Storm over new BlackBerry

It was supposed to give BlackBerry the brand cachet of Apple's iPhone, but, instead, the launch of the BlackBerry Storm has escalated into a disaster, with critics and users claiming the device is the company's worst effort yet, reports The Sidney Morning Herald.

The Storm has been on the US market for two weeks and BlackBerry loyalists are dismayed by an apparent plethora of bugs, slow speeds and poor usability.

On gadget forums, such as BlackBerry's own support boards, the biggest issue seems to be the keyboard, or lack thereof. Unlike every other BlackBerry to date, there is no tactile keyboard on the Storm, just a large touch-screen and a virtual keyboard.

Facebook's 120 million users are being targeted by the "Koobface" virus, which uses the social network's messaging system to infect PCs, then tries to gather sensitive information such as credit card numbers, says Reuters.

It is the latest attack by hackers increasingly looking to prey on users of social networking sites.

"A few other viruses have tried to use Facebook in similar ways to propagate themselves," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in an e-mail. He said a "very small percentage of users" had been affected by these viruses.

Hawaii is to become the first US state to create a transport infrastructure that will allow cars to run almost entirely on electricity, says Times online.

The plan involves building up to 100 000 charging stations in car parks and streets by 2012 and importing electric vehicles manufactured by a joint venture between Nissan and Renault.

Motorists who buy the cars will be able to purchase mileage plans, including recharging services and battery swaps, or use the charging stations on a pay-as-you-go basis.

HTC, maker of the new Google Android G1 smartphone, has bought design consultancy One & Co, to tap its fashion expertise in everything from furniture to snowboard boots, reports Reuters.

"We want to keep it as a design consultancy. One & Co has a whole breadth of ideas that could translate to a phone," said Horace Luke, chief innovation officer at Taiwan-based HTC.

One & Co, housed in one of the many converted warehouses in San Francisco's hi-tech district, employs designers from around the world to create innovative products such as furniture made of silver-plated timber.

Nasa will push back the launch of its next Mars mission by two years because of delays and technical issues. The Mars Science Laboratory, an SUV-size rover that is to explore the Martian surface for two years, is now scheduled for launch in 2011, reports New York Times.

It had been scheduled to lift off next October and arrive on Mars in 2010, but problems with its electrical motors have not been solved, and officials said they did not think they could meet the original schedule without compromising rigorous testing.

Because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other every 26 months, the next chance for launching is 2011. The delay comes at considerable cost. The project, approved at $1.63 billion in 2006, is now budgeted at $1.88 billion, and the delay will add $400 million.