Surf without the Net

Users can now browse and search the Internet on laptop computers and handheld devices - without an Internet connection. This is made possible with new software developed by a Silicon Valley start-up, co-founded by Indian tech star Rakesh Mathur.

The service is free, reports the Hindustan Times. Webaroo, the "searchable, offline Web" was formally launched yesterday.

It features "Web packs" on a variety of subjects such as news, sports and major global cities, including New York, London and Mumbai - each of which contains thousands of relevant Web pages identified by its algorithms. The company has tied up with computer maker Acer to bundle the new software on its laptop.

Privacy advocates have raised concerns over Google`s proposed free WiFi service in San Francisco, which would target users with advertising based on their location, reports Information Week.

Most troubling is the potential of tracking where people go on the Web based on the user names and passwords they use in signing on to the network. If that information is stored in a database, then government or private lawyers can subpoena it later in criminal or civil matters.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based privacy group, has submitted to the city guidelines and minimum standards it considers necessary for protecting people`s privacy. Any deal will ultimately have to be approved by the city`s board of supervisors.

Cyberbabe Lara Croft has nabbed herself a Guinness world record as the "most successful human video game heroine", according to Eidos Interactive, publisher of the Tomb Raider games that made the digital hottie famous, according to a post on CNet.

On Friday, the day of her return to the world`s living rooms in the new game "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend", Croft was recognised as "transcending the boundaries of videogames and becoming a recognisable figure in mainstream society".

The past 10 years have seen Croft sell more than 28 million games worldwide, appear onstage with the band U2 and make the cover of more than 200 magazines.