Web snippets

Man fined over fake eBay auctions                               
A man has been fined £3,000 and ordered to carry out 250 hours community service after fixing an online auction on eBay.  Paul Barrett, from County Durham, became the first person to be convicted of shill bidding in April.  That's when online sellers bid on their own items to artificially bump up the price or get friends and family to do it for them.  Barrett pleaded guilty after an investigation by  Trading Standards found he had bid against himself on several items. http://news.bbc.co.uk

Finland guarantees broadband for all its citizens.
Affordable broadband of 1Mbit/sec is now a legal right in Finland, placing internet access in the same category as postal and telephone services.  Finland is relatively far ahead when it comes to broadband penetration, with it's own government claiming 96% of its population is covered. The Government also plans to get 100Mbit/sec lines within 2km of 99% of Finns' homes and businesses by 2015. http://www.pcpro.co.uk

Over-50s Lead UK Broadband Uptake
Research conducted by the UK Online Measurement Company suggests  that older users now make up the majority of new surfers. The company said that the number of people accessing the internet in the UK had risen from 36.9 million users in May 2009 to 38.8 million users in May 2010. Of the 1.9 million users who accessed the internet for the first time, more than 50 per cent were aged above 50. http://www.itproportal.com 

Google sued over 'unsafe' map directions           
A pedestrian is suing Google for supplying unsafe directions in its Maps tool after she was hit by a car. Lauren Rosenberg is seeking $100,000 in damages after the accident in January when she tried to cross a busy state highway with no pavements at night and was hit by a car. A lawsuit filed in a Utah District Court last week accused Google of being "careless, reckless, and negligent" in supplying unsafe walking directions. http://www.guardian.co.uk

Google ditches Windows after security scare
Google is refusing to let new employees use Windows PCs over fears about its security.  New recruits are given the choice of running Mac OS X or Linux PCs, while many existing staff are migrating from Windows, according to a report in the Financial Times. The move follows the high profile attacks on Google at the end of last year, in which a hole in Internet Explorer was exploited by Chinese hackers. http://www.pcpro.co.uk

Mobile phone for elderly is as loud as road drill
A mobile phone with a ringtone that hits 100 decibels has become a hit with the elderly and hard of hearing.  The Clearsound CL8200 is believed to be the loudest phone on the market with a ring sound as loud as a road drill.  British company Geemarc, has manufactured the gadget with older people in mind.  It claims the £89.99 handset is one of the easiest mobiles to use because of its simple design. http://www.express.co.uk

Apple's iPad sales break the two million mark
Apple today said it has sold two million iPads, less than two months after launching the touchscreen tablet in the US, much faster than predicted. This is despite the fact the company had to delay the device's international launch by a month because it could not keep up with demand.  The iPad finally went on UK sale on the 28th May. http://www.guardian.co.uk

Pac-Man hits 30 without losing its way
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man, Google.com allowed visitors to play the classic video game in the shape of the Google logo. Pac-Man is one of the few early games to have survived the novelty of the arcade era with more than 10 billion games of Pac-Man having been played worldwide. Back in the day, Namco licensed nearly 294,000 arcade editions of the original, and its success spawned numerous ancillary cottage industries. www.washingtonpost.com

Britons spend nearly 'one day a month online'
British web users are spending 65% more time online than three years ago, according to research of net habits. According to a UKOM survey, time spent online comprised Social networks/blogs - 22.7%, E-mail - 7.2%, Games - 6.9%, Instant Messaging - 4.9%, Classified/Auctions - 4.7%, Portals - 4%, Search - 4%,Software info/products - 3.4%, News - 2.8%, Adult - 2.7% http://news.bbc.co.uk

HP expands recall of laptops for fire hazard
Hewlett-Packard Co is expanding a voluntary recall of laptop computers due to the risk of fire from overheating batteries, the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said recently. The commission said that since an initial recall in May 2009, HP has received additional reports of overheated and ruptured batteries, leading it to expand its recall to include more models. www.uk.reuters.com