Security holes discovered in iPhones, iPads

A new security hole has opened up in Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, raising alarms about the susceptibility of some of the world's hottest tech gadgets to hacker attacks, states the Associated Press.

Flaws in the software running those devices came to light after a German security agency warned that criminals could use them to steal confidential data off the devices.

Apple, the world's largest technology company by market value, said yesterday that it is working on a fix that will be distributed in an upcoming software upgrade.

Driving distractions, primarily by cellphones and other electronic devices, are associated with up to 25% of US car crashes, according to a report released yesterday, reveals Reuters.

The study by the Governors Highway Safety Association, a non-profit group that works to improve traffic safety, assessed research from more than 350 scientific papers published since 2000.

It showed that drivers are distracted up to half the time and that crashes caused by distractions range from minor damage to fatal injury. Cellphone use raises the risk of crashing, but texting is likely to increase crash risk more than cellphone use.

The number of illegally downloaded films in the UK has gone up nearly 30% in five years, new figures suggest, reports the BBC.

The research, from Internet consultancy firm Envisional, indicates the top five box office movies were illegally downloaded in the UK a total of 1.4 million times last year.

Film industry bosses say it is costing £170 million every year and putting thousands of jobs at risk.

Analyst firm Gartner predicts businesses will increase spending on software-as-a-service (SaaS) implementations by nearly 21% in 2011, as tight capital budgets force IT leaders to embrace pay-as-you-go computing, says Computing.co.uk.

While SaaS has been around for more than a decade, many firms are re-evaluating its potential, says Tom Eid, an analyst at Gartner.

“Initial concerns about security, response time and service availability have diminished for many organisations, as SaaS business and computing models have matured and adoption has become more widespread.”