Gaza crisis spills onto the web

A propaganda war is being waged on the Internet between supporters of the Israeli and Palestinian sides in the current conflict in the Gaza Strip, reports The BBC.

Activists have turned to defacing Web sites, taking over computers, and shutting down Facebook groups.

US military sites, Nato and an Israeli bank have all been targeted.

According to Gartner, IT budgets are expected to remain largely flat in 2009 with an average increase of just 0.16% globally and around 0.4% across Europe, reports Computing.co.uk.

In its Meeting the Challenge: The 2009 CIO Agenda report, Gartner found challenges posed by uncertain and volatile economic conditions are generating fundamental shifts in corporate plans and strategies, with organisations responding in different ways based on their confidence in achieving results.

Rival analyst firm Forrester Research this week predicted a 3% fall in IT spending during 2009.

Steve Jobs has taken a leave of absence from his position as Apple CEO so he can focus on health issues that are "more complex" than he originally thought, says The Register.

In a statement, Jobs said that because "the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction," he has "asked [Apple COO] Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations”.

He added that "during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought" and that he has "decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June".

Motorola plans to cut another 4 000 jobs, or about 6% of its workforce, and has warned that weaker-than-expected handset sales would lead to a fourth-quarter loss, says CNet.

Motorola said 3 000 jobs would be eliminated from its handset unit, while another 1 000 jobs would be cut from the rest of the company. The latest cuts are in addition to 3 000 job cuts Motorola announced in October as part of a broader restructuring that also halted the release of many upcoming phones.

"The actions we are taking today in our mobile devices business will allow us to further reduce our cost structure and positions us for improved financial performance in 2009," Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola, said in a statement.