The great and the good hacked

The great and the good gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. And they had their personal details hacked from the event's computer system, including credit card details. The breach was reported by the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung, which received some of the data as evidence from the hackers, but it is still unclear whether the hacking was part of the anti-globalisation protests that surrounded the event. ...more

Stop whining, Microsoft tells Apple

The head of Microsoft's legal department has warned Apple to stop blaming the music companies for its 'inability to sell every conceivable iPod'. General counsel Brad Smith said that Apple was 'doing pretty well', and that it was the music companies that were doing less well. It is they, not the company controlling the delivery mechanism, that Smith believes should be able to decide how their products should be provided to the general public. ...more

Businesses prepare to bluejack your phone

Even your mobile phone might not be able to avoid the curse of spam, now that the marketing industry is waking up to the advertising potential of Bluetooth. As we reported in October, Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones have spawned bluejacking, the process of anonymously sending text and images from one phone to another. However, what started out as an innocent pastime could become a pervasive marketing tool, outside the control of privacy protection laws. ...more

UK leads the rest of Europe over Net access

Over thirty per cent of the population is connected. New figures released by researcher NetValue report that an impressive 31 per cent of the UK population is connected to the Internet - this represents around 7.3 million households. ...more

Palm and Handspring sued over patent row

Palm and Handspring have been named in a US lawsuit, saying their handhelds infringe on a 1987 patent. NCR, a company that sells cash dispensers, says it is due royalties from Handspring for its Visor PDA and Palm for the Palm Pilot. It has asked the court to force the two companies to stop selling the products until the matter has been resolved. ...more