Facebook turns away from Flash for video

Facebook

Facebook has stopped using Adobe's Flash technology to show video across the entire social network.

Instead Facebook has developed a video player built around the widely used HTML5 technology.

Games on Facebook would still use Flash, it said, but it was looking into ways to change those too.

The site is one among many that have turned away from Flash. Many see it as a security problem because bugs in it are often exploited by cyber thieves.

Daniel Baulig, a front-end developer at Facebook, said the switch to HTML5 had helped the firm speed up the development of its video-handling system. HTML is the basic computer language underpinning the web.

In addition, he said, the HTML5 video player worked much better with accessibility tools such as screen readers that are used by people who do not see well.

Mr Baulig said it introduced the HTML5 player a while ago for a small number of Facebook members who kept their web browsers up-to-date. It did not launch all at once with HTML5 because testing revealed problems with the new player.

"We noticed that a lot of the older browsers would simply perform worse using the HTML5 player than they had with the old Flash player," he said. "We saw more errors, longer loading times, and a generally worse experience."

Facebook ran HTML5 and a Flash-based video player in parallel while it ironed out bugs. Now, the stability of the new video player has persuaded the social network to roll it out by default.

YouTube switched to a HTML5 based player in January 2015 and in September the BBC released an HTML5 version of its iPlayer catch-up TV service. Many other sites now offer alternatives to Adobe's technology.

Iranian hackers 'targeted' New York dam

Iranian hackers penetrated the computers controlling a dam near New York, reveals the Wall Street Journal.

The 2013 attack did no damage but revealed information about how computers running the flood control system worked, said the paper.

Hackers working for nation states regularly hit national infrastructure targets, said a separate AP report.

About 12 times in the last decade hackers have won high-level access to power networks, it said.

Detailed plans

Extensive information about the Bowman Avenue dam in Rye, New York state was taken by the hackers, experts familiar with the incident told the newspaper.

An investigation pointed to Iran as the likely source of the attack and alerted US authorities to the significant cyber warfare capabilities of that nation, said the report The same group of hackers that attacked Bowman Avenue was also implicated in separate attacks on three US financial firms, it added.

The US power network has also come under regular attack by "sophisticated foreign hackers" said AP in an extensive investigation.

Many times security researchers had found evidence that hackers had won access to these sensitive systems. So far, all the attacks seemed intent on gathering detailed information, including engineering drawings, about networks and facilities.

One extensive campaign gave hackers access to 82 separate plants spread across the US and Canada. Comments in the code found when the attacks were detected suggested Iranian hackers were behind this attack. Information about this series of attacks led the FBI to issue a warning to power industry that it was being targeted.

The knowledge accumulated by the attackers has not been used to shut down the power plants or change the way they work, wrote AP reporters Garance Burke and Jonathan Fahey.

However, the knowledge could be used to cause damage if diplomatic relations between Iran and the US changed for the worse, former US Air Force cyber security expert Robert Lee told the agency.

Hackers could get at the power plants and other parts of national infrastructure because many of the systems were set up long before the need to protect them against remote attacks became apparent.

HIV clinic fined £250 for data breach

A health clinic that mistakenly revealed the identity of HIV-positive patients in a group email has been fined £250 by the UK's data watchdog.

The Bloomsbury Patient Network provides information and support for people who are HIV-positive.

But twice in 2014, staff emailed up to 200 members at a time without obscuring other patients' email addresses.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it had levied a fine that would not cause "financial hardship".

Data breach

In February 2014, a member of staff at the Bloomsbury Patient Network emailed up to 200 patients who were HIV-positive.

The email addresses were entered into the "To" field, meaning they were visible to everybody who received the email.

Instead, email addresses should have been entered into the "BCC" field, which would have obscured them from other recipients.

In May 2014, the same member of staff repeated the error.

The ICO said 56 of the 200 email addresses contained the full or partial real names of patients.

It also noted that the Bloomsbury Patient Network (BPN) had received five complaints.

Considering the subject matter of the email message, it ruled that was a serious breach of data protection laws.

But the amount of the fine was mitigated by the "significant impact on BPN's reputation as a result of this security breach".

The BPN has not commented.

Continuing investigation

Another HIV support group, 56 Dean Street, in London, made the same mistake with an email sent in September 2015.

It exposed the names and email addresses of 780 people when a newsletter was issued.

The ICO told the BBC its investigation into that incident was continuing.

Fines for breaches of data protection can reach £500,000.

"No matter how big or small an organisation is, when dealing with sensitive information, policy, procedure, training, and supervision must be in place to reduce the probability of human error occurring," said Shaun Griffin, executive director of external affairs for Terrence Higgins Trust, an HIV charity which was not implicated in the ICO ruling.

"Incidences such as these are rare, and should not put anybody off getting a test for HIV. Nearly one in six people with HIV does not realise they have it," he said.

What's wrong with hoverboards and what to do if you've got one

  hoverboards 

Earlier this week Amazon stopped selling hoverboards - now it's told customers to get rid of them.

It reportedly sent emails to anyone who's bought them, suggesting they take them to a recycling centre because of safety concerns.

John Lewis and Argos have also now stopped stocking Swegway products.

So what's wrong with them and what can you do if you're faced with chucking out the gadget formally known as 2015's must-have gift?

Why they can catch fire

Image caption One of the faulty boards seized by Trading Standards earlier this month

There have been lots of issues raised about faulty wires, rechargeable batteries and chargers.

According to Trading Standards, many have plugs without fuses, faulty cables or chargers that can overheat or burst into flames.

It said that 88% of the 15,000 hoverboards it's seized around the UK were found to be defective.

Image caption Two men had to escape from a first floor window in Morden, south London, after a "hoverboard" exploded, London Fire Brigade said

Earlier this month, the London Fire Brigade said at least three house fires were caused by such devices over 10 days in October.

The government has warned consumers to "think twice" about buying them because of fears over imitation devices being sold at discount prices.

If anything does go wrong the shop which sold you a board is responsible for any injuries, which is why lots of places have stopped selling them.

What if I've bought one?

Image caption Faulty chargers often have a clover-shaped plug

The Retail Ombudsman, whose job it is to sort out disputes between retailers and customers, has urged shopsnot to sell hoverboards unless they can be sure they're safe.

Its boss Dean Dunham added: "Consumers who have already purchased a hoverboard, perhaps as a Christmas present, should contact the retailer and for their written assurance that it's safe."

'Clover-shaped plugs'

If the place where you bought your board can't guarantee that it's safe, you're entitled to a refund under the Consumer Rights Act.

You can tell Citizens Advice about any issues, or to let them know about any dodgy boards being sold, by calling 03454 04 05 06.

Trading Standards has also said to check for "clover-shaped" plugs and to not be tempted to buy a board if the price seems low.

Argos told Newsbeat: "Should any customer be concerned about their product, they can return it to their nearest Argos store for a full refund.

"We apologise to customers for any inconvenience this may cause."

John Lewis added that it "advises customers to not use the Selfy Stick Air Runner" and that it is "making every effort to contact all customers who have purchased the product".

For more stories like this one you can now download the BBC Newsbeat app straight to your device. For iPhone go here. For Android go here.

 

Intelligent Machines : The jobs robots will steal first

The jobs robots will steal first

 

It may be a long way off but if we do reach a point where machines are truly intelligent, what rights should they have

Picture the scenario - a sentient machine is "living" in the US in the year 2050 and starts browsing through the US constitution.

Having read it, it decides that it wants the opportunity to vote.

Oh, and it also wants the right to procreate. Pretty basic human rights that it feels it should have now it has human-level intelligence.

"Do you give it the right to vote or the right to procreate because you can't do both?" asks Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington.

"It would be able to procreate instantly and infinitely so if it and its offspring could vote, it would break the democratic system."

Image caption If an industrial robot goes rogue, who is to blame?

This is just one of the questions Prof Calo is contemplating as he considers how the law has to change to accommodate our ever-growing band of robot and AI companions.

He does not think that human-level intelligence is coming to machines any time soon but already our relationship with them is raising some interesting questions.

Recently there was a tragic accident at a VW factory in Germany, when a robotic arm, that moved car parts into place, crushed a young man who was also working there.

Exact details of the case are not yet released but it is believed human error was to blame.

Volkswagen has not commented on the incident.

While industrial accidents do happen, the law gets a little fuzzy when it involves a robot. It would be unlikely that a human could sue a robot for damage, for example.

"Criminal law requires intent and these systems don't do things wrong on purpose," said Prof Calo.

How the world deals with the rise of artificial intelligence is something that is preoccupying leading scientists and technologists, some of who worry that it represents a huge threat to humanity.

Image caption Will the AIs of the future keep humans in a zoo for their own amusement

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla motors and aerospace manufacturer Space X, has become the figurehead of the movement, with Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak as honorary members.

Mr Musk who has recently offered £10m to projects designed to control AI, has likened the technology to "summon

 

A vest that lets you feel words could help deaf people

A prototype vibrating vest which could change the way deaf people understand speech by creating a new route to the brain, has been developed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

The device works on the concept of sensory substitution - finding alternative ways for one sense to be experienced by another - and is fitted with a series of mobile phone motors which vibrate in specific patterns depending on what is being heard.

BBC Click's Jen Copestake reports.