Japan orders Apple investigation of laptop fire

Japan's trade ministry has ordered Apple to investigate why one of the company's iBook laptops caught fire in April, giving its unfortunate user minor burns. The laptop is thought to be among those included in Apple's recent battery recall, initiated after problems were discovered in Sony cells that power three of its laptop models. Apple Japan spokeswoman Michiko Matsumoto confirmed that the company had received the trade ministry's request, but would not say how many of the faulty batteries had been shipped in Japan nor the number that had so far been replaced. ...more

Orange steals number two spot from BT Cellnet

Orange could well be the UK number two mobile phone operator after adding 830,000 customers in the second quarter. The French-owned company has probably edged ahead of BT Cellnet to become second only to Vodafone, with 11.9 million UK customers. ...more

Infosec 2004: Microsoft commits to higher quality security patches

During Microsoft's Security Update press briefing at Infosec 2004, execs highlighted Redmond's commitment to putting out higher quality patches, even though it may take time. Jonathan Perera, Senior Director at Microsoft's Security Business and Technology Unit said the company was committed to 'making it easier to deploy critical system updates' and improving its responsiveness in issuing timely information. However, Firas Raouf, COO at security company eEye Digital said he is concerned that things at Microsoft are getting worse rather than better. ...more

IE 7 vulnerability revealed

Within hours of the final release of Internet Explorer 7, the first vulnerability has emerged. Even more embarrassing for Microsoft is that the flaw is one that has been known about for months. The vulnerability is due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the 'mhtml:' URI handler. ...more

NTL and Telewest merger 'as early as 2005'

The long-anticipated merger of the UK's two cable providers, NTL and Telewest, may occur as early as next year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Telewest Global has been talking to US investment banks, while NTL is selling off its television transmission business to streamline itself in preparation for a merger. Merger speculation has surrounded the two companies since they hoovered up the UK's smaller cable providers in the mid- to late 1990s. ...more