Google subpoenas Yahoo! and MS in library battle

While publishers and authors are taking Google to court over its programme to digitise the content of six large libraries, the Web search engine giant has said it will subpoena competitors, Yahoo and Microsoft, for information relating to their own book scanning operations, as part of the case.

This is according to The Register, reporting on the latest development in Google`s ambitious plan to digitise the libraries of four US universities, Oxford university library and the New York Public Library.

The US Federal Government`s Commerce Department admitted on Friday that serious attacks on its computers by hackers have forced the bureau responsible for granting export licenses to lock down Internet access for more than a month.

TechWeb adds it has been confirmed that the hackers have been working through Chinese servers. "Hundreds of computers must be replaced to cleanse the agency of malicious code, including rootkits and spyware," reads the article.

A new report from research firm Informa Telecoms and Media indicates the explosive growth in cellular phone sales worldwide will soon be over.

The battle now will be persuading users to upgrade their phones regularly, writes BBC News.

"New services such as mobile TV will compete with improved cameras, more memory and cutting-edge design."

The report also predicts that only a quarter of all mobile phones sold by 2008 will be 3G enabled - which, the article notes, is not the news operators, desperate to recoup the money they spent on 3G networks, wanted to hear.