Microsoft software head resigns

Ray Ozzie, chief software architect of Microsoft and proponent of cloud computing, has resigned unexpectedly, reveals The BBC.

Ozzie was a top member of the company's management, having taken over the software role from Bill Gates.

Chief executive Steve Ballmer announced his colleague's departure in an e-mail to company staff.

A new hacking technique creates a mechanism for hackers to smuggle attacks past security defences, writes The Register.

So-called advanced evasion techniques (AET) are capable of bypassing network security defences, according to net appliance security firm Stonesoft, which was the first to document the approach.

Researchers at the Finnish firm came across the attack while testing its security appliance against the latest hacker exploits. AETs are already in circulation on the net as part of targeted attacks, and offer a mechanism to bypass static network security systems, before attacking exposed enterprise servers, such as ERP or CRM systems, and swipe confidential information.

Steve Jobs made an unusual appearance on Apple's earnings call yesterday, and delivered a very pointed message to Google, Research in Motion, customers, developers, and competing smartphone and tablet makers, says CNet.

It had been two years since his last earnings call appearance.

"First let me discuss iPhone,” he said. “We sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter... it handily beat RIM's 12.1 million BlackBerrys sold for their most recent quarter. We've now passed RIM, and I don't see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future... I think it's going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive platform and convince developers to create apps for it," after iOS and Android.

The South Yorkshire police force is reducing crime by making use of BlackBerry apps while on the beat, reports Computing.co.uk.

The apps, called ID a Person and ID a Vehicle, give police officers an immediate history of a vehicle or person via their smartphone.

Sergeant Simon Davies, project manager at South Yorkshire Police, said the deployment of BlackBerrys across the force has allowed the force to spend more time on the street during shifts.