Dan Nystedt

The dream of a connected world where PCs and mobile phones can communicate with the digital home and other devices is supposed to make life easier. But it could instead make life far more dangerous if malware developers have their way.

Motorola Inc. won a competition to develop a sub-US$30 mobile phone for poor countries, the GSM Association (GSMA) said Tuesday. The association, whose members include mobile network operators and equipment makers, challenged phone manufacturers to develop mobile handsets with a wholesale price of under $30 each earlier this year to improve access to telecommunications services in developing countries.

Just a few months after clearing one company of charges related to its peer-to-peer (P-to-P) file-sharing software, a Taiwanese court on Friday ordered executives at another one to pay fines and serve up to three years in jail. The case is the latest in a string of courtroom victories over P-to-P file-sharing sites, and suggests a steady march toward increased control over their activities.

Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday it acquired Teleo Inc., a developer of services and technology that allow users to make and receive voice phone calls on their PCs via the Internet.

Apple Computer Inc. replaced the managing director of its China unit and made other changes aimed at increasing growth in the country, a spokesman said Friday. The company named Simon Hong the new managing director of Apple China, and said the company's Asia Pacific operations will all report directly to Apple Vice President John Brandon from now on.

Costs are on the rise for several types of PC components, including memory chips and LCD screens. But while that's a concern for procurement managers at PC makers like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., users should have little to fear, analysts said.

The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global group dedicated to promoting Linux, on Tuesday announced a new initiative, called Patent Commons, to collect the software licenses and patents pledged to the open source community into a central repository to make them easier to access by developers, and encourage more patent holders to pledge their intellectual property to the cause.

On Thursday, China dropped a decade-old peg to the U.S. dollar and said it will allow its renminbi currency to fluctuate more freely against a group of currencies. Initially, the change amounts to a 2 per cent rise to 8.11 renminbi per dollar. Before the revaluation, a dollar bought 8.28 renminbi. It may seem like a small change, but currency fluctuations can have a huge impact on product prices