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News

• New mobile charger cuts 'vampire' power drain to zero

  A team at London's City University has been granted a patent on a new 'green' technology that stops phone, laptop and MP3 chargers eating electricity even when nothing is connected to them.

• Ofcom promises easier broadband migration

  Communications regulator Ofcom wants to overhaul how UK consumers switch broadband providers, giving the new company the responsibility for ensuring a smooth handover.

• Google's new 'instant' search returns results as users type

  Google has announced that its famous search homepage will from today return searches in real time using a new feature called 'Google Instant'.

• Wikileaks servers move to nuclear bunker under Stockholm

  The Wikileaks whistleblowing website has reportedly moved its server hosting to a Cold War bunker deep under the streets of Stockholm.

• Fake antivirus software using ransom threats

  Fake antivirus programs appear to be adopting some of the money-raising tactics of more threatening ransom malware, security company Fortinet's latest threat report has found.

• Employee gets big bounty for revealing software abuse

  The software industry's police self-styled police force, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), has said that it recently paid a £10,000 ($15,300) bounty to an employee who informed on his former company's use of unlicensed software.

• UK police terror trainers lose USB stick in street

  The curse of the unencrypted memory stick has stuck Manchester Police, which has suffered embarrassment as a drive containing apparently sensitive information was found lying in the street.

• Lexmark hits ink cartridge cloners with suit

  Printer giant Lexmark has filed a patent infringement suit against 24 companies, accusing them of importing and selling replacement inkjet and toner cartridges that violate its intellectual property.

• Virgin Media tracks Zeus Trojan using white hats

  ISP Virgin Media is now using organisations such as The Shadowserver Foundation to work out which of its customers might be part of botnets spreading the dangerous Zeus online banking Trojan.

• Skype files for $100 million IPO

  Would-be Internet telephony giant Skype has filed the paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq, the company has announced.

• Laptop engineer trapped in TV sting

  A PC engineer was caught red-handed by an undercover TV reporter in a perfectly-executed sting - even though the journalist was investigating another matter.

• IE8 stops one billionth malware download

  Internet Explorer 8's Smartscreen Filter, used to secure users from dodgy websites, has stopped its one billionth malware download, Microsoft has proudly announced.

• Mozilla shows new 'tab candy' Firefox interface

  Future versions of Firefox are set to adopt a new tab design that will transform the browser's interface, a senior Mozilla developer has announced.

• iPhone 4 business users get remote data wiping

  Businesses worried about keeping tabs on the latest Apple iPhone will soon be able to remotely interact with the devices in the event of theft, loss or mishap, Absolute Software has announced.