New Windows phones won't run current apps

Microsoft has said its new software for smartphones, Windows Phone 7 series, is a "clean break" with the past. Now it's clear just how clean that break is: the new phones, expected late this year, won't run any applications written for older versions of Microsoft's phone software, reports AP.

The announcement is perhaps most disappointing to companies that have created their own software to run on Windows phones issued to their employees.

The news also leaves software developers with a dilemma: they can write applications for Windows Mobile 6.5, which will soon be a dead end, or they can write for Windows Phone 7, which isn't coming out until later this year.

A California man was charged with extortion after he allegedly threatened to send millions of e-mails and social networking messages that maligned a large life insurance company unless he was paid almost $200 000, writes The Register.

Anthony Digati, 52, of Chino, California, was arrested and charged with a single felony count of extortion through interstate communications, according to federal prosecutors, in Manhattan.

In a series of e-mails and Web postings, he allegedly warned employees, executives and a board member of the insurance company their reputation would be ruined if his demand wasn't met.

The Queen has warned that businesses in developing nations are missing out on opportunities, because the Internet is an "unaffordable option" in many areas, reports the BBC.

In her annual Commonwealth Day message, the monarch praised advances in science and technology for improving lives.

However, she said "fledgling markets" in Commonwealth nations were hampered by a lack of modern telecommunications.

Newegg and Intel are investigating how Newegg could have received, and then sold, counterfeit Intel processors to customers, reveals CRN.com.

Late last week, the first claims surfaced that Newegg had sold fake Intel processors after at least one customer posted photos and other information of the allegedly fake products, on the Internet.

The CPUs in question were purchased between 1 and 4 March, according to a Newegg statement, and have FPO/BATCH# 3938B006 printed on the packaging.