Apple tweaks privacy policy

Apple has updated its privacy policy to allow the company, its partners, and its licensees to keep close watch on Internet users' "precise location data”, reports The Register.

These new observational powers are detailed in both its overall privacy policy and the terms and conditions to which users must agree before purchasing or downloading items from the iTunes Store and App Store.

Apple says in a statement: “To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.”

UK chancellor George Osborne has confirmed the 50p a month landline tax earmarked for next-generation broadband will be scrapped, states BBC News.

Instead, the government will leave the majority of super-fast broadband roll-out to private investment.

Speaking about the decision to scrap the tax, Osborne said: "I am happy to be able to abolish this new duty before it is even introduced. Instead, we will support private broadband investment, including to rural areas, in part with funding from the digital switchover under-spend within the TV licence fee."

The video game industry, seeking to turn itself around from lacklustre sales, is betting on a revamped games line-up that incorporates new technologies and takes fuller advantage of advanced graphics, states The Wall Street Journal.

At the E3 Expo industry trade show, in Los Angeles, companies such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft Entertainment sought to entice consumers to open up their wallets again by introducing titles that feature 3D and motion technology.

The new games come at a critical time for the US video game industry, which saw software sales decline 11%, to $10.5 billion, last year, according to NPD Group.