Fake iPhone ring nabbed in China

Chinese police in Shanghai have arrested five people for making and selling fake versions of Apple's iPhone, a local newspaper reported, according to Reuters.

Police said those arrested were part of an organised gang that bought components for the phones from Guangdong in southern China and assembled them in rented apartments in Shanghai, the Shanghai Daily said.

About 200 fake iPhones were found during the crackdown.

Voting machines that could be used by up to a quarter of the US electorate on election day next year can be hacked, says a group of computer science and security experts at the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, notes Digital Trends.

In fact, they're not only saying it. They've done it. A Salon report says the hack can be performed “with just $10.50 in parts and an eighth grade science education”. Even more alarming, it's believed that the hack, which could alter voting results, can be carried out without any trace of tampering having occurred.

The leader of the assessment team, Roger Johnston, said they believed such attacks were possible on a number of e-voting machines.

Facebook said it has “fixed” cookies that could have tracked users after they logged out of the site, writes the BBC.

The issue was brought to light by an Australian blogger who has conducted a year-long analysis of the social network's use of cookies.

He concluded the company might still be able to track members' Web browsing after they logged out, albeit only on Web sites that integrate with Facebook.

Google has dropped its lawsuit alleging the bidding requirements for a $59.3 million contract to supply e-mail services to the US Interior Department unfairly favoured Microsoft, reveals Bloomberg.

Google sought to end the lawsuit in the US Court of Federal Claims after the Interior Department said it would reopen competition. US federal claims judge Susan Braden in Washington said in a ruling that dismissal of the case is in “the interests of justice”.

Lawyers for the government told Braden during a hearing that the research the department relied upon in July 2010 “is now stale in light of new developments in technology and entrants to the market”, according to the ruling.