HP drops iPod

HP will stop selling Apple Computer iPod portable music players under its own brand, ending an unusual but short-lived alliance, reports Reuters.

Apple said its bigger rival decided the iPod did not fit into its strategy.

HP CEO Mark Hurd has moved to simplify and streamline the company, and a spokesman said iPod sales were not a huge deal.

The January 2004 announcement by former HP CEO Carly Fiorina to resell Apple iPods under the HP name was treated as a milestone for both companies as Apple made an unusual alliance with a rival and HP reached outside itself for a key consumer technology.

Hackers have found a way to circumvent a check in Windows that aimed to prevent users of pirated copies from accessing software updates, VNUNET reports.

By pasting a special JavaScript command in the address bar of the browser, users can disable the Windows Genuine Advantage 1.0 check that Microsoft took live last week.

The Microsoft technology uses an ActiveX tool to force the user to go through an authentication check before being allowed to access certain download sections on the Microsoft Web site.

The JavaScript command simply instructs the computer to disable the WGA check and take the user straight to the downloads.

A UK scientist has proposed that the unique pattern inside each individual`s ear could be used as a biometric identifier, in the same way fingerprints are used, the BBC reports.

Professor Mark Nixon of the University of Southampton says ears do not change much as we get older, unlike other body parts.

This, he believes, means they are well suited for identification purposes, giving them a "unique advantage" in terms of age and expression.

"If you compare it with faces, the advantage of these is that they`re both non-invasive biometrics - you don`t have to make contact. But the disadvantage with faces is that they smile, they get old, you get wrinkles," he said.

"Your ear just carries on growing and it preserves its structure as you get older."