Apple moves into business sector

Apple may have enjoyed unprecedented success in the consumer market of late, but the company is now broadening its scope by looking to increase market share in the business sector, says Computing.co.uk.

The user-friendliness and functionality of Apple's products have made them hugely popular in the consumer space. The company's most recent high-profile unveiling, the iPad, sold 300 000 units in its first day of release in the US.

The iPhone too has proven to be the most popular smartphone in the world and is now creeping into the workplace, as businesses begin to rely on the handset to maintain communication between employees and the company.

According to a survey from Google's e-mail filtering business, spam levels have remained resolutely stable despite recent botnet takedowns, reports The Register.

Google Postini reports no lasting effect from the recent takedown of spam-spewing botnets, such as Mariposa and Mega-D.

Early this year, government agencies and security firms teamed up to take-down several other botnet targets - including Waledac, Mariposa, and Zeus - using similar tactics.

Some of the latest security updates for Windows XP will not be installed on machines infected with a rootkit virus, reveals the BBC.

A rootkit is sneaky malware that buries itself deep inside the Windows operating system to avoid detection.

Microsoft said it had taken the action because similar updates issued in February made machines infected with the Alureon rootkit crash endlessly.

The US Justice Department has abruptly abandoned what had become a high-profile court fight to read Yahoo users' e-mail messages without obtaining a search warrant first, writes CNet.

In a two-page brief filed Friday, the Obama administration withdrew its request for warrantless access to the complete contents of the Yahoo Mail accounts under investigation.

Yahoo's efforts to fend off federal prosecutors' broad request attracted allies who argued that Americans who keep their e-mail in the cloud enjoy a reasonable expectation of privacy that is protected by the US Constitution.