Ten ways to lose your laptop

Laptops are delicate machines, but - as insurance companies know - they don't always receive tender loving care. As part of analysing laptop insurance claims over the last five years, company staff at Complete Computer Cover have maintained a league table of the strangest and most unfortunate ways in which people have managed to mangle their machines. Entries in the top ten include the woman who left her laptop on the drive and then reversed a car over it and the schoolchild whose mother smashed the screen by dropping an iron on it. ...more

Pixar makes Incredibles profits

Pixar has announced record results for the last financial year. The animation studio which shares its CEO, Steve Jobs, with Apple, earned $141.7mn on revenues of $273. ...more

Microsoft plays down virulence of Plug and Play Zotob worm attack

A worm that exploits the new Microsoft MS05-039 'plug and play' security vulnerability is the latest online threat to grab the headlines. In the latest case this is literally true, as media outlets such as CNN, ABC, The Financial Times, and the New York Times have been high profile victims of the attack. Microsoft issued its last monthly security update on 9 August. ...more

Google, Nike kick off social soccer

In the run up to the 2006 World Cup, Google and Nike are teaming up on a new social networking site centred on football. The companies' angle is that www.joga. ...more

Commercial channels team up to challenge BBC on DAB

Channel 4 has joined forces with BSkyB, Emap, and Carphone Warehouse and others on an initiative to bid for a digital radio licence and challenge the dominance of the BBC. The combined group, led by Channel 4 Radio and called 4 Digital Group, submitted its bid for the 12-year licence on Wednesday, promising to launch 10 new national digital radio stations from 2008. Under the bid's plans, Channel 4 Radio would operate three national digital stations: one aimed at 15-to-29 year-olds; one on current affairs; and an all-music station. ...more