Microsoft, Google in war of words

Hours after Google accused Microsoft of copying its search results, representatives from the companies exchanged rhetorical blows over the difference between “copying” and “listening to users”, reports CNet.

Google's Matt Cutts and Microsoft's Harry Shum smiled for the cameras at the Farsight 2011 conference yesterday, but barely disguised their mutual contempt.

It was the first public appearance by each following Google's revelation that it set a trap to test whether Microsoft was using browser click data from Internet Explorer users on Google to inform search results on Bing.

The UK government has revealed it is to look again at plans to block Web sites that infringe copyright, reveals the BBC.

The controversial measures formed part of its crackdown on Internet pirates, outlined in the Digital Economy Act.

The decision to review it follows a raft of complaints about the workablility of the legislation. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has now asked Ofcom to consider the viability of blocking certain Web sites.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) gave its new CEO, who came on board during a tumultuous time for the technology conglomerate, a compensation package that could be worth tens of millions of dollars, writes the Associated Press.

Leo Apotheker, 57, is getting a $1.2 million salary, a $4 million cash signing bonus, and $4.6 million in relocation costs and reimbursement for non-compete payments from his former employer, German business software maker SAP AG, HP outlined in a regulatory filing yesterday.

The majority of his payday will come from restricted stock that was worth nearly $38 million, based on HP's stock price the day it was granted in September.

A man in the US has sued telecommunications firm AT&T over data charges on Apple's iPhone handset, according to V3.co.uk.

AT&T customer Patrick Hendricks is seeking damages against the carrier for allegedly overstating the amount of data users are consuming through their wireless data plans.

Legal news site Courthouse News reported that the filing accuses the company of overstating a user's data consumption by 7% to 14% on average.