Online harassment outlawed

Missouri town city officials have declared online harassment a crime, less than two weeks after they learned of a 13-year-old girl who killed herself after receiving hurtful messages on a popular social networking Web site, reports Chron.

The Board of Aldermen unanimously passed an ordinance making online harassment a misdemeanour in this city of about 5 500.

"It is our hope that by supporting one of our own in Dardenne Prairie, we can do our part to ensure this type of harassing behaviour never happens again, anywhere," says mayor Pam Fogarty. "After all, harassment is harassment regardless of the mechanism or tool."

In the battle for supremacy in the game world, Nintendo Wii has now matched the Xbox 360 in total market share, despite the Microsoft console`s one-year head start, reports Seattle PI.

However, the Xbox 360 is still maintaining a sizable lead over the console that might be considered its more direct competitor, Sony`s PlayStation 3.

That`s the statistical backdrop as the competition enters a pivotal phase - today`s start of the holiday shopping season in the US. A large portion of game console sales is traditionally made in November and December.

The Zune 80, Microsoft`s recently announced high-capacity digital music player, is competing with Apple`s entrenched iPod to be the electronic darling for holiday sales, says USA Today.

However, the Zune 80 is sold out or in limited supply after its first week at leading retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart.

Zune 80s, which contain an 80GB hard drive capable of holding 20 000 songs, compete directly with the iPod classic, but provide a larger screen, wireless networking capabilities, FM radio and a music subscription service. While Zune 80s retail for $250, they were selling for about $320 on eBay yesterday.

Apple has ended two years of litigation between itself and Burst.com by agreeing to pay a one-time $10 million fee to get non-exclusive access to the company`s portfolio, says Techspot.

In exchange, Burst has agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of current or pending patents that have not been shared between the companies.

Burst alleged Apple infringed four patents for transmission of compressed audio and video files in iTunes, iLife, QuickTime and the iPod.