10 September 2014 Last updated at 13:02 GMT

Microsoft set to buy Minecraft's developer Mojang, say reports

By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor
The video games studio behind Minecraft is in talks to be taken over by Microsoft, according
to reports.
It has been suggested that Mojang might sell for more than $2bn (1.2bn).
In June, the Swedish studio said it had sold about 54 million copies of its hit world-building
game. Since then it has also been released for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, further boosting
sales.
Mojang's founder, Markus "Notch" Persson has previously publicly criticised Microsoft.
Ahead of the release of the Windows 8 operating system, he had claimed that the company was
"trying to ruin the PC as an open platform" because it had wanted to certify third-party titles before
their release.
He had also been a vocal supporter of independent studios, saying in 2012 that: "The more
studios that can remove themselves from the publisher system, the more games that will be made
out of love rather than for profit."
But, according to Bloomberg news agency, it was Mr Persson who "reached out" to Microsoft a
few months ago.
It said that a source suggested that if the deal went through, Mr Persson would help with the
transition, but was unlikely to stay on afterwards.
The New York Times also reported that a person briefed on the talks had said that Mr Persson
was expected to leave within six months, but added that Mojang was keen to hold on to its younger
developers.
A spokesman for Microsoft said: "We don't comment on rumour and speculation."
Mojang also declined to comment. Mr Persson did not respond to the BBC's questions.
Virtual world
Minecraft was first released in 2011, and has since become the third bestselling game of all time
and something of a cultural phenomenon.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has hosted an evening thatexplored its design culture,
Lego has made spin-off toys, Ordnance Survey has created a version of mainland Great Britain
within the game, and Denmark's government has also built a scale model of its country.
The title is set in a virtual world made of cubes of different materials, including dirt, rock and lava.
Most of these can be used as building blocks and/or refined into usable raw materials.

Player use the blocks to build a shelter and to create weapons to defend their character against the
game's zombies and other monsters.
They can also engage in huge construction projects to flex their creative skills.
One extreme recent example involved thecreation of a working virtual hard drive.
Mojang has worked on other titles, but they have either fallen short of Minecraft's success - such as
the role-playing game (RPG) Scrolls - or been shelved before completion - such as 0x10c, a spacethemed game that Mr Persson had been working on until last year.
'Worried gamers'
The Wall Street Journal was first to report negotiations between Mojang and Microsoft, saying
that the deal could be finalised this week.
It noted that this would be the first multibillion acquisition by Microsoft's chief executive, Satya
Nadella, since he took charge of the company.
Harry Bradshaw, who has interviewed Mr Persson on the Twitch video site, said that many gamers
would be concerned by the news.
"There have been cases in the past of big corporations taking someone else's game and turning it
into a huge money-flip, just to see what they can make out of it," he said.
"Gamers will naturally be worried about this.
"And it does confuse me why Mojang would sell up, bearing in mind it is the bestselling PC game of
all time and still sells thousands of copies a day."
One market watcher said that it was unlikely that Microsoft would pull existing Minecraft games from
sale for the PlayStation, Mac, Android, Linux and other rival platforms.
However, he added that Microsoft's various systems might be given preference when it came to
future products.
"Minecraft is one the leading IPs [intellectual properties] within the games space that is potentially
acquirable," said Piers Harding-Rolls, lead games analyst at the consultancy IHS.
"The brand has the potential to continue for the next 10 years,
"So, as an investment - even one at a very high price - it still represents something of value to larger
companies that are looking to acquire exclusivity around a highly-engaged franchise."

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15 September 2014 Last updated at 18:32 GMT
Apple releases U2 album removal tool
By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor
Apple has released a tool to remove U2's new album from its customers' iTunes accounts six
days after giving away the music for free.
Some users had complained about the fact that Songs of Innocence had automatically been
downloaded to their devices without their permission.
It had not been immediately obvious to many of the account holders how to delete the tracks.
The US tech firm is now providing a one-click removal button.
"Some customers asked for the ability to delete 'Songs of Innocence' from their library, so we set
up itunes.com/soi-remove to let them easily do so. Any customer that needs additional help
should contact AppleCare," spokesman Adam Howorth told the BBC.
Users who remove the album and do not download it again before 13 October will be charged for
the 11 tracks if they subsequently try to add them again.

"It's embarrassing for Apple that it's had a bit of a backlash," commented Ian Maude from the media
consultancy Enders Analysis.
"It was giving something away to its customers - so that part was really good - but what it should
have probably done was make it optional. Not everybody's a U2 fan as it's just discovered.
"Is there any long-term impact? No. It's moved very quickly to fix the problem."
'Blood, sweat and tears'
Apple made the album available to about 500 million iTunes customers in 119 countries to coincide
with its iPhone 6 and Watch launch event last week.
U2's singer Bono acknowledged at the time that not everyone would appreciate the gift.
"People who haven't heard our music, or weren't remotely interested, might play us for the first time
because we're in their library," he wrote on the band's site.
"And for the people out there who have no interest in checking us out, look at it this way the
blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys are in your junk mail."
Bono added that Apple had "paid" for the giveaway, and reports have suggested that prime
placement of banner ads publicising the album on the iTunes store and other publicity provided by
the tech firm might be worth as much as $100m (62m).
Sales of earlier U2 albums have re-entered iTunes' charts and the band has also raised its profile
ahead of an expected tour as well as a planned follow-up album called Songs of Experience.
The new tracks on Songs of Innocence have, however, split the critics.
The Drowned in Sound site suggested that U2 no longer had it in them to make a great album,
adding that giving away songs for free had "somewhat devalued a record that cost six years of their
lives and a lot of money to make".
But Rolling Stone magazine gave the album its maximum score, saying that it was "a triumph of
dynamic, focussed renaissance".

9 September 2014 Last updated at 23:45 GMT

Twitter, Netflix and Reddit hold net neutrality protest
By Kevin RawlinsonBBC News
Twitter, Netflix and Reddit will take part in an "internet slowdown" protest in favour of net
neutrality on Wednesday.
They are among dozens of firms worried that proposed new regulations will mean extra charges for
fast internet access.
The US Federal Communications Commission said its proposals were designed to protect net
neutrality.
Many groups taking part will display the spinning wheel, an icon for slow loading speed, but will run
normally.
Indicating that it would take part in the protest, Netflix posted an animation of the wheel on its US
Twitter account on Monday. The icon will link to a page showing readers ways to take action to
defend "net neutrality", Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The Netflix post also urged others to join the campaign. WordPress and the American Civil Liberties
Union said they were also planning to take part on Wednesday.
A Twitter spokesman told the BBC: "We support the Internet Slowdown campaign and its efforts to
draw public attention to a critically important issue. We're not planning to add a banner to our home
page, but we'll participate in other ways." The spokesman would not elaborate on the form Twitter's
protest would take.
According to one of the protest organisers, Free Press, Reddit and Netflix will be joined by Mozilla,
Kickstarter and Upworthy, as well as Automattic - which runs WordPress - Digg and Vimeo.

Other online firms taking part will include Boing Boing, Thunderclap and Urban Dictionary, as well
as Foursquare, Digg and Cheezburger.
"The cause of net neutrality is important to us as a business. It's important to our visitors, and it's
important for our democracy. We're proud to take part in the Internet Slowdown and encourage
others to join with us," said Reddit general manager Erik Martin.
Paul Sieminski, general counsel of Automattic said: "The free and open internet has been central to
the economy and to global free expression. Everyone has to step up now and do everything they
can to protect it," according to AFP.
"We need our leaders to stand up to the cabal of cable and phone giants that have called the shots
in Washington for too long," Free Press Action Fund president Craig Aaron said.
'Grave threat'
The move follows the proposal from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which would
require telecom providers to ensure that "all users have access to an internet experience that is
sufficiently robust, fast and effectively usable".
The proposal came after a US Court of Appeals ruling in January that found that broadband
providers were not under an obligation to ensure all internet traffic was treated equally.
The FCC's proposals defined users as both consumers and "content providers who do not enter
into specific arrangements with broadband providers".
Providers would be banned from blocking downloads of legal content but the rules would leave the
door open to them to charge for "prioritised" data delivery.
In response, more than 100 technology firms, including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and
Twitter, wrote to the FCC claiming the rules "would enable phone and cable internet service
providers to discriminate both technically and financially against internet companies and to impose
new tolls on them".
They wrote: "This represents a grave threat to the internet."

16 September 2014 Last updated at 15:02 GMT

Panasonic launches Lumix camera phone with giant sensor
Panasonic has unveiled a hybrid smartphone-camera, at the Photokina trade show in
Cologne.
More camera than phone, the Android device has a Leica lens and a 1in, 20-megapixel sensor
more often found in Panasonic's dedicated cameras.
The 2.5cm sensor will help the camera take snaps in low light conditions and shoot ultra-high
definition video.
Panasonic said the Lumix DMC - CM1 would go on sale towards the end of 2014 in Germany and
France.
The phone is expected to cost about 900 euros (720) when it goes on sale.
It is widely seen as a rival to Samsung's Galaxy K Zoom, which also has a built-in large lens.
The lens and its metal ring, to control aperture and shutter settings, make the CM1 21mm thick considerably more than contemporary smartphones.
The CM1 also has 11.9cm touchscreen and a dedicated switch that instantly flips it into cameramode.
Reviewing the gadget at tech news site Pocket-lint, Mike Lowe said it was an "interesting
experiment" that "impressed" him more than he had expected.
However, Marc Flores, at Tech Radar, was more critical, saying hybrids satisfied no-one.
"We've tried this before, and it didn't work out so well," he wrote, adding that anyone looking for a
good camera should buy a dedicated device.
Anyone keen to take better pictures with a smartphone, he added, should just learn how the
professionals did it rather than buy a CM1 and hope that would make all the difference to their
snaps.

2 September 2014 Last updated at 10:57 GMT

Uber service 'banned' in Germany by Frankfurt court
By Kevin RawlinsonBBC News
Car pick-up service Uber has had one of its services banned across Germany.
A court in Frankfurt ruled that the firm lacked the necessary legal permits to operate under German
law.

It has emerged that the firm was told last week that its "low-cost" UberPop service could no longer
take passengers and faced a fine if it continued.
But an Uber spokesman said it had decided not to suspend the service, adding that the ban was not
enforceable while an appeal process was ongoing.
"Germany is one of the fastest growing markets for Uber in Europe," he said.
"We will continue to operate in Germany and will appeal the recent lawsuit filed by Taxi Deutschland
in Frankfurt.
"You cannot put the brakes on progress. Uber will continue its operations and will offer UberPop
ridesharing services via its app throughout Germany."
A check of the firm's software confirms that drivers continue to offer UberPop pick-ups in Munich,
Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf.
UberPop was launched earlier this year and involves drivers - who are not directly employed by the
company - over the age of 21 using their own cars to transport passengers.
Taxi Deutschland suggested that Uber could face up to a 250,000 euro ($327,840; 198,342) fine
per trip if the American firm loses the case.
The body described its rival as a "form of locust share-economy" indulging in "anarchy capitalism"
that could leave passengers exposed in the case of an accident.
"In Germany there's insurance that applies to private drivers," explained spokeswoman Anja
Floetenmeyer.
"But if your insurer learns that you are driving for an app and you want to make money on that, they
say this is a multiple risk and refuse to [pay] insurance on that.
"Uber doesn't care because security costs money. We don't believe it has the interests of [German]
drivers and citizens at heart."
But Uber's spokesman in Germany, Fabien Nestmann, has previously blogged that safety is one
of his firm's key concerns, adding that "all the rides - and thus all travellers - are insured by Uber".
European protests
The summary judgment follows a decision by London's transport authorities not to pursue a case
against Uber in June this year.
The San Francisco-based firm allows passengers to summon cars using an app on their
smartphones and calculates the fare en route. It is often significantly cheaper than rival taxi
companies.
But taxi drivers argue that Uber has fewer regulatory burdens placed upon it than they do, and
poses unfair competition.

The company - which is backed by Google and the bank Goldman Sachs, among others - has been
the subject of protests by taxi drivers in many European cities, including Berlin, Paris and London.
Only last week, Uber said it was planning to rapidly expand its German operation.

16 September 2014 Last updated at 13:34 GMT

Cyber-theft prompts search for Nigerian bank IT worker
A Nigerian IT worker is being sought by police for his alleged role in co-ordinating a 25m
($40m) cyber-theft at a bank in Abuja where he worked.
Godswill Oyegwa Uyoyou is being sought by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC).
A wanted notice claims he helped conspirators dressed as maintenance staff get into the bank so
they could use computers to transfer cash.
Local reports suggest the theft was spotted when stolen cash was withdrawn.
Although no members of the gang have been caught, several are being "tracked", Wilson Uwujaren,
a spokesman for the EFCC, told News Nigeria.

Details of the robbery are scant but it is thought that Mr Uyoyou and conspirators entered the bank
on a Saturday when it was closed and no other staff were working.
The IT staffer was key to the robbery, said the EFCC, because of the access he enjoyed to the
computer systems at the bank. This was used to siphon 6.28bn Nigerian Naira into accounts of the
conspirators, said the EFCC. So far, the bank at the centre of the theft has not been named.
The EFCC has issued a warrant for Mr Uyoyou's arrest and he is being actively sought in Nigeria.
John Hawes, a computer security researcher at Sophos, said the amount of cash stolen was
"unusually large" but the method the gang chose was "all too common".
"Insider risk is a major problem for banks," he wrote on the firm's security blog, "they still have to
rely on trusted employees to behave themselves, resist temptation and keep their hands off the
huge amounts of funds they may find themselves dealing with every day."