Top NZ telco hires hacker

A top New Zealand telecommunications company has hired a teenager who admitted to taking part in an international cyber-crime network, reports BBC News.

TelstraClear said former hacker Owen Thor Walker was advising corporate customers on Internet crime.

Walker had been at the centre of a criminal network that infiltrated more than a million computers globally.

A new video game company aims to challenge the big three console makers by providing a "cloud-based" gaming system, promising on-demand access to games and no lag time, says Reuters.com.

The fledging company, called OnLive, said its service will allow users to play games on any TV and nearly any personal computer - even stripped-down netbooks and PCs without graphics processors.

A console slightly larger than an iPhone connects TVs and broadband connections to the OnLive service, and is operated via a wireless controller. OnLive delivers games run on servers in the "cloud", rather than locally on a PC or a console.

China's censors have blocked access to the popular video sharing site, YouTube, but the authorities insist they are unafraid of the Internet, reports Times Online.

Access to YouTube began to falter late on Monday and by Tuesday it had become impossible to reach the site.

The California-based company confirmed the Web site had been blocked in China since Monday, but was unable to provide an explanation for why the Chinese authorities were barring access.

T-Mobile USA is banking that casual users and small business owners will want a constant cellular connection for their laptop in unveiling its webConnect USB stick, according to the Wall Street Journal.

T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, is entering a well-worn path. All of the other wireless carriers, which have built out more extensive high-speed networks, offer laptop cards with wireless Internet connections, and serve mostly business customers. Late to the game, the number four US carrier is hoping its ease of use and the targeting of consumers will allow it to grow.

"We're focusing on consumers and the next wave of users who adopt mobile broadband," said Jeremy Korst, director of broadband products and services for T-Mobile. "We're making it easier."