Facebook murder: ‘Lessons must be learned’ BBC
Lessons must be learned from the “tragic” rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl, the home secretary has said. Alan Johnson said UK and US authorities were working on ways to flag up when a convicted sex offender goes online. Peter Chapman, 33, has been jailed for at least 35 years over the killing of Ashleigh Hall in Sedgefield. The known sex offender met her via Facebook.

Google reluctant to release info in Viacom case CNet News
Google, the search company that uncovers much of the world’s information for its customers, is embroiled in a fight to keep information about itself under wraps for at least a while longer. Viacom has documents that show David Eun, who oversaw Google’s content partnerships until leaving for AOL recently, was opposed to Google acquiring YouTube, sources said. The owner of YouTube, which is defending itself against a $1 billion copyright lawsuit filed by entertainment giant Viacom, has asked a federal court to keep documents filed in the case under seal for another three months. On Friday, Viacom and Google filed for summary judgment, claiming that there’s enough undisputed evidence for the judge to rule in each party’s favor. Supporting documents were also filed. U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton is expected to rule on when the documents are to be unsealed within the next few days.

The Secret Origin of Windows Technologizer
Few people understand Microsoft better than Tandy Trower, who worked at the company from 1981-2009. Trower was the product manager who ultimately shipped Windows 1.0, an endeavor that some advised him was a path toward a ruined career. Four product managers had already tried and failed to ship Windows before him, and he initially thought that he was being assigned an impossible task. In this follow-up to yesterday’s story on the future of Windows, Trower recounts the inside story of his experience in transforming Windows from vaporware into a product that has left an unmistakable imprint on the world, 25 years after it was first released.

Computer games disguised as Excel and Word prove a hit with office workers Telegraph
Computer games disguised as Excel and Word documents which allow office workers to waste time without attracting the attention of their bosses are taking off on the web. In one game, called Leadership, the player must direct a space ship between two lines of a graph. Another involves destroying blocks of the same colour before a wall of bar charts fills the screen, like the cult puzzle game Tetris. A third game Breakdown is derived from the Atari classic Breakout – but with the bricks replaced by dry corporate text. Words in bold and italics must be hit twice to disappear. The Flash games, which launch in plausibly bland pop-up windows, are available to play at the website CantYouSeeImBusy.com which was developed by four programmers in the Netherlands. A tongue-in-cheek counter on the website estimates that the addictive games have already cost the world economy more than €4.5m in lost man hours.

Google incident does not break WTO rules China Daily
Some NGOs are reportedly accusing the Chinese government of being in breach of its WTO obligations in regulating Google China’s search service and urged the Obama administration to take China to WTO to settle the dispute. Few details are available from news reports, but I would elaborate the case from the legal perspective and I believe that these accusations are groundless, as China’s regulations on Google are within the confines of its domestic laws and accords with its promises to the WTO. Google always enjoys market access and national treatment in China As an Internet search provider, the services Google provides fall into the categories of “online information and data processing” and “online information and data searching”, according to WTO rules and Chinese laws and regulations. China set clear restrictions on the above services in its promises when it was admitted into the WTO. To enjoy full national treatment, foreign companies must set up joint ventures in China and owns no more than 50 percent of the capital. Google China did exactly the same.

Lip-reading phones: Sounds of silence CNet News
Still getting used to all those people with Bluetooth headsets walking down the street appearing to talk to themselves? Get ready for the still stranger sight of people talking to themselves–without making any noise. Researchers from Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are working on a system that converts mouth motions into synthesized speech, thus laying the groundwork for soundless cell phone calls (and ironically making us want to screech loudly in delight).

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