120 gadgets lost daily

Every day, an average of 120 electronic gadgets, calculated on figures provided by transport companies and the police, are reported lost or stolen, states Straits Times.

ComfortDelGro, for example, said the number of such items lost in cabs has increased by about 13% since 2007, with a monthly average of 2 552 this year.

Mobile phones make up a third of these, while the rest consist of laptops, MP3 players, cameras, PDAs and handheld game consoles, says Tammy Tan, group corporate communications officer for ComfortDelGro.

For more than a year the blogosphere has been awash with speculation about the existence of an Apple touch-screen computer based on the technology behind the iPhone, says Times Online.

The device, it is said, would play music, film and games, surf the Web and act as a VOIP phone and a reading device for books and newspapers. The only problem is that there has been no evidence of its existence. Until now, that is.

A component manufacturer in Asia has taken an order for touch-screens from Apple matching the expected dimensions of the gadget, according to an industry expert. Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, a respected technology analyst who correctly forecast many of the features of the iPhone in 2007, said he had spoken to the manufacturer and predicted the new computer would cost about $600.

Wireless solutions manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has introduced a smart card reader for its Blackberry, which will enable secure pairing and communications between the reader, the BlackBerry smartphone, the computer and PKI applications, reports Proactive Investors.

RIM said the new card has a larger display along with increased security and content protection.

The smart card reader can also be used as a security accessory for BlackBerry, as now if a smartphone is paired with a reader, it will automatically lock if out of the range of the reader.