Web attack knows where you live

One visit to a booby-trapped website could direct attackers to a person's home, a security expert has shown.

The attack, thought up by hacker Samy Kamkar, exploits shortcomings in many routers to find out a key identification number.

It uses this number and widely available net tools to find out where a router is located.

Demonstrating the attack, Mr Kamkar located one router to within nine metres of its real world position.

'Creepy' attack
Many people go online via a router and typically only the computer directly connected to the device can interrogate it for ID information.

However, Mr Kamkar found a way to booby-trap a webpage via a browser so the request for the ID information looks like it is coming from the PC on which that page is being viewed.

He then coupled the ID information, known as a MAC address, with a geo-location feature of the Firefox web browser. This interrogates a Google database created when its cars were carrying out surveys for its Street View service.

This database links Mac addresses of routers with GPS co-ordinates to help locate them. During the demonstration, Mr Kamkar showed how straightforward it was to use the attack to identify someone's location to within a few metres.

"This is geo-location gone terrible," said Mr Kamkar during his presentation. "Privacy is dead, people. I'm sorry."

Mikko Hypponen, senior researcher at security firm F Secure, attended the presentation and said it was "very interesting research".

"The thought that someone, somewhere on the net can find where you are is pretty creepy," he said.

"Scenarios where an attack like this would be used would be stalking or targeted attacks against an individual," he added.

"The fact that databases like Google Streetview's Mac-to-Location database or the Skyhook database can be used in these attacks just underlines how much responsibility companies that collect such data have to safeguard it correctly," said Mr Hypponen.

Mr Kamkar detailed the attack during a presentation at the Black Hat hacker conference. In 2005, Mr Kamkar created a worm that exploited security failings in web browsers to garner more than one million "friends" on the MySpace social network in one day.

Prosecuted for the hack, Mr Kamkar was given three years' probation, did 90 days of community service and paid damages. He was also banned from using the net for personal purposes for an undisclosed amount of time.

Private browsing modes leak data

The private browsing modes on modern browsers leak information about where people have visited, suggests a study.

Available in many browsers, the private modes are not supposed to log information about sites visited.

However, the study found that in many cases the privacy mode was compromised by additions to the browser or extra security on websites.

Many extras that people add to browsers can "completely undermine" the anonymity of private browsing.

Computer scientist Dan Boneh from Stanford University led the study of private browsing modes on the Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari browsers.

The researchers tested when people used private browsing modes by employing adverts that log the state of the machine on which the ad is being displayed.

It found that private browsing was most popular when people visited adult sites.

Private browsing modes typically work by erasing the information logged when any site is visited.

These logs include small text files known as cookies, entries on a history file and data put in the browser's cache.

However the study found that other ways in which a browser logs data were often left undisturbed at the end of a private browsing session.

This occured, for example, if the site being visited used security systems such as those which protect data sent back and forth during web purchases.

Add-ons or plug-ins for browsers, particularly those that help with searching, also readily log information that the private browsing mode was supposed to delete, found the study.

The researchers concluded that, in some cases, these weaknesses were able to "completely defeat the benefits of private mode".

The paper will be presented at the Usenix Security conference which is being held in Washington, DC from 11-13 August.

Saudi Blackberry services Resumes

Blackberry services have been restored in Saudi Arabia, reports say.

A ban on the use of the device for sending and receiving messages was due to have come into force.

And locals said the handsets had stopped working for four hours.

But there is no sign yet that the ban has been lifted. Earlier reports that Blackberry manufacturers RIM (Research in Motion) had found a solution to security issues raised by local authorities cannot be confirmed.
The authorities object to the devices because they operate an encrypted message service meaning that communication from Blackberry devices cannot be monitored.

Ben Thompson, in Dubai, said that there are conflicting reports about why the handsets are currently working again.

"Services are up and running again across the country," he confirmed.

"But inevitably, that raises more questions than it answers. If RIM did grant Saudi Arabia access to its security codes, other countries in the region would now expect the same.

"The UAE - which is threatening its own ban by October alongside Algeria, Indonesia and India would all be expecting similar deals."

Dubai-based British businessman Nazar Musa said that had been a lot of local interest in the issue.

"There's been an awful lot of discussion and debate about the Blackberry issue," he told.

"Clearly as a centre of regional business and with links and ties to the rest of the world the use of Blackberry services is vital."

He added that there had been "limited concern" expressed on chat rooms about the desire of the authorities to access the data itself.

RIM has been contacted.

In a statement earlier this week a spokesperson for the company said that the devices were deliberately designed to prevent anybody from accessing individual message data, which is stored on servers in Canada.

"RIM cannot accommodate any request for a copy of a customer's encryption key, since at no time does RIM, or any wireless network operator or any third party, ever possess a copy of the key."

Net neutrality talks stall in US

US regulators have halted closed-door meetings intended to find a way to make sure all web data is treated equally.

The Federal Communications Commission began the meetings after a court limited its net regulation powers.

The FCC faced criticism over the meetings by groups that supported the principle known as net neutrality.

The FCC decision follows reports that Google and Verizon hatched a separate deal to allow faster speeds for web sites that pay for the privilege.

"Any outcome, any deal that doesn't preserve the freedom and openness of the internet for consumers and entrepreneurs will be unacceptable," said FCC chair Julius Genachowski.
Both firms denied they were close to an agreement that many fear would lead to a "two-tier internet".

Google said: "We remain as committed as we always have been to an open internet".

In a blog post net service provider Verizon also clarified its position.

"As we said in our earlier FCC filing, our goal is an internet policy framework that ensures openness and accountability, and incorporates specific FCC authority, while maintaining investment and innovation," wrote David Fish, executive director of media relations for Verizon.

"To suggest this is a business arrangement between our companies is entirely incorrect," he added.

Despite the public statements, reports that an agreement will soon be announced persist.

During the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, California, Google boss Eric Schmidt would not be drawn on the issue.

"We have been talking to Verizon for a long time about trying to get an agreement on what the definition of what net neutrality is," he told reporters.

"We are trying to find solutions that bridge between the hard core 'net neutrality or else' view and the historical telecom view of no such agreement."

Log Jam

The issue of net neutrality, which means no data traffic is prioritised over any other, has become a thorny one for the FCC. A recent court case limited the agency's powers to police what happens to data when it ruled that the FCC did not have the power to sanction Comcast for throttling some traffic.

As a result the FCC said it would reclassify broadband under a more heavily regulated part of the telecommunications law known as Title II. Cable and phone companies claimed the move would stifle investment in next generation broadband.

With the fear that these companies would resort to legal action, the agency began holding what critics termed "secret negotiations" aimed at forging a consensus on how to treat internet traffic.

The FCC's move to end these talks with firms such as Verizon, Google, Skype and AT&T suggest they broke down without reaching a decision.

Edward Lazarus, FCC chief of staff, said the talks had not "generated a robust framework to preserve the openness and freedom of the internet".

Pay to play

Public interest groups believe the Google Verizon tie-up, if it came to pass, would change the very nature of the internet and how it operates

"The deal marks the beginning of the end of the internet as you know it," said Josh Silver, president of the Free Press consumer group.

"Since its beginnings, the net was a level playing field that allowed all content to move at the same speed, whether it's ABC News or your uncle's video blog. That's all about to change."

At the Techonomy Conference Mark Carges, chief technology officer of auction site eBay, underlined the company's support for net neutrality.

"eBay supports net neutrality legislation that will prohibit phone and cable companies from replacing the robust open internet with 'Pay to Play' private networks that will force out and discriminate against content and service providers that refuse to pay new tolls," Mark Carges told.

"Consumers, non-profits and businesses already pay for access to the internet," he said. "Broadband providers should not be permitted to 'double dip' by charging consumers twice for high-speed internet access."

Techonomy attendee Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, said she was watching the situation in the US closely.

"We are facing the same types of issues and with our discussions we are consulting everyone," said Ms Kroes adding that she was a supporter of net neutrality.

"I know Chairman Genachowski and that he is doing his utmost to find solutions to this issue," she said.

UK to open Earth observation hub

Science minister David Willetts has announced a new UK centre for monitoring the Earth from space.

The Earth observation hub will focus on acquiring environmental data, such as information on deforestation and the impact of climate change.

The hub will be based at the International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) at Harwell in Oxfordshire, which will open in April 2011.

The aim is to bring together UK expertise in Earth observation.

The hub will also be used as a flight operations centre for controlling satellites. In addition, it will develop the expertise to analyse environmental information coming from space, helping scientists learn more about how the planet is being affected by climate change.
Tracking pollution

Professor Alan O'Neill, director of the National Centre for Earth Observation, said: "By bringing together the best of our space science base with industrial researchers, we hope to develop a wide range of applications.

"These include global monitoring of deforestation, concentration of greenhouse gasses, and levels of marine pollution."

Up to 40 scientists will be based at the centre. Many of them will be involved in gathering and presenting the vast amounts of information coming from environmental satellites.

The data will be made available to scientists across the world and to the public.

Details of the hub were announced by the Science Minister David Willetts in a speech on Wednesday morning at the Farnborough Air Show.

He said that the centre would not become a "centralising force"; rather, it would serve as a hub to link regional space capabilities and promote knowledge-sharing between academia and industry.

Mr Willetts' said in his speech: "ISIC will operate at arm's length from the UK Space Agency so that it becomes a common facility within the Harwell campus.

"And at Harwell, the new European Space Agency facility is already working well, especially in climate change science and related applications.

"Soon it will have an incubator for new space businesses and work on space exploration. This is a fantastic additional catalyst for UK space."

Ancient climate change 'link' to CO2

A "global pattern" of change in the Earth's climate began 2.7 million years ago, say scientists.

Researchers found that, at this point, temperature patterns in the tropics slipped into step with patterns of Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere.

They report in the journal Science that atmospheric CO2 could be the "missing link" to explain this global pattern.

The findings, they say, reveal a "feedback process" that could have been magnified by greenhouse gases.

This loop of feedback could have intensified both the Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere, and temperature fluctuations in the tropics.

Professor Timothy Herbert from Brown University in Rhode Island, US, led the research. He and his colleagues, in the US and China, analysed mud cores from the seabed in the four tropical ocean basins - the Arabian Sea, the South China Sea, the eastern Pacific and the equatorial Atlantic Ocean.

These mud cores are laid down over millions of years - as sediments of dead plant and animal material sink to the ocean floor.

So by analysing the chemical composition of this material - specifically the chemical remains of one ancient and tiny marine organism - the scientists were able to produce a timeline of temperature changes.

The team "found a fingerprint in the sequence of temperature changes" - a pattern that began 2.7 million years ago, Professor Herbert explained.

He told: "The timing and the amplitude of temperature changes [in the Northern Hemisphere] are reproduced in the tropical temperatures. The patterns are incredibly similar."

He added that the study provided the first direct evidence of a global pattern in climate change that dated back almost three million years.
Ancient greenhouse

Professor Herbert added that the "best global mechanism" to explain this link was the level of atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Dr Carrie Lear, a palaeoclimate scientist from Cardiff University in the UK, agreed that carbon dioxide was the likely "culprit".

She told: "This study reveals a feedback process that has magnified climate change since the inception of Northern Hemisphere glaciation 2.7 million years ago.

"It seems the tropical warming caused by high CO2 levels set off a chain of events resulting in additional greenhouse gases, including water vapour, being released to the atmosphere, thus causing further warming."

Dr Lear said that such studies of past climate change were "invaluable in understanding the current climate system, and hence predicting future change".

Birds with the brightest feathers may pay a cost for their showmanship

Males with the brightest plumage are thought to be more sexually attractive to female birds.

But a study of American goldfinches is the first to show that high levels of brightly coloured chemicals in feathers leads to a breakdown in flight muscles, which affects flight performance.

Details are published in the journal Naturwissenschaften. The discovery does not necessarily mean that the brightest birds are also the weakest, or least able to reproduce.

Instead it shows that having bright feathers comes at a real cost to male birds.

That in turn means that bright feathers are an honest signal of quality.

Only the fittest males in the best condition, who are best able to cope with the negative effects, will take on enough brightly coloured chemicals to brighten their plumage.

Yellow health

In many animals, including fish and birds, males gain competitive or mating advantages by ingesting and using large quantities of pigments known as carotenoids.

These yellow, orange and red pigments are found naturally in the bird's diets, and they cannot be made by their bodies.

When eaten, carotenoids are converted to brighten otherwise dull feathers, creating bright plumages.

The beneficial effects of high levels of carotenoids are well documented by scientists: as antioxidants they are thought to improve bird's health, and the resulting bright feathers signal to female birds that males are healthy, have less parasites and a good diet.But until now, scientists have not examined whether there is a downside to eating lots of carotenoids.

To do so, Professor Kristen Navara of the University of Georgia in Athens, US and colleagues at Auburn University, Alabama studied what happened to American goldfinch birds fed a diet rich in carotenoids.

Over two consecutive seasons, they fed wild caught goldfinches a high carotenoid diet for two months, followed by a normal diet for two months.

A control group of birds was consistently fed a diet low in carotenoids.

During the experiments, the researchers collected feathers from the birds to measure how much carotenoid pigment was taken up into the bird's plumage.

In the first year, they also tested for levels of an enzyme that might indicate muscle is being broken down in the birds.

In the second year, they followed this up by directly testing the bird's ability to fly by measuring the performance of the bird's flight muscles.

Muscle wasters

The results were clear.

Birds fed carotenoid supplements were significantly more colourful, having more strikingly yellow feathers.

However, birds fed this high-carotenoid diet also produced high levels of muscle-wasting enzymes, as the carotenoids became toxic, causing tissue damage.

They also performed less well during flight tests.

"The impairments were long-term and occurred two months after carotenoid supplementation had stopped," Prof Navara told.

"In a natural situation, this time period would correspond with the breeding season for male goldfinches."Impaired muscle performance during this time could decrease reproductive output overall."
That means only birds in good enough condition to tolerate these negative effects will take on high levels of carotenoids, and hence have the showiest feathers.

"So when females choose males with bright colouration, they are choosing ones in good enough condition to withstand high levels of carotenoids," says Prof Navara.

"Until now high levels of carotenoids have been regarded as beneficial to songbirds, and out study suggests that other potentially detrimental effects need to be tested in other species to get a full picture."

Microsoft slims down Xbox console

The new console - to be launched this week - will have the same price as the old system, but comes with Wi-Fi and a 250 GB HD.

It follows a similar move by Sony, which released its own slimmer edition in August 2009.

The announcement was made ahead of the E3 games convention in Los Angeles, at which the firm showcased its range of forthcoming games.

The event also saw the first public viewing of Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latest edition in the popular Call of Duty series.

The new edition is set during the Vietnam War and takes the players through the tunnels of South Vietnam and into the jungles of Laos.

The game will hit the shops on 9 November this year.

New deal
Microsoft said a new deal with Call of Duty's publisher Activision would see all add-on and map packs for the game being released on Xbox 360 first, and that this deal would last for the next three years.

The event, less than 12 hours after it unveiled the final version of its hands-free control system Kinect, also had offerings from Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear Solid series with Metal Gear Solid: Rising; Gears of War 3; Fable 3; and Halo Reach, the latest in the long running series.

Microsoft also fleshed out details of the games, as well as software that will be supported by Kinect.

After the success of Wii Sports from rival Nintendo, it was unsurprising that Microsoft are to follow suit, with Kinect Sports boasting six different events, from javelin, to boxing and volleyball.

The firm also demonstrated Kinectimals, a virtual pet that allows users to adopt and play with their favourite animals.

Kinectwill launch on 4 November 2010 in North America, with Europe expected to follow a few weeks later. Microsoft said there will be 15 different Kinect titles at launch.

The firm hopes these new games will help it stay ahead of its arch-rival, Sony PlayStation, which has seen a resurgence in sales over recent months.

Last year, the firm unveiled a number of games that were once the sole domain of the PlayStation, such as Grand Theft Auto and Assassins Creed.

Exclusivity
An exclusive title can mean a significant lift to hardware sales, as gamers are forced into a single platform if they want to actually play it. Halo did much to boost the Xbox 360 when it was launched, as did Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation 3.

However, the price difference between the two systems at the time meant that there were more sales for Microsoft's system than Sony.

Since the two systems launched, an unofficial price war has been waged between the two firms, with Sony reducing the price of the PS3 from £420 at launch to £249.99 ($299 in the US) and Microsoft now selling its Xbox 360 Elite for £199 (down from its original £299 price tag at launch).

Both firms say that their price cuts are not influenced by competitors decisions.

Sony has denied there will be any further reduction in price for the PlayStation 3 at E3, with Sony's UK Sales Director - Mark Howsen - telling the British games industry magazine MCV that there had been "no discussion internally about that at all".

"We're enjoying good year-on-year growth and as long as that continues we'll keep on going I think".

Wikipedia unlocks divisive pages for editing

The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia says it has taken an "important step" towards making it easier to edit some of its most controversial articles.

Up to 2,000 articles, including a page about former US President George W Bush, will have their strict editing restrictions relaxed.

Users will now be able to submit changes to the selected pages for review by senior editors.

It is part of Wikipedia's ongoing efforts to curb vandalism of the site.

Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales told the new system, called "pending changes" will allow the site "to open up articles for general editing that have been protected or semi-protected for years.

"That's what is exciting about this," he said.

False reports

Wikipedia encourages editorial changes from everybody who comes to the site.

However, it has been plagued by persistent problems such as the malicious editing of entries, and repeated editing of controversial topics. As a result, the site has introduced a number of levels of protection that can be applied to articles.

For example, new or anonymous users could previously be prevented from editing "semi-protected" articles, and were forced to suggest changes on a discussion board attached to each article before they could be incorporated.

Semi-protected articles cover a wide range of subjects including Iceland, David Cameron, George W Bush and even homework.

The new changes should make it easier for users to contribute to these pages, the site says.

Mr Wales said that he was pleased to see the pages opening up again.

"These have had to be semi-protected for years just because they are too tempting for naughty people to try something funny," he said.

"But semi-protection has prevented thoughtful and sincere newcomers from making good changes."

Pending Changes will be introduced at 11pm GMT on 15 June.

Editing review

Any edits to articles in this category are subject to review from an established Wikipedia editor before publication, although anyone can still view changes that have been proposed.

For the duration of the two month trial, Wikipedia users will notice a small magnifying glass, in place of a padlock, on included articles. In a blog post, Wikipedia said: "The icon, on the upper right corner of the article, represents an important step that Wikipedia volunteers have taken to open up articles that were previously protected from editing.

"At present, only about 0.1% of the 3.3 million articles on the English Wikipedia are under edit protection.

"This tool should help reduce disruptive edits or errors to these pages while maintaining open, collaborative editing from anyone who wants to contribute."

Anyone can view proposed edits by clicking on the "pending changes" tab, alongside the "edit" and "history" tabs on a Wikipedia entry.

The software that enables the new feature was originally developed for the German version of Wikipedia, where it is called "flagged revisions".

In Germany, edits on all articles are subject to review, and it is likely that some observers will see this pilot as the first step towards such a system in English.

Mr Wales said that was "extremely unlikely" and "neither necessary nor desirable".

"The Germans seem happy with it, but they are also going to be closely watching the English system, and I'm sure they'll at least consider switching if the results are good," he said.

Michael Peel, secretary of the independent non-profit organisation Wikimedia UK, told that it had taken "a long time to find consensus" on how best to run the trial.

Mr Wales called for a similar change in 2009, after Wikipedia articles wrongly suggested for a short time that two US senators had died.

In a blog entry, Mr Wales said the "nonsense" of the false reports would have been "100% prevented" by a system that involved editors and said he wanted the changes to be implemented as soon as possible.

The suggestion provoked a storm of comments on his site, with many encyclopaedia editors saying the proposal was unworkable.

Wikipedia said the decision about which articles to include in the new trial, up to an initial limit of 2,000, will be taken by the Wikipedia community.

Technology milestone heralds a more secure internet

Moves to make the web's address system more secure will take a major step forward next month.

In the planning for a decade, the Domain Name System Security Extentions, DNSSEC, will help protect users from cyber attacks such as phishing and spam.

The security layer will be added to the web's address system in July.

It should close the loophole that allows hackers to intercept DNS data and redirect users to fake websites.

The Domain Name System (DNS) was created in 1984 to allow computers to 'read' web addresses but it had no security features, offering rich pickings for criminals.

"DNSSEC will improve the security of the web so we can have more confidence in the activities on the network as it increasingly becomes part of our working lives and home lives," said Leslie Daigle the chief internet technology officer at the Internet Society, which is the home of the standards body that developed DNSSEC.

The new security extension, DNSSEC, basically works by using cryptograph and digital signatures to verify each query and ensure that each response that is made has not been compromised or intercepted.

Cyber-criminals are increasingly using false DNS servers to intercept legitimate web addresses and redirect users to fake sites, which steal personal information.

"It acts like tamper-proof packaging to make sure if you type in the website name of your bank that you actually get to the machine that your bank wants you to use and not to a machine that looks like that of your bank but is operated by those who want to take you to a different website to steal your log-in details," said Ms Daigle.

'Security puzzle'

The reason this move is being seen as a "technological milestone" in shoring up the web is because, although not visible to most users, DNS is an essential part of the way the internet works.

It acts as the net's address system or phone book by translating website addresses like www.bbc.co.uk into the numerical equivalents preferred by machines.

The DNSSEC protocol is being overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which is the administrative body behind net addresses.

It is working with domain-name registrars and root nameservers - which begin the process of translation web addresses into IP addresses - to make sure the process runs smoothly.

However Ms Daigle told, DNSSEC cannot solve all the evils perpetrated by cyber-criminals and best practices that people have been using should not be abandoned.

"It is a piece of the security puzzle and while it does build better security around everything people are doing on the internet, users should not become lax in how they protect themselves online," she said.

Revolutionary
One of the greatest critics of the security of the Domain Name System has been Dan Kaminsky, chief scientist at security firm Recursion Ventures.

In 2008 he went public with a flaw that he found in the DNS which meant the internet was at the mercy of phishing gangs who could redirect internet users to fake banks sites to steal their personal information.

This issue became known as the "Kaminsky bug" and is often referred to as cache poisoning.

Mr Kaminsky told that even though he was initially sceptical of the efficacy of DNSSEC, he has examined the code carefully and has become a recent convert having declared it "awesome" in its ability to provide a "safer and more secure internet".

"The basic flaw of the internet is one of trust and this will revolutionise the way we use the internet.

"In my mind the biggest benefit we will get concerns one of the biggest embarrassments in the security sector and that is secure email where it will be truly possible to know that when you get an email from your bank, it really is your bank," said Mr Kaminsky.

The Internet Engineering Task Force's Ms Daigle agreed and called DNSSEC "an essential building block for building a larger internet future" that will allow us to take on "bigger activities and carry out new applications".

Nintendo unveils 3D game gadget

Nintendo has unveiled its new 3D handheld gaming system at a briefing in Los Angeles at the E3 games show.

Called 3DS, the system can display 3D images that can be seen without using special glasses.

Nintendo said the novel handheld is designed to replace the existing DS and is scheduled to be on shop shelves in late 2010.

The gaming giant said it had overhauled the graphics system on the DS to bring it into the 21st Century.

Playing Mickey

The 3DS handheld has two camera lenses which enables owners to take and view photographs in 3D.

One difficulty Nintendo faced in creating the gadget was the incompatability between creating a 3D screen and a usable touch-screen interface.

Consequently on the 3DS only the top screen displays 3D while the lower screen is a functional touch screen.

At its briefing Nintendo showed the first game that will be released for the 3DS called Kid Icarus Uprising.

One other feature new to the 3DS is an always-on wi-fi connection that will automatically feed levels and updates to players. Nintendo said the net service behind the always-on updates will be free to use.

Nintendo said several 3DS titles were in development including DJ Hero 3D, Saints Row: Drive-By, Resident Evil Revelations, Batman, Assassin's Creed Lost Legacy and Metal Gear Solid.

At the event Nintendo also showcased a number of new titles that included Donkey Kong Country Returns, a new Legend of Zelda called Skyward Sword, Mario Sports and, after a 13-year gap, Goldeneye 007 for the Wii.

Veteran game developer Warren Spector was also at the event to show off his new game Disney Epic Mickey - a 3D action adventure with a heavy Role-playing element set in the Disney universe.

Gamers play as Mickey Mouse who travels around a dynamic 3D world in which he can use paint or paint thinner to create or destroy the environment which will have a direct effect on how the game plays out.

Mr Spector has developed a number of classic gaming titles in the past such as Deus Ex and System Shock.

Large Hadron Collider smashes energy record again

The Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest physics experiment, has broken its own particle beam energy record.

On Friday morning, the machine created two beams of protons, each with an energy of 3.5 trillion electron volts.

The effort breaks the prior record, set by the LHC in December, of just over a trillion electron volts in each beam.

The LHC will now aim to smash those two beams together, hoping to create new particles that give insight into the most fundamental workings of physics.

The experiment, housed in a 27km-long tunnel under the outskirts of Geneva in Switzerland, has only been back online since November 2009.

A breakdown and helium leak in 2008, shortly after the machine was first switched on, took some 14 months to repair.

"Getting the beams to 3.5 TeV is testimony to the soundness of the LHC's overall design, and the improvements we've made since the breakdown in September 2008," said Steve Myers, director for accelerators and technology at the Swiss laboratory Cern, where the LHC is based."It's a great credit to the patience and dedication of the LHC operation team."

Since coming back online, the machine has exhibited performance that was "remarkable", according to Cern director general Rolf Heuer.

In an announcement of the 3.5 TeV result, he congratulated the LHC team and stressed the cutting-edge nature of its work.

"We must not lose sight of the fact that the LHC is new, and it wasn't bought off the shelf," he wrote.

As with all particle accelerators, the LHC will be periodically shut down for maintenance, but LHC officials recently decided to significantly lengthen the shutdown period.

This is in part because the machine takes so long to reach and return from the low temperatures required for its experiments.

But the shutdown scheduled for late 2010 will also address the joints between the machine's superconducting magnets, which must be strengthened before the LHC can run at even higher energies.

"It is a state of the art prototype that is pushing the limits of technology across a wide range of disciplines, and as such it needs to be treated with the greatest respect," Professor Heuer wrote.

"It takes time, but as we've seen this week, patience pays dividends.

Thales Alenia Space wins huge Meteosat competition

A consortium led by Thales Alenia Space of France will enter into negotiations for a 1.3bn-euro (£1.2bn) contract to build Europe's next weather satellites.

The TAS group was selected after a competitive process run by the European Space Agency (Esa).

The Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) system will comprise six satellites, with the first spacecraft likely to be ready for launch in 2016.

MTG is expected to bring a step change in weather forecasting capability.

The programme should guarantee European access to space-acquired meteorological data until at least the late 2030s.

"These spacecraft should improve dramatically the quality of meteorological data, and I'm convinced we will see the difference in the weather forecasts," said Dr Volker Liebig, the head of Earth observation at Esa.

MTG is a joint undertaking between Esa and Eumetsat, the international agency charged with looking after Europe's Meteosats.

In the new programme, Esa will oversee the research and development phase of MTG.This will include two prototype Meteosats: an imaging spacecraft to picture weather systems and a sounding spacecraft (one which can return information about different layers in the atmosphere).

Eumetsat will operate these prototype platforms once they are launched and pay for the production models that follow. It is envisaged the satellites will be launched at intervals of a few years.

The new spacecraft will be quite unlike their forebears. The second generation satellites (MSG), for example, are spin-stabilised and build up their images as they rotate across the field of view.

The MTG spacecraft will look more like standard telecommunications platforms. They will sit and stare at the Earth.

Their image data will have a much higher resolution (capturing details as small as 500m) and will come down in a fraction of the time - in as little as 2.5 minutes.

"The users asked for a higher spatial resolution and even a better signal to noise ratio, and for that we've had to increase the time the satellite is able to observe the Earth," Rolf Stuhlmann, MTG programme scientist at Eumetsat, told.

"So, the first and the second generation were spin-stabilised satellites - they return around their axes and the instrument on the satellite is only able to look at the Earth 5% of the time. All the other time, it is looking into space.

"To increase the time the instrument is capable of looking at the Earth, we've had to go for the first time to a three-axis stabilised satellite."The new spacecraft will carry many innovations that should translate into more accurate and more detailed weather forecasts.

One key development is an Infrared Sounding Instrument that has been pioneered on Europe's Metop polar-orbiting Earth-observation spacecraft but which will now be flown in a geostationary orbit by MTG.

The instrument will be able to detect layers of moisture in the atmosphere long before they have developed into weather systems."If you see clouds, you know you have water vapour; it's very easy to see," explained Ernst Koenemann, director of programme development at Eumetsat. "But even in blue skies you still have water vapour, and this vapour will eventually develop into weather systems.

"With the infrared sounder, we will see this vapour, and by doing that we will be able to predict much better if and how the systems will develop."

The sounding instrument should also give improved warning of extreme precipitation events, such as the one in December that saw about 25cm of rain fall in just 24 hours on Cockermouth in north-west England.

In addition, the sounding spacecraft will have an enhanced capability to study atmospheric chemistry - to track the behaviour of trace gases such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.

Another new MTG instrument of major note is the Lightning Imager, which should provide much better information on the state of electrification in storms. This is expected to have immense benefits for the aviation sector, allowing it to route planes more safely.

Drawn-out process

The Meteosat series stretches back to 1977. Currently, two platforms - Meteosat-8 and Meteosat-9 - provide the space data on which daily weather forecasts for Europe depend.

Esa member states committed just under a billion euros to the MTG programme at a ministerial meeting in late 2008. The details of the Eumetsat contribution, which will amount to more than 2.4bn euros, are expected to be finalised later this year.

Eumetsat will hold a special council meeting shortly to discuss the scope of its role in the project.

It has taken much longer than expected to sort out the industrial contract. France and Germany wanted to lead MTG and both committed 34% of the requested Esa funds.

Space agency officials have had to ensure the workshare in the contract rewards the commitment of the two nations, as demanded under Esa rules.

The Thales consortium includes OHB System from Bremen which will ensure Germany plays its part; although Germany had hoped a consortium led by EADS Astrium from Friedrichshafen would win through to direct the MTG project.

"Technically, it was very complicated," Dr Liebig told. "The offers were 18,000 pages each. If we don't count Galileo [Esa's satellite-navigation project], it is the biggest contract in the agency. There were a lot of questions and it took many months to answer them."

Reynald Seznec, president and CEO of TAS, commented: "Esa and Eumetsat have chosen Thales Alenia Space, in partnership with OHB of Germany, to develop the third generation of Meteosat weather satellites, thanks to the technical excellence and competitiveness of our proposal.

"We are very proud of being chosen to meet the challenge of building the most ambitious geostationary satellites ever developed in Europe."

Esa will now negotiate a final price with TAS, with the aim of completing the deal in June.

If the talks are not concluded satisfactorily, Esa reserves the right to open discussions with Astrium.

Smartphone overseas web warning

The consumers' association Which? is warning that people going abroad with smartphones can still face huge bills if they connect to the internet.

By 1 July, new rules will come into force in the European Union which will cap bills for downloading data.

But, until then, people travelling in Europe could face unlimited bills.

And anyone visiting non-EU countries, like Turkey, the US or the Caribbean, will continue to have no limits on their internet usage.

Bill shock

If you use your phone in the UK to connect to the internet, for example to check emails or go on Facebook, you don't usually need to worry about the bill - most home tariffs include unlimited downloads.

But, if you take a smartphone, like an iPhone, on your travels, it can have expensive consequences.

One German man was reported to have been charged £41,000 after downloading a television programme onto his phone.Julia Feuell, from north London, also got a shock after a visit to New Zealand. Her 17 year-old son racked up a bill of £590.

"It was a telephone bill that I'd never seen in my life before. It was a great shock to Alex, who's an apprentice mechanic."

However, the phone company concerned eventually agreed to halve the bill.

According to research by Which?, people using smartphones abroad can pay up to £8 for every megabyte downloaded. That's the equivalent of one email with a photo attachment.

But anyone who downloads videos or films can expect to pay considerably more.

According to Which?, a ten minute video clip and five music tracks could cost as much as £200.

New EU rules

If you travel within the 27 countries of the European Union, or Switzerland, you will soon be protected by new rules to limit bills for data downloading.

From the 1 July this year there will be a default limit of 50 euros (£45) a month.

Until then, it's up to consumers to get in touch with their phone company to get that, or a different limit, applied to their account.

Users will receive a warning when they are approaching 80% of their limit, and will then be cut off once the limit is reached. But travellers to the rest of the world will receive no such protection.

Which? would like the EU data download limits extended to the rest of the world.

But this would have to be done by the phone companies themselves, as there is no regulatory body that has global reach.

"Mobile phone companies should voluntarily take these very sensible steps, and apply them on a worldwide basis," says Matt Bath of Which?.

But the GSM Association, which represents global mobile phone companies, disagrees.

"Europe is a very unique market. We would not advocate copycat regulation for other territories," a spokesperson told.

It also says it is trying to drive down bills by other means, and points out that the price of mobile services has already fallen by a third in the last five years.

Agree limits

Some owners of smartphones are unaware that their phones roam the internet whenever they are switched on.

With so-called "push email" programmes, that means you will be charged whenever someone sends you an email.

Equally, if you use an application to search for a nearby restaurant, or go onto Google maps for local directions, you are downloading data.

Which? advises users to go into their settings and simply turn off the data roaming facility.

Users should, in any case, be warned about this whenever they arrive in a foreign country and their mobile operator is substituted by another.

Otherwise, if you are travelling to Europe before the 1 July, you should get in touch with your phone company to agree a limit on data downloads.

Those who want an allowance which is larger than 50 euros should also contact their phone company, to get the limit raised.

US calls for 'YouTube' of government data

The US technology chief has called on developers to build the "YouTube" of government data.

Vivek Kundra told that he envisaged a world where anyone could "slice and dice" government information and share their results.

Mr Kundra is in charge of the US data.gov website, which gives citizens access to reams of official statistics.

People can use the data to create mashups and web applications to reveal new patterns and carry out analysis.

"Imagine a world where you have a YouTube for data where anyone of us could slice and dice this data and share it with our family, friends and policymakers", he said.

He envisaged that the tool would allow anyone to explore data and see whether it was relevant to them at a local, national or global scale.

'Careful use'

Data.gov is part of President Barack Obama's larger push to make the US government more open and transparent.

For example, it has just launched Opinion Space - a website where people around the globe can submit their thoughts on US foreign policy.

Data.gov was launched in May 2009 by Mr Kundra in an effort to "unlock" the vast databases of information held by the US government.

It holds information on everything from agriculture and education to budgets and crime statistics."Consider how much data the government has," Mr Kundra said.

"By democratising we put information in the hands of citizens so that they can make better decisions and fundamentally change the way we deliver services."

The idea has been criticised by some who feel that government could better use its resources to provide accessible, understandable information for everyone, rather than a raw data stream for developers.

Initially, it was also criticised for only holding a limited number of data sets, many of which were already available. But steadily, the number is growing.

This was in part, Mr Kundra said, because the project had involved a major cultural change for the agencies that had previously held the data.

"We also have to be mindful that in no way do we violate the privacy of the people that we serve or national security for that matter."

'Unimagined change'

It currently has 1,276 sets which have been downloaded 25,618 times in the last week. The number of apps using the data is also increasing.Mr Kundra highlighted an iPhone app built to allow people to search for product recalls, using data from the Consumer Protection Safety Commission.

He said "contests and challenges" were being run to encourage more apps to be built.

"We've seen the army, for example, issue a challenge called apps for the army," he said.

He said the opening up of government data had the potential to create new jobs and new industries.

"I would argue that in the same way websites may have been a novel concept in the early days of the internet, what we are seeing today is the emergence of government as a platform, and now you'll see innovation happen on top of that.

"New businesses will be created that we cannot imagine today. New services will be deployed and the public will have greater transparency to participate in the democratic institutions in ways that they could have never imagined before."

Batman takes best game at Baftas

Batman: Arkham Asylum has been crowned best game at the Bafta 2010 awards.

The British developed title headed off strong competition from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves that led the nomination field before the ceremony.

The game, which sees the superhero tackle a series of old foes in the asylum setting, also picked up the Bafta award for best gameplay.

Despite not winning the best game award, Uncharted 2 did take four other awards including best action and story.

Title race

The Bafta awards is one of the biggest nights in the UK gaming calendar. The winners of 14 of the categories are chosen by industry figures.

One award, sponsored by high-street store Game, is chosen by gamers. As widely expected Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took that title. The sales that Modern Warfare 2 racked up in 2009 made it the biggest selling game of all time.

Assassin's Creed II was nominated in a total of seven categories but managed to win none of them.

The video game Baftas also saw success for another British-developed title LittleBigPlanet. Originally created by Surrey-based Media Molecule, it won the best award for best handheld game. The portable version was produced by an in-house development team at Sony.

Left 4 Dead 2 took the award for best multiplayer game - the second year that the series has scooped that award.The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) awards recognise "artistic, creative and technical innovation in video games".

Bafta also presented a lifetime achievement Fellowship award to legendary game maker Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind Super Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda and many more.

In 2009 the fellowship went to Nolan Bushnell, creator of some of the first video games and co-founder of Atari.

Bafta has been giving out awards to the games industry since 1998, although it only became a separate event in 2004.

Twitter embeds itself in the web

Twitter has announced technology that it hopes will further embed the service into the fabric of the web.

@anywhere, as it is known, will allow people using websites such as Amazon or the New York Times to follow new users or share media directly from the page.

It was unveiled at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

It is similar to Facebook's Connect service that allows people to log in to other websites using their Facebook details and interact with friends.

"Imagine being able to follow a New York Times journalist directly from her byline, tweet about a video without leaving YouTube, and discover new Twitter accounts while visiting the Yahoo home page," Twitter said on its blog.

'Different approach'

The social network has not said when the service will launch, but said that it had already partnered with YouTube, Microsoft Bing and eBay amongst others.

Developers can already add Twitter functionality to their sites using a so-called API (application programming interface).

APIs are a set of tools offered by a firm to allow people outside the company to access and manipulate data held about their users.

They have become increasingly common amongst web firms to extend their reach beyond their own website.

Twitter said that @anywhere was a "different approach" that would be simpler for many sites to use.

This "open" approach to third-party developers allowed Twitter to grow at a phenomenal rate in its early days.

Recent data shows that traffic to Twitter's websites has levelled off since the middle of 2009.

However, measurements of Twitter use is very difficult as many users interact with the service through desktop software and mobile phones.

US plans to give high-speed broadband to every American

US regulators have unveiled the nation's first plan to give every American super-fast broadband by 2020.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which will now submit the plan to Congress, said broadband was the "greatest infrastructure challenge".

It estimates that one-third of Americans, about 100 million people, are without broadband at home.

The FCC's goal is to provide speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps), compared to an average 4Mbps now.

"Broadband for every American is not too ambitious a plan and it is absolutely necessary," former FCC chairman Reed Hundt told.

"The consequences of not succeeding are heartbreaking. Every nation needs a common medium to gather around and to have the internet as a common medium where a third are left out is unacceptable."

'Silver bullet'

In an executive summary released ahead of the presentation to Congress on 16 March, the FCC said: "Broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life."It is changing how we educate children, deliver healthcare, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organise and disseminate knowledge".

For industry analyst Erik Sherman of business and news site BNet.com, all the talk "sounds like an overstatement".

"The plan cannot be a silver bullet for all these issues and problems which exist for a number of different reasons and not just because of a lack of broadband.

"The plan is very big in scope and if you look at the rationale, the FCC is basically saying we need more money for more internet. I am not saying we don't need a broadband plan but we have to be realistic about what it can and cannot do," Mr Sherman told.

'Fairy wings and wishes'

Months of hype and speculation has preceded the presentation of the country's first comprehensive broadband roadmap. The FCC has also held a series of briefings previewing its goals.

"It's an action plan, and action is necessary to meet the challenges of global competitiveness, and harness the power of broadband to help address so many vital national issues," said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.The executive summary revealed that access to high-speed internet services had grown dramatically from eight million Americans 20 years ago to nearly 200 million today.

Estimates to implement the plan have been put at $350bn (£233bn). How that bill will be split between private investment and tax dollars is not known.

"Who pays and how much is the big fight ahead," said technology industry analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.

"The devil is in the detail and right now it's all fairy wings and wishes. The Republicans are going to fight anything that is excessively expensive while the Democrats have to be wary of looking like they are cutting cheques at a time when the government is for the most part broke."

The FCC will auction off some 500 megahertz of spectrum to pay for some of the expense. More than $7bn will come from President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, which targeted broadband-related initiatives.

'Digital exclusion'

For years the technology industry has pushed for the US government to create a national broadband plan.

Ahead of today's meeting with Congress, a number of hi-tech companies wrote to Mr Genachowski to praise the plan.

"Broadband is critical to America's long-term economic and social well-being. As society increasingly moves online, the costs of digital exclusion grow as well," said the signatories of the letter, which included Cisco, Sony, Salesforce, Microsoft, Facebook and Intel.

One possible battleground is expected to be over the sale of spectrum that is mostly in the hands of television broadcasters.

Mobile carriers like AT&T and Verizon have said they will need more spectrum in future to provide superfast reliable internet connections to every customer.

"The problem is most of the spectrum is occupied by somebody else. They are going to want a lot of money for this," said Adam Thierer, president of the free-market leaning Progress & Freedom Foundation.

Bee swarms follow 'pied pipers'

A tiny group of bees act like "pied pipers" to trigger the onset of bee swarms report scientists.
By buzzing a "piping" signal the bees are able to initiate an explosive departure from the hive.
Bees are known to use signals to tell the colony when to swarm but which bees had the power to make this decision was unclear.
Now scientists have identified a small oligarchy of individual bees that hold the key to swarm behaviour.
The researchers reveal their findings in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
Exodus
During the reproductive season, large honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies synchronise an explosive departure of most of their workers and the queen.
This causes a swarm as the honeybees travel to form a new colony in a new location.The sudden departure of bees has been known about for centuries and bee keepers have even found ways to avoid it happening and avoid loosing valuable bees.
But scientists have only recently begun to understand how the bees coordinate their departure and mass exodus.
"In this study we wanted to determine what bees are responsible for organising this mass departure, and how they organise this process in an efficient manner," says Dr Juliana Rangel from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US.
Dr Rangel undertook the study along with Sean Griffin and Professor Thomas Seeley also from Cornell University.
The bee identity
"Our study is the first one to reveal the identity of the signallers that initiate a swarm's departure from the hive," Dr Rangel says.
The report finds that a small group of experienced forager bees called nest-site scouts produce a "piping-signal" that primes the workers for swarming.
This makes the bees warm up their flight muscles for departure.
They then produce a "buzz-run" signal which releases the departure of the swarm.This small oligarchy of bees make up only 5% of the colony's total population.
The researchers think that the oligarchy in the colony they studied consisted of only 200 individuals in colony size of 8,000.
It is the job of these bees to go out of the hive and search for potential homes for the colony.
When they find somewhere suitable, they return and start the process of swarming by producing the piping signal. They also recruit others by undertaking a waggle dance.
This is a dance-like movement by which the bee communicates the distance and direction of a location to other bees.
"Before our studies little was known about how this sudden exodus was coordinated, and which bees were in charge of this process," Dr Rangel says.
Group control
Animals that travel in groups must synchronise the timing of their movements.
Three different decision making mechanisms are known to coordinate a group's departure Dr Rangel explains.
"In a democracy, the majority of the individuals in the group decide when the move will take place, for example whooper swans and red deer."
"In the other extreme is the despotic mechanism of decision-making, in which only one individual, the group's leader, makes the decision of when to move, for example Hamadryas baboons and African elephants."
Right in the middle lies an oligarchy where a small number of well-informed individuals, makes the decision of when the group should move.
"Decisions of group travel made by an oligarchy are very rare, and very few studies have reported an oligarchic control of group travel," says Dr Rangel.
"This contributes to our knowledge of how a small group of individuals can make important decisions for an entire group."

Tiger decline is 'sign of world's failure'

Governments need to crack down on illegal tiger trading if the big cats are to be saved, the UN has warned.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar heard that tiger numbers are continuing to fall.
Organised crime rings are playing an increasing part in illegal trading of tiger parts, CITES says, as they are with bears, rhinos and elephants.
Interpol is working with CITES to track and curb the international trade.
Last year, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said the global black market in wildlife products was worth about $10bn per year, making wildlife the third most valuable illicit commodity after drugs and weapons.
Global medicine
Despite attempts to protect tigers, numbers have approximately halved over the last decade, with fewer than 3,200 remaining in the wild.
The decline is seen across sub-species and in most range states. Many populations are small, and are threatened by deforestation as well as poaching.
"If we use tiger numbers as a performance indicator, then we must admit that we have failed miserably and that we are continuing to fail," said CITES secretary-general Willem Wijnstekers."Although the tiger has been prized throughout history, and is a symbol of incredible importance in many cultures and religions, it is now literally on the verge of extinction."
CITES enforcement officials said government agencies including police and customs needed to step up efforts to combat the illegal trade.
Although China and other East Asian countries are the principal consumers of tiger parts, exports travel much further afield.
Earlier this month, Operation Tram, co-ordinated by Interpol and including enforcement authorities in 18 countries, netted medicines containing wildlife products worth an estimated $10m.
Tigers, bears and rhinos were among the animals used in making the medicines.
Traditional cures
Conservationists also point to China's tiger farms as a threat to the wild animals.
Although China does not officially permit the sale of goods from these farms, in practice several investigations have revealed tiger parts are being sold.
Campaigners warn this perpetuates a market into which wild tiger parts can be sold, often commanding a higher value as products made from wild animals are perceived to be more "potent."
Just before the CITES meeting opened, the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) called on traditional medicine practitioners to abandon the use of tiger parts.
"We will ask our members not to use endangered wildlife in traditional Chinese medicine, and reduce the misunderstanding and bias of the international community," said WFCMS deputy secretary Huang Jianyin.
"The traditional Chinese medicine industry should look for substitutes and research on economical and effective substitutes for tiger products."
A resolution before the fortnight-long CITES meeting calls for greater co-operation between regional enforcement authorities to cut down the tiger product trade, and to ensure that breeding operations are "consistent with the conservation of wild populations".

China warns Google to comply with censorship laws

China's top internet official has warned that Google will "pay the consequences" if it continues to go against Chinese law.
Google announced in January that it would no longer comply with China's internet censorship laws.
It warned that it may shut down google.cn because of censorship and a hacking attack on the portal.
Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong was speaking at China's annual legislation session.
"We need to preserve our nation's interest, our people's interest, we cannot be relaxed with any information that will cause harm to the stability of our society, to our system, and to the health of our under-age young people," he said.
"So, of course, what needs to be shut down will be shut down, what needs to be blocked will be blocked."
'Up to them'
Google began operations in China in 2006 to widespread criticism. While many argued Google was complicit in the censorship imposed by Chinese government, Google insisted it was nevertheless serving the public interest even though it was furnishing censored results.
Relations between China and Google cooled in January after what Google described as a sophisticated cyber attack in which the webmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were targeted.
Since then, the firm has been in talks with Chinese officials about how to provide an unfiltered service but still remain within the law. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said this week that he hoped the results of those consultations would be revealed soon.
Mr Li said that whether the firm quits China or not is "up to them", saying the internet would flourish in China regardless.
"I hope that Google will abide and respect the Chinese government's laws and regulations," he said.
"But, if you betray Chinese laws and regulations... it means that you are unfriendly, irresponsible, and you will have to pay the consequences."
Google is a distant second in search engine stakes in China, holding less than a third of the market; rival Baidu has about 60%

Dotcom web address celebrates silver anniversary

The internet celebrates a landmark event on the 15 March - the 25th birthday of the day the first dotcom name was registered.
In March 1985, Symbolics computers of Cambridge, Massachusetts entered the history books with an internet address ending in dotcom.
That same year another five companies jumped on a very slow bandwagon.
It took until 1997, well into the internet boom, before the one millionth dotcom was registered.
"This birthday is really significant because what we are celebrating here is the internet and dotcom is a good, well known placeholder for the rest of the internet," said Mark Mclaughlin, chief executive officer of Verisign the company that is responsible for looking after the dotcom domain.
"Who would have guessed 25 years ago where the internet would be today. This really was a groundbreaking event," he said.
Commercialisation
For most of the late 1980s and early 1990s hardly anyone knew what a dotcom was. Scholars generally agree that a turning point was the introduction of the Mosaic web browser by Netscape that brought mainstream consumers on to the web.With 668,000 dotcom sites registered every month, they have become part of the fabric of our lives.
Today people go to dotcom sites to shop, connect with friends, book holidays, be entertained, learn new things and exchange ideas.
"Dotcoms have touched us in a way we could not have imagined," Robert Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) told.
"It used to be, 10 years ago you could live an okay life if you weren't engaged on a dot com site on a daily basis. You could get what you needed.
"But today we see how dotcoms have enriched our lives that if you are not engaged you would be fine but much further behind than the rest of us."
Proof of that Mr Atkinson said can be seen with how dotcoms have commercialised the internet "bringing consumers choice and value and businesses greater customer reach and profits".A study by the ITIF claims that "the average profitability of companies using the internet increased by 2.7%".
The research also found that the economic benefits equal $1.5 trillion, which it says is "more than the global sales of medicine, investment in renewable energy and government investment in research and development combined".
By 2020 the internet should add $3.8 trillion (£2.5trillion) to the global economy, exceeding the gross domestic product of Germany, it found.
The future
An estimated 1.7 billion people - one quarter of the world's population - now use the internet.
Verisign's Mr McLaughlin only sees that figure growing over the next quarter of a century.
"I think that the way we access information today, mostly still through PCs and laptops is highly likely to change; that the voice will be more important than text input.
"I think the whole fabric of how we access, search, find and get information is going to be radically different."
At the moment Verisign logs 53 billion requests for websites - not just dotcoms - every day, about the same number handled for all of 1995.
"We expect that to grow in 2020 to somewhere between three and four quadrillion," Mr McLaughlin told.
One quadrillion is 1,000 billion.
It is a phenomenal pace of growth that would have been very difficult to predict 25 years ago when a small computer firm took the first pioneering steps into the connected world.

Tories may 'lose broadband vote'

The Conservative policy on rural broadband could see its own voters miss out on fast services, research has shown.
Analysis from research firm Point Topic suggests some of the Tories' key rural constituencies could suffer most from its decision to hold back on subsidising rural super-fast broadband.
The Tories have vowed to scrap Labour's 50p per month tax on landlines, designed to fund rural broadband.
It favours a "wait and see" approach.
But research from Point Topic suggests that likely Conservative seats will be in the most need of public money because of their rural location.
It looked at the 253 seats with the highest needs for subsidy - those in areas where firms such as BT and Virgin Media are unlikely to offer services.
Fibre options
Based on election results from 2005 it found that the Conservatives could expect to hold 138 of them, compared to 63 for Labour.
"All the main parties agree that Britain needs superfast broadband. Where they differ is about how to deliver it to the rest of the country," said chief analyst Tim Johnson.
"With Britain struggling to emerge from recession I believe the benefits from extending and speeding the spread of superband could make it one of the government's best choices for investment," he said.
Most experts agree that next-generation broadband will be necessary to keep pace with new services that require a lot of bandwidth, such as video and the increasing demand for high definition (HD).
It is generally accepted that the best way to deliver this will be via fibre-optic cables which are expensive to lay, especially in rural areas.
The Labour government decided to tax all homes with a landline to the tune of 50p a month in order to create more funds for next-generation rural broadband for the final third of the country likely to be bypassed by commercial rollouts.
Last month the cross-party Business Innovation and Skills committee tax, branded the tax "unfair" because the majority of those paying it will gain no benefit.
The Conservative's plans for nationwide superfast broadband were detailed recently and hinge on stimulating private investment through a variety of methods including easing planning rules and opening up BT's infrastructure to competitors.
If that fails, it will use a proportion of licence fee, currently used to fund digital switchover, to finance rural super-fast broadband.
That decision will not be made until 2012.
Any Conservative administration would immediately be at odds with a new national broadband campaign - Final Third First, dedicated to getting broadband to rural areas.
Launched at the beginning of March, the Country Land and Business Association is a key member.
It has been particularly vocal in calling for action on rural broadband and its campaign is backed by leading Conservative MP Alan Duncan.

Climate change 'makes birds shrink' in North America

Songbirds in the US are getting smaller, and climate change is suspected as the cause.
A study of almost half a million birds, belonging to over 100 species, shows that many are gradually becoming lighter and growing shorter wings.
This shrinkage has occurred within just half a century, with the birds thought to be evolving into a smaller size in response to warmer temperatures.
However, there is little evidence that the change is harmful to the birds.
Details of the discovery are published in the journal Oikos.In biology, there is a general rule of thumb that animals tend to become smaller in warmer climates: an idea known as Bergman's Rule.
Usually this trend can be seen among animal species that live over a range of latitude or altitude, with individuals living at more northern latitudes or higher up cooler mountains being slightly larger than those below, for example.
Quite why this happens is not clear, but it prompted one group of scientists to ask the question: would animals respond in the same way to climate change?
To find out, Dr Josh Van Buskirk of the University of Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues Mr Robert Mulvihill and Mr Robert Leberman of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Rector, Pennsylvania, US decided to evaluate the sizes of hundreds of thousands of birds that pass through the Carnegie Museum's Powdermill ringing station, also in Pennsylvania.They examined the records of 486,000 individual birds that had been caught and measured at the ringing station from 1961 to 2007.
These birds belonged to 102 species, arriving over different seasons. Each was weighed. It also had the length of its wings measured, recorded as wing chord length, or the distance between the bird's wrist to the tip of the longest primary feather.
Their sample included local resident bird species, overwintering species, and even long distance migrants arriving from the Neotropics.
What they found was striking.
Of 83 species caught during spring migration, 60 have become smaller over the 46 year study period, weighing less and having shorter wings.
Of the 75 species migrating in autumn, 66 have become smaller.In summer, 51 of 65 breeding species have similarly reduced in size, as have 20 out of 26 wintering species.
The differences in size are not big.
"On average, the decline in mass of spring migrants over the 46 year study was just 1.3%," says Dr Buskirk.
"For a 10g warbler that's a loss of just 130mg."
But some species are losing more weight.
For example, the rose-breasted grosbeak has declined in mass by about 4%, while the Kentucky warbler has dropped 3.3% in weight and the scarlet tanager 2.3%.
The trend is particularly noticeable among those birds that winter in the New World tropics of the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
"The headline finding is that the body sizes of many species of North American birds, mostly songbirds, are gradually becoming smaller," says Dr Buskirk.
However, their populations are not dwindling."So many of these species are apparently doing just fine, but the individual birds are becoming gradually smaller nonetheless," says Dr Buskirk.
That suggests that bird species in North America are obeying Berman's rule, by evolving into a smaller size as temperatures increase.
Though this change appears quick, it has taken place over at least 20 generations of birds.
"There are plenty examples of rapid contemporary evolution over much shorter time periods," says Dr Buskirk.
Whether the trend will cause the birds any long-term consequences is unclear.
"In one obvious sense, the consequences are positive," says Dr Buskirk.
"That is, as temperatures become warmer, the optimal body size is becoming smaller."
However, even though the species appear to be adapting to the new climatic conditions, it could still be that their average "fitness" in evolutionary terms, is going down."Evidence from other studies is that some species will benefit and others will be harmed, and it's not always the species we like that will be harmed," says Dr Buskirk.
The jury is still out as to why any species responds to warmer temperatures by becoming smaller.
Originally, biologists proposed that having a larger body surface to volume might help in warmer climates.
But more recent ideas suggest that animals might actually be responding instead to something else that correlates with temperature, such as the availability of food, or metabolic rate.
"It looks like it might take a while before we know," says Dr Buskirk.
His team says much more data is now needed to confirm this trend and to see if it is happening in animals other than birds.
For example, it took an avalanche of data before people became convinced that climate change is already altering when birds start migrating.

Obama Nasa plans 'catastrophic' say Moon astronauts

Former Nasa astronauts who went to the Moon have told of their dismay at President Barack Obama's decision to push back further Moon missions.
Jim Lovell, commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, said Mr Obama's decision would have "catastrophic consequences" for US space exploration.
The last man on the Moon, Eugene Cernan, said it was "disappointing".
Last month Mr Obama cancelled Nasa's Constellation Moon landings programme, approved by ex-President George W Bush.
Nasa still aims to send astronauts back to the Moon, but it is likely to take decades and some believe that it will never happen again.
'Moral leadership'
The astronauts spoke at a private event at the Royal Society in London on Friday organised by the Foundation for Science and Technology.They were joined there by the first man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong.
As the last astronaut to return to the Apollo 17 lunar module in 1972, Cernan was the last man to set foot on the Moon.
"I'm quite disappointed that I'm still the last man on the Moon," he said. "I thought we'd have gone back long before now."
So why does he believe Americans should go back to the Moon?"I think America has a responsibility to maintain its leadership in technology and its moral leadership... to seek knowledge. Curiosity's the essence of human existence."
It is a view shared by fellow Apollo Astronaut Jim Lovell, the heroic commander of Apollo 13.
"Personally I think it will have catastrophic consequences in our ability to explore space and the spin-offs we get from space technology," he said.
"They haven't thought through the consequences."
Lunar dream alive
Although Cernan and Lovell expressed their dismay with President Obama's decision, Mr Armstrong tactfully avoided the subject.
When he set foot on the Moon in July 1969, it seemed as if humanity would soon colonise other worlds.
By 1994, when I interviewed him for the first time, he said: "The reality may have faded. But the dream is still there and it will come back in time."
But with the cancellation of Nasa's Constellation programme to return Americans to the moon by 2020, who is to inspire the next generation?
Nasa still aims to send astronauts back to the Moon, using Nasa to provide incentives and oversight to the private sector for launch services.
It is likely to take some time, however.
Until then we will have the epic tales of Armstrong, Lovell, Cernan and the rest of the Apollo astronaut corps to remind us that all things are possible - and despite the current pause in human spaceflight to other worlds, the dream is still there.