AOL appoints first director of video
AOL Europe is bolstering its commitment to video with the appointment of Kelly Sweeney to the new role of director of video. She will be responsible for commissioning original productions and managing relationships with production partners and advertisers. Formerly, Sweeney served as head of original content at social network Bebo and was line producer on shows such as KateModern. She has also worked on productions for the BBC, ITV and Sky.
New Media Age

IT budgets enjoy 2010 spending increase
This year will see IT spending rise for the first time since the global recession took hold, although a full-scale recovery is unlikely in the short term, analysts have predicted. Around a third of businesses expect their IT budgets to increase in 2010, according to a worldwide survey carried out by analyst house Ovum.
ZDnet

UK plastic fraud losses fall for first time in 3 years, online banking losses up though
A rise in online banking fraud losses took some of the shine off the overall fall in debit and credit fraud in the UK last year. Official figures from the UK Cards Association, which represents UK credit and debit card providers, published on Wednesday show that fraud on debit and credit cards fell by 28 per cent in 2009 to £440.3m in total, compared to £610m in 2008.
The Register

Hard drive evolution could hit Microsoft XP users
Hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest format shifts in 30 years.
By early 2011 all hard drives will use an "advanced format" that changes how they go about saving the data people store on them. The move to the advanced format will make it easier for hard drive makers to produce bigger drives that use less power and are more reliable.
BBC News

Google announces its own app store
INTERNET ENABLED GIANT Google is taking the marketplace idea it uses for Android apps and extending it for the rest of its online apps portfolio. The search giant has teamed with over 50 other companies to launch the Google Apps Marketplace, which allows administrators to access a host of cloud based applications for deployment to their domains.
The Inquirer

Google Buzz survey: Yeah, no one's using it
Google Buzz has a great deal of work to do to convince even tech-literate Web users that it's a viable service, a CNET UK survey shows. We asked our exquisitely discerning readers what they think of Gmail's status-updates feature and the results are in.  Some 220 people responded to the survey, 44 of whom had used Buzz. Criticism of the service ranged from its implementation -- "clustered and annoying" said one user -- to its openness, with one respondent concerned about the recent privacy kerfuffle. The low adoption rate put others off, with no one to talk to.
cnet UK

Apple iPad Network War - Let the battle commence
The carriers for the Apple iPhone are now set to battle it out to gain exclusivity of the Apple iPad.  In the US, AT&T have captured the rights for coverage of the iPad, but here in the UK, Vodafone, O2 and Orange are at loggerheads and the final decision will be made by Apple itself, who are making their way over here to deliver the verdict.
Unbeatable UK

Tech giants attack Digital Economy Bill
A number of influential tech industry players have signed an open letter to the Financial Times opposing government plans to tighten up internet regulation, particularly the moves to cut off illegal file sharers without a fair trial.  The signatories warn that the proposed amendment to the Digital Economy Bill could limit the right to free speech, and harm the UK's reputation as a place to do business. The letter has been signed by BT chief executive Ian Livingstone, TalkTalk chairman Charles Dunstone and Google UK managing director Matt Brittin, among others.
V3 UK

Lip-reading could come to mobile phones
Mobile phones could soon be able to read your lips, making so-called “silent conversations” a reality. By measuring tiny electrical signals produced by the muscles involved in speech, researchers have been able to develop a device which can record what a person is saying, even if it is inaudible, and then generate a synthesized version elsewhere.
The Telegraph