Pictures censored by China revealed

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:33 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

A collection of images censored on Sina Weibo - a popular Twitter-like service in China - has been revealed.

Analysis from US investigative journalism group ProPublica logged 100 users on the service, discovering a total of 527 images removed by censors.

The sample data - which was collected over two weeks - contained dissidents, a yawning politician, and archive shots from the Korean War.

Sina Weibo has some 500 million users in China, but is closely monitored.

ProPublica selected a group of users that had previously had material removed from the site, with a focus on journalists, lawyers and other figures with significant numbers of followers.

The site - with help from the University of Hong Kong - wrote some software that would store posts from the users, and then check on an hourly basis to see if the posts had been removed.

Bo Xilai

What they found was a wide ranging selection of images deemed not suitable for dissemination on the site.

The collection included images of Bo Xilai, the former high-ranking Chinese politician, who was jailed in October for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

One deleted post had called for the trial to be broadcast live, while another showed Bo with former US national security adviser Henry Kissinger.

Pictures of other public figures, such as human rights advocate Xu Zhiyong and activist singer Wu Hongfei, were also removed.

A large number of the censored posts monitored were of long passages of text, ProPublica reported.

A service called Long Weibo - comparable to TwitLonger, an equivalent service on Twitter - allows for posts that go beyond the service's 140-character limit by creating an image showing Chinese characters.

The popularity of Long Weibo has created a censorship headache for authorities as it means banned words are not automatically flagged.

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Hot HP Chromebook 11 taken off sale

14 November 2013 Last updated at 06:22 ET

All HP Chromebook 11 laptops have been removed from sale following reports the devices' chargers had been overheating.

The decision to halt sales came from HP and Google after owners complained about broken chargers.

The two companies have also issued advice to existing owners telling them not to use the charger that came in the box with the computer.

Instead, they said, owners should use third-party chargers to keep the gadget going.

US reports suggest the machines have been taken off shelves at retailer Best Buy and the gadget can no longer be found in the Google, HP and Amazon online stores.

In a joint statement, Google and HP said they had received a "small number" of reports from users saying their original charger had been damaged by overheating.

The companies said they were now looking into the problem to see what was making the chargers overheat. They apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused by the faulty chargers and added that more information would follow shortly.

The statement said that micro-USB chargers that work with other tablets and smartphones should be used instead of the bundled charger. Technology news site Ars Technica noted that this advice would mean that Chromebooks took much longer to charge than they would with the original charger.

HP's Chromebook 11 was released in early October 2013 and cost about £230 in the UK.

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McAfee faces legal action over death

14 November 2013 Last updated at 07:28 ET

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee is being sued by the family of Gregory Faull, his neighbour in Belize who was found shot dead last November.

The legal action alleges Mr McAfee either committed the murder himself or ordered the killing.

Mr McAfee went on the run after the death, but said he had "no connection whatsoever" with the killing.

Belize has classed him as a "person of interest" but has never named him an official murder suspect.

Two of Mr McAfee's former girlfriends are also named in the action as "possible agents" in Mr Faull's death.

Gary Roberts, a Florida-based lawyer acting on behalf of Mr Faull's daughter, is seeking a jury trial and more than $75,000 (£46,800) in damages from the "wrongful death lawsuit".

Mr McAfee said that he had not received the legal papers yet, but would not fight a subpoena to give out-of-court testimony ahead of a possible trial.

"Would I answer questions in a deposition relative to the murder? Of course, absolutely. That's the requirement of law," he told the BBC.

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John McAfee spoke to BBC reporter Leo Kelion last month

But he added that he planned to file a counter-claim for defamation of character and personal injury.

"Why would they wait until I started a new company and have had all the press for the past month-and- a-half?" he asked.

"When I came back from Belize there was a great to do about the fact that I everything I owned I had left in Belize and that I was virtually broke.

"Recently I have stated that I now have money and am funding the development of a new company, and that I don't even need venture capital funds."

Mr Roberts said the case was currently being delayed by his firm's inability to deliver the paperwork.

"[We] are presently attempting to serve Mr McAfee with the complaint that has been filed in Federal Court," he said.

"However, process servers and investigators have been unable to locate him. If Mr McAfee is willing to be deposed in this case, then we respectfully ask him to accept service of this complaint so that this lawsuit can move forward."

Dead dogs

Mr Faull, an Orlando sports bar owner, had moved to live in his Belize holiday home on the Caribbean island of Ambergris Caye following his divorce.

He was found face-up with a bullet in his head by his housekeeper on 11 November 2012.

The previous month he had filed a complaint with the local mayor against Mr McAfee, alleging that the entrepreneur's dogs were "causing an unsafe environment for residents and tourists alike" and that his neighbour's security guards were also scaring people.

In the days following the filing, Mr McAfee found two dogs, which belonged to one of his girlfriends, poisoned, forcing him to put them down.

However, Mr McAfee has said he was not aware at the time of Mr Faull's complaint and had not suspected him of being the person responsible for feeding the animals a contaminated tortilla.

"I barely knew Gregory Faull," he told the BBC in an interview last month.

"The entire five years I was there, I'd said maybe 15 words to him.

"He did not like my dogs and the past two occasions I had seen him walking on the beach he complained. But so did everybody.

"There was no ongoing argument. Yeah, he was mad about my dogs. Maybe as I'm beginning to think now, maybe he was the one who poisoned them. At the time I certainly did not believe that."

Mr McAfee added that he went into hiding, eventually crossing the border illegally into Guatemala, not because he had been linked to the murder, but because he feared the Belizean authorities would take advantage of the case to keep him "in jail forever" since he had repeatedly accused them of corruption.

Mc McAfee - who has now returned to the US and lives in in Portland, Oregon - offered a $25,000 reward last December for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Mr Faull's murder.

This was dismissed as a "hollow gesture" by the family.

"While continuing to grieve, the Faull family intends to pursue all possible avenues to ensure the individual or individuals responsible for the death of Gregory Faull are brought to justice," said Mr Roberts in a statement released to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

"They are confident that with the tools available in civil discovery cases in the US Federal Courts and with the information obtained in the criminal investigation in Belize, the true facts will come to light as to how and by whom Gregory met his end.

"In this manner justice can be served in both the criminal court in Belize and the civil court in the US."

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Police warn of 'ransom' spam

15 November 2013 Last updated at 13:19 ET

Tens of millions of UK internet users could be at risk from "ransom" email spam seemingly sent from financial institutions.

The email has an attachment that looks legitimate but is malware that encrypts computer files.

If the attachment is opened, a displayed countdown timer demands a ransom to decrypt the files.

Small to medium businesses seem to be the target and the National Crime Agency says there is significant risk.

Lee Miles, deputy head of the National Cyber Crime Unit, says: "The NCA are actively pursuing organised crime groups committing this type of crime. We are working in co-operation with industry and international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible and reduce the risk to the public."

The malware installs a piece of "ransomware" called Cryptolocker on computers running the Windows operating system. The ransom demands that the user pay two Bitcoins, a virtual currency, that would be worth £536 to release the decryption key.

Reports suggest that people who have paid the ransom have not had their files decrypted and it has been impossible to restore encrypted files.

No guarantee

The NCA said it would never endorse the payment of a ransom to criminals and warns that there is no guarantee that the people behind the demand would honour the payments.

An NCCU investigation is seeking to identify the source of the email addresses used.

Computer users are being warned not to click on any suspicious attachments, to have updated antivirus software and to regularly back up files. If a computer is infected the advice is to disconnect it from the network and seek professional help to clean the device.

The NCA said that anyone infected with this malware should report it via actionfraud.police.uk.

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Quantum 'world record' smashed

14 November 2013 Last updated at 21:16 ET By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News

A fragile quantum memory state has been held stable at room temperature for a "world record" 39 minutes - overcoming a key barrier to ultrafast computers.

"Qubits" of information encoded in a silicon system persisted for almost 100 times longer than ever before.

Quantum systems are notoriously fickle to measure and manipulate, but if harnessed could transform computing.

The new benchmark was set by an international team led by Mike Thewalt of Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

"39 minutes may not seem very long. But these lifetimes are many times longer than previous experiments"

End Quote Stephanie Simmons Oxford University

"This opens the possibility of truly long-term storage of quantum information at room temperature," said Prof Thewalt, whose achievement is detailed in the journal Science.

In conventional computers, "bits" of data are stored as a string of 1s and 0s.

But in a quantum system, "qubits" are stored in a so-called "superposition state" in which they can be both 1s and 0 at the same time - enabling them to perform multiple calculations simultaneously.

The trouble with qubits is their instability - typical devices "forget" their memories in less than a second.

There is no Guinness Book of quantum records. But unofficially, the previous best for a solid state system was 25 seconds at room temperature, or three minutes under cryogenic conditions.

In this new experiment, scientists encoded information into the nuclei of phosphorus atoms held in a sliver of purified silicon.

Magnetic field pulses were used to tilt the spin of the nuclei and create superposition states - the qubits of memory.

The team prepared the sample at -269C, close to absolute zero - the lowest temperature possible.

When they raised the system to room temperature (just above 25C) the superposition states survived for 39 minutes.

What's more, they found they could manipulate the qubits as the temperature of the system rose and fell back towards absolute zero.

At cryogenic temperatures, their quantum memory system remained coherent for three hours.

"Having such robust, as well as long-lived, qubits could prove very helpful for anyone trying to build a quantum computer," said co-author Stephanie Simmons of Oxford University's department of materials.

Continue reading the main story

Future directions in computing

"39 minutes may not seem very long. But these lifetimes are many times longer than previous experiments.

"We've managed to identify a system that seems to have basically no noise."

However she cautions there are still many hurdles to overcome before large-scale quantum computations can be performed.

For one thing, their memory device was built with a highly purified form of silicon - free from the magnetic isotopes which interfere with the spin of nuclei.

For another, the spins of the 10 billion or so phosphorus ions used in this experiment were all placed in the same quantum state.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

"What's most important is this is silicon. The global investment in this material means it has a lot of potential for engineering"

End Quote Dr Thaddeus Ladd HRL Laboratories

Whereas to run calculations, physicists will need to place different qubits in different states - and control how they couple and interact.

"To have them controllably talking to one another - that would address the last big remaining challenge," said Dr Simmons.

Independent experts in the quantum field said the new record was an "exciting breakthrough" that had long been predicted.

"This result represents an important step towards realising quantum devices," said David Awschalom, professor in Spintronics and Quantum Information, at the University of Chicago.

"However, a number of intriguing challenges still remain. For instance - will it be possible to precisely control the local electron-nuclear interaction to enable initialisation, storage, and readout of the nuclear spin states?"

The previous "world record" for a solid state quantum system at room temperature - 25 seconds - was held by Dr Thaddeus Ladd, formerly of Stanford University's Quantum Information Science unit, now working for HRL Laboratories.

"It's remarkable that these coherence states could be held for so long in a measurable system - as measurement normally introduces noise," he told BBC News.

"It's also a nice surprise that nothing goes wrong warming up and cooling the sample again - from an experimental point of view that's pretty remarkable.

"What is perhaps most important is that this is silicon. The global investment in this particular material means that it has a lot of potential for engineering."

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Europe allows full flight gadget use

14 November 2013 Last updated at 05:57 ET

Europe is relaxing rules about the use of electronics during flights, paving the way for devices to be used during take-off and landing.

Currently smartphones, tablets and other devices can be used only while a flight is in the air.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published guidelines saying use of such devices should now be allowed during take-off and landing.

It follows the US bringing in similar rules last month.

The EASA stipulates that devices must be used in "airplane mode", meaning passengers cannot use voice or text services.

This is due to the possibility of radio interference with flight equipment.

The changes will apply to aircraft operated by European airlines and are likely to be introduced at the end of the month.

"This is a major step in the process of expanding the freedom to use personal electronic devices on-board aircraft without compromise in safety," said Patrick Ky, EASA executive director.

Explaining the US change of heart, the Federal Aviation Administration said that recent reviews had determined that most commercial aircraft can tolerate radio interference signals from such devices.

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PS4 and Xbox One ready for battle

14 November 2013 Last updated at 19:04 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

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Marc Cieslak takes a hands on look at Sony's new PlayStation 4 console

The release of the PlayStation 4 in North America - it goes on sale in Europe and Latin America in a fortnight - is seen by many as the true dawn for next-generation console gaming after the troubled launch of Nintendo's Wii U.

Early reviews of Sony's new machine have praised its graphics for looking "cinematic"; commended its latest DualShock controller's added touchpad and redesigned thumbsticks and triggers; and remarked that the console is much quieter and easier to navigate than the seven-year-old original PS3.

In a week's time Microsoft fires back with the launch of the Xbox One.

It will be more expensive, but includes a more advanced body-movement sensor in the Kinect; better voice recognition; and a more ambitious bid to take charge of your living room thanks to its ability to control satellite and cable TV set top boxes.

The revelation that two cross-platform launch titles - Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts - both feature higher resolution graphics on the PS4 than Xbox One, has played to Sony's favour.

But at this point the Xbox's exclusive games, including Forza Motorsport and Titanfall, are creating more positive buzz on tech sites than Sony's Killzone Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son.

The releases come at a critical time for both firms.

Sony recently slashed its full year profit forecast by 40%, surprising investors. Chief executive Kaz Hirai would like the PS4 to mirror the healthy sales of its smartphones, rather than its struggling TV unit.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has still to declare who will replace Steve Ballmer. The next chief executive has already been urged to "get rid" of the Xbox unit by the fund manager looking after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's $2bn (£1.2bn) stake in the business.

To mark the consoles' births the BBC invited five experts for their different perspectives on the challenges they face.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Never before has gaming had two such stand-out consoles to choose from"

End Quote

Brian Crecente, Polygon

This month marks the beginning of a new generation of gaming. And for many gamers the question isn't whether to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One - that's a given - but which to buy.

Sony and Microsoft have for years fought tooth-and-nail over the same growing audience of gamers.

They've done so by leap-frogging one another with technology, new bells-and-whistles, more powerful systems, new ways to play. But that's not the case this time around.

With this latest next-generation there is a great schism between the two.

Where Sony's PlayStation 4 delivers an intensely focused gaming machine, Microsoft's Xbox One promises an entertainment hub, a system just as capable of controlling your cable box as it is delivering a new game for you to play.

Continue reading the main story

Brian Crecente

• News editor at video games news and reviews website Polygon
• Previously a crime reporter before switching focus. He has written for Wired, Playboy, Stuff, Variety and Kotaku

The PlayStation 4 is the evolution of gaming, the product of the best bits of learning gleaned from three generations of systems.

It is refined. It is powerful. But it's also lacking in any single stand-out gaming experience at launch.

And the Xbox One? It takes more chances, reaches for a broader range of experiences to deliver.

And in its variety it might, at least initially, miss some of the perfection of the PlayStation 4.

Never before has gaming had two such stand-out consoles to choose from and never before has there been more reasons to wait and see how both deliver on their promises.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

There still seems to be a lot of forms to fill in"

End Quote

Daniel Kaplan, Mojang

Both Microsoft and Sony talk about the new platforms as indie friendly and it will be interesting if that is the case.

So far, for us it has been quite good but what I'm hearing from other developer friends, who are not in the same fortunate position of having had a bestselling game like Minecraft, is that there still seems to be a lot of forms to fill in to gain access to software development kits and tools.

The idea that you need a separate development kit - a special version of the console that can be very expensive - to create games for the PS4 and Xbox One is quite bad for indies since a lot of them usually have very little cash at hand, so removing as much friction as possible would be ideal.

Microsoft has said that every standard Xbox One will work as a dev kit at some point, however not from launch.

Continue reading the main story

Daniel Kaplan

• Business developer at Stockholm-based games developer Mojang
• The firm has sold about 45 million copies of its most famous game Minecraft, which has yet to launch on the PlayStation platform

There is really no need of all of this behaviour since both Google Play and Apple's App Store have shown that you can create open markets for all kinds of developers with the same deal for everyone.

Giving more or less everyone the same opportunity is important for the indies.

It allows their developers to focus their time on creating games and not on filling out forms describing different features or ordering dev kits for a lot of money that may not ultimately bear fruit for them anyway.

With that being said, both Microsoft and Sony are changing and I'm really looking forward to what will happen in the future.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The maths works out to Sony having about a 40% peak potential graphics performance advantage"

End Quote

Anand Shimpi, AnandTech

For the first time the guts of both the Xbox and PlayStation are very similar - their processor and memory hardware vary in performance but not capabilities.

Gone are the days when Sony's machine was substantially more difficult to program for than Microsoft's.

In fact, the PlayStation 4 has appreciably more graphics horsepower under its hood than the Xbox One, there's no way around that fact.

Both firms have licensed the same GPU (graphics processing unit) architecture, but Sony's chip has 1152 "cores" compared to Microsoft's 768.

Microsoft runs its cores at a slightly higher speed, but the maths works out to Sony having about a 40% peak potential graphics performance advantage.

The real question is whether this translates into a substantially better gaming experience.

Continue reading the main story

Anand Shimpi

• Launched the AnandTech news site in 1997
• Specialises in explaining how computer components work in an easy-to-understand manner without being too superficial

Typically developers building one game for multiple platforms target the lower performing one, and may offer some additional perks to the faster one - smoother frame rates, slightly improved visuals.

I suspect that's what will happen this generation. At worst you'll see parity between the two consoles, but at best you'll see developers give PS4 versions of cross-platform games a slight edge.

Where things get really interesting is what happens if a developer chooses to develop exclusively for the PS4 and go all out.

Here's where Microsoft believes its other strengths - Xbox Live, developer relations, the Kinect sensor - will give it the advantage. Microsoft is basically counting on everything else being so good that developers would rather give it their exclusives.

Sony appears to have built the faster gaming machine, while Microsoft has built a system that might appeal to a broader audience and perhaps consume less power.

There are strengths in both platforms - anyone hoping for a clean sweep will likely be disappointed.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

If I walk in to the room, can I walk into your game, too? "

End Quote

Margaret Robertson, Hide&Seek

When the PS3 and Xbox 360 launched, there was no iPhone or Android. There was no Farmville, no Zynga, no Temple Run, no Plants vs Zombies.

Gaming was owned, overwhelmingly, by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. And that meant it was also owned, overwhelmingly, by your TV. And TV games have some very particular properties.

TV games are public - everyone else in the house can see that you're playing and what you're playing.

They're comfortable for long play sessions, and a big screen and big speakers lend themselves to big, epic stories and spectacle.

Long, spectacular play sessions means it's worth scheduling with friends to play online.

TV gaming is all kinds of great, but I've often heard from people who reject it - women especially - that they aren't rejecting the content, but the format.

Continue reading the main story

Margaret Robertson

• New York-based president of Hide&Seek, a video games developer
• Previously acted as a consultant to several console games developers and edited Edge magazine

Many people don't have lives that support them owning the TV for four hours on a worknight, diving deep into The Last Of Us instead of finishing a report for the morning or packing the kids' lunchboxes.

And in the meantime, we've discovered completely different patterns of play.

Apple now owns gaming in a way that the big console manufacturers used to. We're used to private, short-session, interstitial, soundless games. Arcade treats and abstract puzzles.

As the new consoles face their perennial challenge of attracting a wider market - more female players, more older players - this feels to me like their critical battle ground.

Above and beyond producing more varied game content to appeal to more people, can they adapt to the new patterns of consumption that have emerged since the last generation?

How can console games capitalise? More short games. More weird games. More games that people can play together on the sofa.

If I walk in to the room, can I walk into your game, too?

Last time the console giants brought out new machines, they're challenge was: "Can we turn people who aren't gamers into gamers?"

Now their challenge is: "How can we convert phone gamers to the console experience."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The banner games on the Xbox One and PS4 will be the big budget action-oriented titles"

End Quote

Michael French, MCV magazine

Shop shelves are bulging with games machines, and it would be natural to think that the success of any new launch depends on cannibalising the others' market share.

But I think that many, if not all, the platforms can survive.

Smartphone and tablet games are more often than not about shorter play sessions and free-to-play business mechanics and thus appeal to a more casual gamer.

You can see proof of this in the success of Candy Crush from UK-based King.

On console, you have three major players in Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

The banner games on the Xbox One and PS4 will be the big budget action-oriented titles: the Call of Dutys and Grand Theft Autos of the world.

Continue reading the main story

Michael French

• Publisher of MCV, a video games news magazine targeted at those working in the industry
• Believes it is only a matter of time before Nintendo releases its own tablet

The fact GTA 5 was the biggest entertainment launch of all time on the machines' predecessors indicates a real demand still exists for "stereotypical video games" at their best.

Sales of the Wii U may have been disappointing so far, but as a software-maker Nintendo is still the one to beat.

Behind-the-scenes action to speed up releases should mean the machine soon has a stronger line-up of exclusive titles.

Then you have PC. This is actually the fastest growing platform for games in the UK thanks to digital distribution and the fact that the wide variety of machines on offer means you can get all types of content.

Valve's Steam Box plans to help cement this format and develop it further, not disrupt it.

I would wager that most players these days have access to software via a mix of platforms both in the home and in their pocket.

When it comes to the crunch, if platforms do start falling away it will likely be down to the manufacturers' own mistakes, rather than the actions of their rivals.

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Summer launch for London domain name

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:01 ET

The capital will gets its own domain name, .london, in the summer of 2014.

London & Partners, the promotional agency for London, said a contract has been signed with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

The registrations for the new addresses will open in spring 2014, with the domain name going live months later.

Tens of thousands of businesses have shown interest, with Selfridges and Carnaby Street saying they were excited to be associated with the London brand.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "Adopting the .london suffix will enable organisations to more closely associate themselves with our great city's powerful global brand.

"This is also an excellent opportunity to expand London's digital presence, which in turn is set to generate funds to invest back into the city."

Continue reading the main story

• A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the last part of any web address
• There are two different kinds of TLD - country-codes (ccTLD) and generic (gTLD).
• ccTLDs are always two letters long and are given to areas listed by the International Standardization Organisation - for instance .fr for France and .de for Germany.
• gTLDs are at least three characters long and can be used to represent organisations, communities and concepts - ie .org for organisations and .coop for co-operatives.

Gordon Innes, chief executive of London & Partners, said the agency has seen "huge interest" from top stores, visitor attractions and other businesses in the city.

Hazel Kay, interim head of marketing at Selfridges, said: "Having a selfridges.london address is an exciting new opportunity to be creative with our web presence while showcasing our strong association with London, which is a key component of our identity."

Claire Harris, head of marketing and communication at Shaftesbury PLC, said: "London is an incredibly strong brand in retail, fashion and lifestyle, so Carnaby is delighted to be able to promote its geographical and cultural identity across the internet in this way."

The bid to get the new domain name was launched last year and a new subsidiary of London & Partners, Dot London Domains Ltd, will operate the .London registry.

London & Partners applied for what is described as a generic top-level domain (gTLD), and other cities, including New York, Paris and Berlin are believed to have applied for their relevant city gTLDs.

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Robot cow-herder a hit with farmers

15 November 2013 Last updated at 07:50 ET

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Is it a man? Is it a dog? No, it's Rover, the robotic cow-herder

Robots could be used in the future to round up cows on dairy farms, according to researchers.

A four-wheeled device, known as Rover, has been tested by a team at Sydney University. It was used to move a herd of cows from a field to a dairy.

Researchers were amazed at how easily cows accepted the presence of the robot.

They were not fazed by it and the herding process was calm and effective, they said.

Because the robot moved in a steady manner it allowed cows to move at their own speed which was important in reducing lameness among cattle, Dr Kendra Kerrisk, dairy researcher and associate professor, told the BBC.

Robots are already used in the milking process but the team wanted to see if they could be used in other areas of dairy farming.

The robot was adapted from one that was already being used to monitor fruit and trees on farms. A team at Sydney University's Centre for Field Robotics modified the robot so that it could be put in a field with cows in order for the researchers to gather data on robot-bovine interaction.

The prototype needs to be operated by a human but it's hoped that in the future a version can be developed that will be fully automated.

Extremely excited

As well as herding cows a new version could also collect information useful for farmers.

According to the research team, the robot could be used at night to move slowly through the maternity paddock monitoring cows that are due to calve. It could also be used to gather data on soil and detect problems with electric fences.

"The research is in its very early stages but robotic technologies certainly have the potential to transform dairy farming," said Dr Kerrisk.

"When we have discussed this concept with farmers they have been extremely excited and we have had a flurry of calls and emails asking how they can get hold of one," she added.

The robot could also cut down the number of accidents involving humans on farms. Most dairy farmers in Australia use quad bikes to round up their cattle and they are one of the leading causes of injury. The team hopes that by using the robot to do the job instead, accident rates could fall.

Since demonstrating the robot at a dairy symposium in Australia earlier in the year the team has secured funding to develop Rover the robot, mark II.

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'Progress made' on internet filters

16 November 2013 Last updated at 07:24 ET

Internet service providers have made progress in their bid to protect children from pornography, according to the government.

Sky has joined TalkTalk by launching family-friendly filters which customers are asked at the point of signing up if they want to use them.

BT and Virgin are set to introduce something similar within the next two months.

The filters block pornographic websites and can be switched off.

The government wants internet service providers (ISPs) to filter legal pornography and other adult subjects "by default".

Earlier this week, Sky launched Sky Broadband Shield which requires new customers to choose which filters they want, as part of the sign-up process. The 13 rating is pre-selected so customers who do not want this filter applied, need to deselect it.

Existing customers can change their preferences if they access their account on Sky's website.

'Blacklisted'

TalkTalk said its Home Safe product offers numerous filters which do not just block pornography, but also other types of content parents may not want their children to see such as self harm and violence. Customers can choose which filter they want activated.

It said since it launched last year, about a third had signed up which correlates with the number of customers that have children in the home.

The government said by the end of next year, 20 million homes - 95% of all homes in Britain with an existing internet connection - will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter.

Other measures to be introduced include:

• ISPs to launch a £25m internet safety campaign over three years to inform parents how to protect their children online.

• The Brownies to have a computer skills and safety badge while the Girl Guides will work with TalkTalk to teach girls about how to stay safe online

• ISPs to work to prevent the over-blocking of charities, such as those that offer advice to victims of sexual abuse

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "As a dad, it is very simple: I want to know my children are protected when they go onto the internet.

"A family-friendly filter gives me the tool to do that and so this is a really important step forward by the Internet Service Providers.

"As I said in July, we all need to work together, both to prevent children from accessing pornography and educate them about keeping safe online, and I will continue to ensure this happens."

On Monday, the prime minister will hold an internet safety meeting with firms including Google and Microsoft who have been under pressure to do more to block child abuse images on the internet.

Mr Cameron has previously said access to online pornography was "corroding childhood" and has called for "horrific" internet search terms to be blacklisted, meaning they would bring up no results on search websites.

Last year, a public consultation found that 35% of parents wanted an automatic bar on pornography however ministers rejected the plans, saying the move was not widely supported.

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