes to the mania created in so-called '3D Printing' stocks," warned influential investment analysts Citron Research.

UK considers ban on mobile phones like car key fobs

The mobile phones can look similar to a car key fob unless closely inspected

 

UK officials are considering banning the sale of small mobile phones designed to resemble car key fobs.

A government spokesman told the BBC that it was discussing the issue with the National Trading Standards Board and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

In the meantime the NTSB has asked retailers to stop selling the products

The Times had reported some of the Chinese-made products were being advertised with prisoners in mind - having a mobile in jail is an offence.

The devices, in some cases marketed as the "world's smallest mobiles", are available from mainstream retail websites including eBay and Amazon.

They are designed to resemble the fobs used to transmit a signal to unlock vehicle doors, and feature logos from brands including BMW, Volkswagen, Bentley, Audi and Porsche.

A spokesman for the UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said it believed the devices were being made without its members' permission.

The product description of one device sold via Amazon states that it features "very very very low metal contact badges [which] can be removed due to metal content alarm", while another says the fob is "easily concealable".

The Times said it had spotted one advertised elsewhere alongside a cartoon of a prisoner behind bars.

 

 

Confiscated phones

 

 

Adverts for the devices prominently feature carmakers' logos

"A range of techniques - including body orifice security scanners and high-sensitivity metal detectors - has seen the [overall] number of recorded seizures increase," he said.
"We're now working closely with the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Trading Standards to remove these small mobiles from sale in the UK, as well as legislating to block phone signals in prisons."
More than 7,000 phones and Sim cards were confiscated in prisons in England and Wales last year.
The POA - a prison officers' trade union - confirmed its members were also concerned the gadgets could make things worse.
"The latest key fob mobile phone has the potential to increase the number of mobiles in prisons simply by the nature of the design and size.
"This will lead to further problems in prisons and whilst we recognise the work of the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service in addressing this issue, more needs to be done.
"The POA believe all prisons should have blockers installed and prisoners found in possession of a mobile phone should be prosecuted."

 

 

Police warning
A spokesman from Soca said the police unit had asked car makers to take a stand over the issue.

Soca says it warned car makers about the issue earlier this year

"By issuing alerts that warn of criminal dangers and threats, Soca seeks to arm specific organisations and sectors with information and advice they can use to protect themselves and the public," explained a spokesman.
"In this case Soca assisted the prison service and the National Trading Standards e-Crime Centre by issuing an alert to car manufacturers and online retailers earlier this year to make them aware of the issue so they can consider taking copyright infringement action against those selling these phones."
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders told the BBC it planned to co-operate with the authorities.
"We are aware of the existence of these mini-mobile phones and that a number of them bear resemblance to car keys bearing manufacturer logos," said a spokesman.
"We agree that these devices are potentially damaging and will work with Soca on this matter."
The NTSB e-crime centre said it was urging online retailers to stop selling the fobs, and members of the public not to buy them.
"There is a strong possibility that these products were not put through the stringent safety testing UK products go through, which means that there is a chance they are electrically unsafe meaning they could cause fires and injure consumers through electrocution," it said.

 

Omate Truesmart watch secures Kickstarter funds

The Omate Truesmart watch is water-resistant and features a camera on its side

 

Omate Truesmart - a smartwatch with a built-in five megapixel camera - is set to go into production after hitting its crowdfunding target.

The device raised more than $100,000 (£63,760) of pledges on fundraising site Kickstarter, guaranteeing it will get the cash.
Another watch, Pebble, secured a record $10.2m via the funding site last year.
Omate's achievement comes ahead of the much-anticipated launch of a smartwatch from Samsung.
The South Korean firm has confirmed it is working on the product and has filed patents for possible designs.
It has not announced when it will unveil the product, but its next scheduled event is at Berlin's Ifa consumer tech show in just over a fortnight's time.

Omate says its watch will be able to run apps and make voice calls

 

 

Working prototypes

 

Unlike many of the smartwatches already on the market, Omate says the Truesmart can be fitted with a micro-Sim card to make use of its 3G chip.
This will allow it to make voice calls and send social media messages without having to be paired with a smartphone or tablet - although that is also an option.

Other details announced by New York-based team include:

• Google's Android 4.2.2 operating system will power it, allowing it to run apps including fitness activity trackers
• The touchscreen will be 1.5in (3.9cm)
• It will be water-resistant, allowing it to be worn while swimming, but not if diving
• It will offer GPS location support
• It can be operated via gesture controls
• Its 4 gigabytes of internal storage can be boosted by up to an additional 32GB using a microSD card

One of Omate's three co-founders told the BBC that the project had been in development for one-and-a-half years and that they already had a factory in Shenzhen, China ready to go into production.

"We already have working prototypes, but not the final design," said Nick Yap.

"Most of the functions are there but we still need to add voice and gesture controls.

"There will be a swipe-based touch function and another when you move, like Nintendo's Wii games control. For example you will be able to flick your wrist to show the clock."

He added that his company planned to make samples of the finished product next month and to ship the first watches to customers in October.

The planned retail price is $299 (£190)

  Hyetis intends to offer a Swiss-built smartwatch with a 41 megapixel camera

 

Luxury smartwatch

 

Omate is not the only new firm teasing a camera-equipped smartwatch.
Earlier this month Geneva-based Hyetis announced plans for Crossbow - a product with a 41 megapixel camera in its side.
The developer said that it intended the device to be able to interact with iOS, Android and Windows 8 handsets and added it would cost $1,200.
It said that it intended to ship the product by the end of the year, although one tech journalist has suggested that may be an over-ambitious target.
"This strikes me as a start-up with a big idea," wrote Mike Elgan
"I doubt they'll ship this year, and it's possible they may never ship. Still, it's an ambitious effort.
Tech consultancy Gartner predicts the global wearable computing market could be worth
$10bn by 2016.

However, one of its analysts had doubts about the products being proposed by Omate and Hyetis.

"The whole point about the camera in Google Glass [eyewear] is that you can take a photo just by looking at somebody," said Carolina Milanesi.

"With these watches you'd have to position your hand and extend your arm to take a picture. The idea of including a lens seems like a gimmick and not something that people would want to use in that kind of way.

"But the idea of letting them be used underwater is a big thing because fitness trackers like the Nike Fuelband and the Jawbone Up can't currently go in the swimming pool."
Sell outs?

  Pebble holds the record for the largest amount of money raised via Kickstarter

Pebble - whose smartwatch features an e-paper display to reduce power-use, but no camera - has been the most successful start-up of its kind so far.
The California-based firm revealed in July that it had received about 275,000 pre-orders for its device. The $150 product has since gone on sale at Best Buy stores in the US.

 

But Ms Milanesi said Gartner expected that it would be more established firms that would ultimately triumph in the sector.
"Pebble has helped kick off the whole idea, but I think for a lot of these companies it's about being bought out eventually or at least selling their assets.
"I think consumers are really looking for something from the key players - such as Samsung, Google and Apple - or maybe one of the established brands that already make watches."

 

Google wants UK privacy case tried abroad, lawyer claims

Google is seeking to stop a lawsuit, claiming it illegally tracked internet users, from being heard in the UK, the claimants' lawyer Dan Tench says.

Dozens of UK users of Apple's Safari web browser claim Google bypassed a privacy setting without telling them.

The Sunday Times reported that Google's lawyers have filed papers with the High Court which said any information gleaned from its search engine was not "private or confidential".

Google declined to comment.

The case is in its early stages and lawyers have yet to appear in court to present their arguments.

However, Google has already been fined by the US trade watchdog for flouting Safari security settings.

The British claimants, who launched their campaign earlier in the year, argued that between summer 2011 and spring 2012 they were assured by Google that their online activity was not being tracked, and believed Safari's settings to be secure.
'Inherently personal'
But, they say, cookies - which allow websites to "remember" the user - were used to collect data about the online activities of web users to allow Google to provide targeted advertising to them.

Safari has a setting that is supposed to block the cookie software used by internet companies to track their customers' behaviour.

Google, worth about $285bn (£182bn), has suggested that British courts should not decide the matter, and the case should be heard by a court in California because that is where the company's software is based, according to reports.

The internet giant has tried to use this tactic in other cases against it, Mr Tench said.

But the lawyer said he believed the "harmful action" took place in the UK, where his clients lived and accessed the internet, so it would be appropriate for the case to proceed here.

"Google are trying to resist this claim on the basis of whether the UK is the appropriate jurisdiction to bring the action," he said.

"If they were right, that would constitute a very significant, practical handicap on anybody bringing any complaint against Google."

A British judge is expected to rule on the issue of jurisdiction in October.

In its submission to the UK's High Court, Google also said the information taken was not "private or confidential".

Mr Tench said: "I do find it surprising that Google is seriously trying to contend that there is no expectation of privacy in one's history of internet usage.

"That is something inherently, intimately, personal, where one would have a very high expectation of privacy."

Amazon.com website goes offline

Amazon.com has become the latest high-profile website to go offline in recent days.

Visitors to the US shopping site were greeted with a message saying: "Oops! We're very sorry," alongside a "500 Service Unavailable Error" report.

The site returned online about half an hour after the problem was first flagged by users of the news site Reddit.

Amazon could not be reached for comment at this time.

The firm's UK site was not affected by the issue, however its Canadian home page also showed an error message.

The support section of Intel's website and some pages which are only accessible to the computer chip-maker's staff also became unavailable for a period on Monday. A spokeswoman said this was due to an "internal issue" and it was a coincidence that it had occurred shortly after Amazon's problem.

It follows Google's two-minute downtime on Friday. That affected the firm's main search page as well as its Gmail email service, YouTube video site and Drive storage product.

Analytics firm GoSquared reported the fault caused a 40% dip in worldwide internet traffic. Google has not explained the cause.

Microsoft's Outlook.com and the New York Times website have also faced problems

Microsoft blamed a three-day-long disruption to its email product on a failure in its "caching" temporary storage service. It said this "resulted in a flood of traffic that our services did not handle properly".

Parts of Intel's website have also faced problems

The New York Times has said that an "internal issue" with its servers meant that the newspaper became unavailable for two hours on Wednesday.

"It's very unusual to see such a number of high-profile websites all suffering peak-time outages within the course of a few days of each other," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.

"People are going to be very interested to know exactly what the reasons were for the incidents that are still unexplained because the implications are huge: we've seen everything from users being unable to see their email to visitors and third-party retailers who use Amazon's marketplace being unable to buy and sell goods - all happening seemingly with no warning."

Facebook to test mobile payment feature

Facebook says it wants to provide a simpler online shopping experience

Facebook, the world's largest social networking company, is planning to test a new mobile payment feature.

It will use payment details added by users to their Facebook account to automatically fill in forms when they make purchases on mobile applications.

Various companies have been looking to tap into mobile payments markets.

However, Facebook said the feature would not involve moving the payment processing away from an app's current service provider.

"This product is simply to test how we can help our app partners provide a simpler commerce experience," Facebook's spokeswoman Tera Randall said in a statement.

She added that the firm has a "great relationship" with PayPal, one of the biggest processors of online payments.


'Fantastic move'

 

Facebook has more than a billion members and half log in daily. Its popularity has seen it attract advertisers keen to tap into the potential consumer pool.

According to the its latest earnings report, it generated advertising revenue of $1.6bn (£1bn) in the April to June quarter this year.

Analysts said that if the site does eventually launch the payment feature it will help it track how many of its users actually purchased items from partner applications.

"Facebook does not want to remain just a platform for brand promotion and lead generation, but it wants to become the place where ecommerce deals actually happen," Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan told the BBC.

"This feature will help them demonstrate to the advertisers the effectiveness of its platform in driving revenue. It is a fantastic move by Facebook," he added.

However, some analysts were sceptical if users would trust a social networking site with their financial information.

"Consumers want safe, seamless and convenient mobile payments and there are a growing number of competitors that consumers trust more, such as PayPal, Visa (V.me) and others,' said Denee Carrington, an analyst with Forrester Research.

Free Willy actor August Schellenberg dies

August Schellenberg was known for playing Native American roles

 

Canadian-born actor August Schellenberg, who was best known for starring in all three Free Willy films, has died aged 77.

His agent said he died at his Dallas, Texas, home after suffering from lung cancer.
Schellenberg first played whale trainer Randolph Johnson in 1993's Free Willy, reprising the role for the sequels released in 1995 and 1997.
He also starred in Terrence Malick film The New World opposite Christian Bale.
Born in Montreal, Schellenberg was a champion diver and boxer in his youth. He graduated from Montreal's National Theatre School of Canada in 1966 and later moved to Dallas.
Known for playing Native American roles, the actor - who was half Mohawk and half Swiss-German - earned an Emmy nomination in 2007 for his role as Chief Sitting Bull in the HBO movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
He was also nominated for three Genie awards over his career, which recognise the best in Canadian cinema, winning once for 1991 adventure Black Robe.
His other big screen credits include 1978 Donald Sutherland film Bear Island, 1994 film Iron Will opposite Kevin Spacey and 2006 family film Eight Below.
While on TV, he had roles in series such as The Littlest Hobo, Due South, Grey's Anatomy and Stargate Universe.
As well as teaching acting workshops at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Schellenberg also played the lead in an all-First Nations cast of Shakespeare's King Lear at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa last year.
"I got a call this morning from the NAC saying they have lowered their flags to honour him," Schellenberg's agent Jamie Levitt said.
NAC president Peter Herrndorf added: "August Schellenberg had been thinking about mounting King Lear in 1967, just two years before the NAC opened its doors in Ottawa.
"Through his friendship and collaboration... that dream was realised in our theatre in 2012. It was a ground-breaking and proud production."
Schellenberg is survived by his wife, actress Joan Karasevich, and three daughters.

Egyptian police killed in Sinai ambush at Rafah

The Sinai peninsula is covered by the 1979 treaty between Israel and Egypt

At least 24 Egyptian policemen have been killed in an ambush attack in the Sinai peninsula, officials say.

The police were travelling in two buses which came under attack from armed men close to the town of Rafah on the Gaza border, security forces said.

A number of police were also reported to have been injured in the blast.

The military recently intensified a crackdown against militants in Sinai, where attacks have surged since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Deployments in Sinai are subject to the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

In Monday's incident, security sources said four armed men had stopped the police buses and forced the passengers to get out before shooting them.

India express train in Bihar kills people crossing track

 

At least 15 people have died after being hit by an express train while crossing the tracks at a remote train station in the Indian state of Bihar, local officials say.

The passengers, mostly Hindu pilgrims, had just alighted from a local train at Dhamara Ghat station and were on their way to a temple in Saharsa district.

They were hit by the Rajya Rani Express travelling on the opposite track.

An angry crowd is said to have beaten the driver and set two coaches on fire.

Senior railway official Arun Malik, who is on his way to the site, told the BBC that rescue operations were under way.

The toll is likely to go up as dozens of others are reported to be injured.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the incident and ordered district officials to the scene.

India's state-owned railway network is vast - it operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.

Last year, railway officials said train accidents in India had killed 1,220 people over the past five years.

Egypt unrest: Islamist detainees die in 'escape bid'

  Protests by the Muslim Brotherhood have continued in some cities despite authorities' attempts to suppress them

At least 36 Islamist prisoners have died in Egypt during an apparent attempt to escape during their transfer to a prison outside Cairo.

The interior ministry gave conflicting accounts of the deaths, initially saying the men died from gunfire during an attack by unidentified gunmen.

The Muslim Brotherhood described the incident as "cold-blooded killing".

European Union ambassadors are due to meet to discuss the crisis, in which at least 830 have died since Wednesday.

On Sunday, the head of Egypt's armed forces said that "there is room for everyone" in Egypt, including supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. But he said they had to "revise their national position".

But Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi also warned the military would not tolerate unrest.

"We will not stand by silently watching the destruction of the country and the people or the torching the nation and terrorising the citizens."

The interim government says the Muslim Brotherhood has carried out a campaign of terror since Mr Morsi's overthrow on 3 July - which Morsi supporters call a "coup".

On Wednesday the army moved against two encampments of Morsi supporters in Cairo, unleashing a wave of violence in the deeply divided country.


Conflicting accounts

Initially, the interior ministry said the detainees died in an exchange of fire after some of them took a military officer hostage and a convoy of prison vehicles, transporting a total of 612 detainees to Abu Zaabal prison in Qalyubia province, was attacked by unidentified gunmen.

But later the ministry said the prisoners died from the effects of inhaling tear gas, which was fired when the escaping detainees took a police officer hostage. He was freed, but was badly injured, the military's statement added.

A legal source told the Reuters news agency that the detainees had suffocated in the back of a crammed police van.

And officials speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press news agency said that not all the detainees belonged to the Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood said 35 people had died.

"The murder of 35 detained anti-coup protestors affirms the intentional violence aimed at opponents of the coup, and the cold-blooded killing of which they are targets," it said in a statement in English.

More than 1,000 Brotherhood members have been detained in raids since Wednesday, with security sources saying about 300 were held in several cities on Sunday, including Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut and Suez.

The interior ministry says so-called "people's committees", which have been set up by residents of some areas to provide security, would be banned because some had been used for vigilante activities.

Moves to quash resistance by the Muslim Brotherhood have had only limited success, with some marches planned for Sunday cancelled but protests reported in Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailiya and Assiut.

More than 830 people, including 70 police and soldiers, are reported to have been killed since Wednesday.

Unrest is continuing in the Sinai Peninsula, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported, with a civilian, two soldiers and a police officer killed overnight on Saturday.

'Path will not succeed'

However, there was some return to normality in the capital on Sunday, with streets busier than they have been in recent days, banks reopening and trading resuming on the stock market - where shares fell 3.9%.

A curfew remains in place however, and the streets are once again deserted after 19:00 (17:00 GMT).

The violence has sparked harsh international condemnation - though Saudi Arabia and Jordan have both expressed support for Egypt's "fight against terrorism".

Ambassadors to the European Union's Political and Security Committee are expected to meet in Brussels at about 08:00 GMT on Monday.

In a statement, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said the EU "will urgently review in the coming days its relations with Egypt".

Expressing regret that international efforts to find a peaceful way forward in Egypt were abandoned and a "course of confrontation" instead pursued, the statement concludes: "This path will not succeed. It is crucial that violence ends immediately.

"The calls for democracy and fundamental freedoms from the Egyptian population cannot be disregarded, much less washed away in blood."

There are calls for the ambassadors' meeting to be quickly followed by a full meeting of European foreign ministers.

The EU has pledged several billion dollars in loans and grants to Egypt, but some countries are now calling for this aid to be frozen.

DR Congo unrest: Children freed from militia, says UN

Monusco is tasked with protecting civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo

 

The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo says that 82 children - some as young as eight - have been rescued from an armed group.

Monusco says the children, including 13 girls, had been forcibly recruited in the past six months by the Mai Mai Bakata Katanga militia.

The group is active in Katanga province in the south-east of the country.
Forty of the rescued children have been reunited with their families and the others are said to be receiving care.

Correspondents say the region remains very restive, with local militia demanding a fairer distribution of wealth between the poorer north of Katanga and the southern zone where foreign mining firms operate.

Monusco - the UN's stabilisation mission in DR Congo - said in a statement that the children had been identified and separated from the militia through the concerted efforts of child protection agencies.

"We are extremely concerned by continued reports of active recruitment by Mai Mai Bakata Katanga and other armed groups in eastern DRC," said Monusco head Martin Kobler.

"Children face unacceptable risks when they are recruited for military purposes. The recruitment of children, particularly those under 15 years of age, could constitute a war crime and those responsible must be held to account".

Monusco said that since the beginning of the year, 163 children, including 22 girls, have been removed from the militia.

Egypt crisis: Police besiege Cairo mosque

 

Egyptian security forces are besieging a Cairo mosque where hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters have spent the night barricaded inside.

The tense stand-off follows a day of bloody clashes on Friday in which more than 80 people died.

Egypt is in turmoil after protest camps in Cairo were cleared on Wednesday with the loss of hundreds of lives.

The Brotherhood, which backs deposed President Mohammed Morsi, has called for a week of daily rallies.

Meanwhile, Egypt's interim officials say more than 1,000 Islamists were arrested on Friday, the AFP news agency reports.

"The number of Muslim Brotherhood elements arrested reached 1,004," the interior ministry said in a statement early on Saturday.

The ministry said 558 of the arrests took place in Cairo.

 

On Saturday, police were besieging the al-Fath mosque in Cairo's Ramses Square where Morsi supporters were holed up.

Police reportedly said women could leave the mosque but men would be held for questioning - an offer rejected by those inside.

Ramses Square was a focal point of Friday's clashes and the mosque was quickly filled with the dead and injured - as well as those fleeing the violence.

Witnesses said nearly 1,000 people were trapped inside.

One woman inside the mosque told AFP that "thugs" had tried to storm the building but the men barricaded the doors. It was not clear who the "thugs" she referred to were.

Security officials quoted by the official Mena news agency said "armed elements" had opened fire from inside the mosque.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been on the streets since the army deposed Mr Morsi - Egypt's first democratically elected president - last month and installed an interim government.

On Wednesday at least 638 people died when the Brotherhood's two protest camps in Cairo were cleared, a move that sparked international condemnation.

Friday's protests - dubbed a "day of anger" - were called in response to Wednesday's bloodshed. Most of the latest deaths were in Cairo but about 25 were elsewhere, including 12 in Nile Delta cities.

Egypt's interim leaders have imposed a state of emergency with dusk-to-dawn curfews in the capital and other areas. The interior ministry says police have been authorised to use live ammunition "within a legal framework".

Correspondents say the atmosphere in Cairo is tense, with many armoured personnel carriers deployed on the streets.


  Muslim Brotherhood supporters are being urged to attend daily rallies

The army has blocked off all entrances to Tahrir Square - the focus of demonstrations that led to the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Meanwhile, groups that support the army-backed interim government - the National Salvation Front and Tamarod - are calling for counter-demonstrations in response to the Muslim Brotherhood protests.

Friday's violence erupted shortly after midday prayers when thousands of Morsi supporters answered the Brotherhood's call for rallies across Egypt.

Witnesses said armed civilians were among those who clashed with protesters, while vigilantes set up roadblocks in some areas to stop Brotherhood supporters getting through.

Elsewhere in Egypt, at least five people were killed in the second city of Alexandria, six in Suez, eight in Damietta and five in Fayoum, according to medical sources.

Mr Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, was ousted by the military on 3 July.

He is now in custody, accused of murder over a 2011 jailbreak. His period of detention was extended by 30 days on Thursday, state media said.