Sony appoints senior exec to oversee product quality and safety

Sony has appointed a senior executive to oversee product quality and safety, following an overheating problem with laptop batteries that it had supplied to Dell and Apple. It is the first time that the Japanese company has appointed such a high-level employee to the role. Makoto Kogure, formerly president of Sony's TV division, will be responsible for quality and safety across the company's extensive product portfolio. ...more

Microsoft and Vodafone drive a PC-to-mobile messaging service

Vodafone and MSN are to pool their customers to drive a new PC-to-mobile instant messaging service. With more than 300m customers between them, the new service will give mobile users all the presence, logging and immediacy of a PC-based counterpart. Users can also invite others that don't currently use the service to join, and the companies hope that their combined communities will 'create a penetration pull effect'. ...more

Toshiba charges compact batteries for iPod-style devices

Toshiba has announced a new highly compact battery for portable devices which it claims could power a digital music player such a the iPod for as long as 20 hours on one charge. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) measures just 22x56x4.5mm plus 9. ...more

Microsoft makes scanners available for detecting IE flaws

Microsoft has said it has made scanners available over the weekend so that worried Windows users can check they haven't been affected by attacks stemming from the latest bug in IE made public last week. Stephen Toulouse, who leads the Microsoft Security Response Center, wrote in the team blog that they had been working round the clock since the flaws were publicised and that while levels of attacks were thought to be low, scanning and removal tools are available at the Windows Live Safety Center. Toulouse says a patch for the flaw should be ready in time for the April security bulletin in a couple of week's time. ...more

Amazon bags US patent on monitoring browsing history

Amazon has been granted a US patent on monitoring browsing history in order to suggest information or products which might be of interest. The online retailer can claim to have pioneered such technology with its 'people who bought this also bought' recommendations. Patent number 6,912,505, entitled 'Use of product viewing histories of users to identify related products', describes identifying a relationship between products that are frequently viewed and storing the relationship in data in a table that maps one product to another. ...more