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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

HSBC admits huge Swiss bank data theft

About 24,000 clients of HSBC's private banking operation in Switzerland had personal details stolen by a former employee, the company has admitted.In December, HSBC said that just 10 account holders were affected by the theft, which happened three years ago.The information stolen concerns 15,000 accounts that are still active. Another 9,000...

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...

Net clash for web police projects

Social media activists are up in arms over plans by the UK's police watchdog for a project with the same name as an existing web initiative.MyPolice.org was set up in mid-2009 to funnel feedback from victims of crime and others to police forces.But Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has unveiled plans for a project based around...

Lip reading mobile promises end to noisy phone calls

Technology that could see an end to the bane of many commuters - people talking loudly on their mobile phones - has been shown off by researchers.The prototype device could allow people to conduct silent phone conversations.The technology measures the tiny electrical signals produced by muscles used when someone speaks.The device can record...

Browser makers demand screen time

Makers of small web browsers want their programs to be given more prominence on Microsoft's browser choice screen.Six software firms have complained to the EU saying many do not realise their programs were on offer.To see all 12 web browsers, users must scroll to the right when viewing Microsoft's ballot screen.The choice is being offered...

Climate change human link evidence 'stronger'

A review from the UK Met Office says it is becoming clearer that human activities are causing climate change.It says the evidence is stronger now than when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change carried out its last assessment in 2007.The analysis, published in the Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Journal, has assessed...

Dinosaur extinction link to crater confirmed

An international panel of experts has strongly endorsed evidence that a space impact was behind the mass extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs.They reached the consensus after conducting the most wide-ranging analysis yet of the evidence.Writing in Science journal, they rule out alternative theories such as large-scale volcanism.The...

Probe may have found cosmic dust

Scientists may have identified the first specks of interstellar dust in material collected by the US space agency's Stardust spacecraft.A stream of this dust flows through space; the tiny particles are building blocks that go into making stars and planets.The Nasa spacecraft was primarily sent to catch dust streaming from Comet Wild 2 and...

Money sharing comes to Facebook

Friends on social networking site Facebook can now send small payments directly to each other via an application called Buxter.Buxter handles transactions in Euros or US dollars, with plans to launch in Sterling in the next four weeks.Other currencies are subject to a 5% conversion fee at the point of upload to a Buxter account.The company...

PlayStation 3 gaming console clock bug 'fixed'

Sony has said that a millennium-style bug that prevented thousands of PlayStation 3 owners from using its online games network has been resolved.The firm said that the fault had been caused by machines that had "recognised the year 2010 as a leap year".The problem did not affect the newer "slim" models of the PS3, Sony said.The Japanese electronics...