Apple's lawyers target iPhone copycats

iPhone may be six months away from its general release, but some eager fans already have smartphones that look just like the user interface (UI) that Apple unveiled last week at the Macworld Conference & Expo, reports Macnewsworld.

At least one company, MoDaCo, has developed a screen shot of the UI that users can download and install as a "skin" on their PocketPC device.

Apple has not looked kindly upon these endeavours and is threatening legal action.

Dell Canada is the target of a national class action suit on behalf of Canadian consumers who purchased several models of Dell's Inspiron notebooks, reports Newsfactor.com.

The suit claims the computer maker knowingly sold faulty machines. The claim was filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and contends that motherboards used in Inspiron models 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 are defective and that Dell should have known.

"This action seeks to deliver fair compensation to Canadian consumers who own these computers," Joel P Rochon, a partner at Rochon Genova LLP, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in a published statement.

HP claims a research breakthrough to improve chip performance using nanotechnology, say Marketwatch.

The new process could allow an eightfold increase in the number of transistors that can be put on programmable chips, while using less energy per computation.

Additionally, such chips could be built using the same-sized transistors as those used in today's field programmable gate array design, meaning they could be built in current fabrication facilities with only minor modifications, HP said.

The research, conducted using classic modelling and simulation techniques, is the featured paper in the 24 January issue of Nanotechnology, a publication of the British Institute of Physics.

The way the government makes its vast amounts of data available to the public could be about to change, reports BBC News.

The government has decided to make access to a database of UK laws completely free for the public to access and re-use. It marks a "sea-change" in the way government information becomes available to the public, a senior civil servant said.

This move is seen as a victory for campaigners who think public sector information should be free for the public to use.