UK ID register is up and running

The database that will hold biometric information for all UK-based ID card and passport holders is up and running, and already contains the details of 538 people, says Computing.co.uk.

The National Identity Register will hold the biometric and biographical details of anyone who applies for an identity card or a biometric passport in a central database.

Cards and passports are not compulsory for UK citizens, but are necessary if they want to travel overseas. Some 75 000 ID cards have already been issued.

A push by California's electricity provider to modernise its power grid is turning into a public relations disaster, as allegations mount that it's responsible for stratospheric overcharges, reports The Register.

At issue are the 10 million smart meters Pacific Gas & Electric is rolling out to customers throughout the state. The digital meters, unlike the analogue devices they're replacing, provide two-way communications between electricity users and the power stations that serve them. That eliminates the need for meter readers to visit each customer to know how much power has been consumed.

It also turns the power grid into a computerised network that can provide real-time data that operators can use to make their grids "smart", at least in theory.

Wikipedia has disputed claims that it has lost a huge number of editors that help maintain the online encyclopaedia, writes the BBC.

On 26 November, it was reported that 10 times more editors had left Wikipedia in early 2009 than during the same period in 2008.

The group overseeing the reference work says the claims on losses are not accurate, blaming a difference in what counts as an "editor". By contrast, it adds, the numbers of people editing Wikipedia are stable.

Apple last week asked a Florida federal judge to kill a lawsuit filed in August by Psystar, saying the case is a retread of the one in California that has the Mac clone maker on the ropes, says Computerworld.

Failing an outright dismissal, Apple demanded that US District Court judge William Hoeveler transfer the lawsuit to the California federal court that since July 2008 has supervised the legal battle over Psystar's practice of installing Mac OS X on its machines.

"This case is a transparent attempt by Psystar to relitigate the same issues that Psystar and Apple have been contesting before the honourable William Alsup in the Northern District of California for almost a year-and-a-half," Apple argued in its motion for dismissal, which was filed with Hoeveler on 24 November.