Tech Brief
• Paris Hilton is securing her virtual celebrity by releasing a line of clothes that do not exist. Ms Hilton's "virtual collection" will be on sale to Brazilian gamers.The clothes are for the avatars populating the popular online game Vida nas Passarelas (Life is a Catwalk).
"Some might struggle to conceive why one would buy something simply in order to 'have' it in a virtual game. But then many of us often choose to suffer in the actual rather than take our pleasure in the virtual. This is clearly a retrograde way of life. Paris Hilton and her partners are surely about to show us what the hotel empress' new clothes can generate in terms of excitement, style, and lucre."
• If you recently got spam from Microsoft asking if you are happy with your current physical configuration (nudge, nudge), then , the software giant would like you to know that it wasn't entirely its fault.
"Microsoft has confirmed that two devices on its corporate network were compromised to help a notorious gang of Russian criminals push Viagra, Human Growth Hormone, and other knockoff pharmaceuticals."
• For those festooned with smartphones and dongles who live in augmented reality, life without the net is unthinkable. But, , 43% of all Europeans are offline according to research by the European Commission. Why, we hear you cry, Why?
"It should be noted that many of those non-connected at home state that they are simply not interested in the Internet."
Mr Jackson also noted the EU's broadband ambitions.
"The EU's current Digital Agenda promises to bring basic broadband to all Europeans by 2013 and superfast 30Mbps to 100Mbps services by 2020."
• Apple keeps tight control over the stuff people can do with its gadgets. Now comes word that it wants to extend that oversight. the patent Apple recently received that lets it review text messages before they are sent. It's not about porn, he says, but parents.
"From the descriptions, it seems the filter can bleep out any terms you don't want appearing in the kids' texts. It could block the message outright, substitute different words in place of the naughty ones, and/or alert parents their kids are up to no good. Apparently, it can even notify parents when their kids are using improper grammar in texts."
And, he said, it does not stop there.
"If Apple can control what's inside the texts you send or receive, what's to stop it from censoring, say, any mention of Android or Google Voice? Ladies and gentlemen, start your paranoia engines."
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