Cuil aims to break Google monopoly

The hunt for information on the Internet has been synonymous with Google. The search engine has maintained a clear lead over Yahoo and Microsoft, the number two and three players, respectively, in Web search, says The Economic Times.

While earlier attempts by Microsoft and Yahoo to join forces against Google failed, a team of former Google engineers and others who worked at eBay, IBM and AltaVista have come up with an alternative called Cuil (pronounced cool).

Cuil plans to not only break the monopoly of Google, but also change the surfing culture among users. ET decided to experience the new web search engine cuil.com.

Microsoft's OS developers need to be more sure-handed than ever these days, given the number of balls they've got in the air, reports InformationWeek.

In addition to ongoing support for the most current version of the Windows operating system, Vista, the company is now working on no less than three other operating systems, according to official Microsoft statements and Internet records.

The software maker's ability to successfully keep it all in the air, without dropping anything, could go a long way toward helping it recover from the publicity nightmare that is Windows Vista, which has been shunned by most corporate IT managers and mocked as slow and stodgy in Apple's consumer ads.

A Briton accused of hacking into top-secret military computers has vowed to fight extradition to stand trial in the US after losing a court appeal, according to BBC News.

Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 US military and Nasa computers.

He has admitted breaking into the computers from his London home but said he was seeking information on UFOs.

Sony's reader is a strange and not entirely new concept that tries to apply new technology to an area of our lives so far untouched by tech - the reading of a good book, reports TechRadar.com.

Thing is, it's now not a concept like the HP eBook reader we saw last year. It's here, and soon, for £199. Problem is, if you like books, chances are the thought of reading them on a screen fills you with hate.

After all, a book is an emotional interaction, a go-anywhere, by-the-pool, on-the-plane kind of anywhere.