Twitter feed spreads malware

Venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki got more than he bargained for from an automated feed he set up on his Twitter account, reports cnet.

Some of Kawasaki's more than 139 000 Twitter followers noticed something strange when they saw a particular non-VC-related tweet sent from his account.

The update advertised a sexy video of "Gossip Girl" star Leighton Meester. It had a link leading to a site where, if the visitor clicked to view the video, a Trojan called OSX/Jahlav-C for the Mac OS would be installed instead, Graham Cluley wrote on his blog on for anti-virus vendor Sophos.

Android and iPhone developers looking for an extra source of revenue will soon have an advertising option, sponsored by Google, says cnet.

Google's AdSense program, in which it sells and distributes ads to third-party publishers, is coming to mobile devices as a beta program, the company announced.

A small group of developers has been testing this program but now anyone can apply, said Susan Wojcicki, VP of product management, in a blog post.

Oracle has reported a single-digit drop in both sales and profit for its latest financial quarter, states Computing.co.uk.

Revenue of $6.9 billion was down 5% from the same period last year, while fourth-quarter net income of $1.9 billion represented a 7% decline.

New software licence revenue, an important indicator of financial progress and future recurring income, fell 13%, to $2.7 billion.

Marking a departure from the world of iPhone, HTC's new Android-based Hero phone will also come with the ability to handle Flash elements that adorn many Web sites and power YouTube video, reports cnet.

Adobe Systems announced its Flash Player will be built into the HTC phone, an important step in the company's efforts to spread Flash to mobile phones.

The phone, one of several from HTC to use Google's open source operating system, is scheduled to ship in Europe starting in July, and in Asia and North America later in the year.

UK IT managers devote more of their budget to innovation and green IT than their global counterparts, according to a Microsoft-commissioned survey carried out by market research firm Harris Interactive, states Computing.co.uk.

The research suggests UK IT leaders allocate 41% of their spend to innovation, while their German and US counterparts allocate 35% and 29%, respectively.

On green issues, while 84% of global IT professionals consider green factors to be important, these factors only had a significant influence on decisions at 44% of organisations surveyed.