Google, Microsoft tighten online searches to combat child porn

(Reuters) - Google and Microsoft unveiled measures to block online searches for child sex abuse images on Monday as part of a bid by British authorities to crackdown on Internet pedophiles.

The companies said as many as 100,000 search terms will now fail to produce results and trigger warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal while offering advice on where to get help.

The world's two largest search engine operators' move was a rare display of unity ahead of an Internet safety summit on Monday hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Cameron welcomed the progress to block illegal content but said far more still needed to be done.

"If more isn't done to stop illegal child abuse content being found, we will do what is necessary to protect our children," he tweeted ahead of the summit that will announce a new trans-Atlantic task force to tackle online child abuse.

The summit comes after Cameron this summer called on Internet firms to do more to stop access to illegal images.

Now both companies have introduced new algorithms that will prevent searches for child abuse imagery.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt wrote in Britain's Daily Mail newspaper that these changes had cleaned up the results for over 100,000 queries that might be related to the sexual abuse of children.

"As important, we will soon roll out these changes in more than 150 languages, so the impact will be truly global," he wrote, adding the restrictions would be launched in Britain first then expanded to other languages in the next six months.

Both Google and Microsoft, who were due to join other Internet companies at the summit on Monday, have also agreed to use their technological expertise to help in the identification of abuse images.

Schmidt said Google planned to provide engineers to give technical support to the Internet Watch Foundation in Britain and the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and to fund internships for engineers at these organizations.

Conservative parliamentarian Claire Perry, who is Cameron's adviser on childhood, said British and U.S. law enforcement agencies would back up this effort by tracking pedophiles using the "hidden Internet" or so-called "dark web" of encrypted networks to distribute images of child abuse.

Ever wonder what happens on the Internet every minute?

Do you know what goes on the Internet every single minute? Google processes 2 million search requests. 72 hours of videos are uploaded on YouTube. And over 204 million emails are sent. This happens every minute. The following incredible info graphic from QMee shows the amazing activity that happens across some of the most popular websites in the world.

The successor to the HTC One is set for an early 2014 release

The new version of HTC’s award-winning handset, the HTC One, is to be out in the US by the start of next year.

Following the success of the HTC One, the newer version is anticipated to have the same fate which will be determined soon.  Tweets, namely from @evleaks, confirm the new device’s predicted upcoming launch date.

Also, Twitter posts state that the phone should be found among all American networks.

A tweet posted by @evleaks states that the phone is rumored to be named HTC M8 and will most probably come with a 5.0 or 5.2-inch display. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor will likely power the M8 and it may have 3GB RAM.

For now, not much else is known about the device’s specs, which have come up a short while after possible images of the M8 were leaked.

The photos imply that the phone shares a very similar appeal with that of the HTC One. However, it does not seem to include the same cutout on the back since that cutout will most probably be utilized as a fingerprint reader.

The HTC One Max has that fingerprint reader, which raised the chances of its inclusion in the M8.

James Cameron’s battle for Avatar investment

James Cameron had to film 40 seconds of 'Avatar' to convince a studio to invest in it. 
The director's 3-D movie adventure pushed the boundaries of filmmaking and set a new precedent for how realistic movies could be - as well as setting a box office record by grossing $2.8 billion - but Cameron found it wasn't easy to get the funding to make it.
He told France's TF1 TV channel: 'It's always difficult to convince any Hollywood studio to make a technically-challenging film.
'We convinced them by filming 40 seconds of what the film was going to look like. As soon as they saw the 3d test, they understood what we wanted to do. 
'I think 'Avatar' represented the latest thing in terms of new images. In this case, the classic story which cinemagoers can identify with works a bit like a gateway into the visual universe 'Avatar' offers.'
Although his movie opened the floodgates to a new era in cinema, Cameron doesn't think the basic structure behind all good movies will ever change. 
He added: 'Technology will definitely evolve, the context will chance, but it won't ever change the fact that to make a good move, you have to have a good story and interesting characters. That's why people still want to leave their houses and sit in a darkened room with others to experience it. I don't think it'll ever stop.'

Hunger Games sequel is ‘less violent’

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' is 'less violent' than the first movie.
Filmmaker Francis Lawrence - who replaces Gary Ross in the director's chair - was eager to make changes to the blockbuster sequel, such as toning down the blood and gore seen on screen.
He said: 'There's a lot less person-on-person killing in this one. The important theme is the idea of allies and having to work with people you don't necessarily trust. Reliance on others versus reliance on self. It's still intense but there's less violence. I'm more interested in somebody's reaction to violence or the consequence of it than the blood itself.'
Leading lady Jennifer Lawrence, who reprises her role as heroine Katniss Everdeen, feels there is a 'good balance' of violent scenes in the two films, however.
She added: 'I don't know if there's more or less action in this movie - it's the same. In the first and second movie there's a good balance of violence.'
The film's director has also brought in a new cinematographer and costume designer to put his own stamp on the sequel.
He explained to Total Film magazine: 'I thought there could be more sophistication to the clothing and my version of naturalistic is very different. I like handheld [cameras] but I'm not into that shaky cam look. I tend to use wider lenses. I think viewers will have much more of a sense of what makes up the Hunger Games arena and what the boundaries are.'

U.S. logged 33 million phone calls in NATO ally Norway: report

(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) logged more than 33 million Norwegian phone conversations over a period of a month last winter, a newspaper said on Tuesday in the first such report involving Norway, a NATO ally.

The report in the Dagbladet daily was based on documents made public by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. It was co-authored by Glenn Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist who brought Snowden's leaks to world attention.

Snowden's revelations about the scale of NSA snooping worldwide, on foreign governments and leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as on ordinary citizens, have strained U.S. relations with some of its allies.

According to Dagbladet, information from 33.19 million phone calls were logged between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013. Anyone from among Norway's 5.1 million people could have had information about their phone calls recorded, the paper said.

Among European countries, Norway had the largest number of calls logged per capita by the NSA in that period, it added.

Logged information included the length of the calls, who made and received the call, the location of the phones and their serial numbers, said Dagbladet.

"Friends should not spy on one another," Prime Minister Erna Solberg told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK on Tuesday. "It is legitimate to conduct intelligence but it should be targeted and based on suspicions."

Sunni Tehreek urges PM to take on terrorists

KARACHI: Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, President Pakistan Sunni Tehreek has urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take on terrorists and extremists on urgent basis.

In a letter sent to the prime minister, Qadri said our beloved homeland, Pakistan, is facing extreme oppressing situation. At one hand, the terrorists are killing our people and on the other; the martyrs of our armed forces are being humiliated.

He said Pakistan Sunni Tehreek Ulema Board has appealed the Taliban many times to quit their arms and accept the constitutional supremacy of the Country and writ of the state. It will be a supporting stance to fight against the conspiracies of the foreign conspiracies. The constitution of Pakistan is an Islamic one made by the scholars of all the sects which abided the rulers to implement "Shariah". There should be a peaceful struggle within the premises of law and constitution to implement the Islamic clauses.

He invited the attention of government to lawlessness, sectarian killing and terrorism in the country. He said any government has not constituted any remarkable line of action to uproot these evils. The representative scholars and influential persons of all the sects should be sit at one table to resolve conflicts and controversial issues, whereas, the literature against Quran and Sunnah should be disposed of properly.

He also requested to declare blockage of Nato Supply and take action to stop drone attacks because the extremists justify their activities by giving these assumptions. He said the government writ should be established in Waziristan and other troubled areas. In these areas the equal opportunities and educational facilities should be provided to male and female members. The areas where extremists are in action, employment opportunities should be provided to unemployed youth. In such areas roads and other infrastructural facilities should be extended.

Pakistan Sunni Tehreek considers it the national obligation to co-operate with government and all stake-holders for the establishment of peace, he concluded. (PPI)