Apple lays rules bare for developers

Apple has said that it will publish the guidelines it uses to determine which programs it will sell in its App Store to appease critical developers, writes The BBC.

The firm, known for its keen oversight of products, has been the subject of complaints from firms who have had apps blocked from the store.

Some developers have complained that the company's rules seem inconsistent.

Anti-virus provider Symantec has warned of a fast-moving email worm that began spreading on Thursday, that has been able to affect hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, reveals The Register.

The e-mail arrives with the subject “Here you have”. An executable screensaver that's disguised as a PDF document then tries to send the same message to everyone listed in the recipient's address book. The .scr file is a variation of the W32.Imsolk.A@mm worm Symantec discovered last month.

In addition to spreading through email, it can propagate through mapped drives, autorun and instant messenger. It also has the ability to disable various security programs.

Sources have said that a congressional committee has called Craigslist founder Craig Newmark to testify at a hearing in Washington DC on Wednesday afternoon, on the topic of "domestic minor sex trafficking", reports CNet.

This political onslaught would present a formidable challenge even to companies like BP that have spent millions of dollars armouring themselves with lobbyists and accruing ex-congressmen on their payrolls.

For a San Francisco-based company that continues to employ only around 30 people and has found itself the target of so much official obloquy, it could be an existential threat.

Xhead = Cloud-related problems cost firms £500 000 annually

According to research by enterprise software firm Compuware, European organisations lose £502 000 every year owing to performance-related problems with cloud-based applications, says Computing.co.uk.

Its survey of 300 European IT directors revealed that 57% of businesses are slowing down or stopping adoption of further cloud applications until they are able to resolve these performance issues.

“So far, businesses have largely invested in cloud applications, such as e-commerce sites and online collaboration tools, without really thinking about the hidden business risks that result from poor performance,” said Richard Stone, cloud computing solutions manager at Compuware.