Steve Jobs on track for June return

According a report in The Wall Street Journal that cited unnamed sources, Steve Jobs is on track to return to the helm of Apple this month, after six months of medical leave, reports CNet.

Jobs announced in January that he would step down temporarily from the chief executive post, while recuperating from a hormone imbalance. A return to the company this month could coincide with an appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which opens on Monday, in San Francisco.

Jobs, 54, has been the subject of heated speculation regarding his health since last June's Worldwide Developers Conference, when he appeared to have lost a great deal of weight. At the time, Apple insisted Jobs' health was a private matter, but revealed in early January that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins.

The Environment Agency has begun a pilot project that allows business and industry to electronically track the collection, transfer and final destination of their waste to help clamp down on illegal fly-tipping, says Computing.co.uk.

The three-month Electronic Duty of Care trial is being run by six waste companies in South-East England, using mobile computer technology and a Web-based tracking system to create and maintain electronic waste transfer notes (WTNs).

The Environment Agency project manager, Paul Keay, said moving from paper to electronic WTNs should improve the quality of data collected, ensure waste producers can easily track their waste and help waste carriers better fulfil their duty of care obligations.

One of the biggest US retailers has agreed to settle charges brought by federal authorities that it snuck privacy-stealing software from ComScore onto customers' machines, reports The Register.

Sears Holding Corporation, owner of Sears, Roebuck and Co and Kmart, has agreed to delete all the information harvested by the software, which pried into customers' most intimate Web habits. The company also agreed to be more upfront about any information it may collect in the future.

As privacy advocates documented early last year, Sears sent e-mails to people shortly after they provided their address at Sears.com, inviting them to join an "exciting online community". In fact, it was a pitch to install software from Web research outfit ComScore that monitored their every online move.

The government has all but ruled out using a "three strikes" law to tackle persistent Internet pirates, says the BBC.

Using warnings and disconnection to tackle pirates was thought to be in the final Digital Britain report due to be published on 16 June.

Cutting people off was not the government's "preferred option", said culture secretary Andy Burnham in a music industry conference keynote. Instead, he said, the report will back "technical solutions" as a deterrent.