Microsoft offers web browser choice to IE users
Millions of European Internet Explorer (IE) users will have the option to choose an alternative browser from 1st March. The announcement follows a legal agreement between Microsoft and Europe's Competition Commission in December 2009. Microsoft committed to letting Windows PC users across Europe install the web browser of their choice, rather than having Microsoft IE as a default.
BBC News

US 'closes in on Google hackers'
Investigators say they are closing in on the source of the cyber attacks that hit a number of US companies, including Google, according to reports. The Financial Times suggests that US officials have tracked the author of the code used to attack the company. The paper says the alleged hacker is a Chinese "freelance security consultant in his 30s" who had published extracts of the attack code on the web. The attacks led Google to announce that it may pull out of China entirely.
BBC News

Space shuttle Endeavour lands in Florida
The space shuttle Endeavour has landed at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, following its latest visit to the International Space Station (ISS). The two-week mission saw the virtual completion of the ISS. The six-member crew of Endeavour installed the Tranquillity Node, a spacious addition that includes the "cupola" observation deck. The commissioning of Tranquillity marks the last major component of the space station.
BBC News

Apple to take iPad orders this week?
Want a the 3G-less Apple iPad? The Mac maker will begin taking advance orders for the product later this week, it has been claimed. The news comes from website AppAdvice - formerly AppleiPhoneApps.com - and is said to derive from "a reliable source... familiar with the matter". Said mole reckons Apple's online store will begin taking iPad orders on 25th February.
Reg Hardware

TV makers firm on real-time 2-D/3-D conversion
CE giants raised eyebrows at the Consumer Electronics Show when they promised that their upcoming 3-D TVs would convert 2-D programming to 3-D in real-time. Critics dismiss real-time 2-D/3-D conversion as gimmickry, claiming the results are generally so spotty that even the casual observer can pick up on the parlour trick. The CE industry's content-production partners are sceptical at best.
EETimes

UN calls for action on growing electronic waste
The world must do more to cope with the drastic rise in electronic waste, according to a UN study published today.The report suggests that in some countries, the amount of e-waste being produced – including mobile phones and computers – could rise by as much as 500 per cent over the next decade. Such rapid growth, it argues, will create intractable problems for people's health and the environment as the waste, much of it containing toxic material, decays.
The Guardian

Apple removes 5,000 apps from App Store
Apple has removed around 5,000 apps from its App Store, including some that it claims feature "overtly sexual" content. Dozens of developers received a message from Apple stating that the company was refining the guidelines under which the App Store operates, and that content that it had "originally believed to be suitable for distribution" were now no longer deemed appropriate, following "numerous complaints from customers about this type of content".
Telegraph

Welcome to FarmVille: Population 80 million
FarmVille, the world's biggest social game, has almost 80 million players – that's around 20 per cent of all Facebook users; more people than use Twitter or, indeed, live in the UK. Some 30 million of them tend their crops daily. When the site allowed its gamers to exchange virtual Valentine gifts online, 220 million were sent and accepted within 18 hours; to get that into perspective, it's worth noting that Hallmark sells approximately 200m e-cards over the entire Valentine season.
The Independent

School denies spying on students with MacBooks
A suburban school district in the US denied it spied on students by remotely activating the cameras on their school-issued MacBook laptops. In a statement released late Thursday, Christopher McGinley, the superintendent of Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Philadelphia, admitted that the MacBooks' cameras could be turned on without the user's knowledge, but said that the functionality was part of a security feature.
Techworld.com

Industry body to investigate Chip and PIN flaw
The people who created the specification for the Chip and PIN security system are investigating claims that the technology has been hacked. The specification body, EMVCo, said it is looking at a paper penned by boffins at Cambridge University,who demonstrated an attack with a valid payment card that did not require a valid PIN to be entered to complete a transaction. EMVCo is owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, which will also be looking at the paper.
The Inquirer