Google unveils Chrome OS notebook for test scheme

Google has delayed the launch of its much anticipated laptop, powered by its Chrome operating system, until 2011.

Instead, Google announced a pilot programme aimed at people who "live on the web".

Chrome OS is Google's boldest bid yet to challenge Microsoft's market dominance with Windows software.

Google has already gone after Microsoft's Office software with its Google Docs product.

Chrome marks a departure from traditional operating systems, such as Mac OSX and Windows, by targeting users who spend most of their time on the web.

"We think cloud computing will define computing as we know it," said Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive officer.

"Finally there is a viable third choice for an operating system."

Google's Sundar Pichai said the pilot scheme is aimed at early adopters, developers and users who are used to using beta software.

They will be given an unbranded black notebook, called the Cr-48.

Mr Pichai said there would be no devices on sale until next year simply because the software was not ready for prime time, due to a number of bugs and unfinished features.

"This is a profound shift," said Mr Pichai, claiming that the operating system is Google's attempt to "re-think the personal experience for the modern web".

"Chrome is nothing but the web," he added.

Machines for the pilot scheme will start shipping soon.

Consumer devices from Acer and Samsung are due on the market in 2011. No pricing details were given.

IE9 introduces anti-tracking tool

The tools will allow people to control what information is known about their web life

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Microsoft's IE9 browser will have tools that control what data is collected about what a user does online.

The tools will let people stop a site they are visiting sharing information about what they do with other sites.

Users will be able to create lists stating that their data will only be shared with sites they want to see it.

The news comes as the US government criticises the computer industry for its slow progress on protecting user privacy.

In a blog post, Microsoft said many people did not realise that when they visit a website what they look for, view or buy there is often shared with other companies without that user's knowledge.

In IE9, Microsoft is planning to introduce what it calls "Tracking Protection Lists" that it says will work like the "Do Not Call" lists that limit who marketing firms can cold call.

The lists will be defined by users and limit the sharing of data only to those sites which a user is happy to see the information. When switched on, the system might mean that some adverts or other features do not appear when users visit sites.

Anyone will be able to write a list and share it with others so they can get the same protection, said Microsoft.

It also plans to release the formatting and standards for the lists under an open licence so other browser makers can adopt them.

The tracking system will be turned off by default and users will have to "opt in" to use it.

Microsoft said early versions of the tools would be included in the version of IE9 due for release in early 2011.

The announcement comes in the wake of a report from the US Federal Trade Commission report into online privacy.

In it the FTC said that industry self-regulation of privacy was "too slow" and has "failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection".

It called for consumers to be given far more choice about the data being collected about them. It recommended the creation of a "Do Not Track" mechanism that would stop the wholesale collection of information about where people go online and what they are interested in.

Government reveals super-fast broadband plans

Every community in the UK will gain access to super-fast broadband by 2015 under plans outlined today.

The private sector is to deliver broadband to two thirds of the UK. Other, mainly rural, areas will receive public funds to build a "digital hub" with a fibre optic internet connection.

Ministers say they aim for the UK to have Europe's best broadband network.

"The reason we want to do this is very simple -- it's about jobs," says Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Speaking to the Today Programme he said the government had a key role in "catalysing investment by the private sector" in broadband. Mr Hunt cited the example of South Korea which has high speed broadband throughout the nation and which was "90%" paid for by private firms.

The government has earmarked £830m for the scheme, with some of this money coming from funds given to the BBC to pay for the switch to digital TV.

Mr Hunt said the strategy would give the country Europe's best broadband network by 2015 and will be central to economic growth and the delivery of future public services, dependent on quick, reliable access to the internet.

Explaining why the government had abandoned the plans of the former administration that promised 2 megabits per second broadband for all by 2012, he said: "It's silly to hang your hat on a speed like two meg when the game is changing the whole time.

He added: "What we've said is that just giving people two meg is not enough, what people use the internet for is changing the whole time."

A recent study by the regulator Ofcom revealed that fewer than 1% of UK homes have a super-fast broadband connection, considered to be at least 24Mbps.

However, the government does not define the minimum speed it hopes super-fast services will achieve.

"In order to determine what constitutes 'the best' network in Europe, we will adopt a scorecard which will focus on four headline indicators: speed, coverage, price and choice," the strategy says.

"These will be made up of a number of composite measures rather than a single factor such as headline download speed."

Sarkozy trade coup as India buys nuclear reactors

The French leader is the latest world statesman to pay court in Delhi recently, with more to come

India has signed a deal to buy nuclear reactors from France, following talks between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony attended by the two leaders.

Mr Sarkozy is on a four-day official visit, joined by his defence, foreign and finance ministers and about 60 business leaders.

Indian media reports that wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, asked for a son during a blessing at a shrine.

Under the civil nuclear deal, two French reactors worth £6.3bn ($10bn) are expected to be built at Jaitapur in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Monday's agreement was signed by the heads of French state-controlled nuclear group Areva and India's Nuclear Power Corporation.

India has 22 nuclear reactors and is seeking to expand its energy sector, opening up a market estimated at £90bn over 15 years.

France, the world's second largest producer of nuclear energy after the US, hopes to lead an international revival of the industry, which is expected to benefit from worries about global warming and soaring energy prices.

Hungry for energy to fuel its booming economy, India has a population of 1.2 billion, but gets only a tiny fraction of its electricity from nuclear power.

Supporters of the deal say that having more nuclear plants in India could help reduce global demand for oil and gas while at the same time significantly reducing the country's pollution levels.

Among the business leaders in the French delegation are the heads of Dassault Aviation, the aircraft manufacturer, and EADS, the aerospace contractor.

Mr Sarkozy arrived in India on Saturday and toured a space research facility in Bangalore before making a sunset visit to the Taj Mahal - the monument of love in the town of Agra - with his wife, who is a singer and former model.

The couple then went sight-seeing at the ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri near Agra on Sunday.

Mr Sarkozy is also expected to visit Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, before returning home on Tuesday.

The visit is his first to a G20 state since France last month took the presidency of the group of developed and major developing economic powers.

Mr Sarkozy has backed India's bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, and supported India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a gathering of countries that export civil nuclear technology.

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have both visited India recently, as world powers look to the booming Asian giant for export opportunities.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are the next world leaders scheduled to sweep into Delhi.

Google to launch e-book store

More and more people are reading digitally from a variety of devices

Google hopes to write itself a substantial chapter in the digital books story with the launch of its own store.

Google eBooks, formerly known as Google Editions, launches in the US on 6 December.

It will allow users to download three million e-books to a range of devices.

It will put it head-to -head with Amazon, which links its Kindle device to its own store, and Apple with its iBookstore.

Library fears

The launch of the service has been delayed, due to legal and technical wrangles.

But Google is hopeful that its "device agnostic" store will rewrite the current generation of digital books.

"It benefits authors because they will be able to be more visible and more accessible than with the physical constraints of a book store," said Santiago de la Mora, director of books at Google.

"It will also be good for publishers who will be able to promote backlist titles," he added.

James McQuivey, an analyst with research firm Forrester, predicts Google could become an important player in the market.

"It is sitting on information that no-one else has. It knows when you are searching for authors and what book titles and that is its biggest strength," he said.

"It may not lure people away from the Kindle but there are tens of millions of people who read but don't own a Kindle," he added.

According to Forrester, 10.3 million e-readers were sold in the US during 2010, not including the iPad. It predicts that by the end of 2010, the e-book market will be worth $966m (£615m).

Google does not have an unblemished record when it comes to digital books.

Its work to scan millions of books has courted huge controversy from critics who were concerned that it could become the sole curator of a huge online library.

It has been fighting a two-year legal battle with authors and publishers in the US.

It has agreed to set up a Books Rights Registry through which authors could register their works and get compensation but no ruling from the US court looking at the case has yet been handed out.

Google's ability to offer users access to classic literature could boost its eBook project, thinks Mr McQuivey.

"If you can read Les Miserables for free using Google's system it is a way to lure people in and whet their appetite for e-reading," he said.

He expects the e-reading market to nearly double in size in 2011.

Google's eBook service is expected to launch in Europe in 2011.