Woman 'found killer on internet'

Police in Japan have arrested a man on suspicion of carrying out a woman's request to kill her after she contacted him via the internet. Kazunari Saito was allegedly paid to feed sleeping pills to Sayaka Nishizawa before suffocating her at her apartment in April, local media said. Ms Nishizawa, 21, had contacted her alleged killer days earlier via his mobile phone website, which he had set up to sell sleeping pills to people contemplating suicide more...

Soldiers based in Iraq and Afghanistan are to have free WiFi access to allow them to surf the web and contact relatives without leaving their accommodation. Rollout is expected to be completed by Easter 2008. The new programme is part of plans to increase the provision of entertainment and communication facilities to troops overseas, according to the Ministry of Defence more...

Supermarket pilot lets customers pay at checkout via a mobile phone

The first European trial of mobile phones linked to online debit accounts to pay for goods launched in the Netherlands last week. A six-month pilot is taking place at a branch of Dutch supermarket C1000. It will allow 100 customers to pay for their shopping with their mobiles, using the existing online PIN payment infrastructure more...

Radiohead album set free on web

In Rainbows, the seventh studio album by alternative rock group Radiohead, has become available for download from their official website. The band have let fans decide what to pay for the 10 MP3 files - from nothing to £100 more...

Yahoo upgrades anti-phishing

Phishing emails pretending to be from PayPal and eBay will be blocked from Yahoo mail inboxes. The DomainKeys system will weed out phishing emails before they reach a Yahoo mail user's inbox. The move should help stamp out common phishing scams using the PayPal and eBay names, said PayPal chief information security officer Michael Barrett more...

ITV report reveals extent of premium rate phone problems

British broadcaster ITV has received the results of an investigation that reveals the extent of the premium rate phone fiasco that has undermined viewer confidence in participation programmes. The numbers have been counted and checked by an independent auditor. We will soon find out whether the senior executives involved will survive the result of the viewer votes more...

Games violence study is launched

The government is asking for evidence for a new study of the effect of violent computer games on children. Psychologist Tanya Byron will head the study, which will also examine how to protect children from online material. The review is due to be launched by Dr Byron - together with Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Culture Secretary James Purnell - at a school in east London more...

Go go gadget paradise

The Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies - or Ceatec - is a gizmo geek's paradise. The cavernous exhibition halls of the Makuhari Messe complex near Tokyo were packed with the latest consumer electronics and services, covering everything from imaging to information and communication more...

Google, IBM back 'cloud students'

Google and IBM are partnering on an effort to help students get to grips with net-scale computing projects. The two firms will build data centres holding 1,600 computers that students will be able to use to learn the basics of so-called "cloud computing" more...

Sky hits limit for new channel launches on satellite

British satellite broadcaster BSkyB is to limit the launches of new channel slots on its platform. The company is not taking any further applications and will consider carefully those channels that are waiting to launch. It could intensify the transfer market for slots in the electronic programme guide. Some niche broadcasters could find that their EPG number is their main asset more...

Viruses 'hit 1m China computers'

Almost one million Chinese computers were hit by viruses during last week's national holidays, state media has reported. Three different types of viruses attacked computers during the holiday week, Xinhua news agency said more...