Flu chip fights pig plague

As swine flu mania continues to suck up every available nanosecond of fear-mongering media maundering, one small company has developed a sure-fire way to detect the potent piggy pathogen, reports The Register.

CombiMatrix, a biotech firm in Mukilteo, Washington, announced Friday that it has updated the microarray in its Influenza A Detection System to identify the H1N1 virus that's been causing all the trouble.

And they did it quickly. According to the company, they updated their microarray within one day of receiving information on the genetic sequence of the new strain.

Over the past three years, RSA - formerly Royal & Sun Alliance - has dedicated resources to testing and preparing for pandemic flu scenarios. The planning work highlighted the need for a comprehensive remote working plan, says Computing.co.uk.

The model is currently being assessed and the company is now considering how best to deploy the system, intended to meet client demands for a robust continuity plan.

“As an insurance company, we advise our clients on how best to protect their organisations from all types of risk, so it's critical that we ourselves are seen to exercise best practice business continuity management,” says Ian Houghton, manager of continuity and technology at RSA UK.

An engineer in Cornwall delivered his baby son after watching an instructional video on YouTube, says The BBC.

Marc Stephens watched the videos as a precaution when his wife Jo started to feel some discomfort.

Four hours later, his wife went into labour and started giving birth before an ambulance could arrive at their home in Redruth.

Rumour has it that, in response to purse-tightening consumers and the popularity of cheap netbooks, Apple is "tailoring changes" that will "drive down prices" of the most popular Mac models, reports PC World.

Consumers in the coming months can look forward to more affordable versions of both the 13-inch MacBook and iMac, according to people who've proven extremely reliable in predicting Apple's future business directions.

Industry Standard editor Ian Lamont predicted in December that Apple would terminate the iMac desktop line, because of the mass market's move to low-cost, portable computers.