Dinosaur den diggers discovered

Impression: The adult would have been about 2m in length

The fossil remains of small dinosaurs that burrowed into the ground have been found by scientists in Montana, US.

The 95-million-year-old bones are from an adult and two juveniles and were unearthed in a chamber at the end of a 2.1m-long sediment-filled tunnel.

The researchers say the discovery is the first definitive evidence that some dinosaurs dug dens and cared for their young in such structures.

Details are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"Burrowing also represents a mechanism by which small dinosaurs may have exploited the extreme environments of polar latitudes, deserts and high mountain areas," Dr David Varricchio and colleagues tell the publication.

The team has been commended for its diligence

The Montana dinosaurs have not been seen by palaeontologists before and have been given the scientific name Oryctodromeus cubicularis, meaning "digging runner of the lair".

The team says the species' snout, shoulder girdle and pelvis have features one would expect to see in an animal that dug into the ground.

Judging from the preserved vertebrae, the adult would have been about 2.1m (6.8ft) from nose to tail, with the major part of that (about 1.2m; 3.9ft) being the tail itself. The estimated width of the animal fits neatly with the size of the tube it was digging (about 30cm;1ft in diameter).

What is left of the tunnel structure is sloping and has two sharp turns before ending in a chamber. The team says its architecture is similar to the dens of modern burrowers, such as the striped hyena, puffin and some rodents.

The dinosaur remains were covered in the coarse-grained sediment from an ancient flood; but Dr Varricchio, of Montana State University, said this did not explain the animals' deaths.

"The bones are disarticulated; they are not in life position," he told BBC News.

The scientists found the dinosaur fossils inside a den

"It's not like they were sitting in the burrow and a flooding event filled the chamber with sediment and they were entombed. They must have died, undergone decay and then the burrow was filled."

Commenting on the discovery, Professor Kevin Padian from the Museum of Palaeontology, University of California-Berkeley, said the Montana team should be commended for the detailed way in which it went about its work.

Many would have missed the significance of the tunnel, he said

"This discovery is first and foremost a testament to the value of keeping one's eyes open in the field and noticing everything, and it took a special group of scientists to realise the meaning of the discovery that they made," he added.

Professor Padian bemoaned the impact of commercial fossil hunting which, he claimed, sought to get specimens out of the ground as fast as possible, often destroying valuable scientific information in the process.

Montana is the scene of many great dinosaur discoveries

Whale fossil is found in vineyard

By Christian Fraser BBC News, Rome

Palaeontologists say the skeleton appears to be complete

The biggest whale fossil ever discovered in Italy has been found in one of the country's finest vineyards.

The five-million-year-old skeleton, 33ft (10m) in length, was dug up in the northern grape-growing area of Tuscany.

The vineyards of Castello Banfi, where the bones were uncovered, produce the famed Brunello de Montalcino wine, one of Italy's most prized.

The whale remains were discovered by a fossil hunter who was given special permission to poke around the vines.

Rich soil

The skeleton appears to be complete and, for the last month, palaeontologists from the University of Florence have been carefully digging around the terraces to extract it in one piece.

Millions of years ago, Tuscany was under water and Castello Banfi was the sea bed.

The vineyard owner, Cristina Mariani, is delighted.

"It reminds us "that this rich soil is composed of nutrients and minerals deposited millions of years ago," she says.

"It's that special earth that gives complexity to our wines."

So, if you are lucky enough to ever taste a Brunello, just savour it for that extra moment, and remember that beneath the old vines that produced it - there was an even bigger old whale.

TV networks plan rival to YouTube

Shows such as 24 will be found on the new portal

Two US television networks are to combine their TV shows into a single online portal, to counter the threat of video-sharing sites such as YouTube.

NBC Universal and Fox will put top shows such as 24, House and Heroes as well as hit movies on the site, which will carry advertising.

The initiative is designed to give the firms greater control over how their content is accessed on the internet.

Viacom has launched a $1bn copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube.

'Legitimate path'

Viacom, which owns MTV and Nickelodeon, says YouTube uses its shows illegally.

Viacom alleges that about 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programmes have been loaded onto YouTube's site and viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

Google, which owns YouTube, has said it is confident that YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders.

We will have access to just about the entire US internet audience at launch Peter Chernin, News Corporation

Experts believe that other TV networks could soon join the distribution alliance, which will offer hit movies such as Borat and The Devil Wears Prada as well as TV shows.

The features will be distributed through Yahoo, AOL, MSN and MySpace networks.

News Corporation, owner of the Fox TV network and the 20th Century Fox film studio, said the development would raise internet video to a whole new level.

"We will have access to just about the entire US internet audience at launch," said Peter Chernin, its chief operating officer.

"For the first time, consumers will get what they want - professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live."

Impact on YouTube

Viacom said it welcomed content-owners taking the lead in protecting their material.

Analysts said YouTube was unlikely to be damaged by the move since its users valued the social networking experience it offered as much as the video content available on it.

"There is plenty of room for multiple players," said Richard Greenfield, from Pali Capital.

"It is still not clear how user generated content is going to fit in and it's still not clear that all of these companies won't do a deal with Google over time."

PlayStation 3 launched in Europe

It was all smiles for the first in the queue in the UK

Sony has launched its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console in Europe and Australia, hoping to retake its gaming crown.

The company trails Microsoft and Nintendo in sales of next generation consoles and the launch has been beset with problems in the last year.

But the PlayStation brand remains strong with gamers and one million PS3s will hit shops on day one.

At the London launch everyone who bought a PS3 also received a free 46-inch HD television and a taxi home.

In total, the giveaway amounted to £250,000 worth of televisons to more than 100 gamers.

At the head of the queue, 17-year-old Ritatsu Thomas said the giveaway and PS3 had been worth the 36-hour wait.

PS3 HITS EUROPE Clickable guide to the PS3 A voyage around the hardware

He said: "I feel fantastic. I'm delighted that everyone here also gets a television."

Sony has declared its launch of PlayStation 3 to date as a success, saying early sales are faster than those of its predecessor PS2.

It believes that the combination of a high-definition Blu-ray DVD player, online capabilities and gaming powered by the Cell processor will convince gamers to spend £425 (599 Euros) on the machine.

"High definition is very important to people," said Ray Maguire, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in the UK.

"A lot of people have bought flat panel TVs and they want content to go on it and PlayStation 3 is one of the few places they can get that kind of experience."

Mr Maguire said the TV giveaway in the UK was a reward for gamers' patience.

Sales figures from the United States, where the console launched last November, suggest that PS3 is being outsold by rivals. Recent figures from sales trackers NPD show that the Nintendo Wii is outselling the PS3 by more than two to one.

HAVE YOUR SAY I enjoy the escapism of computer and console games, but the PS3 is something I can well do without Keith Hutchinson, Sunderland

But the NPD figures also show that the PS3 is selling slightly faster in the US than the Xbox 360 did at the same stage in its release.

More than 200,000 consoles were made available on launch day in the UK, four month's later than originally planned.

Phil Harrison, Sony's head of worldwide studios, said the delay was "regrettable".

"But there are benefits for European consumers - there are more games available, more Blu-ray movies and we've updated the online PlayStation network."

Virgin's flagship store on Oxford Street, London, opened at midnight on Thursday despite concern from police about potential muggings.

Sony said the free taxis were to ensure people who attended the launch get home safely.

Gartner principal analyst Paul O'Donovan said: "The Wii is definitely outselling the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the moment."

But he said he expected Sony's brand will help the PlayStation edge ahead of rivals by the end of 2007.

"The real issue for Sony is whether they can get back the momentum they had with PS2. The only thing that is going to drive that is the number of titles available."

Motorstorm is one of the most anticipated launch titles

John Houlihan, editor of Computer and Videogames.com, said the initial line-up of games for the machine was "fairly decent".

"It lacks a must-buy, stand-out game. Six months down the line we will see Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo and more PlayStation bankers."

He added: "PlayStation is still the world's most successful gaming brand ever."

Mr Maguire said the risk in investing in PlayStation 3's technology was in proportion to the returns the company expected to make.

"We're confident we have got the right technology," he said.

Laptops set to out sell desktops

The ubiquity of wireless may help explain the rise of the laptop

Laptops will overtake desktop PCs as the dominant form of computer in 2011, according to a report by analysts IDC.

The demand for bulky machines will continue to slowly grow but at a declining rate as portable machines become quicker and more efficient.

The report predicts the laptop market
will grow by 16.1% year-on-year until 2011, compared to 3.8% for desktop PCs.

There will also be a short burst of desktop shipments over the next year as Microsoft rolls out Vista, it predicts.

Desktop decline

"The release of Vista and a desktop refresh will create some growth opportunity in late 2007 and early 2008, before resuming a declining growth trend in the out-years," said Doug Bell, analyst in IDC's personal computing program.

More than 82 million portable computers and nearly 140 million desktop PCs were shipped around the world in 2006, according to the report.

Compared to the previous year, the numbers of laptops shipped rose by 26.3% compared to less than 2% for desktop PCs.

The gradual shift away from fixed machines may reflect the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce and the ubiquity of wireless networks.

A recent US survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that the number of internet users with wireless at home nearly doubled, from one out of 10 in January 2005 to one in 5 by December 2006.

The same survey found that 80% of laptops had wireless capabilities and 88% of laptop users used a wireless network at home.

Last year, a report by research firm Current Analysis found that 2005 was the first year that laptops outsold desktop computers in the US.

The latest report from IDC indicates that the appetite for computers on the move is set to continue.

"Portables are picking up some of the slack from Desktops," said Loren Loverde of IDC.

Private rocket rides into space

This was the second attempt to send the rocket into space

Privateer Elon Musk has launched his budget rocket, Falcon-1, from the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific.

The 21m-long vehicle lifted off at 1810 California time (0110 GMT) and rose to an altitude of 320km (200 miles).

Mr Musk, who co-founded the internet financial system PayPal, wants to lower the cost of access to space.

The flight did not achieve all its goals, but the he said it demonstrated the vision of his Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX).

The mission was the second attempt to loft the rocket; the first, in March 2006, ended when a fire fed by a fuel leak led to the shut down of the main-stage engine just 29 seconds after lift-off.

'Great outcome'

On the latest flight, the second stage did not achieve its full speed, again because of an early shut down of the engine, this time because the vehicle began an unexpected roll.

Mr Musk said he thought this problem should be easy to fix once flight engineers had analysed the data.

"The launch was not perfect, but certainly pretty good," he added.

"Given that the primary objectives were demonstrating responsive launch and gathering test data in advance of our first operational satellite launch later this year, the outcome was great."

The Falcon-1 is the first in a line of vehicles the SpaceX company hopes will shake up rocket services.

It is a two-stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene. The first stage is designed to parachute into the ocean to be recovered and used again.

Crowded market

With the relatively low price of about $7m (£4m) per flight, the Falcon-1 is making a serious attempt to undercut other players in what is an overcrowded launcher market.

The largest rocket planned by SpaceX is the 53m-long Falcon-9, which should be able to carry about 25,000kg (55,100lbs) into low-Earth orbits.

This would put it in a similar class to current American vehicles such as the Delta 4 or Atlas 5, and the European Ariane 5.

SpaceX was recently given a $278m (£142m) award from the US space agency (Nasa) to demonstrate cargo delivery services to the International Space Station.

The company says it also has satellite launch commitments on its books worth about $400m (£200m).

Although started by Mr Musk, the PayPal electronic payment system is now owned by the internet auction site eBay.