Crystals hold supercomputer key

Scientists believe tiny crystals could hold the key to creating computers with massive storage capacity, says the BBC.

The crystals could be used as storage devices for desktop computers capable of holding 100 times more data than current systems.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have been using low-energy lasers to make salt crystals in gel.

The speed and availability of mobile broadband services across the UK are set to be improved and extended as a result of government plans for new radio spectrum auctions that will bring coverage to 99% of the population, says Computing.co.uk.

As part of its commitments to the Digital Britain plan, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has introduced a consultation on a new strategy for modernising the use of wireless spectrum in the UK.

The imminent availability of radio frequencies made available by the digital switchover of television broadcasts will allow mobile operators and telecoms firms to provide new high-speed services.

The Home Office has agreed to a delay in extradition proceedings for Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon while Home Secretary Alan Johnson and government lawyers reconsider evidence in the case, reports The Register.

Washington has been demanding McKinnon go on trial in the US for breaking into Pentagon computer systems in 2002. He has never denied tapping into US military systems, saying he was looking for evidence of UFOs.

McKinnon, 42, was refused leave to appeal to the UK's newly minted Supreme Court earlier this month, with judges ruling his extradition was lawful and proportionate.

Federal prosecutors have charged a prominent hedge-fund manager and five others with securities fraud resulting from insider trading involving some of the tech industry's best-known companies, including Intel, Google and IBM, reports CNet.

Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Group was arrested on Friday in New York, according to various reports, and charged with 13 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy following an FBI investigation into Galleon Group's trading patterns. Also charged in the complaint, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, were co-conspirators Rajiv Goel of Intel and Anil Kumar of McKinsey, which provided consulting services to AMD.

A separate complaint charges two employees of New Castle Partners, another hedge fund, with insider trading, along with IBM executive Robert Moffat, senior VP and group executive for IBM's Systems and Technology Group.