Serial killer targets expats' gadgets

Police in Philippines are on the hunt for a 'gadget-obsessed' man suspected of murdering three foreigners in separate attacks in the northern city of Angeles, reveals CNN.

The victims - an American, a Canadian and a Briton - were among nine alleged victims of 28-year-old Mark Dizon, The Philippine Star newspaper reported Monday.

Police alleged Dizon shot his victims, all of whom he had known, with a 9mm pistol, then stole their electronic gadgets, which he then pawned.

Want to take a locked cellphone from AT&T to T-Mobile? It's not always easy, but at least it's legal, according to new federal rules announced Monday, writes the LA Times.

The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, issued a set of exemptions to a 1998 law outlawing customers from circumventing digital security measures put in place by device manufacturers.

The rules now say users can freely unlock a phone for use on another carrier, as well as deploy a method called 'jailbreaking' for running unauthorised software on a smartphone.

The World Trade Organisation has ruled that EU import duties on certain gadgets imported from the US, Japan and Taiwan are illegal, says The Register.

An agreement reached in 1996 removed import tariffs on 72 different products in order to boost trade in technology goods. But the European Union later moved some of these items into a taxable bracket because it now regards them as consumer items rather than hi-tech devices.

This decision led to import duties of between 6% and 14% being levied on set-top boxes, multi-function printers and flatscreen displays, according to Reuters.