The Office of Fair Trading says they may have broken competition law by sharing details about fees. The schools, including Eton, Harrow, and Winchester, could have been fined up to 10% of their annual turnover. The deal, offered in February, has been accepted by all 50 schools. The OFT will take no further action.

The Discovery orbiter has been moved onto its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, as part of preparations for a July lift-off. The slow procession from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad took almost eight hours. The space shuttle is scheduled to fly some time between 1 and 19 July. It will be only the second shuttle flight since the space shuttle Colombia disintegrated on re-entry three years ago, killing all seven astronauts. Pointing skywards, the shuttle, already attached to its orange rocket fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters, inched along its four-mile (6.5km) journey atop a giant transport vehicle. Shuttle programme manager Wayne Hale has expressed confidence that Discovery will launch in July as planned and that the US space agency (Nasa) will be able to launch a further two shuttle flights before the end of the year. A final decision on whether to launch will be made in mid-June. Discovery had originally been expected to blast off this month, but the schedule was changed when a faulty fuel tank sensor was discovered.

Bonobos and orangutans are capable of future planning, according to a study published in the journal Science. Researchers found the apes could select a suitable tool for reaching a treat, carry it away, and return with it to retrieve the reward hours later. Forward planning is thought by some to be a uniquely human trait. The German team suggests such skills may have evolved about 14 million years ago, when bonobos, orangutans and humans shared a common ancestor. "We showed that individuals are able to pick up a tool, transport it to a different location, keep it there for at least an hour, and bring it back to solve a problem," explained lead author Dr Josep Call, from the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "Previous studies had shown that chimps and other animals can transport tools to solve a problem on the spot - so they will go and even make a tool and then they will bring it to solve a problem. "But the main difference with the tasks that we tried is that here when they transport the tool and save it, they have no use for the tool. They need to anticipate that they will require it solve a problem in the future."

The waiting room: The scientists investigated this with a series of experiments. In one of these, the apes were taught how to use a tool to retrieve a treat from a piece of apparatus. Then the researchers offered the apes a selection of tools - some suitable, some not - but blocked their immediate access to the reward. Instead, the apes were led away to another location where they had to wait for an hour before being returned to the original room where, if they had selected the correct tool, they could release their treat. Six out of 16 times the apes successfully chose the correct tool, kept it with them in the waiting room, and then used it to access the reward. The team found the success rate was about the same when they increased the waiting time to 14 hours - enough time for the apes to sleep in between collecting and using the tool. "Traditional learning theory has a hard time explaining this, and several scientists had postulated that future planning is something beyond the capabilities of animals, so we were very surprised to see this," said Dr Call. The scientists looked at bonobos and orangutans because they represent our closest and most distant great ape relatives, respectively. Humans and bonobos evolved into separate lineages about five to seven million years ago; orangutans about 14 million years ago. "Because both orangutans and bonobos showed the ability to future plan in these tasks, this means this skill could have been present in the common ancestor to all great apes," Dr Call said. Next, the team plans to investigate whether the apes will protect their tool if they share the waiting room with a competitor. -By Rebecca Borel

Microsoft has revealed how powerful computers must be to run Vista - the new version of its Windows operating system. It has given advice on the basic specifications to run the software as well as the higher capabilities needed to get the most out of it. Also available is a downloadable tool that lets people know if the PC they own now will run the system. Microsoft has said that Vista will go on widespread release in January 2007.

Spec check: Vista, formerly known as Longhorn, is Microsoft's long awaited update to the Windows family of operating systems and makes some big changes to the way that the software works. Typically every release of Windows kicks off a round of PC buying as companies and consumers buy machines that can make the most of the novel features included in the new version. Only those machines with a graphics card that has a significant amount of memory will be able to use this 3D display. Other big changes in Vista include the way it handles sound and networking with other machines. Microsoft has also prepared a Vista "Get Ready" website that can help people work out if their PC can run Vista unaltered, if they need to upgrade their main memory or graphics card, or if they need a whole new computer. Also available is a software download called the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor that can check a PC and advise about the action needed to run the new version of Windows. The situation is also complicated by the fact that Microsoft is set to release Vista in six separate versions. Three will be aimed at home users, two at companies and one for emerging markets. Many PC makers are already selling machines that they label as "Vista ready". There is no information yet about the abilities of Intel-based Apple Mac computers and whether they will be able to run Vista.

Microsoft has released "minimum" and "recommended" specifications for Vista. The minimum means that the operating system will run but some new features will be disabled. Recommended means that this is what is needed to get the most basic configuration of the whole package working. For instance one of the big changes in Vista is the graphical look of the interface itself - dubbed Aero. In Vista the familiar boxes, windows and icons on the desktop are modelled as 3D objects - just like in many computer games.

Serious crime: The Vastmanlands district court found that downloading copyrighted material was not illegal at the time. But it ruled that distributing the film breached Sweden's copyright law. "This kind of crime should be taken seriously," said the ruling. "Making a film available to the public on the internet has significant consequences for the film industry. Illegal material can in this way be spread quickly and reach many people, which can lead to heavy economic losses for the copyright owners," the court said. File-sharing carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, but in this case the court chose just a fine as the man was not trying to profit financially from his actions. Bawer's lawyer said his client had not yet decided whether to appeal against the verdict. "It's a lot for uploading one film on one occasion and without financial gain," said Torbjorn Persson. The Swedish Anti-piracy Agency, which represents the entertainment industry, hailed the verdict as a big step forward. "This sends a very strong signal to file-sharers," said Henrik Ponten, legal council at the group. "Now we have taken the first step toward a functioning copyright law." The decision to fine rather than send Bawer to jail could have serious implications for the fight against internet piracy. Swedish police can only request personal details from an internet provider about who own a specific net address if they are suspected of a crime that warrants a prison sentence.

Photo: NISBET'S WINDMILL.

His motivation was both financial and environmental and he was inspired by seeing two windmills at the Ford plant where he works. Although he says the concerns of others have been allayed, the first few months haven't been as windy as he hoped. "In the last eight to 10 years we've had strong south-westerly winds but not this year," he says. "It's been fickle and I'd put this six months down as a lean year. "It's been generating electricity but not as much as I had hoped for. It's connected to the grid and any surplus flows back into the grid." The wind provided 80% of his electricity in the summer and he estimates it will heat the house through winter, thereby saving him a total of £1,000 a year in heating bills. In 10 years, he hopes to have paid off his investment, but he will still have been buying electricity from the grid during that time. It isn't possible to be totally dependent on wind because it doesn't blow every minute, says Alison Hill at the British Wind Energy Association. "You may get the 4-5,000 units a year to run a household but not every single hour of every day so you would need to have standard electricity grid connection to get electricity from the grid. "We are quite lucky in the UK because when we have most wind we have most demand - winter. That profile of generation is quite beneficial, but no-one can have 100% self-sufficiency on wind alone. "If it looks like you have a big wind resource and a good turbine, you can connect that turbine to the grid and sell that, so there's an additional revenue for householders there."Typically, a household sees a reduction of between a quarter and a third in its annual electricity bill." Solar panels can supplement wind to boost a home's renewable sources but some households do claim to make a profit purely from wind, by generating so much electricity that the amount they sell back is greater than the amount they buy. That would require a very energy-efficient house and living in a particularly windy part of the UK, says Ms Hill. And the future is bright - despite the end of government grants in February - because big companies like British Gas are investing in new kinds of turbines which have yet to come on the market, she adds.