Ellison blasts HP 'idiots'

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has ridden to Mark Hurd's defence and unleashed on HP's board for dropping its CEO following an investigation for sexual harassment, writes The Register.

In a rare display of top-earner solidarity, Ellison slammed the board as "idiots" that failed to act in the best interests of HP's employees, shareholders and partners by forcing Hurd to resign.

"The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," Ellison said in an e-mail to the New York Times.

Internet phone firm Skype has filed for an initial public offering in the US, says the BBC.

The Luxembourg-based company hopes to raise up to $100 million in the stock market flotation.

Skype will sell American Depositary Shares - which represent shares in foreign companies - and expects to trade on the Nasdaq index.

Xhead = BBC laptop, mobile losses total £240 000

According to a Freedom of Information request by security vendor Absolute Software, the BBC has lost laptops and mobile phones with a value of more than £240 000 in the past two years, reveals Computing.co.uk.

Staff at the corporation lost or had stolen 146 laptops at a cost of £219 000, as well as 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerries, at a cost of £22 000.

Just 15 laptops, three mobiles and one BlackBerry were recovered, although the BBC said once a theft, suspected theft or loss is reported "data security breach procedures" are implemented.

An updated version of Frash, an app that permits the otherwise banned Adobe Flash technology on Apple mobile devices, has been released, reports Cnet News.

At the moment, however, it's only capable of handling relatively basic Flash animations. The device in question must also first be "jailbroken," or hacked to remove protections and restrictions put in place by the hardware or software manufacturer.

Comex, the development firm that created Frash, as well as the JailbreakMe tool, initially released the app in a limited test that was first only accessible via the Safari browser on the iPad. The updated Frash, Comex says, also works on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and third-generation iPod Touch.