MS shows off next-gen Windows OS

Microsoft has taken the wraps off the next generation of its Windows operating system, reveals the BBC.

Windows 8 is designed to run on tablet computers, as well as desktop and laptop PCs. The software, which is due to be released in 2012, will work on the popular ARM-designed low power processors for the first time.

Microsoft has been under pressure to come up with an answer to Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms.

Google prized Motorola Mobility's patent portfolio so much that it threw in an extra $3 billion to get its takeover offer accepted last month, according to the Associated Press.

That emerged yesterday in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents that shed light on the negotiations that culminated in cellphone and tablet maker Motorola Mobility Holdings agreeing to be sold to Google for $12.5 billion, or $40 per share. That's 33% more than Google initially offered, according to the SEC filing.

The proposed acquisition still requires approval from antitrust regulators. If the deal falls through, Google will still have to pay Motorola Mobility $2.5 billion.

US prosecutors have launched a criminal probe into whether eBay employees took confidential information from classified ad Web site Craigslist as eBay sought to build a rival service, a copy of a grand jury subpoena obtained by Reuters shows.

The companies have been feuding for years in civil court over allegations that online giant eBay took a stake in Craigslist and then misappropriated confidential information while it secretly planned its own classifieds site.

The subpoena seeks information regarding several eBay personalities, including founder and chairman Pierre Omidyar, and Joshua Silverman, the former Skype chief executive who served as eBay's representative on Craigslist's board.

The amount of malware targeting mobile devices has increased by 273% since this time last year, according to a new report from security software firm G Data, writes Computing.co.uk.

The research found that cross-platform Trojans - malware that is able to infect multiple operating systems - are currently the most prevalent form of malicious software.

Many of these viruses are designed to enable spamming, or to send premium-rate text messages without the device owner's consent. G Data believes the increasing use of such malware shows that cyber criminal business is booming.

Having failed to successfully sue Mark Zuckerberg, the Winklevoss twins appear to have decided to get back at the Facebook founder via a commercial for pistachio nuts, says Relaxnews.

The Winklevoss twins are famous in the world of social media for repeatedly trying, and failing, to sue Mark Zuckerberg - claiming he stole their idea for (currently inactive) social networking site ConnectU to create Facebook.

The advert, created for Wonderful Pistachios, shows the twins at a table with a bowl of nuts; when one of them opens the nut in an unusual way, the other twin says, “hey that's a good idea cracking like that - it could be huge,” to which the first twin replies, “think someone will steal it?” before both twins turn to the camera asking, in an apparent dig at Zuckerberg, “who would do that?”